Favorite Movies

March 28, 2019    Article    6200 words    30 mins read

A “small” and non-exhaustive list of my favorite movies, ordered alphabetically, the page contains lots of images and no IMDB links. Constantly updated (November 2023).

1408

1408
    
Synopsis:
A man who specialises in debunking paranormal occurrences checks into the fabled room 1408 in the Dolphin Hotel. Soon after settling in, he confronts genuine terror.
Year: 2007
Director: Mikael Håfström
Genre: Horror
Watched: 2010

A Driver for Vera

A Driver for Vera
  
Synopsis:
A General, who had sent for a cadet from the Kremlin Guard to work as his personal driver, decided to marry him to his physically disabled daughter.
Year: 2004
Director: Pavel Chukhray
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2021
Notes (click here, might contain spoilers):
Loved the story though it was a bit convoluted at times.

Alphaville

Alphaville
    
Synopsis:
A U.S. secret agent is sent to the distant space city of Alphaville where he must find a missing person and free the city from its tyrannical ruler.
Year: 1965
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Genre: Mystery
Watched: 2023
Notes (click here, might contain spoilers):
It's Godard, nothing else to say

A Perfect Day

A Perfect Day
    
Synopsis:
A group of aid workers work to resolve a crisis in an armed conflict zone.
Year: 2015
Director: Fernando León de Aranoa
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2016

A River Runs Through It

A River Runs Through It
    
Synopsis:
Two sons of a stern minister - one reserved, one rebellious - grow up in rural 1920s Montana while devoted to fly fishing.
Year: 1992
Director: Robert Redford
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2022
Notes (click here, might contain spoilers):
Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.

After the Dark

After the Dark
    
Synopsis:
At an international school in Jakarta, a philosophy teacher challenges his class of twenty graduating seniors to choose which ten of them would take shelter underground and reboot the human race in the event of a nuclear apocalypse.
Year: 2013
Director: John Huddles
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 2015

Aguirre, the Wrath of God

Aguirre, the Wrath of God
    
Synopsis:
In the 16th century, the ruthless and insane Don Lope de Aguirre leads a Spanish expedition in search of El Dorado.
Year: 1972
Director: Werner Herzog
Genre: Adventure
Watched: 2022
Notes (click here, might contain spoilers):
A biting satire on the hubris and cruelty of colonialists.

Altered States

Altered States
  
Synopsis:
A Harvard scientist conducts experiments on himself with a hallucinatory drug and an isolation chamber that may be causing him to regress genetically.
Year: 1980
Director: Ken Russell
Genre: Thriller
Watched: 2015

Amores Perros

Amores Perros
     
Synopsis:
A horrific car accident connects three stories, each involving characters dealing with loss, regret, and life's harsh realities, all in the name of love.
Year: 2000
Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2023
Notes (click here, might contain spoilers):
Not for the faint-hearted.

An Elephant Sitting Still

An Elephant Sitting Still
   
Synopsis:
Four people in a Chinese city live through a complicated day as their lives intersect.
Year: 2018
Director: Bo Hu
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2020
Notes (click here, might contain spoilers):
Very good but so sad.

Apocalypto

Apocalypto
   
Synopsis:
As the Mayan kingdom faces its decline, a young man is taken on a perilous journey to a world ruled by fear and oppression.
Year: 2006
Director: Mel Gibson
Genre: Action
Watched: 2006

Astronaut - The Last Push

Astronaut - The Last Push
   
Synopsis:
When a tragic accident cuts short the first manned mission to explore life on the moons of Jupiter, Michael Forrest must make the 3 year journey home to Earth in pure solitude.
Year: 2012
Director: Eric Hayden
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 2015

Baraka

Baraka
   
Synopsis:
A collection of expertly photographed scenes of human life and religion.
Year: 1992
Director: Ron Fricke
Genre: Documentary
Watched: 2005

Blade Runner

Blade Runner
    
Synopsis:
A blade runner must pursue and terminate four replicants who stole a ship in space and have returned to Earth to find their creator.
Year: 1982
Director: Ridley Scott
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 2010
Notes (click here, might contain spoilers):
Scott builds a world so real and compelling you can almost reach out and touch it. He fleshes it out with endless amounts of little details, but never lets those take centre stage over the story and core ideas behind the film. It’s an opressive and unsettling backdrop to a wonderful screenplay.

