Werner Herzog

Let me start by saying that Werner Herzog is one of the most talented filmmakers working today. His career spans over 50 projects. This list is just of ones I particularly enjoyed. I highly recommend checking out anything you can that he has done. Now that that has been said, Herzogs story is too long for this blog. He is hands down one of the most interesting filmmakers I have ever come across. I could go on for days with little stories about him...but rather than do that I will just list a few interesting facts about Werner Herzog:

• Claims to have walked by foot from Munich, Germany to Paris, France (a distance of about 500 miles) in 1974 to prevent the very sick film historian and good friend Lotte Eisner from dying (as, applying his logic, she wouldn't dare to die until he visited her on her deathbed). Eisner indeed went on to live for 8 more years after Herzog's journey.
• Joaquin Phoenix was in a car accident on a winding canyon road that flipped his car over. Shaken and confused, Phoenix heard a tapping on his window and a voice say, "Just relax." Unable to see the man, Phoenix replied, "I'm fine. I am relaxed." Then managed to see that the man was Werner Herzog, and Herzog replied, "No, you're not." After helping Phoenix out of the wreckage, Herzog phoned for an ambulance and vanished.
• In late 2005, during an interview with BBC journalist Mark Kermode regarding Grizzly Man, a sniper opened fire on them with an air rifle. Kermode panicked when Herzog calmly said, "Someone is shooting at us." One of the pellets then hit Herzog. An unmoved Herzog insisted on continuing the interview.

Grizzly Man - 2005
A devastating and heartrending take on grizzly bear activists Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard, who were killed in October of 2003 while living among grizzlies in Alaska.
Trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=AKfWippJeHM

The White Diamond - 2004
The White Diamond is a film about the daring adventure of exploring rainforest canopy with a novel flying device-the Jungle Airship. Airship engineer Dr.Graham Dorrington embarks on a trip to the giant Kaieteur Falls in the heart of Guyana, hoping to fly his helium-filled invention above the tree-tops. But this logistic effort will not be without risk. Twelve years ago, a similar expedition into the unique habitat of the canopy ended in disaster when Dorrington's friend Dieter Plage fell to his death. With the expedition is Werner Herzog, setting out now with a new prototype of the airship into the Lost World of the pristine rain forest of this little explored area of the world, to record and tell this unique story in an extraordinary, feature-documentary film
Trailer: I couldnt find a trailer but heres a clip http://youtube.com/watch?v=afWXExlu41g

Wheel Of Time - 2003
Wheel of Time is Werner Herzog's photographed look at the largest Buddhist ritual in Bodh Gaya, India.
Trailer: Couldnt find a trailer, but heres a clip http://youtube.com/watch?v=rkzoMJtk8Qk

Mein Liebster Feind/My Best Fiend: Klaus Kinski - 1999
In the 1950s, when Werner Herzog was 13, he was sharing an apartment with Klaus Kinski, an ego-maniacal live-wire. In an unabated, 48 hour fit of rage, Kinski destroyed every piece of furniture in sight. From this chaos, a beautiful albeit volatile partnership was born. In 1972, Herzog cast Kinski in Aguirre, The Wrath of God. Four more films would follow. In this personal documentary, Herzog traces the often violent up and downs of their relationship, revisiting Munich apartment where they first met - and thrashed, and the various locations of their films.
Trailer: I couldnt find a trailer for this one, but this is the first 3 mins of the movie: http://youtube.com/watch?v=yBDEQe9CjOU

Little Dieter Needs To Fly - 1997
This is one of the greatest documentaries ever made. In 1966, Dieter Dengler was shot down over Laos, captured, and, down to 85 pounds, escaped. Barefoot, surviving monsoons, leeches, and machete-wielding villagers, he was rescued. Now, near 60, living on Mt. Tamalpais, Dengler tells his story: a German lad surviving Allied bombings in World War II, postwar poverty, apprenticed to a smith, beaten regularly. At 18, he emigrates and peels potatoes in the U.S. Air Force. He leaves for California and college, then enlistment in the Navy to learn to fly. A quiet man of sorrows tells his story: war, capture, harrowing conditions, escape, and miraculous rescue. Where did he find the strength; how does he now live with his memories?
Trailer: Couldnt find a trailer, but heres a 10 min clip! http://youtube.com/watch?v=PxaLr_nVf_Y

