Celebrating Roger Ebert’s Great Movies

Critics Consensus: Sidney Lumet's feature debut is a superbly written, dramatically effective courtroom thriller that rightfully stands as a modern classic.

Synopsis: Following the closing arguments in a murder trial, the 12 members of the jury must deliberate, with a guilty verdict meaning death for the accused,... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley, E.G. Marshall

Directed By: Sidney Lumet

Critics Consensus: One of the most influential of all sci-fi films -- and one of the most controversial -- Stanley Kubrick's 2001 is a delicate, poetic meditation on the ingenuity -- and folly -- of mankind.

Synopsis: An imposing black structure provides a connection between the past and the future in this enigmatic adaptation of a short story by revered sci-fi author... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Daniel Richter

Directed By: Stanley Kubrick

Critics Consensus: An intelligent and well-acted film despite the usual Spike Lee excesses.

Synopsis: In New York City in the days following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Monty Brogan (Edward Norton) steels himself for a lengthy jail term.... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Barry Pepper, Rosario Dawson

Directed By: Spike Lee

Critics Consensus: 3 Women is a strange, eerie portrait of late-'70s womanhood that upends and then defies all expectations.

Synopsis: Writer/director Robert Altman claimed this impressionistic film came to him in a dream. Millie Lammoreaux (Shelley Duvall) considers herself irresistible to men, though in fact... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Sissy Spacek, Shelley Duvall, Janice Rule, Robert Fortier

Directed By: Robert Altman

Critics Consensus: A seminal French New Wave film that offers an honest, sympathetic, and wholly heartbreaking observation of adolescence without trite nostalgia.

Synopsis: For young Parisian boy Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud), life is one difficult situation after another. Surrounded by inconsiderate adults, including his neglectful parents (Claire Maurier,... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Claire Maurier, Albert Remy, Guy Decomble

Directed By: François Truffaut

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Michael Apted's saga continues with the lives of people he first profiled in "Seven Up!" in 1964.

Starring: Bruce Balden, Symon Basterfield, Jacqueline Bassett, Andrew Brackfield

Directed By: Michael Apted

Critics Consensus: A curious, not always seamless, amalgamation of Kubrick's chilly bleakness and Spielberg's warm-hearted optimism, A.I. is, in a word, fascinating.

Synopsis: A robotic boy, the first programmed to love, David is adopted as a test case by a Cybertronics employee and his wife. Though he gradually... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, Frances O'Connor, Brendan Gleeson

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

Critics Consensus: Spearheaded by an excellent Kirk Douglas, Ace in the Hole is an incisive and sardonic satire that, much like its opportunistic hero, never lets moral compunction get in the way of a good story.

Synopsis: With flaws that outweigh his talent, reporter Chuck Tatum (Kirk Douglas) has bounced across the country from job to job. Winding up in New Mexico,... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Kirk Douglas, Jan Sterling, Porter Hall, Robert Arthur

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Critics Consensus: Dizzyingly original, the loopy, multi-layered Adaptation is both funny and thought-provoking.

Synopsis: Nicolas Cage is Charlie Kaufman, a confused L.A. screenwriter overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy, sexual frustration, self-loathing, and by the screenwriting ambitions of his freeloading... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, Tilda Swinton

Directed By: Spike Jonze

Critics Consensus: Errol Flynn thrills as the legendary title character, and the film embodies the type of imaginative family adventure tailor-made for the silver screen.

Synopsis: When King Richard the Lionheart is captured, his scheming brother Prince John (Claude Rains) plots to reach the throne, to the outrage of Sir Robin... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains

Directed By: Michael Curtiz, William Keighley

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: After escaping from a mental hospital, drifting ex-boxer Kid Collie (Jason Patric) meets an alcoholic widow, Fay (Rachel Ward), who entices him into performing maintenance... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jason Patric, Rachel Ward, Bruce Dern, George Dickerson

Directed By: James Foley

Critics Consensus: Bursting with frantic energy and tinged with black humor, After Hours is a masterful -- and often overlooked -- detour in Martin Scorsese's filmography.

Synopsis: In a Manhattan café, word processor Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne) meets and talks literature with Marcy (Rosanna Arquette). Later that night, Paul takes a cab... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Griffin Dunne, Rosanna Arquette, Teri Garr, Verna Bloom

Directed By: Martin Scorsese

Critics Consensus: Equal measures romantic and wistful, Martin Scorsese's elegant adaptation of The Age of Innocence is a triumphant exercise in both stylistic and thematic restraint.

Synopsis: Wealthy lawyer Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis) is engaged to sweet socialite May Welland (Winona Ryder) in the 1870s New York. On the surface, it is... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Winona Ryder, Richard E. Grant

Directed By: Martin Scorsese

Critics Consensus: A haunting journey of natural wonder and tangible danger, Aguirre transcends epic genre trappings and becomes mythological by its own right.

Synopsis: Don Lope de Aguirre (Klaus Kinski), a ruthless Spanish conquistador, vies for power while part of an expedition in Peru to find El Dorado, the... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Klaus Kinski, Ruy Guerra, Helena Rojo, Del Negro

Directed By: Werner Herzog

Critics Consensus: Regarded as one of the high-water marks in German New Wave cinema of the 1970s, Ali: Fear Eats the Soul is at once an intense portrayal of a relationship and a tribute to one of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's film heroes, Douglas Sirk.

Synopsis: Emmi Kurowski (Brigitte Mira), a cleaning lady, is lonely in her old age. Her husband died years ago, and her grown children offer little companionship.... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Brigitte Mira, El Hedi ben Salem, Barbara Valentin, Irm Hermann

Directed By: Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Critics Consensus: A modern classic, Alien blends science fiction, horror and bleak poetry into a seamless whole.

Synopsis: In deep space, the crew of the commercial starship Nostromo is awakened from their cryo-sleep capsules halfway through their journey home to investigate a distress... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt, Veronica Cartwright

Directed By: Ridley Scott

Critics Consensus: Smart, sophisticated, and devastatingly funny, All About Eve is a Hollywood classic that only improves with age.

Synopsis: Backstage story revolving around aspiring actress Eve Harrington. Tattered and forlorn, Eve shows up in the dressing room of Broadway mega-star Margo Channing, telling a... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, Celeste Holm, George Sanders

Directed By: Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Critics Consensus: Amadeus' liberties with history may rankle some, but the creative marriage of Miloš Forman and Peter Shaffer yields a divinely diabolical myth of genius and mediocrity, buoyed by inspired casting and Mozart's rapturous music.

Synopsis: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a remarkably talented young Viennese composer who unwittingly finds a fierce rival in the disciplined and determined Antonio Salieri. Resenting Mozart... View Full Synopsis

Starring: F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Jeffrey Jones, Elizabeth Berridge

Directed By: Milos Forman

Critics Consensus: Ribald, sweet, and sentimental, Amarcord is a larger-than-life journey through a seaside village and its colorful citizens.

Synopsis: In an Italian seaside town, young Titta gets into trouble with his friends and watches various local eccentrics as they engage in often absurd behavior.... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Magali Noël, Bruno Zanin, Pupella Maggio, Armando Brancia

Directed By: Federico Fellini

Critics Consensus: Filled with poignant performances and devastating humor, Annie Hall represents a quantum leap for Woody Allen and remains an American classic.

Synopsis: Comedian Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) examines the rise and fall of his relationship with struggling nightclub singer Annie Hall (Diane Keaton). Speaking directly to the... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Carol Kane

Directed By: Woody Allen

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: The second part of Satyajit Ray's famous Apu trilogy, this Indian drama focuses on young Apu, who lives with his mother, Sarbajaya (Kanu Bandyopadhyay), and... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Pinaki Sengupta, Kanu Bannerjee, Karuna Bannerjee, Ramani Sengupta

Directed By: Satyajit Ray

Critics Consensus: Director Billy Wilder's customary cynicism is leavened here by tender humor, romance, and genuine pathos.

Synopsis: Insurance worker C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) lends his Upper West Side apartment to company bosses to use for extramarital affairs. When his manager Mr. Sheldrake... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, Ray Walston

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Critics Consensus: A voyage to hell where the journey is more satisfying than the destination, Francis Ford Coppola's haunting, hallucinatory Vietnam War epic is cinema at its most audacious and visionary.

Synopsis: In Vietnam in 1970, Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) takes a perilous and increasingly hallucinatory journey upriver to find and terminate Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), a... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest

Directed By: Francis Ford Coppola

Critics Consensus: Originally made in 1969, this recently reissued classic is a masterful examination of the inner workings of the World War II resistance efforts.

Synopsis: This adaptation of the book by Joseph Kessel paints an understated, unglamorous portrait of the French Resistance during World War II. Betrayed by an informant,... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Lino Ventura, Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Paul Crauchet

Directed By: Jean-Pierre Melville

Critics Consensus: Bittersweet and reflective, Atlantic City is a modest romance given raw power by Burt Lancaster and Susan Sarandon's heartfelt performances along with director Louis Malle's eccentric eye for detail.

Synopsis: When Sally Matthews (Susan Sarandon) leaves her Canadian home to relocate to Atlantic City, she aspires to a prosperous career in the gambling industry. With... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, Kate Reid, Michel Piccoli

Directed By: Louis Malle

Critics Consensus: Au Hasard Balthazar uses one animal's lifelong journey to trace a soberly compelling -- and ultimately heartbreaking -- outline of the human experience.

