It’s the hap-happiest season of all. We bring nature inside as we adorn our living spaces with seasonally appropriate trees, and we light up the longer nights with bright and colourful lights. Music from generations long since passed is re-played and re-contextualised, and centuries old iconography is re-evaluated and repurposed.

There’ll be parties for hosting, marshmallows for toasting, and carolling out in the snow. If we’ve been good, we’ll receive gifts (thanks Santa!), and if we’re lucky we’ll eat so much food we can barely move. Almost certainly, we’ll watch a movie. From the Netflix Originals of the current era to the silver screen classics of wartime Hollywood, Christmastime movie watching doesn’t discriminate based on picture quality, colour or the lack thereof, acting powerhouses or barely trained actors – if it works, it works. And if it’s good, we’ll hold onto it forever.

In this Movie List from The Film Magazine, we’ve scoured the annals of Christmas movie history to bring you the very best of the best to watch this holiday season. These films are Christmas classics and beloved cult hits, some culturally significant and others often overlooked. These films are seasonal treats; two advent calendars worth of movie magic from the big-wigs in Hollywood and beyond.

Short films (those with a runtime of under one hour) will not be included here, nor will films that cross multiple seasons but feel like Christmas movies – sorry You’ve Got Mail and Bridget Jones’s Diary. Debatable Christmas movies like Gremlins have also been omitted because of their inclusion in our alternative list “10 Excellent Non-Christmas Films Set at Christmas“. Seasonal classic The Apartment has also been disqualified on the grounds that it covers Christmas and beyond, and is arguably more of a new year’s movie.

These are 50 Unmissable Christmas Movies as chosen by The Film Magazine team members. Entries by Mark Carnochan, Kieran Judge, Martha Lane, Sam Sewell-Peterson and Joseph Wade.

Follow @thefilmagazine on X (Twitter).

1. Remember the Night (1940)

Golden Era stars Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray (who would go on to star in The Apartment) spark an unlikely romance when Stanwyck’s Lee Leander steals a bracelet from a jewellery store and MacMurray’s John “Jack” Sargent is assigned to prosecute her over the Christmas holidays.

One of the era’s many beloved studio romantic comedies, Remember the Night features all the elements that would come to define the genre while encompassing some screwball comedy and classic transatlantic accents. The tagline read “When good boy meets bad girl they remember the night”, and it’s likely you’ll remember this seasonal treat too. JW

2. The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

Few things signal classic Hollywood Christmases like Jimmy Stewart, and 6 years before arguably his most memorable performance in the iconic Frank Capra Christmas movie It’s a Wonderful Life, he starred in a seasonal favourite that was just as beloved by critics, The Shop Around the Corner.

This holiday romance from Ernst Lubitsch (who also directed Heaven Can Wait) sees Stewart’s Alfred fall in love with his pen pal who, unbeknownst to him, is the colleague he most despises at his gift store job – You’ve Got Mail has got nothing on this. With some hearty moments and all of the circumstantial comedy of the best movies of the era, The Shop Around the Corner will make you laugh and fill your heart in that special way that only the best Christmas movies can. JW

3. Holiday Inn (1942)

Early sound pictures were revolutionised by famed tap dancer Fred Astaire, and by 1942 he was a certified movie musical megastar. In Mark Sandrich’s seasonal musical Holiday Inn, he teams with would-be Christmas icon and man with a voice as sooth as silk, Bing Crosby. The result is one of the most iconic and influential Christmas movies ever made.

The film’s outdated attitude towards race are cringe-inducing and inexcusable in a 21st century context (there’s a whole sequence featuring blackface), but its other dated sensibilities shine bright amongst more modern and commercial Christmas films; its wholesome aura, classic dance scenes, and era-defining songs making for an unmissable experience. To top it all, Bing Crosby sings “White Christmas” for the first time in this film, cementing it in history as a seasonal classic. JW

4. Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

Widely acknowledged as one of the holiday season’s best-ever films, Vincente Minnelli (An American in Paris) illuminates his would-be wife Judy Garland in arguably her most established performance, bringing Christmas cheer to all without sacrificing any of the harsh realities facing the American people in the first half of the 20th century.

Featuring the original (and arguably the best) rendition of Christmas classic “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, and being anchored by some heartbreaking story elements, Meet Me In St. Louis maintains its power and relevance 80 years on. It offers a Christmas movie that will forever mark the height of its sub-genre, as well as the two filmmaking careers (of Minnelli and Garland) that helped to define the era. JW

Recommended for you: There’s No Place Like St. Louis at Christmas

5. Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

Remember the Night star Barbara Stanwyck is once again front and centre for a Golden Era Hollywood Christmas movie, this time playing a city magazine editor whose lies about being a perfect housewife are put to the test when her boss and a returning war hero invite themselves to her house.

This is screwball comedy with all the spirit of the festive season is as romantic as it is funny, and prominently features the shadows of World War II to gift the film a unique emotionality that has ensured it is rewatched year on year. JW

Walken has showcased his dramatic power in Oscar-winning performances in dramas such as Michael Cimino’s The Deer Hunter (1978) and brought his dead-eyed intensity to blockbuster villain work in the likes of A View to a Kill (1985) and Batman Returns (1992). The often-impersonated quirks in his style, alongside his enigmatic charisma, have allowed him to make scene-stealing cameos á la Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction (1994) and Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can (2002). His musical performances in the iconic Fatboy Slim video for “Weapon of Choice” or even in the 2007 remake of Hairspray speak for themselves. At eighty years old he has never been a more loved or sought after figure, maintaining longevity through his individuality, humour and underrated sensitivity that he brings to each project.