Lektionen In Finsternis/Lessons Of Darkness - 1992
This film shows the disaster of the Kuwaitian oil fields in flames. In contrast to the common documentary film there are no comments and few interviews. What must have been the hell itself is presented to the viewer in such beautiful sights and beautiful music that one has to be fascinated by it.
Trailer: I couldn't find a trailer for this one, but here is a 4 min. clip (with some bad Radiohead song) that should give you an idea of what this movie is like visually: http://youtube.com/watch?v=9t94heQ2Kyc

Fitzcarraldo - 1982
Kinski plays the title role of an obsessed opera lover who wants to build an opera in the jungle. To accomplish this he first has to make a fortune in the rubber business, and his cunning plan involves hauling an enormous river boat across a small mountain with aid from the local indians. This was done without the use of special effects.
Trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=F53yUsgVuL0

Nosferatu: Phantom Der Nacht/Nosferatu The Vampyre - 1979
Jonathan Harker is sent away to Count Dracula's castle to sell him a house in Virna, where he lives. But Count Dracula is a vampire, an undead ghoule living of men's blood. Inspired by a photograph of Lucy Harker, Jonathan's wife, Dracula moves to Virna, bringing with him death and plague... An unusually contemplative version of Dracula, in which the vampire bears the cross of not being able to get old and die. I am going to go out on a limb here and say this is better than the original.
Trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZeYpGsEdEZU

La Soufriere - Warten Auf Eine Unausweichliche Katastrophe/La Soufriere - 1977
I couldnt find very much on this movie, which is understandable considering its a 30 min. documentary, but I felt that it was good enough that I had to include it on this list. It is currently available on DVD (with how much wood would a woodchuck chuck and sculptor steiner). Herzog takes a film crew to the island of Guadeloupe when he hears that the volcano on the island is going to erupt. Everyone has left, except for one old man who refuses to leaves. Herzog catches the eeriness of an abandoned city, with stop lights cycling over an empty intersection.

Stroszek - 1977
In Berlin, an alcoholic man, recently released from prison, joins his elderly friend and a prostitute in a determined dream to leave Germany and seek a better life in Wisconsin
Trailer: http://imdb.com/title/tt0075276/trailers-screenplay-E17884-314

Jeder Fur Sich Und Gott Gegen Alle/The Enigma Of Kapar Hauser - 1974
Herzog's film is based upon the true and mysterious story of Kaspar Hauser, a young man who suddenly appeared in Nuremberg in 1828, barely able to speak or walk, and bearing a strange note; he later explained that he had been held captive in a dungeon of some sort for his entire life that he could remember, and only recently was he released, for reasons unknown.
Trailer: Couldnt find a trailer for this one, but heres a clip that will give you a feel for the movie http://youtube.com/watch?v=fjfGvugxGUg&feature=related

Die Grosse Ekstasse Des Bildschnitzers Steiner/The Great Ecstasy Of Woodcarver Steiner - 1974
A study of the psychology of a champion ski-jumper, whose full-time occupation is carpentry.
Trailer: I couldnt find a trailer, but heres a 10 minute clip! http://youtube.com/watch?v=y7Lk2OR9q-E

Aguirre, Der Zorn Gottes/Aguirre, The Wrath Of God - 1972
A few decades after the destruction of the Inca empire, a Spanish expedition leaves the mountains of Peru and goes down the Amazon river in search of gold and wealth. Soon, they come across great difficulties and Don Aguirres, a ruthless man who cares only about riches, becomes their leader. But will his quest lead them to "the golden city", or to certain destruction?
Trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=1A08fxwcsEw

