DRAMA

These are my movie recommendations, incomplete and in no particular order. They typically are not suitable for children. Assume a R rating for each one.

THE DRAMAS

Short Cuts -- nine interlocking stories set in contemporary Los Angeles. 5/5

Raging Bull -- the story of a boxer, boxing, and the dark side of human excess. 5/5

Bringing Out the Dead. A Scorsese film about an ambulance driver in NYC's slums (Nick Cage) who is falling apart with guilt over not being able to save a little girl and tries to come to terms with the past. 3.5/5

Deer Hunter. Three best friends go to Vietnam and the war changes them. Epic beauty and sadness. (also in War Sect.) 4/5

Oleanna. A Mamet film about a teacher and his student and their struggle for power, control, and good understanding. 3.5/5

Dead Ringers. Cronenberg's strange film about twin doctors, who cannot escape each other. Both brothers are played by Jeremy Irons who does an incredible job playing a dominant and submissive pair. 4/5

Ordinary People. Oscar Winner about the effect of a brother's death on a young man and his parents. Hauntingly beautiful. 5/5

An Angel at My Table. Based on a true story. It's about an Australian girl who strives to become a writer despite a misdiagnosed condition. Excellent story. 4/5

The Lion in Winter. Three sons struggle and manipulate for the medieval Kingdom of their aging father and mother. O'Toole, Hopkins, Hepburn are brilliant. 3.5/5

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. An Albee play. Richard Burton and Taylor depict a middle-aged couple battling each other intermingling of love and hate. Incredible script and acting. 5/5

Lone Star. A complex mystery/drama about a sheriff in a small contemporary town in Texas on the border of Mexico. 4.5/5

Breaking the Waves. A story about a woman whose overpowering love allows her to sacrifice everything for her lover. 4/5

The Shawshank Redemption. A wrongly accused man is sent to jail where he adapts and becomes indespensible to the warden. 4.5/5

The Red Violin -- movie traces a rare violin through history, chronicling its different owners. Drama. 3.5/5

Damage. A politician has a torrid affair with his son's fiance to ruinous result. Great script and acting. 4/5

Awakenings. A catatonic man awakes from years of incapacity and revels in the beauty of life. Robin Williams & DeNiro are excellent. 3.5/5

Barfly. A surprising story about a drunk (Mickey Roark) who lives from drink to drink and writes poetry on the side. 3/5

Mac. This hard-to-find film is about three brothers in construction who get sick of working for others and open their own company. 3.5/5

A Room with a View. Based on the Forrester novel, this simple love story is unforgettable. 3/5

The Lover. This beautifully scripted and shot love story is about the coming of age of a young woman in southeast Asia. Highly erotic. 3.5/5

Three Seasons. An elegantly filmed romance between two Vietnamese in modern Vietnam as well as two other stories. Multiple independent award winner. 4/5

The Unforgiven. Haunting Western about a retired killer that comes out of retirement to kill for money. 4.5/5

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Classic story about family, love, resentment, inheritance, and being true to one's self. 3.5/5

Night of the Iguana. A drinking, lecherous priest takes a Mexican tour of older women to a rundown resort operated by an old flame. There he tries to find redemption. 3.5/5

Slacker. A roving camera moves around a suburban city, following people listening to their daily lives before moving on to another person, a celebration of existence. 4/5

The Loss of Innocence. Intersecting stories about the various ways a person loses their innocence during their journey through life. Beautiful and haunting, yet uneven. 3/5

Female Perversions. Follows a female lawyer and shows the various ways women are pressured by society to conform to a certain undeterminate model. 4/5

Tully. Two brother in a small farming town find out something surpring about their missing mother. 4/5

Glengarry Glen Ross. A star-studded film about telephone salesmen under pressure. 3.5/5

Barton Fink. A theatre writer goes to early Hollywood to write pulp movies only to get writer's block. A strange, surreal film. 4/5

What's Cooking?. Four stories about four families (Black, Jewish, Korean, Hispanic) having thanksgiving dinner. 4/5

Thirteen. This film captures the traumas of being a female teen. 3.5/5

Kids. A poignant drama about urban teens bored and searching for sex, parties, and trouble. 4/5

Adaptation. An original comedy-drama regarding a Hollywood writer adapting a book about orchids. (also Comedies) 4.5/5

