30 Must Watch Classic Movies – A Few Good Men

Military lawyer Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee defends Marines accused of murder. They contend they were acting under orders.

Lt. Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise) is a military lawyer defending two U.S. Marines charged with killing a fellow Marine at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.

Although Kaffee is known for seeking plea bargains, a fellow lawyer, Lt. Cdr. JoAnne Galloway (Demi Moore), convinces him that the accused marines were most likely carrying out an order from a commanding officer. Kaffee takes a risk by calling Col. Nathan R. Jessep (Jack Nicholson) to the stand in an effort to uncover the conspiracy.

In this dramatic courtroom thriller, LT Daniel Kaffee, a Navy lawyer who has never seen the inside of the courtroom, defends two stubborn Marines who have been accused of murdering a colleague.

Kaffee is known as being lazy and had arranged for a plea bargain.

Downey’s Aunt Ginny appoints Cmdr. Galloway to represent him. Also on the legal staff is LTJG Sam Weinberg.

The team rounds up many facts and Kaffee is discovering that he is really cut out for trial work.

The defense is originally based upon the fact that PFC Santiago, the victim, was given a “CODE RED”. Santiago was basically a screw-up. At Gitmo, screw-ups aren’t tolerated. Especially by Col. Nathan Jessup.

In Cuba, Jessup and two senior officers try to give all the help they can, but Kaffee knows something’s fishy.

In the conclusion of the film, the fireworks are set off by a confrontation between Jessup and Kaffee.

Bad Words

A spelling bee loser sets out to exact revenge by finding a loophole and attempting to win as an adult.

Guy Trilby (Jason Bateman), a 40-year-old misanthrope, makes waves at a regional spelling bee when, due to a loophole in the rules, he is allowed to enter — and later wins.

Hurling insults at every turn, Guy advances to the national contest in Los Angeles, accompanied by a reporter (Kathryn Hahn) who wants to discover his hidden motives for entering the bee.

As the competition gears up, friendless Guy inexplicably forms a bond with a young speller who is feeling parental pressure to win.

An adult, who has been a school dropout, finds a loophole in the regulations and participates in the largest spelling bee in the USA, The Golden Quill.

His aim is to take revenge for something done to him in the past.

30 Must Watch Classic Movies – Body Heat

In the midst of a searing Florida heat wave, a woman persuades her lover, a small-town lawyer, to murder her rich husband.

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 help of one of his criminal clients, bomb maker Teddy Lewis (Mickey Rourke), Ned hatches a scheme to kill Matty’s husband so that they can run away together with his money.

But complications build upon double-crosses, launching the hapless lawyer into a situation far more treacherous than he imagined.

Ned Racine is a seedy small town lawyer in Florida.

During a searing heatwave he’s picked up by married Matty Walker.

A passionate affair commences but it isn’t long before they realize the only thing standing in their way is Matty’s rich husband Edmund.

A plot hatches to kill him but will they pull it off?

Entrapment

An insurance agent is sent by her employer to track down and help capture an art thief.

Insurance investigator Virginia “Gin” Baker (Catherine Zeta-Jones), looking into a stolen Rembrandt painting, suspects that accomplished thief Robert “Mac” MacDougal (Sean Connery) is responsible.

She decides to go undercover and help Mac steal an ancient artifact.

When a suspicious Mac confronts Gin about her real intentions, she claims that she is, in fact, a thief and that the insurance job is a cover.

To prove it, she proposes a new target that could net them $8 billion.

Following the theft of a highly-secured piece of artwork, an agent convinces her insurance agency employers to allow her to wriggle into the company of an aging but active master thief.

Connery’s burglar takes her on suspiciously and demands rigorous training before their first job together, stealing a highly-valued mask from a chichi party.

Their deepening attraction and distrust could tear apart their partnership, but the promise of a bigger prize (some eight billion odd dollars) by Zeta-Jones keeps the game interesting. Only, who’s playing with whom?

30 Must Watch Classic Movies – Goodwill Hunting

Will Hunting, a janitor at M.I.T., has a gift for mathematics, but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.

A touching tale of a wayward young man who struggles to find his identity, living in a world where he can solve any problem, except the one brewing deep within himself, until one day he meets his soul mate who opens his mind and his heart

Will Hunting (Matt Damon) has a genius-level IQ but chooses to work as a janitor at MIT.

