20. Beverly Hills Ninja

Director: Dennis Dugan

Screenplay: Mark Feldberg, Mitch Klebanoff

Starring: Chris Farley, Nicollette Sheridan

In an alternate reality, Chris Farley is still around and making great American comedy films. Unfortunately, this was one of the final three films the comedic titan made and it’s kind of a dud, but still worth watching for Farley’s manic performance.

19. The Blob

Director: Chuck Russell

Screenplay: Chuck Russell, Frank Darabont

Starring: Kevin Dillon, Shawnee Smith

The 1998 remake of this classic fifties film didn’t get much appreciation when it came out but it had its campy thrills. It’s since become a cult classic in part for its damn decent special effects and in part because of the incomparable Matt Dillon.

18. Melancholia

Director: Lars von Trier

Screenplay: Lars von Trier

Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg

Lars von Trier has gotten recognition for taking women and putting them into dangerous situations oftentimes to great detraction by the critics. In this beautiful film, he tackles depression with an incredible—honestly, shocking—performance by Kirsten Dunst.

17. The Devil’s Advocate

Director: Taylor Hackford

Screenplay: Tony Gilroy, Jonathan Lemkin

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino

Al Pacino is the devil. Keanu Reeves somehow got a law degree.

16. Encino Man

Director: Les Mayfield

Screenplay: George Zaloom, Shawn Schepps

Starring: Sean Astin, Brendan Fraser, Pauly Shore

Before Sean Astin was adventuring with Frodo, he was making nineties classic like Encino Man and The Goonies. In addition to the star-turn performance of Brendan Fraser, this movie represents the apex of the Golden Age of Pauly Shore.

15. The Hunt for Red October

Director: John McTiernan

Screenplay: Larry Ferguson, Donald E. Stewart

Starring: Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin

Those pesky Russians are at it again, and only CIA agent Jack Ryan can save us all in this thriller, which you can see on repeat every Father’s Day on either TBS, TNT or USA Network.

14. La Bamba

Director: Luis Valdez

Screenplay: Luis Valdez

Starring: Lou Diamond Phillips, Danielle von Zerneck

The tragic story of teen pop icon Richie Valens comes to life with Lou Diamond Phillips. Can anyone tell us where the hell LDP is now?

13. The Mask

Director: Chuck Russell

Screenplay: Mike Werb

Starring: Jim Carrey, Cameron Diaz

This film and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective came out in the same year. Can you imagine how exhausted Jim Carrey must have been in 1994?

12. Misery

Director: Rob Reiner

Screenplay: William Goldman

Starring: Kathy Bates, James Caan

Misery comes across as a weird form of fantasy fulfillment for author Stephen King as well as a word of warning for potential authors: don’t cross your fans and don’t kill off beloved characters. You might just end up tied to a bed with your feet broken.

11. Road House

Director: Rowdy Herrington

Screenplay: David Lee Henry, Hilary Henkin

Starring: Patrick Swayze, Kelly Lynch

Let this be a warning to any person who thinks they should get their PhD in the soft sciences or humanities: you’ll probably just end up working as a cooler in a Texas roadhouse. If that’s your aim, then let this film be your guide.

10. School Daze

Director: Spike Lee

Screenplay: Spike Lee

Starring: Larry Fishburne, Tisha Campbell

An interesting exploration of colorism at a historically black college.

9. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Director: Steve Barron

Screenplay: Todd W. Langen, Bobby Herbeck

Starring: Judith Hoag, Elias Koteas

The original 1990 film followed much more closely to the decidedly dark and gritty TMNT comic books while still keeping some of the levity of the children’s TV show. Unfortunately, all of that was lost in the subsequent sequel.

8. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze

Director: Michael Pressman

Screenplay: Todd W. Langen

Starring: Paige Turco, Ernie Reyes Jr.

The highlight of this film is the animatronic creatures created by Jim Henson who died before he could see the debut of the film. The movie is the last in his legacy and is worth watching for that reason alone.

7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Turtles in Time

Director: Stuart Gillard

Screenplay: Stuart Gillard

Starring: Elias Koteas, Paige Turco

Imagine the Last Samurai meets the Ninja Turtles and you have this gem of a film finding the four amphibian brothers in feudal Japan.

