It is a common debate amongst critics, scholars, filmmakers, and the general public as to whether movies are expressive artworks or a brainless form of entertainment that turns your imagination into mush. Movies can show someone else’s point of view more powerfully and more viscerally than any other artistic medium, or they can take you on a mindless ride you couldn’t experience any other way. No one can ever quite agree on whether movies are truly Roger Ebert’s “empathy machine” or if they are junk food for the eyes, mind, and soul.
Movies that comment upon and share different aspects of the human condition are, no doubt, good for the soul, but they can sometimes feel like a laborious chore to sit through. Movies that merely entertain with surface-driven spectacle can have the opposite effect; they can be an entertaining way to pass the time, but they also have the tendency to leave their viewers feeling somewhat empty after they’re over. Some audiences are perfectly fine deciding between these extremes. Others, however, want more from each opposing end of the spectrum.
One could argue that the most successful movies are the ones that miraculously contain both artistic and entertainment value. Movies that enlighten their viewer while simultaneously enthralling them with excitement and high-stakes drama are the ones that are most likely to make a lasting impact. What good is a movie that examines all the secrets of the universe if it puts you to sleep? What good is a movie that entertains you in the moment if you’re just going to forget about it as soon as it’s over?
The following list examines movies that provide both enlightenment and entertainment. They contain artistic value while sustaining their viewers’ interest. They are the best of both worlds, likely to please viewers who want the absolute most out of their viewing experience. The following movies provide escapism in the moment, but also produce resonating feelings and thoughts that linger long past their duration.
30. Batman Returns (1992)
As far as comic book movies go, there probably has never been and will never be one that is as daringly and artistically executed as Batman Returns. Far from a typical comic book movie, the film uses its popular genre to explore such adult themes as dual personalities, feminism, abandonment issues, and political corruption. Director Tim Burton and screenwriter Daniel Waters still managed to make the film entertaining, however, by filling it with exciting action sequences, an oftentimes-silly sense of humor, and eye-grabbing designs. Even with its high entertainment value, the film still manages to be one of the most challenging and creatively courageous comic book films ever produced.
29. In Bruges (2008)
Writer/director Martin McDonagh’s classic crime comedy/drama is a film with multiple intentions. On one hand, it explores such hefty themes as past sins, guilt, and redemption. On the other, it’s one of the funniest, wittiest, and most enthralling crime films of its time. In Bruges’ deep dramatic themes and its clever sense of humor live side-by-side naturalistically and with ease.
28. Chasing Amy (1997)
Writer/director Kevin Smith has always been amusing—especially if you’re even roughly from his generation and understand all his timely in-jokes, pop culture references, and stylistic homages. Smith has always known how to entertain his audience through the highly witty dialogue exchanges between the identifiable and (sometimes) iconic characters that inhabit his universe. Chasing Amy showcases the first time the filmmaker had something truly profound to say, as the film explores such adult themes as male insecurity, the double standards with which men view female sexuality, and the hidden intricacies of close male friendships. The film ultimately induces as much thought as it does laughter—a feat which is not easy to pull off as effortlessly as Chasing Amy does.
27. Sin City (2005)
Directors Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller adapted Miller’s graphic novel series for this groundbreaking, ultra-stylish, and impressively innovative production. First and foremost, Sin City is a thrilling action noir that stirs up adrenaline in its audience. It is also executed with high artistry, using (for its time) cutting-edge digital techniques to give the film a hyper-stylized reality that is unlike anything that came before it. Sin City ambitiously succeeds as both a piece of entertainment and a stylish work of progressive art.
26. One False Move (1992)
Director Carl Franklin and screenwriters Billy Bob Thorton and Tom Epperson delivered one of the most dramatically complex and intense thrillers of its time with One False Move. As a piece of entertainment, the film delivers its share of suspense, action, and mystery. The film also manages to be a strikingly honest examination of human faults and the never-ending consequences of past wrongdoings. One False Move entertains in the moment, but leaves its audience with much to ponder after it’s done.
25. Gone Girl (2014)
Gone Girl is one of the most twisted and effective thrillers in recent memory. It’s a captivating mystery that keeps its audience on edge throughout. It’s also a bitingly hilarious satire on the war between the sexes and the pitfalls of modern-day matrimony. Director David Fincher and writer Gillian Flynn crafted a highly entertaining film that also sneaks up on the viewer and challengingly provokes serious thought.
