The Best of 1996
by riverman211179 | created - 08 Dec 2010 | updated - 4 months ago | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Breaking the Waves (1996)
R | 159 min | Drama
Oilman Jan is paralyzed in an accident. His wife, who prayed for his return, feels guilty; even more, when Jan urges her to have sex with another.
Director: Lars von Trier | Stars: Emily Watson, Stellan Skarsgård, Katrin Cartlidge, Jean-Marc Barr
Votes: 71,520 | Gross: $4.04M
2. A Summer's Tale (1996)
G | 113 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
As a reserved young graduate vacations in a seaside town, he hopes his girlfriend will join him. But he ends up bonding with a local young woman whose female friend is also smitten with him.
Director: Éric Rohmer | Stars: Melvil Poupaud, Amanda Langlet, Gwenaëlle Simon, Aurelia Nolin
Votes: 9,958 | Gross: $0.20M
3. Earth (1996)
Unrated | 125 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Angel, an exterminator recently released from a mental hospital, comes to rid a small Spanish town of tiny grubs in the soil. The local wine-making industry has found these pests ... See full summary »
Director: Julio Medem | Stars: Carmelo Gómez, Emma Suárez, Karra Elejalde, Silke
Votes: 4,037
4. Beyond Silence (1996)
PG-13 | 109 min | Drama, Music
Since the earliest days in her childhood Lara has had a difficult but important task. Both her parents are deaf-mute and Lara has to translate from sign-language to the spoken word and vice... See full summary »
Director: Caroline Link | Stars: Sylvie Testud, Tatjana Trieb, Howie Seago, Emmanuelle Laborit
Votes: 4,585 | Gross: $0.17M
5. Everyone Says I Love You (1996)
R | 101 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
A New York girl sets her father up with a beautiful woman in a troubled marriage while her stepsister gets engaged.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Goldie Hawn, Julia Roberts, Edward Norton
Votes: 39,391 | Gross: $9.71M
6. Stealing Beauty (1996)
R | 118 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
After her mother commits suicide, a young woman travels to Italy in search of love, truth and a deeper connection with herself.
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci | Stars: Jeremy Irons, Liv Tyler, Carlo Cecchi, Sinéad Cusack
Votes: 30,396 | Gross: $4.57M
7. Michael Collins (1996)
R | 133 min | Biography, Drama, Thriller
Neil Jordan's historical biopic of Irish revolutionary Michael Collins, the man who led a guerrilla war against the UK, helped negotiate the creation of the Irish Free State, and led the National Army during the Irish Civil War.
Director: Neil Jordan | Stars: Liam Neeson, Aidan Quinn, Julia Roberts, Ian Hart
Votes: 33,731 | Gross: $11.09M
8. The Funeral (1996)
R | 99 min | Crime, Drama
After the funeral of one of their own, a criminal family decides to embark on an emotionally unnerving journey in an attempt to exact bloody revenge.
Director: Abel Ferrara | Stars: Christopher Walken, Chris Penn, Annabella Sciorra, Isabella Rossellini
Votes: 9,394 | Gross: $1.23M
9. The Pillow Book (1995)
Not Rated | 126 min | Drama
A woman with a body-writing fetish seeks to find a combined lover and calligrapher.
Director: Peter Greenaway | Stars: Vivian Wu, Ewan McGregor, Yoshi Oida, Ken Ogata
Votes: 13,635 | Gross: $2.29M
10. Shine (1996)
PG-13 | 105 min | Biography, Drama, Music
Pianist David Helfgott, driven by his father and teachers, has a breakdown. Years later he returns to the piano, to popular if not critical acclaim.
Director: Scott Hicks | Stars: Geoffrey Rush, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Justin Braine, Sonia Todd
Votes: 56,664 | Gross: $35.81M
11. The English Patient (1996)
R | 162 min | Drama, Romance, War
At the close of World War II, a young nurse tends to a badly burned plane crash victim. His past is shown in flashbacks, revealing an involvement in a fateful love affair.
Director: Anthony Minghella | Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, Kristin Scott Thomas
Votes: 200,499 | Gross: $78.65M
12. Lone Star (1996)
R | 135 min | Drama, Mystery, Western
When the skeleton of his murdered predecessor is found, Sheriff Sam Deeds unearths many other long-buried secrets in his Texas border town.
Director: John Sayles | Stars: Chris Cooper, Elizabeth Peña, Stephen Mendillo, Stephen J. Lang
Votes: 32,295 | Gross: $13.27M
13. Looking for Richard (1996)
PG-13 | 111 min | Documentary, Drama
Al Pacino's deeply-felt rumination on Shakespeare's significance and relevance to the modern world through interviews and an in-depth analysis of "Richard III."
