Double Reading

Disclaimer: I really only manage the top six or so entries. Things at the bottom of my queue are usually there because I added them recently. I often take things from the bottom and middle, then move them way up to the top when I want to see them. Point of the story: the order doesn’t make much difference.

1. House of Cards
   
   When Ruth Matthews (Kathleen Turner) realizes that her young daughter (Asha Menina) has broken with reality as a result of autism, Ruth teams up with a psychiatrist (Tommy Lee Jones) in an effort to come up with an unconventional approach — after all conventional treatments fail — to get through to the young girl. Michael Lessac directs this poignant film, a monumental testament to the depths of a mother’s love for her child.
2. The Final Cut
   
   Robin Williams stars in this futuristic tale as Alan Hakman, a “cutter” who edits people’s digital memories into compositions fit for viewing at their funerals — but things change when he finds his own childhood memory in the databank of a client. This thriller also stars Mira Sorvino as Hakman’s girlfriend and Jim Caviezel as a former cutter who is in search of a corporate bigwig’s incriminating footage.
3. Raging Bull
   
   Robert De Niro won an Oscar for his portrayal of self-destructive boxer Jake LaMotta in Martin Scorsese’s widely acclaimed biopic, which paints a raw portrait of a tormented soul unable to control his violent outbursts. Marked by De Niro’s powerful performance and Scorsese’s gritty, black-and-white realism, the film also launched the Hollywood careers of Joe Pesci and Cathy Moriarty, who each received an Oscar nomination.
4. Revolver
   
   Guy Ritchie delivers another fast-paced crime thriller starring Jason Statham (of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch), who this time plays Jake, a gangster and ace gambler recently released from prison. Determined to hustle the crime boss (Ray Liotta) who killed his sister-in-law, Jake deliberately humiliates the kingpin in a private game. But when the mobster calls for Jake’s head, a mysterious duo steps in to save his skin.
5. Benny’s Video
   
   Fourteen-year-old Benny (Arno Frisch) is a video freak whose life consists only of school, videotaping what he sees outside his window and spending hours watching violent action films. Benny becomes obsessed with amateur footage of a pig being slaughtered, and soon, his passion for videotaped death leads him to commit a heinous act of his own. Austrian director Michael Haneke helms this postmodern exploration of emotional disconnection.
6. The Color of Money
   
   The Hustler isn’t what he used to be in this continuation of the 1961 film: “Fast” Eddie Felson (Oscar-winner Paul Newman) has given up pool for life as a liquor salesman. But then he meets Vincent (Tom Cruise), a cocky natural who makes a cue ball crack like a lightning bolt. Eddie takes Vincent under his wing and on the road, but are teacher and student destined to become competitors? Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio co-stars.
7. Dark Blue Almost Black
   
   Filmmaker Daniel Sánchez Arévalo’s directorial debut follows a pensive, put-upon young man named Jorge (Quim Gutiérrez) who’s forced to put his professional and personal life on hold to fulfill the obligations his family imposes on him. Although he dutifully complies with the familial expectations, he wrestles with the guilt he feels over his desire to strike out on his own and find himself.
8. Wassup Rockers
   
   Much like his controversial debut film, Kids, director Larry Clark’s Wassup Rockers features young people from the street in the film’s starring roles, portraying a group of young Hispanics who go by nicknames such as Spermball, Porky and Kiko. While the rest of their peers conform to the pervasive hip-hop culture, these teens prefer skateboards, tight clothing and punk-rock music — and the rich girls they meet in Beverly Hills.
9. About Schmidt
   
   When insurance actuary Warren Schmidt (Jack Nicholson) retires and his wife dies, he looks for life’s meaning on a road trip to his daughter’s (Hope Davis) upcoming wedding to a waterbed salesman (Dermot Mulroney). But Schmidt can’t seem to get anything right. En route to the wedding, he shares his life through letters with a Tanzanian boy he’s sponsoring for 73 cents a day — and soon, Schmidt discovers renewed purpose.
10. MTV’s Wuthering Heights
    
    Emily Bronte’s classic novel of thwarted love gets a teen-angst makeover in this adaptation from MTV, starring Mike Vogel as Heath, a moody, blossoming rock star who also rocks the world of Cate (Erika Christensen), to the intense jealousy of her brother (Johnny Whitworth). Passions flare and betrayals abound, all set to a killer soundtrack. Katherine Heigl, Aimee Osbourne and Christopher Masterson co-star.
11. Teddy Bears’ Picnic
    
    In Harry Shearer’s tongue-in-cheek comedy, a waiter at Zanbesu Glen (a chi-chi Northern California resort) uses his movie camera to spy on the annual communal vacation of a group of rich, white U.S. government and business leaders who drink and carouse to excess while plotting their next move on the global stage. His goal? To sell the embarrassing and incriminating footage to the media and expose the “leaders” for what they really are.
12. Do the Right Thing
    
    What begins as an uproarious comedy evolves into a provocative, disquieting drama as director Spike Lee chronicles trivial events that bring festering racial tensions to the surface on a sweltering day in a largely black Brooklyn neighborhood. After a number of minor misunderstandings — and an effort to boycott the local pizza parlor — a young man (Bill Nunn) lies dead, the pizzeria lies in ashes, and the racial schism is wider than ever.
13. The Dead Zone
    
    Christopher Walken gives an eerie, memorable performance as Johnny Smith, a man who awakens from a five-year coma blessed with second sight: the ability to see a person’s past, present and future simply through physical contact. When he shakes hands with an up-and-coming political candidate (Martin Sheen), Smith foresees nuclear war. Horror veteran David Cronenberg directs this supernatural thriller, adapted from a novel by Stephen King.
14. The Pillow Book
    
    A bizarre mix of carnality and calligraphy, The Pillow Book is a lush foray into the aphrodisiacal pleasures of the flesh and mind. A woman (Vivian Wu) melds her love of life and literature in an unusual fashion — by seeking a lover who will write on her skin and allow her to do the same. Ewan McGregor costars.
15. Orlando
    
    Director Sally Potter adapts Virginia Woolf’s 1928 allegorical novel about a woman who lives for 400 years — the first half as a man — in this surrealist study of sex and gender roles throughout the ages. The transition from man to woman and from the 16th to the 20th century is realized by Tilda Swinton’s breakthrough performance and the film’s Oscar-nominated costumes and art direction. Quentin Crisp plays Queen Elizabeth I.
16. Single White Female
    
    Up-and-coming fashion designer Allison (Bridget Fonda) lives the urban dweller’s dream life in a gorgeous Manhattan apartment with boyfriend Sam (Steven Weber). When infidelity is revealed and Sam moves out, Allison places a classified ad to find a roommate. Quiet, mousy Hedy (Jennifer Jason Leigh) fits the bill until her enviousness toward Allison turns her into the roommate from hell in director Barbet Schroeder’s dark psychological thriller.
17. The Hand that Rocks the Cradle
    
    A suburban family chooses seemingly sweet Peyton Flanders (Rebecca De Mornay) as their newborn’s nanny. Only much later does the infant’s mother, Claire Bartel (Annabella Sciorra), realize Peyton’s true intentions — to destroy Claire and replace her in the family. The nail-biting suspense builds quickly in this chilling psychological thriller about deception and bitter revenge. Julianne Moore co-stars as Claire’s sassy real-estate-agent friend.
18. L.A. Confidential
    
    In 1950s Los Angeles, three wildly different cops (Guy Pearce, Russell Crowe and Kevin Spacey) form an uneasy alliance to ferret out deep-seated police corruption. But some people will do anything to land their faces in the pages of trashy Hollywood tabloids such as Hush-Hush magazine. A must-see whodunit, Brian Helgeland’s script adaptation won an Oscar, as did Kim Basinger for her supporting role as a Veronica Lake look-alike.
19. That Obscure Object of Desire
    
    This Oscar-nominated erotic dark comedy was Luis Buñuel’s final film. The story follows, in flashback, middle-aged Mathieu (Fernando Rey) and his obsession for the much younger, moody Conchita (played by both Carole Bouquet and Angela Molina). The two play a continuous tug-of-war with each other’s desires, each trying to outlast the other at their own game.
20. Death in Venice
    
    Italian legend Luchino Visconti made a visually stunning adaptation of the Thomas Mann novella about an older gay man, composer Gustav von Aschenbach (Dirk Bogarde), who goes to Venice to escape past loves and professional failures. All his woes are forgotten when he sees an angelic blond Polish boy whom he follows everywhere (without ever approaching). Soon, his life is transformed in ways he could never have imagined.
21. The Seventh Seal
    
    Exhausted and disillusioned, a medieval knight (Max von Sydow) makes the journey home after years of combat in the Crusades. But when the black-robed figure of Death confronts him, the knight challenges him to a game of chess. A powerful meditation on the existence of God and the meaning of life, this drama is considered one of Ingmar Bergman’s best and took the Cannes Film Festival Prize in 1957.
22. The Kid
    
    Considered one of Charlie Chaplin’s best films, The Kid also made a star of little Jackie Coogan, who plays a boy cared for by The Tramp when he’s abandoned by his mother, Edna (Edna Purviance). Later, Edna has a change of heart and aches to be reunited with her son. When she finds him and wrests him from The Tramp, it makes for what turns out be one of the most heart-wrenching scenes ever included in a comedy. Chaplin also directs.
23. Soldier’s Girl
    
    This powerful drama tells the true story of a young soldier, Pfc. Barry Winchell (Troy Garity), who meets and falls for a beautiful transgendered nightclub performer (Lee Pace) while on a drunken outing with fellow soldiers. Winchell’s relationship is frowned upon by the other soldiers — and eventually leads to tragedy at the hands of his homophobic roommate. Garity and Pace both earned Independent Spirit nods for their performances.
24. The Quiet American
    
    Based on the novel by Graham Greene, this murder mystery centers on a love triangle set against the French Indochina War in 1952 Vietnam — a world suffused with opium, intrigue and betrayal. A British reporter, Fowler (Michael Caine, in an Oscar-nominated performance), falls in love with a young Vietnamese woman, Phuong (Do Thi Hai Yen), and is dismayed when an American (Brendan Fraser) also begins vying for her attention.
25. O Fantasma
    
    By day, brooding, lonely Sergio (Ricardo Meneses) works as a trash collector in the streets of Lisbon. By night, he embarks on an increasingly intense odyssey of random, anonymous sexual encounters. Before long, he becomes fixated on a hot, young stranger and begins to retreat further and further into his dark dream life, blurring the lines between fantasy and reality, love and obsession. Joao Pedro Rodrigues directs.
26. Proof of Life
    
    This flick branded Russell Crowe and Meg Ryan a scorching Hollywood item. Ripping a page from Casablanca’s playbook, Proof of Life mixes action, suspense, foreign intrigue and forbidden romance in immoderate doses. When terrorist thugs in South America kidnap Ryan’s husband (David Morse), hostage negotiator Crowe is sent in to get him out alive.
27. Elephant
    
    Indie writer-director Gus Van Sant helms this unnerving tale about high school violence that unfolds on an ordinary school day, inside a typical American high school filled with the usual goings-on — schoolwork, football, gossip and peer pressure. For each of the students we meet, high school is a different experience: alternately stimulating, friendly, traumatic, lonely or just plain hard. Timothy Bottoms co-stars.
28. Another Day in Paradise
    
    James Woods talks a mile a minute as a schizoid hood in Another Day in Paradise; Melanie Griffith co-stars as his junkie wife. Both serve as unlikely parental figures, taking two budding crooks under their wings. For a while, life is perfect — and then everything goes wrong. Another Day in Paradise builds an increasing sense of dread as Woods’ true colors are revealed.
29. Criminal
    
    Con man Richard Gaddis (John C. Reilly) teams up with newbie Rodrigo (Diego Luna) for a heist that’s a little bigger than his usual projects: They’ll filch an antique currency note from a customer when he blows into town at the casino where Gaddis trolls for victims. But it seems the pair will need help, which lessens Gaddis’s take. Plus, his sister (Maggie Gyllenhaal) seems dead-set on spoiling his criminal fun. (Remade from Nine Queens.)
30. Feed
    
    Hit the campaign trail with politicians Bill Clinton, Jerry Brown, Pat Buchanan, Paul Tsongas and others as they try to win the hearts — and votes — of New Hampshire constituents in the state’s 1992 presidential primary. Packed with comic outtakes and illuminating vignettes, this satiric documentary offers a microscopic view of the candidates — along with a mother lode of mortifying moments — as they stump to win the White House.
31. Full Metal Jacket
    
    Marine recruits (including Matthew Modine and Vincent D’Onofrio) endure the grueling ordeal of basic training and later face the unrelenting Viet Cong during the 1968 Tet Offensive in this grim Stanley Kubrick drama, based on a novel by Gustav Hasford. One of the most authentic depictions of warfare ever put on the big screen, the film teems with howling madness, stark images and troubling questions about duty, honor and sacrifice.
32. Apocalypse Now / Apocalypse Now Redux
    
    Francis Ford Coppola’s timeless epic adapts Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness to the Vietnam War, where special operations Capt. Willard (Martin Sheen) must travel deep into the Cambodian jungle to locate and kill the mysterious — and insane — Col. Kurtz (Marlon Brando). This double feature includes the 1979 Oscar-winning masterwork set in the Vietnam War, along with the re-edited and expanded 2001 director’s cut, Apocalypse Now Redux.
33. Everything Is Illuminated
    
    A young American Jewish man begins an exhausting quest — aided by a naïve Ukranian translator — to find the righteous gentile woman who saved his grandfather when his small Ukranian village (along with most of the populace) was obliterated during the Nazi invasion of Russia in 1941. Stars Elijah Wood, Eugene Hutz and Boris Leskin. Liev Schreiber directs. Based on the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer.
34. Rock Star
    
    Head-banging — 1980s style — makes a comeback with Mark Wahlberg as Chris, a lead singer wannabe who gets to live his wildest dream when he’s whisked from anonymity to being front man for Steel Dragon, the enormously popular metal band he worships. Accompanied on tour by his girlfriend, Emily (Jennifer Aniston), Chris soon discovers life in the fast lane is not what he envisioned, and the relationships he holds dear are strained as his star rises.
35. Paycheck
    
    Michael Jennings (Ben Affleck) is a genius who’s hired — and paid handsomely — by high-tech firms to work on highly sensitive projects, after which his short-term memory is erased so he’s incapable of breaching security. But at the end of a three-year job, he’s told he isn’t getting a paycheck and instead receives a mysterious envelope. In it are clues he must piece together to find out why he wasn’t paid … and how he’s gotten in hot water.
36. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
    
    Director Tom Stoppard turns William Shakespeare’s tragedy “Hamlet” topsy-turvy in this witty, existential puzzle box, presenting the play from the view of trivial characters Rosencrantz (Gary Oldman) and Guildenstern (Tim Roth). Beckoned to find the cause of the Danish prince’s malaise, the duo strolls into the midst of the royal intrigue. But with no memory of Hamlet (or anything else), they’re mystified by their mission.
37. Farewell My Concubine
    
    A seemingly unshakable friendship between two Chinese opera stars gets put to the test in the face of war, a communist takeover, the Cultural Revolution and the intrusion of a woman who tempts both of them. In a plot that captures 50 years of Chinese history, the once-inseparable Duan Xiaolou (Zhang Fengyi) and Cheng Dieyi (Leslie Cheung) find themselves increasingly at odds after Xiaolou weds a lovely courtesan (Li Gong).
38. Ma Vie En Rose
    
    Convinced he’s a girl trapped in a boy’s body, 7-year-old Ludovic (Georges Du Fresne) expresses his true self by regularly donning girls’ clothing, putting a strain on his perplexed family — and, of course, sending shockwaves among his bigoted neighbors. But Ludovic innocently carries on, oblivious to the chaos he’s creating. This whimsical Belgian comedy was an international film festival smash and received a Best Foreign Film Golden Globe.
39. Happiness
    
    A bittersweet film that belies its title, Happiness is not for the squeamish, drawing a dark portrait of a supremely dysfunctional family in which each member battles personal demons amid plotlines involving pederasts and masturbation. Stories concern a prank telephone caller (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who’s afraid of women and a preternaturally cheerful woman (Jane Adams) who’s unable to make a physical connection.
40. Wild Things
    
    When guidance counselor Sam Lombardo (Matt Dillon) rejects the advances of teen-socialite Kelly Van Ryan (Denise Richards), she accuses him of rape. In short order Sam’s suspended by the school, rejected by the country club, and fighting to get his life back. Bill Murray plays an unscrupulous lawyer; Theresa Russell plays Kelly’s mom; and Neve Campbell is perfect as a disturbed teen in a tale that leaves viewers guessing until the bitter end.
41. Dead Alive
    
