Best movies according to Tudor Caranfil Dictionary
In 2008 the Romanian film critic Tudor Caranfil published an Universal Movies Dictionary with 10.500 entries. Beside the description and small evaluation, he used to rate the movies with stars from zero to five. This is a list with the movies rated with four and five stars, considered by him the best of the best.
List activity
45 views
• 1 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
800 titles
- DirectorCristian MungiuStarsAnamaria MarincaLaura VasiliuVlad IvanovA woman assists her friend in arranging an illegal abortion in 1980s Romania.
- DirectorTerry GilliamStarsBruce WillisMadeleine StoweBrad PittIn a future world devastated by disease, a convict is sent back in time to gather information about the man-made virus that wiped out most of the human population on the planet.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsKeir DulleaGary LockwoodWilliam SylvesterAfter uncovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, a spacecraft is sent to Jupiter to find its origins: a spacecraft manned by two men and the supercomputer HAL 9000.
- DirectorBinka ZhelyazkovaStarsDimitar BuynozovRumyana KarabelovaLyudmila CheshmedzhievaThe film takes us back to the days of Bulgarian Resistance during Second World War. Beautiful love between two young people burns out against the background of the Nazi reality.
- DirectorCorneliu PorumboiuStarsMircea AndreescuTeodor CorbanIon SapdaruA local talk show host organizes an alcoholic professor and a pensioner known for playing Santa Claus to decide whether there was ever a revolution in their town Vaslui.
- DirectorRené ClairStarsRaymond CordyHenri MarchandRolla FranceSeeking better life, two convicts escape from prison.
- DirectorEdward ZwickStarsRob LoweDemi MooreJim BelushiA man and woman meet and try to have a romantic affair, despite their personal problems and the interference of their disapproving friends.
- DirectorAlexander PayneStarsJack NicholsonHope DavisDermot MulroneyA recently retired man embarks on a journey to his estranged daughter's wedding, only to discover more about himself and life than he ever expected.
- DirectorStephen FrearsStarsDustin HoffmanGeena DavisAndy GarciaA not-so-nice man rescues passengers from a crashed airliner, only to see someone else take credit.
- DirectorJonathan KaplanStarsKelly McGillisJodie FosterBernie CoulsonAfter a young woman suffers a brutal gang rape in a bar one night, a prosecutor assists in bringing the perpetrators to justice, including the ones who encouraged and cheered on the attack.
- DirectorJack GoldStarsMalcolm McDowellChristopher PlummerSimon WardIn World War I, the high casualty rate amongst the rookie pilots of the Royal Flying Corps puts an enormous strain on the survivors.
- DirectorBertrand BlierStarsPierre ArditiJosiane BalaskoJean-Paul BelmondoA self-conscious and self-referential adventure into the (pretend) lives of legendary actors in Paris.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsSpencer TracyJean SimmonsTeresa WrightThis is an account of the real life experience of actress/playwright Ruth Gordon.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsSpencer TracyKatharine HepburnJudy HollidayDomestic and professional tensions mount when a husband and wife work as opposing lawyers in a case involving a woman who shot her husband.
- DirectorGriffin DunneStarsMeg RyanMatthew BroderickKelly PrestonMaggie's and Sam's former partners are in love; she wants revenge and he wants his lost love back, so they work together to break up the happy couple.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsHumphrey BogartKatharine HepburnRobert MorleyIn WWI East Africa, a gin-swilling Canadian riverboat captain is persuaded by a strait-laced English missionary to undertake a trip up a treacherous river and use his boat to attack a German gunship.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsDaniel Day-LewisMichelle PfeifferWinona RyderA tale of nineteenth-century New York high society in which a young lawyer falls in love with a woman separated from her husband, while he is engaged to the woman's cousin.
- DirectorJim AbrahamsDavid ZuckerJerry ZuckerStarsRobert HaysJulie HagertyLeslie NielsenAfter the crew becomes sick with food poisoning, a neurotic ex-fighter pilot must safely land a commercial airplane full of passengers.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneYûzô KayamaTsutomu YamazakiIn 19th-century Japan, a rough-tempered yet charitable town doctor trains a young intern.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaIshirô HondaStarsAkira TeraoMitsuko BaishôToshie NegishiA collection of tales based upon eight of director Akira Kurosawa's recurring dreams.
- DirectorSergei EisensteinDmitriy VasilevStarsNikolay CherkasovNikolai OkhlopkovAndrei AbrikosovThe story of how a great Russian prince led a ragtag army to battle an invading force of Teutonic Knights.