Director: Al Pacino | Stars: Al Pacino, Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey, Frederic Kimball
Votes: 8,568 | Gross: $1.36M
14. Crash (1996)
NC-17 | 100 min | Drama
After getting into a serious car accident, a TV director discovers an underground sub-culture of scarred, omnisexual car-crash victims who use car accidents and the raw sexual energy they produce to try to rejuvenate his sex life with his wife.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: James Spader, Holly Hunter, Elias Koteas, Deborah Kara Unger
Votes: 66,287 | Gross: $2.04M
15. Drifting Clouds (1996)
Not Rated | 95 min | Comedy, Drama
The recession hits a couple in Helsinki.
Director: Aki Kaurismäki | Stars: Kati Outinen, Kari Väänänen, Elina Salo, Sakari Kuosmanen
Votes: 9,027
16. The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)
R | 130 min | Biography, Drama
The story of controversial pornography publisher Larry Flynt, and how he became a defender of free speech.
Director: Milos Forman | Stars: Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love, Edward Norton, Brett Harrelson
Votes: 100,668 | Gross: $20.19M
17. Mars Attacks! (1996)
PG-13 | 106 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi
Earth is invaded by Martians with unbeatable weapons and a cruel sense of humor.
Director: Tim Burton | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Pierce Brosnan, Sarah Jessica Parker, Annette Bening
Votes: 243,294 | Gross: $37.77M
18. Microcosmos (1996)
Not Rated | 80 min | Documentary
A documentary on insect life in meadows and ponds.
Directors: Claude Nuridsany, Marie Pérennou | Stars: Kristin Scott Thomas, Jacques Perrin
Votes: 11,641 | Gross: $1.57M
19. Ridicule (1996)
R | 102 min | Comedy, Drama, History
To get royal backing on a needed drainage project, a poor French lord must learn to play the delicate games of wit at court at Versailles.
Director: Patrice Leconte | Stars: Charles Berling, Jean Rochefort, Fanny Ardant, Judith Godrèche
Votes: 8,178 | Gross: $2.50M
20. Jerry Maguire (1996)
R | 139 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
When a sports agent has a moral epiphany and is fired for expressing it, he decides to put his new philosophy to the test as an independent agent with the only athlete who stays with him and his former colleague.
Director: Cameron Crowe | Stars: Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., Renée Zellweger, Kelly Preston
Votes: 286,798 | Gross: $153.95M
21. Courage Under Fire (1996)
R | 116 min | Action, Drama, Mystery
A U.S. Army officer, despondent about a deadly mistake he made, investigates a female chopper commander's worthiness for the Medal of Honor.
Director: Edward Zwick | Stars: Denzel Washington, Meg Ryan, Lou Diamond Phillips, Michael Moriarty
Votes: 59,502 | Gross: $59.03M
22. Jude (1996)
R | 123 min | Drama, Romance
In late 1800s England, Jude plans to go to the city and attend university but marries early and becomes a stonemason. When his wife leaves, he moves to the city, where he befriends his liberal cousin Sue.
Director: Michael Winterbottom | Stars: Christopher Eccleston, Kate Winslet, Liam Cunningham, Rachel Griffiths
Votes: 11,114 | Gross: $0.41M
23. Unhook the Stars (1996)
R | 103 min | Drama, Romance
After her abusive husband leaves, Monica asks her neighbor to look after her son while she's at work. Mildred's angry daughter's just moved out, so she's happy to have JJ.
Director: Nick Cassavetes | Stars: Gena Rowlands, Marisa Tomei, Gérard Depardieu, Jake Lloyd
Votes: 2,347 | Gross: $0.23M
24. Sleepers (1996)
R | 147 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
After a prank goes disastrously wrong, a group of boys are sent to a detention center where they are brutalized. Thirteen years later, an unexpected random encounter with a former guard gives them a chance for revenge.
Director: Barry Levinson | Stars: Robert De Niro, Kevin Bacon, Brad Pitt, Jason Patric
Votes: 237,416 | Gross: $49.10M
25. Trainspotting (1996)
R | 93 min | Drama
Renton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out despite the allure of drugs and the influence of friends.
Director: Danny Boyle | Stars: Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd
Votes: 725,034 | Gross: $16.50M
26. Hamlet (1996)
PG-13 | 242 min | Drama
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, returns home to find his father murdered and his mother remarrying the murderer, his uncle. Meanwhile, war is brewing.
Director: Kenneth Branagh | Stars: Kenneth Branagh, Julie Christie, Derek Jacobi, Kate Winslet
Votes: 40,029 | Gross: $4.41M
27. From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
R | 108 min | Action, Crime, Horror
Two criminals and their hostages unknowingly seek temporary refuge in a truck stop populated by vampires, with chaotic results.
