Stephen King is one of the most popular horror authors of the modern day, publishing almost 60 novels since the release of his first novel in 1974, known as Carrie. Though, most known as a horror author, it’s the author’s non-horror works that have made the biggest splash critically when being translated to the big screen. Director Rob Reiner’s 1986 film Stand By Me, based on short story ‘The Body’, and Frank Darabont’s pair of releases, 1994’s The Shawshank Redemption and 1999’s The Green Mile based on the short story and novel of the same name, stand as prime examples of the success of adaptations of King’s more dramatic pieces of work.
Director Mike Flanagan has already had tremendous success working with King, adapting two of his horror novels, Doctor Sleep and Gerald’s Game, into features released in 2019 and 2017 respectively. The director is also most known for his horror works, starting with his low budget feature Absentia in 2011, and most probably known to a general public for his horror Netflix television series, notably 2018’s The Haunting of Hill House, 2020’s The Haunting of Bly Manor, 2021’s Midnight Mass, 2022’s The Midnight Club and 2023’s The Fall of The House of Usher. Before he returns to the worlds of horror, with the director attached to a new Exorcist film and a Carrie television series for Amazon Prime next, Flanagan has sought out a lesser-known King-drama short story to adapt, The Life of Chuck.
Carl Lumbly and Chiwetel Ejiofor in The Life of Chuck
Told through 3 separate chapters, that tell the life of Charles Krantz, known as Chuck to his friends, as the film explores the character’s life backwards. Starting with the end of his life, and beginning with his coming of age, the film and original short story showcases how the people in his life shaped him to the man he is, exploring the multitudes of life and memory.
Through his previous two works adapting the horror author, it was clear to argue that King and Flanagan almost felt like they were made for each other, the connection between King’s introspective dialogues and Flanagan’s wordy monologues is palpable. The same can be said for The Life of Chuck, a short story that seems like it was made to be adapted by Flanagan. Flanagan makes the genius decision to give this film a voice-over narration, with Nick Offerman doing the voice-over duties, delivering narration directly from the novel word-for-word. This helps the narrative for sure, some of the strongest emotional beats come from Offerman’s delivery and words and helps to bring structure to such a weirdly structured film. Delivering accurate narration onto the big screen is not the only thing pulled from the short story, the film essentially brings everything from the story onto the screen, favouring expansion to some elements than removing any. Narrative-wise, the story of this film leans a lot more on the emotional side of the King adaptation filmography, its overly sentimental and wordy in its messaging, a choice that will not work for every audience member but works well for people used to Flanagan’s dialogue-heavy previous projects.
Mark Hamill in The Life of Chuck
Flanagan’s Netflix series, mostly Midnight Mass, would be criticised commonly for its lengthy dialogue sequences, with many conversations between characters ranging between 3 to 5 minutes in length. These scenes could be argued as an example of show, don’t tell, featuring characters discussing the themes of the show, exploring topics of religion, greed, death and the meaning of life, but the writing was so well-realised and moving that it could be ignored for its lengthy inclusion. This film is a treasure-trove of lengthy monologues, the film being held together by the people that come in and out of Chuck’s life, imparting wisdom on him and then leaving the narrative. Running just under two hours, viewers who would criticise Flanagan’s meaningful but lengthy dialogue sequences may find the inclusion here more meaningful and emotional in their frequented but shortened inclusion.
The themes that the director explored in his long-running series also make appearances here, from discussion around religion, the fear of death and the meaning of life, all explored in new ways through both the characters and the central narration. The narrative also being in reverse chronological order allows for a central mystery to build, opening with characters dealing with the end of the world, and how this end links to a man they barely know, Chuck. Through the reverse chronological narrative, the film becomes more complex and denser as the narrative moves on, revealing answers and a central twist as Chuck’s life becomes simpler and more mundane, from adult to child.
Karen Gillan and Chiwetel Ejiofor in The Life of Chuck
Flanagan’s film has delivered an incredibly surprising cast, with most of its biggest names being in small scenes and essentially cameos. Flanagan mainstays, that have populated his casts for a decade at this point each get a moment to shine, notably Rahul Kohli, Carl Lumbly, Kate Siegel and Samantha Sloyan. David Dastmalchian and Harvey Guillen share a fun singular sequence each which brings some welcome levity to the proceedings. Scream and now-Five Nights at Freddy’s star Matthew Lillard has a memorable sequence that will tug at the heart strings, and Nightmare on Elm Street’s own Heather Langenkamp makes a notable return to the big screen. Starting the film off with people reacting to Chuck outside of meeting the character ourselves, welcomes Chiwetel Ejiofor and Karen Gillan into essentially being the opening acts main characters and they handle the focus perfectly. Newcomers to the worlds of overlong monologues, they seem naturals at talking about the meaning of life and death itself. Mark Hamill and Mia Sara give heartbreaking performances as Chuck’s grandparents, bringing some realistic humanity to such a fantasy-esque narrative.
Benjamin Pajak in The Life of Chuck
The titular character has been marketed as being played by Tom Hiddleston, but the Marvel-star is in very little of the film. Chuck’s most common actor is newcomer Benjamin Pajak as the 11-year-old version of the character, and he delivers the true heart of the movie through his performance. The entire narrative reveals itself through his impassioned performance, reflecting himself through Hiddleston’’s short tenure as the character, selling the positivity of the character amongst all the pain he encounters, his love of dance and the teenage angst that comes at that age.
The Life of Chuck stands strong next to some of King’s most successful adaptations. Mike Flanagan just knows how to breath the cinematic language into the author’s texts, delivering a scene like a man and woman dancing to a reggae beat which any other director could make silly or heartless, but it ends up on the screen as a heartfelt and moving sequence. It may be overly sentimental at times, but the heart is in the right place, it’s a movie which feels like a lifetime, filled with so many characters and actors giving a moment of wisdom. Each sequence feels better than the last, feeling like a film designed perfectly for fans of both Flanagan and King.
