Now Stream This: 'Barry Lyndon', 'Her', 'The Way Of The Gun', 'Cropsey', 'The Rock', 'The Brothers Bloom' And More

Release Date: 1975Genre: Historical epicDirector: Stanley KubrickCast: Ryan O'Neal, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee, Leonard Rossiter and Hardy Krüger

There are ordinary movies, and then there's Barry Lyndon. Every film nerd has their own personal favorite Stanley Kubrick picture. Mine is Barry Lyndon. A sprawling, painterly epic that's less a work of entertainment and more a time machine, transporting the viewer wholly back to the 1700s. Kubrick isn't making a costume drama, where people are playing dress-up. He's somehow taking us back to the era in question – everything looks, and feels, wholly authentic. The story concerns Redmond Barry (Ryan O'Neal), a young man who somehow schemes his way into high society. That's the brief version, anyway.

But Barry Lyndon is about more than that. It's the story of a man navigating through a fully-realized world, going through trials and tribulations, suffering heartache and loss. And for what? "It was in the reign of George III that the aforesaid personages lived and quarreled; good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor they are all equal now," the title card at the end reads, summing it all up. Kubrick employs extremely wide-shots that slowly zoom in to find focus, and cinematographer John Alcott uses natural light throughout the whole film, bathing the movie in an earthy, warm glow. The term "masterpiece" gets thrown around a bit too much, but I'm pretty sure it's safe to say Barry Lyndon is a masterpiece.

For fans of: Dangerous Liaisons, Amadeus, Marie Antoinette, snide, slightly catty narrators.

Release Date: 2013Genre: Sci-fi RomanceDirector: Spike JonzeCast: Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, Olivia Wilde, Scarlett Johansson

When Her was first announced, it sounded like a joke – a movie about a guy who falls in love with his smart phone. Then the film arrived, and Spike Jonze showed us he had a lot more on his mind than a simple boy-meets-tech story. Her is achingly lovely, lit by city lights and glowing screens, and beating with a real heart. It's romantic, and melancholy, and beautiful. It has poetry running through its veins. It's everything we go to the movies for.

Set in a not-too-distant future, Her finds somber Joaquin Phoenix falling hard for the OS on his phone, voiced by Scarlett Johansson. Right away you might think there's no way this premise can sustain an entire film, but it does, and more. Jonze carries us along through Phoenix and Johansson's relationship, and we accept it entirely. There's no adjustment period. No moment of silliness. We buy what we're seeing, because Jonze is selling it so well. Phoenix, one of the best actors of our current era, is predictably strong, playing his character with just the right mix of sorrow and bemusement. Also great: Amy Adams, playing Phoenix's friend and neighbor. "We are only here briefly," Adams says at one point, as Jonze focuses in on her pale face, her curled hair, her large eyes, "and in this moment I want to allow myself joy."

For fans of: Where the Wild Things Are, Lost in Translation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, high-waisted pants.

Release Date: 1996Genre: Crazy, Swirling ActionDirector: Michael BayCast: Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage, Ed Harris, Michael Biehn, John Spencer

While I can appreciate Michael Bay's hyper-stylized, uber-macho style of filmmaking, I also can't get beyond the fact that most of his movies are bad. One of his few genuinely good movies, though, is The Rock. The film came at the start of Bay's feature filmmaking career, so he had yet to morph into to the incoherent sentient energy drink he would eventually become. The Rock has just enough over-the-top style, and balances it out with humor and heart. Bay's movies would become increasingly cruel going forward, but The Rock has a good head on its shoulders.

The premise: angry military man Ed Harris takes over Alcatraz Island and holds a whole bunch of people hostage. Harris is demanding money, but unlike other movie terrorists, he doesn't want to get rich. Instead, he wants to distribute the money to the families of the men who died under his command during covert operations. Since these operations were off the books, the families of these fallen soldiers were not compensated by Uncle Sam, and Harris is pissed. If Harris doesn't get his money, he'll launch rockets loaded with chemical weapons into San Francisco. To stop him, the authorities bring in Nicolas Cage, playing an weird, nerdy chemical weapons specialist. They also spring Sean Connery from a secret lock-up. Connery is the only man who ever successfully escaped from Alcatraz, and the theory is that he can help Cage and a bunch of Marines break back into the prison to stop the bad guys. Yes: all of this is really ludicrous. But who cares! The Rock never slows down for a second, and Connery and Cage have an amusing adversarial  chemistry with one another. Sometimes you need to see high art, and sometimes you need to see slow-motion shots of people looking intense as the camera rotates around them 360 degrees.

