The 10 Greatest Movie Comedies of All Time. The ten comedies that make us -- and perhaps, only us at Short Ends and Leader -- laugh out loud.
Guaranteed to differ from yours... probably... This is going to be a tough one. The 2012 Sight & Sound Directors’ Top Ten. Tokyo Story, our filmmakers’ top film 1.
Tokyo Story Ozu Yasujirô, 1953. The 20 Best French Films of The 21st Century. France has always been a trailblazer for European cinema.
To begin with, it played a key role in the birth of film with the Lumière brothers’ shorts, while in the ‘20s it became prominent with the French Impressionist Cinema and in the late 50s a new generation of French directors arrived to turn everything upside down, creating the French New Wave. Ever since then, French cinema has been regarded as innovative, artistic and realistic, but at the same time it is also intertwined with a certain romantic feeling. This slightly two-faced character is well represented by the films on our list. While some of the greatest French films of recent years reflect the popular image of Paris as the city of love, other movies dig deeper below the surface. However, naturalistic representation is not only used for the portrayal of sexuality. 20.
After a silly workplace mistake, Philippe (Kad Merad) gets transferred to the North from the sunny Provence. 19. The 15 Best Epic Movies of All Time. “But the question that everyone wanted answered was whether I would have the nerve and the strength to start the whole process from scratch.
I said yes; otherwise I would be someone who had no dream left, and without dreams I would not want to live.” From Conquest of the Useless: Reflections from the Making of Fitzcarraldo, by Werner Herzog The greatest epics are movies unparalleled in magnificence. Their visions are only matched by the jaw-dropping spectacles they exhibit on screen. Every frame carries tremendous ambition that translates into piercing emotions for the audience. The 15 Best British Films of The 1990s. British film in the 90’s began much the same way as the 80’s had ended with few opportunities to gain what little funding was available.
To appreciate the films of the decade, the 90’s can be understood as a game of two halves, roughly splitting into grittier more socially conscious films of the early half of the decade and the more colourful and arguably better known (and better funded) films which came in the wake of a certain release in 1994. Here are 15 films charting British cinema in the 1990’s. 15. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) This crime thriller saw writer and director Guy Ritchie shoot to instant recognition. The 20 Best British Films of The 2000s. As the new millennium dawned, British Cinema was still benefitting from the ‘cool Britannia’ mood perpetuated by the various Curtis-like romantic comedies popularised in the latter half of the previous decade.
The plus side of this was that there was now an eager audience made once again appreciative of British film production both past and present. The 00’s are perhaps difficult to pinpoint but many of the films in this list have a tendency to play to their audience’s awareness of popular culture and film history. Some use their screen time to explore social issues or revaluate recent history, whilst others appear to question changing issues of national identity. 20 Overlooked 70s Thrillers That Are Worth Your Time. The 1970’s were a great decade for thrillers, as production code restrictions had been lifted in favor of a ratings system, allowing “R” rated films considerable leeway in the amount of sex and violence that could be included.
Armed with this new freedom, filmmakers ran wild making movies that titillated and thrilled audiences, resulting in some of the best (and worst) thrillers ever made. These are 20 films that either did not connect with audiences at the box office or for some other reason have been somewhat overlooked in the years since their release, and might be worth re-visiting or even seeing for the first time. 20. How Awful About Allan (1970) Plot: Allan (Anthony Perkins) succumbs to hysterical blindness after an accident in which he caused a fire that killed his father and facially scarred his sister Katherine (Julie Harris).
10 Films That Can Teach You Everything You Need To Know About Cinematography. The word cinematography literally means ‘to record movements’.
A director relies on their cinematographer to manipulate the mood and implication of a shot. For example; you might not think that there’d be many ways to film a person walking down a corridor – but what if that corridor had seedy red lighting? What if the person cast a long dark shadow? The 10 Best Movies Influenced by Heideggerian Philosophy. Martin Heidegger’s book Sein und Zeit (Being and Time) has been all the rage in philosophy for the last century, with every work since either referring to it or intentionally ignoring its message and impact.
While incredibly dense, it is clear that Heidegger’s project was quite pointed, and his criticisms of the last two millennia of intellectual thought are potentially damning. He believed that all thought was in error unless it was based upon a proper notion of man and its existence. To remedy this, we must return to the pre-Socratics (yes, that means before Plato and his ilk) and reexamine our Being. His project is so complicated that it requires a new language, one intended to transform our world and our understanding. While impossible to summarize or explain Heidegger in less than a book, I’ll try to lay down the basic points here for those unfamiliar or rusty. Coming to terms with this fact allows for authentic Being, in which man knows that he is a Being-towards-Death. 10. 9. 20 Gems of World Cinema That Need To Be Rediscovered. The Foreign Film Market for most Americans is sometimes difficult to predict.
Very few features that don’t rely on car chases, explosions, gratuitous violence or unnecessary sex and CGI effects will hardly go over well. Plus, having to read subtitles or deal with poorly dubbed English may cause most of them to find something less challenging and instantly gratifying. It is unfortunate given that a lot these Foreign Films have intriguingly detailed plots, setting and characters. Usually, the financially successful crop of the bunch will get re-made by American film makers for American audiences. The following list of foreign films are vastly original, yet obscure and in some case have yet to be discovered or re-discovered. 1. A woman hoping to acquire a rare bird’s feather decides to join a group of Post-Flower Children explorers who are seeking out an uncharted valley, deep in the New Guinea Jungle.
