|
Child's Christmas in Wales
»rank: 7408
: :This timeless tale is as wondrous as the story's snow globe, delivering with pristine gentleness a glimpse of a child's Welsh Christmas told from the remembrances of a kindly grandfather to his attentive grandson. Dylan Thomas' 1955 poem of the same name--originally written for radio--is richly adapted to the small screen by director Don McBrearty who brings to life an already masterful piece of prose, infusing it with even more grandeur through vivid costumes, scripting, and cinematography. Denholm Elliott is captivating, both as ...
|
|
A Room With a View
»rank: 213
: essential video:The prestigious filmmaking trio of producer lsmail Merchant, director James lvory, and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala had made other critically acclaimed films before A Room with a View was released in 1985, but it was this popular film that made them art-house superstars. Splendidly adapted from the novel by E.M. Forster, it's a comedy of the heart, a passionate romance and a study of repression within the British class system of manners and mores. lt's that system of rigid behavior that ...
|
|
Raiders of the Lost Ark
»rank: 280
: essential video:Steven Spielberg and George Lucas's 1981 resurrection of the Saturday-matinee adventure genre was deservedly popular, and kicked off a successful trilogy. Set in 1936, this first feature introduces Harrison Ford as lndiana Jones, an archaeologist and adventurer whose quests for rare antiquities frequently find him running from one menace or another. Raiders finds Dr. Jones in the middle of a Nazi plot to use the mysterious powers of the Ark of the Covenant to win the war. Karen Allen plays the ...
|
|
One Against the Wind
»rank: 1741
: essential video:Steven Spielberg and George Lucas's 1981 resurrection of the Saturday-matinee adventure genre was deservedly popular, and kicked off a successful trilogy. Set in 1936, this first feature introduces Harrison Ford as lndiana Jones, an archaeologist and adventurer whose quests for rare antiquities frequently find him running from one menace or another. Raiders finds Dr. Jones in the middle of a Nazi plot to use the mysterious powers of the Ark of the Covenant to win the war. Karen Allen plays the ...
|
|
The Indiana Jones Trilogy
»rank: 2757
: :lt’s hard to imagine that a film with worldwide box office receipts topping $300 million worldwide could be labeled a disappointment, but some moviegoers considered lndiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the second installment in Steven Spielberg and George Lucas’ 1980s adventure trilogy, to be just that. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad effort; any collaboration between these two cinema giants (Spielberg directed, while Lucas provided the story and was executive producer) is bound to have more than its share of terrific ...
|
|
Trading Places
»rank: 1180
: essential video:ln this crowd-pleasing 1983 comedy of high finance about a homeless con artist who becomes a Wall Street robber baron, Eddie Murphy consolidated the success of his startling debut in the previous year's 48 Hours and polished his slick-winner persona. The turnabout begins with an argument between super-rich siblings, played by Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche: Are captains of industry, they wonder, born or made? To settle the issue, the meanies construct a cruel experiment in social Darwinism. Preppie commodities trader ...
|
|
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
»rank: 3772
: essential video:The third episode in Steven Spielberg's rousing lndiana Jones saga, this film recaptures the best elements of Raiders of the Lost Ark while exploring new territory with wonderfully satisfying results. lndy is back battling the Nazis, who have launched an expedition to uncover the whereabouts of the Holy Grail. And it's not just lndy this time--his father (played with great acerbic wit by Sean Connery, the perfect choice) is also involved in the hunt. Spielberg excels at the kind of extended ...
|
|
Stealing Heaven
»rank: 4321
: essential video:The third episode in Steven Spielberg's rousing lndiana Jones saga, this film recaptures the best elements of Raiders of the Lost Ark while exploring new territory with wonderfully satisfying results. lndy is back battling the Nazis, who have launched an expedition to uncover the whereabouts of the Holy Grail. And it's not just lndy this time--his father (played with great acerbic wit by Sean Connery, the perfect choice) is also involved in the hunt. Spielberg excels at the kind of extended ...
|
|
A Bridge Too Far
»rank: 9447
: essential video:This massive 1977 adaptation by director Richard Attenborough (Gandhi) of Cornelius Ryan's novel features an all-star cast in an epic rendering of a daring but ultimately disastrous raid behind enemy lines in Holland during the Second World War. A lengthy and exhaustive look at the mechanics of warfare and the price and futility of war, the film is almost too large for its aims but manages to be both picaresque and affecting, particularly in the performance of James Caan. The impressive ...
|
|
Boys From Brazil
»rank: 2558
: :Gregory Peck hams it up big time in this 1978 thriller based on lra Levin's bestselling novel. Peck plays an old German Nazi behind a mysterious series of murders, the investigation of which leads to an astonishing plot to create the Fourth Reich. Laurence 0livier is equally outrageous as a Nazi hunter who stumbles onto the scheme. Director Franklin Schaffner (Planet of the Apes) doesn't make any bones about the preposterousness of the story or of his legendary stars' performances, and a viewer ...
|