Ernie Hudson, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd star in Ghostbusters
Released in 1984, a film about four down-on-their-luck working class men who start a ghost-catching business to make money became the start of a long-running multimedia franchise. Ghostbusters, the brainchild of star Dan Aykroyd, was originally conceived as a big-budget project featuring Aykroyd and John Belushi as they hunted down supernatural threats across time and space. After the death of the former and director Ivan Reitman joined the project, the film was downsized to the New York-set supernatural-comedy hybrid that it is remembered fondly for now. It is hard to argue against that Ghostbusters was a lightning-in-the-bottle film, releasing in the height of the careers of Aykroyd, Bill Murray and Harold Ramis after their stints on Saturday Night Live, and capturing a moment in Hollywood where blockbusters and franchise cinema were becoming a hot-commodity.
A film that spawned the future of big budget comedy features and set in a very specific time in America which formulated the narrative, and it’s a film that is hard to replicate. The popularity of the film spawned one of the pillars of multimedia merchandising, off the back of the success of Star Wars’ similar turn in 1977, launching the follow-up animated series The Real Ghostbusters in 1986 and its sequel, Extreme Ghostbusters in 1997. The theme song ‘Ghostbusters’ by Ray Parker Jr was a number one hit for 3 weeks, spending 21 weeks on the charts, and starting the trend of film-artist theme song collaborations. Reitman would return for a sequel in 1989, and a third film was eventually cancelled after the death of Ramis in 2014, instead being followed by a reboot in 2016, and a direct-follow-up to the original directed by Reitman’s son, Jason Reitman, in the duology of Ghostbusters: Afterlife in 2021 and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire in 2024. Each subsequent film has been a success of course, successful enough to warrant continuations, but never has the franchise hit the peak of the original, with the first sequel seeing diminishing returns instantly, seeing negative reviews on release and a drop in box office, earning a worldwide gross of $215.4 million against the original’s $282.2 million.
Behind the scenes with director Ivan Reitman
Director Ivan Reitman found success with his collaborations with star Bill Murray in comedies Meatballs in 1979 and Stripes in 1981, with his prior work being the horror-comedy feature Cannibal Girls in 1973. This collaboration between the pair would come as one of the biggest strengths of the feature, as the passion project of Aykroyd became a star vehicle for Murray, playing lead character Peter Venkman. Both star and director’s background in comedy lent the film a comfortable edge in bringing alive the SNL-like comedy that would be absent from the sequels. The ghost-catching business the protagonists would take part in would be a clear spoof on exterminators, capturing the reactions of the everyday working-class man as a blockbuster hero, while also making time for the scientific backdrop that Aykroyd was so interested in. Murray plays his role with deadpan expressions, playing the character as a suave conman who is straightened out by a romantic encounter with Sigourney Weavers’ Dana Barrett. Aykroyd’s Ray Stanz is the fanatic of the group, one of the two scientists that make up the cast as the character reflects the actor’s obsession with the supernatural.
Ramis’ Egon Spengler serves as the straight man of the group, a colder and more serious scientist whose comedic input comes from his own deadpan delivery, a character favoured by Ramis when he co-wrote the script with Aykroyd. Ernie Hudson’s Winston Zeddemore joins the central cast late into the runtime and serves as the film’s ‘normal’ man of the group, just a man trying to make money with no scientific backdrop. These four characters are central to the film, using the supernatural elements as a backdrop for situational comedy and allowing the actors to bounce off one another. One of the key sequences to show this is the Ghostbusters’ first job, with the central three bouncing off each other in a still middle shot in the elevator. Once Egon turns on Ray’s proton pack, Egon and Venkman scoot further away from him, eyes raised high as they hope it doesn’t explode. They become startled once they exit the elevator, shooting a maid and her trolly with their proton packs as they scream in terror, and would soon follow that mess with destroying the entire interior of the building they are trying to save from Slimer. Scenes like this showcase the importance of the actors’ heightened performances and situational comedy to the success of the original feature.
Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray in Ghostbusters
Sequels struggled with continuing these comedic threads, with one of the major complaints of Reitman’s initial sequel was that the comedy was made more family-oriented in response to the success of the animated series. The film’s plot was also critiqued for its similarities to the original, replicating the events of the original and resetting most character’s arcs for the beginning of the film. 2016’s reboot made a return to the comedy of the original, but with a swapped gendered cast it became a controversial film on the internet. Both late sequels by Jason Reitman reflected two separate looks at the franchise, as Afterlife took focus as a serious-drama dealing with the brand as almost mythological, and then Frozen Empire being easy to be described as a live-action version of an animated series episode. This mismatch tones led to the former film to be seen as a failure critically and at the box-office, reflecting how far the franchise has strayed from the original. Ghostbusters becoming a franchise has become one of its major weaknesses in some regards.
Socio-political commentary precedes over the narrative of Ivan Reitman’s original feature. The film reflected the new free market that came after the 1970’s financial turmoil that inspired the look of a grungy and uncomfortable New York that preceded over films like Taxi Driver and Escape From New York. The grunge was still present moving into the 1980s, but Ghostbusters reflects the freedom that comes from new President Ronald Reagan’s sweeping reforms, reflecting a feeling of togetherness and comfortability for the working-class people. Reaganomics focused on limited government spending and the removal of state regulations, in favour of a free market provided by the private sector and private businesses. The incoming movement of free markets and mass-consumerism because of so, is reflected in the film commonly, from Ray being unable to think of anything other than a consumerist mascot in The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, or the first encounter with Zuul being in a stocked fridge. Ghostbusters’ draws its comedy from being a satire of American way of life moving into this era, spoofing the academia and intellectuals of the upper classes, governmental officials and tax officers, and the average New Yorker.
