MOVIES MOVIES MOVIES MOVIES MOVIES MOVIES MOVIES MOVIES...
here's a list of my favorite movies... masyado na kasing madami at parang ayokong siksikan sila sa maliit na espasyo ng friendster :) this ain't listed in any particular order.
Category I: MOVIES ABROAD
1. Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (original 1989 release)
The renowned story of a famous Italian film director who returns home to a Sicilian village for the first time after almost 30 years. There, he is reconnected with the life and people he once knew—particularly the old projectionist at the town’s movie theater—and in revisiting the poignant memories of childhood, the journey brings back the highlights and tragedies that shaped his life and inspired him to pursue his dream.
2. Sleepless in Seattle
After his wife died, Sam Baldwin did not think about other women. His 8-year old son Jonah thinks that his father needs a woman in order to get his life back in order and calls in on a nation-wide radio-show. The voice and story of Sam is heard by hundreds of women, including Annie Reed, who is about to marry her fiancé Walter soon. She can't find a rest until she really knows for sure that Sam Baldwin is not the one person for her. Thus, Annie travels to Seattle, where Sam and Jonah live, and there decides that Sam is not the one. The letter she never sent was posted by a friend of Annie, and therefore Jonah, who feels that she's the one for his dad, already booked a flight to New York in order to meet her on the roof of the Empire State building, just like in "An Affair to Remember". Of course, his father follows him instantly...
3. Casablanca
In World War II Casablanca, Rick Blaine, exiled American and former freedom fighter, runs the most popular nightspot in town. The cynical lone wolf Blaine comes into the possession of two valuable letters of transit. When Nazi Major Strasser arrives in Casablanca, the sycophantic police Captain Renault does what he can to please him, including detaining Czech underground leader Victor Laszlo. Much to Rick's surprise, Lazslo arrives with Ilsa, Rick's one time love. Rick is very bitter towards Ilsa, who ran out on him in Paris, but when he learns she had good reason to, they plan to run off together again using the letters of transit. Well, that was their original plan....
4. Citizen Kane
Considered by many to be the best film ever made, this is the story of Charles Foster Kane. The film opens with a long shot of Xanadu - the private estate of one of the world's richest men. In the middle of the estate is a castle. We see, inside the castle, a dying man examining a winter scene within a crystal ball. As he drops it, it smashes, and one word is heard - "Rosebud..." What follows are pieces of newsreel-like footage detailing how Kane amassed his fortune, and turning around full circle at the end.
5. A Place in the Sun
Young up-and-comer George Eastman is thrust into the blue collar life of a rich friend's family business where he's expected to learn the ropes from the bottom up. While paying his dues Eastman becomes involved with Alice Tripp, a simple, trusting girl on the assembly line. When Eastman is finally introduced to high society he meets the gorgeous, sophisticated Angela Vickers and promptly forgets all about Alice. Only Alice won't be gotten rid of so easily - espcially since their affair is about to result in an unexpected and (especially from Eastman) unwanted dividend.
6. Something's Gotta Give
Harry Sanborn, the over-age playboy who has spent his entire life avoiding serious commitments, is set to spend the weekend with his flavor of the moment girlfriend, Marin, at a beach house owned by Marin's mother. Unfortunately for Harry and Marin, Marin's mother Erica Barry, who is a famous playwright, shows up for the weekend also with her sister Zoe. Of course Erica doesn't quite know how to deal with the fact that her daughter is dating and possibly sleeping with a man of Harry's reputation and age leading to some very funny dialog between Harry, Erica and Zoe that rings mounds of truth. It's these early scenes in the film that sets the pace, grabs your attention, then never lets you go. Later, when beginning to get it on with Marin, Harry suffers a heart attack. Now I know having a heart attack is not supposed to be particularly funny, but in this case it's some of the many many hilarious scenes that rock throughout Something's Gotta Give. When Harry is taken to the hospital, we meet Dr. Julian Mercer, who happens to be a great admire of Erica's plays and quickly develops a crush on her. Of course, plot manipulations being what they are, Harry ends up recuperating alone in Erica's beach house. Everything that happens from that point on speaks volumes about love, aging, and especially how men and women are viewed differently as they grow older.
7. Love Actually
The characters are falling in love, falling out of love, some are with right people, some are with the wrong people, some are looking to have an affair, some are in the period of mourning; a capsule summary of reality. Love begins and love ends. They flirt a lot. They are all flirting with love. At all ages and social levels, love is the theme. Romantic love and brotherly love is the hotchpotch through out the movie. Most of the movie is filmed in London, during Christmas and the characters all ended up at Heathrow airport in a very uplifting note.
8. Requiem for a Dream
A film paralleling the lives of Sara Goldfarb, a lonely, TV obsessed widow, and her son Harry, his girlfriend Marion, and his drug dealer friend Tyrone. After learning that she will make an appearance on a TV game show, Sara tries to lose weight so that she can fit into her prized red dress, and becomes hooked on diet pills. Meanwhile, Harry and his friends are taking heroin and cocaine. We then witness the disasterous consequences and the downward spiral their lives take as a result of their addictions.
