Movie Genres And The Greatest Movie Ever Made:
Hollywood is filled with several genres of movies. Some of them are more prominent than others. There are hundreds of movies in each genre, filling the category in numbers ranging in the thousands. But there could only be one winner in each genre. What is the greatest movie in each genre? It is time to find out.
Horror – The Exorcist
You know a horror movie means business when several theatres actually ended up banning it so that their viewers do not run away in fear. There was actually a corroborated case of a person literally dying of a heart attack after seeing the Exorcist in the theatres. The 1973 Supernatural thriller was the first of its kind. It has had a significant impact on the order of Hollywood and the larger movie-making industry. The Exorcist is considered a benchmark by many Horror movie tycoons who use it to judge their own ventures. It was the first Horror movie that became so hugely popular and critically acclaimed that it ended up winning the Academy Award for Best Picture. It was also nominated for multiple other categories, where it won Best Adapted Screen Play and Best Sound Mixing. The Exorcist is a cult classic of the highest order. No other movie before it could change the game for the horror genre like it did and no other movie probably ever will.
Romance – Casablanca
There are multiple entries in this category. There is Sleepless in Seattle. There is the heart-wrenching story of The Notebook. There is the legendary Titanic. But there is one movie that came and conquered the romance genre way before any of the Directors of The Notebook, Titanic, or Sleepless in Seattle were even born! We are talking about Casablanca, the legendary 1942 tragic romance story that enticed the world. The movie takes place during the prime period of World War Two. An American Expatriate who owns a vasion and bar establishment in Casablanca must choose between going the easy way and reporting everything to the authorities or going the difficult way and helping his long lost love and her husband, a Czech Resistance Fighter wanted by the Nazis escape German clutches. The movie has one of the greatest twist endings ever as well as one of the most memorable last lines.
Action – Die Hard
The action genre has always been about the Adrenaline Junkies. High octane action and death-defying stunts rule this category. The more creatively you can make it happen with better explosive action, the more chances your movie has of getting into the elite category within the genre. The first truly cult classic action movie, that spawned a genre that is equally revered (except the last part – which was an utter disaster), is the Die Hard series. Die Hard came into being with the 1988 classic Die Hard. Who does not remember detective John McClane and his dialogue – ‘ Yippee-ki-yay Motherf*cker’?!?! Any action genre fan worth his salt has at least watched Die Hard more than three or four times. The movie has the greatest of all action stunts and Bruce Willis killed it as the lead protagonist. The reason it beat Rambo: First Blood and John Wick is pretty obvious
Disaster – The Day After Tomorrow
There were a lot of contenders for this one. 2012, Independence Day, Deep Impact, Dante’s Peak, and Volcano were pretty close to the top. But for some reason, we knew that The Day After Tomorrow was the best in this class. And it is not just because it spoke a lot about something that could happen to us all given the current scenarios of global warming and the green-house effect it had a solid, plausible story arc. The Day After Tomorrow speaks of a world where the planet, after rampart human intervention in terms of pollution and population explosion, had to reset itself. The last time it did, the Ice Age began. The Day After Tomorrow speaks of the coming of a second Ice Age. Jack Hall, a paleo-climatologist, has to undertake a dangerous mission to save his son trapped in the heart of Disaster – New York City.
Comedy – Ghostbusters
If you disagree with this entry, then we cannot help it. There is no contest as to which movie is the best one in the comedy genre. The greatest comedy movie will always be Ghostbusters. The initial release of the movie was way back in 1984. But it still gains revenue from broadcasting rights to select TV networks. The fact that it is still so hugely popular must say a lot about it. Peter Venkman, Egon Spengler, and Raymond Stantz lose their jobs. They are expert parapsychologists who want to save the city from paranormal threats. So they come up with the idea of Ghostbusters – an establishment dedicated towards fighting all Ghosts that lurk in the shadows in New York City. The movie takes a lot of twists and turns and is incredibly funny.
Drama – 12 Angry Men
There is something attractive about a movie that rests solely on the power of dialogue delivery and timing. Movies like that have to have a good script, an airtight screenplay, and most importantly – amazingly skilled actors. The story is of how 12 jurors are assigned to a room to decide the fate of a young kid who is accused of killing his father. One Juror, played by Henry Fonda, disagrees with the pre-conceived notion that the Boy is guilty. He refuses to put him under the guillotine without trying to at least look at other possibilities. 12 Angry Men explores the mind-set of all the 12 people, showing different personality traits. By the end of the movie, there is a classic twist in the tale that leaves many viewers gasping for breath, trying to realize what the hell just happened!!
Science Fiction – Interstellar
Many have come and many have conquered the Box Office. The Terminator, Alien, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Blade Runner, The Matrix – these have been genre defining additions to the category of science fiction. Even still, it was Christopher Nolan’s 2014 movie Interstellar that takes the entire cake. Most movies are based on fantastical concepts that are not real or are impossible in the real world. Interstellar was the first movie that actually employed an army of scientists and theoretical physicists to use real-world, proven and tested concepts to come up with a plot that could actually turn out to be real in the near future. Interstellar explores concepts like time dilation, event horizons and black holes, as well as deep space exploration like no other movie before it.
Adventure – Jurassic Park
Although a mix of science fiction and adventure, the movie falls more on the latter category. A wealthy businessman funds a group of researchers who are on the verge of cloning dinosaurs and bringing back those extinct animals back to life. Like any other movie where a man tries to play God, the plan soon backfires and the dinosaurs, which were supposed to be only looked at in awe from afar, are now breathing down the good guys’ necks. It now becomes a battle for survival as Grant, Ellie, and Ian have to find their way out with the carnivorous dinosaurs hot on their trail.
Martial Arts – Drunken Master
Say what you will about the Martial Arts genre, but it does have its charm. Although its point of origin is not Hollywood, it still has a sizeable fan base all over the world. And for fans who have been gawking at Martial Arts movies since time immemorial, the one mandatory movie in their “been there done that” list is the 1978 Jackie Chan starrer Drunken Master. Chan plays Wong, a naughty and mischievous boy, finds his true calling in the art of Drunken Fist. Taught to him by an alcoholic teacher, Wong has to use Drunken Fist from saving his father from an infamous assassin.
Superhero – The Dark Knight
The Marvel Cinematic Universe may have had around two dozen blockbuster movies in their arsenal but Warner Brothers still have the greatest superhero ever made in their quiver. Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight was, is, and always will be the greatest superhero movie ever made. Starting with Batman Begins, Nolan created a universe that looked realistic enough for Batman. As a symbol for hope and justice, Batman fought the criminals of the crime-infested Gotham City. Bruce Wayne soon meets his match in the form of his literal anti-thesis – the Joker. An unstoppable force meets an immovable object. It also marked the greatest ever performance of Heath Ledger in Hollywood history. He played the Joker in The Dark Knight. Ledger later died of a drug overdose and was posthumously awarded an Oscar for his work in the movie.
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