Synopsis: This thoughtful and unique French film reveals the surprisingly deep connection between Marie, a sensitive farm girl, and her cherished donkey, Balthazar. Though Marie and... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Anne Wiazemsky, François Lafarge, Philippe Asselin, Nathalie Joyaut

Directed By: Robert Bresson

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: In the wake of his wife's death, aging Shuhei Hirayama (Chishu Ryu) struggles to maintain balanced relationships with his three children. He tends to spoil... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Shima Iwashita, Shinichiro Mikami, Keiji Sada, Chishu Ryu

Directed By: Yasujirô Ozu

Critics Consensus: In Babel, there are no villains, only victims of fate and circumstance. Director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu weaves four of their woeful stories into this mature and multidimensional film.

Synopsis: An accident connects four groups of people on three different continents: two young Moroccan goatherds, a vacationing American couple (Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett), a deaf... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Gael García Bernal, Kôji Yakusho

Directed By: Alejandro González Iñárritu

Critics Consensus: Terrence Malick's debut is a masterful slice of American cinema, rife with the visual poetry and measured performances that would characterize his work.

Synopsis: Inspired by real-life killers Charles Starkweather and Caril-Ann Fugate, this tale of crime and love begins in a dead-end town. Teenage girl Holly angers her... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek, Warren Oates, Ramon Bieri

Directed By: Terrence Malick

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Famous musical movie star Tony Hunter (Fred Astaire) fears his career may be on the skids, but his friends, Lester (Oscar Levant) and Lily (Nanette... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Oscar Levant, Nanette Fabray

Directed By: Vincente Minnelli

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Egbert Sousé (W.C. Fields) becomes an unexpected hero when a bank robber falls over a bench he's occupying. Now considered brave, Egbert is given a... View Full Synopsis

Starring: W.C. Fields, Cora Witherspoon, Una Merkel, Evelyn Del Rio

Directed By: Edward F. Cline

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Featuring no conventional narrative, this film presents footage of people, places and things from around the world. From chaotic cities to barren wilderness, the movie... View Full Synopsis

Directed By: Ron Fricke

Critics Consensus: Visually astonishing and placid as a pond in the English countryside, Stanley Kubrick's maddening and masterful Barry Lyndon renders a hollow life with painterly poise.

Synopsis: How does an Irish lad without prospects become part of 18th-century English nobility? For Barry Lyndon (Ryan O'Neal) the answer is: any way he can!... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Ryan O'Neal, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee, Hardy Krüger

Directed By: Stanley Kubrick

Critics Consensus: A documentary-like depiction of a nation's real-life efforts to expel a colonizing force, The Battle of Algiers puts viewers on the front lines with gripping realism.

Synopsis: Paratrooper commander Colonel Mathieu (Jean Martin), a former French Resistance fighter during World War II, is sent to 1950s Algeria to reinforce efforts to squelch... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jean Martin, Yacef Saadi, Brahim Haggiag, Tommaso Neri

Directed By: Gillo Pontecorvo

Critics Consensus: A technical masterpiece, Battleship Potemkin is Soviet cinema at its finest, and its montage editing techniques remain influential to this day.

Synopsis: When they are fed rancid meat, the sailors on the Potemkin revolt against their harsh conditions. Led by Vakulinchuk, the sailors kill the officers of... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Aleksandr Antonov, Vladimir Barskiy, Grigoriy Aleksandrov, Mikhail Gomorov

Directed By: Sergei M. Eisenstein

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Billy and Maria Dannreuther are among a number of travelers stranded in Italy en route to Africa. While the Dannreuthers seem like an average couple,... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollobrigida, Robert Morley

Directed By: John Huston

Critics Consensus: With its magical optical effects and enchanting performances, Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast remains the most surreal -- and soulful -- of the fairy tale's film adaptations.

Synopsis: The story of a gentlehearted beast in love with a simple and beautiful girl. She is drawn to the repellent but strangely fascinating Beast, who... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jean Marais, Josette Day, Mila Parély, Nane Germon

Directed By: Jean Cocteau

Critics Consensus: An engrossing look at the triumphs and travails of war veterans, The Best Years of Our Lives is concerned specifically with the aftermath of World War II, but its messages speak to the overall American experience.

Synopsis: Fred, Al and Homer are three World War II veterans facing difficulties as they re-enter civilian life. Fred (Dana Andrews) is a war hero who,... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright

Directed By: William Wyler

Critics Consensus: An Italian neorealism exemplar, Bicycle Thieves thrives on its non-flashy performances and searing emotion.

Synopsis: Unemployed Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani) is elated when he finally finds work hanging posters around war-torn Rome. His wife, Maria (Lianella Carell), sells the family's... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Lamberto Maggiorani, Lianella Carell, Enzo Staiola, Elena Altieri

Directed By: Vittorio De Sica

Critics Consensus: Presented with stark power by director Fritz Lang, The Big Heat is a delightfully grim noir that peers into the heart of darkness without blinking.

Synopsis: A police officer seems to have committed suicide, but Detective Dave Bannion thinks there's more to the story. After talking to the man's mob-connected mistress,... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Jocelyn Brando, Alexander Scourby

Directed By: Fritz Lang

Critics Consensus: The Big Lebowski's shaggy dog story won't satisfy everybody, but those who abide will be treated to a rambling succession of comic delights, with Jeff Bridges' laconic performance really tying the movie together.

Synopsis: Jeff Bridges plays Jeff Lebowski who insists on being called "the Dude," a laid-back, easygoing burnout who happens to have the same name as a... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi

Directed By: Joel Coen

Critics Consensus: The reconstruction of Samuel Fuller's epic account of his days in North Africa in World War II elevates the film into the pantheon of great war movies.

Synopsis: Having previously fought in World War I, an unnamed sergeant (Lee Marvin) now leads soldiers of the U.S. First Infantry Division through World War II.... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Lee Marvin, Mark Hamill, Robert Carradine, Bobby Di Cicco

Directed By: Samuel Fuller

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Deckard (Harrison Ford) is forced by the police Boss (M. Emmet Walsh) to continue his old job as Replicant Hunter. His assignment: eliminate four escaped... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos

Directed By: Ridley Scott

Critics Consensus: Exquisitely shot and simmering with unease, Michelangelo Antonio's Blow-Up is an enigma that invites audiences to luxuriate in the sensual atmosphere of 1960s London chic.

Synopsis: Thomas (David Hemmings) is a London photographer who spends his time photographing fashion models. But one day he thinks he may have photographed something far... View Full Synopsis

Starring: David Hemmings, Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles, Jane Birkin

Directed By: Michelangelo Antonioni

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: In 1950s China, just after Chen Shujuan (Lu Liping) and and her librarian husband, Lin Shaolong (Quanxin Pu), have their first child, Shaolong is unjustly... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Lu Liping, Pu Quanxin, Li Xuejian, Guo Baochang

Directed By: Zhuangzhuang Tian

Critics Consensus: Majorly stylish, Bob le Flambeur is a cool homage to American gangster films and the presage to French New Wave mode of seeing.

Synopsis: In Paris, Bob Montagne (Roger Duchesne) is practically synonymous with gambling -- and winning. He is kind, classy and well-liked by virtually everyone in town,... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Roger Duchesne, Isabelle Corey, Daniel Cauchy, Howard Vernon

Directed By: Jean-Pierre Melville

Critics Consensus: Made from classic noir ingredients and flavored with a heaping helping of steamy modern spice, Body Heat more than lives up to its evocative title.

Synopsis: Shyster lawyer Ned Racine (William Hurt) begins a passionate affair with Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner), wife of a wealthy Florida businessman (Richard Crenna). With the... View Full Synopsis

Starring: William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Richard Crenna, Ted Danson

Directed By: Lawrence Kasdan

Critics Consensus: A paradigm-shifting classic of American cinema, Bonnie and Clyde packs a punch whose power continues to reverberate through thrillers decades later.

Synopsis: Small-time crook Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty) tries to steal a car and winds up with its owner's daughter, dissatisfied small-town girl Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway).... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Michael J. Pollard, Gene Hackman

Directed By: Arthur Penn

Critics Consensus: Breathless rewrote the rules of cinema -- and more than 50 years after its arrival, Jean-Luc Godard's paradigm-shifting classic remains every bit as vital.

Synopsis: Petty thug Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo) considers himself a suave bad guy in the manner of Humphrey Bogart, but panics and impulsively kills a policeman while... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, Daniel Boulanger, Jean-Pierre Melville

Directed By: Jean-Luc Godard

Critics Consensus: An eccentric, campy, technically impressive, and frightening picture, James Whale's Bride of Frankenstein has aged remarkably well.

Synopsis: After recovering from injuries sustained in the mob attack upon himself and his creation, Dr. Frankenstein (Colin Clive) falls under the control of his former... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson

Directed By: James Whale

Critics Consensus: This complex war epic asks hard questions, resists easy answers, and boasts career-defining work from star Alec Guinness and director David Lean.

Synopsis: Adaptation of the Pierre Boulle novel about POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. British... View Full Synopsis

Starring: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Sessue Hayakawa, Jack Hawkins

Directed By: David Lean

Critics Consensus: Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia adds a quirky -- but still thoroughly entertaining -- outlier to Sam Peckinpah's pulpy filmography.

Synopsis: When a Mexican crime boss (Kris Kristofferson) learns that his aide, Alfredo Garcia, has impregnated his daughter, he offers a million dollars for Garcia's head.... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Warren Oates, Isela Vega, Gig Young, Robert Webber

Directed By: Sam Peckinpah

Critics Consensus: Thought-provoking and beautifully filmed, D.W. Griffith's Broken Blossoms presents a master at the top of his form.

Synopsis: A frail waif, abused by her brutal boxer father in London's seedy Limehouse District, is befriended by a sensitive Chinese immigrant with tragic consequences.

