#291 – Django Unchained, 2012, Quentin Tarantino
With the help of a German bounty hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner.
JUMBO CACTUAR APPROVED FILM
Tag: USA
#295: Sullivan’s Travels
#295 – Sullivan’s Travels, 1941, Preston Sturges
Successful movie director John L. Sullivan, convinced he won’t be able to film his ambitious masterpiece until he has suffered, dons a hobo disguise and sets off on a journey, aiming to “know trouble” first-hand. When all he finds is a train ride back to Hollywood and a beautiful blonde companion, he redoubles his efforts, managing to land himself in more trouble than he bargained for when he loses his memory and ends up a prisoner on a chain gang.
#297: The General
#297 – The General, 1926, Buster Keaton & Clyde Bruckman
During America’s Civil War Union spies steal engineer Johnnie Gray’s beloved locomotive The General – his lady love, Annabelle Lee, aboard an attached boxcar – and he single-handedly must do all in his power to both get The General back and to rescue Annabelle. Released throughout most of the world in 1927, this Silent comedy-action film flopped when originally released, but now is regarded as one of the great American motion pictures. The story is based on actual historic events.
#299: American History X
#299 – American History X, 1998, Tony Kaye
Derek Vineyard is paroled after serving 3 years in prison for killing two thugs who tried to break into/steal his truck. Through his brother, Danny Vineyard’s narration, we learn that before going to prison, Derek was a skinhead and the leader of a violent white supremacist gang that committed acts of racial crime throughout L.A. and his actions greatly influenced Danny. Reformed and fresh out of prison, Derek severs contact with the gang and becomes determined to keep Danny from going down the same violent path as he did.
JUMBO CACTUAR APPROVED FILM
#300: Mad Max: Fury Road
#300 – Mad Max: Fury Road, 2015, George Miller
An apocalyptic story set in the furthest reaches of our planet, in a stark desert landscape where humanity is broken, and most everyone is crazed fighting for the necessities of life. Within this world exist two rebels on the run who just might be able to restore order.
#301: To Kill a Mockingbird
#301 – To Kill a Mockingbird, 1962, Robert Mulligan
Scout Finch, 6, and her older brother Jem live in sleepy Maycomb, Alabama, spending much of their time with their friend Dill and spying on their reclusive and mysterious neighbor, Boo Radley. When Atticus, their widowed father and a respected lawyer, defends a black man named Tom Robinson against fabricated rape charges, the trial and tangent events expose the children to evils of racism and stereotyping.
#302: Leave No Trace
#302 – Leave No Trace, 2018, Debra Granik
A father and daughter live a perfect but mysterious existence in Forest Park, a beautiful nature reserve near Portland, Oregon, rarely making contact with the world. But when a small mistake tips them off to authorities, they are sent on an increasingly erratic journey in search of a place to call their own.
#307: Winter’s Bone
#307 – Winter’s Bone, 2010, Debra Granik
17 year-old Ree Dolly sets out to track down her father, who put their house up for his bail bond and then disappeared. If she fails, Ree and her family will be turned out into the Ozark woods. Challenging her outlaw kin’s code of silence and risking her life, Ree hacks through the lies, evasions and threats offered up by her relatives and begins to piece together the truth.
#309: Inside Llewyn Davis
#309 – Inside Llewyn Davis, 2013, Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
In Greenwich Village in the early 1960s, gifted but volatile folk musician Llewyn Davis struggles with money, relationships, and his uncertain future following the suicide of his singing partner.
#311: The Royal Tenenbaums
#311 – The Royal Tenenbaums, 2001, Wes Anderson
Royal Tenenbaum and his wife Etheline had three children and then they separated. All three children are extraordinary — all geniuses. Virtually all memory of the brilliance of the young Tenenbaums was subsequently erased by two decades of betrayal, failure, and disaster. Most of this was generally considered to be their father’s fault. “The Royal Tenenbaums” is the story of the family’s sudden, unexpected reunion one recent winter.
Jumbo Cactuar Film Index 