With movie theaters closed and many productions halted worldwide, film fans are at a loss when it comes to new releases. In these times, many turn to streaming services as an outlet to watch old favorites, and these services have catalogs with an extensive number of films. It’s a better time than ever to give a chance to some films that didn’t get their just due when they first came out.

Amazon Prime has one of the best lineups of any streaming service, and while they get a lot of attention for their original films, such as Manchester by the Sea, Honey Boy, and Suspiria, they also have one of the best collections of recent films. Here are ten great recent films on Amazon Prime you may have missed.

10. Arbitrage (2012)

While he was once considered to be one of the most successful movie stars of his generation, Richard Gere has taken a break from being in the spotlight, but that doesn’t mean he’s stopped working all together. In fact, Gere has been doing some of the best work of his entire career in the last few years working outside of the Hollywood system and pursuing independent projects, including Arbitrage, where he gives what is quite possibly the performance of his career.

Gere stars as hedge fund manager Robert Miller, who is planning on selling his empire in the days surrounding his sixtieth birthday. As Miller attempts to pull off the deal that will encapsulate his legacy, he hides a plethora of secrets from his family, including a deadly accident in which he was responsible for the death of a young woman he’d had an affair with. It’s an anxiety-inducing thrill ride that thrusts the audience into the cutthroat world of corporate sabotage, and despite the fact that Miller is often an unlikeable protagonist, it’s impossible to look away from him.

9. The Yellow Birds (2017)

Despite making a splash when it debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, The Yellow Birds was mostly forgotten and became just another indie drama dumped on to VOD. It’s an abrasive and contemplative war film, told in a nonlinear fashion that can make it challenging to follow, but the device works in disorienting the audience and drawing them into the story. Many war films contain graphic content, but The Yellow Birds justifies the shocking material by diving deep into the characters’ and their reactions to combat.

John Bartle (Alden Ehrenreich) and Daniel Murphy (Tye Sheridan) are two young soldiers who form an early bond during their training, and their friendship continues as they venture into Iraq. The film centers around Murphy’s disappearance and the residual guilt that Bartle feels, particularly as he tries to live up to a promise he made to Murphy’s mother (Jennifer Aniston). The gut wrenching story is made even more emotional thanks to the terrific performances; Ehrenreich captures a maturity and grace that is rare among young actors, and Sheridan is perfectly cast as a timid, naive young man who is thrust into hell.

8. Night Moves (2013)

One of the most distinct films within the filmography of Kelly Reichardt, Night Moves is a slow burn thriller that successfully shows the feelings of anxiety that result from having a guilty conscience. Reichardt aims for absolute realism, and while her emphasis on capturing the minutiae of everyday details may seem pointless at first, it ends up helping the audience relate to the characters as their lives are rocked by traumatic events.

Josh (Jesse Eisenberg), Dena (Dakota Johnson), and Harmon (Peter Sarsgaard) are three radical environmentalists that plot to blow up a dam in protest of issues they care about. Josh and Dena have mixed feelings about the endeavour and the fallout that could occur, and they’re thrust into a difficult position when their actions end up having unexpected consequences. What’s great about the story is that there’s not only tension surrounding whether the characters will be apprehended, but internal struggles as Josh and Dena are forced to live with their actions for the rest of their lives.

7. Charlie Bartlett (2007)

The 2010s saw a revitalization of the coming of age high school dramedy, with films such as Lady Bird, The Edge of Seventeen, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, The Spectacular Now, and Sing Street often compared to the John Hughes classics of the 80s. However, when looking at the resurgence of the genre, a film that is often overlooked is one that preceded these films, and that’s the 2007 film Charlie Bartlett, which stars the late great Anton Yelchin as a rich kid who becomes an underground therapist and psychiatrist to the students at his new high school.

The best coming of age stories are the ones that allow the audience to empathize with the characters, and Charlie Bartlett does a great job at showing how each character has an internal struggle that they’re now sharing with Charlie. Yelchin has terrific comedic timing, and does a great job at making Charlie’s desire to help others feel sincere but also completely naive. It’s also the rare high school movie that doesn’t demonize all the adult characters, as Charlie’s nemesis Principal Nath Gardner (Robert Downey Jr.) ends up also being sympathetic.

6. Rampart (2011)

There are innumerable films about corrupt cops, but Rampart ranks among the very best things to the relentlessly nihilistic direction from director Oren Moverman and the incredible lead performance by Woody Harrelson as LAPD Officer Dave Brown. The film doesn’t sanitize the brutality that exists within the L.A. crime scene, and shows how Brown’s destructive behavior isolates him from his family and makes him a target of governmental agents.

Harrelson has an abrasive magnetism, and is able to escalate Brown’s behavior in any given situation as he becomes buried under the consequences of his own actions. While the film isn’t necessarily asking the audience to sympathize with Brown, it does show how Brown justifies his actions to himself, such as when he tells his daughters that he “only hurts bad people.” It’s a thought provoking crime film that easily ranks among the best performances that Harrelson has ever given.

The 1980s saw a boom in the popularity of massive film franchises and continuous sequels. After the blockbuster wave was initiated in the tail end of the 1970s with Jaws and Star Wars, studios were eager to be a part of the trend and churn out as many sequels as possible. In fact, many of the greatest movie sequels of all-time, such as The Empire Strikes Back, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Aliens, Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, and Evil Dead II were released in the 80s.

However, time has not been equally kind to all sequels of the decade, and many are still underrated to this day. Granted, nearly all of these sequels were financially successful at the time, but they still receive less acclaim from critics and fans, and tend to rank lower on lists rating their respective franchises. Here are the top ten most underrated movie sequels of the 1980s.

10. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

Raiders of the Lost Ark is often cited as one of the pinnacles of summer movie entertainment and one of the greatest adventure movies ever made, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade oftens gets attention as the franchise’s best sequel. While Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom doesn’t quite reach the highs of those two films, it’s still a very worthy film that took the series in a darker direction. Initially drawing backlash for the more graphic content, which helped to invent the PG-13 rating, Temple of Doom has aged quite gracefully as a more bizarre spin on the adventure serial.