Director: Robert Rodriguez | Stars: Harvey Keitel, George Clooney, Juliette Lewis, Quentin Tarantino
Votes: 340,257 | Gross: $25.75M
28. Captain Conan (1996)
129 min | Drama, War
The war exploits of French captain Conan and his men during World War I and during the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War.
Director: Bertrand Tavernier | Stars: Philippe Torreton, Samuel Le Bihan, Bernard Le Coq, Catherine Rich
Votes: 2,447
29. My Man (1996)
Unrated | 99 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
In Lyon, where many are unemployed, Marie is a prostitute who loves her work: she's thoughtful and exuberant toward clients old and young, slim or flabby. One night, a homeless man sleeps ... See full summary »
Director: Bertrand Blier | Stars: Anouk Grinberg, Gérard Lanvin, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Olivier Martinez
Votes: 1,721
30. Le cri de la soie (1996)
110 min | Drama, Romance
An illiterate seamstress has a powerful fetish for silk which gets her into trouble. The psychiatrist sent to help her becomes fascinated by her case and when he returns to France from ... See full summary »
Director: Yvon Marciano | Stars: Sergio Castellitto, Marie Trintignant, Anémone, Adriana Asti
Votes: 180
31. Beaumarchais the Scoundrel (1996)
116 min | Adventure, Comedy, History
The life story of the titular Beaumarchais, playwright and adventurer, who gets himself into numerous different scrapes and romantic encounters in 18th Century France.
Director: Édouard Molinaro | Stars: Fabrice Luchini, Manuel Blanc, Sandrine Kiberlain, Michel Aumont
Votes: 1,465 | Gross: $0.63M
32. A Time to Kill (1996)
R | 149 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
In Canton, Mississippi, a fearless young lawyer and his assistant defend a black man accused of murdering two white men who raped his ten-year-old daughter, inciting violent retribution and revenge from the Ku Klux Klan.
Director: Joel Schumacher | Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock, Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin Spacey
Votes: 181,471 | Gross: $108.77M
33. Scream (1996)
R | 111 min | Horror, Mystery
A year after the murder of her mother, a teenage girl is terrorized by a masked killer who targets her and her friends by using scary movies as part of a deadly game.
Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Skeet Ulrich
Votes: 387,985 | Gross: $103.05M
34. Fargo (1996)
R | 98 min | Crime, Thriller
Minnesota car salesman Jerry Lundegaard's inept crime falls apart due to his and his henchmen's bungling and the persistent police work of the quite pregnant Marge Gunderson.
Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen | Stars: William H. Macy, Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare
Votes: 725,867 | Gross: $24.61M
35. Sling Blade (1996)
R | 135 min | Drama
Karl Childers, a simple man hospitalized since his childhood murder of his mother and her lover, is released to start a new life in a small town.
Director: Billy Bob Thornton | Stars: Billy Bob Thornton, Dwight Yoakam, J.T. Walsh, John Ritter
Votes: 98,742 | Gross: $24.48M
36. Une robe d'été (1996)
Not Rated | 15 min | Short, Comedy, Drama
It's summer. Sébastien loves the singer Sheila. Lucia loves boys. And all Luc wants is to get a nice tan...
Director: François Ozon | Stars: Frédéric Mangenot, Lucia Sanchez, Sébastien Charles
Votes: 2,265
37. Hard Eight (1996)
R | 101 min | Crime, Drama
Professional gambler Sydney teaches John the tricks of the trade. John does well until he falls for cocktail waitress Clementine.
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson | Stars: Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow, Samuel L. Jackson
Votes: 54,847 | Gross: $0.22M
38. Trees Lounge (1996)
R | 95 min | Comedy, Drama
Tommy is an unemployed mechanic who spends most of his time in a bar (Trees Lounge) in a small blue collar town. He seems to always be thinking, "If only X then I could stop drinking".
Director: Steve Buscemi | Stars: Steve Buscemi, Carol Kane, Mark Boone Junior, Bronson Dudley
Votes: 17,577 | Gross: $0.70M
39. Secrets & Lies (1996)
R | 136 min | Comedy, Drama
Following the death of her adoptive parents, a successful young black optometrist establishes contact with her biological mother -- a lonely white factory worker living in poverty in East London.
Director: Mike Leigh | Stars: Timothy Spall, Brenda Blethyn, Phyllis Logan, Claire Rushbrook
Votes: 47,137 | Gross: $13.42M
40. Mission: Impossible (1996)
PG-13 | 110 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
An American agent, under false suspicion of disloyalty, must discover and expose the real spy without the help of his organization.
Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Emmanuelle Béart, Henry Czerny
Votes: 469,877 | Gross: $180.98M
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