Top 100 Movies you must Watch... 20- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

2002 Film

8.7/10-IMDb

Release date: December 5, 2002 (USA)

Director: Peter Jackson

Running time: 235 minutes

Awards: MTV Movie Award for Best Movie, Academy Award for Visual Effects, Academy Award for Best Sound Editing, Saturn Award for Best Costume, MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo, Nebula Award for Best Script, MTV Movie Award for Best Action Sequence, Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form, BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects, BAFTA Orange Film of the Year, Satellite Award for Best Visual Effects, Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Costume Design, BAFTA Award for Best Costume Design, Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Production Design, People's Choice Award for Favorite Drama Movie, MTV Movie Award for Best Virtual Performance, Satellite Award for Best Overall DVD, Australian Film Institute Award for Best Foreign Film, ADG Excellence in Production Design Awards - Period or Fantasy Film, BFCA Critics' Choice Award for Best Digital Acting Performance, Satellite Special Achievement Award for Outstanding Motion Picture Ensemble

Screenplay: Stephen Sinclair, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh

Description

Gandalf the Grey gives his life in battle against the Balrog, giving the Fellowship of the Ring time to escape from the Mines of Moria.

Weeks later, Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee continue their journey to Mordor to destroy the One Ring and, with it, the Dark Lord Sauron. One night, they are attacked by the ring's former owner Gollum. The pair capture Gollum, but Frodo takes pity on him, understanding the burden of the Ring. Frodo persuades Gollum to guide them to Mordor. Sam immediately distrusts Gollum on sight and warns Frodo that Gollum will betray them.

In Rohan, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli pursue the Uruk-hai who have taken Merry and Pippin prisoner. Meanwhile, Rohan's King Théoden has been entranced and physically weakened byGríma Wormtongue, who is secretly in the service of Saruman the White. Saruman has his Orcs and Wild Men of Dunland lay siege to the lands. Théoden's nephew Éomer accuses Gríma of being a spy; Gríma has him banished for undermining him. Éomer travels to the countryside to gather the remaining men of the Rohirrim. Éomer's army later ambush and kill the Uruk-hai holding Merry and Pippin. Merry and Pippin flee into Fangorn forest and meet Treebeard, the oldest of the Ents.

Frodo, Sam and Gollum traverse the Dead Marshes, evading a Nazgûl. Upon reaching the Black Gate, they find it closed and guarded by Orcs. Gollum convinces the pair that he will lead them to an unguarded entrance. After learning of Éomer's ambush, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli discover Merry and Pippin's trail. The trio are confronted by Gandalf, reborn as Gandalf the White. Gandalf joins with the trio as they journey to Edoras. After arriving, they free Théoden from Gríma's spell, and inform the king of his son Théodred's death. Théoden moves his people to the stronghold Helm's Deep for safety. Fearing Helm's Deep will not survive, Gandalf leaves to find Éomer. Gríma flees to Orthanc and informs Saruman of a weakness in the outer wall of Helm's Deep. Saruman dispatches his vast army to the stronghold, with the intent of wiping out all of Rohan and Aragorn with them.

Meanwhile, Gollum struggles with his loyalty to Frodo and his consuming need for the Ring. When Sam and Frodo are captured by Rangers of Ithilien, Frodo reveals Gollum's presence to spare his life; Gollum nevertheless feels betrayed, and begins plotting against Frodo. As Théoden's forces travel to Helm's Deep, they are attacked by Saruman's Warg riders and Aragorn is thrown from a cliff to his apparent death in a raging river. In Rivendell, Elrond convinces his daughter Arwen to abandon her love for Aragorn and leave Middle-earth with her fellow Elves. Meanwhile, Éowyn, Théoden's niece, nurtures a growing affection for Aragorn.

Learning that Frodo has the Ring, the Rangers' captain, Faramir, who is also Boromir's brother, orders that it be sent to Gondor. In Rohan, the barely-alive Aragorn washes up on the river bank. He makes his way to Helm's Deep and warns Théoden that he has seen Saruman's army headed for the fortress. Théoden gathers his men to fight against Saruman's army of Uruk-hai. When night falls, a battalion of Elves arrive to re-enforce the men of Rohan. In Fangorn Forest, Merry, Pippin, Treebeard and other Ents hold a council to decide on the role of the Ents in the war with Saruman.