Slavitza Jovan joins the cast of Ghostbusters as Gozer
The entire plot is based around the private business owned by the four protagonists, as the governmental official, Walter Peck, played by Willaim Atherton, causes more problems for them. Peck’s involvement in trying to close this private business leads to the ghosts being freed and the eventual freedom of lead ghost antagonist Gozer, marking Peck as the true antagonist of the film. The movie sparks a connection to the new working class that had finally been given a leg over in making money, as the government is incapable of containing the threat, while the private sector comes in to save the day, working for a fee, however. The mayor picks a size in the conflict; paying for the Ghostbusters to save the day once he realises his own backers cannot do much to help and Peck reveals himself to be useless, and after being reminded that his choice will help to save millions of registered voters that could help him stay in power. It is a still cynical look at America, reflecting government officials only doing what is right, only helping the private sector when it benefits them as well.
Removed from this political context, the cynical nature of the first film is lost in the sequels. Ghostbusters II reflects the commercialisation of the franchise at the time, but in less of a spoof and more leaning into becoming a product. It’s central plot around a river of slime appearing in New York which is leading to New Yorkers becoming more hostile to one another feels more cartoonish in nature. There is still political commentary, with the Ghostbusters institutionalised after being outspoken around their ghost encounters, being forced to give up their jobs by the government that looked like fools because of them. They are only brought back into action when the government lift their ban to save the day when the government once again fail in containing the threat, reaffirming the private sector’s importance against governmental bonds.
Behind the scenes of Ghostbusters, designing the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man
What becomes the problem is that the film is mainly just reaffirming the political context of the original, copying the events and doing them just again, but this time in a less serious manner and with more childish antics. The Ghostbusters are locked away in the first film as well, with the franchise running out of ideas from its first sequel. 2016’s franchise reboot would see the same series of events happening, with governmental officials stopping the now-female Ghostbusters from doing their work, but removing the political context of the original, it just feels like an imitation. Similar could be said with 2024’s Ghostbuster: Frozen Empire, which brought back Peck to threaten the Ghostbuster’s with closure once again, ticking one more of the franchise’s tropes off the list.
In the years after the release of the original Ghostbusters, the popularity of the film’s mise-en-scene would transcend the original context of the film. A film about working class pest controllers who save the day because the government cannot stop the pests, and they save the day for a quick buck, would be remembered for the pop culture toys that hit the zeitgeist. Slimer, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, the Proton Pack, the Ecto-1 would all become the face of the franchise, morphing the franchise from one which placed comedy foremost other its blockbuster qualities, into one that would market itself as the newest summer action blockbuster. The newest entry, Frozen Empire, seen the entirety of New York encased in ice as an end-of-the-world threat, with almost eight Ghostbusters assembling to stop the threat. The days of the franchise being a simple situational comedy, using ghosts as backdrop, has long gone, but the original film remains as an important touchstone in cinematic history, a lightning-in-a-bottle feature.
Ernie Hudson, Harold Ramis, Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd behind the scenes of Ghostbusters
Five years have passed and we have finally entered the mid-point of the decade, and below we will be ranking some of the most engaging and memorable films of the decade so far:
25) The Father
Olivia Coleman and Anthony Hopkins in The Father
Directed by Florian Zeller
A sad and sometimes uncomfortable film is how you can describe Florian Zeller’s directorial debut, The Father. Starring Olivia Coleman and Anthony Hopkins, the film follows the slow descent of a man living with dementia and how that affects his surrounding family. Based on the director’s 2012 play, La Pere, the film treats the situation with the honesty and care that it demands, but also attempts to convey the true horror that also comes from the situation. Hopkins puts in a dynamic performance in this emotional film, awarding himself with a second Oscar for Best Actor, becoming the oldest actor to ever have won the award, and the film walked away from the 2021 Oscar Ceremony with a second award in winning Best Adapted Screenplay. It is a must-see drama from this decade, lead by two great performances that convey each part of such a devastating topic.
24) Nosferatu
Lily Rose Depp in Nosferatu
Directed by Robert Eggers
1922’s Nosferatu served as the first adaptation of Bram Stoker’s original Dracula novel, even in an unofficial sense, with the film eventually being forced to be destroyed after a long legal battle. The original film is one of the most important horror features ever made, introducing long-running vampire features like the fear of light, and dwelling itself in the important film movement of German Expressionism. Robert Eggers’ has long teased his passion in creating a remake of this classic horror, and in 2024, when this film actually became a reality, he did not disappoint. Starring Lily Rose Depp, Bill Skarsgard, Nicholas Hoult and Willem Dafoe, the film explores the attempts by vampire Count Orlok to travel to Germany and reunite with the aue of his infatuation, a woman named Ellen. After releasing such acclaimed critical hits as The Witch, The Lighthouse and The Northman, Nosferatu continues Eggers’ eye for time-period accurate set design and costuming, adding so much to the original narrative, making key changes to Orlok himself and the dialectic spoken through each character. Rooted in inspiration from the original, the film includes many German Expressionist staples, including the use of darkness and shadows. Eerie moments break from reality, as Orlok’s shadowy hand englufs the entire town, or Hoult’s character seems to float towards a carriage encased in darkness. It can easily be argued as Eggers’ scariest film, but also his most thematically rich, exploring sexual liberation, the vampire as a metaphor for sexual assault and the plague being brought upon by Orlok having a lot in similarity to the COVID-19 pandemic. It slowly became Eggers’ most successful film at the box office, marking a large success for indie’s darling of a director and finally rushing him into the limelight.
23) RRR
N.T. Rama Rhao Jr. and Ram Charan in RRR
Directed by S.S. Rajamouli
The Bollywood film that took the world by storm, its hard to classify RRR as any specific genre. It mixes the worlds of action, comedy, historical drama, musical and romance in such a way that it can only be classified as an epic. Starring N.T. Rama Rhao Jr. and Ram Charan as fictionalised versions of Indian revolutionaries Komaram Bheem and Alluri Sitarama Raju, the film follows their fight against British colonial rule during the era of pre-Indian independence. The film sees these two revolutionaries becoming fast friends, as they battle together through impressive and over-the-top action sequences, fantastically crafted musical sequences and even romantic moments with potential love interests. In what could become a film buckling under its own weight, the epic only excels in becoming everything and more, all wrapped up together with a clear political message against the British Empire. The film’s signature song ‘Naatu Naatu’ won the Oscar for Best Original Song at the 95th Academy Award ceremony, marking this historical film as the first win ever for an Indian film at the Oscars.
