Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)

[4] George Lucas's much-anticipated return to the Star Wars universe after sixteen years affords the writer/director the advanced technology needed to bring his vision to life, yet there's little life to be found in the story or characters of his…
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

[8] Philip Kaufman enhances the creepiness and desperation in this superior retelling of the classic tale of alien menace and paranoia. The terrific cast includes Donald Sutherland, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright, Brooke Adams, and Leonard Nimoy. Ben Burtt provides the…
WALL-E (2008)

WALL-E (2008)

[9]

My favorite Pixar film features two robots who say little more than each others’ names, but somehow, as if by magic, WALL-E manages to convey more emotion than films that try twice as hard to do so.  There’s a charming purity in the characters of WALL-E and EVE, who to differing degrees struggle against their ‘directives’ to form a bond.  The fact that these two odd ‘bots end up protecting the last sliver of life on Earth — a tiny plant — could have been cloying, but Pixar knows how to handle the material.  When WALL-E finds the fragile vine, he simply collects it in an old shoe and places it on a shelf with other artifacts of a bygone era. 

Star Wars (1977)

Star Wars (1977)

[10] Star Wars needs another review like a wookiee needs Rogaine, but let's reflect anyway, lest we start to forget its cultural importance and overall awesomeness.  After film reached (still) unparalleled popularity in the late '30s and '40s, television came…