Buoyed by Hilary Swank's Oscar-winning performance, Boys Don't Cry is one of the most important films about hate crime. While watching her play Brandon, I actually believed she was a he. Thanks to the cast, most especially Chloë Sevigny, it's a well-played masterpiece from start to finish with a superbly handled direction by Kimberly Peirce.

Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman give the best performances of their careers. They'll be forever remembered for this film. Midnight Cowboy is a study of human nature: the hopes, the broken dreams, the disillusionment, the desperation, the suffering, the loneliness, and the loss of innocence. They're all brilliantly read on Jon Voight's face. The "I'm walkin' here! I'm walkin' here!" scene is priceless.

Longtime Companion is a terrific period picture about the nascent AIDS pandemic; in fact, it's the very first mainstream picture to touch the topic. What's interesting is the preservation of the initial fears and misconceptions by heterosexuals and homosexuals alike about AIDS. I can see how the disease was once labeled as "gay cancer." People thought it was spread by simple contact through touching, kissing, and breathing; simply put, nobody knew what was going on.

A lot of films tend to be largely driven by either the performances, the story, the director, the dialogue, or the cinematography. Sunday Bloody Sunday is all of them. The pace has never been so lively. The performances by Peter Finch, Glenda Jackson, and Murray Head are extraordinary and daring. These two male actors put their careers on the line by taking a step further.

This psycho-sexual thriller went on to become the game changer of the slasher genre. Taking a shower would never be the same again. Poor Marion Crane, she was the principal character for forty-eight minutes into the film and, all of a sudden, got bumped off in one of the greatest and most shocking scenes in cinema history. There's no actor who played a more famous villain than Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates. Alfred Hitchcock was truly the Master of Suspense.

Maurice is a Merchant Ivory production that's based on E.M. Forster's eponymous novel which was held back for publication until after his death due to tabooness of the subject: male homosexuality. The best feature is the cinematography, and the costumes are elegantly designed. James Wilby and Hugh Grant score extra points for their intrepidity by taking the step to play homosexual lovers.

Sometimes, a bunch of all-stars get together to do an important film, and this one is among them which was based on Randy Shilts' seminal book of the AIDS coverage. The performances are excellent; my favorite is Richard Gere's which may feel two minutes long but is still powerful. The other great one is Jeffrey Nordling as the French-Canadian airline steward.

Macaulay Culkin may be über famous for Home Alone films, but his greatest performance lies in Party Monster. A true sign of a film overcoming the poor celluloid quality is through either acting or writing. This one succeeds on both counts. Forget the look or the ubiquitous gay theme; the true surprises are Macaulay Culkin and Seth Green. Both deserve Oscar nominations. It's clear they put a lot of work into their roles.

This one shows everybody why Eric Roberts is among the finest American actors. The Big Chill for homosexuals, It's My Party is a wonderfully directed picture by Randal Kleiser with one of the best collection of performances by an ensemble cast. It presents a perfect case of why there's nothing wrong with suicide so one can die with dignity.

Its brilliance begins with the beautiful black-and-white photography, and the editing is top-notch. Adding more to it are the ever-hip writing and fresh acting performances. Combining all, Go Fish succeeds in the message that being a lesbian is a cool thing to do. The story is simple: a female is looking for somebody to start a lesbian relationship.

Despite being totally forgotten, The Killing of Sister George has a reputation. What a total surprise that Beryl Reid, Susannah York (who's way, way better than Julie Christie), and Coral Browne weren't Oscar-nominated. That has to be the best performance of their careers. Is it because of the controversial content? For 1968, the lesbianism must have been shocking to see on screen.

Based on a true and bizarre story, Dog Day Afternoon is everything you can possibly ask for in a human drama picture. For the final of his four straight Oscar nominations during the 70's, Al Pacino turns in one of the greatest performances of his career as Sonny Wortzik. Chris Sarandon is also outstanding, having been Oscar-nominated.

Gods and Monsters is a superlative picture with strong acting performances by Ian McKellen, Brendan Fraser, and Lynn Redgrave. Ian McKellen steals the show, and that's why he was Oscar-nominated. The cinematography goes a long way along with Bill Condon's Oscar-winning adapted screenplay that's based on James Whale's son's book Father of Frankenstein.

Lianna is the second film of John Sayles' directorial career and is every bit as good as Return of the Secaucus 7. He has a keen understanding of human beings and how they handle relationships. It's about a woman who cheats on her husband by engaging in a lesbian affair, has self-discovery, and feels liberated as a result.

A notorious film for many, many, many reasons, Pink Flamingos is the one that shot drag queen Divine to stardom. Her character's goal is to be "the filthiest person alive." Well, she succeeds at it after the unbelievable ending. The Pope of Trash, John Waters once said: "If someone vomits watching one of my films, it's like getting a standing ovation."

