20 Movies Like Dances with Wolves (1990) (Page 2)

This quirky 1988 adventure drama is newly available on Amazon Prime. It’s the classic that never was, the story of a rundown gas station motel in the Southern US where a lonely West German lady called Jasmin Munchgstettner ends up by accident.

The owner of the operation, a short-tempered woman by the name of Brenda, doesn’t really take to Jasmin. However, the longer the West German guest stays at the motel, the more a friendship forms between the two.

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Actor: Alan S. Craig, Apesanahkwat, CCH Pounder, Christine Kaufmann, Darron Flagg, G. Smokey Campbell, Gary Lee Davis, George Aguilar, Hans Stadlbauer, Jack Palance, Marianne Sägebrecht, Mark Daneri, Monica Calhoun, Ray Young, Ronald Lee Jarvis

Director: Percy Adlon

Rating: PG

In this neo-noir crime drama, John Cusack, Anjelica Huston and Annette Bening play a trio of con-artists in modern day (1990) California. Roy (Cusack) is a small-stakes hustler prone to swindling bartenders and drunken sailors for pocket money, while Lilly (Huston) plays his estranged mother who reappears in his life while working a series of horse track bluffs. Myra (Bening) notches in between the two of them as Cusack’s boisterous yet conniving girlfriend, and the instant mutual dislike between her and Lilly sets the film’s course of action in motion. It’s a fun, edgy thriller that will leave you guessing up until it's shocking finale. Elevated immeasurably by Elmer Bernstein’s old-fashioned, hard boiled music score, The Grifters is a real feather in the hat for both director Stephen Frears and producer Martin Scorsese.

Genre: Crime, Drama

Actor: Anjelica Huston, Annette Bening, Billy Ray Sharkey, Charles Napier, David Sinaiko, Eddie Jones, Frances Bay, Gailard Sartain, Gregory Sporleder, Henry Jones, Ivette Soler, J.T. Walsh, Jan Munroe, Jeff Perry, Jeremy Piven, Jimmy Noonan, John Cusack, Jon Gries, Juliet Landau, Lou Hancock, Martin Scorsese, Michael Laskin, Micole Mercurio, Noelle Harling, Pat Hingle, Paul Adelstein, Richard Holden, Robert Weems, Sandy Baron, Stephen Tobolowsky, Steve Buscemi, Sy Richardson, Teresa Gilmore, Xander Berkeley

Director: Stephen Frears

Rating: R

A doorway opens at the beginning of Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring, and through this doorway you are brought into the movie's world. Explanations or plot transitions rarely exist, and dialogue is kept at a minimum level. And yet this movie remains an incredibly simple film. Following a Buddhist master and his apprentice, it is a fable very much in the 'cycle of life' form, offering gentle complexity in the timeless and sole framework of a floating Buddhist monastery. That's all I can say without saying too much. If you are into aesthetically pleasing films, go watch this.

Genre: Drama, Romance

Actor: Choe Min, Ha Yeo-jin, Ji Dae-han, Jong-ho Kim, Ki-duk Kim, Kim Jong-ho, Kim Jung-young, Kim Ki-duk, Kim Young-min, Oh Yeong-su, Oh Young-soo, Park Ji-a, Park Zia, Seo Jae-kyeong, Yeong-su Oh

Director: Ki-duk Kim, Kim Ki-duk

Rating: R

Finding Forrester is the rainy afternoon type, or a summer night film -- it's a traditional American movie so to speak, with all the components to make your traditional need for a traditional movie more than satisfied. It tells the story of two writers, a young black kid living in a ghetto and struggling to admit his passion for writing over his passion for Basketball (played by Rob Brown), and a Pulitzer Prize winning writer who has renounced his success for unknown reasons (played by Sean Connery). The plot is predictable, and in that traditional sense, very enjoyable. Directed by Gus Van Sant, it will feel almost as a sequel to Good Will Hunting but trust me, this ends up being a great thing too.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Alex Trebek, Alison Folland, Anna Paquin, April Grace, Busta Rhymes, F. Murray Abraham, Fly Williams III, Gerry Rosenthal, Glenn Fitzgerald, Gus Van Sant, Jim Titus, Lil' Zane, Matt Damon, Matt Malloy, Michael Nouri, Michael Pitt, Richard Easton, Rob Brown, Sean Connery, Stephanie Berry, Vince Giordano

Director: Gus Van Sant

Rating: PG-13