Moonstruck. An woman of Italian descent falls in love with her fiancee's unpredictable brother. Romantic and funny. (also Comedies) 5/5

The Conversation. Hackman stars as a surveillance expert that monitors a conversation he was not supposed to and worries about his safety. Coppola captures the paranoid seventies. 4/5

Schindler's List. An opportunistic German citizen seizes a chance to save lives during WW2. 4/5

The Right Stuff -- The New space program looks for the best of the best to send into space. Excellent cast. 4/5

The Hustler. Paul Newman plays a pool player whose pride costs him everything. 3.5/5

12 Angry Men. Henry Fonda and other play a jury arguing a murder trial. 4/5

Moonlight Mile. A pending wedding is interrupted by tragedy leaving the fiancee and in-laws in an awkward space. 4/5

Cinema Paradiso. Foreign, Italian boy grows up going to the movies. 5/5

Changing Lanes. Two men have an accident on a freeway and it changes both their lives. Ben Afleck and Samuel Jackson. 3.5/5

Amadeus. Bio of the famous composer Mozart and his struggles to get his work completed. 4/5

On the Waterfront. The mob and waterfront union join to suppress workers; one stands up against them. 5/5

Monster's Ball. The lives of a black woman and a white man prison guard intersect in the South. Excellent, complex drama. 4/5

Sheltering Sky. A married couple travel to the African desert with a friend who loves the woman (Debra Winger). 3/5

English Patient. A mysterious burn victim during WW2 becomes the center of intersecting stories. Inspired film from an inspired book, romantic and beautiful. 4/5

Shadow of the Vampire. A film about the making of the 1938 Nosferatu vampire classic. Good acting, inventive story. 4/5

Tender Mercies -- drama, famous cowboy singer stops drinking & changes his life, leaving everything behind. 4/5

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. A sane criminal gets himself into the nuthouse and makes mischief amoungst the residents. 5/5

13 Conversations about One Thing. Star-studded cast fronts this film of intersecting stories about happiness and contentment. 3.5/5

The Mission. A missionary converting aboriginies in the South American returns to his military past to defend the indians from conquistadors. 4/5

Dead Poet's Society. Beautifully told story about a new prof that changes lives in a rich prep school. 4/5

Lawrence of Arabia. A British geogrpher leaves his paper to join and lead arab insurgents against imperialistic Turks. 5/5

Leaving Las Vegas. Having lost everything, an executivetravels to Las Vegas to drink himself to death. 3.5/5

9 1/2 Weeks. Erotic flirtations abound in this cult classic. 3/5

Shadowlands. Playing CS Lewis, Anthony Hopkins acts superbly as a man who finds and loses the love of his life to cancer. 3.5/5

Naked. Raw and uncompromising, the film follows a young man who believes in nothing. 3.5/5

Grand Canyon. -A tow-truck driver (Danny Glover) saves a man (Steve Martin) from trouble and they become friends. 4.5/5

Like Water for Chocolate. Spanish. Multi -generational story about a family and how food has marked each critical moment in the family history. 3.5/5

When a Man Loves a Woman. This story centers around a man trying to get his wife sober. 3.5/5

Titus. Shakespeare's vicious revenge play. 5/5

City of Hope. Multiple stories intersect in this film that revolves around a strained father-son relationship. (Sayles writes/directs, see Lonestar above) 4/5


Driving Miss Daisy. 4/5

The Green Mile. 3.5/5

Signs. 3/5

My Left Foot. 4/5

The Rapture. 3/5

The American President. A single father finds love in the white house. 4/5

Primary Colors. A presidential candidate campaigns through personal problems and dilemas which test his character and that of his 'team.' 3.5/5

Born on the Fourth of July. A young man goes to Vietnam and comes home disabled and confused. 4/5

Drugstore Cowboy. Thieves rob drugstores for drugs to party. 4/5

Running on Empty. Child finally finds out why his family never stays anywhere very long. 5/5

The Unbearable Lightness of Being -- drama, a torrid love affair in Czechslovakia leaves characters bitter sweet. 3.5/5

Howard's End. A love story in quiet, hesitant English society. 4/5

Remains of the Day. An English butler becomes fond of new housekeeper. 5/5

Empire of The Sun. A child loses his parents when Japan invades China, and he ends up in a camp struggling to survive. 5/5

Hiroshima, Mon Amour. French, subtitled, a french actress has an affair with a Japanese man, and they discuss each other's lives, beautiful writing. 4.5/5

Zentropa. German, subtitled, an American moves to Germany just after WWII, and gets a job on the trains. Strange movie. 3/5

COMEDY

These are my movie recommendations, incomplete and in no particular order. They typically are not suitable for children. Assume a R rating for each one.