These three performances are him at his best. When he is able to freely express all of his talents in a lead role. His mouth twitches and his focus flickers, he moves in strange patterns across the screen as a lost young soldier, a cursed man, and a criminal monster. All three of them are doomed and despite the fact that we all know how their stories will end, Walken’s presence makes it impossible to tear your eyes away from their tragedies. These are Christopher Walken’s 3 Career-Defining Performances.

Follow @thefilmagazine on Twitter.

1. The Deer Hunter (1978)

Michael Cimino’s 1978 Vietnam epic tells the story of three steelworkers, from a Slavic-American immigrant community in Pennsylvania, who are plunged into the depths of the Vietnam War. The film deals with how the men’s wartime trauma severs them from their community, even as it attempts to reintegrate them.

Walken plays Nikanor Chevotarevich (or ‘Nick’), one of the boys who goes to fight for his country and descends into heroin addiction and gambling on his life in Russian Roulette. In this character, he portrays the most tragic outcome of Cimino’s premise.

The first hour of the film focuses on the hard-drinking camaraderie of the group of male friends, Walken excelling at portraying Nick’s boisterous energy (offering an extended example of his dancing abilities during the Russian wedding). He gives Nick a magnetic charm that people rarely associate with Walken, which extends to his relationships with the other men in the group. Nick is equally at ease quietly hunting with Robert De Niro’s Mike, swiping at John Cazale, and sharing tender, joyous moments with Meryl Streep. Walken gives us an intoxicatingly credible depiction of a man enthralled by the possibility of his youth.

The palpable freedom of spirit makes Nick’s unravelling more brutal, as Walken captures both the emotional extremes of his torture by the Viet-Cong and the collapse of Nick’s sense of self as a result of the ensuing trauma. The first Russian roulette scene feels as if De Niro and Walken are pushing themselves to the edge of a mental abyss. You can practically smell the sweat through the screen as Nick is just about held in the present by the slap of Mike’s voice. Walken shows that salvation from that situation comes at a high price. The memory of the bright young man from Pennsylvania has been shattered. His eyes become dark, expressionless caverns and his face begins to take on a studied blankness that becomes more sinister as his character recedes into the underbelly of Hanoi.

In Mike’s final, doomed attempt to retrieve him, we see Walken complete Nick’s metamorphosis. He has become a heroin-addled shell, barely emoting except a brief malevolent smile as he once again puts a pistol to his familiar temple. His eyes are now glassy and spectral and, in watching this scene, we become aware that Nick is trapped between the hollow clicks that issue from the empty chamber. Unable to move back from the trauma of his experiences, irrevocably aware of what awaits on the next pull of the trigger.

The devastating honesty of Walken’s performance makes the human drama intensely compelling in its exploration of the effects of combat. Walken showed himself to be a truly heartbreaking actor, recognised with an Academy Award for Supporting Actor and announcing himself as a legitimate star more than capable of sharing the screen with any of the greats of his generation.

2. The Dead Zone (1983)

Following his breakout in The Deer Hunter, it would take a couple of films for Walken to be given the space to test his talents for a strange kind of humanity (diverting as he is in the vaguely schlocky John Irvin film The Dogs of War). He found the perfect space to experiment more with his eccentricities alongside master horror and thriller director David Cronenberg, with a story from the mind of Stephen King. The Dead Zone is a thriller about schoolteacher Johnny Smith who suffers a horrific car crash and spends five years in a coma. When he wakes up he is able to see people’s horrific pasts and futures by touch.

In this role, Walken once again plays a man who is separated from society and forced to come to terms with his transformative circumstances. Unlike Nick, who is mentally fragmented by the effects of war, Johnny must deal with his broken body and the loss of his marriage as a result of his coma and the alienation he suffers from announcing his psychic abilities. He plays Johnny with an overwhelming sense of decency, despite his justifiable frustration with his circumstances. He reacts to the traumatic visions that he witnesses in an intensely believable way, showing lasting pain and disorientation from these experiences. He commendably avoids any macho-posturing that lesser actors might have given the character.

There is a sense of powerlessness even in the scenes where he does lose control of his anger, such as smashing a vase when trying to convince Anthony Zerbe’s businessman to believe his premonitions of his son’s impending death. The sadness on Walken’s washed-out face tells you that this is nothing more than the legitimate outburst of a man imprisoned by his knowledge of a world no one else can see.

He makes even more great choices in the scenes with Brooke Adams (as Sarah), the woman he was supposed to marry before the accident. Walken keeps himself as self-contained as possible, mouth twitching into quickly smothered half-smiles, sneaking glances at her as he unsuccessfully tries to spare her from his anguish. Johnny Smith is as unsteady on his feet as he is at interacting with Sarah. This broken, powerful connection between the two actors clues us in to the heavy realisation that Johnny Smith would rather he never woke up.

Walken’s performance in this film is perhaps one of his most understated and disciplined. For an actor that exists in the public imagination by the way he is caricatured by others, his work as Johnny Smith is a powerful reminder of his supreme understanding of his craft. You feel nothing but sympathy for this blandly named man. The humanity in Walken’s work makes it required viewing for Cronenberg fans and cements its place as one of the best Stephen King adaptations ever put to screen.

