Future Criterion Titles I'd Love to See But May Never See the Light of Day
by mystic80 | created - 24 Jan 2013 | updated - 06 Aug 2014 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. High Fidelity (2000)
R | 113 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
Rob, a record store owner and compulsive list maker, recounts his top five breakups, including the one in progress.
Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: John Cusack, Iben Hjejle, Todd Louiso, Jack Black
Votes: 189,810 | Gross: $27.29M
There are few movies that can successfully blend music with comedy and "High Fidelity" is one of those exceptions. Star John Cusack co-wrote and produced this 2000 film as a Chicago record store owner trying to sort out his love life, currently in disarray as Rob (Cusack) may finally decide to commit to his girlfriend. Jack Black, in a breakthrough role, stole scenes as one half of the "musical moron twins" that inhabit Rob's store. For Criterion, which has prided itself on having music in film, I can't think of a more appropriate selection.
2. Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)
R | 107 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Martin Blank is a professional assassin. He is sent on a mission to a small Detroit suburb, Grosse Pointe, and, by coincidence, his ten-year high school reunion party is taking place there at the same time.
Director: George Armitage | Stars: John Cusack, Minnie Driver, Dan Aykroyd, Joan Cusack
Votes: 99,641 | Gross: $28.01M
Unfortunately "Grosse Pointe Blank" will go down in history as just a footnote in the history of film, which is a shame because it's quite a good movie. Like the other Cusack title, there's a great soundtrack and it's got a really great cast in Cusack, Minnie Driver, Alan Arkin, Jeremy Piven, Hank Azaria and a wicked Dan Aykroyd. George Armitage's film is ultimately a romantic comedy by way of black humor at its best.
3. The Fisher King (1991)
R | 137 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
A former radio DJ, suicidally despondent because of a terrible mistake he made, finds redemption in helping a deranged homeless man who was an unwitting victim of that mistake.
Director: Terry Gilliam | Stars: Jeff Bridges, Robin Williams, Adam Bryant, Paul Lombardi
Votes: 90,891 | Gross: $41.90M
4. Mississippi Burning (1988)
R | 128 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Two F.B.I. Agents with wildly different styles arrive in Mississippi to investigate the disappearance of some civil rights activists.
Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe, Frances McDormand, Brad Dourif
Votes: 111,090 | Gross: $34.60M
5. Ghost World (2001)
R | 111 min | Comedy, Drama
Two eccentric best friends graduate high school and respond to a man's romance-seeking newspaper ad as a gag, only to find their lives becoming increasingly complicated.
Director: Terry Zwigoff | Stars: Steve Buscemi, Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson, Brad Renfro
Votes: 126,851 | Gross: $6.22M
6. The Last Detail (1973)
R | 104 min | Comedy, Drama
Two Navy men are ordered to bring a young offender to prison, but decide to show him one last good time along the way.
Director: Hal Ashby | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Randy Quaid, Otis Young, Clifton James
Votes: 27,966 | Gross: $3.19M
7. Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
PG | 112 min | Action, Biography, Crime
Alcatraz is the most secure prison of its time. It is believed that no one can ever escape from it, until three daring men make a possibly successful attempt at escaping from one of the most infamous prisons in the world.
Director: Don Siegel | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Patrick McGoohan, Roberts Blossom, Jack Thibeau
Votes: 147,482 | Gross: $43.00M
8. Sneakers (1992)
PG-13 | 126 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A security pro finds his past returning to haunt him when he and his unique team are tasked with retrieving a particularly important item.
Director: Phil Alden Robinson | Stars: Robert Redford, Dan Aykroyd, Sidney Poitier, Jo Marr
Votes: 62,554 | Gross: $51.43M
9. The Insider (1999)
R | 157 min | Biography, Drama, Thriller
A research chemist comes under personal and professional attack when he decides to appear in a 60 Minutes exposé on Big Tobacco.
Director: Michael Mann | Stars: Russell Crowe, Al Pacino, Christopher Plummer, Diane Venora
Votes: 180,255 | Gross: $28.97M
10. American Hot Wax (1978)
PG | 91 min | Drama, History, Music
The story of Alan Freed, the pioneering disc jockey who was instrumental in introducing and popularizing rock 'n' roll in the 1950s.
