The Beach 

Young American Richard (Leonardo DiCaprio), who’s backpacking in Thailand, finds a map that supposedly will take him to a paradise untouched by humans. John Hodge's novel is a modern classic…

The Piano Teacher 

Erika Kohut (Isabelle Huppert) is a Viennese piano teacher in her forties who agrees to have an affair with a much younger man (Benoît Magimel)… as long as he fulfills…

Bad Santa

It begins with a Santa throwing up in the alley behind a bar. He then goes on swearing, being mean to children and sodomizing fat women. The bad Santa is…

Deer Hunter: Storm Clouds Gather Across the Sea

Robert De Niro. Photo: Universal When The Deer Hunter opened in 1978 it was one of the first major films to deal with the war in Vietnam, still an open…

The Incredibles: It’s a Family Affair

Photo: Pixar In 1999, there was a film called The Iron Giant. It was an animated tale about a boy who ran into a being from outer space, a gigantic…

From Russia With Love 

James Bond (Sean Connery) is sent to collect a coding machine, but the whole thing is a trap set by the vindictive terror organization S.P.E.C.T.R.E. The second James Bond flick…

Dr. No: The Beginning of an Era

Ursula Andress. Photo: United Artists It opens with that famous shot of someone having the world’s most renowned spy in his sights, only to get killed by him in a…

O Brother Where Art Thou: Men of Constant Sorrow

Photo: Universal In Preston Sturges’s classic film Sullivan’s Travels (1941), Joel McCrea’s character, a Hollywood movie director, sets out to experience “the real world” as a way of preparing himself…

Clear and Present Danger 

As Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford) climbs the CIA ladder, the President declares an illegal war on Colombian drug cartels. The sequel to Patriot Games (1992) was made by the same…

Patriot Games 

After averting an IRA attack on members of the royal family in London, and killing one of the terrorist's brothers, CIA analyst Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford) becomes a marked man.…