"2002"

In the days before films relied on computers to entertain us, Billy Wilder used a movie camera to tell us stories. His stories might be funny or sad, but all held some grain of human insight, with even hard observations tempered by an underlying affection for his fellow man. At the closing titles, this made his many fans feel not only satisfied, but edified.

I’ve always had an affinity for horror films built around ghosts, usually favoring them over titles involving homicidal slashers, monsters, zombies, aliens, and vampires. I love the delicious build-up in a ghost story, with subtle signs gradually escalating to full-fledged horror.

Until those bright, active days return, outstanding international films can help satisfy that yearning for far-off places. Below are ten special Netflix titles that should satisfy your itch to travel the world.

The season is short, the mania extreme. On any given Sunday in the fall, a sizable share of the nation is binging on football, mostly on television, getting its fill before the window closes in January. But football is just as watchable on the big screen, as the drama plays out on and off the field. There are build-ups to the climactic championship game, with the clock counting down the minutes into those final tense, ticking seconds. Whether closing in on the huddle, or going wide for a field kick, the feeling is more like war than sports. Razor-sharp editing speeds along each pass and touchdown. Cheerleaders swing pompons, owners and coaches watch intently from the sidelines, and the crowds cheer from the stands in a roar that, with or without Dolby, is awe-inspiring. 

Sir Anthony Hopkins, the scarily brilliant actor who played the scarily brilliant Hannibal Lecter in 1991’s “The Silence of the Lambs,” turns 80 this New Year’s Eve.

Any serious student of film will recognize Japan’s outsize contribution to advancing this most vivid and powerful of art forms. Just consider the legacy of Ozu (“Tokyo Story”) and Kurosawa (“Rashomon”) for a start. Of course, over the years many lesser-known Japanese directors have also done brilliant work.Happily, that tradition of excellence has extended well into this century. Below are eight of my favorite Japanese entries made over the last fifteen years.  Each in their own way explores a vastly different culture from ours, while shedding light on human issues and emotions we all share.

It probably won’t surprise too many of you out there that Steven Spielberg is the highest grossing movie director of all time. His personal net worth is edging up to $3 billion. Does this make him inaccessible or out of touch with his fellow mortals? Not a bit. As his canon of movies attests, Spielberg stays very much in tune with us ordinary humans (even when his subject matter is the otherworldly).

Young adult used to be just another stage in personal development, starting somewhere around the end of Barbie dolls and army men, and cresting just after the discovery of beer and indie rock. Growing up seems to happen in that one, long, hot zone of emerging identities and burgeoning freedom.  These days, YA is an entire industry of books and movies, a full lifestyle in fact, and one that doesn’t end once the “adult” is no longer “young.” After all, growing up is never quite over, which explains why YA audiences are as likely to be “adult” as they are “young.” For instance, who is the prime audience for “The Hunger Games?” Not just kids.   One forgets that the term “teenager”  gained traction only in the 1940s, as the popularity of Frank Sinatra took hold with a multitude of teen girls. Suddenly, this overlooked group had the attention of radio programmers and audiences, and a demographic was born. 

Everyone knows Welles, Huston, Kubrick, Spielberg, Scorsese and Nolan. But what about Leisen, Hill, Hiller, Boorman, Mann and Sayles?  For every “name” director, there are several others we feel deserve more recognition. They may have had successes—critical and/or financial—but for some reason they’ve tended to fly under the radar. Here are six filmmakers whose legacies deserve our respect and appreciation. Even though their names may have faded from memory, their finest work lives on, as you’ll soon discover.