22) The Batman
Robert Pattinson in The Batman
Directed by Matt Reeves
Attempting a fresh new take on such an iconic character like Batman is a hard task in the modern day, with so many actors donning the cape and cowl. Following Christopher Nolan’s well-received Dark Knight trilogy is an even more daunting task. Director Matt Reeves, famous for his work with both Cloverfield and the modern Planet of the Apes trilogy, however met these stakes and delivered one of the most unique blockbusters of the decade. Inspired by the works of David Fincher, namely Zodiac and Seven, the film takes the iconic superhero through a crime investigation thriller, as he attempts to track down the serial killer known as the Riddler. Robert Pattinson is the new actor that has put on the batsuit, and he leads a cast that includes big name actors like Zoe Kravitz, Paul Dano, Andy Serkis, Jeffrey Wright and Colin Farrell. Portraying the narrative mainly through the superhero’s eyes and lacking many Bruce Wayne-moments, the film takes its time to dispel its mystery to the audience. Clocking in at nearly 3 hours, the crime-drama is smart and entertaining throughout, keeping its action grounded and realistic, seeing a young Batman being challenged by the own symbol he has created. The movie explores the meaning of vengeance, and how Batman must become a symbol of protection and not one of fear. This marks the film becoming a clear standout in the modern superhero boom, meeting the worlds of superhero action and the world of police procedurals into one cohesive whole.
21) The Last Duel
Matt Damon and Adam Driver in The Last Duel
Directed by Ridley Scott
Director Ridley Scott has been hard at work this decade continuingly crafting new features for audiences, from the middle-of-the-road House of Gucci, to the long-awaited sequel to Gladiator. However, his adaptation of the 2004 book, The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal, and Trial by Combat in Medieval France by writer Eric Jager, is the feature that stands high amount the rest. Starring Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer and Ben Affleck, the film follows two knights who are drawn into a duel to the death after one is believed to have raped the others’ wife. The film is portrayed in three separate chapters, each displaying the same set of events but from a different characters’ perspective. This smart storytelling device keeps the audience guessing to the true nature of events, and to question their own preconceived notions of an event like this. The film is intense and can be hard to watch at times, dealing with a heavy subject like sexual assault and how that can be normalised in a world structured around men and so focused around misogyny. It is a thematically complex film which seeks to question its audience’s own perspectives, and stands out as a key film of Scott’s later works.
20) Sinners
Michael B.Jordan and Miles Canton in Sinners
Directed by Ryan Coogler
The newest feature on this list, Sinners is director Ryan Coogler’s first big-budget original film. The director gained notable attention after working with notable IP-hits like Creed and the Black Panther duology, and the studio put a lot of faith in the director being able to craft something original and crowd-pleasing. Sinners is that and more, following criminal twin brothers, Stack and Smoke, as they attempt to open a duke-joint back in their hometown of Mississippi Delta, until their night of debauchery is crashed by unexpected guests. Starring an impressive cast like Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Wunmi Moskau and Delroy Lindo, the film proves the star power of its director through a truly moving narrative. What starts as a movie that emphasises drama and character-work soon become a living nightmare as the horror elements set in, and our characters are plagued by vampires. Action sequences are engaging throughout, and the film has some freakish sequences, but really stands apart is the usage of the vampire. Vampires have long-been used as metaphoric forces for a film’s underlying message, even dating far back as Bram Stoker’s original Dracula novel, where it can be gleamed as discussing around sexual liberation and taboo. Sinners sees the vampire become a hivemind, absorbing each person it bites into its web, absorbing their interests and culture until each vampire becomes one-in-the-same. Essentially, the film explores the vampire as a metaphor for cultural assimilation, but does so in an even smarter way. The lead vampire is Irish and is a similar victim to this cultural assimilation, removing any generic takes of white versus black that this could have easily fell back on. Removed from all that however, the film also just serves as love-letter to music and the power of song, delivering some exceptional musical sequences.
19) Past Lives
Greta Lee and Teo Yoo in Past Lives
Directed by Celine Song
A film focusing around what ifs, the concept of the ‘in yun’, the idea that any person you might in life is a potential other life opened for you, another romantic or platonic relationship that could exist in another life. Past Lives, Celine Song’s directorial debut, semi-based on her own life, deals with the concept of what ifs thoroughly. Starring Greta Lee, Teo Yoo and John Magaro, the film follows two estranged childhood friends who were separated for 24 years after one emigrated to the states. 24 years later, they come back into each other’s lives, one single and one married, and they reconnect about their shared past and what could have been if they had stayed. This is a romantic-drama that feels honest and true, it involves a love triangle between our three leads, but they are all thoroughly fleshed out people who never outstep their roles or boundaries. A lesser film would demonise one of the characters to bring the estranged friends together but this film doesn’t, instead the film fleshes all three out and what they mean to each other, in this life and any others. The friends mean a lot to each other, they are all they have got to remind themselves of their past and the culture clash they feel now in the United States, but the film questions how important the past is when they have the life they have now. A film that’s bound to make you think about your own life, this honest look into relationships, what ifs and cultural dissonance is one of the decade’s finest romantic features.
