1. The Fountain
Darren Aronofsky's attempted epic fell victim to budget cuts and stars dropping out in pre-production but still emerged as one of the most gorgeous and ambitious films ever made. Something just feels off with the film, probably due to all the difficulties in production, which is disappointing given the promise inherent in it. The Fountain follows three story-lines spanning thousands of years (sounds familiar) where actors Hugh Jackman and Rachel Wiesz play characters in every time period. One story-line follows Jackman as a conquistador ordered by the Queen of Spain, played by Wiesz, to find the Tree of Life. Another takes place in the modern day where Jackman is a neuroscientist trying to cure his wife's cancer (Wiesz again). The final storyline takes place in the future where Jackman (from what I can tell playing the same character from the modern day storyline) is hinted to be the last man alive, floating through space, haunted by memories of his wife. The Fountain remains a remarkable movie in its own right but due to circumstances out of its control, audiences might just have been cheated out of a masterpiece.