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Previously on the Best and Worst of Friday Night Smackdown: Bray Wyatt drank a rabbit puppet to help him defeat John Cena at WrestleMania, Alexa Bliss pinned Asuka clean to make anyone who’s ever seen NXT mad, and Elias got what he deserved.
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Here’s the Best and Worst of WWE Friday Night Smackdown for April 3, 2020.
Worst: “You’ll Take What I Give You And You’ll Like It”
Last Thursday news broke that Roman Reigns was dropping out of his main-event match at WrestleMania 36 due to being extremely immunocompromised during a global pandemic already due to his battles with leukemia and not wanting to put his actual life on the line to have a shitty old man tackle party with Bill Goldberg. That was quickly followed by news that he’d been replaced by Braun Strowman, and we tuned in to Smackdown to see how they’d switch it up. They’d already taped Smackdown, though, so they just … didn’t. The show ended with the match still being advertised despite pretty much everyone knowing it wasn’t going to happen.
In an interview with ESPN MMA a few days later, Triple H made it clear that Roman being removed from WrestleMania was still happening in-universe, and that you had to tune in to the shows to see the, and I’m quoting here, “meaningful” and “unique way” they did it. The quote:
“You can watch our business in multiple different ways. One of them is the storyline aspect of it and to follow the storyline. Another way is the online component of it and the reality of it behind it. Roman has his situation and his reasons for doing the things he’s doing, but I will say from our standpoint and the storyline standpoint, it’s going to play out in a unique manner and we want it to play out that way. I don’t want to give away the ending of the movie before the movie takes place. Everybody just has to watch and see how this unfolds. It will unfold in a unique way and I think it will be meaningful for everybody.
“There will always be critics, it’s our company’s mission to put smiles on peoples faces, and that’s what we’re trying to do in this situation at a time where people really need those smiles. It might not be the perfect product but it is the product and it is what it is right now.”
On this week’s Smackdown, Michael Cole recaps the feud between Elias and King Corbin and then this graphic pops up:
The entire call:
“And as far as the Universal Championship … the iconic Goldberg will now defend his Universal title against the 320 pound Monster Among Men, Braun Strowman!”
And that’s it. No “unique way” to get Strowman into the match. Nothing “meaningful.” How could it even BE unique or meaningful? They didn’t do anything. They didn’t even mention Roman Reigns by name.
Accepting some of the realities of the situation, I know they’re in a tough spot. I’m stuck between being happy there’s still wrestling for me to watch and recap, and being sad and frustrated that they keep doing these shows instead of giving people time off and quarantining them. And yeah, you taped the shows already, so it’d be pretty hard to get people together to tape a new segment, especially with Florida’s Governor ordering a statewide lockdown. But holy shit, this is lazy even for them. If you had to announce it via graphic, couldn’t you have at least had Michael Cole say something about how Roman had to drop out because of health concerns and Goldberg picked the biggest opponent he could find to make a point and send a message to Roman for ducking him, or something? Couldn’t you, I don’t know, have Braun Strowman stand around backstage with some fake blood on his hands and play ambulance sounds in the background? These aren’t crackerjack ideas either, but literally ANYTHING would’ve been a better effort than saying, “the match is this now instead of the main event we’ve been advertising since February,” and not explaining how or why. And if you knew you were going to have to do something this basic, maybe don’t have one of the faces of your company give public interviews about how the thing you’re doing is unique and meaningful?
I can’t decide if it’s contempt for the audience, underestimation of the audience’s ability to accept that sometimes shit happens in real life, or just complete productive atrophy as a company that already didn’t seem to be trying very hard to be creative, consistent, or cohesive keeps marching on and doing shows while the world burns.
The smiles, they’re on our faces.
Speaking Of Not Explaining The Card Changes …
… we’re still heading into WrestleMania saying the triple threat ladder match for the Smackdown Tag Team Championship between Miz and Morrison, The Usos, and The New Day is happening as advertised despite reports to the contrary. It’s kind of the inverse of Goldberg vs. Reigns, as they get a segment but no match change graphic.
The segment is … like, I’m not going to say this was a “bad” segment necessarily or anything I can write a furious paragraph about, but it’s a great example of how structurally broken WWE’s ability to tell a story is right now. The Usos and New Day are advertised as guests on Miz TV. The Miz TV graphic is on the screen, but The Usos walk out first saying they “can’t wait” for Miz and Morrison. You know, even though the segment is beginning now and the graphic was up before they walked out. New Day interrupts them and the teams argue, but then Miz and Morrison show up on the stage and pose on ladders. The challengers decide to mosey up the aisle and attack the champs, but then they start attacking each other, which allows the champs to gain the advantage and go back to doing what they were doing before they were attacked. Not only do the good guys look stupid as hell, the bad guys are so unaffected by their existence that they just paused their arbitrary prop posing for no one.
WWE’s insistence that grown-ass men and women should still be “working the crowd” when there’s no crowd is so bizarre to me. One of the benefits of wrestling on the independents is learning how to work in different ways for different rooms, right? WWE’s treating its performers like video game characters that just have to walk out and do the same taunts and say the same things in the same way to set up the same segments to fill up the same shows because that’s how they’re programmed, whether somebody’s holding the controller or not.
Worst: The Show Has Three Matches, And They All End In Outside Interference
Two of them end in disqualifications, and the only reason the third doesn’t is because it’s a triple threat match.