Starring: Lillian Gish, Richard Barthelmess, Donald Crisp, Arthur Howard

Directed By: D.W. Griffith

Critics Consensus: Arguably the first true horror film, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari set a brilliantly high bar for the genre -- and remains terrifying nearly a century after it first stalked the screen.

Synopsis: At a carnival in Germany, Francis and his friend Alan encounter the crazed Dr. Caligari. The men see Caligari showing off his somnambulist, Cesare, a... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Lil Dagover, Friedrich Feher

Directed By: Robert Wiene

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Young Sicilian girl Cabiria (Lidia Quaranta) and her nurse, Croessa (Gina Marangoni), survive a devastating volcanic eruption, only to be taken by Phoenicians to Carthage.... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Lidia Quaranta, Umberto Mozzato, Bartolomeo Pagano, Luigi Chellini

Directed By: Giovanni Pastrone

Critics Consensus: An undisputed masterpiece and perhaps Hollywood's quintessential statement on love and romance, Casablanca has only improved with age, boasting career-defining performances from Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.

Synopsis: Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), who owns a nightclub in Casablanca, discovers his old flame Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) is in town with her husband, Victor Laszlo... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains

Directed By: Michael Curtiz

Critics Consensus: Influential noir director Jacques Tourneau infused this sexy, moody horror film with some sly commentary about the psychology and the taboos of desire.

Synopsis: Irena Dubrovna (Simone Simon), a New York City–based fashion designer who hails from Serbia, begins a romance with marine engineer Oliver Reed (Kent Smith). After... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Tom Conway, Jane Randolph

Directed By: Jacques Tourneur

Critics Consensus: Strong performances abound, and Carne's wit and grace are evident in this masterful (if long) French epic.

Synopsis: In this expansive drama, the lovely and enigmatic Parisian actress Garance (Arletty) draws the attention of various men in her orbit, including the thoughtful mime... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault, Pierre Brasseur, María Casares

Directed By: Marcel Carné

Critics Consensus: A classic story adapted by a filmmaker near his creative peak, Chimes at Midnight unites Welles and Shakespeare - and powerfully distills the best of both.

Synopsis: Henry IV (John Gielgud) usurps the English throne, sets in motion the factious War of the Roses and now faces a rebellion led by Northumberland... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Orson Welles, Jeanne Moreau, John Gielgud, Margaret Rutherford

Directed By: Orson Welles

Critics Consensus: As bruised and cynical as the decade that produced it, this noir classic benefits from Robert Towne's brilliant screenplay, director Roman Polanski's steady hand, and wonderful performances from Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway.

Synopsis: When Los Angeles private eye J.J. Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) is hired by Evelyn Mulwray to investigate her husband's activities, he believes it's a routine... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez

Directed By: Roman Polanski

Critics Consensus: Filled with excellent performances, Ramin Bahrani's deft sophomore effort is a heartfelt, hopeful neorealist look at the people who live in the gritty underbelly of New York City.

Synopsis: A young man works as an auto-body repairman to provide for his younger sister.

Starring: Alejandro Polanco, Isamar Gonzales, Ahmad Razvi, Carlos Ayala

Directed By: Ramin Bahrani

Critics Consensus: Both warmly nostalgic and darkly humorous, A Christmas Story deserves its status as a holiday perennial.

Synopsis: Based on the humorous writings of author Jean Shepherd, this beloved holiday movie follows the wintry exploits of youngster Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsley), who spends... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Peter Billingsley, Darren McGavin, Melinda Dillon, Ian Petrella

Directed By: Bob Clark

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Charlie Chaplin paid tribute to the acrobats and pantomimists who inspired his virtuoso pratfalls in this gag-packed comedy, an uproarious high-wire act that ranks among... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Charlie Chaplin, Merna Kennedy, Al Ernest Garcia, Harry Crocker

Directed By: Charlie Chaplin

Critics Consensus: Orson Welles's epic tale of a publishing tycoon's rise and fall is entertaining, poignant, and inventive in its storytelling, earning its reputation as a landmark achievement in film.

Synopsis: When a reporter is assigned to decipher newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane's (Orson Welles) dying words, his investigation gradually reveals the fascinating portrait of a... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Ruth Warrick, Everett Sloane

Directed By: Orson Welles

Critics Consensus: One of the best underdog romance movies ever, with an ending that will light up any heart.

Synopsis: A hapless but resilient tramp (Charlie Chaplin) falls in love with a blind flower girl (Virginia Cherrill) on the tough city streets. Upon learning that... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Charlie Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill, Harry Myers, Hank Mann

Directed By: Charlie Chaplin

Critics Consensus: Cleo from 5 to 7 represents a beautifully filmed highlight of the French New Wave that encapsulates the appeal of the era while departing from its narrative conventions.

Synopsis: Selfish pop singer Cléo (Corinne Marchand) has two hours to wait until the results of her biopsy come back. After an ominous tarot card reading,... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Corinne Marchand, Antoine Bourseiller, Dorothée Blanck, Michel Legrand

Directed By: Agnès Varda

Critics Consensus: It might have been better served by a filmmaker with a deeper connection to the source material, but The Color Purple remains a worthy, well-acted adaptation of Alice Walker's classic novel.

Synopsis: An epic tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry. After... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, Margaret Avery, Oprah Winfrey

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

Critics Consensus: As effectively anti-war as movies can be, Come and See is a harrowing odyssey through the worst that humanity is capable of, directed with bravura intensity by Elem Klimov.

Synopsis: The invasion of a village in Byelorussia by German forces sends young Florya (Aleksey Kravchenko) into the forest to join the weary Resistance fighters, against... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Aleksey Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Liubomiras Laucevicius, Vladas Bagdonas

Directed By: Elem Klimov

Critics Consensus: Contact elucidates stirring scientific concepts and theological inquiry at the expense of satisfying storytelling, making for a brainy blockbuster that engages with its ideas, if not its characters.

Synopsis: In this Zemeckis-directed adaptation of the Carl Sagan novel, Dr. Ellie Arroway races to interpret a possible message originating from the Vega star system. Once... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, James Woods, John Hurt

Directed By: Robert Zemeckis

Critics Consensus: This tense, paranoid thriller presents Francis Ford Coppola at his finest -- and makes some remarkably advanced arguments about technology's role in society that still resonate today.

Synopsis: Surveillance expert Harry Caul (Gene Hackman) is hired by a mysterious client's brusque aide (Harrison Ford) to tail a young couple, Mark (Frederic Forrest) and... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Frederic Forrest, Allen Garfield

Directed By: Francis Ford Coppola

Critics Consensus: Though hampered by Stuart Rosenberg's direction, Cool Hand Luke is held aloft by a stellar script and one of Paul Newman's most indelible performances.

Synopsis: When petty criminal Luke Jackson (Paul Newman) is sentenced to two years in a Florida prison farm, he doesn't play by the rules of either... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Paul Newman, George Kennedy, J.D. Cannon, Lou Antonio

Directed By: Stuart Rosenberg

Critics Consensus: Visually stunning and achingly performed, Ingmar Bergman's chamber piece is a visceral rumination on death and sisterhood.

Synopsis: As Agnes (Harriet Andersson) slowly dies of cancer, her sisters are so deeply immersed in their own psychic pains that they can't offer her the... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Liv Ullmann, Harriet Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, Kari Sylwan

Directed By: Ingmar Bergman

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Judah (Martin Landau) is a philandering eye doctor who wants to preserve his marriage, and his dangerous brother Jack (Jerry Orbach) comes up with what... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Martin Landau, Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Alan Alda

Directed By: Woody Allen

Critics Consensus: Crumb is a frank and surreal chronicle of artistic expression and family trauma, offering an unblinking gaze into the mind and work of cartoonist Robert Crumb that will endear as much as it unsettles.

Synopsis: Filmmaker Terry Zwigoff creates a complex but affectionate portrait of his longtime friend, underground cartoonist Robert Crumb. A notorious curmudgeon who would prefer to be... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Robert Crumb, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Charles Crumb, Maxon Crumb

Directed By: Terry Zwigoff

Critics Consensus: Stylishly gloomy, Dark City offers a polarizing whirl of arresting visuals and noirish action.

Synopsis: John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) awakens alone in a strange hotel to find that he is wanted for a series of brutal murders. The problem is... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly, William Hurt

Directed By: Alex Proyas

Critics Consensus: A sweet counterpoint to Godard's Contempt, Truffaut's Day for Night is a congenial tribute to the self-afflicted madness that is making a movie.

Synopsis: A film director (François Truffaut) tries to get his movie made while observing the real-life dramas in his actors' lives. Fading icon Severine (Valentina Cortese)... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jacqueline Bisset, François Truffaut, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Jean-Pierre Léaud

Directed By: François Truffaut

Critics Consensus: Illuminated by magic hour glow and wistful performances, Days of Heaven is a visual masterpiece that finds eloquent poetry in its spare scenario.

Synopsis: A screen poem about life in America at the turn of the century. A story of love and murder told through the voice of a... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard, Linda Manz

Directed By: Terrence Malick

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A festive holiday dinner in Ireland at the turn of the 20th century brings epiphanies for a married couple. At the home of his spinster... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Anjelica Huston, Donal McCann, Cathleen Delaney, Rachael Dowling

Directed By: John Huston

Critics Consensus: If slow and predictable, Departures is a quiet, life affirming story.

Synopsis: Soon after buying an expensive cello, Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) learns that his orchestra is disbanding. Daigo and his wife move back to his hometown... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Masahiro Motoki, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ryôko Hirosue, Kazuko Yoshiyuki

Directed By: Yojiro Takita

Critics Consensus: Stylish and gripping, Detour offers further proof that a patsy and a femme fatale often add up to a satisfying story.

