Read My Lips - 2001

"Don't believe everything you hear."

She is almost deaf and she lip-reads. He is an ex-convict. She wants to help him. He thinks no one can help except himself.

Young secretary Carla(Emmanuelle Devos) is a long-time employee of a property development company. Loyal and hardworking, first to arrive and last to leave, Carla is beginning to chafe at the limitations of her career and is looking to move up. But as a 35-five-year-old woman with a hearing deficiency, she is not sure how to climb out of her humdrum life, though she is confident in her own abilities. Into her life comes Paul Angeli(Vincent Cassel), a new trainee she decides to hire. Paul is 25 years old and completely unskilled, but Carla covers for him when the need arises because of his other qualities - he's a thief, fresh out of jail and very good-looking.

Catch Me if You Can - 2002

"Ah, people only know what you tell them, Carl."

A true story about Frank Abagnale Jr. who, before his 19th birthday, successfully conned millions of dollars worth of checks as a Pan Am pilot, doctor, and legal prosecutor.

Frank William Abagnale, Jr. (born April 27, 1948) is an American security consultant known for his history as a former confidence trickster, check forger, impostor, and escape artist. He became notorious in the 1960s for passing $2.5 million worth of meticulously forged checks across 26 countries over the course of five years, beginning when he was 16 years old.

In the process, he became one of the most famous impostors ever,[3] claiming to have assumed no fewer than eight separate identities as an airline pilot, a doctor, a U.S. Bureau of Prisons agent, and a lawyer. He escaped from police custody twice (once from a taxiing airliner and once from a U.S. federal penitentiary), before he was 21 years old.[4]

He served fewer than five years in prison before starting to work for the federal government. He is a consultant and lecturer at the academy and field offices for the FBI. He also runs Abagnale & Associates, a financial fraud consultancy company

Rain Man - 1988

"What you have to understand is, four days ago he was only my brother in name. And this morning we had pancakes."

Winner of both an Academy Award and the Golden Globe for best picture this film is a heartwarming look at family and how two brothers suddenly brought together by life's circumstances save each other.

Fast-talking yuppie Charlie Babbitt is forced to slow down when he meets a brother he never knew he had, an autistic savant named Raymond (Dustin Hoffman, in an Oscar-winning role) who's spent most of his life in an institution. When their wealthy father dies, leaving everything to Raymond, Charlie takes his unusually gifted older brother on a life-changing cross-country odyssey that neither is likely to forget.

Dustin Hoffman was originally supposed to play Charlie, but he wanted to play Raymond. Raymond was also supposed to be mentally retarded, but Hoffman changed it to an autistic savant.

Holds the unique distinction of being the only film to have won the Berlin Film Festival Golden Bear and a best picture Academy Award.

All The President's Men - 1976

"Woodward. Bernstein. You're both on the story. Now don't fuck it up."

The film that launched a thousand journalism school students.

In the run-up to the 1972 elections, Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward covers what seems to be a minor break-in at the Democratic Party National headquarters. He is surprised to find top lawyers already on the defense case, and the discovery of names and addresses of Republican fund organizers on the accused further arouses his suspicions. The editor of the Post is prepared to run with the story and assigns Woodward and Carl Bernstein to it. They find the trail leading higher and higher in the Republican Party, and eventually into the White House itself.

The Falcon and the Snowman - 1985

"They're just as paranoid and dangerous as we are. I don't know why I ever thought any differently."

Don't let the quirky trailer fool you, this is a really great film that tells the true story of a disillusioned military contractor employee and his drug pusher childhood friend who became walk-in spies for the Soviet Union.

As a CIA employee in charge of guarding top secret documents, all-American Christopher Boyce (Timothy Hutton) becomes disillusioned with his country and decides to make a deal with the Soviet Union. Boyce drags his childhood friend Daulton Lee (Sean Penn) into the arrangement, but the drug-addicted Lee's reasons for committing espionage are strictly monetary. John Schlesinger directs this provocative and sometimes humorous account.

An Officer and a Gentleman - 1982

"In every class, there's always one joker who thinks that he's smarter than me. In this class, that happens to be you. Isn't it, Mayonnaise?"

Dreams of being a Navy pilot prompt Zack Mayo (Richard Gere) to enroll in officer training school, where he runs afoul of a drill instructor (Oscar winner Louis Gossett Jr.) who senses the cadet's loner instinct and aims to school him on the importance of teamwork -- or break him in the process. In the meantime, Mayo romances a working girl (Debra Winger), ignoring warnings to steer clear of the local lasses out to bag hotshot Navy flyboys.

It is a Navy tradition for newly-commissioned officers to give a silver dollar to the person who gives them their first salute. In the scene where the new graduates of Foley's class receive their "first salutes," you can see them giving Foley a silver dollar prior to each salute. It is also a tradition for the D.I. to place the silver dollar of his memorable students in his right pocket; you can see that Mayo's dollar is placed in Foley's right pocket, rather than the left pocket as it is for, for example, Ensign Della Serra.