Let’s start with that one, I guess. It’s Naomi vs. Lacey Evans vs. Tamina, a cruel ask of Naomi, with Tamina going over not only her two opponents but also Bayley and Sasha Banks, because they announced her for the WrestleMania card despite her not being around for ages and are overcompensating trying to make her a threat in a couple of weeks. It’s Tamina, though, and if she can’t get over as a threat in 10 years, I don’t think two weeks of people pretending to be afraid of her is going to do much.
I’m not sure she’s ever looked this bad, either. She looks like she’s in physical pain trying to get up from the mat off normal moves. It’s like me trying to get out of bed in the morning, but for everything. And she’s throwing superkicks everywhere, but none of them get above the arm pit. Don’t believe me? Look at this picture of her kicking Lacey Evans last week, or this one of her kicking Bayley, or this one of her kicking Naomi. I’m not even sure she’s kicking. I think she’s just straightening one of her legs and doing half a side-bend. If you think maybe the photos are just of the aftermath of the kicks and her leg’s on the way down, here’s a still-frame of her kick on Bayley. She managed to throw a superkick and not only miss the face, but miss the entire front half of the human body. But yeah, keep slapping that leg, a boot partially scraping the back of somebody’s t-shirt makes a loud clap sound.
In match two, the long-awaited Dolph Ziggler vs. TUCKER showdown, Dolph gets disqualified for hitting his finisher on the ring steps. I mean, all right. He then picks up the other half of the steps and raises them above his head like he’s going to try to crush Tucky’s skull and murder him, but Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville show up to make him stop. Brother was going to Oberyn Martell the white Angelo Dawkins. But then wait just a minute, king!
The gathering is interrupted by a message from a mysterious HACKER from the 1990s (complete with a screen that helps them jack into the Matrix, apparently) who reveals G-TV style that it was SONYA who sent Otis the “I’m gonna be late” text on Valentine’s Day that caused a malfunction at the romantic junction between Otis and Mandy. Total shocker here. “Big man, no matter what happens in the Otis vs. Dolph Ziggler match at WrestleMania, stick the winner for me.”
Mandy leaves totes betrayed (breaking both quarantine and the recommended social distancing) and Otis shows up to chase Dolph around. It’s worth noting that everyone assumed the “break in transmission” gimmick was for Mustafa Ali, since the hacker’s arc reactor-ass logo is the same one Ali has on his glove, but if it’s Ali, why cover your face and use a voice modulator, especially if you’re also using your recognizable logo? I read a theory that it was Ember Moon since Sonya and Mandy were bullying her before she got hurt, but that’s definitely not Ember Moon’s hand. So … I don’t know. Maybe it’s Otis’ mom, getting revenge for that piece of cake Dolph stepped on?
Otis saying “winky face emoji” out loud while texting is pretty funny, though.
Finally, we get the cursed version of Daniel Bryan vs. Shinsuke Nakamura that in 2013 would’ve been a match of the year between two of the best wrestlers in the world, but is now the latest in a string of half-assed bad decisions at the expense of a whole pack of good wrestlers as the preface to a John Cena promo on a Smackdown in an empty Anytime Fitness. It’s still pretty good as it’s happening, but that dark cloud of “this is going to have a bad finish and be depressing” still lingered over it.
All you really need to know is that three weeks ago Daniel Bryan pinned Cesaro with a roll-up, and then two weeks ago Bryan teamed up with Drew Gulak against Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura and pinned Cesaro with a roll-up. That set up a match where Gulak had to defeat Nakamura to get Bryan a WrestleMania match against Sami Zayn, which Gulak won with a roll-up. This week they change it up by having Bryan defeat Nakamura by disqualification, because I guess a fourth consecutive loss for this team would’ve been a bridge too far. They then team up to attack Gulak and Bryan 3-on-2 to send a message. That message? “See you tomorrow when you easily beat us at WrestleMania.”
John Cena Vs. Lambchop At WrestleMania Confirmed
As a fandom I think we’ve settled into a nice understanding of John Cena’s value as a performer, but sometimes it’s nice to remember why we spent the better part of 15 years wishing somebody would stuff him into a trunk and dump him in the ocean. Here, he says he’s not afraid of Bray Wyatt, because he’s not afraid of someone who, and I quote, “dresses up like the overfed sex child of Wiz Khalifa and the WB Frog.”
Oh boy, I didn’t miss that John Cena. At least there wasn’t a crowd here to start chanting “W-B FROG! W-B FROG!” Also his name was Michigan J. Frog, you philistine.
Wyatt’s puppets then show up to quote The Shining at him, which reveals The Fiend standing on the Cathy Kelley Memorial Juliette Balcony. This very good Halloween costume allows Bray Wyatt Proper to teleport into the ring, whisper a sweet nothing in Cena’s ear, and teleport away. It’s very spoopy.
I still hope the Firefly Funhouse Match includes a portion where they’re cartoons and a portion where they’re hand puppets, and that nobody ever explains it. Triple H says the match will be “different from anything we’ve ever done,” which means it’ll be a regular match in the normal ring. R-Truth better show up, at least.
Best: Top 10 Comments Of The Week
AshBlue
Thank God the comments section is working today, because if I’ve learned anything this week, it’s that while on Wednesdays Uproxx is a party, Mondays and Fridays it’s a support group.
TRB
Wished they panned down from The Fiend to a chalk outline of Elias
Gulak: “So if you smash their pinata, they’ll be distracted & you can roll him up for the victory”
Bryan: “Their pinata?”
Gulak: “Sorry. Those are my power point notes from all the 205 Live opening matches from 2018”
Designated Piledriver
Yes I saw the hand…but I still want this to be R-Truth behind all this.
