You couldn't ask for a better introduction to the sublime cinema of Carl Dreyer than this gorgeous four-disc set. Intense and uncompromising, Dreyer's films are sharply etched psychological explorations of individual ...

No actor epitomizes classical Hollywood cinema like the ultra-suave, thoroughly professional Cary Grant, the leading man's leading man. This box set collects Grant's greatest hits of the late '30s-early '40s, right ...

This infectiously funny Aussie comedy pits a blue-collar striver, played with salty glee by Michael Caton, against the forces of Big Government. Sitch has an obvious affection for his cast of kooks, portraying the clan ...

By crossing the line from being the director of a doc about Jimmy’s life to a participant in it, Hattendorf was able to create something more unexpected and heartfelt than the typical portrait of an outsider artist. She ...

Unlike anything you've seen, this stinging parable about the facades of respectability and the ugly frailties they hide is one disturbing, skin-crawling ride. Shot in semi-documentary style, the viewer feels like just ...

Vidor's gushy tale of devotion-about a big bruiser's bottomless well of love for his charismatic kid and number-one fan-is unabashedly sentimental by today's standards, but it still gets the tear ducts flowing. The ...

Featuring believable performances from a cast of mostly non-professional actors (with Lewis a standout as the perennially tortured Jimmie), this gritty, unyielding Australian entry uncovers a stain on that country’s ...

Ray's light but lacerating satire of upper-class decadence and the bigoted hubris of British traders in colonial India places a metaphorical stake right in the middle of a chess board: Kumar and Jaffrey's childish need ...

This candid, lovingly made 1977 tribute to the Kirov strivers who make big sacrifices to attend the legendary training ground of Balanchine is a sheer delight, both aesthetically and narratively, letting us peer into a ...

This tense and timely nail-biter is effective not only because director James Bridges gets all the fundamentals right, but because its explosive subject matter would soon hit home with a terrifying real-life incident at ...

A celebration of the influence and importance of mentors-and music- in our lives, Barratier's warm, touching film captures the unquenchable spirit of children, and, in Jugnot's round, kindly face, the countenance and ...

John Irving's beloved novel gets the royal treatment in Hallstrom's warm-hearted, Oscar-winning adaptation, which deals with abortion, prejudice, and a young man's quest to broaden his horizons as he leaves the place of ...

Banned on its release, Jafar Panahi’s “The Circle” speaks to the limits of freedom on women living under a senselessly cruel theocracy. Shot with impeccable simplicity, like so much of recent Iranian cinema, this ...

King Vidor’s stirring ’30s drama “The Citadel” is an exemplary British film worth revisiting today, when ongoing debates about healthcare and medical ethics have made its central theme (how greed and ambition can ...

This beautifully shot and constructed documentary makes a powerfully elegant case for better forms of urban design than the overcrowded, inhuman cityscape. Buoyed by Aaron Copland’s stirring score (his first work for ...

Avoiding any hint of melodrama, director Riker builds immediacy and credibility for his stories via gritty black-and-white cinematography, compelling nonprofessional actors, and all-too-realistic story lines, which are ...

“City" delivers a dense psychological drama with enough secrets, lies and hidden passions to keep mystery fans glued to the screen. Director Hernández expertly maintains the forward momentum of a great mystery, while ...

Cantet’s “Class” is a spirited classroom drama, shot in an improvisational manner with actual students, and starring a real-life teacher (Begaudeau) whose bestselling book about his teaching experiences Cantet adapts ...

Minnelli's sentimental, spirited and touching wartime romance was a small picture by MGM standards, but Garland's star power and the backdrop of bustling Manhattan (actually Hollywood sound stages) give the picture a ...

Critic-filmmaker Tavernier helms this excellent thinking man's thriller, about a low-key shop owner who's forced by circumstances to reevaluate his routinized and respectable life. Noiret is subtly affecting as the ...