829 Contributions by: Isabella Endrinal (Page 5)

Isabella Endrinal is a curator at A Good Movie to Watch. She’s now free from the corporate night shift. Previous articles have been published in outlets such as NANG Magazine. She’s currently catching up on some classic films… if she isn’t coping with the fact that the Haikyu anime will end soon.

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61. Open Your Eyes, 1997

	
While the mixed reception of its near-faithful American remake Vanilla Sky might make some viewers pause, there’s an intuitive brilliance in the Spanish original Open Your Eyes that isn’t easy to translate. Sure, the apparent differences help– it’s shorter and less complicated, and Cesar’s face turns more grotesque than David’s does. But what’s startling about Open Your Eyes is the way writer-director Alejandro Amenábar guides the camera through its various shifts, creating a more subtle and gradual realization that something is wrong, and thus, a more terrifying dream turned nightmare. Amenábar has later deemed the film as his worst, saying it was written when he didn't know much about life, but, in our opinion, Abre Los Ojos still holds up as a groundbreaking existential sci-fi simulation, one that still puzzles and captivates years after.Genre: Drama, Science Fiction, Thriller
Actor: Chete Lera, Eduardo Noriega, Fele Martínez, Gérard Barray, Ion Gabella, Jorge de Juan, Joserra Cadiñanos, Miguel Palenzuela, Najwa Nimri, Pedro Miguel Martínez, Penélope Cruz, Pepe Navarro, Tristán Ulloa, Walter Prieto
Director: Alejandro Amenábar
Rating: R

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62. Once Were Warriors, 1994

	
Many people would rather see happy, positive depictions of people like them, but sometimes, it’s important to see one’s worst sides– the sides that we don’t really like to see, but should have some awareness of, in order to address them. It’s because of this director Lee Tamahori initially thought that adapting the Maori novel Once Were Warriors would end up a flop, but through focusing on Beth Heke and her children, through ensuring that each of them have more screentime rather than only on the parents, Tamahori depicts the alienation the Heke family feels on the fringes, an alienation only healed when they choose to embrace more of their culture. Once Were Warriors isn’t an easy watch, with all the difficulties that the family goes through, but it’s a fiercely intense debut that proved to be one of the best films from New Zealand.Genre: Drama
Actor: Cliff Curtis, Ian Mune, Julian Arahanga, Mamaengaroa Kerr-Bell, Pete Smith, Rena Owen, Taungaroa Emile, Temuera Morrison
Director: Lee Tamahori
Rating: R

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63. Mr. & Mrs. Smith, 2024

If you’re expecting the sleek, playful, and totally over-the-top spy shenanigans of 2005’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith, you’re not going to find it in this 2024 version, not that it’s a bad thing. In fact, this show stands on its own, reinventing the spy couple into a professional partnership rather than an immediate spark that leads to marriage. This decision makes the show feel like the film’s opposite– as the longer runtime and naturalistic aura enables more focus on the incomparable Donald Glover and Maya Erskine rather than the explosions– but it makes the danger feel more unpredictable and not just action set pieces. Mr. & Mrs. Smith may not be the star-powered, guns-blazing action comedy we’re familiar with, but it’s certainly a more thoughtful, fresh take that improves on the concept.

Genre: Action & Adventure, Comedy, Drama

Actor: Donald Glover, Maya Erskine

Rating: TV-MA

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64. Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger, 2024

	
Is there anything more lovely than hearing Martin Scorsese talk about cinema? Maybe it’s just the film nerds in us– we are, after all, always on the hunt for A Good Movie to Watch– but it’s just wonderful to hear Scorsese talk about movies, especially from directors he loves and are inspired by. Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger is about the influence of The Archers, and while it’s mostly a straightforward documentary, director David Hinton makes it something like a cohesive film course on the directors, with Scorsese as lecturer. Oftentimes letting the directors’ shots and music speak for themselves, with Scorsese adding needed context, it won’t be a surprise that Made In England would be a treat for film nerds, but it also would be a great introduction for casual viewers, or viewers that want to start watching classic films, like those of The Archers.Genre: Documentary
Actor: David Niven, Deborah Kerr, Emeric Pressburger, Kim Hunter, Martin Scorsese, Michael Powell, Roger Livesey
Director: David Hinton

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65. Jab We Met, 2007

	
The manic pixie dream girl unexpectedly entering a young man’s life is the subject of plenty of romance films, to the point that this plot has become somewhat overdone, stereotypical, and overly unrealistic. However, there are moments in cinema when this archetype is portrayed well– Jab We Met is one of them. It’s joyful without being unrealistic, it’s realistic without being too jaded, and as two lost souls share the same train, writer-director Imtiaz Ali creates a feeling of freedom every time then-lovers Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor save each other from the prisons of their different, day-to-day lives. And it all comes with the song numbers as fun as the film’s leading lady.Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Actor: Asif Basra, Brijendra Kala, Dara Singh, Divya Shah, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Kiran Juneja, Pavan Malhotra, Saumya Tandon, Shahid Kapoor, Tarun Arora, Wamiqa Gabbi
Director: Imtiaz Ali
Rating: PG-13

