West Side Story (1961)
[8] Tension between rival New York City gangs the Jets and the Sharks is wound to a tragic snapping point after one young Jet falls head over heels for the sister of the Sharks' leader. West Side Story is based…
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
[8] An associate History professor (Richard Burton) and his wife, the university president's daughter (Elizabeth Taylor), invite a new biology faculty member (George Segal) and his wife (Sandy Dennis) to their house for drinks. But the evening goes hellishly south…
The Great Gatsby (1974)
[7] F. Scott Fitzgerald's most required reading is faithfully script-adapted by Francis Ford Coppola, with Jack Clayton directing a production as lavish as required for the story of the uber-wealthy but mysterious Jay Gatsby. We enter into Gatsby's opulent world…
Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
[7] It's 18th century France and everyone's the Vavavoom de Floofenberg dressed to the nines and powdered like a doughnut. Yes, Dangerous Liaisons is one of those dreaded costume dramas. But like any good one, if you strip away the…
Little Women (2019)
[8] If someone is going to pick up Louisa May Alcott's much-loved literary classic, dust it off, and serve up a retelling, let it be the Oscar-nominated writer/director of Lady Bird. Greta Gerwig is respectably faithful to the material, but…
Cleopatra (1963)
[3] Elizabeth Taylor plays the powerful and sexy Egyptian queen who fends off Roman conquest while falling in love with its leaders -- first Rex Harrison's Caesar, and then Richard Burton's Antony. First I'll be nice to Cleopatra. The sets…
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…
Black Panther (2018)
[6] Somewhere in Africa, there's a secret society hidden away by fancy technology. They have, like, a really super-strong metal there that the rest of the world wants, but the secret African people know the rest of the world will…
Moulin Rouge! (2001)
[8] A lonely writer falls in love with a singing, dancing courtesan in this bawdy musical that soars on the charms of co-stars Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor. The song numbers cannibalize lyrics from love songs over the past century,…
An American in Paris (1951)
[4] Near the end of both Singin' in the Rain and An American in Paris, there is a big, epic dance number that feels very out of place. It's the only thing I don't like about Singin' in the Rain,…