Skyfall (2012)
[9] It's so refreshing to watch heroes and villains who are over the age of 40. Skyfall repeatedly suggests that sometimes older is better, and as a middle-aged film fan, I couldn't agree more. Daniel Craig's third turn as James…
Ben-Hur (1959)
[10] Charlton Heston stars as Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish prince whose life is thrown into years of soul-crushing turmoil after being betrayed by a childhood friend. That friend, a Roman soldier named Messala (Stephen Boyd), turns against Judah after he…
Aliens (1986)
[10] Writer/director James Cameron accomplishes a rare feat with a sequel that doesn't shame the original and succeeds on its own merits. Aliens is so different in tone than the original Alien, I think of it as a sequel only…
Moonstruck (1987)
[9] In New York City's Little Italy, a widowed bookkeeper named Loretta (Cher) accepts a marriage proposal from a man she likes, but doesn't love (Danny Aiello). Before her fiancée heads out of town to tend to his ailing mother,…
Some Like It Hot (1959)
[9] Two Chicago musicians (Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis) try to evade mobsters by disguising themselves as women and joining an all-girl band on its way to perform at a Florida resort. Both men fall in love with the band's…
Taxi Driver (1976)
[9] Robert DeNiro stars as Travis Bickle, a New York City taxi cab driver so disgusted with the city's crime and depravity that he turns to armed vigilantism. After he's spurned by a beautiful political campaign organizer (The Last Picture…
Casino Royale (2006)
[9] Daniel Craig joins the James Bond franchise in arguably its best offering to date. Craig plays Ian Fleming's James Bond at the beginning of his career, making his second kill and earning his status as a "00" agent before…
Top Secret! (1984)
[9] With double-entendres out the wazoo and sight gags out the yin-yang, not to mention a shiny young Val Kilmer dancing and singing his heart out, Top Secret! wins me over. Kilmer plays an Elvis Presley-like crooner set to perform…
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
[9] Ten years after Night of the Living Dead, which pretty much invented zombies as we now know them, George Romero went back to the well and made a sequel that I like even better. As the dead rise to…
The Fly (1986)
[9] Jeff Goldblum (Silverado, The Big Chill) plays an inventor who creates teleportation pods that can molecularly deconstruct matter from one location and reconstitute it in another. After he uses himself as a test subject, he's elated by the strength…