Blindness

Blindness
    
Synopsis:
A city is ravaged by an epidemic of instant white blindness.
Year: 2008
Director: Fernando Meirelles
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2013

Bobby

Bobby
     
Synopsis:
The story of the assassination of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was shot in the early morning hours of June 5, 1968 in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California, and twenty-two people in the hotel, whose lives were never the same.
Year: 2006
Director: Emilio Estevez
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2017

Breathless

Breathless
    
Synopsis:
A small-time thief steals a car and impulsively murders a motorcycle policeman. Wanted by the authorities, he reunites with a hip American journalism student and attempts to persuade her to run away with him to Italy.
Year: 1960
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2020
Notes (click here, might contain spoilers):
Yes, in case you were wondering, life in France generally involves chain smoking through various existential crises and constantly comparing yourself to Americans.

Brick

Brick
    
Synopsis:
A teenage loner pushes his way into the underworld of a high school crime ring to investigate the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend.
Year: 2005
Director: Rian Johnson
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2019

Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Cave of Forgotten Dreams
   
Synopsis:
Werner Herzog gains exclusive access to film inside the Chauvet caves of Southern France and captures the oldest known pictorial creations of humanity.
Year: 2010
Director: Werner Herzog
Genre: Documentary
Watched: 2020

Charly

Charly
     
Synopsis:
An intellectually disabled man undergoes an experiment that gives him the intelligence of a genius.
Year: 1968
Director: Ralph Nelson
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2023

Children of Men

Children of Men
   
Synopsis:
In 2027, in a chaotic world in which women have become somehow infertile, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea.
Year: 2006
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Genre: Sci-Fi

Watched: 2012

City of God

City of God
    
Synopsis:
In the slums of Rio, two kids' paths diverge as one struggles to become a photographer and the other a kingpin.
Year: 2002
Director: Fernando Meirelles
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2006

Cloud Atlas

Cloud Atlas
    
Synopsis:
An exploration of how the actions of individual lives impact one another in the past, present and future, as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and an act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution.
Year: 2012
Director: Tom Tykwer, Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski
Genre: Action
Watched: 2012

Come and See

Come and See
     
Synopsis:
After finding an old rifle, a young boy joins the Soviet resistance movement against ruthless German forces and experiences the horrors of World War II.
Year: 1985
Director: Elem Klimov
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2020

Dark City

Dark City
     
Synopsis:
A man struggles with memories of his past, which includes a wife he cannot remember, and a nightmarish world, no one else seems to be waking up from.
Year: 1998
Director: Alex Proyas
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 2020

Dead Man’s Letters

Dead Man's Letters
     
Synopsis:
In the aftermath of nuclear holocaust, a group of intellectuals crave to find hope in the pale and colorless new world. Among them, a history teacher tries to contact via letters his missing son.
Year: 1986
Director: Konstantin Lopushanskiy
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2023

Dersu Uzala

Dersu Uzala
     
Synopsis:
The Russian army sends an explorer on an expedition to the snowy Siberian wilderness where he makes friends with a seasoned local hunter.
Year: 1975
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2022

Devil’s Pass

Devil's Pass
   
Synopsis:
A group of 5 students go the location of the infamous "dyatlov pass incident", to make a documentary but things take a turn for the worse to reveal the secrets as to what happened there.
Year: 2013
Director: Renny Harlin
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 2018

Dirty Weekend

Dirty Weekend
    
Synopsis:
Colleagues Les and Natalie are delayed in the Albuquerque airport. Restless, irritated, and unable to stand the service workers he meets at every turn, Les heads downtown. Natalie refuses to leave his side and discovers that his supposedly aimless wandering has more of a point than he is willing to admit.
Year: 2015
Director: Neil LaBute
Genre: Comedy
Watched: 2017

Disconnect

Disconnect
     
Synopsis:
A drama centered on a group of people searching for human connections in today's wired world.
Year: 2012
Director: Henry Alex Rubin
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2018

Dredd

Dredd
   
Synopsis:
In a violent, futuristic city where the police have the authority to act as judge, jury and executioner, a cop teams with a trainee to take down a gang that deals the reality-altering drug, SLO-MO.
Year: 2012
Director: Pete Travis
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 2022

Dune

Dune
   
Synopsis:
A Duke's son leads desert warriors against the galactic emperor and his father's evil nemesis when they assassinate his father and free their desert world from the emperor's rule.
Year: 1984
Director: David Lynch
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 2000

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
     
Synopsis:
When their relationship turns sour, a couple undergoes a medical procedure to have each other erased from their memories.
Year: 2004
Director: Michel Gondry
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 2021
Notes (click here, might contain spoilers):
An unassuming, uncomplicated work of sci-fi genius.

