jbp's - Favourites List

Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India's 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?' Arrested on suspicion of cheating, he tells the police the incredible story of his life on the streets, and of the girl he loved and lost.

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Do you ever look at someone and wonder what's going on inside their head? Disney-Pixar's 'Inside Out' takes an imaginative journey into the mind to find the answer.

Based in Headquarters, the control centre of 11-year-old Riley's mind, five emotions are hard at work, led by lighthearted optimist Joy. She strives to make sure Riley stays happy as she operates alongside fellow emotions Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness.

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An alien entity inhabits the earthly form of a seductive young woman who combs the Scottish highways in search of the human prey it is here to plunder. It lures its isolated and forsaken male victims into an otherworldly dimension where they are stripped and consumed.

But life in all its complexity starts to change the alien. It begins to see itself as 'she', as human, with tragic and terrifying consequence. 'Under the Skin' is about seeing ourselves through alien eyes.

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Is there a secret you would kill to know? In this electrifying, suspense-packed thriller from director Christopher Nolan, Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale play magicians whose cutthroat attempts to better each other plunge them into deadly deceptions.

Scarlett Johansson also stars as the stage assistant who's both a pawn and player in their rivalry. A brilliant supporting cast (including Michael Caine and David Bowie). An ingenious story. An astonishing payoff. Once you see The Prestige, you'll want to see it again. Watch closely.

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The highly acclaimed director of 'Finding Nemo' and the creative storytellers behind 'Cars' and 'Ratatouille' transports you to a galaxy not so far away for a new cosmic comedy adventure about a determined robot named 'Wall-E'.

After hundreds of lonely years of doing what he was built for, the curious and lovable Wall-E (voice of Ben Burtt) discovers a new purpose in life when he meets a sleek robot name Eve (voice of Elissa Knight). Join them and a hilarious cast of characters on a fantastic journey across the universe.

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When the government of Indonesia was overthrown by the military in 1965, more than one million people were killed in less than a year. Anwar and his friends were promoted from ticket scalpers to death squad leaders, and Anwar killed hundreds of people with his own hands.

In 'The Act of Killing', Anwar and his friends agree to tell us the story of the killings. But their idea of being in a movie is not to provide testimony for a documentary: they want to be stars in their favourite film genres - gangster, western, musical. They write the scripts. They play themselves. And they play their victims. 'The Act of Killing' is a nightmarish vision - a journey into the memories and imaginations of the unrepentant perpetrators and the shockingly banal regime of corruption and impunity they inhabit.

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When a disgraced spy surfaces with information concerning a double agent at the top of the British secret service, George Smiley (Gary Oldman), an ex-MI6 agent, is drawn back into murky field of espionage.

Tasked with investigating which of his trusted former colleagues has chosen to betray him and their country, Smiley narrows his search to four suspects - all experienced, skilled and successful agents. However, past histories, rivalries and friendships make it far from easy to pinpoint the man who is eating away at the heart of the British establishment.

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Daniel Plainview and son are independent oil men, looking for prospects in California at the turn of the 20th century. They are challenged by a young preacher, Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), whose own ambition is matched by Plainview's.

Their battle forms the centre of a scary, darkly-comic historical journey into an abyss of madness.

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Patricio Guzman travels 10,000 feet above sea level to the driest desert on earth for this hugely-praised documentary. Here, the sky is so translucent that it allows astronomers to see the boundaries of our universe.

Yet Chile's Atacama Desert climate also keeps human remains intact: pre-Columbian mummies; explorers and miners; and the remains of disappeared political prisoners from the years of the Pinochet regime. Women sift the desert soil for the bones of their loved ones, while archaeologists uncover traces of ancient civilizations and astronomers examine the most distant and oldest galaxies. Melding celestial and earthly quests, feature is a gorgeous, deeply moving, and personal odyssey into astronomy, archaeology, geology and human rights.

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Feature is a unique coming-of-age comedy about three teenage friends – Joe (Nick Robinson), Patrick (Gabriel Basso) and the eccentric and unpredictable Biaggio (Moises Arias) - who, in the ultimate act of independence, decide to spend their summer building a house in the woods and living off the

land. Free from their parents' rules, their idyllic summer quickly becomes a test of friendship as each boy learns to appreciate the fact that family - whether it is the one you're born into or the one you create – is something you can't run away from.

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At 14, school friends Steve 'Lips' Kudlow and Rob Reiner made a pact to rock together forever. Their band, Anvil, went on to become the 'demigods of Canadian metal', releasing one of the heaviest albums in metal history, 1982's Metal on Metal.

The album influenced a musical generaton including Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax, that went on to sell millions of records. But Anvil's career took a different path - straight to obscurity. Anvil The Story of Anvil is a timeless, and at times hilarious, feel good tale of survival and the unadulterated passion it takes to follow your dream. Directed by Sasha Gervasi, we follow the band as they attempt one last shot at the big time with their thirteenth album 'This is Thirteen' and a calamitous European tour. You don't have to be a metal head to love Anvil. This is an inspirational, heart warming and uplifting tale of two best friends who refuse to give up on their dream. Metal on Metal forever!

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For over forty years, America's "War on Drugs" has accounted for 45 million arrests, made America the world's largest jailer, and damaged poor communities at home and abroad. Yet for all that, drugs in America are cheaper, purer, and more available today than ever before.

Feature captures heart-wrenching stories at all levels of America's drug war. Together, these stories pose urgent questions: What caused the war? What perpetuates it? And what can be done to stop it?

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Based on the bestseller by Stephen E. Ambrose, this critically acclaimed, award-winning mini-series follows the epic adventures of Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, U.S. Army.

Drawn from interviews with survivors of Easy Company, as well as soldiers' journals and letters, Band Of Brothers chronicles the experiences of these men who knew extraordinary bravery and extraordinary fear. They were an elite rifle company parachuting into France early on D-Day morning, fighting in the Battle of the Bulge and capturing Hitler's Eagle's Nest at Berchtesgarten. Recreated with stunning special effects and the second collaboration between Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, the series is both a profound and captivating look at the reality of war.

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Hollywood's hottest director Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs) assembles an all-star cast for a skillfully woven tale of small-time gangster life in a most ambitious and provocative film, 'Pulp Fiction'.

Bruce Willis (Die Hard) and Oscar Nominees John Travolta (Best Actor) and Samuel L Jackson (Best Supporting Actor) deliver career performances as petty thugs in LA's criminal underworld - where gritty confrontations, fast talk and perverse humour are all part of the daily grind. Nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award 1995, this boldly inventive and expertly orchestrated crime sage is hailed by critics as a landmark achievement in modern filmmaking!

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Shot over the course of one year, The Interrupters are Ameena, Cobe and Eddie, all who have stories and histories of violence and gang-activity.

These "violence interrupters" (their job title) use their own personal experiences and street credibility to work in the communities, interjecting where violence is prone to erupting and working with families to stop the infection and spread. Their work and their insights are informed by their own journeys, which, as each of them point out defy characterisation. Their work is fraught with moral dilemmas. They have to step between adversaries, often people they know. They need to acknowledge people's grievances while simultaneously pulling them back from acting on them. As they venture into their communilies, they confront the importance of family, the noxious nature of poverty, and the place of race. And they do it with incredible candour and directness.