24. Cape Fear (1991)
This Martin Scorsese-directed and Wesley Strick-scripted remake of the 1962 Gregory Peck- and Robert Mitchum-starring film of the same name is, on the surface, an intense and captivating thriller. Cape Fear has many layers, however, as it is also a thoughtful examination of dysfunctional families, the delicacy of teenage sexuality, the haunting of past sins, and the twisted psychology behind sex crimes. It may be one of the most commercially oriented films that Scorsese ever directed, but that doesn’t make it a purely escapist experience.
23. Wild at Heart (1990)
Writer/director David Lynch’s adaptation of Barry Gifford’s novel is a colorful joyride consisting of bizarre characters, extreme violence, passionate sex, and a playfully dark sense of humor. It’s the most entertaining and downright fun movie that Lynch, America’s premier art house filmmaker, has ever created. It’s also a deeply sensitive and strangely innocent presentation of damaged people and the importance of love in an otherwise dangerous world.
22. Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021)
Zack Snyder’s longtime-in-the-making four-hour cut of Justice League is one of the most epic and ambitious comic book films ever released. It is an adventurous and exciting film that never allows its audience to feel its hefty runtime. It also works as an extremely ambitious and thoroughly thoughtful character study. Zack Snyder’s Justice League is far from a typical comic book movie, as it boasts a surprisingly eloquent and minutely detailed style that humanely exhibits the loneliness, loss, and longing of its otherworldly and iconic characters.
21. Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)
Writer/director Drew Goddard’s underrated masterwork, Bad Times at the El Royale, is a thoroughly effective neo-noir that envelops its audience from start to finish. It is filled with thrills, mystery, excitement, and many unpredictable surprises. The film also works as a sensitive, astute, and complex study of broken people, racism and inequality in America, and the atonement of past sins. Bad Times at the El Royale is a satisfyingly full movie that successfully achieves its many ambitious intentions.
20. Platoon (1986)
Writer/director Oliver Stone’s semi-autobiographical film about his experiences in the Vietnam War is a thrilling cinematic experience. It throws the audience into its violence along with its characters, making them understand both the adrenalized excitement and the horrific consequences of battle. Platoon also works on a more thoughtful and sensitive level, poetically examining the loss of innocence and the deep bonds amongst fellow soldiers that wartime begets. Platoon is the ultimate thinking person’s adventure, one that excites and entertains in the moment only to later make its audience contemplate its deeply meaningful themes.
19. The Graduate (1967)
Starring Dustin Hoffman in his breakout performance, The Graduate is an undisputed classic because of both its entertainment value and its artistic merit. On one hand, the film features an extremely funny and amusingly inappropriate love triangle between a young man (Hoffman) and a mother and daughter (Anne Bancroft and Katharine Ross). The scenario is intoxicatingly engrossing, producing tension, nervous laughter, and the undeniable desire to see how it plays out. The film is also a thoughtful examination of lost youth, not knowing one’s place in the world, and finding comfort in questionable situations in order to alleviate anxiety about a terrifyingly uncertain future.
18. The Fisher King (1991)
Director Terry Gilliam and screenwriter Richard LaGravanese’s The Fisher King is a rare example of a movie that is every bit as meaningful, eccentric, and artfully surreal as it is commercially appealing, deeply romantic, and charmingly hilarious. The Fisher King is one of the most unique and artistically courageous rom-coms ever made. It magically sweeps its audience up in its characters’ affection for one another, making the film’s bold romantic emotions highly contagious. The film also offers a frank and shocking depiction of mental illness and homelessness, providing an unfiltered glimpse into the troubled private life of one of its extremely lovable, yet painfully human, characters.
17. Natural Born Killers (1994)
Oliver Stone’s audacious 90s satire is one of the most thrillingly violent movies ever produced in Hollywood—or anywhere else, for that matter. It excites its viewer in the moment, exhibiting a kaleidoscopic and chaotic style that puts its viewer in the thrill-killing headspace of its mass-murdering lead characters. Natural Born Killers sneaks up on its audience, however, by ultimately using the thrills of its violence against them. As enthralling as the film’s brutality is in the moment, the film eventually (and thoughtfully) forces its audience to face their own relationship with violence and why, exactly, they found it to be so entertaining in the first place.
