I’m not a sports person, but to me Barry Levinson’s The Natural perfectly encapsulates what baseball is about—and makes me believe that what happens on the diamond is magic.

Like every good Christmas classic, Danny Boyle’s 2004 film points to the humanity and giving nature this season ought to draw out of us, and reminds me what this season should be about.

A favorite film feels like something that defines you. In that sense, Wong Kar-wai’s 2000 masterwork is mine because of how it defined part of my identity for much of my adult life. 

Edward Yang’s 2000 drama is regarded as one of the great works of the last 25 years. How fitting, then, to start the millennium with a film that says everything by seeming to say nothing at all.

Once upon a time in the year 2000, these two fantastic movies came out and accidentally explained 95% of the cis-het male population.

When I felt alone and invisible, Back to the Future became my way of accessing the world—and eventually connecting with others.

The characters in Max Barbakow’s terrific 2020 time-loop comedy Palm Springs confront their existential crisis with denial, anger, and curiosity. As someone who left the religion of my youth, I found that very familiar.

An ode to the inimitable director who died doing what he loved (ripping cigs) during the first lunar standstill of 2025—compelling testimony that he is, undeniably, connected to the moon.

Each style and star in Todd Haynes’ kaleidoscopic 2007 Bob Dylan biopic bears some resemblance to the celebrated musician—or at least the personas Dylan allows us to see. 

How one of the most underrated, influential, and Oscar-worthy auteurs of the 21st century helped me bridge my comedy gap.

Considering the state of the world, Alfonso Cuarón’s dystopian masterpiece Children of Men remains uniquely and painfully resonant.

The MCU captured the zeitgeist of 21st-century moviemaking and created a colossal die-hard fanbase, but along the way they traded connection for mere spectacle.

Alex Garland’s 2018 sci-fi horror film Annihilation shows that not all art is an equation to be solved.

The true hallmark of a great horror film is its lasting impact. In that sense The Fly is a Grade-A piece of B-movie heaven.

There's a special thrill in seeing your reality reflected back to you on a giant screen, as The Fugitive, The Blues Brothers, A League of Their Own, and so many other Chicago movies have done for me as a lifelong Chicagoan.

How the 1993 Harrison Ford film overcame production troubles to become a well-made and deeply satisfying thriller that remains beloved over 30 years later.

This is a Christmas movie, a love story, and a comedy of manners, but it's also a sweetly specific Chicago movie.

Everyone has that one movie from their childhood that first introduced them to the magic of cinema. For me, that was Steven Spielberg’s captivating 1977 sci-fi classic.

Movies like Greg Mottola’s 2009 comedy Adventureland remind me what it was like to meet that final transitional stage of youth, full of excitement and apprehension in equal measure.

There are many moments in The Sandlot that make it an iconic sports film, but it also holds up as a surprisingly deep experience.