18) The Worst Person in The World
Renate Reinsve in The Worst Person in The World
Directed by Joachim Trier
The closing film in director Joachim Trier’s Oslo trilogy, following 2006’s Reprise and 2011’s Oslo, August 31st, a trilogy brought together by the shared location at the heart of the features, Oslo. The Worst Person in the World takes place over a 4-year gap, following Julie, a woman lost in both her love life and her work life, as she attempts to take a hard look at herself and make crucial changes in her life. A Norweigan romantic-comedy that essentially subverts all regular tropes of these two genres, the film can be more easily classified as a drama at times, being both hilarious but deeply sad at the same time. It is a brutally honest look at being lost in life, mixing in all the bad and good moments that come from trying to discover yourself and figure out who you want to be in a romantic and professional length. Leading actor Renate Reinsve delivers one of the best performances of the decade, elevating the lost-and-struggling woman trope and filling that character with so much personality and ethos. She won the award for Best Actress at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, sadly missing out on any nomination from that year’s Oscars, a massive snub for one of the most memorable films of the decade.
17) Dune: Part Two
Timothee Chalamet in Dune: Part Two
Directed by Denis Villenueve
Following up David Lynch’s original attempt at the material would have been a daunting task for any big director, but Villenueve made the strong choice to split the original novel’s narrative into two distinct films. Both films released this decade, but Part Two is the clear victor of the two. Dune served as the set-up, familiarising audiences with this vast world and setting up a much action-packed follow-up, and Dune: Part Two delivers this premise masterfully. Starring big names like Timothee Chalamet, Florence Pugh, Zendaya and Austin Butler, the film follows the story of Paul Atriedes, one of the sole survivors of the assassination attempt on the House Atriedes by the Harkonnens. Surviving in the desert of the planet Arakkis, he is believed to be the deity known as Muad’Dib, and gathers an army to take his revenge. Based on the back half of the original Frank Herbert novel, the film ups the scale from the first feature, delivering exceptional action sequences and incredible action sequences. The action and scale are not the only things to be in awe of however, the narrative becomes equally more complex and compelling, as our own hero becomes someone to fear and question. The film explores the concepts of the novel through a true mature lens, exploring cultism, false prophets and revolution in a way that strikes fear in its audience, and really questions who is the true hero of this story. Timothee Chalamet delivers one of his finest performances yet, marking this as having the potential to be this decades’ equivalent to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, equally if Dune: Messiah hits the landing in the coming years.
16) Spider-Man: Across the Spider Verse
Shameik Moore in Spider-Man: Across the Spider Verse
Directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson
Sony Pictures Animation challenged animated filmgoers in 2018 with the release of Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse, a film which buckled the trend of stock studio- animation styles. With its comic-book inspired animation style, and blending multiple different animation types, the film became an instant success and challenged other animation studios to also experiment with new forms of animation. Spider-Man: Across the Spider Verse, the 2023 sequel to the Sony Pictures original, doubles up on the impressive animation quality and delivers easily the most ambitious animated film in decades. Starring notable names like Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Daniel Kaluuya and Oscar Isaac among an even more impressive cast, the film follows spider-hero Miles Morales as he bravely steps out of his own universe and into the multiverse in an attempt to stop a villain who may destroy the web that holds the multiverse together. Distinctively more ambitious than its predecessor, in both story and animation, with the film ending on a cliff-hanger to set up its 2027 follow-up, Beyond the Spider-Verse, the film could have buckled under its own massive weight but instead delivers a moving and incredibly impressive story. With scenes that include over 250 animated characters on screen at once, and blending multiple different worlds with visually distinct animation styles, the film cannot help to impress you as you watch. Blending all these parts with a moving story about finding yourself away from home and accepting who you are, and mixing it with comic-book references in a earnest way, the film stands out as a clear highlight of the superhero movie boom.
15) Bones and All
Timothee Chalamet and Taylor Russell in Bones and All
Directed by Luca Guadagnino
Director Luca Guadagnino has had a very busy decade, crafting film after film to commercial and critical success, from Challengers to Queer, the director has definitely made a mark this decade. For this list however, his romantic-horror road film Bones and All takes the cake as his best work this decade. Starring Taylor Russell and Timothee Chalamet, the film, based on the 2015 novel of the same name by Camille DeAngelis, follows two cannibals who fall in love across a road trip through the United States. The film is a notable piece of the director’s work, a film which blends the world between gross-out horror and earnest romance perfectly. Romance is a classic trope of the director’s works, the yearning, the look for connection, the sexual need and the feeling of loneliness purpurates across all his work, but never has it felt more earnest and innocent, even in a film featuring pure horror. The road-trip elements allow the leads to fall in love and meet fresh new characters, with their sense of belonging being connected to their ability to sniff out other cannibals, and also being tested by the dangers that can come from such a way of life. The film is equal parts creepy and earnest, blending the worlds perfectly to craft Guadagnino’s finest film of the decade.
14) The Banshees of Inisherin
Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell in The Banshees of Inisherin
Directed by Martin McDonagh
Following his memorable directorial debut In Bruges, Martin McDonagh delivered another perfect dark comedy in The Banshees of Insiherin. Set in a fictional island off the coast of Ireland, the film features Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as two friends whose friendship comes to an explosive end when one decides he no longer wants to be friends, starting a domino effect of consequences between the two. Crafting a screenplay this hilarious and deeply heart wrenching based on such a simple premise is a massive achievement in itself, and its all wrapped up in a narrative about the power of legacy, the fear of loneliness and the fear of death and how we will be remembered once we are gone. Padraic, played by Colin Farrell, is a happy man who is willing to be remembered as just the kindest man in the village, willing to be remembered for his character and not for his work. Colm on the other hand, played by Brendan Gleeson, is bitter for how much time he has left and how little he has done, wishing to be remembered for not his character but his work in music. These two different views could be seen as the director making comparisons across the storied history of Ireland’s divisions, from the Irish Civil War to its long dealing with the Catholic Church, its all important to understanding McDonagh’s perfectly crafted film. Legacy and conflict seem to be one in the same in this film’s world, and that’s a message to think over when viewing one of this decade’s most finely crafted features.