MEMENTO - 2000

"Memory can change the shape of a room; it can change the color of a car. And memories can be distorted. They're just an interpretation, they're not a record, and they're irrelevant if you have the facts."


Suffering short-term memory loss after a head injury, Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) embarks on a grim quest to find the lowlife who murdered his wife in this gritty, complex thriller that packs more knots than a hangman's noose. To carry out his plan, Shelby snaps Polaroids of people and places, jotting down contextual notes on the backs of photos to aid in his search and jog his memory. He even tattoos his own body in a desperate bid to remember.

The medical condition experienced by Leonard in this film is a real condition called Anterograde Amnesia - the inability to form new memories after damage to the hippocampus. During the 1950s, doctors treated some forms of epilepsy by removing parts of the temporal lobe, resulting in the same memory problems.

Casino - 1995

Martin Scorsese draws on Nicholas Pileggi's book about Las Vegas in the 1970s and '80s as inspiration for his tale contrasting the city's glamorous exterior with its sordid interior fueled by excess -- and the mob. Against this backdrop, the story chronicles the rise and fall of a casino owner with mob connections (Robert De Niro), his friend and Mafia underboss (Joe Pesci) and an ex-prostitute with expensive taste and a driving will (Sharon Stone).

SEVEN - 1995

The psychological/thriller, one of my favorite genres and this film delivers. The cinematography and editing only add to the darkness this film conveys. A realistic portrayal of two detective's (Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman) investigation into the undescribable world of a serial killer.

On a desperate hunt for a serial killer (Kevin Spacey), whose crimes are based on the "seven deadly sins" in this dark and haunting film that takes viewers from the tortured remains of one victim to the next, the seasoned Det. Sommerset (Morgan Freeman) researches each sin in an effort to get inside the killer's mind, while his novice partner, Mills (Brad Pitt), scoffs at his efforts to unravel the case.


Andrew Kevin Walker had enormous difficulty getting a studio to buy the rights to his script because he was a complete unknown in Hollywood. Allegedly he put together a list of agents that represented writers that work in the crime and thriller genres, and just called each one up until he got a positive response.

Pulp Fiction - 1994

Quentin Tarantino lives in another world and this is, by far, one of it's best imports. An all star cast and a lot of fun this film marks the comeback of John Travolta in a big way.

This film garnered Tarantino and the cast multiple nominations for The Academy Awards, The Golden Globe Awards, The Independent Spirit Awards, and BAFTA placing in on TIME's ALL TIME 100 Movies List.

In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #94 Greatest Movie of All Time.

Ranked #7 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Gangster" in June 2008.

Ranked #1 movie in Entertainment Weekly's "The New Classics: Movies" (issue #1000, July 4, 2008).

Voted #9 on Empire magazine's 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time (September 2008).

A burger-loving hit man (John Travolta), his philosophical partner (Samuel L. Jackson), a drug-addled gangster's moll (Uma Thurman) and a washed-up boxer (Bruce Willis) converge in this sprawling, comedic crime caper fueled by director and co-writer Quentin Tarantino's whip-smart dialogue. Their adventures unfurl in three stories that ingeniously trip back and forth in time, resulting in one of the most audacious and imitated films of the 1990s.

The Valet - 2006

This lighthearted little film stars Kristin Scott Thomas and Danny Auteuil but it is Gad Elmaleh as The Valet who will steal your heart.

A Parisian valet loves a woman who rejects him: she's in debt to open a bookshop, and he's not her ideal man. A billionaire two-times his wealthy wife with his beautiful mistress, a young supermodel. To draw the paparazzi and his wife off the trail of adultery, and to give his lawyer time to arrange a divorce that won't cost him a fortune, the billionaire pays the supermodel and the valet to pretend for a month to be a couple. Within days, the bookshop owner and the billionaire are jealous, the supermodel experiences life with a nice guy, and the valet has status and self-confidence. What will each do with newfound wisdom?

Strictly Ballroom - 1992

This is one of those films you either love or turn off in the first 15 minutes. An over the top look behind-the-scenes of ballroom dancing, this movie had me smiling from beginning to end.

Scott Hastings is a champion caliber ballroom dancer, but much to the chagrin of the Australian ballroom dance community, Scott believes in dancing "his own steps". Fran is a beginning dancer and a bit of an ugly duckly who has the audacity to ask to be Scott's partner after his unorthodox style causes his regular partner to dance out of his life. Together, these two misfits try to win the Australian Pan Pacific Championships and show the Ballroom Confederation that they are wrong when they say, "there are no new steps!"

The Counterfeiters - 2007

First Austrian film to win an Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language Film Category.