Land Das Schweigens Und Der Dunkelheit/Land Of Silence And Darkness - 1971
Through examining Fini Straubinger, an old woman who has been deaf and blind since her teens, and her work on behalf of other deaf-blind people, this film shows how the deaf-blind struggle to understand and accept a world from which they are almost wholly isolated
Trailer: I could not find a trailer for this one, but I did find a clip that shows "Vladimir, a deaf-blind 22 year old, who was never taught to walk, eat or communicate properly due to his disabilities. As a way of communicating to himself, he blows raspberries and hits himself with a rubber ball." http://youtube.com/watch?v=ye-RlS7dLhU

Auch Zwerge Haben Klein Angefangen/Even Dwarfs Started Small - 1970
The inhabitants of an institution in a remote country rebel against their keepers. Their acts of rebellion are by turns humorous, boring and alarming. An allegory on the problematic nature of fully liberating the human spirit, as both commendable and disturbing elements of our nature come forward. The film shows how justifiable revolt may be empowering, but may also turn to chaos and depravity. The allegory is developed in part by the fact that the film is cast entirely with dwarfs.
Trailer: http://imdb.com/title/tt0065436/trailers-screenplay-E14290-310

Milos Forman

Because his parents died in the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz, Milos Forman became an orphan very early on. Later, he studied direction at the School of Cinema in Prague. In his Czechoslovakian films, Cerny Petr/Black Peter, Lasky Jedne Plavovlasky/Loves Of A Blonde, and Hori, Ma Panenko/The Firemens Ball, he created his own style of comedy. During the invasion of his country by the troops of the Warsaw pact in the summer of 1968 to stop the Prague spring, he left Europe for the United States. In spite of difficulties, he achieved fame with One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, adapted from the Ken Kesey novel, which won five Oscars including best director.

Man On The Moon - 1999
A biopic based on the life of Andy Kaufman, an eccentric comedian who went onto enjoy a career as lovable foreign car mechanic Latka Gravas on TV's "Taxi" and later gained infamy as an inter-gender wrestling champ. The film studies some of Kaufman's comedy antics as well as his personal life and his relationship with his manager George Shapiro, his best friend/partner Bob Zmuda and his girlfriend Lynne Margulies
Trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=3Fw0xQ0qXeI

The People Vs. Larry Flynt - 1996
Larry Flynt is the hedonistically obnoxious, but indomitable, publisher of Hustler magazine. The film recounts his struggle to make an honest living publishing his girlie magazine and how it changes into a battle to protect the freedom of speech for all people.
Trailer: http://imdb.com/title/tt0117318/trailers-screenplay-E13576-314

Amadeus - 1984
The incredible story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, told in flashback mode by Antonio Salieri - now confined to an insane asylum. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture 1984
Trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=qL0D4Buettk

Ragtime - 1981
A young black pianist becomes embroiled in the lives of an upper-class white family set among the racial tensions, infidelity, violence, and other nostalgic events in early 1900s New York City.
Trailer: http://www.videodetective.com/movies/RAGTIME/trailer/P00000920.htm

One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest - 1975
McMurphy, a man with several assault convictions to his name, finds himself in jail once again. This time, the charge is statutory rape when it turns out that his girlfriend had lied about being eighteen, and was, in fact, fifteen. Rather than spend his time in jail, he convinces the guards that he's crazy enough to need psychiatric care and is sent to a hospital. He fits in frighteningly well, and his different point of view actually begins to cause some of the patients to progress. Nurse Ratched becomes his personal cross to bear as his resistance to the hospital routine gets on her nerves. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture 1975.
Trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=5WJgQ37JmFc

Hori, Ma Panenko/The Firemens Ball - 1967
A milestone of the Czech New Wave, Milos Formans first color film The Firemens Ball is both a dazzling comedy and a provocative political satire. A hilarious saga of good intentions confounded, the story chronicles a firemen’s ball where nothing goes right—from a beauty pageant whose reluctant participants embarrass the organizers to a lottery from which nearly all the prizes are pilfered. Presumed to be a commentary on the floundering Czech leadership, the film was “banned forever” in Czechoslovakia following the Russian invasion and prompted Forman’s move to America.
Trailer: Unfortunately I cannot find a trailer for this one