”Ha ha! I’m Ron Killings and this is Candid Camera…isn’t that right Betty White!”
Carmella: “I told you truth, I did not agree to this!”
Baron Von Raschke
Playing “Sexy Boy” IMMEDIATELY after Flair’s career comes to an end will never not be funny.
Taylor Swish
Shawn Michael’s hair is beginning to look like Bill Murray’s by the end of Kingpin
Mr. Bliss
I’d have lost my mind if the Fiend had flown at Cena on the balcony Dr Wily style
JayBone2
I tried to avoid Smackdown and watched Bumblebee instead. Turns out no matter what I do this weekend John Cena is staring back at me.
GLOSS
Maybe taking 7 seconds to clear your throat upon coming out isn’t the best look right now Miz…
Tom”thesnakeRoberts”Smoulders
Too bad it was literally illegal for officials to come out and break up the post match beatdown on Bryan
EvilDucky
Hey guys! Remember when Rowan had a giant fake spider and that was the worst thing in WWE? Remember that? THAT WAS ONLY A MONTH AGO
WRESTLEMANIA IS TOO BIG FOR JUST ONE NIGHT JOHN!!!!
That’s it for this week’s Best and Worst of Smackdown. As always, thanks for getting through this with us and checking out the column, especially during this pandemic. I’m trying, I promise. There’s just not much WWE can do if they won’t shut down for a few weeks, and not much I can write about them putting smiles on my face. We appreciate you, as well as your comments in our comments section below, and your social media shares. It’s hard to stay employed and paid in new media when you write about sports and sports just stop.
That said, we’ll see you here Saturday night and Sunday night for our full WrestleMania: In Your House coverage, as well as an open discussion thread and two (count ’em) Best and Worst of WrestleMania 36 columns. Should be something special. See you then.
A well-known name in Compton and in hip-hop in general, Problem has had quite an active and long-running musical career. Following a decade-long mixtape run, the rapper dropped his debut album, Selfish in 2017, and he later followed up with S2 in 2018. Now he’s side-stepping into the film lane with his a short film, A Compton Story.
The short finds Problem traversing through Compton as he comically places himself in risky situations, hoping that his good behavior will be rewarded. In addition to being written and executive produced by Problem, actor and comedian Mike Epps serves as the narrator, while TDE’s president, Terrence “Punch” Henderson, is also listed as an executive producer.
The light-hearted tone of the short film is also reflected in the film’s poster, which has the film’s title stylized to mimic that of the Toy Story series; it also has a subtitle that reads, “Compton… Where Anything Can Happen!” In addition to help from Mike Epps and TDE’s Punch, the film also includes appearances from Snoop Dogg, actor Jackie Long, and more. A number of songs from Problem’s discography also serve as the soundtrack for the film.
A Compton Story is out now exclusively on Tidal. To watch the film, click here.
In recent weeks, a number of notable figures in the music industry have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Among them are legendary singer-songwriter John Prine, rapper YNW Melly, and Universal Music Group’s CEO and chairman Lucian Grainge, while Fountains Of Wayne bassist Adam Schlesinger passed away last week. The latest notable name in the music industry to have come down with the virus is pop singer Pink, who in a post to both her Twitter and Instagram pages, revealed that she and her son Jameson began showing symptoms a couple of weeks ago.
Two weeks ago my three-year old son, Jameson, and I are were showing symptoms of COVID-19. Fortunately, our primary care physician had access to tests and I tested positive. My family was already sheltering at home and we continued to do so for the last two weeks following the instruction of our doctor. Just a few days ago we were re-tested and are now thankfully negative.
Pink then took aim at the government’s inadequate response to the pandemic, revealing that she would be making two separate donations of $500,000 towards aiding the fight against the coronavirus.
In an effort to support the healthcare professionals who are battling on the frontlines every day, I am donating $500,000 to the Temple University Hospital Emergency Fund in Philadelphia in honor of my mother, Judy Moore, who worked there for 18 years in the Cardiomyopathy and Heart Transplant Center. Additionally, I am donating $500,000 to the City of Los Angeles Mayor’s Emergency COVID-19 Crisis Fund.
Pink then thanked the “healthcare professionals and everyone in the world who are working so hard to protect our loved ones,” calling them “our heroes.”
You can read Pink’s full statement in the post above.
Last Updated: April 4th
The Netflix name has meant many things, including the best shows not on TV. And while there are some glaring omissions in their selection of good movies, there’s still plenty to peruse. Narrowing them down to just 50 of the best Netflix films wasn’t easy. Nonetheless, here’s a ranked list of the best movies on Netflix streaming no film lover should miss, all of them just a simple click away.
Related: The Best Comedies On Netflix Right Now
1. Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Run Time: 115 min | IMDb: 8.5/10
The Indiana Jones franchise has been housed on Amazon Prime for a while now, but it’s finally making its way to Netflix with the streaming platform hosting all four feature films. Of course, nothing beats the original, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and as far as travel and adventure go, this movie has everything you could possibly want. A hero with a love for archeology and whips? Check. An adventure to recover a stolen artifact with destructive powers? Check check. Harrison Ford beating up Nazis while uttering sarcastic one-liners and with a twinkle in his eye? Did movies even exist before this?
