Vincent Gallo’s eccentric directorial debut is one of a kind: a provocative comedy, alternately satirical and romantic, full of pain and humor. Deeply personal, the film follows one Billy Brown (Gallo) out of prison and back to his hometown, Buffalo, NY where he kidnaps a girl, Layla (Christina Ricci). (dir. Vincent Gallo, U.S., 1998, 112 min.)

Jared Hess’ debut film, made for under $500,000, netted more than $45 million at the U.S. box office. It’s a comic take on his small hometown of Preston, Idaho, featuring Napoleon (Jon Heder) a teenage boy so awkward, so out-of-sync, so damn wrong that he ultimately endears himself as an outlaw and fully-fledged hero. His dysfunctional family is equally bad including older brother Kip who has the worst moustache in history (dir. Jared Hess, U.S., 95 min).

An adaptation of King Lear, this is Akira Kurosawa’s most sumptuous film, a feast of color, motion and sound: in it a royal makes a disastrous decision to split his kingdom among his three sons.

A genre-exploding dark comedy about a newly married young woman lured into the Mumbai’s mysterious nocturnal world. Soundtrack includes The Band, Howlin’ Wolf, Buddy Holly, the Stooges and more. (dir. Karan Kadhari, India, 2024, 110 min.)

Unfolding like a political thriller, Taken Hostage tells the story of the Iran hostage crisis, when 52 American diplomats, Marines and civilians were held hostage at the American Embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979. For the next 444 days, the world watched as the United States received a daily barrage of humiliation, vitriol and hatred from a country that had long been one of our closest allies. Told through the candid, personal testimony of those whose lives were upended by the action, the crisis would transform both the U.S. and Iran and forever upend the focus and direction of American foreign policy.

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A soul-stirring celebration of music legends such as James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles and John Lee Hooker, this comedy is driven by Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi playing two surly ex-cons trying to save the orphanage where they were raised. In addition to a strong dose of daft humor, it features some truly iconic musical sequences and crazed scenes of automotive chaos. (dir. John Landis, U.S., 1980, 148 min.)

This magnificent multi-generational mafia drama is Shakespearean in its simplicity: the aging Don Corleone (Marlon Brando) must choose which of his three sons – hotheaded Sonny (James Caan), feeble Fredo (John Cazale) or upstanding young Michael (Al Pacino) – is fit to inherit his empire. Adapted from Mario Puzo’s then-unpublished novel of Mafia life, it remains almost universally beloved well into the 21st century. (dir. Frances Ford Coppola, U.S., 1972, 175 min.)

This genre-bending story – based on Stephen King’s novella – is told in reverse order from the end of life of an ordinary man –played by Tom Hiddleston– to the beginning, taking a cosmic approach to the idea of inner worlds. Both darkly funny and shattering, it pushes us to grapple with the end along with director Mike Flanagan. (dir. Mike Flanagan, U.S., 2024, 110)

THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME. The story of a family and a family business. Starring: Benicio del Toro as Zsa-zsa Korda, one of the richest men in Europe; Mia Threapleton as Sister Liesl, his daughter/a nun; Michael Cera as Bjorn Lund, their tutor. With: Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Riz Ahmed, Mathieu Amalric, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Richard Ayoade, Rupert Friend, Hope Davis, and Benedict Cumberbatch.

Director David Fincher (Fight Club) and writer Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men) have made a mischievous tale about the origins of Facebook that combines the talky rigor of Sorkin’s writing with the spooky crispness of Fincher’s imagery. It reveals the early character of Facebook founder Zuckerberg, a perfect storm of social inadequacy, Ivy League exclusivity and computing genius. Fincher and Sorkin never let us forget that we’re complicit in their story (or at least three billion of us are). (dir. David Fincher, U.S., 2010, 120 min.)