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

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Those screw-loose Airplane! creators have done it again! Leslie Nielsen stars as Police Squad's own granite-jawed, rock-brained cop Frank Drebin, who bumbles across a mind-control scheme to assassinate Queen Elizabeth. Priscilla Presley, O.J.

Simpson, a stuffed beaver, two baseball teams and an odd assortment of others join the wacko goings-on and blow the laugh-o-meter to smithereens.

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At a carnival, young Josh Baskin (Tom Hanks) wishes he was big - only to awake the next morning and discover he is! With the help of his friend Billy (Jared Rushton), Josh lands a job at a toy company.

There, his inner wisdom enables him to successfully predict what children want to buy, making the awestruck, naive Josh irresistible to a beautiful ladder climbing colleague (Elizabeth Perkins). But the more he experiences being an adult, the more Josh longs for the simple joys of childhood.

The game of conquest is underway. Anything goes when a predatory, wealthy widow (Glenn Close) challenges a notorious rake (John Malkovich) to seduce a beautiful young newlywed (Michelle Pfeiffer). But this time, a cardinal rule will be broken: two players will fall in love - with tragic results.

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Set in Japan during World War II, the film focuses on Seita and his little sister Setsuko. After their mother is killed in an air raid, and with their father serving in the navy, they are forced to fight for survival in the devastated Japanese countryside.

Food and shelter are scarce, and even their own relatives are too concerned with their own survival. All they have is each other and their belief that life must carry on.

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Two children, Voula and her young brother Alexander, run away from their Athens home to search for their father, whom their mother has told them lives in Germany. Boarding an express train, the children begin an epic journey into the chaos of the world and away from the innocence of childhood.

Beautifully photographed by Giorgios Arvanitis and referencing several of Angelopoulos' earlier works, this extraordinary coming of age tale paints a dark portrait of Greece in the eighties - a country caught between its past and present, struggling to find a place in the future.

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Dekalog, from the acclaimed director of the 'Three Colours' trilogy, was premiered to unanimous glowing critical praise at the 1989 Venice Film Festival and its reputation as a cinematic masterpiece remains undiminished. The Ten Commandments, are equally captivating and powerful.

The storied are set around the same Warsaw apartment block and focus on the complexities of human relationships. The themes are the universal ones of love, marriage, infidelity, parenthood, guilt, faith and compassion. The result is a unique and life enhancing look at various moral dilemmas faced by ordinary people in their daily lives.

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Bruce Willis stars as New York City Detective John McClane, newly arrived in Los Angeles to spend the Christmas holiday with his estranged wife (Bonnie Bedelia). But as McClane waits for his wife's office party to break-up, terrorists seize control of the building.

While the terrorist leader, Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) and his savage henchman (Alexander Godunov) round up hostages, McClane slips away unnoticed. Armed with only a service revolver and his wits, McClane launches his own one-man war.

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This film travels through fantasy and reality as Joris Ivens goes to China to capture the wind. The film reflects the filmmaker's journey from Pour le Mistral (1966), his first film on the wind, to this project, which is his final film.

The essay film flows between fantasy and reality moving between the images the filmmaker has made, seen or dreamt about. Combining documentary with Chinese mythology and opera and even Georges Méliès' A Trip to the Moon (1902), Ivens melds culture, landscape and mindscape with breathtaking effect. The old director travels as a boy from his windmill home in erstwhile Holland in a glider made from clothes from a clothesline. We see his journey through life and into the mysticism of the orient in his old age. His memories take us into a humorous, sometimes pensive, magical journey while the film's crew struggles to capture the wind and his breath.

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It's 1947 Hollywood and Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins), a down-on-his-luck detective, is hired to find proof that Marvin Acme, gag factory mogul and owner of Toontown, is playing hanky-panky with femme fatale Jessica Rabbit,wife of Maroon Cartoon superstar, Roger Rabbit.

When Acme is found murdered, all fingers point to Roger, and the sinister, power-hungry Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd) is on a mission to bring Roger to justice. Roger begs the Toon-hating Valiant to find the real evildoer and the plot thickens as Eddie uncovers scandal after scandal and realizes the very existence of Toontown is at stake!

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Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) has just discovered he has an autistic brother named Raymond (Dustin Hoffman) and is now taking him on the ride of his life.

Or is it the other way around? From his refusal to drive on major highways, to his obsession with watching popular TV game-shows, Raymond first pushes hot-headed Charlie to the limits of his patience... and then pulls him completely out of his self-centred world. But what begins as a reluctant and unsentimental journey for the Babbitt brothers becomes a remarkable story which connects these two vastly different people in this poignant and powerful look at the unlimited potential of the human spirit.

Based on a true story, Isabelle Huppert plays Marie, an illegal abortionist who risks the terrible consequences of discovery by the Nazis and Vichy government so that she can save her young family from the oppression of extreme poverty.

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3 generations of women share a name and an aversion to marriage. 3 husbands have reason to be afraid of water. Add to the equation 1 amorous coroner and 1 inventive little boy and so begins the game.

'Drowning by Number' is a sharp and witty tale of female camaraderie with Joan Plowright, Juliet Stevenson and Joely Richardson giving first-class performances. Peter Greenaway's charming pastoral setting overflows with metaphors and mathematical riddles in a film that will continue to amuse for countless viewings.

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Jan Svankmajer's Alice is a creepy and disturbing adaptation of Lewis Carroll's original vision.

Combining a live-action Alice (Kristyna Kohoutova) with a stop-motion Wonderland filled with threatening, bizarre characters, the film brilliantly marries a sly visual wit with piercing psychological insight. Presented here fully uncut and in its original Czech-language version for the very first time, this comprehensive release also gathers together a selection of rare and fascinating Alice-related short films.

Gotham City, not the safest of places to live, but that is about to change with the emergence of a new super hero, who intends to inspire fear into the hearts of the evil, and hope into the hearts of the honest citizens of that city! Who is Batman?

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Sex always gets in the way of friendships between men and woman. At least, that's what Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) believes. So when Harry meets Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) and a deep friendship blossoms between them, Harry's determined not to let his attraction destroy it.

But when a night of weakness ends in panic, can the pair admit they just might be the perfect match for each other?