Originally posted by foxwalk:
1. Life is Beautiful
2. American Beauty
3. Welcome to the Dollhouse
4. 10 things I hate About You
5. Plaza Suite
Renowned comic filmmaker Roberto Benigni directs, co-writes (with Vincenzo Cerami) and stars in La Vita È Bella ("Life Is Beautiful"), a film which explores the comedy of its protagonist, Guido, throughout the most dramatic change of settings.
Set in Italy in the days before and during WWII, the story of Guido is one of love for his alleged principessa, or "princess", Dora (Nicoletta Braschi) and their son Giosué (Giorgio Cantarini). Using the same ingenious comicality to lure his princess as he does to shun his adversaries, Guido copes with the growing anti-Semitism, until the reality of Nazism takes him and his family to the horrors of the concentration camp. However, the film does not attempt to offer a faithful representation of the Holocaust. Instead, it derives its horror from the images it provides for the viewer to simply identify, and from having initially presented the freedom of its characters.
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, the Best Jewish Experience Award at this year's Jerusalem International Film Festival, and recipient of eight David di Donatello Awards (the Italian Oscars) including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director and Best Screenplay, La Vita È Bella is a dramatic rendition of the fortitude required to reclaim the violated spirit and the imaginary optimism needed to save a dying innocence.
Kevin Spacey plays Lester Burnham, a middle aged man suffering from a mid-life crisis. He has an epiphany when he lays his eyes on one of his daughter Jane's friends. Woken from his suburban coma, he takes it upon himself to make a few changes -- like quitting his job and buying the car of his dreams. His wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening), is a frustrated control freak who is only maddened by his escalating freedom, and his daughter (Thora Birch) just plain hates him. His wife's reaction to the situation is to fall in the arms of a colleague (Peter Gallagher).
The chaos in the neighborhood becomes more complicated with the arrival of an equally dysfunctional family consisting of a stern ex-Marine, his vacuous wife and their detached, drug-dealing son Ricky, who becomes involved with Jane.
Offbeat, blistering black comedy detailing nerdish misfit girl's miseries as she enters adolescence. Art-house hit is enjoyed by fans of acerbic humor seeking a brutally honest, non-sugarcoated teen angst drama.
The story of high school newcomer Cameron James, and his pursuit of Bianca, the girl of his dreams. His plans are thwarted when he finds out he cannot date Bianca until her older sister, the social outcast Kat, has a boyfriend. A witty high school re-telling of THE TAMING OF THE SHREW.
Based on Neil Simon's hit Broadway play, PLAZA SUITE is a collection of three comic episodes set in Suite 719 of New York City's famed Plaza Hotel, each starring comic legend Walter Matthau. In the first vignette, Matthau's wife (Maureen Stapleton) discovers--on their 23rd wedding anniversary--that he's been having an affair with his secretary. In the second story, Matthau plays a sleazy Hollywood producer who summons an old girlfriend (Barbara Harris) to his room for afternoon sex. In the last segment, Matthau and his wife (Lee Grant) deal with their daughter's wedding day jitters after she locks herself in the hotel bathroom. The trio of darkly comic stories bear Simon's trademark humor, sophistication, and wry insight into the complex nature of human relationships.