Movie Recommendations

Screenwriter Aldous Huxley takes remarkable liberties with Austen’s novel, but Greer Garson, Laurence Olivier, Edna May Oliver, and the rest of the cast make it eminently watchable.

Searing examination of racism and how cooperation can break down that boundary. Sidney Poitier is arrested on suspicion of murder as a black man passing through a small Southern town; Rod Steiger won an Oscar for his protrayal of the sheriff.

Genuinely spooky movie about demonic posession; thought the effects are slightly dated today, the atmosphere is chilling. Watch it in a dark house.

Splendid screen treatment of the J.R.R. Tolkien saga. All fans of the books will have criticisms, but on the whole the films are a rousing success. Includes The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King (2003).

Hitchcock’s take on the Joseph Conrad novel of a suburban movie theater owner and terrorist.

Weird Al Yankovic, ably supported by soon-to-be TV stars Michael Richards and Fran Drescher, run increasingly strange shows to salvage an inherited UHF station. Best if seen after midnight.

One of the two or three all-time best silent comedies. Buster Keaton is superb as the man who has to take a train on a daring mission behind enemy lines during the Civil War. The film shows off his superb athletic/acrobatic skills, deadpan humor, and ability to construct sight-gags with wonderful timing and grace.

Hitchcock switched gears ever so slightly from his usual edge-of-the-seat suspense films to this mystery-cum-horror story and made it work brilliantly. Some of the most unforgettable scenes in all filmdom enhance this tale of an unlikely bank robber, a gothic motel, a shy boy, and his mother. Thousands gave up taking showers altogether after viewing…

Ectoplasmic silliness abounds as Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, and Harold Ramis face an epidemic of ghostly disturbances in the Big Apple.

Dying millionairess Lily Tomlin tries to transfer her soul into her young secretary’s body, but ends up coinhabiting her lawyer (Steve Martin). Silly but fun.