    Although it’s easy to admire the maniacal glee of director Peter Jackson’s bloodfest, Dead Alive is nonetheless intense and profoundly disturbing. When a Sumatran rat-monkey bites Lionel Cosgrove’s mother, she’s transformed into a zombie. She begins killing (and transforming) the entire town while Lionel races to keep things under control. Events culminate at a house party that turns into a blood-drenched zombie buffet.
42. Ed Wood
    
    In one of his best-ever performances, Johnny Depp plays Ed Wood, a grinning goof with a sunny disposition who was heralded as the “worst director of all time” — and certainly made the movies to prove it. (He also loved to direct his epically bad films while dressed in women’s clothing.) Martin Landau turns in an Oscar-winning performance as aging horror icon Bela Lugosi, while Sarah Jessica Parker and Bill Murray co-star. Tim Burton directs.
43. The Ninth Gate
    
    An all-expenses-paid international search for a rare copy of The Nine Gates of the Shadow Kingdom brings an unscrupulous book dealer (Johnny Depp) deep into a world of murder, double-dealing and satanic worship. Director Roman Polanski (Rosemary’s Baby) creates a richly textured gothic mystery where the hunter becomes the hunted and the devil must be paid his due.
44. Benny and Joon
    
    Benny (Aidan Quinn) is the overprotective caretaker of his mentally ill — but artistically talented — sister, Joon (Mary Stuart Masterson). When the eccentric Sam (Johnny Depp), who looks and acts like a silent-movie comedian, falls for Joon, the siblings’ frail bond is put to the test. Depp’s performance in this offbeat, beautifully acted love story scored a Golden Globe nomination. Julianne Moore and Oliver Platt co-star.
45. Like Water for Chocolate
    
    Passionate Tita (Lumi Cavazos) is in love with Pedro (Marco Leonardi), but her controlling mother (Regina Torné) forbids her from marrying him. So when Pedro marries her sister, Tita throws herself into her cooking — and discovers she can transfer her emotions through the food she prepares. A feast for the senses, this magical romance from director Alfonso Arau was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award and a Golden Globe.
46. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
    
    San Francisco biologist Elizabeth Driscoll (Brooke Adams) turns to health inspector Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland) for help when her live-in beau begins acting odd — and distant. Matthew and Elizabeth notice that suddenly almost everyone around them has become impassive. When their friends discover a developing doppelgänger in their commercial mud baths, the foursome realizes an alien invasion is under way. Can they stop it?
47. Repo Man
    
    Lacking role models and a purpose, baby-faced delinquent Otto (Emilio Estevez) finds a code of honor and a higher calling when he hooks up with a band of contemporary “knights”: the repo men. A “seasoned” auto repossessor (Harry Dean Stanton) shows Otto the ropes, and when a big reward is offered for an elusive 1964 Malibu, Otto dodges G-men, cops, religious kooks — you name it — in a frenzied quest for the car. Does his fate lie in its trunk?
48. After Life
    
    At a way station somewhere between heaven and earth, the newly dead are greeted by guides. Over the next three days, they will help the dead sift through their memories to find the one defining moment of their lives. The chosen moment will be re-created on film and taken with them when the dead pass on to heaven. This grave, beautifully crafted film reveals the surprising and ambiguous consequences of human recollection.
49. All the President’s Men
    
    The film that launched a thousand journalism school students, All the President’s Men chronicles how the work of reporters Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) contributed to the public downfall of President Richard M. Nixon. The duo connected a Washington, D.C., hotel break-in with a Nixon “dirty tricks” team assigned to discredit Democratic rivals, launching a series of tense events that forced Nixon to resign.
50. The Secret of NIMH
    
    Based on the children’s book Mrs. Brisby and the Rats of NIMH, director Don Bluth’s animated adventure chronicles the trials of a widowed field mouse (voiced by Elizabeth Hartman) who must move her family — including an ailing son — to escape a farmer’s plow. Aided by a crow (Dom DeLuise) and a pack of superintelligent, escaped lab rats, the brave mother struggles to transplant her home to firmer ground.
51. The Last Unicorn
    
    Based on the Peter Beagle novel, this animated tale follows a unicorn (Mia Farrow) who believes she’s the last of her species and is searching high and low for someone just like her. All the while, she must avoid the evil Red Bull, who’s believed to be the one who killed off the rest of her kind. Along the way, she’s disregarded and harassed, but finally finds solace in a magician (Alan Arkin) and a knight named Prince Lir (Jeff Bridges).
52. Misery
    
    Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates) rescues her idol, romance novelist Paul Sheldon (James Caan), after he crashes his car during a fierce blizzard. But when she finds out he plans to kill off the heroine in his next volume, Annie morphs from nurturing caregiver to sadistic jailer. In this tightly wound, suspenseful adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, Bates earns her Best Actress Oscar as a woman come undone in a claustrophobia-inducing house of horrors.
53. Hotel Rwanda
    
    Amid the holocaust of internecine tribal fighting in Rwanda that sees the savage butchering of hundreds of thousands of men, women and children, one ordinary hotel manager (Oscar nominee Don Cheadle) musters the courage to save more than 1,000 helpless refugees. Sophie Okonedo, Nick Nolte and Joaquin Phoenix co-star in this powerful film — often described as an African Schindler’s List — directed by Terry George.
54. Sylvia
    
    A whirlwind courtship kick-starts the tempestuous marriage between American poet and novelist Sylvia Plath (Gwyneth Paltrow) and English poet Ted Hughes (Daniel Craig), an intense and stormy union that quickly dissolves due to Hughes’s philandering and Plath’s insecurity. Her husband’s infidelity exacerbates Plath’s already fragile state of mind, and after the couple separates, she produces her darkest work, which auger a tragic outcome.
55. Eating Raoul
    
    Paul and Mary Bland (Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov) dream of owning a restaurant but can’t pony up the $20,000 down payment that will make it a reality. But when an intruder is killed after he tries to assault Mary in the Blands’ home, the couple decides to lure sex-seekers to their home via a classified ad, kill them and take their money. Plus, the “tasty” cadavers enliven some of the sauces featured on the menu!
56. Tadpole
    
    Young 15-year-old Oscar Grubman (Aaron Stanford) is sensitive and compassionate, speaks French fluently and can quote Voltaire; females gravitate toward him. In fact, Oscar could probably have any woman he wants — but he’s fallen in love with his stepmother. This offbeat coming-of-age comedy co-stars Sigourney Weaver as stepmother Eve, John Ritter as Oscar’s father and Bebe Neuwirth as a seductive masseuse.
57. Citizen Kane
    
    Orson Welles reinvented movies at the age of 26 with this audacious biography of newspaper baron Charles Foster Kane, which, in essence, was a thinly veiled portrait of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst. Welles’s complex and technically stunning film chronicles Kane’s rise from poverty to become one of America’s most influential men — and it’s considered one of the best movies ever made.
58. Chinatown
    
    With a suspicious, porcelain-skinned femme fatale (Faye Dunaway) bankrolling his snooping, private eye J.J. Gittes (Jack Nicholson) uncovers intricate dirty dealings in the Los Angeles waterworks and gets his nose slashed for his trouble. Meanwhile, his financier harbors a nasty family secret. Director Roman Polanski reimagines 1930s Los Angeles with an onionlike story that reveals itself one complex layer at a time in this classic neonoir.
59. Vera Drake
    
    Vera Drake (Imelda Staunton, who earned an Oscar nomination for her portrayal) spends her days doting on her working-class family. But Vera also has a secret side: Her family and friends don’t know that she visits women and helps them induce miscarriages for their unwanted pregnancies. When the authorities get wind of her activities — then illegal in 1950s England — Vera’s world quickly falls apart, deeply affecting both her and her family.
60. Being Julia
    
    Estranged from her son, willfully ignorant of her husband’s philandering and aware that her youth and beauty are fading, aging actress Julia Lambert (Annette Bening, who earned an Oscar nomination for her spirited performance) is in search of a way to regain the spark of passion. And that passion may lie in the smoldering attentions of a much-younger admirer (Shaun Evans) who might not be able to stay faithful to her.
61. Stage Beauty
    
    Edward “Ned” Kynaston (Billy Crudup), England’s most celebrated leading “lady,” becomes a nonentity practically overnight when Charles II allows women to tread the boards, decreeing that men may no longer play women’s parts. Ned built his career by making the greatest female roles his own. But to become a real man again, he’ll need assistance from a willing woman — his ex-dresser, Maria (Claire Danes).
62. Head in the Clouds
    
    John Duigan helmed this sexy film starring Academy Award-winning actress Charlize Theron as Gilda, a flighty-but-charming socialite who finds her true match in Guy (Stuart Townsend), an intellectual Irishman who wants to battle in the Spanish Civil War. Guy convinces Mia (Penélope Cruz), Gilda’s confidante, to join him in Spain. But Gilda has other plans that could endanger her life more than supporting the war.
63. Alfie
    
    Jude Law reprises a role made famous by Michael Caine (who got an Oscar nod for his portrayal in the 1966 film of the same name) in Charles Shyer’s stylish remake, which takes a decidedly different tone than the original. Self-aware British cad Alfie (Law) falls in lust too easily and can’t commit to one woman in all of Manhattan. But when one of his lovers gets pregnant, Alfie begins to question his existence.
64. Wilde
    
    Stephen Fry stars as playwright and larger-than-life personality Oscar Wilde in this lush historical drama based on the late Richard Ellmann’s definitive biography of one of London’s most prolific writers and orators. The story traces Wilde’s rise to fame — from his marriage to Constance (Jennifer Ehle) to his sweeping, torrid affair with a young Oxford graduate, Lord Alfred Douglas (Jude Law), that brought about his imprisonment and downfall.
65. Total Eclipse
    
    Leonardo DiCaprio plays the prodigious 19th-century French poet Arthur Rimbaud in this captivating historical drama. When Paul Verlaine (David Thewlis), an older and more traditional writer, finds himself infatuated with the young Rimbaud, he’s unable to keep the peace with his wife (Romane Bohringer). A love/hate relationship develops between the two men as they forge the rough waters of creative expression.
66. Bent
    
    In this drama based on the play by Martin Sherman (who also wrote the screenplay), a Berlin homosexual is caught up in the Nazi hysteria during World War II. After being forced to kill his lover, he’s placed in a concentration camp and lies to get himself classified as Jewish rather than gay. But several rule-breaking incidents and his love for a fellow male prisoner bring him to admit his true nature. Mick Jagger appears briefly as a drag queen.
67. Nashville
    
    Countless characters, including Shelley Duvall, Keith Carradine, Ned Beatty and Karen Black, get caught up in a political rally that takes over Nashville in director Robert Altman’s sprawling satirical masterpiece about politics and country music. The many fine performances in this mosaic include Lily Tomlin’s bored housewife and Henry Gibson’s pompous, patriotic country singer. The actors also wrote and performed their own songs.
68. Badlands
    
    Young garbageman Kit Carruthers (Martin Sheen) and his girlfriend, Holly (Sissy Spacek), kill Holly’s father in South Dakota and hit the road on the run from the law. Writer-director Terrence Malick’s script (for his feature film debut), based on real murders committed by a couple in 1958, does not judge its characters as they make their way to the Badlands of Montana, leaving a trail of senseless and random murders in their wake.
69. Derrida
    
    The master of deconstruction — French philosopher Jacques Derrida — is himself deconstructed in this documentary directed by Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering Kofman. Witty and knowing, Derrida is just as fascinating a film subject as he is an intellectual. The world never got to watch great minds such as Plato and Socrates in action, but thanks to modern technology, this film captures one of the brilliant thinkers of the 20th century.
70. The Triplets of Belleville
    
    In this innovative animated tale, Champion is a lonely boy adopted by his grandmother, Madame Souza. Seeing how happy Champion is on his bicycle, she trains him to compete. Years later, he enters the Tour de France but is kidnapped during the race. With Champion’s dog, Bruno, Madame Souza sets out to save him and meets an odd female singing trio called “The Triplets of Belleville.” Can her new friends and Bruno’s nose help her find Champion?
71. The Sea Inside
    
    Javier Bardem stars in this moving film based on a true story as Ramon Sampedro, a Spaniard who’s condemned to life as a quadriplegic. Determined to die with dignity, Sampedro leads a 30-year campaign to win the right to end his life. His extraordinary example even inspires his lawyer, Julia (Belen Rueda), and a local woman (Lola Duenas) to reach for the heavens, with both women achieving far beyond their wildest dreams.
72. The Motorcycle Diaries
    
    This foreign-language drama tells the incredible true story of a 23-year-old medical student from Argentina — future revolutionary Che Guevara (Gael Garcia Bernal) — who motorcycled across South America with his friend Alberto Granado (Rodrigo de la Serna) beginning in 1951. Walter Salles’s film is based on Guevara’s diaries of the trek, a deeply personal odyssey that ultimately crystallized the young man’s budding political beliefs.
73. Great Expectations
    
    In this Americanized version of Charles Dickens’s classic novel, set in 1990s New York instead of 1860s England, humble, young Finn (Ethan Hawke) develops a lifelong crush on Estella (Gwyneth Paltrow), the wealthy niece of the eccentric Ms. Dinsmoor (Anne Bancroft). The pair part, but then a mysterious benefactor makes it possible for Finn to attend art school in the city, where he runs into his now-engaged love.
74. The Scarlet Letter
    
    In this adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, Puritan settler Hester Prynne (Demi Moore) is accused of adultery in a Massachusetts settlement in the 1660s. Although she’s attracted to the town’s pastor (Gary Oldman), the two resist temptation … but only a whiff of scandal is enough for the town’s morality police to sentence Prynne to live as an outcast and wear a shameful scarlet A for adultery.
75. The Andromeda Strain
    
    A satellite crashes in New Mexico, prompting scientists to race against the clock to stop a deadly virus from spreading in this Oscar-nominated sci-fi classic based on Michael Crichton’s novel of the same name. The alien illness that sprang from the probe has already killed most of those living near the crash site, and now it’s up to a team of scientists to stop it. Note: Contains graphic scenes that may be unsuitable for young children.
76. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
    
    A Confederate sympathizer condemned to die by hanging gets a lucky break — literally — when the executioner experiences technical difficulties. French director Robert Enrico helms this award-winning live-action short that claimed top honors at the Oscars and Cannes, a film based on a well-known Civil War story by Ambrose Bierce. The piece would later air on American television as a special episode of “The Twilight Zone.”
77. A Very Long Engagement
    
    Amelie’s Audrey Tautou stars as Mathilde, a young Frenchwoman who vows to find out what happened to her missing fiancé (Gaspard Ulliel) during World War I. He appears to have died after a court-martial, but she needs to know for sure. As she looks for the truth, she discovers unexpected things about herself and the people she meets along the way. Jean-Pierre Jeunet directs this foreign-language adaptation of Sebastien Japrisot’s novel.
78. Under One Roof
    
    Daniel Chang is a closeted Chinese-American boy living in San Francisco with his traditional mother. Eager for a grandchild, Mrs. Chang desperately wants to see Daniel married and devotes much of her time to finding a suitable Chinese girl for him. But when she recruits a new tenant, Robert, for the downstairs flat, Daniel finds himself falling for the hot Southern boy. Not the kind of match his mother was hoping for!
79. The Wedding Banquet
    
    This lyrical film by Ang Lee dares to expand the definition of love. Wei Tong (Winston Chao) is a successful Manhattan businessman enjoying a thriving relationship with his live-in lover, Simon (Mitchell Lichtenstein). Life is perfect, except his parents don’t know he’s gay. So, when they decide to visit from Taiwan, he asks his tenant, Wei Wei (May Chin), for help. She agrees to pose as his fiancée — a plan that goes a little too far.
80. The Tomorrow People: Set 1: Disc 1
    
    This disc includes the episodes “Slaves of Jedikiah (Parts 1-5).”
81. The Tomorrow People: Set 1: Disc 2
    
    This disc includes the following episodes: “The Medusa Strain (Parts 1-4)” and “The Vanishing Earth (Parts 1-4).”
82. The Tomorrow People: Set 1: Disc 3
    
    This disc includes the episodes “The Blue and the Green (Parts 1-5).”
83. The Tomorrow People: Set 1: Disc 4
    
    This disc includes the following episodes: “A Rift in Time (Parts 1-4)” and “The Doomsday Men (Parts 1-4).”
84. Beautiful Boxer
    
    Asanee Suwan portrays kickboxer Parinya Charoenphol, who’s harboring an unusual secret: He’s a transvestite. Inspired by a famous Thai pugilist who lived two drastically different lives, this moving film written and directed by Ekachai Uekrongtham recounts Parinya’s painful attempts to exist in paradoxical worlds. To fund the sex change he longs for, Parinya earns money in the ring, participating day after day in the ultimate male sport.
85. Blue
    
