griggs's - 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die List

Show moreShow less

The sky over Wenders' war-scarred Berlin is full of gentle, trenchcoated angels who listen to the tortured thoughts of mortals and try to comfort them. One, Damiel, (Bruno Ganz) wishes to become mortal after falling in love with a beautiful trapeze artist, Marion (Solveig Dommartin).

Peter Falk, as himself, assists in the transformation by explaining the simple joys of a human experience.

Show moreShow less

Brian De Palma's 'The Untouchables' is a must-see masterpiece - a glorious, fierce, larger-than-life depiction of the mob warlord who ruled Prohibition-era Chicago...and the law enforcer who vowed to bring him down.

This classic confrontation between good and evil stars Kevin Costner as federal agent Eliot Ness, Robert De Niro as gangland kingpin Al Capone and Sean Connery as Malone, the cop who teaches Ness how to beat the mob: shoot fast and shoot first.

Show moreShow less

A superb ensemble cast falls in for action in Stanley Kubrick's brilliant saga about the Vietnam War and the dehumanizing process that turns people into trained killers.

Joker (Matthew Modine), Animal Mother (Adam Baldwin), Gomer (Vincent D'Onofrio), Eightball (Dorian Harewood), Cowboy (Arliss Howard) and more - all are plunged into a boot-camp hell pitbulled by a leatherlung D.I. (Lee Ermey) who views the would-be devil dogs as grunts, maggots or something less. The action is savage, the story unsparing, the dialogue spiked with scathing humor. 'Full Metal Jacket', from its rigors of basic training to its nightmare of combat in Hue City, scores a cinematic direct hit.

Show moreShow less

When a good cop (Peter Weller) gets blown away by some ruthless criminals, innovative scientists and doctors are able to piece him back together as an unstoppable crime-fighting cyborg called "RoboCop".

Impervious to bullets and bombs, and equipped with high-tech weaponry, RoboCop quickly makes a name for himself by cleaning up the crime-ridden streets of violence-ravaged Detroit. But despite his new hardened exterior, RoboCop is tormented by scraps of memories of his former life, and relives vivid nightmares of his own death at the hands of the vicious killers. Now he is out to seek more than justice...he wants revenge!

A visually stunning mix of horror, romance, martial arts and eastern mysticism, 'A Chinese Ghost Story' tells the immortal story of a reluctant hero who embarks on a quest to redeem the soul of an alluring fox-spirit imprisoned for all eternity by her vampiric mistress.

Show moreShow less

Jackie Chan is back, as famed pirate-buster Dragon Ma. Having rid the seas of the dreaded Pirate Lo, he is back on land with a brand new assignment: to clean up crime and corruption in the roughest part of town.

Finding himself caught up in a web of deceit, instigated by the local police chief, he and his loyal band of 'brothers' battle treacherous, free-wheeling police officers, smugglers, pirates and lethal agents of the Manchu government in a relentless breath¬taking adventure which culminates in one of the most spectacular stunt-filled finales of all time!

Show moreShow less

With a career spanning over thirty years, Louis Malle was one of the giants of French cinema.

After he burst onto the scene as one of the pioneers of the French New Wave with Lift To The Scaffold, Malle quickly achieved a reputation as a great director who was unafraid to embrace a wide array of subjects - many famously controversial. Working both in Hollywood and his native France, Malle imprinted his films with subtlety, intelligence and a sharp eye for the mores of human behaviour that set him apart from his contemporaries. This collection brings together classics from Malle's later career. Au Revoir Les Enfants, earning Malle a BAFTA for Best Director, and Lucien Lacombe are two very different tales about troubled youth set during the Second World War. Milou en Mai is a chamber comedy set against the backdrop of the 1968 Parisian uprisings and Le Souffle Au Coeur a taboo-breaking coming-of-age satire. Together with the dreamlike Black Moon, these films are proof that age did not dim Malle's humanism or commitment to experimentation.

Show moreShow less

It is the Feast of Epiphany (6th January) 1904 in Dublin and time for one of the highlights of the season - the grand party thrown by Misses Kate (Helena Carroll) and Julia (Cathleen Delany) Morkan and their niece, Mary Jane (Ingrid Craigie).