3. King of New York (1990)

In the new decade, alongside the Bronx-born king of sleaze, Abel Ferrara, Christopher Walken cemented his status as a cinematic icon. In his role as the titular King of New York, mobster Frank White, he wraps the Shakespearean gangster classic round his Machiavellian fingers like garotte wire.

White demanded Walken at his most reptilian, a human embodiment of the amoral excesses that surround the Arctic, cocaine-pounding heart of the city. It is a distillation of the small techniques that make his acting style so fundamentally watchable and unique. The playful shifts in facial expression, the unnerving hesitations, the clear dead eyes that snap focus like a neck. Frank White lurches between lust, violence, anger and joy sometimes in a single scene. All with a bleakly self-aware sense of irony about himself, as if his existence is some kind of Satanic joke. In his first meeting with his old gang following his release from prison, White tries on the glove of an old enemy they have gunned down on his release. “King Tito’s glove,” he gleefully mumbles to a confused looking Theresa Randle, grinning in childlike awe that his power remains untouched.

Walken plays White as a man who has made up his mind to take as much from life as possible before it takes everything from him. This awareness is what makes scenes such as his reckless killing of Frank Caruso’s violent cop Dennis at a police funeral all the more chilling. White does not waste any time verbalising his revenge, he simply rolls down the window of his limo, with a stare harder than the lead in his shotgun, and says “hey you.”

These chilling scenes are interspersed with Walken exercising his snakelike charm as he hobnobs with the various New York power players. He shows himself to be equally adept flirting with lawyers and flattering newspaper editors as he is making drug deals at a hospital. Walken lends White a seductive, vampiric quality to contrast the emotionless way in which he delivers violence. He is an Americanised update on the Dracula of Christopher Lee, trading his fangs for a gun, feasting on money and despair. Supported by the continued hypocrisy of the municipal institutions that publicly disavow him.

Walken and Ferrara are too honest to engage in the slow unmasking that takes place in traditional vampire stories. There are no illusions around Frank White. He is at once completely connected to the city, safe to haunt the subways alone, as he is to swim with the sharks in the Plaza hotel. A man just as capable of exploding into dance as he is into violence. It is an exceptionally complex performance that Walken makes look effortless, providing a level of intense detachment that makes Frank White simultaneously the sanest and most deranged character in the film.

It is the greatest performance Christopher Walken has ever given and, although the film was not particularly successful or recognised upon its release, King of New York is now rightly understood to be one of the classics of the genre; the dirty cousin to Goodfellas and The Godfather.

Recommended for you: Laurence Fishburne: 3 Career-Defining Performances

Christopher Walken has managed an exceptional, independent career over the past five decades. He remains an inevitably memorable presence regardless of the quality of the film around him. These three films are some of the best examples of him exploring his full range of talents and are some of his most complex performances, but he is equally compelling even if he appears in a single scene. When asked about his choice to hire Walken for his science-fiction drama ‘Severance’, Ben Stiller simply replied “because I’m not crazy.”

Written by Joshua Imas

You can find Joshua Imas online via Medium at medium.com/@s.imas.

The superheroes that did emerge on the big screen in this time period (especially those who weren’t the Boy Scout or the Bat) tended to be strange and less well-known; they represented filmmakers, studios and stars experimenting to find out what the winning formula would eventually prove to be and, more often than not, failing to find their own success along the way.

Don’t know your Shadow from your Spawn, your Mystery Men from your Mask? (And while we’re on the subject, what the hell is a Guyver anyway?) Well, we at The Film Magazine are here to help. We’ve ranked all the major superhero movies released in the 1990s from worst to best based on critical and box office success, as well as whether the films have had any lasting influence on Hollywood. These are: 1990s Superhero Movies Ranked.

Follow @thefilmagazine on Twitter.

18. Batman & Robin (1997)

With the help of some new allies, Batman (George Clooney) tries to thwart supervillains Mr Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman) from using diamonds to freeze Gotham City solid (it makes no more sense in context).

This was the first but certainly not the last superhero movie with far too much crammed into its runtime: multiple villains, too many sub-plots that don’t go anywhere, and a shudder-inducing amount of ice puns. A completely miscast Clooney is restricted by a comical super-suit but looks even more embarrassed with his face fully exposed as Bruce Wayne. Schwarzenegger and Thurman do little if anything to justify their stunt casting, and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman doesn’t seem to have noticed that Ivy’s stake in the plan makes absolutely no sense (a new ice age will help plants how?). 

It might not be entirely technically incompetent – it looks exactly as expensive as it was to make ($150 million+) – but this remains a monumentally miscalculated, franchise-killing misfire; an amusement park ride with a tone-deaf script and sinful performances.

Recommended for you: Live-Action Batmen Ranked

17. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995)

Six teenagers are chosen by the immortal Zordon to protect their home town of Angel Grove and the wider world from evil. As the Power Rangers they are sent on a quest to find a mythical power source to fight back against ancient shapeshifting despot Ivan Ooze (Paul Freeman, Raiders of the Lost Ark).

