Movies I enjoy to watch more than once

  • The Hill, (1965). Reviews. Older movie but here is the store line. WWII, in a British disciplinary camp located in the Libyan desert. Prisoners are persecuted by Staff Sergeant Williams, who made them climb again and again, under the heavy sun, an artificial hill built right in the middle of the camp. Harris is a more human and compassionate guard, but the chief, S.M. Wilson, refuses to disown his subordinate Williams. One day, five new prisoners arrive. Each of them will deal in a different way with the authority and Williams' ferocity. Its was filmed in black and white which only enhances the movie. Color would have lessened its affect. Alfred Hitchcock would have enjoyed its cinematographic affect.
  • 2001: A Space Odyssey, (1968) Trailer , Roger Ebert Review, Other Reviews. This movie plot is as follows: This movie is concerned with intelligence as the division between animal and human, then asks a question; what is the next division? Technology is treated as irrelevant to the quest - literally serving as mere vehicles for the human crew, and as a shell for the immature HAL entity. Story told as a montage of impressions, music and impressive and careful attention to subliminal detail. A very influential film and still a class act, even after 37 years.
  • Somewhere in Time, (1980) Trailer, Roger Ebert Review, Other Reviews. All I can say is, I am A Romantic at heart. This movie plot is as follows: Young writer Richard Collier is met on the opening night of his first play by an old lady who begs him to "Come back to me". Mystified, he tries to find out about her, and learns that she is a famous stage actress from the early 1900s, Elise McKenna. Becoming more and more obsessed with her, he manages, by self hypnosis, to travel back in time where he meets her. They fall in love, a matching that is not appreciated by her manager. Can their love outlast the immense problems caused by their "time" difference? And can Richard remain in a time that is not his?
  • Sophie's Choice, (1982) Trailer, Roger Ebert Review, Other Reviews. This movie plot is as follows: Sophie is the survivor of Nazi concentration camps, who has found a reason to live in Nathan, a sparkling if unsteady American Jew obsessed with the Holocaust. They befriend Stingo, the movie's narrator, a young American writer new to New York City. But the happiness of Sophie and Nathan is endangered by her ghosts and his obsessions. All I can say is that Emily Dickinson (1830–86) said it best. If you have not seen the movie you have missed out:

AMPLE make this bed
 Make this bed with awe;
 In it wait till judgment break
 Excellent and fair.

 Be its mattress straight,
 Be its pillow round;
 Let no sunrise yellow noise
 Interrupt this ground.

