My favorite good movies, mostly feel good and rare treats.
by Borg222 | created - 18 May 2011 | updated - 3 months ago | PublicYeah OK I do like off beat movies, true stories, kid does well movies, like Blind Side or even Akeelah and the Bee. I do tend to watch good thrillers esp psychological ones, like say Diabolique, the french one not the american remake. So I have shared my list with some close friends and many have just loved them and/or found them 'interesting'. I normally just rent or even borrow from library...but many of this list I have bought because I share them with new friends. A couple are only on VHS or I have to search out and rent from Scarecrow Video with big deposit due to out a print. I am sure a lot of you will say I am too touchy feely..well I guess go back to your Charles Bronson stuff. I did of course love Deja Vu with Denzel Washington. Have fun. perhaps one gets feedback with these lists or perhaps no one at all will read it? Whatever I may not have much time to review or comment so pretty simple list...if you like one you prob will like others I have noted.
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1. Vitus (2006)
PG | 123 min | Drama, Music
A twelve-year-old piano prodigy who suffocates from his parent's big dreams for him decides to make his escape--and with the aid of his grandfather--chase his own dreams instead.
Director: Fredi M. Murer | Stars: Fabrizio Borsani, Bruno Ganz, Teo Gheorghiu, Julika Jenkins
Votes: 5,186 | Gross: $0.19M
a rare beauty. foreign unusual off beat and some interesting triva with the accomplished actors and director from Hungry or somewhere like that. Kid is great.
2. Dominick and Eugene (1988)
PG-13 | 111 min | Drama
Dominick and Eugene are twins, but Dominick is a little bit slow due to an accident in his youth. They live together, with Dominick working as garbage man to put Eugene through medical ... See full summary »
Director: Robert M. Young | Stars: Tom Hulce, Ray Liotta, Jamie Lee Curtis, Robert Levine
Votes: 3,281 | Gross: $3.08M
twins or brothers ,, a risky movie to make bc no sex or much action but really really good and powerful. I saw the promo night with Tom Hulse speaking and director., producer. Pretty psych.
3. Akeelah and the Bee (2006)
PG | 112 min | Drama, Family
Akeelah, a young gifted girl, comes from a dysfunctional family and is on the verge of quitting school. She discovers that she has a high aptitude for spellings and enters a spelling bee contest.
Director: Doug Atchison | Stars: Angela Bassett, Laurence Fishburne, Keke Palmer, Curtis Armstrong
Votes: 21,608 | Gross: $18.81M
wonderful movie, thank you Starbucks. Not hugely commercial but SO What. Some real characters. Spelling Bee theme.
4. Storm Boy (1976)
Not Rated | 88 min | Drama, Family
Mike is a lonely Australian boy living in a coastal wilderness with his reclusive father. In search of friendship he encounters an Aboriginal native loner and the two form a bond in the care of orphaned pelicans.
Directors: Henri Safran, Ian Goddard | Stars: Greg Rowe, Peter Cummins, David Gulpilil, Judy Dick
Votes: 1,516
I have this somewhere on tape. Great unusual story. Austrailian. A precious movie experience if you like rare simple wonder. Birds involved ...sort like Fly Away Home or whatever the Whooping Crane trueish story is
5. Martian Child (2007)
PG | 106 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
A science-fiction writer, recently widowed, considers whether to adopt a hyper-imaginative 6-year-old abandoned and socially rejected boy who says he's really from Mars.
Director: Menno Meyjes | Stars: John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Bobby Coleman, Sophie Okonedo
Votes: 20,945 | Gross: $7.49M
sweet wonderful story. with a kid, yeah a different kid. fun to watch the kid actors interaction with big movie business and how his dad helped ..whatever. I bought this one and watch to feel good. Can you say food fight?
6. Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)
PG | 109 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
A prepubescent chess prodigy is encouraged to harden himself in order to become a champion like the famous but unlikable Bobby Fischer.
Director: Steven Zaillian | Stars: Joe Mantegna, Ben Kingsley, Max Pomeranc, Joan Allen
Votes: 42,388 | Gross: $7.27M
some true story elements and just great story, some hard parenting stuff but just wonderful all around. Sorry again no sex or violence. Just drama and awe. Hmmm Shock and Awe? Wonder and Awe?