‘Mighty Morphin Power Rangers’ from Saban Entertainment was the show for a lot of children who grew up in the 1990s, but this movie seems to have primarily survived in the public consciousness over the last few years because of how much Oscar Isaac’s villain in X-Men: Apocalypse supposedly looked like Ivan Ooze. This is a mostly forgettable extended episode of the popular kids’ martial arts/superhero series with an even more ridiculous than normal plot involving parents being possessed by purple goo and the Rangers travelling to a distant world that looks suspiciously like a beach in Australia, but at least Freeman looks like he’s having a lot of fun prancing around like a pantomime villain under heavy prosthetics.

This was the first time in the ‘Power Rangers’ franchise where existing Japanese “Super Sentai” footage wasn’t re-purposed, making the pretty huge action finale with the Rangers in their new Zord suits fighting giant mechanical insects over a city skyline rather impressive. Everything else looks pretty cheap though (it did only cost $15 million), and you can’t really be expected to get much out of this if you’re not already heavily invested in these characters or you’re watching it with your sense of irony and nostalgia working overtime.

16. Judge Dredd (1995)

Judge Joseph Dredd (Sylvester Stallone) is the street judge in the dystopian Mega City One tasked with eliminating criminality without prejudice, but when he is framed for murder he finds himself an outlaw on the run in a desolate wasteland.

The film has a decent stab at recreating the dystopian aesthetic of Mega City One from the 2000 AD comic and the money is definitely on screen, but it brings next to nothing else from its pages. There is a Judge called Dredd, he has an evil clone half-brother called Rico (played here by Armand Assante) and that’s about it. Studio meddling and Stallone’s misguided intentions for what he thought a Judge Dredd movie should be (funnier and less violent) helped deliver a pretty toothless final product. 

It should have been obvious something was wrong when in the opening scene Dredd, who famously in the comics is the faceless, incorruptible symbol of absolute justice, first stomps onto screen in his iconic armour and immediately takes off his helmet. Completely wasting Max von Sydow and giving Dredd a comedy sidekick played by Rob Schneider just about puts it down for the count.

15. The Shadow (1994)

After spending years as a morally reprehensible warlord in China, playboy Lamont Cranston (Alec Baldwin) returns to New York with dark new superpowers to fight a descendant of Genghis Khan hellbent on bloodshed.

An over-stuffed plot and over-cooked presentation with leaden performances and admittedly striking visuals makes The Shadow a bit of a disappointment overall. Taking the title character as he appeared in radio serials and later comics and adding a weird supernatural twist could have made this really unique, but anyone without at least some knowledge of who the Shadow is and what he can do will be left bewildered and frustrated because nothing is adequately explained. 

You can see Alec Baldwin would have made a decent Bruce Wayne as he is strongest in smug millionaire-with-a-secret mode, but elsewhere looks somewhat unengaged or lacking in useful direction. Ian McKellen somehow manages to keep a straight face as a hypnotised scientist and Tim Curry hams it up as well as ever, but everyone involved should be doing stronger work when you get to this level of filmmaking. 

Since its debut in 1929, the Batman IP has earned $29.1billion worldwide; an indicator as to its size as a powerhouse brand but also its power at connecting to people. On the silver screen, Batman films have made a combined $6.78billion, making it the 7th highest-grossing movie franchise in history. Whether it be the 60s, the 80s, 90s, 00s, 10s, or 20s, it seems that the Batman has remained relevant, his vessel used as a means of exploring issues of our world for better or for worse. In this respect, Batman has become as timeless, as legendary, as enduring, as any great literary figure. Batman is, for all intents and purposes, the 20th century’s Dracula.

Whether made as goofy comedies for the entertainment of children or as darker allegories for the real world aimed at adults, the 10 live-action Batman movies released to date have reached many a height over their 7-decade stay in cinemas, and in this edition of Ranked we here at The Film Magazine are looking at all of them, from Batman (1966) to The Batman (2022), and comparing each in terms of artistic merit, cultural relevance, critical reception, audience perception, and overall enjoyment, to present to you the best Batman movie of all time and, first, the worst, in this: the Live-Action Batman Movies Ranked.

Follow @thefilmagazine on Twitter.

10. Batman & Robin (1997)

Batman & Robin was so critically panned upon its release that star George Clooney now refuses to comment on his part in it, and director Joel Schumacher actually apologised for the film before his passing in 2020. So bad was this 1997 comic adaptation that it even derailed Warner Bros’ cornerstone franchise, leaving it absent from our screens for the better part of a decade before Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins was released in 2005.

Batman & Robin was, in total, a series of massive missteps. Thematically it was all over the place, and it was a film very much born out of its own time, Schumacher and Warner Bros completely failing to cater to the anti-authoritarian, teenager-focused, hyper-masculine attitudes of the mid-to-late 90s with their patronising, childish and uninspired offering. It was over-elaborate in parts and almost insultingly reductive in others, and is arguably one of the most corporate and heartless blockbusters of the hyper-corporate 1990s, the film crammed with ideas born of Warner Bros’ merchandising arm more than any creative or artistic intent.

This is the cheap and nasty Batman film, by far the worst live-action offering the franchise has ever offered; a film insulting to those conscious of Batman’s potential and all the ways Warner Bros crammed it full of exploitative merchandising intentions, but one considered boring even by the standards of the very young children it was clearly aimed at.

9. Batman the Movie (1966)

Batman the Movie is… ridiculous. Stupid even. For this reason it has earned the affection of many Batman franchise fans, but a good movie it is not.