2. The Matrix (1999)
Run Time: 136 min | IMDb: 8.7/10
The Wachowski sisters created one of the greatest sci-fi films in cinematic history with their mind-bending Matrix trilogy, but the original is hard to top. Keanu Reeves plays Neo, a young man unplugged from the matrix — a kind of alternate reality that keeps humans docile, so machines can harvest their life energy. He teams up with a band of rebels fighting the machines (Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus and Carrie-Ann Moss as Trinity) and faces off against a henchman named Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving). The real draw of this trilogy, besides its inventive storyline, is the CGI effects. The movie also sports some of the most imaginative fight sequences you’ll ever see on the big screen.
3. There Will Be Blood (2007)
Run Time: 158 min | IMDb: 8.2/10
Daniel Day-Lewis stars in this gritty, Oscar-winning drama from Paul Thomas Anderson playing a turn-of-the-century prospector, who risks his faith and his family for oil. Daniel Plainview is a shrewd, callous businessman who adopts the orphaned son of a dead employee to make himself look more appealing to investors. When he hits oil in California, he wages a war with a local preacher and his family who stand in the way of Daniel’s progress. Violence and yes, plenty of blood, follow.
4. Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (2018)
Run Time: 117 min | IMDb: 8.5/10
The Oscar-winning animated film follows a young kid named Miles, who becomes the web-slinging hero of his reality, only to cross paths with other iterations of Spider-Man across different dimensions who help him defeat a threat posed to all realities. Mahershala Ali, John Mulaney, and Jake Johnson make up the film’s talented voice cast, but it’s the striking visuals and daring story-telling technique that really serves the film well.
5. The Irishman (2019)
Run Time: 209 min | IMDb: 8.7/10
Martin Scorsese delivers another cinematic triumph, this time for Netflix and with the help of some familiar faces. Robert De Niro and Al Pacino team up (again) for this crime drama based on actual events. De Niro plays Frank Sheeran a World War II vet who finds work as a hitman for the mob. Pacino plays notorious Teamster Jimmy Hoffa, a man who frequently found himself on the wrong side of the law and the criminals he worked with. The film charts the pair’s partnership over the years while injecting some historical milestones for context. It’s heavy and impressively cast and everything you’d expect a Scorsese passion-project to be.
6. Inception (2010)
Run Time: 148 min | IMDb: 8.8/10
Christopher Nolan’s imaginative sci-fi adventure will most likely be remembered as one of the best genre films in cinematic history, and for good reason. The movie — which stars everyone from Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy to Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cillian Murphy, and Michael Caine — is the ultimate heist flick, following a group of thieves who must repurpose dream-sharing technology to plant an idea into the mind of a young CEO. DiCaprio pulls focus as Cobb, a troubled architect with a tragic past who attempts to pull off the impossible so that he can return to his family.
7. Roma (2018)
Run Time: 135 min | IMDb: 7.8/10
Oscar-winning writer/director Alfonso Cuaron delivers what may be his most personal film to date. The stunningly-shot black-and-white film is an ode to Cuaron’s childhood and a love letter to the women who raised him. Following the journey of a domestic worker in Mexico City named Cleo, the movie interweaves tales of personal tragedy and triumph amidst a backdrop of political upheaval and unrest.
8. Blade Runner (1982)
Run Time: 117 min | IMDb: 8.1/10
Harrison Ford’s lived long enough to see quite a few of his sci-fi franchises get the reboot treatment but this futuristic 80s flick still ranks as one of his best genre outings. Ford plays Rick Deckard, a blade runner charged with terminating four replicants — synthetic humans — who have escaped captivity and are plotting rebellion. Deckard treks across a dystopian Los Angeles, confronting ideas about humanity and morality while fighting off bioengineered humanoids and his fellow man.
9. Magnolia (1999)
Run Time: 188 min | IMDb: 8/10
Paul Thomas Anderson’s complicated portrait of humanity, the joys, the failings, and the relationships that give our lives meaning, is not what we’d dub an easy watch. It’s long, full of storylines and characters that intersect and influence each other in a myriad of ways, and at one point, frogs begin falling from the sky. But it’s well-acted — Tom Cruise, Julianne Moore, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman star — and beautifully written.
10. Ex Machina (2014)
Run Time: 108 min | IMDb: 7.7/10
Alex Garland’s sci-fi thriller breathed new life into the tired A.I. trope when it landed in theaters a few years ago. The film focuses on a naïve young programmer (Domhnall Gleeson), who’s selected amongst a pool of applicants to evaluate a new A.I. life form. The poor kid is whisked away to a remote villa to spend time with the eerily-human-looking robot, Ava (Alicia Vikander), and her eccentric, often cruel creator Nathan (Oscar Isaac), a genius with an ego to match his talent. The film takes some twists you don’t expect, and Isaac gives cinema one of its greatest dance sequences, in case you needed more reason to watch.
SKIP TO: #1-10 | #21-30 | #31-40 | #41-50
[else]
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11. Pan’s Labryinth (2006)
Run Time: 118 min | IMDb: 8.2/10
Guillermo Del Toro’s fantasy war epic focuses on a young girl named Ofelia, who grows up during a time of political unrest in her native Spain after a brutal Civil War ravages the country. Ofelia escapes the horrors committed by her stepfather when she accepts a challenge from a magical fairy, who believes her to be the reincarnation of Moanna, the princess of the underworld. If she completes three tasks, she’ll achieve immortality. The film is a play on folklore and fables from Del Toro’s youth, but there’s an undercurrent based in reality — the real cost of war — that grounds this film and makes it even more compelling.
12. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Run Time: 144 min | IMDb: 9.3/10
There are prestige dramas and, then there’s The Shawshank Redemption, a thrilling crime saga that set the bar in terms of storytelling. Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins play convicts who bond during their stints in Shawshank prison. Robbins plays banker Andy Dufresne who’s convicted of murdering his wife and her lover. He befriends Red (Freeman) an old-timer who protects him from other gangs while Andy begins helping the prison’s warden launder money. Eventually, Andy decides to break out of prison, and what results is one of the more exciting escape stories we’ve seen on screen.
13. Room (2015)
Run Time: 118 min | IMDb: 8.2/10
Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay star in this gripping drama about a mother and son held hostage for nearly a decade. The film, based off a work of fiction, pulls elements from real life trauma cases as it follows a woman named Joy (Larson) and her son Jack (Tremblay) who exists in a singular room, cut off from the outside world. The two plot an escape, are eventually rescued and must cope with the effects of their harrowing ordeal while adjusting to life outside of the room. Larson is deserving of every award she won for this thing, and her chemistry with Tremblay will have you grabbing for the tissues throughout the film.
14. Inglorious Basterds (2009)
Run Time: 153 min | IMDb: 8.3/10
Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Christoph Waltz, and Eli Roth star in Quentin Tarantino’s imaginative World War II drama about a group of Jewish U.S. soldiers with a plan to assassinate Hitler. The film flip-flops between Pitt’s Southern-accented Lt. Aldo Raine’s mission to scalp Nazis and blow-up an exclusive event for SS officers in Paris and French actress Melanie Laurent, who plays a theater-owner with a devious plan of her own. It’s full of mesmerizing performances and Tarantino’s unique brand of humor — oh, and a lot of Nazi killing.
15. Minority Report (2002)
Run Time: 145 min | IMDb: 7.6/10
Steven Spielberg is the genius behind this mind-bending, futuristic crime drama starring Tom Cruise and Colin Farrell. Cruise plays John Anderton, a police chief in charge of a unit capable of arresting criminals before they commit their crimes thanks to a trio of psychics called “precogs.” When Anderton is identified as a future murderer, he goes on the run with one of the precogs and uncovers a deeper conspiracy that forces him (and us) to question the nature of free will.
16. The Social Network (2010)
Run Time: 120 min | IMDb: 7.7/10
It’s hard not to watch this Aaron Sorkin-penned, David Fincher-directed masterpiece and have your viewing experience colored by Facebook, and founder Mark Zuckerberg’s, many political misdealings. Jesse Eisenberg plays the boy genius, an outcast whose brainchild is the product of a bad breakup and sexism. He partners with Andrew Garfield’s business-minded Eduardo Saverin and the two create the famous social networking site before Zuckerberg outs his friend and alienates himself. The story isn’t new, but watching it play out is still thrilling, mostly because Eisenberg is just so damn good at being a dick.
17. Drive (2014)
Run Time: 100 min | IMDb: 7.8/10
A stone-faced Ryan Gosling steers us through the criminal underworld created by director Nicolas Winding Refn in this high-speed thriller. Gosling plays a near-silent stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway man. When he gets involved with his next-door neighbor and her young son, his carefully cultivated life is thrown into chaos, forcing him to align with criminals and take on risky jobs to protect the pair and keep a firm grip on the wheel.
18. Kung Fu Hustle (2004)
Run Time: 99 min | IMDb: 7.8/10
The early aughts action-comedy borrows elements from famous Kung Fu films of the ’70s and pairs them with a completely ridiculous plot and some impressive cartoon-style fight sequences to produce a wholly original flick that we guarantee you’ll marvel at. The film follows the exploits of two friends, Sing and Bone, who impersonate gang members in the hopes of joining a gang themselves and inadvertently strike up a gang war that nearly destroys the slums of the city. Of course, the real draw here is the absurdist, over-the-top comedy that takes place during some of the film’s biggest action sequences. It’s laugh-out-loud funny, but only if you check your brain at the door.
19. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
Run Time: 103 min | IMDb: 7.8/10
You can’t think of classic ’80s teen comedies and not include Matthew Broderick’s rebellious school comedy in those musings. Broderick brought Ferris Bueller, a smart-mouthed kid with a flair for the dramatic, to life in this beloved movie that also stars Alan Ruck and Jennifer Grey. Bueller goes to extreme lengths to skip school with his best friend and girlfriend, leading them on an adventure that includes a musical parade in the city and a brush with the law. Being bad never looked so fun.
20. The Lobster (2015)
Run Time: 119 min | IMDb: 7.1/10
Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz star in this dark, absurdist comedy about a man searching for love under some very strange circumstances. Farrell plays David, a man whose wife recently left him. David is sent to a hotel where he’s told he must find a mate within 45 days or be turned into an animal. While there, David witnesses strange rituals and must follow strict rules in order to find love, but it’s not until he ventures into the woods, where the “loners” live, that he pairs up with a woman (Weisz) who may be his soulmate. It’s weird, eccentric, and the perfect Farrell-starring vehicle.
21. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Run Time: 120 min | IMDb: 7.9/10
Ang Lee’s Oscar-winning martial arts flick defied the odds to become one of the most influential films in the genre, crossing multicultural barriers and introducing audiences to some great talents in the international acting world. The film follows the story of Li Mu Bai, an accomplished Wudang swordsman who retires his legendary weapon only to be pulled back into a battle with his arch-nemesis, a woman who killed his master years earlier and seeks to claim his sword for her own. There’s more happening plot-wise — Bai has a love interest in another skilled warrior, Yu Shu Lien, and they’re both forced to face off against a Wudang prodigy that’s been studying under their enemy — but the real draw here is the perfectly-mapped-out fight sequences, which include just enough special effect to be awe-inducing, but not too much to distract from the beautiful choreography that Lee puts on display.