9. Amelie
Amélie tries to enrich the lives of those around her by weaving her special brand of mischievous magic. She befriends a neighbor who's a shut-in, plays pranks on another neighbor, steals a garden gnome and returns objects she collects to their rightful owners. She romantically daydreams in the café she works at and marvels at life's ironies. One day she finds a small box containing a child's mementos and decides to set about finding its rightful owner...will romance blossom for Amélie?
10. Delicatessen
In a post-apocolyptic society where food is so rare it's invaluable and used as currency and people eat each other a young clown applies for a job at a local delicatessen. The butcher's intent is to have him work for a little and then serve him to his stranger than normal tenants who pay him in, of course, grain. This clown falls in love with the butcher's daughter who tries to foil her father's plans by contacting the rebels. The rebels are possibly the most sensible of the lot, as they see food as food and not money.
11. Sideways
Miles Raymond, a failed writer and divorcé who teaches junior high school English takes his best friend, former hot actor Jack, on a weeklong drive up to California's wine country. There they explore the nature of their failures and question their relationships. Jack, about to get married, has an affair with a woman and wonders whether he should call off his wedding. Miles questions whether or not he made the right choice while trying to form a relationship with the woman's best friend, a fellow oenophile who is a waitress at a restaurant that he frequents often when visiting that part of the country.
12. As Good as it Gets
The trials and tribulations of a compulsive writer, Melvin Udall. After his homosexual neighbor is brutally beaten, he is entrusted to the care of the neighbor's dog, with a difficult relationship with a waitress to add on top of that. What develops is a weekend trip/triangle between these three individuals, and together they learn the true meaning of "the sunny side of life".
13. Spanglish
When a Mexican mother and her daughter come to the United States, the mother, Flor Moreno, wonderfully played by Vega, gets a job as a maid at the home of a successful chef John Clasky, his insecure wife Deborah, their two children, and Deborah's mother. Despite Flor's lack of an English language vocabulary, she tries the best she can to assist the Clasky family in more than just house cleaning matters. However, when Flor is forced to live with the family over the summer, she has no choice but to bring her daughter, Christina along. Deborah, much to Flor's disliking, treats Flor's daughter much like her own and at the same time she hurts the feelings of her own daughter, Bernice, as well as Flor. When John's dreams begin to unravel, he begins to feel like his whole world is coming down around him, but with the love of his children and with the help of Flor, he finds himself trying to get through it all. Flor's daughter Christina, through which this gripping story is told in a college letter to Princeton University, serves as a translator for the beginning of the film, but after Flor breaks the communication bridge by learning to speak English, Christina must learn that things come and go in life, but family is the most important thing a person can have.
14. Splendor in the Grass
The story of two Kansas high school sweethearts growing up in the late 1920s through the stock market crash of 1929. Bud and Deanie are very much in love, but the pressures of sex in society creates a rift in their relationship. Bud's father encourages him to leave Deanie to find "another kind of girl" which drives Deanie into madness. She is committed into an institution while Bud reluctantly obeys his father and enrolls in Yale. The crash of '29 hits and changes the lives of both their families. Together they learn the harsh lesson of love and life in the '20s and sadly go their separate ways.
15. This Property is Condemned
A railroad official, Owen Legate comes to Dodson, Mississippi to shut down much of the town's railway (town's main income). Owen unexpectedly finds love with Dodson's flirt and main attraction, Alva Starr. Alva and Owen then try to escape Alva's mother's (Hazel) clutches and the town's revenge.
16. Il Mare
Eun-joo moves out of her house "Il Mare", leaving behind a Christmas card for the eventual new owner of the house in 1999. In it she asks him/her to forward any mail of hers to her new address in the city. It is 1997 and Sung-hyun, the first owner of "Il Mare" is moving in and finds in his mailbox the Christmas card from Eun-joo. Thinking it was a joke, Sung-hyun leaves her a letter telling her so and reminds her that its 1997 not 1999. Eventually the two realize that they are separated by two years of time but can somehow communicate through the mailbox and begin to form a friendship through their letters.
17. My Sassy Girl
Based on a series of true stories posted by Ho-sik Kim on the Internet describing his relationship with his girlfriend. These were later transformed into a best-selling book and the movie follows the book closely. It describes the meeting of Kyun-woo (Cha) and an unnamed girl. Kyun-woo is shamed into assisting the girl because the other passengers mistakenly think she is his girlfriend. Once he helps her, Kyun-woo develops a deep sense of responsibility for her which enables him to tolerate (somehow) the girls abuses.
18. Frankie and Johnny
Johnny is a lonely middle-aged man who gets a job in a restaurant owned by a greek family. There, he meets Frankie, a woman who doesn't seem very happy with her life, and he falls in love with her. The problem is that Frankie feels really lost in her monotony, so he can't convince her about his feelings...
