Best movies like Magnolia

Susan Morrow receives a book manuscript from her ex-husband – a man she left 20 years earlier – asking for her opinion of his writing. As she reads, she is drawn into the fictional life of Tony Hastings, a mathematics professor whose family vacation turns violent.

During a future ice age, dying humanity occupies its remaining time by playing a board game called Quintet. For one small group, this obsession is not enough. They play the game with living pieces, and only the winner survives.

A female cabbie is suspected of killing her drunken husband.

A supernatural love story that centers on two parents whose life together falls apart after their son dies. The man, now a successful lawyer, and the woman, now married and an author, get a chance at reconciliation ten years later.

Story of attractive cop Laurencia Bembenek, who, in 1982, was sentenced to prison for killing her husband's ex-wife in Milwaukee, WI.

When a man is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he takes custody of his misanthropic teenage son, for whom quality time means getting high, engaging in small-time prostitution, and avoiding his father.

The real-life story of Charles Whitman's deadly shooting spree at the University of Texas is retold. In August 1966, after killing his wife and mother, Whitman climbed to the top of the school's tower and opened fire on passers-by, killing 13 and wounding many others.

When a childless couple learn that they cannot have children, it causes great distress. To ease his wife's pain, the man finds a piece of root in the backyard and chops it and varnishes it into the shape of a child. However the woman takes the root as her baby and starts to pretend that it is real.

The film tells the tale of Maggie, a film star whose world collapses when her film director husband is outed by the paparazzi when it’s discovered his new leading lady is pregnant with his baby. Seeking solace and healing Maggie escapes to her ex-pat cousin’s beautiful hotel in Nevis. After a week in paradise she discovers herself and meets a new love interest. Then the outside world comes crashing back in.

A blue-collar worker on New York's depressed waterfront finds his life changed after he saves a woman attempting suicide.

This film, adapted from a work of fiction by author Tracy Chevalier, tells a story about the events surrounding the creation of the painting "Girl With A Pearl Earring" by 17th century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer. A young peasant maid working in the house of painter Johannes Vermeer becomes his talented assistant and the model for one of his most famous works.

After killing former sheriff Matt Austin's wife and son for revenge, a quest begins. An escaped prisoner shows that he remembers who sent him to do time in jail so long ago. In a small town saloon Austin's mission to locate his family's murderer comes to an end. The pursuit was long and difficult. Upon discovering the killer a gunfight ensues, unfortunately in the crossfire an innocent bystander is shot and injured. Once again the murderer made a quick getaway.

After crossing the border illegally for work, Miguel, a hard-working father and devoted husband, finds himself wrongfully accused of murdering a former sheriff’s wife. After learning of his imprisonment, Miguel’s pregnant wife tries to come to his aid and lands in the hands of corrupt coyotes who hold her for ransom. Dissatisfied with the police department’s investigation, the former sheriff tries to uncover the truth about his wife’s death and discovers disturbing evidence that will destroy one family’s future, or tear another’s apart.

In an alternative future in which the Cold War never ended, a man called David, flees the city with his pregnant wife, Abigail, in search of freedom.

It seems that Bob Jones has everything a man could want, namely a fulfilling job and a beautiful, pregnant wife, Gail. But Bob's life is turned upside-down when he is diagnosed with cancer and given four months to live -- not even enough time to see his first child's birth. To cleanse himself of demons in his remaining days, Bob makes a video diary, hoping to pass along some wisdom to his future child. Along the way, he discovers a lot about himself.

Christopher Price, a small-town bank executive, continues to be loyal to and idolize his boyhood friend, Joseph Jefferson Parker, a famous war correspondent. But Chris's wife, Mary, is none to fond of Joe and tired of her husband's idolizing. On the eve of the Price's second-honeymoon trip to New York City, Joe arrives and tells Chris that he needs someone to pose as his wife in order to fool his boss in NYC, who thinks Joe got married to an overseas woman while on an assignment. Chris pushes Mary into posing as Joe's wife. In New York, this leads to many complications and misunderstandings, with Mary finally deciding to teach Chris and Joe a lesson by making them believe she is in love with Joe.

Marsha Meredith, an attorney-at-law, is nominated for a federal judgeship, but her nomination is opposed by a 'Good-Government' group that thinks her divorce makes her unfit for the job. This evolves into situations, happening in Florida, New England, Washington D.C., and the Adirondacks, such as the misunderstood husband trying to win back his wife, and the misunderstood wife trying to make her husband jealous, and one case of mistaken identity after another, after another.

J.P. Tannen (Jon Voight) wants a second chance to be a father to his children ... but someone else has taken his place. Determined not to just be a friendly 'uncle' in their lives, he gets permission from his ex-wife Kathleen (Millie Perkins) and her new husband (Richard Crenna) to take the kids on a Mediterranean cruise. On the journey he comes to realise it's not that easy and, feeling overwhelmed, begins to doubt his abilities until a tragedy back home forces him to become the father he always hoped to be.

Two homicide detectives are investigating the murder of a beloved glamour model and everyone's a suspect, including her female co-workers, elderly boss and even his assistant who's also the girlfriend of one of the detectives.

A foreword warns against the peril of yellow journalism, and the story illustrates it by following events in the upstate New York town of Cornwall after prominant financier George Ferguson is killed. Two types of New York City journalists descend on Cornwall, one interested in facts, the other in getting sensational "news". Mrs. Ferguson is known to have been friendly with a local banker. The Fergusons quarrel the evening he is killed (by "burglars", his wife tells the police later), and she is arrested, spurred on by the "bad" journalists, who also manage to badger the banker's wife into the hospital. Meanwhile, young Bruce Foster runs the Cornwall Courier, and shows the big city reporters how to dig out real news while they attempt to subvert justice for their own ends.

