The best films for a group don't flatten the experience - they create one. You want something that generates opinions, debates, a reason to stay up later than planned.
The 2000s feel undervalued now. A decade of films that knew what they were doing and did it without apology.
The best action films use movement to reveal character. What a person does under pressure tells you everything about them.
Bob Parr has given up his superhero days to log in time as an insurance adjuster and raise his three children with his formerly heroic wife in suburbia. But when he receives a mysterious assignment, it's time to get back into costume.
Edmond Dantés's life and plans to marry the beautiful Mercedes are shattered when his best friend, Fernand, deceives him. After spending 13 miserable years in prison, Dantés escapes with the help of a fellow inmate and plots his revenge, cleverly insinuating himself into the French nobility.
D, a legendary dhampir competes with a motley family of bounty hunters to track down Charlotte Elbourne, a young woman who has seemingly been abducted by vampire nobleman Meier Link.
After being held captive in an Afghan cave, billionaire engineer Tony Stark creates a unique weaponized suit of armor to fight evil.
In 2027, in a chaotic world in which humans can no longer procreate, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea, where her child's birth may help scientists save the future of humankind.
The action films that hold up aren't the ones with the biggest explosions. They're the ones where you understood what was at stake before anything started moving.
Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy the samurai's way of life in the name of modernization and open trade, Algren decides to become an ultimate warrior himself and to fight for their right to exist.
Sayra, a Native Honduran teenager, hungers for a better life. Her chance for one comes when she is reunited with her long-estranged father, who intends to emigrate to Mexico and then enter the United States. Sayra's life collides with a pair of Indigenous Mexican and Mestizo-Mexican gangmembers who have boarded the same USA-bound train.
In the 22nd century, a paraplegic Marine is dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission, but becomes torn between following orders and protecting an alien civilization.
Set in the Mayan civilization, when a man's idyllic presence is brutally disrupted by a violent invading force, he is taken on a perilous journey to a world ruled by fear and oppression where a harrowing end awaits him. Through a twist of fate and spurred by the power of his love for his woman and his family he will make a desperate break to return home and to ultimately save his way of life.
After the Second Impact, Tokyo-3 is being attacked by giant monsters called Angels that seek to eradicate humankind. The child Shinji's objective is to fight the Angels by piloting one of the mysterious Evangelion mecha units. A remake of the first six episodes of GAINAX's famous 1996 anime series. The film was retitled "Evangelion: 1.01" for its DVD release and "Evangelion: 1.11" for a release with additional scenes.
A twist only works if the film has earned it. These films plant their revelations early, play fair, and still manage to blindside you.
The best action films leave you with more than adrenaline. They leave you with a character you won't forget and a story worth retelling.