    When a young Frenchwoman (Juliette Binoche) tries to uncover her famous composer husband’s secret life, her steps take her alternately closer to and further from the truth on a journey that ultimately leads to self-discovery. In this first installment of Polish cinematic genius Krzysztof Kieslowski’s “three colors” trilogy, Blue stands for “liberty” (as in the French national motto) and is the first color of the red, white and blue French flag.
86. Dodsworth
    
    To escape an empty nest, an automobile tycoon (Walter Huston) and his forty-something wife (Ruth Chatterton) plan a luxurious vacation in Europe. But as Mrs. Dodsworth embarks on a series of indiscretions — including a romance with a gigolo — it becomes apparent that the couple’s plans for their golden years don’t mesh. From director William Wyler, the film is based on the best-selling novel by Sinclair Lewis and an acclaimed stage play.
87. Ikiru
    
    When a stoic government official (Takashi Shimura) in post-war Japan learns he has terminal cancer, he suddenly realizes he’s squandered his life on meaningless red tape and has no close family or friendships to lean on, in this drama from director Akira Kurosawa. Resolving to use his remaining time wisely, he sets out to steer a children’s playground project through the bureaucracy he knows so well.
88. Persona
    
    To achieve more effective treatment, a nurse (Bibi Andersson) and her patient (Liv Ullmann) — an actress who’s lost the power of speech — check into a private cottage by the sea, where the two isolated women become co-dependent and insanely jealous of each other. It’s a case of the cure being worse than the affliction in this black-and-white cinematic classic directed by Swedish master Ingmar Bergman.
89. Coffee and Cigarettes
    
    Jim Jarmusch’s ensemble comedy collects a series of strange encounters Jarmusch has been capturing in short films since the mid-1980s, presenting them as a series of vignettes that all revolve around discussions held over coffee and cigarettes. A diverse cast including Bill Murray, Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits, Cate Blanchett and Roberto Benigni address such topics as Nicola Tesla, alternative medicine, Paris, the movie industry and more.
90. Cry-Baby
    
    Helmed by director John Waters — the king of kitsch — this campy comedy set in 1950s Baltimore stars Johnny Depp as Wade “Cry-Baby” Walker, a leather-clad street tough who leads a gang dubbed the Drapes. When Wade falls for a goody-two-shoes (Amy Locane) and steals her from her mossback beau (Stephen Mailer), the romance sparks a battle between rival factions. Troy Donahue, Joey Heatherton and Patty Hearst appear in cameo roles.
91. Strictly Ballroom
    
    Dumped by his partner just before a major dance competition, gifted hoofer Scott Hastings (Paul Mercurio) is forced to take a graceless neophyte (Tara Morice) as his new partner. But much to everyone’s surprise, Scott soon turns his unpromising protégé into a topnotch dancer. Bill Hunter, Pat Thomson, Gia Carides and Barry Otto also star in this quirky, engaging tale from Aussie director Baz Luhrmann.
92. Lords of Dogtown
    
    A group of outcasts from California’s Venice Beach change the face of skateboarding forever in this 1970s tale based on a true story, written by “Skateboard Godfather” Stacy Peralta, one of the competitive skaters portrayed in the film. Known as the Z-Boys, the radical riders invent a brazen style of skating and deal with heartache when the sport they live for turns into big business. Heath Ledger, Emile Hirsch and Rebecca De Mornay co-star.
93. Red
    
    In this meditation on the need for passion and human connection — the final film in Krzysztof Kieslowski’s “three colors” trilogy — an accident brings together two very different people: Valentine (Irene Jacob), a model, and Joseph (Jean-Louis Trintignant), a retired judge. Since love chooses to pair people’s heart at random, theirs becomes a fated and deeply improbable, but altogether true, romance.
94. SLC Punk
    
    Recent college grads Stevo (Matthew Lillard) and Heroin Bob (Michael Goorjian) sport blue Mohawks, listen to hard-core punk and live according to their own rules. Not a problem in many places, but in Salt Lake City they’re total outcasts. Add to the mix Stevo’s father (Christopher McDonald), who wants his son to study law at Harvard (just as he did). Stevo must decide whether to stay true to his own ideals or start planning for his future.
95. Dangerous Liaisons
    
    Privileged and bored 18-century French aristocrats Marquise de Merteuil (Glenn Close) and Vicomte de Valmont (John Malkovich) entertain themselves by making a bet focusing on the virginal Cécile de Volanges (Uma Thurman) and the virtuous Madame de Tourvel (Michelle Pfeiffer). Director Stephen Frears helms this Academy Award-winning adaptation of the acclaimed stage play and novel. Swoosie Kurtz co-stars.
96. Life as a House
    
    Faced with a sobering diagnosis of terminal cancer, George (Kevin Kline) decides to construct a beautiful new house on his land overlooking the Pacific Ocean, while at the same time trying to connect with his estranged son (Hayden Christensen). Kristin Scott Thomas and Mary Steenburgen co-star in this moving dramedy that speaks eloquent volumes about the fragility — and resilience — of the human condition.
97. Last Days
    
    A rock ‘n’ roll star seeks solace in the woods in Gus Van Sant’s drama centered on a Kurt Cobain-type character. Tired of all the pressures of his career and constantly being in the public eye, Blake (Michael Pitt) retreats to his remote home and embarks on an introspective journey. As he sequesters himself from his fans, his manager, a private eye and others, Blake ultimately finds release from his troubled life. Asia Argento co-stars.
98. Heaven
    
    Deeply disappointed by law enforcement’s lax investigation following her husband’s drug-related death, Philippa Paccard (Cate Blanchett) takes the law into her own hands and ends up imprisoned in this moody romantic drama from director Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run). Filippo (Giovanni Ribisi), a police officer involved with Philippa’s questioning, falls in love with her and helps her escape, as they flee together to the Tuscan countryside.
99. Gozu
    
    Minami (Hideki Sone) mistakenly kills a gangster associate of his named Brother. Almost as soon as the murder takes place, the body of the deceased man is gone, prompting Minami to conduct a search. While looking, he finds a mysterious isolated hotel where he decides to take a rest. Not only are the front desk clerks a bit strange, but even the ambiance feels unusual. Minami soon realizes he may have gotten more than he bargained for. …
100. Mommie Dearest
     
     Based on Christina Crawford’s slanderous, tell-all biography, Mommie Dearest paints a portrait of a Joan Crawford the public never knew. The film portrays Crawford (Faye Dunaway, in an over-the-top performance) as a wicked, abusive mother who lives as though she’s perpetually onscreen. In the movie’s most memorable scene, Crawford berates her daughter, Christina (Mara Hobel), for improperly hanging her clothes, screaming, “No more wire hangers!”
101. Head-On
     
     Cahit Tomruk (Birol Unel) and Sibel Guner (Sibel Kekilli) are immigrant Germans who live and work in the port town of Hamburg. In a bid to help Sibel break free of her family (which strictly adheres to Turkish customs, religious and otherwise), the couple decides to marry. But straitlaced families are just part of the problem; Cahit and Sibel must also counterbalance ancestral roots with their new life in a western democracy. Fatih Akin directs.
102. End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones
     
     Variously dubbed “A punk Last Waltz” and “One headbangin’ helluva good time,” this incisive documentary about the Ramones by Michael Gramaglia and Jim Fields traces the seminal punk band’s trajectory from obscurity to fame to induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It’s an insider look at the rockers — blemishes and all — that will probably make your head spin. Includes interviews with Joe Strummer, Debbie Harry, Nicolas Cage and others.
103. Three Dancing Slaves
     
     After the untimely death of their mother, three brothers fight a stifling sense of ennui as inescapable as the small French provincial town in which they’re slowly growing to manhood. A beautifully rendered slice-of-life film imbued with a universality that transcends borders and nationalities, Three Dancing Slaves stars Nicolas Cazalé, Stéphane Rideau, Thomas Dumerchaz, Salim Keichiouche and Bruno Lochet. Gael Morel directs.
104. Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst
     
     Documenting a controversial chapter in American history, this film investigates the American domestic terrorist group that gained fame for the 1974 kidnapping of newspaper heiress Patty Hearst, and her subsequent assimilation into the group. Robert Stone directs this riveting account of the rise and fall of an organization with utopian ideals that went tragically wrong, which includes interviews with SLA founder Russ Little.
105. Showgirls
     
     An infamous bomb when first released, Showgirls now vies with Mommie Dearest as a camp classic. Nomi Malone (Elizabeth Berkley) travels to Las Vegas with dreams of becoming a showgirl, but ends up working as a stripper where the patrons couldn’t care less about her time-step (they’re interested in a different kind of time … and rate!). Kyle MacLachlan and Gina Gershon co-star.
106. Flesh + Blood
     
     All’s fair in love and war in this swoony-but-gritty drama from filmmaker Paul Verhoeven. A band of mercenaries led by Martin (Rutger Hauer) abducts Agnes (Jennifer Jason Leigh), the daughter of the feudal lord who cheats them out of their money. In spite of the other mercenaries’ complaints, Martin grows to love Agnes, who’s waiting to be saved by her beloved. Co-stars Tom Burlinson and Jack Thompson.
107. Prozac Nation
     
     Based on Elizabeth Wurtzel’s best-selling memoir, Prozac Nation stars Christina Ricci as a woman on the verge of losing her grip on life after she leaves her emotionally fraught home to start college. Quickly, her life takes a turn for the worse: She clashes with her roommate (Michelle Williams) and decides her boyfriend, Rafe (Jason Biggs), is her sole salvation. Her psychiatrist prescribes Prozac … but is that her only choice?
108. Dead Ringers
     
     Jeremy Irons gives a brilliant performance as twin gynecologists — yes, that’s right — Elliot and Beverly Mantle. When they meet a pill-popping actress (Geneviève Bujold) who hopes to have children, both men spiral into madness and addiction. David Cronenberg’s script and direction mix high-tech camera work with old-fashioned suspense to create a tangible sense of lunacy and compulsion.
109. Naked Lunch
     
     Director David Cronenberg brings William S. Burroughs’ hallucinatory, “unfilmable” novel to the screen. Part-time exterminator and full-time drug addict Bill Lee (Peter Weller) plunges into the nightmarish netherworld of the Interzone, pursuing a mysterious project that leads him to confront sinister cabals and giant talking bugs.
110. Barton Fink
     
     Idealistic playwright Barton Fink (John Turturro) believes writing should reveal the hopes, dreams and tragedies of the common man. When Hollywood taps him to write a movie, Fink develops severe writer’s block and soon falls victim to a strange sequence of events. Unable to combine his deep-seated ethics with Tinseltown’s frivolity, the disillusioned and desperate Fink winds up involved in a murder investigation in this Oscar-nominated dramedy.
111. Miller’s Crossing
     
     Trusted adviser to 1920s Irish crime boss Lee O’Bannon, Tom Reagan’s loyalty is tested when he takes up with O’Bannon’s gal pal, Verna Bernbaum. Meanwhile, rivals Johnny Caspar and Eddie Dane threaten O’Bannon’s racket. Gabriel Byrne, John Turturro, Albert Finney, Steve Buscemi, Jon Polito, J.E. Freeman and Marcia Gay Harden star in this marvelously crafted, unnerving crime-era epic helmed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen.
112. Junebug
     
     When Madeleine (Embeth Davidtz), a big-city art dealer from Chicago, makes a trip to North Carolina with her new husband, George (Alessandro Nivola), he finally allows her to meet his small-town Southern family, which breeds more problems than either of them planned for. Amy Adams earned an Oscar nod — and critical praise as a breakout star — for her supporting role as George’s sister-in-law, Ashley.
113. Me and You and Everyone We Know
     
     Miranda July writes, directs and stars in this hilarious drama about the poignant nature of everyone’s idiosyncrasies. At the center is eccentric Christine Jesperson (July), who struggles to find emotional connections in the modern world. She falls for newly divorced shoe salesman Richard (John Hawkes), whose young sons are experiencing a sexual awakening that is both amusing and shockingly inappropriate. Brandon Ratcliff co-stars.
114. Nobody Knows
     
     Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda’s touching film follows the empty lives of 12-year-old Akira (Yûya Yagira) and his three younger siblings (Ayu Kitaura, Hiei Kimura and Momoko Shimizu) after their mother abandons them in a tiny Tokyo apartment. Pragmatic, determined and wise beyond his years, Akira manages the household as best he can — but eventually the money runs out, and the children must find new ways to survive. Based on a true story.
115. Funny Ha Ha
     
     Unsure of what to do next, 23-year-old Marnie (Kate Dollenmayer) tries her best to navigate life after college in this romantic comedy. Still partying like there’s no tomorrow, Marnie drags herself out of bed for her miserable temp job and can’t decide whether she’s wasting her time going after best buddy Alex (Christian Rudder), who doesn’t seem to be interested. Director Andrew Bujalksi co-stars as Mitchell, Marnie’s stammering co-worker.
116. The Skeleton Key
     
     Sent to New Orleans to care for an aging stroke victim (John Hurt) who lies bedridden and speechless in a rambling antebellum mansion, 25-year-old hospice worker Caroline (Kate Hudson) discovers a key that unlocks ancient secrets. Alone in the house with no company aside from the man’s unfriendly wife (Gena Rowlands), Caroline eventually comes across a hidden room. But what she finds inside is a Pandora’s box of voodoo, danger and lies.
117. Homecoming
     
     After five years working as a nurse in Canada, Abigail (Alessandra De Rossi) travels home to the Philippines, where she’s looking forward to reconnecting with her family. Delighted at her return, the whole town welcomes her as they would a conquering hero. But Abigail’s joy is short-lived when it’s learned that she’s contracted the highly contagious SARS virus. Now, the community must wrestle with the consequences of this unexpected tragedy.
118. Kings and Queen
     
     Director Arnaud Desplechin deftly mixes comedy and tragedy in this tale that traces the intersecting lives of Nora (Emmanuelle Devos), a professionally successful single mom, and her ex-husband, Ismaël (Mathieu Amalric), a neurotic musician who’s mistakenly been committed to a mental hospital. Ismaël’s comic antics in the asylum are juxtaposed against Nora’s anguish upon learning that her father is dying and that her future’s uncertain.
119. Tropical Malady
     
     From experimental Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul comes this unconventional romance that incorporates mystical and folkloric elements. While on duty as a forest ranger, soldier Keng (Banlop Lomnoi) meets and falls for a country boy named Tong (Sakda Kaewbuadee). When the young man suddenly disappears, Keng ventures deep into the jungle to find him … amid rumors that the missing Tong may in fact be a menacing, shape-shifting beast.
120. Goodbye Lover
     
     Obsessively cheerful Sandra Dunmore (Patricia Arquette) is married to hard-drinking ad executive Jake (Dermot Mulroney) and having a fling with his brother Ben (Don Johnson) in this stylish noir directed by Roland Joffe. Ben, meanwhile, is also bedding his secretary (Mary-Louise Parker). When all the sex and betrayal lead to a death and a hefty life-insurance payout, cynical detective Rita Pompano (Ellen DeGeneres) tries to unravel the case.
121. The Maltese Falcon
     
     Humphrey Bogart stars as private eye Sam Spade in this Oscar-nominated noir classic that finds the sultry Miss Wonderly (Mary Astor) seeking out protection from a man named Thursby. Spade’s partner (Jerome Cowan) takes the case — but he winds up dead, along with Thursby. Spade’s subsequent hunt for the killer leads him into a world of deception and double-crossing, as a trio of criminals searches for a priceless statue known as the Maltese Falcon.
122. Searching for Debra Winger
     
     Originally airing on Showtime, this documentary directed by actress Rosanna Arquette focuses on the life of somewhat hermetic star Debra Winger, as well as the struggles that actresses over the age of 40 have endured in Hollywood. Through interviews with contemporaries such as Diane Lane, Teri Garr, Holly Hunter, Whoopi Goldberg, Meg Ryan and Sharon Stone, Arquette conveys a problem facing many older actresses: the search for quality roles.
123. Nine Lives
     
     This series of revealing vignettes from writer-director Rodrigo Garcia (Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her) peers into the private lives of nine women who are each pointed toward a different destiny. The all-star ensemble cast includes Kathy Baker, Amy Brenneman, Glenn Close, Dakota Fanning, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Holly Hunter, Mary Kay Place, Sissy Spacek and Robin Wright Penn — with Joe Mantegna and Aidan Quinn providing the testosterone.
124. William Eggleston in the Real World
     
     By following acclaimed photographer William Eggleston around his home base of Memphis, Tenn. — and on trips to Kentucky, Los Angeles and New York — filmmaker Michael Almereyda presents an intimate portrait of the man who made color cool again. This revealing documentary uncovers the deep connection between Eggleston’s enigmatic personality and his groundbreaking work, which expertly captures the beauty of ordinary objects.
125. Near Dark
     
