100 Must-See Films! -- Music

Music.

What else crawls into your brain so inexplicably and energizes you, inspires you, lifts you to your feet and moves you with dizzying emotions of every sort? Only love, right? Music and love. No wonder the two are so intrinsically tied. Like the dog and the cat they are the best friends of humanity. They are key to our celebration of humanity.

Here are five must-experience celebrations!

a.k.a.: The Boat That Rocked

46. Pirate Radio (2009, UK, Germany, France)

Tom Sturridge, Bill Nighy. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Nick Frost, Katherine Parkinson, Talulah Riley, Rhys Ifans, Rhys Darby, Chris O’Dowd, William Adamsdale, Tom Brooke

I’m sure this is one of the most underrated flicks ever. Its original version disappointed at UK theatres and the edited version performed so-so in America, yet everyone I recommend it to comes back and says, “I loved it!” Conclusion: Yanks and Brits are dead inside! (just kid’n!) Luckily you can catch the chopped scenes on the DVD extras.

I’ve viewed it a half-dozen times and will keep on doing so a couple times a year and I could do this for the soundtrack alone! It’s a jumping thumping mix of sixties pop classics artfully synced with catchy amusing montages and lively scenes around a gaggle of diversely warped and broken radio D.J. characters aboard a historically-genuine pirate radio ship who are idiosyncratically charming and funny as hell.

Stellar cast includes Nick Frost, the late (ever-brilliant) Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy at his best, the vastly underrated weirdo Rhys Darby and an adorable Tom Sturridge as the expelled Potterish nephew who provides the frame of reference for the narrative.

The story is goofy, simple, satirical and at times, touching. It’s messages are few but sincere. It’s a straight-up rollicking celebration of rock and roll’s rebellious adolescence.

Quentin: So... expelled?

'Young' Carl: That's right.

Quentin: What for?

'Young' Carl: I suppose smoking was the clincher.

Quentin: Drugs or cigarettes?

'Young' Carl: Well, both.

Quentin: Well done! Proud of you. So your mum sent you here in the hope that a little bracing sea air would sort you out?

'Young' Carl: Something like that.

Quentin: Spectacular mistake.

Writer/Director: Richard Curtis (Love Actually)

Budget: $50,000,000

IMDB rating: 7.4

Pirate Radio official trailer

47. Footloose (1984, USA)

Kevin Bacon, Lori Singer, John Lithgow, Dianne West, Chris Penn, Sarah Jessica Parker

Now what could be better than eighties dancing and cowboy boots! Okay, maybe a lot of things. But this flick wins the award for Best Surprise of a Movie Following its Unintentionally Funny Trailer!

Seriously. Don’t watch the trailer. It really doesn’t do justice to this feel-good classic film.

The lesson here is in the value of music and dance as a necessary celebration of life and though the flick invites accusations of laughable eighties cheese, look a little closer. The soundtrack still holds up today, highlighted by still-popular hits Footloose and Let’s Hear it for the Boy. The story is cute and uplifting and the acting is heartfelt and generally quite good!

Writer: Dean Pitchford (Sing)

Director: Herbert Ross (Steel Magnolias)

Budget: $8,200,000

IMDB rating: 6.5

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nSXtZPKms4

48. The Blues Brothers (1980, USA)

John Belushi, Dan Akroyd, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Ray Charles, Cab Calloway

This film is ridiculous. It’s silly. It’s a Saturday Night Live skit blown completely out of proportion.

Or…

It’s the most engaging extended music video ever, and a riotous irresistible and unparalleled celebration of soul and Motown.

I go with the latter.

Every time.

Writers: John Landis, Dan Akroyd (Ghostbusters)

Director: John Landis (An American Werewolf in London)

Budget: $27,000,000

IMDB rating: 7.9

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0SV2jTcWAw

49. Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage (2010, Canada)

Documentary with Neil Peart, Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson

Confession: I’m a huge Rush fan. And any music fan is going to put a documentary about their fave band on their personal fave-movie list. But that’s not why I’ve included it here. In a yawning landscape of music documentaries, this one is wholly unique.

