Brilliant Movies
Birdman (2014)
A fading actor best known for his portrayal of a popular superhero attempts to mount a comeback by appearing in a Broadway play. As opening night approaches, his attempts to ... (more)
GENRES: Comedy • Drama
DIRECTION: Alejandro González Iñárritu
CAST: Michael Keaton • Emma Stone • Zach Galifianakis • Edward Norton
Apollo 13 (1995) RT 95% / Audience 86%
DVD release: Sep 2004
Technical troubles scuttle the Apollo 13 lunar mission in 1971, risking the lives of astronaut Jim Lovell and his crew in director Ron Howard's chronicle of this true-life ... (more)
GENRES: Drama
DIRECTION: Ron Howard
CAST: Tom Hanks • Bill Paxton • Kevin Bacon • Gary Sinise
What Dreams May Come (1998) RT 54% / Audience 85%
DVD release: Feb 2001
Chris Neilson dies to find himself in a heaven more amazing than he could have ever dreamed of. There is one thing missing: his wife. After he dies, his wife, Annie killed ... (more)
GENRES: Drama • Fantasy • Romance
DIRECTION: Vincent Ward
CAST: Robin Williams • Cuba Gooding, Jr. • Annabella Sciorra • Max von Sydow
The Skin I Live In (2011) RT 80% / Audience 84%
DVD release: Mar 2012
A brilliant plastic surgeon creates a synthetic skin that withstands any kind of damage. His guinea pig: a mysterious and volatile woman who holds the key to his obsession. (more)
GENRES: Drama • Horror • Mystery • Thriller
DIRECTION: Pedro Almodóvar
CAST: Antonio Banderas • Elena Anaya • Marisa Paredes • Blanca Suárez
Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993) RT 100% / Audience 86%
DVD release: Jul 2000
A prepubescent chess prodigy refuses to harden himself in order to become a champion like the famous but unlikable Bobby Fischer. (more)
GENRES: Drama
DIRECTION: Steven Zaillian
CAST: Max Pomeranc • Joe Mantegna • Joan Allen • Ben Kingsley
Ghostbusters (1984) RT 73% / Audience 56%
DVD release: Oct 2016
After losing their academic posts at a prestigious university, a team of parapsychologists goes into business as proton-pack-toting "ghostbusters" who exterminate ghouls, ... (more)
GENRES: Action • Comedy • Family • Fantasy • Science Fiction
DIRECTION: Ivan Reitman
CAST: Bill Murray • Dan Aykroyd • Sigourney Weaver • Harold Ramis
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006) RT 58% / Audience 74%
DVD release: Jul 2007
Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, born in the stench of eighteenth century Paris, develops a superior olfactory sense, which he uses to create the world's finest perfumes. His work, ... (more)
GENRES: Crime • Drama • Fantasy
DIRECTION: Tom Tykwer
CAST: Ben Whishaw • Simon Chandler • David Calder • Richard Felix
The Wave (2008) RT 65% / Audience 80%
A school teacher discusses types of government with his class. His students find it too boring to repeatedly go over national socialism and believe that dictatorship cannot be ... (more)
GENRES: Drama • Thriller
DIRECTION: Dennis Gansel
CAST: Jürgen Vogel • Frederick Lau • Max Riemelt • Jennifer Ulrich
Tarzan (1999) RT 88% / Audience 74%
DVD release: Jan 2000
Tarzan was a small orphan who was raised by an ape named Kala since he was a child. He believed that this was his family, but on an expedition Jane Porter is rescued by Tarzan ... (more)
GENRES: Adventure • Animation • Drama • Family
DIRECTION: Chris Buck • Kevin Lima
CAST: Tony Goldwyn • Glenn Close • Minnie Driver • Brian Blessed
Gone with the Wind (1939) RT 94% / Audience 93%
DVD release: Mar 2000
An American classic in which a manipulative woman and a roguish man carry on a turbulent love affair in the American south during the Civil War and Reconstruction. (more)