17. Sense and Sensibility
When Mr. Dashwood dies, he must leave the bulk of his estate to the son by his first marriage, which leaves his second wife and three daughters (Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret) in straitened circumstances. They are taken in by a kindly cousin, but their lack of fortune affects the marriageability of both practical Elinor and romantic Marianne. When Elinor forms an attachment for the wealthy Edward Ferrars, his family disapproves and separates them. And though Mrs. Jennings tries to match the worthy (and rich) Colonel Brandon to her, Marianne finds the dashing and fiery Willoughby more to her taste. Both relationships are sorely tried. But this is a romance, and through the hardships and heartbreak, true love and a happy ending will find their way for both the sister who is all sense and the one who is all sensibility.
18. Lost in Translation
Bob Harris is an American film actor, far past his prime. He visits Tokyo to appear in commercials, and he meets Charlotte, the young wife of a visiting photographer. Bored and weary, Bob and Charlotte make ideal if improbable travelling companions. Scarlet is looking for "her place in life," and Bob is tolerating a mediocre stateside marriage. Both separately and together, they live the experience of the American in Tokyo. Bob and Charlotte suffer both confusion and hilarity due to the cultural and language differences between themselves and the Japanese. As the relationship between Bob and Charlotte deepens, they come to the realization that their visits to Japan, and one another, must soon end. Or must they?
19. Eternal Sunshine (of the Spotless Mind)
On a Valentine Day, Joel Barish feels the impulse of going to Montauk instead of working. After spending the cold day on the beach, he meets Clementine Kruczynski on the train station and they have a crush on each other. Joel and Clementine do not know that they were mates in the past. Joel has just erased Clementine from his memories when he found that Clementine did exactly the same, when their relationship ended. However, along his erasing process, Joel becomes astonished when he finds that he still loves Clementine and he does not want to lose her, fighting for keeping the memories of their moments together instead.
20. In the Mood for Love
Set in Hong Kong, 1962, Chow Mo-Wan is a newspaper editor who moves into a new building with his wife. At approximately the same time, Su Li-zhen, a beautiful secretary and her executive husband also move in to the crowded building. With their spouses often away, Chow and Li-zhen spend most of their time together as friends. They have everything in common from noodle shops to martial arts. Soon, they are shocked to discover that their spouses are having an affair. Hurt and angry, they find comfort in their growing friendship even as they resolve not to be like their unfaithful mates.
21. 2046
He was a writer. He thought he wrote about the future but it really was the past. In his novel, a mysterious train left for 2046 every once in a while. Everyone who went there had the same intention.....to recapture their lost memories. It was said that in 2046, nothing ever changed. Nobody knew for sure if it was true, because nobody who went there had ever come back- except for one. He was there. He chose to leave. He wanted to change.
22. Hilary and Jackie
The touching and tragic real-life story of brilliant, International concert cellist Jacqueline Du Pré as seen by her sister Hilary and brother Piers. From their early life together as musicians, flautist Hilary was the one in demand until their mother Iris scolded Jacqueline that if she wanted to be with her sister she must become as good as her. To Jacqueline's debut performance in the Wigmore Hall, London following which she is presented with the Stradivarius Davidoff by an unknown benefactor. Following a wedding appearance in Italy the lives of Hilary and Jacqueline separated as Hilary returned to London and her flute studies whilst Jacqueline embarked on her international concert career. In London Hilary marries Kiffer Finzi and starts a family whilst Jacqueline meets and marries conductor Daniel Barenboim.
23. Malena
On the day in 1940 that Italy enters the war, two things happen to the 12-year-old Renato: he gets his first bike, and he gets his first look at Malèna, a beautiful, silent outsider who's moved to this Sicilian town to be with her husband Nico who promptly goes off to war, leaving her to the lustful eyes of the men and the sharp tongues of the women. During the next few years, as Renato grows toward manhood, he watches Malèna suffer and prove her mettle: her loneliness, then grief when Nico is reported dead, the effects of slander on her relationship with her father, her poverty and search for work, and final humiliations. Will Renato learn courage from Malèna and stand up for her?
24. The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Tomas is a doctor and a lady-killer in 1960s Czechoslovakia, an apolitical man who is struck with love for the bookish country girl Tereza; his more sophisticated sometime lover Sabina eventually accepts their relationship and the two women form an electric friendship. The three are caught up in the events of the Prague Spring (1968), until the Soviet tanks crush the non-violent rebels; their illusions are shattered and their lives change forever.
25. To Sir With Love
Engineer Mark Thackeray arrives to teach a totally undisciplined class at an East End school. Still hoping for a good engineering job, he's hopeful that he won't be there long. He starts implementing his own brand of classroom discipline: forcing the pupils to treat each other with respect. Inevitably he begins getting involved in the students' personal lives, and must avoid the advances of an amorous student while winning over the class tough. What will he decide when the engineering job comes through?
26. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
The answer to that question is, your new son-in-law's parents. A wealthy white family is informed that their daughter's intended is coming to meet them, and he's black. Scripted in the late 60s, the idea of a bi-racial marriage was still fairly shocking. To smooth this over, the son-in-law to be is a prince. He's a Doctor who lives in Switzerland and intends to take their daughter there to live. Set in California, it's not quite a return to Selma, Alabama, but was controversial in its day.
