Bill, they breed true gentlemen in the Ozarks! No apology necessary.

As a matter of interest, the last three films we've seen on the big screen have been American ("In Her Shoes"), Australian ("Little Fish" with Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving) and British ("Pride and Prejudice"). All worth seeing, I thought, although I had some reservations about "P&P". Especially Donald Sutherland's portrayal of Mr Bennet - he looked for all the world like a befuddled homeless person who'd wandered onto the set and been given the part by mistake. On top of that, I suspect that the movie's representation of that stratum of late-18th century society was only accidentally accurate. Still, handsomely-shot and (mostly) acted - Judi Dench as always a stand-out presence as the dreadful Lady Catherine de Burgh.

Now, here's one for (aged) trivia buffs: does anyone else recall seeing a much younger Judi Dench in the brilliant (and I use the term advisedly) 1966 British TV series "Talking to a Stranger"? Not to mention her performance as Nell Quickly in Branagh's "Henry V"? But I could go on...

Loved Henry V.
Still incredulous that it lost best picture to My Left Foot.


Dench was the innkeeper/innkeeper's wife, right?

Yes, Judi Dench played the innkeeper Nell Quickly. The cast of Henry V was uniformly superb - unfair to pick out any one, but Derek Jacobi's Chorus remains strong in my memory. It's interesting to compare Branagh's version with that of Laurence Olivier's 1944 film - also excellent but a very different realisation of Shakespeare's play.

Amelie and A Very Long Engagement, don't skip Twin Sisters.

Great thread!
I have added "Bread and Tulips to my "want to rent" list!

Recent favs:
Motorcycle Diaries
Mostly Martha
L'Auberge Espanol
A Very Long Engagement
Monsoon Wedding

No one has mentioned:
A Fond Kiss
which everyone who saw it with me just loved.

How about the ORIGINAL La Cage aux Folles?

I was always a big fan of Glenda Jackson,
so for British films I liked her in,
A Touch of Claas,"
"Women in Love,"
"Sunday, Bloody, Sunday."

Also, anything by Baz Luhrman and Tim Burton, two very creative and visionary film-makers. 'Strictly Ballroom' (remember Tina Spah'kle ? hee hee !) and 'Romeo + Juliet' as well as Burton's 'The Nightmare Before Christmas', the dark second 'Batman' movie with Danny DiVito, and one of my all time favourites, 'Edward Scissorhands'. Great movies.

Indochine without a doubt is one of my favorite foreign films......

How could I forget Ettore Scola's master piece "Brutti sporchi e cattivi" (Ugly, Dirty and Bad), 1976, a very authentic picture of the Italian soul

http://indie.imdb.com/title/tt0074252/

Some of these have been mentioned by previous posters. Faves I can think of include: "Delicatessen," "Y tu mama tambien," "Muriel's Wedding," "Nine Queens," "Whale Rider," "House of Flying Daggers," "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Kung Fu Hustle."

OzarksBill - tell how you liked "Kolya" -- one of my favorites, although I can never remember the name of it.

Could there be a more lovable little guy than Kolya? That's the tyke who gets left with this womanizing musician and who in a way turns him into a real human being. How did they get Kolya to act so innocently and naturally? Yes, HKP, I did like this film, and guess the plot turned out about as well as one might expect. Also got a glimpse of that 1989 time of change in Prague interesting to those of us who've been there.

I almost think there could be a thread on lovable children in films!
ozarksbill

The best performances by a child actor was a young girl named Anna Torrent back in the 70s in two Spanish films.
Cria, directed by Carlos Saura,
and, The Spirit of the Beehive, directed by Victor Erie.

"Sea Urchin,a few Italian films I loved,
Amacord, Malena, Cinema Paradiso, The Tre of Wooden Clogs, Seven Beauties,
Yesterday, today and tomorrow, 81/2,
Rocco and his Brothers,
Night of the shooting stars,
Death in Venice, Fellini Satyricon,
and so many more"

Death in Venice? Someone once described this film as two hours of Dirk Bogarde grimacing. Dreadful, dreadful movie.

cigalechanta, yes I remember her. Fabulous big eyes and unbelievably good acting for one so young!

Jean de Fleurette, Manon of the Springs, Life is Sweet, Le Grand Chemin (sp?)

All wonderful French films!

Das Boot

I have Le grand chemin, a lovely film which brought to mine, a favorite, that still makes me tear, "Forbidden Games."
also, my list in cludes, "Alexander"
and "Ponette," and the great "Children of Paradise." Also "Elevator to the Gallows," with a wonderful Miles Davis soundtrack.

If you want to see how they lived 30 + years ago way up in the alps, see "Höhenfeuer". (I believe the translation is: a bonfire burning on a hill or mountain.)

