Best movies like Magnum Opus

The secretary of an affably suave radio mystery host mysteriously commits suicide after his wealthy young niece disappears.

A tramp tries to earn money by playing the violin, but he’s soon facing off against the jealous competition.

Private Duck is a camouflage painter. He paints a giant cannon with some very gaudy colors, until Sergeant Pete explains that the point is to make it so the cannon can't be seen. Donald finds a bucket of experimental invisible paint and makes the cannon disappear. Pete isn't happy with this, and knocks Donald into the paint, then chases him, until he runs into the general. As Pete tries to explain, Donald prods him with a cactus, then goes off to steal some pies. Eventually, Pete goes berserk and starts throwing grenades willy-nilly and gets in more trouble with the general.

Donald re-paints his car, and a bird lands on it. In the mayhem that ensues, the car ends up covered with handprints, spotted a dozen different colors, stripped of paint, and covered with the stuffing from the seats so that it resembles a sheepdog.

A cat, tired of being abused by everyone in his neighborhood, disguises himself as a skunk and inadvertently attracts the romantic advances of a real skunk.

A lonely, chain-smoking office lady in Tokyo falls for her teacher when she decides to take English lessons. When her teacher disappears, she sets out on a journey to find him.

An old fisherman goes out on his fishing trip and makes a huge catch, the biggest of his life.

In 2015, Christopher Nolan curated a selection of short films by the surrealist animators the Quay Brothers to be distributed as a touring 35mm presentation. The three films—"In Absentia" (2000), "The Comb" (1991) and "Street of Crocodiles" (1986)—were accompanied by this brief portrait of the brothers at work in their London studio.

Several behind the scenes aspects of the movie-making business, which results in the enjoyment the movie going public has in going to the theater, are presented. They include: the production of celluloid aka film stock, the materials used in the production of which include cotton and silver; construction crews who build sets including those to look like cities, towns and villages around the world; a visit with Jack Dawn who demonstrates the process of creating a makeup design; the screen testing process, where many an acting hopeful gets his/her start; the work of the candid camera man, the prying eyes behind the movie camera; a visit with Adrian, who designs the clothes worn by many of the stars on screen; and a visit with Herbert Stothart as he conducts his musical score for Conquest (1937). These behind the scenes looks provide the opportunity to get acquainted with the cavalcade of MGM stars and their productions that will grace the silver screen in the 1937/38 movie season.

A young man walks into a meticulously clean and sterile bathroom and proceeds to shave away hair, then skin, in an increasingly bloody and graphic bathroom scene. Many film critics have interpreted the young man's process of self-mutilation as a metaphor for the self-destructive involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War.

BROTHERS AT WAR is an intimate portrait of an American family during a turbulent time.  Jake Rademacher sets out to understand the experience, sacrifice, and motivation of his two brothers serving in Iraq. The film follows Jake’s exploits as he risks everything—including his life—to tell his brothers’ story.

Light years from Earth, 26 years after being abducted, Peter Quill finds himself the prime target of a manhunt after discovering an orb wanted by Ronan the Accuser.

Big Bad Wolf and his nephew use a club for rabbits, Club del Conejo, to try to catch Bugs.

This Oscar-winning animated short film tells the story of one man's love life as seen through the eyes of his best friend and dog, Winston, and revealed bite by bite through the meals they share.

After the bankruptcy of their father's stonemasonry firm, brothers Nicola and Andrea emigrate to America to restore their fortunes. After many adventures and near-disasters, they end up in Hollywood designing sets for D.W.Griffith and marry beautiful actresses, but tragedy strikes with the arrival of World War I, which finds the brothers fighting on opposite sides...

Biography of the British painter Francis Bacon. The movie focuses on his relationship with George Dyer, his lover. Dyer was a former small time crook.

Following her father's death, a teenage heiress moves in with her guardian uncle who is broke and schemes to murder his niece for her vast inheritance.

On a mission to make Christmas unforgettable for Quill, the Guardians head to Earth in search of the perfect present.

When Joan Weldon discovers she is dying of lung cancer, she sets out to reconcile her dysfunctional relationships with her three children, her husband, and along the way, her former best friend. The family's destructive ways are offset by messy and somewhat humorous attempts by Joan to set her children on the right course before she dies. In this big dysfunctional mix, they will all learn to connect in their own ways, and realize on their own terms what life is about.

Santa's little helpers must hurry to finish the toys before Christmas Day.

Neglected by her husband, our heroine decides to make him jealous by getting the handyman to play a literary genius at a party and flirt with her.

Author Fawn Ochletree stages a charity performance of her latest play, a Romanesque epic. The gang and other neighborhood kids are forced into starring in the play, much to the chagrin of the gang. They are completely unable to remember their lines, and struggle with maintaing their composure during the more serious moments of the melodrama. Finally, Jackie sets off a slew of firecrackers as the finale, scaring all involved.

We follow the Newman-Haas (Andretti) racing team through the process of building, testing, and racing for a season. This includes extensive race speed on-track footage, including some pre-race footage with a full squad of cars. From time to time, we check in with a small shop building/restoring one of the first roadsters Mario Andretti raced; the finale includes him taking it for a spin.

An adopted Irish American artist confronts her past when both sets of parents come together over a weekend for her to paint a family portrait.

In Caro papá, Dino Risi is telling the story of the decadent lifestyle, and dysfunctional family, of a wealthy businessman (played to perfection by Risi's favorite leading man, Vittorio Gassman). Risi paints his portrait against a backdrop of an Italy where the new permissiveness has run rampant, traditional socio-cultural values have been usurped by consumerism, and the streets have become an open battleground for politically extremist groups (the '70s were dubbed "The Years of Lead" due to the great number of terrorist acts, and politically motivated assassinations).

