The only other movie within recent memory that packed a similar emotional wallop for me was TREE OF LIFE
All in Drama
Romanovskiy Mikhail's LONELY SOULS OF MICROBES
My favorite line of dialog: “She devours them like plums.”
Ilango Ramanathan's MOUNA VIZHITHTHULIGAL
This is as stunning and heartfelt a condemnation of war as I have ever seen.
Toa Fraser's DEAN SPANLEY
When all is said and done, though, this is Peter O’Toole’s movie. The sensitivity of his performance is amazing to watch. We are fortunate to have a record of such performances
Sandra Nettelbeck's LAST LOVE
What an engaging movie this is. Slow, deliberate, and ultimately, complex.
Sarah Polley’s “STORIES WE TELL”
Sarah Polley’s STORIES WE TELL is an exploration of how truth and memory interact in subtle and subjective ways about one family’s past history.
José Padilha's ROBOCOP
This new version, thankfully, is not quite so brutal and the plentiful action sequences don’t glory in gore and bloodsplatter the way, say, an EXPENDABLES film does.
Peter Webber's EMPEROR
In summary: you could do a lot worse than this movie for a dose of World War II history. Its attempts to overcome stereotypes and instead illuminate cultural differences are refreshing.
David Ayer's END OF WATCH
I have no idea how realistic END OF WATCH is but it’s easily the best cop movie I seen in many years.
Bille August's NIGHT TRAIN TO LISBON
Every now and then I come across a gem via streaming Netflix. Night Train to Lisbon, directed by Bille August, is one such gem.
John Ford's “THEY WERE EXPENDABLE”
Compared with too many other World War II movies that came out of Hollywood during World War II THEY WERE EXPENDABLE is exceptional.
Eric Khoo's TATSUMI
Tatsumi is an adult animated film about the life and short stories of Yoshihiro Tatsumi who is often credited with starting a movement in Japan to publish adult-themed manga comics.
Kaneto Shindô's “HOKUSAI MANGA”
What a strange but interesting movie this is. It purports to tell the story of 19th century artist Hokusai who painted the world famous The Great Wave off Kanagawa. In the movie the artist also illustrates novels, argues with his daughter, and on the side paints what we now call pornography.
Jake Schreier's ROBOT AND FRANK
This is a character driven movie about the near future that tightly focuses on an elderly retired jewel thief who lives by himself in a semi-rural but well-to-do community. His son, concerned about the old man’s mental deterioration, purchases a humanoid style robot to serve as a companion and caregiver.
Robert Zemeckis' FLIGHT
A lot has been written about the harrowing plane crash flight. Yep, it’s pretty harrowing, but I’ll still hold of World War Z, Numbers, and Pitch Black is having comparable crash sequences.
Wong Kar-Wai's FALLEN ANGELS
One thought that popped into my mind at first about Fallen Angels was “style over substance.” That’s simplistic. Yes, there’s a ton of style here. There is also a lot of substance. It’s just that the substance is not the feel-good or warm-and-fuzzy type; at times things get really dark. How the movie is photographed supports that. But it’s a movie well worth watching.
Neill Blomkamp's ELYSIUM
You can enjoy it as an action thriller but the underlying stories and significance go way beyond that. I’ll take Elysium over a comic book hero movie any day.
Benh Zeitlin's BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
I’m glad I saw this film, it’s a pleasure to see something that’s grounded in reality but sufficiently fantastic to the point where the dividing line between the two becomes blurred.
Tom McCarthy's THE STATION AGENT
While watching this film I said to myself, “If I could make a movie this is the kind of movie I’d make.”