6. The Eric Andre Show: Season 4

Created by: Eric Andre

Starring: Eric Andre, Hannibal Buress

Eric Andre might actually be insane, which makes watching his show all the more interesting. Not recommended if you have a soft stomach.

5. Prince Avalanche

Director: David Gordon Green

Screenplay: David Gordon Green

Starring: Paul Rudd, Emile Hirsch

Bear with us because this movie is about two guys in the middle of nowhere in Texas walking around and painting lines on the highway and talking and not talking. Y’know, guy stuff. But it’s pretty good and the soundtrack rules.

4. Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Director: Robert Wise

Screenplay: Harold Livingston

Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy

Hulu is unleashing the entire collection of original Star Trek films so cinephiles can see exactly how much better they are than the new, shiny CGI train wrecks. You know the story here—they’re boldly going places no man has gone before for about an hour and a half to two hours.

3. John Dies at the End

Director: Don Coscarelli

Screenplay: Don Coscarelli

Starring: Chase Williamson, Rob Mayes

The film is all over the place and kind of a mixed bag of good and bad but it’s fun and worth the view. Earth is being invaded via a new street drug and the title is true.

2. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

Director: Adam McKay

Screenplay: Will Ferrell, Adam McKay

Starring: Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly

The film is the second best cinematic representation of auto racing just behind Days of Thunder and certainly one of the best Ferrell/Reilly/McKay comedies.

1. Dark City

Director: Alex Proyas

Screenplay: Alex Proyas, David S. Goyer, Lem Dobbs

Starring: Rufus Sewell, Jennifer Connelly

This is one of the great forgotten science fiction films of, not just the late nineties, but perhaps all time and ranks up there with Metropolis or Frankenstein. The film is a neo-noir set in a fictional nowhere city, John Murdoch wakes up with no knowledge of his past and blood on his hands. WATCH THIS FILM.

20. Words That Built America

Director: Alexandra Pelosi

Screenplay: The Founding Fathers

Starring: Donald Trump, Meryl Streep

This July 4th special features a bunch of celebrities reading the Declaration of Independence, including Donald Trump. If you love a good parade of irony, then this will no doubt be for you!

19. Tour De Pharmacy

Director: Jake Szymanski

Screenplay: Murray Miller

Starring: Orlando Bloom, Kevin Bacon

This HBO original is a mockumentary look at the juiced-up world of competitive cycling. It features Lance Armstrong in a minor role so obviously he’s not taking the doping thing too seriously.

18. The Defiant Ones

Director: Allen Hughes

Screenplay: Allen Hughes

Starring: Jimmy Iovine, Dr. Dre

The four-part documentary tells the story of record industry wunderkind Jimmy Iovine and his time working with Dr. Dre—a relationship that leads to landmark albums, which shape contemporary culture as a whole.

17. Watchmen

Director: Zack Snyder

Screenplay: David Hayter, Alex Tse

Starring: Jackie Earle Haley

For such a complex and dense graphic novel as the Watchmen, it was always going to be difficult to bring it to the big screen, but Zack Snyder did an admirable job. This is despite the fact that creator Alan Moore completely crapped on it. Leftovers writer Damon Lindeloff is bringing Watchmen back as an HBO original series so get learned up on the source material.

16. Ballers, Season 3

Created By: Stephen Levinson

Producers: Mark Wahlberg, Peter Berg

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Rob Corddry

If you’ve been to a frat party in the last three years, you’ve probably heard someone talk about Ballers. If not, then you might not know that it stars the Rock and it’s about sports agents.

15. Insecure, Season 2

Created By: Issa Rae, Larry Wilmore

Producers: Issa Rae, Prentice Penny

Starring: Issa Rae, Jay Ellis

Based on the mega-popular web series Awkward Black Girl, Insecure returns for its second hilarious season.

14. Room 104, Series Premiere

Created By: Mark Duplass, Jay Duplass

Producers: Mark Duplass, Jay Duplass

Starring: Mark Duplass, Jay Duplass

After the untimely cancelling of their fantastic HBO series, Togetherness, the Duplass Brothers return with an anthology comedy series set in a motel. Hopefully, this one will last longer than two seasons.

13. Loving

Director: Jeff Nichols

Screenplay: Jeff Nichols

Starring: Joel Edgerton, Ruth Negga

The true story of Loving vs. Virginia, the case that contested and ultimately dismantled laws against interracial marriage in America.

12. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

Director: Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone

Screenplay: Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, Andy Samberg

Starring: Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, Andy Samberg

We thought it was understood that the Lonely Island would just kind of go away after, like, 2010 as their brand of comedy had petered out and been replaced by the more absurdist stylings of Wareheim, Heidecker, Andre and Buress, but, nevertheless, here they are. Actually, the movie isn’t all that bad and kind of makes you harken for the simpler time of the early aughts.

11. Hacksaw Ridge

Director: Mel Gibson

Screenplay: Robert Schenkkan, Andrew Knight

Starring: Andrew Garfield, Sam Worthington

Honestly, it’s surprising that Mel Gibson was welcomed back into the folds of Hollywood after he’d been caught on audio being openly racist, sexist and anti-Semitic. It just goes to show you that money and everything else walks. Of course, this movie looks like one of those fake films you’d see on the show Entourage it’s so incredibly by-the-numbers.

10. The Blair Witch Project

Director: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sanchez

Screenplay: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sanchez

Starring: Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, Joshua Leonard

We don’t care what you say, this movie was a damn revolution. Even during that scene where the girl shoves the camera up her snotty nose, we were on board. And it’s still scary after all these years.

9. Born on the Fourth of July

Director: Oliver Stone

Screenplay: Oliver Stone, Ron Kovic

Starring: Tom Cruise, Kyra Sedgwick

If there’s anybody you know who hates Tom Cruise, tell them to watch this movie because it’s probably one of his best roles. It’s the second in Stone’s “Vietnam” trilogy and might be the highlight.

8. The Dark Knight

Director: Christopher Nolan

Screenplay: Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan

Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger

What can be said of this movie that hasn’t already been said? It’s not just a super hero film, it’s a damn masterpiece.

7. Minority Report

Director: Steven Spielberg

Screenplay: Scott Frank, Jon Cohen

Starring: Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell

We got a lot of Cruise movies on this list, as it seems HBO is doubling down on its July “Cruise Control.” In this one, Cruise has to stop a crime before it can be committed with the help of a psychic who can see crimes before they can be committed. It’s a pretty good movie, trust us.

6. Mission: Impossible II

Director: John Woo

Screenplay: Robert Towne

Starring: Tom Cruise, Thandie Newton

That’s right, it’s Cruise again and he’s out there saving somebody from something.

5. Mr. Deeds

Director: Steven Brill

Screenplay: Tim Herlihy

Starring: Adam Sandler, Winona Ryder

Sandler gets a lot of flack for his movies and some of them are pretty bad. Mr. Deeds has heart, laughs and John Turturro being unsurprisingly hilarious.

4. Platoon

Director: Oliver Stone

Screenplay: Oliver Stone

Starring: Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger

When he was a younger man, Stone actually requested combat duty in Vietnam and remains a decorated veteran. Dude was more than just an artist. This is the first and most lauded in Stone’s “Vietnam Trilogy.”

3. Robin Hood: Men in Tights

Director: Mel Brooks

Screenplay: Mel Brooks, Evan Chandler, J. David Shapiro

Starring: Cary Elwes, Dave Chappelle

It wasn’t the highest grossing of Mel Brooks’ films and it wasn’t the best either, but it’s got some of the most memorable moments and songs. It also receives bonus points for being Dave Chappelle’s first featured role in a film.

2. Thirteen

Director: Catharine Hardwicke

Screenplay: Catharine Hardwicke, Nikki Reed

Starring: Evan Rachel Wood, Nikki Reed

This semi-autobiographical movie was written by the then-thirteen year old Nikki Reed. The movie was released in 2003, when movies about bored suburban teens were all the rage.

1. Game of Thrones, Season 7 Premiere

Created By: David Benioff, D.B. Weiss

Producers: David Benioff, D.B. Weiss

Starring: Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey

Ultimately, none of this other stuff matters because Game of Thrones returns for the first part of its final season July 16^th. This country (world?) needs some escapism right now and there’s no better cure than swords and sorcerers. The war for the Seven Kingdoms is coming and it’s going to be bloody as hell and, by the look of the trailers, everything is either going to be on fire or frozen solid.

20. 48 Hrs.

Director: Walter Hill

Screenplay: Walter Hill, Roger Spottiswoode

Starring: Nick Nolte, Eddie Murphy

There are few “ebony and ivory” teams better than Murphy/Nolte. We’re talking Wilder/Pryor and McCarthy/Jackson but, other than those two, Nolte/Murphy has the trope on lock.

