jbp's - Favourites List

"Schindler's List" tells the incredible true story of the enigmatic Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), who saved the lives of more than 1,100 Jews during the Holocaust and whose lessons of courage continue to inspire generations.

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In early 18th-century England, a frail Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) occupies the throne, and her closest friend, Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz), governs the country while tending to Anne's ill health and volatile temper.

When new servant Abigail (Emma Stone) arrives, Sarah takes Abigail under her wing as she cunningly schemes to return to her aristocratic roots, setting off an outrageous rivalry to become the Queen's favourite.

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As the war between Earth and Mars ignites across the solar system, the terrifying next phase in the evolution of the protomolecule threatens the very existence of humanity.

Caught in the middle, the Rocinante crew struggles to deal with tensions amongst themselves, while striving to survive and aid those in peril.

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Based on an extraordinary true story, "Pride" tells how a group of London-based gay and lesbian activists raised money to support the families of miners during the strike of 1984.

Identifying a mining village in Wales, they set off to make their donation in person, and in so doing inspired "the Best British film in years".

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With his eighth and most personal film, Alfonso Cuaron recreated the early-1970's Mexico City of his childhood, narrating a tumultuous period in the life of a middle-class family through the experiences of Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio, in a revelatory screen debut), the indigenous domestic worker who

keeps the household running. Charged with the care of four small children abandoned by their father, Cleo tends to the family even as her own life is shaken by personal and political upheavals. Written, directed, shot, and coedited by Cuaron, 'Roma' is a labor of love with few parallels in the history of cinema, deploying monumental black-and-white cinematography, an immersive soundtrack, and a mixture of professional and nonprofessional performances to shape its author's memories into a world of enveloping texture, and to pay tribute to the woman who nurtured him.

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Drawn from a cache of personal video recordings from the past 22 years, director Steve Loveridge's Sundance award-winning "Matangi / Maya/M.I.A." is a startlingly personal profile of the critically acclaimed artist, chronicling her remarkable journey from refugee immigrant to pop star.

She began as Matangi. Daughter of the founder of Sri Lanka's armed Tamil resistance, she hid from the government in the face of a vicious and bloody civil war. When her family fled to the UK, she became Maya, a precocious and creative immigrant teenager in London. Finally, the world met her as M.I.A. when she emerged on the global stage, having created a mashup, cut-and-paste identity that pulled from every corner of her journey along the way; a sonic sketchbook that blended Tamil politics, art school punk, hip-hop beats and the unwavering, ultra-confident voice of a burgeoning multicultural youth. Never one to compromise on her vision, Maya kept her camera rolling throughout. "Matangi / Maya/M.I.A." provides unparalleled, intimate access to the artist in her battles with the music industry and mainstream media as her success and fame explodes, becoming one of the most recognizable, outspoken and provocative voices in music today.

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Hong Kong, 1962. Chow (Tony Leung) is a junior newspaper editor with an elusive wife. His new neighbour Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung) is a secretary whose husband seems to spend all his time on business trips. They become friends, making the lonely evenings more bearable.

As their relationship develops they make a discovery that changes their lives forever...

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If Beale Street Could Talk is the story of Tish (KiKi Layne), a newly engaged Harlem woman who races against the clock to prove her fiancee's innocence.

It is a celebration of love told through the story of a young couple, their families and their lives, trying to bring about justice through love, where passion and sadness are inevitably intertwined.

Thirteen-year-old Kayla (Elsie Fisher) endures the tidal wave of contemporary suburban adolescence as she makes her way through the last week of middle school-the end of her thus far disastrous eighth grade year-before she begins high school.

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Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgård and Emily Watson star in 'Chernobyl', the critically acclaimed five-part mini-series.

On April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukrainian SSSR suffered a massive explosion that released radioactive material across Belarus, Russia and Ukraine and as far as Scandinavia and Western Europe. Dramatising the true story of the 1986 nuclear accident, one of the worst man-made catastrophes in history, Chernobyl shines a light on the brave men and women who fought an unprecedented war against an invisible enemy, and who suffered and sacrificed, saving millions of lives, often at the cost of their own.

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Bing Liu's Academy Award-nominated documentary 'Minding the Gap' is a coming-of-age saga drawing on over 12 years of footage in his Rust Belt hometown hit hard by decades of recession.

In his quest to understand why so many of his peers in the skateboarding community ran away from home when they were younger, Bing follows 23-year-old Zack as he becomes a father and 17-year-old Keire as he gets his first job. As the story unfolds, Bing is thrust into the middle of Zack's tumultuous relationship with his girlfriend and Keire's inner struggles with racial identity and his deceased father. As we watch the boys grow up before our eyes, we experience the joy, sacrifice, and hope in the gap between childhood and adulthood.

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In Jafar Panahi's latest film, which won the Best Screenplay Award in Cannes, actress Behnaz Jafari is distraught when she comes across a young girl's video plea for help after her family prevents her from taking up her studies at the Tehran drama conservatory.

Behnaz abandons her shoot and turns to the filmmaker Jafar Panahi to help her with the young girl's troubles. They travel by car to the rural, Azeri-speaking Northwest of Iran, where they encounter the charming and generous folk of the girl's mountain village. But Behnaz and Jafar also discover that old traditions die hard.

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After a successful shoplifting spree, Osamu (Lily Franky) and his son rescue a little girl in the freezing cold and invite her home with them. Osamu's wife Nobuyo (Sakura Ando) reluctantly agrees to shelter her.

Although the family is poor, they live happily together until an unforeseen incident upsets the delicate balance they have created, revealing long-buried secrets...

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Captured in stunning Ultra-high definition detail, 'Planet Earth II' is an immersive exploration of the jungles, mountains, deserts, islands, grasslands and cities of the world.

Journey to the four corners of the globe to discover the extreme forces that shape life in each of these iconic landscapes and the remarkable ways animals manage to overcome the challenges of surviving in the wildest places on Earth. From eye-to-eye encounters with incredible creatures to epic journeys through breathtaking wildernesses, experience the wonder of the natural world as never before.

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Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle is a British sketch comedy series starring Stewart Lee and featuring some of his signature and oftentimes surreal stand up routines.

The series follows Lee through his stand up routines but also features original sketches developed by Lee, Armando Iannucci ( The Thick of It) and Chris Morris (Four Lions, The Day Today). The sketches vary in content but each episode features a set theme as the sketches range from bizarre to more normal and satirical material.