Taking place one year prior to the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom opens with a stunning nightclub sequence lifted straight out of the James Bond franchise and pits Indy against a mysterious cult that practices black magic. It’s a relentlessly paced film featuring more scary horror elements, but also retains much of the franchise’s humor thanks to new characters Short Round (Jonathan Ke Quan) and Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw).

9. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)

The Friday the 13th franchise has had an interesting trajectory, as the films grew to be more ridiculous and self-aware as they went along. The films vary greatly in quality, but the absolute pinnacle of the series was 1984’s Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, which saw Jason Voorhees being revived after the events of Part III. The plot is identical to the other films in the franchise, but The Final Chapter features some genuine suspense and some of the most memorable death sequences of the franchise.

What elevates The Final Chapter above the other films in the series are the memorable characters; while every supporting character in a Friday the 13th film is bound to turn into fodder for Jason to kill eventually, the group of ignorant teens in The Final Chapter at least have unique personality traits that flesh them out before the carnage starts. Crispin Glover gives a very strange but highly entertaining comedic performance as the awkward Jimmy, but the standout performance by far is Corey Feldman as Tommy Jarvis, the twelve-year-old boy who is left to battle Jason at the end.

8. Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome  (1985)

The third film in George Miller’s original Mad Max trilogy had the difficult task of following up The Road Warrior, which is commonly cited as one of the greatest action films of all-time. Compared to the complete bleakness of the first two installments, Beyond Thunderdome is slightly lighter in approach, as it follows Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson) as he aids a group of lost children who view him as their potential savior.

It’s certainly a more heartfelt approach to the Mad Max franchise that introduces greater sentimentality, but the film never descends into corniness, as Gibson remains as stoic as ever in the role. The film also features some truly imaginative action as orchestrated by Miller, particularly the caged battles at the beginning of the story and the epic aeroplane escape at the end. While Miller would return to the franchise thirty years later with Tom Hardy in the role of Max, Beyond Thunderdome made for a suitable conclusion to Gibson’s tenure in the role.

7. Octopussy (1983)

Roger Moore had a very interesting tenure as James Bond, as while some of his earlier films, including Live and Let Die and The Spy Who Loved Me, were genuine classics, the films gradually became campier and more comedic as they went along. Although it’s easy to dismiss all of the late period Moore films, many of them have redeeming values, and Octopussy is one film that 007 fans should give another shot. The film is completely aware of its own ridiculousness, and instead of trying to replicate the Sean Connery films, it allows Moore to bring his own sensibilities to the role.

Featuring one of the most memorable Bond girls in Maud Adams’s titular Octopussy, the film also featured a beefed up role for Desmond Llewelyn as Q and put him straight within the thick of the action. While the film makes some bold attempts at broad comedy (Bond even dresses up as a clown at one point), it doesn’t skimp out on the action, and features one of the franchise’s most memorable setpieces with the climactic plane battle.

6. Rocky III (1982)

Rocky III made for a shift in the Rocky franchise, as after the grounded, gritty feel of the first two installments, the third film transformed the series into a more serialized “villain of the week” saga. It was necessary for the series to evolve in order to move forward, and although it may lack the subtle character nuances of the first two films, Rocky III makes up for it with a great deal of personality. In the film, Rocky is called back into action in order to win back his title from the rising star Clubber Lang (Mr. T).

However, the best part of the film involves Rocky training under the tutelage of his old rival Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), and seeing these two former enemies work together added a lot of heart to the story. There was a budding respect that had grown between the two throughout the earlier films, and seeing them reunite as friends made for a satisfying way of paying off the character development.

The 2010s weren’t just a great decade for action films, but a decade in which action cinema continued to gain credibility and respect. Mad Max: Fury Road was a landmark moment in the history of action filmmaking, instantly praised as one of the greatest films of the 21st Century, and films like John Wick popularized the “gung fu” action style in American filmmaking. There were also franchises like The Raid and Mission: Impossible that were able to keep outdoing their previous installments.

The great thing about action films is that it’s a fluid definition; the best action films often intersect with other genres, including comedy, science-fiction, horror, and historical. Often, it is the films that don’t fall into the standard molds that are more likely to become underrated, but hopefully they are able to gain visibility and get the credit they deserve. Here are the top ten most underrated action films of the 2010s.

10. American Ultra (2015)

While it unfortunately bombed at the box office, American Ultra was a surprisingly heartfelt romantic thriller that managed to be both a send up of stoner movies and spy films. The film pulls no punches with its dedication to the espionage genre, pulling off hyper stylized, violent action set pieces that make use of its ludicrous premise. Jesse Eisenberg stars as Mike Howell, a perpetually paranoid stoner who discovers he’s a secret CIA operative; Howell must battle sinister government forces in order to win back his girlfriend Phoebe (Kristin Stewart).

Eisenberg and Stewart have worked together several times now in films like Adventureland and Cafe Society, and once again they have terrific chemistry; despite the crazy story, the aspects of the film that detail their shared fear of commitment are surprisingly potent. Eisenberg isn’t acting out of character as a nervous, awkward protagonist, but he’s great in these sorts of roles, and American Ultra gives him the chance to transform himself into an action star. It’s a rare original action-comedy, and deserves to attain cult status.

9. Welcome to the Punch (2013)

In the subgenre of underground London crime thrillers, Welcome to the Punch stands out as one of the best; there’s a methodical nature to the film’s depiction of bank heists and police procedures that is reminiscent of Michael Mann films, but there’s also a adrenaline-infused elasticity that infuses elements of Guy Ritchie’s films. There’s nothing terribly original about the story, which follows a cat and mouse game between a disgruntled cop (James McAvoy) and a criminal mastermind (Mark Strong), but it’s an action film that hits all the right beats and does so with style.

Both lead performances are terrific and elevate the material; McAvoy brings a lot of pathos to his character, who is suffering from a series of professional embarrassments, and Strong is able to slowly peel back the layers of his character, who retains a surprising moral uprightness. The story never gets too convoluted, and the interactions between the two characters are smartly staged throughout in order to lead up to the grand confrontation.

