There used to be a time when a movie hitting a billion dollars at the box-office almost felt like a fairytale. Nowadays, it happens more often than it used to but even 50 movies to ever hit that mark, it’s still mind boggling for any movie to hit $1 billion. We usually expect certain movies to cross that milestone but it’s the ones that hit that mark that take us by surprise. When it comes to Marvel, DC or Star Wars, we all assume a billion dollars no problem. It’s a safer bet to think that those types of movies make that kind of money because they’re being served to audiences as event films, and like or not, there’s a lot of cases to be made that each billion dollar movies were events in their own special way. What’s even more special is that a goof number of the billion dollar hits weren’t movies released in the summer. Some were released in the all, winter or even early spring. The portion of summer billion dollar hits is much higher but it’s interesting in todays time where blockbusters aren’t just in the summer any more. If people get excited for a movie, people will drive out in swarms to see it.
There’s been movies that should have easily hit a billion in its sleep based on anticipation and even the quality of the movie. Then again, there’s some movies that had no business making a billion. With Top Gun: Maverick being the 50th movie to hit that, I’m going to rank every single movie that made $1 billion. With a lot of summer movies out already and with no upcoming movie (in the foreseeable future) hitting a billion, it’s best we do this now before Black Panther: Wakanda Forever or Avatar: The Way of Water come out because those two have great potential for that kind of success. Let’s start!
#50 TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION
Had Transformers: The Last Knight made a billion, it would easily rank at the very bottom of this list. However, I’m pleased that movie never got to those numbers because even the notion of dawning that movie makes the inside of my head hurt and while Age of Extinction is not The Last Knight, Age of Extinction is an insufferable miscalculation that really turned the whole Transformers franchise in an even more bloodier mess than it was before. What’s more fascinating about Age of Extinction is that while it ended up being a monster hit internationally, domestically is where it started dip from the previous film Dark of the Moon which made $352 million domestically where Age of Extinction made $245 million. It seemed as if audiences were starting to give up on this franchise, especially with Michael Bay as the sole director for each movie at the point.
The funny thing is about these movies is that they generally have had sweet release dates. Every Michael Bay Transformers movies has had release dates right around the 4th of July, which speaks appropriate for the holiday season to a certain extent. If there’s one thing to give these Transformers movies is they sure can have spectacle, but that seems to be the only credit people (who don’t like these movies) will give it. Age of Extinction might have been the biggest piece of trash of 2014 and what’s more unfortunate is that I, personally, have had a soft spot for these films, more with the first three in particular. Revenge of the Fallen is by no means a good movie but it at least was felt more consistent with in the arc of the first three films. Age of Extinction was Michael Bay not giving any ounce of care or passion with this installment and had the audacity to have the runtime bee just under three hours. You don’t get to be a bad movie for three hours and the fact that Age of Extinction is as bad as it is, that’s still no excuse.
#49 MINIONS
The Minions, by themselves, are funny and likable characters, and depending on your level of patience, you might eat these suckers up. They were a damn delight in Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2 so to do a spin off of a movie focused primarily on them might have been the smartest business decision Universal has ever made. Is Minions the worst animated movie of all time? Not necessarily but it’s on the list somewhere. It should no surprise to anyone that Minions made that much money but in a list that includes several quality Pixar movies, Minions is an enrichment of embarrassment. While technically being the fourth movie in the series, Minions sort of tells the origins on how the Minions became what they are today and all the adventures they had before the stumbled upon Gru. Now part of charm of the Minions is the fact that no one can comprehend what they’re speaking, yet somehow pick up on certain beats at the same time. It worked out great in the first two Despicable Me movies but having that as the central focus can be very problematic. That’s the kind of idea that works better for a short film involving the Minions instead of 90 minute feature length movie.
Each Despicable Me and Minions has it’s level of charm to it whether it’s the pretty animation or the voice work from some of the perky characters, but none of that saves Minions from being an abysmal experience. The biggest problem with Minions are the Minions themselves. These little yellow squirts can’t carry a movie on their own and as much as we love Sandra Bullock, not even her voice presence or her character could save us. The franchise, thus far, had something really special with the first two films but when we got to Minions and even Despicable Me 3 to a certain extent, the series has lost it’s magic touch.
#48 STAR WARS: EPISODE I – THE PHANTOM MENACE
I’ll never be able to fathom the level of anticipation that was for Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. I do think that excitement was sort of replicated a few years back when The Force Awakens was hitting theaters Christmas time in 2015, but to be able to go back in time and stand in line with millions of fans to see The Phantom Menace must have been unreal. Watching old footage of people costuming it up and standing shoulder to shoulder with other Star Wars fans is the type of fandom that every franchise wants and knowing that the last Star Wars movie 16 years prior, fans could not wait any longer to see what the brilliant George Lucas had in store for more stories in this world. With Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi and with the advancements of special effects, there was no way The Phantom Menace could disappoint, right?
Over the years, I have come more around on the Star Wars prequels even since the post era of the Disney era of Star Wars and while I contend that The Phantom Menace isn’t the worst of the series, it still suffers from all the weaknesses that each of the prequels struggled with. As much as we loved the first Star Wars back in 1977, it’s not as if it’s looked back for it’s level of thespianism. It’s more looked as a complete game changer for the industry for special effects for giving pop culture a bigger boom than ever before, while still providing great characters, legendary music and something that will pass on from generation to generation. That’s what Stars Wars did. But with The Phantom Menace, fans were so excited to be back in this world and grew in denial for many years later that upon re-watching The Phantom Menace, you realize this kind of Star Wars is made for a much younger demographic. And while The Phantom Menace does have some highlights like Duel of the Fates, the lightsabers fight with Darth Maul and even the pod race sequence, it hasn’t stood up to the test of time as the original trilogy has.
#47 ALICE IN WONDERLAND
Ever wonder how in the world even makes a billion dollars if it’s for a movie that’e generally not all that great? Alice in Wonderland’s success is one of the more stranger situations to ever happen at the box office, and we’re obviously focusing on the Tim Burton version instead of the classic 1951 animated film. If one were to walk into any studio and say “let’s do a live-action remake of Alice in Wonderland but let’s get Tim Burton to do it” I think a lot of studio executives would take that chance in a heartbeat. Think about it? On paper, a Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland should go exceptionally well. Unfortunately, the movie that Burton had never did him any favors, aside from the financial side of things. The best answer that I think I can give as to why Alice in Wonderland made over $100 million opening weekend and why it went on to gross $1 billion is simply to thank James Cameron’s Avatar. Sounds crazy right? It’s actually not all that far fetched. What was Avatar being heavily promoted as leading up to its release? The answer is 3D. Nowadays we don’t see a rush for any 3D movies but post Avatar, there was a push 3D for any big upcoming project and I’m convinced that’s what made Alice in Wonderland so damn successful.
Not only is it a recognizable property and it certainly had a star loaded cast, but the wacky visuals coupled with the 3D is what made people so enticed to check it out open weekend and made it number one at the box office for three consecutive weeks. The success of Alice in Wonderland ponders us all and what’s worse is that the movie completely falls apart from the beginning. Where in Tim Burton’s Dumbo (which I fall into a minority of that movie), Burton gives us style but gives us a proper and authentic Disney live action adaptation of the animated property. The problem with his Alice in Wonderland is that it doesn’t have the heart or charm at all. He defiantly got things down visually speaking but narratively felt incoherent.
#46 FINDING DORY
Before any of you say anything, let me give my reasons why this movie has never really worked for me on a personal level. First and foremost, I think we can all agree that Finding Nemo is one of Pixar’s best movies that they’ve ever made. It’s easily a top ten and maybe even a top five. And when any movie makes that kind of money, especially for Disney, there’s going to be conversations on how they can continue things with spin-offs or sequels. It still blows me away that no only did we get a sequel to Finding Nemo before The Incredibles 2, but two Cars sequels (now that’s a conversation for another time). Anywho, Finding Dory was a long awaited project for Pixar that got so many people hyped to see the character of Dory as the focus for this animated adventure but not for this guy.
I’ll be honest and say I have never even once found any satisfaction with this movie and it truly blows me away by the praise it got after its release. You wanna know why Finding Dory has never worked for me? It actually has to do with Dory herself. Dory was a great part of Finding Nemo and not only that, Ellen DeGeneres provided great voice work for the character. To have an entire movie focused on her seems really challenging in my eyes. Look at the first Minions movie. The Minions, themselves, work stronger within the context of Gru and the three little girls that Gru looks over. The idea of doing a movie on them would work better as a short film. That’s problem with Finding Dory. Dory, as a secondary character, can’t carry a movie on her own because the best parts of Finding Dory wasn’t about Dory. It’s was the dynamic and interaction between Marlin and Nemo, the aspect that easily was the best in Finding Nemo, emotionally speaking.
At some point, I’m sure Disney will make a movie entirely about Olaf, when they really should’t because it’s going to run into the same problem. Like Olaf and even the Minions, Dory is a great supporting character that doesn’t have the weight to carry any entire movie. If anything, they should have just made a traditional sequel to Finding Nemo.
#45 PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES
I don’t hate this movie nor do I love it. I think the more I think about it I fall somewhere in between. The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is an interesting one to experiment with because it’s almost like the Transformers franchise. Each installment made bank at the box office but never really got a huge click with massive audiences around the country. It’s mainly because people just started getting really tired with this franchise, and even as someone genuinely is a fan of them overall, I can’t honestly blame them. It’s hard to even talk about this franchise to an average person because some people view each movie as exactly the same as the previous movie. To give a little credit to Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, it’s far from being the worst blockbuster that there is but coming off of the great and underrated At World’s End, On Stranger Tides is a major let down.
I think my biggest problem with this movie is really how bland and empty it feels. We all love the first movie, but I would argue that the first three Pirates movies had strong connective tissue with tone, world building and within the characters. All three of them are solid and enjoyable epic swashbuckling adventures and On Stranger Tides certainly has a number of redeeming features, whether it’s Johnny Depp’s performance or Hans Zimmer’s music. However, the movie as a whole as a very unneeded tendency and maybe that’s because Director Rob Marshall’s style doesn’t fit with this franchise, especially if you juxtapose that to the directing sensibilities of Gore Verbinski. As much as I’ll cheer for the enjoyment I got out of the next Pirates movie with the next chapter Dead Men Tell No Tales, part of me wouldn’t if they stopped after the third movie.
#44 DESPICABLE ME 3
It really does pain me to put Despicable Me 3 this low on the list because, as I’ve stated before, I can get a huge kick out of these movies, as long as Gru and the three little girls are at the center of the story and the minions serve more as laughter in the background. Despicable Me 3 certainly is more Gru centric and that’s where these movies work more extensively. However, I never want to be a pundit or critic that wants to inherently judge a sequel to the previous movie without at least giving the latest film a proper verdict. While Despicable Me 3 is a much better movie than Minions, the movie could never get to that level of quality or charm that the first two Despicable Me movies provided us. But let’s face it. After the smashing success of Minions: Rise of Gru, we can never underestimate the box office success that these movies have simply by the appeal of the minions and as much as the first Minions never really landed with critics or for a lot of pundits for that matter, it never stopped people to see the next chapter in the Despicable Me franchise.
With Despicable Me 3, the franchise started to loose it’s creative steam by providing recycled bits with the Minions and other thing’s we’ve seen countless of times in animated movies. Illumination never sleeps on it’s quality of animation because the animation is great to look at and with each Despicable Me movie it progressively has gotten better and better, visually speaking. It seems though, however, that with Minions, Despicable Me 3 and even the latest Minions: Rise of Gru, the franchise has completely switched over at making these films more accessible for children and not for older audiences. Animated movies don’t always have to be for kids and Pixar has proved that for the last 20+ years. And while the Despicable Me movies are more so for kids than the majority of Pixar movies, the charm and heart can resonate with much older people. Despicable Me 3 kinda sorta does that.
