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…
My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)
[8] Gordon Warnecke and Daniel Day-Lewis star as young lovers trying to forge their own way in life by opening a successful laundromat in London. Warnecke's character rails against the old-world expectations of his Pakistani father and uncle (Roshan Seth…
Baby Face (1933)
[8] Barbara Stanwyck stars as Lily Powers, the poor daughter of a speakeasy owner, who takes an old philosopher's advice to start using her feminine wiles (or 'lily power') to get ahead in life. After her nasty father dies in…
The Great Dictator (1940)
[8] There's something incredibly poetic about Charlie Chaplin, who built a career over the 1920s and 1930s as a silent screen star, finally opening his mouth in his first sound film, 1940's The Great Dictator. The decision wasn't an arbitrary…
Eyes Without a Face (1960)
[8] A surgeon kidnaps young women and removes their faces in hopes of successfully transplanting one on his horribly disfigured daughter in Eyes Without a Face. Released the same season as Hitchcock's Psycho and years before Romero's Night of the…
Color Out of Space (2019)
[8] Cult director Richard Stanley (Hardware) delivers a dread-inducing adaptation H.P. Lovecraft's Color Out of Space. Nicolas Cage and Joely Richardson play a couple who have moved their teenage children (Madeleine Arthur and Brendan Meyer) out of the big city…
Hotel Rwanda (2004)
[8] Don Cheadle stars as Paul Rusesabagina in the true story of a Rwandan man who saved over a thousand lives by harboring refugees in his hotel during the Hutu slaughtering of the Tutsi in 1994. Hotel Rwanda takes about…
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
[8] David Mamet adapts his stage play and James Foley directs an all-star cast in Glengarry Glen Ross, a fascinating multi-character study of the toll capitalism takes on the human soul. Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Ed Harris, and Alan Arkin…
Ladies of Leisure (1930)
[8] Behold the glory of Barbara Stanwyck. One of classic Hollywood's sassiest broads makes a big splash in this early talkie that's leagues ahead of other early 30s flicks in terms of story, craftsmanship, and performance. Babs plays a "party…