Nostalgia for simpler times when superheroes were dorks running around in spandex does make this 1966 offering worthwhile, especially when there are intentional and unintentional laughs around every corner (such as Batman having special shark repellent), and Batman the Movie did establish many of the tropes associated with not only the Batman but wider superhero cinema – even penetrating popular culture with its iconic “na na na na na na na na Batman” theme. Special mention must also be made to Adam West, whose earnest presence in the costume has remained influential and important over the 50-plus years since his last tv episode and the near 60 since this film.

Batman as a character is much evolved from this era however, and the limits to the Batman universe have been vastly expanded in the decades since, this version of the Dark Knight being neither dark nor much of a knight, and the film itself failing to say much of anything about anything. This is turn-your-brain-off fun for fans of the right mindset, but were it not a Batman movie, nobody would be rewatching never mind celebrating this dated, low budget 60s cheese-fest of a film.

Recommended for you: Live-Action Batmen Ranked

That’s why, in this edition of Ranked, we’re looking to settle the debate once and for all. Taking into account the popular consensus, the artistry behind each portrayal, the accuracy in which each actor managed to channel the energy of both Batman and Bruce Wayne, and the overall critical reception of each performer in their leading role, we have listed each of the 7 actors to play a live-action feature version of Batman from worst to best. In this list, it doesn’t matter how good the films were, it only matters how well the Batmen Batmanned.

Follow @thefilmagazine on Twitter.

7. George Clooney

If you ever want to see an actor completely checked out of what he’s doing, then look no further than George Clooney in Batman & Robin (1997).

Starring in the 2nd Joel Schumacher entry in the franchise and probably the most ill-received Batman movie ever, Clooney was always going to be at a disadvantage when it came to the great Batman portrayals. But, in watching him (very) closely in Batman & Robin, it’s clear to see that he already knew what a disaster the whole thing was bound to be.

Largely vacant and seemingly only temporarily awake, Clooney floated through the film with such a lack of intensity that you’re left to wonder if the Bat-nipples became a part of his outfit just to cover for his absence of actual enthusiasm.

Recommended for you: Top 10 Joel Schumacher Movies

6. Val Kilmer

Suffering from an unfortunate case of the Schumachers, Val Kilmer’s portrayal of the Dark Knight was diminished courtesy of the poor material he was given, which is largely why he has landed at this position on the list.

It’s not that Kilmer was necessarily bad. In fact, he was actually a lot better as Batman than Batman Forever (1995) was at being a Batman movie, and he was clearly adept at mixing the different takes on Batman (intense, camp, funny) in amongst Schumacher’s cartoonish landscape of colour and spectacle. He is also undeniably the winner of the unofficial “Best Batman Chin” award, so let’s give the man his due.

The arguments against Kilmer come in the shape and form of his Clooney-levels of poser-iffic and how his version of Batman often faded into the background behind the undeniably more interesting (albeit obnoxious and ridiculous) Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones, both of whom were turned up to 11 for their roles as Riddler and Two-Face respectively.

Kilmer offered quite a distinctive rendition of Batman and deserves more credit than he’s given, but that doesn’t mean he offered anything close to something classic. In the pantheon of DC movie history, nobody is going to remember Val Kilmer as the best Batman of all time.

Recommended for you: Second Cut Podcast – Batman Forever

In this list, we’re counting down every film from this truly unique director’s filmography and ranking them from worst to best, so put on your best striped apparel, muss up your hair and accompany me in a long and elaborate tracking shot into the Burton-verse…

19. Planet of the Apes (2001)

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Helena Bonham Carter, Tim Roth, Michael Clarke Duncan, Paul Giamatti

Plot: An astronaut crashes on a planet where apes have out-evolved and enslaved humanity. He befriends a chimp who has become a lonely outsider by protesting the inhumane treatment of the subjugated humans. The two begin to organise a rebellion…

The poster-child for when Burton gets it wrong, Planet of the Apes is pretty good to look at (which Burton movie isn’t?) but it’s completely soulless and almost impossible to engage with in any meaningful way – the main thing that has allowed the original Planet of the Apes to age so well is its wealth of ideas and the filmmakers’ abilities to give them room to breathe. Despite being more action-packed and significantly pacier, Burton’s take feels rushed and confused, and very little stays with you beyond Rick Baker’s flawless makeup effects and the best efforts of Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Roth. The bottom line is that it’s boring; the only Burton feature you could really level that criticism at.

Recommended for you: 10 of the Worst Remakes/Reboots

18. Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Starring: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Mia Wasikowska, Anne Hathaway, Stephen Fry

Plot: Alice Kingsleigh, whose determination to retain her independence has made her a lonely outsider in Victorian high society, returns to Wonderland having forgotten her childhood adventure. There she finds the fantastical realm is a shadow of its former foolish glory.

Who else thought that this would be perfect material for Burton?

The portions that faithfully recreate Lewis Carroll’s endearing nonsense are good, but sadly most of this is confined to brief flashbacks and instead we’re left with a new story that for some reason is trying to turn Alice into a fantasy epic. Alice isn’t The Lord of the Rings. It’s not even Narnia. Nor should it be.

