To Each His Own (1946)
[6] Olivia de Havilland won her first Oscar for this sudsy soap opera about a woman who gives up her infant son and spends the rest of her life trying to reconnect with him. The melodrama may be an acquired…
The Social Network (2010)
[8] A movie about corporate betrayal and litigation is normally not my idea of a good time, but The Social Network turns out to be a well-made, voyeuristic look back at the birth of a now-ubiquitous product that many users…
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
[7] Paul Newman and Robert Redford star in this influential, genre-bending Western about two outlaws who hole up in Bolivia to hide from a pursuing 'superposse.' William Goldman's celebrated screenplay would become the progenitor of countless buddy films for decades…
Dunkirk (2017)
[7] Christopher Nolan serves up a wartime survival flick about Allied soldiers stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk, France, while the German army surrounds them. The water was so shallow, warships couldn't pick up the troops, so loading the hundreds of…
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,…
Stalag 17 (1953)
[7] William Holden leads an ensemble cast in Billy Wilder's adaptation of Stalag 17. The film takes place entirely in a German prisoner-of-war barrack, where the captured Americans are beginning to suspect that Holden's pessimistic black marketeer character may be…
Spotlight (2015)
[6] Tom McCarthy (The Station Agent) cowrites and directs this true story of a Boston investigative newspaper team who expose the Catholic Church for covering decades worth of pedophilic activity by over 87 priests in the city. Spotlight's not a…
The Deer Hunter (1978)
[8] Close-knit friends from a mining community share a harrowing experience during their tour of duty in Vietnam. Michael Cimino's three-hour long film focuses primarily on the aftermath of the ordeal, now one of the most famous scenes in movie…
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
[8] Disney goes Broadway in the first animated motion picture ever nominated for a Best Picture Oscar (in the days before they rolled out a separate category for the medium). This version of the classic fairy tale is fueled by…
The Godfather Part II (1974)
[7] An unusual sequel of sorts, The Godfather Part II spends equal time in the past and the present, exploring the early life of Vito Corleone (with Robert DeNiro taking over the mantle from Marlon Brando) while also following the…