Fearless Fagan (1952)
[5] If I were a kid in the 1950s, I probably would have loved Fearless Fagan, the story of a circus performer (lanky Carleton Carpenter) drafted into the army with nowhere to leave his pet lion, Fagan. He sneaks Fagan…
The Invisible Woman (1940)
[6] Virginia Bruce, John Barrymore, and John Howard star in this second, decidedly more comic installment of what would become Universal's Invisible Man franchise. Howard plays a rich playboy looking to settle down with the right woman, while Barrymore plays…
Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)
[6] There's a certain kind of movie that is really hard to review. This is one of those movies. It's a studio movie, formulaic in structure and unremarkable in substance, but entertaining in laughs and thrills and a great vehicle…
Alice Adams (1935)
[7] Katharine Hepburn stars as a poor young woman trying to enter snobbish social circles to find a husband in this first major film directed by George Stevens (Woman of the Year, Gunga Din). Hepburn's character eventually lands a doting…
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)
[6] A big-budget studio action-comedy is one of the least likely candidates to catch my attention these days, but a few people insisted Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was a cut above the rest. And while the bar is low,…
Breakfast on Pluto (2005)
[6] Cillian Murphy stars a young trans-woman who leaves Ireland in the 1970s to find her birth mother in London. Along the way, she has flings with a singer (Gavin Friday) and a comic magician (Stephen Rea), rough encounters with…
The Object of My Affection (1998)
[5] A New York city social worker becomes pregnant and decides she'd rather raise the baby with her gay best friend than with the baby's father. But when their romantic desires begin to undercut their family goals, frustration gets the…
Adventures in Babysitting (1987)
[6] Elisabeth Shue (Leaving Las Vegas, The Karate Kid) stars as a high school senior who resigns herself to babysitting when her date cancels at the last minute. But when her friend runs away from home and makes a panicked…
Big Brown Eyes (1936)
[6] Cary Grant and Joan Blondell star as a private eye and a manicurist-turned-journalist who help solve a mystery that began as a jewelry theft ring and escalates to the accidental shooting death of a baby in Central Park. Yeah,…
40 Days and 40 Nights (2002)
[5] Josh Hartnett stars as a guy so obsessed with his ex-girlfriend, that it haunts any attempt to start a new relationship. So he gives up sex for Lent -- right before accidentally meeting Mrs. Right (Shannyn Sossamon). While his…