UNLIMITED STREAMING
WITH PRIME VIDEO
TRY 30-DAY TRIAL

20 Visually Inspiring Films

20 Visually Inspiring Films

The Revenant

Release Date 2015
Rating : 8 Production Companies: Appian Way, Anonymous Content Director: Samantha Ellison, Samantha Ellison, Jessica Clothier Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson

Summary: In the 1820s, a frontiersman, Hugh Glass, sets out on a path of vengeance against those who left him for dead after a bear mauling.

La La Land

Release Date 2016
Rating : 8 Production Companies: Summit Entertainment, Lionsgate Director: Paula Case, Peter Kohn, Lyn Matsuda Norton Stars: Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, John Legend

Summary: Mia, an aspiring actress, serves lattes to movie stars in between auditions and Sebastian, a jazz musician, scrapes by playing cocktail party gigs in dingy bars, but as success mounts they are faced with decisions that begin to fray the fragile fabric of their love affair, and the dreams they worked so hard to maintain in each other threaten to rip them apart.

The Jungle Book

Release Date 2016
Rating : 7.4 Production Companies: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Moving Picture Company Director: Jon Favreau, David H. Venghaus Jr., Gregory J. Pawlik Jr. Stars: Neel Sethi, Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley

Summary: A man-cub named Mowgli fostered by wolves. After a threat from the tiger Shere Khan, Mowgli is forced to flee the jungle, by which he embarks on a journey of self discovery with the help of the panther, Bagheera and the free-spirited bear, Baloo.

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Release Date 2014
Rating : 8.1 Production Companies: Fox Searchlight Pictures, Scott Rudin Productions Director: Alexandra Torterotot, Ben Howard, Josh Robertson Stars: Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Tony Revolori

Summary: The Grand Budapest Hotel tells of a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars and his friendship with a young employee who becomes his trusted protégé. The story involves the theft and recovery of a priceless Renaissance painting, the battle for an enormous family fortune and the slow and then sudden upheavals that transformed Europe during the first half of the 20th century.

Inception

Release Date 2010
Rating : 8.8 Production Companies: Legendary Pictures, Warner Bros. Director: Christopher Nolan, Paula Turnbull, Steve Gehrke Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Watanabe

Summary: Cobb, a skilled thief who commits corporate espionage by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets is offered a chance to regain his old life as payment for a task considered to be impossible: "inception", the implantation of another person's idea into a target's subconscious.

Brokeback Mountain

Release Date 2005
Rating : 7.7 Production Companies: River Road Entertainment, Alberta Film Entertainment Director: Ang Lee, Karen Bédard, Michael Hausman Stars: Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams

Summary: Rodeo cowboy Jack and ranch hand Ennis are hired as sheepherders in 1963 Wyoming. One night on Brokeback Mountain, they spark a physical relationship. Though Ennis marries his longtime sweetheart and Jack marries a fellow rodeo rider, they keep up their tortured, sporadic love affair for 20 years.

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Release Date 2014
Rating : 7.7 Production Companies: Worldview Entertainment, New Regency Pictures Director: Eva Z. Cabrera, Peter Kohn, Alejandro González Iñárritu Stars: Michael Keaton, Emma Stone, Zach Galifianakis

Summary: A fading actor best known for his portrayal of a popular superhero attempts to mount a comeback by appearing in a Broadway play. As opening night approaches, his attempts to become more altruistic, rebuild his career, and reconnect with friends and family prove more difficult than expected.

Pan's Labyrinth

Release Date 2006
Rating : 8.2 Production Companies: Estudios Picasso, Telecinco Cinema Director: Carmen Soriano, Guillermo del Toro, Borja Grandío Stars: Ivana Baquero, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú

Summary: Living with her tyrannical stepfather in a new home with her pregnant mother, 10-year-old Ofelia feels alone until she explores a decaying labyrinth guarded by a mysterious faun who claims to know her destiny. If she wishes to return to her real father, Ofelia must complete three terrifying tasks.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Release Date 2007
Rating : 7.3 Production Companies: DreamWorks Pictures, DreamWorks SKG Director: Tim Burton, Katterli Frauenfelder, Nikki Clapp Stars: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman

Summary: The infamous story of Benjamin Barker, a.k.a Sweeney Todd, who sets up a barber shop down in London which is the basis for a sinister partnership with his fellow tenant, Mrs. Lovett. Based on the hit Broadway musical.

Avatar

Release Date 2009
Rating : 7.9 Production Companies: 20th Century Fox, Ingenious Film Partners Director: Ana Maria Quintana, Luca Kouimelis, Sarah Hinch Stars: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver

Summary: In the 22nd century, a paraplegic Marine is dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission, but becomes torn between following orders and protecting an alien civilization.

