My Top 25 of the Last 25: Girly Movies

I love girly movies.  And when I'm talking about girly movies, I don't necessarily mean films starring girls and women, or created by women.   I definitely don't mean romantic-comedies, though some of the movies below have romance and comedy in them.  I'm talking about the movies that are unapologetically, unabashedly, aimed at women.  These movies center on the female POV and treat the preferences, concerns, and tastes of women and girls seriously in a world that too often doesn't.  And though there are a few bittersweet entries, I find that the best girly movies focus on positivity and uplift, and are great for boosting my mood.

Legally Blonde - I resisted the charms of Elle Woods for a long time, but in the end it was impossible.  I love the character and I love this movie.  I love the notion of the ultra-feminine, bubbly blonde glam girl also being a whip-smart law student who uses her powers for good.  She can be a girly girl and do important, serious work.  She can reject the snobbery and privilege of the elites and choose sisterhood and solidarity, while still being her most fabulous self.  Is it a fantasy?  Yes.  Is it one we need?  Hell yes.

Catherine, Called Birdy - Easily the least popular film on this list, but it's such a great encapsulation of adolescent growing pains.  Catherine is growing up in an era where the rules of love and womanhood are completely out of step with how she wants to live her life, and her well-meaning father just doesn't understand.  And really, is that any different than how things are for some girls in every era?  And Bella Ramsay is perfect at embodying Birdy in all her rebellious, mischievous, stubborn impossibility.  

Pitch Perfect - It's "Glee" if it were from the creators of "30 Rock," which is more or less what happened here, because the main writer/producer of the series is Kay Cannon.  Honestly, the three "Pitch Perfect" movies have all blended together in my mind at this point, but I remember the first one being the funniest and it helped give Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson a significant boost in visibility.  And I appreciate that the comedy came first, inspiring other films like "Bottoms" to follow suit.  

One of Them Days - Let's hear it for the ones keeping it real.  Dreux and Alyssa, played by Keke Palmer and SZA, are just trying to come up with their overdue rent money and get through a bad day that keeps getting worse.  There are not enough theatrical comedies like this anymore - the right size and scope, aimed at the sorely underserved black audience, with the right combination of talent involved to give everybody the opportunity to shine.  A sequel is reportedly in the works, and I can't wait to see it.  

Bring it On - This has spawned six direct-to-video sequels so far.  Six!  Released in the year 2000, this barely made the cutoff date, and honestly this feels like a 90s movie more than a 2000s one culturally.  However, the impact of "Bring it On" is undeniable, a mixture of high energy sports movie, dance movie, and high school movie, with Kirsten Dunst and Gabrielle Union showing that they could carry a movie as they were transitioning from teen roles to leading lady status.  It holds up better that you'd think.

Lady Bird - There's probably too much Greta Gerwig on this list, but I had to have some Saoirse Ronan representation, and the best Saoirse Ronan movie is "Lady Bird."  She's an exceptional young woman, but like so many exceptional young women, she's got all the same problems that everyone else does growing up.  As the movie explores Lady Bird's universe, it's also a love letter to Gerwig's hometown of Sacramento and the benefits of a Catholic school education - not something you see much of in the movies anymore.

The Devil Wears Prada - Yes, part of the impetus for me writing this list was the hype for the arrival of "The Devil Wears Prada 2."  Do you remember in the mid-2000s when there was all this media about the fashion industry like "Project Runway" and "Ugly Betty" and "America's Next Top Model"?  Meryl Streep in this movie may as well have been the queen of that universe - a nightmare boss, but a figure of consummate taste, talent and professionalism to be admired, feared, and never taken for granted.   

Barbie - Everything about the promotional campaign, and later the awards campaign was so positive and fun.  It injected a burst of color and shine into the pop culture when we really needed it.  And Gerwig and Baumbach clearly understood the assignment, making a film that loves, hates, subverts, and pays homage to the titular toy representation of American femininity.  I would have liked it to be a little deeper, but then again I suspect America Ferrera's monologue and Ryan Gosling learning that he was  Kenough via dream ballet was probably as much as the general audience could handle.