27. Bridget Jones's Diary
Can a single woman over 30, who smokes too much, drinks too much, and has a tendency to say whatever comes into her mind, find her place in the world... and a man? Bridget Jones is an assistant at a London book publisher, feeling time pass her by. When Daniel Cleaver, her boss, starts flirting with her in a vulgar way, she plunges straight in. An affair ensues and she's head over heels. She also keeps running into Mark Darcy, a reserved even stiff barrister who has known her since she was a child young enough to frolic naked in his wading pool, seems to look down his nose at her, and hates Cleaver (truth is, Daniel may be a bit of a bounder). What are Bridget's choices?
28. Falling in Love
During shopping for Christmas, Frank and Molly run into each other. This fleeting short moment will start to change their lives, when they recognize each other months later in the train home and have a good time together. Although both are married and Frank has two little kids, they meet more and more often, their friendship becoming the most precious thing in their lives.
29. The Wedding Singer
Robby is stood up at the altar by Linda, who decides that the prospect of marrying a guy who sings at wedding reception doesn't equal the attraction she felt when he was lead singer in a rock band. Robby finds consolation in his friendship with Julia, a waitress at the wedding receptions and bar mitzvahs where he performs. Julia asks Robby to help her plan her upcoming wedding to Glenn, who isn't interested in the details of the ceremony. Robby learns that Glenn also isn't totally interested in Julia and is marrying her because she "deserves it" after sticking with him for years and because he knows she's not marrying him for his money, since she dated him back before he started pulling down the big bucks.
30. My Best Friend's Wedding
After Michael tells his best friend, Julianne that he is getting married in four days, she goes straight to Chicago to help him get through. But she has every intention to stop the wedding and steal the groom from Kimberly. Over the next three days, she tries everything to split them up. Finally, on the day of the wedding, Jules tells Mike she loves him and kisses him, but to her disadvantage, Kimmy is watching them. Now Michael has to decide whom he loves most.
31. Notting Hill
Every man's dream comes true for William Thacker, a Notting Hill bookstore owner, when Anna Scott, the world's most beautiful woman and best-liked actress, enters his shop. A little later, he still can't believe it himself, William runs into her again - this time spilling orange juice over her. Anna accepts his offer to change in his nearby apartment, and thanks him with a kiss, which seems to surprise her even more than him. Eventually, Anna and William get to know each other better over the months, but being together with the world's most wanted woman is not easy - neither around your closest friends, nor in front of the all-devouring press.
32. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Taken from J.R.R. Tolkien's three novels namely The fellowship of the Rings, The Two Towers and The Return of the King, Frodo Baggins, a kind-hearted hobbit is given the task of destroying the powerful ring by throwing it in the hellish-fires of Mount Doom where it was maid. He is assisted by the 'fellowship' which consists of an elf, a dwarf, humans and two other hobbits. Witness how everything unfolds in this adventure-filled and delightful epic.
33. The Breakfast Club
When five students are thrown together by Saturday morning detention, each begins to see the others apart from their stereotypes. Andrew, the jock; Brian, the geek; John, the wastoid; Claire, the popular Prom Queen; and Allison, the psycho girl; each finds qualities about the others that make the Saturday morning change their lives.
35. Let It Snow
Our two young lovers meet on a series of snowy days in high school. Years later they reconnect in Manhattan, but life is more complicated. Sarah sleeps with her beeper. James goes to "open-mike therapy". As Sarah plans her wedding to someone else, James prays for snow and a second chance at first love.
36. Spirited Away
While moving to a new home in Japan, Chihiro and her parents take a wrong turn down a mysterious wooded path. They come across an ominous looking tunnel that only Chihiro is scared of. Going through the tunnel leads them to a mysterious town filled with restaurants that have all kinds of delicious food on display. Chihiro's parents quickly sit down and start gorging themselves, assuming they will pay the restaurant upon their return. Chihiro's doubt of this strange town leads her to wander off, and she comes across a building of titanic size, where a young boy warns her to leave before nightfall. However, as the sun sets, the town begins to fill up with the God's of Japan, and Chihiro returns to find her parents mysteriously turned into Pigs. The young boy, Haku, works at the building, which is a bath-house for 8 Million Gods. He helps Chihiro find work in this new world, and find a way to save her parents from a platter, and find her way home.
37. Me and You and Everyone We Know
'Me and You and Everyone We Know' is a poetic and penetrating observation of how people struggle to connect with one another in an isolating and contemporary world. Christine Jesperson is a lonely artist and "Eldercab" driver who uses her fantastical artistic visions to draw her aspirations and objects of desire closer to her. Richard Swersey (John Hawkes), a newly single shoe salesman and father of two boys, is prepared for amazing things to happen. But when he meets the captivating Christine, he panics. Life is not so oblique for Richard's seven-year-old Robby, who is having a risqué Internet romance with a stranger, and his fourteen-year-old brother Peter who becomes the guinea pig for neighborhood girls -- practicing for their future of romance and marriage.
38. Farewell My Concubine
"Farewell, My Concubine" is a movie with two parallel, intertwined stories. It is the story of two performers in the Peking Opera, stage brothers, and the woman who comes between them. At the same time, it attempts to do no less than squeeze the entire political history of China in the twentieth century into a three-hour time-frame.