Texas cattleman Opie Bedloe comes to Maine to visit his son Joe, a college instructor, and his wife Connie in the hopes of persuading Joe to give up his teaching career and come back to Texas and take over the ranch. When Opie finds out that Connie, who is expecting a baby, can not afford the steaks she yearns for on Joe's salary, Opie, who believes that pregnant women gotta have meat, arranges for the local butcher, Spangenberg to cut his prices in half (with Opie paying the difference) so that Connie can have the meat she desires.

We call them by a hundred different names: boobs, knockers, jugs, hooters. We wonder if they're real or fake, too small or too big, too exposed or too covered. And every year Americans spend millions of dollars on breast enhancement, from push-up bras to surgery. Why is our culture so captivated by this particular part of the female form? "Boobs: An American Obsession" is a revealing, humorous, often poignant investigation involving everyone from anthropologists to porn stars as we explore our culture's fascination with breasts.

A football player is framed for the murder of his team's owner, whose wife he happens to be sleeping with.

Mystery writer Barry Craig (Allyn Joslyn) and his wife Jane (Evelyn Keyes), prefer solving crimes rather than writing about them. They get a chance when killings plague the fashion photography studio of Ralph McCormick (Edmund Lowe). After his secretary, Julie Taylor(Anita Louise) reports an attempt to murder her there, Erika McCormick's (Ann Savage) Aunt Isabel Fleming (Mary Forbes) is stabbed and the evidence points to Madge Lawrence (Bess Flowers) an older model and an apparent suicide. Police Inspector Joseph Clinton (Frank Craven) declares the case closed...but then Erika is murdered.

Inspired by a true story, “Beyond the Blackboard” is about a 24-year-old first-time teacher who makes a difference in the lives of the homeless children she teaches in a shelter’s makeshift classroom. Set in 1987 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, this movie tells the story a brand-new teacher and Mom who is given a tougher than expected teaching job and winds up teaching homeless children in a school that is housed in a room and called, literally, The School with No Name. She has some personal prejudicial hurdles to cross before she is able to be a true teacher for these children and of course there are hurdles like the lack of books and supplies.

Who Will Love My Children? is a 1983 American made-for-television biographical film based on the life of Lucile Fray. Lucile Fray was diagnosed with cancer in 1952 and wanted to find suitable homes for her ten children, since she felt her husband could not properly care for them. Prior to her death, she succeeded. The film was directed by John Erman, written by Michael Bortman, and starred Ann-Margret in her first television film. It was originally broadcast on American Broadcasting Company. The same evening as its original broadcast, February 14, 1983, the children of Lucile Fray appeared on That's Incredible!, an ABC program.

The pious John List regularly goes to church and is respected by his neighbours. But one day the police finds his wife Helen and their three children slayed in their house - obviously by John, who left two letters for the police and his priest and disappeared. Chief Richland is disgusted by the murder and starts an intensive investigation. In flashbacks we learn about the history of the disaster.

Keith and Kim Lussier are a childless couple who are given custody of a 3-month-old foster child, Brittany. However, tragedy strikes when Kim dies of cancer in the middle of the adoption process, leaving Keith to fight for Brittany's custody alone.

In a dramatization of her life, Linda Eastman, takes a job snapping pictures for Rolling Stone Magazine, despite the objections of her straight-laced father, Lee Eastman. As Linda rubs elbows with music royalty, she bumps into rock star Paul McCartney, and they soon fall in love. Although not only her father but also Paul's band mates disapprove of the romance, Linda and Paul wed while relations between the Beatles begin to disintegrate.

Martha "Red" Tierney used to be a hot-shot reporter, but that was before alcohol took over her life. One morning Martha's son, Jonathan, leaves for school, stopping first to meet his father for breakfast. But Jonathan never meets his dad. Instead, he is picked up by Lawrence, a pedophile who has been watching him. Now Martha must overcome her alcoholism and her bitterness towards her ex-husband and use her old investigative skills to find her son before it's too late.

Joe Hargatay is a police detective who works just for the fun of it, investigating a murder that leads him into a dangerous underground world of drugs, models, models as escorts, Asian and Italian mobs, and his ex-wife.

MARTHA EVANS has been abandoned by her ne'er-do-well husband, who took all their cash and left her homeless and virtually destitute with her two daughters and stepson. Martha leaves town in hopes of finding a job and a place to stay, she finally finds a job at a sleepy rural diner, formerly famous for its home-made root beer. But with her car broken down and the bills piling up, it looks like it's going to be a bleak Christmas for the Evans family. However, there are warm hearts working behind the scenes that ultimately make this the happiest holiday of Martha's life -- a real answer to her prayers

Inspired by true and harrowing events, On Fire tells the story of an ordinary man that finds his world suddenly torn apart as devastating wildfires rip through the surrounding countryside. With precious moments ticking by, he must flee with his son (Asher Angel) and pregnant wife if they have any hope of surviving the rapid forces of mother nature.

Megan seems to have the perfect life with a wonderful husband named Thomas and 2 adorable children. Then she finds herself awakening from a coma - and discovers she is not and has never been married. But when she meets Thomas for real, she seizes the chance to help him fall in love with her, again-for the first time.

Bonnie didn't rush when Joan, her husband Ross' ex, phoned to warn her that she and her daughter, Amanda, were in danger, but when she finally arrives she finds Joan stabbed to death. Bonnie and Ross now must take in Joan's children - Sam, who feels bitterly abandoned by Ross, and his flippant sister. Meanwhile Bonnie and police captain Kessler wonder who murdered Joan, why, and what part Nick, Bonnie's brother, had to play. Nick was recently released from jail and moved back in with their father.