#43 STAR WARS: EPISODE IX – THE RISE OF SKYWALKER
Let me preface this right off the top and state that I am in the vast minority on The Rise of Skywalker, in the sense that I walked out of the theater satisfied. Not immensely satisfied but satisfied enough to say I had a good time with this movie and for the entirety of the Disney era of Star Wars sequel trilogy. Nevertheless, I will call it as I see it that despite my enjoyment with this movie, The Rise of Skywalker should have been a much stronger conclusion than it should have been, especially in a year when you had Avengers: Endgame. I’m not saying The Rise of Skywalker hurt Stars War irreparably like the prequels did, but as a wrap up of the Skywalker saga it’s a bummer. Obviously, Star Wars experienced it’s first real and scary form of toxic fandom after the release of The Last Jedi. Up until the release of The Last Jedi, Star Wars seemed to be in a healthy and much more thriving state of mind with people going crazy for The Force Awakens and the first spinoff with Rogue One. At the time, Star Wars was doing great with the whole world, collectively speaking and the excitement for The Last Jedi was no different. Once The Last Jedi came out, the fandom of this series took a turn for the worse that really started to put the Disney reign of Star Wars in a pickle.
Leading up to The Rise of Skywalker was a problem in of itself. The passing of Carrie Fisher, Colin Trevorrow leaving the project and the leadership (or lack their of) of Kathleen Kennedy as the president of Lucasfilm. When J.J. Abrams was brought to direct instead of Colin Trevorrow, it came across as the biggest and quite possibly the worst business decision that the studio publicly announced because it’s not allowing any other talent to come in and tell this story. Even the return of Ian McDiarmid’s Emperor Palpatine was full of excitement but also deep ponderance.
Needless to say, The Rise of Skywalker is full of fan fare and spectacle to keep the die hard fans happy but embarrassingly feels disconnected to The Last Jedi and feels more like a direct sequel to The Force Awakens. Amidst the issues behind closed doors and other studio issues, The Rise of Skywalker isn’t the worst of the Star Wars films but could have been so much better.
#42 CAPTAIN MARVEL
By far one of the most crucial and important characters ever introduced the MCU is Captain Marvel. The post credits scene at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, alone, told me that this character will be pivotal leading in to Avengers: Endgame. Having the movie set in 90s was also an exciting story tactic because it gives us MCU fans new expansions, younger and established characters and some kick as rock music from that decade. The announcement that Brie Larson was playing Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel was always a brilliant call considering she was hot off of her Oscar win for her role in Room and that typically has always been Marvel’s strategy by getting talent for their movies. While Larson was a great choice for the role, the character needed to win people over so that people would more jazzed to see the next chapter in the MCU.
Not to say this speaks to the quality of the film, but Captain Marvel did experience some toxicity within the fanbases simply because of Brie Larson’s comments regarding social and cultural issues. It certainly did hurt it’s opening weekend numbers clocking in around $150 million, thereby making it one of the biggest openings in the month of March. But the real question is Captain Marvel any good?
Truth be told, I’ve never looked at Captain Marvel as one of the strongest entries in the MCU. It’s by no means a misfire or even the garbage abomination that the review bombers were claiming it to be. The scope of its action is top notch, Brie Larson does a commendable job, the visuals are sold and I admired the authenticity of recreating the 90s culture with its music and other forms of it. The biggest problem with the movie (which might be an overused term) is the momentum of the story. Towards the middle chunk of the movie is where it really comes to a stop. Not nails on a chalk board noticeable but noticeable, nonetheless. However, the events of Ms Marvel, I’m sure we’re in for something sweet once The Marvels hits theaters next summer.
#41 THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS
The Fast and Furious franchise started off as simple street racing movies to a full blown super hero/action franchise once Fast Five came around and it was with Fast Five that proved to be the first critically favored installment and the most successful film at that time. Since 2011, Fast and Furious started winning over more fans, critics and was becoming bigger and bigger with each film. They finally started to makes these films what they should have been since day one: an over the top action movie that embraces its absurdity, and that’s exactly what they’ve been for the last ten years. When the tragic passing of Paul Walker happened in the middle of shooting Furious 7, it became a growing worry how they’d wrap everything, considering they had already shot most of the movie anyways. Furious 7 is something will discuss a little later in this post, but the success of that movie was never going to stop Universal or even Vin Diesel from making more Fast and Furious movies.
The issue that people had with he latest Fast and Furious is that they progressively got more ridiculous and severely over the top with its action set pieces. Fast Five had street cars driving a giant safe in the streets of Rio, Fast and Furious 6 had the runway that was 75 miles, Furious 7 had a car driving through a window through a skyscraper into another skyscraper and The Fate of the Furious has Dwayne Johnson pushing a torpedo with his bare hand. The laws of physics is something this franchise completely ignores, and The Fate of the Furious continues that notion in glorious and silly fashion. The eighth installment in this series is definitely full of ridiculousness that might be almost too hard for some to suspend their disbelief, but each of the modern Fast and Furious movies deliver top notch action and great blockbuster spectacle.
#40 TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON
The style of Michael Bay paired up with a movie about Transformers, on paper, is a pretty genius idea if you really think about it and I’ve always said that the first Transformers movies made by Michael Bay is not only the best one he’s made but a solid summer movies that perfectly balances the spectacle of Transformers and the action style of Michael Bay. Revenge of the Fallen, however, was a major letdown. Transformers Revenge of the Fallen is the first one of the series that I contend started the true hate band wagon that it has become. It’s the one that started to become that movie the became the issue with the big mainstream blockbuster. The first Transformers was giving Michael Bay the keys to a rental car. It had his kick to it but he still had to return it in one piece. Revenge of the Fallen was Michael Bay taking that rental car and doing what ever he wanted with it while causing so much damage and leaving only a little bit in tact.
What ever side of the coin you lie on, you can’t deny the fans of this franchise who simply walk into these movies, turn off their brains and have fun with them and while I reject the fun of Age of Extinction or The Last Knight, I can still see how people can have fun with these films. Transformers: Dark of the Moon is the last competent Michael Bay Transformers movie we’ve seen. It’s retains the foundational aspects of what made the first one good, and delivers on terrific spectacle and just pure fun. It does, however, feature maybe one of the best action set pieces of any studio tent pole movie. While the first half of the movie is trying to be this odd romantic comedy, the last half is seeing Michigan Avenue getting completely destroyed.
The narrative in Dark of the Moon is certainly not saving this movie, but in terms of its entertainment value and the level of scope and spectacle, Dark of the Moon really is quite exceptional in that regard. Even having the voice of Leonard Nimoy as one of the Autobots was great because the majority of his lines were references to Star Trek. I’m not calling Dark of the Moon true cinema because it’s far from that. On the other hand, it is a masterpiece in terms of spectacle entertainment.
#39 JURASSIC WORLD
I’ve said for years that the people who bash on Jurassic World are the stuck up Jurassic Park fans. Whether you agree with me or not, it’s my own personal assessment that I’ve noticed ever since the release of the first Jurassic World movie back in the summer of 2015, and the more I think about it, 2015 was a HUGE year for nostalgia. The Force Awakens, Creed and especially Jurassic World were all banking on nostalgia, while trying to introduce new characters but still giving us a lot of familiarity. Nowadays, there’s not as much of a strong push for nostalgia anymore, until in 20 years or so studios will once again go down that rabbit hole. Not to say nostalgia can’t be used correctly. I mean, for gods sake look at Top Gun: Maverick. The entire movie is full of nostalgia but it still managed to be a great film all around.
What ever the case may be, Jurassic World, I contend, is a good movie that certainly was an improvement over The Lost World and especially Jurassic Park III. The problem that I find with people who trash it were expecting it be better or on the same level of quality since the first Jurassic Park and if you went in to Jurassic World expecting that then it’s your own fault. This idea of tempering your expectations for big franchise material always needs to be in the minds for film fans for every movie. While Jurassic World was essentially a sequel, it acted as a small face lift for the films by softly rebooting it while still connecting to the first film.
I believe that the people who trash and hate on this movie are stuck up Jurassic Park fans. They’re the people who call this the worst studio tent pole movie of all time and those people are some deep crack. It’s a not a perfect movie or an Oscar movie. Jurassic World is a fun movie with, I’ll admit, familiar story territory. But it utilizes nostalgia and some new aspects to make it more appropriate than the sequels missed on.
#38 FURIOUS 7
The Fast & Furious franchise isn’t gonna win any Oscars any time soon and no one should ever expect it to, but this franchise really knows how to get into gear (no pun). I think solely on a technical level, Furious 7 might be the best of the whole franchise. It’s up for debate within the film community, but James Wan might be the best director that’s associated with this franchise by upping the scale from its marvelous action set pieces to the incredible scope of the movie. The biggest this movie had to climb was loosing one of its main stars in Paul Walker and forcing the movie to be delayed from its original release in the summer of 2014 to an unknown date due to how the studio and Vin Diesel himself would do with he movie. Production was suspended for a good portion of time, and justifiably so. Once enough time had passed, they resumed production and gave it a spring release in 2015. Now normally whenever a situation like this happens, people instantly believe that the movie should stop and they should never release it. In the case for Furious 7, a lot of fans felt that making another movie would be a disservice to release it. I think it’s the complete opposite. Had Universal and Vin Diesel never released Furious 7, I think it’s more of a disservice to not release it and not let people see the last performance from Paul Walker. Heck, I don’t think it’s a disservice to continue the franchise without Paul Walker because I’m sure that Paul would want Vin Diesel to push forward with more movies, even without his involvement.
I believe that Furious 7 is not only the best movie in the entire franchise but a terrific modern action movie, even if you deconstruct the silliness and ridiculousness that comes with it. But by far away the best aspect of this movie is how it handled the death of Paul Walker. Even for fans who wouldn’t call themselves diehard fans of the franchise got choked up at the end of this movie when we see Dom and Brian part ways, say goodbye and drive off. From a filmmaking standpoint, it’s easily one of the most touching and beautiful sequences in any movie that’s ever been released. You couple that with having Paul Walker’s brothers to help finish the movie serving as stand ins for the character of Brian, Furious 7 did things exceptionally well.
Another aspect that Furious 7 nailed was having Jason Statham as the villain. For the first time in this entire series of movies, you actually had a villain that could kick some serious ass and served as a great physical opponent for Dom and his entire team. Statham is one of today’s better action stars and to have his involvement in this movie is a genius tactic for the hand to hand combat sequences and thanks to James Wan’s crisp direction, it delivers that well.
#37 HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCER’S STONE
My love for the Harry Potter movies is not at the same level for Star Wars, MCU, DC, Lord of the Rings or even the James Bond movies. I’ve obviously been with the generation that grew up with these movies so it’s natural to assume that I would fall in love with them like a lot of people my age. While that isn’t the case, I still am a mad admirer of the films because if there’s one thing I do love about the Harry Potter films is that it’s deep in fantasy storytelling. There’s wizards, giant spiders, giant snakes, witches, werewolves, elves, vampires and many other fantasy creatures. As huge proponent of fantasy films, Harry Potter has always been a soft spot for me in that regard and with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone kicking off with one of Hollywood’s biggest franchises, it established a wonderful and enriching world of spectacle and character.
