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Ten great movies starting with the letter:
Movie list
Mulholland Drive Machinist (The) Midnight in Paris Made in Britain Mr. Nobody Mid90s Man Who Fell to Earth (The) Matrix (The) Meet Joe Black Memento
IIIIIIIIIMulholland Drive
2001 2h27min Drama, Mystery, Thriller Directed by David Lynch Stars Naomi Watts, Laura Haring
“It’ll be just like in the movies. Pretending to be somebody else.” Betty Elms
David Lynch’s macabre mystery still exists in its own eerily timeless modernity: it just hasn’t aged a day, despite or because of its ambiguous status as period piece in an era of landlines and payphones (mobile phones existed when this film was made and it is supposed to be set in the present day, but could as easily be set in the 1940s). Mulholland Drive is as brilliant and disquieting as anything Lynch has ever done. It is psychotically lucid, oppressively strange, but with a powerfully erotic and humanly intimate dimension that Lynch never quite achieved elsewhere. It is a fantasia of illusion and identity; a meditation on the mystery of casting in art as in life: the vital importance of finding the right role. The breakthrough performances of Naomi Watts and Laura Harring are stunning. Watts has a quicksilver technical fluency: an ingenue, an actress, and then a has-been. Harring’s face in closeup is commanding and sensually tragic, a mask of horror. She is a silent Maria Callas. Watts is Betty, the young wannabe moviestar new in LA; Harring is the mysterious beautiful woman who loses her memory
and desperately needs Betty’s help. The modernist switchover effect in the third act, which flips the action and principals around into something else, is a delirious and disorienting flourish, although it all makes its own kind of sense. Lynch’s formal control and the intensity of Watts and Harring bring it to a new pitch. It is an explosively sexy love story, rocket-fuelled with vanity and cruelty. Seeing it now for the umpteenth time – and I couldn’t get to grips on first viewing – I think I understand how its Hollywood fantasy is an escape from pain, a symptom of pain, but also a prophecy of just the kind of misery the heroine is fleeing. It would be great to see this in a double-bill with La La Land. But in what order should they be shown? - Peter Bradshaw, Guardian
“If you were any thinner,” Stevie tells him, “you wouldn’t exist.” Trevor Reznik weighs 121 pounds and you wince when you look at him. He is a lonely man, disliked at work, up all night, returning needfully to two women who are kind to him: Stevie, a hooker, and Marie, the waitress at the all-night diner out at the airport. “I haven’t slept in a year,” he tells Marie. Christian Bale lost more than 60 pounds to play this role, a fact I share not because you need to know how much weight he lost, but because you need to know that it is indeed Christian Bale. He is so gaunt, his face so hollow, he looks nothing like the actor we’re familiar with. There are moments when his appearance even distracts from his performance, because we worry about him. Certainly we believe that the character, Trevor, is at the end of his rope, and I was reminded of Anthony Perkins’ work in Orson Welles’ “The Trial,” another film about a man who finds himself trapped in the vise of the world’s madness. Trevor works as a machinist. There’s a guy like him in every union shop, a guy who knows all the rules and works according to them and is a pain in the ass
about them. His co-workers think he is strange; maybe he frightens them a little. His boss asks for a urine sample. One day he gets distracted and as a result one of his co-workers loses a hand. The victim, Miller (Michael Ironside) almost seems less upset about the accident than Trevor is. But then Trevor has no reserve, no padding; his nerve endings seem exposed to pain and disappointment. “The Machinist” has an ending that provides a satisfactory, or at least a believable, explanation for its mysteries and contradictions. But the movie is not about the plot, and while the conclusion explains Trevor’s anguish, it doesn’t account for it. The director Brad Anderson, working from a screenplay by Scott Kosar, wants to convey a state of mind, and he and Bale do that with disturbing effectiveness. The photography by Xavi Gimenez and Charlie Jiminez is cold slates, blues and grays, the palate of despair. We see Trevor’s world so clearly through his eyes that only gradually does it occur to us that every life is seen through a filter. - Roger Ebert
