The Mayor of Hell (1933)

The Mayor of Hell (1933)

[6] James Cagney and Frankie Darro star in this story of abuse at a boy's reform school. Darro plays a teenaged gang member sentenced to the school, where the cruel superintendent (Dudley Digges) whips the boys for slightest infractions. Cagney's character is…
Marrowbone (2017)

Marrowbone (2017)

[7] Writer/director Sergio G. Sánchez serves up a melancholy, twisted tale about a young man (George MacKay) who must look after his three younger siblings when their mother dies. The siblings (Mia Goth, Charlie Heaton, and Matthew Stagg) hide themselves away in…
The Great Man’s Lady (1941)

The Great Man’s Lady (1941)

[6] Barbara Stanwyck stars as a 100-year-old woman who recalls her frontier pioneering days to a young biographer (K.T. Stevens) inquiring about her late husband, Ethan Hoyt (Joel McCrea), the man who founded the city they live in and for whom a…
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

[8] Tom Cruise returns, 36 years later, to the role that made him a star. Top Gun: Maverick bests the original film as drama and entertainment, putting characters with universal appeal in thrilling, high stakes situations. The film opens with Maverick (Cruise)…
Top Gun (1986)

Top Gun (1986)

[7] Tom Cruise shot to superstardom at just twenty-four years of age with Top Gun, a hyper-stylized action/drama about Naval fighter pilots jockeying for top position at an elite academy in San Diego. Cruise plays the skilled but cocky Maverick (characters go…
The Karate Kid Part II (1986)

The Karate Kid Part II (1986)

[6] Ralph Macchio and Noriyuki "Pat" Morita reprise their roles in the sequel to The Karate Kid. This time, Mr. Miyagi (Morita) takes Daniel (Macchio) with him on a visit to Okinawa to bid farewell to Miyaki's dying father. Once there, one…
The Stranglers of Bombay (1959)

The Stranglers of Bombay (1959)

[6] A captain in the East India Company launches an investigation into a growing number of disappearances and murders in British colonized India during the 1830s. Guy Rolfe plays the captain who discovers evidence pointing to the deadly Thuggee cult, stranglers who…
Stella Dallas (1937)

Stella Dallas (1937)

[4] As much as I love Barbara Stanwyck, I'm surprised to be disappointed by her first of four Oscar-nominated performances. Stanwyck plays the title character in Stella Dallas, a woman from a poor family who ingratiates herself to a wealthier man (John…
Inserts (1975)

Inserts (1975)

[6] Richard Dreyfuss (Jaws, The Goodbye Girl) stars as 'Boy Wonder', a washed up filmmaker making silent pornos in his secluded mansion in the early 1930s. Inserts is a 'day in the life' film that takes place in real time, kicking off…
Zodiac (2007)

Zodiac (2007)

[7] Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, and Robert Downey, Jr. star in David Fincher's film about the investigation of the so-called 'Zodiac' killer in the late '60s through the early '80s. Downey and Gyllenhaal's characters work for the San Francisco Chronicle, which begins…