We often talk about pitch perfect casting in a variety of roles in big franchise material and one of those pitch perfect castings has to be the casting of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. It’s exactly the same situation for the first season of Netflix’s Stranger Things. Those kids were no name child actors that are now much more famous and bigger because of that first season. Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson were in the same boat. Nobody had heard of these kids before and ever since their acting debuts in this movie, the world fell in love with him. As someone who’s never read the books, I can only imagine that these actors captured the richness and the essence of the characters from the novels.
Where the Fantastic Beasts movies are very divisive in the fan community, the Harry Potter films seemed to never have that problem in concordance with each chapter in the Wizarding World. While the Sorcerer’s Stone isn’t my personal favorite of the entire franchise, it really is a technically marvelous fantasy adventure that wraps itself in a warm coming of age tale. I know some want to place Harry Potter as the king over stuff like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings, and I can totally see the reasoning for that.
#36 HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 will go down as one of the most memorable and significant release in blockbuster history. The summer of 2011 was already a huge summer with major releases like Thor, Kung Fu Panda 2, Captain America: The First Avenger and X-Men First Class, just to name a few. But the real event of that summer was the epic conclusion with Deathly Hallows Part 2. A movie that fans have been waiting for ten years just so fans could have an excuse to dress up and cry tears of joy when the credits started. Before there was Avengers: Endgame, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 was arguably the last big event film that was the culmination of many movies before it, wrapping it all up in an epic and emotional conclusion.
You really couldn’t ask for anything better than how this movie ended up being, but the unfortunate aspect of this movie is that it then caused a trend for every final movie in a franchise to be split into two parts. Hunger Games, Twilight and at one point that last two Avengers were said to be split into two parts (thankfully, that got debunked). It was becoming a growing problem because “if Harry Potter did it then it means we can do it too.” As far as I’m concerned, the novel Deathly Hallows, while not the longest book, clocked in around 600 pages. To do one movie on that would feel like David Lynch’s Dune, in the sense that you’d be cramming too much material in one movie. Splitting the movie in two parts seemed appropriate, especially knowing at that point the franchise had earned it because of the quality that’s been put out since 2001. Not to say Twilight: Breaking Dawn didn’t need to do that because the novel, itself, was very extensive. The problem is the level of quality was not on the level of the Harry Potter films. Plus, to do that year after Harry Potter films ended seemed to be too much on the nose.
As we stated earlier about the Sorcerer’s Stone, I’m not going to sit here and change people’s perceptions on Harry Potter not being the greatest film franchise because the fans of these films is on some kind of religious level. To end the franchise on that kind of emotional note, for fans saying goodbye to characters they spent the last ten years growing up with and see the wizard on wizard action that Deathly Hallows Part 1 so beautifully set up, Deathly Hallows – Part 2 will go down as one of the most arousing conclusions in cinema history.
#35 FROZEN
When one is to think about Disney greatest animated movies, films such as The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast or classic films such as Cinderella are ones that are guaranteed to make an appearance on people’s top ten lists. The interesting thing about the first Frozen is that there really hasn’t been a cultural boom with any other animated film since its release. Even Moana, which had several hit songs, never got to the cultural status or even became a phenomenon like Frozen did. No matter what way you look at it, there’s always something special when Disney Animation ( not Disney Pixar) puts out a movie, which has lately been around Thanksgiving. Wreck-it Ralph, Big Hero 6, Tangled and the previously mentioned Moana have all been Thanksgiving releases, or were at least released around that holiday and they all were successes but not at the level of Frozen.
If someone wants to put Frozen in the list of Disney’s greatest animated films, they have every right to do. But if I were to make a list, I’d put Moana or Tangled above Frozen everyday of the week. Heck, the fact that there hasn’t been a sequel to is troubling because I think both movies are superior and one’s less of a musical than the other two. Full disclosure: Frozen is a very good movie. More than just a solid animated film, the movie overall really works. Despite not being targeted at males of any age, the music is luminous, the characters pop and it had the structure of a classic Disney Princess tale. There’s really nothing wrong with the movie at all. It’s more of a question as to why weren’t several of the other animated films (that we’re previously mentioned) bigger hits?
#34 FROZEN II
The main reason why Frozen II is better than its predecessor is because since there was a six year gap between the first film, Frozen II felt time had passed and that the girls who first watched Frozen had grown up and matured. Frozen II feels more mature and deeper with its themes of growing older, becoming more responsible and really having to deal with troubling consequences. Where Frozen was the demographic for little girls, Frozen II, thematically, felt like it was spreading its wings to older audiences to make it more of resonating and profound story that all ages can gravitate towards.
With the first Frozen making so much money and becoming the cultural phenomenon that it was, a sequel was a guarantee. Only question is why did it take six years to even get a sequel up and going? Honestly, I have no idea. Obviously, animated movies at this type of scale take time to make and considering Disney throws a lot of money on these types of projects. Plus, it’s animated musical with no physical props or an actual stage to rehearse. It’s one thing to orchestrate a musical on stage, but doing it in an animated format seems daunting. What with all the animators and musicians creating something unique and special.
Frozen II is not Toy Story 2, Kung Fu Panda 2 or How to Train Your Dragon 2, as far as animated sequels are concerned. As far it’s comparison to the first Frozen, it’s the superior film, to a movie that’s already solid. The world of Frozen is one that lends itself to more stories in this world. It’s built upon a fantasy, with bigger picture ideas to explores and for more creative and beautiful music to be written.
#33 INCREDIBLES 2
It’s up for a debate, but there’s was never a movie that needed a sequel than The Incredibles. Back in 2004, the super hero genre had really yet to reach the cultural status that it has today. You had Sam Raimi’s first two Spider-Man movies and a couple of X-Men movies and as popular and successful as they were, superhero movies were still touching unexplored territory. So the idea of doing an animated superhero movie was a huge and dangerous risk for any studio to tackle. The funny thing about The Incredibles is that it’s always been looked at as the best Fantastic Four movie we’ve ever gotten. Each character could be a carbon copy of the character from the Fantastic Four, but it was all told with its own originality and its own unique spin on the idea of superheroes.
The first Incredibles is regarded very high in the pantheon of Pixar and the fact that it took 14 years for them to finally get a sequel released is astonishing and considering where superhero/comic book movies are at right now, it really seemed to also be a perfect time to release it, especially coming out two months after Avengers: Infinity War. With it being over decade since the original film, Incredibles 2 was well worth the long wait. It delivers everything we hoped for; heart, beautiful animation, action and seeing the incredible (no pun) family back on screen after over a decade. What’s more crazy is that with all the huge success and appreciation it received the summer it came out, all that buzz has died over the last four years. The expectations for this movie were so high and strangely nobody really brings it up in conversation anymore.
I’m not necessarily saying that Incredibles 2 is better than The Incredibles, but I’d say the quality is not far off at all. I think with Brad Bird coming back to tell another story with these characters was special right from the starts. He reversed things, he expanded on unproven potential with Jak Jak and the humor in this movie is some of Pixar’s best. If Disney wants to make an Incredibles 3, I want Brad Bird to direct it again.
#32 SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME
Top open up after the heels of Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: Far From Home was set to make a billion dollars in its sleep, and sure enough it did. Had it come out at any other time, it would have been a huge hit, but thanks to events of Endgame, Far From Home was (at time) the highest grossing Spider-Man movie. Homecoming was a great way to introduce us to a different take on the character and have it feel bit smaller on scale and it certainly worked out great. I think with each passing year and every time I watch Far From Home, I prefer it a little bit more than Homecoming, partially because I think it has stronger consequences, better action and the stronger and much more devastating effects of the father/mentor figure Tony Stark had for Peter.
It really confuses me why some people have some how tarnished this movie over the last couple of years because even if prefer this over Homecoming, the level of quality is fairly similar and with thus being the first MCU movie after Endgame, it was an appropriate epilogue to those events and while had bigger stakes than Homecoming did, it was great to see Tom Holland’s Peter Parker figure life on his own once more.
One of the more stronger aspects of Far From Home is bringing in Jake Gyllenhaal as the film’s main villain, Mysterio. One of great aspects with the new Tom Holland movies is that they’ve taken silly and goofy villains from the comics with Vulture and Mysterio and made them grounded and fun characters. Gyllenhaal’s Mysertio is a great addition to the MCU and so is this movie. Again, it’s always baffled me why some pundits have not necessarily turned on this but deem as an inferior sequel to Homecoming when it does everything that Homecoming did just amped the stakes, the emotional weight and with a slightly better villain.
#31 THE LION KING (2019)
Never was there a Disney animated film that I wanted to remake/live-action adaption done of than the original The Lion King, but what Jon Favreau did with the live-action adaption The Jungle Book and knowing he was set to direct it and he would bring the same VFX team that film, my imagination for what the photo realistic version of The Lion King would be. The idea of seeing pride rock, the fight between Simba and Scar and the entire scope of Africa with that vision was making me salivate. The announcement of the cast, the returning of James Earl Jones as the voice of Mufasa and with the entire musical team who worked on the original film coming back to this new version of it, the potential for this remake was there. Heck, the marketing, alone, captured the beauty and magic that this film has had with each generation that the notion of seeing this version of The Lion King was surely set to be something special.
Here’s the fundamental problem I have with the response this movie got from critics and various pundits. I firmly believe that most of the people who criticize this movie, criticized it poorly. What I mean is that I genuinely believe people went in with a massive list of expectations, preconceived notions and inherently compared it to original 2D animated film. I’ve always said it’s fair game to compare art to other art. In this case, judging films to other films is very appropriate as long as the verdict has been made on both films. Once that’s done, then comparing and contrasting them is acceptable. The divide with the new Lion King falls into two sides. Side A, you wanted to see some deviation from the original film and if they don’t do it this movie misses the mark. Then there’s Side B, where people were excepting that this was going to be the same movie but in a more photo realistic fashion. Either way, people walked out calling with dour looks, which is odd because I thought we were accepting the fact that this was going to be the same movie, but done in a different way.
Honestly, the more I watch this movie and the more I dawn it, I think the movie freaking rocks. It reminded me just how special the story of The Lion King is and how much I feel in love with its music. It captures the magic, spirit and the essence of the original movie, but doubling down on truly a sense of spectacle with beautiful visuals. I was never asking for this to be better than the original film because that already was a high bar to reach. I think a lot of people need to reevaluate their stance on this because had this been the first time I saw The Lion King, it’d be the best Disney movie I’d ever seen.
#30 ALADDIN (2019)
As much I would love to put the new Lion King above the remake of Aladdin, I have to be a realist and say as much as I adore the new take on what Favreau did, I had an inherently more enjoyable time with Guy Ritchie did with Aladdin. Like The Lion King, Aladdin is pretty much retelling the same exact story from the animated film, the only catch is that this movie has the Guy Ritchie being the director’s chair. Which is still an odd choice, post its release. Some people felt odd about Tim Burton doing Dumbo, but in some way you could kind of seeing his sensibilities translate well with that story in a live action format. Heck, say what you will about The Lion King, but Jon Favreau was an exceptional pick for that. But Guy Ritchie doing a live action Aladdin? That’s a very odd decision, especially when most previous King Arthur movie was huge financial loss for Warner Bros. that clearly Disney must have loved his take for the new Aladdin. Plus, Ritchie had never done a musical in his career and it never seemed like he would never direct a property like this before.
Guy Ritchie is the kind of director that likes to create his own characters and create his own worlds, even if he’s doing a movie about Sherlock Holmes. He doesn’t usually direct franchise material nor would he ever be the front runner for directing a musical. There were a ton of apprehensions going into this, excluding Ritchie as the director. Some people weren’t too thrilled with Will Smith taking over the role of the Genie when Robin Williams essentially birthed that character. The marketing was very hit or miss with a lot of Disney purists and there was doubt on the chances of success. Other than Will Smith, there really wasn’t any recognizable face and the even the choice for the villain in Jafar was unknown.