The 30 Best Asian Movies of The 21st Century. The progression of Asian cinema has become globally evident since the 90s and is now a widely acknowledged fact, with a plethora of productions screening in festivals around the world and gaining distribution in a constantly growing number of countries. The number of Hollywood remakes of Asian genre films also proves this, chiefly among them “The Departed” that netted four Oscars in 2007, including Best Picture and Best Director, and is largely based upon the Hong Kong movie “Infernal Affairs”.
The following list has been compiled with the purpose of including the foremost distinguished ones from as many directors, countries and genres as possible. 1. Confessions (Tetsuya Nakashima, 2010, Japan) Based on the novel by Kanae Minato, “Confessions” deals with the tragic story of Yuko Moriguchi, a junior high school teacher. Two facts regarding this teacher were common knowledge, up to that point. The 18 Best Philosophical Movies of All Time. Whether realizing the art form of filmmaking or not, directors and writers often use their preferred visual medium to tell a story. Ideologies, theories or whatever form of message is always decoded in this visual medium in hopes that the audience gets the message. The secret of making a successful film, especially when telling a story, is to avoid preaching.
From Mel Gibson to Seth Macfarlene, Federico Fellini to Ridley Scott and of course Hitchcock, their movies have messages, from symbolist storytelling to clever subtext dialogues. The 25 Most Visually Stunning Russian Films Since 1992. Unique and stunning visuals marked Russian cinema since the earliest days. From the phantasmagories of Starevich and Protazanov, to the giddy montage days of Eisentein, Vertov, and Dovzhenko, to visual poetry of Paradjanov and Tarkovsky. Sadly, visionary visual artists in Soviet days had to deal with being told what and how to do by the ever-reaching Communist Party officials and their blind obedience to “Social Realism” as they understood it. The 10 Most Overlooked Non-English Language Films of The Last Decade. In 2006 when Kevin Smith (Clerks, Chasing Amy) and Richard Roeper reviewed the movie Half Nelson together, they spoke about how people complain that there is “no more originality in movies”.
They explain that in fact films are as original as they ever have been, “you just have to look for them”. In the modern age, post American Independent Renaissance of the late 1980’s and early 1990’s and long after the New Hollywood of the 1970’s, Hollywood is now like Schrödinger’s cat – it’s certainly not dead, but it’s not very alive either. The United States still is and always will be among the very best nations when it comes to producing films. However, for a complete experience in motion pictures, one must turn their view to other countries and discover what they have brought to the art of cinema.
Countless foreign masterpieces from every age have not received their due recognition due to poor marketing, poor distribution, and more frustratingly, ethnocentrism. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. The 10 Best Movies About Ancient Rome. Ancient Rome is one of the most talked about eras of history, being featured and referenced in countless sources of popular culture. The range of “Ancient Rome” is not an exactly definite timespan, but it mainly focuses on the Roman Empire, starting around 50 BC and spanning the next couple hundred years. Although, there have been brilliant films set in contemporary Rome, the culture of ancient Rome is completely different, and with the exception of a few popular landmarks, the setting is unlike any other in history.
Ranging from the exquisite architecture and the lavish clothing of the nobility to the rags and markets of the peasants, ancient Rome was a very diverse and fascinating environment. The majority of the stories in these films focus on a very small portion of Roman History: the reign of the Julio-Claudian line. This starts after Julius Caesar’s death and runs until his last heir, Nero, kills himself, only 50 years later. 10. 9. 8. 7. 6.
Pages: 1 2. The 18 Best Films Set in Berlin. 10 Masterpieces of European Art Cinema Every Movie Fan Should See. Intro to Film classes aside, the European Art movies of the 1960s and 70s can seem like an aloof, inaccessible area of film history to explore. That much may be true—these movies are not for the feint of heart, embracing deeply existential, spiritual, political themes that completely changed the way movies were made. 20 Dark European Films From This Century Worth Your Time. Economically at least, Europe has been going through something of a dark period lately. It is arguable whether this economic gloom has caused European cinema in turn to produce increasingly bleak and hopeless films. Throughout its long history, European cinema has never shied away from despair.
The 20 Best Hollywood Comedy Movies of All Time. 20 Masterpieces of French Cinema You Shouldn’t Miss. If your wish is to understand cinema, the first thing you should do is choose the right industry and learn its roots. The 10 Best Movies Influenced By Franz Kafka. For those who don’t know, Franz Kafka is one of the major authors of the 20th century. His novels and short stories are filled with anxiety, surrealism and persecution. 25 Overlooked South Korean Movies That Are Worth Watching. Just in case you needed more South Korean cinema, here is an additional article featuring 25 more overlooked South Korean films. If you haven’t checked out the first one, please do so — mainly just in case I might’ve missed something (as well as several other similar lists).
Once again, I use the term “overlooked” incredibly loosely. Whether it be ticket sales (either here or South Korea), awards, critical acclaim, obscurity, or overshadowed by more successful films, this list is really an excuse to talk about some choice South Korean titles. 10 Movie Masterpieces Too Unsung To Be Widely Regarded. You’re not going to become a cinephile by knowing a little about a lot of movies. Neurologists don’t need to know about astronomy to be scientists.