It’s a high-quality film, very cerebral,  with much participation from the band and deep archival access. And it tells an incredibly unique story; not one of drugs and internal conflict and a rise and fall, but a story of three youth who remained friends for their entire adult lives and accomplished something unparalleled. Three young men who chose a noble path, who never entirely lost their humble priorities and astoundingly, were richly rewarded, certainly within the music business, but much more so, in life.

Even non-Rush fans have borrowed this movie from me and found it highly educational and inspiring.

Writer/Directors: Sam Dunn, Scot McFadyen (Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey)

Budget: unknown

IMDB rating: 8.5

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKDPdcWdpvc

Believe it or not, only two bands in history have produced more gold and platinum records than Rush. They are the Rolling Stones…

…And these guys:

50. The Compleat Beatles (1982, USA)

Documentary with narrator Malcolm McDowell

There have been a lot of crappy little documentaries about the Beatles. I assure you this one is boss!

The approach to this documentary, and the narration, is responsible, sensitive, emotionally provocative and of a full scope. And there is enough archival material to make it work.

Unfortunately, Paul McCartney who has more money than God and comparable influence (yeah, we’re allowed to say that now), bought the rights to this film so as to drag it out of circulation to help clear the stage for his own documentary project which I have no interest in promoting here.

When the VHS copy I home-taped from a 1984 TV airing finally went screwy and unviewable after fifteen years, I continued to play it on occasion just for the unspoiled audio! That’s how much I dig it.

Writer: David Silver

Director: Patrick Montgomery (The Man You Loved to Hate)

Budget: unknown

IMDB rating: 8.2

Trailer:  There were likely none created for this project which was not intended for theatres as far as I know. Here is the first ten minutes of the film. Currently all twelve increments are available on YouTube. It may start off a little awkwardly, but it only gets better:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RBEFKNvWC4

Short List:

Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man (2005, USA) Documentary by Lian Lunson

100 Must-See Films! -- Love

“No mysteries?” he says. “What’s love then?”

“A Bordeaux blend.”

He laughs. “I know you like your wine,” he says, watching me sip it, “but surely you can do better than that!”

“Bordeaux is nothing but a word. No Bordeaux grape exists.”

“It’s a region in France.”

“And it’s also a Big Idea. And the idea says that if you blend a combination of grapes – any combination; two or more – from a set of very real varieties: Cab Sauv, Cab Frank, Malbec, Merlot and Petit Verdot – from that French region, yes – you will get a very special complexity of flavour; an intensity of flavour; a special wine; the Bordeaux blend. And that is love: an idea that arises from a special feeling; an intensity of feeling  which is nothing singular but only a combination of real connections, from a large set of possible connections: attachments, dependencies and the like – within the brain. It’s the accumulation of attachment. It’s the weight of them… Love. Which is why every love is different. We like to think that there are different types of love – for the lover, the family member, the dog… No. We are addicted to patterns and programs and labels so we think that way, but no. Every instance of love is a complex unique formula. A special blend.”

42. Ice Castles (1978, USA)

Lynn-Holly Johnson, Robby Benson, Colleen Dewhurst, Jennifer Warren, Tom Skerritt,

Love of sport, father and boyfriend and the extra pressures which weigh on each, pull a sensitive young Olympic figure skating hopeful in different directions, threatening to tear her apart. Is it ultimately too much? How she will escape – or how she will claim her ground?

It could be claimed sappy or schmaltzy I suppose! But for me, and I know many others, it tore at my heart throughout and the ending is strictly unforgettable.

I know the film was re-made in 2010 with new actors and the same writer/director but I have taken a pass. I will stick with this original again and again!