I take any apprehension or grievance away because this Guy Ritchie did a remarkable job with Aladdin. I’m not necessarily putting it in the same conversation as Favreau’s The Jungle Book or Kenneth Branagh’s masterfully made Cinderella, but this take on Aladdin is damn close. The biggest question mark people had was Will Smith as the Genie, and instead of doing a carbon copy performance of Robin Williams, Smith made it his own, added his own flavor and captured the magic of what made us fall in love with the character in the first place. Besides that, the rest of the performances are great, the musical numbers worked out surprisingly well and Ritchie had a natural act for a movie of this size and scale.
#29 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (2017)
The remake of Beauty and the Beast, in all seriousness, is a remarkable and effective remake. I think, overall, Disney has consistently provided some great quality with their live action Disney properties with the talent they’re bringing on and the time and care they bring to the table. When we sit back and take it all in and look at all the casts of each live action Disney film, Beauty and the Beast might have the best one of them all. With Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Kevin Kline, Josh Gad, Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci, Ian McKellen, and Emma Thompson, it seems that Disney was going for the perfect performers for their characters. Not to say the other films didn’t assemble talent because they surely did. But Beauty and the Beast has it beat.
It was only a matter of time before this film ever got a live action remake and with all the success Disney had with Alice in Wonderland, Maleficent, Cinderella, and The Jungle Book, it was bound to happen. Bill Condon, who unfortunately directed the last Twilight movies also directed Dreamgirls and wrote the script for the Oscar winning movie Chicago. He also directed the great period drama Gods and Monsters which also had sir Ian McKellen. There was great talent involved in this project and Disney even had the balls to start marketing this film over a year before the films release with a little baby teaser that spread like wildfire once it dropped online.
The problem people had with this is that it felt too much like the original film, which is exactly what the film intended to be. It took the advantage on expanding on some material that the animated film never gave us whether it’s was a brand new song from the Dan Stevens’ Beast or the story with Belle’s mother. From the brilliant casting, the gorgeous scenery and the magic of the story, the live action Beauty and the Beast is top tier Disney magic and stands well against one of the greatest animated movies ever made.
#28 THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
The build up to the first Hobbit film was a really special moment for fans of The Lord of the Rings. As more of an announcement trailer, Warner Bros. dropped the very first teaser for the film around Christmas in 2011 a whole entire year before the film made it to theaters and it instantly gave us Middle-earth fans the nostalgia and love we have of this world and the characters. It’s really an effective teaser by not really showing us much, but giving us glimpses of a younger Bilbo, Gandalf the Grey, Howard Shore’s beautiful music and a little tease of Gollum at the end was enough to leave us wanting more. The special thing with The Hobbit movies is that it was originally set to be two movies and instead of Peter Jackson, Guillermo del Toro was set to be the director. Things changed once del Toro left the project and it then became public news that Peter Jackson was attached to direct. They then expanded it two three film instead of two to tie all things in to Fellowship of the Ring.
The Hobbit films will never be remembered as top tier or as achieving as The Lord of the Rings films and maybe that’s the intention a lot of people had going into this movie when it first came out. If you compare these movies to the original three movies that Peter Jackson made, then by default, the quality isn’t as great. Be that as it may, The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey
does a bang up on job of transporting us back in the world of Middle Earth. By expanding on the scope and the mythology, knowing how and where Bilbo possessed the ring and making the story feel more epic and bigger from its novel, this first installment is more than solid. The visuals are breathtaking, Howard Shore’s score is wonderful and by its own merits, it’s an epic fantasy tale.
Maybe the best attribute The Hobbit series has is the casting of Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins. It’s a piece of casting that hardly gets the credit it deserves and as much as we loved Ian Holm as the character, Freeman gets do more with the character where Holm couldn’t. Almost like what McAvoy and Fassbender didn’t in X-Men: First Class, Martin Freeman gives the character more duality, range and more amusement. It was also great to see Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis back in their respected roles and having Peter Jackson back in this world as the film captain just felt right.
#27 BLACK PANTHER
When Captain America: Civil War came out, maybe the best and one ingredient that people wanted to know more about was the character of Black Panther. We loved seeing Tom Holland’s Spider-Man but it was really the appearance of Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa that got the biggest pop. It was also crucial for the MCU to create more characters and even before we first saw T’Challa in Civil War, it was when Marvel had their own little comic-con at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles in the fall of 2014 to announce the line up for Phase three. It was right after the announcement of Captain America: Civil War, they brought out Chadwick Boseman an presented am the their next big casting call and said his first appearance would be in Captain America: Civil War and the internet, per usual, went bananas.
Chadwick Boseman, before taking on this character, was already had an impressive start to his career with his work in 42 as Jackie Robinson and Get on Up as James Brown. Boseman was very early on his career, even as Black Panther, but once again speaks volumes to the kind of talent Marvel brings on their projects. It’s sad Mr. Boseman is no longer with us today, but he sure gives a credible and terrific performance as a flawless king but a good man in his first solo outing. By far and away, Black Panther is one of the stronger stand alone flicks not only for the MCU, but for the the comic book movie genre. There’s great mythology in this movie that left us wanting so much more after the introduction of this character.
While some of the CGI is a but noticeable, this is a gorgeous and seamless movie. Every shot of Wakanda feels authentically rich from the city itself, shots of the Serengeti or the beautiful sequences of T’Challa meeting his father in the Ancestral plane. Black Panther is also great at providing a strong villain with Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger. With conviction, empathy and grit, it’s easily of the MCU’s most layered and sought our villains.
The cultural impact of this movie was really an unprecedented moment and despite what some might say about its upcoming sequel (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), we might see another another cultural event with that movie.
#26 ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY
After the release of The Force Awakens, Disney set out to release of a spin-off in the world of Star Wars every other year, with the first one being centered around how the rebels took the stole the plans of the Death Star, but in the vein of being a grounded and epic war film, which is something Star Wars has yet to tackle, oddly enough. Instead of barking at the wrong tree with the kind of stories Lucasfilm wanted to tell with Disney acquiring it, to see any story in this world is exciting no matter what to see that decade old question on just how the rebels took the plans from the ultimate weapon of the Galactic Empire is something a lot of Star Wars fans wanted to know more about. Despite it being around certain aspects that have already been established like brining in Darth Vader and the actual Death Star, Rogue One also created brand new characters that had yet to be introduced in this universe, as far as the movies are concerned.
Sure, the stakes aren’t that high in this movie and yeah a lot of the movie is filled with fan service moments. That being said, Rogue One features some of the best space battles in all of Star Wars lineage and truly felt like the first war movie in Star Wars. Obviously, theres been great battles in Star Wars before but not on this scale and epic scope. It’s famously known that Rogue One had a bunch of reshoots months before it hit theaters, and the theory is that the film wasn’t too thrilled with Edwards vision of the ending, so they brought it Tony Gilroy to “lighten” things up just a bit. Whether Disney wanted things to be a darker and edgier and they clearly went for some more haunting stuff, specifically with the film ending with Darth Vader murdering a squad or rebel soldiers.
It was smart for Lucasfilm to release this movie the year after The Force Awakens because soon after that movie came out, Star Wars excitement was back and quite literally better than it ever was. Even for the criticisms this movie has ,I think Rogue One is pretty damn great. It’s gorgeous, the set pieces are massive and the third act of this movie might be the greatest final act in all of Star Wars. I like the characters, despite my biggest criticism of this movie having no stakes because the outcome is something we already knew. It’s great to see the first Star Wars movie display incredible and monumental battle sequences.
#25 AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON
We’ll save this pick for later on the list, but if you know me, then you know how much I adore the first Avengers movie. So it’s no surprise how excited I was and millions of others for the Age of Ultron. Even going off of the promotional campaign, Age of Ultron has some the most effective and startling trailers because it was marketed as a stark, darker and much more edgier MCU movie. I think we learned that as dark as any MCU movie looks, it’s still going to have a heavy dose of MCU levity and jokes to be had. Be that as it may, the anticipation for Age of Ultron was through the roof, and deservedly so. When your follow up film is coming off of one of the biggest films ever made, you’re bound to see a possible replication of success from a critical and financial angle. 2015 was already set to be a big summer with Jurassic World, Mad Mad Fury Road and Ant-Man and with Avengers: Age of Ultron opening the doors for the summer movie season seemed to be a great fit.
I don’t think Avengers: Age of Ultron better than the first Avengers, but I still think it’s a pretty kick ass movie form start to finish. I remember having a good time with the movie at first hand but after seeing multiple times in theaters and multiple times at home, I’ve grown to pretty much love it but not as quite as the first one. The only major criticism with the movie is something we’ve seen a lot over the 5+ years is there’s a lot of set up. There’s maybe too many sequences where the movie showcases storylines for future MCU projects with Thor, Black Widow, Capitan America and even future Avengers ensemble movies that it became a little too much. Granted, when these scenes occur its done within a few minutes of the movie. It’s done quickly but it’s not needed.
With that being said, Age of Ultron has a plethora of great MCU moments. The hulk buster fight, Spader’s voice of Ultron, Brian Tyler and Danny Elfman’s work on the music and the introduction of one of the most vital and important MCU characters in Wanda Maximoff. The only set up material that didn’t feel crammed was the set up for the Black Panther film with the appearance of Ulysses Klaw, played by Andy Serkis. It’s a quick scene but it’s a highlight of the entire film. The more this movie sits with me, the more I appreciate it and while it might be the weakest entry in the Avengers saga, it’s still damn fine work.
#24 IRON MAN 3
Iron Man 3 is maybe the most underrated MCU movie. I contend that Iron Man 3 is not only a great comic-book movie, but it’s a flat out great movie overall. We all love the Guardians of the Galaxy, Endgame, Winter Solider and Black Panther but Iron Man 3 goes a lot more deeper in its substance than the other Iron Man films, admits being a huge spectacle. Iron Man 3 was the first comic-book movie that I saw where I remember it actually going into the mind of a superhero having to deal with PTSD from, yes saving the world, but having to mentally struggle with the repercussions that follow. Iron Man 3 beautifully displays that and it’s been a trend that we’ve seen later on in the MCU with the movies and even the Disney+ shows. You’ll often see Iron Man 3 in the latter half of people’s list for the best of the MCU, which is something I will retort in a heartbeat.
For this to be a follow up after The Avengers might have been a brilliant move, but then again, any MCU movie opening up a year after The Avengers was guaranteed to be a mega hit because of how much the MCU has seeking its way in the public conscious. It’s not a shock to say that Robert Downey Jr. is great as Tony Stark/Iron Man, but his performance in Iron Man 3 is a great balance of vulnerability and the charm and charisma that we love about the character. It’s easily one of the best performances he’s given as the character. Maybe what made Downey’s performance is working with Shane Black, as the films director. Having had worked together on Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, it was probably that relationship they had on the set of that film, you can see the passion and the positive relationship they have to work on a much bigger and strenuous project.
The last and final thing about Iron Man 3 is the music composed by Brian Tyler. Tyler really had a hell of year in 2013 with composing the two MCU movies with Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World. This might be a hot take but Brian Tyler is maybe the best composer for the MCU that they never brought back. The work of Alan Silvestri, Henry Jackman and Michael Giacchino is terrific stuff and names like those are ones that get mentioned constantly except for Tyler’s music. His work on Iron Man 3 is the best in this particular series of films and it’s the one that has more weight to it. It’s one that acts as a more memorable piece of music and serves the character well.