22. Her (2013)
Run Time: 126 min | IMDb: 8/10
Spike Jonze imagines a world in which Artificial Intelligence can become something more than just a personal assistant program. Joaquin Phoenix plays Theodore Twombly, a depressed introvert going through a divorce who starts up a relationship with an OS named Samantha. Things get serious before Theodore begins to realize that romance with an A.I. is more complicated than he thought. What follows is a thoughtful exploration of love, relationships, and the ways human beings find connection in a plugged-in world.
23. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Run Time: 149 min | IMDb: 8.5/10
We’re in the end game now. The Russo brothers return to direct the first of this two-part wrap-up. Josh Brolin plays the ultimate villain, a purple meat-head named Thanos, who’s insistent upon solving the Universe’s over-population problem. The film does a good job of giving fans some long-awaited pairings — Thor meets the Guardians of the Galaxy crew while Tony Stark and Doctor Strange square off — and it manages to fit its enormous, A-list cast into an over two-hour flick that never feels like it’s running too long.
24. Goodfellas (1990)
Run Time: 146 min | IMDb: 8.7/10
Robert De Niro and Ray Liotta star in this crime drama from the always reliable Martin Scorcese. Liotta plays Henry Hill, a young kid enamored with the life of crime who eventually works his way up the ranks to become a certified bad guy. He reaps the rewards: money, cars, women, a ton of nose candy, but his life soon spirals out of control when his friends turn on him, the authorities close in on his business, and his drug addiction begins to feed his paranoia.
25. Moonlight (2016)
Run Time: 111 min | IMDb: 7.4/10
Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight will always be remembered for winning the Academy Award for Best Picture after a mix-up that initially named La La Land as the winner. But that’s just an asterisk attached to a momentous coming-of-age story set over three eras in a young man’s life as he grows up in Miami, grappling with the sexuality he feels will make him even more of an outcast while searching for guidance that his drug-addicted mother (Naomie Harris) can’t provide. The film is both lyrical and moving and won justifiable acclaim for its talented cast, including a Best Supporting Actor award for Mahershala Ali as a sympathetic drug dealer.
26. Marriage Story (2019)
Run Time: 136 min | IMDb: 8.1/10
Noah Baumbach’s star-studded divorce drama is pure Oscar bait, but in the best way. The film takes a look at messy breakups with Scarlett Johansson playing an actress and mother named Nicole, who is intent on separating from her stage director husband Charlie (Adam Driver). Laura Dern and Ray Liotta play their hard-hitting lawyers, who don’t help in diffusing the tension and resentment building between the pair when Nicole moves herself and their son across the country. It’s an intimate look at the emotional wreckage of a divorce and the struggle to put a family back together again, and it’s carried by some brilliant performances by Driver and Johansson.
27. The King’s Speech (2010)
Run Time: 118 min | IMDb: 8/10
Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, and Helena Bonham Carter star in this British period flick that follows the impromptu and unexpected ascension of King George VI. Firth plays the king in question, a man thrust into a leadership role while trying to overcome a career-impeding stutter and break free from the shadow of his older brother. Rush plays an Australian speech therapist tasked with helping the king overcome his stutter, and his unorthodox methods cause a stir among the royal household. Firth is terrific as always and watching both him and Rush bounce off each other makes up the best this film has to offer.
28. Raging Bull (1980)
Run Time: 129 min | IMDb: 8.2/10
Robert De Niro stars in this boxing drama from Martin Scorsese playing famed fighter Jake LaMotta. LaMotta succeeded in the ring because of his infamous temper and violence but those same traits are what led him to ruin away from the mat. De Niro plays LaMotta with a kind of swagger and ruthlessness that’s magnetic on-screen, even though the character see-saws between hero and villain in his own story.
29. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
Run Time: 139 min | IMDb: 7.4/10
Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Jude Law star in this mind-bending thriller about a con-man who weasels his way into an inheritance through deception, manipulation, and, of course, murder. Damon plays the young criminal, Tom Ripley, a forger and impersonator struggling to make it in ’50s era New York. He nabs a job from a wealthy shipping magnate, retrieving the man’s son from Italy in exchange for a cash reward. While there, he befriends the heir (Law) and his fiance (Paltrow), imitating his mannerisms, wearing his clothes, and running in his elite circles before his con is discovered, and he’s forced to take drastic measures to secure the future he wants for himself.
30. I Lost My Body (2019)
Run Time: 81 min | IMDb: 7.6/10
This beautifully animated French fantasy film follows the story of a young man named Naoufel, or rather, his hand which has been severed from his body and spends most of the film escaping labs and trying to get back to its owner. The film flits between the past and present, watching Naoufel’s life unfold from a young orphan to an accidental carpenter’s apprentice — which is how he lost his appendage — all while exploring themes of love, loss, and destiny.
31. Y Tu Mama También (2002)
Run Time: 106 min | IMDb: 7.7/10
After a stint in Hollywood, Alfonso Cuarón returned to Mexico for this story of two privileged high school boys (Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal) who road trip with an older woman (Maribel Verdú) in search of an unspoiled stretch of beach. In the process, they discover freedom like they’d never imagined — and maybe more freedom than they can handle. Cuarón’s stylish film plays out against the backdrop of Mexican political upheaval and plays with notions of upturning the established order on scales both large and small, all the while suggesting that no paradise lasts forever.