East of Eden

East of Eden
   
Synopsis:
A wilful young man contends against his brother for the attention of their religious father while reconnecting with his estranged mother and falling for his brother's girlfriend.
Year: 1955
Director: Elia Kazan
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2014

Ema

Ema
 
Synopsis:
A couple deals with the aftermath of an adoption that goes awry as their household falls apart.
Year: 2019
Director: Pablo Larraín
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2021

Embrace of the Serpent

Embrace of the Serpent
     
Synopsis:
The story of the relationship between Karamakate, an Amazonian shaman and last survivor of his people, and two scientists who work together over the course of forty years to search the Amazon for a sacred healing plant.
Year: 2015
Director: Ciro Guerra
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2023

Encounters at the End of the World

Encounters at the End of the World
    
Synopsis:
Film-maker Werner Herzog travels to the McMurdo Station in Antarctica, looking to capture the continent's beauty and investigate the characters living there.
2007
Director: Werner Herzog
Genre: Documentary
Watched: 2010

Event Horizon

Event Horizon
     
Synopsis:
A rescue crew investigates a spaceship that disappeared into a black hole and has now returned...with someone or something new on-board.
Year: 1997
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 2000

eXistenZ

eXistenZ
   
Synopsis:
A game designer on the run from assassins must play her latest virtual reality creation with a marketing trainee to determine if the game has been damaged.
Year: 1999
Director: David Cronenberg
Genre: Thriller
Watched: 2001

Farewell

Farewell
     
Synopsis:
Matyora is a small village on a beautiful island with the same name. The existence of the village is threatened with flooding by the construction of a dam. This is the story of the inhabitants of Matyora and their farewell to their homeland.
Year: 1983
Director: Elem Klimov
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2023
Notes (click here, might contain spoilers):
The island is sacrificed to progress, engineers come and go. Arrangements are made for the evacuation which must take place. There are those, however, who prefer to remain in their homes and face death in the shadow of their ancestors. Superb movie.

Fists of Legend

Fists of Legend
 
Synopsis:
Three old friends and rivals get set to face off on a TV program billed as "The Greatest Fight Show on Earth".
Year: 2013
Director: Woo-Suk Kang
Genre: Action
Watched: 2016

Fitzcarraldo

Fitzcarraldo
    
Synopsis:
The story of Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, an extremely determined man who intends to build an opera house in the middle of a jungle.
1982
Director: Werner Herzog
Genre: Adventure
Watched: 2021

Frank Herbert’s Children Of Dune

Frank Herbert's Children Of Dune
  
Synopsis:
The twins of Paul "Muad'dib" Atreides become embroiled in the political landscape of Arrakis ("Dune") and the rest of the universe.
Year: 2003
Director: Greg Yaitanes
Genre: Adventure
Watched: 2010

Frank Herbert’s Dune

Frank Herbert's Dune
   
Synopsis:
A three-part miniseries on politics, betrayal, lust, greed and the coming of a Messiah. Based on Frank Herbert's classic science fiction novel.
Year: 2000
Director: John Harrison
Genre: Adventure
Watched: 2010

Ghost in the Shell

Ghost in the Shell
    
Synopsis:
A cyborg policewoman and her partner hunt a mysterious and powerful hacker called the Puppet Master.
Year: 1995
Director: Mamoru Oshii
Genre: Animation
Watched: 2021

Giant

Giant
    
Synopsis:
Sprawling epic covering the life of a Texas cattle rancher and his family and associates.
Year: 1956
Director: George Stevens
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2001

Good Will Hunting

Good Will Hunting
     
Synopsis:
Will Hunting, a janitor at M.I.T., has a gift for mathematics, but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.
Year: 1997
Director: Gus Van Sant
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2018

Grave of the Fireflies

Grave of the Fireflies
    
Synopsis:
A young boy and his little sister struggle to survive in Japan during World War II.
Year: 1995
Director: Isao Takahata
Genre: Animation
Watched: 2022
Notes (click here, might contain spoilers):
Probably the saddest movie ever.

Hackers

Hackers
 
Synopsis:
Hackers are blamed for making a virus that will capsize five oil tankers.
Year: 1995
Director: Iain Softley
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2004

Human

Human
 
Synopsis:
A collection of stories about and images of our world, offering an immersion to the core of what it means to be human.
Year: 2015
Director: Yann Arthus-Bertrand
Genre: Documentary
Watched: 2015

Inception

Inception
   
Synopsis:
A thief who steals corporate secrets through the use of dream-sharing technology is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a CEO.
Year: 2010
Director: Christopher Nolan
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 2012

Inherent Vice

Inherent Vice
     
Synopsis:
In 1970, drug-fueled Los Angeles private investigator Larry "Doc" Sportello investigates the disappearance of a former girlfriend.
Year: 2014
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2022
Notes (click here, might contain spoilers):
Inherent Vice may be divisive, but it’s without a doubt one of the most beautiful and original films of the last few years.