Iron Man 3 was mixed due to the certain twist/reveal that happens midway through the movie. No spoilers, but imo it was a ballsy and bold choice that I think really works because it was a great bait and switch. Iron Man 3 is not going to be in everyone’s top 10 MCU list, but I want to reassure people that Iron Man 3 is a pretty great flick. It’s a lot better than people remember and I think it delivers great performances, great writing and superb action.
#23 AQUAMAN
Before the release of Aquaman, the character was looked at as a major joke and a punch line. He’s been spoofed on just about every comedy show that you can think of from Family Guy, Entourage and even on SpongeBob SquarePants. He’s an iconic character for DC comics, but it hard for anyone to take the character that seriously when his most famous super power is that he can talk to fish. But when the announcement of Jason Momoa, Khal Drogo himself, being casted as Aquaman was an indication that they were going for a bit more of a serious approach with the character, especially when you look at the character he played on HBO’s Game of Thrones. But then it was when James Wan was attached as the films main director where a lot of people, especially the horror fan base, where the enticement for this movie was increasing. While Wan is primarily known for horror, he proved himself to be one hell of an action director with Furious 7. From a sense of scale, he can deliver on those levels in spades. They brought on Willem Dafoe, Nicole Kidman and even Dolph Lundgren to join the cast and all the pieces were perfectly in place.
No one on God’s green earth thought that Aquaman would cross the billion dollar mark when it’s the first Warner Bros. DC movie post Justice League, and how much that completely unshackled the direction of the DCEU movies. Then again, it might have been a great advantage to let a year go by for audiences to let go of that run of the DC movies and while Aquaman does have slight references to the previous DC movies, it feels more self contained and softly reboots the universe. Aquaman might not be the best DCEU movie for some people but purely based on an entertainment package perspective, it’s really hard to not have an absolute blast with this movie. From a technical level, Aquaman might be the most competently made comic-book movie of all time. It’s an underwater sci-fi epic opera that delivers on some of the most impressive and enticing action sequences in the entire genre and maybe the most sensational visuals effects ever created. The biggest crime the academy has ever pulled is how they didn’t nominate this movie for the Best Visual Effects category.
It’s story and dialogue is a bit tongue and cheek, but when making a movie about a man who can talk to fish, it’s almost impossible to leave that off the table. But with James Wan’s direction and Jason Momoa’s appeal, both found to way to make the character almost like a true rock star, yet can still show that underneath the god-like abilities, Arthur still has a strong and prevalent human side. Aside from a lengthy run time, Aquaman is a solid sci-fi fantasy, with fantastic action, inventive world building and a great refreshment for the future of the DCEU.
#22 SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME
The best Spider-Man movie to ever exist is Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 and had Spider-Man 2 made a billion dollars, it would easily be in the top 10 of this list. Spider-Man: No Way Home is by far and away the best Spider-Man movie since Raimi’s Spider-Man 2. Out of all the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies from Homecoming and Far From Home, No Way Home leaves you absolutely speechless. This is the most emotional and heavy a Spider-Man movie has felt in ages and thanks to the growing evolution of Tom Holland’s performance and Jon Watts exquisite direction. No Way Home feels more mature, deeper and more methodical on challenging the character even more.
We should have already known that the moment the first trailer for this movie dropped, the level of anticipation of this movie was something we hadn’t experienced in some time. Partially, this was deemed as the first BIG movie in the post covid world. Obviously, you had hits with F9, Shang-Chi, Venom 2 and some other profiled movies, but the success of No Way Home is the kind of success we had before covid was ever brought into the picture. However, the success of No Way Home is still quite unfathomable because not only did it score the second biggest opening at $260 million, it managed to become the third biggest movie at the domestic box office taking in over $804 million. That’s below The Force Awakens at $936 million domestically and Avengers Endgame at $858 million domestically.
No Way Home also creeped up to become the sixth highest grossing movie of all time with $1.9 billion, without it ever getting a release in China. Had it been released in China, No Way Home would have become the sixth movie to join the $2 billion club. The success of this movie is unprecedented and it’s really a testament to how much Sony and MCU delivered on an incredible product for fans of Spider-Man and fans of comic book movies.
#21 PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST
The first Pirates of the Caribbean film became a big boom in our pop culture vernacular. Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow became one of cinemas most celebrated and beloved characters, the music is some of the most iconic music in the history of film scoring and it really captured the magic and fun that you can have with a swashbuckling adventure. People today might forget, but the swashbuckler genre used to be a popular genre in the action category. In some action movies you would have your typical sword fights but in swashbuckler movies, you’d have some of the most enjoyable and enthralling sword fights, which is where the term comes from. Swashbuckling movies are usually easily cleared out because it’s easy to know who the heroes are and who the villain is. Simple? Absolutely, but there’s no denying how much fun there’s to be had with a good swashbuckling movie……except Cutthroat Island.
Be that as it may, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has been the latest resurgence of the swashbuckler genre and perhaps maybe the last of its kind because they’re just simply isn’t a demand for those types of movies anymore. Despite what some might say, the Pirates of the Caribbean series has recently met with diminishing returns from a quality perspective in a larger scale. However, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest is, in my mind, just as good as The Curse of the Black Pearl. This movie is such a strong and wonderful follow up from its predecessor that its kind of baffling why people don’t praise it as much. Granted, it does jumble a lot of story arcs for one to keep track of, hence why it doesn’t feel as tight and as coherent. On the other hand, it epically expounds on its mythology, the action is bigger and more exciting and its own reality is quite immaculate. The special effects and it’s set pieces, particularly with Davy Jones (played tremendously by Bill Nighy) still miraculously holds up.
The first three Pirates of the Caribbean movies, I would argue, serve as one of the better film trilogies that never get discussed. I’m not necessarily putting it on the same level as The Lord of the Rings, the original Star Wars movies, Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy or even something like the Toy Story trilogy. But with The Curse of the Black Pearl, Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End, it really is a remarkable trilogy, and Dead Man’s Chest elevated the series to more fantastical and effervescent aspects. With some big time sequels, it’s often stated that “too much can lead to problems” or “it was bigger and not better.” I would argue that while Dead Man’s Chest is much bigger and scale, it still managed to consistently keep characters in tone with the first, it felt darker and expand the levels of the imagination in this universe. Had At World’s End crossed the billion dollar mark, it would easily make the top 15.
#20 STAR WARS: EPISODE VIII – THE LAST JEDI
Perhaps the most controversial and divisive movie ever produced in the realm of Hollywood, The Last Jedi being brought up in any conversation is going to open a can worms in some parts of the world. The only thing that’s wrong with The Last Jedi is really the toxicity that it created once it hit theaters because leading up to the films release, Star Wars was in a very healthy and positive state of mind. The Force Awakens was a MONSTER hit and people loved Rogue One, but most importantly, the fandom was thriving well or at least it seemed. Even a month before the films debut, Lucasfilm and Disney announced a separate trilogy that Rian Johnson would write the scripts for and potentially could have directed some of them. Normally when things like that get announced before a major release tends to tell us that Disney must have loved with what Johnson made with The Last Jedi. The anticipation for it was also insane, with fans creating a cataclysmic list of speculation and theories. Disney struck gold with releasing a Star Wars movie around December and there’s wasn’t a shadow of doubt that The Last Jedi would be a box office failure. It’s great that The Force Awakens and Rouge One brought back Star Wars but as great as they are, they really felt more of the same and provided some great moments of fan service that series needed. But what every franchise needs a threshold to start something new and while The Last Jedi certainly did that, it’s what created the problem within the fandom.
I know some won’t want hear this but it needs to be said. As much as I can pick out things that don’t work in this movie, The Last Jedi is an astonishing and beautiful piece of Star Wars memorabilia. It did exactly what the franchise needed to do which is what the comic book movie genre has done over the last 10 years. It innovated itself. It challenges your preconceived notions and the expectations that you have with a Star Wars movie. Not everything in it works, but I’d be lying to you if I told you the movie floored me because it did. For example: Luke Skywalker is one of the greatest characters in entertainment history. The arc and performance Mark Hamill gives in this movie is the best he’s ever given as the character. Never has Luke Skywalker been this beautifully empathetic and beautifully performed in any other Star Wars movie and Hamill brings so much nuance and density to the character like never before.
For the newer characters like Rey and Kylo Ren, Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver elevate themselves as performers and the dynamic between the two is one of the best aspects of these new Star Wars movies. From a writing and directing standpoint, The Last Jedi might be the best directed Star Wars movie ever conceived. Getting Rian Johnson on board with this movie was a bold decision and despite what followed with certain fan reactions, it was a fine move and one that Lucasfilm should be proud of. Knowing we’re never going to get that trilogy of his, The Last Jedi is a great example of a franchise embracing a new phase while still being what it’s essentially been for decades and decades.
#19 THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
When looking at a list of the most anticipated movies of all time, The Dark Knight Rises has to be on that list. Almost how The Force Awakens was, The Dark Knight Rises was maybe the most anticipated movie of 2012, over films like The Avengers, Skyfall or the first The Hobbit movie. Plus, not only was it coming off of Christopher Nolan’s previous film in Inception, it was the next chapter in The Dark Knight trilogy following up the events of what some consider to both the greatest comic book movie of all time and one of the greatest movies of all time, The Dark Knight. Even going back to the trailers for The Dark Knight Rises take me back to when the excitement of the movie was increasing every day and minute by minute. Of the movies within my generation of movie going, The Dark Knight Rises was one of the biggest movies to ever be released. I think people’s expectations for this movie were so high that the first thing they said walking out of the theater was “man it wasn’t as good as The Dark Knight.” While it’s not as good as The Dark Knight, I still believe that The Dark Knight Rises is one of the most epic and satisfying conclusions to one of the greatest film trilogies of all time. For being 165 minutes long, every frame, exchange of dialogue or action sequence is some of the most authentic and stunning aspects of the whole series.
The Dark Knight Rises is really about Batman struggling and getting beaten down by tougher odds which makes his performance and character arc one of the best parts of this movie. Bale continues to deliver a great performance as the caped crusader.Bane may not be Heath Ledger’s Joker, but he’s a great physical threat for Batman. Tom Hardy gives such a great and underrated performance as this comic-book villain-by being eloquently spoken but also a serious threat for Batman, both physically and mentally.
The biggest outing for this movie is for being a nice little wrap up by acting as the third film in a trilogy. The only other superhero trilogy that might give these movies a run for its money would probably be the Captain America trilogy, because for trilogies such as Iron Man, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine movies or even the first three Thor movies, theres at least one or two movies within those trilogies that landed well with large groups of people. Each movie in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy was excellence after excellence. Each had great villains, there was stellar work in the performing and world building and what’s probably most important is that Nolan created a rich and grounded world within the comic book movie genre, and The Dark Knight Rises might not be Return of the King status but it’s damn great.
#18 ZOOTOPIA
The biggest question mark with Zootopia is the fact that it made so much money and there was never a sequel green-lit. Disney animated films, no matter what, are a sure bet to be a hit at the box office no matter what time of year it is. They act as a four quandrant movie where the entire family can watch and enjoy. Obviously, there’s going to be kids movies that are primarily targeted at children and not for the older folks. But what’s so odd about the success of Zootopia is that it was the fourth highest grossing movie of 2016, just under Rogue One and Finding Dory. Maybe most of the focus for animated pictures that year went to Finding Dory or Moana, either way, the movie was a hit and deservedly so because it’s brilliant.