When he solves a difficult graduate-level math problem, his talents are discovered by Professor Gerald Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgard), who decides to help the misguided youth reach his potential.

When Will is arrested for attacking a police officer, Professor Lambeau makes a deal to get leniency for him if he will get treatment from therapist Sean Maguire (Robin Williams).

It’s Complicated

When attending their son’s college graduation, a couple reignite the spark in their relationship.

But the complicated fact is they’re divorced and he’s remarried.

When brought together at a family event, two exes find themselves oddly attracted to each other after ten years of divorce.

Although the couple think that this affair will stay in a different state, it brings itself back to their own city and disrupts their personal lives.

While the couple still maintain other romances, they cannot help but to continue with their affair.

Jane (Meryl Streep), a successful restaurateur, has been divorced from Jake (Alec Baldwin) for many years, although they remain friends.

When an innocent meal together turns into an affair, Jane finds that she is the other woman in the now-remarried Jake’s life.

Meanwhile, Adam (Steve Martin), an architect hired to remodel her kitchen, is still stinging from his own divorce.

He finds himself falling in love with Jane but soon realizes that he has become part of a triangle.

30 Must Watch Classic Movies – I Am Sam

Sam Dawson has the mental capacity of a 7 year old.

He has a daughter who’s homeless mother has abandons them both. Sam’s difficulties become problematic, and she’s taken away.

Sam finds a lawyer who tells the case pro bono. In the process, he teaches her a great deal about love and whether it’s really all needed.

“I Am Sam” is the compelling story of Sam Dawson (Sean Penn), a mentally-challenged father raising his daughter Lucy (Dakota Fanning) with the help of a unique group of friends.

As Lucy turns seven and begins to intellectually surpass her father, their close bond is threatened when their unconventional living arrangement comes to the attention of a social worker who wants Lucy placed in foster care.

A mentally handicapped man fights for custody of his 7-year-old daughter and in the process teaches his cold-hearted lawyer the value of love and family.

Molly’s Game

The true story of Molly Bloom, an Olympic-class skier who ran the world’s most exclusive high-stakes poker game and became an FBI target.

The true story of Molly Bloom, a beautiful, young, Olympic-class skier who ran the world’s most exclusive high-stakes poker game for a decade before being arrested in the middle of the night by 17 FBI agents wielding automatic weapons.

Her players included Hollywood royalty, sports stars, business titans and finally, unbeknown to her, the Russian mob.

Her only ally was her criminal defense lawyer Charlie Jaffey, who learned there was much more to Molly than the tabloids led people to believe.

Molly Bloom, a beautiful young Olympic-class skier, ran the world’s most exclusive high-stakes poker game for a decade before being arrested in the middle of the night by 17 FBI agents wielding automatic weapons.

Her players included Hollywood royalty, sports stars, business titans, and finally, unbeknownst to her, the Russian mob.

Her only ally was her criminal defense lawyer Charlie Jaffey, who learned that there was much more to Molly than the tabloids led us to believe.

30 Must Watch Classic Movies – Mr. Brooks

A well-respected businessman is sometimes controlled by his murder and mayhem-loving alter ego.

Well-respected businessman Earl Brooks (Kevin Costner) has a secret: Beneath his family-man facade lurks a murderous alter-ego named Marshall (William Hurt).

Brooks struggles with his addiction to killing, but Marshall enjoys his grisly hobby too much to let go.

Finally, Brooks resolves to commit one final murder, but a voyeur (Dane Cook) witnesses it and blackmails him to continue. With a detective (Demi Moore) hot on his trail, Brooks/Marshall must spin an increasingly elaborate web.

Earl Brooks is a highly respected businessman and was recently named Portland’s Man of the Year.

He hides a terrible secret however: he is a serial killer known as the Thumbprint Killer.

He has been attending AA meetings and has kept his addiction to killing under control for two years now but his alter ego, Marshall, has re-appeared and is pushing him to kill again.

When he does kill a couple while they are making love, he is seen and photographed by someone who also has his own death and murder fetish.

In a parallel story, the police detective investigating the murder is having problems of her own.

She is going through a messy divorce and a violent criminal who had vowed revenge some years before has escaped from prison and is after her.

Mystic River

The lives of three men who were childhood friends are shattered when one of them has a family tragedy.

When the daughter (Emmy Rossum) of ex-con Jimmy Marcus (Sean Penn) is murdered, two of his childhood friends from the neighborhood are involved.