Category I: MOVIES ABROAD
1. Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (original 1989 release)
The renowned story of a famous Italian film director who returns home to a Sicilian village for the first time after almost 30 years. There, he is reconnected with the life and people he once knew—particularly the old projectionist at the town’s movie theater—and in revisiting the poignant memories of childhood, the journey brings back the highlights and tragedies that shaped his life and inspired him to pursue his dream.
2. Sleepless in Seattle
After his wife died, Sam Baldwin did not think about other women. His 8-year old son Jonah thinks that his father needs a woman in order to get his life back in order and calls in on a nation-wide radio-show. The voice and story of Sam is heard by hundreds of women, including Annie Reed, who is about to marry her fiancé Walter soon. She can't find a rest until she really knows for sure that Sam Baldwin is not the one person for her. Thus, Annie travels to Seattle, where Sam and Jonah live, and there decides that Sam is not the one. The letter she never sent was posted by a friend of Annie, and therefore Jonah, who feels that she's the one for his dad, already booked a flight to New York in order to meet her on the roof of the Empire State building, just like in "An Affair to Remember". Of course, his father follows him instantly...
3. Casablanca
In World War II Casablanca, Rick Blaine, exiled American and former freedom fighter, runs the most popular nightspot in town. The cynical lone wolf Blaine comes into the possession of two valuable letters of transit. When Nazi Major Strasser arrives in Casablanca, the sycophantic police Captain Renault does what he can to please him, including detaining Czech underground leader Victor Laszlo. Much to Rick's surprise, Lazslo arrives with Ilsa, Rick's one time love. Rick is very bitter towards Ilsa, who ran out on him in Paris, but when he learns she had good reason to, they plan to run off together again using the letters of transit. Well, that was their original plan....
4. Citizen Kane
Considered by many to be the best film ever made, this is the story of Charles Foster Kane. The film opens with a long shot of Xanadu - the private estate of one of the world's richest men. In the middle of the estate is a castle. We see, inside the castle, a dying man examining a winter scene within a crystal ball. As he drops it, it smashes, and one word is heard - "Rosebud..." What follows are pieces of newsreel-like footage detailing how Kane amassed his fortune, and turning around full circle at the end.
5. A Place in the Sun
Young up-and-comer George Eastman is thrust into the blue collar life of a rich friend's family business where he's expected to learn the ropes from the bottom up. While paying his dues Eastman becomes involved with Alice Tripp, a simple, trusting girl on the assembly line. When Eastman is finally introduced to high society he meets the gorgeous, sophisticated Angela Vickers and promptly forgets all about Alice. Only Alice won't be gotten rid of so easily - espcially since their affair is about to result in an unexpected and (especially from Eastman) unwanted dividend.
6. Something's Gotta Give
Harry Sanborn, the over-age playboy who has spent his entire life avoiding serious commitments, is set to spend the weekend with his flavor of the moment girlfriend, Marin, at a beach house owned by Marin's mother. Unfortunately for Harry and Marin, Marin's mother Erica Barry, who is a famous playwright, shows up for the weekend also with her sister Zoe. Of course Erica doesn't quite know how to deal with the fact that her daughter is dating and possibly sleeping with a man of Harry's reputation and age leading to some very funny dialog between Harry, Erica and Zoe that rings mounds of truth. It's these early scenes in the film that sets the pace, grabs your attention, then never lets you go. Later, when beginning to get it on with Marin, Harry suffers a heart attack. Now I know having a heart attack is not supposed to be particularly funny, but in this case it's some of the many many hilarious scenes that rock throughout Something's Gotta Give. When Harry is taken to the hospital, we meet Dr. Julian Mercer, who happens to be a great admire of Erica's plays and quickly develops a crush on her. Of course, plot manipulations being what they are, Harry ends up recuperating alone in Erica's beach house. Everything that happens from that point on speaks volumes about love, aging, and especially how men and women are viewed differently as they grow older.
7. Love Actually
The characters are falling in love, falling out of love, some are with right people, some are with the wrong people, some are looking to have an affair, some are in the period of mourning; a capsule summary of reality. Love begins and love ends. They flirt a lot. They are all flirting with love. At all ages and social levels, love is the theme. Romantic love and brotherly love is the hotchpotch through out the movie. Most of the movie is filmed in London, during Christmas and the characters all ended up at Heathrow airport in a very uplifting note.
8. Requiem for a Dream
A film paralleling the lives of Sara Goldfarb, a lonely, TV obsessed widow, and her son Harry, his girlfriend Marion, and his drug dealer friend Tyrone. After learning that she will make an appearance on a TV game show, Sara tries to lose weight so that she can fit into her prized red dress, and becomes hooked on diet pills. Meanwhile, Harry and his friends are taking heroin and cocaine. We then witness the disasterous consequences and the downward spiral their lives take as a result of their addictions.