8. Kick-Ass (2010)

In many ways, Kick-Ass was ahead of its time; many superhero movies today argue that “anyone can be a hero,” and Kick-Ass takes aim at that statement by showing what it would be like if a totally incompetent, irresponsible kid became a surprising overnight sensation. The film cleverly draws the parallels between superheroes and celebrities, and Matthew Vaughn does a good job at not making too many references to other comic book characters, and instead building an entire history into the world and feel of Kick-Ass’s untraditional heroes.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson is often an underrated actor, and has given tremendous performances in films like Nowhere Boy and Nocturnal Animals, and here he succeeds in the somewhat thankless role of a superhero who is deliberately less interesting than any of his counterparts. This is often because the character of Kick-Ass is supposed to be outshined by his allies, and the characters of Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and Hit-Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) are both larger than life. With great hand to hand combat sequences and a fantastic score from Henry Jackman, Kick-Ass is a cut above many superhero movies.

7. Red (2010)

Bruce Willis has had a somewhat rough decade, having starred in mostly direct to VOD action films, but he still had a few great roles, including Looper and Moonrise Kingdom. Red wasn’t just one of Willis’s best recent efforts, but a role that allowed him to reflect on his entire career; the film focuses on a group of hitmen who are brought out of retirement for one last job. That may seem like a generic premise, but the film is surprisingly earnest in showing what it’s like to feel important one day and unrecognized the next.

Willis does a great job playing a somewhat matured version of some of his most iconic characters, but the film is often stolen by his co-stars. Most notably, John Malkovich is having a blast as Marvin Boggs, a conspiracy theorist who pulls off many ridiculous schemes, and Helen Mirren is hilarious as Victoria Winslow, a former assassin who just loves killing. A sequel, Red 2, was a solid, if somewhat underwhelming follow up, but here’s hoping the creative team can come back for a great third installment.

6. Anthropoid (2016)

One of the most underrated and moving World War II films of the past decade, Anthropoid is a suburb undercover thriller about the Czech insurgency against The Third Reich. Two Czech agents, played by Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan, go undercover in their occupied homeland as they plot to assassinate Hitler’s top lieutenant Reinhard Heydrich. The two men become reunited with their cherished homeland, but they must keep their identities secret as they plot the daring heist that could turn the tide of the war.

The film is a slow burn, leading to an absolutely thrilling third act in which the Czechs are placed in a horrifying real event and display the utmost heroism; the film is detailed in showing the physical and psychological tortures that the Nazis put their subjects through. Dornan gives a breakout performance, and excels as his character is forced to leave his secret identity behind, and Murphy once again proves that he is one of the best actors working today. It is a must see for fans of the espionage genre and World War II buffs.

The Academy Awards are a source of both irritation and recognition for film fans. In many ways, the process of celebrating the best films of each year may give cinephiles the chance to see some of their favorite artists receive further honors for their exemplary work. However, it’s also quite annoying to see that the Oscars tend to gravitate towards mainstream projects and frequently ignore genre, arthouse, and international work.

This year’s awards did a better job than most in recognizing films that exemplified the year in film, and no one would argue that films such as Nomadland or Minari are deserving of awards. However, there were many great films from 2020 that didn’t receive nominations for the top prize, some of which were completely ignored all together. Here are ten great 2020 movies that should have been nominated for Best Picture.

10. Soul

Only three animated films have ever been nominated for Best Picture, and while Pixar frequently takes home the Best Animated Feature prize, only Up and Toy Story 3 were nominated for the top category. It’s not entirely surprising that Pixar has failed to contend for the top Oscars more recently, as the studio has produced many sequels and retreads that don’t hold a candle to the studio’s early work, but that certainly changed with Soul. The heartfelt philosophical fable is one of the best that the company has ever made.

Soul combines Pixar’s signature buddy adventure elements with a deeply profound exploration of purpose, meaning, and artistry. As is the case with the best films that take on this subject material, Soul leaves many questions ambiguous. The gorgeous score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross adds a unique jazz flavor to the film, as does Jamie Foxx’s exemplary vocal work as struggling band teacher Joe Gardner.

9. Palm Springs

Raunchy comedies are rarely seen as “serious” Oscar players, but Palm Springs is easily one of the best rom-coms of the 21st Century and cleverly integrates the Groundhog Day premise into a wild and fun escapade. Often shocking in its appetite for morbid violence, the film finds its heart in exploring outsiders who grow affection for each other, both in part and in spite of the supernatural situation that forces them to be together.

Films like Edge of Tomorrow and Source Code also utilized Groundhog Day as an inspiration, and Palm Springs similarly maximizes the potential of the premise as characters Nyles (Andy Samberg) and Sarah (Cristin Miloti) explore the various ways to wreak havoc during Sarah’s sister’s wedding. It’s impressive that these two performers are able to weaponize their inherent charisma with performances that are both deeply lonely and humorously engaging to watch.

8. Possessor

Despite consistent evidence that he is one of the most important and influential artists of the last several decades of cinema, David Cronenberg has never received an Academy Award nomination in any category. Perhaps it is not surprising that the debut film of his son Brandon was also ignored. Brandon Cronenberg’s Possessor is the type of grotesque, body horror sci-fi mindbender that feels the furthest removed from the Academy’s tastes, but surely this brilliant future classic will be remembered either way.

Possessor borrows elements of formal brilliance to ground its deeply disturbing sci-fi storyline, exploring the nature of identity as characters seek to adopt the mannerisms, personalities, and consciousness of the targets they’re assigned to. Rarely do the Oscars recognize acting work in genre films, but Andre Risenborough’s work as an assassin whose mind devolves over the course of a mission is easily among the best of the year.

7. The Vast of Night

If the raw athleticism of filmmaking is something the Oscars take into consideration when selecting their nominees, then the dynamic showmanship of Andrew Patterson’s debut feature The Vast of Night should be an instant player within all the top categories. Patterson’s rendition of a 1950s sci-fi tale lifted straight from The Twilight Zone shows signs of early Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis with his unique ways of building suspense, atmosphere, and excitement.