“The Machinist” changed me. I learned that I really enjoy, literally, not saying a damned word for days at a time, except for what was in the scene, Whole days of... nothing. Just... standing still. I know a lot of people found it bizarre, because they’d be standing right next to me thinking, ‘Why aren’t we talking? What’s going on?” Christian Bale
IIIIIIIIIMachinist (The)
2004 1h41min Drama, Thriller Directed by Brad Anderson Stars Christian Bale, Jennifer J. Leigh, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon
IIIIIIIIIMidnight in Paris
2011 1h36min Comedy, Fantasy, Romance Directed by Woody Allen Stars Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates “I see... a rhinoceros.” Dali
Gil (Owen Wilson) is having a miserable time in one of the most beautiful cities in the world: Paris. He’s a screenwriter who’s struggling to finish his novel, his fiancée Inez (Rachel McAdams) seems more enamored of her pretentious friend Paul (Michael Sheen) than she does of Gil, and her parents (Kurt Fuller and Mimi Kennedy) hate Gil and think he’s cheap. But none of that bothers him as much as the fact that he feels like he living in the wrong time. When he walks around the museums and gardens of Paris, he takes in the beauty, but it also provides him with nostalgia for the 1920s and all the amazing writers and artists he never met. Despondent and a little drunk, Gil wanders the streets of Paris alone at midnight. As he passes one particular street, an old-time motorcar offers to give him a lift. He gets in and suddenly finds himself party talking up F. Scott Fitzgerald (Tom Hiddleston) and his wife Zelda (Alison Pill) while Cole Porter (Yves Heck) plays the piano. Gil slowly realizes that he’s somehow been transported back to the Paris of the 1920s and that he has the rare opportunity to talk to his literary heroes about his book. Matters become
slightly more complicated when he starts to fall for Adriana (Marion Cotillard), a costume designer and a muse for giants like Ernest Hemingway (Corey Stoll) and Pablo Picasso (Marcial Di Fonzo Bo). There’s a charming simplicity at the heart of Midnight in Paris and it comes from the question of what would you do if you could go back in time and live in a world that you thought was better than your own? Allen doesn’t try to recreate the 1920s as they actually were (this isn’t Boardwalk Empire), but rather as Gil imagines it and that everyone is larger than life. Stoll almost steals the movie with his bombastic impersonation of a young Ernest Hemingway while Adrien Brody gets amusingly strange as he plays the eccentricities of Salvador Dalí. And as for Wilson, I can’t remember the last time I saw him exuding such immeasurable joy and personality into a role, and I applaud both him and Allen for not making Gil the standard neurotic Woody Allen surrogate character. - Matt Goldberg, Collider
IIIIIIIIIMade in Britain
1982 1h16min Crime, Drama Directed by Alan Clarke Stars Tim Roth, Terry Richards, Bill Stewart
“I’m a success mate, I’m a fucking star...I’m in exactly the right place at the right time. The fact that you’re too fucking thick or stupid to see that, that marks you down” Trevor
Trevor is a a teenager whose latest bout of shoplifting has landed him in trouble once more, forced into the care of weary, ineffective key workers. Aged just sixteen, he’s already got a record as long as his arm. He’s an habitual offender; a violent, racist, anti-social skinhead. But he’s also very bright, and extremely articulate and with a streak of stubborness and individuality which means he refuse to cooperate with all attempts at rehabilitation. Made in Britain was written by David Leland and directed by his long time collaborator, Alan Clarke. It’s the kind of film that Clarke absolutely excelled in, and Trevor is a definitive Clarke character. You can draw a line from Archer in Scum right the way through to Bex in The Firm and you’ll be sure to find Trevor leering directly at you in the centre of that line. Each one of them are responsible for actions which means they are shunned by an appalled society, but they are each extremely intelligent and see themselves principally - and correctly - as a desperate victim of the system that they must fight, with the only weapon they have left - their eloquent, aggressive defiance.