The Counterfeiters is the true story of the largest counterfeiting operation in history, set up by the Nazis in 1936. Salomon "Sally" Sorowitsch is the king of counterfeiters. He lives a mischievous life of cards, booze, and women in Berlin during the Nazi-era. Suddenly his luck runs dry when arrested by Superintendent Friedrich Herzog. Immediately thrown into the Mauthausen concentration camp, Salomon exhibits exceptional skills there and is soon transferred to the upgraded camp of Sachsenhausen. Upon his arrival, he once again comes face to face with Herzog, who is there on a secret mission. Hand-picked for his unique skill, Salomon and a group of professionals are forced to produce fake foreign currency under the program Operation Bernhard. The team, which also includes detainee Adolf Burger, is given luxury barracks for their assistance. But while Salomon attempts to weaken the economy of Germany's allied opponents, Adolf refuses to use his skills for Nazi profit and would like to do something to stop Operation Bernhard's aid to the war effort. Faced with a moral dilemma, Salomon must decide whether his actions, which could prolong the war and risk the lives of fellow prisoners, are ultimately the right ones.

Man on the Train - (L'homme du Train) - 2002

Hollywood's recent remake of this film reminded me of the original French film from 2002. Johnny Hallyday and Jean Rochefort are quite good as two men who find themselves intrigued with each other's life.

A poet. A thief. Two strangers with nothing in common are about to trade their lives for a chance to cheat their destinies.

A weathered old gangster (Johnny Hallyday) arrives by train at a small French town to rob the local bank. But he soon discovers there's no room at the local inn in which he'd hoped to stay while he plans his crime. Taking up the kind offer of an elderly teacher (Jean Rochefort) to stay in his mansion, the two men soon discover that they each might have been better suited for the other man's way of life.

Snow Cake - 2006

Snow Cake is a 2006 independent drama film directed by Marc Evans and starring Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver, Carrie-Anne Moss, Emily Hampshire, and Callum Keith Rennie. It was released on September 8, 2006 in the UK.

Filmed in Wawa, Ontario, Snow Cake is a drama about the friendship between Linda, a woman with autism (Weaver), and Alex (Rickman) who is traumatized after a car accident involving himself and Linda's daughter (Hampshire).

The movie was screened and discussed at Autism Cymru 2nd international conference in May 2006 as well as the Edinburgh International Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Seattle International Film Festival, among others. It was the opening night screening for the Berlin Film Festival as well.

The screenwriter, Angela Pell, wrote the role of Alex Hughes with Rickman in mind. It was also Rickman who read the script and made sure Sigourney Weaver (with whom he had previously starred in Galaxy Quest) was contacted about the role of Linda. Both Rickman and Weaver were runners-up at the Seattle International Film Festival for the respective prizes of Best Actor and Best Actress.

During the course of making the movie, Sigourney Weaver (Linda) researched the subject of autism and was coached by Ros Blackburn, a woman with the condition who is also an author and speaker about autism and aspergers syndrome. Alan Rickman chose not to research the subject of autism in order to make his character have an impact/shock when facing Linda.

Eating Raoul - 1982

Eating Raoul is a 1982 black comedy about a married couple living in Hollywood who resort to killing swingers for their money. It was directed by Paul Bartel and written by Bartel and Richard Blackburn.

The writers also commissioned a single-issue comic book based on the movie for promotion; it was created by underground comics creator Kim Deitch. Eating Raoul, a stage musical adaptation, was presented off-Broadway in 1992, and also played at the Bridewell Theatre, London, in 2000.

On April 13, 2004, the long out of print film was released on DVD by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment.

Damage - 1992

Damage, also known as Fatale, is a 1992 film directed by Louis Malle. It is based on the novel Damage by Josephine Hart. The plot is about a politician who falls in love with his son's girlfriend.

Miranda Richardson was nominated for an Academy Award and won a BAFTA in the category of Best Supporting Actress for her performance as the aggrieved wife of the film's main character.

Dr. Stephen Fleming, a British cabinet minister, lives a pleasant life with wife Ingrid and young daughter Sally. His older son, Martyn, is a rising journalist. At a party, Stephen meets a young half-French woman named Anna Barton, who introduces herself as a close friend of Martyn's; it is immediately apparent, however, that Stephen and Anna are intensely attracted to each other. When Martyn visits his parents in London, he brings Anna with him; they are romantically involved. The sexual tension between Stephen and Anna is clear, though their respective mates are oblivious to this.

Despite her relationship with Martyn, Anna arranges a tryst with Stephen at her apartment. Stephen becomes obsessed with Anna. After an international summit adjourns in Brussels, he travels to Paris to meet her instead of going home. While Martyn is still sleeping in a Paris hotel room, Stephen and Anna have sex in an open doorway in broad daylight. Afterwards, Stephen checks into a hotel across the street from Anna's, so he can spy on her and Martyn through his window. Eventually, Stephen's infatuation with Anna reaches a point where he desires to be with her permanently, even at the risk of destroying his relationship with his son. Anna dissuades Stephen from doing this, reassuring him that as long as she is with Martyn, he will always have access to her.