Into the Wild

Into the Wild
     
Synopsis:
After graduating from Emory University, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gives his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher encounters a series of characters that shape his life.
Year: 2007
Director: Sean Penn
Genre: Adventure
Watched: 2008

James Dean

James Dean
 
Synopsis:
A biopic about the actor James Dean, whose stardom of the ultimate teenage rebel as well as the premature death made him a legend. His roles are depicted having much in common with his personal life, most notably the difficult relationship with his father.
Year: 2001
Director: Mark Rydell
Genre: Biography
Watched: 2005

Kill Command

Kill Command
  
Synopsis:
Set in a near future, technology-reliant society that pits man against killing machines.
Year: 2016
Director: Steven Gomez
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 2017

Kingdom of Heaven

Kingdom of Heaven
   
Synopsis:
Balian of Ibelin travels to Jerusalem during the Crusades of the 12th century, and there he finds himself as the defender of the city and its people.
Year: 2005
Director: Ridley Scott
Genre: Adventure
Watched: 2010

Koyaanisqatsi

Koyaanisqatsi
     
Synopsis:
A collection of expertly photographed phenomena with no conventional plot. The footage focuses on nature, humanity, and the relationship between them.
Year: 1982
Director: Godfrey Reggio
Genre: Documentary
Watched: 2010

La jetée

La jetée
    
Synopsis:
The story of a man forced to explore his memories in the wake of World War III's devastation, told through still images.
Year: 1962
Director: Chris Marker
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2021

Le révélateur

Le révélateur
     
Synopsis:
A 4-year-old child is the element from and around which the action develops, and brings sentiments and emotions to light. The French word révélateur" describes the prodedure to develop or "reveal" film negatives.
Year: 1968
Director: Philippe Garrel
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2021

Leto

Leto
   
Synopsis:
A love triangle emerges around a rock and roll musician, his protege and his wife in 1980s Russia.
Year: 2018
Director: Kirill Serebrennikov
Genre: Biography
Watched: 2023

Letters from Iwo Jima

Letters From Iwo Jima
    
Synopsis:
The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.
Year: 2006
Director: Clint Eastwood
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2008

Letter Never Sent

Letter Never Sent
    
Synopsis:
Four geologists search for diamonds in the wilderness of Siberia.
Year: 1960
Director: Mikhail Kalatozov
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2022

Lie With Me

Lie With Me
 
Synopsis:
An outgoing, sexually aggressive young woman meets and begins a torrid affair with an equally aggressive young man in which their affair begins to bring a strain on their personal lives.
Year: 2005
Director: Clement Virgo
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2020

Looper

Looper
     
Synopsis:
In 2074, when the mob wants to get rid of someone, the target is sent into the past, where a hired gun awaits - someone like Joe - who one day learns the mob wants to 'close the loop' by sending back Joe's future self for assassination.
Year: 2011
Director: Rian Johnson
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 2022
Notes (click here, might contain spoilers):
Excellent. Nothing else to say.

Love

Love
     
Synopsis:
A man spends years alone on a space station orbiting Earth after losing communication with Houston/Earth. Time is spent on maintenance, exercise, watching old messages and reading a journal by a soldier in the American civil war 1864.
Year: 2011
Director: William Eubank
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 2014
Notes (click here, might contain spoilers):
It is my favorite movie ever, people might disagree. Low budget indie but kick-ass story and it brings out something deep inside. Perhaps hope.

Mar adentro

Mar adentro
   
Synopsis:
The factual story of Spaniard Ramon Sampedro, who fought a 28-year campaign in favor of euthanasia and his own right to die.
Year: 2004
Director: Alejandro Amenábar
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2023

Mars et Avril

Mars et Avril
    
Synopsis:
Based on an acclaimed graphic novel, Mars & Avril is set in Montreal of the future, at the dawn of the first human landing on Mars, and tells the story of a musician who becomes obsessed with his muse.
Year: 2012
Director: Martin Villeneuve
Genre: Fantasy
Watched: 2012

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
  
Synopsis:
High schooler Greg, who spends most of his time making parodies of classic movies with his co-worker Earl, finds his outlook forever altered after befriending a classmate who has just been diagnosed with cancer.
Year: 2015
Director: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2016

Memento

Memento
    
Synopsis:
A man with short-term memory loss attempts to track down his wife's murderer.
Year: 2000
Director: Christopher Nolan
Genre: Thriller
Watched: 2010

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence
    
Synopsis:
During WWII, a British colonel tries to bridge the cultural divides between a British POW and the Japanese camp commander in order to avoid bloodshed.
Year: 1983
Director: Nagisa Ôshima
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2018

Minority Report

Minority Report
  
Synopsis:
In a future where a special police unit is able to arrest murderers before they commit their crimes, an officer from that unit is himself accused of a future murder.
Year: 2002
Director: Steven Spielberg
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 2022

