This list excludes anime, and, to ensure variety, includes only two films from any one director. I. Tokyo Story [1953] Tokyo Story is one of the greatest films of all time. Director Yasujirō Ozu’s trade-mark subtlety in rendering a picture so quietly powerful is seen here as in no other film as a story is told…
Category: Lists
Back to School: 10 Incredible Films
This is a list of ten great films set at school or academic environment.
15 Great World War II Films
Schindler’s List (1993) The Pianist (2002) Life is Beautiful (1997) The Bridge on the River Kwai (1953) Fires on the Plain (1959) Downfall (2004) Ivan’s Childhood (1962) The Red Thin Line (1998) Hacksaw Ridge (2016) Come and See (1985) Dunkirk (2017) Rome, Open City (1945) Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) Saving Private Ryan (1998) The…
5 Foreign Films That Should Have Been Nominated for an Academy Award (Part II)
This is the second part of my list of foreign films that should have been nominated for an Academy Awards. As my previous list – 5 Foreign Films that Should Have Been Nominated for an Academy Award (Part I) – I am listing only those films that were officially submitted by their respective countries for consideration. I….
5 Foreign Films That Should Have Been Nominated for an Academy Award (Part I)
The Academy Awards have always had a very difficult relationship with experimental and artistic films or with films d‘auteur, but, nevertheless, below are five films that should have received at least a Best Foreign Film nomination by the Academy (if not a win) and were unjustly ignored. I am listing only the films that were…
5 Great Films Never Made
I. Tim Burton’s Notre Dame de Paris What is it all about? In 2011, it was announced that Tim Burton was working on his version of Notre-Dame de Paris with Josh Brolin, but the project never moved beyond the early stages. This film was supposed to be an adaptation of Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel Notre-Dame…
Childhood in Cinema: 10 Unforgettable Films
I. Ivan’s Childhood [1962] Country: USSR Andrei Tarkovsky’s film is a beautiful, powerful story set during the World War II. At its centre is a twelve-year old boy Ivan (Kolya Burlyayev) who has taken on the job of an adult, the dangerous job of spying on the Nazi forces that are invading his country. Tarkovsky…
Top 10 Alfred Hitchcock Films
I. Psycho (1960) This is a quintessential Hitchcock film with some unbelievable twists and deep psychology. Suspense is the word here. In this story, Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) steals quite a lot of money from her employer’s client and hits the road. However, she needs to rest somewhere on her way to her “financial freedom”…
Film Recommendations based on 8 Finalists of the Copa América
Inspired by my previous post where I recommended 16 films based on the 16 finalists of the UEFA European Championship, I decided to write a similar post but based on Copa América, the South American Football Championship and the oldest still-running international football competition. It started on 11 June and the finale will be held on 10 July 2021. Below I am recommending 8 films based on the 8 South American countries that reached the quarter-finals.
Film Recommendations based on 16 Finalists of the UEFA European Championship
The UEFA European Football Championship 2020 is underway and we now have 16 country finalists who will compete for the coveted trophy. That led me to the idea to recommend 16 films from each of the 16 European countries currently remaining in the competition:
5 Films Based on Remarkable True Stories
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, and there are many interesting films of this or last year which are based on true stories, including Mank, The Trial of the Chicago 7, The United States vs. Billie Holiday, Tesla, Hillbilly Elegy, The Dig and The Mauritanian. Crime and war films are often inspired by real stories (Catch Me If You Can [2002], The Pianist [2002]) and I previously compiled a list of 25 “Must-See” Biographical Films (see also my related list of 5 Great Films About Adventurers Based on Real Stories). Below are five films which were based on, or inspired by, real stories which, in turn, are simply remarkable.
5 Films Influenced by Andrei Tarkovsky
“All art, of course, is intellectual, but for me, all the arts, and cinema even more so, must above all be emotional and act upon the heart.” (Andrei Tarkovsky) Andrei Tarkovsky (1932 – 1986) was a Soviet director and screenwriter known for his cinematic masterpieces, including Solaris [1972], Stalker [1979] and his debut Ivan’s Childhood…
10 Great Films Based on Plays (Part I)
Did you know that classic film Casablanca [1942] was based on an unproduced play titled Everybody Comes to Rick’s? by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison?; or that film Moonlight [2016] was based on another unproduced play titled Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue by Tarell Alvin McCraney? Many a great film first originated in a play, and…
3 Underappreciated Songs in Animation
I. “You Know Better Than I” from Joseph: King of Dreams [2000] This song, written by John Bucchino and performed by David Campbell, is from the straight-to-video animated film Joseph: King of Dreams. The song is inspirational and feels very personal. It is sung by Joseph when he finds himself near to despair and at…
7 Great Films About Pianists
My last review focused on a cellist who was forced to abandon his chosen profession and resort to a more undesirable one. This got me thinking about musicians in films, and I am presenting below seven great films that focus on pianists, their lives and struggles. While some pianists below are completely fictional, such as Ada in The Piano or Tom in The Talented Mr. Ripley, others are based on real-life people, including David Helfgott in Shine and Mozart in Amadeus.
5 Films That Centre Around Film-Making
Last week we saw the release of a tease trailer for the new film by David Fincher Mank (2020). This film is written by Fincher’s father Jack Fincher and is about “screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz and his battles with director Orson Welles over screenplay credit for Citizen Kane (1941)”. In the list below, I am focusing on 5 similarly-themed films that usually escape this categorisation on the Internet.
My 5 Favourite Films of 2018
This is my list of five favourite films of 2018, and most of those below I also consider to be the best films of 2018. Please note that I have not yet seen Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma”, Nadine Labaki’s “Capernaum” or Peter Farrelly’s “Green Book”. There is a big chance I would have equally enjoyed either or all of them.
10 Films You May Not Know Were Based on a Book (Part II)
This film by Paul Thomas Anderson could really be considered a cinematic masterpiece, with a great performance by Daniel Day-Lewis…However, few probably know that the film is loosely based on book Oil! by Upton Sinclair.
New York: 10 Films Illustrating the City
Chris Columbus’s entertainment-feast Home Alone II leads my list as it provides a great itinerary for a first-time visit to New York.
10 Films You May Not Know Were Based on a Book (Part I)
I. The Prestige (2006) The secrets to magicians’ tricks are often mundane – it is the way those tricks are performed which makes all the difference. Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige is a complex, clever film about two magicians competing against each other in the 19th century, but the film is actually based on a…
Spotlight on Film 