As noted critic Pauline Kael wrote, the 1987 box-office hit The Untouchables is "like an attempt to visualize the public's collective dream of Chicago gangsters." In other words, this lavish reworking of the vintage TV series is a rousing potboiler from a bygone era, so beautifully designed and photographed--and so craftily directed by Brian De Palma--that the historical reality of Prohibition-era Chicago could only pale in comparison.
The tropical sights and sounds of Mexico's Pacific coast come alive in this captivating comedy-drama filmed in the isolated seaside village of Yelapa. Join a group of offbeat travelers as they hunt for romantic adventure, hidden cash, a mysterious father, and Carlos Castaneda's legendary shaman, "Don Juan." Personal secrets are revealed and lives forever changed as the travelers fall into dramatic and often hilarious confrontations with Mexican villagers, North American expatriates, jungle wildlife —and each other!
In 18th-century France, a cruel and calculating playboy, Valmont, makes a malicious wager with the equally wicked Madame de Merteuil: Valmont must dishonor the married Madame de Tourvel by sleeping with her. If Valmont succeeds, he gets the privilege of Merteuil's bed as well. But when Valmont sets out on his task, the unexpected happens--he falls in love with Tourvel! And now Merteuil will stop at nothing to destroy Valmont's newfound passion.
For sheer pageantry and spectacle, few motion pictures can claim to equal the splendor of Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 remake of his epic "The Ten Commandments." Filmed in Egypt and the Sinai with one of the biggest sets ever constructed for a motion picture, this version tells the story of the life of Moses, (Heston) once favored in the Pharaoh's household, who turned his back on a privileged life to lead his people to freedom. With a rare on-screen introduction by Cecil B. DeMille himself.
Nothing on earth can rival the epic spectacle and breathtaking grandeur of Titanic, the sweeping love story that sailed into the hearts of moviegoers around the world, ultimately emerging as the most popular motion picture of all time. Leonardo DiCaprio and Oscar nominee Kate Winslet light up the screen as Jack and Rose, the young lovers who find one another on the maiden voyage of the "unsinkable" R.M.S. Titanic. But when the doomed luxury liner collides with an iceberg in the frigid North Atlantic, their passionate love affair becomes a thrilling race for survival.
For thirteen extraordinary days in October 1962, the world stood on the brink of an unthinkable catastrophe. After the discovery of Soviet weapons in Cuba, events and tension escalate between two military superpowers and within the White House. President John F. Kennedy (Bruce Greenwood), Bobby Kennedy (Steven Culp) and Special Assistant to the President Kenneth P. O'Donnell (Kevin Costner) are in the hot seat as they struggle to prevent nuclear war.
He's the star of the show - but he doesn't know. Jim Carrey wowed critics and audiences alike as unwitting Truman Burbank in this marvel of a movie from director Peter Weir about a man whose life is a nonstop TV show. Truman doesn't realize that his quaint hometown is a giant studio set run by a visionary producer/director/creator (Harris), that folks living and working there are Hollywood actors, that even his incessantly bubbly wife is a contract player. Gradually, Truman gets wise.
Two-time Academy Award-winner Tom Hanks writes, directs and stars in this heartwarming and humorous story about a one-hit-wonder rock band who get a taste of fame during the unforgettable summer of 1964. With a soundtrack of fun, energetic music evoking the rock bands of the early 1960s, That Thing You Do is first-rate entertainment for the entire family.
Robert Towne is one of Hollywood's most celebrated screenwriters, but because his directorial efforts have been few and far between, anticipation was high when this star-powered crime story was released in 1988. Critical reaction was decidedly mixed, but there's plenty to admire in this silky, visually seductive film about a drug dealer (Mel Gibson) whose best friend from high-school (Kurt Russell) is now working for the Los Angeles sheriff's drug detail.
Taxi Driver is the definitive cinematic portrait of loneliness and alienation manifested as violence. It is as if director Martin Scorsese and screenwriter Paul Schrader had tapped into precisely the same source of psychological inspiration ("I just knew I had to make this film," Scorsese would later say), combined with a perfectly timed post-Watergate expression of personal, political, and societal anxiety.