Synopsis: In New York, piano player Al Roberts (Tom Neal) laments when his singer girlfriend, Sue Harvey (Claudia Drake), leaves for Hollywood, Calif. When Al gets... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Tom Neal, Ann Savage, Claudia Drake, Edmund MacDonald

Directed By: Edgar G. Ulmer

Critics Consensus: Diary of a Country Priest brilliantly captures one man's spiritual and religious journey -- and the striking next phase in the evolution of a major filmmaking talent.

Synopsis: An inexperienced, sickly priest (Claude Laydu) shows up in the rural French community of Ambricourt, where he joins the community's clergy. But the locals don't... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Claude Laydu, Jean Riveyre, Nicole Ladmiral, Nicole Maurey

Directed By: Robert Bresson

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: In Germany, chemist's daughter Thymian (Louise Brooks) is raped by her father's assistant. When she becomes pregnant and bears a child but refuses to marry... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Louise Brooks, Fritz Rasp, Josef Rovenský, Sybille Schmitz

Directed By: Georg Wilhelm Pabst

Critics Consensus: An intoxicating dose of the director's signature surrealist style, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie represents Buñuel at his most accessible.

Synopsis: The ambassador of the Latin American republic of Miranda (Fernando Rey), M. Thevenot (Paul Frankeur), his wife Simone (Delphine Seyrig) and her sister Florence (Bulle... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Fernando Rey, Delphine Seyrig, Stéphane Audran, Jean-Pierre Cassel

Directed By: Luis Buñuel

Critics Consensus: Beineix combines unique cinematography, an intelligent script, and a brilliant soundtrack to make Diva a stylishly memorable film.

Synopsis: Jules (Frédéric Andréi) goes on the run from every conceivable pursuer -- from drug dealers and music pirates to the cops -- after obtaining a... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Frederic Andrei, Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez, Richard Bohringer, Thuy An Luu

Directed By: Jean-Jacques Beineix

Critics Consensus: Smart, vibrant, and urgent without being didactic, Do the Right Thing is one of Spike Lee's most fully realized efforts -- and one of the most important films of the 1980s.

Synopsis: Salvatore "Sal" Fragione (Danny Aiello) is the Italian owner of a pizzeria in Brooklyn. A neighborhood local, Buggin' Out (Giancarlo Esposito), becomes upset when he... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson

Directed By: Spike Lee

Critics Consensus: Framed by great work from director Sidney Lumet and fueled by a gripping performance from Al Pacino, Dog Day Afternoon offers a finely detailed snapshot of people in crisis with tension-soaked drama shaded in black humor.

Synopsis: When inexperienced criminal Sonny Wortzik (Al Pacino) leads a bank robbery in Brooklyn, things quickly go wrong, and a hostage situation develops. As Sonny and... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Al Pacino, John Cazale, Charles Durning, Chris Sarandon

Directed By: Sidney Lumet

Critics Consensus: Don't Look Now patiently builds suspense with haunting imagery and a chilling score -- causing viewers to feel Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie's grief deep within.

Synopsis: Still grieving over the accidental death of their daughter, Christine (Sharon Williams), John (Donald Sutherland) and Laura Baxter (Julie Christie) head to Venice, Italy, where... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Julie Christie, Donald Sutherland, Hilary Mason, Clelia Matania

Directed By: Nicolas Roeg

Critics Consensus: A dark, tautly constructed adaptation of James M. Cain's novel -- penned by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler -- Double Indemnity continues to set the standard for the best in Hollywood film noir.

Synopsis: In this classic film noir, insurance salesman Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) gets roped into a murderous scheme when he falls for the sensual Phyllis Dietrichson... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, Porter Hall

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Critics Consensus: Operating on confounding dream logic with Irene Jacob's beautiful performance as a guide, The Double Life of Veronique offers a moving meditation on perception for audiences willing to indulge its inscrutability.

Synopsis: Veronique (Irène Jacob) is a beautiful young French woman who aspires to be a renowned singer; Weronika (also Jacob) lives in Poland, has a similar... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Irène Jacob, Philippe Volter, Claude Duneton, Guillaume de Tonquedec

Directed By: Krzysztof Kieslowski

Critics Consensus: Stanley Kubrick's brilliant Cold War satire remains as funny and razor-sharp today as it was in 1964.

Synopsis: A film about what could happen if the wrong person pushed the wrong button -- and it played the situation for laughs. U.S. Air Force... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens

Directed By: Stanley Kubrick

Critics Consensus: Bela Lugosi's timeless portrayal of Dracula in this creepy and atmospheric 1931 film has set the standard for major vampiric roles since.

Synopsis: The dashing, mysterious Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi), after hypnotizing a British soldier, Renfield (Dwight Frye), into his mindless slave, travels to London and takes up... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Bela Lugosi, Edward Van Sloan, Dwight Frye, David Manners

Directed By: Tod Browning

Critics Consensus: Fueled by inspired silliness and blessed with some of the Marx brothers' most brilliant work, Duck Soup is one of its -- or any -- era's finest comedies.

Synopsis: When the tiny nation of Freedonia goes bankrupt, its wealthy benefactor, Mrs. Teasdale (Margaret Dumont), insists that the wacky Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx) become... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Zeppo Marx

Directed By: Leo McCarey

Critics Consensus: Playing as both an exciting sci-fi adventure and a remarkable portrait of childhood, Steven Spielberg's touching tale of a homesick alien remains a piece of movie magic for young and old.

Synopsis: After a gentle alien becomes stranded on Earth, the being is discovered and befriended by a young boy named Elliott (Henry Thomas). Bringing the extraterrestrial... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Peter Coyote, Drew Barrymore

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

Critics Consensus: Ophüls' graceful camerawork and visual portrayal of luxury and loss make Earrings a powerful French drama.

Synopsis: This film follows a pair of earrings as they change hands during a series of betrayals and romances. A French general (Charles Boyer) presents his... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Charles Boyer, Danielle Darrieux, Vittorio De Sica, Jean Debucourt

Directed By: Max Ophuls

Critics Consensus: Edgy and seminal, Easy Rider encapsulates the dreams, hopes, and hopelessness of 1960s counterculture.

Synopsis: Wyatt (Peter Fonda) and Billy (Dennis Hopper), two Harley-riding hippies, complete a drug deal in Southern California and decide to travel cross-country in search of... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson, Antonio Mendoza

Directed By: Dennis Hopper

Critics Consensus: Sensitively written, skillfully directed, and powerfully portrayed, El Norte wrings deeply affecting drama from intractable real-life issues.

Synopsis: When a group of Mayan Indians decides to organize a labor union to improve conditions in their village, their community is violently destroyed by the... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez, David Villalpando, Ernesto Gómez Cruz, Stella Quan

Directed By: Gregory Nava

Critics Consensus: By turns intoxicating and confounding, El Topo contains the creative multitudes that made writer-director Alejandro Jodorowsky such a singular talent.

Synopsis: A black-clad gunfighter (Alejandro Jodorowsky) embarks on a symbolic quest in an Old West version of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Starring: Alejandro Jodorowsky, Mara Lorenzio, Jacqueline Luis, Brontis Jodorowsky

Directed By: Alejandro Jodorowsky

Critics Consensus: The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser marks a powerfully humane entry in writer-director Werner Herzog's acclaimed oeuvre, further bolstered by tremendous work by star Bruno S.

Synopsis: When Kaspar Hauser (Bruno S.), a young German man, is suddenly released from an existence of inexplicable confinement, he is forced into regular society. Barely... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Bruno S., Brigitte Mira, Walter Ladengast, Hans Musaus

Directed By: Werner Herzog

Critics Consensus: Propelled by Charlie Kaufman's smart, imaginative script and Michel Gondry's equally daring directorial touch, Eternal Sunshine is a twisty yet heartfelt look at relationships and heartache.

Synopsis: After a painful breakup, Clementine (Kate Winslet) undergoes a procedure to erase memories of her former boyfriend Joel (Jim Carrey) from her mind. When Joel... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo

Directed By: Michel Gondry

Critics Consensus: Exotica simmers with sex and obsession, while successfully doubling as an extreme character study.

Synopsis: In the upscale Canadian strip club Exotica, Christina (Mia Kirshner) is the most popular dancer, and she's visited nightly by the obsessive Francis (Bruce Greenwood),... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Bruce Greenwood, Mia Kirshner, Don McKellar, Arsinée Khanjian

Directed By: Atom Egoyan

Critics Consensus: Societal etiquette devolves into depravity in Luis Buñuel's existential comedy, effectively playing the absurdity of civilization for mordant laughs.

Synopsis: Edmundo Nobile invites friends over for an opulent dinner party. While the guests enjoy their food, the servants disappear one by one. Afterward, the visitors... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Silvia Pinal, Jacqueline Andere, José Baviera, Enrique Rambal

Directed By: Luis Buñuel

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A man obsesses over his fear that his wife will die and be buried alive.

Starring: Jean Debucourt, Marguerite Gance, Charles Lamy, Fournez-Goffard

Directed By: Jean Epstein

Critics Consensus: Ingmar Bergman conveys the sweep of childhood with a fastidious attention to detail and sumptuous insight into human frailty in Fanny & Alexander, a masterwork that crystalizes many of the directors' preoccupations into a familial epic.

Synopsis: As children in the loving Ekdahl family, Fanny and Alexander enjoy a happy life with their parents, who run a theater company. After their father... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Pernilla Allwin, Bertil Guve, Erland Josephson, Gunn Wållgren

Directed By: Ingmar Bergman

Critics Consensus: Violent, quirky, and darkly funny, Fargo delivers an original crime story and a wonderful performance by McDormand.