Dave (Tim Robbins), a blue-collar worker, was the last person to see her alive, while Sean (Kevin Bacon), a homicide detective, is heading up the case.

As Sean proceeds with his investigation, Jimmy conducts one of his own through neighborhood contacts. Eventually, Jimmy suspects Dave is the culprit and considers taking the law into his own hands.

In the summer of 1975 in a neighborhood in Boston, three kids- Dave Boyle and his two friends, Jimmy Markum and Sean Devine- are playing on the sidewalk when Dave gets abducted by two men and endures days of sexual abuse.

Eventually Dave escapes, but is traumatized throughout adulthood. Jimmy is an ex-con and a father of three, whose daughter Katie is found dead, and Dave becomes the number one suspect.

Sean is a homicide detective investigating Katie’s murder, and finds himself faced with past and present demons as more is uncovered about Katie’s murder.

Learning Katie had a boyfriend, ballistics later connect a gun belonging to his father to the murder, setting her boyfriend as the suspect.

30 Must Watch Classic Movies – On Golden Pond

Norman is a curmudgeon with an estranged relationship with his daughter Chelsea.

At Golden Pond, he and his wife nevertheless agree to care for Billy, the son of Chelsea’s new boyfriend, and a most unexpected relationship blooms.

Cantankerous retiree Norman Thayer (Henry Fonda) and his conciliatory wife, Ethel (Katharine Hepburn), spend summers at their New England vacation home on the shores of idyllic Golden Pond.

This year, their adult daughter, Chelsea (Jane Fonda), visits with her new fiancée and his teenage son, Billy (Doug McKeon) on their way to Europe.

After leaving Billy behind to bond with Norman, Chelsea returns, attempting to repair the long-strained relationship with her aging father before it’s too late.

The loons are back again on Golden Pond and so are Norman Thayer, a retired professor, and Ethel who have had a summer cottage there since early in their marriage.

This summer their daughter Chelsea — whom they haven’t seen for years — feels she must be there for Norman’s birthday.

She and her fiance are on their way to Europe the next day but will be back in a couple of weeks to pick up the fiance’s son.

When she returns Chelsea is married and her stepson has the relationship with her father that she always wanted.

Primal Fear

An altar boy is accused of murdering a priest, and the truth is buried several layers deep.

Defense attorney Martin Vail takes on jobs for money and prestige rather than any sense of the greater good.

His latest case involves an altar boy, accused of brutally murdering the archbishop of Chicago.

Vail finds himself up against his ex-pupil and ex-lover, but as the case progresses and the Church’s dark secrets are revealed, Vail finds that what appeared a simple case takes on a darker, more dangerous aspect.

When a young man, Aaron, is charged with the horrific murder of Archbishop Rushman, hot-shot Chicago lawyer Martin Vail takes on his defense at no charge.

Aaron was a homeless street kid before he was taken in by the Archbishop.

He’s shy and speaks with a stammer. Vail is convinced that Aaron is innocent but after discovering a video that shows Aaron may have had good reason to want the Archbishop dead, he begins to question that conclusion.

When Aaron lashes out at the psychologist examining him another personality, Roy, is revealed.

With the trial already underway, Vail cannot change Aaron plea and so has to find a way to introduce his client’s condition.

Aaron has something of a surprise for him as well.

30 Must Watch Classic Movies – Rounders

A young, reformed gambler must return to playing big stakes poker to help a friend pay off loan sharks, while balancing his relationship with his girlfriend and his commitments to law school.

Mike McDermott (Matt Damon) loses his money in a poker game against Russian gangster Teddy “KGB” (John Malkovich).

Under pressure from his girlfriend, Jo (Gretchen Mol), he promises to quit gambling. This lasts until his friend, Lester “Worm” Murphy (Edward Norton), gets out of prison and needs to pay off an old debt.

The pair come close to earning the money back but are caught cheating.

Then Mike finds out the debt is owed to Teddy and makes one last-ditch effort to beat the Russian.

John Dahl directed this exploration of New York private clubs devoted to high-stakes poker, with first-person narration from the film’s central figure, law student Mike McDermott (Matt Damon), who loses his entire savings to Russian club owner Teddy KGB (John Malkovich).

Mike then turns away from cards, devoting his attentions to his law studies and his live-in girlfriend Jo (Gretchen Mol), who’s concerned when Mike’s former gambling buddy Worm (Edward Norton) is released from prison.