The low budget film is entirely sparing in when it reveals its more elaborate visual effects work, and the long takes and tracking shots most young filmmakers couldn’t properly utilize fit perfectly within Patterson’s breathless story. Breakout performances from Sierra McCormick and Jake Horowitz instill the adventure with a youthful spirit that grounds the viewer with characters worth following.

6. Supernova

While often the Academy Awards like to recognize films that deal with aging and illness, the films they select tend to be more melodramatic, overtly sappy stories with signature “Oscar scenes” that can be used as clips in performance reels. Thus, a film like Harry Macqueen’s Supernova probably never had a chance, as it opts for a more low key, studied take on the paralyzing impact that the loss of memory puts on a lifelong couple.

Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci deliver some of the finest performances of their career, and the film mines tragedy from the mundanity as the two try to cope with adjusting their daily routine to accommodate Tucci’s character throughout his illness. Macqueen is patient in laying out the scenarios that will explode later on as Tucci’s condition grows more severe and the couple is forced to face unthinkable questions.

2020 was certainly an untraditional film year, but despite the odds stacked against cinephiles, the Academy Awards actually produced one of the stronger Best Picture lineups in recent memory. It can be debated whether the eight films chosen are a good representation of what the year in cinema had to offer, but each was worthy of being recognized among the year’s best.

Certainly, there were some glaring omissions. Smaller independent films such as Never Rarely Sometimes Always and The Assistant were unfortunately overlooked, and while Netflix was recognized twice in the Best Picture lineup, the service failed to receive nominations for masterful films such as I’m Thinking of Ending Things, Da 5 Bloods, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Some of the year’s best films were ineligible for Oscar consideration and competed for the Emmys instead, such as Bad Education and Mangrove.

While film fans may grow irritated with the Academy Awards, this year’s crop features an eclectic lineup of films worthy of analysis and praise. Here are all eight of the 2021 Best Picture nominees ranked worst to best.

8. Judas and the Black Messiah

Shaka King’s meticulous historical drama is an enthralling examination of recent history through the lens of Golden Age informer cinema. While unquestionably owing to the great work of filmmakers such as Michael Mann and Alan J. Pakula, the film’s African-American identity is wholly unique. King spares no wasted frame and installs the saga of Fred Hampton with both perpetual dread and righteous anger.

Unquestionably, it’s Daniel Kaluuya’s performance as Hampton that elevates the film. Kaluuya’s characterization of a fiery disrupter is charismatic, yet never breaks with the realism that King has established. Hampton’s immediate impact is felt from the moment Kaluuya enters each frame, and King is wary of telling the viewer about his legacy when it’s much more powerful to actually show it.

If there is a hindrance to the film, it’s the characterization of Lakeith Stanfield’s FBI informant Bill O’Neal. While Stanfield’s cold persona matched with the mounting anxiety of being an informant allows him to give a terrific performance, the writing of the character limits his exposure to Kaluuya’s wisdom. Similarly, the scenes featuring Jesse Plemons and Martin Sheen feel disappointingly routine in a film that often proves to be much more.

7. Promising Young Woman

Promising Young Woman is a flashy debut film from Emerald Fennell that impresses in its coalition of genre and wide reaching tonal shifts. It’s fitting that a film that confronts so many uncomfortable topics is able to disorient and disturb; Fennell weaponizes an energizing soundtrack and bright aesthetic to make her acid-dipped observations on college campus culture more shoking.

Carey Mulligan delivers the best performance of her career as Cassie, a woman seeking revenge for the rape of her best friend. Mulligan is confident while still being vulnerable, and Cassie’s sharp and biting confrontations of other characters are powerful to watch.

Yet, the film also has many predictable plot points, and it’s not clear if the self-awareness of the tone is meant to include story beats that are framed to be deceptive. There is a debate to be had as to whether the film’s ending is logical and satisfying, and how much satisfaction the viewer should even take away from material this disturbing. It’s safe to say that Promising Young Woman’s final moments will continue to spark discussion among cinephiles in the years to come.

6. The Trial of the Chicago 7

With The Trial of the Chicago 7 Aaron Sorkin’s snappy and intricate dialogue operates at a near operatic level. Sorkin has always prioritized detail and idealism, and his second effort as a director uses these priorities as a stylistic choice in the altruistic (and borderline hokey) tribute to rousing history.

Sorkin’s extended deconstruction of democracy and activism only maintains its energy due to the incredibly stacked ensemble. Each of the core defendants, played by Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, Alex Sharp, Jeremy Strong, Noah Robbins, John Caroll Lynch, Daniel Flaherty, and Yahya Abdul Mateen II represent a similar yet nuanced perspective on a similar viewpoint, and Sorkin’s moments of pure optimism comes when he can draw the most parallels between their ideas.

There’s also a wealth of equally memorable side performances from veteran scene stealing actors. Mark Rylance is quietly compelling as the defending lawyer who grows increasingly disenfranchised with the court, and Michael Keaton shows up for only a few brief scenes to deliver a riveting witness testimony. Frank Langella’s performance as Judge Julius Hoffman is most effective, as his reprehensible nature gives Sorkin a focal point in which to channel the film’s anger.

5. Sound of Metal

Sound of Metal is a wholly unique look at addiction, artistry, and disability that uses unconventional audio and narrative experiments to become unnervingly immersive. What’s most powerful is that the film doesn’t go down any generic routes when it comes to forcing conclusions upon the viewer, and respects the deaf community with its specificity to one unique experience.

Riz Ahmed’s performance as heavy metal drummer Ruben Stone is one of the best of the year. Ahmed instills Ruben with idiosyncrasies at early stages of the story, and his moments of raw frustration and dilemma are heartbreaking to watch. It’s the finest work of Ahmed’s career and a performance that balances crafted, range, and emotion.

Paul Raci’s performance as Joe, the leader of a shelter who guides Ruben, is also heartbreaking; key moments from Joe’s backstory make his character someone the viewer has great sympathy for, and in turn make any conflicts with Ruben more tragic. The examination of what progress and normality really mean is the heart of what makes Sound of Metal such an achievement.

