Writing a movie review is a great way of expressing your opinion of a movie. The purpose of most movie reviews is to help the reader in determining whether they want. Based on your feedback we are improving the member login section of this website. We can’t wait to show you the new and improved member area, coming soon. My (Current) Ultimate List of Travel Movies. Way back in 2. 00. I created a list of ten of the best travel movies ever. The Castro Theatre is San Francisco's Historic Movie Palace. Celebrates Baraka, Samsara, Koyaanisqatsi and other non-verbal films. Information about the film makers. Some movies are made to touch our heart and soul with an overabundance of sentiment. They make us come in touch with our humanity and empathy. And some films are made. There are a few my all time favorite movies on this list. Before Sunrise goes to my ultimate Top 5 movies list and I really like how good you described the. It’s a great list. But 2. 00. 8 was a long time ago. What?!) Since I watch a lot of movies on flights and there have been many wonderful and breathtaking travel movies made since then, watching The Way a few days ago made me realize that we’re long overdue for a list of my all- time favorite travel movies that will inspire you to get off the couch, pack your bag, and head to unknown lands: Lost in Translation. Besides being an all- around incredible movie, it takes you into the heart of chaotic Tokyo. Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson play two characters adrift in their hotel. They are suffering from a self- imposed confinement, and that bonds them together. Together, they escape into Tokyo with its nonstop energy. The sights, sounds, and energy overwhelm you and will have you booking a flight to Japan. It’s one of my favorite movies of all time. Whale Rider. I remember seeing this movie when it came out. It blew me away. The story follows a little girl in a Maori village and her struggle to get her grandfather’s acceptance. But the real star here is Maori culture. The modern world of a Maori is spotlighted in an accurate portrayal that invokes wonder and sympathy. I met a member of the featured tribe while in New Zealand, who said the film benefited his people greatly. This movie sparked a fascination with Maori culture that is part of the reason why I went to New Zealand. Lord of the Rings. Another New Zealand–based movie, Peter Jackson’s award- winning epic will leave you stunned by the diverse and beautiful landscape of New Zealand. From glaciers to rivers, mountains, and forests, New Zealand’s beauty was the star of this movie. It launched the country’s modern tourist industry and made it one of the premier destinations for adventure seekers. Die- hard fans can take part in Lord of the Rings tours. Into the Wild. Based on a true story, this movie follows Christopher Mc. Candless as he tries to shed his material life and get in touch with real life and nature. After graduating from college, Christopher sets out on a road trip through the USA before ending up in Alaska. Much of the story is based on second- hand accounts, yet the movie is a poignant reminder that we all could simplify our lives a little bit and just enjoy living. It reminds us that travel is not about what we carry with us but about what we carry inside. In Bruges. Colin Farrell may have thought a life in Bruges was hell, but the city provides a beautiful backdrop for this comedy. And I have to admit, until I saw this movie, I really didn’t know much about Bruges. Sure, I knew where it was and that it was famous, but I’d never given much thought to it. After this movie, I wanted to go to Bruges! It looked beautiful. This movie will have you including it in your next European adventure. Under the Tuscan Sun. I don’t like Diane Lane romance movies, and this movie is totally one of them. Girl feels lost in life, starts fresh, meets guy, everything works out. This movie could star any actress, because the real movie star here is Tuscany. Tuscany provides the stunning backdrop for this otherwise mediocre movie. This place lives up to all the hype that surrounds it and will make you want to leave home and buy a vineyard in some small Italian village. Nowhere in Africa. A German movie that follows the true- life story of a Jewish family that escapes the Nazis to run a farm in Kenya. The movie deals with how they adjust to their new life and cope with the life they left behind. Anyone who has ever adapted to a new culture will be able to relate. It’s not always easy, but as this movie shows, it’s possible once you open yourself up. The movie is in German but subtitled in English. Besides being a inspiring travel movie, it’s one of my favorite foreign- language movies. Crocodile Dundee. Not only did these movies launch the short career of Paul Hogan but they made everyone want to be an Aussie. Dundee was the Mac. Gyver of the outback. While the movies gave a generation of people clich. Like us, Aussies were free- spirited pioneers with a love for the wilderness. While it’s clich. Maybe not as much as Ryan Bingham, George Clooney’s character, but when I saw this movie, I found myself relating too much to Ryan’s character. Though in some ways it has a happy ending, I found the movie to be a downer. I was depressed for hours afterward, because I see myself in Ryan’s lifestyle. He’s a man who feels at home in airports and planes and is constantly on the move. As he says, moving is living. The movie is a must- watch for long- term travelers, as it brings up the sometimes mixed emotions we have about living in constant motion. The Beach. Released in 2. Alex Garland’s novel about young backpackers who set out to find paradise but end up destroying it, and it had me drooling over Thailand. Those beaches, those parties, those people. It seemed wonderful. Backpackers in Asia are always reading the book, and the movie plays in all the guesthouses. It says something about our hopes for the road: we want to find our own idyllic, romantic paradise. The one we all think won’t be destroyed, but will. The movie has a different ending, characters, and storyline than the book, but the theme is the same. It is a great reflection on the hopes and realities of travel. The Motorcycle Diaries. Set in South America, this movie follows the life of Che Guevara from doctor to revolutionary. Starring Gael Garc. It shows the heartbreaking poverty of the time period, too. Beautifully cast and directed, this movie will make you want to jump on a motorcycle and explore the continent. Even if you do not agree with the politics of the movie, its acting is first- rate, and this movie transcends the politics of the man it follows. It was critically acclaimed for a reason. Any Indiana Jones. Indy made everyone an archaeologist and an adventure seeker. From Egypt to India, Indy showed us the world and the mythology of ancient cultures. The movie brought out the adventurer in me and helped foster a love for history. It also did wonders for Petra, Jordan. Who didn’t want to see the city after watching The Last Crusade!? Despite the lackluster fourth installment, these movies not only remain some of the best in travel but some of the best of all time. Thelma and Louise. Released in 1. 99. Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis as two women driving across the American Southwest in search of adventure and friendship while escaping the law. The movie is stunningly acted, winning many accolades, and also features breathtaking shots of the American West that will make you want to get in your car and see the country. Lawrence of Arabia. Released in 1. 96. Peter O’Toole classic is set during World War I and follows a British soldier’s interaction with nomadic tribes. O’Toole is T. E. Lawrence, who unites Arabian tribes against the Turks. With stunning images of the desert, you’ll soon be wanting to lead your own expedition through the desert, though probably not for war. Lawrence may remain a controversial figure, but there’s no controversy that this is a great film set in an amazing place. Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. A movie about Australian drag queens that take a road trip across the desert in order to perform at a lip- synching show. It’s funny, it’s heartwarming, it won a bunch of awards. The stars get shocking reactions as they wander across the Outback toward their show, stopping often along the way. Most importantly, it highlights two of the best things about Australia: the Outback and awesome accents. A Good Year. Made in 2. Russell Crowe, this movie features him as an uptight banker who finds his soul again when returns to his uncle’s vineyard. All he wants to do is sell it and make some money, but soon the countryside and a pretty French girl have him changing his tune. The movie takes you across Europe in a whirlwind of stereotypes, but it’s pretty funny, and anyone who has roamed Europe can probably relate to a few of the situations. The script isn’t deep, and some of the situations are goofy, but it does a good job of sending you across Europe and features a very memorable appearance by Matt Damon. Seven Years in Tibet. This movie is about a German mountaineer Heinrich Harrer and his time with the Dalai Lama. Released in 1. 99. Brad Pitt, it takes an interesting look at Tibetan culture on the eve of the Chinese invasion. You get an outsider’s perspective on this remote nation and of the ruler who now lives in exile in India. It is an interesting movie, even if it’s not 1. The Darjeeling Limited. A year after their father’s funeral, three brothers travel across India by train in an attempt to grieve, bond, and get closer. As the brothers try to find meaning in their loss, they fight, resent each other, overcome barriers, and learn to love India. While not my favorite Wes Anderson movie, I loved the cinematography and scenery of this movie. I felt it did a good job of making you want to jump on a plane to India. Midnight in Paris. I pretty much love every movie about Paris, but this is one of my all- time favorites, not least because it is set mostly set 1. Jazz Age Paris — the one time period I would live in above all others. The movie follows Gil, a writer on vacation with his fianc. At night, he wanders the streets of Paris before stumbling into a time warp that sends him back to the ’2. With its lighting, story, and incredible acting, this movie will make your heart swoon for the City of Lights. Even though it plays to all the clich. Artfully shot with intriguing characters and beautiful scenery, this is not only one of my favorite travel movies (and a phenomenal look at Indian culture) but one of my all- time favorite movies ever. I highly recommend you watch this movie. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. This movie was better than I thought (and helped create a boom in Icelandic tourism). The 1. 0 Most Beautiful Movies of All Time « Taste of Cinema. Pan’s Labyrinth (Cinematographer: Guillermo Navarro)In 2. Spanish world had never heard of Guillermo del Toro, the now acclaimed director of Pan’s Labyrinth. It would be a film that captured the hearts and minds of millions around the world despite its status as a . With cinematography by that other Guillermo, Guillermo Navarro (Pacific Rim, Jackie Brown) and production design by Eugenio Caballero (The Impossible, Resident Evil: Extinction), Pan’s Labyrinth, sometimes translated as . It has all three of those genres covered in spades. Set in 1. 94. 4 during the turmoil that occurred in Spain shortly after the civil war, the narrative follows the life of a young girl named Ofelia who is dealing with the cold, harsh reality of the frightening adult world with which she is surrounded. Slowly, over he course of the film she becomes drawn into an alternative reality of faeries and mythical creatures who both assist her and test her with obstacles, casting her into the Labyrinth of the Faun. On the surface, the story is simply a fantastical and beautiful fairytale that recalls the old gods and pagan times. On a deeper level, one is left with the impression that Ofelia is either hiding from the senseless violence of the real world, in her imagination, or that it has driven her insane. On an even deeper, archetypal level, the film is about growing up and facing a kind of ego death. Winning three Academy Awards and three BAFTA awards, as well as a HUGO award and a slew of other decorations at the time, Pan’s Labyrinth is one of the most beautifully orchestrated and visually stunning films of its generation and it may be some time before another such fairytale comes close to eclipsing its perfection. Stalker (Cinematographer: Georgy Rerberg, Alexander Knyazhinsky, Leonid Kalashnikov)This low key sci- fi drama directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, with its slow meandering plot and enigmatic, tight cast of characters is among the most original and philosophically sound pieces you are ever likely to see. Tarkovsky is one of the pioneers and masters of the “long take”. The film opens with a static, sepia colored, three to four minute shot of a man being served breakfast in a dingy bar while the opening credits fade in and out in yellow. At four minutes and fourteen seconds, this is followed by an interminably slow, minute long tracking shot towards a pair of dirty double doors and then peeks into a bedroom. At five mins twenty eight seconds Tarkovsky cuts to a tight over- head shot of a side table. A glass of water is rattling and sliding on it from the vibrations of a passing train. The camera slowly begins to crab left, still overhead, to reveal, one at a time, a mother, a girl and finally a man. He is the only one awake. Now Tarkovsky crabs back across the bed again, still the same shot, over the girl sleeping between her parents. The mother is awake now too. She lays still, eyes open but despondent. The tray is also still too. The train noises have stopped and the camera finally rests. The film cuts to a wide shot now as the father climbs slowly from the bed and quietly gets dresses in real time. The sequence would be painfully slow if not for the rich textures and playful mise en scene. It teeters on tedious but one quickly learns with Tarkovsky that there will always be a transformation or a point of interest, some kind of payoff, if you just pay attention a little longer. In this way Tarkovsky pulls us into the story world by forcing us to try and see beyond the edges of the frame. We are given time to consider the many questions that each image presents and we would do well to do so if we want to make sense of his work. On the one hand the narrative is a kind of absurd slipstream, loosely based on the novel Roadside Panic (also penned by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky). Here, deep in the heart of a post- apocalyptic territory, cordoned off by the government, lays a place called The Zone where all manner of strange and invisible dangers lurk. Curiously, Tarkovsky uses sepia film stock for all the scenes leading up to and outside The Zone, transitioning to color footage as the narrative takes the characters within. Surely, the Zone is some kind of metaphor for life. Within The Zone is said to be a room that will grant wishes to whomever makes it that far and is able to enter. The films simple, but rather strange narrative follows a Stalker, a kind of guide, in the movie, who is assisting a professor and a writer to gain access to the Room. As they move through the wasteland, they utilize various homemade devices, such as bolts tied to pieces of cloth, to test that gravity is still functioning correctly and to avoid pitfalls and hidden dangers. Eventually we are to discover that the room provides not necessarily what the occupants wants, but what he or she, unconsciously desires. Despite few action- based scenes (especially after entering the Zone), the film is tense and highly dramatic. Its characters are interesting and cleverly polarized in ways that exploit the potential drama. Ultimately, beyond the raw beauty of the wilderness that is encompassed in the film; the beautifully executed cinematography (and so it should be, due to various mishaps, Tarkovsky shot the film three times, so he’d had some time to think about it), this film’s true inner beauty comes from the uniqueness of its narrative and the philosophical questions it raises for the astute viewer. Lawrence of Arabia (Cinematographer: Freddie Young)It hardly needs to be said that Lawrence of Arabia is a beautiful film. One that despite over half a century of cinema, remains as impressive as ever. No one who has seen the film will forget the moment that a rider emerges from the heat waves on the horizon and then in complete silence, over several long minutes, approaches the camera from the distance. It is one of the boldest and most intense experiences in the history of cinema. The film is unabashedly stunning in its visual scope. Its tapestry of flowing, sand- filled vistas and panoramas, full of sunrises and shimmering heat waves, uses deep field lenses to masterfully exploit the cinema screen to its maximum potential. It is a film full of imagery that has become etched in the collective unconsciousness of both audiences and filmmakers to this very day. No one who has seen a 7. One that captures not just the epic expanses and extreme conditions of the Arabian desert, but also its stark beauty and landscapes. It seems to come close to capturing the very spirit of the famous British officer who united the Arab tribes against the Turks during World War I. Among its most enduring images are the intricate and human details of its lead actor, Peter O’Toole’s enigmatic, empathetic and endearing features. Four stories high on the big screen. Based upon the writings of T. E. Lawrence, and directed by master craftsman, David Lean, (Bridge over the River Kawai and Doctor Zhivago) Lawrence of Arabia is perhaps the finest and clearest example of how a director can effectively use the extreme aspect ratio afforded by that rare and extravagant medium, 7. At around four hours long, Lawrence of Arabia manages what few films ever do. Going beyond words and dialogue, it uses its vast cinematic power to seize the most elusive thing of all; sensations and feelings. It tells a compelling story with a minimal of fuss, a minimum of action and minimal distractions. It even leaves the (historic) sexuality of its lead protagonist ambiguous, without casting aspersions in any direction. Painting its hero as both complex and real, it remains a modern myth and leaves its viewers with a sense of awe and wonder at the desert. A Space Odyssey (Cinematographer: Geoffrey Unsworth)Long, tedious, dated and self indulgent, 2. A Space Odyssey has long been hailed as Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece of science fiction. Co- written with Arthur C. Clark, the relatively simple story would have made an impressive ten minute short film from the modern audience’s perspective. Filled with long, slow shots reminiscent of the Thunderbirds laborious stop motion launch scenes and a heavy emphasis on science over human relationships, the film is still undeniably beautiful. Every frame is carefully composed and expertly photographed. Despite being a kitsch, retro vision of the future from 1. Earth—the film holds up incredibly well considering it has not one iota of CGI and relies entirely on analogue and mechanical effects. Even the famous star- gate sequence at the end was filmed using an old mechanical effect called a slit- scan. One can only assume the pace and tempo was designed to instill shock and awe in its cinema going audience with its extraordinary detail and deeply considered projection of the future. Watching 2. 00. 1, one must keep in mind that the popular sci- fi of this era was heavy handed and generally did not rely on very much actual science. Thus, when 2. 00. Modern audiences by contrast have been saturated and spoiled with zero- gravity special effects, spaceships and space stations. Think Gravity, Interstellar, Elysium, the modern Star Trek films etc. But to the audiences of 1. A Space Odyssey must have appeared to be a direct window into a very real, very functional future that seemed almost inevitable at the time. Comparing 2. 00. 1 with the Tarkovsky masterpiece, Solaris, is like chalk and cheese. While Space Odyssey has incredible visuals that have (until recently anyway) stood the test of time, Solaris is by far the deeper, more interesting film. Solaris is not only more interesting, with deeper characters, with more complex motivations, it seems to understand exactly what it is trying to say and says it. Kubrick’s space adventure, on the other hand, seems to be self obsessed with the physical plot, with little emotional subtext. There is almost no characterization throughout (the ship’s A. I., HAL is undoubtedly the most likable and interesting character) until the final end sequence.
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