The Rules of Attraction (2002)

The Rules of Attraction (2002)

[8] Roger Avary, Oscar-winning co-writer of Pulp Fiction, adapts Bret Easton Ellis's novel about drunken, drug-addled college students reaching for meaningful human connection. We experience The Rules of Attraction primarily through three lovelorn characters: a virgin named Lauren (Shannyn Sossamon), a sociopath…
Suburbicon (2017)

Suburbicon (2017)

[4] After his mother is killed in a home invasion, a young boy (Noah Jupe) begins to suspect his father (Matt Damon) and aunt (Julianne Moore) staged the event -- and that his life is now in danger, too. He tries to…
Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

[10] In this darkly comic noir masterpiece from Billy Wilder, a struggling Hollywood screenwriter (William Holden) moves in with a delusional silent film star named Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) who wants him to write the script for her big comeback. But when…
Mars Attacks! (1996)

Mars Attacks! (1996)

[5] Director Tim Burton (Batman, Edward Scissorhands) turns an infamous 1960s line of trading cards into a mad-cap feature film with Mars Attacks! Patterned after star-laden disaster flicks from the '70s, the film follows a large ensemble of characters in Washington DC,…
The Stunt Man (1980)

The Stunt Man (1980)

[9] Steve Railsback (Lifeforce, The X-Files) stars as a fugitive who stumbles onto a motion picture set and gets hired as a stunt performer. As long as he's working, the film's director agrees to hide him from the law. The director, played…
Gummo (1997)

Gummo (1997)

[6] Director Harmony Korine (Julien Donkey-Boy, Spring Breakers) hit the indie film scene with Gummo, a film that combines scripted material with documentary footage to deliver a portrait of a tornado-stricken Ohio town whose children all seem to be circling the drain.…
What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? (1969)

What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? (1969)

[6] Geraldine Page (Oscar-winner for The Trip to Bountiful) chews the scenery in a delightfully villainous performance in What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?, one of the 'hag horror' movies that popped up in the wake of 1962's What Ever Happened to…
Saltburn (2023)

Saltburn (2023)

[8] Oscar-winning writer/director Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) serves up a diabolical pitch-black comedy about an off-kilter Oxford student who ingratiates himself into the life of a handsome classmate and his aristocratic family to dubious and increasingly sinister ends. Barry Keoghan (Oscar…
One Battle After Another (2025)

One Battle After Another (2025)

[3] It's possible I'll see this movie again in the future and understand it better. I have to assume this is possible, because I love several other Paul Thomas Anderson movies, including Boogie Nights, Magnolia, There Will Be Blood, and Licorice Pizza.…
Bugonia (2025)

Bugonia (2025)

[6] Two cousins (Jesse Plemons and Aidan Delbis) kidnap a famous pharmaceutical CEO (Emma Stone) because they believe she is an alien intent on harming humankind. Director Yorgos Lanthimos (Dogtooth, The Favourite) makes the deranged cousins sympathetic and the CEO unlikable, but…