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Note: I only chose 9 films because I couldn't decide on a 10th, the 10th is between 2 different Alien films
Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
The first film of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Ring Trilogy has been my personal favorite for about eight years. Following Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) as he is tasked with delivering a mysterious ring to the Elves of Rivendell. That long trek becomes even longer when he volunteers to take the ring to Mordor, the land of the Dark Lord, so it can be destroyed. My family usually does a rewatch of the trilogy twice a year, once during Christmas and another during a random part of the year when we feel up to it. I did get to see the whole trilogy in theaters because the Cinemark showed it a bunch this summer.
Twister (1996)
Jan de Bont’s Twister is another childhood favorite, following storm chaser Jo Harding (Helen Hunt) and her soon-to-be ex-husband Bill Harding (Bill Paxton) as they attempt to launch their tornado data-gathering device before their rival and ex-partner Jonas Miller (Cary Elwes) can beat them with their stolen technology. Personally, I like watching Twister whenever it gets really stormy because usually, it cannot get worse than the F5 in the movie. I did get to see this one in theaters Summer 2022 at my local theater’s summer classics series.
Joyland (2019)
This film follows the Rana family in Lahore, Pakistan. Haider (Ali Junejo), the youngest son of the family falls into infatuation with his coworker Biba (Alina Khan), a transgender dancer at the erotic theater he secretly works at. While his wife, Mumatz (Rasti Farooq), is forced to quit her job to become a mother, a position she loathes. Slowly, Haider and Mumtaz grow apart, their situations begin to worsen. The film was initially banned in Pakistan until being released with some cut scenes a few months later. I got lucky enough to see this one in theaters earlier this year.
The Fall (2006)
Tarsem Singh’s feature film debut, The Fall, is honestly one of the best films you’ve never seen. Initially released in 2006, it spent 2 years on the market before getting a small theater release and an even smaller dvd release. Starring Lee Pace as Roy Walker, a hospitalized 1920s Hollywood stuntman, the film tells a story within a story. The first story is that of Roy and Alexandria, a young girl from the hospital’s children’s ward. The second story is the tale of the Blue Bandit that Roy tells Alexandria. These two stories intertwine, influencing each other through perception and emotion. Shot across 24 different countries, The Fall recently earned a 4k remaster and streaming deal with Mubi.
Dhoom 2 (2006)
A personal favorite of the Dhoom trilogy, Dhoom 2 centers three Indian police officers Jai Dixit (Abhishek Bachchan), Ali Bose (Uday Chopra), and Sonali Bose (Bipasha Basu) as they attempt to catch world-renowned thief ‘Mr. A’ (Hrithik Roshan) and his new partner Sunehri (Aishwarya Rai). This task leads them to Rio de Janeiro, where anyone could be Mr. A, master of disguise. This is definitely my go-to Indian film, mostly because it’s a bit silly and not absolutely heartbreaking like some of my other favorites.
The Harder They Fall (2021)
British Songwriter The Bullitts’ (Jeymes Samuel) feature film debut released in 2021, about 60 years after Hollywood’s golden age of westerns, tells a fictionalized story of real people from the American West. The story centers Nat Love (Jonathan Majors), whose family was killed by notorious gangster Rufus Buck (Idris Elba) and his gang. Now twenty years later, Love has killed all of Buck’s gang except Buck himself, who had been in prison for a number of years until being freed recently. Both Buck and Love begin gathering allies, itching to take the other out first. The soundtrack for this film is one of my all-time favorites, and this film is one of the few Westerns where the whole principle cast is all black.
Blinded by the Light (2019)
Objectively, the biggest reason I like this film is because I’m a Bruce Springsteen fan. This coming-of-age film based on the life of journalist Sarfraz Manzoor was one of my top 4 for a bit. Following Javed (Vivek Kalra) through his high school years in the British town of Luton, being one of the only South Asian students and constantly at odds with his immigrant father. Slowly, Javed finds understanding of both others and himself through the music of Bruce Springsteen. To be honest, this movie is just okay, in my opinion, I do really like Bruce Springsteen, so that’s an additional star.
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
The fourth film in the Mad Max franchise, Fury Road follows Max Rockatansky, who is captured by Warlord Immortan Joe only to get caught up in the chase for Imperator Furiosa and Immortan Joe’s wives. The film is fast-paced and frankly beautiful in a lot of ways, i don’t have much to say about it because it’s the type of thing you have to see for yourself. A prequel for this film came out earlier in 2024, called Furiosa, another really good one that I would definitely recommend.
Godzilla King of the Monsters (2019)
The second Godzilla film from the Monsterverse franchise is a personal favorite in the sense that it isn’t really good, but I love the vfx. Most of the movie concerns the humans and their issues but the roughly 30 minutes of just monsters is the best it could be. The sound design of all the creatures is overwhelming, and Bear McCreary’s score brings the mythology of the monsters to life. The overall plot of the film is some human ecoterrorist want to use the Titan Ghidorah to destroy humanity and restore balance to Earth, and the military teams up with Godzilla to try to stop them. Simple, easy, fun.
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