32. Groundhog Day (1993)
Run Time: 101 min | IMDb: 8/10
Bill Murray has some great comedies living on his resumé, but few are as iconic, or at least, well-loved as Groundhog Day. That’s because watching Murray play a surly weather-man forced to relive the same day over and over again is basically a comedy goldmine of a plot. At first, Phil (Murray) enjoys the time loop, binge-drinking, filming some half-hearted news segments in a hick town in Pennsylvania, having one-night stands, etc, but eventually, he realizes that in order to escape his never-ending bed-and-breakfast hell, he’s got to better himself, not an easy task.
33. Mudbound (2017)
Run Time: 134 min | IMDb: 7.4/10
Netflix spent much of 2017 trying to establish itself as an alternative to movie theaters as a place to find quality new films. The results were mostly strong, and none stronger than Mudbound, Dee Rees’ story of two families — one white and one black — sharing the same Mississippi land in the years before and after World War II. Rees combines stunning images, compelling storytelling, and the work of a fine cast (that includes Jason Mitchell, Carey Mulligan, Garett Hedlund, Jason Clarke, and Mary J. Blige) to unspool a complex tale about the forces the connect black and white Americans and the slow-to-die injustices that keep them apart.
34. Dallas Buyers Club (2013)
Run Time: 117 min | IMDb: 8.0/10
Matthew McConaughey’s Dallas Buyer Club is a searing look at how the world failed the LGBTQ community during the devastating AIDS crisis. McConaughey stars as Ron Woodruff, a man diagnosed with the disease in the 80s during a time when the illness was still misunderstood and highly stigmatized. Woodruff went against the FDA and the law to smuggle in drugs to help those suffering from the disease, establishing a “Dallas Buyers Club” and fighting in court to the right to aid those in need. The story is all the more powerful because it’s true and McConaughey delivers one of the best performances of his career as Woodruff, a man who changes his entire outlook on life after being dealt a tragic blow.
35. Snowpiercer (2013)
Run Time: 126 min | IMDb: 7.1/10
Chris Evans stars in this sci-fi thriller from auteur Bong Joon-ho. The film, set years into the future following a devastating ice age caused by mankind, follows Evans’ Curtis who lives in poverty on a train that continuously circles the Earth and contains all that remains of human life. Curtis is part of the “scum” that the people relegated to the back of the train while the “elite” enjoy the privilege of wealth and status that comes with living in the front. Curtis sparks a rebellion that ends in bloodshed and a devastating reveal when he makes it to the train’s engine room and discovers just how the elite have been fueling their operation. It’s a dark, grimy action piece that should give fans a new appreciation for Evans’ talent.
36. Blue Is The Warmest Color (2013)
Run Time: 179 min | IMDb: 7.8/10
When this French coming-of-age drama premiere in 2013 it sparked plenty of controversies. The film centers on a blooming romance between a naïve teenager named Adele and her free-spirited lover, Emma. Praised for painting an honest portrait of a lesbian romance on screen while also scrutinized for its sometimes graphic sexual content, the film marked a turning point in how the LGBTQ community was represented on film and gave people a heartbreaking look at a young woman discovering herself and her sexual identity in an unforgiving world.
37. Elizabeth (1998)
Run Time: 124 min | IMDb: 7.4/10
Cate Blanchett plays the famous monarch in this period piece that charts her earliest days on the throne. Blanchett’s Elizabeth is a young woman being held prisoner by her older sister, the current Queen, before wearing the crown when that woman dies. She must contend with the political machinations of older men in her court, a religious uprising, and the scandal of having a married lover and yet not taking a husband for her own. It’s really the best kind of British drama.
38. It Comes At Night (2017)
Run Time: 86 min | IMDb: 7.4/10
Writer/director Trey Edward Shults followed up his unnerving family portrait in 2015’s Krisha with a look at another family under the most desperate of circumstances. After an unknown illness has wiped out most of civilization, a number of threats — both seen and unseen — come for a family held up in their home out in the wilderness. It’s a subtle, dream-like tale that stars Joel Edgerton and Christopher Abbot as two patriarchs intent on keeping their families safe, no matter the cost.
39. Frances Ha (2012)
Run Time: 86 min | IMDb: 7.4/10
Before Greta Gerwig was directed Oscar-nominated coming-of-age dramas, she was writing and starring in this black-and-white dramedy about a young woman also trying to find her way in the professional dance world of New York City. Gerwig is magnetic in the titular role of Frances, a dancer dissatisfied with her career prospects and forced to contemplate a move to Tribeca on the whim of her best friend and roommate. That trek across Manhattan serves as a jumping off point for Frances, who travels home, then to France, before settling in Washington Heights on her journey to self-discovery.
40. Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
Run Time: 118 min | IMDb: 7.1/10
Look, it’s hard to keep track of the Marvel Universe timeline so we’re not going to explain where Ant-Man and the Wasp fits into the grander scheme of this blockbuster monopoly. The only thing you really need to know about this action flick, which sees Paul Rudd returning to play the shrinking superhero and Evangeline Lily playing his partner in fighting crime, is that it’s a hell of a fun watch. Rudd returns to the character more seasoned in the superhero verse and thus, more comfortable with his leading man status, but he benefits greatly from a team-up with Lily and a well-written script.
41. Young Adult (2011)
Run Time: 94 min | IMDb: 6.3/10
Charlize Theron stars in this comedy about a woman behaving badly, like steal your husband badly. Mavis (Theron) is a fiction writer living in the big city who returns to her small hometown after a divorce intent on rekindling a romance with her high school boyfriend (Patrick Wilson). The man’s got a wife and a new baby, but Mavis is sure a couple of sexy outfits, shots, and a rock concert can change that. She gets “guidance” from an old acquaintance (a delightful Patton Oswalt), but really, the point of this movie is to prove women can be just as sloppy and unhinged as men can be, so don’t expect some grand “seeing-the-light” moment.