Moon

Moon
   
Synopsis:
Astronaut Sam Bell has a quintessentially personal encounter toward the end of his three-year stint on the Moon, where he, working alongside his computer, GERTY, sends back to Earth parcels of a resource that has helped diminish our planet's power problems.
Year: 2009
Director: Duncan Jones
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 2019

Mr. Nobody

Mr. Nobody
     
Synopsis:
A boy stands on a station platform as a train is about to leave. Should he go with his mother or stay with his father? Infinite possibilities arise from this decision. As long as he doesn't choose, anything is possible.
Year: 2009
Director: Jaco Van Dormael
Genre: Fantasy
Watched: 2014

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
    
Synopsis:
Warrior and pacifist Princess Nausicaä desperately struggles to prevent two warring nations from destroying themselves and their dying planet.
Year: 1984
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Genre: Animation
Watched: 2022

Nebraska

Nebraska
    
Synopsis:
An aging, booze-addled father makes the trip from Montana to Nebraska with his estranged son in order to claim a million-dollar Mega Sweepstakes Marketing prize.
Year: 2013
Director: Alexander Payne
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2016
Notes (click here, might contain spoilers):
Dern's performance along with the gorgeous imagery put Nebraska above most films, but the lack of care with the supporting cast keeps it from being a true classic.

Never Cry Wolf

Never Cry Wolf
    
Synopsis:
A government researcher, sent to research the "menace" of wolves in the north, learns about the true beneficial and positive nature of the species.
Year: 1983
Director: Carroll Ballard
Genre: Adventure
Watched: 2022

News of the World

News of the World
  
Synopsis:
A Civil War veteran agrees to deliver a girl, taken by the Kiowa people years ago, to her aunt and uncle, against her will. They travel hundreds of miles and face grave dangers as they search for a place that either can call home.
Year: 2020
Director: Paul Greengrass
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2022

Noah

Noah
    
Synopsis:
Noah is chosen by God to undertake a momentous mission before an apocalyptic flood cleanses the world.
Year: 2014
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2022
Notes (click here, might contain spoilers):
This particular retelling of the story is dark, and in many ways explores the ugly side of true faith. There’s also a clear investment in visual effects, and it pays off.

Oasis

Oasis
  
Synopsis:
An irresponsible and childish ex-con befriends a girl with cerebral palsy and develops a progressively stronger bond with her.
Year: 2002
Director: Lee Chang-dong
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2022

Ostrov

Ostrov
     
Synopsis:
Somewhere in Northern Russia in a small Russian Orthodox monastery lives an unusual man whose bizarre conduct confuses his fellow monks, while others who visit the island believe that the man has the power to heal, exorcise demons and foretell the future.
Year: 2006
Director: Pavel Lungin
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2022
Notes (click here, might contain spoilers):
This is more than a movie. Check your state of spirit after seeing the movie. For a time, after the movie, you are another human being. The film has the power to change you - even just for a while. And this is not a spell, because for a short while you can see (it is offered to you) the essence of the human being.

Overlord

Overlord
  
Synopsis:
During the World War 2, a young lad's called up and, with increasing sense of foreboding, undertakes his army training ready for D-day.
Year: 1975
Director: Stuart Cooper
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2023

Playtime

Playtime
   
Synopsis:
Monsieur Hulot curiously wanders around a high-tech Paris, paralleling a trip with a group of American tourists. Meanwhile, a nightclub/restaurant prepares its opening night, but it's still under construction.
Year: 1967
Director: Jacques Tati
Genre: Comedy
Watched: 2023

Point Break

Point Break
   
Synopsis:
An F.B.I. Agent goes undercover to catch a gang of surfers who may be bank robbers.
Year: 1991
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Genre: Thriller
Watched: 2000

Porco Rosso

Porco Rosso
     
Synopsis:
In 1930s Italy, a veteran World War I pilot is cursed to look like an anthropomorphic pig.
Year: 1992
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Genre: Animation
Watched: 2022

Prince Avalanche

Prince Avalanche
    
Synopsis:
Two highway road workers spend the summer of 1988 away from their city lives. The isolated landscape becomes a place of misadventure as the men find themselves at odds with each other and the women they left behind.
Year: 2013
Director: David Gordon Green
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2014

Quest for Fire

Quest for Fire
   
Synopsis:
This story takes place in prehistoric time when three tribesmen search for a new fire source.
Year: 1981
Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud
Genre: Adventure
Watched: 2019

Realive

Realive
     
Synopsis:
Marc is diagnosed with a disease and is given one year left to live. Unable to accept his own end, he decides to freeze his body. Sixty years later, in the year 2084, he becomes the first man to be revived in history. It is then he discovers that the love of his life, Naomi, has accompanied him this entire time in a way that he'd never expected.
Year: 2016
Director: Mateo Gil
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 2016