She has good reason to worry, since it takes Worm only a matter of minutes to draw Mike back into poker action.

When she learns Mike has returned to the poker clubs, she moves out, and Mike begins to lose interest in his studies.

Worm has a prison debt, and the threatening Grama (Michael Rispoli) wants the money.

Mike not only indulges the irresponsible Worm, he gets involved in Worm’s debts.

When Grama demands $15,000 on a five-day deadline, the two buddies go into high gear with a non-stop, no-sleep gambling binge that spirals downward toward an ultimate confrontation with Teddy KGB.

Searching For Bobby Fischer

A prepubescent chess prodigy refuses to harden himself in order to become a champion like the famous but unlikable Bobby Fischer.

fter he beats his dad (Joe Mantegna) in a chess match, Josh Waitzkin (Max Pomeranc), a 7-year-old, gets noticed for his talent. He becomes interested in speed chess at the park and learns the game from a hustler named Vinnie (Laurence Fishburne).

However, Josh’s parents invest in the services of Bruce (Ben Kingsley), a famous coach who has very different practices.

Between Bruce’s methods and the stress of the competitions, Josh learns that even a chess prodigy cannot make all the right moves.

Josh Waitzkin is just a typical American boy interested in baseball when one day he challenges his father at chess and wins.

Showing unusual precocity at the outdoor matches at Washington Square in New York City, he quickly makes friends with a hustler named Vinnie who teaches him speed chess.

Josh’s parents hire a renowned chess coach, Bruce, who teaches Josh the usefulness of measured planning.

Along the way Josh becomes tired of Bruce’s system and chess in general and purposely throws a match, leaving the prospects of winning a national championship in serious jeopardy

30 Must Watch Classic Movies – Sea of Love

A detective investigating a series of murders becomes involved with a woman who may be the culprit.

Frank Keller is a New York detective investigating a case of a serial killer who finds the victims through the lonely hearts column in newspapers.

Keller falls in love with Helen, the main suspect in the case.

Troubled New York City detective Frank Keller (Al Pacino) investigates a serial killer who finds victims using personal ads in a magazine.

The killer leaves the song “Sea of Love” playing at his crime scenes. With the help of his partner, Sherman Touhey (John Goodman), Frank concocts a plan to find the killer using his own personal ads.

But when Frank falls for one of his chief suspects, Helen Cruger (Ellen Barkin), he struggles to reconcile his personal life and his professional duty.

Scarface

In 1980 Miami, a determined Cuban immigrant takes over a drug cartel and succumbs to greed.

After getting a green card in exchange for assassinating a Cuban government official, Tony Montana (Al Pacino) stakes a claim on the drug trade in Miami.

Viciously murdering anyone who stands in his way, Tony eventually becomes the biggest drug lord in the state, controlling nearly all the cocaine that comes through Miami.

But increased pressure from the police, wars with Colombian drug cartels and his own drug-fueled paranoia serve to fuel the flames of his eventual downfall.

Tony Montana manages to leave Cuba during the Mariel exodus of 1980.

He finds himself in a Florida refugee camp but his friend Manny has a way out for them: undertake a contract killing and arrangements will be made to get a green card.

He’s soon working for drug dealer Frank Lopez and shows his mettle when a deal with Colombian drug dealers goes bad.

He also brings a new level of violence to Miami.

Tony is protective of his younger sister but his mother knows what he does for a living and disowns him.

Tony is impatient and wants it all however, including Frank’s empire and his mistress Elvira Hancock.

Once at the top however, Tony’s outrageous actions make him a target and everything comes crumbling down.

30 Must Watch Classic Movies – Silver Linings Playbook

After a stint in a mental institution, former teacher Pat Solitano moves back in with his parents and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife.

Things get more challenging when Pat meets Tiffany, a mysterious girl with problems of her own.

After losing his job and wife, and spending time in a mental institution, Pat Solatano (Bradley Cooper) winds up living with his parents (Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver).

He wants to rebuild his life and reunite with his wife, but his parents would be happy if he just shared their obsession with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Things get complicated when Pat meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), who offers to help him reconnect with his wife, if he will do something very important for her in exchange.

Against medical advice and without the knowledge of her husband Pat Solatano Sr., caring Dolores Solatano discharges her adult son, Pat Solatano Jr., from a Maryland mental health institution after his minimum eight-month court ordered stint.