Synopsis: "Fargo" is a reality-based crime drama set in Minnesota in 1987. Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) is a car salesman in Minneapolis who has gotten... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi, William H. Macy, Peter Stormare

Directed By: Joel Coen

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: In this classic of silent cinema, the demon Mephisto (Emil Jannings) makes a bet with an archangel that a good man's soul can be corrupted.... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Gösta Ekman, Emil Jannings, Camilla Horn, Yvette Guilbert

Directed By: F.W. Murnau

Critics Consensus: Inventive, thought-provoking, and funny, 8 1/2 represents the arguable peak of Federico Fellini's many towering feats of cinema.

Synopsis: Troubled Italian filmmaker Guido Anselmi (Marcello Mastroianni) struggles with creative stasis as he attempts to get a new movie off the ground. Overwhelmed by his... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimée, Sandra Milo

Directed By: Federico Fellini

Critics Consensus: The Firemen's Ball is an uproarious comedy of incompetence, mining laughs and sharp satire from an allegory that is amusing and distressing in equal measure.

Synopsis: In Milos Forman's satire on Communism set in a small Czechoslovakian town in the 1960s, the local firemen decide to organize a ball, however the... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jan Vostrčil, Josef Sebanek, Josef Valnoha, Josef Kolb

Directed By: Milos Forman

Critics Consensus: With a production as audacious as the feat it's depicting, Fitzcarraldo comes by its awe-inspiring spectacle honestly, even when it declines to examine the darker implications of its hero's dream.

Synopsis: Opera-loving European Brian Fitzgerald (Klaus Kinski) lives in a small Peruvian city. Better known as Fitzcarraldo, this foreigner is obsessed with building an opera house... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Klaus Kinski, Claudia Cardinale, José Lewgoy, Miguel Angel Fuentes

Directed By: Werner Herzog

Critics Consensus: An important touchstone of the New Hollywood era, Five Easy Pieces is a haunting portrait of alienation that features one of Jack Nicholson's greatest performances.

Synopsis: Rejecting his cultured upper-class background as a classical pianist, Robert Dupea (Jack Nicholson) opts for a blue-collar existence, working in a California oil field and... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Susan Anspach, Billy Green Bush

Directed By: Bob Rafelson

Critics Consensus: Floating Weeds boasts the visual beauty and deep tenderness of director Yasujiro Ozu's most memorable films -- and it's one of the few the master shot in color.

Synopsis: The leader (Ganjirô Nakamura) of a traveling acting troupe meets his former mistress (Haruko Sugimura) and their illegitimate son (Hiroshi Kawaguchi).

Starring: Ganjirô Nakamura, Haruko Sugimura, Hiroshi Kawaguchi, Machiko Kyō

Directed By: Yasujirô Ozu

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Orphaned after a Nazi air raid, Paulette (Brigitte Fossey), a young Parisian girl, runs into Michel (Georges Poujouly), an older peasant boy, and the two... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Brigitte Fossey, Georges Poujouly, Lucien Hubert, Suzanne Contal

Directed By: René Clément

Critics Consensus: Oftentimes nostalgic and extremely charming, French Cancan is a breathtaking homage to Moulin Rouge.

Synopsis: Hoping to keep his financially unstable cafe in business, Henri (Jean Gabin) takes a trip to Monmartre, where he witnesses local dancers performing the can-can,... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jean Gabin, Françoise Arnoul, María Félix, Anna Amendola

Directed By: Jean Renoir

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: This classic documentary by Errol Morris showcases workers in the animal burial industry while dealing with heavier existential questions regarding mortality and the afterlife. The... View Full Synopsis

Directed By: Errol Morris

Critics Consensus: Brilliantly filmed and fueled with classic physical comedy, The General captures Buster Keaton at his timeless best.

Synopsis: One of the most revered comedies of the silent era, this film finds hapless Southern railroad engineer Johnny Gray (Buster Keaton) facing off against Union... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Buster Keaton, Marion Mack, Glen Cavender, Jim Farley

Directed By: Clyde Bruckman, Buster Keaton

Critics Consensus: One of Hollywood's greatest critical and commercial successes, The Godfather gets everything right; not only did the movie transcend expectations, it established new benchmarks for American cinema.

Synopsis: Widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time, this mob drama, based on Mario Puzo's novel of the same name, focuses on... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard S. Castellano

Directed By: Francis Ford Coppola

Critics Consensus: Drawing on strong performances by Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, Francis Ford Coppola's continuation of Mario Puzo's Mafia saga set new standards for sequels that have yet to be matched or broken.

Synopsis: The compelling sequel to "The Godfather," contrasting the life of Corleone father and son. Traces the problems of Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) in 1958 and... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Robert De Niro

Directed By: Francis Ford Coppola

Critics Consensus: Goldfinger is where James Bond as we know him comes into focus - it features one of 007's most famous lines ("A martini. Shaken, not stirred.") and a wide range of gadgets that would become the series' trademark.

Synopsis: Special agent 007 (Sean Connery) comes face to face with one of the most notorious villains of all time, and now he must outwit and... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Sean Connery, Gert Fröbe, Honor Blackman, Shirley Eaton

Directed By: Guy Hamilton

Critics Consensus: Gone with the Wind's epic grandeur and romantic allure encapsulate an era of Hollywood filmmaking -- but that can't excuse a blinkered perspective that stands on the wrong side of history.

Synopsis: Winner of eight Academy Awards® (plus two special achievement Oscars) Celebrate the 85th Anniversary of one of the most celebrated motion pictures of all time,... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland

Directed By: Victor Fleming

Critics Consensus: Arguably the greatest of the spaghetti westerns, this epic features a compelling story, memorable performances, breathtaking landscapes, and a haunting score.

Synopsis: In the Southwest during the Civil War, a mysterious stranger, Joe (Clint Eastwood), and a Mexican outlaw, Tuco (Eli Wallach), form an uneasy partnership --... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef, Aldo Giuffré

Directed By: Sergio Leone

Critics Consensus: Louis Malle's autobiographical tale of a childhood spent in a WWII boarding school is a beautifully realized portrait of friendship and youth.

Synopsis: In 1943, Julien (Gaspard Manesse) is a student at a French boarding school. When three new students arrive, including Jean Bonnett (Raphael Fejto), Julien believes... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Gaspard Manesse, Raphael Fejto, Francine Racette, Stanislas Carré de Malberg

Directed By: Louis Malle

Critics Consensus: Hard-hitting and stylish, GoodFellas is a gangster classic -- and arguably the high point of Martin Scorsese's career.

Synopsis: Henry Hill, a poor Irish-Italian growing up in the 1950s New York City, rises through the ranks of his neighborhood's organized crime branch; he ends... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco

Directed By: Martin Scorsese

Critics Consensus: The Gospel According to St. Matthew forgoes the pageantry of biblical epics in favor of a naturalistic retelling of the Christ story, achieving a respectful if not reverent interpretation with political verve.

Synopsis: Pier Paolo Pasolini's Biblical drama follows the life of Jesus Christ (Enrique Irazoqui) as depicted in the Gospel of Matthew from the New Testament. Much... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Enrique Irazoqui, Margherita Caruso, Susanna Pasolini, Marcello Morante

Directed By: Pier Paolo Pasolini

Critics Consensus: Jean Renoir's Grand Illusion is a masterful anti-war statement, bringing humane insight and an undercurrent of ironic humor to an unusual relationship between captor and captive.

Synopsis: A group of French soldiers, including the patrician Captain de Boeldieu (Pierre Fresnay) and the working-class Lieutenant Maréchal (Jean Gabin), grapple with their own class... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Pierre Fresnay, Erich von Stroheim, Jean Gabin, Marcel Dalio

Directed By: Jean Renoir

Critics Consensus: A potent drama that is as socially important today as when it was made, The Grapes of Wrath is affecting, moving, and deservedly considered an American classic.

Synopsis: The Joad clan, introduced to the world in John Steinbeck's iconic novel, is looking for a better life in California. After their drought-ridden farm is... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, Charley Grapewin

Directed By: John Ford

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A teenager (J. Robert Spencer) is charged with the care of his younger sister (Rhoda Chrosite) after an Allied firebombing during World War II destroys... View Full Synopsis

Starring: J. Robert Spencer, Rhoda Chrosite, Amy Jones, Kathleen McInerney

Directed By: Isao Takahata

Critics Consensus: Charlie Chaplin demonstrates that his comedic voice is undiminished by dialogue in this rousing satire of tyranny, which may be more distinguished by its uplifting humanism than its gags.

Synopsis: After dedicated service in the Great War, a Jewish barber (Charles Chaplin) spends years in an army hospital recovering from his wounds, unaware of the... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie, Reginald Gardiner

Directed By: Charlie Chaplin

Critics Consensus: Furnished with striking visual detail and told with great narrative economy by director David Lean, Great Expectations is an exemplary adaptation of Charles Dickens' dense and episodic novel.

Synopsis: In this Dickens adaptation, orphan Pip discovers through lawyer Mr. Jaggers that a mysterious benefactor wishes to ensure that he becomes a gentleman. Reunited with... View Full Synopsis

Starring: John Mills, Valerie Hobson, Bernard Miles, Francis L. Sullivan

Directed By: David Lean

Critics Consensus: Powerful even in its incomplete form, Erich von Stroheim's Greed is a spoil of cinematic riches and a harrowing treatise on the corrupting allure of money.

Synopsis: When housewife Trina McTeague (ZaSu Pitts) wins the lottery, her comfortable life with her dentist husband, John (Gibson Gowland), is slowly destroyed, in part by... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Gibson Gowland, ZaSu Pitts, Jean Hersholt, Chester Conklin

Directed By: Erich von Stroheim

Critics Consensus: A grim and devastating tale of the Holocaust.