     In the dusty heart of the American southwest, innocent country boy Caleb (Adrian Pasdar) is handily seduced by a beautiful girl (Jenny Wright) into joining a pack of vicious drifters, which turns out to be no ordinary band of outlaws. Soon, Caleb is trapped in a nightmarish world of soulless evil and hellish mayhem that thrives on blood and absolute horror. This original vampire tale, co-starring Lance Henriksen, shocks with a ferocious bite.
126. Wild Palms: Disc 1
     
     This disc includes episodes 1-3.
127. Wild Palms: Disc 2
     
     This disc includes episodes 4-5.
128. My Neighbor Totoro
     
     Legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki provides a stunningly realistic portrayal of life in the country. When their mother is hospitalized, two young sisters spend a summer in the Japanese countryside with their father. The strange new environment turns out to be a natural wonderland filled with exotic real-life creatures and a trio of furry woodland sprites who can only be seen by children.
129. The Believer
     
     Henry Bean’s film tells the story of Danny Balint (Ryan Gosling), a young Jewish man from New York City struggling with the conflict between his beliefs and his heritage. Balint eventually joins a neo-Nazi organization, rising up the ranks to become a leader in the white supremacy movement. The 2001 Jury Prize winner at Sundance is a psychological examination into the forces of intolerance, both on the individual and society as a whole.
130. Lord of War
     
     As the world’s leading arms dealer, Yuri Orlov (Nicolas Cage) has embraced his glamorous profession so soundly that it’s hard to let it go. But if he wants to dodge the cunning Interpol agent (Ethan Hawke) on his trail, he’ll have to let go. Jared Leto, Bridget Moynahan and Donald Sutherland co-star in this taut action-thriller about the business of international arms trafficking from writer-director Andrew Niccol.
131. The Chumscrubber
     
     Director Arie Posin transforms his short story into a frightfully honest portrait of suburban dysfunction in this film about Dean (Jamie Bell), a young boy who finds his friend hanging from the rafters during a neighborhood party. Figuring that no one else would care, he doesn’t report his discovery to the adults, and instead embarks on a journey of harrowing isolation and loneliness. Glenn Close, Rita Wilson and Carrie-Anne Moss costar.
132. Addicted: Special Edition
     
     Life is rosy for Eun-su (Mi-yeon Lee), her husband, Ho-jin (Eol Lee), and his younger brother, Dae-jin (Byung-hun Lee). But two separate car accidents radically change that dynamic. Ho-jin dies from his injuries, but in a queer event, Dae-jin awakes from his coma and demonstrates many of his sibling’s personal characteristics. Drawn to Dae-jin, Eun-su begins to ponder if her husband’s soul is, in fact, trapped in the body of her brother-in-law.
133. The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking
     
     Pigtailed Pippi (Tami Erin) returns for another round of merriment and mischief. After washing overboard during a ferocious storm, the titian-haired troublemaker drifts ashore (along with her talking horse and monkey) to a seaside village, where she proceeds to turn the town upside down with her high jinks and magic powers. But Pippi’s pranks soon put her on a collision course with Miss Bannister (Eileen Brennan), the local social worker.
134. The Devil’s Backbone
     
     Twelve-year-old Carlos (Fernando Tielve) is the latest arrival at Santa Lucia School, an imposing stone building that shelters orphans of the Republican militia and politicians during the last days of the Spanish Civil War. Carlos gradually uncovers the dark ties that bind the inhabitants of the school: hidden riches, sexual intrigue and the restless ghost of a murdered student, who may be the only one to provide resolution.
135. The 400 Blows
     
     After young Antoine (Jean-Pierre Léaud) runs away, life on the streets of Paris leads to nothing but trouble and guilt in this gritty feature film debut from legendary director François Truffaut. Though he turns to petty crime to survive, Antoine’s remorse often leads him to try to return things he’s stolen — with disastrous results. The film was nominated for a Best Screenplay Oscar and the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
136. Interview with the Vampire
     
     Director Neil Jordan’s Oscar-nominated tale of bloodsucking immortals moves from 18th century New Orleans to a Grand Guignol theater in Paris to present-day San Francisco as it explores betrayal, love, loneliness and hunger. The lives of a trio of vampires — cavalier Lestat (Tom Cruise), tormented Louis (Brad Pitt) and childlike Claudia (Kirsten Dunst) — are interconnected for centuries in this adaptation of Anne Rice’s romantic horror tale.
137. The Squid and the Whale
     
     Jeff Daniels makes for a haunting Brooklyn professor who’s well past his prime, and Laura Linney is his writer wife on the brink of stardom in Noah Baumbach’s honest look at the disintegration of a marriage. With their lives headed in distinctly opposite directions, the two can’t help but be acrimonious about their impending separation. But that leaves their two children (Jesse Eisenberg and Owen Kline) stuck in the middle of an emotional war.
138. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
     
     Tommy Lee Jones stars in and directs this dark comedy set on the Texas-Mexico border. After accidentally killing a man, heartless border patrol officer Mike (Barry Pepper) quickly buries the body in an unmarked grave. But ranch foreman Pete Perkins (Jones) learns of his friend’s death, kidnaps Mike and drags him on a harrowing journey to Mexico to bury the man in his hometown. Julio Cesar Cedillo, January Jones and Dwight Yoakam co-star.
139. A Tale of Two Sisters
     
     Terrified sisters try to exorcise their home of two dark forces — their evil stepmother and a vengeful entity — in this ghostly tale. Hospitalized after their mother’s death, young Su-mi (Im Su-jeong) and Su-yeon (Mun Geun-yeong) return home to find a nasty new stepmother (Yeom Jeong-ah). The girls suffer terrifying events, but their father doesn’t care, even though evil lurks around every corner. Can the girls free their home from its demons?
140. Paragraph 175
     
     Actor Rupert Everett narrates this disquieting documentary from filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman that exposes the Third Reich’s vicious persecution of male homosexuals during World War II. The film’s title comes from an arcane, 1871 German statute making sodomy punishable by incarceration, with the ultimate goal of eradicating gays completely. Only a handful of survivors remain to recount their traumatic tales.
141. Cache
     
     Winner of the Cannes Best Director Award, Michael Haneke’s psychological thriller centers on wealthy French couple Georges (Daniel Auteuil) and Anne (Juliette Binoche), who begin receiving threatening videotapes and phone calls that threaten to ruin their relationship. Georges realizes who the perpetrator is but refuses to tell Anne. Yet childhood flashbacks reveal the mystery, a story that illuminates France’s damaged relations with Algeria.
142. Secret Things
     
     Freshly fired from their jobs at a strip club, exotic dancer Nathalie (Coralie Revel) and bartender Sandrine (Sabrina Seyvecou) become roommates and pledge to use their sexual prowess to invade the corporate world in this erotic French thriller. It doesn’t take long for them to find jobs at a bank, where Sandrine seduces a wealthy top executive (Roger Mirmont) and Nathalie chases the business’s affluent — yet perverse — heir (Fabrice Deville).
143. Proof
     
     A devoted daughter (Gwyneth Paltrow) comes to terms with the death of her father (Anthony Hopkins), a brilliant mathematician whose genius was crippled by mental instability, in this John Madden-directed drama based on a Tony-winning play. Along the way, she’s forced to face her own dark fears. But she has help from one of her father’s former students (Jake Gyllenhaal), who searches through the dead man’s papers for the source of his brilliance.
144. The Door in the Floor
     
     In this fascinating drama based on John Irving’s novel A Widow for One Year, writer Ted Cole (Jeff Bridges) and his wife, Marion (Kim Basinger), struggle to cope with the deaths of their teenage boys while still caring for their daughter, Ruth (Elle Fanning). But they’re failing, so Ted, desperate to make some kind of change, hatches a plan: He hires an appealing assistant (Jon Foster), and soon, Marion’s having an affair with him.
145. Jesus’ Son
     
     Nominated for an Independent Spirit Award, director Alison Maclean’s reflective drama follows FH (Billy Crudup), a well-meaning drug addict who stumbles backward into redemption. When his longtime love (Samantha Morton) leaves, FH follows her but meets and falls for the older Mira (Holly Hunter). Amid his life’s wreckage, a near-fatal car crash and a chance to save a child’s life force FH to examine his existence and its meaning.
146. Bram Stoker’s Dracula
     
     When Dracula (Gary Oldman) leaves the captive Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves) and Transylvania for London in search of Mina Harker (Winona Ryder) — the spitting image of Dracula’s long-dead wife, Elisabeta (also Winona Ryder) — obsessed vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing (Anthony Hopkins) sets out to end the madness. Francis Ford Coppola’s resurrection of Bram Stoker’s novel won three Academy Awards for its eye-popping makeup and production design.
147. Westworld
     
     An excursion to a futuristic “Fantasy Island” turns deadly for two wealthy tourists (Richard Benjamin, James Brolin) in Michael Crichton’s sci-fi thriller. Seeking cowboy adventures in the island’s Westworld sector, the two enter a high-tech nightmare controlled by a ruthless robotic gunslinger (a chillingly creepy Yul Brynner). Surrounded by malfunctioning Wild West androids, the terrified adventure seekers get more than their money’s worth.
148. Richard III
     
     Ian McKellen stars in the title role in this visually inventive adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic drama, which is set in 1930s England after a civil war has torn the country apart and left the people under fascist rule. Richard plots against his brother, Edward (John Wood), in his quest to usurp the throne, and will stop at nothing in pursuit of his goal. The film received Oscar nominations for art direction and costume design.
149. Gods and Monsters
     
     As his life draws to a close, film director James Whale (Ian McKellen, in an Academy Award-nominated role) — the openly gay genius behind The Bride of Frankenstein and The Invisible Man — befriends a gardener (Brendan Fraser), and both men learn from their unexpected but platonic bond. Bill Condon’s fictionalized drama also won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay and earned Lynn Redgrave a nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
150. Gia
     
     A young Angelina Jolie is mesmerizing in her breakout role as supermodel Gia Carangi, a cover girl who lived fast and died at age 26 from the ravages of AIDS, in this fact-based HBO biopic that won an Emmy and two Golden Globes. The film follows Gia from busing tables at her father’s diner to the glamorous world of high-fashion photography — and finally to her downward spiral into drugs and toxic relationships. Faye Dunaway co-stars.
151. Solaris
     
     Scientist Kris Kelvin travels to the mysterious planet Solaris to investigate the failure of an earlier mission. But when his long-dead wife appears on the space station, he realizes the planet has the power to materialize human desires. Director Andrei Tarkovsky’s sci-fi cult classic, based on Stanislaw Lem’s novel, presents an uncompromisingly unique and poetic meditation on space travel and its physical and existential ramifications.
152. Ballets Russes
     
     The legendary Ballets Russes troupe gave Russian dancers who were never allowed to grace the stage in their home country a chance to shine, especially in the 1930s and ’40s, when the company achieved worldwide renown. But even as early as the 1900s, it had been a showcase for such big-name talents as George Balanchine and Vaslav Nijinsky. When the ’50s hit, though, the enchantment began to fade in the harsh light of fiscal realities.
153. Kill Your Idols
     
     This surreal trip through the fringe music scene of the late 1970s and early ’80s looks at the contributions of art punkers who released a stream of genius songs but who, just like those who came before them, have been branded as unoriginal by the bands that follow them. An ode to creativity and originality that, apropos of its subject matter, manages to be offbeat itself, this film features The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Sonic Youth, Iggy Pop and more.
154. Manderlay
     
     While driving through the Deep South with her dad (Willem Dafoe), Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard) discovers the Manderlay plantation, where slavery still exists. Set in the 1930s, the tale follows Grace’s quest to free the slaves 70 years after emancipation. She succeeds with help from some criminals, but once freed, the former slaves want to return to the only way of life they’ve ever known. Danny Glover, Isaach De Bankolé and Lauren Bacall co-star.
155. Zero Effect
     
     Steve Arlo (Ben Stiller) and Daryl Zero (Bill Pullman) have private investigation covered from A to Z, even with their newest case — finding a shady tycoon’s missing keys. For this duo, crime-solving is easy … but when love zeroes in on Zero, the world’s best detective suddenly hasn’t got a clue! With sly humor and a sleuth’s eye for detail, writer-director Jake Kasdan makes his feature-film debut. Ryan O’Neal and Kim Dickens co-star.
156. Kicking and Screaming
     
     In writer-director Noah Baumbach’s take on postcollege angst, Grover (Josh Hamilton) declines to go with his girlfriend (Olivia d’Abo) to Prague and decides to move in with other recent college grads who can’t quite break the gravitational pull of campus. Together, the friends wrestle with leaving the past behind as they reluctantly step into adulthood. But they’re afraid they’ll end up like bartender and professional student Chet (Eric Stoltz).
157. All the Real Girls
     
     Paul (Paul Schneider) lives large in a small Southern town, where he’s made a sexual conquest of nearly every single, eligible female. Every one, that is, except for his best friend’s sister, Noel (Zooey Deschanel), a committed virgin. When Paul falls unexpectedly for Noel, he swears he’s not out for sex and seeks to prove it to her with his actions. But Paul finds love much harder to manage than plain old-fashioned lust.
158. Suture
     
     A father’s funeral brings half-brothers Clay (Dennis Haysbert) and Vincent (Michael Harris) together, but it’s not a heartfelt reunion. Greedy sibling Vincent plots to kill Clay and pretend the body is his own so he can make off with his father’s inheritance. But Clay’s memory and identity are the only casualties of a car bombing, and Clay stumbles through life thinking he’s Vincent. This film picked up a nomination at the Sundance Film Festival.
159. Following
     
     Christopher Nolan (Memento, The Dark Knight) writes and directs this odd, claustrophobic neo-noir film about a seedy young Brit (Jeremy Theobald) who’s obsessed with following people — albeit harmlessly at first. After meeting a like-minded bloke (Alex Haw), the twosome graduate to breaking and entering — but meet their match in a tough blonde dame (Lucy Russell) who may have dubious plans of her own.
160. The Long Kiss Goodnight
     
     Samantha Caine (Geena Davis) can’t remember anything before the day she woke up eight years ago, injured and two months pregnant. Now a schoolteacher with only vague memories of the past, she starts to exhibit bizarre, violent impulses. It’s only after hiring two-bit private detective Mitch Hennessey (Samuel L. Jackson) that she discovers that she was once a top CIA assassin named Charley — and that her old boss has kept tabs on her.
161. Bubble
     
     Set in a crumbling Ohio town that revolves around the local doll factory, Steven Soderbergh’s offbeat film follows the antics of townsfolk turned detectives who try to unravel a murder mystery — and end up discovering a bizarre love triangle. In sharp contrast to his high-budget Ocean’s Eleven remake, Soderbergh uses low-cost digital camerawork and employs no-name actors in this quirky small-town drama.
162. Armageddon
     
     As a massive asteroid hurtles toward Earth, NASA head honcho Dan Truman (Billy Bob Thornton) hatches a plan to split the deadly rock in two before it annihilates the entire planet, calling on Harry Stamper (Bruce Willis) — the world’s finest oil driller — to head up the mission. With time rapidly running out, Stamper assembles a crack team and blasts off into space to attempt the treacherous task. Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler co-star.
163. Mr. Vampire
     
     Blending horror, comedy and plenty of high-octane martial arts action, this Hong Kong classic tells the story of a Taoist priest, Master Gau (Ching-Ying Lam), who tries to save his two apprentices, Chou (Siu-hou Chin) and Man Choi (Ricky Hui), from supernatural forces. While working to help a family resolve its ongoing bad luck, Chou becomes possessed by a ghost, while Man Choi meets a sexy bloodsucker who’s turning him into a vampire.
164. Swimming Pool
     
     Famous British mystery writer Sarah Morton (Charlotte Rampling) needs a break, so when her publisher, John Bosload (Charles Dance), offers to let her use his vacation home in southern France during the off-season, Sarah deems it the perfect opportunity for a breather. Her hopes for a carefree idyll are shattered, however, when John’s shiftless and brazenly promiscuous daughter (Ludivine Sagnier) arrives and sweeps Sarah into her reckless world.
165. The Last Seduction
     
     In a twisted plot, femme fatale Bridget Gregory (Linda Fiorentino), a sexy, savvy hustler, swindles her husband, Clay (Bill Pullman), out of $700,000 in drug money and then runs off to find a new patsy (Peter Berg) who’ll help cover her tracks — by murdering Clay. Fiorentino is mesmerizing — and enchantingly wicked — as the cold-blooded beauty who uses men like toys in John Dahl’s (Red Rock West) uncommon thriller.
166. Edmond
     
     With a David Mamet play as its inspiration, Edmond stars William H. Macy as the titular character, a businessman who undergoes a personal revolution after he heeds a psychic’s call to change his life. In his quest for fulfillment, he abandons his wife and children, initiating a nightmarish descent into a certain kind of hell, a dark and dangerous world he’s never known but that may wind up owning his soul.
167. A Prairie Home Companion
     