- DirectorRolf de HeerStarsGary SweetHelen BudayBogdan KocaA regular suburban family man comes home from work on his birthday to find a deserted house and a videotape waiting to be played...
- DirectorMichael MannStarsWill SmithJamie FoxxJon VoightA biography of sports legend Muhammad Ali, focusing on his triumphs and controversies between 1964 and 1974.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsEllen BurstynKris KristoffersonMia BendixsenA recently widowed woman is on the road with her precocious young son, determined to make a new life for herself as a singer.
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsBette DavisAnne BaxterGeorge SandersA seemingly timid but secretly ruthless ingénue insinuates herself into the lives of an aging Broadway star and her circle of theater friends.
- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsLew AyresLouis WolheimJohn WrayA German youth eagerly enters World War I, but his enthusiasm wanes as he gets a firsthand view of the horror.
- DirectorBob FosseStarsRoy ScheiderJessica LangeAnn ReinkingDirector/choreographer Bob Fosse tells his own life story as he details the sordid career of Joe Gideon, a womanizing, drug-using dancer.
- DirectorBo WiderbergStarsJohan WiderbergMarika LagercrantzTomas von BrömssenStig, a 15-year-old student, is attracted to the beauty of Viola, his 37-year-old teacher, and she, drawn to his youth and innocence, feels that he is a God-sent relief for her drunken and miserable husband.
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsF. Murray AbrahamTom HulceElizabeth BerridgeThe life, success and troubles of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as told by Antonio Salieri, the contemporaneous composer who was deeply jealous of Mozart's talent and claimed to have murdered him.
- DirectorFederico FelliniStarsMagali NoëlBruno ZaninPupella MaggioA series of comedic and nostalgic vignettes set in a 1930s Italian coastal town.
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiStarsJerzy StuhrMalgorzata ZabkowskaEwa PokasAn ordinary factory worker buys a camera on the occasion of the birth of his child. The authorities order him to make documentaries about the factory's success. But his endeavor to be truthful leads him to opposition against censorship.
- DirectorSam MendesStarsKevin SpaceyAnnette BeningThora BirchA sexually frustrated suburban father has a mid-life crisis after becoming infatuated with his daughter's best friend.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsGene KellyLeslie CaronOscar LevantThree friends struggle to find work in Paris. Things become more complicated when two of them fall in love with the same woman.
- DirectorJohn LandisStarsDavid NaughtonJenny AgutterJoe BelcherTwo American college students on a walking tour of Britain are attacked by a werewolf that none of the locals will admit exists.
- DirectorKaren ShakhnazarovStarsAllison WhitbeckVladimir MashkovMariya ShukshinaA lonely Russian man is trying to see his daughter who lives with her mother far away in the USA.
- DirectorAlejandro G. IñárrituStarsEmilio EchevarríaGael García BernalGoya ToledoAn amateur dog fighter, a supermodel, and a derelict assassin, all separately struggling to find love, find their lives transformed by a devastating car wreck in Mexico City.
- DirectorE. Max FryeStarsNicolas CageSamuel L. JacksonMichael LernerA Pulitzer prize writer buys a cabin. The neighbors get suspicious when a stranger "breaks in". They see a black man and call the police, who start shooting at him. The sheriff tries a cover-up involving a white petty crook. Bad idea.
- DirectorAlain ResnaisStarsSabine AzémaFanny ArdantPierre ArditiElisabeth and Simon have been deeply in love for two months when Simon momentarily dies, but comes back to life. Simon does not want any further medical tests, but the couple are forced to grapple with the possibility of his death. They eventually tell their close friends Jérôme and Judith Martignac about the event. The Martignacs are both clerics, and Judith has just been giving a funeral service for a villager who committed suicide, though Jérôme would have nothing to do with suicide...
- DirectorNorman JewisonStarsAl PacinoJack WardenJohn ForsytheA lawyer is forced to defend a judge, while defending other clients, and trying to find punishment for the guilty and provide justice for the innocent.
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsSilvia PinalJacqueline AndereEnrique RambalThe guests at an upper-class dinner party find themselves unable to leave.
- DirectorAlain ResnaisStarsDelphine SeyrigGiorgio AlbertazziSacha PitoëffIn a strange and isolated chateau, a man becomes acquainted with a woman and insists that they have met before.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsBarbara StanwyckPreston FosterMelvyn DouglasA romanticized biography of the famous sharpshooter.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsAileen QuinnAlbert FinneyCarol BurnettA spunky young orphan is taken in by a rich eccentric, much to the chagrin of the cantankerous woman who runs the orphanage.