Rebel Without A Cause

Rebel Without A Cause
     
Synopsis:
A rebellious young man with a troubled past comes to a new town, finding friends and enemies.
Year: 1955
Director: Nicholas Ray
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2002

Requiem for a Dream

Requiem for a Dream
     
Synopsis:
The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island people are shattered when their addictions run deep.
Year: 2000
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2008

Russian Ark

Russian Ark
    
Synopsis:
A 19th century French aristocrat, notorious for his scathing memoirs about life in Russia, travels through the Russian State Hermitage Museum and encounters historical figures from the last 200+ years.
Year: 2002
Director: Aleksandr Sokurov
Genre: History
Watched: 2022

Safety Not Guaranteed

Safety Not Guaranteed
 
Synopsis:
Three magazine employees head out on an assignment to interview a guy who placed a classified advertisement seeking a companion for time travel.
Year: 2012
Director: Colin Trevorrow
Genre: Comedy
Watched: 2016

Samsara

Samsara
    
Synopsis:
Filmed over nearly five years in twenty-five countries on five continents, and shot on seventy-millimetre film, Samsara transports us to the varied worlds of sacred grounds, disaster zones, industrial complexes, and natural wonders.
Year: 2011
Director: Ron Fricke
Genre: Documentary
Watched: 2013

Snowpiercer

Snowpiercer
   
Synopsis:
In a future where a failed climate change experiment has killed all life except for the survivors who boarded the Snowpiercer (a train that travels around the globe), a new class system emerges.
Year: 2013
Director: Bong Joon Ho
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 2022
Notes (click here, might contain spoilers):
Very good story, good cast, not a big fan of Chris Evans though. The last half hour of the film turns out to be a long drawn out affair as no one is quite sure where to take things.

Solaris

Solaris
     
Synopsis:
A psychologist is sent to a station orbiting a distant planet in order to discover what has caused the crew to go insane.
Year: 1971
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 2000

Some Freaks

Some Freaks
 
Synopsis:
A charming romance develops between a boy with one eye and an overweight girl, though when she loses her weight after going to college, their relationship is tested in devastating ways they never dreamed would happen.
Year: 2016
Director: Ian MacAllister McDonald
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2017

Stalker

Stalker
     
Synopsis:
A guide leads two men through an area known as the Zone to find a room that grants wishes.
Year: 1979
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2022

Sunshine

Sunshine
     
Synopsis:
A team of international astronauts are sent on a dangerous mission to reignite the dying Sun with a nuclear fission bomb in 2057.
Year: 2007
Director: Danny Boyle
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 2007

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
  
Synopsis:
The legendary tale of a barber who returns from wrongful imprisonment to 1840s London, bent on revenge for the rape and death of his wife, and resumes his trade while forming a sinister partnership with his fellow tenant, Mrs. Lovett.
Year: 2007
Director: Tim Burton
Genre: Horror
Watched: 2021

The Ascent

The Ascent
     
Synopsis:
Two Soviet partisans on a mission to gather food contend with the winter cold, the occupying Germans, and their own psyches.
Year: 1977
Director: Larisa Shepitko
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2022

The Big Kahuna

The Big Kahuna
    
Synopsis:
Two veteran salesmen dissect a sales pitch to a particular client, through their young protégé.
Year: 1999
Director: John Swanbeck
Genre: Comedy
Watched: 2004

The Fire Within

The Fire Within
    
Synopsis:
Depressed Alain Leroy leaves the clinic where he was detoxified. He meets friends, acquaintances and women, trying to find a reason to continue living. Will this help him?
Year: 1963
Director: Louis Malle
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2022

The First King

The First King
    
Synopsis:
Romulus and Remus, two shepherds and loyal brothers, end up taking part to a journey that will lead one of them to be the founder of the greatest nation ever seen. However, the fate of the chosen one will pass from killing his own brother.
Year: 2019
Director: Matteo Rovere
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2022

The Fountain

The Fountain
     
Synopsis:
As a modern-day scientist, Tommy is struggling with mortality, desperately searching for the medical breakthrough that will save the life of his cancer-stricken wife, Izzi.
Year: 2006
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2023

The Hero

The Hero
    
Synopsis:
An ailing movie star comes to terms with his past and mortality.
Year: 2017
Director: Brett Haley
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2017

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
  
Synopsis:
A traveling theater company gives its audience much more than they were expecting.
Year: 2009
Director: Terry Gilliam
Genre: Fantasy
Watched: 2020

