Stories by @guam2020

I Am Cuba

A study in contrasts set in and around Havana that explores Cuba's 1959 revolution. A young woman's fascination with the excess of an American-owned casino leads to her downfall in the eyes of her street vendor boyfriend. A tenant farmer revolts the only way he knows how, attacking the land he works. University students gain first-hand knowledge of political upheaval. And, in the hills outside the city, the members of a poor peasant family are patriotically swept up into the burgeoning revolt.

The French Connection

New York Detective "Popeye" Doyle and his partner chase a French heroin smuggler.

The Night of the Hunter

The Rev. Harry Powell is a religious fanatic and serial killer who targets women who use their sexuality to attract men. Serving time in prison for car theft, he meets condemned murderer Ben Harper, who confesses to hiding $10,000 in stolen loot. Released from jail, Powell is obsessed with finding the money, and he tracks down Harper's widow, Willa , and her two children, John and Pearl.

The Magnificent Ambersons

Orson Welles' acclaimed drama follows two generations in a well-to-do Indianapolis family. Isabel Amberson receives a proposal from dashing Eugene, but opts instead to marry boring Wilbur. Time passes, and Wilbur and Isabel's only son, George, is loathed as a controlling figure in the town. When Wilbur dies, Eugene again proposes to Isabel, but George threatens the union. As George in turn courts the woman he wants to marry, a string of tragedies befalls the family.

Nostalghia

To investigate the life of Russian composer Pavel Sosnovsky, Andrei Gorkachov goes to Italy, where Sosnovsky resided before his suicide. Joining Gorkachov on his journey through Tuscany is his interpreter, Eugenia, who develops an interest in her client that is more than professional. Meanwhile, Gorkachov is beset by powerful feelings of homesickness as he wanders through the ruins of the countryside and meets a doomsaying mystic.

The Thin Red Line

In 1942, Private Witt is a U.S. Army absconder living peacefully with the locals of a small South Pacific island. Discovered by his commanding officer, Sgt. Welsh, Witt is forced to resume his active duty training for the Battle of Guadalcanal. As Witt and his unit land on the island, and the American troops mount an assault on entrenched Japanese positions, the story explores their various fates and attitudes towards life-or-death situations.

Worst Oscar Winners

Choose the Oscar-winning people who you believe deserved their Academy Award the least. You may choose a person for any award they received; thus, if a person got the award twice but only did not deserve it one of those times, you can still suggest the person.

Breaking the Waves

In a small and religious coastal town, a simple, devoutly religious Scottish woman, Bess McNeill, finds a partner in an oil rig worker from Norway, Jan Nyman. However, the relationship grows strained when Nyman breaks his neck in a horrific work accident on the rig and becomes paralyzed. Unable to perform sexually and suffering mentally from the accident as well, Jan convinces Bess to have sex with other men, which she comes to believe is God's work.

Brazil

Low-level bureaucrat Sam Lowry escapes the monotony of his day-to-day life through a recurring daydream of himself as a virtuous hero saving a beautiful damsel. Investigating a case that led to the wrongful arrest and eventual death of an innocent man instead of wanted terrorist Harry Tuttle, he meets the woman from his daydream, and in trying to help her gets caught in a web of mistaken identities, mindless bureaucracy and lies.

The Conformist

Marcello Clerici is a member of the secret police in Mussolini's Fascist Italy. He and his new bride, Giulia, travel to Paris for their honeymoon, where Marcello also plans to assassinate his former college professor Luca Quadri, an outspoken anti-Fascist living in exile. But when Marcello meets the professor's young wife, Anna, both his romantic and his political loyalties are tested.

Actors Played by Directors

Imagine that biopics are being made about major actors, but are starring directors instead of other actors. Which director would play each actor? Suggestions must be a person whose primary occupation is direction, not just an actor who happens to have directed a movie or two. You may choose a director who could play the actor at any stage of the actor's life (thus, a young director can play an actor who is currently somewhat old).

