Donnerstag, 4. April 2013

Some Great Movies

From time to time I find myself searching the Internet for good movies...
-I guess then you read this you do the same ;)
if you can guess all the movies you don`t have to look at the list:

1. a guy -named after a horse- and his revenge
2. many dead clones and twins
3. a Baby dying in the lap of an old Woman
4. "I just do things..."
5. sleeping problems can destroy the financial system
6. a patriot, unlikely friends, a heir, fools, a hero, a carrier and a leader
7. te ever spinning rotary in a vault
8. two guys in an elevator, suddenly one dies
9. don`t forget never to trust your handwriting

So here is my list with the best movies I know (till now) I hope it helps you


The Prestige (2006)
The Prestige is the first Christopher Nolan movie in this list and one of the movies  with a brilliant Plot Twist. The movie is about two competing magicans in the early 20 century... yes it sounds boring but its pretty thrilling and the nonlinear storytelling (typical for Nolan) makes the complete movie a riddle, I mean a magic trick (sounds like a cheap methaphor but ist actually true) - you`ll understand then you watched the prolog with Michael Caine.
Regisseur: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman,  Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson Andy Serkis
Genre: Thriller, Drama, Plot Twist

The Lord of the Rings Triology(2001-2003)
Not much to say here - the three movies are Peter Jackson`s Masterpiece and propably the best book adaptions so far. Yes the movies are pretty long (almost 9 hours together in the cinema version and in the extended cut almost12h)...but they are worth it.
Regisseur: Peter Jackson
Cast: Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom, Sir Ian McKellen, Hugo Weaving,  Andy Serkis
Genre: Fantasy, book adaption, Epic

The Departed (2006)
A remake of the chinese "Infernal Affairs". The movie is about a Cop (Leonard DiCaprio) -who is infiltrating the mob- and a mafiosi (Matt Damon) who has infiltrated the police in the same town. They both are trying to find out who the rat is and thats extremly thrilling (I guarrante a surprising ending) and well done.
Regisseur: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Matin Sheen, Vera Fermiga
Genre: Mob Thriller, Drama

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
The beautiful told story of Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt) who is born as an aged and gets younger with time. The main point of the movie is Benjamin Buttons relationship with Daisy (Cate Blanchett) who ages normal which makes the movie sometimes pretty sad.
Regisseur: David Fincher
Cast: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett
Genre: Drama, Fantasy

Memento (2000)
The second Nolan movie in this list (and more to follow) and certainly the most complex one. The movie is about Leonard (Guy Pearce) who had lost his short term Memory (after a few Minutes he forgets what he has done in before) but tries to find the Murderer of his Wife. In order to let the audience feel like Leonard its told backwards and foreward again (there is a graph on Wikipedia - don`t go there before you watched the movie) which makes it impossible to know that happend in the scene before... its pretty exausting to watch the movie but the movie is worth it (and don`t feel bad then you didn`t undertand the complete movie at the first time).
Regisseur: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano
                                      Genre: Film Noir, Drama, Thriller

Sunshine (2007)
In the near uture the Sun dies and a small Crew an a Spaceship (Icarus II) has to light it up again with using a massive nuklear bomb or everybody on Earth dies - sounds familiar? yes, its basically Armageddon - or not?
No its not.
Sunshine is a drama...yes its Sci-Fi but its not this popcorn-Hollywood-style-Sci-Fi. The movie makes a great deal about utilitarianism (long version: google it - short version: chosing the least evil- whatever it takes) and does this very well. After all the movie is extremly intense, sometimes thrilling and awesome looking (never new a panorama of the sun can make me fear the sun) and an incredible good soundtrack by John Murphy (Youtube: surface of the sun).
Regisseur: Denny Byle
Cast: Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, Rose Byrne
Genre: Sci-Fi, Drama, Epic

Fight Club (1999)
And here we go again with David Fincher... but this time with a pretty violant movie (doesn`t make it a bad movie does it?). Warning: if you like Nolans "clean looking" movie you`ll propably won`t like Fight Club - its dirty in any way.
Fight Club is about a normal guy (Edward Norton) who meets Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt)...who makes soap (with the fat from the guys who buy is soap for over 20$ per piece).
...its impossible to describe the plot but it really shows the abysses our consum society without beeing toooo educational (intelligent yes but also really entertaining). The movie is really thrilling, sometimes funnya and extremly grotesk - you should watch it (makes you think while having fun) an awesome ending included.
                                     Regisseur: David Fincher
                                     Cast: Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter
                                     Genre: Society citicism, Thriller, Plot Twist

Inception (2010)
...okay Nolan again. Inception is about a guy (Leonard DiCaprio) who can enter somebody elses dream an maniqulate it...while he himself dreams. Around this Idea Nolan spins a thrilling and pretty complex plot (but entertaining) using the concept of a dream within a dream. Its really thrilling and the "mechanics" of a dream a very well thought of (including paradoxons, different speed of time, rules of physics and the subconcious). If you watch it: always take attention (its sometimes hard to follow the plot).
Regisseur: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, Tom Hardy, Joseph-Gordon Levitt, Micheal Caine
Genre: Thriller, Action, Sci-F
i, Drama


Lucky # Slevin (2006)
Slevin (Joh Hartnett) has no luck: first he loses his job, his home is close due to termits, then his girlfriend is betraying him, after that he is robbed and ends up at a friend there to mob groups think he is his friend and want him to pay back depts... and here the story starts. The movie is extremly funny (but can be taken serious) and really makes fun to watch (who ever imagined God aka Morgan Freeman would ever be a mob boss?) while not making fun of itself. Watch the movie, have fun and get a surprising ending.
Regisseur:  Paul McGuigan
Cast: Josh Hartnett, Lucy Liu, Ben Kingsley, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman
Genre: Thriller, Comedy, Plot Twist

The Dark Knight (2008)
Okay I promise: this is the last Nolan movie in this list! - and perhaps the best one. Heath Legers last (complete) role as the Joker made him the only postum Oscar winner. The movie is a relatively realistic Comic Adaption and is very entertaining while having a very good plot whch doesn`t forget that the audience has brains.
Regisseur: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Micheal Caine, Morgan Freeman, Meggie Gyllenhaal, Aaron Eckhart