Lasky Jedne Plavovlasky/Loves Of A Blonde - 1965
With sixteen women to each man, the odds are against Andula in her desperate search for love—that is, until a rakish piano player visits her small factory town and temporarily eases her longings. A tender and humorous look at Andula’s journey, from the first pangs of romance to its inevitable disappointments, Loves Of A Blonde immediately became a classic of the Czech New Wave and earned Milos Forman the first of his Academy Award nominations.
Trailer: Unfortunately I cannot find a trailer for this one

Pedro Almodovar

The most internationally acclaimed Spanish filmmaker since Luis Bunuel was born in a small town in the impoverished Spanish region of La Mancha. He arrived in Madrid in 1968, and survived by selling used items in the flea-market called El Rastro. Almodóvar couldn't study filmmaking because he didn't have the money to afford it. Besides, the filmmaking schools were closed in early 70s by Franco's government. Instead, he found a job in the Spanish phone company and saved his salary to buy a Super 8 camera. From 1972 to 1978, he devoted himself to make short films with the help of of his friends. The "premieres" of those early films were famous in the rapidly growing world of the Spanish counter-culture. In few years, Almodóvar became a star of "La Movida", the pop cultural movement of late 70s Madrid. His first feature film, Pepi, Luci, Bom Y Otras Chicas Del Monton, was made in 16 mm and blown-up to 35 mm for public release. In 1987, he and his brother Agustin Almodovar established their own production company: El Deseo, S. A. The "Almodóvar phenomenon" has reached all over the world, making his films very popular in many countries. I just want to stress that every single Almodovar film that I have seen has been incredible, so I can only imagine the ones that I haven't seen are just as good!

Volver - 2006
Raimunda lives in Madrid with her daughter Paula and her husband Paco, who is always drunk. Her sister, Sole, is separated and works clandestinely as a hairstylist for women. The two sisters lost their parents in a fire in La Mancha, their birth village, years ago. Their aunt, Paula, still lives in the village and continues to speak about her sister Irene, mother of the two sisters, as if she were still alive. When the old aunt dies the situation changes and the past returns in a twist of mystery and suspense.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABSvppyQGdE

La Mala Educacion/Bad Education - 2004
In the early 60s, two boys - Ignacio and Enrique - discover love, movies and fear in a Christian school. Father Manolo, the school principal and Literature teacher, both witnesses and takes part in these discoveries. The three characters come against one another twice again, in the late 70s and in 1980.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVg59F1tdgo

Hable Con Ella/Talk To Her - 2002
After a chance encounter at a theater, two men, Benigno and Marco, meet at a private clinic where Benigno works. Lydia, Marco's girlfriend and a bullfighter by profession, has been gored and is in a coma. It so happens that Benigno is looking after another woman in a coma, Alicia, a young ballet student. The lives of the four characters will flow in all directions, past, present and future, dragging all of them towards an unsuspected destiny.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXvW6aLoyh8

Todo Sobre Mi Madre/All About My Mother - 1999
My personal favorite of all the Almodovar films I have seen. A single mother in Madrid sees her only son die on his 17th birthday as he runs to seek an actress's autograph. She goes to Barcelona to find the lad's father, a transvestite named Lola who does not know he has a child. First she finds her friend, Agrado, also a transvestite; through him she meets Rosa, a young nun bound for El Salvador, and by happenstance, becomes the personal assistant of Huma Rojo, the actress her son admired. She helps Huma manage Nina, the co-star and Huma's lover, and she becomes Rosa's caretaker during a dicey pregnancy.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZODR8fBqD4

Carne Tremula/Live Flesh - 1997
Pizza delivery man Victor is having an argument with Elena, whom he met a few days ago, but she was high then and doesn't want to hear about him. Reacting to the noise, two cops, young David and older Sancho, arrive at the scene, the gun accidentally goes off.. Four years later David is a wheelchair basketball star, he's married to Elena, Victor is released out of prison and their destinies begin to cross again.
Trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=NwjsaVD8RPM&feature=related