Synopsis: Based on actual events, "The Grey Zone" is the staggeringly powerful story of the Auschwitz twelfth Sonderkommando -- one of the thirteen consecutive "Special Squads"... View Full Synopsis

Starring: David Arquette, Daniel Benzali, Steve Buscemi, David Chandler

Directed By: Tim Blake Nelson

Critics Consensus: Smart, sweet, and inventive, Groundhog Day highlights Murray's dramatic gifts while still leaving plenty of room for laughs.

Synopsis: Phil (Bill Murray), a weatherman, is out to cover the annual emergence of the groundhog from its hole. He gets caught in a blizzard that... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott, Stephen Tobolowsky

Directed By: Harold Ramis

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Antoine (Jean Rochefort) has always had a thing for beautiful hairstylists. As a young boy, he lusted after the beautician who cut his hair, and... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jean Rochefort, Anna Galiena, Henry Hocking, Maurice Chevit

Directed By: Patrice Leconte

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Aging samurai Hanshiro Tsugumo (Tatsuya Nakadai) arrives at the home of Kageyu Saito (Rentarô Mikuni) and asks to commit a ritual suicide on the property,... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Shima Iwashita, Akira Ishihama, Yoshio Inaba

Directed By: Masaki Kobayashi

Critics Consensus: A Hard Day's Night, despite its age, is still a delight to watch and has proven itself to be a rock-and-roll movie classic.

Synopsis: The Beatles in their feature film debut, one of the greatest rock-and-roll comedy adventures ever. The film has a fully restored negative and digitally restored... View Full Synopsis

Starring: The Beatles, Wilfrid Brambell, Norman Rossington, John Junkin

Directed By: Richard Lester

Critics Consensus: One of the most critically acclaimed documentaries of all time, Hoop Dreams is a rich, complex, heartbreaking, and ultimately deeply rewarding film that uses high school hoops as a jumping-off point to explore issues of race, class, and education in modern America.

Synopsis: Every school day, African-American teenagers William Gates and Arthur Agee travel 90 minutes each way from inner-city Chicago to St. Joseph High School in Westchester,... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Steve James, William Gates, Arthur Agee, Sheila Agee

Directed By: Steve James

Critics Consensus: Galvanized by David Mamet's punchy dialogue and a winding succession of surprises, House of Games is a terse thriller where confidence is currency.

Synopsis: After one of her patients threatens suicide, psychiatrist Margaret Ford (Lindsay Crouse) confronts the source of his anxieties, a downtown bookie named Mike (Joe Mantegna).... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Lindsay Crouse, Joe Mantegna, Mike Nussbaum, Lilia Skala

Directed By: David Mamet

Critics Consensus: A superbly-mounted adaptation of E.M. Forster's tale of British class tension, with exceptional performances all round, Howard's End ranks among the best of Merchant-Ivory's work.

Synopsis: Helen Schlegel falls for Paul Wilcox, but is rebuffed. Her sister Margaret becomes friends with his mother, who promises her the family house, Howards End.... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, Helena Bonham Carter, Vanessa Redgrave

Directed By: James Ivory

Critics Consensus: Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason give iconic performances in this dark, morally complex tale of redemption.

Synopsis: Story Fast Eddie Felsen (Paul Newman) and his adventures in the world of professional pool. Fast Eddie is a young hopeful on his way to... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, George C. Scott, Piper Laurie

Directed By: Robert Rossen

Critics Consensus: Ikiru is a well-acted and deeply moving humanist tale about a man facing his own mortality, one of legendary director Akira Kurosawa's most intimate films.

Synopsis: Mr. Watanabe suddenly finds that he has terminal cancer. He vows to make his final days meaningful. His attempts to communicate his anguish to his... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Takashi Shimura, Miki Odagiri, Kyôko Seki

Directed By: Akira Kurosawa

Critics Consensus: In Cold Blood is a classic docudrama with a fictional thriller's grip -- and a pair of terrific lead performances from Robert Blake and Scott Wilson.

Synopsis: In this adaptation of Truman Capote's seminal true-crime novel, ex-convicts Perry Smith (Robert Blake) and Richard Dick Hickock (Scott Wilson) hatch a plan to rob... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Robert Blake, Scott Wilson, John Forsythe, Paul Stewart

Directed By: Richard Brooks

Critics Consensus: Led by extraordinary performances from Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame, In a Lonely Place is a gripping noir of uncommon depth and maturity.

Synopsis: Hollywood screenwriter Dixon Steele (Humphrey Bogart) and his neighbor Laurel (Gloria Grahame) are just getting to know each other romantically when the police begin questioning... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Frank Lovejoy, Carl Benton Reid

Directed By: Nicholas Ray

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: In the 1920s, Tennessee schoolteacher Bertram Cates (Dick York) is put on trial for violating the Butler Act, a state law that prohibits public school... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, Gene Kelly, Florence Eldridge

Directed By: Stanley Kramer

Critics Consensus: The holiday classic to define all holiday classics, It's a Wonderful Life is one of a handful of films worth an annual viewing.

Synopsis: After George Bailey (James Stewart) wishes he had never been born, an angel (Henry Travers) is sent to earth to make George's wish come true.... View Full Synopsis

Starring: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell

Directed By: Frank Capra

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: An epic account of the coronation, abdication and subsequent recall by the people of the 16th-century Russian ruler (Nikolai Cherkasov).

Starring: Nikolay Cherkasov, Lyudmila Tselikovskaya, Serafina Birman, Pavel Kadochnikov

Directed By: Sergei M. Eisenstein

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: First czar of united Russia, Ivan IV (Nikolai Cherkasov) outwits his aunt (Mikhail Zharov) and the boyars' plot in 16th-century Moscow.

Starring: Nikolay Cherkasov, Mikhail Zharov, Amvrosi Buchma, Mikhail Kuznetsov

Directed By: Sergei M. Eisenstein

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Indian landowner Biswambhar Roy (Chhabi Biswas) lives in luxury, but his fortune is slowly slipping away. Despite his decreasing funds, Roy insists on maintaining his... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Chhabi Biswas, Gangapada Basu, Kali Sarkar, Padma Devi

Directed By: Satyajit Ray

Critics Consensus: As history, Oliver Stone's JFK is dubious, but as filmmaking it's electric, cramming a ton of information and excitement into its three-hour runtime and making great use of its outstanding cast.

Synopsis: This acclaimed Oliver Stone drama presents the investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy led by New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Kevin Costner, Sissy Spacek, Joe Pesci, Tommy Lee Jones

Directed By: Oliver Stone

Critics Consensus: Compelling, well-crafted storytelling and a judicious sense of terror ensure Steven Spielberg's Jaws has remained a benchmark in the art of delivering modern blockbuster thrills.

Synopsis: When a young woman is killed by a shark while skinny-dipping near the New England tourist town of Amity Island, police chief Martin Brody (Roy... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

Critics Consensus: Johnny Guitar confidently strides through genre conventions, emerging with a brilliant statement that transcends its period setting -- and left an indelible mark.

Synopsis: On the outskirts of town, the hard-nosed Vienna (Joan Crawford) owns a saloon frequented by the undesirables of the region, including Dancin' Kid (Scott Brady)... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge, Scott Brady

Directed By: Nicholas Ray

Critics Consensus: Francois Truffaut's arguable masterpiece in a filmography full of masterpieces ready to be argued for, Jules and Jim is an eternal ode to boundless love.

Synopsis: In the carefree days before World War I, introverted Austrian author Jules (Oskar Werner) strikes up a friendship with the exuberant Frenchman Jim (Henri Serre).... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jeanne Moreau, Oskar Werner, Henri Serre, Marie Dubois

Directed By: François Truffaut

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Middle-aged Giulietta grows suspicious of her husband, Giorgio, when his behavior grows increasingly questionable. One night when Giorgio initiates a seance amongst his friends, Giulietta... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Giulietta Masina, Sandra Milo, Sylva Koscina, Mario Pisu

Directed By: Federico Fellini

Critics Consensus: By turns funny, sad, and profound, Killer of Sheep offers a sympathetic and humane glimpse into inner-city life.

Synopsis: In Watts, an urban and mostly African-American section of Los Angeles, Stan (Henry Gayle Sanders) spends his days toiling away at a local slaughterhouse. His... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Henry G. Sanders, Kaycee Moore, Charles Bracy, Angela Burnett

Directed By: Charles Burnett

Critics Consensus: An expertly crafted noir with more on its mind than stylishly staged violence, The Killing establishes Stanley Kubrick as a filmmaker of uncommon vision and control.

Synopsis: Career criminal Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) recruits a sharpshooter (Timothy Carey), a crooked police officer (Ted de Corsia), a bartender (Joe Sawyer) and a betting... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards, Jay C. Flippen

Directed By: Stanley Kubrick

Critics Consensus: Performed with chameleonic brio by Alec Guinness, Kind Hearts and Coronets is a triumphant farce.

Synopsis: When his mother eloped with an Italian opera singer, Louis Mazzini (Dennis Price) was cut off from her aristocratic family. After the family refuses to... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Alec Guinness, Dennis Price, Valerie Hobson, Joan Greenwood

Directed By: Robert Hamer

Critics Consensus: King Kong explores the soul of a monster -- making audiences scream and cry throughout the film -- in large part due to Kong's breakthrough special effects.

