Arbitrary and Entertaining Sub Lists!
HORROR FILMS
“It’s alive!”: Horror Films Worth Seeing
Cheap Chills: Great Low Budget Horror Films
“Fast Zombies Suck!”: Great Slow-Zombie Flicks
“And a child shall lead them”: Great “Creepy Kid” Horror Films
War is Hell: Great Films about Haunted Trenches and Bunkers
“I can’t help myself!”: Serial Killers for All Occasions
“The power of Christ compels you!”: Great Films Featuring Possession
SCIENCE FICTION FILMS
It Came from Outer Space: Great Science Fiction Films
The Future Ain’t What It Used to Be: Great Films Featuring Memorable Dystopias
Year Zero: Great Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Films and Television Shows
FANTASY FILMS
“Write what you don’t know”: Great Fantasy Films
Out of This World: Great Films with “Fantastic” Production Design
“Are we there yet?”: Great Films Set in Limbo
Trains on Time: Fantasy Fun with Fascism
FILMS ABOUT FILMS AND FILMMAKING
“I’m ready for my close up, Mr. DeMille”: Great Films about Celebrity
It Never Was What It Was: Great Films about Old Hollywood
The Un-Steadicam: Great Fiction Films that Employ Documentary Aesthetics
The Eyes Have It: Some Great Films Featuring Impressive Cinematography
The Kindest Cut: Some Great Films with Impressive Editing
The Sound of Music: Great Scores and Soundtracks
Recollected in Tranquility: DVDs with Great Commentaries
Roeg’s Gallery: Nicholas Roeg’s Greatest Hits
Seminal Films that Do Not Stand the Test of Time
WRITING
In the Beginning was the Word: Fifty Great Films Born of Brilliant Screenplays
Never Heard that Before: Great Films featuring Original Lingoes
“Words, words, words”: Dialogue-fests Worth Hearing
Jigsaw Puzzles: Great Films that Successfully Employ Unusual Story Structures
“Match me, Sidney”: Great Films featuring Snarky, Razor-Sharp Dialogue
“A rose by any other name”: Great Films with God-Awful Titles
“I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore!”: Great Films from Paddy Chayefski Scripts
ACTING
Method in the Madness: Great Films with Memorable “Method” Performances
CINEMATIC LANDSCAPES
A Sense of Place: Cities as Characters in their Stories
Still Waters Run Deep: Great Films Set in Venice
Night and the City: Great Films about the Dark Side of Urban Life
NEO-NOIR
Dark and Stormy Nights: Great Neo-Noir Films
FILMS ABOUT THE ARTS
A Fine Madness: Great Films about Insane Poets, Playwrights, and Pornographers
Great Films that Speak to the Creative Process
Stoned: Great Films about People Becoming Art and Art Coming to Life
Two to Tango: Great Films about Dance
Play It All Night Long: Films about Musicians
“No rain! No rain!”: Great Rock Docs
THE THEATER
“The play’s the thing”: Great Films Based Upon Plays
As We Like It: Great Film Adaptations of Shakespeare Plays
“All the World’s a Stage”: Great Films about the Theatre
FILMS ABOUT THE MEDIA
If It Bleeds, It Leads: Great Films about the Media
Great Films about Foreign Correspondents
FILMS ABOUT POLITICS, IMPERIALISM, WAR AND POLICE STATES
“A dead girl or a live boy”: Smart Films about American Politics
“God Save the Queen!”: Portraits of English Imperialism
“The Troubles”: The Irish Republican Army on Film
Treading Carefully: Great Films about Life under Military Dictatorships and Juntas
“Killroy was here”: Great WWII Films
“Which Side are You On?”: Great Films about Going Under Cover
Making for the Fence: Great POW Films
“Yes, Sir!”: Vivid Portraits of Military Mentalities
Give Peace a Chance: Great Anti-War Films
“When they came for…”: Great Films about the Holocaust
Rocking the Boat: Great Films about Ships and Mutinies
FILMS ABOUT ESPIONAGE AND VOYEURISM
Spies and Lies: Great Espionage Films
Eye Spy: Celluloid Looks at Voyeurism and Surveillance
FILMS ABOUT LEADERSHIP
“Hail to the Chief!”: Great Films about Leadership
“No man is a hero to his dwarf”: Great Films about Medieval and Renaissance Rulers
CRIME
Take the Money and Run: Great Heist Movies
Grifters and Marks: Films about Confidence Schemes
“Top of the World, Ma!”: Great Gangster Films
“Who’s havin’ a go at me?!”: Great British Gangster Films
The Hit Parade: Great Films featuring Contract Killers
Disorder in the Court: Great Legal Dramas
Lowest of the Low: Great Films about Child Molesters
