A day in the life of Ming Ding begins as a pair of hammer-wielding loan sharks come to the door of Ming's squalid apartment. Their ultimatum, delivered in Mandarin, is as simple as it is virtually impossible to fulfill, needing to give them $800 by the evening or the debt will be doubled. With the family he supports half a world away, Ming has a single rain-soaked shift at his job in which to pay off his thuggish creditors. Ming Ding anonymously and...

Greta Gerwig is radiant as a woman in her late twenties in contemporary New York, trying to sort out her ambitions, her finances, and, above all, her tight but changing bond with her best friend, Sophie (Mickey Sumner). Meticulously directed by Noah Baumbach (Kicking and Screaming) with a free-and-easy vibe reminiscent of the French New Wave's most spirited films, and written by Baumbach and Gerwig with an effortless combination of sweetness and wit,...

Based on the true childhood experiences of Noah Baumbach and his brother, tells the touching story of two young boys dealing with their parents' divorce in Brooklyn in the 1980s. The patriarch of an eccentric Brooklyn family claims to once have been a great novelist, but ultimately decided to settled into a teaching job. When his wife discovers a writing talent of her own, jealousy divides the family. The two teenage sons are forced to forge new relationships...

In an atomic adaptation of Mickey Spillane's novel, directed by Robert Aldrich, the good manners of the 1950s are blown to smithereens. Snarling private detective Mike Hammer's decision one dark, lonely night to pick up a hitchhiking woman sends him down some terrifying byways. Brazen and bleak, it's a film noir masterpiece and an essential piece of cold war paranoia. Featuring as nervy an ending as has ever been seen in American cinema.

This jolt of pure cinematic adrenaline affirmed directors Josh and Benny Safdie as heirs to the gritty, heightened realism of Martin Scorsese and John Cassavetes. Adam Sandler delivers an almost maniacally embodied performance as Howard Ratner, a fast-talking New York jeweler in relentless pursuit of the next big score. When he comes into possession of a rare opal, it seems Howard's ship has finally come in as long as he can stay one step ahead of...

An actor has dinner with his friend, a theater director, at an Upper West Side restaurant. Together they discuss everything from money to death to love and all the superstition in between. Playing variations on their own New York-honed personas, the two dive in with introspective, intellectual gusto. All captured in a delicate, but artful detachment.

"A picaresque story of friendship that captured a city in crisis and sparked a new era of Hollywood movies. Joe Buck, a wide-eyed hustler from Texas hoping to score big with wealthy city women finds a companion in Enrico 'Ratso' Rizzo, an ailing swindler with a bum leg and a quixotic fantasy of escaping to Florida. A critical and commercial success despite controversy, [it] became the first X-rated film to receive the best picture Oscar, and decades...

A powerful film about a ruthless journalist and an unscrupulous press agent who'll do anything to achieve success, this fascinating story cuts deep and sends a chilling message. It's late at night in Times Square, and everything's buzzing with nervous energy. But press agent Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) is oblivious to it all as he nervously waits for the early edition of The Globe. Whose career did gossip columnist J. J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster)...

Jean Dexter is an attractive blonde model who is murdered in her New York City apartment. Homicide detectives Dan Muldoon and Jimmy Halloran investigate. Suspicion falls on various shifty people who all prove to have some connection with a string of apartment burglaries. Then a burglar is found dead who once had an elusive partner named Willie.

"Bree Daniels [is] a call girl and aspiring actor who becomes the focal point of a missing-person investigation when detective John Klute turns up at her door [...] Klute is a character study thick with dread, capturing the mood of early-1970s New York and the predicament of a woman trying to find her own way on the fringes of society." --