GENRES: Drama • Romance • War
DIRECTION: Victor Fleming • George Cukor • Sam Wood
CAST: Vivien Leigh • Clark Gable • Olivia de Havilland • Thomas Mitchell
Road to Perdition (2002) RT 81% / Audience 86%
DVD release: Feb 2003
Mike Sullivan works as a hit man for crime boss John Rooney. Sullivan views Rooney as a father figure, however after his son is witness to a killing, Mike Sullivan finds ... (more)
GENRES: Crime • Drama • Thriller
DIRECTION: Sam Mendes
CAST: Tom Hanks • Jennifer Jason Leigh • Liam Aiken • Paul Newman
Friday (1995) RT 77% / Audience 91%
DVD release: Mar 1999
Craig and Smokey are two guys in Los Angeles hanging out on their porch on a Friday afternoon, smoking and drinking, looking for something to do. (more)
GENRES: Comedy • Drama
DIRECTION: F. Gary Gray
CAST: Ice Cube • Chris Tucker • Nia Long • Tommy Lister
Take Shelter (2011) RT 92% / Audience 81%
DVD release: Feb 2012
Plagued by a series of apocalyptic visions, a young husband and father questions whether to shelter his family from a coming storm, or from himself. (more)
GENRES: Drama • Thriller
DIRECTION: Jeff Nichols
CAST: Michael Shannon • Jessica Chastain • Katy Mixon • Shea Whigham
Full Metal Jacket (1987) RT 95% / Audience 94%
DVD release: Jun 1999
A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the U.S.-Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue. (more)
GENRES: Drama • War
DIRECTION: Stanley Kubrick
CAST: Matthew Modine • Adam Baldwin • Vincent D'Onofrio • R. Lee Ermey
Up in the Air (2009) RT 91% / Audience 79%
DVD release: Mar 2010
George Clooney plays the dry cynical character of Ryan Bingham, an executive who specializes in "downsizing". Ryan lives out of his suitcase, traveling the country for the ... (more)
GENRES: Drama • Romance
DIRECTION: Jason Reitman
CAST: George Clooney • Vera Farmiga • Anna Kendrick • Jason Bateman
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
An insane general starts a process to nuclear holocaust that a war room of politicians and generals frantically try to stop. A classic black and white war satire from director ... (more)
GENRES: Comedy • Drama • War
DIRECTION: Stanley Kubrick
CAST: Peter Sellers • George C. Scott • Sterling Hayden • Slim Pickens
Coraline (2009) RT 90% / Audience 73%
DVD release: Jul 2009
When Coraline moves to an old house, she feels bored and neglected by her parents. She finds a hidden door with a bricked up passage. During the night, she crosses the passage ... (more)
GENRES: Animation • Family
DIRECTION: Henry Selick
CAST: Dakota Fanning • Teri Hatcher • Jennifer Saunders • Dawn French
Kill Bill Volume 1 (2003)
An assassin is shot at the altar by her ruthless employer, Bill, and other members of their assassination circle. But "The Bride" lives to plot her vengeance. Setting out for ... (more)
GENRES: Action • Crime
DIRECTION: Quentin Tarantino
CAST: Uma Thurman • Lucy Liu • Vivica A. Fox • Daryl Hannah
Blazing Saddles (1974) RT 90% / Audience 91%
DVD release: Aug 1997
The Ultimate Western Spoof. A town where everyone seems to be named Johnson is in the way of the railroad. In order to grab their land, Hedley Lemar, a politically connected ... (more)
GENRES: Comedy • Western
DIRECTION: Mel Brooks
CAST: Cleavon Little • Gene Wilder • Mel Brooks • Madeline Kahn
3 Idiots (2009)
In the tradition of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” comes this refreshing comedy about a rebellious prankster with a crafty mind and a heart of gold. Rascal. Joker. Dreamer. Genius ... (more)