13) Tar
Cate Blanchett in Tar
Directed by Todd Field
Never has a fictional film about a ‘real person’ felt like it was reality more than Todd Field’s Tar. Starring Cate Blanchett, the film follows Lydia Tar, a world-famous conductor, whose life falls apart when she is accused of misconduct. Blanchett delivers one of the finest performances of her career, crafting such an emotionally complex character, the film constantly leaving you guessing who the real Lydia Tar is, the person she is pretending to be or someone even more evil than that. The film seems to deal with the current trend of cancel culture, exploring how a celebrity deals with this trend and attempts to put things right, or double down on their behaviour. It is a film that is so confident in its messaging and narrative that director Todd Field never attempts to guide your hand in thinking a certain way, he just leaves you to make your own judgements about both the identity politics it plays with and the cancel culture it thoroughly explores.
12) Everything Everywhere All At Once
Michelle Yeoh in Everything Everywhere All At Once
Directed by The Daniels
Multiverse narratives are the new trend in Hollywood, with franchise features banking on nostalgia of long forgotten cinematic outings in films like Spider-Man: No Way Home and The Flash. However, the film that really stood apart in this trend was A24’S Everything Everywhere All at Once, a film exploring the multiverse concept in such a human way. Following a Chinese-American immigrant, who after being audited by the IRS, must travel the multiverse and join forces with different versions of herself to stop a mysterious enemy who is seeking to destroy the multiverse. Multiverse stories are a tricky gamble for sure, there is a vast amount of storytelling possibilities but they can threaten to fall apart if there is no cohesive storyline to ground the chaos. The Daniels made the smart decision to ground the narrative in a simple story of mother and daughter reconnecting, and wife and husband learning that there is nothing more important in the multiverse than being together. There are themes of depression, neurodivergence, generational trauma and identity that bring together the chaos of the narrative and the absolute creativity in crafting alternate realities, into becoming a human narrative. The film became a surprising Oscar winner for sure, winning the Best Picture Oscar at the 2023 awards ceremony, alongside best director, best editing and best original screenplay. The film is also equally important for finally marking a accolade in Michelle Yeoh’s career, winning best actress, and revitalizing Ke Huy Quan’s career, winning best supporting actor for a equally memorable role.
11) Barbie
Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in Barbie
Directed by Greta Gerwig
Barbie captured a cultural moment on release in 2023, becoming the highest grossing film of the year, marking a big turnout for female audiences for Hollywood cinema. Directed by long-running and proven feminist director Greta Gerwig, the film proves there is still a future in franchise filmmaking, and in a feature that is both a toy commercial and an auteur-driven comedy. Featuring a variety of big performers, the cast includes such big names as Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Michael Cera, Simu Liu, Will Ferrell and Issa Rae. The narrative follows Barbie as she questions her own existence, travelling away from Barbieland to the real world in order to meet her creator and set her right. A hilarious comedy that appeals both to general audiences and the built-in audience from Gerwig’s previous work, the film delivers on being an appealing children’s film but also a product to market the Barbie world to the world. Filled to the brim with engaging themes around embracing female beauty through all shapes and sizes, the film also explores both toxic masculinity and toxic femineity. Through its breakout performance of Ryan Gosling as Ken, the film explores a need for men to stand up and be better, but also deserve to be loved and show love as much as the women that appear across the film. The release of Billie Eilish’s song ‘What Was I Made For?’, which was awarded the Best Original Song Oscar at the 2024 awards ceremony, marks the theming of the film, questioning why you were put on this earth and how you can love yourself with so.
10) Oppenheimer
Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer
Directed by Christopher Nolan
Paired with Barbie, Oppenheimer became another cultural touchstone of the 2023 Hollywood film season, pushing audiences to the cinema to see both on the same day as a viral trend. The film became the highest grossing R-rated film at the time, grossing nearly 1 billion dollars at the box office, marking a rare time a historical epic became one of the highest grossing films of the year. Christopher Nolan has had a long-standing career across Hollywood, being under the Warner Bros studio partnership for a long-time. After the release of Tenet in 2020, a film which was released during the COVID-19 pandemic and was the centre of a falling-out between the director and his former studio, the director jumped ship to Universal Pictures. Here, he was given free reign and a massive budget to deliver one of his finest features yet. Based on the 2005 biography American Prometheus, the film conveys the timeline of events in its titular character’s life. Dramatic recreations of Oppenheimer’s studies, his work at the Los Alamos Laboratory and his eventual security hearing years later. Starring Cillian Murphy in the titular role, the film is one of Nolan’s narratively complex films yet, seeking to understand a man who essentially created death as a weapon. The Trinity Test sequence is one of the most compelling sequences of the decade, making the use of the IMAX filmmaking to its biggest degree. The film doesn’t seek to demonise or victimise its lead character, forcing its audience to decide what they think of the man who created the atomic bomb. The film was a massive success at the Oscars, winning seven of its nominations. This seen the film gain the most notable accolades for Best Picture, Best Director for Nolan, Best Actor for Murphy and Best Supporting Actor for Robert Downey Jr. It is hard to argue against the fact that Oppeheimer could easily be seen as the most influential film of the year 2023.
9) Titane
Agathe Rousselle in Titane
Directed by Julia Ducournau
A French body horror, psychological drama film, Titane is one of the most outlandish picks for this list, but it’s a notable film for the decade. Following a near-fatal car crash, lead character Alexia gets fitted with a titanium plate in her skull, with the film then flashing forward to adulthood. As an adult, she becomes a car model and serial killer, dealing with a sexual obsession with automobiles. Similar to her film Raw, which followed a young girl dabbling in cannibalism, the director brings together a very human film through horror and some of the most disgusting scenes put to film. Through all the disturbing imagery, the film boils down to a simple narrative about a lost woman finding connection with an elderly firefighter who has lost his son. The mixing of absurd body horror and a simple human narrative, marks this as a very memorable feature from this decade.
