Hold Back the Dawn
Hold Back the Dawn attains its place of greatness thanks to the well-acted and compelling dramatic love triangle at its heart and its tangential portraits of immigrants that challenged current policy stances and serve as a solid reminder of America’s need for immigrants.
Maria Full of Grace
Catalina Sandino Moreno’s powerful and dynamic leading performance carries Maria Full of Grace to a place of greatness, worthy of its recognition as one of the Greatest Films of All Time.
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Robert Altman’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller is a highly effective darker take on the western genre, headed by two strong performances from Warren Beatty and Julie Christie that make it into the great film that it is.
The Verdict
Paul Newman, Charlotte Rampling, and James Mason give some excellent performances in The Verdict, allowing its message of justice winning the day to shine through, cliché though it may be, earning the film its place among the greats.
Parallel Mothers
The story that Almodóvar places at the heart of Parallel Mothers is powered by his two leads – Cruz and Smit – and serves to enrapture the audience in such a way that the film’s place among the Greatest Films of All Time is undeniable.
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans rides the performances of its leads and the uplifting story that they portray to a place of all-time greatness, not just for its notable performance at the first Academy Awards, but for the execution of a truly great silent film.
The Blue Angel
Josef von Sternberg adapts the work of Heinrich Mann well, bringing out the best in his two leads – Jannings and Dietrich – as they weave the tale of a fall from grace in classic style, achieving a place among the greats.
Argentina, 1985
Both of the film’s leading actors help tell the story that Argentina, 1985’s script so excellently seeks to portray, reminding us of the historical violence of fascism and the activism that is necessary to keep it from returning to the mainstream in Western political culture, making the Argentinian film truly one of the Greatest Films of All Time.
Fences
August Wilson created a truly moving piece of literature with his play Fences, and Denzel Washington’s direction and the performances of the film’s featured actors do a quality job of capturing that work on the screen, achieving a deserved place among the Greatest Films of All Time.
The Celebration
Excellent characters played well by some talented actors help elevate the simple Dogme style of Vinterberg’s family drama to a place worthy of consideration among the Greatest Films of All Time.
Toni Erdmann
Toni Erdmann thrives thanks to the performances of its two leads and their unique brand of humor in the midst of the family drama, earning the film its place among the greats.
sex, lies, and videotape
Soderbergh’s excellent writing, paired with the great casting choices of Andie MacDowell as Ann and James Spader as Graham (and even Peter Gallagher’s typecasting as the cheating husband) help to make sex, lies, and videotape one of the Greatest Films of All Time.
All the King’s Men
Some all-time performances from the film’s leads and its undeniably relevant story help to make All the King’s Men into not only one of the best book adaptations of all time but one of the Greatest Films of All Time too.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Led by its primary performances, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever provides a unique take on the superhero film, allowing its audience to mourn even as they watch epic sequences of action and worldbuilding unfold, making its place among the greats fairly unsurprising.
After Life
Kore-eda’s unique take on the afterlife in After Life allows the audience to bask in an appreciation of memory before coming to the emotional conclusion about how easily we undervalue ourselves, our impact on the people around us, and the events that we experience until it is too late.
The Trip to Bountiful
Geraldine Page bears much of the burden of acting and delivering the message of the film in The Trip to Bountiful but carries it admirably and earns herself and the film a place among the greats in the process.