Burton gets bogged down in clunky exposition and portentous talk of prophecy and destiny, and the world, while admittedly colourful, feels too fake even for a dreamland. This film makes it really easy to miss the days when Burton played in big, ambitious movie sets rather than in front of a greenscreen.

Mia Wasikowska is admittedly a great Alice, equal parts bewildered and strong-willed, and Stephen Fry makes a perfect smug Cheshire Cat, but everyone else in the cast is just treading water.

17. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)

Starring: Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore, David Kelly, Helena Bonham Carter, Noah Taylor

Plot: Dirt poor but positive young Charlie Bucket finds a golden ticket that grants him a tour of the reclusive, lonely outsider Willy Wonka’s weird and wonderful chocolate factory.

Maybe Burton should leave the adaptations well alone.

The famously distinctive director never seems as comfortable bringing someone else’s established world to life, even if he’s coming at it as a fan. No-one’s denying that this is a more faithful adaptation of Roald Dahl’s book than the Gene Wilder movie, or that Burton’s visual flare and strange Anglo-American neverwhere movie world makes an impression, but the movie references peppered throughout are a really weird grab-bag, the borderline colonialist tone of some of the fantasy sequences leave a bad taste and Depp’s take on Wonka with daddy issues is just plain irritating to spend any length of time with.

Can you believe they actually trained squirrels to shell nuts on camera?

Recommended for you: Original vs Remake: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory vs Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

16. Dark Shadows (2012)

Starring: Johnny Depp, Eva Green, Michelle Pfeiffer, Chloe Grace Moretz, Helena Bonham Carter

Plot: Centuries-old vampire Barnabas Collins awakens in the 1970s to restore his descendants’ former glory and seek revenge on the witch who cursed him, but can this family of lonely outsiders find their place in the world again?

Johnny Depp doing a funny voice in a wig and makeup? Check. Gothic sensibility? Check. Comedy of awkwardness? Check. This represents mid-to-low level Burton, the kind of thing he could make in his sleep: perfectly watchable and by no means inept but offering very little that’ll stay with you. Okay, it’s got a sex-fight-scene between Depp’s vampire and Eva Green’s witch, and there’s also some pretty good effects work as the aforementioned witch is losing her powers and seems to fracture like pottery. But… elsewhere it’s just oral sex jokes that are borderline inappropriate for the film’s certification and Depp pulling faces.

The rules were simple: any film based on a comic book or graphic novel was eligible. As always let us know what you think.

Number 30: The Crow (1994) 

Director: Alex Proyas
Cast: Brandon Lee, Ernie Hudson, Michael Wincott

Number 29: Scott Pilgrim vs The World (2010)

Director: Edgar Wright
Cast: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Chris Evans, Anna Kendrick, Alison Pill, Brandon Routh, Jason Schwartzman, Ellen Wong

Number 28: Superman II (1980)

Director: Richard Lester
Cast: Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Ned Beatty, Jackie Cooper, Sarah Douglas, Margot Kidder, Jack O’Halloran, Valerie Perrine, Susannah York, Terence Stamp

Number 27: Batman (1989)

Director: Tim Burton
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Michael Keaton, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl, Pat Hingle, Billy Dee Williams, Michael Gough, Jack Palance

Number 26: Kick-Ass (2010)

Director: Matthew Vaughn
Cast: Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Mark Strong, Chloë Grace Moretz, Nicolas Cage, Lyndsy Fonseca, Clark Duke, Evan Peters 

Number 25: Blade (1998)

Director: Stephen Norrington
Cast: Wesley Snipes,Stephen Dorff, Kris Kristofferson, N’Bushe Wright, Donal Logue

Number 24: Ant-Man (2015)

Director: Peyton Reed
Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña, Tip “T.I.” Harris, Anthony Mackie, Wood Harris, Judy Greer, David Dastmalchian, Michael Douglas

Number 23: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

Director: Zack Snyder
Cast: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter, Gal Gadot

Number 22: Sin City (2005)

Director: Frank Miller & Robert Rodriguez
Cast: Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, Benicio Del Toro, Jessica Alba, Brittany Murphy, Elijah Wood, Alexis Bledel, Josh Hartnett

Number 21: Men In Black (1997)

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, Linda Fiorentino, Vincent D’Onofrio, Rip Torn

Number 20: Watchmen (2009)

Director: Zack Snyder
Cast: Malin Åkerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Carla Gugino, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson

Number 19: Thor (2011)

Director: Kenneth Branagh
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Colm Feore, Ray Stevenson, Idris Elba, Kat Dennings, Rene Russo, Anthony Hopkins

Number 18: Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Directors: Anthony and Joe Russo
Cast: Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Emily VanCamp, Hayley Atwell, Robert Redford, Samuel L. Jackson

Number 17: V For Vendetta (2006)

Director: James McTeigue
Cast: Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea, John Hurt

Number 16: Dredd (2012)

Director: Pete Travis
Cast: Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Wood Harris, Lena Headey

Number 15: X-Men (2000)

Director: Bryan Singer
Cast: Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Bruce Davison, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Ray Park, Anna Paquin

Number 14: 300 (2006)

Director: Zack Snyder
Cast: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, David Wenham, Dominic West, Giovanni Cimmino, Vincent Regan

Number 13: The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Morgan Freeman

Number 12: Deadpool (2016)

Director: Tim Miller
Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, Gina Carano, T.J. Miller, Leslie Uggams, Brianna Hildebrand, Stefan Kapičić

