Emma (1996)
[5] Gwyneth Paltrow stars as the title character in this adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma. Emma Woodhouse takes it upon herself to be a matchmaker for all her friends and neighbors. While her interference tends to do more harm than…
The Notebook (2004)
[7] Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams star as young lovers from different social backgrounds whose relationship is torn apart by interfering parents and World War II. When they reunite many years later, she's engaged to another (James Marsden), but their…
McQ (1974)
[5] John Wayne gave up the lead in 1971's Dirty Harry and came to regret it. McQ is his attempt to get in on the vigilante cop craze, playing a cop who starts out investigating the murder of a friend…
Anthony Adverse (1936)
[6] In 18th century Italy, an orphan boy comes of age with the help of nuns and a kindly mentor, falls in love, gets embroiled in the slave trade, and fights for his inheritance in this adaptation of Hervey Allen's…
Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)
[7] Jennifer Jones and William Holden star as a widowed Eurasian doctor and a married American news correspondent who fall in love despite cultural differences and wartime separations during China's communist revolution. Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing is one of…
The Fugitive Kind (1960)
[7] Marlon Brando stars in Sydney Lumet's adaptation of Tennessee Williams Orpheus Descending. (Williams co-wrote the screenplay with Meade Roberts.) Brando plays a young man trying to shed his criminal background and start a new life in a new town.…
Running with Scissors (2006)
[6] Writer/director Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tuck, Glee) brings Augusten Burroughs' memoir to the big screen. Joseph Cross plays young Burroughs, a thirteen-year-old whose emotionally unstable mother hands him off to her therapist. Running with Scissors is primarily about Burroughs trying to…
Better Luck Tomorrow (2002)
[4] A group of Asian-American high schoolers get bored of being diligent students and begin dabbling in criminal activity. Before long, they're in over their heads and regretting everything. You don't get to know any of the characters very well,…
Chastity (1969)
[4] Cher gives her first dramatic performance in Chastity, produced by then-husband and singing partner Sonny Bono. You could call the film experimental, an American hippie spin on the French New Wave of filmmaking. Or you could call it a…
Hot Saturday (1932)
[7] Nancy Carroll stars as a young bank worker who loses her job and becomes the subject of gossip after she spends a night with a rich womanizer, played by Cary Grant. Even though Carroll never did anything improper, the…