Movie Recommendations

Together with From Russia with Love, this film marks the high point of the James Bond series. Although you can see the beginnings of the campiness and gadgetry that mar most later entries, Goldfinger still packs a punch. The showdown with Oddjob in Fort Knox is classic.

Two landowners scheme to ruin an idealistic, hunchbacked lawyer-turned-farmer whose land contains a vital water source. (subtitled)

Gary Cooper as the small-town tuba player and poet who inherits a fortune and must deal with slick lawyers, hangers-on, and a media frenzy whipped up by ace reporter Jean Arthur.

Montgomery Clift takes on patriarch John Wayne in this tale of mutiny on the trail.

A New Hope (the original Star Wars movie) is a nonstop extravaganza of heroes, villains, aliens, and magic. The Empire Strikes Back (1980), although in some ways a richer film, rates an F from me just because nothing could match the magic of the original. Return of the Jedi garners only an M for its…

An unusual epic Western with strong performances by Gene Hackman, Candace Bergen, and James Coburn. With echos of 1960’s sensitivities blended in.

Ace reporter Joel McCrea is sent to pre-WW II Europe and is immediately embroiled in a murder and kidnapping conspiracy to sabotage peace talks. Classic Hitchcock.

Wim Wenders’s masterpiece about an angel who yearns to feel, taste, and love like the humans he has observed since the beginning of history. (subtitled)

Epic retelling of the Chinese fantasy saga, with heroic would-be lovers battling an old enemy and a blazing young talent to recover a mystical sword.

Yes, it’s cheezy. Yes, Christopher Lambert is ridiculous as a Scot. But for mindless sci-fi/action, it has moments. Plus some interesting scene transitions and a Queen soundtrack.