42.. Cloverfield (2008)
Run Time: 85 min | IMDb: 7/10
Disappointing sequels aside, the original installment in J.J. Abrams’ Cloverfield trilogy remains one of the greatest works of found-footage in the history of film. Most of that is because the narrative style lends itself to the tension, chaos, and horror of fleeing a monster destroying New York City. The film follows a group of friends caught in the bedlam after a Godzilla-like creature begins attacking the Big Apple. While trying to save each other and make it out of the city before the bombs drop, the friends document their journey. The directing by Matt Reeves is superb, almost too good, because you often feel a part fo the action, for better and worse.
43. The Hateful Eight (2015)
Run Time: 167 min | IMDb: 7.8/10
It seems almost perverse to think about watching The Hateful Eight at home, given how big a deal Quentin Tarantino made of its 70mm format at the time of its release. And while it looks great on the big screen it’s not like that’s an option right now. And, in some ways, the film feels just at home on the small screen, since it’s at heart a chamber mystery that brings together a collection of unsavory characters (Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, and Jennifer Jason Leigh among them) as mystery and murder unfold in their ranks.
44. Green Room (2015)
Run Time: 95 min | IMDb: 7/10
When a punk rock group accidentally witnesses the aftermath of a murder, they are forced to fight for their lives by the owner of a Nazi bar (Patrick Stewart) and his team. It’s an extremely brutal and violent story, much like the first two features from director Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin and Murder Party), but this one is made even tenser by its claustrophobic cat-and-cornered-mouse nature. Once the impending danger kicks in, it doesn’t let up until the very end, driven heavily by Stewart playing against type as a harsh, unforgiving, calculating character.
45. The Two Popes (2019)
Run Time: 125 min | IMDb: 7.6/10
Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce play off each other in this fictionalized comedy about two of the most powerful men in the Catholic Church. Hopkins plays Pope Benedict XVI near the end of his tenure as he struggles with the disillusionment of his role and his faith. Pryce plays Cardinal Bergoglio (who would later become Pope Francis) who’s also going through a crisis of faith and wishes to leave his post. What follows is two hours of two of the greatest actors paling around with each other, delivering some laughs as they get deep about the philosophical leanings of these two great men.
46. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Run Time: 137 min | IMDb: 8/10
Mia Farrow stars in this iconic horror classic that’s probably influenced every other film on this list. The movie follows Rosemary Woodhouse (Farrow) and her husband, Guy. They’re a pair of newlyweds, who move to a new apartment where they’re quickly surrounded by strange neighbors and even more worrisome happenings. When Rosemary mysteriously becomes pregnant, she becomes paranoid that the people around her, including her husband, are out to get her.
47. Mystic River (2003)
Run Time: 138 min | IMDb: 7.9/10
Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, and Tim Robbins star in this heartbreaking drama about a group of high school friends, whose lives are shattered following a terrible family tragedy. The men have reunited after years apart after the daughter of one, Jimmy (Penn) is murdered, and another member of the group, Dave (Robbins) is suspected of the killing. Sean (Bacon) is a detective investigating the case as the story takes unpredictable, often frustrating twists and turns before revealing the truth of what happened.
48. Burning (2018)
Run Time: 148 min | IMDb: 7.6/10
Walking Dead alum Steven Yeun stars this psychological thriller from South Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong. Yeun plays Ben, a rich millennial with a mysterious job who connects with a woman named Shin Hae-mi on a trip to Africa. The two journey back home together where Ben meets Shin’s friend/lover Lee Jong-su. The three hang-out regularly, with Lee growing more jealous of Ben’s wealth and privilege while he’s forced to manage his father’s farm when his dad goes to prison. But it’s when Shin disappears, and Lee suspects Ben’s involvement, that things really go off the rails.
49. Hell or High Water (2016)
Run Time: 102 min | IMDb: 7.6/10
Chris Pine, Ben Foster, and Jeff Bridges star in this neo-Western crime thriller about a pair of brothers who go on a bank-robbing spree to save their family’s ranch. Pine plays Toby, a down-on-his-luck father struggling to live right under mountains of inherited debt while Foster plays Tanner, his ex-con brother who has a wild streak that often endangers the two men on their jobs. Bridges is the aging sheriff tasked with bringing them to justice but his job is made harder by the locals, who have no love for the bank chain the boys are stealing from. It’s a gritty, unapologetic tale of a forgotten America brought to life by some brilliant performances and an impressive script from Taylor Sheridan.
50. The Perks Of Being A Wallflower (2012)
Run Time: 100 min | IMDb: 8/10
This coming-of-age indie is based on a beloved book, but if fans were worried that the story of a depressed teenager who finds friends and a sense of belonging in a group of lovable misfits wouldn’t translate on screen, they shouldn’t have been too concerned. Stephen Chbosky wrote the novel, but he also penned the screenplay and directed this flick, which sees Logan Lerman play Charlie, the social outcast, and Emma Watson play Sam, the alt-pixie-dream girl he falls for. Everyone’s good in this, but it’s Ezra Miller’s Patrick who really stands out.
Recent Changes Through April 2020:
Removed: Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King, Kill Bill, Doubt, The Dark Knight
Added: Minority Report, The Matrix, The Social Network, The Perks Of Being A Wallflower
