Starring: Soma Santoki, Masaki Suda, Ko Shibasaki, AIMYON, Yoshino Kimura, Takuya Kimura
A young boy named Mahito yearning for his mother ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead. There, death comes to an end, and life finds a new beginning. A semi-autobiographical fantasy about life, death, and creation, in tribute to friendship, from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki.
Starring: Christian Bale, Matthew McConaughey, Izabella Scorupco, Gerard Butler
The apocalypse has been imagined in many forms – extreme weather, alien invasion, pandemics. As far as we can tell, Reign of Fire is the sole film that posits “What if all the subterranean digging we do unearths a sleeping dragon that immediately multiplies itself and scorches most of the human population?”
Dirt-and-sweat laden Quinn (Christian Bale) and Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey) are at cultural odds on how to overcome the seemingly unbeatable beasts. Quinn has been nurturing a community posted up in a castle, hoping the dragons will go back into hibernation, when Van Zan and his American military muscle arrive, having had success in killing some of the creatures. Without much choice, they pool their resources and manpower, determined to survive. Directed by Rob Bowman, frequent helmer of episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and The X-Files, Reign of Fire makes great use of location, effectively creating a landscape of ash and rock, with early use of CGI that isn’t always bad. Set in 2020, from our vantage point now it feels like the only potential humanity destroyer that didn’t occur that year.
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé, Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Hudson, Anika Noni Rose
Deena (Beyoncé Knowles),Effie (Jennifer Hudson) and Lorrell (Anika Noni Rose) form a music trio called the Dreamettes. When ambitious manager Curtis Taylor Jr. (Jamie Foxx) spots the act at a talent show, he offers the chance of a lifetime, to be backup singers for a national star (Eddie Murphy). Taylor takes creative control of the group and eventually pushes the singers into the spotlight. However, one becomes the star, forcing another out, which teaches them about the high cost of fame.
Starring: Luca Padovan, Christian Bale, Dave Bautista, Gemma Chan, Willem Dafoe, Karen Fukuhara, Florence Pugh
A young boy named Mahito yearning for his mother ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead. There, death comes to an end, and life finds a new beginning. A semi-autobiographical fantasy about life, death, and creation, in tribute to friendship, from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki.
Starring: Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Lail, Kat Conner Sterling, Piper Rubio, Mary Stuart Masterson, Matthew Lillard
The film follows a troubled security guard as he begins working at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. While spending his first night on the job, he realizes the night shift at Freddy’s won’t be so easy to make it through.
Starring: Sandra Hüller, Christian Friedel, Daniel Holzberg, Sascha Maaz, Max Beck, Ralph Herforth
The commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, and his wife Hedwig, strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden next to the camp.
Starring: Alicia Silverstone, Benicio del Toro, Christopher Walken, Jack Thompson, Harry Connick Jr.
Using Clueless caché to produce her first feature, Alicia Silverstone optioned this romcom vehicle, starring alongside rising 90s actor’s actor du jour—the smoldering Benicio del Toro (in his first leading role)—in director Marco Brambilla’s Demolition Man follow-up, Excess Baggage.
In a b-side to Clueless’ Cher, Silverstone expands on her rich girl mythos to play Emily, who stages a kidnapping to win her dad’s affections. When hunky thief (Del Toro) inadvertently steals a luxury auto holding the staged ransom (Emily) in the trunk, the two are left to deal with the repercussions of an accidental abduction, while navigating mutually budding romantic interests. Coasting on strong chemistry between the leads, and leaning into very 90s-specific needle drops, Excess Baggage also stands as a fascinating attempt at transforming one of the decade’s most idiosyncratic screen actors into a poster boy.
Starring: Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany, Billy Boyd, James D’Arcy, Lee Ingleby, George Innes
In 1805, aboard the H.M.S. Surprise, the brash Captain Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe) and his trusted friend, the ship’s scholarly surgeon, Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany), are ordered to hunt down and capture a powerful French vessel off the South American coast. Though Napoleon is winning the war and the men and their crew face an onslaught of obstacles, including their own internal battles, “Lucky Jack” is determined that nothing will stop the Surprise from completing its mission.
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Frances Fisher, Gloria Stuart
James Cameron’s Titanic is an epic, action-packed romance set against the ill-fated maiden voyage of the R.M.S. Titanic; the pride and joy of the White Star Line and, at the time, the largest moving object ever built. She was the most luxurious liner of her era — the “ship of dreams” — which ultimately carried over 1,500 people to their death in the ice cold waters of the North Atlantic in the early hours of April 15, 1912.
Starring: Alain Delon, Marie Laforêt, Maurice Ronet
Tom Ripley (Alain Delon) travels to Italy to visit his playboy friend Phillippe Greenleaf (Maurice Ronet) and Phillippe’s new fiancée, Marge Duval (Marie Laforêt). What Phillippe doesn’t know is that his father has paid Tom to convince his son to abandon Europe and return to his family responsibilities in San Francisco. But when Phillippe’s family cuts off their funding of Tom’s extravagant lifestyle during his covert mission, he discovers another way to maintain his newfound standard of living.