Life of Pi

Release Date 2012
Rating : 7.9 Production Companies: Ingenious Film Partners, Ingenious Media Director: Ang Lee Stars: Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Ayush Tandon

Summary: The story of an Indian boy named Pi, a zookeeper's son who finds himself in the company of a hyena, zebra, orangutan, and a Bengal tiger after a shipwreck sets them adrift in the Pacific Ocean.

Gone with the Wind

Release Date 1939
Rating : 8.2 Production Companies: Selznick International Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Director: Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Sam Wood Stars: Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Olivia de Havilland

Summary: The spoiled daughter of a Georgia plantation owner conducts a tumultuous romance with a cynical profiteer during the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era.

The Wizard of Oz

Release Date 1939
Rating : 8.1 Production Companies: Loew's Incorporated, Loew's Director: Victor Fleming, George Cukor, King Vidor Stars: Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley

Summary: Young Dorothy finds herself in a magical world where she makes friends with a lion, a scarecrow and a tin man as they make their way along the yellow brick road to talk with the Wizard and ask for the things they miss most in their lives. The Wicked Witch of the West is the only thing that could stop them.

The Bridge on the River Kwai

Release Date 1957
Rating : 8.1 Production Companies: Columbia Pictures Corporation, Horizon Pictures Director: David Lean, A. B. Raj, Ted Sturgis Stars: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins

Summary: The classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. British and American intelligence officers conspire to blow up the structure, but Col. Nicholson, the commander who supervised the bridge's construction, has acquired a sense of pride in his creation and tries to foil their plans.

Days of Heaven

Release Date 1978
Rating : 7.7 Production Companies: Paramount Director: Terrence Malick, Rob Lockwood, Skip Cosper Stars: Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard

Summary: In 1916, a Chicago steel worker accidentally kills his supervisor and flees to the Texas panhandle with his girlfriend and little sister to work harvesting wheat in the fields of a stoic farmer.

Apocalypse Now

Release Date 1979
Rating : 8.4 Production Companies: Zoetrope Studios, United Artists Director: Jerry Ziesmer, Larry J. Franco, Tony Brandt Stars: Martin Sheen, Frederic Forrest, Albert Hall

Summary: At the height of the Vietnam war, Captain Benjamin Willard is sent on a dangerous mission that, officially, "does not exist, nor will it ever exist." His goal is to locate - and eliminate - a mysterious Green Beret Colonel named Walter Kurtz, who has been leading his personal army on illegal guerrilla missions into enemy territory.

Amadeus

Release Date 1984
Rating : 8.4 Production Companies: Warner Bros., AMLF Director: Miloš Forman, Michael Hausman, Anne Gyory Stars: F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge

Summary: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a remarkably talented young Viennese composer who unwittingly finds a fierce rival in the disciplined and determined Antonio Salieri. Resenting Mozart for both his hedonistic lifestyle and his undeniable talent, the highly religious Salieri is gradually consumed by his jealousy and becomes obsessed with Mozart's downfall, leading to a devious scheme that has dire consequences for both men.

Dangerous Liaisons

Release Date 1988
Rating : 7.6 Production Companies: Lorimar Film Entertainment, Warner Bros. Director: Stephen Frears, Penny Eyles, Bernard Seitz Stars: Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer

Summary: In 18th century France, Marquise de Merteuil asks her ex-lover Vicomte de Valmont to seduce the future wife of another ex-lover of hers in return for one last night with her. Yet things don’t go as planned.

The Remains of the Day

Release Date 1993
Rating : 7.8 Production Companies: Columbia Pictures, Merchant Ivory Productions Director: James Ivory, Christopher Newman, Diana Dill Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, James Fox

Summary: A rule bound head butler's world of manners and decorum in the household he maintains is tested by the arrival of a housekeeper who falls in love with him in post-WWI Britain. The possibility of romance and his master's cultivation of ties with the Nazi cause challenge his carefully maintained veneer of servitude.

Amélie

Release Date 2001
Rating : 8.3 Production Companies: France 3 Cinéma, Claudie Ossard Productions Director: Anne Wermelinger, Sylvain Bressollette, Christophe Vassort Stars: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Rufus

Summary: At a tiny Parisian café, the adorable yet painfully shy Amélie accidentally discovers a gift for helping others. Soon Amelie is spending her days as a matchmaker, guardian angel, and all-around do-gooder. But when she bumps into a handsome stranger, will she find the courage to become the star of her very own love story?

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Release Date 2001
Rating : 8.9 Production Companies: WingNut Films, New Line Cinema Director: John Mahaffie, Geoff Murphy, Dianne Moffatt Stars: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen

Summary: Young hobbit Frodo Baggins, after inheriting a mysterious ring from his uncle Bilbo, must leave his home in order to keep it from falling into the hands of its evil creator. Along the way, a fellowship is formed to protect the ringbearer and make sure that the ring arrives at its final destination: Mt. Doom, the only place where it can be destroyed.