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10. From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) Quentin Tarantino rose to fame as an auteur director of crime, proven early by his filmsReservoir DogsandPulp Fiction. In the case ofFrom Dusk Till Dawn, he didn’t direct but he did write the screenplay—and he tricked us into thinking it was just another Tarantino crime flick. From Dusk Till Dawnstarts as a buddy road movie between two criminal brother protagonists (played by George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino), then morphs into a vampire horror partway through....

10. Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) Bryan Singer—the man behindX-Men(2000) andThe Usual Suspects(1995)—was initially billed to direct the Freddie Mercury biopic, but then 20th Century Fox fired him for barely ever being on set. A bit inconvenient considering he was in charge of, like, everything. Lead actor Rami Malek suggested Dexter Fletcher to replace him, feeling that he would probably “do a better job.” And given that Fletcher actually turned up and completed the film to much public success, Malek was probably right to say that....

10.Dear John(2010) The bulk ofDear Johndoesn’t center around 9/11, but the event does play a key role in the context of the plot. Based on the 2006 novel by Nicholas Sparks,Dear Johnis a tale of war-torn lovers whose long-distance relationship is damaged by 9/11. Before returning to his Army base, John (played by Channing Tatum) and Savannah (played by Amanda Seyfried) vow to write each other letters and remain long-distance....

10. Waking Life (2001) Where better to find the answers to life’s biggest questions than in the world of dreams? That’s the case inWaking Life. Richard Linklater’s experimental animation isn’t quite like the rest of his movies, though it does feature familiar actors like Ethan Hawke (reprising his role fromBefore Sunrisealongside Julie Delpy). The deeply philosophical film follows a young man through different dreams and planes of consciousness, which makes sense since Linklater was inspired by dreams—or, more specifically, lucid dreaming (which the director claims to have naturally done for most of his life)....

10.Identity(2003) Not all ofIdentityis told backwards, but the key moments are—and that adds to the confusion of it all (in a good way). Director James Mangold tricks us over and over again in his neo-noir slasher, mainly by using a reverse structure we think we understand but actually don’t. After we’re presented with a convict who awaits execution, we go back to where his crime supposedly happened. Ten strangers are stranded in a remote Nevada motel, caught in a storm at night, when they start getting killed one by one....