Since the early days of cinema, western films have been recognized as one of the most popular genres and attracted moviegoers for decades. It was clear early on that the western was a fluid genre that could encapsulate all sorts of stories, leading to many different types of interpretations. Such wildly different films include Mel Brook’s comic masterpiece Blazing Saddles, Alejandro Jodorowsky’s acid western El Topo, and romantic epics like Brokeback Mountain.

While westerns continued to maintain their popularity to this day, the genre often receives the same criticisms that it is formulaic or “pulp.” It doesn’t take a lot of digging to find that to be false, and film fans familiar with the history of the genre will know the rich philosophical subtext within western stories. While westerns are largely based on distinctly American stories, many of the best western films ever come from international filmmakers.

There are countless great western films, and there are certainly westerns such as The Magnificent Seven or True Grit that make for great entertainment, but aren’t particularly deep. This list counts down ten of the most philosophically challenging and emotionally complex western films that redefined the genre cliches. Here are ten of the most profound western movies of all-time.

10. Hostiles (2017)

Sometimes films take decades to marinate within the public consciousness in order to be deemed classics, but occasionally a film will come along and announce itself as an immediate mainstay. Many films have attempted to wrestle with America’s sordid history and the inadvertent effects of the western genre itself, but Hostiles does such with an intensity that marries empathy for all the characters with an acknowledgment of the cyclical nature of violence.

What’s impressive about Hostiles is that it frames the conflict between the characters as a generational passing of the torch, and the film avoids cliches about two enemies getting to know each other by showing how Captain Joseph Blocker (Christian Bale) and Chief Yellow Hawk (Wes Studi) are born into a conflict that can only end in annihilation; director Scott Cooper is also keen to not equate the two and emphasize the fact that it was the colonizers that are responsible for the spring of violence. There’s little hope to be found in Hostiles, but it’s rare that a film engages with history so vividly.

9. One Eyed Jacks (1961)

One Eyed Jacks is a film where it is nearly impossible to separate the behind the scenes drama from the end product. It was the only film ever directed by Marlon Brando, who replaced Stanley Kubrick after disputes with Paramount Pictures; Brando was notoriously disillusioned with Hollywood, but he aimed to elevate the western genre with a story of betrayal that was lifted in many ways from his own personal trauma. It’s no coincidence that the film’s villain is named “Dad” when Brando had a fraught history with his own father.

Much of One Eyed Jack’s history is ambiguous, as a lot of the footage was reshot and never saw the light of day, but the version that was released is an interesting deconstruction of how “honor among thieves” can manifest. Brando’s character, aptly named “The Kid,” doesn’t know how to adjust to a normal code of ethics after being betrayed by his partner, and he’s forced to question whether revenge will ever bring him satisfaction. Among other things, the film’s title is also referenced as the name of the brothel in Twin Peaks.

8. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

The Coen Brothers are no strangers to the western genre; not only did they remake the classic True Grit to tremendous success, but western iconography is a recurring theme in many of their films, most notably in The Big Lebowski, Raising Arizona, No Country For Old Men, and O Brother, Where Art Thou? With The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, the Coens reflect on the finality of death that exists within all western fables, told across six storylines in anthology fashion. While the stories are only thematically connected, each turns a familiar western genre trope on its head.

Yet, the message of The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is far more nuanced than “death comes for us all,” as they are keen to show the varying degrees of virtue that exist within their characters. For some, such as Tim Blake Nelson’s titular gunslinger, their end is an accepted inevitability that comes from their line of work, but for others, such as Zoe Kazan’s Alice Longabaugh, it comes due to poignant irony. It’s easily among the most visually stunning films of the past decade, and dissects decades of western stories into a neat and digestible series of short adventures.

7. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

Often cited as the epitome of adventure films, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre works out of the model of serialized 1920s westerns, yet instills the story with a timeless tale of greed and the corruptive power of riches. It’s one of the most perfect embodiments of the hero’s journey ever captured on film because it shows how the search for treasure can bring out the true nature of the characters; for Fredd Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart), it is the adventure itself that is more rewarding than the gold, and for Bob Curtin (Tim Holt), it is the lust for monetary gain that spells his doom.

These aren’t revolutionary ideas, but the legendary John Huston was able to mask the ideas about inherent materialism within an exciting story that tests the characters’ morals at every moment. The irony that their quest itself had no real meaning (because the gold sacks are empty) comes not as a sick joke, but a reformation that the journey was more important than the destination.

6. The Revenant (2015)

Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu’s The Revenant is a survival thriller in every sense of the word; it’s a film that questions what the inherent value of life is in a world that is bleak and oppressive, and questions whether conflating revenge with purpose can ever be therapeutic. Unlike most revenge films, The Revenant doesn’t see Hugh Glass’s quest as cathartic, yet it’s his desire for justice that allows him to travel on this epic journey.

Throughout Glass’s journey, he’s haunted by ghosts of the past and forced to undergo unimaginable trauma, and Inarritu is keen to show the violence that surrounds the time period as Glass bears witness to the slaughter of indigenious people. Equally entrancing is Tom Hardy’s performance as Tom Fitzgerald, the man who killed Glass’s son, who is motivated by his own personal greed above all else. It turns western tropes on their heads by questioning the motivations of the heroes and villains of history.

Many times, great films fly under the radar for one reason or another. Sometimes this is due to poor marketing, bad press, a crowded market, or a lack of audience interest, and given how rapidly film fans move on to the next big thing, it’s easy for some quality projects to get lost in the shuffle. Even if a film has all the right ingredients, sometimes it takes a few years for it to get the appreciation that it deserves.

What constitutes a “thriller” can be somewhat of a fluid definition, as many films belonging to the action, horror, drama, and even comedy genres can fall under the “thriller” banner as well. In general, a great thriller demands an immediate audience engagement from the beginning, and takes the viewer on an intense but rewarding ride. Here are ten great recent thrillers you may have missed.

10. Legend (2015)

Director Brian Helgeland is no stranger to the crime movie genre, as he penned the scripts for two of the greatest crime films in recent memory, L.A. Confidential and Mystic River. Although Helgeland has an extensive history behind the camera, he finally got the chance to tackle one of the most infamous crime sagas in British history with Legend, the biopic of gangster twins Ronald and Reginald Kray. In a transformative performance, Tom Hardy stars as both brothers and gives two distinctive performances.

