Villains are the main driver of a film’s plot, and these characters are much more interesting in superhero stories. DC Comics specifically has an extensive roster of dastardly characters that are iconic and popular. While heroes like Superman and Wonder Woman feature overly powerful villains to keep the stakes up, someone like Batman cannot compete with an alien who can destroy a city in seconds.

Despite not being the strongest, Batman’s rogues’ gallery is one of the most iconic because of its psychological focus. But to truly put the Caped Crusader in a corner, these villains need to be one step ahead, which is why this list will highlight the most intelligent Batman villains. Ranked by how smart they are, this list will only include the main antagonists from live-action theatrical Batman movies.

14

The Joker

Played by Cesar Romero

Image via 20th Century Studios

The Joker (Cesar Romero) is Batman’s greatest villain, and arguably the best antagonist of all time, and his first theatrical appearance was in the 1966 Batman movie. This movie doesn’t just have one villain, but features a group called the United Underworld, with Joker acting as its wild card.

There are many iterations of Joker, whether they are chaotic, cunning, goofy, terrifying, or smart. Romero’s Joker lands in the goofy and chaotic section, mainly serving as an impulsive and theatrical villain. As an agent of chaos, he didn’t have a grand scheme, merely escalating the absurdity of traps because of his own flair for the dramatic.

13

The Penguin

Played by Danny DeVito

Image via Warner Bros.

None of Batman’s villains on this list are outright dumb, but some of them are just less smart than the others, such as The Penguin (Danny DeVito) in Batman Returns. After being raised by penguins in the sewers, the villain finally resurfaces to find his parents. However, he gets loftier dreams when public favor swings in his way, aiming for the seat of mayor.

He wasn’t the brains behind the operation, but Penguin was still a master manipulator who had the entirety of Gotham City eating out of the palm of his hand with his sob story. From running a successful mayoral campaign to his underground weapon manufacturing, Penguin is smarter than most would give credit for, even if he is near the bottom of this list.

12

Two-Face

Played by Tommy Lee Jones

Image via Warner Bros.

Older Batman films are known for their campiness and goofiness, especially Batman Forever, one of the most divisive Batman movies. Like many other Batman films, this movie features dual antagonists, with this entry featuring Two-Face, played by Tommy Lee Jones.

Batman Forever might be one of the worst superhero movies, but both villains were the highlight. Two-Face might not have been especially intelligent, but Harvey Dent was the district attorney, meaning there is some intelligence hidden away. But Two-Face abandons all logic, leaving his decisions up to a coin toss, which many wouldn’t say is very logical or smart.

11

The Joker

Played by Jack Nicholson

Image via Warner Bros.

There are more iterations of Joker than any other Batman villain, but surprisingly, two of the theatrical versions aren’t as smart as other adaptations. But that doesn’t take anything away from Jack Nicholson‘s Joker and how iconic he was. Batman, directed by Tim Burton, revitalized the franchise with a new gothic look, and its main villain was just as influential.

Like Romero’s depiction, this Joker was more of a chaotic presence that only wanted to disturb the peace for his own fun. But Nicholson’s Joker also displayed some smarts. He was a highly capable chemist who created many deadly gases and poisons. With scientific know-how, this Joker had to have been somewhat intelligent.

10

The Penguin

Played by Burgess Meredith

Image via 20th Century Studios

The next member of the United Underground is the Penguin (Burgess Meredith), who serves as the main mind of the villainous group. Batman was such a good movie because of its camp, and the main goal of the antagonist group was to dehydrate the world leaders, led by Penguin’s genius plan.

Despite being the leader of the operation, Penguin wasn’t the smartest of the group, but he was still an efficient leader and tactician. His business affinity and intelligence are purely logical, which allowed him to maneuver the black market and purchase vast quantities of weaponry. Not to mention, the Penguin manages his resources perfectly, highlighting his leadership skills.

9

Poison Ivy

Played by Uma Thurman

Image via Warner Bros.

Another horrible Batman movie with incredible camp and solid casting was Batman & Robin, which brought Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman) to the big screen for the first and last time. Serving as one of the two main villains in the film, she wants to eradicate all human life from the planet and create a plant-centric utopia.

