frankie's - 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die List

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"Top Gun" takes a look at the danger and excitement that awaits every pilot at the Navy's prestigious fighter weapons school. Tom Cruise is superb as Maverick Mitchell, a daring young flyer who's out to become the best.

And Kelly McGillis sizzles as the civilian instructor who teaches Maverick a few things you can't learn in a classroom.

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Filmmaker Ross McElwee grew up in the South and always marveled at how the folks there were affected by Union general William Tecumseh Sherman's legacy. Aiming to delve deeper into the region's interest, McElwee revisits the path of the general's march that took down the Confederacy.

But the tone of his documentary changes when he learns his girlfriend has left him, causing him to second-guess himself with each woman he meets during the shoot.

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Norbu's (Rigzin Tseshang) little son died of illness. Therefore, he expressed the deep regret for his thieving horse in the "ghost dancing". Later, his second son was born. Nevertheless, by force of livelihood, he had to thieve horses again.

Unfortunately, he was hit to death when he stole horses for the last time.The film shows the unique culture of Tibet and the influence that religion has on the modern people as well as the society with the help of the new and rich film language and the expressive force of the film image.

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Nianankoro's father Soma is a part of the order of Komo, who practice magic, but he uses his powers for self-gain. He becomes determined to kill his son after receiving a vision that his son will cause his death. Aided by his mother, Nianankoro leaves his village to seek out his uncle for help.

Soma pursues him with the aid of an enchanted pylon that tracks his son's location and breaks all barriers that deter it. As he travels, Nianankoro encounters a hyena who tells him his destiny is to be great. Passing through the territory of the Peul, he is thought to be a thief and captured. Their king Rouma Boli orders him killed, but Nianankoro creates magic that freezes his guards and declares they cannot kill him. Impressed, King Rouma offers Nianankoro his freedom in exchange for aid against a rival tribe. When the tribe attacks, Nianankoro summons a swarm of bees and a fire that drives their attackers away. The king thanks Nianankoro and asks him to cure his wife Attou's infertility. Nianankoro creates an enchantment, but he and Attou are overcome by lust and sleep together. That night they return to Rouma to confess their crime, and the king reluctantly orders them married and to leave...

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The sky over Wenders' war-scarred Berlin is full of gentle, trenchcoated angels who listen to the tortured thoughts of mortals and try to comfort them. One, Damiel, (Bruno Ganz) wishes to become mortal after falling in love with a beautiful trapeze artist, Marion (Solveig Dommartin).

Peter Falk, as himself, assists in the transformation by explaining the simple joys of a human experience.

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Jackie Chan is back, as famed pirate-buster Dragon Ma. Having rid the seas of the dreaded Pirate Lo, he is back on land with a brand new assignment: to clean up crime and corruption in the roughest part of town.

Finding himself caught up in a web of deceit, instigated by the local police chief, he and his loyal band of 'brothers' battle treacherous, free-wheeling police officers, smugglers, pirates and lethal agents of the Manchu government in a relentless breath¬taking adventure which culminates in one of the most spectacular stunt-filled finales of all time!

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When Babette (Stéphane Audran), a beautiful and mysterious French refugee, arrives in a remote Danish town the tight-knit, puritanical community begrudgingly let her in, providing her with shelter and work.

But after the town patriarch passes away and Babette insists on preparing a feast in his honor, a magical world of sensory revelations is thrown open to the villagers, changing their lives forever...

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Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter and John Goodman star in Ethan and Joel Coen's acclaimed screwball love story filled with mad chases, unexpected plot twists and wild pyrotechnics. Vowing to go straight, a convenience store bandit (Cage) proposes marriage to the police department's photographer (Hunter).

All is wedded bliss until they discover she's unable to get pregnant and are turned down by every adoption agency in town. It doesn't take long before they realize the only solution is to kidnap one of the town's celebrated quintuplets and hit the road!