In a time when the stereotype for skinheads was that of mindless knuckle dragging thugs, Made In Britain was a sobering, thought provoking wake up call. Indeed, Trevor is still to this day (barring Shane Meadows’ This Is England) a unique depiction of just such a character, because television all too often takes the easy route of the cliche. There aren’t many Alan Clarke’s out there now who can tell viewers in their cosy homes just what the real world is actually like - a complex and confusing thing indeed. Clarke’s trademark use of Steadicam makes its debut with Made in Britain, allowing him to capture every spurt of energy the wild Trevor- who can barely keep still - has across the 70 odd minutes. As such Made in Britain is an important, seminal production in the Clarke oeuvre, the first to capture the kinetic fluidity of the characters or the way of life he constantly wished to explore. It is arguably my favourite film of Clarke’s. - Mark Cunliffe, Letterboxd
What is the nature of time? Not the best subject for a popular feature film, one might think, until “Mr. Nobody” came along to prove the contrary. Like a thinking man’s “Benjamin Button,” it addresses very complex concepts, like the infinite number of possibilities that human life presents, in an entertaining way, following the hero Nemo Nobody, age 0 to 118, through the different lives he would have led had he made different choices. This bigbudget English-language co-production shows that Europeans can compete in the sci-fi realm where high production values are king. Given the film’s versatile appeal as love story and fantasy, but relatively minor star power (Jared Leto, Sarah Polley and Diane Kruger are the top names), its commercial outlook looks strong but not overwhelming. Belgian director Jaco Van Dormael, whose concise repertoire includes “The Eighth Day” and “Toto le heros,” describes at least three distinct futures for the 9-year-old Nemo. It starts when the boy is forced to make an impossible choice: to stay in England with his Dad (Rhys Ifans) or jump on a train and go to the U.S. with his mother (Natasha Little).
2009 2h21min Drama, Fantasy, Romance Directed by Jaco Van Dormael Stars Jared Leto, Sarah Polley, Diane Kruger
This wrenching moment is rendered full of anguish by young Thomas Byrne, the first of the film’s Nemo incarnations. Leto’s wide-open blue eyes guide the viewer through the labyrinth of time and choices. He takes the torch, as it were, from Toby Regbo, who plays his 15-yearold self with shaggy appeal. Kruger offers a remarkably intense portrait of undying love; also memorable is Juno Temple as herself at 15, wisely aware that her feelings for Nemo will last forever. Van Dormael’s intriguing script is more than matched in his flamboyant direction of this 2-hour-plus tale, heroically edited by Matyas Veress and Susan Shipton into a fluid, generally understandable narrative. While Nemo wonders why time only goes in one direction, and ponders the possibility of smoke returning into a cigarette, the filmmakers have no trouble turning the hands of time backwards and forwards. But this is never done for cheap thrills; everything comes back to the idea that human life is precious in all its complications, and every choice we make has its consequences. - Hollywood Reporter
IIIIIIIIIMr. Nobody
“We cannot go back. That’s why it’s hard to choose. You have to make the right choice. As long as you don’t choose, everything remains possible” Mr. Nobody
IIIIIIIIIMid90s
2018 1h25min Comedy, Drama Directed by Jonah Hill Stars Sunny Suljic, Katherine Waterston, Lucas Hedges
“Lotta the time we feel our lives are the worst. But I think if you look in anyone else’s closet, you wouldn’t trade their sh*t for your sh*t. So it’s good.” Ray
Jonah Hill’s directorial debut is an instant classic that is daring, heartwarming, and a visual masterpiece. The film follows Stevie, a 13 year old boy, who is searching to belong. He finds his place in a group of neighbourhood skateboarders, and learns that the life he imagines they live is much different than it seems. Hill’s writing skillfully ensures that there are no details unnecessary to the story, and that no strings are left untied. Perfectly capturing the essence of finding family, love, and brotherhood, Hill’s debut feels raw and perfectly balanced throughout. There are moments to laugh, moments to cry, and moments to feel an overwhelming nostalgia and joy. Hill’s writing is clearly influenced by his own experiences growing up as a skateboarder in the middle of the 90s. The soundtrack to this film is the best I have heard for 2018. Although this film is somewhat niche due to it’s subject matter, there will be something for every movie lover to enjoy. The cast of this film feel real and perfectly portray the characters they represent. This film will rejuvenate your youth, reminding you of conversations you’ve had as a teen. Jonah Hill ignited
the Toronto International Film Festival with an unexpected - yet incredible, first film. I was left stunned, and you will be too. - Holly R. Clemens, IMDb
IIIIIIIIIMan Who Fell to Earth (The)
(Newton) “Ask me --” (Bryce) “What?” (Newton) “The question you’ve been wanting to ask ever since we met.” (Bryce) “Are you Lithuanian?” (Newton) “I come from England.” (Bryce) “Ah, that’s not so terrible.”
