Only Films Rated 10

[10] In picturesque Italy, 1983, a seventeen-year-old boy falls in love with an older man who is working as his father’s research assistant. That’s it. That’s all Call Me By Your Name is about. And it’s marvelous. So many other coming-of-age, coming out, and gay-centered love stories focus on outside forces exerting pressure on the characters. But James Ivory’s (Maurice, The Remains of the Day) …

[10] I’ll come right out with it: The Witch is my favorite horror film of the last ten years. Newcomer writer/director Robert Eggers serves up a masterfully creepy tale that’s equal parts psychological and atmospheric, elegant and restrained, but not without some visceral imagery that will haunt you for years to come. The story centers around a New England family circa the 1630s. Having just …

[10] Director Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia) serves up a masterful study of two ambitious men — a turn-of-the-century oil prospector driven by capitalism and a young preacher eager to grow his flock. The two men come to conflict on occasion, with the prospector’s young son often caught in the middle. But as times of prosperity drift closer to the Great Depression, the prospector …

[10] I love road movies and ensemble pieces, but Little Miss Sunshine goes one step further by saying something we all need to hear from time to time: it’s okay to fall short of ambition. The film throws six disparate personalities, all family, into a Volkswagen bus for a weekend road trip so that the youngest of them can compete in a junior beauty pageant. …

[10] Peter Jackson (Dead Alive, The Frighteners) embraces the Herculean task of bringing Tolkien’s supreme fantasy to the silver screen, and hits a home run. The Fellowship of the Ring gets the trilogy off to a strong start, as Frodo Baggins and his companions set off to destroy the One Ring.  Jackson is faithful to the source material while masterfully balancing action, horror, heart, and …

[10] Michael Douglas gives a career highlight performance as a fifty-year-old college professor worried about following up a sensational debut novel in this warm, character-driven comedy from Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential, 8 Mile) and author Michael Chabon. I was quickly hooked on each of the movie’s ensemble of anxious, quirky characters, all grappling with their own life-changing dilemmas. Tobey Maguire is excellent as the sullen …

[10] A profound, yes profound, pitch black satire that has become an anthem for a “generation of men raised by women”. From a gender studies perspective, Fight Club speaks to the fragility of masculine identity and the disturbing lengths to which misguided youth will go to feel like they belong, to have identity, to be men. Fight Club is famously reviled for its graphic depiction …

[10] The story of Titus Andronicus is a fascinating dissertation on human violence, and in the hands of visionary director Julie Taymor (Frida, Across the Universe), it becomes an orgasm of cinematic delight. It opens in the aftermath of war, as Titus (Anthony Hopkins) returns victorious to Rome, having just defeated the Goths and captured their queen, Tamora (Jessica Lange), and her sons.  Fulfilling his …

[10] Anthony Minghella (The English Patient) adapts the Patricia Highsmith novel for the big screen, casts it perfectly, and delivers a superb character study and psychological thriller. Matt Damon anchors the film in the best performance of his career, playing the insecure but devious Tom Ripley, a lower-class New Yorker who serendipitously finds himself in Italy to locate a tycoon’s son and encourage him to return …

[10] Al Pacino is Vincent Hanna of the LAPD robbery/homicide division.  Robert DeNiro is Neil McCauley, the leader of a successful bank robbing team that includes his protege Chris Shiherlis, played by Val Kilmer. After a fouled-up heist puts Hanna on McCauley’s trail, Heat becomes an elaborate cat and mouse chase between a driven police lieutenant and a seasoned criminal. Even though it’s grounded in …

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