Movie Recommendations

Lowbrow but funny tale of two aspiring video directors (John Cusack and Tim Robbins) and a tape with blackmail potential.

Fine drama for which Grace Kelly won the best-actress Oscar; William Holden is good, and Bing Crosby offers a star turn with true pathos as an alcoholic singer-actor.

Strong dramatic fare about the mob-controlled union of dockworkers. Brando stars as Terry, the man who finally stands up to the crooked union boss (played brilliantly by Lee J. Cobb). Rod Steiger is Terry’s brother, a crony of Cobb to whom Brando utters one of the most famous lines of all time: I coulda been…

Excellent adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel by star Emma Thompson, adroitly directed by Ang Lee. Sense is actually a contrast with sensibility, as it refers to sensitivity and living by emotions rather than acting sensibly.

Delightful songs (e.g., “Cheek to Cheek”) and dance numbers more than compensate for the silly mistaken-identity plotline. Though Swing Time is my favorite Fred & Ginger outing, this film is probably their best-known.

This ’90s take on Jane Austen follows a set of NYC debutantes, their escorts, and the lower-class radical socialist who accidentally joins their circle.

A nameless samurai blunders into a clan rivalry and decides to teach both sides a lesson.

A fatally burned patient in a makeshift Allied hospital may have betrayed the city to the Nazis…but why? An exploration of the cost of personal tragedy during wartime.

Robert Donat’s life is turned upside-down when a mysterious spy is murdered in his apartment. On the run from both the police and enemy agents, he must uncover the secret of the 39 steps to survive…

A naive young woman falls for and marries a moody widower but cannot escape the legacy of first wife Rebecca.