La Flor De Mi Secreto/ The Flower Of My Secret - 1995
Leo Macias writes sentimental novels with great success but hidden under a pseudonym, Amanda Gris. She is unhappy with her professional life and with her husband, a soldier working in Brussels and Bosnia that is never at home. She will try anything to change her life.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoH7MNctj_4

Atame/Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down - 1990
Ricky is released from a mental hospital, and knows exactly what he wants to do. He hunts down Marina, a porn film star he once had sex with, and tries to convince here to be his wife. She is a bit reluctant, so he ties her up... Will this approach endear him to her ?
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZjHh_MQkX0

Mujeres Al Borde De Un Ataque De Nervios/Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown - 1988
A woman's lover leaves her, and she tries to contact him to find out why he's left. She confronts his wife and son, who are as clueless as she. Meanwhile her girlfriend is afraid the police are looking for her because of her boyfriend's criminal activities. They talk to a female lawyer, who turns out to be the lover's new lover, and everyone's path keeps crossing each other's in a very complicated and confusing manner.
Trailer: http://imdb.com/title/tt0095675/trailers-screenplay-E17536-310

Matador - 1986
Ex-bullfighter who is getting turned on by killing, lady lawyer with same problem and young man driven insane by over-religious upbringing
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U85duNGl7Xk

Que He Hecho Yo Para Mercer Esto/What Have I Done To Deserve This - 1984
A dysfunctional family in Madrid: Gloria is a cleaning lady, hooked on No-Doze, living in a crowded flat with Antonio, her surly husband, a cabby who adores an aging German singer he used to chauffeur; he's also a forger. One teen son sells heroin, the other sleeps with men. Her mother-in-law keeps bottled water and cupcakes under lock and key, selling them to the family. Two alcoholic writers cook up a plot to sell a manuscript as Hitler's memoirs, if Antonio will transcribe it in Hitler's hand. He agrees, so they ask the German singer to play the role of the original owner since her past affinity for Nazi memorabilia makes her a likely candidate. Meanwhile, Gloria has given away one son to a sex-crazed dentist, and grandma picks up a pet lizard. Can this chaos be tamed?
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzDfSuJB9Jo

Sergio Leone

Sergio Leone was virtually born into the cinema - he was the son of Roberto Roberti, one of Italy's cinema pioneers, and actress Bice Waleran. Leone entered films in his late teens, working as an assistant director to both Italian directors and American directors working in Italy. Towards the end of the 1950s he started writing screenplays, and began directing after taking over Gli Ultimi Giorni di Pompei in mid-shoot after its original director fell ill. His first solo feature, Il Colosso di Rodi, was a routine Roman epic, but his second feature, Per Un Pugno di Dollari/A Fistful of Dollars, a shameless remake of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo, caused a revolution. Although it wasn't the first spaghetti Western, it was far and away the most successful, and shot former TV cowboy Clint Eastwood to stardom. The two sequels, Per Qualche Dollaro In Piu/For A Few Dollars More and Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo/The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, were shot on much higher budgets and were even more successful, though his masterpiece, C'era Una Volta Il West/Once Upon A Time In The West was mutilated by Paramount Pictures and flopped at the US box office. He directed Giu La Testa/Fistful of Dynamite reluctantly, and turned down offers to direct The Godfather in favor of his dream project, which became Once Upon A Time In America. He died of a heart attack in 1989 after preparing an even more expensive Soviet co-production on the World War II siege of Leningrad.