Three Colors Trilogy

The Three Colours trilogy is the collective title of three films directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski: Three Colours: Blue, Three Colours: White, and Three Colours: Red. In Blue, Julie is haunted by her grief after living through a tragic auto wreck that claimed the life of her composer husband and young daughter. In White, Polish immigrant Karol Karol finds himself out of a marriage, a job and a country when his French wife, Dominique, divorces him after six months due to his impotence. In Red, Part-time model Valentine meets a retired judge who lives in her neighborhood after she runs over his dog. At first the judge gifts Valentine with the dog, but her possessive boyfriend won't allow her to keep it.

Red Desert

Amid the modern wastelands and toxic factories of Italy, wife and mother Giuliana desperately tries to conceal her tenuous grip on reality from those around her, especially her successful yet neglectful husband, Ugo. Ugo's old pal, Corrado, shows up in town on a business trip and is more sensitive to Giuliana's anxieties. They begin an affair, but it does little to quell Giuliana's existential fears, and her mental state rapidly deteriorates.

Biggest Oscar Snubs

Who in all of cinema history do you think are the people that were the most worthy of an Academy Award for a particular work but did not receive one? Separate your choices into a group of people who were not nominated for an award and a group of people who were nominated, but did not win. You may select a person for any film; thus, people who did win an award can still be chosen if you think they should have won for a different movie as well.

Nashville

In this acclaimed Robert Altman drama, the lives of numerous people in the Tennessee capital intersect in unpredictable ways. Delbert Reese is a lawyer and political organizer who is having difficulties in his marriage to Linnea, a gospel vocalist. Other performers heavily featured in this renowned ensemble production include country singers Barbara Jean and Connie White, who are rivals in the city's thriving music scene.

Playtime

Clumsy Monsieur Hulot finds himself perplexed by the intimidating complexity of a gadget-filled Paris. He attempts to meet with a business contact but soon becomes lost. His roundabout journey parallels that of an American tourist, and as they weave through the inventive urban environment, they intermittently meet, developing an interest in one another. They eventually get together at a chaotic restaurant, along with several other quirky characters.

Immortal DC Universe

Imagine a world where actors and actresses never died and could reset or jump forward to whatever age they wanted, whenever they wanted. In this hypothetical world, who should be the cast of DC comics movies? Any actors, dead or living, old or young, are allowed as long as you believe that at some point in their lifetime, they could have been, or will be, a good choice for a particular role in a DC film. Actors who are or were in the DC Universe are not allowed for the roles they already play, but they can be nominated for other roles they could have played at a different age.

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover

When churlish mobster Albert Spica acquires an upscale French restaurant in London, he dines there nightly, effectively scaring off the clientele with his bad manners. His wife, Georgina, is especially disgusted by him, and soon begins an affair with another restaurant guest, Michael. Despite their efforts to keep it a secret, however, Spica finds out about their trysts, and he plans to exact a terrible revenge.

Out of the Past

The quiet life of small-town gas station owner Jeff Bailey is interrupted when a figure from his shady past, small-time crook Joe Stephanos, recognizes him. Stephanos' boss, crooked gambler Whit Sterling, had hired Jeff to track down Kathie Moffat, a girlfriend who shot Whit and made off with $40,000 of his. Jeff and Kathie fell in love, but she left him to go back to Sterling, who now wants Jeff to settle a few old scores.

Strangers on a Train

In Alfred Hitchcock's adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's thriller, tennis star Guy Haines is enraged by his trampy wife's refusal to finalize their divorce so he can wed senator's daughter Anne. He strikes up a conversation with a stranger, Bruno Anthony, and unwittingly sets in motion a deadly chain of events. Psychopathic Bruno kills Guy's wife, then urges Guy to reciprocate by killing Bruno's father. Meanwhile, Guy is murder suspect number one.