Poison Ivy is one of the most underrated geniuses in the Batman movies. She isn’t known for being intelligent in the comics, but she proved to be an expert botanist and toxicologist. Batman & Robin is a horrible film, but Thurman was a highlight, especially since she showed her smarts by engineering a mutated plant and mind-control pheromones.

8

Bane

Played by Tom Hardy

Image via Warner Bros.

Christopher Nolan is a genius filmmaker, and up to this point, none of his films have been featured, until now. The Dark Knight Rises was the grand conclusion to his trilogy, and it starred one of the most iconic Batman villains, Bane (Tom Hardy). He may not have been the mastermind in the end, but Bane was a ruthless terrorist who brought Batman out of hiding.

Bane is considered one of Batman’s most intelligent enemies, but many of his adaptations were reduced to mindless brutes. He isn’t the smartest character ever in The Dark Knight Rises, but Hardy’s Bane is still intelligent enough to put up a good fight. Infamous for breaking the bat mentally and physically, Bane is a military tactician who helped meticulously plan Batman’s defeat.

7

The Riddler

Played by Jim Carrey

Image via Warner Bros.

Batman’s rogues’ gallery is filled with smart villains, but who is the smartest? Bane? Joker? They are intelligent, but the smartest character on average Batman has to face is The Riddler, who has made three appearances as a main villain in live-action movies. Jim Carrey played the character in Batman Forever, wanting revenge on his employer, Bruce Wayne (Val Kilmer).

This placement may be a little low, but this version of the Riddler is more campy, showing off less of what he is capable of. Still, this is a great placement for an intelligent character who is one of the most interesting Batman villains. He is an engineering prodigy who created brilliant inventions out of scrap, highlighting his intellect and resourcefulness.

6

Catwoman

Played by Lee Meriwether

Image via 20th Century Studios

Catwoman (Lee Meriwether) is usually used as an anti-hero in modern Batman films, but she used to be a cold-blooded villain, highlighted by her appearance in 1966’s Batman. She may have merely been an instrument in the main plan, but she was crucial to its success, doing a job only she could accomplish.

This placement may shock some fans, but Catwoman is one of the smartest Batman villains, particularly in this movie. The reason she places so high is because of her emotional intelligence, something that many of Batman’s rogues’ gallery don’t have. Unlike psychological geniuses, Catwoman infiltrated Bruce Wayne’s (Adam West) inner circle, manipulated him emotionally by understanding his complex nature, and orchestrated his kidnapping.

5

Mr. Freeze

Played by Arnold Schwarzenegger

Image via Warner Bros.

One of the worst Batman castings was Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze, who was completely different from how fans know and love the character. Still, he is a Nobel-level scientist, even if his plan to bring about a new ice age doesn’t sound too smart.

Don’t let the way he speaks and his dumb jokes confuse viewers; Mr. Freeze is a vastly intelligent character, even if it isn’t explicitly shown in Batman & Robin. He is a renowned scientist who researched a cure for a terminal illness, mastered cryogenics, and engineered an advanced suit. Many fans want Mr. Freeze to be the villain of the next Batman movie, this time being less corny and more cunning.

Maisie Peters opened for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in London, but that doesn’t mean she’ll necessarily receive an invitation to the Grammy winner’s highly anticipated wedding to Travis Kelce.

“I’ve not received a sourdough loaf or a wedding invite,” Peters, 25, said on the Friday, May 22, episode of the Zach Sang Show, also referring to Swift’s well-documented penchant for baking bread. “I think that’s OK.”

Peters opened for Swift, 36, during her August 19, 2024, concert at Wembley Stadium.

“The plan is we’re going to have a great night, but you guys have already started having a great night because you got to be absolutely dazzled by the most amazing opening acts possible,” Swift told concertgoers at the time, referring to Peters and Paramore’s respective sets. “You started off the evening with someone I’m such a fan of and I’m still gonna keep talking about her.”

Swift continued, “She is amazing, she’s absolutely incredible [and] crushed it on this stage. I love her songwriting so much. Her name, of course, I’m talking about the amazing Maisie Peters.”

After the concert, Peters even had a chance to bond with Swift backstage.

