Favorite Movie From Every Genre

With the conclusion of all of the genre movie primers, I thought it would be fun to share my favorite movies from each genre. I did 18 genre primers, so I am going to share my favorite movies from each of those 18 genres. With all of that said, here are my favorite movies from each genre.

Action: Die Hard

This is such a fantastic movie. John McClane's tank top is in the Smithsonian, this movie is basically perfect. The action in this movie is amazing. It is not over the top as many modern action movies are. It is very grounded in its action and fight sequences. As the movie is just about a regular guy trying to take down some bad guys, the action matches that and makes for some very realistic sequences. The characters are all very good too. John McClane is of course the staple of this movie, but Hans Gruber is also a major standout and arguably one of the greatest movie villains of all time. The story itself is very simple and moves at a very brisk pace. It finds the perfect balance between rushing through the story and adding too many slow scenes that it drags. Finally, the dialogue in the film is very well done. There are no throwaway lines in the film. Every line is connected to something relevant later in the film.

Romance: Titanic

Titanic, I feel, is James Cameron's magnum opus. It was the highest-grossing movie of all time until James Cameron's next film, Avatar, took its place. It has such a large sweeping scale with many great shots and visuals. the best word to describe this movie is grand. The scale that the sets were built on is just amazing with the scope of so many of the visuals being so amazing. The storytelling in this film is also very well done. With a run time of over 3 hours, James Cameron allows the audience to enjoy the world being built on the Titanic before the inevitable tragedy. He also really gives time for characters to be established and for relationships to be built. When the Titanic does begin to sink, it happens almost 2 hours into the film after the audience has really been given time to get to know the characters which is a great example of good storytelling. Aside from the storytelling, the characters themselves are very well done. Jack and Rose are both so likable and have great chemistry together

Sci-Fi: Star Wars

As of today, the original Star Wars movie is my favorite but honestly, it is tied with Empire Strikes Back. This is a classic and iconic film that everyone has heard of. It has so many iconic characters, quotable lines, and memorable scenes. The movie was great breaking in its time in terms of special effects and really shows the true meaning of movie magic. This movie is such an inspiration for so many other films out there. This movie also does a fantastic job of world-building. It establishes so many new planets, introduces us to the empire and rebels, and gives us an idea of what the Jedi used to be. At its core, this movie is a simple story with a classic heroic rescue. The simplicity of the story really helps in being able to invest in the world and explore everything out there. All of the characters are just so much fun. Our six main characters are so iconic and likable and Darth Vader is arguably the greatest and most famous villain in all movies. This movie also has a really great space battle at the end that is just so exciting and leaves me on the edge of my seat no matter how many times I see it.

Fantasy: Lord of the Rings

While The Lord of the Rings is technically three movies, I have always viewed them as one movie as they are all one complete story. This has been my favorite movie ever since my mom introduced it to me as a kid. It is nothing short of epic. The story itself is expansive and well-told. It takes time to introduce you to all of the characters. With a runtime of 9+ hours, the story really allows for things to build and grow and for all characters to get their time in the spotlight. The action scenes and battle sequences are also so cool to watch. They all are done on such a large scale and are so entertaining to watch. There are so many scenes in this movie that give me chills every time I watch them. The score in these films is always quite good. The music really nails the tone of the scenes with so much of the music adding to the overall epic-ness of the movie.

Adventure: Raiders of the Lost Ark/The Last Crusade

I also kind of cheated with this spot as I included both Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Raiders of the Lost Ark in this spot. I really enjoy both of these movies. Harrison Ford is the perfect person to play Indiana Jones. These movies are also really funny and do a great job of including humor in the overall adventure story. The action sequences in these movies are also really well done. They are all done with practical effects and stunt work and with no CGI. The Last Crusade is a lot of fun because of the dynamic between Indiana Jones and his dad. Their chemistry leads to some really funny moments. Raiders of the Lost Ark is great because it is just so iconic and has so many great moments. Raiders of the Lost Ark is basically the quintessential adventure film and is just so memorable. Finally, the score in both of these movies is just so good. John Williams really killed it with the music.

Thriller: Silence of the Lambs

The Silence of the Lambs is a very effective detective serial killer thriller. It has nonstop thrills and tension from beginning to end. The acting in this movie is also fantastic, with both Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins winning Oscars for their performances. Anthony Hopkins is amazing as Hannibal Lecter and, with his limited screen time, delivers an incredible performance that sticks with you for the entire runtime. While Hannibal Lecter steals the show, he isn't even the main villain. Buffalo Bill is the main villain of the story and is very good as well. He brings this creepiness that just works for the character.