     From director Robert Altman comes this quirky piece of fiction based on the real-life radio program of the same name, with a wry screenplay penned by the show’s host, Garrison Keillor, who also stars. Fueled by a high-powered cast that includes Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Lindsay Lohan, John C. Reilly, Tommy Lee Jones and Kevin Kline, the film takes a behind-the-scenes look at the mayhem surrounding the folksy program’s final broadcast.
168. Phone Booth
     
     In this intense drama, which takes place in and around a single phone booth in New York City, slick New York publicist Stuart Shepard (Colin Farrell) picks up a ringing receiver in a phone booth and is told that if he hangs up, he’ll be killed. Turns out Shephard is being watched by a rooftop killer with a sniper rifle — and the little red light from an infrared rifle sight is proof that the caller isn’t kidding. Forest Whitaker co-stars.
169. Winter Sleepers
     
     In director Tom Twyker’s foreboding tale of time and memory, translator Rebecca lives with ski instructor Marco in a mountain villa owned by her friend Laura. Cinema projectionist Rene steals Marco’s car and gets into an accident with local farmer Theo, whose daughter dies soon after the wreck. Suffering from short-term memory loss, Rene starts a relationship with Laura, while Theo searches for the person who killed his daughter.
170. Firefox
     
     When the Russians develop a Mach 5 jet with thought-controlled weaponry, the free world needs someone to go steal it from them to maintain the balance of power. Despite suffering from posttraumatic stress as a result of his Vietnam experiences, Mitch Gant (Clint Eastwood), who was once a hotshot pilot and speaks fluent Russian, is given the assignment. Nigel Hawthorne plays a Jewish dissident who aids Gant in his mission.
171. Shinobi: Heart Under Blade
     
     It’s X-Men meets Romeo and Juliet in Ten Shimoyama’s ninja action thriller. Gennosuke (Joe Odagiri), from the Koga ninja clan, falls in love with Oboro (Yukie Nakama), from the rival Iga clan. The tribes are already exiled to the mountains, but the evil Shogun is intent on eliminating them. He pits the clans against each other in a duel to the death, where the ninjas wield their supernatural powers. But will inbred hate snuff out forbidden love?
172. Dead Ringer
     
     A vengeful sister assumes her twin’s identity in this dark tale. Twins Edith and Margaret (Bette Davis in a dual role) both desire wealthy Spaniard DeLorca, but Margaret marries him under false pretense. Twenty years later, newly widowed Margaret lives the high life, while Edith can’t afford lunch. Edith kills Margaret and takes her place, but arouses the suspicion of Margaret’s dog, a detective (Karl Malden) and Margaret’s lover (Peter Lawford).
173. Elizabeth
     
     Shekhar Kapur’s Oscar-winning treatise on absolute power and its human toll sees fledgling queen Elizabeth I (Cate Blanchett) sacrificing happiness with her lover (Joseph Fiennes) for her own safety and placing her trust in her stealthy “spymaster,” Sir Francis Walsingham (Geoffrey Rush). The so-called “Virgin Queen” took the throne of a Roman Catholic country, declared the nation Protestant and ruled for 45 years — but at great personal cost.
174. Volver
     
     In acclaimed filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar’s foreign-language fantasy, Abuela Irene (Carmen Maura) revisits her hometown in the La Mancha region of Spain — in spectral form — to resolve problems she couldn’t settle during her lifetime. Gradually, Abuela’s spirit becomes a reassuring presence to her daughters (Penélope Cruz, in an Oscar-nominated performance, and Lola Dueñas) and her granddaughter (Yohana Cobo).
175. The Story of the Weeping Camel
     
     This unique documentary follows a Mongolian camel that’s rejected her newborn white colt. Now, all hope lies with two young shepherd boys, who must travel across the Gobi desert to find a healing musician. Will the violinist’s ritual do the trick? This Oscar-nominated film moves beyond its narrative structure to offer a keenly observed portrait of nomadic herders who are preserving an ancient way of life.
176. The Cave of the Yellow Dog
     
     Academy Award nominee Byambasuren Davaa (The Story of the Weeping Camel) wrote and directed this docudrama about the disappearing ways of nomadic life in her home country of Mongolia. Young Nansal, the oldest daughter of an actual nomad family, finds a stray dog that quickly becomes her close companion, despite her parents’ disapproval. The film depicts the herdspeople’s everyday tasks for livelihood and survival, while the city beckons from afar.
177. Yi Yi
     
     Among movie critics’ highest-rated foreign films of 2000, Yi Yi chronicles three generations of a Taiwanese family mired in a crisis of self-doubt. A chance meeting with a former lover compels a father to question the assumptions on which his life is based. Warm and thoughtful, Yi Yi posits that truth is something we may never know.
178. The Deer Hunter
     
     In this Oscar-winning epic from director Michael Cimino, a group of working-class friends decides to enlist in the Army during the Vietnam War and finds it to be hellish chaos — not the noble venture they imagined. Before they left, Steven (John Savage) married his pregnant girlfriend — and Michael (Robert De Niro) and Nick (Christopher Walken) were in love with the same woman (Meryl Streep). But all three are different men upon their return.
179. Tideland
     
     With her junkie father (Jeff Bridges) spending most of his time in a stupor mourning the recent death of his wife (Jennifer Tilly), Jeliza-Rose (Jodelle Ferland) is free to roam the surrounding prairie, where she meets a mentally challenged boy (Brendan Fletcher) and his oddly macabre sister (Janet McTeer). Terry Gilliam directs this fantastical drama that evokes the world of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.
180. Panic Room
     
     This claustrophobic thriller centers on a divorcée (Jodie Foster) and her daughter (Kristen Stewart) who are caught in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with three burglars (Forest Whitaker, Jared Leto and Dwight Yoakam) in their New York City brownstone, retreating to the vault-like safety of their aptly named panic room. As the intruders try to breach the room’s security, the embattled duo must stay one step ahead. David Fincher (Seven) directs.
181. The New World
     
     Set in 1607 at the founding of the Jamestown Settlement, Terrence Malick’s epic adventure chronicles the extraordinary actions of explorer John Smith (Colin Farrell) and Native American princess Pocahontas (Q’Orianka Kilcher). As English settlers and Native Americans clash, Smith and Pocahontas find their worlds colliding and their hearts entwined, but ancestral loyalty may tear them apart. Christian Bale and Christopher Plummer co-star.
182. Hollywoodland
     
     When George Reeves (Ben Affleck), the actor who famously played the Man of Steel in TV’s “Adventures of Superman,” turns up dead in Beverly Hills, a dogged private eye (Adrien Brody) investigates and unearths a string of strange secrets. Diane Lane and Bob Hoskins also star in director Allen Coulter’s feature film debut, a gritty noir-style drama based on the true story of one of Hollywood’s most infamous mysteries.
183. Infamous
     
     Director Douglas McGrath’s biographical drama stars Toby Jones as iconoclastic writer Truman Capote, whose literary investigation into the grisly murders of a rural Kansas family has unintended consequences. While probing the psyches of the killers (played by Daniel Craig and Lee Pace) as research for his soon-to-be best seller In Cold Blood, Capote forms an attachment to one of the convicted men. Sandra Bullock and Jeff Daniels also star.
184. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
     
     To prevent a world war from breaking out, famous characters from Victorian literature — including Allan Quatermain (Sean Connery), Dorian Gray (Stuart Townsend), Tom Sawyer (Shane West) and Captain Nemo (Naseeruddin Shah) — band together to do battle against a cunning villain known as the Fantom. Based on Alan Moore’s graphic novel, this fantasy adventure unfolds in an alternate universe where well-known fictional figures exist in real life.
185. Poster Boy
     
     When Henry (Matt Newton) — the closeted son of right-wing Sen. Jack Kray (Michael Lerner) — sleeps with a gay activist (Jack Noseworthy), he shakes up his father’s bid for reelection. If the media learns of Henry’s sexual orientation, will the news tank his dad’s career and their relationship? Karen Allen, Valerie Geffner and Ian Reed Kesler co-star in first-time director Zak Tucker’s dramatic coming-out tale.
186. The Good Shepherd
     
     Matt Damon and Robert De Niro (who also directs) star in this partially fact-based drama that examines the early history of the CIA as seen through the eyes of a dedicated agent: upstanding, sharp-minded Yale student Edward Wilson (Damon). Wilson is recruited to work for the fledgling CIA during World War II, but the job soon begins to erode his ideals, filling him with distrust and destroying his personal life.
187. Munich
     
     In this thriller based on actual events, Palestinian terrorists hold hostage and ultimately kill a group of Israeli athletes during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, prompting a Mossad agent (Eric Bana) to track down the assassins in the tragic aftermath. Ciaran Hinds and Geoffrey Rush co-star in this film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Tony Kushner, the award-winning playwright of “Angels in America.”
188. Cocaine Cowboys
     
     This penetrating documentary from director Billy Corben pulls out all the stops to explore the many dimensions of Miami’s cocaine-trafficking boom of the 1980s, as told by the smugglers, cops and average citizens who were there. The film is an unflinching study of Miami’s most notorious and lethal vice — from how the drug was moved and its financial impact on the city to the havoc and violence that followed in its wake.
189. The Dying Gaul
     
     When Jeffrey (Campbell Scott), a slick Hollywood studio exec, offers gay screenwriter Robert (Peter Sarsgaard) $1 million to transform a screenplay’s homosexual protagonists into heterosexuals, Robert takes the bait — and ends up sleeping in Jeffrey’s bed. But complications ensue when Jeffrey’s wife, Elaine (Patricia Clarkson), begins unraveling her husband’s secrets, with nail-biting consequences. Craig Lucas directs in his feature-film debut.
190. Thumbsucker
     
     Teenager Justin Cobb (Lou Taylor Pucci) has an embarrassing secret: He still sucks his thumb. Berated by his father (Vincent D’Onofrio) for the childish habit and unable to confide in anyone, Justin lets his loopy orthodontist (Keanu Reeves) try hypnosis. Trouble is, it works almost too well, and before long, Justin needs another crutch to keep his angst at bay. Vince Vaughn and Tilda Swinton co-star in director Mike Mills’s 2005 Sundance entry.
191. Broken Flowers
     
     After being dumped by another girlfriend (Julie Delpy), serial bachelor Don Johnston (Bill Murray) vows he’ll be alone forever. But when a mysterious unsigned letter arrives in the mail, he’s surprised to learn he has a 19-year-old son. With no idea who the mother is, Don sets out on a cross-country journey to confront his past, surprising a series of old flames (Frances Conroy, Jessica Lange, Sharon Stone and Tilda Swinton) along the way.
192. Curse of the Golden Flower
     
     This lavish film from landmark director Yimou Zhang follows the romantic intrigue and political machinations in the house of the Emperor Ping (Yun-Fat Chow) and his ailing wife (Li Gong), a pair whose secret passions and schemes ultimately affect the lives of their children. Will their reign end in a bloody coup for all? Sumptuous costumes and dazzling martial arts form the backdrop for this complex tale of loyalty, deception, love and betrayal.
193. The Hours and Times
     
     Employing liberal artistic license, filmmaker Christopher Münch explores the prospect that John Lennon (Ian Hart) and the Beatles’ longtime manager, Brian Epstein (David Angus), who was gay, shared a homosexual encounter while vacationing together in Spain in 1963. The premise — based on a rumor derived from the pair’s complex and often uncomfortable friendship — set tongues wagging but was never substantiated.
194. Swoon
     
     Wanting to prove that they’re smart enough to get away with murder, Richard Loeb (Daniel Schlachet) and Nathan Leopold (Craig Chester) murder 13-year-old Bobby Franks. But was that their true motive? Based on an actual crime that occurred in 1924 in Chicago, this film explores the psychological and sociological reasons two seemingly harmless 18-year-old boys perpetrated such a heinous crime. Did Leopold’s unrequited love for Loeb lead to murder?
195. Dottie Gets Spanked
     
     Six-year-old Steven Gale (Evan Bonifant) is quite taken with a television star named Dottie Frank (Julie Halston). But when Steven, who displays quite a few feminine traits, gets a chance to meet his heroine during a visit to the television studio where Dottie works, he sees her character receive a spanking. Yow! That’s an awful lot for a young brain to assess. This made-for-TV short marks the 1993 directorial debut of Todd Haynes.
196. Edward II
     
     The new king of England, Edward II (Steven Waddington), finds his throne compromised when he brings his lover, Gaveston (Andrew Tiernan), into the picture. Enraged, the queen (Tilda Swinton) embarks on a plot to take down the king at all costs. Directed by Derek Jarman, this modern, gay-themed rumination on the classic Christopher Marlowe play features an appearance by music legend Annie Lennox performing “Ev’rytime We Say Goodbye.”
197. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
     
     Lifelong friends and national idols Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) and Cal Naughton Jr. (John C. Reilly) have earned their NASCAR stripes with their uncanny knack of finishing races in the first and second slots, respectively, and slinging catchphrases like “Shake and bake!” But when a rival French driver (Sacha Baron Cohen) coasts onto the track to challenge their records, they’ll have to floor it to retain their top-dog status.
198. Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills
     
     Shedding light on the legal system — and on the media machine that often demonizes the accused — this gripping documentary follows the notorious West Memphis Three, a trio of boys arrested for the murders of three children found in a creek bed. Appearing on many critics’ year-end Top 10 lists for 1996, this film from directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky also won the National Board of Review’s prestigious prize for Best Documentary.
199. Paradise Lost 2: Revelations
     
     Horrific, disturbing and absolutely fascinating, Paradise Lost 2: Revelations revisits the chilling mystery at the heart of HBO’s award-winning hit, Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills. Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky bring new insight to the controversial case of a trio of Arkansas teenagers convicted of murdering three 8-year-old boys.
200. Shiri
     
     In director Je Gyu Kang’s action-packed epic that deals head-on with the controversial topic of Korean unification, North Korean superspy Lee Bang Hee is sent to the South as part of a secret plan to reunify the two nations. Against her better judgment, she falls in love with South Korean intelligence officer Yu Jong Won. But when Yu learns of the North’s true plans for Korea, their love and the unification effort are threatened.
201. Look, Up in the Sky!: The Amazing Story of Superman
     
     In this full-length documentary, director Kevin Burns chronicles the evolution of the mighty Man of Steel. Incorporating Superman’s appearances in comic books, films, cartoons and on live-action television, the program takes viewers on a journey that begins with the illustrious hero’s genesis and progresses through several decades. Also included is coverage of Superman’s resurgence on the silver screen during the 1970s.
202. Love Me If You Dare
     
     Ever since they were kids, Sophie (Marion Cotillard) and Julien (Guillaume Canet) have gotten their kicks out of a game where they continuously attempt to one-up the other with a chain of extreme pranks. When their relationship escalates to romance, the game turns harshly negative, and the two lovers’ view of reality grows increasingly skewed.
203. In the Bedroom
     
     Set in a tranquil town on the Maine coast, this character-driven drama tells the story of a couple (Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson, in a pair of stunning performances) whose teenage son (Nick Stahl) is involved in a love affair with a single mother (Marisa Tomei). When the relationship comes to a sudden and tragic end, the boy’s parents must face their worst nightmare and embark on a dark and dangerous psychological journey.
204. Die Mommie Die
     
     The year is 1967, and Angela Arden (cross-dresser Charles Busch) is a washed-up pop singer who’s married to Sol (Philip Baker Hall) but is involved with an unemployed actor named Tony (Jason Priestley). When Sol turns up dead, all fingers point to Angela. Leading the charge is Angela’s daughter Edith (Natasha Lyonne), who’s eager to get even by killing her mother. Edith’s brother (Stark Sands), however, is not so sure that mom is to blame.
205. Smokin’ Aces
     
     After a sleazy Las Vegas magician (Jeremy Piven) agrees to testify against the mob, he embarks on one last hurrah in Lake Tahoe before entering protective custody. But can just one FBI agent (Ryan Reynolds) keep him safe from a slew of would-be assassins? Andy Garcia, Ray Liotta, Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman and Alicia Keys co-star in this raucous cavalcade of con men, bad guys and bounty hunters.
206. Swimming to Cambodia
     
     Monologuist Spalding Gray spins his brilliant conversational web in this one-man reminiscence (based on his hit Broadway show) about his small role in the 1984 movie The Killing Fields. Gray’s musings encompass such varied subjects as Southeast Asian politics and the availability of sex and drugs in the Third World, as well as a few pithy observations about New York City.
207. The Good German
     
     U.S. Army correspondent Jake Geismar (George Clooney) rekindles relations with an old flame, Lena (Cate Blanchett), in this Steven Soderbergh drama set in post-World War II Berlin. When her husband is hunted by U.S. and Russian military, a desperate Lena looks to Jake for a way out. Tension mounts as Jake discovers Lena has been keeping secrets and learns of black market dealings involving his shady driver (Tobey Maguire).
208. The History Boys
     