Aside from the animals wearing peoples clothes and living the lifestyle of an average individual, Zootopia is a wonderfully written, poignant and clever animated movie, that’s kid friendly with the beautiful animation but underneath the stunning animation is a story that’s deeply social and as relevant to modern culture than ever before. The mind of a child won’t adjust to the deeper subtexts and social analogies it’s making but what’s so unique is about the film is the style of the animation and the humor that’s aimed at kids will keep them engaged the entire time. It’s mainly why I place Zootopia as one of Disney’s finest pieces of work in the modern stages of animation.
The voice work in Zootopia is another aspect that makes this movie work even more because the actors voice fits the style and persona of the animal. Jason Bateman’s voice naturally fits the very nature of a sly Fox, Ginnifer Goodwin gives a bubbly personality for a bunny and even Idris Elba’s style of acting fits voicing an African buffalo. You never have to rush out and grab big names for the sake of animated movie, even though it’s marketing strategy, but for Zootopia it’s an exception. I’ve never been a fan of the animated feature category at Oscars but this movie deserved it that year.
#17 JOKER
There’s a list of actors that would never tie down to a franchise deal or a bigger and much more profiled movie. Joaquin Phoenix is one of those actors. Phoenix was, at one point, listed as one of the possible actors to play Doctor Strange, before it eventually went to Benedict Cumberbatch and the rest is history. Joaquin Phoenix is one of the worlds finest and most talented actors in the business and even if he never took on a franchise role, he will always be remembered as an actor for playing dark and unconventional characters in independent films. When it was announced that Warner Bros. was planning on making an “origin story” about one entertainments most famous villains in the Joker, Joaquin Phoenix agreed to take on the role and the film world community inherently knew that this was going to be something special. What also became something unique was having Todd Phillips as the studios choice for the films director. Granted, Phillips is known for his work in comedy, so approaching this movie as character study from the crown prince of crime.
Suffice to say, Joker paid out very well on all accounts and what’s incredibly shocking about Joker is that this it’s the type of film that never should have been a billion dollar hit based on it’s subject matter. Take a film like Schindler’s List. Maybe one of Spielberg’s best movies but a movie about the Holocaust isn’t going to recall for repeat viewings. Schindler’s List is the kind of movie you’d see and never see again because it’s deep and very unsettling. Joker is a movie dealing with mental disorders, psychological unstableness and many other deep topics, yet word of mouth on this movie was so strong and so high that it went on to open huge on its opening weekend and went on to make a billion dollars. It became a spark in pop culture to the point where it didn’t matter where you stood on comic-book movies. To be a part of the conversation, you needed to rush out and see Joker.
Where does Joaquin Phoenix’s performance as the Joker stand with Heath Ledger’s? Honestly, it’s hard to say because while they’re both playing the same character, the tone, study and essence of their performance are radically different from one another. Ledger’s was more a personification of complete chaos and anarchy, while channeling in a visual representation of the character from the comics. Phoenix’s is a look at someone who suffers from severe mental disorders, anxiety and complete brokenness, who then becomes a villainous and terrifying figure. Who gave the better performance? Well, then it’s a really a matter of opinion. Needless to say, both can stand toe to toe with another and the success of Joker is quite extraordinary.
#16 CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR
Out of all the Captain America movies, Civil War will always be my favorite. I know a lot of people want to throw at The Winter Solider as their favorite, and there’s no really no controversial argument to be had about that, but Civil War to me is that did so much more and impressed me more. The jumbling around of new characters, whether it’s Black Panther and Spider-Man, yet still feels like a Captain America movie at it’s heart. Aside from that, each character is utilized well and each get their proper moments of development. Maybe the best and most substantial aspect that makes it my favorite Captain America movie is that it’s really the first MCU movie that dives into the consequences that the Avengers have to deal with after stopping a global disaster from happening. This is a topic that really started to make the fore front in the genre around this time of its release and the MCU nailed it with this movie. You get both sides of the coin. Whether your team Cap or team Iron Man, both sides are presented incredibly well.
For this to feel like an Avengers movie, yet still inherently a Captain America movie is the primary reason why this is my favorite Captain America movie. It was devastating to see these character get separated, especially between Tony and Steve. The fight at the airport was spectacular, but the real fight for me was the finale with Tony, Steve and Bucky. Watching that scene happen really was an awakening on how ouch I’ve grown to love these characters that seeing them beating the hell out of each other broke my heart. The Russo Brothers crushed it with The Winter Solider but their follow up with Civil War was even better and that’s because each character in this movie were properly staged, utilized and organically intertwined with the narrative. You get why certain characters side with Steve or Tony, and it’s effective layer on conflict that makes it a compelling story to watch. Sure, it’s got terrific action set pieces, but the characters, political intrigue and human drama in this MCU chapters was really powerful stuff.
Arguably, the best performance I’d give my support towards more than anyone else in this is not Chris Evans. Its Robert Downey Jr. His overall performance in this film is maybe the best he’s ever given as the genius billionaire playboy because we really seem him come even more to terms with who he is and what the Avengers are fully capable of. His performance encompasses someone who wants to do what’s right, even if it means he has to take drastic measures. From Iron Man 3 and to Civil War, Downey’s performance was staggeringly becoming more and more beautifully empathetic and the relationship he has with Chris Evans is one of the best things about the MCU. Is Captain America: Civil War Avengers 2.5?? Nah. As stated earlier, this is at its crux Steve Roger’s movie.
#15 JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM
I’m prepared for that hate for having this movie this high up on this list, but y’all can come at me all you want. I’ve got my gloves on and I’m ready to tussle. I think so many people sleep on how great this movie is and the best way to describe it is by comparing the Jurassic World movies with the new Star Wars movies. The first movie, Jurassic World (The Force Awakens) is retreating familiar ground and really banking on nostalgia by bringing a director that feels like a safe choice. Its sequel, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (The Last Jedi) takes the franchise in a complete new direction that rubs fans the wrong way to the point where they feel alienated, therefore toxicity emerges. Then the third film, Jurassic World: Dominion (The Rise of Skywalker), the capping stone to end the trilogy, sort discouragingly ignores the film before it and acts more as an apology letter and more of a direct sequel from the very first movie. Even as someone who enjoys all of these films from each franchise, it’s hard to not see the strong comparisons that they embarrassingly have. Nevertheless, I think Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is a straight up masterpiece that’s the best film in the franchise since the first Jurassic Park.
Over the last four years since the release of this movie, I’ll never understand the hate this movie gets because it perfectly illustrates the ferocious of dinosaurs and man’s destruction with the invasion of their ecosystem, which is thematically what this entire franchise has been about. It was appropriate for Jurassic World to feel more of the same because no matter what some will say about The Lost World or Jurassic Park III, they met with diminishing returns and they were retreading familiar ground. Jurassic World almost camouflaged itself as both a sequel and a reboot simultaneously, but if you want your new trilogy of movies to succeed and thrive well, some hard swings and risks need to be done and that’s exactly what Fallen Kingdom did, at least for me.
Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom is the best Jurassic Park movie since the first one. It’s darker, visually stunning, more intense and plays in to the foolishness and greediness of humanity, something that the sequels and even Jurassic World weremissing. Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom is also a straight up monster movie once we get to it’s final act. J.A. Bayona offers a variety of haunting and beautiful images and visuals to illustrates the ferocious of dinosaurs and man’s destruction with the invasion of their ecosystem.
#14 TOY STORY 3
In this list, we’ve talked about the greatest trilogies. The original Star Wars, Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight movies, the first Indiana Jones adventures and especially The Lord of the Rings trilogy. What a lot of people will throw in that mixture of trilogies would be the first three Toy Story movies. What’s even more interesting is that there have only been three animated movies that ever got a Best Picture nomination. Beauty and the Beast, UP and Toy Story 3. I know we got another Toy Story adventure (more that real soon 👀), but as far as trilogies go and final installments within that trilogy, Toy Story 3 could not have ended this series better. Each Toy Story movie are home runs because the characters are so great and the capturing of what it’s like to be a child and the ideas of growing up. Within the context of the first three films, Toy Story 3 is the best of the bunch because it felt as a poetic love letter to the generation of people who grew up with these films and had to say goodbye to certain things.
Each Pixar movie, in its own right, has a great deal of emotion, which is why they’ve resonated with so many people for almost 30 years. The sense of adventure, comedy, stellar animation and the the powerful emotional crux of this movie has always been one of Pixar’s strengths. The entire portion of Toy Story 3 is phenomenal but its those final moments that everyone discusses. Seeing Andy giving all his old toys away to Bonnie, as he then drives off to start a new life at college is one of the most heartbreaking and flooring moment in any Pixar movie ever made. It’s not just a moment of sadness, but it embarks on this idea of saying goodbye to things that you once grew up on. What’s really fascinating about Toy Story 3 is that it has a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, and what that tells me is that there’s 2% of people in the world that have no soul.
#13 TOY STORY 4
As we alluded to it earlier, Toy Story 3 wrapped up everything so nicely that it became a bog question mark that Pixar was making another one. A few years ago, Collider had the director of Toy Story 4, Josh Cooley, on as a guest to talk about the movie and discuss how it actually came to be a real thing. The entire conversation they had started to cure any kind of apprehension I had because whenever it came to Toy Story sequels, Pixar crushed it single time. Plus, the folks at Pixar only wanted to tell another Toy Story movie if there was something special to tell. To think that this franchise couldn’t have ended any better, Toy Story 4 put that apprehension to sleep by wrapping up this story in a beautiful way that I never thought was possible.
Where Toy Story one, two and three were the story of Andy and his journey with Woody, Toy Story 4 is the culmination of Woody’s story now that Andy is no longer in the picture. The only downside for Toy Story 4 is some of the supporting characters from Buzz, Jesse and so forth get a bit of a back seat pass. They’re definitely featured in the movie and give an extra layer of heart and charm but the real focus of the movie was Woody, and in that case, the movie really excels because it had a primal focus. It never tried to convolute itself or be a jumbling mess with wrapping up the entire Toy Story lineage. It told it’s story organically and continued that powerful theme of saying goodbye, but also acting as a movie where it tells us that no matter what you’ll always be important. That’s what really makes a great Pixar movie so universally beloved. The provide beautifully crafted visuals and humor that kids can eat up, but underneath that is also something rich, deep and moving. Toy Story 4 is tackling themes of existentialism, coupled with the ideas of is one relevant anymore.
Do we need a Toy Story 5? Probably not but I think everyone was concerned about Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4 and look how both of those films turned out. Pixar, at this point, is moving forward with original movies for the time being, but if they ever wanted to continue doing more stories in the Toy Story world, I’d be down for that.
#12 AVENGERS: INFINTIY WAR
On the heels of Avengers: Infinity War, it was already overwhelming because it was the first time in the MCU history where every single character (almost) in this universe would be on screen together. Iron Man, Star Lord, Doctor Strange and even Black Panther would all be featured in the same movie. Maybe not in the same scenes, but it was a litmus test for the MCU. This is what the entire saga has been building towards by teasing out the whole franchise but focusing on individual movies first in hopes that audiences will love these characters, and sure enough they have and the success of this movie should tell you that. My first experience with Infinity War is one I’ll never forget. The ending of this movie broke my heart, stressed me and filled me with so much anxiety. I was really in awe with what the MCU had become at that point and how much I’ve grown with these characters for most of my life.