Director: Floyd Mutrux | Stars: Tim McIntire, Fran Drescher, Jay Leno, Laraine Newman
Votes: 1,356
11. Marathon Man (1976)
R | 125 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
After the shocking murder of his older brother, a New York history student finds himself inexplicably hounded by shadowy government agents on the trail of a Nazi war criminal who is trying to retrieve smuggled diamonds.
Director: John Schlesinger | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, Roy Scheider, William Devane
Votes: 70,244 | Gross: $21.71M
12. The Parallax View (1974)
R | 102 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
An ambitious reporter gets in way-over-his-head trouble while investigating a senator's assassination which leads to a vast conspiracy involving a multinational corporation behind every event in the world's headlines.
Director: Alan J. Pakula | Stars: Warren Beatty, Paula Prentiss, William Daniels, Walter McGinn
Votes: 21,789 | Gross: $2.15M
13. Downfall (2004)
R | 156 min | Biography, Drama, History
Traudl Junge, the final secretary for Adolf Hitler, tells of the Nazi dictator's final days in his Berlin bunker at the end of WWII.
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel | Stars: Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Ulrich Matthes, Juliane Köhler
Votes: 375,330 | Gross: $5.51M
14. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Not Rated | 96 min | Horror, Thriller
A ragtag group of Pennsylvanians barricade themselves in an old farmhouse to remain safe from a horde of flesh-eating ghouls that are ravaging the Northeast of the United States.
Director: George A. Romero | Stars: Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, Karl Hardman, Marilyn Eastman
Votes: 139,184 | Gross: $0.09M
15. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Approved | 80 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates.
Director: Don Siegel | Stars: Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, Larry Gates, King Donovan
Votes: 54,781
16. The Stepford Wives (1975)
PG | 115 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Joanna Eberhart has come to the quaint little town of Stepford, Connecticut with her family, but soon discovers there lies a sinister truth in the all too perfect behavior of the female residents.
Director: Bryan Forbes | Stars: Katharine Ross, Paula Prentiss, Peter Masterson, Nanette Newman
Votes: 19,579 | Gross: $8.72M
17. Heist (2001)
R | 109 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A career jewel thief finds himself at tense odds with his longtime partner, a crime boss who sends his nephew to keep watch.
Director: David Mamet | Stars: Gene Hackman, Rebecca Pidgeon, Danny DeVito, Delroy Lindo
Votes: 39,060 | Gross: $0.05M
18. Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
Not Rated | 147 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A surly convicted murderer held in permanent isolation redeems himself when he becomes a renowned bird expert.
Director: John Frankenheimer | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Karl Malden, Thelma Ritter, Neville Brand
Votes: 19,313
19. A Better Tomorrow (1986)
Not Rated | 95 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A reforming ex-gangster tries to reconcile with his estranged policeman brother, but the ties to his former gang are difficult to break.
Director: John Woo | Stars: Lung Ti, Leslie Cheung, Chow Yun-Fat, Emily Chu
Votes: 25,471
20. A Better Tomorrow II (1987)
Not Rated | 105 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A restauranteur teams up with a police officer and his ex-con brother to avenge the death of a friend's daughter.
Director: John Woo | Stars: Leslie Cheung, Chow Yun-Fat, Lung Ti, Dean Shek
Votes: 11,321
21. Freaks (1932)
Not Rated | 64 min | Drama, Horror
A circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance.
Director: Tod Browning | Stars: Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova, Roscoe Ates
Votes: 50,624 | Gross: $0.63M
22. The Triplets of Belleville (2003)
PG-13 | 80 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
When her grandson is kidnapped during the Tour de France, Madame Souza and her beloved pooch Bruno team up with the Belleville Sisters--an aged song-and-dance team from the days of Fred Astaire--to rescue him.
Director: Sylvain Chomet | Stars: Michèle Caucheteux, Jean-Claude Donda, Michel Robin, Monica Viegas
Votes: 57,088 | Gross: $7.00M
23. The Usual Suspects (1995)
R | 106 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The sole survivor of a pier shoot-out tells the story of how a notorious criminal influenced the events that began with five criminals meeting in a seemingly random police lineup.
Director: Bryan Singer | Stars: Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri, Stephen Baldwin
Votes: 1,145,772 | Gross: $23.34M
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