The battle of Helm's Deep begins between the Uruk-hai and Rohirrim with Aragorn and his companions. Explosives are used against the weakness in the wall, allowing the Orcs to breach the fortress. In Fangorn, Treebeard and the other Ents initially refuse to get involved in the war until Pippin shows them that Saruman has decimated the forest; enraged, Treebeard commands the Ents to seek vengeance. Aragorn leads Théoden, Legolas and the remaining Rohirrim to attack the Uruk-hai, allowing the Rohirrim's women and children to escape into the mountains. Gandalf appears, accompanied by Éomer and his men. The combined forces cause the Uruk-hai to flee into Fangorn, where the Ents and their Huorn allies attack them. At Isengard, the Ents defeat the Uruk-hai and break the river dam, drowning the surviving Orc defenders, flooding Isengard, and stranding Saruman in his tower.

Faramir has the Hobbits taken to the war-torn Osgiliath, where they are attacked by Orcs led by a Nazgûl. Frodo succumbs to the Ring's influence and attacks Sam, but comes to his senses when Sam tearfully reminds him of their friendship. The Nazgûl is defeated and flees. Faramir, understanding the danger of the Ring, frees the Hobbits and sends them on their journey, joined by Gollum. Gandalf remarks that Sauron will seek retribution for Saruman's defeat, stating that hope now rests with Frodo and Sam. At that same moment, Gollum vows to reclaim the Ring by having "her" kill Frodo and Sam.

. Wikipedia

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Top 100 Movies you must Watch... 19- The Matrix

1999 Film

8.7/10-IMDb

87%-Rotten Tomatoes

Release date: March 31, 1999 (USA)

Directors: Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski

Screenplay: Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski

Sequels: The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions

Description

Thomas Anderson is a computer programmer who maintains a double life as the hacker "Neo". Infamous hacker Trinity contacts Neo and informs him that a man named Morpheus can tell him the meaning of the "Matrix", a cryptic phrase he has uncovered; however, three dark-suited Agents, led by Agent Smith, arrest Neo to prevent this. Evading surveillance, Neo meets with Morpheus, who warns that he can be shown the Matrix but will be unable to 'go back'. Neo accepts by choosing an offered red pill; his reality soon disintegrates and he abruptly wakes, naked and weak, in a liquid-filled vessel, to find he is one of billions of people connected by cables to an elaborate electrical system. He is rescued by Morpheus and brought aboard a levitating ship, the Nebuchadnezzar.

Morpheus tells Neo that he is from Zion, the last free human refuge. He explains that in reality, there had been a war in which humans lost to intelligent machines in which humans attacked the machines' access to solar energy and the machines responded by artificially harvesting and connecting humans from birth to a simulation of the 1999 world, called "the Matrix", in order to use their bioelectricity as a substitute power source. Morpheus and his crew are one of several who "unplug" enslaved humans and recruit them as rebels. They can hack into the Matrix to re-enter its simulated reality, where their understanding of its true nature allows them to manipulate the simulation's physical laws, granting them seemingly superhuman abilities, but the simulation protects itself from threats using human-like powerful sentient programs known as "Agents", and he learns that fatal injuries within the Matrix will manifest as death of the physical body. Neo proves highly skilled during virtual combat training. Morpheus believes Neo is "the One", a man prophesied to end the war between humans and machines.

The group enters the Matrix to visit the Oracle, a prophet who predicted the emergence of the One. The Oracle implies to Neo that he is not the One, and warns he will soon have to choose between his own life and that of Morpheus. Still within the Matrix, the group are ambushed by Agents and tactical police, and Morpheus allows himself to be captured to let Neo and the rest of the crew escape. Their departure from the simulated world is hindered by Cypher, a crew member disillusioned with the harshness of the real world, who had secretly betrayed them to the Agents in exchange for a return to comfortable life within the Matrix. Cypher murders several of the group whose real bodies lie defenseless in the ship, before he is himself killed by the brother of one of them. In the Matrix, the Agents interrogate Morpheus to learn his access codes to Zion's main computer.

Neo returns to the Matrix with Trinity to rescue Morpheus; in the process, Neo gains confidence in his ability to manipulate the Matrix, performing physical feats on a par with the Agents. Morpheus tells Neo that the Oracle had told him what he needed to hear. Morpheus and Trinity exit the Matrix, but Smith ambushes and kills Neo before he can leave. Outside the Matrix, "sentinel" machines converge on the Nebuchadnezzar. Trinity, standing over Neo in the real world, whispers to Neo that the Oracle told her she would fall in love with the One. She kisses Neo, and he revives in the Matrix. His ability to perceive and control the Matrix reaches a new height, and he effortlessly destroys Smith before exiting the Matrix in time for the ship's electromagnetic pulse weapon to destroy the attacking sentinels. A final scene shows Neo making a telephone call in the Matrix, promising the Machines he will show their prisoners "a world where anything is possible".

. Wikipedia

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Top 100 Movies you must Watch... 18- Forrest Gump

1994 Film

8.7/10-IMDb

71%-Rotten Tomatoes

Release date: July 6, 1994 (USA)

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Sequel: Gump and Co.