16. Drive (2011)
The art-house and the grindhouse magically collide in this graphically violent yet aesthetically beautiful thriller. Drive is a hypnotic and thrilling film filled with shocking brutality, exciting car chases, and expertly staged hand-to-hand fight scenes. It is also one of the most uniquely stylized, surreally executed, and intricately detailed films of its kind. Drive is saturated in pop music, soaked in neon, and flooded with bloody thrills, resulting in a film whose artistry works in perfect harmony with its extreme entertainment value.
15. When Harry Met Sally… (1989)
As far as romantic comedies go, this classic from director Rob Reiner and screenwriter Nora Ephron is about as good as they get. When Harry Met Sally… is the ultimate film of its kind, sweeping its audience up in the long and deeply romantic courtship of its two titular characters. It is also a revealing, insightful, and thoughtful glimpse into the subtle differences and similarities between men and women and how they view friendships and romantic relationships. When Harry Met Sally… is ultimately as smart, revelatory, and emotionally stirring as it is a comically whimsical piece of escapist entertainment.
14. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Director Jonathan Demme’s masterful adaptation of Thomas Harris’ celebrated bestseller is the ultimate thinking person’s horror film. It delivers more than its fair share of shocks, suspense, and scares, expertly getting under its audience’s skin in the most disturbingly haunting way imaginable. The Silence of the Lambs, however, also serves as a highly intricate and thoughtful character study that examines how human beings try to alleviate past pain by triumphing over present-day ordeals.
13. Joker (2019)
Director Todd Phillips’ interpretation of the classic DC villain is the riskiest and most adult-oriented comic-based film that has ever graced screens. The risk paid off, resulting in a film that not only entertains its audience but also leaves them with a wholly indelible dramatic impact. Joker, with its astute observations on how mental illness is discarded in a ruthlessly capitalistic society, is proof that blockbuster entertainment can still stir deep emotion and thought. Joaquin Phoenix’s deeply committed, Oscar-winning portrayal of the titular character also elevates the movie into something much more than just another simple comic book adaptation.
12. The Shining (1980)
Stanley Kubrick’s horror masterpiece, The Shining, is one of the most successful and terrifying Stephen King adaptations of all time. Filled with shocks, scares, and an unrelentingly disturbing atmosphere, the film is, first and foremost, a highly effective entry into the horror genre. The Shining has more than one intention, however, as its horror also serves as symbolism for such heavy themes as alcoholism, child abuse, and family dysfunction. Despite its plethora of supernatural elements, the film is ultimately an insightful and frank observation of the human condition.
11. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Mad Max: Fury Road is one of the most artful straightforward action movies that has ever been produced. On top of its thrilling, nonstop car chases, it’s also an obsessively and intricately detailed, gorgeously designed, and sometimes surreally executed piece of filmmaking. There is no aspect to this film, no matter how big or small, that feels like it wasn’t given the utmost care and contemplation. Mad Max: Fury Road also carries a subtle but significant feminist statement, as it features a group of strong-willed women who fight against their powerful, sex-enslaving captor.
10. The Wild Bunch (1969)
Co-writer/director Sam Peckinpah’s definitive Western masterpiece broke new ground with its slow-motion and graphic presentations of brutal violence. The Wild Bunch is a film that entertains and thrills its audience with the adventures and crimes of its outlaw protagonists. It is simultaneously a deeply contemplative film that examines the bond and friendship between its inherently flawed characters. The Wild Bunch also works as a thoughtful meditation on times of great change and what happens to the people who refuse or are unable to change along with them.
9. Apocalypse Now (1979)
Co-writer/director Francis Ford Coppola’s Vietnam War classic can be viewed as an action-packed and exciting film that takes its audience on an adventurous quest right along with its brooding protagonist (portrayed by Martin Sheen). Apocalypse Now is a thrilling experience, filled with operatic set pieces, riveting action, and involving drama. The film’s entertainment value, however, serves a greater purpose by putting its audience right into the exhilaration, tumultuous emotions, and eventual terror that wartime produces in its participants. Apocalypse Now is ultimately akin to a surrealistic or abstract painting, one that captures the essence of war by saturating itself in artfully executed chaos and insanity.
