1. Babe. This movie made me a vegetarian for six years.

It makes me cry the way some folks do at the end of sports movies. It also made me a lifelong fan of James Cromwell, I'll see *anything* he's in

2. Threads
The very-accurate tag is "The closest you'll ever want to come to nuclear war." Brutal. Unflinching. The scariest movie ever made.

One of the movies I feel the itch to rewatch every few years even though it puts me in such a dark mood, it's that good.

3. Requiem For A Dream

Another movie that makes me cry every time. Ellen Burstyn is so amazing in this, and I've never forgiven Julia Roberts for winning the Best Actress Oscar that year instead of her.

Also, the movie @ThePenDrake@twitter.com and I disagree most about.

4. Cloud Atlas

This is such a beautiful movie. It fundamentally shifted my view of humanity and our eternal struggle against our worst impulses.

Even today, when things are so bleak and uncertain, this gives me a quiet and unshakable hope.

5. V/H/S 2

I'm a huge sucker for found-footage movies, and this edition of the anthology is the best. "Safe Haven" is the short film that gets all the kudos, but "Slumber Party Alien Abduction" is just one of the most terrifying things ever to me

6. Dear White People

One of the very first times I *actually saw myself* in a character on-screen. Lionel Higgins remains this deeply personal character for me because of it, and it also captures the messy breadth of the Black American experience so, so well

7. Get Out

An *instant* classic. Another movie that captures the modern Black American experience so well -- it's this perfect blend of social satire and horror. Inspired a slew of imitators who couldn't quite thread the needle, and it shows the size of Peele's achievement.

8. Bamboozled

Whew, this is a thorny-ass movie. There are lots of problems with it, especially in the third act, but I'm still haunted by Pierre Delacroix's act of frustrated rebellion becoming the very vehicle for his success...and how quickly he allows himself to justify it.

9. Friday

An unapologetic HOOD movie, this feels a lot like my neighborhood growing up in ways big and small -- like how simply being let into someone's house is a big step in your relationship as a neighbor.

It's also funny as fuck. "Bye Felicia" alone = XD XD XD

10. Hairspray

JUST TRY TO STOP ME from singing along to this movie. It helps that it's set in my hometown. FUN FACT: My local library and barber were both on North Ave., and I still have an aunt who lives in that neighborhood.

11. Moulin Rouge!

I don't know about you, but some movies serve as a "skeleton key" that unlocks whole genres for me. Moulin Rouge did that for musicals -- it's such a heady, emotionally-breathless film that sweeps you up like a tornado. Baz Luhrmann at his best.

12. Snowpiercer

When @ThePenDrake@twitter.com leaned over to me and said "the train is capitalism" it blew my freaking mind. :O

An incredibly sobering metaphor for the unsustainability of the status quo, and a strong argument for the necessity of derailing it for our long-term survival.