Bend it Like Beckham - There were lots of good contenders for girly sports movies like "Whip It!" and "Blue Crush," but "Bend it Like Beckham" ended up being the one I couldn't leave off.  It's such a great snapshot of growing up as an immigrant kid, trying to balance all the competing demands of different cultures, parental expectations, and new opportunities.  It has one of the most genuinely sweet lesbian panic situations ever.  Oh, and this is the movie where most of us first saw Keira Knightley.

Kpop Demon Hunters - Finally, this is an unlikely charmer that I didn't see coming.  I've never really understood the appeal of K-pop.  However, the soundtrack is such an important part of why this movie works, delivering earworm after earworm to help enliven a familiar story about forbidden love and being a secret half-demon warrior.  The snazzy animation, wild humor, and some gentle ribbing of the music industry don't hurt either.  Thus, "Josie and the Pussycats" got edged out of the Top Ten.  

Ahem.

Josie and the Pussycats

Little Women

Whip It

Turning Red

The Princess Diaries

Romy and Michele's High School Reunion

Booksmart

Mean Girls

Polite Society

Eighth Grade

Bridesmaids

Frances Ha

Wicked

Miss Congeniality

Easy A

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My Top 25 of the Last 25 - Movie Trailers

I've thoroughly enjoyed all the "Best of" lists celebrating the superlatives of the first quarter of the twenty-first century. And I'm going to be fashionably late to the party and make some of my own lists this year, looking at media from 2001 to 2025.  However, I'm not going to make "Best Movie" or "Best Show" lists.  No, I'm going to do the fun stuff.  This month, I'm spotlighting my favorite movie trailers.

Each list will get 25 entries, but only the top ten will get write-ups. 

Comedian (2002) - Let's start with the meta.  The "Comedian" trailer is listed on IMDB as a short, because though it's supposed to be a trailer for a Jerry Seinfeld documentary about comedians, it also functions as a funny stand-alone sketch making fun of movie trailers and their tropes, especially the deep-voiced narrator, performed here by the legendary Hal Douglas.  "In a world…" style trailers have largely gone out of style, and I like to think this trailer had something to do with it.

Kill Bill (2004) - Music choices have a massive impact on how well a trailer works.  Tomoyasu Hotel's "Battle Without Honor or Humanity" instrumental plays a big part in setting the tone here, for our first look at "The 4th Film By Quentin Tarantino."  It becomes clear that the movie is going to take no prisoners, as the action and the characters keep getting wilder and more over-the top as it goes.  The instrumental got a lot of play after this, becoming cultural shorthand for incoming badassery

Sin City (2005) - A prime example of a trailer that's better than the movie it's promoting.  The big selling point of "Sin City" was translating comic book visuals to the screen in a novel way.  This novelty wears off quickly over the length of a whole movie, particularly one that's not very well written or well put together.  However, a two-minute trailer is the perfect length to show off some of the creative applications of this very specific aesthetic, based on Frank Miller's grimly beautiful artwork.  

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) - Then you have the trailers that are selling you on a premise, and it was a tall order to sell "Benjamin Button," the tale of a man who ages in reverse.  The trick here is that you think you see the whole movie, but it's only giving you the broadest outlines - the love story and the peculiar circumstances of the title character.  Crucially, it also provides confirmation that Fincher and crew nailed the special effects wizardry to do all the aging effects right.

A Serious Man (2009) - I love this movie, and this is the perfect trailer for it - a trailer that asks a lot of questions and throws a lot of balls in the air, and offers absolutely no answers or guarantees, except that the characters will be Coen brothers characters.  It establishes a very specific tone and type of humor, full of anxiety and middle-aged neurosis, and does it perfectly.  I also like to think that the rhythmic thwacking of Michael Stuhlbarg's head against the wall is a tribute to the "Point Blank" trailer.