It’s in the Cards: Great Films about Card Sharps
WESTERNS
COMEDY
Laughter on the Dark Side: Brilliant Black Comedies
“Dying is easy. Comedy is hard”: Comedies for People who are too Smart for Most Comedies
FRIENDSHIP
SPORTS
“On your marks…”: Great Films about Runners
Glory Days: Great Films about Aging Sports Heroes
“Play ball!”: Great Films about Sports
“Sting like a bee!”: Heavyweight Boxing Films
WOMEN
“You Go Girl!”: Great Films featuring Strong Female Characters
Pretty Poison: Great Films Featuring Memorable Femme Fatales
YOUNG PEOPLE
The Kids Aren’t Alright: Great Films about Disaffected and Disturbed Young People
Bless their Pointed Little Heads: Great Films for Kids
“Wiiilllbbuurrr!”: Great Animated Films
SOCIOLOGY
“Sod off!”: Great English Angry Young Man Movies
“This is going to hurt a bit”: Biting Satires about Healthcare
Old Money: Aristocrats and their Discontents
“Inbred Jeds”: Hicks from Hell
“Brother Can you Spare a Dime?”: Great Films about the Depression
Streets Paved with Gold: Great Portraits of American Immigrant Cultures
“Es ist Verboten!”: Great Films about Teutonic Decadence
Great Films about the Immigrant Experience in England
High Hopes: Great Films about Social Climbers
United We Stand: Great Films about the Labor Movement
Above the Law: Damning Films about Corrupt Cops
“Greed is Good”: Great Films about Capitalism
The Voodoo that You Do: Great Films about Cults
Discipline and Punish: Great Films Featuring Prisons and Asylums
“Better Red than Fed”: Films about the McCarthy Witch Hunts
Each House Looks the Same: Portraits of Suburban America
Confronting the Other: Great Films about Race and Ethnic Relations
Family Values: Great Films about the Old Neighborhood
“Fire in the Hole!”: Great Films about Coal Miners
Don’t Try This at Home: Great Films about Specialists and their Subcultures
PSYCHOLOGY
The Myth of Closure: Great Films about Grief
Raw Nerves: Grownup Films about Complicated Relationships
“What did reality ever do for me?”: Great Films about Dreamers
VIOLENCE, ANGER AND ACTION
“On the Road Again”: Great Films about Homicidal Road Trips
More than Mayhem: Some Smart Action Films
“Payback’s a Bitch”: Great Films about Revenge
Pass the Soap: Great Films Featuring Bathhouse Violence
“AAAGGGRRRR!”: Great Films with Anger Issues
BADDIES
Bad to the Bone: Great Films Featuring Great Villains
Great Films Featuring Great Anti-Heroes
MADNESS
“Did he say that tree was mad?”: Great Films with Surreal, Dreamed or Hallucinated Sequences
Monumental Alabaster: Best-loved Films about Necrophilia
“Leonard talks to his rifle”: Films Featuring Batshit Bastards
“I won’t be ignored, Dan”: Films Featuring Batshit Bitches
“Like a Hole in the Head”: Great Films featuring Lobotomies
“Bet You Can’t Eat Just One”: Great Films featuring Cannibalism
Uneasy Does It: Great Films Steeped in Generalized Anxiety
DRUGS AND FAST-LIVING
Better Living through Chemistry: Great Films about Drugs and Addicts
“Good to the Last Drop”: Great Films about Drunks
RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY
“Consummatum est!”: Great Films about Religion
Sickness unto Death: Films featuring Darkness of Kirkegaardian Depths
“Ashes to Ashes”: Great Films Structured Around Journeys to Scatter Ashes
“Who’s there?”: Great Films that Question Identity
FAMILY RELATIONS
Mommy Dearest: Great Films about Motherhood
Father (Sometimes) Knows Best: Great Films featuring Father-Son Relationships
SEX AND SEXUALITY
Forbidden Fruit: Great Films about Lust
“All You Need is Love”: Great Films about Unconventional Romantic Relationships
The World’s Oldest Profession: Fine Films about Prostitution
The Mating Game: Depressing Films about Dating
The Dress Makes the Man: Great Films about Transvestites and Transsexuals
The boys (and girls) in the band: Great Films featuring Gay Themes
“You want me to do WHAT?!”: Great Films Featuring Disturbing Sex Scenes
Hurt So Good: Sadomasochism and Storytelling
ACADEMIA
“Those who can’t do…”: Great Films about Clay-Footed Academics
WEIRD SHIT
“What’s Up Doc?”: Great Films featuring Giant Homicidal Rabbits From Hell
TELEVISION
Size doesn’t always matter: Great Small Screen Productions
Mystery and Mayhem: Great Television Shows Featuring Distinctive Detectives