19. 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag

Director: Tom Schulman

Screenplay: Tom Schulman

Starring: Joe Pesci, Andy Comeau

This was one of Joe Pesci’s last films before he retired from acting and, yeah, he’s typecast as your typical Italian mobster. Despite how inherently terrible the film is, Pesci manages to still do his wise-guy best with what he’s given.

18. Another 48 Hrs.

Director: Walter Hill

Screenplay: Walter Hill, Roger Spottiswoode

Starring: Nick Nolte, Eddie Murphy

Ex-Con Murphy and no nonsense cop Nolte are hot in the trail of another hitman in this sequel to the original 48 Hrs.

17. Bandits

Director: Barry Levinson

Screenplay: Harley Peyton

Starring: Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Cate Blanchett

Perhaps there’s no more a bizarre love triangle than the three stars of Bandits. The film is but fun romp through America with some damn fine company.

16. Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Director: Blake Edwards

Screenplay: George Axelrod

Starring: Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard

The novel was originally penned by literary heavyweight Truman Capote and the film turned Audrey Hepburn into a cinema icon. People are still looking for the restaurant inside of Tiffany’s to this day and, unfortunately, the movie did spawn one terrible mid-nineties pop song.

15. Cold Mountain

Director: Anthony Minghella

Screenplay: Anthony Minghella

Starring: Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Renee Zellweger

Good luck making a film centered on a Confederate soldier in this day and age, we don’t care how much you try to humanize him. The movie is good, though, and the music produced by T Bone Burnett is incredible.

14. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Director: Sergio Leone

Screenplay: Sergio Leone

Starring: Clint Eastwood

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly remains the most iconic film in the “Man with No Name” trilogy. You know the drill—bandits, shootouts, dusty locales and Ennio Morricone’s landmark score.

13. The Hunt For Red October

Director: John McTiernan

Screenplay: Larry Ferguson, Donald E. Stewart

Starring: Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin

Those pesky Russians are at it again, and only CIA agent Jack Ryan can save us all in this thriller, which you can see on repeat every Father’s Day on either TBS, TNT or USA Network.

12. Jeepers Creepers

Director: Victor Salva

Screenplay: Victor Salva

Starring: Justin Long, Gina Phillips

We’re in this era of monster movies always being big and brash with Godzilla and King Kong remakes, but sometimes you wish for the days of the more understated monster like Creeper in the Jeepers Creepers franchise. The film is getting a third installment to be released later this year.

11. Kingpin

Director: The Farrelly Brothers

Screenplay: Barry Fanaro, Mort Nathan

Starring: Woody Harrelson, Randy Quaid

Kingpin predates The Big Lebowski by two years so perhaps the Cohen Brothers borrowed some ideas from the other, less-famous set of director-brothers, The Farrelly Brothers. The Farrellys definitely had a “moment” in the late nineties and early aughts, and this film was one of the highpoints, drawing great performances from Harrelson, Quaid and Bill Murray as a hotshot bowler.

10. The Midnight Meat Train

Director: Ryûhei Kitamura

Screenplay: Jeff Buhler

Starring: Bradley Cooper, Vinnie Jones

People either pass this film right over, or stop because they see Brad Cooper, and then eventually pass it over after reading the description. But don’t let the premise, or the grindhouse title deter you, this movie is pure, cinematic gold.

9. Pootie Tang

Director: Louis C.K.

Screenplay: Louis C.K.

Starring: Chris Rock, Lance Crouther

After the breakout success of literally everything Louis C.K. touches, folks were more inclined to take a look at this early comedic gem from the young comedian. Okay, it’s not all great, but there are some serious moments worth watching for.

8. Rosemary’s Baby

Director: Roman Polanski

Screenplay: Roman Polanski

Starring: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes

Mia Farrow gets “up close and personal” with the prince of darkness himself in this classic from Roman Polanski.

7. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Director: Nicholas Meyer

Screenplay: Jack B. Sowards

Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy

Amazon is actually releasing all nine of the original Star Trek films but Wrath of Khan is by far the most iconic and oft quoted for comedic value. Ricardo Montalban will forever be Khan despite Benedict Cumberbatch’s decent and recent performance.

