Bastians Weekly Recommendations

Title: Goodfellas

Country: USA (1990)

Genre: Crime, Drama

Director: Martin Scorsese

Cast: Rober DeNiro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci

Goodfellas is my  favourite movie of all time. The duo Scorsese / DeNiro made many  great movies together, however this is their best one. Everything matches perfectly. The great acing of DeNiro, Joe Pesci and Ray Liotta, the story and the racy production of director Martin Scorsese. I don’t know how often I watched it, it just never gets boring. If you liked this one  you might also like Casino also with DeNiro and Pesci directed by Scorsese.

Title: The Shawshank Redemption

Country: USA (1994)

Genre: Drama

Director: Frank Darabont

Cast: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Willliam Sadler

I never met a person who didn’t like this movie about a friendship between two men (Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman) in a prison. It’s kind of a feel-good movie although there are many really dramatic moments. If you haven’t seen it yet go and get it asap.

Title: Once Upon A Time In America

Country: USA (1984)

Genre: Crime, Drama

Director: Sergio Leone

Cast: Rober DeNiro, James Woods, Joe Pesci

The third part of the famous America trilogy by Sergio Leone who also directed the legendary “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”, is probably the best epic movie of all time. You follow four friends through their lives in new york during the prohibition period. In more than 4 hours you get captured by the story with all its ups and downs. DeNiro again gives a legendary performance.

Title: The Great Escape

Country: USA, Germany (1963)

Genre: War, Drama, Adventure

Director: John Sturges

Cast: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenb0rough

Wonderful movie about American soldiers in a German prison during World War II and their efforts to escape. Steve McQueen, James Garner and Charles Bronson star in this movie from 1963.

Title: Apocalypse Now

Country: USA (1979)

Genre: War, Drama

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Cast: Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall

What can you say about this masterpiece by Francis Ford Coppola starring Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando. It’s legendary. You could spend hours trying to interprete it. It fascinates you right from the legendary start where a part of the jungle is going up in flames  with “The Doors’s” “The End” playing in the backround.

Title: Fight Club

Country: USA (1999)

Genre: Thriller, Drama

Director: David Fincher

Cast: Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Honham Carter

This might be the most controversial movie since Kubrick’s “Clockwork Orange”. It is disturbing and entertaining at the same time. And next to “Snatch” this is Brad Pitt’s most remarkable performance so far.

Title: Snatch

Country: UK (2000)

Genre: Thriller, Comedy

Director: Guy Ritchie

Cast: Jason Statham, Benicio Del Toro, Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt for the second time. My favourite gangster comedy so far. Many compare it to Pulp Fiction, however it is a total independent movie with great british humor and scuril characters leaded by Brad Pitt as the gypse “One Punch Mickey”.

Title: Sin City

Country: USA (2005)

Genre: Action, Thriller

Director: Robert Rodriguez

Cast: Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Benicio Del Toro

This is the ultimate comic film adaption. You can’t get closer to a comic book than this one does.  Robert Rodriguez who already brouhgt the cult movies “Desperado” and “From Dusk Till Dawn” directed this ultra brutal movie and was able to commit many hollywood stars for it (Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, Clive Owen, Benicia del Toro). For Mickey Rourke it happened to become his comeback.

Title: The Thin Red Line

Country: USA (1998)

Genre: War, Drama

Director: Terrence Malick

Cast: James Caviezel, Sean Penn, Nick Nolte

In my opinion this is the only real anti war movie next to Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now” and Oliver Stone’s “Platoon”. However it’s not only a war movie. Its really some kind of artwork created by a director who puts out movies only every 7 years… The story is a bout a battle on a pacific island during World War II steadily jumping between rough scenes of war and beautiful scenes of the landscape and nature. It’s definitely kind of philosophic.

Title: Star Wars

Country: USA (1977, 1980, 1983)

Genre: Science-Fiction

Director: George Lucas, Irvin Kershner, Richard Marquand

Cast: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher

There’s not much to say about Star Wars (the original ones of course). Either you like them or you don’t. I grew up with them and have seen them countless times since then.

Title: The Big Lebowski

Country: USA (1998)

Genre: Comedy

Director: Joel Coen

Cast: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi

The “Dude”, the laziest weedhead in the world, slips into a kidnapping incident. This is probably the most famous movie of the Coen brothers who also made cult movies like Fargo or Millers Crossing. It is a really funny and scuril movie containing several legendary lines.

Title: Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas

Country: USA (1998)

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Director: Terry Giliam

Cast: Johnny Depp, Benicio Del Toro, Christina Ricci

Another famous cult movie. This time directed by ex-Monthy Python member Terry Gilliam. Starring Benicio Del Toro and Johnny Depp. The movie is the film adaption of the correspondent book by famous Journalist and inventor of the so called “Gonzo Journalism”, Hunter S. Thompson. It’s a very funny but also hypnotizing movie which motivates to watch it again and again.

Title: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Country: USA (2005)

Genre: Thriller, Comedy

Director: Shane Black

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan

Please have a look at my review on the main page.

Title: Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Country: USA (2008)

Genre: Comedy

Director: Nicolas Stoller

Cast: Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis

My favourite feel-good movie. There are millions of romantic comedies. However this is by far the funniest and most unique one even though it follows the typical chronology of this genre (two persons get to know each other at unusual circumstances, fall in love, then have a fight which seems to ruin their relationship but finally end up in a happy end ). This is probably the credit of Jason Segel (known from How I Met Your Mother) who is the funniest comedien at the moment.

