Handpicked must-watch movies/tv

by mishal153 | created - 21 Aug 2011 | updated - 2 months ago | Public

Short list of movies that you MUST watch. No particular order

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1. Breaking Bad (2008–2013)

TV-MA | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

A chemistry teacher diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer turns to manufacturing and selling methamphetamine with a former student in order to secure his family's future.

Stars: Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn, Betsy Brandt

Votes: 2,139,119

2. The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

PG-13 | 117 min | Biography, Drama

64 Metascore

A struggling salesman takes custody of his son as he's poised to begin a life-changing professional career

Director: Gabriele Muccino | Stars: Will Smith, Thandiwe Newton, Jaden Smith, Brian Howe

Votes: 561,350 | Gross: $163.57M

3. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

PG | 130 min | Drama, Family, Fantasy

89 Metascore

An angel is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed.

Director: Frank Capra | Stars: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell

Votes: 499,421

...it really is

4. School of Rock (2003)

PG-13 | 109 min | Comedy, Music

82 Metascore

After being kicked out of his rock band, Dewey Finn becomes a substitute teacher of an uptight elementary private school, only to try and turn his class into a rock band.

Director: Richard Linklater | Stars: Jack Black, Mike White, Joan Cusack, Adam Pascal

Votes: 331,040 | Gross: $81.26M

5. The Wrestler (2008)

R | 109 min | Drama, Sport

80 Metascore

A faded professional wrestler must retire, but finds his quest for a new life outside the ring a dispiriting struggle.

Director: Darren Aronofsky | Stars: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, Mark Margolis

Votes: 320,059 | Gross: $26.24M

6. Requiem for a Dream (2000)

R | 102 min | Drama

71 Metascore

The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island people are shattered when their addictions run deep..

Director: Darren Aronofsky | Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans

Votes: 899,298 | Gross: $3.64M

7. October Sky (1999)

PG | 108 min | Biography, Drama, Family

71 Metascore

The true story of Homer Hickam, a coal miner's son who was inspired by the first Sputnik launch to take up rocketry against his father's wishes.

Director: Joe Johnston | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, Laura Dern, Chris Owen

Votes: 98,097 | Gross: $32.48M

8. Avatar (2009)

PG-13 | 162 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy

83 Metascore

A paraplegic Marine dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission becomes torn between following his orders and protecting the world he feels is his home.

Director: James Cameron | Stars: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez

Votes: 1,387,156 | Gross: $760.51M

9. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)

PG | 152 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy

65 Metascore

An orphaned boy enrolls in a school of wizardry, where he learns the truth about himself, his family and the terrible evil that haunts the magical world.

Director: Chris Columbus | Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Richard Harris

Votes: 856,565 | Gross: $317.58M

10. The King's Speech (2010)

R | 118 min | Biography, Drama, History

88 Metascore

The story of King George VI, his unexpected ascension to the throne of the British Empire in 1936, and the speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch overcome his stammer.

Director: Tom Hooper | Stars: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Derek Jacobi

Votes: 708,188 | Gross: $138.80M

11. My Sassy Girl (2001)

Not Rated | 137 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

A young man sees a drunk, cute woman standing too close to the tracks at a metro station in Seoul and pulls her back. She ends up getting him into trouble repeatedly after that, starting on the train.

Director: Jae-young Kwak | Stars: Cha Tae-hyun, Jun Ji-hyun, In-mun Kim, Song Wok-suk

Votes: 50,513

12. Big Fish (2003)

PG-13 | 125 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy

58 Metascore

A frustrated son tries to determine the fact from fiction in his dying father's life.

Director: Tim Burton | Stars: Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange

Votes: 459,048 | Gross: $66.26M

13. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

R | 108 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi

89 Metascore

When their relationship turns sour, a couple undergoes a medical procedure to have each other erased from their memories forever.

Director: Michel Gondry | Stars: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Tom Wilkinson, Gerry Robert Byrne

Votes: 1,078,703 | Gross: $34.40M

14. The Dictator (2012)

R | 83 min | Comedy

58 Metascore

The heroic story of a dictator who risked his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed.

Director: Larry Charles | Stars: Sacha Baron Cohen, Anna Faris, John C. Reilly, Ben Kingsley

Votes: 335,137 | Gross: $59.65M

15. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

R | 111 min | Action, Crime, Thriller

69 Metascore

After awakening from a four-year coma, a former assassin wreaks vengeance on the team of assassins who betrayed her.

Director: Quentin Tarantino | Stars: Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Daryl Hannah, Michael Madsen

Votes: 1,194,949 | Gross: $70.10M

Both volumes are awesome :)

16. Argo (2012)

R | 120 min | Biography, Drama, History

86 Metascore

Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1979.

Director: Ben Affleck | Stars: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, Alan Arkin

Votes: 639,343 | Gross: $136.03M

17. Oldboy (2003)

R | 120 min | Action, Drama, Mystery

78 Metascore

After being kidnapped and imprisoned for fifteen years, Oh Dae-Su is released, only to find that he must track down his captor in five days.

Director: Park Chan-wook | Stars: Choi Min-sik, Yoo Ji-tae, Kang Hye-jeong, Kim Byeong-Ok

Votes: 636,391 | Gross: $0.71M

18. The Help (2011)

PG-13 | 146 min | Drama

62 Metascore

An aspiring author during the civil rights movement of the 1960s decides to write a book detailing the African American maids' point of view on the white families for which they work, and the hardships they go through on a daily basis.

Director: Tate Taylor | Stars: Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Octavia Spencer, Bryce Dallas Howard

Votes: 493,079 | Gross: $169.71M

19. Cinema Paradiso (1988)

R | 174 min | Drama, Romance

80 Metascore

A filmmaker recalls his childhood when falling in love with the pictures at the cinema of his home village and forms a deep friendship with the cinema's projectionist.