“I actually went [to the Brick Lane market] to buy Taylor some presents before I did the show. I got her some books and a little tote bag,” Peters recalled on Friday, adding that she gave Swift “a spiel” about her fandom of fellow pop star Hilary Duff.

Peters also jokingly speculated that her impassioned speech is the reason she didn’t ultimately receive a wedding invitation.

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“After hearing my spiel on Hillary Duff, I don’t think it’s coming,” Peters quipped. “Obviously, I’m a huge fan and maybe one day I’ll get to try her sourdough. Life goal [and it’s good] to have dreams.”

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After 152 dates across 54 cities and five continents, some 7,000 songs, more than $2 billion in ticket sales, countless friendship bracelets and dozens of A-list attendees, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour will finally come to a close on December 8 in Vancouver, British Columbia. It’s been an eventful nearly two-year ride for Swift. Professionally, she […]

Swift was dating Kelce, 36, during the international leg of her Eras Tour, and they got engaged in August 2025 after two years together. While Swift and the Kansas City Chiefs tight end are reportedly set to tie the knot this summer, the pair have not publicly disclosed any details of their nuptials — including the guest list.

“I think the wedding is what happens after [my Life of a Showgirl promotional tour] in the scheme of the planning, but I’m so excited about it,” Swift teased on the Graham Norton Show in October 2025. “I know it’s gonna be fun to plan because I think the only stressful weddings are the ones where you have a small amount and people are on the bubble.”

I’m usually slow to commit to fashion trends — I prefer a well-rounded, timeless wardrobe. But I immediately hopped on the mesh flats bandwagon, and I’m glad I did. It’s the footwear trend that never dies! These fun flats are perfect for summer because they are breathable, comfortable, easy to wear and add a playful pop to any outfit.

The mesh flat trend also has serious staying power: it’s been the shoe of the summer two years in a row. If you haven’t already, it’s time to add a few pairs to your lineup. I have my eyes on the following 13 styles, including sporty supportive designs and embellished picks perfect for late nights.

13 Mesh Flats to Add to Your Summer Wardrobe

1. The Starter Pair: Ease your way into the mesh flats trend with an affordable nude pair that’s made with an adjustable buckle for the perfect fit. Once you slip into these, you’ll understand the hype.

2. Dainty Florals: The delicate embroidered daisies on these summery mesh flats are just so adorable. The moment I saw this pair, I immediately added it to my cart.

3. Upgraded Classic: Mary Jane shoes get a full makeover with the mesh flat trend. This see-through style, which comes in black or white, gives the timeless silhouette a cool-girl flair that will earn you plenty of compliments.

4. So Nostalgic: The jelly sandals from the early 2000s rebranded and became these vibrant jelly mesh flats. Younger me would think I’m the coolest person ever wearing these shoes.

Related: 17 Upgraded Espadrille Styles That Make the Seasonal Shoe Feel Fresh

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5. So Secure: Some ballet flats slide right off my feet (the worst!). This chic and versatile design features an ankle strap that’s just as functional as it is fashionable.

6. Slip It On: Madden NYC’s gorgeous mesh mules feel like jewelry for my feet with the intricate woven upper. I’m ditching all my heels in favor of these slip-ons this summer!

7. Let’s Go to The Beach: Raffia fashions and coastal vacations go hand in hand, which is why these boho-inspired mesh flats are a necessity for your next trip.

8. Bling Bling: I’m obsessed with anything sparkly, so it should come as no surprise that these rhinestoned Sam Edelman flats are my favorite (and most-worn) warm-weather shoes.

9. The Best Crossover: Mesh espadrilles are the cutest style combo I didn’t know I needed until I tried this lacey platform design. It’s also the ideal summer bridal shoe.

10. Sling Back Beauty: Rothy’s mesh sling-back flats are much more comfortable than your average option because the soft material won’t rub or cause blisters.

11. Sporty Chic: Clock those miles in style with this mesh flat-sneaker hybrid, which offers extra arch support so you can walk for long stretches of time without experiencing pain.

12. Keep It Simple: You could wear an average pair of nude ballet flats, or you could branch out with this summery nude mesh style that feels more fun and carefree for the warmer months.

