Must-see films
Movies I think everyone should watch and appreciate. I mostly like Asian movies, so most of the movies on this list are Asian, but there's some of everything. Not in any particular order.
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- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneTakashi ShimuraKeiko AwajiDuring a sweltering summer, a rookie homicide detective tries to track down his stolen Colt pistol.Classic Kurosawa examines the spreading impact of choices we make and circumstances we experience, as a cop tries to retrieve his gun stolen by a pickpocket, used in a series of increasingly violent crimes. The atmosphere of a summer heatwave and post-war Japan are captured beautifully.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneMinoru ChiakiIsuzu YamadaA war-hardened general, egged on by his ambitious wife, works to fulfill a prophecy that he would become lord of Spider's Web Castle.Kurosawa's Japanese treatment of Shakespeare's MacBeth is a masterpiece of cinematic atmosphere.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneEijirô TônoTatsuya NakadaiA crafty ronin comes to a town divided by two criminal gangs and decides to play them against each other to free the town.A drifter with a lightning-fast draw wanders into a town locked in a conflict between two gangs, and hires himself out as a mercenary to both sides, playing the two gangs against each other for fun and profit as the conflict escalated to a bloody climax. This movie set the standard for pretty much all chanbara.
- DirectorKatsuhiro ÔtomoStarsMitsuo IwataNozomu SasakiMami KoyamaA secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath who can only be stopped by a teenager, his gang of biker friends and a group of psychics.This is the movie that really introduced anime to the world, and it remains a timeless classic. And that motorcycle is so cool, I want one bad.
- DirectorMamoru OshiiStarsAtsuko TanakaIemasa KayumiAkio ÔtsukaA cyborg policewoman and her partner hunt a mysterious and powerful hacker called the Puppet Master.Motoko Kusanagi. 'Nuff said.
That said, this movie, and it's sequel and the TV series, feature a beautiful graphic style, a beautiful soundtrack, and a deep philosophical theme interspersed with incredible action sequences. - DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsJohn TravoltaUma ThurmanSamuel L. JacksonThe lives of two mob hitmen, a boxer, a gangster and his wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.An unconventional style links loosely connected stories through the perspectives of their various players, while supplying numerous memorable quotes, samples, and references. "Oh, I'm sorry, did I break your concentration?" "'What' ain't no country I ever heard of." "Ima get medieval on yo ass" "It's the one that says 'Bad *beep* "And you will know my name is the Lord, when I lay my vengeance upon thee."
- DirectorKenji MisumiStarsShintarô KatsuMasayo BanriRyûzô ShimadaThe adventures of a blind, gambling masseur who also happens to be a master swordsman.This is actually for the whole series, 26 movies and a TV series starring Katsu Shintaro, and a movie starring and directed by Takeshi Kitano. Stylish mix of comedy, drama, and lightning swordplay action, this is chanbara at it's finest.
- DirectorKenji MisumiStarsTomisaburô WakayamaFumio WatanabeGô KatôThe story of a Ronin (i.e. a masterless samurai) who wanders the countryside of Japan with his small child, having various adventures.This is also chanbara at its finest. A 6-film series starring Tomisaburo Wakayama, this is serious samurai chanbara--honour, integrity and loyalty are major themes here--not the more lighthearted yakuza themes of Zatoichi. Itto may abandon his humanity to become the assassin Lone Wolf and Cub, but he never loses his sense of self or the bushido code, and remains a devoted and loving father.
- DirectorJackie ChanStarsJackie ChanAnita MuiAh-Lei GuaA country boy becomes the head of a gang through the purchase of some lucky roses from an old lady. He and a singer at the gang's nightclub try to do a good deed for the old lady when her daughter comes to visit.Miracles aka Black Dragon is a delightful, heart-warming remake of Frank Capra's "Pocketful of Miracles", Starring Jackie Chan.
- DirectorTod BrowningKarl FreundStarsBela LugosiHelen ChandlerDavid MannersTransylvanian vampire Count Dracula bends a naive real estate agent to his will, then takes up residence at a London estate where he sleeps in his coffin by day and searches for potential victims by night.The Bela Lugosi one. Still the best.
- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsMax SchreckAlexander GranachGustav von WangenheimVampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife.The first film rendition of Dracula. A cult classic; the age and the limitations of shooting at the time really add to the atmosphere, even with the night-time scenes shot in bright daylight and then hand-tinted. A masterpiece from the silent era.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsTakashi ShimuraNobuo KanekoShin'ichi HimoriA bureaucrat tries to find meaning in his life after he discovers he has terminal cancer.Kurosawa's examination the value of meaning and accomplishment in one's life, and what it means to live in the face of death. Not an easy film to watch, emotionally, but beautifully done.
- DirectorMel BrooksStarsGene WilderMadeline KahnMarty FeldmanAn American grandson of the infamous scientist, struggling to prove that his grandfather was not as insane as people believe, is invited to Transylvania, where he discovers the process that reanimates a dead body."Abby someone"
"Abby someone. Abby who?"
"Abby...normal"
"Abby normal?"
"I'm almost sure that was the name."
Inspector Kemp: Vee had better confeerm de fect dat Yunk Frankenshtein iss indeed VALLOWING EEN EES GANDFADDA'S VOOTSHTAPS.
Villagers: What?
Inspector Kemp: Volloving in his gvandvather's vutschtups, vutschtups, vutschtups [stomps]
Villagers: Ohhh. Footsteps. - 19641h 35mPG8.3 (529K)97MetascoreDirectorStanley KubrickStarsPeter SellersGeorge C. ScottSterling HaydenAn unhinged American general orders a bombing attack on the Soviet Union, triggering a path to nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and generals frantically tries to stop.The quintessential black comedy. A comedy about nuclear war, how can you go wrong? With Peter Sellers in 3 roles, you simply can't.
