Mission: Impossible III (2006)

Mission: Impossible III (2006)

[5] Tom Cruise makes his Mission: Impossible franchise a trilogy with this installment directed by J.J. Abrams (Star Trek, Super 8). This time out, Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote) plays the villain, an arms dealer looking to acquire a mysterious, presumably…
One Battle After Another (2025)

One Battle After Another (2025)

[3] It's possible I'll see this movie again in the future and understand it better. I have to assume this is possible, because I love several other Paul Thomas Anderson movies, including Boogie Nights, Magnolia, There Will Be Blood, and…
The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)

The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)

[6] Keanu Reeves (Speed, The Matrix) stars as Klaatu, an alien visiting Earth to assess whether humanity deserves to live or die in this remake of the 1951 atomic-age classic. Humanity's potential for atomic annihilation takes a more ecological bent…
Dante’s Peak (1997)

Dante’s Peak (1997)

[8] Pierce Brosnan (Goldeneye) and Linda Hamilton (Terminator 2) star in this old-fashioned disaster flick about a volcano that's about to wipe a small town off the map. Brosnan plays a volcanologist who, in Jaws-like fashion, warns the town of…
Mercury Rising (1998)

Mercury Rising (1998)

[3] Bruce Willis stars as an FBI agent who takes it upon himself to protect an autistic 9-year-old boy (Pet Sematary's Miko Hughes) who can crack the Defense agency's most critical codes. So -- naturally? -- the military set out…
Mission: Impossible II (2000)

Mission: Impossible II (2000)

[6] Well, at least it's better than the first one. Tom Cruise returns as secret agent Ethan Hunt, tasked with apprehending a fatal new virus called "Chimera" before the bad guys (led by Dougray Scott) unleash it upon the world.…
Rampage (1987)

Rampage (1987)

[5] Michael Biehn (The Terminator) stars as a district attorney who is forced to reconsider his stance against the death penalty when a young, blood-drinking serial killer (Alex McArthur) is brought to justice. Rampage is directed and co-written by William…
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

[7] Writer/director Steven Spielberg follows up his immensely successful Jaws with this tale of extra-terrestrials and government conspiracy. Richard Dreyfuss stars as a family man whose encounter with a UFO brings him into contact with a grieving mother (Melinda Dillon)…
Mission: Impossible (1996)

Mission: Impossible (1996)

[4] It's a testament to Tom Cruise's raw charisma and screen presence that I was able to make it through director Brian DePalma's boring big screen upgrade of the '60s television show Mission: Impossible. Because despite having a script co-written…
Scream of Fear (1961)

Scream of Fear (1961)

[7] A wheel-chair bound young woman named Penny (Susan Strasberg) returns to the cliffside home of her estranged father, who she hasn't seen in over ten years. But when she arrives, she's told by her stepmother (Ann Todd) that her…