6. Suicide Kings

Director: Peter O’Fallon

Screenplay: Josh Mckinney, Gina Goldman

Starring: Christopher Walken, Denis Leary

For some reason this film is sitting at a 34% on Rotten Tomatoes, which makes no sense because it’s got Chris Walken messing with the minds of a bunch of wannabe tough guys.

5. Up in the Air

Director: Jason Reitman

Screenplay: Jason Reitman

Starring: George Clooney, Ana Kendrick

This is a film about a guy who fires people for a living and we’re supposed to feel sorry for him? Oddly enough, by the end we kind of do.

4. Our Kind of Traitor

Director: Susanna White

Screenplay: Hossein Amini

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Naomie Harris

It’s a spy thriller, okay? There are Russians, Brits and all kinds of intrigue and twists, we’re sure.

3. Chef

Director: Jon Favreau

Screenplay: Jon Favreau

Starring: Jon Favreau, Scarlett Johansson

Jon Favreau scores a win here with his by-the-numbers portrayal of a down-on-his-luck chef. While the continued glorification of so-called “celebrity chefs” and the food service industry as a whole (which exists solely to exploit “foodies,” which is okay, but also workers, which is bad) is annoying, this movie is pretty good.

2. The Last Tycoon: Season 1 (Amazon original)

Created By: Billy Ray, F. Scott Fitzgerald

Produced: Christopher Keyser

Starring: Matt Bomer, Kelsey Grammer

This show is based on a Fitzgerald book nobody was forced to read in high school about the film industry in 1930s Hollywood. Amazon is doubling down on their Fitzgerald worship as they’re also featuring their original show, Z: The Beginning of Everything about the charmed and strange life of Zelda Fitzgerald starring Christina Ricci.

1. Killing Zoe

Director: Roger Avary

Screenplay: Roger Avary

Starring: Eric Stoltz, Julie Delpy

This movie got panned when it came out all the way back in 1994 but has achieved a cult classic status in the years since. It’s basically a Gen X heist film in the vein of Reservoir Dogs complete with a cool soundtrack, long shots of Paris and Julie Delpy.

20. Titanic

Director: James Cameron

Screenplay: James Cameron

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet

If you somehow missed Titanic in the twenty or so years since it’s been out, you’ve been deprived of a bevy of satirical cultural landmarks. What did you think was going on when, on an almost daily basis (and still to this day), folks were standing on things and declaring that they were the “king of the world?”

19. Free Willy

Director: Simon Wincer

Screenplay: Keith A. Walker, Corey Blechmann

Starring: Jason James Richter, Loir Petty

Unfortunately, after the release of Black Fish, movies starring orcas haven’t aged very well. And whatever you do, don’t Google “what happened to the whale from Free Willy?” unless you’re in the mood to be totally bummed out.

18. Disney’s The Mighty Ducks

Director: Stephen Herek

Screenplay: Steven Brill

Starring: Emilio Estevez

A guy arrested for drunk driving has to coach a ragtag team of misfits on the finer points of hockey.

17. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Director: Steven Spielberg

Screenplay: Melissa Mathison

Starring: Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore

This movie was good until they digitally replaced all of the FBI agents’ guns with cell phones. It was weirdly anachronistic and what were they going to do? Stop the flying bike by putting a call in?

16. Delicatessen

Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Marc Caro

Screenplay: Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Marc Caro, Gilles Adrien

Starring: Jean-Claude Dreyfus, Dominique Pinon

Perhaps one of the best variations on the “Soylent Green” theme is from this French director who’s best known for is twee masterpiece Amélie. Believe it or not, he went on to direct Alien: Resurrection and still couldn’t save that dumpster fire of a movie.

15. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Director: Mark Herman

Screenplay: Mark Herman

Starring: Asa Butterfield, Jack Scanlon

Here’s the inherent problem with this film, and we’re going to throw a spoiler warning on this: by the end of the film, the director wants you to feel bad for the Nazis. After the two kids are gassed, the audience is treated to this really annoying close up of two sniveling fascists mourning their dead son. No thank you.

14. Jackass: Number Two

Director: Jeff Tremaine

Screenplay: Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, et. al.

Starring: Steve-O, Johnny Knoxville

Those of us who grew up with Jackass are probably less than willing to remember the sophomoric series too fondly but, damn, did they crush some of those pranks. We recommend watching this movie after a couple of cocktails and basking in the glow of idiot bliss.