Where the Wild Things Are (2009) - Some trailers are vital for setting expectations.  You'd think that an adaptation of Maurice Sendak's Where The Wild Things Are would be a typical children's adventure picture.  Instead, the trailer immediately shows us that we're in for something much more thoughtful, poignant, melancholy, and strange.  It's absolutely a children's film, but one that is likely to hit the adults much harder.  I still tear up watching this sometimes, and I can never quite say why.  

Godzilla (2014) and Godzilla: King of Monsters (2019) - Here's my token representation of the big blockbusters.  What I like about these trailers for movies from the "Godzilla" franchise is that they're so good at conveying a sense of scale.  You've got the immersive halo jump from the first "Godzilla" trailer, and then all the reveals of the new kaiju designs in "King of Monsters," presented in the most epic way possible.  It's an absolute delight to see these familiar monsters fill our screens once more.    

Barbie (2023) - I can't resist a "2001: A Space Odyssey" reference.

28 Years Later (2025) - This is the first trailer in ages that I've seen that feels like it's willing to experiment with the format.  In this case, the long-anticipated horror movie set its images of a dystopia and zombie carnage to an evocative reading of a Rudyard Kipling poem about WWI, written more than a century ago.  It's a piece that's absolutely lousy with historical significance, sounding a dire warning against the worst sins of man - which are of course the really scary parts of "28 Years Later."   

The Next Fifteen:

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)

Shining (parody trailer) (2005)

The Fountain (2006)

Little Children (2006)

Be Kind Rewind (2008) (sweded version)

Cloverfield (2008)

The Social Network (2010)

Inception (2010)

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Hail, Caesar! (2016)

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

One Battle After Another (2025)

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My Top 25 of the Last 25: Animated Characters

I probably bit off more than I could chew with this one.  The last twenty-five years of animation covers a ton of shows and movies, and I'm very aware of all the ones that I haven't seen.  My apologies to "Bojack Horseman."  

As with all the lists in this series, there are twenty five entries, but only the top ten get writeups.  And I will totally cheat and slip in a few extra characters.

Bandit Heeler - "Bluey" is easily the most popular new cartoon of the past decade, and though all the Heelers contribute to the show's enduring popularity and appeal, the character who stands out as the most iconic is Bandit.  He's a great example of a more involved, more active cartoon father than we've seen in the past.  He grumbles and he grouses, but his commitment to his family is crystal clear.

Chihiro - There aren't many anime characters on this list for various reasons.  However, Studio Ghibli needs some representation here, and I can't think of a better Ghibli character than Chihiro - the young heroine that Hayao Miyazaki created with a deliberate effort to evoke a more realistic modern girl.  She's a big reason why "Spirited Away" is still one of the best animated films of the past quarter century.    

Miles Morales - However, I think that the animated film with the biggest impact recently has definitely been "Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse."  Miles is a boundary-breaking animated character for his design, his race, his culture, his comic-book origins and more.  And thank goodness he makes a fantastic Spider-man, with one of the best superhero origin stories that has even been put onscreen.  

Toph Beifong - I've heard the arguments for Zuko, but I'm sorry.  The best "Avatar: The Last Airbender" character is Toph.  The show's pint-sized earthbending champ becomes the gang's bruiser and a reliable source of earthy comedy in the second season, and I simply can't imagine the show without her.  She's such an original.  I even liked the old lady version of Toph who showed up in "The Legend of Korra."

The Ice King - I wanted a villain in the mix, and I kept coming back to the Ice King from "Adventure Time," who is probably the best example of a character who only works through the kind of long-form storytelling we didn't really get from western animated series before the 2000s.  Nobody has a story arc as epic or as surprising as this guy, and if you just want a fun comedic villain, he's surely that too.