Set in Norfolk, amidst an idyllic, brooding landscape, an innocent teenage boy and his battle-weary father live a simple life. Days are spent hunting, fishing and daydreaming. Out-of-nowhere, disrupting this tranquility, a mysterious intense figure gives the green light for the father to complete one last mission; he is a mercenary, hired to assassinate a group of revolutionaries holed-up in a remote, disused civil service outpost. A mission that threatens to destroy not just the compound but the love between a father and his son.

An artist with a rather unusual art-style literally uses all the men she likes for her artworks. Bodies begin to pile up in abandoned alleyways and the case is handed out to a homicide detective to bring in the artistic serial killer.

This lively film is an unforgettable portrait of legendary vocalist Betty Carter, one of the greatest living exponents of jazz. Uncompromised by commercialism throughout her long career, she has forged alternative criteria for success — including founding her own recording company and raising her two sons as a single parent. Parkerson's special film captures Carter's musical genius, her paradoxical relationship with the public and her fierce dedication to personal and artistic independence.

A bible-guided Victorian orphan befriends a bootblack in a strange town.

One winter, a ravenous ogre terrorizes the land of King Balthasar. Meanwhile, a blizzard is brewing in Léon’s heart. Braving the cold, this adopted bear cub runs away from home. Léon has many an adventure during his travels. He befriends a hedgehog and an elephant, confronts an ogre, and sets Princess Molly Gingerbread free. His courage and integrity eventually lead him back to his family. In the end, the cub earns everybody’s respect.

An artist famous for his calendar portraits of beautiful women becomes fascinated by a prim and proper professor and tries to get her to pose for his arwork. She declines his offer, but he's determined not to take no for an answer.

Badger Creek is a portrait of Native resilience as seen through a year in the life of three generations of a Blackfeet family living on the rez in Montana. The Mombergs are a loving, sober family who run a successful ranch, live a traditional worldview and are re-learning their language.

Does having a learning disability mean that you can’t learn? Eight children prove that the answer is a definitive 'No' in this documentary. Interviews with kids are intercut with scenes of the children engaged in activities that reflect their talents to form a compelling portrait of the ways in which these young people use their strengths to overcome their challenges.

How can a tiny mosquito be such an enormous threat to humankind? And how is it that this once distant threat is now lurking in our own backyards? Filmed on four continents and featuring breathtaking macro photography, Mosquito paints an emotionally charged portrait of the people who are now living with mosquito borne diseases and we in North America who fear their arrival.

In October 2006, 25 artists came together to paint Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. The result was a collection of vastly different images of this iconic figure. This film chronicles the process from the initial setting (where Justice O'Connor entertained the room) to the evening when the paintings were unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery.

We follow a project spearheaded by the Prince of Wales, who has commissioned seven leading artists to paint seven survivors of the Holocaust. Throughout the programme, we hear the testimonies of the remarkable men and women who were children when they witnessed one of the greatest atrocities in human history, as well as meeting the artists as they grapple with their paintings.

An intimate portrait of Suzan-Lori Parks, featuring actors Don Cheadle and Jeffrey Wright. The film shows the playwright’s process and how a play gets produced in behind-the-scenes footage of Topdog/Underdog in rehearsal and performance. It captures the play’s triumphant Broadway debut and traces Parks’ opportunities, challenges, and personal milestones during the production of her 2002 Pulitzer Prize winner.

With nothing more than a blazing spirit of philanthropy and his beat-up red wagon, Zach sets out to help homeless children in America. In the process, he sweeps his fractured family - and ultimately the entire country - along with him.

Already a successful portrait photographer, Hannah sets to reinvent this art form. Abandoning herself to a creative process that might easily be mistaken for madness, she's soon visited by mirror images of herself, as well as her daughter's ghost. Inspired by the life of photographer Hannah Maynard (1834-1918).

It is the story, the process of becoming more and simultaneously less than human through technology as it follows a few characters through this transformation of becoming.

A film that looks at the genius of JMW Turner in a new light. There is more to Turner than his sublime landscapes - he also painted machines, science, technology and industry. Turner's life spans the Industrial Revolution, he witnessed it as it unfolded and he painted it. In the process he created a whole new kind of art. The programme examines nine key Turner paintings and shows how we should re-think them in the light of the scientific and Industrial Revolution. Includes interviews with historian Simon Schama and artist Tracey Emin.

Paul Bonard an artist, loses his memory when he receives a blow on the head from one of two apaches fighting over Wildcat, a sultry stepper in a cafe. He becomes an apache himself, falls in love with Wildcat and paints her portrait--his masterpiece. Wildcat learns Paul's identity and restores him to his family, though realizing that she will lose him. Surgery restores Paul's memory, but some subconscious force guides him back to the cafe and Wildcat's love.

Groot discovers a miniature civilization that believes the seemingly enormous tree toddler is the hero they’ve been waiting for.

Groot investigates a spooky noise that’s been haunting the Quadrant, which leads to an intense dance off.

A hunt for a lost sheep turns into a competition between Hiccup and friends as they compete to become the first Dragon Racing champion of Berk.

Everybody needs some alone time to relax and wash up, but things go quite differently when you’re a Flora Colossi toddler.

Following the events of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1,” Baby Groot is finally ready to try taking his first steps out of his pot—only to learn you have to walk before you can run.

When Will Ferrell finds out his close friend of 30 years is coming out as a trans woman, the two decide to embark on a cross-country road trip to process this new stage of their relationship in an intimate portrait of friendship, transition, and America.

A mother bird tries to teach her little one how to find food by herself. In the process, she encounters a traumatic experience that she must overcome in order to survive.

A portrait of Zion Clark, a young wrestler who was born without legs and grew up in foster care.