​The Houselights team celebrates 100 episodes! They decided to go back almost 100 years to celebrate 1927's "Metropolis" by Fritz Lang. 

Does this influential sci-fi silent feature hold up to its reputation, or is it a good thing some scenes have been lost to the ages?

Michael Mann’s The Insider saw him team up again with Al Pacino, this time as the TV producer-journalist who helped expose the deceit undergirding Big Tobacco companies’ business practices. Russell Crowe earned acclaim playing a research chemist-turned-whistleblower, and the film won numerous awards. The biggest question is whether this film is a quiet masterpiece that remains relevant to today’s audiences, or is it a historical curio to be studied at a distance?

Al Pacino. Robert DeNiro. Michael Mann cast two of the most respected actors of a generation opposite each other in 1995’s epic crime drama set in Los Angeles. A stellar supporting cast, including Val Kilmer and Ashely Judd, added more energy and anticipation. The reception was largely positive. It’s been cited as a source of inspiration for filmmakers AND criminals. Did Mann find the perfect balance for this Director’s Definitive Edition, or has he overthought the heist?

After 1986’s Manhunter bombed, Michael Mann didn’t return to big screen direction until 1992’s The Last of the Mohicans, a sweeping adaptation of James Fenimore Cooper’s novel that also served as a remake of the 1936 film. Rising star Daniel Day-Lewis was cast as Hawkeye, adopted son of the last Mohican, swept up in the British and French’s war for dominance in North America as he discovers love and his place in the world. The theatrical cut was a beloved smash success. But now we have only the Director’s Definitive Edition available...does it still work, or has the legacy been tarnished?

​Ditching Demme's "Beloved" due to it being horrifying, we decided to find a one-time director in Kinka Usher and his "Mystery Men." This Schumacher-esque superhero comedy failed at the box office but found a cult following. Was this a hidden gem or still just a guilty pleasure?

​1993’s Philadelphia was intended to make audiences examine their assumptions and perspectives about the homosexual community and the AIDS crisis. It opened to general accolades, won numerous awards, and changed Tom Hanks’ career trajectory. But is there merit to the criticisms that lauded its goals but found it heavy-handed and slow?

Michael Mann’s adaptation of Thomas Harris’ Red Dragon, "Manhunter", was a box office bomb. Regardless, it’s gone on to hold a place of special reverence and influence for film fans and filmmakers alike. What is it that has made Manhunter such an enduring cult hit after so many years?

Critical and audience reception aside, 2001’s “Hannibal” was a massive success. Producers took the hint and went back to the original book to create a prequel so Hopkins could play Lecter one more time alongside Ralph Fiennes and Ed Norton. Is this prequel a worthy addition to the Lecter oeuvre or a slavishly uninspired adaptation?

Eager to capitalize on the enduring legacy of Silence of the Lambs, filmmakers tapped Ridley Scott to helm a sequel ten years after Anthony Hopkins captured the filmgoing imagination as Hannibal Lecter. After 15 drafts and Jodi Foster bowing out, did we get a misfire or a new masterpiece?

Released in 1991 and turning Sir Anthony Hopkins into a household name, The Silence of the Lambs remains a cultural landmark of filmmaking with an influence that’s lasted decades. Houselights starts its 1990s Demme retrospective with the essential question: Does it still resonate, or is it a great work “for its time”?