Only Recommended Films (Rated 8-10)

[10] Kevin Costner’s ambitious ode to the American frontier is grand, romantic storytelling at its best. And talk about an underdog. People were calling it ‘Kevin’s Gate’ months prior to release — and why shouldn’t they? A three-hour long western with most of its dialogue in Lakota Sioux? How could such a movie find an audience, much less sweep the Academy Awards?

[9] A naive Avon lady discovers a strange young man named Edward who has scissors for hands living in an abandoned castle and decides to bring him home to her suburban community. At first Edward is the talk of the town, but when the novelty wears off, Edward must decide which is worse — the scorn of the mob or the loneliness of his old …

[9] David Lynch’s surreal cinematic mash-up of love and depravity won the Cannes Film Festival’s prestigious Palme d’Or. It’s a surprisingly simple story about two fierce lovers, Sailor and Lula (Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern) who try to keep their heads above water in a world gone, almost literally, to Hell. The overt Wizard of Oz references serve as a constant reminder that you’re watching …

[9] Lawrence Kasdan (The Big Chill, Grand Canyon) directs this dark comedy based on the true story of a woman who tried to kill her husband after learning he had cheated on her. Kevin Kline and Tracey Ullman star as the husband and wife, pizza parlor owners whose love is strong enough to endure anything — even poisoning and two gunshot wounds! River Phoenix plays …

[9] It’s hard to believe we once lived in a time when superhero movies didn’t monopolize the multiplexes. Such a time was the summer of 1989, when Warner Brothers’ very first big-screen version of Batman was due to be released. Many declared the film a folly. Indeed, a superhero film hadn’t been successful since Superman II nearly ten years earlier and most of the world …

[10] This superb dark comedy blows apart any precious John Hughes-like notions of high school life. Winona Ryder stars as Veronica, a high school girl caught in an elitist bitch-clique with three other young women (including Beverly Hills 90210 star Shannen Doherty) — all named Heather. But when the dangerous and alluring JD (Christian Slater) rides into town, Veronica falls under his spell as the …

[9] Underwater oil drillers are forced to work with the military to recover lost nuclear warheads, but they discover far more lurking in the depths of the ocean… This unique underwater sci-fi/thriller from James Cameron (Terminator, Aliens) is an ambitious, somewhat uneven film with thinly-drawn stereotypes and a pretentious alien subplot, but you know what? I like it anyway. I really like it — in …

[9] This delicate fantasy about regret and second chances casts a powerful spell that brings many grown men to tears before the credits roll.  To that effect, Field of Dreams is a beautiful indictment of the unspoken, unrequited nature of father-son relationships — the main ingredient in any male weepy. It helps that Kevin Costner is the lead.  He has an ‘everyman’ quality that allows …

[9] An off-duty police officer takes it upon himself to stop a gang of German terrorists who take an office Christmas party hostage in John McTiernan’s iconic action film, Die Hard. Let me put it another way: Die Hard is The Action Movie. It built a new paradigm for the genre and launched a movie star’s career. Bruce Willis can’t be given enough credit here. He …

[9] As far as monster movies go, this is the one to beat. It’s the only film directed by the late Stan Winston, the special effects wizard who brought so many creatures and otherworldly characters to life in movies like Jurassic Park, Terminator 2, and Edward Scissorhands.  I always wished he’d directed another movie, because Pumpkinhead is creepy as hell, a superb dark fairy tale …

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