ectonplasm's - Favourites List

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"The Phantom of the Open" tells the remarkable true story of Maurice Flitcroft (Mark Rylance), a crane operator and optimistic dreamer from Barrow-in-Furness who, with the support of his family and friends, managed to gain entry to the 1976 British Open qualifying, despite never playing a round of

golf before. With pluckiness and unwavering self-belief, Maurice pulls off a series of stunning, hilarious and heartwarming attempts to compete at the highest level of professional golf, drawing the ire of the golfing elite but becoming a British folk hero in the process.

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"Moonage Daydream" is an immersive cinematic experience; an audio-visual space odyssey that not only illuminates the enigmatic legacy of David Bowie but also serves as a guide to living a fulfilling and meaningful life in the 21st Century.

Told through sublime, kaleidoscopic, never-before-seen footage, performances and music, 'Moonage Daydream' is the first officially sanctioned film to explore Bowie's creative, musical and spiritual journey, guided by Bowie's own narration.

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This superb new film tells the story of The Rolling Stones' unparalleled journey from blues obsessed teenagers in the early sixties to their undisputed status as rock royalty.

All of The Rolling Stones have been newly interviewed and their words form the narrative arc that links together archive footage of performances, news coverage and interviews, much of it previously unseen. Taking its title from a lyric in "Jumpin' Jack Flash", "Crossfire Hurricane" gives the viewer an intimate insight into exactly what it's like to be part of The Rolling Stones as they overcome denunciation, drugs, dissensions and death to become the definitive survivors. Over a year in the making and produced with the full co-operation and involvement of The Rolling Stones, "Crossfire Hurricane" is and will remain the definitive story of the world's greatest rock 'n' roll band.

As the world faces a catastrophe of apocalyptic proportions, cities collapse and continents crumble. 2012 brings an end to the world and tells of the heroic struggle of the survivors.

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Power a stylish political thriller where love and war collide in Southeast Asia.

Set in early 1950s Vietnam - an idealistic young American Alden Pyle (Brendan Fraser) becomes entangled in a dangerous love triangle when he falls for the beautiful mistress of a troubled British journalist Thomas Fowler (Michael Caine). As war is waged around them, these three only sink deeper into an unsettling world of drugs, passion and betrayal where nothing is as it seems! Based on the classic novel by Graham Greene.

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13-year-old Antoine (Jean-Pierre Leaud) can't seem to do anything right. His dysfunctional parents yell at him, his spiteful schoolteacher picks on him and luck just never goes his way.

Despite his efforts at patience, one day it all becomes too much and Antoine throws in the towel, choosing to take his chances on the Paris streets. At times joyous and at others bitterly hard, his new life brings a newfound freedom - one that Antoine will follow up to its painful, poignant and beautiful conclusion...

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London, 1953. Mr. Williams, played by Bill Nighy, is a veteran civil servant, a cog in the city's stifling bureaucracy as it struggles to rebuild following WWII. After a shattering health diagnosis, it dawns on him he has not been living his life to the full.

Amidst the fog of his paperwork, and his loneliness at home, he yearns to find fulfilment before it's too late. He is encouraged in his search by two younger colleagues - the vibrant Margaret (Aimee Lou Wood) and idealistic new recruit Peter (Alex Sharp) - and a hedonistic stranger, Sutherland (Tom Burke), encountered during a desperate trip to the seaside.

In the Deep South, homicide detective Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) becomes embroiled in a murder investigation. When the bigoted town sheriff (Rod Steiger) gets involved, both he and Tibbs must put aside their differences and join forces in a race against time to discover the shocking truth.

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Wendy Hiller stars in Powell and Pressburger's classic romantic comedy about a young woman who discovers the true meaning of wealth.

Joan Webster has her life mapped out, beginning with marriage to a rich industrialist. Her plans go wrong when she finds herself stranded on the way to a remote Scottish island and falls in love with a penniless young sailor.