The condition of the release includes Pat Jr. moving back in with his parents in their Philadelphia home.

Although Pat Jr.’s institutionalization was due to him beating up the lover of his wife Nikki, he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Nikki has since left him and has received a restraining order against him.

Although he is on medication (which he doesn’t take because of the way it makes him feel) and has mandatory therapy sessions, Pat Jr. feels like he can manage on the outside solely by healthy living and looking for the “silver linings” in his life.

His goals are to get his old job back as a substitute teacher, but more importantly reunite with Nikki.

He finds there are certain instances where he doesn’t cope well.

However, he coping skills are no less so than some others who have never been institutionalized, such as his Philadelphia Eagles obsessed father.

His father has resorted to being a bookie to earn a living, his best friend Ronnie who quietly seethes over the control wielded by his wife Veronica, and Veronica’s widowed sister, Tiffany Maxwell.

Tiffany is a girl with problems of her own.

In their fragile mental states, Pat Jr. and Tiffany embark on a love/hate friendship based primarily on what help the other can provide in achieving their individual goals.

But they may reevaluate their goals as their relationship progresses

Somethings Gotta Give

A swinger on the cusp of being a senior citizen with a taste for young women falls in love with an accomplished woman closer to his age.

When aging womanizer Harry Sanborn (Jack Nicholson) and his young girlfriend, Marin (Amanda Peet), arrive at her family’s beach house in the Hamptons, they find that her mother, dramatist Erica Barry (Diane Keaton), also plans to stay for the weekend.

Erica is scandalized by the relationship and Harry’s sexist ways.

But when Harry has a heart attack, and a doctor (Keanu Reeves) prescribes bed rest at the Barry home, he finds himself falling for Erica — who, for once, may be out of his league.

Harry Sanborn is an aged music industry exec with a fondness for younger women like Marin, his latest trophy girlfriend.

Things get a little awkward when Harry suffers a heart attack at the home of Marin’s mother Erica.

Left in the care of Erica and his doctor, a love triangle starts to take shape

30 Must Watch Classic Movies – The Fabulous Baker Boys

The lives of two struggling musicians, who happen to be brothers, inevitably change when they team up with a beautiful, up-and-coming singer.

Frank (Beau Bridges) and Jack Baker (Jeff Bridges) are brothers who have performed together in a small but successful piano act for years.

However, their lack of ambition hurts them — they begin losing gigs, and are soon relegated to run-down venues.

Attempting to infuse new life into their act, the brothers audition singers and choose the stunning Susie Diamond (Michelle Pfeiffer).

The new lineup brings success, but a growing attraction between Susie and Jack threatens the trio’s stability.

he Fabulous Baker Boys, a Seattle-based duo piano lounge act performing cheesy jazz renditions of pop standards, is comprised of thirty-something brothers Frank and Jack Baker.

Older Frank, married with two children, is the controlling business manager, front man and sole programmer of the playlist.

Younger Jack is the carefree one without commitments to anything or anyone, including women, he who has had a long string of one night stands, most specifically with cocktail waitresses.

Jack’s strongest commitments are to his aging dog, Eddie, and to Nina, the lonely adolescent who lives in the apartment above his with her single, constantly dating mother.

Jack’s commitment to Nina is because of her unwavering commitment to him.

The Baker Boys’ act is becoming stale and outdated, and as such their ability to hold onto what gigs they are able to get is getting more difficult.

So Frank comes up with the idea of hiring a singer to beef up the act. After thirty-seven failed auditions, they finally hire the last, the thirty-eighth auditioner, Susie Diamond, a woman one step above white trash.

Despite Susie having no formal singing experience, she has just a strong enough vocal talent of the music they perform, and can sell a song largely on her stage presence and sex appeal.

She is able to turn off her outward tough girl demeanor once she’s on stage.

Susie is initially an uneasy addition to the act, but becomes an integral part of it as the act begins getting more gigs, more lucrative ones at that.

But Susie’s presence not only threatens the new act, but threatens the interrelationships between all three.

Frank believes the biggest threat is any sexual tension, perceived or real, between Jack and Susie.

However, the biggest threat is how Susie is able to expose the fundamental rifts between the brothers, Frank whose primary goal is to put food on his family’s table, while Jack’s is his true musical dreams which are being stifled by the act.