Screenplay: Eric Roth

Awards: Academy Award for Best Picture, Academy Award for Best Actor, Academy Award for Best Director, Golden Globe Award for Best Drama Film, Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay, Academy Award for Visual Effects, Academy Award for Film Editing, Golden Globe Award for Best Director - Film, Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Drama Film, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role, National Board of Review Award for Best Film, BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects, Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor, National Board of Review Award for Best Actor, DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film, Funniest Actor In A Motion Picture (Leading Role), PGA Producer of the Year Award for Motion Picture Producer of the Year,People's Choice Award for Favorite Movie, Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor, People's Choice Award for Favorite Drama Movie,People's Choice Award for Favorite Actor in a Dramatic Motion Picture,Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor

Description

While waiting at a bus stop, Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) begins telling his life story to various strangers sitting near him on the bench, the first being a young woman. His story begins with the leg braces he had to wear as a child, which resulted in him being bullied by other children. He lives with his mother (Sally Field), who tells him that "stupid is as stupid does." His mother runs a rooming house and Forrest teaches one of their guests, a young Elvis Presley, a hip-swinging dance. On a bus for his first day of school, Forrest meets Jenny (Robin Wright), with whom he immediately falls in love, and they become best friends. One day, while fleeing from some bullies, Forrest's leg braces break apart and fall away and he discovers that he can run very fast which, despite his below-average intelligence, earns him a scholarship to the University of Alabama from Bear Bryant. While in college, he witnesses George Wallace's Stand in the Schoolhouse Door, is named an All-Americanfootball player, and meets President John F. Kennedy. At this point, the young woman goes on her bus and is soon followed by a woman and her child.

After graduating, Forrest enlists in the United States Army, where he becomes friends with Benjamin Buford "Bubba" Blue (Mykelti Williamson), and they agree to go into the shrimping business together. They are sent to Vietnam, and while on patrol, their platoon is ambushed. Forrest saves four of the men in his platoon, including platoon leader 2nd Lt. Dan Taylor (Gary Sinise), but Bubba is killed. Here it is shown that the current listener is a middle-aged man. Forrest himself is shot in the butt and receives the Medal of Honor from President Lyndon B. Johnson. While recovering from his injuries Forrest meets Lt. Dan again, who has had to have both of his legs amputated below the knees due to his wounds. As such, Lt. Dan is furious at Forrest for leaving him a "cripple" and cheating him out of his destiny to die in an American war like all of his ancestors. In Washington, Forrest is swept up in an anti-war rally at the National Mall and is reunited with Jenny, who is now part of the hippie counterculture movement. They spend the night walking around the capital, but she leaves with her abusive boyfriend the following day.

Forrest discovers an aptitude for ping pong and begins playing for the U.S. Army team, eventually competing against Chinese teams on a goodwill tour. He goes to the White House again and meets President Richard Nixon who provides him a room at the Watergate hotel, where Forrest inadvertently helps expose the Watergate scandal. For his numerous accomplishments, Forrest is invited onto The Dick Cavett Show alongside John Lennon, and helps inspire Lennon's song "Imagine". He again encounters Lt. Dan, who is now an embittered drunk living on welfare. Dan is scornful of Forrest's plans to enter the shrimping business and mockingly promises to be Forrest's first mate if he ever succeeds. As the night goes on, Forrest thinks about Jenny and what she is doing. Unbeknownst to him even in the present, Jenny is living life on the edge of self-destruction, having been with countless men and become addicted toheroin; she even considers suicide that night, but decides against it at the last minute.

Forrest is discharged from the military and using money from a ping pong endorsement, Forrest buys a shrimping boat, fulfilling his wartime promise to Bubba, and names it "Jenny". Dan keeps his own promise and joins Forrest as first mate. They initially have little luck, but after Hurricane Carmen destroys every other shrimping boat in the region, the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company becomes a huge success due to the elimination of competition. Having had an epiphany during the hurricane, Dan finally thanks Forrest for saving his life. Forrest then returns home to care for his ailing mother, who dies soon afterwards. Forrest leaves the company in the hands of Dan, who invests their wealth in shares of a "fruit company" (Apple Computer), making them both millionaires. Eventually, their investments result in the creation of the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company; the middle-aged man doesn't believe this and leaves, laughing, and is soon followed by an intrigued senior woman who listens to Forrest for the rest of the story.

