Guillermo del Toro Picks Your DVD’s For This Weekend!

It’s tough to sometimes find a good DVD movie to watch at home with your wife, kids or just by yourself, there is just too many films to select from. That’s why it is ideal to have the actors and directors themselves, from the movies you watch them in, recommend what you should be seeing in the comfort of your own home. One of the most literate when it comes to cinema, in particular, the horror and thriller genre, is Guillermo del Toro. He along with his protegé  provide some excellent classics that should create some great movie memories.

Here are Guillermo del Toro’s 3 DVD picks you should watch tonight:

[youtube id=”dG6U0IvJue4″]

El (1953)
Directed by: Luis Buñuel
Genre: Drama
Starring: Arturo de Córdova, Delia Garcés, Aurora Walker
Plot: Francisco is rich, rather strict on principles, and still a bachelor. After meeting Gloria by accident, he is suddenly intent on her becoming his wife and courts her until she agrees to marry him. Francisco is a dedicated husband, but little by little his passion starts to exhibit disturbing traits. Nevertheless, Gloria meets with scepticism as she expresses her worries to their acquaintances.
Noteworthy: Buñuel shot the film in three weeks, plus he makes a cameo appearance as one of the monks.

[youtube id=”M-VpvYZ8sWc”]

Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
Genre: Thriller
Starring: Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotten, Macdonald Carey
Plot: A young woman discovers her visiting “Uncle Charlie” may not be the man he seems to be.
Noteworthy: Alfred Hitchcock often said that this was his favorite film.

[youtube id=”BN8K-4osNb0″]

Frankenstein (1931)
Directed by: James Whale
Genre: Horror
Starring: Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles
Plot: A horror classic where Henry Frankenstein is a doctor who is trying to discover a way to make the dead walk. He succeeds and creates a monster that has to deal with living again.
Noteworthy: A unique six-sheet poster for the original 1931 release, showing Karloff as The Monster menacing Mae Clarke, is worth at least $600,000 US and is possibly the most valuable movie poster in the world. The only known (original) copy is owned by a private collector.

Here are Andres Muschietti’s 3 DVD picks you should give a try tonight:

[youtube id=”yafIvKriSgo”]

The Easy Life (Il Sorpasso) (1962)
Directed by: Dino Risi
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Starring: Vittorio Gassman, Catherine Spaak, Jean-Louis Trintignant
Plot: Regarded by many as Dino Risi’s finest film, Roberto, a shy law student in Rome, meets Bruno, a forty-year-old exuberant, capricious man, who takes him for a drive through the Roman and Tuscany countries in the summer of 1962. They will spend two days together, meet both Roberto’s and Bruno’s family. The time Roberto spends with Bruno is a hilarious, but sometimes emotionally merciless accelerated maturization process. While Bruno’s easy going “l’usage du monde” and societal success attract Roberto’s great admiration, he also slowly realizes Bruno’s hollowness, superficiality and unhappiness.
Noteworthy: Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda were inspired by the Italian film The Easy Life, about two guys making a trip through Italy in an open car. The English title of the movie was “The Easy Life”, which is one of the reasons why Hopper and Fonda entitled their movie Easy Rider. One of the most original and new technical elements in The Easy Life was the use of pop songs as part of the soundtrack. This idea found its way into Easy Rider, too.

[youtube id=”AKP-WkcDT5s”]

The Time Machine (1960)
Directed by: George Pal
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Romance
Starring: Rod Taylor, Alan Young, Yvette Mimieux
Plot: A Victorian Englishman travels to the far future and finds that humanity has divided into two hostile species.
Noteworthy: Back in 1960 the budget for this film was $750,000.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi 
Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Teri Garr
Plot: After an encounter with UFOs, a line worker feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is about to happen.
Noteworthy: The character of Lacombe is French director François Truffaut’s only acting role in a film that he did not direct.