     Nicholas Hytner, Richard Griffiths and Frances de la Tour reprise their Tony-winning roles in this engaging film version of Alan Bennett’s play, chronicling a rowdy group of boys on their way to higher education. On a quest to attend either Oxford or Cambridge, the teens grapple with the intricacies of university entrance exams and admissions, ultimately learning as much about the education system as they do about academics.
209. Cashback
     
     After breaking up with his girlfriend, aspiring artist Ben Willis (Sean Biggerstaff) develops insomnia and takes a night-shift job at a supermarket to pass the hours. He soon discovers that he can freeze time and begins fantasizing about pretty checkout clerk Sharon (Emilia Fox). When he’s not dreaming of Sharon — who may hold the key to resolving his sleeplessness — Ben roams the aisles disrobing beautiful customers and sketching them.
210. Infernal Affairs 2
     
     Set in 1991 Hong Kong, Infernal Affairs II (despite its name) is actually a prequel to the hit action flick from directors Andrew Lau and Alan Mak. When a police inspector (Anthony Wong Chau-Sang) learns that a recruit (Shawn Yue) recently booted from the police academy is the brother of an organized crime boss, he hires him to go undercover. But nobody is who they seem to be, and things get complicated fast in this clever crime thriller.
211. Infernal Affairs 3
     
     In the third and final film of this action-packed trilogy, former Triad member Ming (Andy Lau) sets out on a dangerous mission to uncover any remaining Triad moles within the police force, but his maverick style proves problematic. As Ming delves once again into the dark world of the Triad, he must also deal with the pain of losing his wife, a shady new officer on the force, and the increasing suspicions of Inspector Yeung (Leon Lai).
212. American Splendor
     
     Paul Giamatti stars as Harvey Pekar, a working-class stiff file clerk who found an outlet for his creativity by chronicling the minutia of his life in Cleveland, Ohio, in a comic-book series called American Splendor for more than 20 years. Hope Davis co-stars as Pekar’s wife, Joyce Brabner, in this revealing biopic, which tells Pekar’s story through a blend of two-dimensional images, archival footage and more.
213. The Underneath
     
     In this remake of the film-noir classic Criss Cross, scalawag Michael Chambers (Peter Gallagher) returns home for his mother’s nuptials after running out on his gambling debts. Before long, he’s hatching a robbery scheme and wooing his ex-wife, Rachel (Alison Elliott) — a move that infuriates her new gangster hubby (William Fichtner). Steven Soderbergh directed this stylish and engrossing film co-starring Joe Don Baker and Elisabeth Shue.
214. The Birdcage
     
     Longtime lovers Armand Goldman (Robin Williams) and Albert Goldman (Nathan Lane) own a Miami drag club. When Armand’s son announces his intent to marry Barbara (Calista Flockhart), the daughter of U.S. Senator (and vice president of the Committee for Moral Order) Kevin Keeley (Gene Hackman), Armand decides he has to fake a “normal” family. Nominated for an Academy Award, director Mike Nichols’s comical farce is fast, funny and out of control.
215. Regarding Henry
     
     Henry (Harrison Ford) is a wealthy and successful lawyer whose life with his wife (Annette Bening) and daughter seem perfect, but in reality, Henry is cold-hearted and bitter. But all that changes when he’s shot in the head during a robbery and must endure a slow and grueling recovery. As he relearns even the most basic of tasks such as walking and tying his shoes, a loving, caring man appears, much to the shock of his family and friends.
216. Working Girl
     
     Industrious secretary Tess McGill (Melanie Griffith) dreams of climbing the corporate ladder and may be on her way after landing a job with Katherine Parker (Sigourney Weaver), a top brokerage firm executive. When a skiing mishap puts Katharine out of commission, the secretary discovers her boss has stolen Tess’ idea for saving a client. Hooking up with investment broker Jack Trainer (Harrison Ford), Tess takes over the deal and turns the tables.
217. Biloxi Blues
     
     In this film version of Neil Simon’s play, Eugene Morris Jerome (Matthew Broderick) is drafted and sent to boot camp in Biloxi, Miss., toward the end of World War II. Eugene instantly butts heads with a terribly off-kilter drill sergeant named Toomey (Christopher Walken), whose contemptuous attitude toward Eugene does little to help the new recruit. Meanwhile, Eugene spends his spare time with a local call girl (Park Overall).
218. Wolf
     
     Nebbish magazine executive Will Randall (Jack Nicholson) is fighting for his job. After he’s bitten by a wolf, he becomes more competitive and energetic — good news for his career, but he’s now a werewolf. While new boss Raymond (Christopher Plummer) wants to be rid of Will, his daughter Laura (Michelle Pfeiffer) turns Will’s head. But werewolves kill the ones they love — complicating director Mike Nichols’s hip spin on the werewolf legend.
219. Places in the Heart
     
     Sally Field won her second Best Actress Oscar as a young widow living in Depression-era Waxahachie, Texas, who’s determined to eke out a hardscrabble existence farming cotton on her land. Danny Glover and John Malkovich (playing a blind man) are excellent as hired hands who try to help her make a go of it. Director Robert Benton also won an Oscar for his bittersweet screenplay.
220. Kramer vs. Kramer
     
     Ted (Dustin Hoffman) is a career-driven yuppie — until he finds out his dissatisfied wife (Meryl Streep) is leaving him and their 6-year-old son. But just as Ted begins to love being a full-time parent, his wife reappears to reclaim the boy. Poignant and beautifully acted, this cinematic tearjerker swept the 1979 Academy Awards, winning Oscars for Hoffman and Streep in addition to Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay honors.
221. Supergirl
     
     After mistakenly losing the Omegahedron, Argo City’s life-sustaining power source, Kara takes off on a mission to Earth to retrieve it and save the city.
222. Friends with Money
     
     Writer-director Nicole Holofcener’s bittersweet tale examines the evolving lives of four female friends living in Los Angeles: married and financially secure Jane (Frances McDormand), Franny (Joan Cusack) and Christine (Catherine Keener), and their single friend Olivia (Jennifer Aniston). As the friends move from one group event to the next, married life starts showing cracks for Jane, Franny and Christine, while Olivia struggles to find herself.
223. The Interpreter
     
     Silvia Broome (Nicole Kidman) is a linguist whose job is to translate for her assigned delegate the complex issues facing the United Nations. But her daily challenge turns perilous when she overhears a plot to assassinate a high-ranking government official. Suddenly in the crosshairs of the conspirators, Silvia — with help from a Secret Service agent (Sean Penn) — must unravel an intricate web of intrigue to save herself.
224. Wasabi Tuna
     
     Five friends preparing to march in the annual West Hollywood Halloween Parade find themselves in a crazy adventure involving police chases, shoot-outs, drug lords and a harem of drag queens. The outrageous costumes are ready and the party pals gear up for the kooky parade, but the festivities turn chaotic when someone kidnaps Anna Nicole Smith’s (playing herself) adorable dog, Sugar-Pie. Jason London, Barney Cheng and Tim Meadows star.
225. Batman: The Movie
     
     In director Leslie H. Martinson’s campy action comedy based on the tongue-in-cheek 1960s TV series, Batman (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward) battle sharks, Catwoman (Lee Meriwether), The Joker (Cesar Romero), The Penguin (Burgess Meredith) and The Riddler (Frank Gorshin) on the big screen. Can they keep the bad guys from taking over the world? With a “wham!” and a “pow!” the heroes just might pull it off — and maintain their secret identities.
226. The Mothman Prophecies
     
     Reporter John Klein (Richard Gere) is plunged into a world of impossible terror and unthinkable chaos when fate draws him to a sleepy West Virginia town whose residents are being visited by a great winged shape that sows hideous nightmares and fevered visions. Director Mark Pellington (Arlington Road) crafts a subtle chiller that brings otherworldly terror down to earth.
227. The Forgotten
     
     A desperate mother (Julianne Moore) tries to prove the existence of her missing child in this chilling psychological thriller. Reeling from the loss of her 8-year-old son, she seeks counsel from a therapist (Gary Sinise) who claims her son was merely a figment of her imagination. After meeting another parent (Dominic West) with the same story, she sets out to uncover the truth. Alfre Woodard and Anthony Edwards co-star.
228. Taking Lives
     
     Recruited to assist Montreal police in their desperate search for a serial killer who assumes the identities of his victims, FBI profiler Illeana Scott (Angelina Jolie) knows it’s only a matter of time before the killer strikes again. Her most promising lead is a museum employee (Ethan Hawke) who might be the killer’s only eyewitness. But can he really be trusted, given the murderer’s penchant for deception?
229. Cursed
     
     In Los Angeles, an estranged brother and sister (Christina Ricci and Kevin Foley) must deal with the recent loss of their parents. But heaping more misery into their lives is a life-altering attack, one dark night, by a vicious werewolf. Directors (and horror maestros) Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson incorporate their hip, edgy style and put their unique signature on this classic tale of lupines running amok. A real howl!
230. A Life Less Ordinary
     
     Determined to live “a life less ordinary,” Robert (Ewan McGregor), a down-and-out janitor, kidnaps narcissistic heiress Celine (Cameron Diaz) in hopes of pulling in a big ransom. Unfortunately for Robert, Celine embraces her life as a captive and enjoys Robert’s bungling attempt at retrieving a payoff. Add two angels (Delroy Lindo and Holly Hunter) who try to make Robert and Celine fall in love, and the situation becomes extraordinary.
231. The Beach
     
     While staying at a Bangkok hotel, Richard (Leonardo DiCaprio) learns of a secret beach that purportedly exemplifies paradise and travels with Françoise (Virginie Ledoyen) and Étienne (Guillaume Canet) to the magnificent strand, finding a bohemian community intent on keeping its precious refuge a secret. But after falling in love with the beach and Françoise, Richard learns things aren’t as idyllic as they seem.
232. In the Realms of the Unreal
     
     Featuring the voices of Dakota Fanning and Larry Pine and the work of talented animators, this documentary tells the story of Henry Darger, a reclusive janitor by day with few — if any — friends, but by night a literary artist with a unique vision. Darger’s resulting 15,000-page epic is a wonderland of imagination as it details the exploits of seven angelic sisters who lead a rebellion against men who enslave children.
233. Next
     
     Las Vegas magician Cris Johnson (Nicolas Cage) can see a few minutes into the future, a talent he uses to enhance his shows — and to win at blackjack. But when an FBI agent (Julianne Moore) wants his help thwarting a nuclear attack, Cris finds his psychic skills put to the test. Jessica Biel, Peter Falk and Thomas Kretschmann also star in this sci-fi thriller based on Philip K. Dick’s short story “The Golden Man.”
234. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III
     
     When April’s newly discovered (but old, tarnished, and mysterious) golden sword accidentally causes her to switch places with a rebellious samurai, everybody’s favorite giant turtles travel through time and space to feudal Japan to rescue their plucky sidekick. It’s a race against time and an army of samurai warriors, and it’s a job for the ninja turtles!
235. Super Mario Bros.
     
     Two “brothers” — the titular Marios — get trapped in another dimension while trying to save brother Luigi’s girlfriend, who happens to be the princess of this strange world. She’s just trying to reverse the damage King Koopa wreaked on her father (the king turned him into a giant ball of fungus). In the end, the Mario Bros. save the day (like you didn’t think that would happen!).
236. Brooklyn Rules
     
     “The Sopranos” scribe Terence Winter brings his Mafia stories to the big screen in this indie drama about a trio of young men who grew up together on the Brooklyn streets but have decidedly different dreams. While two of them (Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jerry Ferrara) want to leave the street behind, the other (Scott Caan) feels the lure of the mob’s flashy lifestyle — and soon gets them all in trouble. Alec Baldwin and Mena Suvari also star.
237. Grindhouse: Planet Terror
     
     In this extended version of Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror, El Wray (Freddy Rodriguez) and his ex Cherry Darling (Rose McGowan) fight off a zombie army infected with a biochemical weapon that was unleashed by a psychotic Army lieutenant (Bruce Willis) and an opportunistic scientist (Naveen Andrews). Marley Shelton, Josh Brolin, Michael Parks and Jeff Fahey co-star with Stacy Ferguson — better known as pop-star diva Fergie.
238. Grindhouse: Death Proof
     
     Cult filmmaker Quentin Tarantino wrote and directed this high-octane thriller starring a tough-talking Kurt Russell as a psychotic serial murderer who uses his revved-up car as a well-oiled killing machine. After transforming his Dodge Charger into an indestructible weapon, Stuntman Mike climbs behind the wheel to terrorize a group of women on the road. Rose McGowan, Rosario Dawson and Vanessa Ferlito co-star.
239. Everything’s Gone Green
     
     Slacker Ryan (Paulo Costanzo) photographs prizewinners for a magazine about the lottery. The object of his affections, Ming (Steph Song), is dating a con artist named Bryce (JR Bourne), who sees a potential scam in Ryan’s connections to the newly wealthy. Now, Ryan must choose between his love for Ming and the temptation of the perfect scheme. Douglas Coupland, author of Generation X, makes his screenwriting debut.
240. Bonnie and Clyde
     
     Serial bank robbers, sometime lovers and folkloric heroes Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway) and Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty) barrel across Depression-ravaged America on a shooting spree that ends in a deadly rain of bullets and tragedy. Directed by Arthur Penn, this stylish and sexy film shattered the mold when it came to crime pics, layering comedy onto mayhem and youthful criminality. Gene Wilder makes his first film appearance here.
241. XX/XY
     
     When college students Sam (Maya Stange) and Thea (Kathleen Robertson) meet artist Coles (Mark Ruffalo) at a party, they embark on a brief and somewhat awkward relationship that pushes the boundaries of sexual exploration. After meeting up again 10 years later, the three must now choose between the attraction that started things a decade earlier and the very different paths their lives have taken.
242. The Manchurian Candidate
     
     In this remake of the 1962 political thriller, Capt. Bennett Marco (Denzel Washington) and Sgt. Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber) are taken captive during the first Persian Gulf War and brainwashed so that they’re programmed to rebel once they return home. Ten years later, as Shaw’s mother (Meryl Streep) is busy helping her son in his bid for the presidency, Marco recalls the brainwashing. Can he get to Shaw before it’s too late?
243. The King
     
     After serving time in the Navy, 21-year-old Elvis (Gael Garcia Bernal) decides to look up the father (William Hurt) who abandoned him as a child, only to find him working as a small-town pastor with a new wife (Laura Harring) and two teenage children (Pell James and Paul Dano). While his father is unwilling to disrupt his life to reconcile with his son, Elvis refuses to be ignored, taking drastic measures to insert himself into the family.
244. Protagonist
     
     A German terrorist, a thief, an “ex-gay” Christian evangelist and a martial arts student put their obsession with self-control on display in filmmaker Jessica Yu’s absorbing documentary about lives lived on the fringe. With her interweaving narrative, Yu explores the lives of four men who go to extremes with violence, crime, physical dominance and religion to work through the aftermath of their harsh childhoods.
245. The Jane Austen Book Club
     
     Six book club members find their lives resemble a modern-day version of Jane Austen’s novels in this drama. For starters, Sylvia’s (Amy Brenneman) husband of 20-plus years has walked out, Bernadette (Kathy Baker) seeks Mr. Right, and married Prudie (Emily Blunt) dreams of other men. Then there’s lonely dog-breeder Jocelyn (Maria Bello); Allegra (Maggie Grace), who has issues with her girlfriend; and Grigg (Hugh Dancy), the sole male in the club.
246. Goya’s Ghosts
     
     Although he’s initially favored by royalty, Spanish painter Francisco Goya (Stellan Skarsgård) is targeted by the Spanish Inquisition when he paints young Inés (Natalie Portman), whom the church views as a heretic, in this epic true story from Oscar-winning director Milos Forman. Years later, Inés is released from the dungeon and requests Goya’s help in finding the daughter she bore while imprisoned. Javier Bardem and Randy Quaid co-star.
247. Kurt Cobain: About a Son
     
     In a series of evocative interviews with rock icon Kurt Cobain, journalist Michael Azerrad captures the late artist’s inner thoughts and personal memories about life, music, success and failure. Director AJ Schnack assembled intimate conversations into a poignant portrait of a creative genius and young man in pain. This emotional blend of imagery, music and voice about the infamous and elusive artist is a 2007 Independent Spirit Award nominee.
248. The Filth and the Fury: A Sex Pistols Film
     
     Chronically cranky and famously out of control, the Sex Pistols recorded only one album and imploded after 26 months. The godfathers of punk are the subject of Julian Temple’s backward-looking rockumentary, which features Pistols hits such as “Anarchy in the UK” and “God Save the Queen,” as well as interviews with controversial manager Malcolm McLaren and front man Johnny Rotten, plus a look at Sid Vicious’s tragic life.
249. Big Rig
     