The best thing that the MCU delivered with this movie is something they desperately needed and that was having a terrific and compelling villain. You had Loki, Killmonger and Vulture the majority of MCU movies had lackluster villains. Thanos, being briefly teased at first hand at the end of The Avengers and several other movies afterwards, proved to not only be the MCU’s best villain but one of the best villains ever put to screen. Josh Brolin delivers a hauntingly beautiful performance as a mid titan and the special effects done for his motion capture was beyond impressive. This was also the first MCU movie where the villain of the movie was the main character of the movie. It starts with Thanos and ends with Thanos, which was jarring to some people, but it’s because we’re so used to superhero movies ending with the good guys winning. Infinity War flips that around and that’s why the ending of the movie shattered our souls. Being in an auditorium and hearing the gasps in the air when some of our favorite characters get dusted away is something that I will remember for the rest of my life.
Each time an MCU movie came out, it becomes a cultural event for everyone. These movies have been ingrained with the overall movie going public that it became essential for you to see it. Infinity War was something different that MCU accomplished and while it is overwhelming with the amount of characters that are in thus movie, it still nails it.
#11 AVENGERS: ENDGAME
I’m going to be completely honest and say between Infinity War and Endgame, Infinity War is the better made and structured movie. But let’s call it like we see it, Avengers: Endgame is one of the greatest cinematic conclusions to any film ever made in the history of Hollywood. There was no way in hell that the movie would disappoint the world, solely based on how the previous Avengers movie ended. You had to see how things would end because of the ending of Infinity War was telling you that you have to see the next chapter, and just like Infinity War, the marketing for Endgame was insane.
The 10 year build up this movie is one that delivered on every single level and what makes Endgame really special is that it’s much more character focused than action focused. It’s definitely got great spectacle, particularly the final hour of this movie which is maybe the greatest hour in any MCU movie. But what makes more than just a great summer blockbuster is that it’s a lot more character focused because of the emotional investment we have with all the characters that have been developed in the MCU. Whether its the Russo brothers or Kevin Feige, what this movie succeeded at is something we haven’t experienced in ages. Had you told me that after the first Iron Man that we’re going to get a movie where Captain America yields Thor’s hammer and Iron Man, Cap and Thor take on the mad titan Thanos in a three way battle, I’d tell you you’re crazy. There’s tons of fan service moments in this movie, absolutely but those fan service moments were earned because of the quality the MCU has put out.
Words can’t even begin to describe how much this movie means to me. The timing of this movie was so perfectly placed and I remember the night I saw it for the very first time. The stakes, the emotion and everything that this was building up is probably something I’ll never experience ever again.
#10 THE LION KING (1994)
The best animated film to ever hit the billion dollar club is, of course, the original The Lion King. The one film that, to some, isn’t just the best Disney animated movie. It’s held as the best animated film in the history of the genre. When The Little Mermaid came out, Disney struck a nerve within the mindset of audiences because it’s often referred to as the one that kicked off the era of the Disney Renaissance. This Renaissance became a historic moment for Disney because the films before it were struggling to be successful. But when get got to The Little Mermaid and the 90s, Disney was striking gold with each animated film they put out. Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Tazran and Mulan, just to name a few. However, the one that will stand the test of time more and the one that might be the most culturally relevant animated film is without a doubt The Lion King.
Films like Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin are great and both have tremendous music, characters and magical storytelling, but The Lion King has something that’s a bit more of an advantage and that’s it well feel less dated year after year because there’s no humans. We get the concept of the time and place with Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin, based on the historical, yet fictionalized setting. The Lion King could take place today, 500 years in the future or before human beings ever walked the face of the Earth, and it’ll still feel ageless. But maybe that little ingredient of this movie that became a cultural awakening are the songs. From “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King”, “Be Prepared”, “Hakuna Matata”, and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight”, the songs in this movie bring back so many fond memories from the first viewing and tug on those heartstrings. Aside from that, the actual music composed by Hans Zimmer might be some of the best music from any animated film ever.
Another piece of the puzzle that makes The Lion King stand out is its villain, Scar, voiced perfectly by Jeremy Irons. Every single villain before, from Jafar, Ursula, Maleficent or Claude Frollo, were all undoubtably bad and scene stealers. The one thing Scar has over the other ones is a Shakespearian quality, which makes sense considering the movie is based off of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Scar traumatized an entire generation of people by killing the main character’s father in front of our eyes, and it’s especially one of Disney’s most heartbreaking moments. His violent actions, motivations and tragic vibes makes him, by far and away, Disney’s best developed villains.
The 90s era of Disney animated movies was probably a great time to be alive and as far as I’m concerned, the most recent “live-action” remake of The Lion King stands well up against the original work and it’s because this world, characters and music will never get old.
#9 THE DARK KNIGHT
There’s no beating around the bush. This is one of the best movies of all time. Period. End of discussion. There’s no argument to be had. This isn’t just one of the best comic book movies ever. The Dark Knight is one of the greatest achievements in filmmaking by going beyond what kind of comic book movie can do with storytelling, direction and every other filmmaking technique that goes into making a groundbreaking picture. The fact that this movie never got a Best Picture nomination is ludicrous because the impact this movie had is why the Academy expanded the Best Picture nominees from five movies to ten. Had it come out the following year, you can bet your sweet bottom dollar that this movie gets in that list. Aside from the well deserved win for Heath Ledger, this movie deserved so much more from the Academy. Nevertheless, The Dark Knight is regarded very highly in the comic book movie genre, and who could blame them.
What’s there to be said about the performance from Heath Ledger that hasn’t been said already? It’s heartbreaking knowing that Heath Ledger is no longer with us, but what a performance he left us with. His take on the Joker is a performance that has set such a precedent for roles in movies like this, and for movies in general. Whenever a comic book movie that comes out that features a great villain, people’s instant reaction is to compare it to Heath Ledger’s Joker. Heck, he’s even joined himself in the pantheon of cinemas greatest villains from Darth Vader, Hannibal Lector and even Has Gruber. This is a performance for the ages that will inspire a brand new generation of actors.Everything else in this movie is magnificent. From the excellent performances from Bale, Eckhart, Oldman and even Freeman. The spectacular and unforgettable set pieces and the overall entertainment package in this movie makes it more than a mature summer blockbuster.
It’s great to get comic book movies that take its work a bit more seriously and elevate the material to make it transcend the genre. The Dark Knight is definitely one of those movies because it can also be looked at as a great crime movie and even a powerful drama. The entire package of Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy is important for a reason, but it’s The Dark Knight that’s the best of the bunch.
#8 JURASSIC PARK
Out of Steven Spielberg’s movies, you have great Spielberg movies and then you have great movies directed by Spielberg. Films like Schindler’s List, Lincoln or Munich are great movies made by Spielberg. Jaws, E.T., Raider of the Lost Ark and Jurassic Park are great Spielberg movies. Jurassic Park is the birth stone for advancement in special effects and it inspired George Lucas to get started with moving ahead with his Star Wars prequels. It’s also one of Spielberg’s best movies. Like any great summer spectacle, Jurassic Park offers wonderful and superb spectacle and scenes of terror and intensity, but also being driven by heart, character and passion. Not only that, this easily one of the best studio funded tent poles of any era because like many great Spielberg films like Jaws, Jurassic Park is predominantly focused on character, with the dinosaurs serving more as the visual background. However, the dinosaurs are as much of a character in this movie as Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler and Ian Malcolm are.
The relationship Spielberg has with his own movies is something else, but his relationship with composerJohn Williams is maybe the best of all time. There’s a reason why John Williams is the greatest film composes of all time and that’s because each of his scores can hummed and whistled and people will instantly know what it’s from. Williams has this great ability to create music that naturally flow with in this fictions world. His music feels like a character in the movie and can capture the essence of the entire movie. Whenever you go to the the Jurassic World location over at Universal Studios, they play the music surrounding that one part at the park and even that music, alone, takes you back to this world and makes you feel like you’re part of this journey.
Among all the great spectacle and arousing music, Jurassic Park also offers some great character work with each actor. We see Alan Grant’s passion for not wanting to have a family to then having a heart by actually being a father figure he never though he’d be with Tim and Lex. Sam Neil really does a remarkable job in this movie. Then we have Laura Dern, whose as tough as nails, strong minded and she’s underrated in this for how much of a bad ass she is in this movie. Jeff Goldblum is such an odd and weird choice for an action hero, but oddly enough his probably the best part of the whole movie. He’s basically this cool, snarky mathematician who basically pokes out the fallacies with the idea of keeping dinosaurs in cages.
Jurassic Park is a movie that speaks for so many people, especially the generation who grew up with it. Where the sequels (for a good portion) went down a different path and made them more action films and drew more on the spectacle (except for the masterpiece that is Fallen Kingdom), the first one is undoubtably the best one in the entire franchise and serves as an inspiration for rising filmmakers.
#7 THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING
There are many great films and then there are films that go beyond greatness. I contend that with all the The Lord of the Rings film, Return of the King is not only the best one, this is maybe one of the most important films ever made. At 76th Academy Awards, it won every single awards it was nominated for, including Best Picture, tying with 1959’s Ben-Hur and 1997’s Titanic as the movie with the most Academy Award wins. Return of the King is not only one of the most influential films, but it might be the greatest achievement in film. The conclusion with Peter Jackson’s trilogy is one of the most beautiful and epically made movies in the fantasy genre by wrapping every single arc with satisfaction. Whether we’re talking about the theatrical release or the extended cut, Return of the King leaves a resounding impact on you that sticks with you forever.
We can go on and on about the visual effects work in this movie because its tremendous work. By combining practical effects and the power of CGI, Return of the King offers a scale of epic fantasy storytelling that we haven’t seen in recent time. The scope of the battles, the character moments all coupled with Howard Shores’s gorgeous music make everything in this movie a credit to what Peter Jackson set out from Fellowship, by all honoring the work of Tolkien by bringing his world that he created to light in one of the best adaptations ever put to screen.
This might be a hot take, but as far as conclusions to trilogies go, Return of the King did it better for Lord of the Rings than Return of the Jedi did for Star Wars. Full disclosure: I love Return of the Jedi and it’s a movie I’ll watch more frequently because of my love and passion for that franchise. Be that as it may, Return of the King does something more grand and more exquisitely than Return of the Jedi did. As great as Return of the Jedi, Return of the King is a superior film and while it does have ten different endings, it’s no contest.
#6 STAR WARS: EPISODE VII – THE FORCE AWAKENS
When it comes to the Disney era of Star Wars, something we all were dubious about when they purchased Lucasfilm, The Force Awakens has every other movie beat by a lot. Rogue One is great, Last Jedi is very subversive and different. Heck, even Solo was a total blast. But the way I see it and as much as The Force Awakens was retreading a lot of what we’ve already seen in this universe, it was exactly what it needed to be and it succeeded in spades. When it comes to anticipation, I, personally, would rather go back in time to when we were gearing up for the release of The Force Awakens over Avengers: Endgame for several reasons. The first reason is that it was freaking Star Wars, but maybe the most important reason is that prior to the release of The Force Awakens, there was zero toxicity within in the fandom. In 2015, Star Wars was in a much healthier and thriving state of mind because the whole world was collectively excited to be back in this world. While it had been ten years since Revenge of the Sith, it’s been about thirty years since the ending of Return of the Jedi and the fact we were going to see a brand new continuation off of that movie was thrilling.
Another reason for why my excitement for The Force Awakens was so high is that it was set to be the first Star Wars to be released around Christmas. When you think of Star Wars, you automatically think of a big summer release, which makes sense when every other film in the franchise came out in the summer. Knowing how big the market of Christmas has become over the last ten years, it now makes sense for a movie like The Force Awakens to open up around the time when everyone is off work and home from school. Suffice to say, the holiday season of 2015 was all set for The Force Awakens to wipe out the entire month and to no surprise to anyone, it blew the doors right open.