War: Saving Private Ryan

Saving Private Ryan is the best of Spielberg's war films. It is a very well-written film with a solid story, a lot of action, and compelling characters. There are exciting events throughout the story with the movie never letting up until the credits roll. The characters in this story are very fleshed out. We get to learn what each of their motivations is, how they view their mission, and their opinion on handling enemy soldiers and civilians. The movie also does a great job of handling questionable morality discussions. There are several discussions about whether they should kill an enemy soldier prisoner. We get to hear different viewpoints from the soldiers which makes for a very interesting discussion. Finally, The movie itself is very intense which works really well for the story it wants to tell. It gets right into the gore about how hard war can be and doesn't shy away from the scariness of battle. We get really deep into what WWII was actually like.

Western: Django Unchained

Django Unchained is probably the coolest of Tarantino's films. This is the revenged Western film of his filmography and is a bit of a revisionist history tale set during the slavery era of the USA. This movie probably has the best acting out of all of the Tarantino films with amazing performances from Jamie Fox, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L Jackson, and Leonardo DiCaprio. It is a shame that the only one who got any love at the Oscars was Christoph Waltz. I also found this movie to be the most action-packed out of all of Tarantino's films. There are still several scenes of his signature dialogue but there are also a lot of shootouts and fights that make the movie more interesting. The movie is also very effective with its pacing. The runtime is about 2 hours and 45 minutes but the movie itself flies by and does not feel that long. I really like the friendship that builds between Django and Dr. Shultz. It is so cool how much the two are willing to do for each other.

Comedy: Airplane

Airplane is the funniest movie I have ever seen, and my go-to comedy whenever I am in the mood for a laugh. This movie just has so many jokes for the short run time and lands 90% of them. I just love the recurring jokes that happen throughout the movie, such as "Surely you can't be serious" and "I picked the wrong day to quit "insert increasingly worse drug here.” The humor in this movie is my kind of humor, with its dumb jokes and extreme antics. The movie is also incredibly quotable, with many of the lines making me laugh as I just think about them. I just love the deadpan comedy from Leslie Neelson where he can say something so stupid with a straight face.

Sports: Rocky

Rocky is my favorite sports movie. It is such an inspiring and fun to watch an underdog story. Rocky is one of my favorite movie characters and is so likable in this movie. I really like how his character is handled in that he isn't going into the fight to win but just wants to go the distance and prove himself. Sylvester Stallone is also one of my favorite actors and plays the part of Rocky very well. I think the movie does a great job of showing excellence through simplicity. The first two-thirds of this movie are slower and dialogue-heavy but it uses these moments in a way that gets you invested in Rocky and his relationships so that when the final fight comes, it pays off everything in the film in the most effective way possible. Because of this, the third act of the film is one of the most crowd-pleasing and pump-up moments of all time (though arguably Rocky 2 does it just a little better). There are also so many iconic moments and lines in this movie that get mimicked and quoted to this day.

Superhero: Avengers: Infinity War/Avengers: Endgame

These two films are the two greatest superhero movies of all time. These films are probably the largest in scale of all the MCU and are basically the build-up of all the MCU films up to this point. Avengers Infinity War manages to bring into basically every single character in the MCU without making the film feel overstuffed and makes it so all the characters have adequate screen time while Avengers Endgame manages to close out all of the arcs of our avengers in a satisfying way and deliverers the payoff of stories from over 10 years and 23 different movies. Both movies are two of the longest in the MCU film but the pacing makes them go by so fast. Avengers Endgame delivers a third act that is probably one of the greatest final hours put into a film. It gives the fans exactly what they want and is nonstop payoff. The final battle of this film is probably the best experience I've ever had in a theater. Avengers Infinity War delivers a finale so shocking that you cannot wait for the final installment. These are just peak MCU and groundbreaking in the way it was able to tie in and pay off things from 23 different movies.

Drama: Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump is my favorite drama of all time. I really like the way the story was told with Forrest telling his life story in his unique way. Tom Hanks does a great job as Forrest and really comes across as a likable and compelling lead character. The side characters are all a lot of fun as well with Lieutenant Dan probably having the biggest arc in the movie. The movie also does a really good job with its pacing. As it is mostly in an episodic format, it really keeps things moving from one event to the next without it ever feeling like it drags. There are also a lot of funny moments in this mostly just with Forrest and his overall unawareness. Finally, this film really delivers some emotional moments and manages to combine everything together into a perfect ending.