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66. Infamy, 2023

With mass media’s misrepresentation of the Roma people, it was high time there was a show dedicated to accurate portrayal. Infamy is that show. As British-raised Gita moves back with her extended Romani family in Poland, we get introduced to Romani culture– their rules, customs, and art. This Polish Netflix series might even be the first time you’ll hear about Romanipen, the rules and familial principles that allowed them to survive. However, with Gita’s Western background, the show also depicts her immigrant experience, culture clash, and the discrimination of her people by the dominant Polish people. Mixed with hip-hop tracks from the UK, Poland, and the series’ original creations, Infamy takes a nuanced approach to Gita’s struggle and artistry.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Kamil Piotrowski, Magdalena Czerwińska, Sebastian Łach, Zofia Jastrzębska

Director: Anna Maliszewska, Kuba Czekaj

Rating: TV-MA

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67. In the Family, 2011

	
Before gay marriage and gay adoption was legalized in America, people had plenty of hurdles to jump over when their same sex partner died. Partners weren’t guaranteed visits to their loved one, weren’t permitted to visit them at their last hours. They were the last to be informed and the last to be asked about their medical records, even though they would be the best source of knowledge after living together. Same sex parents weren’t guaranteed custody of their partner’s children. In The Family may depict these previous experiences in a dry, straightforward way for nearly three hours, but it’s a needed, respectful approach, with the lived-in knowledge of the quiet cruelties that was enforced just a decade ago.Genre: Drama
Actor: Conan McCarty, Harriett D. Foy, Juliette Angelo, Lisa Altomare, Patrick Wang, Peter Hermann, Sebastian Banes, Susan Kellermann, Trevor St. John
Director: Patrick Wang

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68. Haikyu!!, 2020

	
Fun, wholesome, and relatable, Haikyu!! celebrates the highs and lows of high school volleyball. The show starts off focused on two freshmen volleyball players from opposing middle school teams, who have to learn teamwork in order to be accepted into their high school club. While the team might initially come across as self-conscious, over-the-top, highly dramatic characters, it’s clear that they're coming from a shared love for the competitive sport (and that they also just happen to be going through puberty). However, the show’s strategic storytelling makes us care about the team: explanations about volleyball tactics are taught just at the right moment in order to heighten the stakes of every player’s move. Simultaneously, every player moves into each new plot point as a natural consequence of their backstory and their perception of each event. Haikyu!!’s agile approach makes the show a compelling watch, and a great place to start if you're new to anime.Genre: Action & Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Drama
Actor: Ayumu Murase, Daisuke Namikawa, Hiroshi Kamiya, Hiroyuki Yoshino, Hisao Egawa, Kaito Ishikawa, Kaori Nazuka, Kazunari Tanaka, Koki Uchiyama, Koutaro Nishiyama, Mark Ishii, Masaru Hayashi, Miyu Irino, Nobuhiko Okamoto, Nobuyori Sagara, Ryohei Kimura, Ryota Takeuchi, Satoshi Hino, Shinnosuke Tachibana, Soma Saito, Subaru Kimura, Sumire Morohoshi, Toshiki Masuda, Yoshimasa Hosoya, Yu Hayashi, Yuichi Nakamura, Yuki Kaji, Yuu Hayashi
Rating: TV-14

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69. Great Photo, Lovely Life, 2023

Biographical documentaries tend to depict exceptional people– people who are so great that everyone wants to know about them, and people who are so terrible that they serve as a warning. Great Photo, Lovely Life depicts a serial sexual abuser in photojournalist Amanda Mustard’s family, able to get away with nearly all his crimes each time he skips over state lines. It’s not an easy film. It’s deeply uncomfortable. There are certain interviews that will trigger anger, despair, and bewilderment over how someone so evil can remain out of bars all his life. Great Photo, Lovely Life doesn’t provide any easy, comforting sequence as a balm to sexual abuse survivors around the world, but it’s an urgent reminder of the consequences of maintaining silence.