While it’s easy to be impressed by the visual tricks that allow Hardy to interact with himself onscreen, it’s even more impressive how well realized these performances are. The bond between the two siblings is often shaky, as Ronald is often forced to clean up after his impulsive brother, and Hardy is able to capture the essence of a sibling bond with his two roles. A good deal of dark humor and eccentric side characters make Legend a sorely underrated British crime flick.

9. Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (2012)

1992’s Universal Soldier was a wholly unmemorable entry into Roland Emmerich’s resume of sci-fi blockbusters, but the film’s modest box office receipts were enough to inspire a string of direct to video, low budget sequels. While many of the early sequels were similar in tone to Emmerich’s films, the later entries into the franchise were much more experimental, with 2012’s Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning drawing more from the existential horror of David Cronenberg and Michael Haneke than the shoot ‘em up action of Emmerich.

Opening with a sequence heavily inspired by Haneke’s Funny Games, the film sets up a new protagonist in John (Scott Adkins), who witnesses the brutal murder of his family at the hands of the former Universal Soldier Luc Deveraux (John-Claude Van Damme). What follows is a hypnotic revenge odyssey in which John tracks down Deveraux and his seperatist group, all while suffering from surrealist visions of the violence he’s both witnessed and incited. By the point in which John confronts Deveraux’s renegade army in a moment lifted from Apocalypse Now, it’s clear that Day of Reckoning has transcended its adolescent roots and became an entirely different type of film.

8. The Paperboy (2012)

Among the nastiest and most abrasive crime films in recent memory, The Paperboy revels in the sordid details of its plot and its flawed central characters. Veteran reporter Ward Jensen (Matthew McConaughey) enlists the help of his troubled younger brother Jack (Zac Efron) as he investigates a string of racially charged murders in Florida. Their investigation leads them to interview the imprisoned killer Hillary Van Wetter (John Cusack), whose lover Charlotte Bless (Nicole Kidman) takes an interest in Jack.

Each character is driven purely by their own self interest, and each actor is able to shed their charismatic personality and transform themselves into a unique type of low level scum. In particular, Kidman’s wacky performance as the obsessive Alabama woman entrenched in the case is nearly impossible to look away from. The film takes pleasure in breaking these characters down and revealing their faults, making for a dark, yet entertaining thriller.

7. The Good Liar (2019)

One of the more underrated films of 2019, The Good Liar is a delightfully old fashioned thriller that succeeds thanks to the formal direction from Bill Condon and the star power of its two leads. Ian McKellen plays a veteran conman who sets his sights on stealing the fortune of a wealthy widow, played by Helen Mirren, and these two legends of the screen are so eminently watchable that they make even the most ridiculous of dialogue entertaining. It’s a film largely driven by the conversations between the two, and it’s fun to watch the two characters constantly try to get the intellectual upper hand.

While its premise seems fairly traditional, the film delves into darker territory as it goes along, featuring shocking twists that warp the perception of the two characters. Even if these twists stretch the limits of believability, the performances from McKellen and Mirren are layered, and they engage in each scene with the full weight of their history. A fun pulp thriller that’s elevated by the sharp direction and merciless pace, The Good Liar certainly deserved more attention.

6. Hollywoodland (2006)

Often the most engaging thrillers are the ones that draw from history itself, and Hollywoodland is certainly a film that cinephiles will want to check out, because it tackles one of the most infamous unsolved cases in Hollywood history. The film revolves around the mysterious death of Superman actor George Reeves (Ben Affleck), exploring his rise to stardom and eventual disillusionment through flashbacks.

The story itself revolves around Adrien Brody’s character Louis Simo, a sleuth who becomes fascinated by the case and decides to unravel the secret history of Reeves’s life. It’s a perfect tribute to classic era noir that utilizes many of the iconic settings, and the film’s loose version of history allows it to commit to making a brilliant genre piece. Affleck is the heart of the film; he is absolutely heartbreaking with his performance, and even if the death isn’t solved, Affleck makes the viewer feel Reeves’s loss.

There are certainly many classics that nearly every serious film fan has seen; films like Citizen Kane, Casablanca, The Godfather, 2001: A Space Odyssey, or Rear Window have attained a status that makes them required viewing for anyone interested in film history. Not only are these masterpieces that have stood the test of time, but they are responsible for setting trends that would spawn countless imitators.

However, there are some films considered classics that have been lost to time. Some were considered noteworthy at the time, but have lost the favor of renowned critics or slipped into obscurity. These films are deserving of immense praise, as they introduced new cinematic voices and told breakthrough stories. Here are ten movie classics you may have missed.

10. Gods and Monsters (1998)

Bill Condon may not be among any list of the greatest directors due to the critical failure of many of his recent films, but he’s also responsible for many brilliant films, including Kinsey, Dreamgirls, and Mr. Holmes. Condon’s best film to date is one that fans of classic cinema will want to check out, as it is a biographical film centered around James Whale, the man who helmed such films as Frankenstein and The Bride of Frankenstein. Whale is played by Condon’s frequent collaborator Ian McKellen, who delivers the best performance of his career.

Condon’s film explores how the images and themes of Whale’s films continue to haunt him as he faces his own mortality; through a new muse, his groundskeeper Clayton Boone (Brendan Fraser), Whale finds someone with whom he can share his real feelings about the way the film industry has gone and the intentionality of his work. Not only is it a clever window into the classical era of filmmaking, but it is also an emotionally riveting story of an artist watching their legacy emerge at the end of their life.

9. Hard Eight (1996)

Paul Thomas Anderson is renowned as one of the greatest filmmakers of his time, and films such as Boogie Nights, Magnolia, There Will Be Blood, The Master, and Punch-Drunk Love have emerged as well regarded modern classics. One film that tends to get lost in the shuffle is Anderson’s debut Hard Eight, an exercise in formal brilliance that follows Sydney Brown (Phillip Baker Hall), a veteran gambler who mentors the young man John Finnegan (John C. Reilly) as the two travel to Las Vegas to score some bets.