For fans of: Con Air, Face/Off, Broken Arrow, utter ridiculousness.

Release Date: 1984Genre: Sci-fiDirector: Peter HyamsCast: Roy Scheider, Helen Mirren, Bob Balaban and John Lithgow, Keir Dullea and Douglas Rain

Hey, did you know someone made a sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey? It's true! And it's actually pretty good. Is it as good as Kubrick's film? Oh, heavens no. But 2010: The Year We Make Contact is still an engrossing science fiction film. It also does the complete opposite of 2001: it answers questions. So if 2001 left you slightly confused, 2010 might be just what you need. The film picks up 9 years after the original, and finds Dr. Heywood Floyd (played by William Sylvester in Kubrick's film, and played here by Roy Scheider), as part of a team sent to find out just what the hell happened to the Discovery One mission to Jupiter. In case you forgot, that's the mission where HAL 9000 killed all the astronauts, save Dave Bowman – who mysteriously vanished. Director Peter Hyams is no Kubrick, but he brings a down-to-earth practicality to all the strangeness that's a bit refreshing. 2001's mysteries are, in my humble opinion, better left as mysteries. But as far as explanations go, 2010 is worthwhile.

For fans of: 2001: A Space Odyssey, Solaris, answers.

Release Date: 2000Genre: Sci-fi mysteryDirector: Gregory HoblitCast: Dennis Quaid, Jim Caviezel, Andre Braugher, Elizabeth Mitchell, Noah EmmerichFrequency is the story of a father and son communicating across a great distance via ham radio. Sounds normal, right? Well, I forgot to mention: the "great distance" is actually time itself, and the father is technically dead. This is a neat, mid-budget studio film – the likes of which don't really get made anymore. Jim Caviezel is a modern-day cop with emotional issues. Caviezel finds his father's old ham radio, and is shocked to hear his old man communicating through it – because the father, played by Dennis Quaid, died in 1969. Somehow, Quaid in the past is able to talk to Caviezel in the present. The two bond, and it's sweet. The two also learn they're able to change the course of history – Caviezel warns Quaid about something in the past, Quaid changes it, the timeline shifts. This could've been enough of a story for one film, but Frequency decides to throw in a murder mystery as well, just to keep the audience alert. No one really talks about Frequency anymore – it feels forgotten. And that's a damn shame, because the film is tightly wound and constantly clever. I wish they still made movies like this.For fans of: The Sixth Sense, Time After Time, Source Code, Dennis Quaid using an unconvincing New Yawk accent.

Release Date: 2000Genre: Crime-ThrillerDirector: Christopher McQuarrieCast: Ryan Phillippe, Benicio del Toro, Juliette Lewis, Taye Diggs, Nicky Katt, Scott Wilson, James Caan

Before he became one of the best action movie directors with the Mission: Impossible franchise, Christopher McQuarrie made his directorial debut with The Way of the Gun. It didn't go so well...at least in terms of box office. The film was such a financial dud that McQuarrie wouldn't direct again until 2012's Jack Reacher. But forget box office: The Way of the Gun is damned good. It's a violent, expertly plotted modern day Western, and McQuarrie stages it excellently – there's an incredibly slow car chase sequence in the middle of the movie that has to be seen to be believed.

Ryan Phillippe and Benicio del Toro are a pair of low-rent criminals in need of a big score. They find it when they decide to kidnap a surrogate mother (Juliette Lewis) who is pregnant with the child of an extremely wealthy criminal. The duo pull off the kidnapping, but things begin to go really wrong, really fast, and getting the desired ransom money isn't going to be a piece of cake. It all builds towards a bloody, lengthy shootout sequence that travels through streets, buildings, and more. This is a brutal, unforgiving, often harsh movie – which might be the reason it failed at the box office, since trailers sold it as more of a dark comedy. If you can stomach the nastiness McQuarrie is putting on display here, you'll find a lean, mean movie worth reappraisal.For fans of: Jack Reacher, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Natural Born Killers, creative articulation.

