1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die Featured Lists

Ghostbusters
Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson star as a quartet of Manhattan-based "paranormal investigators". When their government grants run out, the former three go into business as The Ghostbusters, later hiring Hudson on. Armed with electronic paraphernalia, the team is spectacularly successful, ridding The Big Apple of dozens of ghoulies, ghosties and long-legged beasties. Tight-lipped bureaucrat William Atherton regards the Ghostbusters as a bunch of charlatans, but is forced to eat his words when New York is besieged by an army of unfriendly spirits, conjured up by a long-dead Babylonian demon and "channelled" through beautiful cellist Sigourney Weaver and nerdish Rick Moranis. The climax is a glorious sendup of every Godzilla movie ever made-and we daresay it cost more than a year's worth of Japanese monster flicks combined. Who'd ever dream that the chubby, cheery Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man would turn out to be the most malevolent threat ever faced by New York City? When the script for Ghostbusters was forged by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, John Belushi was slated to play the Bill Murray role; Belushi's death in 1982 not only necessitated the hiring of Murray, but also an extensive rewrite. The most expensive comedy made up to 1984, Ghostbusters made money hand over fist, spawning not only a 1989 sequel but also two animated TV series (one of them partially based on an earlier live-action TV weekly, titled The Ghost Busters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ghostbusters 2
Ivan Reitman's sequel to the phenomenally successful Ghostbusters is looser and more self-assured than the original. The film opens with a title reading "Five Years Later" and finds the ghostbusters living in hard times. A restraining order has forbidden the boys to partake in paranormal warfare, and as a result they have had to seek other lines of work. Ray (Dan Aykroyd) and Winston (Ernie Hudson) spend their time performing at children's' birthday parties, and Egon (Harold Ramis) is busy conducting experiments investigating the effect of human emotions on the environment, leaving ghostbusting behind. Venkman (Bill Murray) and Dana (Sigourney Weaver) have split up. Venkman now hosts a local cable show called "The World of the Psychic." Dana, now divorced and the mother of a little baby named Oscar, works as an art restorer in a museum -- and this is where the plot kicks in. While Dana is restoring a portrait of a 16th-century tyrant by the name of Vigo the Carpathian, the portrait becomes hexed. The evil Vigo wants to return to life by taking over the body of Dana's little child. Vigo has enlisted Dana's boss, Janosz Poha (Peter MacNicol), to compel Dana to cooperate. Soon dirty sludge and slime flow through the streets of Manhattan, and the ghostbusters have to reunite to save the city from a funky paranormal evil. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Co-adapted by director Claude Berri from a novel by Marcel Pagnol, this hugely successful French historical drama concerns a bizarre battle royale over a valuable natural spring in a remote French farming community. City dweller Jean Cadoret (Gérard Depardieu) assumes ownership of the spring when the original owner is accidentally killed by covetous farmer Cesar Soubeyran (Yves Montand). Soubeyran and his equally disreputable nephew Ugolin (Daniel Auteuil) pull every dirty trick in the book to force Cadoret off his land, but the novice farmer stands firm. Although the Soubeyrans appear to gain the upper hand, the audience is assured that they will eventually be foiled by the vengeful daughter of the spring's deceased owner -- thus setting the stage for the film's equally successful sequel, Manon of the Spring.

Manon of the Spring (Manon des Sources) has also been released as Jean de Florette II in the US, as it is a sequel to Claude Berri's Jean de Florette. Both films are drawn from the same source: Filmmaker/novelist Marcel Pagnol's 1952 rural romance, also titled Jean de Florette. Manon (Emmanuelle Beart), now fully grown, is a shepherdess who prefers to keep her distance from the local villagers. She is determined to uncover the truth behind the death of her father (played by Gerard Depardieu in Jean de Florette) and to wreak vengeance on the men she holds responsible. The more sympathetic of the two men, Ugolin (Daniel Auteil), is in love with Manon, but this does not weaken her resolve. She causes the village's water supply to diminish, blaming this action upon Ugolin and his duplicitous co-conspirator Cesar (Yves Montand). The upshot of this vengeful behavior ends in tragedy for all concerned. The joint winners of eight French Cesar awards, Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring were released to the U.S. in tandem in 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The film that virtually redefined how animation and live action can interact in film, director Robert Zemeckis' classic comedy arrives on DVD packed with extras thanks to Disney/Buena Vista Home Video. Viewable in either 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen or 1.33:1 pan-and-scan, this release offers a variety of audio options including closed-captioned English Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1, along with Spanish and French Dolby Digital Stereo options. In addition to the feature itself, disc one also offers the Roger Rabbit shorts Tummy Trouble, Rollercoaster Rabbit, and Trail Mix-Up, a "Who Made Roger Rabbit" featurette, and the set-top DVD game "Trouble in Toontown." Disc two contains even more bonus materials such as an audio commentary with the filmmakers, a deleted scene, "Behind the Ears: The True Story of Roger Rabbit," "Toon Stand-In" featurette showing rehearsals with real-life actors standing in for the cartoons, a "Toontown Confidential" pop-up trivia track, "The Valiant Files" interactive set-top gallery, a split screen comparison, a companion booklet, and two collectible glossies. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

 

Many directors consider John Cassavetes one of the grandfathers of American independent film. This spectacular box set from Criterion shows why. In addition to Shadows, Faces, A Woman Under the Influence, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, and Opening Night (all presented in the original theatrical aspect ratio), the set contains a 2000 documentary about the man and his career -- A Constant Forge: The Life and Art of John Cassavetes. A variety of extras are scattered throughout the discs, including both the full director's cut and the theatrical cut of The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, deleted footage, audio commentary by the camera operator and composer on A Woman Under the Influence, video interviews with many of the people who collaborated with Cassavetes, and a 68-page booklet containing essays on the man and his films. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Prepare to experience two radically different versions of Ernest Hemingway's gripping crime drama The Killers as The Criterion Collection presents both the Robert Siodmak 1946 screen adaptation and Don Siegel's 1964 take on the tale in one feature-packed special edition DVD release. Both films are presented in 1.33:1 full-frame as originally released and offer audio in English Dolby Digital Mono with optional English subtitles. Special features for Siodmak's version include Andrei Tarkovsky's 1956 student film version of The Killers, a video interview with writer Stuart M. Kaminsky, a Screen Director's Playhouse radio adaptation of the tale from 1949, actor Stacy Keach reading Hemingway's original short story, production and publication stills, trailers for other Siodmak films, writer/director Paul Schrader's 1972 essay "Notes on Film Noir," an essay by Jonathan Lethem, and a music and effects audio track. Bonus materials for Siegel's version include reflections with star Clu Gulager, pertinent excerpts from Siegel's autobiography, A Siegel Film, production correspondence including memos from Siegel, production and publicity stills, an essay by Hardboiled America author Geoffrey O'Brien, and a music and effects track. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide