Justis Barrymore :: Favorites

Favorites

Movies

Three Short Films by Andrew Lovrin Under the umbrella title, Metaphysics from the Triple Muse, is a trio of morality tales using the medium of video. The truth is in the words, so look and listen. Millennium Menu Conflict Poppa's Horse These movies require the QuickTime player.

Carnival Carnival sets out to explore the ways of magic and wonder, thought to be extinct. As the carnival travels from town to town, a different stage is set to play out many of life’s dramas, and to discover the magic hidden within. Many ‘carnies’ consider their purpose to ‘wake people up’, by challenging their belief systems and by remaining true to their hearts. It shows how our unconscious is always available to guide us, if we chose to follow the signs and believe. Read more about this series.

The Island Just how much does our youth, health and beauty mean to us? What lengths are we willing to go to preserve them and to create the perfect life, a life with no emotion, no feeling and no expression. How indifferent can we be to humanity, love, ourselves? The movie explores our passion for perfection, and what we are willing to destroy in the process of obtaining it. Read more about this movie.

Queer as Folk Hold on to your seat belt! The best thing EVER on TV! Watch, and remember to breathe because every relationship pattern is in there. Fantastic. Read more about this series.

The Lord of War Nicholas Cage plays the lead as the biggest, ‘private’! arms dealer in the world. The shocking true story of what really happens between governments and nations. The individuals who profit, and the millions who suffer. A reflection of our own internal war. “Never go to war, especially with yourself” The War Lord Read more about this movie.

Tsotsi A deeply affecting portrait of ghetto life in Johannesburg. A story of hope and redemption, love and rage. Oscar winner for best foreign film. Whatever foreign means and why it has its own category I haven’t worked out! Read more about this movie.

Absolutely Fabulous A must see. Hilarious sitcom made for TV. About British disfunction at it’s most disfunctional. Sweetie, darling, sweetie. Read more about this series.

The Mists of Avalon This retelling of the Arthurian legends focuses on the role of powerful females and crams in a wealth of mysticism, family intrigue, and bloody swordplay into three hours. Viviane, the Lady of the Lake, endeavors to perpetuate the old religion as pagan Britain comes into contact with Christianity. The scheming Morgause conspires to her own ends. And Avalon priestess Morgaine, travels the heroine's journey, overcoming tragedies, injustice, and all manner of obstacles in her duty to both "the goddess" and her younger brother, King Arthur. Read more about this movie.

Baraka It begins with morning, natural landscapes and people at prayer: volcanoes, water fallsand forests; several hundred monks chanting. Indigenous peoples apply body paint; whole villages dance. The film moves to destruction of nature via logging, blasting, and strip mining. Images of poverty, rapid urban life, and factories give way to war, concentration camps, and mass graves. Ancient ruins come into view, and then a sacred river where pilgrims bathe and funeral pyres burn. Prayer and nature return. A monk rings a huge bell; stars wheel across the sky. Read more about this movie.

Beauty and the Beast The story of Belle, a beautiful and intelligent girl and the Beast who was once a handsome Prince, but was turned into a monster by a cruel witch. The Beast takes Belle's father prisoner and only lets him free when Belle agrees to stay with him forever. Read more about this movie.

Bowling for Columbine Michael Moore tries to find out why Americans are so obsessed with guns. Read more about this movie.

Defending your Life Daniel Miller is killed in a car accident and goes to Judgment City, a waiting room for the afterlife. During the day, he must prove in a courtroom-style process that he successfully overcame his fears; at night, he falls in love with Julia, the only other young person in town. Nights are a time of hedonistic pleasure, since you can eat all you want without getting fat. Read more about this movie.

Drop Dead Fred When Lizzie Cronin manages to lose her purse, her car, her job and her husband all in one day, her imaginary childhood friend Fred appears, to help her find some happiness. Read more about this movie.

Fight Club A man who has no family sets up a new club where men can come together and relieve themselves of their pent-up aggression. The club proves to be very popular and soon more clubs open. Read more about this movie.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Harry Potter begins his second year at Hogwarts School of Wizardry, but is warned by a mysterious creature that danger awaits him at the school. Malevolent voices whisper from the walls. Soon it's not just Harry who is worried about survival, as dreadful things begin to happen at Hogwarts. Read more about this movie.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Harry Potter has spent the first ten years of his life living under the stairs in the house of his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, who generally dislike him. Then, one day, a giant, named Hagrid, comes to him with an invitation to study at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry soon discovers that there are two worlds: one is the dreary world of the Muggles where he's grown up, and the other is one of magic and fantasy, and it's the latter in which he's destined to live. Read more about this movie.

INFINIT - THE JOURNEY This programme explores the visual beauty of the Mandelbrot set in its infinite complexity. It’s astonishing that a simple 3-digit formula, when processed in a computer, can create an entity of infinite complexity. No matter how far we dive into the Mandelbrot set on the computer, we will never reach the end of it, nor will it ever cease to create for us more patterns, more structures, more intricate forms! The deep beauty and stunning consistency, which we discover at every level of the infinite vistas of the apparent chaos of the Mandelbrot set, reminds us of life itself. And this is why the Mandelbrot set has come to be known as THE THUMBPRINT OF GOD. Read more about this movie.

The Matrix In the near future, a computer hacker named Neo discovers that all life on Earth may be nothing more than an elaborate facade created by a malevolent cyber-intelligence, for the purpose of placating us while our life essence is "farmed" to fuel the Matrix's campaign of domination in the "real" world. He joins like-minded Rebel warriors Morpheus and Trinity in their struggle to overthrow the Matrix. Read more about this movie.

Merlin The legend of King Arthur, this time, from the perspective of the King's Wizard, Merlin. Merlin is a creature born of pagan magic, living in a world converting to Christianity. Merlin is beside Arthur as he gains Excalibur, builds Camelot and is betrayed by his wife, Guinevere. Merlin and Arthur are both menaced by the plots of Morgan Le Fey, her son by Arthur, Mordred, and their cohorts. Through it all, Merlin tries to keep Arthur from the destructive path set by fate. Read more about this movie.

The Cell Catharine Deane is a psychotherapist who is part of a revolutionary new treatment which allows her mind to literally enter the mind of her patients. Her experience in this method takes an unexpected turn when an FBI agent comes to ask for a desperate favour. They had just tracked down a notorious serial killer whose MO is to abduct women one at a time and place them in a secret area where they are kept for about 40 hours until they are slowly drowned. Unfortunately, the killer has fallen into an irreversible coma which means he cannot confess where he has taken his latest victim before she dies. Now, Catherine Deane must race against time to explore the twisted mind of the killer to get the information she needs. Read more about this movie.

What Dreams May Come After the death of their two children, Dr. Chris Nielson and his wife Annie find continuing their lives fraught with difficulties. When Chris dies and goes to Heaven he meets Albert (Cuba Gooding Jr.) and discovers that Heaven is even more wondrous than anything he could have imagined. However, Chris's death is the last straw for Annie and in her madness commits suicide and journeys to a place very different from Chris. On discovering Annie's misfortune, Chris forces Albert to enlist the help of The Tracker and together they journey into the depths of despair to discover the destiny of Annie's soul and attempt a rescue. Read more about this movie.

The Fifth Element Alongside the elements of earth, wind, fire, and water, there is a fifth element, embodied within a young woman (Milla Jovovich). And it's a good thing too because it and she are the key to preventing the end of the universe. So she's the fifth element, she's the sum total of our hope for survival. Read more about this movie.

Malena The Second World War: Italy begins on the side of the Germans and later switches to the Allies, leading to seriously ambivalent attitudes. In the early days of the fighting, the youth of a small coastal town make a habit of gathering on the seafront to watch the daily promenade of Malena (Monica Belluci) a young woman of ravishing beauty who strolls past totally ignoring them. One of the boys, Renato (Giuseppe Solfaro) becomes so besotted that he takes to spying on her. She is a war wife, and her husband is posted missing. After the arrival of the Nazis she consorts with a German officer, behaviour that shocks the townsfolk, and later she is brutally punished by the women who beat her, shave her to the scalp, and strip her in public. Renato, having followed her progress through his adolescence, watches her humiliation passively . . . Read more about this movie.