COMEDIES

Zero Effect -- about a PI who is the best in the world, yet cannot help being a paranoid, neurotic recluse. 3.5/5

Barton Fink. An acclaimed dramatist moves to Hollywood to make his fortune writing for the movies but ends up with writer's block when he tries to write. A strange, surreal, but funny film. (see Drama) 4/5

Much Ado About Nothing -- romantic comedy by Shakespeare set in medieval times. 4/5

Being There. A story about a man whose only knowledge about the world has come from television until he has to leave his cocoon. A great cast and superb writing/story have made this film a classic satire. 5/5

The Big Lebowski. Cohen movie about a California bum who is mistaken for someone else and becomes entangled in a kidnapping/murder plot; hilarious story played by a star-studded cast. 5/5

Unstrung Heroes -— story of a young boy growing up with an inventor father and two crazy uncles, the latter at which he stays one summer. Coming-of-age. 3.5/5

Freeway -- satire, a white trash girl with bad temper gets into trouble. 3.5/5

Antz -- an animated movie with astounding graphics and premier actors. 4/5

Tampopo -- subtitled, a Japanese widow wants to open a noodle restaurant. Comedy. 5/5

Life is Beautiful -- subtitled, an Italian Jew in pre-Nazi occupied Italy meets and marries his wife, comedy/drama. 4/5

Shakespeare in Love -- a young Shakespeare tries to write Romeo and Juliet but then is inspired by love. 5/5

The Fisher King -- a radio show host feels condemned for inciting a homicidal psychotic on his show until he meets the man whose family was killed, about imagination and redemption. 4/5

High Fidelity. A unique and very funny story about an elitist record store owner trying to re-acquaint with his top ten ex-girlfriends. 4.5/5

Down and Out in Beverly Hills. A Hollywood bum (Nick Nolte) is saved by a rich family and is invited to live with them in their home. 4/5

Old School. Three thirtysomething buddies open a frat house. 4/5

Briget Jones' Diary. A British comedy about a thirty year old girl trying to juggle various pressures from boss, work, parents, and the lack of a love-life. 3.5/5

Adaptation. An original comedy-drama regarding a Hollywood writer adapting a book about orchids. Excellent acting and script. 4.5/5

Moonstruck. An woman of Italian descent falls in love with her fiancee's unpredictable brother. Romantic and funny. 5/5

Dr. Strangelove. A classic satire about the paranoia and madness during the Cold War. Kubrick and Peter Sellers at their best. (also in War Section) 5/5

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Steve Martin tries to get home on a snowy Thanksgiving holiday. 5/5

Working Girl. A classic comedy from the eighties about a secretarytrying to climb the corporate ladder. 3.5/5

Going South. Hilarious comedy about a horse thief (Jack Nicholson) that is forced to marry or hang for his crimes (Danny Devito, Chistopher Lloyd) 5/5

The Delicatessen. A french film. A black comedy set in an apartment building in a post-apocalyptic Paris. (also Foreign Sect.) 3.5/5

Say Anything. A high-school graduate falls for a quirky classmate and tries to work out what to do with her life. John Cusack is superb. 4/5

Tommy Boy. A boss' son (Farley) goes on sales tour with his wisecracking partner to save the family company. Simply... a classic. 4/5

Caddyshack. A golfcourse caddy must kiss various butts and win a tourney to get scholarship. Chevy Chase, Murray, Dangerfield, and Baxter make this a must see. 5/5

The Player. A satiric look at the Hollywood machine that churns out one crappy genre picture after another as it chews up executives and spits them out. Sharp and witty. 4/5

O Brother Where Art Thou?. Three escaped convicts on the lamb travel across 1930's South toward a buried treasure. Another Cohen masterpiece. 5/5

Young Frankenstein. A hilarious spoof on monster movies by Mel Brooks with Gene Wilder, Gene Hackman, and Peter Boyle. 5/5