- DirectorIstván SzabóStarsAndrás BálintMiklós GáborDániel ErdélyA boy in Budapest loses his father in 1945, when he was the age of six. He does not remember much of the father but fantasizes that he performed various heroic feats.
- DirectorSatyajit RayStarsPinaki SenguptaSmaran GhosalKamala AdhikariFollowing his father's death, a boy leaves home to study in Calcutta, while his mother must face a life alone.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsJack LemmonShirley MacLaineFred MacMurrayA Manhattan insurance clerk tries to rise in his company by letting its executives use his apartment for trysts, but complications and a romance of his own ensue.
- DirectorBertrand TavernierStarsMarie GillainOlivier SitrukBruno PutzuluThree teenagers plan to steal the necessary funds to open their dream shop in the US, but things get messy.
- DirectorTed KotcheffStarsRichard DreyfussMicheline LanctôtJack WardenIn a bid to gain respect, the neglected younger son of a working class Jewish family in Montréal embarks on a series of get-rich-quick schemes to buy land surrounding a lake.
- DirectorOtar IosselianiStarsTatyana ChanturiaGia ChiraqadzeAkakiy ChikvaidzeA young happy couple moves from a poor district to a new housing estate. Their relationship gets progressively worse as their comfort and possessions increase.
- DirectorFrank MarshallStarsJeff DanielsJulian SandsJohn GoodmanA new species of South American killer spider hitches a lift to a small California town in a coffin and starts to breed, leaving a trail of deaths that puzzle and terrify the young doctor newly arrived in town with his family.
- DirectorPaul CzinnerStarsElisabeth BergnerRudolf ForsterAnnemarie SteinsieckAn innocent Russian student in Paris has her first affair, with a mature man who comes to realize he truly loves her and it is not just one of his brief flings.
- DirectorElia KazanStarsKirk DouglasFaye DunawayDeborah KerrAn adman attempts to rebuild his shattered life after suffering a nervous breakdown.
- DirectorNiels MuellerStarsSean PennNaomi WattsDon CheadleBased on real life events, Assassination is set in 1974 and centers on a businessman who decides to take extreme measures to achieve his American dream.
- DirectorJean VigoStarsDita ParloJean DastéGilles MargaritisNewly married couple Juliette and a ship captain Jean struggle through marriage as they travel on the L'atalante along with the captain's first mate Le père Jules and a cabin boy.
- DirectorAbel GanceStarsMax LinderJean TouloutGina PalermeMax accepts a wager that he cannot remain in a haunted castle for one hour (11 PM to midnight) without crying for help. As soon as he arrives he encounters strange and nightmarish visions, but he is nevertheless on the verge of winning the bet when a phone-call brings startling news . . .
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsVictor JansonOssi OswaldaHarry LiedtkeAn American heiress seeks the hand of an impoverished German prince.
- DirectorRafi BukaiStarsSalim DawSuhel HaddadTuvia GelberJune 11th 1967, the Six-Day War is over and the cease fire has just begun. We follow the journey of Gassan and Haled, two Egyptian soldiers whose only wish is to make their way through the Sinai desert and safely reach the Suez Canal. Thus begins a comical, almost surrealistic saga during which they meet various groups of people across the desert, including Israeli soldiers on patrol and a pushy news reporter.
- DirectorNacer KhemirStarsParviz ShahinkhouMaryam HamidGolshifteh FarahaniThe story of a blind dervish Bab'Aziz and his spirited granddaughter, Ishtar, together they wander the desert in search of a great reunion of dervishes that takes place just once every thirty years.
- DirectorBusby BerkeleyStarsMickey RooneyJudy GarlandCharles WinningerA group of vaudevillians struggling to compete with talkies hits the road hoping for a comeback. Frustrated to be left behind, all of their kids put on a show themselves to raise money for the families and to prove they've got talent, too.
- DirectorGabriel AxelStarsStéphane AudranBodil KjerBirgitte FederspielDuring the late 19th century, a strict religious community in a Danish village takes in a French refugee from the Franco-Prussian War as a servant to the late pastor's daughters.
- DirectorCharles ShyerStarsDiane KeatonSam ShepardHarold RamisThe life of super-yuppie J.C. is thrown into turmoil when she inherits a baby from a distant relative.