     Filmmaker Doug Pray journeys coast to coast to chronicle life on the road with America’s long-haul truck drivers in this engaging documentary, featuring candid interviews that reveal the drivers’ passions and colorful personalities. Driven by fierce independence, these unsung heroes of the highway will surprise and touch you with their wit and down-home wisdom. You’ll never look at an 18-wheeler in quite the same way again.
250. The Signal
     
     When the phones, radios and televisions in the city of Terminus begin to broadcast the same strange signal, the transmission breeds jealousy and hate, turning once-sane people into murderous lunatics. A faithless wife seeks the safety of her lover, while her affected husband hunts for her. David Bruckner, Jacob Gentry and Dan Bush each write and direct an act of this horror tale that was nominated for a John Cassavetes Independent Spirit Award.
251. Wristcutters: A Love Story
     
     Trapped in an alternate world populated by suicide victims, a band of souls tries to find an escape route in Goran Dukic’s quirky fantasy. Although he took his own life, Zia (Patrick Fugit) isn’t ready for such a grim hereafter, particularly when he learns that his ex-girlfriend also killed herself. On a quest to find her, he befriends a jaded hitchhiker and a Russian rocker, and together, they set out in search of a more appealing afterlife.
252. Control
     
     In a blistering breakthrough performance, Sam Riley stars as Ian Curtis, the troubled Joy Division singer whose personal, professional and romantic battles ended in suicide at age 23. Rock photographer Anton Corbijn’s directorial debut chronicles Curtis’s life in stylish black-and-white, faithfully re-creating the mood of the British post-punk scene circa 1980. Samantha Morton co-stars as Curtis’s wife, Debbie.
253. The Libertine
     
     In this provocative period piece, Johnny Depp portrays 17th-century poet John Wilmot, the Earl of Rochester, who received posthumous acclaim for his sexually overt poetry and, during his brief life, was known for his womanizing ways. Wilmot’s rakish adventures include attempting to kidnap the woman he would eventually marry, constantly angering the king and wooing actress Elizabeth Barry. Samantha Morton and John Malkovich co-star.
254. Sweet and Lowdown
     
     Writer-director Woody Allen peels back the thin skin that separates a thoroughly obnoxious man from his ability to create heavenly music in this fictional biopic about “the world’s second best jazz guitarist,” Emmet Ray (Sean Penn). The film trails the narcissistic musician through drinking bouts and infidelity. Along the way, we watch him engage in such offbeat hobbies as shooting rats and watching passing trains.
255. Husbands and Wives
     
     Director Woody Allen stars with Mia Farrow in his critically acclaimed comedy as a long-married New York couple whose own relationship starts to crumble when their best friends (Sydney Pollack and Judy Davis, in an Oscar-nominated role) announce they’re separating. Smoldering resentments and unexpected jealousies soon rise to the surface, erupting in savage humor and hilariously unpredictable reunions.
256. Lust, Caution
     
     Oscar-winning filmmaker Ang Lee (the steady mind behind films such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Brokeback Mountain) directs this intriguing espionage thriller set in World War II-era Shanghai. Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Joan Chen and Lee-Hom Wang co-star in this foreign-language tale about a young actress (Wei Tang) caught up in a complex plot involving love, assassination and seduction, based on the writings of author Eileen Chang.
257. Teenage Caveman
     
     Cataclysmic events have blasted modern man back into the Stone Age … and now, to keep the population down, there’s a ban on sex! When David (Andrew Keegan) leads a small splinter group of protestors into the wilderness, the wanderers meet Neil (Richard Hillman), who introduces them to “getting jiggy” and to drugs and alcohol. But there’s a catch to all the newfound inhibition, and it’s a … blast!
258. The Last Winter
     
     When strange things start happening at an Arctic oil-drilling outpost, workers fear their cabin is haunted by ancient spirits, and the unexplained events spark a feud between an oil company representative (Ron Perlman) and an eco-activist (James LeGros). Larry Fessenden’s supernatural thriller adds a terrifying new layer to global warming and the perils of oil production. Connie Britton, Kevin Corrigan, Zach Gilford and Jamie Harrold co-star.
259. ‘Til Death Do Us Part: Disc 1
     
     This disc includes the following episodes: “Funeral Parlor Murder,” “Storage Unit Murder,” “The Airplane Murder,” “Car Keys Murder” and “Time Capsule Murder.”
260. ‘Til Death Do Us Part: Disc 2
     
     This disc includes the following episodes: “The Strip Club Murder,” “The Clown Case,” “The Pond Scum Murder,” “The Bog Murder” and “Murder Mystery Weekend.”
261. ‘Til Death Do Us Part: Disc 3
     
     This disc includes the following episodes: “The In-Law Murders,” “The Beauty Queen Murder” and “A Christmas Murder.”
262. The Bothersome Man
     
     Mysteriously deposited in a perfectly serene but colorless city where every need is met, Andreas soon realizes that not even a new lover can change the sterile banality drowning him. Is this placid life a dream come true or an inescapable hell? Is the lovely music coming from a crack in the basement his ticket out? This provocative black comedy is directed by Jens Lien and stars Trond Fausa Aurvaag and Petronella Barker.
263. Retribution
     
     While investigating the gruesome death of a woman found in a puddle with her stomach inexplicably full of seawater, Detective Yoshioka begins to wonder whether he himself is actually the killer he’s been looking for. He doesn’t remember committing the crime, but the murder scene is littered with his belongings — and his fingerprints are all over the body. Kiyoshi Kurosawa directs this gritty horror tale from the producers of The Grudge.
264. Sex and Death 101
     
     Womanizing tycoon Roderick Blank (Simon Baker) finds his world turned topsy-turvy when he receives a prescient email message about his sex life from an unknown sender in this satiric comedy helmed by Daniel Waters. Axing his wedding plans to look into the communiqué, which seems to contain the names of all the women he’s ever bedded — or ever will — he embarks on an odyssey of seduction that ends with the last woman on the list (Winona Ryder).
265. The Legend of Bagger Vance
     
     World War I has left golfer Rannulph Junuh (Matt Damon) a poker-playing alcoholic, his perfect swing gone. Now, however, he needs to get it back to play in a tournament to save the financially ravaged golf course of a long-ago sweetheart (Charlize Theron). Help arrives in the form of mysterious caddy Bagger Vance (Will Smith). Director Robert Redford’s adaptation of Steven Pressfield’s novel includes Jack Lemmon’s unbilled final performance.
266. The War of the Roses
     
     Danny DeVito directs and co-stars in this explosive portrayal of a 17-year marriage gone wrong. Oliver (Michael Douglas) and Barbara (Kathleen Turner) Rose are calling it quits as a couple, but neither wants to give up ownership of their house. Instead of going about an amicable negotiation, they declare all-out war on each other, with alternately hilarious and horrifying results. Sean Astin and Heather Fairfield co-star as their neglected children.
267. My Summer of Love
     
     Pawel Pawlikowski’s BAFTA award-winning film juxtaposes the secret longings of two very different young women: Mona (Natalie Press), who’s bored and tired of poverty, and Tamsin (Emily Blunt), who’s long ceased to be impressed with her well-heeled lifestyle. When their worlds collide unexpectedly, Mona and Tamsin sense an immediate attraction. But can their unusual friendship survive their differences?
268. Half Nelson
     
     Transcending age and race, an improbable friendship between crack-addicted educator Dan Dunne (Oscar-nominated Ryan Gosling) and streetwise middle-schooler Drey (Shareeka Epps) may lead them to deliverance — or destruction — in this powerful urban drama. After Drey finds Dunne feeding his habit in a locker room, she becomes a conduit for a life-changing lesson. Gosling and Epps won Independent Spirit awards for their lead roles.
269. Rain Man
     
     Fast-talking yuppie Charlie Babbitt is forced to slow down when he meets a brother he never knew he had, an autistic savant named Raymond (Dustin Hoffman, in an Oscar-winning role) who’s spent most of his life in an institution. When their wealthy father dies, leaving everything to Raymond, Charlie takes his unusually gifted older brother on a life-changing cross-country odyssey that neither is likely to forget.
270. Born on the Fourth of July
     
     Tom Cruise stars in an Oscar-nominated turn as U.S. Marine Ron Kovic, who returns home from the Vietnam War paralyzed from the chest down. After months of hellish rehabilitation, he finds renewed purpose protesting the war he once proudly fought. The film — based on Kovic’s autobiography of the same name — earned Oliver Stone an Academy Award for Best Director, and also stars Kyra Sedgwick, Tom Berenger and Frank Whaley.
271. Platoon
     
     Helmed by Oliver Stone, this searing autobiographical drama chronicles the Vietnam experiences of naïve volunteer soldier Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen), whose view of the conflict starts to change after witnessing murder and rape at the hands of his compatriots. Platoon won Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director, with Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe earning supporting actor nods as rival topkicks who offer Sheen contrasting role models.
272. Ned Kelly
     
     Ned Kelly (Mick Jagger) portrays Australia’s most famous criminal. Imprisoned at the age of 16 on a trumped-up charge of stealing pigs, Ned gains his release three years later to find the home life he once knew turned upside down (his mother’s engaged to a horse thief, and his brother’s in jail for stealing cattle). Ned tries to go straight, but the authorities have different plans, sending the young ruffian on the road to folkloric legend.
273. La Vie en Rose
     
     In this biopic, director Olivier Dahan creates a poignant portrait of legendary Parisian singer Édith Piaf (played by Marion Cotillard in an Oscar-winning performance), whose passion for music saw her through a life filled with tragedy. The film follows the chanteuse from her forlorn childhood in a brothel to her big break at Louis Leplée’s (Gérard Depardieu) nightclub and her premature death at age 47. Sylvie Testud and Pascal Greggory co-star.
274. The Orphanage
     
     Fueled by fond memories from her childhood, Laura (Belén Rueda) persuades her husband (Fernando Cayo) to help her revamp a seaside orphanage into a facility for disabled children. But soon after the couple moves in, their son, Simón (Roger Príncep), begins exhibiting disturbing behavior. As Laura tries to understand Simón’s increasingly malevolent actions, she becomes drawn into the house’s terrifying secrets in this unnerving chiller.
275. Strange Culture
     
     On the eve of his new exhibit, artist and professor Steve Kurtz was shocked by the news that his wife had died of heart failure. The medics on the scene became suspicious of Kurtz’s artistic media, which includes genetically modified foods, and the FBI accused him of bioterrorism. This disquieting true story is brought to life by actors Tilda Swinton, Josh Kornbluth and Peter Coyote in Lynn Herschman Leeson’s chilling dramatic documentary.
276. Croupier
     
     Would-be writer Jack Manfred (Clive Owen) lands a job as a croupier so he can stand behind the dealer’s table and watch the passing parade of human desperation. But is he a voyeur or a pawn in a gambler’s (Alex Kingston) dangerous game? Director Mike Hodges sticks a knife into London’s gambling underbelly and lets it rip in this smart, sexy crime thriller, creating a murky world that keeps you guessing until the end.
277. Code 46
     
     In this futuristic sci-fi romance, William (Tim Robbins) is an insurance examiner whose company assigns him to investigate the use of papelles, fake travel insurance papers required by the strict government. Along the way, he meets Maria (Samantha Morton), the woman responsible for the phony papelles. Although he knows who she is, he engages in a fiery affair with her … but he’ll have to end it within 24 hours, when his own papelles expire.
278. The Piano Teacher
     
     Isabelle Huppert stars as Erika, an emotionally repressed piano teacher still tied to her obsessive mother (Annie Girardot) and fast approaching spinsterhood, who sees an attractive student (Benoît Magimel) as a potential player in her dark sexual fantasies. Huppert is fascinating to watch in writer-director Michael Haneke’s disturbing character study based on the novel by Nobel Literature Prize winner Elfriede Jelinek.
279. Code Unknown
     
     German director Michael Haneke’s stunning drama carefully interweaves the stories of a promising actress (Juliette Binoche), her photojournalist boyfriend (Thierry Neuvic), a young teacher of African descent (Ona Lu Yenke) and a Romanian illegal immigrant (Luminita Gheorghiu).On a bustling Paris street corner, their lives intersect for a fleeting moment, setting into motion a compelling portrait of life in a fractured, lonely world.
280. The Castle
     
     When land surveyor K. (Ulrich Mühe) arrives at a small village that houses a castle, local authorities refuse to allow him to enter. As he tries to convince the officials that they sent for him, they clamp down with increasingly complicated bureaucratic obstacles. Directed by renowned European filmmaker Michael Haneke, this visually stunning adaptation of Franz Kafka’s absurdist novel first aired on Austrian television.
281. Meet the Robinsons
     
     In this kid-friendly computer-animated adventure, brilliant preteen inventor Lewis (voiced by Daniel Hansen) creates a memory scanner to retrieve his earliest recollections and find out why his mother gave him up for adoption. At one point, Lewis is ready to give up on his quest. But then the mysterious Wilbur Robinson (Wesley Singerman) shows up on the scene, whisking Lewis to the future to find the scanner — and his mom.
282. Sleuth
     
     Aging detective writer Andrew Wyke (Michael Caine) squares off against Milo Tindle (Jude Law), the struggling actor who stole Wyke’s wife in this twisted — and twisty — plot of deception and double crosses from director Kenneth Branagh. Branagh steers a gripping screenplay by Nobel Prize laureate Harold Pinter, who stylishly updates the 1972 original — in which an Oscar-nominated Caine played the Milo role opposite Laurence Olivier’s Andrew.
283. Chapter 27
     
     An overweight Jared Leto stars as Mark David Chapman — the young assassin who infamously killed John Lennon on the front steps of The Dakota — in this independent drama from fledgling filmmaker Jarrett Schaeffer. Lindsay Lohan (who in real life is a friend of Lennon’s son, Sean) co-stars as a Lennon fan appropriately named Jude, who meets Chapman a few days before the murder without realizing what lies ahead.
284. The Omen 666
     
     Grieving U.S. ambassador Robert Thorn (Liev Schreiber) brings home another baby to soften the blow when his wife, Katherine (Julia Stiles), loses their first child during labor. But as young Damien (Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick) grows up, horrific things begin to happen as his devilish lineage asserts itself. Mia Farrow, David Thewlis and Pete Postlethwaite round out the cast in this chilling remake of the 1976 horror classic.
285. Blow Up
     
     Legendary director Michelangelo Antonioni scores again with this tense mystery (his first English-speaking film) set in London among the city’s hipster crowd, the story of a popular fashion photographer (David Hemmings) who inadvertently shoots evidence of a murder. As he processes the negative in order to unravel the mystery, he must also deal with a dangerous woman (Vanessa Redgrave) who knows more than she admits.
286. The Women
     
     George Cukor directs an all-female cast in this catty tale about battling and bonding between friends and enemies that was edgy for its time — and is considered the ultimate women’s movie of the 1930s. Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell and other Hollywood leading ladies are among the array of husband-snatchers, snitches and lovelorn ladies who argue and gossip about each other at astonishing breakneck speed.
287. Casablanca
     
     In this Oscar-winning classic, American expat Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) plays host to gamblers, thieves and refugees at his Moroccan nightclub during World War II … but he never expected Isla (Ingrid Bergman) — the woman who broke his heart — to walk through that door. Isla hopes that with Rick’s help, she and her fugitive husband (Paul Henreid) can escape to America. But the spark that brought the lovers together still burns brightly.
288. La Femme Nikita
     
     Internationally acclaimed director Luc Besson delivers the action-packed story of Nikita (Anne Parillaud), a ruthless street junkie whose killer instincts could make her the perfect weapon, in this French film that was remade as Point of No Return in the U.S. Recruited against her will into a secret government organization, Nikita is broken and transformed into a sexy, sophisticated “lethal weapon.”
289. Wall Street
     
     Enterprising stockbroker Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) falls under the enticing spell of Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas), an unabashedly greedy Wall Street arbitrageur. Gekko takes Fox under his wing, tutoring his charge in the unscrupulous tactics that put the corporate raider on top. But when Gekko embroils his protégé in an insider-trading scheme that may risk the jobs of kith and kin, Fox develops a conscience and decides to turn the tables.
290. Kiss Me Deadly
     
     Shortly after sleazy detective Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker) picks up a scantily clad hitchhiker (Cloris Leachman), his car is forced over a cliff. He awakens from unconsciousness to find his passenger dead — but it wasn’t the fall that killed her. As Hammer sets out to uncover the woman’s deadly secret and find her unknown assassins, he ignores explicit signs that he should mind his own business. This film noir was adapted from Mickey Spillane’s novel.
291. Touch of Evil
     
