Table of Contents
Introduction 13
All That Jazz 14
Magnificent Movie Musicals: Across the Universe, Cabaret, Chicago, Dreamgirls, Fame, Get on Up, Grease, Jesus Christ Superstar, La La Land, Mamma Mia!, Moulin Rouge!, Purple Rain, Saturday Night Fever, A Star Is Born, Tommy, West Side Story 16
All the President's Men 19
Politics Unusual: 5 Intriguing Political Movies: The American President, The Death of Stalin, Election, Lincoln, The Parallax View 21
Amadeus 22
Here's Looking at You: 5 Memorable Biopics: 12 Years a Slave, The Aviator, Donnie Brasco, The Elephant Man, Raging Bull 24
American Psycho 25
Apocalypse Now 27
Spectacular Seventies Movies: Being There, Blue Collar, A Clockwork Orange, Deliverance, Enter the Dragon, The East Picture Show, Logan's Run, M*A*S*H, Network, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Serpico, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, Taxi Driver, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Warriors 29
Apollo 13 32
Far Out: 10 Out-of-This-World Space Movies: Contact, Gravity, Hidden Figures, Independence Day, Interstellar, The Martian, Moon, Solaris, Spaceballs, WALL E 34
Back to the Future 36
10 Transportive Time Travel Movies: Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, The Final Countdown, Frequency, Men in Black 3, Primer, Somewhere in Time, Time After Time, Timecop, Timecrimes, Trancers 38
Batman 39
Beauty and the Beast 41
The Wonderful World of Disney Movies 42
Bend it Like Beckham 44
Block Panther 46
Blade Runner 48
Boyz n the Hood 50
The Cabin in the Woods 52
Call Me by Your Name 54
Casino Royale 56
Chinatown 58
Clue 60
Clueless 62
High School 101: Totally Relatable Teen Movies: Better Luck Tomorrow, Booksmart, The Breakfast Club, Bring It On, Cooley High, The Edge of Seventeen, Eighth Grade, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, House Party, Love & Basketball, Mean Girls 64
Coming to America 66
Die Hard 68
Hero Worship: Why Is the World So Obsessed with Die Hard? 70
Movies That Were Supposed to Be Sequels to Other Movies: Colombiana, The Hateful Eight, Minority Report 71
Do the Right Thing 72
Drive 74
Evil Dead II 76
Irresistible Eighties Movies: Blue Velvet, E.T the Extra-Terrestrial, The Goonies, Gremlins, Heathers, The Last Emperor, Ordinary People, Poltergeist, Ran, Scarface, The Shining, Some Kind of Wonderful, The Untouchables, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Wings of Desire 78
Ex Machina 81
The Exorcist 83
Horror Movies Inspired by Real-Life Events: The Amityville Horror, The Conjuring, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Open Water 85
The Fly 86
The French Connection 88
Up to Speed: 8 Thrilling Movie Car Chases: Baby Driver, The Blues Brothers, The Bourne Supremacy, Death Proof, Fast Five, Ronin, Smokey and the Bandit, To Live and Die in L.A. 90
Get Out 92
The Godfather Trilogy 94
Goodfellas 98
10 Killer Gangster Films: Battles Without Honor and Humanity, Carlito's Way, Eastern Promises, Get Carter, Infernal Affairs, The Long Good Friday, Miller's Crossing, Once Upon a Time in America, A Prophet, Sexy Beast 100
Grizzly Man 102
Life Lessons: Riveting Documentaries: 13th, Awesome; I F*ckin' Shot That!, Blackfish, Bowling for Columbine, The Central Park Five, Crip Camp, Crumb, Gimme Shelter, Grey Gardens, Harlan County USA, The Invisible War, Jesus Camp, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, Paradise Lost Trilogy, RBG, Stop Making Sense, Summer of Soul, Super Size Me, The Thin Blue Line, Waiting for Superman, Wattstax, Woodstock 104
Halloween 108
Harold and Maude 110
Love, Unconventional Style: 11 Offbeat Romantic Comedies: The Big Sick, Boomerang, But I'm a Cheerleader, Defending Your Life, The Incredible Jessica James, Moonstruck, Palm Springs, She's Gotta Have It, To All the Boys I've Loved Before, When Harry Met Sally…, While You Were Sleeping 112
Heat 114
10 Arresting Heist Movies: Bottle Rocket, Dog Day Afternoon, Hell or High Water, Inside Man, Ocean's Eleven, Out of Sight, Thief, The Thomas Crown Affair, The Town, Widows 116
Hedwig and the Angry Inch 118
Hereditary 120
Home Alone 122
'Tis the Season: Spirited Holiday(ish) Movies: The Best Man Holiday, Black Christmas, Bridget Jones's Diary, Carol, A Christmas Story, Elf, Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas, Fred Clam, Gremlins, The Holiday, Joyeux Noël, Love Actually, The Man Who Invented Christmas, The Muppet Christmas Carol, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, The Santa Clause, Scrooged 124
The Hurt Locker 128
Iron Man 130
Jaws 132
Jennifer's Body 134
Jurassic Park 136
Can't-Miss Nineties Movies: Before Sunrise, Blade, Boogie Nights, Clerks, The Crow, Daughters of the Dust, Dumb and Dumber, Eyes Wide Shut, Fargo, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Fifth Element, Gattaca, Good Will Hunting, Howards End, Raise the Red Lantern, Schindler's List, The Silence of the Lambs, To Sleep with Anger, Smoke Signals, Strictly Ballroom, The Sweet Hereafter, The Thin Red Line, Unforgiven 138
