Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)

Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)

[6] After the success of Midnight Cowboy, John Schlesinger returned to personal storytelling in Britain with Sunday Bloody Sunday, a slice-of-life movie about a middle-aged doctor (Peter Finch) and a divorcee (Glenda Jackson) who knowingly share a bohemian lover (Murray…
Good Night, and Good Luck (2005)

Good Night, and Good Luck (2005)

[4] George Clooney directs, co-writes, and co-stars in this examination of famed broadcast newsman Edward R. Murrow's attempts to thwart McCarthyism at CBS. David Strathairn brings his usual nonchalance to the role of Murrow. Clooney plays his right-hand man, Fred…
Katie Tippel (1975)

Katie Tippel (1975)

[6] Paul Verhoeven (Turkish Delight, RoboCop) directs this story based on the book by Neel Doff, about an impoverished Dutch immigrant who turns to prostitution to make ends meet and winds up joining the socialist rebellion. Katie Tippel's plotline meanders…
Hitchcock (2012)

Hitchcock (2012)

[8] Anthony Hopkins plays filmdom's master of suspense in this movie that chronicles the director's relationship with his wife, Alma, played by none other than Helen Mirren, during the making of Psycho. It should come as no surprise that Hopkins…
Urban Cowboy (1980)

Urban Cowboy (1980)

[6] John Travolta and Debra Winger star as impetuous young lovers who meet at a Houston honky-tonk bar, get married, and struggle to keep their relationship together. I enjoyed the first half of the movie more than the second. You…
Lakeview Terrace (2008)

Lakeview Terrace (2008)

[4] Samuel L. Jackson stars as an ex-cop trying to raise two small children on his own. But when Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington move in next door, Jackson's character has a problem living next to an interracial couple. He…
Joy (2015)

Joy (2015)

[9] Director David O. Russell (The Fighter, Three Kings) sticks with his good luck charm, casting Jennifer Lawrence as the title character in Joy. Russell has said that his film career started to disinterest him several years back, and that…
12 Years a Slave (2013)

12 Years a Slave (2013)

[8] Director Steve McQueen (Hunger, Shame) brings to life the true-life story of Solomon Northup, a free black man from New York who is kidnapped and sold into Southern slavery. Northup endures two different owners and many harrowing experiences before…
Descent (2007)

Descent (2007)

[6] Rosario Dawson stars in this rape revenge story about a timid college freshman who keeps tabs on her rapist while falling in with a seedy crowd who inspire her method of revenge. Descent is a slow burn that tested…
The Education of Charlie Banks (2007)

The Education of Charlie Banks (2007)

[8] Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Ritter star in this tale of two boys from different sides of the tracks who form a tenuous, unlikely friendship over time, until one boy's secret and the other's temper threaten to pull them apart.…