20. Where the Wild Things Are (2009) Based on the 1963 children’s book,Where the Wild Things Areis an experimentation of the cinematic art form. Combining animal costumes with special effects and animatronics, director Spike Jonze created a surreal and wholly unique tone in this movie adaptation. Where the Wild Things Areexamines childhood loneliness in a warming and almost dreamlike way (that occasionally verges on the creepy), featuring so-called “Wild Things” which are strange, looming creatures on an island in the middle of the ocean....

20. Trumbo (2015) Bryan Cranston stars as famous screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, whose communist tendencies put a spanner in the works of his career. In response, Trumbo combats his blacklist placement by selling scripts on the black market. As the writer behind epics likeSpartacus(directed by Stanley Kubrick) andExodus(directed by Otto Preminger), Trumbo’s predicament made him resort to writing scripts without any credits. The nostalgic aesthetics of Hollywood’s golden age is contrasted by the political tension of America’s climate in Jay Roach’s drama (based on Bruce Alexander Cook’s 1977 biography....

20. Mary Shelley (2017) You’ve heard of Mary Shelley, right? She’s the creator of Frankenstein and essentially pioneered what would become the sci-fi genre. Which means a Mary Shelley biopic film was bound to be made at some point—in this case, by Haifaa al-Mansour in 2017. Elle Fanning was the perfect casting for the young Gothic feminist figure, who starred alongside Douglas Booth as fellow writer and partner Percy Shelly (author of “Ozymandias”)....

20. The Birth of a Nation (2016) No, we aren’t talking about D. W. Griffith’sThe Birth of a Nationfrom 1915, which was praised as a technical feat but ultimately disappointing because it was pro-KKK. We’re talking about Nate Parker’sThe Birth of a Nationfrom 2016—his directorial debut—that harks back to the former racist landmark with a story about a slave rebellion in Virginia, 1813. The poignant voice of Nina Simone singing “Strange Fruit” (first performed by Billie Holiday and met with retaliation because of its lynching metaphor) rings across the cotton fields as the men prepare for an uprising led by Nat Turner (Nate Parker)....

20. Weekend at Bernie’s (1989) “What kind of a host invites you to his house for the weekend and dies on you?” Larry asks, Hawaiian-shirt and sunglasses ready for a beach house holiday in The Hamptons. Played by Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman, Larry and Richard are low-level workers who don’t realize they’re being targeted by the mob. The only way out is to use their dead boss as a puppet and pretend he’s still alive....