Mizu - Adult-oriented animated series have really taken off in recent years, with "Arcane" and "Blue Eye Samurai" leading the way.  And this means some really interesting new characters like Mizu, who is a Japanese heroine from a show with very western sensibilities.  Frankly, Mizu is not the type of character I could ever see coming out of the anime storytelling tradition, even though she's deeply inspired by it.  

Nimona - I am grateful that "Nimona" was rescued and finished by Annapurna, after the closure of Blue Sky, because it's the kind of movie that is not for me, but is absolutely going to be a cornerstone for the audience that really needs it to exist.  The deeply weird, and utterly wonderful shapeshifter Nimona is a classic outsider character, and just subversive enough to feel a little dangerous in the best way.

Rick Sanchez - Here he is - the drunkard, abusive, mad genius whose badassery enables his worst impulses, and tends to lead to trauma and misery for everyone he meets.  Rick is the star of the most twisted family sitcom currently running on television, once you get past the science-fiction trappings.  But as smart as he seems, the truth about Rick is that he's just as clueless as everyone else.

Dr. Girlfriend - "The Venture Bros." do not get enough love despite their massive influence on animation.  The cast is full of wonderful male characters, but the one I really adore is the deep-voiced female lead, Dr. Girlfriend.  Initially, her presence is an opportunity to see a different side of The Monarch, but as the show goes on, she really comes into her own and becomes a force to be reckoned with.  

LEGO Batman - Well, I sort of got Bojack in here.  Lego Batman is a character that could only exist because of the colliding forces of shameless toy marketing, the IP of Warner Bros., with the creative anarchy of Phil Lord and Chris Miller.  "The LEGO Movie" shouldn't work, but it does, and LEGO Batman was enough of a highlight that he got his own spinoff, which somehow also works very, very well.

The Next Fifteen

Shrek

Beckett Mariner

Catra

The Minions

Omniman

Stitch

Shonen Bat/Li'l Slugger

The Other Mother ("Coraline")

Rapunzel

Huntrix

Roz ("The Wild Robot")

Paddington

Viktor ("Arcane")

The Red Turtle

The Incredibles

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My Top 25 of the Last 25: Endings

A good ending feels like a rarity these days, especially when we're talking about long-form media. As the franchises and revivals have become a fixture of modern movies and television, it feels like definitive endings are anathema.  However, there have still been some pretty good ones in the new millennium, and some are the reason that these titles are still remembered to this day.  

As with the other Top 25 Lists, this list has 25 entries, but only the top ten get write-ups.  Entries are unranked.  I regret to inform you that I was not a viewer of "The Shield," "Succession," or "Six Feet Under."  I'll try and keep the spoilers to a minimum, but you guys know what kind of list this is!

The Good Place - Chidi's quote about picturing a wave has quietly become the most enduring contribution of "The Good Place" to popular culture.  I find that fitting, because over the years the show became a sort of a stealth way for Mike Schur to talk about philosophical concepts related to morality.  It's only here, at the very end, that we really take on the concept of death, in a show where most of the characters are dead from the outset.

The Sopranos - Do you remember when the Clintons parodied this for Hilary's presidential campaign?  You wouldn't think just cutting to black during an uneasy moment would cause such a ruckus, but "The Sopranos" ambiguous finale definitely helped it to keep the show relevant for years after it went off the air.  David Chase is plagued with questions about it to this day.  My take is that whatever you think happened to Tony, he's a doomed man.

The Colbert Report - The ascension of the fictional Stephen Colbert to the pop culture pantheon was cool.  The celebrity sing-along with a crowd of notables including George Lucas and Henry Kissinger was fun.  However, my favorite part of the finale is the very end, where Stephen Colbert throws to Jon Stewart over at the "Daily Show" like the whole series had just been one long segment of the program where "The Colbert Report" originated.  

