The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest (2002)

A collection of the ten best films that captured William Shakespeare’s pathos the best, both for the diversity they bring, and of course “the aesthetic."

‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ is preoccupied with plot and not on the greater struggle of the Osage.

"Thunder Road" presents the grief that comes from a family member taking their own life.

The Bluff unravels its mystery slowly, opening on the capture of a ship captain named Bodden (Ismael Cruz Córdova) and the swift execution of his entire crew. Then, viewers are treated to a tranquil British settlement in the Cayman Islands in the 1850s, where a mother bakes a coconut birthday cake for her son in a house suspiciously rigged with makeshift tripwires and burglar alarms. As it turns out, that mother is Priyanka Chopra’s quick witted and resourceful ex-pirate Mrs. Ercell Bodden, and her husband’s captors are on the way to the island to hunt her down for abandoning them and stealing their loot. The pirates of the Libertas land on the beaches of Cayman Brac, and the scenes that follow show a Viking-esque slaughter of half the island.

At first glance, “The Good Liar” is a respectable piece of fiction, starring Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren. But underneath everything, the film expertly hones the unpredictability of deceit.