Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)

Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)

[8]

Leo McCarey won the best director Oscar for The Awful Truth, released the same year, but told the Academy they’d awarded him for the wrong picture. He may be right. Make Way for Tomorrow is a disarming, bonafide love story between an elderly couple (Victor Moore and Beulah Bondi) who are forced to separate when the bank forecloses on their home. The film is remarkably restrained and unsentimental for its time. The characters constantly mask their true feelings, fending off melodrama by acting against our immediate expectations.

Green Mansions (1959)

Green Mansions (1959)

[5] Bizarre, lavish misfire featuring Audrey Hepburn as a jungle girl who falls in love with a political refugee played by Anthony Perkins. The movie's beautiful in a kitschy kind of way, but the story is slow-moving and suffers from…
An Ideal Husband (1999)

An Ideal Husband (1999)

[9] Who said period pieces have to be stuffy? Director Oliver Parker equips a talented and charming ensemble cast with the eviscerating words of Oscar Wilde. Rupert Everett owns the role Arthur Goring, a self-centered playboy who runs from responsibility…
My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997)

My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997)

[9] Julia Roberts stars in this devilish romantic comedy from director P.J. Hogan (Muriel's Wedding) and writer Ronald Bass (Rain Man) about a jealous woman who tries to stop her best friend from marrying another woman. Dermot Mulroney plays the…
Titanic (1997)

Titanic (1997)

[9] By anchoring his screenplay in one of the most inherently compelling tragedies of the twentieth century and placing the the weight of the story on Kate Winslet's able shoulders, James Cameron concocts a recipe for the biggest money-making movie…
Threesome (1994)

Threesome (1994)

[9] One girl. Two guys. Three possibilities... Josh Charles (Dead Poets Society), Lara Flynn Boyle (Twin Peaks), and Stephen Baldwin star in this college romp about three co-eds who wander into a sexual threesome of sorts and survive to tell…
The Piano (1993)

The Piano (1993)

[10] Holly Hunter picked up an Academy Award for her performance as Ada, a rebellious mute who finds solace and a means of expression only with her beloved piano in Jane Campion's gorgeously crafted and erotically charged The Piano. Ada…
True Romance (1993)

True Romance (1993)

[9]

This is a fucking cool-ass movie.  The screenplay by Quentin Tarantino is an exciting blend of violence, sweetness, and dark humor.  Director Tony Scott (Top Gun, Crimson Tide) brings it to life with his usual polished style, and attracts a large ensemble of A-list performers.  Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette play Clarence and Alabama Whorley, a comic book geek and a call girl who meet serendipitously and fall instantly in love.  As Tarantino says, the title of the movie is not meant to be ironic.  An edgy action movie may not be a likely place to find true love, but I would argue that Clarence and Alabama are a more engaging and believable couple than those found in the majority of romantic comedies.

The Fisher King (1991)

The Fisher King (1991)

[10] Jeff Bridges stars as Jack, a shock radio host who inadvertently encourages a mad man to go on a killing spree. Guilt ridden, he teeters on the brink of self-annihilation before an eccentric homeless person named Parry (Robin Williams)…
Wild at Heart (1990)

Wild at Heart (1990)

[9] David Lynch's surreal cinematic mash-up of love and depravity won the Cannes Film Festival's prestigious Palme d'Or. It's a surprisingly simple story about two fierce lovers, Sailor and Lula (Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern) who try to keep their…