Release Date: 2005Genre: DramaDirector: Ron HowardCast: Russell Crowe, Renée Zellweger and Paul GiamattiCinderella Man flopped like a KO'd boxer hitting the canvas, and that's unfortunate. Because this is one of Ron Howard's best movies. In fact, it might be the very best. This is the story of James J. Braddock, a professional boxer who had to give up the sport after breaking his hand. But as the U.S. succumbs to the great depression, Braddock finds it harder and harder to find enough work to feed his family. So he decides to climb back into the ring, and box his way to fortune. Russell Crowe turns in a memorable performance as Braddock, playing him a soft-spoken, slow-moving man who just happens to be able to beat the shit out of people with ease. Ron Howard often gets a lot of guff as workman director, but Cinderella Man proves he has the goods, and can deliver a style all of his own. The movie looks incredible, with Howard getting up close and personal in the ring during the fights, and portraying Braddock's sorry, weary life outside the ring as well. Salvatore Totino's cinematography is awash in slate grays, sea greens, muddy browns, and inky blacks, and the movie has a lived-in feel as a result. And then there's Thomas Newman's lovely, lovely score. This film is a feast – enjoy it.For fans of: Rocky, The Fighter, Ali, Paul Giamatti yelling.

Release Date: 2008Genre: Comedy-DramaDirector: Rian JohnsonCast: Rachel Weisz, Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo, Rinko Kikuchi

You all know Rian Johnson, right? He's the guy who ruined Star Wars (I'm kidding – The Last Jedi is great, don't even think of @ing me). Before Johnson became a big budget filmmaker, he started small. His debut Brick is like bottled lightning, and he followed it up with The Brothers Bloom. Bloom is not Johnson's best – Brick, Looper and The Last Jedi are all better. But it's a fascinating film in its own right, primarily because Johnson hasn't made a film like it since.

Brothers Bloom is a caper film...and yet not. Two con artist brothers (Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo) reunite after years apart for one big job: swindling a slightly, possibly crazy heiress (Rachel Weisz). It should be an easy gig, but it doesn't work out right, primarily because Brody's character falls in love with Weisz. Johnson's plotting here is a bit off – the film plays a lot with deception and perception, so it's never entirely clear if what's happening is really happening, and that gets frustrating after a while. But the leads are charming as hell – Weisz in particular is a hoot as the goofy heiress, and Rinko Kikuchi is dynamite as a silent demolitions expert. Johnson would go on to bigger, and better, things. But The Brothers Bloom, with its whimsical atmosphere giving way to darkness, is an interesting pit-stop along the path of his career.For fans of: Rushmore, Punch-Drunk Love, Logan Lucky, sudden explosions.

Release Date: 2017Genre: Anti-WesternDirector: Scott CooperCast: Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike, Wes Studi, Ben Foster, Stephen Lang, Jesse Plemons, Rory Cochrane, Adam Beach, Q'orianka Kilcher, and Timothée Chalamet

Despite its prestigious cast, Hostiles didn't make much of an impact when it rode into theaters last year. Maybe that's because the film is so unrelentingly bleak. The first ten minutes of the film alone involve small children being massacred, as if to tip you off to what type of movie you're about to see. Scott Cooper's anti-Western borders on tripping into misery-porn territory, but he pulls back enough to make it all somehow bearable. Christian Bale plays a racist army captain tasked with transporting a dying Cheyenne war chief (Wes Studi, incredible here) back to his home. Bale begrudgingly agrees to the assignment, and along the way he and his party come across a traumatized widow (Rosamund Pike). And just when you think you know where Hostiles is going, it travels off in another direction. There's violence and rage here, but there's also introspection. There's an unexpected humanity that begins to find its way out from under all the bloodshed and hatred.

For fans of: Unforgiven, The New World, Ride with the Devil, Christian Bale's facial hair.

Release Date: 2009Genre: DocumentaryDirector: Joshua Zeman and Barbara BrancaccioCast: Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio

Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio's documentary Cropsey is part mystery, part horror. The duo set out to chronicle the story of Cropsey, a mythical boogeyman who is said to prey on children on Staten Island. Along the way, however, the filmmakers strike upon something bigger. The story becomes less about the murder mystery, and more about myth-making, and the spread of urban legend. They also come across the story of Andre Rand, a Staten Island man convicted of killing children. Is Rand the inspiration for the Cropsey legend? Is Rand even guilty? Cropsey is rough around the edges – this isn't a polished, high-profile documentary. But that roughness contributes to the success of the film. There's a DIY-atmosphere, which draws us in, and makes us feel as if we're right there with the filmmakers as they get deeper and deeper into the story.

For fans of: Killer Legends, The Burning, The Poughkeepsie Tapes, Staten Island accents.