Synopsis: Actress Ann Darrow (Fay Wray) and director Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) travel to the Indian Ocean to do location shoots for Denham's new jungle picture.... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Fay Wray, Bruce Cabot, Robert Armstrong, Frank Reicher

Directed By: Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack

Critics Consensus: As poetic as it is realistic, Jean Vigo's L'Atalante passionately deals with relevant themes through the story of two star-crossed lovers.

Synopsis: Capricious small-town girl Juliette and barge captain Jean marry after a whirlwind courtship, and she comes to live aboard his boat, L'Atalante. As they make... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jean Dasté, Dita Parlo, Michel Simon, Louis Lefebvre

Directed By: Jean Vigo

Critics Consensus: L'Avventura marks a bewitchingly ambiguous milestone in Antonioni's career -- and European cinema in general.

Synopsis: In Michelangelo Antonioni's classic of Italian cinema, two lovely young women, Claudia (Monica Vitti) and Anna (Léa Massari), join the latter's lover, Sandro (Gabriele Ferzetti),... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Monica Vitti, Gabriele Ferzetti, Lea Massari, Dominique Blanchar

Directed By: Michelangelo Antonioni

Critics Consensus: Taut pacing, brilliantly dense writing and Oscar-worthy acting combine to produce a smart, popcorn-friendly thrill ride.

Synopsis: Three policemen, each with his own motives and obsessions, tackle the corruption surrounding an unsolved murder at a downtown Los Angeles coffee shop in the... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, James Cromwell

Directed By: Curtis Hanson

Critics Consensus: A sensual and hypnotic masterpiece, La Belle Noiseuse luxuriates in its four-hour run time while holding audience attention.

Synopsis: A young model (Emmanuelle Béart) replacing his wife (Jane Birkin) inspires a tired painter (Michel Piccoli) to pick up a work he quit 10 years... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Michel Piccoli, Emmanuelle Béart, Jane Birkin, Marianne Denicourt

Directed By: Jacques Rivette

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A wealthy family's new housemaid (Sandrine Bonnaire) befriends a mercurial postmistress (Isabelle Huppert), with dire consequences.

Starring: Isabelle Huppert, Sandrine Bonnaire, Jacqueline Bisset, Jean-Pierre Cassel

Directed By: Claude Chabrol

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A young man tells himself high ideals are what kept him from sleeping with a temptress staying at the same St. Tropez boarding house.

Starring: Patrick Bauchau, Haydée Politoff, Daniel Pommereulle, Alain Jouffroy

Directed By: Éric Rohmer

Critics Consensus: An epic, breathtakingly stylish cinematic landmark, La Dolce Vita remains riveting in spite of -- or perhaps because of -- its sprawling length.

Synopsis: In Federico Fellini's lauded Italian film, restless reporter Marcello Rubini (Marcello Mastroianni) drifts through life in Rome. While Marcello contends with the overdose taken by... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg, Yvonne Furneaux, Anouk Aimée

Directed By: Federico Fellini

Critics Consensus: A career highlight for Preston Sturges, The Lady Eve benefits from Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda's sparkling chemistry -- and a script that inspired countless battle-of-the-sexes comedies.

Synopsis: It's no accident when wealthy Charles falls for Jean. Jean is a con artist with her sights set on Charles' fortune. Matters complicate when Jean... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn, Eugene Pallette

Directed By: Preston Sturges

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: An elderly hotel doorman (Emil Jannings) loses status and self-pride after being demoted to the position of washroom attendant.

Starring: Emil Jannings, Maly Delschaft, Max Hiller, Emelie Kurtz

Directed By: F.W. Murnau

Critics Consensus: Making excellent use of its period and setting, Peter Bogdanovich's small town coming-of-age story is a sad but moving classic filled with impressive performances.

Synopsis: High school seniors and best friends, Sonny (Timothy Bottoms) and Duane (Jeff Bridges), live in a dying Texas town. The handsome Duane is dating local... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd, Ben Johnson

Directed By: Peter Bogdanovich

Critics Consensus: Naturalistic but evocative, Last Tango in Paris is a vivid exploration of pain, love, and sex featuring a typically towering Marlon Brando performance.

Synopsis: Distraught following his wife's suicide, American hotelier Paul (Marlon Brando) becomes transfixed by the beautiful younger Frenchwoman Jeanne (Maria Schneider) when he meets her by... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Darling Legitimus

Directed By: Bernardo Bertolucci

Critics Consensus: Contrary to accusations of irreverence, The Last Temptation of Christ's biggest sins are actually languid pacing and some tinny dialogue -- but Martin Scorsese's passion for the subject shines through in an oft-transcendent rumination on faith.

Synopsis: Jesus (Willem Dafoe), a humble Judean carpenter beginning to see that he is the son of God, is drawn into revolutionary action against the Roman... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel, Barbara Hershey, Paul Greco

Directed By: Martin Scorsese

Critics Consensus: Elegantly enigmatic and dreamlike, this work of essential cinema features exquisite cinematography and an exploration of narrative still revisited by filmmakers today.

Synopsis: In this unconventional French drama, a group of unnamed aristocrats interact at a palatial château, resulting in an enigmatic tale told partially in flashback. X... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Delphine Seyrig, Giorgio Albertazzi, Sacha Pitoeff, Françoise Bertin

Directed By: Alain Resnais

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Noriko (Setsuko Hara) is perfectly happy living at home with her widowed father, Shukichi (Chishû Ryû), and has no plans to marry -- that is,... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Setsuko Hara, Chishu Ryu, Haruko Sugimura, Jun Usami

Directed By: Yasujirô Ozu

Critics Consensus: A psychologically complex portrait of obsession, Laura is also a deliciously well-crafted murder mystery.

Synopsis: In one of the most celebrated 1940s film noirs, Manhattan detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) investigates the murder of Madison Avenue executive Laura Hunt (Gene... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Vincent Price

Directed By: Otto Preminger

Critics Consensus: The epic of all epics, Lawrence of Arabia cements director David Lean's status in the filmmaking pantheon with nearly four hours of grand scope, brilliant performances, and beautiful cinematography.

Synopsis: Due to his knowledge of the native Bedouin tribes, British Lieutenant T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) is sent to Arabia to find Prince Faisal (Alec Guinness)... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Omar Sharif

Directed By: David Lean

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: At a wedding in a quiet rural French village, school headmistress Helene (Stéphane Audran) meets local butcher Popaul (Jean Yanne). Though the reserved Helene is... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Stéphane Audran, Jean Yanne, Roger Rudel, Antonio Passalia

Directed By: Claude Chabrol

Critics Consensus: Le Samouraï makes the most of its spare aesthetic, using stylish -- and influential -- direction, solid performances, and thick atmosphere to weave an absorbing story.

Synopsis: Hit man Jef Costello (Alain Delon) goes through an elaborate set of rituals before carrying out a hit on a nightclub owner. Always thorough and... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Alain Delon, Nathalie Delon, François Perier, Cathy Rosier

Directed By: Jean-Pierre Melville

Critics Consensus: Oscar-awarded Nicolas Cage finds humanity in his character as it bleeds away in this no frills, exhilaratingly dark portrait of destruction.

Synopsis: Adapted from the novel by John O'Brien, this acclaimed drama follows alcoholic screenwriter Ben Sanderson (Nicolas Cage) as he drinks himself into oblivion in Las... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Elisabeth Shue, Julian Sands, Richard Lewis

Directed By: Mike Figgis

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Young Léo Lauzon (Maxime Collin) lives in a Montreal apartment building with his troubled and highly eccentric family, but he spends much of his time... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Maxime Collin, Ginette Reno, Roland Blouin, Julien Guiomar

Directed By: Jean-Claude Lauzon

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: As the Germans take over France during World War II, widowed mother Barny (Emmanuelle Riva) becomes increasingly anxious about her half-Jewish daughter. She decides to... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Emmanuelle Riva, Irene Tunc, Nicole Mirel

Directed By: Jean-Pierre Melville

Critics Consensus: Lavish and wistful, The Leopard features epic battles, sumptuous costumes, and a ballroom waltz that competes for most beautiful sequence committed to film.

Synopsis: As Garibaldi's troops begin the unification of Italy in the 1860s, an aristocratic Sicilian family grudgingly adapts to the sweeping social changes undermining their way... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale, Alain Delon, Paolo Stoppa

Directed By: Luchino Visconti

Critics Consensus: A moving evocation of both British values and the passage of time, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp is an epic portrait of a singular character by Powell and Pressburger.

Synopsis: General Candy (Roger Livesey), who's overseeing an English squad in 1943, is a veteran leader who doesn't have the respect of the men he's training... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Roger Livesey, Deborah Kerr, Anton Walbrook, John Laurie

Directed By: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: In feudal Japan, Oharu (Kinuyo Tanaka), the daughter of royal samurai Shinzaemon (Ichiro Sugai), secretly has a passionate romance with Katsunosuke (Toshirô Mifune), a man... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Kinuyo Tanaka, Toshiro Mifune, Ichiro Sugai, Tsukie Matsura

Directed By: Kenji Mizoguchi

Critics Consensus: An ice-cold noir that retains Robert Altman's idiosyncratic sensibilities, The Long Goodbye ranks among the smartest and most satisfying Marlowe mysteries.

Synopsis: Private detective Philip Marlowe (Elliott Gould) is asked by his old buddy Terry Lennox (Jim Bouton) for a ride to Mexico. He obliges, and when... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Elliott Gould, Nina van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden, Mark Rydell

Directed By: Robert Altman

Critics Consensus: Effectively balancing humor and subtle pathos, Sofia Coppola crafts a moving, melancholy story that serves as a showcase for both Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson.