Jenny returns to visit Forrest and stays with him. He proposes but she turns him down. Later in the evening Jenny visits Forrest and they make love, but she quietly slips away the next morning. Distraught, Forrest decides to go for a run, which turns into a three-year coast-to-coast marathon. Forrest becomes a celebrity, attracting a band of followers and inspiring a number of failing entrepreneurs to success. One day he stops suddenly and returns home. He receives a letter from Jenny asking to meet, which brings him to the bus stop where he began telling his story. Once they are reunited, Forrest discovers they have a young son, also named Forrest (Haley Joel Osment). Jenny reveals that she is suffering from an unknown virus. She proposes to him and he accepts, and they return to Alabama with Forrest Jr. and marry. The wedding is attended by Lt Dan, who now has prosthetic legs and a fiancee. However, Jenny dies soon after. Forrest waits with Forrest Jr. for the bus to pick him up for his first day of school, and sits on the same tree stump where his mother sat on his first day of school, and watches his feather bookmark float off in the wind.

. Wikipedia

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Top 100 Movies you must Watch... 17- Seven Samurai

1954 Film

8.8/10-IMDb

100%-Rotten Tomatoes

Release date: November 19, 1956 (USA)

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Running time: 207 minutes

Cinematography: Asakazu Nakai

Screenplay: Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni, Shinobu Hashimoto

Description

Marauding bandits approach a mountain farming village, but having attacked it before, their chief decides to spare it until the harvest. A villager overhears this and warns the rest. Farmers Manzō, hotheaded Rikichi and timid old Yohei, go to the village elder, Gisaku, who declares they must hire samurai to defend the village. Since they have nothing to offer but food, he tells them to find samurai in need of it. Eating millet themselves, the men go to the city to find samurai and offer white rice, their best, but are shunned by most.

An experienced rōnin, Kambei, deftly rescues a boy taken hostage by a thief. Impressed, a young samurai named Katsushirō approaches him to be his disciple, while the farmers are overjoyed when, initially reluctant, Kambei agrees to help them. Kambei recruits old friend Shichirōji and three other samurai with Katsushirō's assistance: the friendly and strategic Gorobei; the good-willed Heihachi; and Kyūzō, a taciturn master swordsman with whom Katsushirō looks at in awe. Though Kambei judged that seven would be necessary, time is short and Katsushirō is taken as a sixth. The poser Kikuchiyo, despite attempts to be driven away, follows them.

When the samurai arrive, they feel insulted by the cold reception as the villagers cower in their homes, so Kikuchiyo raises a false alarm to make them realize their need for help. The samurai accept him as the seventh, but are angered when he brings them armor from samurai the villagers had killed before. Kikuchiyo then castigates them for ignoring hardships the farmers overcome to survive, including harassment from samurai, which reveals his origins as an orphaned farmer's son. The anger the samurai felt turns to shame.

The samurai train the farmers and construct fortifications, as the two groups grow to trust each other. Katsushirō begins a relationship with Shino, Manzō's daughter, who had been forced to masquerade as a boy for protection from the supposedly lustful samurai. As time for the raid approaches, two scouting bandits are killed, while another is captured to reveal the location of their camp before his death. Heihachi is killed in a preemptive strike on the camp led by Rikichi, where it is burnt. Further compounding his sorrow, a woman emerges and kills herself in the fire: Rikichi reveals her as his wife, who had been kidnapped and raped.

The bandits then attack the village but are confounded by the new fortifications, including a moat, and several are killed attempting to cross them. Kambei's successful stratagem is to whittle down enemy numbers by repeatedly letting one bandit enter through a gap, then killing him while blocking the rest with a spear wall of farmers. Meanwhile, Gisaku refused to abandon his home on the outskirts and perishes with his family, who tried retrieving him. A lone grandson survives, which tragically reminds Kikuchiyo of himself.

The bandits possess three deadly muskets. Kyūzō ventures off alone and returns with one. A jealous Kikuchiyo abandons his post to get another, but leaves his contingent of farmers leaderless. They are overwhelmed in an attack and some, including Yohei, are killed. Kambei is forced to send reinforcements, leaving the main post undermanned as the bandit chief attacks it and Gorobei is slain. With the bandit numbers lowered, Kambei instructs all at night, including a remorseful Kikuchiyo, to prepare for a final, decisive battle. Meanwhile, Manzō catches Shino with Katsushirō and beats her until Kambei and the village intervene. Manzō is told to accept romance between youths.

In the following rainy morning, Kambei orders to let the remaining bandits in. Most are killed, but their musket-armed chief, unseen, takes refuge in the hut containing the village women. He shoots Kyūzō, and a distraught Katsushirō watches his hero die. An enraged Kikuchiyo charges towards the hut, only to be shot as well. However, Kikuchiyo gets up and kills the frightened bandit chief as his final act before dying. Kambei and Shichirōji, who had hoped to find death in battle, observe that they have survived once again. Afterwards, the three surviving samurai watch the villagers joyfully planting the next crop. Having lost their comrades, they reflect on the fact that it is the farmers who are the true victors.

. Wikipedia

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