Title: Predator

Country: USA (1987)

Genre: Action

Director: John McTiernan

Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Bill Duke

Yes, the list wouldn’t be complete without an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. You’ll probably not find a female who likes this movie. However I love it. It’s the prototype of the typical 80`s action movie which is politically uncorrect, totally exaggerated (guy holding a mini-gun in his hands…), stupid and hand made (no CGI). When you think about the current developement, where all the movies are crowded with special effects it is nice to watch this movie and remember the days when movies where all hand-made.

Title: Cape Fear

Country: USA (1991)

Genre: Thriller

Director: Martin Scorsese

Cast: Nick Nolte, Robert DeNiro, Jessica Lange

DeNiro / Scorsese for the second time on this list. This movie represents all of their other work like eg Taxi Driver or Raging Bull which are all hilarious. I chose this one because it was my first DeNiro film I watched. After that I was just blown away by deNiros performance and acting skills, which he seems to have lost over the last few years.

Title: Bad Boys 2

Country: USA (2003)

Genre: Action

Director: Michael Bay

Cast: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Gabrielle Union

This is THE ultimate action / popcorn movie. It shows things you haven’t seen before and even afterwards. It’s the masterpiece of action specialist Michael Bay which not only convinces with its action sequences but also with the very funny performance of the cop duo Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.

Title: Gridlock’d

Country: USA (1997)

Genre: Drama, Comedy

Director: Vondie Curtis-Hall

Cast: Tim Roth, Tupac Shakur, Thandie Newton

Please have a look at my review on the main page.

Title: Indiana Jones

Country: USA (1981, 1984, 1989)

Genre: Adventure

Director: Steven Spielberg

Cast: Harrison Ford, Sean Connery

Same thing as with Star Wars. I grew up with the movies and liked them a lot. They are all-time classics.

Title: Trainspotting

Country: UK (1996)

Genre: Drama

Director: Danny Boyle

Cast: Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Robert Carlyle

Again a film adaption of a book. This is the movie debut of Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) which is just awsome. The story about drug addicts in Edinburgh perfectly balances between serious and funny, scuril scenes. I also recommend reading the book and its two sequels “Glue” and “Porno”.

Title: Garden State

Country: USA (2004)

Genre: Drama, Comedy

Director: Zach Braff

Cast: Zach Braff, Natalie Portman, Ian Holm

Please have a look at my review on the main page.

Title: Lord of the Rings

Country: USA, New Zealand (2001, 2002, 2003)

Genre: Fantasy

Director: Peter Jackson

Cast: Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom, Viggo Mortensen

There’s not much to say about this trilogy. It perfectly combines good story telling and bombastic scenes.It is already legendary.

Title: Donnie Darko

Country: USA (2001)

Genre: Mystery, Drama

Director: Richard Kelly

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swayze

Please have a look at my review on the main page.

Title: Heat

Country: USA (1995)

Genre: Thriller, Drama

Director: Michael Mann

Cast: Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Val Kilmer

The first movie where Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino appear at the same time directed by Michael Mann who later brought Collateral with Tom Cruise. You can hardly specify the genre as it has action elements, thriller elements, dramatic elements and even family issues in it. It’s reasonable that it is named one of the best movies of all time.

Title: Dances With Wolves

Country: USA (1990)

Genre: Western

Director: Kevin Costner

Cast: Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene

A very epic western movie which is extraordinary because it doesn’t use typical western clichés but therefore is very sensitive and atmospheric. Kevin Costner’s best work so far and next to “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” the only western movie I like.

Title: The Matrix

Country: USA (1999)

Genre: Science-Fiction, Action

Director: The Wachowsky Brothers

Cast: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss

I clearly remember leaving the cinema after watching it. I was just blown away. It was something totally new. Something you’ve never seen before. Great action combined with a really interesting and thrilling story. The two sequels however just were an accumulation of special effects which were great but spiritless. It would have deserved something better…

Title: Undisputed 2

Country: USA (2006)

Genre: Martial-Arts

Director: Isaac Florentine

Cast: Michael Jay White, Scott Adkins, Ben Cross

You’ll probably ask yourself what this low budget fighting movie is doing on my list of greatest movies of all time . The answer is that I like martial arts movies. And fact is that this one is definitely the best one in years (together with Ong Bak). It contains several of the most stunning fight scenes of all time. However I only recommond it to people who like martial arts movies.

Title: Schindler’s List

Country: USA (1993)

Genre: Drama

Director: Steven Spielberg

Cast: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Finnes

A very good movie by Steven Spielberg who is normally specialized in easy entertaining movies (ET, Indiana Jones…). However this one is dead serious and very intoxicating. Very mature and mournful.

Title: Rocky

Country: USA (1976)

Genre: Drama

Director: John G. Avildsen

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young

The movie which made Sylvester Stallone a superstar over night. Many people misleadingly think that it is one further stupid Stallone-action-vehicle. However this is not correct. The main plot is about an underdog from Philadelphia trying to get through life. Stallone was even nominated for an Oscar for his performance.

Title: The Dark Knight

Country: USA (2008)

Genre: Action, Thriller

Director: Christopher Nolan

Cast: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart

For me it was the surprise of the movie year 2008. The movie was excessively hyped especially after the death of Heath Ledger, talking about his best performance and that he broke from acting the Joker. Normally you cannot expect much from such hyped movies. However this one deserved it. The movie is great and is absolutely not what you expect from a comic film adaption. It is very mature and thrilling. And Heath Ledger as the Joker is just a stroke of genius.