The Leftovers - There was never going to be a definite answer as to why the disappearances happened, but one is suggested if that's what you need from the show.  What's more important is that we get some emotional resolution for two of the main characters, when Kevin and Nora meet again after a long separation.  It's such a gentle, peaceful goodbye that ends the series on a hopeful and optimistic note, if not an entirely happy one.

The Return of the King - I had many complaints about this one the first time I saw it, but over the years, after too many multi-part franchise finales, I've grown much more fond of it.  Sure, the big battles and lengthy farewells are indulgent, but they're in service of truly epic storytelling.  I even wish that Peter Jackson had included the material that he shot for the coda sequence, that would have revealed the fates of some of the other characters.  

Mr Robot - The final twist of the very twisty "Mr. Robot" is one that I figured out well in advance, but I still enjoyed it immensely for how it unfolded.  For a show that depended so much on what was going on inside its protagonist's head, it was fitting that the finale mostly played out there, putting some of Elliott's lingering demons to rest.  And having the (almost) final title card drop being set to the Styx song (you know which one) was the icing on the cake.  

The Americans - The most terrible part of being foreign spies living fake lives turns out to be doing the job too well.  Getting away with it has a cost too terrible for Philip and Elizabeth to anticipate, as their mission reaches its inevitable conclusion and they have to say their goodbyes.  The confrontation scene with Stan finally happens as well, and it lived up to all the anticipation.  However, it's the confrontation that doesn't happen that will haunt me.

  

Avengers: Endgame - Clearly this was never meant to be a finale for the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it was a good enough endpoint that plenty of viewers decided it was the right place to disembark.  The MCU actually has several good endings, notably the "Loki" finale.  However, "Endgame" was the first really meaningful one after over twenty films that killed major characters and even let one retire!  It's too bad it's not going to stick.  

Parks and Rec - There are happy endings, and there are happy endings so thorough at wrapping things up for each and every regular in the show, that you can't think about it without smiling.  Okay, so I wanted a little more for April and Andy, but Leslie and Ben?  Ron Swanson?  Garry?  Their endings are perfect.  For extra feels, the extended version also adds more material for minor characters like Bobby Newport and Shauna Mawae-Tweep.

The Wire - The fifth season of "The Wire" couldn't live up to the previous ones, but I still found plenty to like as the series wound down.  The finale doesn't have anything big and climactic, but simply checking in with so many of the characters in the series, from all walks of life, in an epic last montage, was enough to take my breath away.  Special love to Bubbles, whose story ends on a hopeful note.  

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Twin Peaks

Gravity Falls

Avatar the Last Airbender

The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien

No Time To Die

Toy Story 3

Breaking Bad

Mad Men

Andor

Picard

Angel

Fleabag

Review with Forrest MacNeil

Futurama (multiple)

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My Top 25 of the Last 25: Remakes and Reboots

I've thoroughly enjoyed all the "Best of" lists celebrating the superlatives of the first quarter of the twenty-first century. And I'm going to be fashionably late to the party and make some of my own lists this year, looking at movies and television from 2001 to 2025.  However, I'm not going to make "Best Movie" or "Best Show" lists.  No, I'm going to do the fun stuff.  This month, I'm spotlighting my favorite remakes and reboots.

Each list will get 25 entries, but only the top ten will get write-ups.  

What counts as a remake or reboot?  This gets a little tricky, but I'm looking for cases where a specific IP is being brought back to capitalize on audience nostalgia, so no remakes of foreign media, like the US version of "The Office" or "The Departed," unless the creators appear to be specifically going after the original fanbase, like "One Piece" (2023).  New adaptations of the classics like "Frankenstein," or obscurities like "Nightmare Alley" and "Widows" aren't what I'm after either. 

Also, the new version has to significantly transform the original to some extent. "Dexter: New Blood" is a pretty straightforward "Dexter" sequel or revival because it has the same lead character being played by the original actor.  Meanwhile, "Watchmen" and "Creed" are technically sequels with some of the same characters, but have entirely different lead characters and dynamics, so that's more in the spirit of a new take on familiar material.  

