Henry & June (1990)

Henry & June (1990)

[6] Philip Kaufman (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Right Stuff, Quills) directs this adaptation of Anais Nin's autobiography, about her sexual escapades with Henry Miller and his wife June in 1930s Paris. Movies that turn sex into some sort of transcendental…
Cold Mountain (2003)

Cold Mountain (2003)

[7] Anthony Minghella (The English Patient, Talented Mr. Ripley) adapts Charles Frazier's book about a Civil War deserter trying to get back to his lover. The film goes back and forth between the soldier's story and the sweetheart's story. My main issue…
The Constant Gardener (2005)

The Constant Gardener (2005)

[6] A British diplomat in Kenya tries to solve the mystery of his activist wife's murder, only to get in over his head with the culprits -- a pharmaceutical company that is intentionally poisoning and killing people. The first third of the…
Ghost (1990)

Ghost (1990)

[8] A surprisingly effective blend of romance, comedy, and supernatural horror, Ghost stars Patrick Swayze as a murdered man who works through a flim-flam psychic (Whoopi Goldberg) to save the life of his endangered girlfriend (Demi Moore). Ghost became so popular, I…
Splendor in the Grass (1961)

Splendor in the Grass (1961)

[7] Warren Beatty made his screen debut alongside Natalie Wood in this Elia Kazan film about sexual repression in 1920s middle-America. Beatty and Wood play Bud and Deanie, high school lovers who plan to get married and consummate their growing sexual urges.…
The D Train (2015)

The D Train (2015)

[6] On one hand, The D Train is a conventional buddy comedy of sorts, about a loser who tries to redeem himself by convincing a popular former classmate to come to their twenty-year high school reunion. On the other hand, the movie…
Trainwreck (2015)

Trainwreck (2015)

[3] Amy Schumer is an interesting, original, funny person in all her YouTube videos, so when I heard she had written Trainwreck and was starring in it, I was intrigued. Unfortunately, there are only two good scenes in the movie -- one…
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 Head). Reportedly…
Charade (1963)

Charade (1963)

[7] Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant star in this Stanley Donen (Singin' in the Rain) film about a recent widow fighting off a handful of mysterious bad guys who believe she knows where her husband was keeping a stolen quarter million in…
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 and pushes…