The Liability

The Liability
 
Synopsis:
When 19-year-old Adam agrees to do a day's driving for his mum's gangster boyfriend Peter, it takes him on a 24-hour journey into a nightmarish world of murder, sex trafficking and revenge, in the company of aging hit man Roy.
Year: 2012
Director: Craig Viveiros
Genre: Thriller
Watched: 2015

The Magnificent Seven

The Magnificent Seven
    
Synopsis:
An oppressed Mexican peasant village hires seven gunfighters to help defend their homes.
Year: 1960
Director: John Sturges
Genre: Adventure
Watched: 2007

The Man From Earth

The Man From Earth
     
Synopsis:
An impromptu goodbye party for Professor John Oldman becomes a mysterious interrogation after the retiring scholar reveals to his colleagues he has a longer and stranger past than they can imagine.
Year: 2007
Director: Richard Schenkman
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 2007

The Man From Earth - Holocene

The Man From Earth - Holocene
  
Synopsis:
A 14,000-year-old college professor notices that he has finally started showing signs of aging. Meanwhile, four of his students get suspicious of him and start investigating his past.
Year: 2017
Director: Richard Schenkman
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 2017

The Matrix

The Matrix
   
Synopsis:
A computer hacker learns from mysterious rebels about the true nature of his reality and his role in the war against its controllers.
Year: 1999
Director: Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 1999

The Matrix Reloaded

The Matrix Reloaded
  
Synopsis:
Following the events of The Matrix, Neo and the rebel leaders estimate they have 72 hours until 250,000 probes discover Zion and destroy it and its inhabitants. Neo must decide how he can save Trinity from a dark fate in his dreams.
Year: 2003
Director: Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 2003

The Matrix Revolutions

The Matrix Revolutions
   
Synopsis:
The human city of Zion defends itself against the massive invasion of the machines as Neo fights to end the war at another front while also opposing the rogue Agent Smith.
Year: 2003
Director: Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 2003

The Midnight Sky

The Midnight Sky
   
Synopsis:
This post-apocalyptic tale follows Augustine, a lonely scientist in the Arctic, as he races to stop Sully and her fellow astronauts from returning home to a mysterious global catastrophe.
Year: 2020
Director: George Clooney
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 2021

The Motorcycle Diaries

The Motorcycle Diaries
     
Synopsis:
The dramatization of a motorcycle road trip Che Guevara went on in his youth that showed him his life's calling.
Year: 2004
Director: Walter Salles
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2022

The New World

The New World
   
Synopsis:
The story of the English exploration of Virginia, and of the changing world and loves of Pocahontas.
Year: 2005
Director: Terrence Malick
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2022

The Promise (WuJi)

The Promise (WuJi)
     
Synopsis:
Empowered by the love of a slave (Jang), a royal concubine (Cheung) is given the chance to make an extraordinary decision.
Year: 2005
Director: Kaige Chen
Genre: Fantasy
Watched: 2005

The Ring of the Nibelungs

The Ring of the Nibelungs
  
Synopsis:
The legend of Siegfried and Brunhild, loosely based on characters from the Norse sagas and the pre-Christian Germanic heroic motifs outlined in the Nibelungensaga.
Year: 2004
Director: Uli Edel
Genre: Adventure
Watched: 2007

The Road

The Road
     
Synopsis:
In a dangerous post-apocalyptic world, an ailing father defends his son as they slowly travel to the sea.
Year: 2009
Director: John Hillcoat
Genre: Adventure
Watched: 2009

The Salton Sea

The Salton Sea
    
Synopsis:
After a tragic incident, a man drifts into a world populated by thugs and speed junkies.
Year: 2001
Director: D.J. Caruso
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2009

The Seventh Continent

The Seventh Continent
    
Synopsis:
A European family who plan on escaping to Australia, seem caught up in their daily routine, only troubled by minor incidents. However, behind their apparent calm and repetitive existence, they are actually planning something sinister.
Year: 1989
Director: Michael Haneke
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2022

The Village

The Village
   
Synopsis:
A series of events tests the beliefs of a small isolated countryside village.
Year: 2004
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2023

These Final Hours

These Final Hours
    
Synopsis:
A self-obsessed young man makes his way to the party-to-end-all-parties on the last day on Earth, but ends up saving the life of a little girl searching for her father. Their relationship ultimately leads him on the path to redemption.
Year: 2013
Director: Zak Hilditch
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 2015

The Bad Batch

The Bad Batch
    
Synopsis:
In a desert dystopia, a young woman is kidnapped by cannibals.
Year: 2016
Director: Ana Lily Amirpour
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2019

The Piper

The Piper
    
Synopsis:
Shortly after the Korean war, a father and a son are wandering through the country and make a stop in a remote village, where strange and dangerous happenings occur.
Year: 2015
Director: Kwang-tae Kim
Genre: Horror
Watched: 2023
Notes (click here, might contain spoilers):
All scores must be settled.