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A superb ensemble cast falls in for action in Stanley Kubrick's brilliant saga about the Vietnam War and the dehumanizing process that turns people into trained killers.

Joker (Matthew Modine), Animal Mother (Adam Baldwin), Gomer (Vincent D'Onofrio), Eightball (Dorian Harewood), Cowboy (Arliss Howard) and more - all are plunged into a boot-camp hell pitbulled by a leatherlung D.I. (Lee Ermey) who views the would-be devil dogs as grunts, maggots or something less. The action is savage, the story unsparing, the dialogue spiked with scathing humor. 'Full Metal Jacket', from its rigors of basic training to its nightmare of combat in Hue City, scores a cinematic direct hit.

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London. The '60s. Two unemployed actors-acerbic, elegantly wasted Withnail (Richard E. Grant) and the anxiety-ridden "I" (Paul McGann) - drown their frustrations in booze, pills and lighter fluid.

When Withnails's Uncle Monty (Richard Griffiths) offers his cottage, they escape the squalor of their flat for a week in the country, but soon realise they've gone on holiday by mistake when their wits - and friendship - are sorely tested by violent downpours, less-than-hospitable locals and empty cupboards.

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Robin Williams shakes up 1965 Saigon as irreverent, non-conformist deejay Adrian Cronauer. Imported by the army for an early a.m. radio show, Cronauer blasts the formerly staid, sanitized airwaves with a constant barrage of rapid-fire humour and the hippest tunes from back home.

The GI's love him - but the top brass is outraged! Riddled with side-splitting comic bombshells and studded with hot '60's hits, the film depicts Cronauer's raucous Saigon adventures and a world gone mad.

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With a career spanning over thirty years, Louis Malle was one of the giants of French cinema.

After he burst onto the scene as one of the pioneers of the French New Wave with Lift To The Scaffold, Malle quickly achieved a reputation as a great director who was unafraid to embrace a wide array of subjects - many famously controversial. Working both in Hollywood and his native France, Malle imprinted his films with subtlety, intelligence and a sharp eye for the mores of human behaviour that set him apart from his contemporaries. This collection brings together classics from Malle's later career. Au Revoir Les Enfants, earning Malle a BAFTA for Best Director, and Lucien Lacombe are two very different tales about troubled youth set during the Second World War. Milou en Mai is a chamber comedy set against the backdrop of the 1968 Parisian uprisings and Le Souffle Au Coeur a taboo-breaking coming-of-age satire. Together with the dreamlike Black Moon, these films are proof that age did not dim Malle's humanism or commitment to experimentation.

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In James L. Brooks' quirky, romantic comedy, three ambitious workaholics are set loose in a network TV newsroom where their professional and personal lives become hopelessly cross-wired. Tom (William Hurt) is the modern anchorman, smooth, handsome and a bit dumb.

Jane (Holly Hunter) is his driven, brilliant producer, determined to turn Tom into a real newsman. And Aaron (Albert Brooks) is a seasoned, totally uncharismatic reporter who can't stand Tom's instant success on-camera or with Jane. It all adds up to one explosively funny romantic triangle.

Director Bill Forsyth (That Sinking Feeling, Gregory's Girl, Local Hero, Comfort and Joy) made his American film debut with this moving and offbeat adaptation of Marilynne Robinson's acclaimed novel, about two young girls who are sent to live with their eccentric aunt (Christine Lahti) after the suicide of their mother.

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When Princess Buttercup (Robin Wright) - lovelorn after the loss of her beloved sweetheart Westley (Cary Elwes) - is kidnapped by cunning crook Vizzini (Wallace Shawn) and his sidekicks Fezzik the Giant (André the Giant) and swordsman Inigo (Mandy Patinkin), she is confident her one true love will

come to save her. But is the man in the mask hot on the heels of her captors the Prince Humperdink (Chris Sarandon), to whom she is now betrothed, or a mysterious stranger. This family fairy-tale will touch your heart, tickle your funny bone and leave you feeling happily ever after.