  • 2010 (1984) aka 2010: The Year We Make Contact, aka 2010 - L'anno del contatto, aka 2010 - Das Jahr, in dem wir Kontakt aufnehmen Trailer, Roger Ebert Review, Other Reviews. This movie plot is as follows: In this sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey, a joint American- Soviet expedition is sent to Jupiter to discover what went wrong with the U.S.S. Discovery against a backdrop of growing global tensions. Among the mysteries the expedition must explain are the appearance of a huge black monolith in Jupiter's orbit and the fate of H.A.L., the Discovery's sentient computer. Based on a novel written by Arthur C. Clarke. In the year 2001, Dave Bowman was taken by the Jupiter monolith and transformed into a powerful being. Now, in the year 2010, Dr. Heywood Floyd, the man held responsible for Discovery's failure, is going to Jupiter. He and his crewmates must reactivate the psychotic HAL-9000 computer, so they may learn what happened, and they must find out the meaning of Dave Bowman's last transmission... "My God, it's full of stars...".
Dave also comes back to earth to speak to his wife and tell her something. Dave upon being asked by his wife what was going to happen. He gloriously says, "Someting Wonderfiul...". You can read that movie script segment of Bowman visiting his wife here. For any of you who are HAL fans. Here are the last two dialogues with HAL. One with Chandra (his creator) and the other with David Bowman.
  • The Razor's Edge (1984) Trailer, Reviews, Extra Link, A Razor's Edge Web Ring. This movie plot is as follows: Larry Darrell returns from the battlefields of World War I to America a different person. His fiance (Isabel) resigns herself to a delay in the wedding plans when Larry heads off to Paris. There he finds he prefers a simpler existence and begins to read. One book inspires him to visit India and on to Nepal where he finds spiritual help from a lama. On returning to Paris he finds Isabel and some old friends. Everyone has changed. Second filming of W. Somerset Maughan's classic novel about a World War 1 veteran (played by Bill Murray) who travels the world from Tibet to Paris in an attempt to find some meaning in his life.
  • Legend, (1985) Trailer, Reviews. One of my mythological favorites. The cinematography does not get much better. This movie plot is as follows: A demon who seeks to create eternal night by destroying the last of the unicorns and marrying a fairy princess is opposed by the forest boy Jack and his elven allies in this magical fantasy. Two different versions of this picture feature soundtracks by either Tangerine Dream or Jerry Goldsmith. This movie is a magical adventure whitch features elves, demons and other mythical creatures like this. Darkness, the personification of evil, plans to disprese eternal night in the land where this story takes place, by killing every unicorn in the world. Although he looks unbeatable, Jack (Tom Cruise in his first important role) and his friends, are disposed to do everything to save the world and princess Lili (who Darkness intends to make his wife) from the hands of this evil monster.
  • Sherman's March (1986) aka "Sherman's March: A Mediation to the Possibility of Romantic Love in the South During an Era of Nuclear Weapons Proliferation", Reviews.
  • Big Trouble in Little China, (1986) Trailer, Roger Ebert Review, Other Reviews.
  • Ironweed, (1987) Trailer, Roger Ebert Review, Other Reviews. This movie plot is as follows: Albany, New York, Halloween, 1938. Francis Phelan and Helen Archer are bums, back in their birth city. She was a singer on the radio, he a major league pitcher. Death surrounds them: she's sick, a pal has cancer, he digs graves at the cemetery and visits the grave of his infant son whom he dropped; visions of his past haunt him, including ghosts of two men he killed. That night, out drinking, Helen tries to sing at a bar. Next day, Fran visits his wife and children and meets a grandson. He could stay, but decides it's not for him. Helen gets their things out of storage and finds a hotel. Amidst their mistakes and dereliction, the film explores their code of fairness and loyalty.
  • The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, (1988) aka Die Abenteuer des Baron von Münchhausen Trailer, Roger Ebert Review, Other Reviews. This movie plot is as follows: The fantastic tale of a 17th century aristocrat, his talented henchmen and a little girl in their efforts to save a town from defeat by the Turks. Being swallowed by a giant sea-monster, a trip to the moon, a dance with Venus and an escape from the Grim Reaper are only some of the improbable adventures. Baron Munchausen is a character of European myth that might be considered the predecessor of American tales of Pecos Bill or Paul Bunyan. The Baron's stories are taken to be outrageous and fanciful lies. This is the origin of the name of the psychiatric diagnosis of "Munchausen's Syndrome", a particularly bizzare form of hypochondria.