Director: Giuseppe Tornatore | Stars: Philippe Noiret, Enzo Cannavale, Antonella Attili, Isa Danieli

Votes: 283,120 | Gross: $11.99M

20. Senna (2010)

PG-13 | 106 min | Documentary, Biography, Sport

79 Metascore

A documentary on Brazilian Formula One racing driver Ayrton Senna, who won the F1 world championship three times before his death at age 34.

Director: Asif Kapadia | Stars: Ayrton Senna, Reginaldo Leme, John Bisignano, Neyde Senna

Votes: 75,886 | Gross: $1.61M

21. Boyhood (I) (2014)

R | 165 min | Drama

100 Metascore

The life of Mason, from early childhood to his arrival at college.

Director: Richard Linklater | Stars: Ellar Coltrane, Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Elijah Smith

Votes: 367,262 | Gross: $25.38M

22. Tanu Weds Manu (2011)

Not Rated | 113 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

Manu comes to India to find a bride and falls for Tanu at first sight, but free-spirited Tanu has no plan to marry him.

Director: Aanand L. Rai | Stars: Madhavan, Kangana Ranaut, Jimmy Shergill, Deepak Dobriyal

Votes: 16,514

23. Never Cry Wolf (1983)

PG | 105 min | Adventure, Drama

A government researcher, sent to research the "menace" of wolves in the north, learns about the true beneficial and positive nature of the species.

Director: Carroll Ballard | Stars: Charles Martin Smith, Brian Dennehy, Zachary Ittimangnaq, Samson Jorah

Votes: 8,790 | Gross: $29.60M

24. Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019)

Not Rated | 138 min | Action, Drama, History

Indian army special forces execute a covert operation, avenging the killing of fellow army men at their base by a terrorist group.

Director: Aditya Dhar | Stars: Vicky Kaushal, Paresh Rawal, Mohit Raina, Yami Gautam

Votes: 72,281 | Gross: $4.19M

25. Raazi (2018)

Not Rated | 138 min | Action, Drama, Thriller

A Kashmiri woman agrees to marry a Pakistani army officer in order to spy on Pakistan during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971.

Director: Meghna Gulzar | Stars: Alia Bhatt, Vicky Kaushal, Rajit Kapoor, Shishir Sharma

Votes: 33,749

26. 12 Angry Men (1957)

Approved | 96 min | Crime, Drama

97 Metascore

The jury in a New York City murder trial is frustrated by a single member whose skeptical caution forces them to more carefully consider the evidence before jumping to a hasty verdict.

Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Martin Balsam, John Fiedler

Votes: 865,896 | Gross: $4.36M

27. Drishyam (2015)

Not Rated | 163 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

Desperate measures are taken by a man who tries to save his family from the dark side of the law, after they commit an unexpected crime.

Director: Nishikant Kamat | Stars: Ajay Devgn, Shriya Saran, Tabu, Rajat Kapoor

Votes: 94,383 | Gross: $0.74M

28. Filmistaan (2012)

Not Rated | 117 min | Comedy

In Mumbai, affable Bollywood buff and wanna-be-actor Sunny, who works as an assistant director, fantasizes on becoming a heart-throb star. However, at every audition he is summarily thrown ... See full summary »

Director: Nitin Kakkar | Stars: Sharib Hashmi, Inaamulhaq, Kumud Mishra, Gopal Datt

Votes: 3,660

29. Gullak (2019– )

24 min | Comedy, Drama, Family

Set in quaint by-lanes in the heart of India, Gullak is a collection of disarming and relatable tales of the Mishra family.

Stars: Jameel Khan, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Vaibhav Raj Gupta, Harsh Mayar

Votes: 21,528

30. Angrezi Mein Kehte Hain (2018)

Not Rated | 104 min | Drama, Romance

Angrezi Mein Kehte Hein is a family drama and explores changing relationships between a middle aged couple. Its about the realization that sometimes just loving someone is not enough and expressing that love is equally important.

Director: Harish Vyas | Stars: Shivani Raghuvanshi, Anshuman Jha, Ekavali Khanna, Sanjay Mishra

Votes: 1,259

31. Mrs. Chatterjee vs. Norway (2023)

TV-MA | 144 min | Biography, Drama

An immigrant Indian mother's battle against the Norwegian foster care system and local legal machinery to win back the custody of her children.

Director: Ashima Chibber | Stars: Rani Mukerji, Jim Sarbh, Bodhisattwa Majumdar, Saswati Guhathakurta

Votes: 9,798

32. Vikram (2022)

Not Rated | 175 min | Action, Crime, Drama

A special investigator discovers a case of serial killings is not what it seems to be, and leading down this path is only going to end in a war between everyone involved.

Director: Lokesh Kanagaraj | Stars: Kamal Haasan, Vijay Sethupathi, Fahadh Faasil, Narain

Votes: 74,383

33. Raatchasan (2018)

Not Rated | 146 min | Action, Crime, Drama

A sub-inspector sets out in pursuit of a mysterious serial killer who targets teen school girls and murders them brutally.

Director: Ram Kumar | Stars: Vishnu Vishal, Amala Paul, Radha Ravi, Sangili Murugan

Votes: 50,743

34. Le Dîner de Cons (1998)

PG-13 | 80 min | Comedy

73 Metascore

A few friends have a weekly fools' dinner, where each brings a fool along. Pierre finds a champion fool for next dinner. Surprise.

Director: Francis Veber | Stars: Thierry Lhermitte, Jacques Villeret, Francis Huster, Daniel Prévost

Votes: 44,371 | Gross: $4.07M



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