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Although Basil Poledouris has composed more than 80 film scores, none is more impressive than 1982's Conan the Barbarian. For those who like epic, militaristic soundtracks, this makes for compulsive listening. It's the score that elevated the ...

(500) Days of Summer

(500) Days of Summer is a romantic comedy for those who don't often like romantic comedies. Or, to put it another way, it's for those who appreciate the emotions but are unenthusiastic about the clichés and formulas that contribute to the cookie-...

Run Time: 1:35
U.S. Release Date: 2009-07-17
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Sexual Situations, Profanity)
Genre: ROMANCE/COMEDY
Director: Marc Webb
Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel
10 Cloverfield Lane

When J.J. Abrams released Cloverfield in 2008, it arrived cloaked in secrecy. Now, some eight years later, the film’s so-called “blood relative” (Abrams’ term, not mine), comes with a similar marketing strategy. Going-in, viewers are unlikely...

10 Things I Hate about You

Never has the teen movie genre been more active than it is today. Seemingly every weekend, there's a new entry, and the solid box office performance assures that there will be many more to come. A trend with recent teen films has been to recycle ...

Run Time: 1:38
U.S. Release Date: 1999-03-31
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Sexual Content, Profanity)
Genre: ROMANCE/COMEDY
Director: Gil Junger
Cast: Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles, Joseph-Gordon Levitt, ...

This column offers “10 Top Performances of 2017.” It does not present the “Top 10 Performances of 2017” nor the “Best 10 Performances of 2017.” I want to highlight ten performances (without making actor/actress or lead/support distinctions) that have lodged in my memory.

10,000 B.C.

I suppose there's some entertainment value to be had from the sheer badness of 10,000 B.C. The movie takes itself serious enough that, viewed from a warped perspective in a state of inebriation, it might actually be fun. Seen in more mundane circ...

Run Time: 1:45
U.S. Release Date: 2008-03-07
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Violence)
Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE
Director: Roland Emmerich
Cast: Steven Strait, Camilla Belle, Cliff Curtis, ...
12 Rounds

12 Rounds is the unholy stepchild of Die Hard with a Vengeance and Speed, starring a man whose lack of range makes Steven Seagal seem nuanced by comparison. John Cena is so wooden that one worries about his being in scenes with fire for fear that ...

Run Time: 1:45
U.S. Release Date: 2009-03-27
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Violence)
Genre: ACTION
Director: Renny Harlin
Cast: John Cena, Aiden Gillen, Ashley Scott, ...
12 Strong

12 Strong represents a recent war as depicted on screen in an old-fashioned way. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, war movies followed an established template that pitted the “good guys” (often Americans) against the “bad guys.” Such fi...

Run Time: 2:10
U.S. Release Date: 2018-01-19
MPAA Rating: "R" (War Violence, Profanity)
Genre: War/Thriller
Director: Nicolai Fuglsig
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Michael Shannon, Michael Pena, ...
12 Years a Slave

12 Years a Slave, sure to be a heavy hitter when the 2014 Oscar nominations are announced, is a powerful and compelling adaptation of Solomon Northup's autobiographical account of the dozen years he spent as a slave on Louisiana plantations from 18...

Run Time: 2:13
U.S. Release Date: 2013-10-18
MPAA Rating: "R" (Violence, Disturbing Images, Nudity, Sexual Content)
Genre: DRAMA
Director: Steve McQueen
Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbander, Lupita Nyong'o, ...
127 Hours

Danny Boyle doesn't believe in doing the same thing twice. After the rousing success of the romantic fantasy Slumdog Millionaire, he has switched not only gears but continents to tell the true story of Aron Ralston in 127 Hours, an "action film wit...

Run Time: 1:34
U.S. Release Date: 2010-11-05
MPAA Rating: "R" (Violence, Sexual Content)
Genre: THRILLER
Director: Danny Boyle
Cast: James Franco