Game Changers
Films that change you. Ones with contagious attitudes of courage. All of them deal with the vast landscape of loss.
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- DirectorDavid WachsStarsJack BeersArthur HillerKatherine Oliver94-year-old New Yorker, Jack Beers, has broken the age barrier full force. He can do what most young men can, and his diverse lifetime achievements would take many to accomplish. The film begins with Mayor Bloomberg acknowledging Jack, we see Jack's name on the marquee of Radio City Music Hall, and at 94 he rips a telephone book into 4 pieces with his hands. Jack was raised in poverty in Manhattan, was a strongman, built Radio City Music Hall, at The Manhattan Project he invented something that shortened WW2, erected the Empire State Building spire, was a professional dog trainer, was a film actor in 200+ films, beat terminal illnesses, and today rides 5 miles on a stationary bike. He's "goin' for 100!"
- DirectorOlivier NakacheÉric ToledanoStarsFrançois CluzetOmar SyAnne Le NyAfter he becomes a quadriplegic from a paragliding accident, an aristocrat hires a young man from the projects to be his caregiver.Totally delightful. One of my all-time favorite movies.
- DirectorGavin O'ConnorStarsTom HardyNick NolteJoel EdgertonThe youngest son of an alcoholic former boxer returns home, where he's trained by his father for competition in a mixed martial arts tournament - a path that puts the fighter on a collision course with his estranged, older brother.Some of the best acting I've ever seen. Nolte at his best. But there is a scene between the two brothers on the beach where Joel Edgerton is electrifying with a single twitch of his lip. Hardy's signature under-playing of his character is genius.
- DirectorBrian HelgelandStarsChadwick BosemanT.R. KnightHarrison FordIn 1947, Jackie Robinson becomes the first African-American to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era when he was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers and faces considerable racism in the process.
- DirectorJohn G. AvildsenStarsStephen DorffArmin Mueller-StahlMorgan FreemanAn English boy, living in Africa during World War II, through his boxing prowess, becomes a symbol of hope, in a time of war.
- DirectorBrad MirmanStarsHarvey KeitelClaire ForlaniGiancarlo GianniniAn aspiring young writer (Jackson) tracks a literary titan (Keitel) suffering from writers block to his refuge in rural Italy and learns about life and love from the irascible genius and his daughters.
- DirectorPhillip NoyceStarsHilary SwankBrenda BlethynSam ClaflinTwo mothers lose their sons to malaria.Giving succor heals grief.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsLiam NeesonRalph FiennesBen KingsleyIn German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.
- DirectorBeth MurphyStarsSusan RetikPatti QuigleyTom FlemingSusan Retik and Patti Quigley are two ordinary soccer moms living in the affluent suburbs of Boston until tragedy strikes. Rather than turning inwards, grief compels these women to focus on the country where the terrorists who took their husbands' lives were trained: Afghanistan. Over the course of two years, as they cope with loss and struggle to raise their families as single mothers, these extraordinary women dedicate themselves to empowering Afghan widows whose lives have been ravaged by decades of war, poverty and oppression - factors they consider to be the root causes of terrorism. As Susan and Patti make the courageous journey from their comfortable neighborhoods to the most desperate Afghan villages, they discover a powerful bond with each other, an unlikely kinship with widows halfway around the world, and a profound way to move beyond tragedy. From the ruins of the World Trade Center to those of Kabul and back, theirs is a journey of personal strength and international reconciliation, and a testament to the vision that peace can be forged - one woman at a time.If you think that nothing can be done to stop war, watch this.
- DirectorLasse HallströmStarsAnton GlanzeliusTomas von BrömssenAnki LidénIn the late '50s, young Ingemar learns a lot about life and himself when he is sent away from his sick mother to live with his aunt and uncle in a town full of eccentrics.
- DirectorGabriel AxelStarsStéphane AudranBodil KjerBirgitte FederspielDuring the late 19th century, a strict religious community in a Danish village takes in a French refugee from the Franco-Prussian War as a servant to the late pastor's daughters.Sharing one's passion is the greatest joy of all.
- DirectorCharles DanceStarsJudi DenchMaggie SmithDaniel BrühlTwo sisters befriend a mysterious foreigner who washes up on the beach of their 1930s Cornish seaside village.
- DirectorRoger SpottiswoodeStarsJonathan Rhys MeyersRadha MitchellChow Yun-FatAbout young British journalist, George Hogg, who with the assistance of a courageous Australian nurse, saves a group of orphaned children during the Japanese occupation of China in 1937.
