The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

[7] Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck star in Andrew Dominik's dramatization of the last months of famous outlaw Jesse James' life. Pitt plays James and Affleck plays his admirer-turned-assassin, Robert Ford. The young Ford character is smitten from the outset,…
Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

[4] About two minutes into Punch-Drunk Love, an absurdist romance from Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia), you learn the movie doesn't really take place in the real world and none of the characters are real, either. It's all... some…
Frozen River (2008)

Frozen River (2008)

[7] Melissa Leo turns in a fierce, memorable performance in writer/director Courtney Hunt's story of two women who strike up an unlikely partnership smuggling illegal immigrants to make ends meet. After a Mohawk woman from a nearby reservation steals her…
The Reader (2008)

The Reader (2008)

[8] A young German man (an award-worthy David Kross) has an affair with an older woman (Kate Winslet), only to discover many years after the affair ends that she was a guard at the Auschwitz concentration camp. After she is…
On the Edge (2001)

On the Edge (2001)

[6] Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later, Sunshine) stars as a troubled teen sent to a group therapy clinic after intentionally driving his car off a cliff. If I'd never seen Girl, Interrupted, this movie might resonate more with me. But…
Widows (2018)

Widows (2018)

[7] Steve McQueen (Shame, 12 Years a Slave) brings Lynda La Plante's novel to the screen. Widows is about a woman who rallies the girlfriends and wives of her deceased husband's gang of robbers, all of whom died in a botched…
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

[8] Rami Malek stars as Freddie Mercury in Bryan Singer's (X-Men, Valkyrie) biopic about the formation and explosive success of rock group Queen. The film centers primarily around Mercury -- his estranged relationship with his family, his homosexuality, his drug…
Bringing Out the Dead (1999)

Bringing Out the Dead (1999)

[7] Nicolas Cage stars as a third shift New York ambulance paramedic haunted by ghosts and clinging to his sanity in this grim, sometimes darkly comic film from director Martin Scorsese and Taxi Driver scribe Paul Schrader. Cage's character gets a…
Silkwood (1983)

Silkwood (1983)

[7] Meryl Streep stars in the true story of a plutonium processing worker who is purposefully contaminated with the lethal substance after she initiates a whistle-blowing campaign about the company's safety standards. Kurt Russel plays the love interest and Cher…
Dirty Pictures (2000)

Dirty Pictures (2000)

[6] James Woods stars as the museum director taken to court when photographs from Robert Mapplethorpe's 1990 exhibit were accused of being obscene in Cincinnati, Ohio. Diana Scarwid and Craig T. Nelson also star in this made-for-cable movie that incorporates…