Why does The Force Awakens work so well for me? Well, I think bringing J.J. Abrams on board, whose a more traditional and standard director, was the right move because created a very comforting and highly entertaining experience that, again, embarked on nostalgia but also created new characters with Rey, Finn, Poe and Kylo Ren. We could go on all day how Lucasfilm botched the sequel trilogy by never having a plan with the three movies, but before The Force Awakens nobody had that complaint. The Force Awakens brought, arguably, the greatest film franchise of all time and it was a great time to be a Star Wars fan. Nowadays, people trash the new Star Wars films because Disney “screwed up everything”, but before all that it was simpler times.
#5 THE AVENGERS
There are so many movie moments that I can sit back and think about wanting to relive all over again. The one scene in The Avengers that sticks out acts as a one shot where we each individual Avengers character fighting in New York at the end of the movie is one that has stuck with me ever since I saw it the years ago. There’s also that beautiful 360 shot of the Avengers standing in a circle as a they get ready to fight Loki’s army, coupled with Alan Silvestri’s epic music. The Avengers, I believe, is the soul foundation of the MCU and is the golden standard and what came after, not only for the MCU, but for the comic book movie genre. Had this movie failed and never lived up to the expectations that it promised, we never would have got any more Avengers movies, Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Panther or even something as obscure as Ant-Man. Even with Iron Man, Thor or Captain America: The First Avenger (all great movies by the way), the MCU hadn’t really formed it true identity yet because they were slowly and gradually building upon each other and approaching their characters and world very differently. It was when we got to The Avengers where the identity started to feel more prominent and its identity was found in each MCU movie going forward.
To see these characters interact for the first time was really a marvelous accomplishment (no pun). Each character is perfectly placed to this ensemble that makes it their own movie in some capacity. What makes The Avengers an even better MCU movie than some others is that it solidified Tom Hiddleston’s Loki as one of the franchises best characters and the best villain, at the time. There’s a big reason why Thor: The Dark World did reshoots and that’s why the character of Loki is one of the best characters the MCU has ever had and Hiddleston delivers a charismatic and enjoyable performance.
Most people today will have Civil War, The Winter Solider, Black Panther or the last two Avengers movies as their favorite MCU movie, and while I don’t have any real issue with that, they all should bow down and kneel before The Avengers for being the essential landmark for the entire MCU. From the music, the epic battle in New York and everything else about this movie makes one of the best movies of it’s kind.
#4 TITANIC
It’s always fascinating to go back and read stories about how many people had zero faith in the success of Titanic. The studio invested a lot of money in this film and at time it was the most expensive more ever produced at a budget of $200 million. Both Leonard DiCaprio and Kate Winslet were not the the stars they are today and even with his successful James Cameron’s career was, there’s was a lot of doubt about this movie ever being a huge hit. Titanic even started off on its opening weekend with $28 million and when you take into account its production budget, that’s not a great start. One thing that will be addressed about Titanic (and another movie with blue people that will be mentioned momentarily) is that you can never doubt the mind of James Cameron. This is the man who brought us Aliens, Terminator and T2, and he struck gold again with the best romance movie ever made in Titanic. I adore this movie but what I find fascinating is that I think some people sleep on how good this is.
For a movie like Titanic to clock in at over three hours, the movie never misses a beat for the entire length. With a movie of this pace and its delicate balance at being a love story and also a disaster film, Titanic is one of those few modern epic films where it completely drains you, which all stems down to the beautiful and heartwarming chemistry Leonard DiCaprio and Kate Winslet have in this film. If you were to sit back and think of the most powerful movie couples, what would come to mind? Some might say Jennifer Grey and Patrick Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing, Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta from Grease or Meg Ryan and Bill Crystal from When Harry Met Sally. I’m not throwing in Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling from The Notebook, even if it is the best of the Nicholas Sparks movies. Leonard DiCaprio and Kate Winslet completely seal the deal as the greatest on screen romance of all time. It’s the best there ever was and it has yet to be matched.
#3 TOP GUN: MAVERICK
When COVID first hit the U.S., things were looking dubious for movie theaters. They were practically closed for all of 2020, even if there was reduced capacity and other restrictions. We then started to see 2021 show some solid opening numbers with films like Shang-Chi, Venom: Let There Be Carnage and especially Spider-Man: No Way Home, and as much I believe we are back to normalcy with movie going, there was still a handful of movies that got delayed because of the pandemic. In the age of streaming, a lot of big movies were getting that treatment or they kept getting delayed. Top Gun: Maverick, originally had a release date somewhere in July of 2019, but moved over to 2020 to avoid competition with the live-action Lion King. It then had to shift dates again to December 2020, because of the pandemic. Then another shift to July 2021, November 2021 before it finally set a date for memorial day weekend of 2022, but before all the release dates changes, there probably was talk of putting Top Gun: Maverick on a streaming platform. For movies like Top Gun: Maverick, Dune, No Time to Die or Spider-Man: No Way Home, these types of movies can’t sit on the shelve forever because of the amount of money invested in them. The theatrical business is much more well suited for these projects, instead of dumping them on a streaming service and the studios know that.
The year of 2022 has shown that movies belong at the theaters with films Multiverse of Madness, Sonic 2 and The Batman smashing box office records. With Top Gun: Maverick, people automatically assumed it would be a hit, but not a billion dollar hit or let alone Tom Cruise’s biggest film. The opening weekend numbers for Top Gun: Maverick is not the story (even though its crazy that its Cruise’s first movie to open to $100 million), it’s the legs at it had the box office. Even this Labor Day, Top Gun: Maverick was battling it out for the #1 or #2 against the rerelease of Spider-Man: No Way Home with $5-$7 million in its 16th week at the box office. Even in the pre-COVID era, none of the other bigger movies were having this kind of success. You could say something like Avengers: Endgame, but the difference is that while people kept going back, most of the world went to go see it within those first two or three weeks. Plus, the drops were bigger than Top Gun: Maverick‘s and the success that it’s had is telling us that everyone is going to see this again and again.
Money aside, Top Gun: Maverick is maybe the best blockbuster we’ve ever had in YEARS. Money never determines quality, however, the repeat business this movie has had speaks so well to the positive word of mouth surrounding it. It’s also, arguably, one of the most perfectly structured sequels in Hollywood history, but the entire construction of this movie is the body of the perfect summer blockbuster. It’s an emotional, character driven, thoughtful and exciting crowd pleaser with some of the best action set pieces that filmmaking has to offer. From Zimmer incredible music, the spectacular aerial sequences and a finale that sweeps up right off your feet, Top Gun: Maverick is a special moment for the theatrical business. Not only was it bringing younger people, it brought the generation who grew up with the original film. No movie in the post COVID era has been able to do that, except for Maverick himself.
#2 AVATAR
Avatar has been the highest grossing movie for many years for good reasons, yet you never really hear many people bring it up in conversation anymore. People talk about Avengers, Star Wars, Titanic and even Harry Potter as some of the films that have joined the billion dollar club, but hardly any attention goes to Avatar. It’s almost unreal that the first Avatar was released thirteen years ago and we’re now getting that long awaited sequel that James Cameron has been promising us. But why does Avatar not get the praise that it used to get? Why do people suddenly trash on it year after year? Has it become popular to hate on this movie? It’s all subjective, sure, and maybe there’s people out there that aren’t in love with Avatar like some others are. To those who sleep on how good Avatar is, you’re missing out on of the most enthralling pieces of modern science fiction storytelling that’s made from the man himself, James Cameron.
Funny enough, Avatar didn’t open to a monstrous number when it first came out. On its opening weekend, Avatar made $77 million, which is a solid opening if your movie didn’t cost as much as Avatar did. But like what we’re seeing with Top Gun: Maverick, Avatar had some of the smallest box office drops week after week that it ultimately became part of the pop culture zeitgeist. It was the word of mouth it had because of revolutionary the special effects were and how much people were in awe of it’s spectacle. You could say the biggest criticism of Avatar is that it borrowed narrative aspects from films like Dances With Wolves, Pocahontas or FernGully and while it’s noticeable the recycled narrative it has, Avatar still has enough great merit and substance that a lot of people overlook. If you strip away the incredible visuals, there’s a great sense of conflict and character in the movie that doesn’t get the credit it deserves. We don’t remember Avatar for the performances, but Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana give solid performances.
That said, the special effects in this movie are unprecedented, even over a decade later. The world building of Pandora, the conversion of IMAX and 3D and the entire scope of this movie was meant to be experienced on the biggest screen possible. It looses that impact when watching it at home, but seeing this movie in the treatment that it was meant for was magical. There’s a scene in this movie where Jake Sully, as his avatar character, has to bond with this flying creature called a banshee and claim it as own. He struggles to get on top of it and when he finally starts flying he’s still struggling maintain it in the sky. He then angrily shouts at the banshee saying “Shut up and fly straight” and we then see Jake soar in the highest parts of Pandora by digesting the entire scope of this movie from the air. From a character and visual perspective, it’s maybe the best scene out of the whole movie and it truly embarks on the enchantment this movie has.
There’s an entire generation of people that missed out on seeing Avatar in theaters, but thankfully in just a matter of weeks, the film is getting a rerelease to start gearing the marketing train for The Way of Water later this December. Nevertheless, Avatar is a groundbreaking and marvelous science fiction adventure that is a well deserved slot for the highness grossing movie of all time.
#1 SKYFALL
The year of 2012 is a year that I remember fondly because of how many anticipated movies came out that year. The most famous one is probably The Dark Knight Rises, but I remember how jazzed people were when The Avengers was gearing up for its release. However, my excitement for Skyfall was astronomical to the point where I almost needed to see a doctor. Heck, even last year, my excitement for No Time to Die was extremely reminiscent of my hype for Skyfall, which should tel you everything about my love for the James Bond franchise. Daniel Craig, to this day, has been the best and my favorite actor is 007 that despite the lackluster response we get from Quantum of Solace, Craig’s first go in Casino Royale provided so much good will and potential for his entire run as the character. Nowadays, I go back and forth on SKyfall and Casino Royale as my favorite Bond film of all time. Both are great, but they both carry Bond in different styles that still get the quintessential aspects of the character. Something that Skyfall has over Casino Royale by a smidge is it’s spectacle and darkening style of Bond.
The action and set pieces in Casino Royale are magnificent, but thanks to Roger Deakin’s stunning cinematography, Skyfall is a sleeker and flawless visual masterpiece. The second thing that Skyfall has slightly over Casino Royale are its opening titles. There’s something about the title of Skyfall that speaks as an eloquent and powerful painting that encompasses more of the history with Daniel Craig’s era as Bond.Skyfall has, unquestionably, one of the best villains in the entire franchise in Javier Bardem’s Raoul Silva. It’s on par with Mads Mikkelsen without a doubt. What’s so great about Skyfall is that darkens the world of Bond but reformulates the conjectures that older audiences have.
The problem with James Bond movies is that the younger generation doesn’t really care about the franchise as older audiences do. It’s a sad realization but it totally makes sense if you really think about it. James Bond, as a character, is a product of the Cold War and each movie, arguably, hinges on some aspect of the time period. A good espionage movie can have the right ingredients for success, but with all this talk about redefining James Bond again, it’s really puzzling how they can continue the character again with a completely different actor. I’m sure it will be done and I have confidence that the studio will find the perfect actor to play a new era of James Bond movies. That being said, they sure do have some big shoes to fill because Craig has now become a staple as James Bond. From the spectacular action, the riveting score, some solid humor and a terrific performance from Daniel Craig, Skyfall is simply one of the best.
Zane's take at the Cinema's 