9. Amelie
Amélie tries to enrich the lives of those around her by weaving her special brand of mischievous magic. She befriends a neighbor who's a shut-in, plays pranks on another neighbor, steals a garden gnome and returns objects she collects to their rightful owners. She romantically daydreams in the café she works at and marvels at life's ironies. One day she finds a small box containing a child's mementos and decides to set about finding its rightful owner...will romance blossom for Amélie?
10. Delicatessen
In a post-apocolyptic society where food is so rare it's invaluable and used as currency and people eat each other a young clown applies for a job at a local delicatessen. The butcher's intent is to have him work for a little and then serve him to his stranger than normal tenants who pay him in, of course, grain. This clown falls in love with the butcher's daughter who tries to foil her father's plans by contacting the rebels. The rebels are possibly the most sensible of the lot, as they see food as food and not money.
11. Sideways
Miles Raymond, a failed writer and divorcé who teaches junior high school English takes his best friend, former hot actor Jack, on a weeklong drive up to California's wine country. There they explore the nature of their failures and question their relationships. Jack, about to get married, has an affair with a woman and wonders whether he should call off his wedding. Miles questions whether or not he made the right choice while trying to form a relationship with the woman's best friend, a fellow oenophile who is a waitress at a restaurant that he frequents often when visiting that part of the country.
12. As Good as it Gets
The trials and tribulations of a compulsive writer, Melvin Udall. After his homosexual neighbor is brutally beaten, he is entrusted to the care of the neighbor's dog, with a difficult relationship with a waitress to add on top of that. What develops is a weekend trip/triangle between these three individuals, and together they learn the true meaning of "the sunny side of life".
13. Spanglish
When a Mexican mother and her daughter come to the United States, the mother, Flor Moreno, wonderfully played by Vega, gets a job as a maid at the home of a successful chef John Clasky, his insecure wife Deborah, their two children, and Deborah's mother. Despite Flor's lack of an English language vocabulary, she tries the best she can to assist the Clasky family in more than just house cleaning matters. However, when Flor is forced to live with the family over the summer, she has no choice but to bring her daughter, Christina along. Deborah, much to Flor's disliking, treats Flor's daughter much like her own and at the same time she hurts the feelings of her own daughter, Bernice, as well as Flor. When John's dreams begin to unravel, he begins to feel like his whole world is coming down around him, but with the love of his children and with the help of Flor, he finds himself trying to get through it all. Flor's daughter Christina, through which this gripping story is told in a college letter to Princeton University, serves as a translator for the beginning of the film, but after Flor breaks the communication bridge by learning to speak English, Christina must learn that things come and go in life, but family is the most important thing a person can have.
14. Splendor in the Grass
The story of two Kansas high school sweethearts growing up in the late 1920s through the stock market crash of 1929. Bud and Deanie are very much in love, but the pressures of sex in society creates a rift in their relationship. Bud's father encourages him to leave Deanie to find "another kind of girl" which drives Deanie into madness. She is committed into an institution while Bud reluctantly obeys his father and enrolls in Yale. The crash of '29 hits and changes the lives of both their families. Together they learn the harsh lesson of love and life in the '20s and sadly go their separate ways.
15. This Property is Condemned
A railroad official, Owen Legate comes to Dodson, Mississippi to shut down much of the town's railway (town's main income). Owen unexpectedly finds love with Dodson's flirt and main attraction, Alva Starr. Alva and Owen then try to escape Alva's mother's (Hazel) clutches and the town's revenge.
16. Il Mare
Eun-joo moves out of her house "Il Mare", leaving behind a Christmas card for the eventual new owner of the house in 1999. In it she asks him/her to forward any mail of hers to her new address in the city. It is 1997 and Sung-hyun, the first owner of "Il Mare" is moving in and finds in his mailbox the Christmas card from Eun-joo. Thinking it was a joke, Sung-hyun leaves her a letter telling her so and reminds her that its 1997 not 1999. Eventually the two realize that they are separated by two years of time but can somehow communicate through the mailbox and begin to form a friendship through their letters.
17. My Sassy Girl
Based on a series of true stories posted by Ho-sik Kim on the Internet describing his relationship with his girlfriend. These were later transformed into a best-selling book and the movie follows the book closely. It describes the meeting of Kyun-woo (Cha) and an unnamed girl. Kyun-woo is shamed into assisting the girl because the other passengers mistakenly think she is his girlfriend. Once he helps her, Kyun-woo develops a deep sense of responsibility for her which enables him to tolerate (somehow) the girls abuses.
18. Frankie and Johnny
Johnny is a lonely middle-aged man who gets a job in a restaurant owned by a greek family. There, he meets Frankie, a woman who doesn't seem very happy with her life, and he falls in love with her. The problem is that Frankie feels really lost in her monotony, so he can't convince her about his feelings...
17. Sense and Sensibility
When Mr. Dashwood dies, he must leave the bulk of his estate to the son by his first marriage, which leaves his second wife and three daughters (Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret) in straitened circumstances. They are taken in by a kindly cousin, but their lack of fortune affects the marriageability of both practical Elinor and romantic Marianne. When Elinor forms an attachment for the wealthy Edward Ferrars, his family disapproves and separates them. And though Mrs. Jennings tries to match the worthy (and rich) Colonel Brandon to her, Marianne finds the dashing and fiery Willoughby more to her taste. Both relationships are sorely tried. But this is a romance, and through the hardships and heartbreak, true love and a happy ending will find their way for both the sister who is all sense and the one who is all sensibility.
