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100 Best Movies (91-100) Trouble in Paradise (1932) Ernst Lubitsch's glittering gem about jewel thieves is perfection--the most sophisticated and the most comic of all sophisticated comedies. True Lies (1994) Go ahead, laugh, but 10 years ago Blade Runner seemed like no one's idea of a classic, either. Given our divorce-torn times, this movie's downright radical message--that your dream mate is right there next to you in the partner you're taking for granted--is a daring and provocative theme which James Cameron has decorated with many of the greatest action set-pieces ever filmed. In years to come, True Lies will be studied not merely for its technical thrill-ride achievements, but to see how they were so deftly interwoven into a timely, pro-marriage update on Nick and Nora Charles. Two for the Road (1967) The reason most movies end at "and they lived happily ever after" is because marriage is so less upbeat a subject than romance. Here's the exception, however, the result of extraordinary contributions from writer Frederic Raphael, producer-director Stanley Donen, cinematographer Christopher Challis, composer Henry Mancini, and stars Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney. |
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2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Why is this cold, oddly optimistic, overreaching sci-fi poem so interesting? Because HAL, the computer on-board the spacecraft flying to Jupiter, has personal problems that make him a more engaging character than any of the humans in this or most other movies of the last few decades. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) The personal problems of three little people do amount to a considerable hill of beans back in the halcyon days of the Soviet domination of Eastern Europe. Vertigo (1958) Hitchcock's autobiographical film about show business investigates the inherent psychological troubles of earthy brunettes who become ethereal blonde screen goddesses--and the attendant problems suffered by men who love the latter but not the former. West Side Story (1961) Compared with today's drive-by thugs, the '50s homeboys who dance through this musical Romeo and Juliet are suitable for taking home to Mom and Dad. But they still cause enough problems to jerk major tears and support hyper-emotional musical numbers. Think Natalie Wood is miscast as the Puerto Rican Maria? Today you'd get Marisa Tomei, so shut up and enjoy it. |
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The Wind (1928) One of the great silents, and the grandmother of all women's pictures, Lillian Gish delivers in this film alone a case-closed argument for her legendary status. The Wizard of Oz (1939) Hopes, dreams and hallucinations in the original land of dysfunctionality. Flawless, even if you can't stand Judy Garland. The Year of Living Dangerously (1983) Director Peter Weir's sophisticated, uncynical view of love, romantic and otherwise, finds exotic expression in this story of an ambitious journalist in strife-torn Indonesia. The movie was taken to be a political thriller when it was released. It isn't. What do you think of these movies? Sound off in the Movie Forum. |