The Fighter

Based on the story of Micky Ward, a fledgling boxer who tries to escape the shadow of his more famous but troubled older boxing brother and get his own shot at greatness.

The Fighter is a drama about boxer “Irish” Micky Ward’s unlikely road to the world light welterweight title.

His Rocky-like rise was shepherded by half-brother Dicky, a boxer-turned-trainer on the verge of being KO’d by drugs and crime.

For Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg), boxing is a family affair. His tough-as-nails mother is his manager.

His half-brother, Dicky (Christian Bale), once a promising boxer himself, is his very unreliable trainer.

Despite Micky’s hard work, he is losing and, when the latest fight nearly kills him, he follows his girlfriend’s advice and splits from the family.

Then Micky becomes a contender for the world title and he — and his family — earns a shot at redemption.

The Godfather

The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty in postwar New York City transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant youngest son.

The Godfather “Don” Vito Corleone is the head of the Corleone mafia family in New York.

He is at the event of his daughter’s wedding. Michael, Vito’s youngest son and a decorated WW II Marine is also present at the wedding.

Michael seems to be uninterested in being a part of the family business. Vito is a powerful man, and is kind to all those who give him respect but is ruthless against those who do not.

But when a powerful and treacherous rival wants to sell drugs and needs the Don’s influence for the same, Vito refuses to do it.

What follows is a clash between Vito’s fading old values and the new ways which may cause Michael to do the thing he was most reluctant in doing and wage a mob war against all the other mafia families which could tear the Corleone family apart.

The Godfather “Don” Vito Corleone is the head of the Corleone mafia family in New York. He is at the event of his daughter’s wedding.

Michael, Vito’s youngest son and a decorated WW II Marine is also present at the wedding. Michael seems to be uninterested in being a part of the family business.

Vito is a powerful man, and is kind to all those who give him respect but is ruthless against those who do not.

But when a powerful and treacherous rival wants to sell drugs and needs the Don’s influence for the same, Vito refuses to do it.

What follows is a clash between Vito’s fading old values and the new ways which may cause Michael to do the thing he was most reluctant in doing and wage a mob war against all the other mafia families which could tear the Corleone family apart.

The Hundred Foot Journey

The Kadam family leaves India for France where they open a restaurant directly across the road from Madame Mallory’s Michelin-starred eatery.

Hassan Kadam (Manish Dayal) is an extraordinarily talented and largely self-taught culinary novice. When he and his family are displaced from their native India and settle in a quaint French village, they decide to open an Indian eatery.

However, Madame Mallory (Helen Mirren), the proprietress of an acclaimed restaurant just 100 feet away, strongly objects.

War erupts between the two establishments, until Mallory recognizes Kadam’s impressive epicurean gifts and takes him under her wing.

The family of talented cook, Hassan Kadam (Manish Dayal), has a life filled with both culinary delights and profound loss.

Drifting through Europe after fleeing political violence in India that killed the family restaurant business and their mother, the Kadams arrive in France.

Once there, a chance auto accident and the kindness of a young woman, Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon), in the village of Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val inspires Papa Kadam (Om Puri) to set up a Indian restaurant there.

Unfortunately, this puts the Kadams in direct competition with the snobbish Madame Mallory’s acclaimed haute cuisine establishment across the street where Marguerite also works as a sous-chef.

The resulting rivalry eventually escalates in personal intensity until it goes too far.

In response, there is a bridging of sides initiated by Hassan, Marguerite, and Madame Mallory (Dame Helen Mirren), both professional and personal, that encourages an understanding that will change both sides forever.

30 Must Watch Classic Movies – The Insider

A research chemist comes under personal and professional attack when he decides to appear in a 60 Minutes exposé on Big Tobacco.

After seeking the expertise of former “Big Tobacco” executive Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe), seasoned TV producer Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino) suspects a story lies behind Wigand’s reluctance to speak.

As Bergman persuades Wigand to share his knowledge of industry secrets, the two must contend with the courts and the corporations that stand between them and exposing the truth.

All the while, Wigand must struggle to maintain his family life amidst lawsuits and death threats.

Balls-out 60 Minutes (1968) Producer Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino) sniffs a story when a former research biologist for Brown & Williamson, Jeff Wigand (Russell Crowe), won’t talk to him. When the company leans hard on Wigand to honor a confidentiality agreement, he gets his back up.

Trusting Bergman, and despite a crumbling marriage, he goes on camera for a Mike Wallace (Christopher Plummer) interview and risks arrest for contempt of court.