7. Malcolm (1986)
PG-13 | 85 min | Comedy, Crime, Sci-Fi
A socially awkward and mechanically gifted man becomes involved in a quirky and unconventional crime.
Director: Nadia Tass | Stars: Colin Friels, John Hargreaves, Lindy Davies, Chris Haywood
Votes: 2,838 | Gross: $0.54M
again a funny poignant movie from Australian I think..bit odd about an odd guy..hey maybe that is why I like it/him. Good kid movie if fun kid? Hard to find probably.
8.
Horizon (1964– )
Episode:
The Race for the Double Helix
(1987)
97 min | Documentary
Watson and Crick race to find the structure of DNA before Linus Pauling, Maurice Wilkins, or Rosalind Franklin can find the key to unlocking the secret.
Director: Mick Jackson | Stars: Jeff Goldblum, Tim Pigott-Smith, Alan Howard, Juliet Stevenson
Votes: 716
I am not sure which one imdb found to list here. the copy I have is recorded from A&E 20 yrs ago. With wild Jeff Goldblum. Of course a true story reinactment and just wonderful and Rare. DNA and science with mavericks . Great
9. Jack the Bear (1993)
PG-13 | 99 min | Comedy, Drama
Danny DeVito is John Leary, a professional clown, whose wife's death in a car accident has left him to care for his two young boys.
Director: Marshall Herskovitz | Stars: Danny DeVito, Gary Sinise, Robert J. Steinmiller Jr., Miko Hughes
Votes: 4,385 | Gross: $5.15M
not too sure why I like this, Not That great. but sweet story and Danny Davito is great and weird. Some touching elements. Hard to find, pretty old.
10. The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
R | 112 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Three trappers protect the daughters of a British Colonel in the midst of the French and Indian War.
Director: Michael Mann | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Madeleine Stowe, Russell Means, Eric Schweig
Votes: 187,446 | Gross: $75.51M
One of my favorites I have watched 20 some times. Good music and actual quite primally romantic. Good Date movie for the right persons. Tales of somewhat simpler times. When did they eat?
11. Music of the Heart (1999)
PG | 124 min | Drama, Music
After Roberta Guaspari separates from her husband, she receives encouragement from her mother to take up a job of a music teacher at the Central Park East School in East Harlem.
Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Meryl Streep, Cloris Leachman, Henry Dinhofer, Michael Angarano
Votes: 13,325 | Gross: $14.86M
True story and True storys are best. Really Really well done and real people participate and support. Kids play music. Well done I thought and one can get a copy of the documentary , which is good too.
12. Finding Forrester (2000)
PG-13 | 136 min | Drama
Forrester, the author of a famous book, decides to help Jamal, a 16-year-old student, discover his writing prowess by mentoring him and enrolling him into a prestigious private school.
Director: Gus Van Sant | Stars: Sean Connery, Rob Brown, F. Murray Abraham, Anna Paquin
Votes: 89,540 | Gross: $66.40M
One of my more favorites. feels like some true story elements but prob not? Way different role or character for Sean Connery. Great new actor kid..ok maybe he has had other roles? Whatever. Some fun, pathos and Wonder & Awe.
13. Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (1953)
Not Rated | 83 min | Comedy
Monsieur Hulot comes to a beachside hotel for a vacation and accidentally, but good-naturedly, causes havoc.
Director: Jacques Tati | Stars: Jacques Tati, Nathalie Pascaud, Micheline Rolla, Valentine Camax
Votes: 20,251
YOu have really missed something if you have not experienced Jaque Tati. Give it a try ,, prob hard to find, in French mostly although mostly visual experience./ This one, Les Vacance whatever is the more well known one..Gad I hope it is not dubbed or somepin
14. Diabolique (1955)
Not Rated | 117 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
The wife and mistress of a loathed school principal plan to murder him with what they believe is the perfect alibi.
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot | Stars: Simone Signoret, Véra Clouzot, Paul Meurisse, Charles Vanel
Votes: 69,328 | Gross: $1.09M
hope this one is the French one with Simone Sennoray? The american remake is fun cuz set in San Juan Islands..[i live seattle] The french version is pretty darn scary.
15. Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002)
PG | 94 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
In 1931, three half-white, half-Aboriginal girls escape after being plucked from their houses to be trained as domestic staff, and set off on a journey across the Outback.
