Tag: finding nemo

Introduction

440. Edward Scissorhands (1990) Dir. Tim Burton, 105 mins.

Burton’s modern fairy tale stars Johnny Depp (in their first collaboration) as an artificial young man named Edward who is built, but unfinished, by an eccentric inventor (Vincent Price). When his maker dies, Edward is left with scissor blades instead of hands, but is eventually taken in by a suburban family and falls in love with their teenage daughter Kim (Winona Ryder). A delightfully quirky and charming film that is also a visual treat.

439. Hero (2002) Dir. Yimou Zhang, 99 mins.

Set in ancient China during the Warring States period, the film stars Jet Li as the nameless protagonist, and is based on the story of Jing Ke’s assassination attempt on the King of Qin in 227 BC. Particularly notable for the use of colour.

438. The Round-Up (1966) Dir. Miklos Jancso, 95 mins.

Following the famous Kossuth Rebellion, the Hungarian police “round up” the likely suspects. They then subject the peasant prisoners to a sophisticated, ritualised form of psychological torture. With sweeping camera movements and an epic scale Jancso’s international breakthrough is now seen as a classic of world cinema.

437. Amores Perros (2000) Dir. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, 154 mins.

The film is an anthology containing three distinct stories which are connected by a car accident in Mexico City.

436. Fantasia (1940) Dir. James Algar, 120 mins.

The film consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski, seven of which are performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra.

435. Night of the Living Dead (1968) Dir. George A. Romero, 96 mins.

The story follows characters Ben (Duane Jones), Barbra (Judith O’Dea), and five others trapped in a rural farmhouse in western Pennsylvania, which is besieged by a large and growing group of unnamed “living dead” monsters.

434. The Crying Game (1992) Dir. Neil Jordan, 112 mins.

The film is about the experiences of the main character, Fergus (Stephen Rea), a member of the IRA, his brief but meaningful encounter with a soldier, Jody (Forest Whitaker), who is held prisoner by the group, and his unexpected romantic relationship with Jody’s girlfriend, Dil (Jaye Davidson), whom Fergus promised Jody he would protect. However, unexpected events force Fergus to decide what he wants for the future, and ultimately what his nature dictates he must do. Putting to one side whether Whittaker works as a British soldier and the famous plot twist that almost overwhelms the rest of the film, The Crying Game is a gripping mystery that becomes an emotionally complex and haunting drama.

433. Toy Story 2 (1999) Dir. John Lasseter, 92 mins.

In the film, Woody is stolen by a toy collector, prompting Buzz Lightyear and his friends to vow to rescue him, but Woody is then tempted by the idea of immortality in a museum.

432. Leviathan (2014) Dir. Andrey Zvyagintsev, 140 mins.

Kolya (Alexeï Serebriakov) lives in a small fishing town near the stunning Barents Sea in Northern Russia. He owns an auto-repair shop that stands right next to the house where he lives with his young wife Lilya (Elena Liadova) and his son Roma (Sergueï Pokhodaev) from a previous marriage. However, this existence is threatened by the town’s crooked Mayor Vadim (Roman Madyanov) who has undertaken a legal plot to expropriate the land on which Kolya’s house is built.

431. West Side Story (1961) Dir. Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise, 152 mins.

Tale of a turf war between rival teenage gangs in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen and the two lovers who cross battle lines.

430. Manchester by the Sea (2016) Dir. Kenneth Lonergan, 135 mins.

The film’s plot follows a man’s relationship with his teenage nephew as he cares for him after his brother, the boy’s father, dies.

429. Finding Nemo (2003) Dir. Andrew Stanton, 100 mins.

It tells the story of the overly protective clownfish called Marlin, voiced by Albert Brooks, who along with a regal tang called Dory, voiced by Ellen DeGeneres, searches for his son Nemo.

428. Point Blank (1967) Dir. John Boorman, 92 mins.

In this film, Lee Marvin and John Vernon have just swiped a large amount of mob money. As they sit down to divvy up the loot, Vernon pulls out a gun and shoots Marvin. Left for dead, Marvin manages to recover sufficiently to seek revenge.

427. Aparajito (1956) Dir. Satyajit Ray, 110 mins.

It starts off where the previous film Pather Panchali ended, with Apu’s family moving to Varanasi, and chronicles Apu’s life from childhood to adolescence in college, right up to his mother’s death, when he is left all alone.

426. Downfall (2004) Dir. Oliver Hirschbiegel, 156 mins.

The film depicts the final ten days of Adolf Hitler’s life in his Berlin bunker and Nazi Germany in 1945. Bruno Ganz delivers a startling performance as Hitler.

425. Red River (1948) Dir. Howard Hawks, Arthur Rosson, 133 mins.

John Wayne revealed unsuspected depths in his portrayal of stoic patriarchal Texas rancher Tom Dunson. The film follows Dunson and his adopted adult son (Montgomery Clift), who are on the first cattle drive from Texas to Kansas along the Chisholm Trail. Directed and produced by Howard Hawks, the film’s dramatic tension stems from a growing feud over the management of the drive, between Wayne’s character and Clift’s.

424. Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965) Dir. Sergei Parajanov, 97 mins.

Though derided by Soviet authorities, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors is considered one of the most striking stylistic achievements in world cinema. Rich in folkloric elements, costumes, rituals and songs, the film is set among the Hutsul people of the Western Ukraine, an isolated ethnic group who live in the upper reaches of the mountain range. Their lives take place within a harsh environment and an ornate cultural system little changed since the 18th century. With its minimalist narrative and ever moving held camera shots, the film is a visual tour de force of symbolic colours.

423. Alexander Nevsky (1938) Dir. Sergei M. Eisenstein, Dmitri Vasilyev, 112 mins.

While his ideas for his previous project Bezhin Meadows ran into opposition from a Russian industry and government looking towards social realism rather than experiments with montage, Eisenstein had far more success with Alexander Nevsky, which coincided with Stalin’s need for nationalist propaganda against the threat of German invasion. The director’s first realised sound film and his first completed production for ten years, the historical epic depicts the attempted invasion of Novgorod in the 13th century by the Teutonic Knights of the Holy Roman Empire and their defeat by Prince Alexander, known popularly as Alexander Nevsky (1220–1263). With only sparse dialogue and sound effects, the film’s emotional intensity comes from expressive camera movement, the brilliant use of montage and one of sound film’s great scores from Prokofiev (Eisenstein even re-edited sequences to fit in with the music). More…

422. The Return (2003) Dir. Andrey Zvyagintsev, 105 mins.

It tells the story of two Russian boys whose father suddenly returns home after a 12-year absence.

421. Her (2013) Dir. Spike Jonze, 126 mins.

The film follows Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), a man who develops a relationship with Samantha (Scarlett Johansson), an intelligent computer operating system personified through a female voice.

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