When Hell Freezes Over, I'll Skate (1979)

Barry Jenkins' masterpiece holds up as the story of a lifetime centered on the intersection of Blackness and gay identity.

A film for the post-MeToo era that inverts the narrative with an ironic coda, Tár depicts the duality of a sensitive artist capable of great evil and vile manipulation.

The trouble with Yara (2021) is that in its attempt to tell the whole story, it struggles to tell a consistently engaging story.

Unlike other documentaries about Princess Diana, Perkins’ film, 'The Princess', is an entire documentary consisting of media coverage and public opinion, rather than a typical series of people interviewed with firsthand experience of the Princess. 'The Princess' beautifully depicts how we perceive Diana as a media figure rather than a real person, specifically creating her persona as a fairytale figure turned saint and icon.

Stand and Deliver is an inspirational classic from 1988 starring Edward James Olmos as Jaime Escalante, and his class of rag tag students in East Los Angeles. It’s the story of how a new teacher shows a motley group of students in the inner city with backgrounds as gang members, dishwashers, and mechanics — the power of self-determination. He teaches the teenagers to believe in themselves through algebra and calculus.

This young adult movie focuses on relationships in this high school reunion.