Movie Recommendations

An evocative allegory that follows an errant knight and Swedish family during the Black Death.

Phantasmagorical animation set to classical music. Not everyone’s cup of tea but entrancing if you’re in the right mood.

The real mystery is why Hitch decided to refilm this tale of a vactioning family dragged into an international assassination attempt. Stick with this version over the 1956 Jimmy Stewart/Doris Day remake.

Genial slacker John Cusack sets his sights on valedictorian Ione Skye in Cameron Crowe’s very human romance.

Hitch’s psychological magnum opus starts slowly but builds to a fever pitch of tension as acrophobic Jimmy Stewart investigates suicidal housewife Kim Novak.

Interesting early attempt to deal with anti-Semitism in America. Gregory Peck is commissioned to write a series of articles on the subject but can’t really grasp the problem until he pretends to be Jewish. Girlfriend Dorothy McGuire is supportive but finds it difficult to accept his new situation…does she have deep-seated prejudices herself? A bit…

Sam Peckinpah is among the greatest directors of westerns—right up there with Howard Hawks and John Ford. While not as virtuosic a film as his Wild Bunch, this elegiac tale of two aging gunfighters is a great film. Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott play two ex-lawmen entrusted with bringing a large sum of money back…

Underappreciated film about the aftermath of legend. Twenty years have passed since the Merry Men fought Prince John. His crusade with King Richard now over, Robin returns to an England where Marian and the Sheriff of Nottingham await.

The second Astaire-Rogers outing features memorable numbers The Continental and Night and Day.

Three films exploring the development of Musashi Miyamoto from wild farm boy to epitome of the Shogunate samurai. American audiences may have trouble accepting Musashi’s notions of honor and duty, but the characterizations and cinematography make these truly memorable.