13. Punch-Drunk Love

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson

Starring: Adam Sandler, Emily Watson

Punk-Drunk Love was the film that shut the Sandler-haters up for good. The guy gives a tour de force performance as a man with severe anger issues going up against Philip Seymour Hoffman in one of his best roles as a small-time pimp-cum-mattress baron.

12. Spawn: The Movie

Director: Mark A.Z. Dippe

Screenplay: Alan B. McElroy

Starring: Michael Jai White, John Leguizamo

People hated on this movie because it wasn’t very good. But for one brief shining moment, John Leguizamo held the record for most live bugs eaten on camera when he scarfed a pizza covered in maggots. The record had previously been held by, you guessed it, Nic Cage when he ate a cockroach (two, actually, as it took two takes) in the all but forgotten film Vampire’s Kiss.

11. The Astronaut Farmer

Director: Michael Polish

Screenplay: Michael Polish, Mark Polish

Starring: Billy Bob Thornton

Stay with us here, because in this one Billy Bob plays a disgraced NASA scientist who never got to go to space. So what does he do? Builds his very own spaceship in a barn. Based on a true story (not really).

10. Best in Show

Director: Christopher Guest

Screenplay: Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy

Starring: Eugene Levy, Parker Posey

Christopher Guest is best known for his hysterical mockumentaries and this one is no different, which takes on the weird world of professional dog shows.

9. Matchstick Men

Director: Ridley Scott

Screenplay: Ted Griffin, Nicholas Griffin

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Sam Rockwell

Two of America’s greatest actors team up as conmen. Everything changes when a woman from the past shows up and then the con is on.

8. Police Academy

Director: Hugh Wilson

Screenplay: Neal Israel, Pat Proft, Hugh Wilson

Starring: Steve Guttenberg, Bubba Smith

Nothing, literally nothing, is funnier to dads the world over than the guy who only talks in funny sounds. Holy moly that stuff is gold.

7. Castlevania: Season 1–NETFLIX ORIGINAL

Director: Sam Deals

Screenplay: Warren Ellis

Producer: Adi Shankar

This animated take on the beloved vampiric video game series is being described as “like Game of Thrones,” but, since Game of Thrones comes back July 16^th, who needs “like Game of Thrones” when you can have Game of Thrones?

6. Lion

Director: Garth Davis

Screenplay: Luke Davies

Starring: Dev Patel, Rooney Mara

Dev Patel crisscrosses the world looking for his estranged birth parents using only Google Earth in one of the longest commercials for Google ever.

5. Friends From College: Season 1–NETFLIX ORIGINAL

Director: Nicholas Stoller

Screenplay: Nicholas Stoller, Francesca Delbanco

Starring: Keegan-Michael Key, Cobie Smulders, Fred Savage

Twenty years after graduation, it turns out things are still tough in the real world and love never comes easy for this group of formerly tight-knit friends. Judging by the description, this looks like a Gen-X version of The Big Chill.

4. To the Bone–NETFLIX ORIGINAL

Director: Marti Noxon

Screenplay: Marti Noxon

Starring: Lilly Collins, Keanu Reeves

An anorexic girl moves into a group home with a quirky doctor in a film that is sure to be described as “raw,” “honest,” “heartbreaking,” and “heartwarming.”

3. Chasing Coral–NETFLIX ORIGINAL

Director: Jeff Orlowski

Screenplay: Jeff Orlowski

Starring: Jeff Orlowski

If you’re tired of escapism or just can’t get enough horrible news, this documentary is about coral bleaching and how we as humans just love to ruin everything.

2. Buddy Thunderstruck: The Maybe Pile–NETFLIX ORIGINAL

Creator: Rian Wiesbrok

Screenplay: Tom Krajewski

Starring: Brian Atkinson, Ted Raimi

A truck-driving dog and a ferret that’s a mechanic go around and do stuff. You know the drill. It’s for kids. But what’s kind of cool is that it’s one of the first “choose-your-own-adventure” interactive television shows opening the door for other applications.

1. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Director: Gareth Edwards

Screenplay: Chris Weitz, Tony Gilroy

Starring: Felicity Jones, Diego Luna

This was a very okay Star Wars film but, when put up against some of its predecessors, it remains, like, the fifth (fourth?) best Star Wars film of all time. It’s kind of hard to follow the plot but things blow up and there are some pretty cool dogfights… but no lightsabers.