  • Jacob's Ladder, (1990) Trailer, Roger Ebert Review, Other Reviews. This movie plot is as follows: New York postal worker Jacob Singer is trying to keep his frayed life from unraveling. His days are increasingly being invaded by flashbacks to his first marriage, his now-dead son, and his tour of duty in Vietnam. Though his new wife tries to help Jacob keep his grip on sanity, the line between reality and delusion is steadily growing more and more uncertain.
  • Unforgiven, (1992) Trailer, Roger Ebert Review, Other Reviews. This movie plot is as follows: The town of Big Whisky is full of normal people trying to lead quiet lives. Cowboys try to make a living. Sheriff 'Little Bill' tries to build a house and keep a heavy-handed order. The town whores just try to get by.Then a couple of cowboys cut up a whore. Unsatisfied with Bill's justice, the prostitutes put a bounty on the cowboys. The bounty attracts a young gun billing himself as 'The Schofield Kid', and aging killer William Munny. Munny reformed for his young wife, and has been raising crops and two children in peace. But his wife is gone. Farm life is hard. And Munny is no good at it. So he calls his old partner Ned, saddles his ornery nag, and rides off to kill one more time, blurring the lines between heroism and villainy, man and myth.
  • Little Buddha, (1993) Reviews. At least you will be educated about Siddhartha.
  • Contact, (1997) Trailer, Roger Ebert Review. Other Reviews. This movie plot is as follows: Dr. Eleanor Arroway (Jodie Foster) has spent her life searching for truth in the study of radio astronomy. Palmer Joss (Matthew McConaughey) has spent his searching for truth through faith in God. When Ellie discovers a stunning message from an extraterrestrial intelligence, they and everyone on Earth will be forced to challenge their own assumptions. In the inevitable first contact, will humankind be able to find a compromise between science and belief?
  • The Fifth Element, (1998) Trailer, Roger Ebert Review. Other Reviews. This movie plot is as follows: Two hundred and fifty years in the future, life as we know it is threatened by the arrival of Evil. Only the fifth element (played by Milla Jovovich) can stop the Evil from extinguishing life, as it tries to do every five thousand years. She is helped by ex-soldier, current-cab-driver, Corben Dallas (played by Bruce Willis), who is, in turn, helped by Prince/Arsenio clone, Ruby Rhod. Unfortunately, Evil is being assisted by Mr. Zorg (Gary Oldman), who seeks to profit from the chaos that Evil will bring, and his alien mercenaries.
  • What Dreams May Come, (1998) Trailer, Roger Ebert Review, Other Reviews. This movie plot is as follows: After the death of their two children, Dr. Chris Nielson ('Robin Williams' ) and his wife Annie (Annabella Sciorra) find continuing their lives fraught with difficulties, especially for Annie. When Chris dies and goes to Heaven he meets Albert (Cuba Gooding Jr.) and discovers that Heaven is even more wondrous than anything he could have imagined. However, Chris's death is the last straw for Annie and in her madness commits suicide and journeys to a place very different from Chris. On discovering Annie's misfortune, Chris forces Albert to enlist the help of The Tracker ('Max von Sydow' ) and together they journey into the depths of despair to discover the destiny of Annie's soul and attempt a rescue.
  • The Sixth Sense, (1999) Trailer, Roger Ebert Review. Other Reviews. Personally, not sure if I like the musical score just as much, if not more, than the movie. Here is an article, "Recognition Values: Seeing The Sixth Sense Again for the First Time". This movie plot is as follows: Child psychiatrist Malcolm Crowe is confronted one night by his former patient Vincent Gray who he failed to help. After Vincent shoots Crowe in the stomach and kills himself, Crowe can't stop thinking about it. A few months later he is hired to help a troubled boy named Cole Sear, who has many of the same problems Vincent had. Crowe sees a chance to redeem himself, but doubts his ability to reach the boy, particularly when Cole claims to see ghosts who don't know they're dead.
  • The Man Who Wasn't There, (2001) Trailer, Roger Ebert Review, Other Reviews. This movie plot is as follows: 1949, Santa Rosa, California. A laconic, chain-smoking barber with fallen arches tells a story of a man trying to escape a humdrum life. It's a tale of suspected adultery, blackmail, foul play, death, Sacramento city slickers, racial slurs, invented war heroics, shaved legs, a gamine piano player, aliens, and Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. Ed Crane cuts hair in his in-law's shop; his wife drinks and may be having an affair with her boss, Big Dave, who has $10,000 to invest in a second department store. Ed gets wind of a chance to make money in dry cleaning. Blackmail and investment are his opportunity to be more than a man no one notices. Settle in the chair and listen.
  • K-PAX, (2001) Trailer, Roger Ebert Review. Other Reviews. Movie website. This movie plot is as follows: Prot is a patient at a mental hospital who claims to be from a far away planet. His psychiatrist tries to help him, only to begin to doubt his own explanations.


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