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.
All in Drama
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.”
Steven Spielberg's LINCOLN
My first reaction, walking out of the theater after the credits, was to ask my wife, “How is it possible that the same guy who directed a terrifying movie like War of the Worlds could then go on to do something like LIncoln?”
Hey-jun Lee's CASTAWAY ON THE MOON
A young man, depressed, tries to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge. Instead he washes up onto a small island in the middle of the river and is cut off from the city.
Israel Adrián Caetano's A RED BEAR (Un Oso Rojo)
Director Caetano makes a beautiful gem of a movie out of worn out concepts:
Álex de la Iglesia's THE LAST CIRCUS
Some of the words come to my mind while watching this film include:
Lena Dunham's TINY FURNITURE
As a parent of two twenty-somethings I watched this film with a growing sense of horror and wanted to reach out and slap some sense into the main character.
Michel Hazanavicius' THE ARTIST
Exuberant, charming, and immensely entertaining, THE ARTIST tells ths story of a silent movie star in Hollywood whose career topples when talkies come along.
Alexander Payne's THE DESCENDANTS
The wheels of life grind slowly for all of us. Occasionally they mesh and multiple bad things happen to otherwise ordinary, even nice people. It’s the luck of the draw, or maybe just fate. In the end, we suffer, but how we deal with adversity says a lot about who we are.
This courtroom drama follows the defense of Mary Surrat who operated the Washington DC boarding house where Abraham Lincoln’s assassins concocted their plot in 1865.