Compared to the vast scope and visual invention of Anderson’s later work, Hard Eight is much more intimate and confined, with long sections of dialogue occuring in smaller locations. It’s as brilliantly written as anything Anderson has ever done, particularly as he builds to a twist involving Baker Hall’s character and the secrets that he holds. The central dynamic between Baker Hall and Reilly is quite touching, but watch out for some scene stealing supporting turns from Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Samuel L. Jackson.

8. Empire of the Sun (1987)

A recurring theme within Steven Spielberg’s films is the idea of exploring complex and dramatic events through the lense of a child’s eyes, and one of the more undervalued works within his filmography is the coming of age war epic Empire of the Sun. Christian Bale gives a brilliant child performance as Jamie Graham, a privileged British child who is thrust into a Japanese internment camp in the heights of World War II.

Spielberg is occasionally criticized for being overtly schmaltzy, but it’s this sensitive spirit that makes Empire of the Sun so magnetic; Jamie can’t come to grips with the hardship and death he is witnessing, so he attempts to explain the world in a way that would make sense to a child. As always, the beautiful score from John Williams emphasizes all the most important emotional beats.

7. The Outsiders (1983)

Francis Ford Coppola’s run of films in the 1970s is a nearly unmatched string of all-time masterpieces, and while Coppola was never able to attain the same heights again, he does have a number of underrated hits sprinkled amidst the rest of his career. One such film is The Outsiders, an adaptation of the famous novel by S. E. Hinton that explored and deconstructed youth culture, social groups, and wealth differences.

Of all things, The Outsiders is perhaps best known for launching the careers of many of the finest young actors of the 1980s; actors such as Tom Cruise, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze, Ralph Macchio, Matt Dillon, and C. Thomas Howell star as a group of greasers living outside of Tulsa that experience a transformative summer of violence and change. Just as the original novel proved to be controversial and provocative, Coppola’s film proved to be an untraditional and challenging young adult film.

6. Serpico (1973)

Sidney Lumet’s 1973 masterpiece proved to be an instant neo-noir crime classic, and remains high on the list of the greatest undercover cop dramas ever made. Released between The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II, the film starred Al Pacino in one of his best roles as Officer Frank Serpico, a NYPD officer who went undercover to investigate corrupt cops. On top of being a riveting and suspenseful thriller, the film opened the conversation about corruption within the police force.

Pacino would later be known as an actor who delivers eccentric, over the top performances, but Serpico saw him in a much more nuanced, subtle role, as Serpico is a character whose good morals are tested by the extremity of the situations he experiences. The film was fearless in exploring the pressures Serpico faced during the course of his mission, and ends on an ambiguous note that questions what change would actually occur.

Although it may have seemed unlikely at the time that she made her acting debut in The Godfather: Part III, Sofia Coppola has grown into one of the most original and distinctive filmmakers of the 21st Century. Coppola has naturally been compared to her father throughout her career, but over the course of her seven films, she’s combined modern stylistic choices with the influences of classical filmmakers like Bob Fosse, Jean-Luc Godard, and Wong Kar-wai.

Coppola’s films tend to focus on desolation, futility, and loneliness, but more often than not she’s populated these downcast environments with characters that pop off the screen. Each of Coppola’s films has a strong element of witty, incisive humor, and in addition to her frequently potent dialogue, she’s routinely gotten inspired and moving performances from her casts.

Dreamlike visuals, gradual pacing, and bursts of satire are some of Coppola’s signature hallmarks, but each film has tackled its subject matter in a different way. While Coppola has tackled Hollywood sexism in ways that are often bold, her depiction of wealth has been widely debated, with some films that deal with the touchy subject better than others.

Coppola’s latest film is the A24 comedy-drama On the Rocks, which could mark her first foray into the awards conversation since she picked up the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for Lost in Translation. Here are all seven Sofia Coppola movies, ranked worst to best.

7. The Beguiled (2017)

The Beguiled is not a bad film by any stretch of the imagination, as it boasts too great of an ensemble and looks to immaculate to be completely dismissed, but it is easily the film that falls the shortest when compared to both the original source material and the rest of Coppola’s filmography. Inspired by the same novel that Don Seigel adapted into the 1971 film with the same title, The Beguiled examines how a secluded all-female school in 1864 is thrust into chaos by the appearance of a wounded Confederate soldier (Colin Farrell).

Coppola lingers on moments of uncertainty and sexual tension, but for the most part The Beguiled comes off as elevated melodrama, and it’s not played for camp the same way that Marie Antoniette or The Bling Ring are. The plot is among Coppola’s most straightforward, and although it’s interesting to see how each woman’s angst bubbles to the surface, the result is a Gothic thriller that’s not quite as biting or shocking as it appears.

While it’s perhaps Coppola’s least thought-provoking film, The Beguiled is still a very entertaining watch, and in particular Nicole Kidman’s commanding performance as the head mistress Martha Farnsworth is reason enough to check it out. The period aesthetic fits perfectly for Coppola’s portrait-esque visuals and a lot of tension is mined out of the contained location, and at a brief 94 minutes it’s a film that wastes little time in moving things along.

6. The Bling Ring (2013)

The Bling Ring remains one of Coppola’s most divisive films, and it’s not hard to see why. The film indulges in the fantasizes of celebrity-obsessed, social media devouring young people whose obnoxious nature feels both authentic and even more timely in the years since its release. The brilliance of The Bling Ring is that Coppola isn’t trying to mask these characters’ lack of complexity; these are shallow, morally bankrupt kids who are a product of the materialistic culture that they grew up in.

Coppola does a great job at taking the fetishization of celebrity and turning it into a glossy nightmare; the hollowness of the gang known as “The Bling Ring” are perfectly underscored by Coppola’s free-form banter, poppy soundtrack, and glossy digital imagery. There are brilliant satirical touches that come from Coppola’s use of flash-forwards (in which the characters reveal themselves to have very little going on under the surface), but it’s also a film that allows each conversation to reach its repetitive breaking point.