For the record, I'm not counting Steven Moffatt's "Dracula," "Jekyll," or "Sherlock" series, though I enjoyed them all.

1. Doctor Who (2005) - A big factor in what ended up in the top ten was impact, and the 2005 "Doctor Who" was one of the biggest genre shows worldwide for years.  In addition to acquainting a new generation with Daleks and Cybermen, it launched many careers, set many precedents, and despites some ups and downs, managed to hang around for over twenty years.  Its immediate fate is uncertain, but there's no doubt that The Doctor will be back eventually, even if it takes a few tries.    

2. Casino Royale (2006) - Remember when Daniel Craig was being criticized as the pick for the new Bond because of his blond hair?  There were many 007 reboots and revamps over the years, but none felt like it was really turning a corner the way that "Casino Royale" did.  This is easily one of the best films to ever come out of the franchise, setting a high standard for Bond films for the next two decades.  And this wasn't only most audiences' introduction to Daniel Craig, but Mads Mikkelsen and Eva Green too.   

3. Battlestar Galactica (2004) - I'm not very far into the series yet, but it's already obvious that "Battlestar Galactica" is one of the best remakes ever made.  It took a family-friendly '70s adventure series and turned it into a bleak, harrowing survival story about the human race desperately trying to endure in the face of an implacable threat.  From a fan standpoint, this is the series that made science-fiction cool again, as "Galactica" broke into the mainstream in a way that none of its contemporaries ever did.  

4. Mad Max Fury Road (2015) - George Miller and Mad Max returned with a vengeance after a thirty year hiatus, delivering what was not only the best installment of its franchise, but one of the most beloved action films ever made.  It's not a particularly good film about its title character, who is a bit of a nonentity, but the unhinged "Mad Max" universe definitely got a major upgrade.  And some of us older fans had to wonder, is this what "Mad Max" looked like inside George Miller's head the whole time?  

5. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (2010) - I love it when a piece of intellectual property that everyone wrote off makes a comeback in a big way.  The redesigned, significantly modernized "My Little Pony" created by Lauren Faust instantly caught on with its target audience of kids, but also attracted a surprisingly loyal following of adults.  This created some inevitable fandom weirdness, but it also meant a great franchise for little girls got a lot of attention, and several others were rebooted in its wake.  

6. Fargo (2014) - Noah Hawley turned a Coen brothers movie into an anthology of larger-than-life crime stories, all involving desperate characters in the American Midwest, with a few touches of the preternatural to keep things interesting.  Sometimes the particular chemistry of the casts or the themes of each season haven't quite worked, but when "Fargo" is at its best, it's unmissable television.  It's given us Lorne Malvo, Peggy Blumquist, V. M. Varga, and Dot Lyon among its many, many fantastic characters.   

7. Westworld (2016) - The resources put into this series were incredible.  HBO created the first ongoing television series that truly felt like it had a feature film cast, populating a much harder-edged take on the premise of the 1973 Michael Crichton film, with unapologetically adult content throughout.  I watched all four seasons and found all of them well worth my time, even though the show changed considerably from the theme park-centered first season into a more conceptually thorny dystopian drama.  

8. Watchmen (2019) - An edge case, because this is actually a sequel to the graphic novel "Watchmen," and not in the same continuity as the 2009 film, "Watchmen."  However, Damon Lindelof and his collaborators definitely put their own spin on the material, using the "Watchmen" universe to explore additional racial and generational dynamics that weren't part of the original Alan Moore story.  It's so niche and requires so much additional reading, I'm amazed that this got produced in this form.  

9. Creed (2015) - Okay, so it's technically a spinoff of the "Rocky" franchise, but despite Stallone's presence and influence, this isn't his movie.  "Creed" was a major turning point in the careers of both Michael B. Jordan and Ryan Coogler, and was successful enough to spawn two decent sequels.  It would have been easier to follow the template of "Rocky" more closely, but Coogler made some canny choices to ensure that "Creed" could stand on its own, while evoking the nostalgia for the originals. 