Westinghouse is negotiating to buy CBS, so CBS attorneys advise CBS News to shelve the interview and avoid a lawsuit. 60 Minutes (1968) and CBS News bosses cave, Wigand is hung out to dry, Bergman is compromised, and the CEOs of Big Tobacco may get away with perjury. Will the truth come out?

The Judge

Big-city lawyer Hank Palmer returns to his childhood home where his father, the town’s judge, is suspected of murder. Hank sets out to discover the truth and, along the way, reconnects with his estranged family.

Hank Palmer (Robert Downey Jr.), a brilliant but shady attorney, returns to his Indiana hometown after learning that his mother has passed away.

His arrival triggers renewed tension between himself and his father, Judge Joseph Palmer (Robert Duvall), who makes no secret of his disapproval of Hank’s morally ambiguous career.

As the lawyer prepares to depart, his father is arrested for a hit-and-run death. Hank takes on his father’s defense, despite the objections of the resentful old man.

Hank Palmer is a successful defense attorney in Chicago, who is getting a divorce.

When his brother calls with the news that their mother has died, Hank returns to his childhood home to attend the funeral.

Despite the brittle bond between Hank and the Judge, Hank must come to his father’s aid and defend him in court.

Here, Hank discovers the truth behind the case, which binds together the dysfunctional family and reveals the struggles and secrecy of the family.

30 Must Watch Classic Movies – The Town

A proficient group of thieves rob a bank and hold Claire, the assistant manager, hostage.

Things begin to get complicated when one of the crew members falls in love with Claire.

Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck) leads a band of ruthless bank robbers and has no real attachments except for James (Jeremy Renner), who — despite his dangerous temper — is like a brother.

Everything changes for Doug when James briefly takes a hostage, bank employee Claire Keesey.

Learning that she lives in the gang’s neighborhood, Doug seeks her out to discover what she knows, and he falls in love. As the romance deepens, he wants out of his criminal life, but that could threaten Claire.

The Charlestown neighborhood of Boston is renowned for churning out a high number of armed robbers, generation after generation.

These robbers never leave their Charlestown life on their own volition, the neighborhood where there is an unwritten code to protect that lifestyle.

Such robbers include friends Doug MacRay, James Coughlin, Albert ‘Gloansy’ Magloan and Desmond Elden. Doug and James in particular treat each other like family, as the Coughlins have realistically been as such to Doug since Doug’s mother ran off and Doug’s father, Stephen MacRay, was sent to prison.

James’ single mother sister, the drugged out Krista Coughlin, and Doug have a casual sexual relationship.

The foursome carry out a mostly successful bank robbery, but due to circumstances take the bank manager, Claire Keesey, hostage for a short period before releasing her physically unharmed.

They find out that Claire lives in Charlestown, so they want to ensure that she did not see anything that could incriminate them if they were to ever run into her.

As such, Doug begins a personal relationship with her to find out what she knows and what she’s told the police and the FBI, who have taken charge of the investigation.

He learns that she has kept some information from the authorities for her own protection but information that could identify James in particular.

But Doug slowly falls for her, as she does for him. Ultimately, Doug dreams about leaving his Charlestown life to be with Claire anywhere but there.

But Doug has to try and keep his true identity from her, and keep the fact that he is seeing her from his colleagues.

But leaving is not as easy as he would like as he and the gang are tasked with a big job by a local gangster named Fergie whether Doug likes it or not.

And Adam Frawley, the FBI’s lead investigator, comes into evidence that links the foursome to the bank robbery and a subsequent armored car heist, so is on their tail for evidence that will send them away dead or alive

The Upside of Anger

When her husband unexpectedly disappears, a sharp-witted suburban wife and her daughters juggle their mom’s romantic dilemmas and family dynamics.

After her husband runs off with his secretary, Terry Wolfmeyer (Joan Allen) is left to fend for herself — and her four daughters (Keri Russell, Evan Rachel Wood, Erika Christensen, Alicia Witt).

As she hits rock bottom, Terry finds a friend and drinking buddy in next-door neighbor Denny (Kevin Costner), a former baseball player.

As the two grow closer, and her daughters increasingly rely on Denny, Terry starts to have reservations about where their relationship is headed.

A sharp-witted suburban wife, Terry Wolfmeyer, is left to raise her four headstrong daughters when her husband unexpectedly disappears.