Synopsis: A lonely, aging movie star named Bob Harris (Bill Murray) and a conflicted newlywed, Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), meet in Tokyo. Bob is there to film... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Giovanni Ribisi, Anna Faris

Directed By: Sofia Coppola

Critics Consensus: A landmark psychological thriller with arresting images, deep thoughts on modern society, and Peter Lorre in his finest performance.

Synopsis: In this classic German thriller, Hans Beckert, a serial killer who preys on children, becomes the focus of a massive Berlin police manhunt. Beckert's heinous... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Peter Lorre, Ellen Widmann, Inge Landgut, Otto Wernicke

Directed By: Fritz Lang

Critics Consensus: An eruption of feeling that's as overwhelming as it is overwrought, Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia reaches a feverish crescendo and sustains it thanks to its fearlessly committed ensemble.

Synopsis: On one random day in the San Fernando Valley, a dying father, a young wife, a male caretaker, a famous lost son, a police officer... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jason Robards, Julianne Moore, Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Directed By: Paul Thomas Anderson

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Retired married couple Barkley (Victor Moore) and Lucy (Beulah Bondi) struggle through the Great Depression, losing their home to foreclosure. Their five grown children have... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Victor Moore, Beulah Bondi, Fay Bainter, Thomas Mitchell

Directed By: Leo McCarey

Critics Consensus: Suspenseful, labyrinthine, and brilliantly cast, The Maltese Falcon is one of the most influential noirs -- as well as a showcase for Humphrey Bogart at his finest.

Synopsis: In this noir classic, detective Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) gets more than he bargained for when he takes a case brought to him by a... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Gladys George

Directed By: John Huston

Critics Consensus: A Man Escaped is blockbuster Bresson, a well-acted POW drama that builds with subtle, seat-gripping tension.

Synopsis: In a film based on the writings of French Resistance fighter and POW André Devigny, Fontaine (François Leterrier) is being held by the Nazis at... View Full Synopsis

Starring: François Leterrier, Charles Le Clainche, Maurice Beerblock, Roland Monod

Directed By: Robert Bresson

Critics Consensus: A meeting of brilliant creative minds, The Man Who Laughs serves as a stellar showcase for the talents of director Paul Leni and star Conrad Veidt.

Synopsis: Disfigured by a king as a child, an 18th-century clown (Conrad Veidt) again becomes the pawn of royalty.

Starring: Conrad Veidt, Mary Philbin, Olga Baclanova, Josephine Crowell

Directed By: Paul Leni

Critics Consensus: Featuring a trio of classic leading men and a rich story captured by a director at the peak of his craft, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is one of the finest Westerns ever filmed.

Synopsis: Questions arise when Senator Stoddard (James Stewart) attends the funeral of a local man named Tom Doniphon (John Wayne) in a small Western town. Flashing... View Full Synopsis

Starring: James Stewart, John Wayne, Vera Miles, Lee Marvin

Directed By: John Ford

Critics Consensus: Groundbreaking in its exploration of the medium, Man with a Movie Camera is proof that cinema in and of itself can be a source of grand entertainment and sociological value.

Synopsis: Part documentary and part cinematic art, this film follows a city in the 1920s Soviet Union throughout the day, from morning to night. Directed by... View Full Synopsis

Directed By: Dziga Vertov

Critics Consensus: While not the classic its predecessor is, this update is well-acted and conjures a chilling resonance.

Synopsis: Years after his squad was ambushed during the Gulf War, Major Ben Marco (Denzel Washington) finds himself having terrible nightmares. He begins to doubt that... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, Liev Schreiber, Jon Voight

Directed By: Jonathan Demme

Critics Consensus: One of Woody Allen's early classics, Manhattan combines modern, bittersweet humor and timeless romanticism with unerring grace.

Synopsis: Director Woody Allen's love letter to New York City stars Allen as frustrated television writer Isaac Davis, a twice-divorced malcontent facing middle age alone after... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Mariel Hemingway, Michael Murphy

Directed By: Woody Allen

Critics Consensus: Hanna Schygulla is a knockout in The Marriage of Maria Braun, an intimate epic that reaffirms Rainer Werner Fassbinder's mastery of examining multifaceted people and a complicated nation.

Synopsis: Near the end of World War II, Maria (Hanna Schygulla) marries Hermann (Klaus Lowitsch), who is immediately sent off to battle. When the war concludes,... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Hanna Schygulla, Klaus Lowitsch, Ivan Desny, Gisela Uhlen

Directed By: Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Iris (Kati Outinen) has a soul-deadening job as a quality-control worker watching boxes of matches go by on an assembly line all day. At night,... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Kati Outinen, Elina Salo, Esko Nikkari, Vesa Vierikko

Directed By: Aki Kaurismäki

Critics Consensus: McCabe & Mrs. Miller offers revisionist Western fans a landmark early addition to the genre while marking an early apogee for director Robert Altman.

Synopsis: Charismatic gambler John McCabe (Warren Beatty) arrives in a mining community and decides to open a brothel. The local residents are impressed by his confident... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Rene Auberjonois, John Schuck

Directed By: Robert Altman

Critics Consensus: Mean Streets is a powerful tale of urban sin and guilt that marks Scorsese's arrival as an important cinematic voice and features electrifying performances from Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro.

Synopsis: A slice of street life in Little Italy among lower echelon Mafiosos, unbalanced punks, and petty criminals. A small-time hood gets in over his head... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Richard Romanus, Amy Robinson

Directed By: Martin Scorsese

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Hendrik Hoefgen (Klaus Maria Brandauer) craves center stage. After years spent slogging it out in provincial theaters, he's grown sufficiently desperate that when the Nazi... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Klaus Maria Brandauer, Krystyna Janda, Ildikó Bánsági, Karin Boyd

Directed By: István Szabó

Critics Consensus: A visually awe-inspiring science fiction classic from the silent era.

Synopsis: In a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel, Gustav Fröhlich, Rudolf Klein-Rogge

Directed By: Fritz Lang

Critics Consensus: If Paul Schrader's Yukio Mishima biopic omits too much to fully depict the author's life, its passion shines through in its avant-garde structure, Eiko Ishioka's production design, and Philip Glass' thunderous score.

Synopsis: Fact, fiction and dramatization illustrate events in the life of controversial author-militarist Yukio Mishima.

Starring: Ken Ogata, Kenji Sawada, Toshiyuki Nagashima

Directed By: Paul Schrader

Critics Consensus: Jacques Tati's most accessible film is a paean to gentle values and observing the small details of life.

Synopsis: Genial, bumbling Monsieur Hulot (Jacques Tati) loves his top-floor apartment in a grimy corner of the city, and cannot fathom why his sister's family has... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jacques Tati, Jean-Pierre Zola, Alain Bécourt, Lucien Fregis

Directed By: Jacques Tati

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Benoit (Jacques Gagnon) is an adolescent in the care of his uncle, Antoine (Jean Duceppe), who runs a general store in a small mining town... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jean Duceppe, Olivette Thibault, Jacques Gagnon, Claude Jutra

Directed By: Claude Jutra

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A love-starved outcast develops an unusual relationship with the seductive young neighbor he's been spying upon.

Starring: Michel Blanc, Sandrine Bonnaire, Luc Thuillier, André Wilms

Directed By: Patrice Leconte

Critics Consensus: A vibrant, powerful, and poignant glimpse into the struggles of women in modern Africa.

Synopsis: For fear of enduring genital mutilation, a group of girls flee their own "purification" ceremony and take refuge with Collé (Fatoumata Coulibaly), a woman who... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Fatoumata Coulibaly, Maimouna Hélène Diarra, Salimata Traoré, Aminata Dao

Directed By: Ousmane Sembene

Critics Consensus: Led by energetic performances from Nicolas Cage and Cher, Moonstruck is an exuberantly funny tribute to love and one of the decade's most appealing comedies.

Synopsis: No sooner does Italian-American widow Loretta (Cher) accept a marriage proposal from her doltish boyfriend, Johnny (Danny Aiello), than she finds herself falling for his... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Cher, Nicolas Cage, Vincent Gardenia, Olympia Dukakis

Directed By: Norman Jewison

Critics Consensus: Pleasant, lackadaisical, and very charming, Monsieur Hulot lays the groundwork for Jacques Tati's later, more accomplished films.

Synopsis: When the ever-hapless Monsieur Hulot (Jacques Tati) decides to vacation at a beautiful seaside resort, rest and relaxation don't last long, given the gangly gent's... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jacques Tati, Louis Perrault, Nathalie Pascaud, Michelle Rolla

Directed By: Jacques Tati

Critics Consensus: David Lynch's dreamlike and mysterious Mulholland Drive is a twisty neo-noir with an unconventional structure that features a mesmerizing performance from Naomi Watts as a woman on the dark fringes of Hollywood.

Synopsis: A dark-haired woman (Laura Elena Harring) is left amnesiac after a car crash. She wanders the streets of Los Angeles in a daze before taking... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Justin Theroux, Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, Ann Miller

Directed By: David Lynch

Critics Consensus: A class satire in a class of its own, My Man Godfrey's screwball comedy is as sharp as the social commentary is biting.

Synopsis: Fifth Avenue socialite Irene Bullock needs a forgotten man to win a scavenger hunt, and no one fits that description more than Godfrey Park, who... View Full Synopsis

Starring: William Powell, Carole Lombard, Alice Brady, Eugene Pallette

Directed By: Gregory La Cava

Critics Consensus: Canny and coolly confident, My Darling Clementine is a definitive dramatization of the Wyatt Earp legend that shoots from the hip and hits its target in breezy style.

Synopsis: In the middle of a long cattle drive, Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda) and his brothers stop off for a night in the town of Tombstone.... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Henry Fonda, Linda Darnell, Victor Mature, Walter Brennan

Directed By: John Ford