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

Show moreShow less

When callous movie studio executive Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins) starts receiving anonymous death threats from a rejected screenwriter, his already shaky career begins to crumble. Finally, his desperation drives him to kill...

but did he rub out the wrong writer? Relentlessly hounded by a street-wise detective (Whoopi Goldberg), Griffin falls in love with the dead man's girlfriend (Greta Scacchi). Then the mysterious threats begin again - and Griffin is plunged into a plot more outrageous than any movie.

Show moreShow less

Quentin Tarantino rocked the film world with this powerful and controversial debut movie.

Set mainly in a warehouse in the aftermath of a bungled robbery the story gradually unfolds to introduce the colour-coded gangsters and the planning of the crime step by step, through Tarantino's trademark flashbacks. Four have survived after a police ambush - betrayed. What went wrong and who is the betrayer?

Show moreShow less

Hando (Russell Crowe), the psychotic leader of a gang of marauding neo-Nazi teenagers, begins a relationship with the epileptic Gabrielle (Jacqueline McKenzie), but though they at first make a good team the courtship soon turns abusive.

Though Gabrielle has designs to take Hando away from his Life of crime and destruction, his indoctrination into a racist world viewpoint seems all-consuming. Hard-hitting and at times cruel, this sadistic drama bleeds with unpalatable truths and difficult to face up to notions of culture, identity and working-class disintegration.

Show moreShow less

A group of real-estate salesmen-cum-con artists live on the edge. All the time. Life is good for only one. For the rest, life hangs in the balance. There is no room for losers. The name of the game is simple: A-B-C. A-Always. B-Be. C-Closing. Always be closing. Sell or go under. Right under.

Deep rock bottom under. That's the name of the game. It's simple.

Eastwood and Morgan Freeman play retired outlaws who pick up their guns one last time to collect a bounty. Richard Harris is an ill-fated killer-for-hire. And Hackman is a lawman of sly charm...and chilling brutality

Show moreShow less

In 1991, Nick Broomfield made "Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer". Aileen's lawyer, her born again Christian mother and the Florida state police had all been involved in trying to sell her story, that of America's first female serial killer, to the highest bidder.

Aileen herself, who was convicted of murdering seven men, ironically emerged as the most honest person. Aileen and Nick kept in touch, writing occasionally until 2002 when he was served with a subpoena to appear at her final state appeal before execution. It was at this point that Broomfield and longtime collaborator Joan Churchill, then still working on Biggie and Tupac,decided to make a second film about Aileen. "Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer" looks at Aileen's violent, tortured childhood in Troy, Michigan and her subsequent years on the road as a hitch-hiking prostitute which culminated in the murders. In her last interview, conducted by Broomfield at Aileen's request, she said she believed her mind was being controlled by radio waves. On October 9th 2002 she was executed in Florida. Shot entirely by Broomfield and Churchill, longtime collaborators who worked together on the acclaimed Kurt and Courtney, the film provides a disturbing and humane insight into the mind of a deeply paranoid yet sympathetic person. Together for the first time on video, these two films form a powerful statement against the k death penalty, raising serious questions about the US legal system and the political impetus behind Aileen's execution. Both films were used by Charlize Theron as the basis of her Oscar-winning performance as Aileen in Monster. The packed disc also features the trailer for Monster, and an exclusive interview with Broomfield about his experiences when making these two extraordinary films.

Show moreShow less

On holiday in Brittany, Parisian hairdresser Felicie has an idyllic romance that results in the birth of her daughter, Elise. Through a mix-up over her address, she loses touch with Elise's father, Charles, and becomes obsessed with the lost love of her life.

She finds it impossible to settle with another man and wavers between two unsatisfactory relationships, while holding onto the dream that Charles may one day return. The second in Eric Rohmer's 'Tales Of The Four Seasons' series, this charming and wonderfully acted love story has the compelling quality of a fairytale.

Show moreShow less

This is the true story of Yuan Ling-Yu (Maggie Cheung), the first movie star of the 1930's. Hailing from an obscure background, she became the prima donna of the Chinese screen. Students worshipped her as a cult symbol.

