This zany comic gem from the legendary Preston Sturges veritably zips along thanks to the director’s sharp, Academy Award–nominated screenplay and a host of winningly wacky performances, with eternally befuddled ...

Gosling gives a fearless performance as the idealistic young educator who has a confident manner in the classroom, but whose addiction problem is starting to affect both his job performance and his friendship with Drey, ...

HBO’s fascinating “Half Past Autumn” depicts Parks as an inspiring, charismatic artist whose work (in particular his photo journalism) sought to improve the human condition. We discover how Parks rescued and virtually ...

Warner Home Video wisely places an opening disclaimer on this 75 year old chestnut, acknowledging that the portrayal of blacks is of its own time, and inevitably reflects some outdated racial stereotypes. This is simply ...

John Carpenter's first and best entry in a long series, this movie gives the slasher pic a good name (that is, until you sit through all those pale re-treads). This lean feature works because it's both original and ...

Though dozens of versions of Shakespeare's best-known play have been filmed, none rival this moody 1948 adaptation by master dramatist Olivier, who produced, directed, and acted. Streamlining the text to achieve a ...

Once voted Iran’s best film by a panel of Persian critics (a big honor in a country with such a robust, globally recognized film culture), “Hamoun” is the story of a disintegrating marriage, but Mehrjui (“The Cow”) ...

Raw, searing Italian feature's semi-documentary style hurls the viewer into a cauldron of greed, obfuscation and obsession, as we view up-close the morass of red tape and shady backroom dealings that supposedly ...

One of the finest anti-Nazi thrillers to emerge from the WWII period, Lang's noirish approach to the propaganda film involves cloak-and-dagger intrigue, sinister interrogations, and plenty of light-and-shadow ...

One of Woody's most intricately plotted films, "Hannah" is also one of his most tenderly observed, right up there with "Annie Hall" and "Manhattan." Plumbing the romantic entanglements and unspoken desires of its three ...

Dark, twisted, and in-your-face, Solondz's poisonous examination of love, complacency, and compassion (or lack of it) might seem unredeemably low if it weren't so sickeningly honest, and even hilarious at times. Hoffman ...

Don't miss this Oscar-nominated film from Mike Leigh, about a free-spirited working-class British gal confronting a truly noxious soul. Ever the optimist, Poppy can’t help but try to change Scott’s malignant, borderline ...

Kobayashi's slow-simmering samurai drama unravels at the beginning of the shogunate era, when either economic scarcity or military defeat led many clans to turn out their samurai and abandon them to fend for themselves. ...

Before he became famous as the director of "Boogie Nights," Altman acolyte Anderson directed this intriguing indie about three hard-luck denizens of the seedy Nevada casino scene. Anderson's forte (like his late ...

Before he became a well-regarded Hollywood action director, John Woo ("Face/Off") made this superb police thriller, the most energetic and hyped-up of his many Hong Kong ventures. Known as the Chinese De Niro, Chow ...

Filmed between 1973 and 1974, Kopple's groundbreaking work gets up close and personal with the downtrodden rural miners, who are deprived of fair wages and insurance, and forced to shop at the company store. As her ...

A warm and quirky comic gem that's built a sizable cult following over the years. Director Hal Ashby's second feature boasts inspired casting, with veteran stage actress Ruth Gordon irresistible as Maude and Bud Cort so ...

Though few people today know his name, Lloyd was once ranked alongside Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin as a talented writer, director, and antic funnyman. Here, we're treated to the train chase from "Professor ...

Based on Ross MacDonald's novel, this big-city thriller is notable for two reasons: It marks the debut of Newman's ultra-cool Lew Harper character (later seen to lesser effect in "The Drowning Pool") and was William ...

Sensitive, touching film directed by Paul Mazursky will stimulate the tear ducts, thanks to Carney's Oscar-winning performance. He is ably supported by Larry Hagman and Ellen Burstyn (playing two of Harry's flawed ...