This is James Woods at his most arrogant. "You knew when you were in Cohn's presence you were in the presence of pure evil" is how Victor A. Kovner described Roy Cohn. A closeted Jewish homosexual, he hated gays, women, Communists, and Jews, and died broke in 1986 from complications of AIDS, shortly after being disbarred.

The Midnight Cowboy of the 90's, My Own Private Idaho is the most River Phoenix movie. Keanu Reeves is fantastic as his sidekick. These two make the film work. It's sometimes strange and hallucinatory that moves in a circle but stays centered. No answers are proffered to the meaning of it all; characters go through the day in any way they can.

Pretty much the film to foretell what's to come, The Boys of St. Vincent highlights the cover-up of child sexual abuse at the hands of priests and their leaders. It's not only the Catholic Church but every religion denomination that's part of the problem. The setting may be Newfoundland, Canada, but this has happened all over the world for centuries. Henry Czerny, as Brother Peter Lavin, is pure evil.

A landmark in black cinema, The Color Purple captures the human spirit so well that it's a strange yet moving work of art with powerful scenes. Making her astonishing film debut is Whoopi Goldberg. There's so much for the characters to overcome such as domestic violence, incest, forced separation, rape, slavery, pedophilia, poverty, racism, and sexism.

Making their screen debuts, Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey are almost like James Stewart and Farley Granger in Rope. What's perfect, which is the point of Peter Jackson showing everybody that he got it, is Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme being so wrapped up in their fantasy world that they've become delusional, hence the exaggerated expressions and feelings of romanticism.

Perfect and sublime, Alain Delon is all that and more in Plein soleil (Purple Noon), giving one of the finest performances of his career. I have to love the exquisite photography of Italy: land and water. Complementing it is the beauty of three principal stars: Alain Delon, Maurice Ronet, and Marie Laforêt. They all have the vibe and are sumptuous-looking creatures.

And Cary Grant said, "I don't talk like that." Billy Wilder had a knack for turning his films into gold, and Some Like It Hot is one of them. Maybe it's the writing...maybe it's the direction...maybe it's the performances. Most likely, it's been all of them. Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis are excellent. Joe E. Brown is special as Osgood Fielding III who has a great comeback line at the end: "Well, nobody's perfect."

Rebel Without a Cause is a highly regarded picture, thanks to James Dean. How James Dean acted, moved, and did things differently, he was breaking through barriers like no one had done before or ever since. Marlon Brando demonstrated The Method, and James Dean took it to the next level.

The Opposite of Sex is an excellent dark picture about people and how they deal with unconventional situations. It's the performances that make the story come alive though Martin Donovan, Christina Ricci, Ivan Sergei, Lyle Lovett, and Johnny Galecki. The true standout is Lisa Kudrow who received plenty of accolades for her performance as the spinster schoolteacher.

Tootsie is more about the performances than anything else. The only one to earn an Oscar, Jessica Lange works on both sides of the fence with friends and co-workers. Dustin Hoffman is excellent, calling it a significant challenge of his acting career. What a superb job by Charles Durning.

Cruising is infamous for its mistreatment and perpetuation of stereotypes about homosexuals and transsexuals. Yet the best part of the film is the insight into the leather/S&M subculture that can only be found in gay bars. It's like being there, and William Friedkin never lets me down with the visuals. However, forget the rest of everything including the stupid bizarre story and the disappointing performance by Al Pacino.

It's Lili Taylor who's mesmerizing, making the time go fast. The director does a great job of putting everything together and making the Andy Warhol party scenes look natural, an element that's been missing in films of the last twenty years such as 54 and The Last Days of Disco.

By far, the best performance of Prick Up Your Ears, a gay movie about two aspiring real-life writers, goes to Alfred Molina who's so funny that he doesn't have to try to. According to Wikipedia, the murder did happen in 1967 when Kenneth Halliwell "bludgeoned 34-year-old Joe Orton to death at their home in Islington, London, with nine hammer blows to the head, and then killed himself with an overdose of Nembutal."

In many ways, My Beautiful Laundrette is more of Gordon Warnecke's film because he plays the protagonist. Also, the title isn't an indication of a girl's name but a laundromat that's run by Omar who's helped by his homosexual friend Johnny. What makes Daniel Day-Lewis a great actor is his willingness to go far to take risks as he has full-on french kissing scenes with Gordon Warnecke.

Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly decide to go hot and heavy in Bound, a stylish, sexy crime picture. Taratinoesque conversations was all the rage starting in the mid 90's, and Bound became infected by it in order to score points. The technique works, and the language remains fresh to this day.