Writers: Donald Wrye, Gary L. Baim (Ice Castles 2010)

Director: Donald Wrye (Death Be Not Proud)

Budget: $9,500,000

IMDB rating: 6.5

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjHRC5iO7fE

43. Juno (2007, Canada/USA)

Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Garner, Olivia Thirlby, J.K. Simmons, Allison Janney

In 2004, young actor Ellen Page graduated from such Canadian television projects as Trailer Park Boys and I Downloaded a Ghost, taking on eight theatrical films in two years, culminating in the starring role here – which “she killed” as youth would say... I think.

Page, armed with writer, Diablo Cody’s arsenal of ticklish kid-slang, would have stolen any show with this performance: at once bold, quirky, clever, down to earth, rebellious only to the necessary degree and miraculously, thank goodness, not the Hollywood stereotype bitch of a teenager. And when the shit hits the fan, so to speak, and she must confess her troubling circumstance to father and step-mom, and Dad says, “I thought you were the kind of girl who knew when to say when,” Page quietly delivers hurt, humility and brave defiance each in subtle, artful measure, quietly stating, “I don’t know… what kind of girl I am.”

Brilliant! She was nominated for all four of the grand slam awards for Best Actress. Cody took the Oscar for best screenplay.

And of course Michael Cera and the meek Paulie Bleeker role were just perfectly made for each other. It seems like every other Cera role struggles to eclipse a mere shadow of Bleeker.  

A rare comedy brimming with laughter, charm, style and substance which helps define an early millennial youth culture; a renaissance of digital communication, unapologetic sexuality, and the eternal uphill struggle that is adolescence.

Writer: Diablo Cody (Young Adult)

Director: Jason Reitman (Up in the Air)

Budget: $7,500,000

IMDB rating: 7.5

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0SKf0K3bxg&nohtml5=False

44. Lars and the Real Girl (2007, USA/Canada )

Ryan Gosling, Patricia Clarkson, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider

The premise sounds untouchably weird. Yet this is one of the most charming stories ever filmed. It speaks to the great diversity of love, our pitiable fears of love, and the capacity of love within the family and within the community.

This is a comedy which makes you laugh out loud and yet accomplishes so much more than that. I can’t think of any other film which touched me in quite the way that this one did.

Lars Lindstrom: How'd you know…? That you were a man?

Gus: Well, it's not like you're one thing or the other, okay? There's still a kid inside but you grow up when you decide to do right, okay? And not what's right for you; what's right for everybody. Even when it hurts.

Writer: Nancy Oliver (True Blood)

Director: Craig Gillespie (Fright Night)

Budget: $12,000,000

IMDB rating: 7.4

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNcs9DrKYRU&nohtml5=False

45. Brokeback Mountain (2005, USA/Canada)

Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal

Jake Gyllenhaal was only sixteen the first time he read this script and, in his own words, swore he wanted nothing to do with it. That was 1997; a society already evolved thirty three years beyond that dark age which serves as this story’s setting. And still it took a further seven years before we were ready for this film, and the shooting began. At twenty-three, Gyllenhaal re-read the script and claimed, “It’s too beautiful to say no.”

Though missing out on Best Picture Oscar, any look across the broader film critic and film award landscape reveals Brokeback Mountain the most heralded film of the year.

Hailed by Newsday: “A revolutionary act of cinema.” Said Rolling Stone: “Hits you like a shot in the heart.” It’s an emotional whirlwind. Sad. Sadder. Saddest. The climax is one of the most heart-wrenching moments in modern cinema. Even the joyful moments are laced with fear.

Like Romeo and Juliette: a desperate fight in the name of love, against all odds. I believe this is partly what Bruce Cockburn lamented, in addition to the AIDS crisis, in Lovers in a Dangerous Time, when he sang: Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight; Got to kick at the darkness ‘til it bleeds daylight.

