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| Central do Brasil | |
| Director: Walter Salles | |
| Release Date: 1998 | |
| Principal Cast: Fernanda Montenegro, Vinícius de Oliveira | |
| A sour woman who writes letters for illiterate people that she never mails unites with a runaway boy, and the two go on a journey across Brasil’s expansive, forbidden northeast in search of the boy’s father whom he has never seen. A cut to the bone yet touching slice of life. | |
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| The King's Speech | |
| Director: Tom Hooper | |
| Release Date: 2010 | |
| Principal Cast: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter | |
| Misters Firth and Rush and Ms. Carter, as always, give a breathtaking performance which every bit deserves a case full of Oscars. | |
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| Sous les Bombes | |
| Director: Philippe Aractingi | |
| Release Date: 2008 | |
| Principal Cast: Nada Abou Farhat, Georges Khabbaz, Rawia Elchab | |
| A woman searches for her young son in the days following the 2006 Israeli invasion and indiscriminate bombardment of Lebanon. She has been living away but had sent her son to stay with her sister while she divorced her unfaithful husband. She is assisted by a Christian cab driver who dreams of leaving war torn Lebanon. This film is easily one of the most soul wrenching, heart-rending movie I have ever seen. It was filmed during the ceasefire following the destruction; the massive, wanton destruction shown in the film is real and not props or CGI. | |
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| Magallanes | |
| Director: Salvador del Solar | |
| Release Date: 2015 | |
| Principal Cast: Damián Alcázar, Magaly Solier, Bruno Odar, Federico Luppi | |
| Magallanes is an ex-militar who ekes out a living driving an unlicensed taxi in Lima and occasionally acts as driver for his former Coronel. We soon find Magallanes is not above blackmail and that both men have a dark and terrible past which comes to the surface with horrible consequences. | |
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| Das Boot | |
| Director: Wolfgang Petersen | |
| Release Date: 1981 | |
| Principal Cast: Jürgen Prochnow , Herbert Grönemeyer | |
| If you are claustrophobic or have nightmares of drowning, choose a different film, but if you do you’ll miss the best movie about war at sea that has ever been made. There is more terror in this story of a WW II U-Boat crew than any slasher flick. | |
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| Out of Africa | |
| Director: Sydney Pollack | |
| Release Date: 1985 | |
| Principal Cast: Meryl Streep, Robert Redford, Klaus Maria Brandauer | |
| Based on the memoirs of Danish writer Karen Blixen's life as the owner of a coffee plantation in early 20th century Kenya, the movie is a beautiful tale of life in colonial Africa and of love found and lost. It is a top class tear jerker. | |
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| The Hill | |
| Director: Sidney Lumet | |
| Release Date: 1965 | |
| Principal Cast: Sean Connery, Harry Andrews, Ian Bannen, Alfred Lynch, Ossie Davis | |
| Never mind James Bond; this is Sean Connery’s best movie. In a British military prison camp in North Africa during WW II, the prisoners must endure the harshness of the desert climate and the sadism of the guards. The alternatives are go mad or die. | |
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| El Abuelo | |
| Director: José Luis Garci | |
| Release Date: 1998 | |
| Principal Cast: Fernando Fernán Gómez, Rafael Alonso, Cayetana Guillén Cuervo, Agustín González, Cristina Cruz, Alicia Rozas | |
| Set in 19th Century Spanish countryside, this compelling film spins a tale of family, honor, pride, greed and most of all love. Fernando Fernán Gómez, the brilliant Peruvian actor, gives the viewer a magical performance. | |
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| Train to Busan | |
| Director: Yeon Sang-ho | |
| Release Date: 2016 | |
| Principal Cast: Gong Yoo, Ma Dong-seok, Jung Yu-mi, Kim Su-an | |
| Think zombie apocalypse in a very tight space. A high speed train racing to Busan. Once Seok-Woo and his young daughter, Soo-an, board the train the horror accelerates to match the speed of the 185km/h train. The best zombie yet... perhaps ever. | |
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| Lemon Tree | |
| Director: Eran Riklis | |
| Release Date: 2008 | |
| Principal Cast: Hiam Abbass, Doron Tavory, Ali Suliman, Rona Lipaz-Michael, Tarik Kopty, Amos Lavi | |
| When the new Israeli Defense Minister moves into a house situated beside a lemon grove in the West Bank, he decides it must be uprooted, but it owner, a Palestine widow, is determined to go to any length to defend her orchard. | |
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| The Wicker Man | |
| Director: Robin Hardy | |
| Release Date: 1973 | |
| Principal Cast: Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee | |
| A police office is sent to an island off the coast of Scotland to investigate the death of a girl whom the locals deny exist. The officer finds mystery, intrigue, and deadly pagan rites and his christianity is put to the test by the druidic rituals. | |
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| Innocent Blood | |
| Director: John Landis | |
| Release Date: 1992 | |
| Principal Cast: Anne Parillaud, David Proval, Rocco Sisto, Chazz Palminteri, Robert Loggia | |
| Forget the more recent raft of vampire movies; they take themselves much too seriously. In Innocent Blood the vampire for sure likes and needs her fix of blood but enjoys a good time as well and best of all the story is told with a good helping of very dark humor. | |
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| Hobson's Choice | |
| Director: David Lean | |
| Release Date: 1954 | |
| Principal Cast: Charles Laughton, John Mills, Brenda De Banzie, Daphne Anderson, Prunella Scales | |
| Henry Hobson, a 19th century bootmaker, has no doubts as to who should wear the pants in the family, but his three daughters have their own ideas as well and thus the stage is set for this comic battle of the sexes. | |
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| Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels | |
| Director: Guy Ritchie | |
| Release Date: 1999 | |
| Principal Cast: Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, Nick Moran, Jason Statham, Steven Mackintosh | |
| Petty thieves from London get themselves in debt to the local mafia boss and must pay back the money or else. Thus begins the hilarious, twisted, screwed up attempt to get the money by any means possible. The scene where the druggie suddenly picks up the Bren machine gun and as she cuts loose the film cuts to slow motion has to be one of the funniest bits ever. You will laugh in spite of yourself. | |
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| The Devil at 4 O'Clock | |
| Director: Mervyn LeRoy | |
| Release Date: 1961 | |
| Principal Cast: Spencer Tracy, Frank Sinatra, Kerwin Mathews | |
| I first saw this film when I was a kid and it made a hugh impression on me. Yes it is something of a spiritual film but that only helps a good story better. No there is no graphic violence and no profanity, but Spencer Tracy and Frank Sinatra spin a spellbinding tale. | |
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Last Updated on August 10, 2024