1976 2h19min Drama, Sci-Fi Directed by Nicolas Roeg Stars David Bowie, Rip Torn, Candy Clark
In the 35 years since its first release, Nicolas Roeg’s “The Man Who Fell to Earth” has attained such cult status that it was remade in 1987 for television, and its poster can be glimpsed in the recent “Green Lantern.” It centers on an eerie performance by rock star David Bowie, as an alien from a drought-stricken planet who journeys to Earth in search of water. Bowie, slender, elegant, remote, evokes this alien so successfully that one could say, without irony, this was a role he was born to play. His character, named Thomas Jerome Newton, splashes to Earth in a remote Western lake, walks into a town, sells some gold rings to raise cash and searches out a patent attorney named Farnsworth (Buck Henry). He offers plans for a group of advanced electronics products (one of them, not so amazing, is a disposable camera that develops its own film). Farnsworth establishes the World Enterprises Corp. to market these inventions, and Newton grows wealthy. His plan, we learn, is to build a spaceship and transport water to his home planet. On Earth, Newton (a name with a lot of gravity) isolates himself and
communicates with Farnsworth only by telephone. In a motel, he meets a chirpy young woman named Mary-Lou (Candy Clark). They begin an affair, and she introduces him to gin and tonic and television. He becomes addicted to both, eventually watching several channels at the same time. The plot thickens. The CIA becomes involved. He is taken captive, and so on. You will discover the story for yourself. The movie is intriguing primarily because of Bowie’s performance as Newton, and Clark’s as the girl (Buck Henry, and Rip Torn as a scientist, could be playing their characters in any movie). As science-fiction films go, this is a unique one. It focuses on character and implied ideas, not on plot and special effects. It’s very much a product of the 1970s, when idiosyncratic directors deliberately tried to make great films. Roger Ebert
1999 2h16min Action, Sci-Fi Directed by The Wachowski Brothers Stars Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss
IIIIIIIIIMatrix (The)
“Neo, sooner or later you’re going to realize just as I did that there’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path” Morpheus
Extremely violent, extremely preposterous, extremely entertaining, “The Matrix” succeeds at two extremely difficult tasks: as a vast, exciting virtualreality movie and as a defibrillator for Keanu Reeves’ big screen career. Using the pantheon of movie iconography from the past 100 years - from “High Noon” showdowns, to bad kung fu, to love’s first kiss - the writing/directing team of the Wachowski brothers, Larry and Andy, achieves a fantastic, hodgepodge symmetry using hacker noir, comedy and mindless action. Thomas Anderson (Reeves) is a talented computer programmer at a monolithic corporation during the day, but at night he’s an unscrupulous hacker tagged Neo. His work brings him to the attention of Morpheus (Fishburne), a mysterious stranger who tantalizes Neo. Morpheus compares him to Lewis Carroll’s Alice, with talk of other worlds and realities. He offers Neo two pills: a blue one, which will allow things to continue on as they have, and a red one, which purportedly will lift the veil from his eyes and allow him to see “how deep the rabbit hole goes.” This being a movie, and
since the plot would pretty much stop here if he didn’t, Neo takes the red one. When the veil does lift, it’s Kafka meets “Die Hard,” and Neo realizes the awful truth that Morpheus has wanted him to see. It’s a truth darker than “Dark City,” more memorable than “Johnny Mnemonic” and as terminal as “The Terminator.” It’s bad for him, but it’s good for us. Most hacker noir films seem to vie for the “Blade Runner” production design award, entirely forgetting their audience and their story. Not the Wachowskis. They’re like little kids playing with blocks, building and constructing. Then they use the wow-filled, “Flo-mo” and “bullet time” special effects of Jon Gaeta and the designs of Owen Paterson to knock those blocks down. And knock they do, demolishing the wall between the standard “question reality” movie and an action film. When the dust settles, “The Matrix” is all that’s left standing. - Keith Simanton, The Seattle Times
