The Secret Life of Words

2005

After surviving the war in Yugoslavia, taciturn nurse Hanna heads to Ireland for some relaxation. But when she hears about an oil-rig accident off the coast, she agrees to tend to a heroic burn victim, who changes her life.

3.6 Average Rating

Moonlight and Mistletoe

2008

A fondness for the holidays led Nick Crosby (Tom Arnold) to create Santaville, but as mounting bills and a new minimall threaten his labor of love, he and his estranged daughter (Candace Cameron Bure) set out to keep his yuletide attraction alive. Though it will take a miracle to keep the doors open, diehard Christmas nut Nick knows all about making miracles happen. Christopher Wiehl and Barbara Niven also star in this merry made-for-TV tale.

3.5 Average Rating

The Outsider

2002

Devout young widow Rebecca Yoder (Naomi Watts) risks alienating her deeply religious, pacifist neighbors when she comes to the aid of Johnny Galt (Tim Daly), a ruthless, gun-toting stranger who was wounded in a fight. Soon, Rebecca finds herself torn between her growing feelings for Johnny and the approval of her community. Keith and David Carradine co-star in this frontier-era drama based on a novel by Penelope Williamson.

3.5 Average Rating

My Life Without Me

2003

A mother of two stuck in a dead-end job, 23-year-old Anne (Sarah Polley) has received nothing but grief from her troubled parents and her slacker husband (Scott Speedman). But it takes an illness with a bleak prognosis to break open her longing for a better life. When she finds out she's dying, Anne makes a list of important things she wants to accomplish: get acrylic nails, sleep with another man and, most of all, realize her true potential.

3.5 Average Rating

The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum

1975

A night spent with a suspected terrorist is the catalyst for a smear campaign against the otherwise unimportant Katharina Blum (Angelina Winkler). Katharina's life unravels as both the police and the news media strip her of all her dignity and sanity in this shocking attack on power abuse and yellow journalism. Directed by Volker Schlondorff and Margarethe von Trotta, this 1975 German film is based on an equally menacing novel by Heinrich Boll.

3.5 Average Rating

Six Degrees: Season 1

2006

Based on the familiar premise that only six people separate any one of us, this drama focuses on six New Yorkers -- among them a grieving single mother (Hope Davis) and a successful publicist (Bridget Moynahan) -- whose lives intersect in mysterious ways. Other characters include a down-on-his-luck photographer (Campbell Scott), a public defender (Jay Hernandez), a limo driver (Dorian Missick) and a woman on the run (Erika Christensen).

3.5 Average Rating

An American Rhapsody

2001

Margaret (Nastassja Kinski) and Peter (Tony Goldwyn) escape communist Hungary with their eldest child while their infant daughter Suzanne is left behind. Reunited with her family in America six years later, Suzanne grows into a rebellious teen (Scarlett Johansson). But when she revisits the Hungarian couple who raised her as a child, she begins to reexamine her identity in this loosely autobiographical drama by editor-turned-director Éva Gárdos.

3.5 Average Rating

A Little Bit of Heaven

2011

Marley Corbett (Kate Hudson) has always preferred to keep her romances relaxed and fun with no risk of commitment. After she discovers that she has terminal cancer, she thinks that she is done with love forever, but her wayward heart has other ideas. Dr. Julian Goldstein (Gael García Bernal) keeps people at a distance to avoid emotional distress, but when the spirited Marley becomes his patient, he also discovers that love can change everything.

3.5 Average Rating

Normal

2003

Rural Illinois resident Roy (Tom Wilkinson) declares after his 25th wedding anniversary that he has always believed he's a woman trapped inside a man's body. This shocks and angers some in his family and community, but some are unexpectedly supportive. It's up to Roy's shell-shocked wife, Irma (Jessica Lange), his kids and the entire community to come to terms with this stunning revelation. The film earned three Golden Globe nominations.

3.5 Average Rating

American Splendor

2003

Paul Giamatti stars as Harvey Pekar, a working-class stiff file clerk who found an outlet for his creativity by chronicling the minutia of his life in Cleveland, Ohio, in a comic-book series called &NFi;American Splendor&NFi_; for more than 20 years. Hope Davis co-stars as Pekar's wife, Joyce Brabner, in this revealing biopic, which tells Pekar's story through a blend of two-dimensional images, archival footage and more.

3.5 Average Rating

Lords of Dogtown

2005

A group of outcasts from California's Venice Beach change the face of skateboarding forever in this 1970s tale based on a true story, written by "Skateboard Godfather" Stacy Peralta, one of the competitive skaters portrayed in the film. Known as the Z-Boys, the radical riders invent a brazen style of skating and deal with heartache when the sport they live for turns into big business. Heath Ledger, Emile Hirsch and Rebecca De Mornay co-star.

3.5 Average Rating

Chaos

2001

In this French drama, a wealthy housewife, Helene (Catherine Frot), departs from her life of genteel comfort and luxury when she meets a prostitute, Noemie (Rachida Brakni). En route to a party with her businessman husband (Vincent Lindon), their car is stopped by Noemie, who begs to be let in but is attacked by a group of men. Wracked with guilt, Helene later finds Noemie and helps her escape her pursuers.

3.5 Average Rating

Away from Her

2006

Grant (Gordon Pinsent) plunges into an emotional abyss after moving his Alzheimer's-stricken wife (Julie Christie) to a nursing facility and keeping his distance for her benefit. When she turns her affections toward another man, waves of guilt for past behavior pass over Grant. Christie earned an Oscar nomination for portraying the fading yet graceful Fiona in this astute and solemn tale written and directed by Sarah Polley.

3.5 Average Rating

Rails & Ties

2007

When a mother commits suicide by parking her car on the train tracks, an unlikely bond forms between her son, Davey (Miles Heizer) -- who's wracked with guilt -- and the tormented engineer (Kevin Bacon) who was driving the train that fateful day. Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden co-stars as the engineer's wife in this poignant drama, which marks the directorial debut of Alison Eastwood (Clint's daughter).

3.5 Average Rating

Homeless

1989

After their apartment burns down, Mike and Zan Cooper (Jeff Daniels and Christine Lahti) move with their two children into the home of Mike's brother, but tension between the families forces them to move on again, and a downward spiral of bad luck soon finds them homeless. While Mike desperately seeks work as an electrician, Zan takes a low-paying job as a waitress, and their son's entanglement with a drug dealer adds to their heavy burdens.

3.5 Average Rating

Mukhsin

2006

When young Mukhsin (Mohd Syafie Naswip) arrives in a new town, 10-year-old tomboy Orked (Sharifah Aryana) adopts him as her new best friend, and the two develop a touching friendship that begins to spill over into the inklings of first love. And with turmoil at home, the sometimes-troubled Mukhsin discovers a deeper kind of love in the form of Orked's open and progressive Malay family. Yasmin Ahmad directs this charming drama.

3.5 Average Rating