Per Un Pugno Di Dollari/A Fistful Of Dollars - 1964
A wandering gunfighter plays two rival families against each other in a town torn apart by greed, pride, and revenge. Sergio Leone was sued by Akira Kurosawa because this was a blatant remake of his movie, Yojimbo.
Trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=s2ar1OB1LSQ

Per Qualche Dollaro In Piu/For A Few Dollars More - 1965
Two bounty hunters with completely different intentions team up to track down a Western outlaw. Perhaps the most compelling of Sergio Leone's films; For A Few Dollars More mirrors the tragic, opera-style of Once Upon A Time in the West. The lives of the three main characters (Clint Eastwood, Lee VanCleef and Gian Maria Volonte), collide; forming a partnership between two: one seeking revenge, and the other money, to end the juggernaut of evil and insanity of the third that is El Indio. The finale follows the design of a great opera by crushing the viewer with emotions of fear. Leone shows us how when the stakes are high, mankind follows his pattern of betrayal. Worth watching repeatedly, as with all of Leone's work, you will discover new layers of emotion with each viewing.
Trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=RC6D2DvBbyU

Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo/The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly - 1966
A bounty hunting scam joins two men in an uneasy alliance against a third in a race to find a fortune in gold buried in a remote cemetery. Features one of the most instantly-recognizable scores written by the great Ennio Morricone. This is often recognized as one of the greatest movies ever made. If you have not seen it yet, please stop reading this and go watch it!
Trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Xj0gJTGL93Q

C'era Una Volta Il West/Once Upon A Time In The West - 1968
This is my personal favorite of Sergio Leones movies, and one of my all time favorites movies. Featuring probably the greatest opening credits ever put on film. An epic story of a mysterious stranger with a harmonica who joins forces with a notorious desperado to protect a beautiful widow from a ruthless assassin working for the railroad.
Trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=49FsaizH9tQ
A bit of the opening credits: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHZpO6aNLwE&NR=1

Giu La Testa/A Fistful Of Dynamite/Duck You Sucker - 1971
An IRA explosives expert on the run in Mexico meets an amoral Mexican bandit; together they get drawn into the Mexican revolution.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KhbM_ZG_p0

Once Upon A Time In America - 1984
Epic, episodic, tale of the lives of a small group of New York City Jewish gangsters spanning over 40 years. Told mostly in flashbacks and flash-forwards, the movie centers on small-time hood David 'Noodles' Aaronson and his lifelong partners in crime; Max, Cockeye and Patsy and their friends from growing up in the rough Jewish neighborhood of New York's Lower East Side in the 1920s, to the last years of Prohibition in the early 1930s, and then to the late 1960s where an elderly Noodles returns to New York after many years in hiding to look into the past.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzhX2PD6Srw

Javier Bardem

Javier Bardem is the youngest member of a family of actors that has been making films since the early days of Spanish cinema. He got his start in the family business at age six when he appeared in his first feature, "El Picaro" (The Scoundrel). During his teenage years he acted in several TV series, played rugby for the Spanish National Team, and toured the country with an independent theatrical group. Javier's early film role in the black comedy, "Jamon, jamon" (Ham Ham) propelled him to instant popularity and threatened to typecast him as nothing more than a brawny sex symbol. Determined to avert a beefcake image, he refused similar subsequent roles and has gone on to win acclaim for his ability to appear almost unrecognizable from film to film.


No Country For Old Men - The Coen Brothers - 2007
Violence and mayhem ensue after a hunter stumbles upon some dead bodies, a stash of heroin and more than $2 million in cash near the Rio Grande. Based on the novel, 'No Country For Old Men' by Cormac McCarthy. Bardem has been nominated for an Academy Award for his performance as the ruthless gun for hire, Anton Chigurh.
Trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=5T3LM8gjUsw

Mar Adentro/The Sea Inside - Alejandro Amenabar - 2004
The real-life story of Spaniard Ramon Sampedro, who fought a 30 year campaign in favor of euthanasia and his own right to die. This is my favorite performance by Javier Bardem. In fact, it is probably my favorite performance by any actor ever. It is absolutely mind blowing, and totally transcends the language barrier. Please dont let the cheesy trailer keep you from watching this movie. Winner of the Best Foreign Picture Academy Award
Trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=PxXb_YZ-CQI

