Traffic (2000)
Directed By Steven Soderbergh
IMDB Rating - 7.8
No one gets away clean.
A conservative judge is appointed by the President to spearhead America’s escalating war against drugs, only to discover that his teenage daughter is an addict.
One Reason To Watch It -A gritty, documentary style film about the drug trade.
Sideways (2004)
Directed By Alexander Payne
IMDB Rating - 7.8
In search of wine. In search of women. In search of themselves.
Two men reaching middle age with not much to show but disappointment, embark on a week long road trip through California’s wine country, just as one is about to take a trip down the aisle.
One Reason To Watch It - ‘Who would have thought a feature film about wine-tasting could make for such compelling entertainment?’
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Directed By Wes Anderson
IMDB Rating - 7.6
Family isn’t a word… it’s a sentence.
An estranged family of former child prodigies reunites when one of their member announces he has a terminal illness.
One Reason To Watch It - You’ll want to be a Tenenbaum after.
IMDB Link
Volver (2006)
Directed By Pedro Almodovar
IMDB Rating - 7.7
Penelope Cruz plays Raimunda, a vulnerable mother who takes her place among three generations of women. She relies on dead-end jobs to support her daughter Paula and slothful husband. When her old aunt dies, the situation changes and the past returns in a story of mystery.
One Reason To Watch - ‘A richly sensual meditation on morality’
Delicatessen (1991)
Directed By - Marc Caro & Jean-Pierre Jeunet
IMDB Rating - 7.9
A futuristic comic feast.
Post-apocalyptic surrealist black comedy about the landlord of an apartment building who creates cannibalistic meals for his odd tenants. It is set in a post-apocalyptic apartment building in a France of an ambiguous time period. The story focuses on the tenants of the apartment building and their desperate bids to survive. Among these characters is a newly arrived tenant, who arrives to replace a tenant whose reason for departure is initially unclear. The butcher, Clapet, is the leader of the apartment who strives to keep control and balance in the apartment.
One Reason To Watch It - An unforgettable opening.
Carrie (1976)
Directed By - Brian De Palma
IMDB Rating - 7.4
Take Carrie to the prom. I dare you!
An operatic horror-melodrama.
The film deals with a a socially outcast teenage girl, Carrie White, who discovers she possesses telekinetic powers after being subjected to endless humiliation by her peers, teachers, and psychological torture by her mother.
One Reason To Watch It - The path from wallflower to Queen of Death.
Breakfast At Tiffany’s (1961)
Directed By - Blake Edwards
IMDB Rating - 7.8
Audrey Hepburn plays that daring, darling Holly Golightly to a new high in entertainment delight. Her portrayal of Holly Golightly as the naive, eccentric socialite is generally considered to be the actress’s most memorable and identifiable role.
A young New York socialite becomes interested in a young man who has moved into her apartment building.
One Reason To Watch It - It’s the film behind the classic Audrey Hepburn image.
Bonnie And Clyde (1967)
Directed By - Arthur Penn
IMDB Rating - 8.1
“The strangest damned gang you ever heard of. They’re young. They’re in love. They rob banks.”
A somewhat romantized account of the career of the notoriously violent bank robbing couple and their gang. Bonnie and Clyde is considered a landmark film, and is regarded as one of the first films of the New Hollywood era, in that it broke many taboos and was popular with the younger generation. Its success motivated other filmmakers to be more forward about presenting sex and violence in their films.
One Reason To Watch It - The final scene.
The Birds (1963)
Directed By - Alfred Hitchcock
IMDB Rating - 7.9
Suspense and shock beyond anything you have seen or imagined!
A wealthy San Francisco playgirl pursues a potential boyfriend to a small Northern California town that slowly takes a turn for the bizarre when birds of all kinds suddenly begin to attack people there in increasing numbers and with increasing viciousness.
One Reason To Watch It - A very powerful use of sound to create horrific effects.
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Directed by - Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez
IMDB Rating - 6.2
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.
The film tells the story of three young student filmmakers (Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael C. Williams) who supposedly go into the Black Hills of Burkittsville, Maryland to film a documentary about a local legend known as the Blair Witch.
One Reason To Watch It - You’ll either be terrified or humoured - either way it succeeds in its use of documentary techniques.
Random Fact About The Film - The actors were responsible for shooting the film themselves. Several times a day, the directors would write notes to each cast member, sealed in tubes for their eyes only - achieving a high degree of realism.
