Bambi (1942)

Bambi (1942)

[10] With relatively little dialogue and an abundance of montage, Walt Disney's Bambi plays out like a beautiful tone poem on rites of passage, death and rebirth. There's a 'circle of life' undercurrent to the film that makes it especially meaningful for…
Minority Report (2002)

Minority Report (2002)

[8] Steven Spielberg directs Tom Cruise in this taut adaptation of Philip K. Dick's sci-fi novelette set in 2054, when cops are able to use the visions of three uniquely gifted people called 'precogs' to arrest criminals before they commit their crimes.…
Dumbo (1941)

Dumbo (1941)

[9] After Walt Disney released the world's first animated feature film, the wildly successful Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the studio struggled with a couple of ambitious financial failures. Pinocchio and Fantasia were creatively and technologically advanced films, but both bombed…
Pinocchio (1940)

Pinocchio (1940)

[9] Walt Disney followed up his success with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs with a film that is far more entertaining and timeless. Pinocchio begins in a small cottage where a woodcarver named Geppetto (Christian Rub) is putting the finishing touches…
A View to a Kill (1985)

A View to a Kill (1985)

[8] A psychotic businessman (Christopher Walken) plans to plunge Silicon Valley into the ocean to create a worldwide microchip monopoly for himself in Roger Moore's final outing as James Bond. A View to Kill is more aggressively paced than other Bond films, and…
U-571 (2000)

U-571 (2000)

[8] Matthew McConaughey leads a U.S. submarine crew into hostile waters to board a stranded World War II German sub carrying an Enigma cipher machine, technology that the U.S. could use to decipher German communications. But once the Americans arrive at the…
The Descent (2005)

The Descent (2005)

[8] Neil Marshall follows up his auspicious feature directorial debut, Dog Soldiers, with this all-female plunge into the claustrophobic depths of Appalachian caves. The Descent reminds me of From Dusk Til Dawn in that it's really two completely different movies jammed together…
Dressed to Kill (1980)

Dressed to Kill (1980)

[8] Brian DePalma (Carrie, Sisters) serves up a sexually charged Hitchcockian thriller about a female slasher hunting a prostitute who witnessed her last murder. Michael Caine stars as the shrink who tries to help the call girl, who's played by Nancy Allen…
The Hunt for Red October (1990)

The Hunt for Red October (1990)

[8] Alec Baldwin takes on the mantle of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan in the action-thriller The Hunt for Red October. One of the joys of this movie is seeing Baldwin, previously known mostly for co-starring in Beetlejuice, become a leading man before…
300 (2006)

300 (2006)

[8] Based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley, 300 centers on three hundred proud Spartan soldiers who stood valiantly against overwhelming Persian forces in the Battle of Thermopylae. Gerard Butler stars as Spartan King Leonidas, who leads his…