     Narcotics detective Mike Vargas (Charlton Heston) sees his honeymoon cut short when a car crossing the U.S.-Mexico border explodes before his eyes. Vargas forsakes his bride (Janet Leigh) to mount an investigation, but soon locks horns with corpulent Sheriff Hank Quinlan (Orson Welles). The shady cop isn’t above planting evidence — or colluding with the local crime lord — to keep Vargas from discovering the ugly truth.
292. The Man Who Fell to Earth
     
     A famed cult classic, David Bowie stars an alien from a dry, dying world who’s journeyed to Earth to save his planet. Bowie starts high-tech companies, using the cash to build ships that can transport water to his home planet.The Blu Ray version also contains Roeg’s director’s cut, with never-before-seen footage cut from the 1976 American release.
293. Year of the Dog
     
     Molly Shannon stars in this quirky, canine-themed comedy written and directed by actor Mike White (School of Rock), with supporting performances from Laura Dern, Peter Sarsgaard, Regina King and John C. Reilly. The film centers on an upbeat secretary (Shannon) whose life takes a temporary nosedive when her beloved dog, Pencil, suddenly dies. But in an unexpected trick, her pet’s tragedy opens her up to transformation.
294. Undeclared: The Complete Series: Disc 1
     
     This disc includes the following episodes: “Prototype,” “Oh, So You Have a Boyfriend?,” “Full Bluntal Nugety,” “Eric Visits,” “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs” and “Sick in the Head.” Extras include audio commentaries and unaired footage.
295. Undeclared: The Complete Series: Disc 2
     
     This disc includes the following episodes: “The Assistant,” “Addicts,” “God Visits,” “Parents’ Weekend,” “Eric Visits Again” and “Rush and Pledge.” Extras include audio commentaries and unaired footage.
296. Undeclared: The Complete Series: Disc 3
     
     This disc includes the following episodes: “Hell Week,” “Truth or Dare,” “The Day After,” “The Perfect Date,” “Hal and Hillary” and “Eric’s POV.” Extras include audio commentaries and unaired footage.
297. Undeclared: The Complete Series: Disc 4: Bonus Material
     
     This disc includes auditions, rehearsals, “Loudon Wainwright Live,” Museum of Television & Radio Q&A and “Lloyd’s Rampage” script.
298. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
     
     Kevin Costner stars as Sherwood Forest’s outlaw hero in this 1991 version of the classic tale of intrigue, romance and pageantry. When the dastardly Sheriff of Nottingham (Alan Rickman) murders Robin’s father, the legendary archer vows vengeance. To accomplish his mission, Robin joins forces with a band of exiled villagers (and comely Maid Marian), and together they battle to end the evil sheriff’s reign of terror.
299. Beowulf: Director’s Cut
     
     Robert Zemeckis directs this film adaptation of the longest surviving Anglo-Saxon poem, an epic tale concerning a 6th-century Scandinavian warrior named Beowulf (Ray Winstone) and his mission to slay the manlike ogre Grendel (Crispin Glover), a descendant of Cain. This film’s notable cast includes Anthony Hopkins as King Hrothgar, John Malkovich as Unferth and Angelina Jolie as Grendel’s tormented mother.
300. The Hand
     
     Academy Award winner Michael Caine stars as successful comic book artist Jonathan Lansdale, who suffers a tragedy in this thriller from director Oliver Stone. A grisly car wreck causes Jonathan to lose one of his hands, which is not recovered at the accident scene. Later, people who’ve angered the now-paranoid cartoonist begin to disappear. Is Jonathan’s severed hand capable of a killing spree?
301. Re-Animator
     
     Based on a story by H.P. Lovecraft, this campy send-up that spawned a similarly outlandish sequel follows an egotistical medical student named Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs), who develops a serum that miraculously revives the dead. Together with his obdurate roommate, Dan (Bruce Abbott), and his girlfriend, Megan (Barbara Crampton), West reanimates a corpse — but he doesn’t factor in certain complications.
302. Sideways
     
     Two men go on an excursion and end up inducing midlife crises in this comedy-drama that won six Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Feature and Best Director. Pinot Noir lover Miles (Paul Giamatti) convinces friend Jack (Thomas Haden Church) to enjoy his last days of bachelorhood with a wine country road trip. The pair get involved with two women (Sandra Oh and Virginia Madsen) and inevitably come face to face with their past and present.
303. David Icke: Secrets of the Matrix: Disc 1
     
     This disc includes the first part of the program.
304. David Icke: Secrets of the Matrix: Disc 2
     
     This disc includes the second part of the program.
305. David Icke: Secrets of the Matrix: Disc 3
     
     This disc includes the conclusion of the program.
306. Lord of the Flies
     
     Young military cadets are marooned on an island and must take up adult responsibilities. With no supervision, they create a new society — but two chiefs emerge with vastly different leadership styles. Ralph (Balthazar Getty) organizes shelter and fire for his followers, while Jack (Chris Furrh) would rather have fun and hunt with his entourage of adventure-seekers. In the end, the foes face off in a battle of primal urges and civilized behavior.
307. Jean de Florette / Manon of the Spring
     
     Claude Berri directs this pair of award-winning French dramas. In Jean de Florette, two men (Yves Montand and Daniel Auteuil) scheme to acquire a neighboring farm by preventing a natural spring from flowing, a water source that the new owner, Jean (Gérard Depardieu), needs for his crops. In Manon of the Spring, Jean’s grown daughter (Emmanuelle Beart) goes after the two men with a fierce vengeance worthy of her proud and courageous heritage.
308. Days of Heaven
     
     Director Terrence Malick’s beautifully shot period piece, which won an Oscar for its cinematography, tells the story of Bill (Richard Gere), an early-1900s Chicago steel-mill worker who flees town after accidentally killing a man. In search of a better life, he moves his girlfriend Abby (Brooke Adams) and younger sister to the wheat fields of Texas. But they run into tragedy when a wealthy farmer (Sam Shepard) falls for Abby.
309. The Rundown
     
     When Travis (Seann William Scott), the mouthy son of a criminal, disappears in the Amazon in search of a treasured artifact, his father sends in Beck (Dwayne Johnson), who becomes Travis’s rival for the affections of Mariana (Rosario Dawson), a mysterious Brazilian woman. With his steely disposition, Beck is a man of few words — but it takes him all the discipline he can muster to work with Travis to nab a tyrant who’s after the same treasure.
310. I’m Not There
     
     Six actors (including Heath Ledger and Cate Blanchett, in an Oscar-nominated role) portray six personas of music legend Bob Dylan in scenes depicting various stages of his life, chronicling his rise from unknown folksinger to international icon. The first biography ever approved by the singer-songwriter, this stylized portrait (directed by Todd Haynes) reveals how Dylan reinvented himself many times. Kris Kristofferson narrates.
311. Broadcast News
     
     In James L. Brooks’s Oscar-nominated romantic comedy, three ambitious workaholics are set loose in a network TV newsroom, where their professional and personal lives become hopelessly cross-wired. Anchorman Tom (William Hurt) is smooth, handsome and a bit dumb; Jane (Holly Hunter) is his driven, brilliant producer; and Aaron (Albert Brooks) is a seasoned, uncharismatic reporter who can’t stand Tom’s instant success on-camera or with Jane.
312. Vanishing Point
     
     In this classic among “car chase” movies, notable for its on-location shots filmed in the American Southwest, James Kowalski (Barry Newman) works for a car delivery service and agrees to motor a supercharged 1970 Dodge Challenger from Colorado to San Francisco. For grins and giggles, he bets that he can deposit the car in California in less than 15 hours, setting the stage for an uproarious high-speed adventure.
313. All the King’s Men
     
     Sean Penn stars as corrupt Southern politician Willie Stark — a charismatic man who wins the populist vote but, behind closed doors, is as underhanded as those he smeared — in this remake of an Oscar-winning 1949 film of the same name. Ex-reporter Jack Burden (Jude Law) unwittingly helps Stark gain political power, but it’s just a matter of time before the governor’s crooked dealings are exposed.
314. The Savages
     
     Carrying the scars of an abusive childhood, Savage siblings Wendy (Laura Linney, in an Oscar-nominated role) and Jon (Philip Seymour Hoffman) — a long-aspiring playwright and a drama professor, respectively — now face the challenge of caring for their ailing father (Philip Bosco). Written and directed by Tamara Jenkins, this insightful indie drama explores the depth of one family’s emotional disconnect.
315. Happy-Go-Lucky
     
     London teacher Poppy Cross (Sally Hawkins, in a Golden Globe-winning role) is eternally cheerful, but when someone steals her beloved bike, she takes up driving and gets paired with Scott (Eddie Marsan), an instructor who’s her polar opposite. The relationship is strained till Poppy’s bright personality attracts a co-worker, making Scott unexpectedly jealous. Director Mike Leigh’s effervescent tale also copped a Golden Globe nod for Best Picture.
316. Battle in Seattle
     
     With the World Trade Organization about to convene in his city, Seattle’s Mayor Jim Tobin (Ray Liotta) tries to make sure all events go smoothly. As tensions between protestors and authorities rise out of control, activists and bystanders get caught in the crossfire. Based on the 1999 protest referred to as the “Battle of Seattle,” this drama features Charlize Theron, Woody Harrelson, André Benjamin, Connie Nielsen and Michelle Rodriguez.
317. In the Name of the Father
     
     Nominated for seven Oscars in 1993, this biopic features the dramatic prowess of Daniel Day-Lewis as the Irishman Gerry Conlon, who was wrongfully sentenced to life in prison for an IRA terrorist attack that killed four people. As if a forced confession weren’t enough injustice, the police work to implicate Conlon’s father (Pete Postlethwaite) in the same crime. Emma Thompson plays the lawyer who worked for years to uncover the truth.
318. Gangs of New York
     
     Amid the savage Irish and Italian rivalry that dominated New York City in the mid-1800s, Amsterdam Vallon (Leonardo DiCaprio) hunts down his father’s hateful murderer, Bill “the Butcher” Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis). Along the way, Vallon falls for the charms of a streetwise pickpocket (Cameron Diaz). Director Martin Scorsese’s riveting epic — nominated for 10 Oscars — also stars Jim Broadbent, Liam Neeson, John C. Reilly and Henry Thomas.
319. Timecrimes
     
     After accidentally traveling to the past, Héctor (Karra Elejalde) meets himself and triggers a series of mysterious events that lead to a shocking crime. The gripping time-travel story — at once deeply intricate and easy to follow — also stars Candela Fernández. Oscar-nominated short-film director Nacho Vigalondo makes his feature debut with this finely crafted sci-fi thriller.
320. Danton
     
     Acting as a metaphor for revolutionary events unfolding in Poland in the early 1980s, this powerful historical drama from legendary Polish filmmaker Andrzej Wajda follows Danton (Gérard Depardieu) and Robespierre (Wojciech Pszoniak), allies in the French Revolution who now find themselves engaged on opposite sides of the struggle to control the country’s future. A critical success, Danton earned numerous international awards, including a BAFTA.
321. A Decade Under the Influence
     
     This documentary, which premiered at Sundance in January 2003, explores American cinema in the 1970s, a decade often described as the best years in film. What results is an ode to the art form, one that pays homage to the “auteurs” that emerged from that distinctive time period, such as Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese. Director-writer Ted Demme passed away in the middle of the project; Richard LaGravenese stepped in to finish it.
322. The Untouchables
     
     G-man Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) will stop at nothing to take down legendary gangster Al Capone (Robert De Niro) — even if it means bending some rules and breaking some bones! Sean Connery steals the show with his Oscar-winning performance of a tough-as-nails Chicago street cop who shows Ness the ropes. Director Brian De Palma based the climactic shootout on a classic scene from the silent film Battleship Potemkin.
323. Raising Cain
     
     When neighborhood kids begin vanishing, Jenny Nix (Lolita Davidovich) suspects her child psychologist husband, Carter, may be resuming the deranged experiments his father performed on Carter when was young. As the number of missing children climbs, it falls to Jenny to unravel the mystery before her daughter disappears. John Lithgow plays creepy multiple roles as Carter, his evil twin and their father in director Brian De Palma’s wicked shocker
324. Beyond the Sea
     
     Kevin Spacey directs and stars in this film biography of singer Bobby Darin, a hipster in the Frank Sinatra tradition and singer of pop hits such as “Splish Splash” and the titular tune, “Beyond the Sea.” Darin eventually moved on to performing jazz standards that culminated in his signature gigantic hit, “Mack the Knife.” Kate Bosworth plays Darin’s wife, movie star Sandra Dee. John Goodman, Bob Hoskins and Brenda Blethyn co-star.
325. The Edge of Heaven
     
     When his father accidentally kills a prostitute, Nejat Aksu (Baki Davrak) seeks out her 27-year-old daughter, Ayten (Nurgül Yesilcay), to make amends. Nejat focuses his search in Turkey, but Ayten, who’s part of a closely watched activist group, has fled to Germany. The lives of four Turks and two Germans are soon entwined as a result of circumstances beyond their control in this compelling drama, which earned Best Screenplay honors at Cannes.
326. SpaceCamp
     
     A group of bright but incorrigible high school students (including Lea Thompson, Joaquin Phoenix and Kelly Preston) go to the NASA SpaceCamp intending to take the first steps in becoming astronauts. But they get more than they ever dreamed – or feared – when a frightening miscommunication sends the teens and their astronaut instructor into orbit, leaving them to negotiate the hazards of space and return safely.
327. Short Circuit 2
     
     Number Five is still alive in this sequel to the popular 1980s cybernetic comedy. Now going by the handle “Johnny” Five, the friendly robot reunites with his creator, Ben Jahrvi (Fisher Stevens), who now earns a living making toys in New York. But complications ensue when Jahrvi’s new business partner (Michael McKean) turns out to be part of a gang of bank robbers. Jahrvi and Five promptly join forces to foil the thieves’ big heist.
328. The King of Comedy
     
     Director Martin Scorsese hits a satirical bulls-eye in this black comedy that explores the absurd lengths to which nebbish Rupert Pupkin (Robert De Niro) will go to land a spot on the TV talk show of his idol, Jerry Langford (a wonderfully caustic Jerry Lewis). Pupkin believes that one appearance on Langford’s show will be his ticket to stardom, so he kidnaps his idol and sets into motion a chain of events you have to see to believe!
329. New York, New York
     
     In post-World War II New York City, aspiring saxophonist Jimmy Doyle (Robert De Niro) takes an orchestra gig to be with up-and-coming chanteuse Francine (Liza Minnelli). They wed soon thereafter, but the stress of two artists struggling to succeed spells romantic disaster. Mary Kay Place and Lionel Stander co-star in director Martin Scorsese’s sparkling homage to the Big Band era, which features one of the most recognizable theme songs of all time.
330. The Last Picture Show
     
     There’s not much to do in the windswept Texas hamlet of Anarene, where the town’s only cinema is about to close forever. So high schoolers Sonny (Timothy Bottoms) and Duane (Jeff Bridges) lust after incorrigible flirt Jacy Farrow (Cybill Shepherd) while trying to chart their uncertain futures. When Duane heads for Korea after joining the service and Jacy gets shipped off to college, Sonny is left behind in a veritable ghost town.
331. Confusion of Genders
     
     In this dizzying French film starring Nathalie Richard, Cyrille Thouvenin and Vincent Martinez, three men and two women try to figure out what — and who — they really want. Christophe and Laurence both lust for Alain, who wants bad boy Marc. But Marc is eyeing Babette, so Alain works on Marc’s behalf to court Babette so he can befriend Marc. When Alain starts to fall for Babette as well, an already messy love chain grows even more entangled.
332. No Regret
     
     When art student Su-min (Young-hoon Lee) loses his factory job, he takes a position working as a prostitute at an upscale gay bar. Although he resists the advances of wealthy client Jae-min (Han Lee) at first, the two eventually become devoted lovers. But soon, pressures from Jae-min’s family threaten to come between them and their forbidden love. South Korea’s first openly gay filmmaker, Hee-il Leesong, directs this passionate drama.
333. Holding Trevor
     
     Stuck in a dead-end relationship with a heroin addict boyfriend, Trevor (Brent Gorski) finds fresh hope in the form of hunky doctor Ephram (Eli Kranski). But when conflicts arise between Trevor and his best friends, Andie (Melissa Searing) and Jake (Jay Brannan), his newfound happiness crumbles. To pull himself together again, Trevor must decide what — and who — is most important to him.
334. Where the Heart Is
     
     Novalee Nation (Natalie Portman) is a 15-year-old Tennessee transient who has to grow up in a hurry when she’s left pregnant and abandoned by her boyfriend on a roadside in Sequoyah, Okla., and takes refuge in the friendly aisles of Wal-Mart. In short order, some eccentric, kindly strangers (including Stockard Channing and Ashley Judd) “adopt” Novalee and her infant daughter, helping them buck the odds and build a new life.