Little Women 142
10 Enchanting Period Pieces: The Age of Innocence, Atonement, Belle, Bright Star, Elizabeth, The Favourite, Gosford Park, Neruda, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, A Room with a View 144
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy 146
15 Explosive Action Movies: The Bourne Ultimatum, Drunken Master II, Enter the Dragon, First Blood, The Fugitive, Hard Boiled, John Wick, Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and 2, Léon: The Professional, The Matrix, Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior, Point Break, The Raid: Redemption, Speed, Terminator 2: Judgment Day 149
The Lost Boys 152
Mad Max: Fury Road 154
Mulholland Drive 156
Wild Movie Plot Twists: Deep Red, Fight Club, Oldboy, The Others, Primal Fear, The Sixth Sense, The Usual Suspects 158
The Muppet Movie 160
My Own Private Idaho 162
10 Essential LGBTQ Movies: Bad Education, Blue Is the Warmest Color, Bound, The Crying Game, Far from Heaven, Happy Together, In a Year with 13 Moons, Laurence Anyways, Paris Is Burning, Tangerine 164
The Never Ending Story 166
No Country for Old Men 168
Terrific Movies from the 2000s: About a Boy, American Splendor, Avatar, Batman Begins, Borat, Brick, Brokeback Mountain, Brooklyn's Finest, City of God, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, A History of Violence, The Hours, In the Loop, In the Mood for Love, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Lost in Translation, Memento, Monsoon Wadding, Napoleon Dynamite, One How-Photo, The Royal Tenenbaums, Spirited Away, Superbad, Synecdoche, New York, Training Day, The Triplets of Belleville, V for Vendetta, Valkyrie, Wet Hot American Summer, Y Tu Mamá También 170
Once 175
Paddington 177
Sequels That Were Better Than the Original Movie: The Dark Knight, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Paddington 2, Shrek 2, Star Wars: Episode V-The Empire Strikes Back, Thor: Ragnarok, Toy Story 2 179
Pan's Labyrinth 180
Parasite 182
Pride & Prejudice 184
Perfectly Wonderful Casting Decisions That Unnecessarily Infuriated Fans 186
The Princess Bride 188
Princess Mononoke 190
Pulp Fiction 192
Raiders of the Lost Ark 194
10 Obvious Movie Anachronisms 196
RoboCop 198
A Provocative History of the X Rating 200
Rocky 201
Winning Sports Movies: The Bad News Bears, Bang the Drum Slowly, Breaking Away, Bull Durham, Caddyshack, Eight Men Out, Field of Dreams, Hoop Dreams, Hoosiers, A League of Their Own, The Longest Yard, Major League, The Natural, Rudy, The Sand lot, Slap Shot 203
The Rocky Horror Picture Show 205
5 Essential Midnight Movies: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, El Topo, Eraserhead, Pink Flamingos, The Harder They Come 207
Romeo + Juliet 208
Scream 210
6 Killer Final Girls 212
Shaft 216
Shaun of the Dead 218
10 Brainy Zombie Flicks: 28 Days Later, Braindead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Night of the Comet, Night of the Creeps, Pontypool, [Rec], Train to Busan, Zombi 2 220
The Shawshank Redemption 223
Flop Flip: 5 Beloved Movies That Flopped at the Box Office: The Big Lebowsh, Brazil, Children of Men, Dazed and Confused, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory 225
The Social Network 226
Star Wars: The Original Trilogy 228
The Sting 234
Superman: The Movie 236
Suspiria 238
The Terminator 240
5 Actors Who Almost Turned Down Very Famous Roles 242
There Will Be Blood 243
This Is Spinal Tap 245
Funny Business: Essential Comedies: 9 to 5, Airplane!, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Animal House, Best in Show, Blazing Saddles, Bridesmaids, Friday, Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, The Jerk, Lost in America, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Tootsie, Wayne's World 247
Titanic 250
Trainspotting 252
Waiting for Guffman 254
Whiplash 256
41 Must-See Movies of the 2010s: Anna Karenina, Arrival, Beasts of No Nation, Beginners, Boyhood, Bone Tomahawk, Dunkirk, Enemy, The Fighter, Green Room, Hell or High Water, The Imitation Game, Inside Llewyn Davis, The Irishman, It Follows, Jackass 3D, The King's Speech, Lady Bird, The Lobster, Locke, Magic Mike, The Master, Moonlight, Once upon a Time … in Hollywood, Pariah, Phantom Thread, The Place Beyond the Pines, Roma, Room, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, The Shape of Water, Snowpiercer, Take Shelter, Toy Story 3, The Tree of Life, Uncut Gems, Under the Skin, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Winter's Bone, The Witch, The Wolf of Wall Street 258
Young Frankenstein 264
Zodiac 266
Perfectly Ever After: Impeccable Movie Endings: Big Night, Carrie, Fargo, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, Thelma & Louise, The Thing, The Vanishing 268
Acknowledgments 270
Index 270
