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

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Arriving in a small town after a tragic accident, a lawyer visits each member of the community to offer hope and promise financial compensation.

But as he delves deeper into their grief he discovers layer upon layer of mystery and tragedy and soon finds himself face to face with his own inner demons...

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The first Iranian film to win the Palme d'Or, this austere, emotionally complex drama by the great Abbas Kiarostami follows the enigmatic Mr.

Badii (Homayoun Ershadi) as he drives around the hilly outskirts of Tehran looking for someone who will agree to bury him after he commits suicide, a taboo under Islam. Extended conversations with three passengers (a soldier, a seminarian, and a taxidermist) elicit different views on mortality and individual choice. Operating at once as a closely observed, realistic story and a fable populated by archetypal figures, 'Taste of Cherry' challenges the viewer to consider what often goes unexamined in everyday life.

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Former Police officer Nishi (Takeshi Kitano) feels responsible for the shattered lives of his loved ones. His partner Horibe (Ren Ôsugi) has been crippled in a disastrous stakeout, a colleague is shot dead by the same villain, and his own wife has a terminal illness.

In debt to a yakuza loanshark, Nishi conceives a bank robbery to provide for his partner, help the dead cop's widow, and take one last holiday throughout Japan with his wife and share a final taste of happiness...

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Set during disco's heyday, 'Boogie Nights' is a hilarious and hysterical expose of the pornography industry as seen from those inside. Eddie (Mark Wahlberg) is a 17-year-old busboy looking for a break when veteran porn director Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds) spots him in a disco.

Jack immediately senses that the virile and well-endowed young man can make him very, very rich. Lead by Jack into the wickedly glamorous realm of porn movies, Eddie emerges as Dirk Diggler, the superstar who's always pleased to see you...

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Rose (Kate Winslet) is a young upper-class woman suffocating under the thumb of her arrogant fiance. Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) is the free-spirited artist who opens Rose's eyes and steals her heart.

When the ship collides with an iceberg in the frigid North Atlantic, the young lovers' journey is transformed into a breathtaking race for survival.

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Open Your Eyes is an intriguing mix of fantasy and horror, exploring the collision between dreams and reality.

Central to the film is a remarkable performance by the sexy, Spanish enchantress Penelope Cruz, star of Volver and Vanilla Sky, which was the Hollywood remake of 'Open Your Eyes', starring Cruz alongside Tom Cruise. Fate has always smiled on Cesar (Eduardo Noriega) until now. The night he meets his ideal woman, Sofia (Cruz), he is confronted by Nuria, a woman infatuated with him to the point of obsession. Insane with jealousy, Nuria crashes her car, killing herself and horribly disfiguring Cesar. After the fateful crash, reality, dreams, memory and madness blend together. Cesar awakens in a psychiatric prison, undergoing evaluation for a murder he can't quite remember. As he slowly begins to piece together a past of mistaken identities and betrayals, Cesar learns that sometimes you can't wake up from a nightmare, even if you do Open Your Eyes.

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A group of teenage friends are found dead, their bodies grotesquely contorted, their faces twisted in terror.

Reiko (Nanako Matsushima), a journalist and the aunt of one of the victims, sets out to investigate the shocking phenomenon, and in the process uncovers a creepy urban legend about a supposedly cursed videotape, the contents of which causes anyone who views it to die within a week - unless they can persuade someone else to watch it, and, in so doing, pass on the curse...

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Isolation...alienation...happiness. In America they all go hand in hand. Buy a new TV and you will be happy. Still not happy? Experience alienation. Can't afford a new TV? Then live in isolation. 'Be happy', and if that doesn't work, pretend to make it work.

For the characters in Todd Solondz' award winning, subversively funny film Happiness, the struggle to attain such a state is fraught with perils both heartbreaking and hilarious.

aka The Celebration

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Seen through the eyes of a squad of American soldiers, the story begins with World War II's historic D-Day invasion, then moves beyond the beach as the men embark on a dangerous special mission.

Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) must take his men behind enemy lines to find Private James Ryan, whose three brothers have been killed in combat. Faced with impossible odds, the men question their orders. Why are eight men risking their lives to save just one? Surrounded by the brutal realities of war, each man searches for his own answer - and the strength to triumph over an uncertain future with honour, decency and courage.

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Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu), who works as a small-time courier for a big-time gangster, is in huge trouble. He has accidentally left the cash from a mob deal on the subway, and he has only twenty minutes to deliver the 100,000 marks to his unforgiving boss.

Desperate, he calls his girlfriend, Lola (Franka Potente), the only person who can rescue him from certain death. As the seconds tick away and the tiniest choices become life altering, Lola must try to reach Manni before the line between fate and fortune begins to blur. One story told from three different perspectives, 'Run Lola Run' is a veritable maze of intriguing plot twists and heart-stopping suspense in a high-octane thrill ride about one woman's desperate attempt to save her lover.

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"Rushmore" is the story of a gifted, rebellious teenager named Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman), a 10th grader at elite Rushmore Academy.

Editor of the School Newspaper, Captain or President of innumerable clubs and societies, Max is also one of the worst students in school, and the threat of expulsion hangs permanently over his head. Max's world is rocked when he falls for elegant 1st grade teacher Miss Cross (Olivia Williams), and he plans to erect an aquarium in her honour - then finds himself competing for her affections with his friend, steel tycoon Mr. Blume (Bill Murray), the wealthy father of two of his classmates...

A powerful front line cast, including Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Woody Harrelson, and George Clooney, explodes into action in this hauntingly realistic view of military and moral chaos in the Pacific during World War II.

In October of 1994 three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland while shooting a documentary…A year later their footage was found.

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Perception: The Everyday World is Real. Reality: That World is a hoax, an elaborate deception spun by all-powerful machines of artificial intelligence that control us. Mind blowing stunts. Techno-slamming visuals. Megakick action.

Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne lead the fight to free humankind in 'The Matrix', the cyber thriller that you will watch again and again.