Can’t Buy Me Love (1987)

Can’t Buy Me Love (1987)

[4] Bless Patrick Dempsey for acting his little heart out in this schmaltzy, cliche-ridden '80s overdose. It's basically a story of boy rents girl. Dempsey's character is a loser who pays a popular girl (Amanda Peterson, also acting her heart…
The Haunted Palace (1963)

The Haunted Palace (1963)

[5] Roger Corman directs and Vincent Price stars in their only collaboration based on a story by H.P. Lovecraft. Price plays a man claiming an inherited castle where he gets possessed by the spirit of his great grandfather, who is…
Cavalcade (1933)

Cavalcade (1933)

[4] The third-ever Academy Award for 'Best Picture' went to this somewhat clunky, melodramatic story spanning three decades in the lives of two British families -- one upstairs aristocrats, the other downstairs servants. It may have been one of the…
Life Itself (2014)

Life Itself (2014)

[7] Steve James (Hoop Dreams) directs this documentary about the life and career of Roger Ebert, arguably the most famous and most well-loved film critic who ever lived. Life Itself begins near the end of Roger's life, after cancer has…
The Butterfly Effect (2004)

The Butterfly Effect (2004)

[5] Talk about a hard pitch. Try to follow me here. So, there's this kid. And whenever something dramatic is about to happen to him, his memory blacks out. He basically jumps a minute or two into the future, all…
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

[8] James Gunn (Slither) co-writes and directs one of the best Marvel movies ever. The plot is simple, nothing new or groundbreaking. Good guys gotta stop bad guys from literally destroying the world. Been there, done that, right? And like…
48 Hrs. (1982)

48 Hrs. (1982)

[7] Eddie Murphy made his big screen debut opposite Nick Nolte in this action-comedy from director Walter Hill (The Warriors, Southern Comfort). Nolte plays a cop who begrudgingly seeks the help of Murphy's character, a thief serving the last few…
Snowpiercer (2014)

Snowpiercer (2014)

[9] South Korean director Bong Joon-ho (Mother, The Host) directs this tale of class warfare set in an ice-age Armageddon wherein the last few living humans reside aboard a technologically advanced train that constantly circumnavigates the globe. Chris Evans (Captain…
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)

[9] In this sequel from director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Let Me In), the virus introduced in the previous film has obliterated more than 99% of the human population worldwide. In San Francisco, there is a small colony of humans focused…
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

[7] The first two-thirds of this franchise reboot (a second after the 2001 Tim Burton clunker) are surprisingly good. I was expecting to see computer-generated monkeys go nuts for two hours (all of which is saved for the less interesting…