Writers: Annie Proulx (The Shipping News), Larry McMurtry (Terms of Endearment)

Director: Ang Lee (Life of Pi)

Budget: $14,000,000

IMDB rating: 7.7

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xuugq7fito

Short List:

Biutiful (2010, Mexico/Spain) Javier Bardem, Maricel Álvarez, Hanaa Bouchaib

Arthur (1981, USA) Dudley Moore, Liza Minnelli, John Gielgud

Mask (1985, USA) Cher, Eric Stoltz, Sam Elliot

Out of Africa (1985, USA/UK) Meryl Streep, Robert Redford

The Big Chill (1983, USA) Glen Close, Tom Berenger, Jeff Goldblum, Mary Kay Place, Meg Tilly, William Hurt

100 Must-See Films! -- King

There are of course reasons why novels and their adapted screenplays never match up well when judged by linear standards and often match up in no way at all. People inherently approach novels and movies in a different way; simplistically: novels with patience and movies without. We expect a movie to be fast and linear and horizontal. We expect a lot to happen at once.

For a theatrical adaptation to be completely faithful to its novel it would have to run from 15 to 30 hours long and put every viewer to sleep. Books and movies are apples and oranges.

But then there are the novellas: briefer and simpler in terms of themes and ideas and applicable to more direct translation into a visual story of a couple hours length. And what famous author writes a damn fine novella?

Stephen King for one.

39. Stand By Me (1986, USA)

Wil Wheaton, River Pheonix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O’Connell, Kiefer Sutherland

Adapted from King’s The Body from popular 1982 collection Different Seasons, Stand By Me is often name-checked among people’s favorite movies of all time. Why is that? And the theme song borrowed from Ben E. King is likewise one of the most covered songs in history (Catch my hands-down favorite version below!)

Is it because the movie – like the song, is a resonant anthem of friendship and that friendship is perhaps our most coveted external asset? Perhaps secretly so? A relationship model which often engenders more trust or longer endurance then that of the presumed-superior love-relationship/marriage model?

These four lads embark on an adventure together; one that can only make sense in the minds of early adolescents, and despite their constant age-typical baiting of one another it is obvious that they rely on one another much more than on the familial figures in their broken homes. So perhaps it is the deeply moving notion that when the last refuge fails; that of family, that there just might be one more refuge after all: the “family” of our choosing.

The performances here are superb, in large part due, some insiders claim, to the bang-on casting of four boys with real-life personalities exactly like their characters.

Writers: Stephen King, Raynold Gideon and Bruce Evans (Starman)

Director: Rob Reiner (The Princess Bride)

Budget: $ 8,000,000

IMDB rating: 8.1

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUVnfaA-kpI

The four novellas in Different Seasons were in fact written at different times across many seasons. They lacked typical horror elements and for a long time appeared to have no home in the publishing world until King, with all of his acquired clout and renown, simply brought them together as one book. And what a tome it was: In addition to The Body: he included Apt Pupil, a more sinister youth adventure also adapted to film in 1988 to far less fanfare than Stand By Me; and a winter’s tale called The Breathing Method and finally, rather spectacularly: a tale fated for much fame, about friendship and survival within a federal prison, called Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption:

40. The Shawshank Redemption (1994, USA)

Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton,

What heresy might I be hanged for if I dared compare William Shakespeare with Stephen King! Let me confess right off that I’ve never enjoyed a single Shakespearian sentence, and rarely comprehended one. I am not personally aware of him being any kind of genius. I’m only aware that he had a very big voice in his day, and thus speaks for his era.

Does King perhaps do the same? Without precedent he has literally owned an entire genre for half a lifetime, yet looking at his writing one seems to find no genius there either. Could it be that the genius of these writers lies in honesty? People everywhere seem to look upon King like they would a plane crash: "Ew! How does he come up with all that weird and macabre stuff! What an imagination!"

I suggest to you that King is simply a fearless man; unafraid of his imagination or to admit how wild the human imagination truly is. Thus, unlike the rest of us, he does not fetter himself.