10. IT (2017) - Finally, "IT: Chapter Two" was clearly a bust, but that doesn't take away from this wonderfully brutal adaptation of Stephen King's "IT," which sticks to the parts about the kids thirty years in the past.  Horror reboots are very common, but "IT" stood out by being an unusually nasty film where terrible things happen to children.  It helped to shepherd along the resurgence in Stephen King media, and gave us one of the best cinema monsters of the last decade - Pennywise the Clown.

The next 15: 

True Grit (2010)

Ocean's Eleven (2001)

A Star is Born (2018)

Cobra Kai (2021)

Ripley (2024)

West Side Story (2021)

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)

Duck Tales (2017)

Godzilla (2014) and Godzilla Minus One (2023)

Suspiria (2018)

Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Matilda: the Musical (2023)

One Piece (2023)

Mickey Mouse (2013) and The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse (2020)

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My Top 25 of the Last 25: Villains

I've thoroughly enjoyed all the "Best of" lists celebrating the superlatives of the first quarter of the twenty-first century. And I'm going to be fashionably late to the party and make some of my own lists this year, looking at movies and television from 2001 to 2025.  However, I'm not going to make "Best Movie" or "Best Show" lists.  No, I'm going to do the fun stuff, starting with my favorite villains.

Each list will get 25 entries, but only the top ten will get write-ups.  Of course, I plan to cheat, but no antiheroes will be forthcoming.  Minor spoilers ahead.

1. Homelander ("The Boys," 2019) - One of the criteria for inclusion on this list was that these villains had to be a reflection of their time, in some way.  The 70s birthed serial killers, the 80s brought corporate creeps, and the superhero age gave us a new kind of supervillain - the superhero gone bad.  Though similar to Omniman, Sentry, and other evil Superman-type supervillains, Homelander stands out from the crowd for his utter lack of empathy and morals, despite being held up as a symbol of patriotism and justice.  His most defining trait is his smile, provided by Anthony Starr - empty, joyless and disturbing.

2. Joker ("The Dark Knight," 2008) - Heath Ledger's performance in "The Dark Knight" was so good, his Joker instantly became iconic.  The initial reaction to publicity stills and sneak peeks was fairly negative, but once we got to see the full effect of the anarchic, repulsive Ledger Joker in the haphazard clown makeup who just wants "to watch the world burn," he was undeniable.  It influenced every subsequent Joker interpretation - and there have been several.  Recent films also gave us Joaquin Phoenix's Arthur Fleck from "Joker," but this version strikes me as more of an anti-hero than a villain. 

3. Villanelle ("Killing Eve," 2018) - One trend I'm glad to see in recent years is the rise of the female villain - more specifically the self-possessed and self-aware villainess who is acting of her own accord.  Female serial killers were fairly rare in fiction for many years, and fun female psychopaths the heroes can banter with are a pretty recent development.  Villanelle is easily the most prominent example, a twisted manic pixie dreamgirl with a knack for dispensing violence.  "Killing Eve" steadily went downhill after a strong first season, so it's easy to forget the impact she had when she was first introduced to the world.

4. Anton Chigurh ("No Country For Old Men," 2007) - It feels like cheating to include a Coens brothers movie, but Anton Chigurh remains one of the most instantly recognizable villains of the 2000s.  Like the Joker, he's symbolic of uncontrollable forces of anarchy, almost like a natural disaster in human form.  It's hard to remember sometimes that this was many people's first introduction to Javier Bardem, whose screen persona is usually so charming and urbane.  Chigurh, by contrast, is brutal and implacable, somehow both animalistic and mechanically impersonal as a killer.  And he's scary as hell too.    

