The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941)

The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941)

[10] William Dieterle's adaptation of Stephen Vincent Benet's The Devil and Daniel Webster is a winning combination of rustic Americana and dark fantasy. A cautionary tale of greed and power, the narrative centers around the character of Jabez Stone (James Craig), a…
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

[10] After deciding directing wasn't his favorite thing to do, George Lucas enticed his former film school teacher Irvin Kershner (Eyes of Laura Mars, Return of a Man Called Horse) to helm the dark second act of his historic Star Wars trilogy.…
Star Wars (1977)

Star Wars (1977)

[10] Writer/director George Lucas (American Graffiti) surprised the world with this unassuming and unheralded matinee-style fantasy adventure that, by all industry standards, would be dead on arrival at the box office. But then word-of-mouth catapulted Star Wars to the highest echelons of…
Ben-Hur (1959)

Ben-Hur (1959)

[10] Charlton Heston stars as Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish prince whose life is thrown into years of soul-crushing turmoil after being betrayed by a childhood friend. That friend, a Roman soldier named Messala (Stephen Boyd), turns against Judah after he refuses to…
Aliens (1986)

Aliens (1986)

[10] Writer/director James Cameron accomplishes a rare feat with a sequel that doesn't shame the original and succeeds on its own merits. Aliens is so different in tone than the original Alien, I think of it as a sequel only in name…
Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

[10] In this darkly comic noir masterpiece from Billy Wilder, a struggling Hollywood screenwriter (William Holden) moves in with a delusional silent film star named Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) who wants him to write the script for her big comeback. But when…
East of Eden (1955)

East of Eden (1955)

[10] James Dean received the first posthumous acting nomination from the Academy Awards for his riveting performance as the troubled Cal in East of Eden, his first major film role. (He died in a car accident just a few months after the…
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

[10] James Dean gives one of the most iconic performances in movie history as Jim Stark, an angst-ridden teenager who quarrels with his parents almost as much as he tangles with high school bullies. I normally hate tough guy movies, and I'd…
The Thing (1982)

The Thing (1982)

[10] This movie does two things extraordinarily well. It transports me and it terrifies me. Before anything scary even happens, director John Carpenter (Assault on Precinct 13, Starman) succeeds in creating an atmosphere of mystery and suspense that locks me into the…
Bambi (1942)

Bambi (1942)

[10] With relatively little dialogue and an abundance of montage, Walt Disney's Bambi plays out like a beautiful tone poem on rites of passage, death and rebirth. There's a 'circle of life' undercurrent to the film that makes it especially meaningful for…