I read every book King released for a couple decades before the habit trailed off. I loved the Shawshank story and the movie too but I’ll be damned if I can pinpoint why! On the Internet Movie Database website, more than one and a half million viewers have contributed to an average Shawshank score of 9.3 stars out of 10! That is almost unfathomable!

Sure it is a gripping tale of injustice and struggle but that alone does not explain it. Movie execs tagged the film: “Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free.” And that sheds no light for me whatsoever. People just dig the highly-marketable word hope because it sounds so nice and friendly and cuddly. King’s written story had little to do with hope but rather with the opposite of hope, which is action. Our hero is only a hero because he takes his fate into his own hands.

Perhaps that is at the core of our love for this film. For he dares to fight his monsters as we secretly wish we could fight our own, while we cling to the apparent safety of hope instead, and likely to our detriment.

Writers: Stephen King, Frank Darabont

Director:  Frank Darabont (The Green Mile)

Budget: $25,000,000

IMDB rating: 9.3

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hB3S9bIaco

41. The Shining (1980, USA/UK)

Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers

And here’s the exception! The full-length novel which was somehow very successfully transformed into film despite the necessary story modifications. But really, how could it miss with such a deeply insightful visual artist as Kubrick and wickedly crafty casting! Nicholson was born to play a madman. Duvall personally suffered through the project and was given little mercy; in fact was apparently provoked into further losing her shit in order to transform her authentically into the eerie fragile basket-case which further imperilled poor little Danny Torrence; portrayed by the unusually deep-minded six-year-old Danny Lloyd who in this extraordinary debut was carefully coddled with blinders so as to not grasp the kind of story he was so effectively helping to create. He later portrayed a young G. Gordon Liddy in a TV movie before deciding at age eight that acting wasn’t for him! I doubt the true nature of his Shining experience had been revealed to him by that point but it was probably a very wise decision considering our society’s tremendous skill at ruining the humanity of young stars! Let’s face it: Destroying climate and destroying young celebrities are probably our two areas of collective expertise. High five...

Am I rambling? Surely no one is reading this because surely you have all seen this masterpiece already! Even I have seen it a few times and I normally avoid horror flicks at any cost!  

Writers: Stephen King, Stanley Kubrick, Diane Johnson (Le divorce)

Director: Stanley Kubrick (A Clockwork Orange)

Budget: $19,000,000

IMDB rating: 8.4

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G7Ju035-8U

And now, this important message from veteran musician Ry Cooder:

100 Must-See Films! -- Justice

Today's films concern moral decisions with lives in the balance, and time running out:

35. Dead Man Walking (1995, UK, USA)

Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn

"Absorbing, surprising, technically superb and worth talking about for a long time afterward," said Roger Ebert of this film that is loaded with heart-wrenching emotional tension. The delicate performances constructed by Sarandon, Penn and director Robbins (all Oscar nominated) were beautifully crafted and executed with gentle precision and genuine emotion.

The result is a heavy experience: Devastating scenes and an overriding moral dilemma which cannot be ignored or easily resolved. Sarandon won for Best Actress.

Writers: Helen Prejean (the novel), Tim Robbins

Director: Tim Robbins (Cradle Will Rock)

Budget: $11,000,000

IMDB rating: 7.6

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgvbfLNYumU

36. Return to Paradise (1998, USA)

Vince Vaughan, Anne Heche, Joaquin Phoenix

Time is inexorably running out for an unwitting American in a stark and brutal foreign prison while his friend attempts to navigate a horrendous moral decision. The tension grows with cruel certainty.

This film is often compared to the more-widely celebrated Midnight Express (1978) but clearly more cerebral and less visceral. Return gets my nod for this list because to me, fear is always more palpable in the dungeons of the mind than in those of stone.

Roger Ebert gave it 3.5 stars out of 4.