18. Lost in Translation
Bob Harris is an American film actor, far past his prime. He visits Tokyo to appear in commercials, and he meets Charlotte, the young wife of a visiting photographer. Bored and weary, Bob and Charlotte make ideal if improbable travelling companions. Scarlet is looking for "her place in life," and Bob is tolerating a mediocre stateside marriage. Both separately and together, they live the experience of the American in Tokyo. Bob and Charlotte suffer both confusion and hilarity due to the cultural and language differences between themselves and the Japanese. As the relationship between Bob and Charlotte deepens, they come to the realization that their visits to Japan, and one another, must soon end. Or must they?
19. Eternal Sunshine (of the Spotless Mind)
On a Valentine Day, Joel Barish feels the impulse of going to Montauk instead of working. After spending the cold day on the beach, he meets Clementine Kruczynski on the train station and they have a crush on each other. Joel and Clementine do not know that they were mates in the past. Joel has just erased Clementine from his memories when he found that Clementine did exactly the same, when their relationship ended. However, along his erasing process, Joel becomes astonished when he finds that he still loves Clementine and he does not want to lose her, fighting for keeping the memories of their moments together instead.
20. In the Mood for Love
Set in Hong Kong, 1962, Chow Mo-Wan is a newspaper editor who moves into a new building with his wife. At approximately the same time, Su Li-zhen, a beautiful secretary and her executive husband also move in to the crowded building. With their spouses often away, Chow and Li-zhen spend most of their time together as friends. They have everything in common from noodle shops to martial arts. Soon, they are shocked to discover that their spouses are having an affair. Hurt and angry, they find comfort in their growing friendship even as they resolve not to be like their unfaithful mates.
21. 2046
He was a writer. He thought he wrote about the future but it really was the past. In his novel, a mysterious train left for 2046 every once in a while. Everyone who went there had the same intention.....to recapture their lost memories. It was said that in 2046, nothing ever changed. Nobody knew for sure if it was true, because nobody who went there had ever come back- except for one. He was there. He chose to leave. He wanted to change.
22. Hilary and Jackie
The touching and tragic real-life story of brilliant, International concert cellist Jacqueline Du Pré as seen by her sister Hilary and brother Piers. From their early life together as musicians, flautist Hilary was the one in demand until their mother Iris scolded Jacqueline that if she wanted to be with her sister she must become as good as her. To Jacqueline's debut performance in the Wigmore Hall, London following which she is presented with the Stradivarius Davidoff by an unknown benefactor. Following a wedding appearance in Italy the lives of Hilary and Jacqueline separated as Hilary returned to London and her flute studies whilst Jacqueline embarked on her international concert career. In London Hilary marries Kiffer Finzi and starts a family whilst Jacqueline meets and marries conductor Daniel Barenboim.
23. Malena
On the day in 1940 that Italy enters the war, two things happen to the 12-year-old Renato: he gets his first bike, and he gets his first look at Malèna, a beautiful, silent outsider who's moved to this Sicilian town to be with her husband Nico who promptly goes off to war, leaving her to the lustful eyes of the men and the sharp tongues of the women. During the next few years, as Renato grows toward manhood, he watches Malèna suffer and prove her mettle: her loneliness, then grief when Nico is reported dead, the effects of slander on her relationship with her father, her poverty and search for work, and final humiliations. Will Renato learn courage from Malèna and stand up for her?
24. The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Tomas is a doctor and a lady-killer in 1960s Czechoslovakia, an apolitical man who is struck with love for the bookish country girl Tereza; his more sophisticated sometime lover Sabina eventually accepts their relationship and the two women form an electric friendship. The three are caught up in the events of the Prague Spring (1968), until the Soviet tanks crush the non-violent rebels; their illusions are shattered and their lives change forever.
25. To Sir With Love
Engineer Mark Thackeray arrives to teach a totally undisciplined class at an East End school. Still hoping for a good engineering job, he's hopeful that he won't be there long. He starts implementing his own brand of classroom discipline: forcing the pupils to treat each other with respect. Inevitably he begins getting involved in the students' personal lives, and must avoid the advances of an amorous student while winning over the class tough. What will he decide when the engineering job comes through?
26. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
The answer to that question is, your new son-in-law's parents. A wealthy white family is informed that their daughter's intended is coming to meet them, and he's black. Scripted in the late 60s, the idea of a bi-racial marriage was still fairly shocking. To smooth this over, the son-in-law to be is a prince. He's a Doctor who lives in Switzerland and intends to take their daughter there to live. Set in California, it's not quite a return to Selma, Alabama, but was controversial in its day.