Director: Phillip Noyce | Stars: Everlyn Sampi, Tianna Sansbury, Kenneth Branagh, Laura Monaghan
Votes: 30,243 | Gross: $6.17M
Do NOT miss the "how made" doc bonus. Just amazing, just about as important as the movie itself. Really.
16. Diva (1981)
R | 117 min | Crime, Music, Thriller
Two tapes, two Parisian mob killers, one corrupt policeman, an opera fan, a teenage thief, and the coolest philosopher ever filmed all twist their way through an intricate and stylish French-language thriller.
Director: Jean-Jacques Beineix | Stars: Wilhelmenia Fernandez, Frédéric Andréi, Roland Bertin, Richard Bohringer
Votes: 14,300 | Gross: $0.11M
finally got at library. trying to buy a copy but most that you can get are crummy DVD copies.... Opera with twist and butter.
17.
Wallander (2005–2013)
Episode:
Innan frosten
(2005)
Not Rated | 89 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Tracking a sadistic killer, detective Kurt Wallander follows a string of incidents -- attacks on domestic animals, ritualistic murders of humans -- with help from his daughter, Linda, a new member of the Ystad police force.
Director: Kjell-Åke Andersson | Stars: Krister Henriksson, Johanna Sällström, Ola Rapace, Ellen Jelinek
Votes: 1,876
26 of the swedish ones, which are great. 6 or so of BBC ones, ok also 6 I think older swedish ones which I found one at Library or maybe amazon instant. ? anyway you can get region 2 dvd over there...
18. Foyle's War (2002–2015)
TV-14 | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
As WWII rages, DCS Foyle fights his own war on the home-front; investigating crime on the south coast of England. Later series, see the retired detective working as an MI5 agent in the aftermath of the war.
Stars: Michael Kitchen, Honeysuckle Weeks, Anthony Howell, Ellie Haddington
Votes: 18,231
exquisitely done. even the bit players are complicated and full. Lots of episodes to see again and again. kinda like UP/Down and DT AB
19. Orphans (1987)
R | 115 min | Drama
Brothers Treat and Philip have lived alone since they were kids. Interdependent, they dwell in a loft house and live on little thefts, until an aging minor criminal moves in with them and takes over the role of a father.
Director: Alan J. Pakula | Stars: Albert Finney, Matthew Modine, Kevin Anderson, John Kellogg
Votes: 937 | Gross: $0.25M
20. Finding Forrester (2000)
PG-13 | 136 min | Drama
Forrester, the author of a famous book, decides to help Jamal, a 16-year-old student, discover his writing prowess by mentoring him and enrolling him into a prestigious private school.
Director: Gus Van Sant | Stars: Sean Connery, Rob Brown, F. Murray Abraham, Anna Paquin
Votes: 89,540 | Gross: $66.40M
21. 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
22. Win Win (2011)
R | 106 min | Comedy, Drama, Sport
A struggling lawyer and volunteer wrestling coach's chicanery comes back to haunt him when the teenage grandson of the client he has double-crossed comes into his life.
Director: Tom McCarthy | Stars: Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Jeffrey Tambor, Bobby Cannavale
Votes: 55,242 | Gross: $10.18M
23. The Best Offer (2013)
R | 131 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Virgil Oldman, a wealthy art auctioneer, takes the help of a young artificer, Robert, to understand and woo Claire Ibbetson, a young heiress, who hires him to auction off an antique collection.
Director: Giuseppe Tornatore | Stars: Geoffrey Rush, Jim Sturgess, Sylvia Hoeks, Donald Sutherland
Votes: 128,484 | Gross: $0.09M
24. Radio (2003)
PG | 109 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
The story of a high school coach and the developmentally challenged man who he took under his wing.
Director: Michael Tollin | Stars: Cuba Gooding Jr., Ed Harris, Debra Winger, S. Epatha Merkerson
Votes: 43,963 | Gross: $52.33M
25. The Abyss (1989)
PG-13 | 140 min | Adventure, Drama, Mystery
A civilian diving team is enlisted to search for a lost nuclear submarine and faces danger while encountering an alien aquatic species.
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn, Leo Burmester
Votes: 192,979 | Gross: $54.46M
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