Writers: Pierre Jolivet (Force majeure), Oliver Schatzky (Fortune Express) 

Director: Joseph Ruben (Sleeping with the Enemy)

Budget: $14,000,000

IMDB rating: 6.9

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_SgjiAQxI

37. Philadelphia (1993, USA)

Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Mary Steenburgen, Jason Robards, Charles Napier, Antonio Banderas

This very first big-budget film to tackle the AIDS crisis and to portray homosexuals sensitively and responsibly changed the trend in Hollywood, however some voices from the gay community bashed the film for its apparent fear of depicting gay affection between the characters of Hanks and Banderas. Such scenes had in fact been filmed then cut, but a bedroom scene was re-inserted for the DVD edition.

More importantly, the film effectively agitates the audience over the harrowing injustice of AIDS discrimination and may have had a significant impact on that improved landscape, now 23 years later. To boot, the film tackled the equally mindless taboo of inter-racial coupling.

The soundtrack bears mention with Springsteen’s Streets of Philadelphia winning Best Original Song Oscar against Neil Young’s Philadelphia; also nominated; a unique Oscar tableau as far as I know. To this day I still find both of this film’s co-themes deeply emotionally haunting whenever I hear them.

Here’s a special Oscar moment from that year:

Writer: Ron Nyswaner (The Painted Veil)

Director: Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs)

Budget: $26,000,000

IMDB rating: 7.7

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l433n5zAxAU

38. Erin Brokovich (2000, USA)

Julia Roberts, Albert Finney, Aaron Eckhart

Here’s another classic David and Goliath story which puts viewers on the edge of their seats, immersed in a struggle against brutal injustice; cheering with each step forward and hurting with each step back. Roberts is dynamite as the bold and gritty unlikely hero and the emotional payoff is grand. As with all films on today’s list: extra Kleenex required.

Writer: Susannah Grant (The Soloist)

Director: Steven Soderbergh (Ocean’s Eleven)

Budget: $52,000,000

IMDB rating: 7.3

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2GvrAQMNoU

Short List:

Reservation Road (2007, USA/Germany) Mark Ruffalo, Joaquin Phoenix

Midnight Express (1978, UK/USA) Brad Davis, Irene Miracle, Bo Hopkins

The Visitor (2007, USA) Richard Jenkins, Haaz Sleiman, Danai Gurira

The Whistleblower (2010, Canada/Germany) Rachel Weisz, Monica Bellucci, Vanessa Redgrave

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962, USA) Gregory Peck, John Megna, Frank Overton

Twelve Years a Slave (2013, USA/UK) Chiwetal Ejiofor, Michael Kenneth Williams

Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008, USA/Canada) Documentary by Kurt Kuenne

100 Must-See Films! -- Invasion

I see the Middle Kingdom between Heaven and Earth
Like the Chinese call the country of their birth
We all figure that our homes are set above
Other people than the ones we know and love
In every place with a name
They play the same territorial game
Hiding behind the lines
Sending up warning signs

The whole wide world
An endless universe
Yet we keep looking through
The eyeglass in reverse
Don't feed the people
But we feed the machines
Can't really feel
What international means
In different circles, we keep holding our ground
Indifferent circles, we keep spinning round and round

We see so many tribes overrun and undermined
While their invaders dream of lands they've left behind
Better people...better food...and better beer...
Why move around the world when Eden was so near?
The bosses get talking so tough
And if that wasn't evil enough
We get the drunken and passionate pride
Of the citizens along for the ride

They shoot without shame
In the name of a piece of dirt
For a change of accent
Or the color of your shirt
Better the pride that resides
In a citizen of the world
Than the pride that divides
When a colorful rag is unfurled

-Neil Peart, Rush

32. Avatar (2009, USA, UK)

Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Giovanni Ribisi, Stephen Lang

James Cameron sat on this project for years waiting for technology to catch up with his needs, then sunk a quarter billion dollars into an epic sci-fi fantasy chock full of struggle, injustice, slightly weird inter-species love, gorgeous artificial scenery and a number of special effects innovations.