27. Bridget Jones's Diary
Can a single woman over 30, who smokes too much, drinks too much, and has a tendency to say whatever comes into her mind, find her place in the world... and a man? Bridget Jones is an assistant at a London book publisher, feeling time pass her by. When Daniel Cleaver, her boss, starts flirting with her in a vulgar way, she plunges straight in. An affair ensues and she's head over heels. She also keeps running into Mark Darcy, a reserved even stiff barrister who has known her since she was a child young enough to frolic naked in his wading pool, seems to look down his nose at her, and hates Cleaver (truth is, Daniel may be a bit of a bounder). What are Bridget's choices?
28. Falling in Love
During shopping for Christmas, Frank and Molly run into each other. This fleeting short moment will start to change their lives, when they recognize each other months later in the train home and have a good time together. Although both are married and Frank has two little kids, they meet more and more often, their friendship becoming the most precious thing in their lives.
29. The Wedding Singer
Robby is stood up at the altar by Linda, who decides that the prospect of marrying a guy who sings at wedding reception doesn't equal the attraction she felt when he was lead singer in a rock band. Robby finds consolation in his friendship with Julia, a waitress at the wedding receptions and bar mitzvahs where he performs. Julia asks Robby to help her plan her upcoming wedding to Glenn, who isn't interested in the details of the ceremony. Robby learns that Glenn also isn't totally interested in Julia and is marrying her because she "deserves it" after sticking with him for years and because he knows she's not marrying him for his money, since she dated him back before he started pulling down the big bucks.
30. My Best Friend's Wedding
After Michael tells his best friend, Julianne that he is getting married in four days, she goes straight to Chicago to help him get through. But she has every intention to stop the wedding and steal the groom from Kimberly. Over the next three days, she tries everything to split them up. Finally, on the day of the wedding, Jules tells Mike she loves him and kisses him, but to her disadvantage, Kimmy is watching them. Now Michael has to decide whom he loves most.
31. Notting Hill
Every man's dream comes true for William Thacker, a Notting Hill bookstore owner, when Anna Scott, the world's most beautiful woman and best-liked actress, enters his shop. A little later, he still can't believe it himself, William runs into her again - this time spilling orange juice over her. Anna accepts his offer to change in his nearby apartment, and thanks him with a kiss, which seems to surprise her even more than him. Eventually, Anna and William get to know each other better over the months, but being together with the world's most wanted woman is not easy - neither around your closest friends, nor in front of the all-devouring press.
32. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Taken from J.R.R. Tolkien's three novels namely The fellowship of the Rings, The Two Towers and The Return of the King, Frodo Baggins, a kind-hearted hobbit is given the task of destroying the powerful ring by throwing it in the hellish-fires of Mount Doom where it was maid. He is assisted by the 'fellowship' which consists of an elf, a dwarf, humans and two other hobbits. Witness how everything unfolds in this adventure-filled and delightful epic.
33. The Breakfast Club
When five students are thrown together by Saturday morning detention, each begins to see the others apart from their stereotypes. Andrew, the jock; Brian, the geek; John, the wastoid; Claire, the popular Prom Queen; and Allison, the psycho girl; each finds qualities about the others that make the Saturday morning change their lives.
35. Let It Snow
Our two young lovers meet on a series of snowy days in high school. Years later they reconnect in Manhattan, but life is more complicated. Sarah sleeps with her beeper. James goes to "open-mike therapy". As Sarah plans her wedding to someone else, James prays for snow and a second chance at first love.
36. Spirited Away
While moving to a new home in Japan, Chihiro and her parents take a wrong turn down a mysterious wooded path. They come across an ominous looking tunnel that only Chihiro is scared of. Going through the tunnel leads them to a mysterious town filled with restaurants that have all kinds of delicious food on display. Chihiro's parents quickly sit down and start gorging themselves, assuming they will pay the restaurant upon their return. Chihiro's doubt of this strange town leads her to wander off, and she comes across a building of titanic size, where a young boy warns her to leave before nightfall. However, as the sun sets, the town begins to fill up with the God's of Japan, and Chihiro returns to find her parents mysteriously turned into Pigs. The young boy, Haku, works at the building, which is a bath-house for 8 Million Gods. He helps Chihiro find work in this new world, and find a way to save her parents from a platter, and find her way home.
37. Me and You and Everyone We Know
'Me and You and Everyone We Know' is a poetic and penetrating observation of how people struggle to connect with one another in an isolating and contemporary world. Christine Jesperson is a lonely artist and "Eldercab" driver who uses her fantastical artistic visions to draw her aspirations and objects of desire closer to her. Richard Swersey (John Hawkes), a newly single shoe salesman and father of two boys, is prepared for amazing things to happen. But when he meets the captivating Christine, he panics. Life is not so oblique for Richard's seven-year-old Robby, who is having a risqué Internet romance with a stranger, and his fourteen-year-old brother Peter who becomes the guinea pig for neighborhood girls -- practicing for their future of romance and marriage.
38. Farewell My Concubine
"Farewell, My Concubine" is a movie with two parallel, intertwined stories. It is the story of two performers in the Peking Opera, stage brothers, and the woman who comes between them. At the same time, it attempts to do no less than squeeze the entire political history of China in the twentieth century into a three-hour time-frame.