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Based on John Steinbeck's novel and directed by Elia Kazan, 'East of Eden' is the first of three major films that make up James Dean's movie legacy.

The 24-year-old idol-to-be plays Cal, a wayward Salinas Valley youth who vies for the affection of his hardened father (Raymond Massey) with his favoured brother Aron (Richard Davalos).

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Eleven jurors are convinced that the defendant is guilty of murder. The twelfth has no doubt of his innocence.

How can this one man steer the others toward the same conclusion? It's a case of seemingly overwhelming evidence against a teenager accused of killing his father in "one of the best pictures ever made".

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Composer Peter Tchaikovsky (Richard Chamberlain) abandons his intimate friend, Count Chiluvsky (Christopher Gable), when Madame Von Meck (Izabella Telezynska) sponsors him after she hears him perform his First Piano Concerto.

A tortured man, unhappy except in his music, Tchaikovsky marries Nina Milukova (Glenda Jackson), a passionate, neurotic girl. When he is unable to fulfill the demands of matrimony, his tensions become so great that he attempts suicide and has a nervous breakdown. Nina's world also falls apart, and she deteriorates into madness and ends in an asylum. Tchaikovsky recuperates at a country estate of Madame Von Meck. The two correspond, but never meet. At a great party, which she gives in his honor Count Chiluvsky appears, and when Tchaikovsky rebuffs him, he tells Madame Von Meck the truth about her protege. Madame Von Meck immediately servers all connections with the composer. Tchaikovsky is hurt, but continues to compose and conduct throughout the world. World fame does not ameliorate his unhappy state. At the age of 53, after composing his "requiem," his Pathetique Symphony, he deliberately drinks water contaminated with cholera germs. A few days later he is dead. Decades later, his music still lives.

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Planned by the Soviet Central Committee to coincide with the celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the unsuccessful 1905 Russian Revolution, this film was developed by the 27 year-old Sergei Eisenstein from less than one page of script from a planned eight-part epic that was intended to

chronicle a large number of revolutionary actions. Starting with the Potemkin's crew's refusal to eat maggot-infested meat, the mutiny develops and their leader Vakulinchuk is shot by a senior officer. The officers are overthrown and when the Potemkin docks at Odessa, crowds appear from all directions to take up the cause of the dead sailor and open rebellion ensues. What became the most celebrated sequence in world cinema history follows as the Czarist soldiers fire on the crowds thronging down the Odessa steps; the broad newsreel-like sequences being inter-cut with close-ups of harrowing details. Returning to sea, the Potemkin's crew prepares the guns for action as the ship, flying the flag of freedom, steams to confront the squadron. When they finally meet their worst fears are allayed as, with relief coupled with joy, they are universally acclaimed. This film, which was destined to become such an influential landmark in cinematographic history, opened in Moscow in January 1926. It ran for only four weeks.

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This meditative, immersive film from Stuart A. Staples and David Reeve is a tribute to the astonishing work and achievements of naturalist, inventor and pioneering filmmaker F. Percy Smith.

Smith worked in the early years of the 20th century, developing various cinematographic and micro-photographic techniques to capture nature's secrets in action. 'Minute Bodie's is an interpretative edit that combines Smith's original footage with a new contemporary score to create a hypnotic, alien yet familiar dreamscape that connects us to the sense of wonder Smith must have felt as he peered through his own lens and saw these micro-worlds for the first time. Features a new score by tindersticks with Thomas Belhom and Christine Ott.

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The film follows acclaimed composer and musician Max Richter and his creative partner, artist and BAFTA winning filmmaker Yulia Mahr, as they navigate an ambitious performance of his celebrated eight-hour opus 'Sleep' at an open-air concert in Los Angeles.

Emmy-nominated director Natalie Johns weaves in Mahr's personal archive and performance footage from Berlin, Sydney, and Paris to create a rich portrait of a shared artistic process, along with contributions that illuminate both the science and story behind the work.