IIIIIIIIIMeet Joe Black
“I can’t believe you people. I come for you, and you want to stay, I let you stay and you want to go.” Joe Black
1998 2h58min Drama, Fantasy, Romance Directed by Martin Brest Stars Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, Claire Forlani
A three hour film about death. It doesn’t sound like much when you say it like that, but trust me, Meet Joe Black is an outstanding film and is without doubt one of the most underrated little gems I have ever seen. The film is beautiful in every regards; the photography, the sets, the music and the performances, especially the performances. The last time Anthony Hopkins and Brad Pitt were on screen together it was the equally sublime Legends of the Fall, here it is another sublime film and once again they are putting in some of their best work. The characters that they play, Bill Parrish and Death, bring out a fantastic chemistry between the two performers, especially in the more comedic moments when they two are getting to know each other. However, while death is the main theme of the film, director Martin Brest remembers to filter optimism into his wonderful tale in the shape of a love story between Parrish’s daughter (played by the beautiful Claire Forlani) and Death himself. This results in one of the most gorgeous coupling in recent years as well as one of the most erotically intense love scenes I have ever watched.
Director Brest presents the film in a more artistically filtered view than most other directors might have done. The love scene is done without nudity with close ups on the actors throughout. The striking presentation of the lighting in the film is also fantastic, with a lovely golden glow pouring of the screen and lastly Thomas Newman’s music is quite simply marvelous. Meet Joe Black is a wonderful mixture of comedy, romance and drama and is done exceedingly well. This is a wonderful film and is a personal favorite of mine. - Eamon Hennedy, IMDb
Nolan’s Following was one of the most original British films of the ‘90s, and this follow-up makes no compromise. It opens with reverse action: a Polaroid photo fading and sliding into the camera, a corpse returned to life, a gun pulled from the head, a bullet sucked into the barrel. The action thereafter plays forwards as usual - with Leonard Shelby (Pearce) out to track down and take revenge on whoever raped and killed his wife - save that the brief narrative chunks flash ever further backwards in time, so that we share Shelby’s confused point of view. He suffers from a rare kind of memory loss whereby, while he remembers life before the murder, he’s been unable since then to recall anything for more than a few minutes. Hence he’s forever forced to fathom afresh everything he sees and hears. The photos he takes for future reference and words he tattoos into his flesh help, but life remains a mysterious, very risky business. This taut, ingenious thriller displays real interest in how perception and memory shape action, identity and, of course, filmic storytelling. Moreover, a plot strand featuring Stephen Tobolowsky
even touches the heart. There’s grade A work from all concerned, especially Pearce, but in the end this is Nolan’s film. And he delivers, with a vengeance. - Time Out
“We all need mirrors to remind ourselves who we are.” Leonard Shelby
IIIIIIIIIMemento
2000 1h53min Mystery, Thriller Directed by Christopher Nolan Stars Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano
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