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…
Krull (1983)

Krull (1983)

[7] In the wake of Star Wars, all the Hollywood studios were scrambling to replicate its success with similar big-budget sci-fi/fantasy epics. Krull was Columbia Pictures' effort, released the same summer as Return of the Jedi, and destined to box…
K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)

K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)

[7] Kathryn Bigelow (Strange Days, Near Dark) directs this Cold War-era true story starring Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson as Soviet officers aboard Russia's first nuclear-powered submarine. Moscow orders the ship to launch a nuclear missile to let America know…
Taken (2008)

Taken (2008)

[6] Liam Neeson stars as an ex-CIA operative who pursues sex traffickers in Paris to rescue his kidnapped daughter. Taken opens with twenty minutes of clunky, expository screenwriting before Neeson is allowed to kick things into high gear. He single-handedly…
Breakfast on Pluto (2005)

Breakfast on Pluto (2005)

[6] Cillian Murphy stars a young trans-woman who leaves Ireland in the 1970s to find her birth mother in London. Along the way, she has flings with a singer (Gavin Friday) and a comic magician (Stephen Rea), rough encounters with…
Love Actually (2003)

Love Actually (2003)

[8] A bunch of British people fall in love, out of love, and do lovey-dovey things in the month leading up to Christmas. Now, if you're like me, that's a description that will keep you from ever wanting to watch…
Widows (2018)

Widows (2018)

[7] Steve McQueen (Shame, 12 Years a Slave) brings Lynda La Plante's novel to the screen. Widows is about a woman who rallies the girlfriends and wives of her deceased husband's gang of robbers, all of whom died in a botched…
The Bounty (1984)

The Bounty (1984)

[6] This Dino DeLaurentiis production of the infamous tale of mutiny welcomes more shades of gray into the characters of Captain Bligh and Fletcher Christian than the 1935 original film, though I wouldn't say it's a better film overall. Bligh…
Gangs of New York (2002)

Gangs of New York (2002)

[8] Martin Scorsese unleashes this epic tale of 1860s New York City street battles, with Leonardo DiCaprio starring as a young man with a vendetta against the near legendary Bill the Butcher (Daniel Day-Lewis). See, DiCaprio's character saw Day-Lewis's character…
Kinsey (2004)

Kinsey (2004)

[8] Writer/director Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters) takes on the life and work of sexual research pioneer Alfred Kinsey, whose teachings and publications caused a national uproar in the late '40s and 50s. If you think America is sexually prudish…