- DirectorElia KazanStarsKarl MaldenCarroll BakerEli WallachAn immature, naive teenage bride holds her anxious husband at bay while flirting with an amorous Sicilian farmer.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsLana TurnerKirk DouglasWalter PidgeonAn unscrupulous movie producer uses an actress, a director and a writer to achieve success.
- DirectorEttore ScolaStarsÉtienne GuichardRégis BouquetFrancesco De RosaDance moves, music and fashion mark the passage of time inside a Paris dance hall, throughout fifty years of history.
- DirectorLucian PintilieStarsMaia MorgensternRazvan VasilescuVictor RebengiucA description of Romania before Ceausescu's downfall, through the story of Nela. Daughter of a former colonel of the Securitate, the romanian political police. She refused to become as her sister, an agent of this Securitate, and lives with her father. After he died, she leaves Bucarest, and ends up in a little town, where she meets Mitica, a surgeon, another herself, laughing of everything.
- DirectorGrigoriy ChukhrayStarsVladimir IvashovZhanna ProkhorenkoAntonina MaksimovaYoung Russian soldier Alyosha earns a medal, but asks to visit his mother instead. His journey recounts various kinds of love during wartime.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsJean GabinSuzy PrimLouis JouvetA charismatic thief makes friends with a bankrupt baron who comes to live in the thief's slum. Meanwhile the thief seeks the love of a young woman, who is held emotionally captive by her slumlord family.
- DirectorPaul VerhoevenStarsMichael DouglasSharon StoneGeorge DzundzaA violent police detective investigates a brutal murder that might involve a manipulative and seductive novelist.
- DirectorGillo PontecorvoStarsBrahim HadjadjJean MartinYacef SaadiIn the 1950s, fear and violence escalate as the people of Algiers fight for independence from the French government.
- DirectorKaige ChenStarsLeslie CheungFengyi ZhangGong LiTwo boys meet at an opera training school in Peking in 1924. Their resulting friendship will span nearly 70 years and endure some of the most troublesome times in China's history.
- DirectorRené ClairStarsMichel SimonGérard PhilipeNicole BesnardThe Faust story retold, with an aged alchemist accepting the gift of renewed youth from the devilish Mephistopheles.
- DirectorTed DemmeStarsMatt DillonTimothy HuttonNoah EmmerichA piano player at a crossroads in his life returns home to his friends and their own problems with life and love.
- DirectorJasmin DizdarStarsThomas GoodridgeFaruk PrutiTony PetersIn London, during October 1993, England is playing Holland in the preliminaries of the World Cup. The Bosnian War is at its height, and refugees from the ex-Yugoslavia are arriving. Football rivals, and political adversaries from the Balkans all precipitate conflict and amusing situations. Meanwhile, the lives of four English families are affected in different ways by encounter with the refugees; one of the families improbably becomes involved with a Balkan refugee through the England vs. Holland match.
- DirectorSergei EisensteinStarsViktor KartashovNikolay KhmelyovBoris ZakhavaA Soviet farmer's son, who is working at a Kolchos is killed by his father, who wants to burn the fields of the Kolchos to damage the Soviet Society.
- DirectorLuchino ViscontiStarsAnna MagnaniWalter ChiariTina ApicellaA woman from the lower class desperately tries to get her daughter into the movies.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsMyrna LoyDana AndrewsFredric MarchThree World War II veterans, two of them traumatized or disabled, return home to the American midwest to discover that they and their families have been irreparably changed.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsGregory PeckJean SimmonsCarroll BakerA New England sea captain in the 1880s arrives at his fiancée's sprawling Texas ranch, where he becomes embroiled in a feud between two families over a valuable patch of land.
- DirectorJoel CoenEthan CoenStarsJeff BridgesJohn GoodmanJulianne MooreJeff "The Dude" Lebowski, mistaken for a millionaire of the same name, seeks restitution for his ruined rug and enlists his bowling buddies to help get it.
- DirectorKing VidorGeorge W. HillStarsJohn GilbertRenée AdoréeHobart BosworthA young American soldier witnesses the horrors of the Great War.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsKirk DouglasDewey MartinElizabeth ThreattThe success of the journey focuses on keeping the Indian girl alive as well as themselves to complete trade with the Blackfeet.
- DirectorStephen DaldryStarsJamie BellJulie WaltersJean HeywoodA talented young boy becomes torn between his unexpected love of dance and the disintegration of his family.
