When filmmakers are cranking out blockbusters, Tinseltown can seem like any other business customer satisfaction measured in popcorn sales and audience smiles. But when filmmakers are passionate, movies can make audiences vibrate with grief, with excitement, with rage. And that happened a lot this year. These 10 films connected when they took really big swings. They hail from gratifyingly divergent perspectives, grapple differently with history and art, aim for diverse audiences, and are without exception passion projects worth seeking out on the biggest possible screen.
"What about Peter Weir's Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World? It's a fantastically rollicking, Swiss watch-precise naval adventure that captures Patrick O'Brian's epic spirit."