Movies to be trapped on a desert island with... (Part IV)
...along with a playing device, of course. Movies that I've experienced can be watched over and over and still enjoyed, though you have seen it all and, sometimes, practically have it memorized.
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- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJames StewartGrace KellyWendell CoreyA wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his Greenwich Village courtyard apartment window and, despite the skepticism of his fashion-model girlfriend, becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.One of the movies which best shows the genius of Hitchcock, in that, prior to beginning the film, he knew what would be happening in EACH of the windows that Jimmy Stewart's character would be seeing every time he looked out the window.
- DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsHarvey KeitelTim RothMichael MadsenWhen a simple jewelry heist goes horribly wrong, the surviving criminals begin to suspect that one of them is a police informant.The movie that launched Tarantino into real public attention, this story of a jewelry heist gone terribly wrong, and its aftermath, is a compelling tale, which is well acted, written, and directed.
- DirectorGarry MarshallStarsRichard GereJulia RobertsJason AlexanderA man in a legal but hurtful business needs an escort for some social events, and hires a beautiful prostitute he meets... only to fall in love.Despite the improbability of both the tale and the personas involved, this variant on Pygmalion and Cinderella does a wonderful job of being both engaging and engrossing.
- DirectorCurtis HansonStarsKevin SpaceyRussell CroweGuy PearceAs corruption grows in 1950s Los Angeles, three policemen - one strait-laced, one brutal, and one sleazy - investigate a series of murders with their own brand of justice.This gritty film noire does a wonderful job of telling a story of crime and corruption in 50's era Hollywood, and provided boosts to the careers of several actors, including Russell Crowe, Kevin Spacey, and Guy Pierce. Had it not had the bad luck of getting released the same year as The Titanic, it might well have won the Oscar for Best Picture, as well as several others.
- DirectorLuc BessonStarsJean RenoGary OldmanNatalie Portman12-year-old Mathilda is reluctantly taken in by Léon, a professional assassin, after her family is murdered. An unusual relationship forms as she becomes his protégée and learns the assassin's trade.This second major film by Luc Besson, probably the best "media maker" to ever come out of France, is a great view into the sad, solitary life of a professional assassin whose life is overturned when a young girl, played by the then 12-year-old Natalie Portman, winds up under his protection after her entire family is killed by a corrupt and ruthless DEA agent played to excellence by Gary Oldman.
- DirectorRichard DonnerStarsMatthew BroderickRutger HauerMichelle PfeifferThe thief Gaston escapes the dungeon of medieval Aquila through the latrine. Soldiers are about to kill him when Navarre saves him. Navarre, traveling with his spirited hawk, plans to kill the bishop of Aquila with help from Gaston.Another excellent sword-and-sorcery tale with a first-rate cast, it tells the medieval tale of a first rate thief who winds up assisting a soldier and a lady whose love has been cursed by an evil priest, so that they remain ever together, yet forever apart, in breaking the curse.
- DirectorJohn HughesStarsMatthew BroderickAlan RuckMia SaraA popular high school student, admired by his peers, decides to take a day off from school and goes to extreme lengths to pull it off, to the chagrin of his Dean, who'll do anything to stop him.Another tour-de-force of Matthew Broderick's early career, Ferris has it all -- he is the social center of his high school universe, he has the respect of almost everyone who ever met him, and the awe of almost everyone else. He decides to take the day off from school, and this is the tale, not only of his day, but that of his friends who he gets to skip school with him, as well as that of his jealous older sister and his suspicious principal's efforts to ruin it.
- DirectorPeter WeirStarsRobin WilliamsRobert Sean LeonardEthan HawkeMaverick teacher John Keating returns in 1959 to the prestigious New England boys' boarding school where he was once a star student, using poetry to embolden his pupils to new heights of self-expression.The tale of a brilliantly capable teacher's efforts to inspire his charges at an elite prep school, to rise above their focused, uninventive lives and to grasp life with all they can, to truly excel and be the best they are capable of being and truest to their own hearts, despite the demands, expectations, and directions of their parents and the society around them.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsTom CruiseColin FarrellSamantha MortonJohn works with the PreCrime police which stop crimes before they take place, with the help of three 'PreCogs' who can foresee crimes. Events ensue when John finds himself framed for a future murder.How much of our life's paths are pre-ordained? If it were possible to look into the future, to see crimes being committed beforehand, would it be reasonable to arrest and detain those who had not yet committed those crimes? Can you be guilty of something you haven't done? Does society have a right to protect itself from those things you haven't done yet, but might do? These are the kinds of questions good SF is designed to ask, and trigger us all to think about. And that's what makes Minority Report one of the best SF movies ever made.
- DirectorMartha CoolidgeStarsVal KilmerStacy PeraltaDaniel AdesAn uptight teenage prodigy enters a top engineering college, but feels awkward among the freewheeling students. When a professor aims to turn their laser project into a military weapon, he and his offbeat roommate plot to ruin the plan.The story of a number of the world's greatest minds in their early days, studying things at the edge of knowledge in a college setting... sort of.
A goofy, entertaining mix of absurd pranks and odd characters of people at the edge of knowledge that pre-dates "The Big Bang Theory" by 25 years. Don't take them too seriously, just because they're so damned smart. They certainly don't.