It's about a family who has an alphut all year round and how they lived. It has a brutal ending but it presents the alpine way-of-life very realistically.

I cannot believe no one has mentioned "Man on a Train". It has a very famous actor, whom I can't remember, but also Johnny Halladay, the pop singer from the 60s in France. This is a great movie. My husband and I disagree on the ending...alive or dead? Anyone have an opinion?

kiki, that was the great actor Jean Rochefort playing opposite Hallyday, who by the way was excellent in this role. Yes, he dies.

My netflix queue is growing by leaps and bounds.

We saw Millions last night. We liked it, but It's most unusual. It's an English movie. I loved the cinematography...very very different. And the plot about a young boy who finds money keeps you entranced.

The Girl on the Bridge, is a French movie, done in black and white.. It's about a knife thrower and a girl he rescues from suicide. Sounds dismal, doesn't it, but it held my attention throughout.

Lois, that is the French singer Vanessa Paradis, the mothr of Jonny Depp's children :) they live in Provence as well as Paris!

Some foreign movies I liked:
Cinema Paradiso (Italy)
Central Station (Brasil)
To Live (China)
Motorcycle Diaries (Argentina, I believe)
Amélie (France)
There are some great French classic movies that came in the Le Monde and Le Figaro for 3 Euros like: Les Parapluies de Cherbourg and Les Demoisselles de Rochefort.
Shaolin Soccer (China) was really funny. I saw it dubbed in Mandarin with English subtitles.
A World Without Thieves (China): was touching at the end but wasn't the best.
I'm watching El Norte in Spanish class, but don't find it to be very great.

For Spanish, try 'Cria" and "The Spirit of the Beehive."

Today we saw <b>Elevator to the Gallows</b> . Louis Malle, with Jeanne Moreau and Maurice Ronet.
Perfect French Film noir.

How did you lik the Miles Davis sound track? I think it's great.
Maurice Ronet was a favorite(R.I.P.) I have a vid where the background music is Saties Gynopeedia(Sp?) He's a decadent guy who commits suicide.

Oh my Cig...johnny depp's wife?...I can't see them together but....

She is just beautiful and a wonderful actress.

yes, but have not actually married but are a solid couple.

I would love to see Amores Perros but I have heard it has scenes with dogs that are troubling...since i am an animal and dog lover, I wonder if anyone has seen it and what the comments are..

I loved the music. We really like Miles Davis and it was the perfect moody soundtrack ..

loisco, you will not like the movie if the dog fight scenes bother you. I didn't like it at all. I know it is a movie, but some things bother me even so.

SamE here, but did do some research and found that this Mexican film had the vets muzzle the dogs, make-up applied to show injuries, that everything waS SIMULATED. ..BUT RAVE REVIEWS ON THIS FILM THAT i'VE HELD BACK FROM SEEING UNTIL FRIEND TELLS ME MORE. sORRY, STICKING KEYS AGAIN.

Ran (Japanese)
Kirosowa's Dreams (J)
Seven Samurai (J)
Jules et Jim (French)
Z (F)
The Bride Wore Black (F)
Beauty and the Beast (F)
Rider on the Rain (F)
M (German)
The Threepenny Opera (G)
The Blue Angel (G)
Nosferatu (G)
La Strada (Italian)
The Clowns (Italian)
The Man in the White Suit (British)
Our Man in Havana (B)
Lord Love a Duck (B)
Clockwork Orange (B)
Georgie Girl (B)
If (B)
Help! (B)
Mad Max, the Road Warrior (Australia)


And, of course, the best war movie ever made: The Grand Illusion (Multinational)

GOOD selection, Al, I'v seen all of them. The &quot;M&quot;was the first pediphile subject movie I had ever seen. Road Warrier , my first Mel Gibson,
Georgie girl, my first Charlotte Rumpling,
Rider on th rain, the first film that Bronson did out of his usual stick. The rest miost know, I think?

I also would recommend &quot;Z&quot; for those who like political movies.


I thought &quot;A Very Long Engagement&quot; was very long.

No one has mentioned the French films by Yves Robert: &quot;My Mother's Castle/My Father's Glory&quot;.

Also French and quite funny was &quot;The Closet&quot; about a man pretending to be gay in order not to be layed off work (his bosses don't want to be accused of discrimination).

I liked &quot;Millions&quot; a lot and have been waiting for &quot;Dear Frankie&quot; to be in stock at the video store.

Years ago there was a really good Australian movie called &quot;We Of The Never Never&quot; about a woman going to live in the Outback at the turn of the 20th Century.


&quot;This Is My Father&quot; was made by Aidan Quinn but takes place in Ireland with a largely Irish cast. And let's not forget The Magdalene Sisters&quot;. Both movies were very sad.

The most impressive thing about M is that all of the horrific violence is unseen, yet the impact is intense. Best scene: The balloon floats away.