American Beauty — 1999’s Best Picture. Kevin Spacey. Won 5 Academy Awards.
Spirited Away — An anime by Japan’s greatest director. Won an Academy Award.
Once Upon a Time in America — Considered one of the rival films to The Godfather.
Raging Bull — Boxing film. Won Best Picture. Starring Robert De Niro and directed by Scorsese.
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? — 1966 film based off the famous 1962 play. Nominated in every category at the Academy Awards.
The Graduate — Dustin Hoffman’s best.
Blade Runner — Cult-classic by Ridley Scott. Sequel being developed now with Harrison Ford returning and Ryan Gosling.
Woodstock — An incredible look at the 1969 festival. Won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Trainspotting — Black comedy about heroin addicts in Scotland. Ewan McGregor’s breakout role.
Son of Saul — Best Foreign Language film (Hungarian) at the Academy Awards. Set in the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II.
Jackie — Natalie Portman’s wonderful portrayal of Jackie Kennedy prior, during, and in the aftermath of JFK’s assassination.
Knight of Cups — Renowned cinematographer and director Terrence Malick’s experimental drama about a screenwriter in Los Angeles. Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett and Natalie Portman.
To the Wonder —Terrence Malick’s experimental romance drama about an American man who brings a Parisian woman he falls in love with back to rural America. Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko, Rachel McAdams, and Javier Bardem.
The Thin Red Line — Arguably Malick’s best film. Nominated for seven Academy Awards. Depicts the Battle of Mount Austen, which was part of the Guadalcanal Campaign in the Pacific Theater of World War II. Music by Hans Zimmer. Unbelievable cast: Sean Penn, Adrien Brody, Jim Caviezel, Ben Chaplin, George Clooney, John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, Elias Koteas, Nick Nolte, John C. Reilly, John Travolta
Gone with the Wind — One of five or six films in contention for best of all time. Enough said.
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters — Produced by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas. Music by Phillip Glass. Based on the life and work of Japanese writer Yukio Mishima, interweaving episodes from his life with dramatizations of segments from his books The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, Kyoko's House, and Runaway Horses.
Casablanca — One of five or six films in contention for best of all time. Enough said.
Citizen Kane — One of five or six films in contention for best of all time. Enough said.
Vertigo — 1958 American film noir psychological thriller film directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock. Considered to be within the top 10 bet films of all time.
Contempt — 1963 French drama film written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard, based on the Italian novel Il disprezzo (A Ghost at Noon) by Alberto Moravia. Stars Brigitte Bardot, the greatest sex symbol of the 1960s (fuck Marilyn Monroe), Michel Piccoli, Jack Palance, and Giorgia Moll.
Floating Weeds —
In the Mood for Love — 1959 Japanese drama film. Critic Roger Ebert considers it his tenth best movie of all time.
Anna Karenina — Film adaptation of the 1877 Russian Novel. Keira Nightly, Jude Law.
Dr. No — The first James Bond.
Hamlet (1996) — Adapation of the Shakespeare play. 4 hours. The last major dramatic motion picture to be filmed entirely on 70 mm film. Four Academy Award nominations.
Romeo + Juliet — DiCaprio and Claire Danes’ break out roles.
Manhattan — Some say Woody Allen’s best movie. Allen is known for writing films about romance in incredible cities. Three Academy Award nominations. BAFTA Best Film.
New York Stories — Consists of three shorts with the central theme being New York City. The first is Life Lessons, directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Richard Price and starring Nick Nolte. The second is Life Without Zoë, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and written by Coppola with his daughter, Sofia Coppola. The last is Oedipus Wrecks, directed, written by and starring Woody Allen.
Pulp Fiction — Tarantino, Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson. Breakout film for Tarantino.
Hunger — British-Irish historical drama film directed by Steve McQueen and starring Michael Fassbender, Liam Cunningham, and Liam McMahon about an Irish prison.
The Exterminating Angel — Surreal film by Spanish filmmaker Luis Bunuel. 1962.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Inland Empire
Mulholland Drive
China Town
The Pianist
All the President's Men
Taxi Driver
The Fugitive
There Will Be Blood
The Godfather
Lord of the Rings Series
Boyhood
Dazed and Confused
Everybody Wants Some
Forrest Gump
Fury
Drive
Interstellar
Schindler’s List
The Game
Saving Private Ryan
Fight Club
The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight Rises
Inglourious Basterds
Inception
Django Unchained
The Wolf of Wall Street
Casino
Oceans 11
Coming To America
Midnight in Paris
Magnolia
Hail, Caesar!
Children of Men
The Revenant
No Country For Old Men
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Der Untergang
Se7en
Twelve Monkeys
The Departed
2001: A Space Odyssey
School for Scoundrels
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Blue Valentine
The Place Beyond the Pines
Burn After Reading