After being slammed with a restrictive NC-17 rating by the mega-dumb ratings board, Blue Valentine won an R rating on appeal without having to cut a scene or lower its sexual temperature. Good news. This wrenching story of a marriage that rides a roller coaster for six tumultuous years is not to be missed. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams give two of the most explosive and emotionally naked performances you will see anywhere. Just know you're in for a workout. Derek Cianfrance (Brother Tied) directs in a storm of feeling, as if the movie was ripped from his insides. Maybe it was. It took the Brooklyn-based filmmaker a dozen years to get his film made. Still, every scene registers poignantly, from the couple's first wistful dance on the street to a tryst at a raunchy motel that backfires badly. Cianfrance lets us watch what happens to passion over time. Blue Valentine hits hard — no mercy.

“Alison”

On Elvis Costello’s country-tinged ballad, the lyric does not get too sentimental in recalling an ex who had since been with one of the singer's "little friends" and is now married. Some believe the song is about murder, due to lines like “Sometimes I wish that I could stop you from talking,” "Somebody better put out the big light" and, of course, "My aim is true,” which became the title of Costello's debut album. In 2002, Costello told Rolling Stone, “It isn’t [about murder]. It’s about disappointing somebody. It’s a thin line between love and hate, as the Persuaders sang.”