5. Amy Dunne ("Gone Girl," 2014) - Amazing Amy, the overachieving "cool girl" turned psycho, is an avatar of modern feminine rage.  Fueled by entitlement and resentment, she weaponizes the media and society's fascination with true crime against her cheating husband, going to insane extremes to get what she wants.  You could have framed this as an uplifting empowerment story if Amy's revenge weren't so out of proportion with her perceived victimhood, and if her narcissism and vindictiveness weren't so apparent.  The horror is so potent, because Amy's brand of evil is both personal and familiar.  

6. Killmonger ("Black Panther," 2018) - Killmonger is here as an example of the righteous villain - someone who has a very good reason for doing terrible things, but is trying to right the wrongs through harmful and unacceptable actions.  Killmonger is a dark mirror to King T'Challa, a charismatic warrior who is deeply concerned with the injustices done against his people.  It doesn't hurt that he's played by Michael B. Jordan, who instantly steals every scene he's in.  Other MCU villains I considered were Loki, who evolved into an anti-hero, and Thanos, a solid threat, but rarely compelling.  And then there's… 

7. Killgrave (Jessica Jones," 2015) - It feels like you can't classify Killgrave as a comic book villain.  He's so much more intense and deeply disturbing than the usual superpowered baddies, a man who uses mind control to turn people into his personal playthings.  Jessica's past with him is treated as analogous to an abusive intimate relationship, and she's still deeply traumatized from the experience when we meet her.  David Tennant, best known for playing everyone's favorite The Doctor, made my skin crawl every time he showed up onscreen.  It's no wonder many people treated "Jessica Jones" like it was over when he left.

8. Gus Fring ("Breaking Bad," 2008) - The "Breaking Bad" universe had a lot of great villains, but the one everyone remembers is Gus Fring.  Portrayed with unflappable menace by Giancarlo Esposito, Gus has many admirable qualities - he's unfailingly polite, a smart businessman, inspires loyalty from his underlings, and he worked his way up from nothing.  However, if you cross him he can make your life a nightmare.  There were many points in "Breaking Bad" where I was rooting for Gus as much as I was rooting for Walt and Jesse.  Eventually, he had to go, but at least he went out with a fantastic exit.  

9. Dolores Umbridge ("Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," 2007) - I wanted a "Karen" on the list, someone to represent all the privileged, entitled busybodies that seem to exist to make everyone around them miserable.  The "Harry Potter" franchise provided me with Dolores Umbridge, who is easily the most hated "Potter" villain after the evil Dark Lord Voldemort - who is pretty generic as genocidal overlords go.  Umbridge, however, is very specific and very memorable in her villainy.  And as a bureaucrat and administrator, she taps into real world frustrations like no one else on this list. 

10. Cersei Lannister ("Game of Thrones," 2011) - Finally, Joffrey was on this list for a long time, but when you look at the "Game of Thrones" villains, the one who got the most done was really Cersei, Joffrey's mother.  She instigated many of the main conflicts of the series, and took out more than her share of other power players.  However, what lands Cersei a place on the list is how complicated and interesting she is as a character - a natural schemer born to privilege, but constantly stymied by societal expectations, and doomed to endless heartache because she genuinely cares about her family. 

The next fifteen, in no particular order:

Kingpin ("Daredevil," 2015) 

Hannibal ("Hannibal," 2013)

Alonzo Harris ("Training Day," 2001)

The Trinity Killer ("Dexter," 2009)

Alice Morgan ("Luther," 2010)

Stringer Bell ("The Wire," 2002)

Hans Landa ("Inglorious Basterds," 2009)

King Joffrey ("Game of Thrones," 2011)

Phoenix Buchanan ("Paddington 2," 2017)

Pennywise ("IT: Chapter One," 2017)

Red ("Us," 2019)

Terence Fletcher ("Whiplash," 2014)
Edmund Kemper ("Mindhunter," 2017)

Princess Azula ("Avatar the Last Airbender," 2005)

Mother Gothel ("Tangled," 2010)

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