Some films make you want to get off the sofa and do something. These are those films.
Held captive for 7 years in an enclosed space, a woman and her young son finally gain their freedom, allowing the boy to experience the outside world for the first time.
It shows what sustained effort looks like without making it feel impossible. That sticks.
Based on the real life story of legendary cryptanalyst Alan Turing, the film portrays the nail-biting race against time by Turing and his brilliant team of code-breakers at Britain's top-secret Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, during the darkest days of World War II.
This one ends and you immediately think about something you've been putting off.
Hoping to put to rest years of unease concerning a past case, retired criminal investigator Benjamín begins writing a novel based on the unsolved mystery of a newlywed's rape and murder. With the help of a former colleague, judge Irene, he attempts to make sense of the past.
This one ends and you immediately think about something you've been putting off.
Advertising man Roger Thornhill is mistaken for a spy, triggering a deadly cross-country chase.
This one ends and you immediately think about something you've been putting off.
Ripley, the sole survivor of the Nostromo's deadly encounter with the monstrous Alien, returns to Earth after drifting through space in hypersleep for 57 years. Although her story is initially met with skepticism, she agrees to accompany a team of Colonial Marines back to LV-426.
It shows what sustained effort looks like without making it feel impossible. That sticks.
Ambition in film is most effective when it comes through character rather than message. These films show rather than tell.
The relentlessness of these films mirrors focused ambition. Useful effect.
Solves boredom immediately. No warm-up required.
Following an unexpected tragedy, child psychologist Malcolm Crowe meets a nine year old boy named Cole Sear, who is hiding a dark secret.
This one ends and you immediately think about something you've been putting off.
Llewelyn Moss stumbles upon dead bodies, $2 million and a hoard of heroin in a Texas desert, but methodical killer Anton Chigurh comes looking for it, with local sheriff Ed Tom Bell hot on his trail. The roles of prey and predator blur as the violent pursuit of money and justice collide.
It shows what sustained effort looks like without making it feel impossible. That sticks.
A captured French Resistance fighter during World War II engineers a daunting escape from prison.
It shows what sustained effort looks like without making it feel impossible. That sticks.
In the smog-choked dystopian Los Angeles of 2019, blade runner Rick Deckard is called out of retirement to terminate a quartet of replicants who have escaped to Earth seeking their creator for a way to extend their short life spans.
This one ends and you immediately think about something you've been putting off.
Two young men attempt to prove they committed the perfect murder by hosting a dinner party for the family of a classmate they just strangled to death.
It shows what sustained effort looks like without making it feel impossible. That sticks.
Some films earn their effect. These do.