Number 11: X-Men: First Class (2011)

Director: Matthew Vaughn
Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence, January Jones, Oliver Platt, Kevin Bacon, Nicholas Hoult, Lucas Till

Number 10: Batman Begins (2005)

Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson, Rutger Hauer, Ken Watanabe, Morgan Freeman

Number 9: The Avengers (2012)

Director: Joss Whedon
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, Cobie Smulders, Stellan Skarsgård, Samuel L. Jackson

Number 8: Superman (1978)

Director: Richard Donner
Cast: Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Ned Beatty, Jackie Cooper, Glenn Ford, Trevor Howard, Margot Kidder, Valerie Perrine, Maria Schell, Terence Stamp, Phyllis Thaxter, Susannah York

Number 7: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Director: James Gunn
Cast: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, Benicio del Toro

Number 6: X2 (2003)

Director: Bryan Singer
Cast: Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Brian Cox, Alan Cumming, Bruce Davison, Anna Paquin

Number 5: Batman Returns (1992)

Director: Tim Burton
Cast: Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Michael Gough, Pat Hingle, Michael Murphy

Number 4: Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Director: Sam Raimi
Cast: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Alfred Molina, Rosemary Harris, Donna Murphy

Number 3: Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Directors: Anthony Russo and Joe Russo
Cast: Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, Emily VanCamp, Tom Holland, Frank Grillo, William Hurt, Daniel Brühl

Number 2: Iron Man (2008)

Director: Jon Favreau
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Shaun Toub, Gwyneth Paltrow

Number 1: The Dark Knight (2008)

Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Morgan Freeman

Number 10: Doctor Octopus – Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Arguably one of the best things to come out of the original Spider-Man trilogy, Doctor Octopus is a highly complex character. It is the classic tale of a science experiment gone wrong; in the catastrophe he not only lost his wife but he also lost his mind. The intelligence he once had transforms into blind ambition and he becomes convinced he should try the experiment again, no matter the cost. Not only does Doctor Octopus bring us a visually stunning villain but his final redemption makes us question whether or not he truly was evil, despite all he has done.

Spider-Man Movies Ranked

SPOILER ALERT!!!

Number 9: Mr Glass – Unbreakable (2000)

“They called me Mr. Glass…” ‘You know how you can tell who the supervillain is in a comic book? They’re the exact opposite of the hero in every way.’ Samuel L. Jackson’s Elijah Price was exactly that in this M. Night Shyamalan-directed thriller. Suffering from a rare bone condition that weakened his bones, Jackson’s Mr. Glass was the the opposite to Bruce Willis’s David Dunn in every conceivable way, so when David embraced his comic-book-like persona, Mr. Glass embraced his.

M. Night Shyamalan Directed Movies Ranked

Number 8: Ma-Ma – Dredd (2012)

Ma-Ma is the underground drug lord of the future with a darker dark side than most and an equally dark eccentricity that radiates charisma but not likability. She is powerful, brave, and down-right evil, and could hold her own against a number of the other members of this list despite not having a super power.

Number 7: William Stryker – X2-X-Men United (2003); X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

Another villain on this list that does not have a super power, he is simply an evil human being. So evil in fact, that he would use his own son as a pawn in his game to take down the mutants. Stryker is also the fuel for Wolverine’s fire, as in the X-Men movie universe Wolverine is only a hero because of Stryker, the man who put him through hell.

Number 6: The Yellow Bastard – Sin City (2005)

This Sin City villain maybe the sickest and most disturbing on our list. He is the son of senator and a paedophile who’s not only disgusting in nature but disgusting in looks; his bright yellow skin is a striking contrast to the black and white tone of the film. He starts the movie as a villain as he is stopped from raping a young girl, and then adds another layer by seeking revenge on the one who stopped him. It is hard to think of villain more evil and stomach-turning than The Yellow Bastard.

Number 5: Lex Luthor: The Superman Series (1978-1987)

When you think ‘arch nemesis’, you think Lex Luthor. And, even though he has been portrayed by many people over many platforms, none have quite lived up to the captivating performance of Gene Hackman in three of the original Superman films. Luthor is the ultimate evil genius and despite having no super powers and only money and his mind on his side, he is one of the very few that can truly get under Superman’s skin.

Superman Movies Ranked

Number 4: Catwoman – Batman Returns (1992)

Although this is not the only portrayal of the Batman villain to hit screens, it is by far the best and most memorable. Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman is only the secondary villain in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns, Penguin being the main focus, but she steals the spotlight, and not just because of her incredible outfit. It’s questionable how much of a villain she really is, but the fact that she is driven by revenge and rage, and does team up to take down Batman despite also falling in love with him, gives her a big tick in the villain box. Catwoman is sexy, seductive and iconic.

Number 3: Loki – Thor (2011); The Avengers (2012); Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Loki makes number 3 on this list because even though he craves power and has started wars to achieve it, has killed and schemed and double crossed his brother too many times to count, you can’t help but love to hate him as a villain. His wit, intelligence and charisma make him captivating and funny, and most importantly, a villain you don’t want to die yet you don’t want to be good either. That is what makes Loki so unique.