8. Mary and Max (2009)
Written and directed by Adam Elliot, this beautiful stop-motion animated film achieves a number of different things. It is an emotionally moving, highly amusing, and cleverly funny film that focuses on a pen pal relationship between a middle-aged New York man with Asperger’s Syndrome and a young Australian girl. Mary and Max pulls at its audience’s heartstrings with honesty and intelligence, never stooping to cheap manipulation. On top of its tender and enjoyable storyline, the film is executed with careful craftsmanship and extreme attention to detail, making it one of the most artful character studies ever produced.
7. Thelma & Louise (1991)
Director Ridley Scott and screenwriter Callie Khouri’s feminist road adventure is every bit as thrilling and amusing as it is thoughtfully crafted and meaningful. Thelma & Louise works as an action-comedy on the surface, providing a great amount of entertainment value to its audience. It’s not merely a simple escapist yarn, however, as the film also carefully and sensitively examines the trauma of sexual assault, societal double standards for women, and the power of standing up to abuse and harassment. As downright fun as the film may be at times, it ultimately leaves its audience with deeply resonant and boldly powerful dramatic feelings.
6. Vertigo (1958)
Largely considered to be director Alfred Hitchcock’s definitive masterpiece, Vertigo is a heavily layered film that excels in everything it intends to accomplish—which is no small feat when considering that its aspirations are quite high. First and foremost, the film is an intoxicating mystery/thriller that successfully keeps its audience on edge for the entirety of its duration. The film is also heavily character-driven and is just as much about examining unquenchable obsession and the pitfalls of being held back by personal weaknesses as it is about providing entertainment to its viewers. Needless to say for a Hitchcock film, Vertigo is also exquisitely and masterfully executed with filmmaking techniques that are unparalleled to this day.
5. The Dark Knight (2008)
Christopher Nolan’s second part of his Dark Knight trilogy is, to state it simply, the best superhero movie ever made. It’s not only the most thrilling, with its endless and unforgettable set pieces and expertly executed fight choreography. It’s also one of the most complex films of its kind, as it provides thought-provoking and intelligent observations on the thin line between crime and justice, villain and hero. The Dark Knight is a thinking person’s comic book movie, one that is as much a piece of escapist entertainment as it is a meditative, honest, and artful examination of what it truly takes to be a hero.
4. Mandy (2018)
Co-writer/director Panos Cosmatos’ Mandy is a rare and artistically minded action film. It is a simple revenge story with bad guys, good guys, and a body count that should satisfy the cravings of just about any action aficionado. There is much more to it, however, as the film also serves as a psychedelic horror show filled with otherworldly, oddly beautiful, and grotesquely surreal imagery. Mandy is incomparable to any action movie that came out before it and stands up in originality and artistry to anything that has or will come out since.
3. Robocop (1987)
Director Paul Verhoeven’s Robocop is a thoughtful and artistic piece of social commentary disguised as a violent sci-fi/action b-movie. There’s no denying that it is, first and foremost, a downright fun movie that features some charmingly juvenile humor, breathtaking action, and unforgettably graphic violence. The film is far more intelligent than its packaging suggests, however, as it is also an extraordinarily insightful examination of corporate greed, societal apathy, the inhumanity that can result from advancing technologies, and the potential moral risks associated with interfering with man’s mortality. Robocop is a thoroughly satisfying viewing experience on a variety of fascinatingly complex levels.
2. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Actor Charles Laughton’s only official directorial effort, The Night of the Hunter, offers one of cinema’s fullest viewing experiences. The film accomplishes a number of tricky feats, the most important of which is balancing its entertainment value with its artistic aspirations. The Night of the Hunter is an intense and thrilling film that demands its audience’s attention, but it’s just as much a thoughtful meditation on the importance of protecting childhood innocence. The film is also beautifully crafted, featuring groundbreaking and breathtaking black-and-white cinematography from Stanley Cortez that rivals any other renowned masterpiece of its time.
1. Blade Runner (1982)
There is not another movie that reaps the benefits from and stresses the importance of containing both entertainment and artistic value than Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. The film consistently keeps its audience engaged in its sci-fi/thriller storyline and constantly wows them with its astonishing display of beautifully intricate and otherworldly designs. Its complex thematic elements also make the audience ponder their own mortality and the basis of what comprises their identity. For reasons both escapist and expressive, Blade Runner achieves what every movie should aspire to accomplish.