8) Aftersun
Frankie Coro and Paul Mescal in Aftersun
Directed by Charlotte Wells
Memory is a key component that makes up the backbone of Charlotte Wells’ debut feature, Aftersun. Starring Paul Mescal and Frankie Coro, the film, inspired by Wells’ own childhood, sees an older woman looking back on her final holiday with her father when she was a child, watching her old recorded footage to try and find new meaning. Impressive in nature for a directorial debut, the film conveys its meaning through a mixture of traditional filmmaking and home-video footage. Paul Mescal portrays a struggling father, who the film never explains the fate of, and explores his daughter’s coming of age as she is unaware of her father’s struggles. Through the use of home-video footage, the film marks a connection between memory and technology, and explores the new found perspective people will have on their memories once they have aged with them. The film brings alive a natural look at British holidays, and conveys a child-like look at the world and the ambiguity that comes with the lack of understanding of adult topics when you are a younger age. There is symbolic meaning across the entire runtime of the film, and clues to draw the audience’s own analysis of the film and the eventual fate of Mescal’s character. This makes the film one of the most rewatchable films of the decade.
7) Anora
Mikey Madison in Anora
Directed by Sean Baker
Sean Baker’s film that finally awarded him the Best Picture Oscar in the 2025 award ceremony, Anora is a film of three halves. It begins as a romantic comedy, drawing a connection between a young sex worker and a rich son of a Russian oligarch, and then slowly transforms into a slapstick comedy in its second act. The final act opens the door to the true reality of the situation, matching the realness that comes from Baker’s previous features, and becomes a true drama. Mikey Madison became the first member of Generation Z to win the Best Leading Actress Oscar for her performance as the lead, playing a character which emphasises the positive aspects of sex work, a common aspect of Baker’s works. Baker emphasises lesser-known members of society as his leads, displaying them as three-dimensional characters through his empathetic direction, like transgender characters in Tangerine and single mothers in The Florida Project. Anora sees itself as a chaotic fun time, a comedy filled with entertaining characters and fun set pieces, most noticeably the search to find the oligarch’s son in the second act, turning the movie into an almost Three Stooges situation. Ending on a sad note however, as you learn more about how this comedic situation has actually left a lasting impression on the lead, Anora’s connection to sex as a commodity and a comfort welcomes a deeper message worth exploring.
6) Killers of The Flower Moon
Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone in Killers of the Flower Moon
Directed by Martin Scorsese
The Western genre has always been rooted in the promise of freedom in the west, the freedom for the cowboys across the open desert and plains. However, for the Natives of that land, that so-called freedom was instead fear and pain from the people that took their land, and sought to marry trhem and then murder them to claim their riches and land for their own. This is the central narrative crux of Martin Scorsese’s newest film, Killers of the Flower Moon, based on the novel of the same name by David Grann. Sometimes called an anti-Western, the film seeks to squash the beliefs of the American Dream and show the dirty and secret truth to the riches of America. The director has long crafted films about despicable humans and making no attempt to humanise them for their terrible actions, examples being The Wolf of Wall Street and Taxi Driver. The true villain of this film however is the pull of greed, the focus characters are evil because of their greed, they are big pillars of society but make their money through pain and misery, while pretending to be honourable and just. Starring actors like Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Lily Gladstone, the film narrows the perspective of the book, from the birth of the FBI and the mystery around the killings, to instead being focused from the perpetuator’s perspectives and from the victims themselves as well. The narrow focus allows for a more focused narrative, and allows Scorsese to have a honest discussion about the horrors at play in America’s history, proving why the director is still one of our best working in the industry.
5) Poor Things
Emma Stone in Poor Things
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
Starring actors like Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo and Willem Dafoe, Poor Things, based on the 1992 novel of the same name by Alasdair Gray, follows Emma Stone as Bella Baxter, a young woman who is brought back to life with the mind of a child. Sharing much of its DNA with the classic tale of Frankenstein, the film’s science-fiction roots seek to question the meaning of life and is it sound to try and control death and life. Through its female perspective, the film also explores body positivity and sexual positivity, and how our development can be easily linked to our sexual development. The film broads the line between comedy and science-fiction, with its steampunk and almost German Expressionist set design and backdrops, with Stone’s heightened comedic body performance marking this connection even further. Stone received her second win as Best Actress for this film in the 2024 Oscar award ceremony, portraying the hilarious coming of age character in a way its never been seen before
4) The Boy and The Heron
English Voices of Luca Padovan and Robert Pattinson in The Boy and The Heron
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
A seemingly personal film from director Hayao Miyazaki, and a film that could mark his long-career working in Studio Ghibli, The Boy and The Heron became the winner of the Best Animated Feature Oscar in the 2025 ceremony. The film follows a young boy, who moves away after the death of his mother, and in the process of exploring his new home, discovers a strange Heron that takes him to another world. Originally announcing his retirement in September 2013, the director went back on his announcement soon after, and in order to create a film which is seemingly heavily rooted in his own childhood. Continuing a notable trend in his past work with the studio, the film explores the coming of age of its lead character through its fantastical elements, but also has deeper meanings behind its engaging visuals and incredible voice-acting. It explores themes of coming of age mainly through a life plagued by sadness and death, and exploring grief through the eyes of a young child. The signature director of such classic animated features like Kiki’s Delivery Service and My Neighbour Totoro, marks a potential end to his career with one of Studio Ghibli’s very best.
3) The Substance
Demi Moore in The Substance
Directed by Coralie Fargeat
Following up her debut feature in 2017’s Revenge, a rape revenge film from a feminist perspective, was bound to be a big task for director Coralie Fargeat. Starring Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid, The Substance follows an aging Hollywood starlet, who takes a mysterious drug after being fired due to her age, a drug which has the ability to create a younger version of herself. The film made history in the 2025 Oscars, standing out amongst all of its competitors as a body-horror film actually being nominated for Best Picture, and the first horror to do since Get Out in 2017. Directed with expertise from only second time director Fargeat, the film is inspired by the works of Kubrick and Cronenberg, and is edited in such an expressive way, it stays in your mind permanently. The film uses body horror to form some topical discussion around societal standards of female beauty and female aging, taking those pressures to their extreme in some effective body-horror sequences. Demi Moore received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress from this film, marking a moving performance, where the saddest sequence does not come from the squeamish body horror but a woman unsatifised with her appearance when attempting to go on a date.