Many of Coppola’s films can first appear to be “unstructured,” but The Bling Ring does begin to seriously drag towards the second half when it becomes clear what talking points are being made; the film really picks up when Coppola leans into the media circus that surrounds the events, adding an extra layer to her perspective on characters that desire unattainable celebrity. It’s perhaps a credit to Coppola’s unflinching realism that The Bling Ring is so unpleasant to watch.

5. Somewhere (2010)

Coppola examines the existentialism of wealth, fame, and celebrity in a whole new way with Somewhere, her slowest and most naturalistic film to date. Drawing attention to the loneliness of movie star Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff), Somewhere looks at excess with a dismissive sense of normalcy. Even the most extraordinary advantages can become routines, and Marco’s search for meaning through his relationship with his daughter Cleo (Elle Fanning) gives the film its heart.

The strained father-daughter relationship gives the film its most fruitful text, as even the most minor of conversations between the two suggest a fundamental inability to communicate. While Cleo doesn’t show any clear resentment towards her father, it’s clear that Johnny struggles to express his love in a meaningful way. Dorff’s performance is just terrific; his casual indifferences and familiarity with drugs, drinking, parties, and liaisons give context to how he expresses himself to his daughter.

Coppola is also able to subvert tropes by not taking the easy way out. Johnny’s tearful confession to his ex-wife bears a lot of the film’s dramatic heft, but it’s treated with the same unceremonious intimacy as any of the more procedural scenes. Johnny’s seemingly definitive ending, in which he casts aside the symbol of his wealth in the form of a Ferrari, feels all the more melancholy considering how unlikely it is that his lifestyle will actually change.

A common misconception is that action films cannot reach the same level of artistic merit of other genres, often because action films tend to lean towards popular entertainment.

This is often a puzzling argument, as it takes little research to understand that a great action film requires an extraordinary amount of craftsmanship and creativity from the cast and crew.

Indeed, some of the greatest action films of all-time, such as Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Matrix, or Mad Max: Fury Road are the rare films that are both technically perfect and compulsively entertaining, and there’s nothing wrong with being an entertaining film that appeals to a wide audience. However, those three action films, as well as countless others, are also unafraid to deal with more complex philosophy that appeals to more niche groups.

Many famous films were marketed with attention towards their action sequences and excitement, but they secretly deal with challenging issues and utilize unconventional filmmaking techniques. Here are ten famous action movies that are actually arthouse movies.

10. Batman (1989)

It’s hard to overstate how radically the public perception of superhero movies changed following the release of 1989’s Batman; the caped crusader was known to many as the campy Adam West character, and excitement for superhero movies had dwindled after the failures of the later films in the Christopher Reeves Superman series. Burton took a much different approach, drawing from early cinema of the 1920s and 30s to craft a noir tale with idiosyncratic architecture and iconography out of the German Expressionism movement, made to reflect the tone of the original run of the character by Bob Kane in the 1930s

Burton’s Batman also took an unconventional approach because it was almost entirely focused on the villain, with Jack Nicholson’s Joker stealing every scene he is in. The hero and villain roles are almost reversed; Joker is the colorful, joyously free character who is granted a complete backstory, whereas Michael Keaton’s Batman is reserved and constrained by the duality of being a reclusive billionaire and hero all at once.

9. Looper (2012)

Looper has a terrific premise for a sci-fi thriller- what if you had to kill your future self? While the film certainly has many imaginative action sequences, at its heart it’s a ponderous meditation on what events shape our destiny. For the younger Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), he’s forced to confront an older version of himself (Bruce Willis) that has made all the mistakes he’s feared making. The conflict between the two is a literal depiction of what it’s like to scorn past regrets or fear a dark impending future.

The film asks how people are capable of villainous acts; an older Joe is willing to kill a child in order to preserve his own memory of the woman he loves, and Joe’s belligerent nature comes not out of hatred, but out of fear of losing what he loves most. The climactic third act examines how memory ripples out into the future, showing how personality-defining events are often inevitable.

8. Snowpiercer (2013)

The films of Bong Joon-ho are getting more attention than ever thanks to the tremendous success of Parasite, and anyone impressed with the razor sharp satire of class differences in that film should definitely check out Snowpiercer. The film examines the societal barriers that exist between different classes, and the struggle to have upward mobility is imagined as a brutal conflict in which many do not make it out alive.

By imagining the wealth gap as a pulpy, violent thriller that escalates as it rises, Bong perfectly summarizes the seemingly implausible nature of reality. The stark differences between the different levels of the train help to drive home his point, and it’s interesting to see how the effects of propaganda ripple down from the top. The film’s final moments, in which the rebellion itself was revealed to be just another preordained operation, are equally haunting and profound.

7. Leon: The Professional (1994)

Luc Besson certainly has a distinctive visual style that has inspired many imitators, but Leon: The Professional is an example of how his style can be channeled to tell an interesting perspective. Many films seek to explore the nature of violence and crime through the eyes of a child, and while Besson does this by telling the film from the perspective of young Natalie Portman’s character Mathilda Lando, it in no way sanitizes the brutality. In fact, it’s seeing this sleazy world from the eyes of someone never exposed to it that makes the action so eye popping.

Besson walks a clever line between his sadistic impulses and a genuine sincerity; it’s often a film that is cruel to the characters and revels in their suffering, but the pureness of Leon and Mathildas’ relationship and its familial connotation gives the story a beating heart. It’s these rife contradictions between the macabre and the pure that makes Leon: The Professional such a rare artistic achievement.

6. Oldboy (2003)

Park Chan-wook’s neo-noir masterpiece is one of the most psychologically tormenting films of all-time. It’s a film that turns the revenge fantasy on its head by revealing the utter depravity of all that seek vengeance, unleashing a labyrinth of secrets that provokes deeply unsettling questions about the ability to accept the nature of one’s reality. Even the most iconic action beats, such as the famous single shot fight scene, are novel in how removed they are from traditional choreography.

The most fascinating part of Oldboy, and what elevates it above other action films, is the ambiguous nature of the story. There’s a literal ambiguity to the ending, as Dae-su’s decision to erase his own memory is never revealed, which prompts the viewer to consider whether it is worse to live with the knowledge that Dae-su possesses or to live in blissful ignorance with the potential of reliving that pain all over again.