The Signal

The Signal
    
Synopsis:
On a road trip, Nic and two friends are drawn to an isolated area by a computer genius. When everything suddenly goes dark, Nic regains consciousness - only to find himself in a waking nightmare.
Year: 2014
Director: William Eubank
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 2019

The Spacewalker

The Spacewalker
    
Synopsis:
Trying to hold the lead in the Space Race, the Soviet Union is preparing two cosmonauts for the first spacewalk.
Year: 2017
Director: Dmitriy Kiselev
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2023

The Sunset Limited

The Sunset Limited
    
Synopsis:
Through a chance encounter, two men of opposing ideologies deliberate spiritual, philosophical, and profound matters in a New York City apartment.
Year: 2011
Director: Tommy Lee Jones
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2014

The Thin Red Line

The Thin Red Line
    
Synopsis:
Adaptation of James Jones' autobiographical 1962 novel, focusing on the conflict at Guadalcanal during the second World War.
Year: 1998
Director: Terrence Malick
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2022

The Time Machine

The Time Machine
   
Synopsis:
Hoping to alter the events of the past, a 19th century inventor instead travels 800,000 years into the future, where he finds humankind divided into two warring races.
Year: 2002
Director: Simon Wells
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 2002

The Tree of Life

The Tree of Life
     
Synopsis:
The story of a family in Waco, Texas in 1956. The eldest son witnesses the loss of innocence and struggles with his parents' conflicting teachings.
Year: 2011
Director: Terrence Malick
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2022

The Vessel

The Vessel
     
Synopsis:
Ten years after a tsunami destroyed a small-town elementary school with all the children inside, a young man builds a mysterious structure out of the school's remains, setting the town aflame with passions long forgotten.
Year: 2016
Director: Julio Quintana
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2016

They

They
   
Synopsis:
A psychology student finds all her childhood fears and phobias becoming real after a traumatic event.
Year: 2002
Director: Robert Harmon
Genre: Horror
Watched: 2006

Three-Body

Three-Body
     
Synopsis:
The show focuses on how humans deal with the incoming invasion of a highly-advanced alien civilization called Three-Body.
Year: 2023
Director: Lei Yang
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 2023

Till Human Voices Wake Us

Till Human Voices Wake Us
     
Synopsis:
A man returns to Victoria, Australia, where he grew up, and encounters a mysterious woman who reminds him of someone he once knew.
Year: 2002
Director: Michael Petroni
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2012

Timecrimes

Timecrimes
    
Synopsis:
A man accidentally gets into a time machine and travels back in time nearly an hour. Finding himself will be the first of a series of disasters of unforeseeable consequences.
Year: 2007
Director: Nacho Vigalondo
Genre: Thriller
Watched: 2022

Truth or Consequences, N.M.

Truth or Consequences, N.M.
    
Synopsis:
A group of crooks, an ex con, his friend and a gun crazy gangster plan a drug heist, but not everything goes as planned.
Year: 1997
Director: Kiefer Sutherland
Genre: Action
Watched: 2008

Twelve Monkeys

Twelve Monkeys
     
Synopsis:
In a future world devastated by disease, a convict is sent back in time to gather information about the man-made virus that wiped out most of the human population on the planet.
Year: 1995
Director: Terry Gilliam
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 2017

Underwater

Underwater
  
Synopsis:
A crew of oceanic researchers working for a deep sea drilling company try to get to safety after a mysterious earthquake devastates their deepwater research and drilling facility located at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
Year: 2020
Director: William Eubank
Genre: Sci-Fi
Watched: 2021
Notes (click here, might contain spoilers):
Good action movie.

Walkabout

Walkabout
    
Synopsis:
Two city-bred siblings are stranded in the Australian Outback, where they learn to survive with the aid of an Aboriginal boy on his "walkabout": a ritual separation from his tribe.
Year: 1971
Director: Nicolas Roeg
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2023
Notes (click here, might contain spoilers):
Amazing; you can never return to "something", because it's no longer there.

Watchmen

Watchmen
     
Synopsis:
In 1985 where former superheroes exist, the murder of a colleague sends active vigilante Rorschach into his own sprawling investigation, uncovering something that could completely change the course of history as we know it.
Year: 2009
Director: Zack Snyder
Genre: Drama
Watched: 2009

What Dreams May Come

What Dreams May Come
    
Synopsis:
Chris Nielsen dies in car crash one night, and then goes to Heaven. Later, his widow Annie commits suicide, unable to overcome her loss. Chris descends into Hell to save her.
Year: 1998
Director: Vincent Ward
Genre: Fantasy
Watched: 2000