Crime: Pulp Fiction

Pulp Fiction is Tarantino's most iconic film and in my opinion, his best film. The movie breaks all of the rules of movies but is still perfect. It breaks the plot up into four separate stories, it tells the story in a nonlinear fashion, and it has one of the stories go on a side tangent. Normally these would all be faults in a movie, but in Pulp Fiction, it is what makes the movie great. Every actor is great in the film. John Travolta, Samuel L Jackson, Ving Rhames, Bruce Willis, and Uma Thurman all get some form of central plot line throughout the film. Every detail introduced in an earlier story is referenced later in the film. The dialogue here is top-notch notch with Samuel Jackson being able to make talking about a cheeseburger sound threatening as he is interrogating people. The score here is also top-notch with a top of great songs throwing back to the 1950s and 70s. This is probably one of my favorite movie soundtracks as the song choices are just perfect.

Horror: Alien

Not only is Alien one of my favorite horror films, but it is also one of my favorite Sci-Fi films. I like this movie because it takes a different approach to horror than your typical slasher film. This movie creates a great amount of suspense as you never know when the alien is going to show up. Ellen Ripley is such an interesting character as she can hold her own against all of the male characters. She is one of the first true strong female leads in a movie and Sigourney Weaver does a great job with the role. I thought the movie was able to portray the alien quite well. The filmmakers knew that the Alien would not look good in full lighting so they made the smart decision to shroud it in darkness. Doing so made the alien much more realistic and more terrifying. The movie also delivers on a lot of solid Sci-Fi elements including space travel and futuristic technology. The story itself is very simple but still does an excellent job of building tension. I don't find it super scary but a lot of people put this film as one of the scariest horror films out there.

Mystery: Knives Out

In my opinion, Knives Out is Rian Johnson's best film. It is a solid mystery film with a fun story and interesting characters. Daniel Craig steals the show as Detective Blanc. The rest of the characters are also really interesting and likable. Marta has a sort of innocence about her that you can't help but route for. The Thrombey family are also great additions as their dysfunctionality is really funny to watch. Chris Evans is also great in this film. It is fun to see him play against the Captain America type. I also thought there was a good amount of humor throughout the story with a lot of scenes showcasing the more subtle humor. Finally, I thought the overall story was really well done. It takes what you expect about a typical mystery movie and flips it on its head while still making for a compelling mystery.

Musical: Wicked

Wicked was easily the best movie I saw this month. For someone who has never seen the musical or read the book, I was a bit skeptical. However, this movie won me over. This is just a fantastic adaptation of a beloved musical. The story here is just so immersive with all of the world-building and huge-scale set pieces. It reminded me a lot of the first couple of Harry Potter films. I also thought the production design was amazing. All of the sets and colors looked so good like these characters were in Oz. Of course, being based on a top-tier musical, the songs were just amazing. I liked all of the big musical sequences and dance numbers and thought they were all done very well. The characters were all fantastically cast. Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum were both great as Madam Morrible and The Wizard but the stars of the show were Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. Both of these actress were great together and pulled off their respective roles perfectly.

Animation: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

It is not overstating things to call this movie a masterpiece. The animation looks so good in this film and is like nothing ever seen before. The handling of each universe is so well done. Not only do they have different colors but each Spider-being and world looks like it was animated completely different from any of the others. It is just so interesting to see all of these slightly different variations of animation in a scene together. The movie also does a great job of covering the multiverse. We get to cover multiple different universes and have prolonged scenes in each. The story itself is extremely compelling as it is all about what makes some Spider-Man and whether their destiny is set and has to fit in this Spider-Man mold. The movie also does a great job of giving us a natural next step for all of these characters. They all feel like a natural continuation of themselves from the previous films. We also get a lot of great growth from Miles as he learns how to balance his life and become his own Spider-Man. We also get a lot of growth from the other characters. The movie spends a lot more time with Gwen as we get a bit more of her back story and relationships.

Martial Arts: Kill Bill

Kill Bill is Tarantino's martial arts/kung fu movie. Technically Kill Bill is split into two films but Quentin Tarantino considers them one movie so that is how I am counting them on this list. This movie is easily the most action-packed movie on this list. It is a classic martial arts film with some classic Tarantino dialogue. The action sequences are fantastic with the fight against the crazy 88 being one of the best fights I have ever seen. Kill Bill is a great story of becoming as we get to see The Bride work through all of these obstacles and become stronger just to get her revenge. The four-hour run time helps with this, but the movie is incredibly epic as we get to spend all this time with The Bride so that when we see her get her revenge, it is very satisfying. I also thought the movie was structured very well, it knows the perfect time to put different events to get the pacing just right and evoke the right emotions.