- DirectorStephen WalkerSally GeorgeStarsJoe BenoitHelen BostonLouise CanadyA documentary on a chorus of senior citizens from Massachusetts who cover songs by Jimi Hendrix, Coldplay, Sonic Youth, and other unexpected musicians.You'll come away with a big smile.
- DirectorJim WhitakerStarsTim BrownNicholas ChirlsBrian LyonsFilmed over the ensuing years after the attack on New York's World Trade Center, this documentary takes a look a the physical and emotional healing process involved in the aftermath of such a tragedy.
- DirectorAlberto NegrinStarsLuca ZingarettiJérôme AngerAmanda SandrelliThe real story of Giorgio Perlasca (Luca Zingaretti). During the 1920s he was an Italian Fascist supporter, fighting in Africa and in the Spanish Civil War where he received safe conduct credential for Spanish embassies. After some years, disillusioned by fascism, he became a supplier for the Italian army. During the war he was in business in Budapest. He lives an easy life there, well introduced into the Hungarian high society, without any problems being caused by the war. When the Germans occupied Hungary, in 1944, he escaped to the Spanish embassy in Budapest using his old safe conduct credential and becoming a Spanish citizen, changing his name to Jorge Perlasca. He starts working as a diplomat there. When Sanz Briz (Geza Tordy), the Spanish consul, is removed, Perlasca immediately substitutes him, like if he was officially appointed from Spanish authorities. All the Germans and the Hungarian authorities believe him. In his new fake assignment, he starts immediately to hide, shield, and feed thousands of Jews issuing fake Spanish safe conducts for the Jews of Sephardic origin. He is in contact with Raoul Wallenberg, another hero of that time. The two, together with other volunteers, running incredible risks had saved thousands of Hungarian Jews from a tragic death. Incredibly, Perlasca succeeded to save two boys directly from the hands of Adolf Eichmann at the train station. This hero, after the war, was completely forgotten, and his story comes out just in the 1980s because some of the Hungarian Jews wanted to meet him again.
- DirectorRoland JofféStarsRobert De NiroJeremy IronsRay McAnallyEighteenth-century Spanish Jesuits try to protect a remote South American tribe in danger of falling under the rule of pro-slavery Portugal.Redemption. One of De Niro's best.
- DirectorJames CameronStarsLeonardo DiCaprioKate WinsletBilly ZaneA seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic.Definite schmaltz but great anyway.
- DirectorJustin ChadwickStarsNaomie HarrisOliver LitondoTony KgorogeThe story of an 84 year-old Kenyan villager and ex Mau Mau veteran who fights for his right to go to school for the first time to get the education he could never afford.You're never too old...
- DirectorTony KayeStarsEdward NortonEdward FurlongBeverly D'AngeloLiving a life marked by violence, neo-Nazi Derek finally goes to prison after killing two black youths. Upon his release, Derek vows to change; he hopes to prevent his brother, Danny, who idolizes Derek, from following in his footsteps.Warning: quite violent.
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsAdrien BrodyThomas KretschmannFrank FinlayDuring WWII, acclaimed Polish musician Wladyslaw faces various struggles as he loses contact with his family. As the situation worsens, he hides in the ruins of Warsaw in order to survive.
- DirectorDanny BoyleLoveleen TandanStarsDev PatelFreida PintoSaurabh ShuklaA teenager from the slums of Mumbai becomes a contestant on the show 'Kaun Banega Crorepati?' When interrogated under suspicion of cheating, he revisits his past, revealing how he had all the answers.
- DirectorBernardo BertolucciStarsRobert De NiroGérard DepardieuDominique SandaThe epic tale of a class struggle in twentieth-century Italy as seen through the eyes of two childhood friends on opposing sides.Warning: violent
- DirectorBaz LuhrmannStarsNicole KidmanHugh JackmanShea AdamsIn 1939, an Englishwoman inherits a sprawling ranch in northern Australia and reluctantly makes a pact with a stockman to drive 2000 head of cattle over unforgiving landscape.Definite schmaltz but great anyway.
- DirectorJohn MaddenStarsJudi DenchBill NighyMaggie SmithBritish retirees travel to India to take up residence in what they believe is a newly restored hotel. Less luxurious than advertised, the Marigold Hotel nevertheless slowly begins to charm in unexpected ways.Aging can be adorable. All star cast.