SPECIAL: The 50 Best Superhero Movies

Image: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Chris Luckett

Many lists that are predominantly populated by modern movies feel slanted to younger writers/readers who may not have an exposure to films older than they are or a contextual understanding of their importance.

The superhero movie is a unique beast, though. A few genres and sub-genres, like sci-fi, have been greatly helped by the advance of CGI over the last quarter-century. Sci-fi was still capable of brilliance with just ideas alone, though; superhero movies lend themselves so closely to goofiness, parody, or sublime farce that the modern age of computer effects has served largely to legitimize a type of film that often wasn’t taken very seriously before the new millennium, even when they starred icons like Superman or Batman.

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SPECIAL: The Best Movies of 2017

Image: Warner Bros.

Chris Luckett

Amongst my critic friends, a consensus emerged a month or two ago declaring 2017 to have been a great year for movies. I didn’t agree. I tend to judge (modern) years’ film quality by how many movies make the cut for my end-of-year article — that it, how many 4½- and 5-star movies there are. And based on that, I’d been feeling like it had been a rather weak year.

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RANKED: 2017, From Worst to Almost-Best

Image: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Chris Luckett

Tomorrow, my Best Movies of 2017 article goes online, guiding you through the 16 movies from last year to seek out for the best there was to offer at cinemas. But what about Get Out? Or Lady Bird? Or whatever god-awful sequel the Transformers series is on now?

Here’s all the rest. I didn’t see as many as in years prior, but I still made sure to catch all the big and important ones I could. If you saw it, odds are, it’s on here.

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SPECIAL: The 50 Best Comedies Since 2000

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Image: Warner Bros.

Chris Luckett

There’s something about ’90s comedies that, when watched now, seems kind of… quaint. All the demographic-courting PG-13 fare like Wayne’s World, Dumb & Dumber, and Tommy Boy — even more boundary-pushing, R-rated comedies like Clerks. or There’s Something About Mary — still lacks a little of the subversion, intellect, or bravado of the comedies of the new millennium.

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SPECIAL: The Best Movies of 2016

Image: Focus Features

Chris Luckett


“Last year, in my Best Movies of 2014,
I commented on how weak a year we’d had.
If only I’d known what 2015 would be like!”
–Chris Luckett, The Best Movies of 2015


For the second year in a row, I didn’t see 25 movies worthy of inclusion on my best-of-the-year list. Moreover, there are even fewer on this year’s list than last.

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SPECIAL: The 25 Greatest Computer-Animated Movies

Image: Buena Vista Pictures

Image: Buena Vista Pictures

Chris Luckett

In the late ‘90s, it was hard to discern why exactly the golden renaissance of Disney, going so strong in 1994 with The Lion King, dissipated so suddenly. With the benefit of hindsight, the biggest reason was the release of the first feature-length computer-animated movie in 1995, Pixar’s Toy Story.

In less than a decade, computer-animated movies had become so advanced and such a box office draw, even Disney shuttered their hand-drawn animation studio down in 2004 and switched to 100% computer-animated fare.

As the cost of computer animation has decreased, more and more computer-animated movies have flooded movie theatres, with fewer being any good, but great ones still exist. Some even outshine that first Pixar feature from 21 years ago. These are the best examples of what modern animation can achieve.

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SPECIAL: The 25 Best Tom Hanks Movies

Image: DreamWorks Distribution

Image: DreamWorks Distribution

Chris Luckett

There are few actors as beloved as Tom Hanks. Long before social media quantitatively measured the “real-life” personalities for their fans, Hanks was widely known for his jovial demeanour and Genuine Nice Guy status.

Some movie stars over the last half-century have had a spotty record for quality movies, but the ones that foster long careers become savvy enough to mostly make above-average pictures. In his 36-year career, Hanks has become one of the best at it — in no small part because of what a powerful actor the Bosom Buddy became over the years.

While digesting his latest picture, The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons sequel Inferno, consider these 25 pictures that made him the beloved star he is today.

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SPECIAL: The Best Movies of 2016 So Far

Photo: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Photo: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Chris Luckett

2016 is the first year in over a decade in which I haven’t worked at a video store, which has noticeably affected how many movies I’ve seen since January. As we approach the final third of the year, though, when Oscar hopefuls like The Birth of a Nation and Fences will compete with precision-crafted entertainment like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, I’ve still seen at least ten movies worthy of strong recommendation.

These are the ten best movies of 2016 — so far, at least.

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