The Birdcage (1996)
[8] A gay couple who own a drag show cabaret must pretend to be straight when their son invites his fiancée's Christian conservative family to meet them for dinner. The Birdcage is an American remake of a French film, which…
Postcards from the Edge (1990)
[7] Meryl Streep plays a drug-addicted actress forced to stay with her celebrity mother (Shirley MacLaine) in order for insurance companies to allow her to continue working in Hollywood. Mike Nichols (The Graduate, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) directs this…
Twilight (1998)
[5] Paul Newman stars in this L.A. detective story from director Robert Benton (Kramer vs Kramer), about a down-on-his-luck P.I. who lives with two movie stars (Susan Sarandon and Gene Hackman) who are married to each other. Newman starts to…
The French Connection (1971)
[7] A pair of New York city narcotics cops try to bust a big heroin deal being brokered between suspected mobsters and a French connection. But one of the cops, 'Popeye' Doyle (Gene Hackman), has a history of recklessness and…
Superman II (1981)
1981 Theatrical Version [7] 2006 Richard Donner Cut [7] Three space criminals clad in shiny black suits come to Earth and force Superman into a confrontation, just as he's decided to give up his powers for a normal relationship with Lois…
A Bridge Too Far (1977)
[6] Richard Attenborough (Gandhi, Chaplin) reenacts the elaborate but doomed Operation Market Garden, a World War II strategy the Allied Forces valiantly attempted to execute in order to defeat German Forces in the Netherlands. A Bridge Too Far is a…
No Way Out (1987)
[6] Kevin Costner stars as a Navy officer who gets enlisted by the Secretary of Defense (Gene Hackman) to get secret information from the CIA about a new Russian submarine project. Both men are sleeping with the same woman (Sean…
The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
[7] A gaggle of Oscar-winners go topsy-turvy and fight to survive when a luxury liner capsizes at sea in the trend-setting disaster flick, The Poseidon Adventure. The film delivers on producer Irwin Allen's desire to blow shit up (think of…
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)
[2] The short review: WTF? The longer review: From the first opening frame, you know right away this is a cheap, watered down, bargain basement Superman movie. (Thank you, Golan-Globus Productions!) But even if you can overlook the astonishingly awful…
Superman: The Movie (1978)
[9]
This was the first blockbuster superhero movie (for better and for worse) and I doubt there will ever be a better film adaptation for the Man of Steel. Under Richard Donner’s (The Omen, Lethal Weapon) direction and good taste, Superman is a winning blend of action, drama, charm, and yes, camp. The first forty minutes are emotionally powerful, more than any other comic book adaptation I’ve ever seen. I get choked up every time I watch this movie, whether it’s seeing Marlon Brando (as Jor-El) say goodbye to his son before sending him away from their doomed home world, watching the Kent family deal with the death of Jonathan Kent, or the gorgeous wheat field scene where Clark tells Ma Kent it’s time for him to go.