- DirectorAng LeeStarsChow Yun-FatMichelle YeohZiyi ZhangA young Chinese warrior steals a sword from a famed swordsman and then escapes into a world of romantic adventure with a mysterious man in the frontier of the nation.All these recent wuxia (this, Hero, House of Flying Daggers) are beautifully done, and graced by the presence of the beautiful Zhang Ziyi, but this is the best IMO, with a strong story that really appeals.
- DirectorBruce LeeStarsBruce LeeChuck NorrisNora MiaoA country bumpkin martial artist visits his relatives in Rome, Italy, where he must defend them and their restaurant against harassment from brutal gangsters.Bruce Lee vs. Chuck Norris
- DirectorWei LoChia-Hsiang WuStarsBruce LeeMaria YiJames TienA young Chinese man sworn an oath of non-violence moves to Thailand to work with his cousins in an ice factory, which he discovers to be a front for a sinister heroin-smuggling operation.Fists of Fury aka The Big Boss is, hands down, Bruce Lee's best.
- DirectorGeorge LucasStarsMark HamillHarrison FordCarrie FisherLuke Skywalker joins forces with a Jedi Knight, a cocky pilot, a Wookiee and two droids to save the galaxy from the Empire's world-destroying battle station, while also attempting to rescue Princess Leia from the mysterious Darth Vader.Chanbara in space. All 6 episodes in this list really...Eps 1-3 don't live up to the standard set by Ep. IV, but the series was hugely influential; Ep IV was in many ways revolutionary for its time, yet in many ways is true to classic chanbara from which it is derived (the story is heavily influenced by Kurosawa's Hidden Temple).
- DirectorLana WachowskiLilly WachowskiStarsKeanu ReevesLaurence FishburneCarrie-Anne MossWhen a beautiful stranger leads computer hacker Neo to a forbidding underworld, he discovers the shocking truth--the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence.Wu xia style in a sci-fi action movie, enduring enough to be a cult classic, and increasingly relevant as people feel a loss of control over not only their daily lives, but the society in which we live.
- DirectorWoo-Ping YuenStarsJackie ChanSiu-Tin YuenJeong-lee HwangWong Fei-Hung is a mischievous, yet righteous young man, but after a series of incidents, his frustrated father has him disciplined by a master of drunken martial arts.One of two films that launched Jackie Chan's career, defining his style of kung fu comedy. He was in movies before these two, but these defined Jackie Chan.
- DirectorWoo-Ping YuenStarsJackie ChanSiu-Tin YuenJeong-lee HwangAn orphan who has been raised at a kung fu school, where he is treated as little more than a dogsbody and practice target for the students, has a life-changing experience after helping an old peripatetic beggar.This and Jui Kuen (Drunken Master) are the films that defined the role that Jackie Chan has played through much of his subsequent career. With much of the same cast and crew (Jackie Chan, Hwang Jang Lee, Dean Shek, Yuen Siu Tien (in some of his last roles before his death) and others, and director Yuen Woo Ping), these 2 films are often considered as a series, though the stories and characters are different. In fact, this movie is also known as Snake Fist, Eagle Claw, Cat's Paw, and Drunken Master as Snake Fist, Eagle Claw, Cat's Paw Part 2.
- DirectorKanji WakabayashiStarsDan GreenHikaru HanadaRyuzo HasuikeSet in the Shoryaku and Chotoku eras of Japan's Heian period, the animated short Kai Doh Maru is set against a background of a capital under threat from disease, outlaws, and political plots. The story reworks themes from Japanese folklore, focusing on the relationship between Sakata no Kintoki (Kintaro) and Minamoto no Raiko, one of the first military Minamoto and "monster hunter" of folklore. The story replaces the traditional image of Kintaro - a strong, ruddy-cheeked man - with that of a determined, tomboyish girl, while retaining much of the traditional character such as the carrying of an axe. Other historical figures from the period who have also become objects of folklore, such as Fujiwara no Michinaga and the rebel Taira no Masakado also make an appearance.Anime, beautifully illustrated in the art style characteristic of the Heian Jidai (roughly 900-1200 CE) during which it's set. Confusing story though, if you don't really get it, you're not alone.
- DirectorPao-Shu KaoStarsTed HenningJimmy Wang YuChiao ChiaoWhite Dragon must get a list with the names of rebel supporters to Prince Ma Tung, the leader of the rebellion. Trying to stop him in his mission is the evil Prime Minister, who naturally wants the list in order to crush his opposition. Adding another complication is the fact that Ma Tung wants to kill White Dragon in revenge for the humiliation Tung's father suffered in a duel against White Dragon years earlier.Classic wu xia starring Jimmy Wang Yu. One of the better examples of early 70s kung fu film (apart from the bad dubbing).
- DirectorKazuhiko YamaguchiStarsEtsuko ShihomiShin'ichi ChibaAsao UchidaA young martial artist is on a mission to rescue her brother who's being held captive by a sadistic drug lord.Billed as part of Sonny Chiba's Street Fighter series, this was actually a star vehicle for Etsuko (Sue) Shihomi, the real star of this film. Her career didn't really go very far, which is a shame because she's quite good.
- DirectorAlex CoxStarsHarry Dean StantonEmilio EstevezTracey WalterA young punk, recruited by a car repo agency, finds himself in pursuit of a Chevrolet Malibu with a huge, $20,000 bounty--and something otherworldly stashed in its trunk.Cult classic.