- DirectorJohn SchlesingerStarsTom CourtenayJulie ChristieWilfred PicklesA lazy, irresponsible young clerk (Sir Tom Courtenay) in provincial Northern England lives in his own fantasy world and makes emotionally immature decisions as he alienates friends and family.
- DirectorJosef von SternbergStarsEmil JanningsMarlene DietrichKurt GerronAn elderly professor's ordered life spins dangerously out of control when he falls for a nightclub singer.
- DirectorMel BrooksStarsCleavon LittleGene WilderSlim PickensIn order to ruin a western town, a corrupt politician appoints a black Sheriff, who promptly becomes his most formidable adversary.
- DirectorMichelangelo AntonioniStarsDavid HemmingsVanessa RedgraveSarah MilesA fashion photographer unknowingly captures a death on film after following two lovers in a park.
- DirectorTim RobbinsStarsTim RobbinsGiancarlo EspositoAlan RickmanA conservative folk singer turns his hand to politics, running for the US Senate. He is not above dirty tricks and smear campaigns to gain an advantage over his opponent.
- DirectorKing VidorStarsLillian GishJohn GilbertRenée AdoréeA group of starving artists try to survive in 1830s Paris, including a seamstress and the would-be playwright she loves.
- DirectorCsaba FazekasStarsGergely KocsisEszter ÓnodiKati Kovács
- DirectorVladimir BortkoStarsNikolay KarachentsovAndrejs ZagarsDarya MikhaylovaAfter having returned from Berlin to St. Petersburg the Russian soldier Oleg realizes that after the breakdown of communism everything he once knew has changed. Only his friend Vladimir welcomes him with the traditional bottle of Vodka and when they get drunk they decide to become capitalists...
- DirectorGary HoffmanStarsTracey NeedhamDana AshbrookDoug SavantBonnie Parker is estranged from her husband while still only just barely eighteen. Clyde Barrow, a handsome charmer who is in love with Bonnie, is a small-time thief, 'borrowing' cars to teach Bonnie to drive. He falls in with W.D. Jones, and their crime levels quickly rise. Soon Bonnie is dragged in with them, due to her love for Clyde, and within a short space of time, everyone is baying for the blood of Bonnie and Clyde.
- DirectorRichard FleischerStarsTony CurtisHenry FondaGeorge KennedyA series of brutal murders in Boston sparks a seemingly endless and increasingly complex manhunt.
- DirectorBobby RothStarsYvette MimieuxChristopher AllportCindy PickettA group of husbands with their wives participate in a reunion where everybody will find his hidden secret. The methods used are terrible, but usually work. Just usually.
- DirectorClint EastwoodStarsWilliam HoldenKay LenzRoger C. CarmelA young girl runs away from home and meets a grouchy older man who reluctantly takes her in. Eventually they develop a romantic and affectionate relationship.
- DirectorJames WhaleStarsBoris KarloffElsa LanchesterColin CliveMary Shelley reveals the main characters of her novel survived: Baron Henry Frankenstein, goaded by an even madder scientist, builds his monster a mate.
- DirectorPaul BogartStarsAnne BancroftHume CronynCorey ParkerEugene and Stanley Jerome try to break into show biz as comedy writers while their parents' marriage ends. When the boys' material is broadcast on radio, the family hears their private life played for laughs.
- DirectorNorman TaurogStarsFred AstaireEleanor PowellGeorge MurphyJohnny Brett and King Shaw are an unsuccessful dance team in New York. A producer discovers Brett as the new partner for Clare Bennett but Brett, who thinks he is one of the people they lent money to, gives him the name of his partner.
- DirectorVadim GlownaStarsElsa Grube-DeisterRolf ZacherMuriel BaumeisterGermany shortly after its reunification: Western capitalism seeks its profit in former East Germany the one way or another. There is Ada Fenske on the island of Ruegen. She seems to be just an lovely old grandma. Suddenly everybody seems to be interested in buying her little house. There is M.A.D. agent Zwirner who has official order to buy it, but it is not as easy as he thought. Ada Fenske quickly realizes the odds and ends of the new system.
- DirectorRobert De NiroStarsRobert De NiroChazz PalminteriLillo BrancatoAn intense drama about a boy torn between his tough, hard-working father and a violent yet charismatic crime boss.
- DirectorGeorg Wilhelm PabstStarsLouise BrooksFritz KortnerFrancis LedererThe rise and inevitable fall of an amoral but naive young woman whose insouciant eroticism inspires lust and violence in those around her.