30. “Point Break” (1991)
It’s not that proof was needed, but 25 years ago, Kathryn Bigelow proved that more women should be directing big summer action movies with the glorious “Point Break.” It’s about as testosterone-y a movie as has ever been made, with FBI agent Keanu Reeves sent undercover to infiltrate a gang of extreme sports-loving bank robbers led by Patrick Swayze’s Bodhi. But Bigelow doesn’t just deliver on the exhilarating action, but also has a keener sense of the bonding, brotherhood and homoeroticism that comes between her characters than almost any male director would deliver. Not only was the film a significant hit as a result, but it even outgrossed the lame 2015 remake even when you don’t adjust for inflation.
29. “X2: X-Men United” (2003)
A sad truth to face is that on the whole, the movies in the “X-Men” franchise aren’t very good (you overrated “Logan,” y’all). But the exception is Bryan Singer’s “X2,” the second movie in the franchise. From its white-knuckle West Wing-set opening, it moves like a rocket, delivering on the promise of the first movie but without the budgetary issues and patchy scripting. It truly lets Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) off the leash, it leans into the soapy elements that always made the comic so much fun, and is the most effective film of the franchise at pulling off the subtext that’s always been there (the ‘coming out’ scene here is a microcosm of what makes the characters so compelling). All that, plus some excellent Brian Cox villainy.
28. “Gladiator” (2000)
We have to say, we wouldn’t have bet the farm on “Gladiator” proving a success. Ridley Scott hadn’t had a hit in a long while, and neither had the swords-and-sandal genre for much longer. But a success it certainly was: Scott’s muscular, mythic action movie reinvented the genre and inspired countless imitators. Russell Crowe instantly cemented his movie-star status as the general who became a slave who became a gladiator, while Scott melded lavish locations with CGI in a way that hadn’t really been done before on this sort of scale. The blood-spattered action sequences are terrific, too, easily Scott’s best, though it’s just as much fun when the swords are away and Joaquin Phoenix gets to play his incestuous villain.
27. “Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl” (2003)
Speaking of genre-reviving unexpected successes, Disney succeeded where Roman Polanski’s “Pirates” and Renny Harlin’s “Cutthroat Island” had failed and turned the swashbuckler into a giant hit with this adaptation of their theme-park ride. The elements were disparate: a script following the Disney fairy-tale template from the writers of “Aladdin,” a director in Gore Verbinski with a speciality in the Gothic, a star with little box-office following who was really swinging for the fences. But ‘Pirates’ gelled them successfully into one, with a blockbuster that didn’t make ‘four-quadrant’ feel like a dirty word: there was truly something here for everyone, and the first glimpse of a genuinely inventive and iconic screen character before Jack Sparrow wore out all our patience.
26. “The Bourne Identity” (2002)
We could have easily gone for any of the first three Bourne movies for this slot — it’s a near-perfect trilogy that barely puts a foot wrong. As fond as we are of the kinetic action sequences and moral reckoning of the two Greengrass movies, it’s Doug Liman’s series opener that takes the prize for us. Looking back now, it’s almost an old-fashioned, Hitchcockian suspense movie rather than a big-budget actioner, but Matt Damon’s great performance, Liman’s stylish direction and the sense that this really was a spy movie for the 21st century made it feel like an event, and a franchise was born.
25. “Predator” (1987)
One of the main problems with many modern blockbusters is that of “more more more”: they feel a need to top not only rival franchises, but their rivals, and throw an enormous amount of stuff on screen, which dulls your senses rather than thrills them. But “Predator” is a reminder that sometimes, simplicity is best. John McTiernan’s actioner pits an unstoppable killing machine against an elite commando unit (led by Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Dutch), and it has a purity to it that just makes it all the more exciting. It’s hardly minimalist — there’s plenty of action and explosions. But Jim & John Thomas’s script knows that the best way to engage an audience is to establish characters that you’re interested in, and then given them a seemingly unbeatable adversary.
24. “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” (1988)
The idea of melding a surprisingly convincing “Chinatown”-esque noir with a murderer’s row of cartoon characters, starring the guy from “Mona Lisa,” is, frankly, a batshit one. But Robert Zemeckis’ “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” pulls it off utterly convincingly, a love letter to classic 2D animation (which melds effortlessly with the live-action in effects that still wow today) that tells its own engaging story, makes you laugh like a classic Chuck Jones cartoon and, in Christopher Lloyd’s villain, even proves surprisingly scary. Others (“Cool World,” “Monkeybone,” “Space Jam”) have tried to recapture its magic, but Zemeckis’ film remains the gold standard.
23. “Speed” (1994)
That thing about simplicity and purity that we were talking about earlier? “Speed” is another prime example. It has one of the great five-second elevator pitches of all time: there’s a bomb on a bus, and if the bus drops below 50 miles per hour, it explodes. But it’s also a pitch that plenty of others might have made a hash of, but long-time DP Jan De Bont (unlike most of his later movies) pulls it off beautifully: from Graham Yost‘s (and, uncredited, Joss Whedon) tight, witty script, to the perfect casting, including a breakout Sandra Bullock, to the knuckle-gnawingly tense set pieces (and 60% of the movie is basically one big set piece), everything here works in service of giving you a great fucking day at the movies. Well, maybe except the train-tunnel finale…
22. “Inside Out” (2015)
When “Inside Out” premiered two years ago, Pixar were coming off a rough run: they’d only made one original movie since “Up,” and sequels like “Cars 2” and “Monsters University” had been coolly received. But if you’re going to bounce back, do it with a film as inventive and glorious as “Inside Out,” one of the company’s most dazzling, entertaining and moving films. Set inside the head of a young girl, and following her emotions as she goes through some serious changes, it’s a remarkably mature and emotionally literate work that saw Pete Docter attempt something truly ambitious, and utterly stick the landing. As is often the case when Pixar try something different, analysts questioned if the gamble would pay off financially. $850 million later, the answer was pretty damn clear.
21. “Gremlins” (1984)
It’s amazing to think that two of the movies in the upper reaches of this list came out not just in the same year, or the same month, but literally on the same day, and despite being targeted at remarkably similar audiences, both went on to wild success. The first was “Gremlins,” Joe Dante’s mischieviously grisly horror-comedy about a teenage boy who’s given an adorable Mogwai as a pet, only to discover that the rules that the man who sold little Gizmo to his father set down should have been taken more seriously. Dante’s love of B-movies pays off big time, but his other collaborators — Chris Columbus’ subversive script, producer Steven Spielberg’s suburban wonder, Chris Walas’s still-wonderful effects — add up to a film that’s just enormous fun throughout (the bonkers sequel is just as enjoyable, though a bit messier).