2) Nickel Boys
Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson in Nickel Boys
Directed by RaMell Ross
Based on the 2019 novel of the same name by Colson Whitehead, the film was inspired by real-world incidents like the Dozier School for Boys, reform schools which were infamous for their poor treatment of African-American youth. Starring Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson, the film follows an example of one of these reform schools, as two young boys attempt to survive and eventually escape their own school. Continuing a notable movement in this decade of black storytelling in film, the film stands apart by being shot in POV shots for its entire runtime, seeing the pain and anguish through the eyes of our two protagonists. Constantly moving, the film explores untouched moments of American history and seeks to dwell not in black suffering, but learning from those lessons in order to create a better future.
1) Nope
Daniel Kaluuya in Nope
Directed by Jordan Peele
The third film by Get Out-breakout director Jordan Peele, the director took his own spin on the summer blockbuster and the UFO-film. Starring actors like Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer and Steven Yeun, the film follows horse rancher siblings, who in an attempt to save their business, attempt to capture evidence of an unidentified flying object that appears above their home. Inspired by Spielberg films like Jaws and Close Encounters of The Third Kind, the film takes the Hollywood blockbuster and re-evaluates it within the borders of Peele’s signature use of symbolism and metaphors. The film instead becomes an evaluation of people’s will to seek entertainment and thrills no matter the danger, African-American’s importance to the history of cinema and the abuse that animals can come under when being used as film props. Paired with some genuinely thrilling horror sequences, and the director’s signature style of comedy, the film standouts as one of the decade’s best blockbuster features.
When being released in 2002, Lilo and Stitch used the compelling marketing gimmick of placing the film’s lead into classic Disney movie posters, conveying the outlandish nature of the picture and how it stands out amongst the crowded world of Disney princesses. Now, 23 years later, Disney have attempted the same marketing gimmick, making this live action film attempt to standout from the endless live action remakes that the studio has been putting out. Unlike the original however, which felt like a challenging new family-friendly film from the studio, this new live-action attempt feels just like more of the same.
Following on from the success of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland remake, one of Disney’s most profitable new endeavours has been live-action adaptations of their beloved animated classics. Between the years of 2018 and 2025, there have been fourteen animated remakes released, highlights including Jon Favreau’s The Lion King, Guy Ritchie’s Aladdin and the recent release of Marc Webb’s Snow White. A clear decline has been conveyed in the popularity of these remakes, going from billion-dollar grosses to Snow White barely being able to break-even.
Voice actor Chris Sanders and Maia Kealoha in Lilo and Stitch
These remakes are marked commonly by being almost shot-for-shot remakes of the original, with very little changed made at all. Some, like Disney+ streaming original Mulan, make sweeping changes that fundamentally change the narrative from the beloved original.
Lilo and Stitch sits somewhere in the middle, following the same narrative as the original, following escaped experiment Stitch, as he finds himself on earth hiding from his creator. He attempts to hideout with a struggling sister-turned surrogate mother, and a troubled child, who may soon become his new family.
The film really nails the dynamic in the family bond between Nani and Lilo, played by Sydney Elizebeth Agudong and newcomer Maia Kealoha respectively. Kealoha works well in bringing alive the chaotic energy that Lilo had in the original feature, some of her violent tendencies seem to be lessened for a live-action world, but the heart of the character is there. Agudong brings alive the struggle of being forced into the role of a surrogate parent, forced to work to provide while wanting to pursue her own dreams.
Director Dean Fleischer Camp’s breakout feature Marcel the Shell With Shoes On conveyed a charming family adventure with cutesy characters and a promising exploration into adult themes of loneliness and grief. The cutesy characters are still present in his follow-up feature, the marketable nature of Stitch is still present, sure to sell hundreds more collectables in his new live-action form.
Voice of Zach Galifianakis and Billy Magnussen in Lilo and Stitch
However, the mature storytelling seems surprisingly absent from this slightly watered-down version of the narrative. The animated original was very mature in its exploration into family trauma and the grief of a young child, but the alterations made here seem to lessen that message or altogether remove it. Events happen the same as the original, but with crucial alterations to dialogue, removing a crucial line about Lilo mentioning her family’s accident, or making Nani unaware of the adoption of Stitch, where it was her idea in the original to give Lilo a friend.
Standing out was the key to the success of the animated original, but removing crucial character beats only serves to water down this iteration, and removes any of the adult edge the marketing wants to make the audience believe. Originally conceived as an original to their streaming service, Disney+, the movie portrays itself as a family-friendly film through and through.
The Disney+ release can be seen even more frequently through the use of human stand-ins for original film characters Jumbo and Pleakley, played by Zach Galifianakis and Billy Magnussen here respectively. In their effects-created forms, the characters are accurate but come-close to the uncanny valley. Presumably because of a lower-streaming budget, the characters are instead commonly shown in human forms, giving the film a comedic slapstick energy, even if some questionable character decisions will leave fans of these characters confused in their new narrative directions.
It is hard to state that Disney’s new Lilo and Stitch is anywhere near a bad film, when its DNA is so instinctively tied to such a satisfying 2000’s Disney classic, but what it suffers from is a lack of creativity in its own vision or changes that only serve to undermine the original. Both lead performances are strong, and a stronger focus on the sisterly bond leads to more charming family moments, but the emotional and complex adult themes are lost in the edit. Stitch is always marketable however, brought to life in such glee.
Maia Kealoha and Sydney Elizebeth Agudong in Lilo and Stitch
Rhys Reviews 