Blue Valentine (2010)

Blue Valentine (2010)

[6] Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams star in writer/director Derek Cianfrance's (The Place Beyond the Pines) melancholy love story, Blue Valentine. The film cuts back and forth between two timelines, with Williams and Gosling playing Brooklyn lovers at both the…
Sideways (2004)

Sideways (2004)

[8] Writer/director Alexander Payne (Election, About Schmidt) takes us on a trip through California wine country with two middle-aged college buddies in Sideways, based on a novel by Rex Pickett. Paul Giamatti plays a divorced junior high school teacher suffering…
Frisco Jenny (1932)

Frisco Jenny (1932)

[7] Ruth Chatterton is our title character, a bootlegging madam in 1906 San Francisco. The big earthquake claims the lives of her father and fiancée, and she ends up giving birth in a Chinatown basement. When poverty gives her no…
The Glass House (1972)

The Glass House (1972)

[7] In this TV movie co-written by Truman Capote, a prisoner (Alan Alda) and a guard (Clu Gulager) start life in prison on the same day and quickly learn what a dangerous and corrupt environment it is. Both men seek…
Never Take Candy from a Stranger (1960)

Never Take Candy from a Stranger (1960)

[6] After their daughter tells them about 'naked games' she played with an old man, two parents (Patrick Allen and Gwen Watford) take the old man to court. But they find themselves the unlikely target of the town's scorn for…
The Furies (1950)

The Furies (1950)

[7] Barbara Stanwyck and Walter Huston square off in this western about a father and daughter fighting over who will control the future of the family's sprawling cattle ranch. The relationship begins as a loving, mentoring one, but transforms into…
The Help (2011)

The Help (2011)

[5] An aspiring writer decides to tell the stories of African-American maids during the turbulent '60s, risking community scorn to publish the truth. The Help, based on the novel by Kathryn Stockett, weaves the stories of several black and white…
Dark Passage (1947)

Dark Passage (1947)

[7] Humphrey Bogart escapes from San Quentin to try and prove he's innocent of killing his wife. Lauren Bacall plays the woman who believes him and gives him shelter. He resorts to plastic surgery to hide his identity from the…
Carriers (2009)

Carriers (2009)

[5] Chris Pine, Lou Taylor Pucci (Thumbsucker), Piper Perabo (Coyote Ugly), and Emily VanCamp (Everwood) roam the empty western United States after a plague has killed most of the population. They do their best to avoid desperate stragglers, but have…
The Bucket List (2007)

The Bucket List (2007)

[4] Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman play terminally-ill cancer patients who decide to make one last go at their 'bucket list' -- a list of things to see and do before they die. I usually trust director Rob Reiner (When…