cato's - Favourites List
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He was born at 6am on the 6th day of the 6th month. The coming of Armageddon, the site of the final confrontation between the forces of good and evil, as foretold in the Book of Revelations, will begin with the birth of the son of Satan - in human form. Unable to tell his wife Katherine (Lee Remick) the tragic news of their still-born son, American diplomat Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck) accepts a new-born orphan as his son. Details of the child's birth remain a secret, but as the boy Damien grows older, it becomes apparent that he is no ordinary child. As mysterious deaths and strange warnings occur, Robert Thorn slowly becomes aware of the hideous evil behind the child's innocent face and the significance of the numbers 666, which bring about the most terrifying of revelations. - Director:
- Richard Donner
- Cast:
- Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, Harvey Stephens
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Cowardly scholar Boris Grushenko (Woody Allen) has the hots for the beautiful Sonja (Diane Keaton), but cold feet for the Napoleonic Wars. Devastated by news of Sonja's plans to wed a foul-smelling herring merchant, Boris enlists in the army only to return home a penniless hero! Finally agreeing to marry him, Sonja settles down with poor Boris to a rich life of philosophy, celibacy and meals of snow. But when the French troops invade Russia and Sonja hatches a zany scheme to assassinate Napoleon, Boris learns - in a hilarious but fatal coup attempt - that God is an underachiever, there are no girls in the afterlife and the Angel of Death just can't be trusted! - Director:
- Woody Allen
- Cast:
- Woody Allen, Norman Rose, Diane Keaton
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From Rachel Field's fact-based bestseller, the story follows Henrietta (Bette Davis), governess at the Paris home of the Duc de Praslin (Charles Boyer) and his jealous wife (Barbara O'Neil). When governess and nobleman are drawn to each other, the Duchess erupts in fury...and meets a bloody fate. Soon Henriette and the Duc face a world eager to believe the Duc murdered his wife. And that gentle Henriette was a willing accomplice. - Director:
- Anatole Litvak
- Cast:
- Bette Davis, Charles Boyer, Jeffrey Lynn
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The Beaches of Agnes (2008)Les Plages d'Agnès
Weaving present day sequences with photography, scenes from her own films and portraits of her friends and family, the legendary French auteur Agnes Varda takes us on a memorable voyage through her life, during which she confronts the joys of creation and artistic success and the pain of personal loss and ageing. It is a singular and stirring trip through events of the second half of the 20th Century: China and Cuba Revolutions, Women's Movement, New Wave cinema history and so on... - Director:
- Agnès Varda
- Cast:
- Agnès Varda, André Lubrano, Blaise Fournier
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The Wind Will Carry Us (1999)Bad Ma Ra Khahad Bord
Film documents the arrival of an engineer and his colleagues from Tehran in a remote village in Iranian Kurdistan. Assumed by the locals - with whom they form an ambivalent relationship - to be archaeologists or telecom engineers, the visitors' behaviour and keen interest in the health of an ailing old woman appear strange and their true motives are shrouded in mystery. Haunting and visually stunning, feature is an absorbing, abstract meditation on life and death and the divisions between tradition and modernity. - Director:
- Abbas Kiarostami
- Cast:
- Behzad Dorani, Noghre Asadi, Roushan Karam Elmi
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North by Northwest (1959)Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest / Breathless / In a North West Direction / In a Northwesterly Direction / The CIA Story / The Man in Lincoln's Nose
Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) is not a spy. And he's certainly no murderer. Nevertheless, Thornhill's a wanted man: enemy agents want him dead, the police want him arrested, and a cool, mysterious blonde (Eva Marie Saint) just plain wants him. A victim of mistaken identity, Thornhill can't afford to make any mistakes of his own - so he embarks on a death-defying run for his life. Relentlessly pursued by plane, train and automobile, Thornhill's cross-country chase finally ends atop Mt. Rushmore where, if he doesn't watch his step, he could be in for a terrible fall. - Director:
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Cast:
- Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason
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Los Angeles, 1928. When single mother Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) leaves for work, her son vanishes without a trace. Five months later, the police reunite mother and son; but he isn't her boy. Driven by one woman's relentless quest for the truth, the case exposes a world of corruption, captivates the public and changes LA forever. - Director:
- Clint Eastwood
- Cast:
- Angelina Jolie, William Brent, Colm Feore
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Just prior to World War II, an extraordinary rescue operation aided the youngest victims of Nazi terror. Ten thousand Jewish and other children were transported from German-held lands to foster homes and hostels in Great Britain. Some built new family ties. Some endured the Blitz. Some, amazingly, found ways to liberate their own parents from Hitler's tyranny. And all have unforgettable stories to tell... - Director:
- Mark Jonathan Harris
- Cast:
- Judi Dench, Lory Cahn, Kurt Fuchel
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Directed by Jonathan Demme, Talking Heads concert film 'Stop Making Sense' film has been re-mixed and re-mastered allowing the brilliance of the music and visuals to take full advantage of state-of-the-art technology.
