Movie Recommendations

The first full-length animated movie is, in many ways, still the best. The lush artwork, individual characters, and wonderful songs coalesce into a near-perfect work.

Checking over Off-Off-Off-Off-Broadway producer Zero Mostel’s accounts, nebbishy Gene Wilder gets a crazy idea…become rich by producing a flop. Mel Brooks’s first bigscreen hit.

A top musical, albeit suffused with a colonial mindset that modern viewers may find disturbing. Yul Brynner is superb in his signature role as the King of Siam, and Deborah Kerr is very good indeed as the British governess/tutor for his many children. Beautiful Rodgers and Hammerstein score.

Perhaps the first psychological western. John Ford took a fairly hackneyed story and breathed new life into the western. What makes it a standout are the portrayals of the almost stereotypical cast of characters. John Wayne went from B western hero to major movie star with this one film; Claire Trevor is excellent as the…

Rob Reiner’s modern take on It Happened One Night sets John Cusack cross-country for a sure fling; but traveling companion Daphne Zuniga may be his real interest.

Two California senior dudes are given a time machine so they can pass their history course, graduate high school, form a rock band, and bring peace and enlightenment to all mankind. Enormously goofy but good-natured fun.

Kevin Costner is a Pentagon official who becomes the subject of a manhunt when his lover is murdered.

A caper that might seem tame by today’s standards comes to life in this [fictionalized] gripping step-by-step account of the first train robbery.

Offbeat Jim Jarmusch narrative weaves together three stories set in Memphis, Tenn., over the course of a single day.