Trading Places (1983)

Trading Places (1983)

[8] Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy headline this comedy from director John Landis (Animal House, The Blues Brothers) in which a snobby stockbroker (Aykroyd) and a petty street hustler (Murphy) are forced to trade places by two wealthy brothers as…
Boogie Nights (1997)

Boogie Nights (1997)

[9] Writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson's ode to the '70s porn industry brings poignant depth to its sensational subject matter. It's also an amazing showcase of top-notch acting and directing. Anderson is a rare creative talent, as skilled with actors as…
Platoon (1986)

Platoon (1986)

[8] Oliver Stone's Platoon was one of the first major motion pictures to deal with the Vietnam war. Charlie Sheen stars as an infantry volunteer who finds himself in a moral quandry, torn between two sergeants of differing philosophies. Tom…
Shane (1953)

Shane (1953)

[8] George Stevens (A Place in the Sun, Gunga Din) directs this Western morality tale based on the novel by Jack Schaefer. Alan Ladd plays the title character, a drifting cowboy who wanders into a sprawling Wyoming valley in the…
Threesome (1994)

Threesome (1994)

[9] One girl. Two guys. Three possibilities... Josh Charles (Dead Poets Society), Lara Flynn Boyle (Twin Peaks), and Stephen Baldwin star in this college dramedy about three dormitory suitemates who wander into a sexual threesome of sorts and survive to…
Dead Poets Society (1989)

Dead Poets Society (1989)

[9] Robin Williams headlines this period drama from Australian auteur Peter Weir (Witness, Picnic at Hanging Rock) centered around teen boys coming of age at a late 1950s New England prep school. Williams plays Professor Keating, their inspirational English teacher,…
A View to a Kill (1985)

A View to a Kill (1985)

[8] A psychotic businessman (Christopher Walken) plans to plunge Silicon Valley into the ocean to create a worldwide microchip monopoly for himself in Roger Moore's final outing as James Bond. A View to Kill is more aggressively paced than other Bond…
U-571 (2000)

U-571 (2000)

[8] Matthew McConaughey leads a U.S. submarine crew into hostile waters to board a stranded World War II German sub carrying an Enigma cipher machine, technology that the U.S. could use to decipher German communications. But once the Americans arrive…
The Descent (2005)

The Descent (2005)

[8] Neil Marshall follows up his auspicious feature directorial debut, Dog Soldiers, with this all-female plunge into the claustrophobic depths of Appalachian caves. The Descent reminds me of From Dusk Til Dawn in that it's really two completely different movies…
Dressed to Kill (1980)

Dressed to Kill (1980)

[8] Brian DePalma (Carrie, Sisters) serves up a sexually charged Hitchcockian thriller about a female slasher hunting a prostitute who witnessed her last murder. Michael Caine stars as the shrink who tries to help the call girl, who's played by…