Genre: Documentary

Actor: Amanda Mustard

Director: Amanda Mustard, Rachel Beth Anderson

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70. Frog and Toad, 2023

For those familiar with the original book series, you’ll already know what kind of show to expect. The Apple+ cartoon is centered on the two titular amphibians going through universal adventures that makes or breaks your day. From finding the willpower to resist eating delicious cookies, to hoping a friend would contact you when you’re lonely, each episode keeps a gentle sort of humor, poking lighthearted fun at the differences between the emotional Toad and more sensible Frog. With each episode’s twenty minute runtime, and two adventures per episode, Frog and Toad is a sweet, nostalgic series that’s easy to breeze through for millennial parents and their kids.

Genre: Animation, Family, Kids

Actor: Kevin Michael Richardson, Nat Faxon

Rating: TV-Y

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71. Farha, 2022

Based on a true story, Darin J. Sallam’s controversial debut feature Farha is, at heart, a brutal coming-of-age film. Set in 1948, the film is about a girl who gets locked into her family’s storeroom at the start of the Nakba, the Palestinian Catastrophe. Sallam’s choice to limit most of the film’s perspective to that small storeroom is brilliant – in some ways, it echoes the surrounding discussion about the conflict. Most of what the world knows of Palestine is limited due to having to deal with censorship, lost records, and only hearing word-of-mouth stories from ancestors who just barely survived. But what we see is already too horrific to begin with. And what the film knows is the tragedy of losing your home - having to leave childhood, leave your dreams, and leave a vibrant and living culture in order to survive.

Genre: Drama, History, War

Actor: Ali Soliman, Ali Suliman, Ashraf Barhom, Sultan Alkhail

Director: Darin J. Sallam

Rating: TV-14

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72. DAN DA DAN, 2024

	
During adolescence, teenagers get to learn and discover themselves and the world, but for most people, this means going through puberty, maybe taking up a sport or hobby, and not the occult vs alien shenanigans of DAN DA DAN. The science fiction-fantasy mix is unhinged and chaotic, throwing Momo and Ken directly into the worlds they didn’t believe in, and with each crazy encounter, they gain insane powers that are rendered into (literally) out-of-this-world, kaleidoscopic animation. But it’s their comedic dynamic that makes the show work, as each absurd situation pushes them to share what makes them vulnerable and challenge each other on their beliefs. DAN DA DAN is spectacularly unpredictable, and is a standout from 2024’s anime fall lineup.Genre: Action & Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Actor: Ayane Sakura, Kaito Ishikawa, Mayumi Tanaka, Nana Mizuki, Natsuki Hanae, Shion Wakayama
Rating: TV-MA

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73. Carol & the End of the World, 2023

	
The end of the world isn’t the most optimistic thing to think about, but the scenario leads you to thinking about unrealized dreams, pleasures, and aspirations: the way you want your life to be, if things have gone the way they planned. Dan Guterman, from Community and Rick and Morty, reimagines this idea in Carol and the End of the World. Carol is that mundane, downright boring character that we wouldn’t take notice of in real life, only because she actively chooses the ordinary life, but this show is extraordinary, shifting perspectives and even genres between episodes, taking unexpected turns, and celebrating the day-to-day monotony of life.Genre: Animation, Comedy
Actor: Beth Grant, Kimberly Hebert Gregory, Lawrence Pressman, Martha Kelly, Mel Rodriguez
Rating: TV-MA

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74. Blue, 1993

Part documentary yet part surreal daydream, director Derek Jarman’s final film is one last rallying cry into a blue void. Against an unchanging screen of International Klein Blue, most of the film is Jarman’s voice, drifting through various subjects, from day-to-day complications of AIDS to contemplations about the color blue. Some of his frequent collaborators chime in. Choirs singing about damnation occasionally pop up too. While essentially a radio drama, the combination of voices, foley, and scores all merge together into an ethereal, haunting soundscape, that sticks in your head long after the film ends. Mirroring his partial blindness, Jarman’s last experiment leaves an impression of his own experience. It’s absolutely devastating.

Genre: Documentary, Drama

Actor: Derek Jarman, John Quentin, Nigel Terry, Tilda Swinton

Director: Derek Jarman

Rating: Not Rated

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75. Black Cake, 2023

	
We don’t really know our parents the same way they know about us. Black Cake recognizes this, and takes that discrepancy to create a compelling mystery, expanding on that hidden world with themes of generational trauma, intercultural dynamics, and lost heritage. With the show doing justice to the book’s moments, the mystery of Eleanor Bennett’s former life is already compelling in and of itself, but it’s made even more so as her children try to make sense of it, changing their strained dynamic. It’s layered, well-written and deeply personal. It’s a unique story that has to be told.Genre: Drama
Actor: Adrienne Warren, Ashley Thomas, Cara Horgan, Chipo Chung, Daniel Bonjour, Faith Alabi, Lashay Anderson, Mia Isaac, Rebecca Calder, Rupert Evans, Simon Wan, Tom McKay
Rating: TV-MA

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