Los Lunes Al Sol/Mondays In The Sun - Fernando Leon de Aranoa - 2002
This movie follows the story of five former shipyard employees who meet every day at a bar for drinking and small talk. Santa is their rebel leader, who dreams to move to Australia, and is being sued by the owner of the shipyard for breaking a 8,000 pesetas light. The insecure Jose feels inferior because his wife Ana is forced to take temporary work in a tuna can factory. Paulino is permanently trying to find a job through unsuccessful applications. The Russian Serguei studied in Soviet Union to be an astronaut and seems to accept his life status. The depressed Amador misses his wife, who left him some time ago. For all of them, each jobless idle day looks like a Sunday.
Trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=OSSdhmj6BVY

The Dancer Upstairs - John Malkovich - 2002
Probably the worst movie on this list, but still more than worth watching because of Javier Bardem's performance. A police detective in a South American country is dedicated to hunting down a revolutionary guerilla leader.
Trailer: http://imdb.com/title/tt0118926/trailers-screenplay-E17245-310

Before Night Falls - Julian Schnabel - 2000
Episodic look at the life of Cuban poet and novelist, Reinaldo Arenas (1943-1990), from his childhood in Oriente province to his death in New York City. Javier Bardem received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his performance in this. A side note: The director of this, Julian Schnabel, also made 2007's Diving Bell and the Butterfly which has just been nominated for 4 Academy Awards, including Best Director.
Trailer: http://imdb.com/title/tt0247196/trailers-screenplay-E14686-310

Carne Tremula/Live Flesh - Pedro Almodovar - 1997
Pizza delivery man Victor is having an argument with Elena, whom he met a few days ago, but she was high then and doesn't want to hear about him. Reacting to the noise, two cops, young David and older Sancho, arrive at the scene, the gun accidentally goes off.. Four years later David is a wheelchair basketball star, he's married to Elena, Victor is released out of prison and their destinies begin to cross again.
Trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=NwjsaVD8RPM&feature=related

Michael Mann

After a bit of thinking I decided that I should try to keep this thing organized, rather than just randomly think of movies to put on here. So what I will do with each post is focus on a particular director or theme, and recommend what I enjoy the most. So here goes:


Michael Mann
Thief - 1981
Becoming closer to his dream of leading a normal life, a professional safecracker agrees to do a job for the mafia, who have other plans for him. A taught, and visually dazzling heist drama. Also Manns theatrical debut.
Trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=MaHYoT6ysAQ

Manhunter - 1986
An FBI specialist tracks a serial killer who appears to select his victims at random. If you are familiar with the film Red Dragon, this is the exact same story. Brian Cox is wonderful as Hannibal Lecktor.
Trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=K7fofmn_l0E

Last of the Mohicans - 1992
In 18th century North America during the French and Indian War, a white man adopted by the last members of a dying tribe called the Mohicans unwittingly becomes the protector of the two daughters of a British colonel, who have been targeted by Magua, a sadistic and vengeful Huron warrior who has dedicated his life to destroying the girls' father for a past injustice. Based on the novel, 'Last of the Mohicans' by James Fenimore Cooper.
Trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=4ShkM0iG3lU

Heat - 1995
A Los Angeles crime saga, "Heat" focuses on the lives of two men on opposite sides of the law - one a detective; the other a thief. Watch for one of the most unbelievable scenes in any movie ever, Al Pacino beating up Henry Rollins. Amazing.
Trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=McrmLirX-qw

The Insider - 1999
This movie is mind blowing. I cannot stress how good it is. My personal favorite of Michael Manns work. A research chemist comes under personal and professional attack when he decides to appear in a "60 Minutes" expose on Big Tobacco after being fired from his job.
Trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=EkciIK6VZz0

Collateral - 2004
A cab driver finds himself the hostage of an engaging contract killer as he makes his rounds from hit to hit during one night in LA. He must find a way to save both himself and one last victim. This is one of Tom Cruises best performances and also put Jamie Foxx on the map as a serious actor.
Trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=9BDx6ZPHV4w