Tracklisting:
1. Psycho Killer
2. Heaven3. Thank You for Sending Me An Angel
4. Found a Job
5. Slippery People
6. Burning Down the House
7. Life During Wartime
8. Making Flippy Floppy
9. Swamp
10. What a Day That Was
11. Nave Melody (This Must Be the Place)
12. Once In a Lifetime
13. Genius of Love
14. Girlfriend is Better
15. Take Me To the River
16. Cross-Eyed and Painless
Bonus Tracks:
17. Cities
18. Big Business / I Zimbra- Director:
- Jonathan Demme
- Cast:
- David Byrne, Bernie Worrell, Alex Weir
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Bearing witness to the barbaric reign of the Sicilian mafia, Letizia Battaglia's black-and-white photography captures decades of violence on the streets of her home town, Palermo. Kim Longinotto traces Battaglia's journey from marriage aged 16 to a new career at 40 as the first Italian woman to be a photographer for a daily newspaper, defiantly pointing her camera at the devastation wrought by the Cosa Nostra. With a wealth of archive material - from classic Italian cinema to nail-biting contemporary reportage - 'Shooting the Mafia' is a portrait of a fearless journalist, a passionate activist and a courageous woman who has broken free of convention and expectation in every area of her life. - Director:
- Kim Longinotto
- Cast:
- Letizia Battaglia, Maria Chiara di Trapani
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Later adapted as 'My Fair Lady' George Bernard Shaw's wonderful comedy of manners is given its finest screen outing in this 1938 production. Nominated for four Oscars, Shaw himself was one of the recipients of the award for best screenplay. Snobbish Professor Higgins has a wager with his friend Colonel Pickering that with the right instruction he can pass off cockney 'gutter-snipe' Eliza Doolittle as a 'lady' among high society. Taken under his wing Eliza is given rigorous coaching in elocution and manners in preparation for the ultimate test, her appearance at an ambassador's reception. - Director:
- Anthony Asquith
- Cast:
- Leslie Howard, Wendy Hiller, Wilfrid Lawson
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The Officer's Ward (2001)La chambre des officiers
The Officer's Ward atmospherically creates the world of Adrien Fournier (Eric Caravaca), a handsome young French officer who returns from the front with hideous facial injuries. After spending the remaining five years of the Great War convalescing in a military hospital, Adrien slowly learns to come to terms with his condition as, with the help of other patients and staff, his sense of identity and self-worth slowly returns. - Director:
- François Dupeyron
- Cast:
- Éric Caravaca, Denis Podalydès, Grégori Derangère
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They were known simply as "The Lost Boys". Orphaned during the Sudanese Civil War, a group of young refugees are given the opportunity to leave their camp and resettle in America. Encountering the modern world for the first time, they develop an unlikely friendship with an employment counsellor (Reese Witherspoon) who becomes involved in their plight. Together they experience heartbreak as well as hope in the challenges of their new life. - Director:
- Philippe Falardeau
- Cast:
- Reese Witherspoon, McCarrie McCausland, Arnold Oceng
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Patrick McGoohan stars in this hip, cool reworking of Shakespeare's Othello, set amongst the jazz clubs of the early 1960's. A steamy tale of jealousy, passion and brooding menace, McGoohan gives a strong performance as the manipulative, treacherous Johnny Cousin - a talented drummer who wields music as a weapon in his quest to draw a jazz diva out of her retirement. Directed by the BAFTA-winning Basil Dearden and with strong support from Keith Michell, Betsy Blair and Richard Attenborough, 'All Night Long' also showcases premiere jazz musicians of the fifties and sixties, including Dave Brubeck, Johnny Scott, Johnny Dankworth, Tubby Hayes and the legendary Charles Mingus. In London's East End the high, blank walls of warehouses tower on either side, giving the street an air of menace. But from one warehouse comes the cool sounds of jazz, the clink of glasses and the buzz of intelligent conversation. It's a party and the occasion is the first wedding anniversary of famous Jazzman Aurelius Rex and his wife Delia, who abandoned a highly successful singing career when she married him. Demon drummer John Cousin arrives, complete with drum kit, and he has ideas about Delia's retirement... - Director:
- Basil Dearden
- Cast:
- Patrick McGoohan, Keith Michell, Betsy Blair
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Circus saxophonist Vladimir Ivanoff (Robin Williams) suddenly defects from his touring troupe in that "temple of Western decadence" - Bloomingdale's. Fleeing the K.G.B., Vladimir wins asylum and moves into the crowded Harlem flat of black security guard Lionel Witherspoon (Cleavant Derricks). Soon he has found both a voluptuous Italian lover Lucia Lombardo (Maria Conchita Alonso), and a shrewd Cuban lawyer Orlando Ramirez (Alejandro Rey). Though Vladimir learns that life in America can be cold and even painful, he grows to love this strange and wondrous new land. - Director:
- Paul Mazursky
- Cast:
- Robin Williams, Maria Conchita Alonso, Cleavant Derricks
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