Men looked at her with dreamy eyes, and women looked at her sideways and full of hate. Yes, for nine years since her first movie at sixteen, Yuan Ling-Yu managed to star in 29 movies. Her roles were usually pathetic ones: girl student, rustic maid, factory hand, prostitute, socialite, and authoress. And her endings were invariably tragic: incarceration in a prison, mental breakdown, forced marriages, starvation, illness, and even suicide.

Show moreShow less

Man Bites Dog is a spoof documentary about an amiable but seriously warped mass murderer, who kills all types of people, but has a particular fondness for postmen.

The movie charts the increasingly close relationship between the killer and a film crew making a documentary about his exploits, who get implicated in his horrendous deeds.

Show moreShow less

Fergus (Stephen Rea) is an IRA "volunteer" who reluctantly takes part in the kidnapping of a black British soldier, Jody (Forest Whitaker), stationed in Northern Ireland.

When the kidnapping goes terribly wrong, Fergus escapes to London and tracks down Jody's glamorous girlfriend Dil (Jaye Davidson), spurred on by a promise made to his former hostage. Tailing Fergus are two fiercely loyal IRA operatives.

Show moreShow less

Based on the best-selling novel by Lilian Lee, "Farewell My Concubine" is an epic exploration of art, friendship and betrayal.

Set against the tumultuous backdrop of more than fifty years of Chinese history, the film charts the relationship between Cheng (Leslie Cheung) and Duan (Zhang Fengyi), two stars in the Peking Opera troupe, and the woman who comes between them. Chen Kaige's sumptuous and moving epic holds an important place in the history of Chinese-language cinema.

Show moreShow less

Bill Murray is at his wisecracking best in this riotous romantic comedy about a weatherman caught in a personal time warp on the worst day of his life! Teamed with a relentlessly cheery producer (Annie MacDowell) and a smart-aleck cameraman, TV weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murray) is sent to

Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania to cover the annual Groundhog Day festivities. On his way out of town, Phil is caught in a giant blizzard - which he himself actually failed to predict - and finds himself stuck in a small town hell. Just when things couldn't get worse... they do! Phil wakes the next morning to find that it's Groundhog Day all over again... and again... and again.

Show moreShow less

Internationally renowned pianist Glenn Gould had all the marks of genius - blinding talent, a craving for perfection and absolute bullheadedness.

In 'Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould', director Francois Girard goes directly to the center of Gould's ideas, his passions and his music. Using thirty-two elegantly constructed vignettes, which span Gould's life from age four until his untimely death at age fifty, the film achieves the rare balance between play and conceptual rigor. Each of the thirty-two selections dramatizes a variation on the theme of Glenn Gould, depicting the many diverse aspects of his life - from artist to financier, humorist to nature lover, recluse to iconoclast - and the result is a powerful impressionistic mosaic of genius.

Show moreShow less

What connects us? Is it our relationships? Proximity? Love, hate, confusion? What draws us together or keeps us apart? In this groundbreaking work, director Robert Altman poses answers to these questions by intricately intertwining the stories of legendary writer Raymond Carver.

'Short Cuts' burst onto the scene in 1993 and set the stage for an entirely new way of thinking about storytelling that has been fully comprehended and embraced by modern filmmakers in recent years. Winning a special award for its ensemble cast at the 1994 Golden Globes, Short Cuts features a seemingly endless dream cast. Never before and not since its release has a single film captured the range of human emotions and interactions like Short Cuts has. You're invited to experience the countless moments that make up these characters' lives at a time and in a place where death is never far away and life is on the tip of everybody's tongue.

Show moreShow less

Up-and-coming young lawyer Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks) has just been fired by his prestigious law firm. They say he hasn't got what it takes. Andrew knows it's because he's got AIDS.

Determined to defend his professional reputation, Andrew hires fierce, brilliant personal-injury attorney Joe Miller (Denzel Washington) to sue his former employers for wrongful dismissal. Joe is initially reluctant to take on the case. Although he as grown up knowing the pain of prejudice, he's never had to confront his own prejudices against homosexuality and AIDS...until now. One man is fighting for his reputation, his life and for justice. The other is battling to overcome his own and society's ignorance and fear.