Things get even more hectic when she falls for her neighbor Denny, a once-great baseball star turned radio d.j.

This leaves her daughters out on a limb. They are forced to juggle their mom’s romantic dilemmas as well as their own.

30 Must Watch Classic Movies – The Thomas Crown Affair

A very rich and successful playboy amuses himself by stealing artwork, but may have met his match in a seductive detective.

Bored billionaire Thomas Crown (Pierce Brosnan) decides to entertain himself by stealing a Monet from a reputed museum.

When Catherine Banning (Rene Russo), an investigator for the museum’s insurance company, takes an interest in Crown, a complicated back-and-forth game with romantic undertones begins between them.

In an attempt to find out where Banning’s loyalties lie, Crown returns the painting and essentially turns himself in, hoping that Banning’s feelings for him will lead to an escape.

Self-made billionaire Thomas Crown is bored of being able to buy everything he desires.

Being irresistible to women, he also does not feel any challenge in that area.

But there are a few things even he can’t get, therefore Thomas Crown has a seldom hobby: He steals priceless masterpieces of Art.

After the theft of a famous painting from Claude Monet, the only person suspecting Thomas Crown is Catherine Banning.

Her job is to get the picture back, no matter how she accomplishes her mission.

Unfortunately, Catherine gets involved too deeply with Thomas to keep a professional distance to the case. Fortunately, Thomas seems to fall for her, too.

This Is Where I Leave You

After their father passes away, four grown siblings are forced to return to their childhood home and live under the same roof for a week, along with their over-sharing mother and an assortment of spouses, exes and might-have-beens.

When their father passes away, four grown, world-weary siblings return to their childhood home and are requested — with an admonition — to stay there together for a week, along with their free-speaking mother (Jane Fonda) and a collection of spouses, exes and might-have-beens.

As the brothers and sisters re-examine their shared history and the status of each tattered relationship among those who know and love them best, they reconnect in hysterically funny and emotionally significant ways.

After their father passes away, four grown siblings, bruised and banged up by their respective adult lives, are forced to return to their childhood home and live under the same roof together for a week, along with their over-sharing mother and an assortment of spouses, exes and might-have-beens.

Confronting their history and the frayed states of their relationships among the people who know and love them best, they ultimately reconnect in hysterical and emotionally affecting ways amid the chaos, humor, heartache and redemption that only families can provide-driving us insane even as they remind us of our truest, and often best, selves.

30 Must Watch Classic Movies – The Company Man

The story centers on a year in the life of three men trying to survive a round of corporate downsizing at a major company – and how that affects them, their families, and their communities.

A young executive at a shipping and manufacturing conglomerate, Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck) is on the fast track to the top.

He is a rising star at work and has all the material trappings of success. Then his company goes through a few rounds of layoffs, so Bobby and colleagues Phil (Chris Cooper) and Gene (Tommy Lee Jones) find themselves on the unemployment line.

As the year unfolds, all three must redefine their lives as they struggle to survive in a hostile post-career landscape.

When the GTX Corporation must cut jobs to improve the company’s balance sheet during the 2010 recession, thousands of employees will take the hit, like Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck).

Bobby learns the real life consequences of not having a job. Not only does he see a change to his family lifestyle, and the loss of his home, but also his feelings of self-worth

When the GTX Corporation must cut jobs to improve the company’s balance sheet during the 2010 recession, thousands of employees will take the hit, like Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck).

Bobby learns the real life consequences of not having a job. Not only does he see a change to his family lifestyle, and the loss of his home, but also his feelings of self-worth

When Harry Met Sally

Harry and Sally have known each other for years, and are very good friends, but they fear sex would ruin the friendship.

In 1977, college graduates Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) and Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) share a contentious car ride from Chicago to New York, during which they argue about whether men and women can ever truly be strictly platonic friends.

Ten years later, Harry and Sally meet again at a bookstore, and in the company of their respective best friends, Jess (Bruno Kirby) and Marie (Carrie Fisher), attempt to stay friends without sex becoming an issue between them.

Harry and Sally meet when she gives him a ride to New York after they both graduate from the University of Chicago.

The film jumps through their lives as they both search for love, but fail, bumping into each other time and time again.

Finally a close friendship blooms between them, and they both like having a friend of the opposite sex.

But then they are confronted with the problem: “Can a man and a woman be friends, without sex getting in the way?”