Secondhand Lions. Two old bachelors take in a young boy without a father. Duvall and Caine. 3.5/5

A Fish Called Wanda. Thieves and thugs screw up extortion schemes. The monty python cast headline this film with Jamie Curtis and Kevin Cline as a hilarious paranoid assassin. 4/5

Do the Right Thing. Spike Lee's debute film, a series of comic stories set in Harlem. A brilliant independent picture. John Turturro is great as an Italian pizzaria worker in black harlem. 3.5/5

Good Morning Vietnam. Based on a true story. A radio host arrives in Vietnam and jump-starts a dreary military radio station with his comedy. 3.5/5

The Accidental Tourist. A beautiful film about loss and love. A damaged man becomes intrigued with a woman who helps him with his dog. 4.5/5

Amelie. French film. A young woman in Paris becomes intrigued by a 'secret admirer' and tries to discover who he is. A quirky, very original, and very romantic comedy. 4/5

Animal House. A hilarious comedy about a frat house full of malcontents and slackers bent on partying and cheating their way through school. Great movie, and an inspiration to my scholastic life. 4/5

Risky Business. This film shows a young Tom Cruise being left alone at home in the suburbs as his parents travel to Europe for a vacation; he tries and fails to resist the temptations of having the house to himself. 3/5

Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The classic comedy about a highschool student (a charming Matt Broadrick) skipping school with his girlfriend and bestfriend to hang out and have fun. 4/5

My Favourite Movies... Recommended Rentals

These are my movie recommendations, incomplete and in no particular order. Mostly dramas and dramatic comedies. They typically are not suitable for children. Assume a R rating for each one.


THE COMEDIES


THE DRAMAS


CRIME

L.A. Confidential. An elaborately casted and filmed crime thriller about police corruption in Los Angeles in the fifties.

Bound -- a thriller about two women who try to rob a lot of money from organized crime with sex, murder, and smarts.

Jackie Brown -- Tarantino tells a smooth tale about crime, criminals, and money, where a bail-bondsman walks a tightrope with a career criminal and arms dealer (Samuel Jackson).

The Bad Lieutenant -- the descent and suffering of a corrupt, addicted policeman.

The Last Seduction. A beautiful woman with no conscience seeks power and money, using her sex appeal to manipulate men into her con games.

House of Games. David Mamet's complex movie about con-men who scam for a living, told from the perspective of a psychologist who is given a back-door past into the confidence world.

One False Move. A suspenseful crime thriller about three killers driving across southern United States toward a small town where a naive sheriff and two FBI wait for their arrival.

Chinatown. A classic post-noir mystery set in Los Angeles in the fifties. A private investigator (Jack Nicolson) becomes entangled in a murder and money scheme.

A Simple Plan -- three men find millions in a wrecked airplane nobody else knows about.

Silence of the Lambs -- a young FBI woman helps conduct an investigation into a serial killer.

Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer -- an intimate look at the day to day existence of a serial killer.

FOREIGN

Camille Claudel. A french, subtitled movie about a female sculptor in the nineteenth century who was an apprentice to the famous Rodin. Beautifully acted and filmed drama.

Wings of Desire. A German drama about an angel that falls in love with a human woman and wishes he were human in order to love her.

Cyrano de Bergerac. A classic French drama about a robust, poetic soldier with an enormous nose who uses a handsome double to serenade a woman with his poetry.

Ran. A Japanese drama, subtitled, about a medieval shogun whose children betray him for power. Powerful and intense story.

Das Boot -- German, subtitled, a story about German submarine crew in world war two.

Blue -- french, subtitled, about a woman who copes after a tragic car accident. First movie in the trilogy.

White -- french, subtitled, a man rebuilds his life after being robbed. Second in the trilogy.

Red -- french, subtitled, a model returns an injured dog and develops a relationship with its elderly owner. Last of the trilogy.

The Delicatessen -- french, subtitled, a black comedy set in a post apocalyptic world.

ASSORTED

Lord of The Rings Trilogy. JRR Tolkien's wonderous books about the struggle of the good against overpowering evil.

The Exorcist. Horror movie about a child that becomes possessed by a demon and must be exorcised.

The Omen. A horror about a child of a politician that is actually the son of Satan.

Volcano: The Life of Malcolm Lowry. A documentary about the alcoholic writer, narrated in part by Richard Burton.