Loki: The Development of One of Marvel’s Greatest Villains

Number 2: Magneto – The X-Men Franchise (2000-2014)

Whether played by Sir Ian McKellen or Michael Fassbender, Magneto is a truly outstanding villain. Magneto is a multi-dimensional and complicated character that seems to be fighting for the right things but in completely the wrong way. Essentially he is fighting for the freedom of the mutant-kind, driven by the hate he has for those that have used him and tried to control him. He is driven by the tragedies of his past, and this has warped his view on the world. What makes Magneto such an interesting character, apart from the incredibly cool super power, is that he is very similar to (yet also the complete opposite of) Charles Xavier, the hero to his villain.

Every X-Men Movie Ranked

Number 1: The Joker – The Dark Knight (2008)

Could it have been anyone else?

In some ways words can not even describe how good of a villain Heath Ledger’s Joker is. The beautiful thing about this version of The Joker is that he has no complex agenda like most supervillains – like he says, he is a man of ‘simple tastes’ – he is violent and destructive because he enjoys it, he wants to see Gotham burn, and in doing so he wants to bring out the villain in everybody else. He is sadistic and calculated yet completely mad and brilliant. It is his simplicity as a villain that makes him the greatest of all time.

Live-Action Jokers Ranked

10. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)

Although hugely popular, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has only made number 10 on this list. It is a bright Burtonesque retelling of a children’s classic, and although it may not quite live up to the original, Burton has certainly left his mark on this one. His imagination truly came to life inside the chocolate factory, as it is a stunning setting for this story. To top it all off Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Willy Wonka is mesmerizing, therefore it simply had to make it onto this list.

9. Mars Attacks (1996)

Mars Attacks was a little step away from the norm for Tim Burton. Although it was truly weird in nature, it was much more colourful than what we usually see from the director. The star studded, sci-fi cult film was something other than the dark Gothic tales that Burton usually brings to the table, but it worked none the less, and as always you can clearly see that it is a Tim Burton creation.

8. Corpse Bride (2005)

Corpse Bride was Burton going back to what Burton does best. Where this may not quite be Nightmare Before Christmas, it does show off Burton’s artistic talent and the wonders he can do with stop motion animation. Corpse Bride is Burton going back to his routes, creating beautiful, artistic characters from scratch, and putting them into a fun, heartfelt story that the viewer can completely engage with. This film completely demonstrates Burton as an artist in the more typical sense, reaffirming that his talents go further than his typical role as director.

7. Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Sleepy Hollow is a Tim Burton film that I feel often slips under the radar, and yet it is one of my personal favourites of his. While still being clearly stamped with Burton’s style (as all of his films are), Sleepy Hollow has more of a traditional Gothic element to it. It is bringing to life one of the most famous horror stories of all time, and while it is quite scary at times, it also has a sense of humour, and Johnny Depp’s Ichabod Crane is an awkward and sensitive yet brave character that you can’t help but love.

6. Batman (1989)

This was the first film of the Batman reboot, and Burton basically reinvented the caped crusader. Instead of the cheesy and over the top camp Batman that we knew from the 1970’s, this was a whole new and much darker look for Gotham City. While this was still quite colourful compared to the second installment in the series, also directed by Burton, it was a far cry from the grey and yellow spandex that we had grown to recognise.

Live-Action Batman Movies Ranked

5. Beetlejuice (1988)

Weird, wonderful, creepy and beautiful, Beetlejuice has become iconic when it comes to Tim Burton films, and to cult classics for that matter. If there was a film to sum up the style of Tim Burton it would be Beetlejuice. It is one of the few films on our list that does not star Johnny Depp, but with a performance like that from Michael Keaton who cares? Beetlejuice used to terrify me as a child and yet I loved it all the same.

4. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

If anyone was going to bring this Gothic stage musical to life and do it any sort of justice it had to be Tim Burton. Sweeney Todd is probably one of Burton’s most popular films and it is by far one of his best. Along with staples to his films, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, he gathered together an all-star cast to make this film a triumph. Yes, Depp’s London accent maybe questionable and yes most of the cast are not the great at singing, but in the end the film is so good that these are just minor facts that are easily overlooked.

Every Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Song Ranked

3. Ed Wood (1994)

Ed Wood is probably Burton’s most underrated film, but in my opinion it is some of his best work. It is a film about film-making, based on the life of director Ed Wood and how he was dubbed ‘the worst director of all time’ for making Plan 9 From Outer Space. The entire film is shot in black and white, a bold style choice considering the time it was released. Johnny Depp plays the eccentric, cross dressing, character to full Johnny Depp potential, making this an outstanding film.

2. Batman Returns (1992)

Batman Returns is quite possibly the best of the Batman series from the early 90’s. Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman is sexy and exactly how Catwoman should be, and Burton’s vision for the portrayal of The Penguin is close to perfect. The film is dark and Gothic and is clearly a Burton film in the way it looks, but it doesn’t lose the fact that it is a comic book film, and the meshing of the two styles gives us number 2 on our list.

1. Edward Scissorhands (1990)

I have to admit that I may have been a little biased when picking Burton’s 1990 film Edward Scissorhands as the number one on this list as it is one of my favourite films of all time. However, I do believe that it is Tim Burton’s greatest creation. It is heartwarming and heartbreaking, weird and wonderful, with a complete fairytale feel to it. Edward is a character that you can fall in love with. Not only are the characters interesting, and the story compelling, the entire film looks beautiful, and it is in completely the style of Burton, making it the number one Tim Burton film.

Edward Scissorhands Review