The result had audiences cheering madly for the alien indigenous good guys and then, possibly not gleaning the hugely obvious allegory, left the theatres and undoubtedly have devoted every moment of their lives since then supporting the real-life bad guys.

Oh well.

This first installment of the first known planned film tetralogy grossed billions and took Oscars for Visual Effects, Art Direction and Cinematography and received nods for six others. The follow-ups are due out in Decembers of 2017, 2018 and 2019. Avatar is definitely a one-time must-see movie but I doubt all the bells and whistles will be enough to entertain me for another three rounds. I expect the sequels will be soulless money-grabs but who knows! Here’s hoping...

Jake Sully: She said all energy is only borrowed, and one day you have to give it back.

Writer/Director: James Cameron (The Terminator)

Budget: $237,000,000

IMDB rating: 7.9

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1_JBMrrYw8

33. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011, USA)

Thomas Horn, Max von Sydow, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock

Oh boy. The problem with best-of lists in the realm of the arts: it is the honeymoon effect. It was some time ago I prepared this list and I had just watched  Extremely Loud and was still in the throes of emotional response. I had the same problem with Twelve Years a Slave but managed to swap it out just in time! At this moment the list is committed!

Now that I look back on Extremely Loud I am missing any urge to see it again. In hindsight I recall little sense of depth other than a very earnest performance by young Thomas Horn in his first professional gig after winning thousands on Jeopardy game show’s kids week, which is perfect! Just the sort of thing his character Oskar Schell might do. I think the supporting cast performed very well also but the tone was just kind of light. I think the immense real-life heaviness of the 9/11 topic got in the way of an otherwise excellent film. And I’ll confess to finding the plot just slightly awkward, The late surprise twist felt like a last-minute band-aid, which I presume came right from the novel. I don’t know.

I’m going to save myself though and whole-heartedly call this a must-watch film for kids (tweens and early teens) and a fine recommendation for the whole family.

Writers:  Jonathan S. Foer (Everything is Illuminated), Eric Roth (Forrest Gump)

Director: Stephen Daldry (The Reader)

Budget: $ 40,000,000

IMDB rating: 6.9

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_quK9SEGYE

In 2002, a young cab driver picked up a few passengers near his home in Afghanistan... He never returned.

34. Taxi to the Dark Side (2007, USA)

Documentary with Alex Gibney, Brian Keith Allen, Moazzam Begg

Emboldened by the solidest direct evidence, this is an utterly convincing Oscar-winning exposition of U.S. military terror tactics double-thinked as “war on terror”, focusing on torture, murder and egregious human rights atrocities in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, created, written and directed by celebrated American patriot, Gibney who views his nation’s values tragically undermined by the corruption of the few; essentially within the Bush administration.

Yet more fall-out from the global catastrophe that is North American oil greed, which will be eagerly avoided by the 90% of us who have no wish whatsoever to step foot in the real world or the capacity to deal with it.

If you are the exception and not too faint of heart, this movie is definitely for you! Deeply riveting, essential and not for dinnertime viewing.

Sgt. Ken Davis: People were told to rough up Iraqis that wouldn't cooperate. We were also told they're nothing but dogs. And all of a sudden you start looking at these people as less than human, and you start doing things to them you would never dream of. And that's where it got scary.

US Army Colonel: You've always got people in the military who are just this side of the Marquis de Sade.

Writer/Director:  Alex Gibney (We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks)

Budget: $1,000,000

IMDB rating: 7.7

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5j3Ry8qXOI

Short List:

Green Zone (2010, France/USA/Spain/UK) Matt Damon, Jason Isaacs

No End in Sight (2007, USA) Documentary by Charles Ferguson

Three Kings (1999, USA/Australia) Mark Wahlberg, George Clooney