Their favourite nephew, Gabriel Conroy (Donal McCann) arrives with his beautiful wife, Gretta (Anjelica Huston), and acts as host. Although a splendid evening is had by all, Gretta is profoundly affected when she hears the words of a sentimental old song - The Lass of Aughrim. She weeps as she tells of a brief and innocent romance from her youth, cut short by the young man's death at the age of seventeen. In all their years of marriage, Gabriel has never heard her speak of this boy, locked away in her heart. His jealousy gives way to sadness as he realises he has never felt such passion, and his thoughts turn to death, for without passion there is only death. Gabriel's agony of self-doubt, the sudden awareness of his own frailty, becomes a vision of a bleak, wintry landscape, a revelation of universal truth uniting the living and the dead.

Show moreShow less

Michael Douglas plays Dan Gallagher, a New York attorney who has a tryst with seductive Alex Forest (Glenn Close) while his wife (Anne Archer) is away. Dan later shrugs off the affair as a mistake and considers it over. But Alex won't be ignored. Not now, not tomorrow, not ever...

even if it means destroying Dan's family to keep him.

Show moreShow less

When Princess Buttercup (Robin Wright) - lovelorn after the loss of her beloved sweetheart Westley (Cary Elwes) - is kidnapped by cunning crook Vizzini (Wallace Shawn) and his sidekicks Fezzik the Giant (André the Giant) and swordsman Inigo (Mandy Patinkin), she is confident her one true love will

come to save her. But is the man in the mask hot on the heels of her captors the Prince Humperdink (Chris Sarandon), to whom she is now betrothed, or a mysterious stranger. This family fairy-tale will touch your heart, tickle your funny bone and leave you feeling happily ever after.

Show moreShow less

Cher is devastatingly funny, sinuous and beautiful as Loretta, an unlucky-in-love Italian widow who finds romance through the intervention of the Manhattan moon.

With her wedding to a close friend just weeks away, she meets - and falls hopelessly in love with - his younger brother (Nicolas Cage)! Her dilemma - and her equally passionate and hilariously eccentric family - make for an unforgettable film you'll find beguiling, enchanting and irresistible.

Show moreShow less

In this riveting behind the scenes look at big business in the 1980s, an ambitious young broker (Charlie Sheen) is lured into the illegal, lucrative world of corporate espionage when he is seduced by the power, status and financial wizardry of Wall Street legend Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas).

But he soon discovers that the pursuit of overnight riches comes at a price that's too high to pay.

Show moreShow less

In James L. Brooks' quirky, romantic comedy, three ambitious workaholics are set loose in a network TV newsroom where their professional and personal lives become hopelessly cross-wired. Tom (William Hurt) is the modern anchorman, smooth, handsome and a bit dumb.

Jane (Holly Hunter) is his driven, brilliant producer, determined to turn Tom into a real newsman. And Aaron (Albert Brooks) is a seasoned, totally uncharismatic reporter who can't stand Tom's instant success on-camera or with Jane. It all adds up to one explosively funny romantic triangle.

Show moreShow less

Robin Williams shakes up 1965 Saigon as irreverent, non-conformist deejay Adrian Cronauer. Imported by the army for an early a.m. radio show, Cronauer blasts the formerly staid, sanitized airwaves with a constant barrage of rapid-fire humour and the hippest tunes from back home.

The GI's love him - but the top brass is outraged! Riddled with side-splitting comic bombshells and studded with hot '60's hits, the film depicts Cronauer's raucous Saigon adventures and a world gone mad.

Show moreShow less

When Ivan (Fernando Guillen) jilts long-time lover, actress Pepa (Carmen Maura), she plans her suicide; lacing her gazpacho soup with barbiturates. She is, however saved by her best friend Candela (Maria Barranco), a fugitive from the law.

Further adding to the chaos, Ivan's son (Antonio Banderas) and his fiance Marisa (Rossy de Palma) turn up at the apartment. Bored with the situation, Marisa inadvertently ingests the gazpacho and as she blissfully snoozes, her fiance inaugurates an affair with Carmen's fugitive friend.