13. Go Bold: Shoes are the most fun accessory, so don’t be afraid to add some pops of color! I recommend these simple mesh flats in lime or fuchsia for more personality.

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If a movie doesn’t want to have a traditional score, or if it doesn’t want to just rely on a traditional score, then it might opt to have a soundtrack. The difference, at least for present purposes, is that a soundtrack is compiled of pre-existing songs, or sometimes covers of such songs recorded for the movie, rather than a score that someone like, say, John Williams composed for Star Wars, or Ennio Morricone composed for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, to just rattle off a couple of all-time great/iconic scores.

Soundtracks are different. If you want great soundtracks, and soundtracks that really suit the movie they belong to, then the likes of Trainspotting and Pulp Fiction have got your back, and if you want a great score and a great soundtrack at the same time, 1983’s Scarface does a bit of both. Anyway, good soundtracks aren’t the focus of the ranking below. These soundtracks contain bad music, or misused music that’s usually good when divorced from the context of the movie. It was a bit hard to find only soundtracks compiled of bad songs, so soundtracks with inappropriate or cynically thrown-in songs are also included below, and will be specified accordingly.

7

‘Godzilla’ (1998)

Image via TriStar Pictures

This is an easy and kind of petty pick. Maybe it’s not the best idea to start with something petty, but whatever. Godzilla (1998) sucks, and any opportunity to talk about Godzilla (1998) sucking must be seized. What a wonderful series Godzilla is, or at least can be, and what a thoroughly awe-inspiring misunderstanding of it is Godzilla (1998). It’s mind-bending how bad it is.

Because of the mind-bending awfulness, the soundtrack is just one small layer in what’s an overall terrible-looking and tasting cake, but, again, any opportunity to be a hater must be embraced. You get a disappointing cover of the usually incredible “Heroes” (the David Bowie song), a misused Rage Against the Machine track, and then the foul-smelling icing on the whole terrible cake: a P. Diddy song called “Come with Me.” It is, regrettably, true. It is a sentence that hurts to type, and a fact that feels so wrong, but it’s here, and it’s a part of the whole awful soundtrack. Like anyone ever needed another reason to stay the hell away from 1998’s Godzilla.

6

‘The Room’ (2003)

Image via TPW Films

If you want to try and single out the almost redeeming elements found in The Room, you could highlight the honestly (and weirdly) iconic score by Mladen Milicevic. If it’s not good in the traditional sense, then it’s ultimately solid and memorable in a way that the rest of the movie kind of falls short of being, at least intentionally. Like, the score is better than the writing, directing, acting, and the everything else-ing.

But on top of the instrumental score, you’ve also got some songs featured in The Room, most of them underscoring the infamous (and needlessly long) sex scenes, with those songs honestly adding to the unintentional comedy and/or discomfort of such scenes. So, they’re necessary to The Room being the wonderful disaster that it is, but they’re also fairly bad songs… and even if you hear them out of context, somehow, you’re likely to be reminded of the scenes they back, which probably isn’t something you want to remember.

5

‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ (2022)

Image via Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

There are problems beyond just the music in Thor: Love and Thunder, and some of them have even been acknowledged by those involved with its production. Maybe in an attempt to distract from the generally ugly visuals, Guns N’ Roses needle drops were prominent throughout, a little too aggressively, with “Sweet Child o’ Mine,” “Welcome to the Jungle”, “Paradise City”, and “November Rain” all heard here.

It’s a little in line with Thor: Ragnarok prominently featuring Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song,” yet that song worked in that context, musically and lyrically. The insistence on having Guns N’ Roses song after Guns N’ Roses song feels hollow and desperate, in this overall hollow and desperate superhero film. Those Guns N’ Roses songs are all good, too, being easily among the band’s best, but they just don’t really fit or feel earned here, and the rest of the movie drags them down, making them sound honestly quite bad, in this context. Or in this lack of context. What a mess of a movie.

4

‘Sky High’ (2005)

Image via Buena Vista Pictures

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Some people really love Sky High, be it for nostalgic reasons or otherwise, so saying anything negative about it always feels risky. In this instance, it’s just the music that’s going to be critiqued. Other examples in this ranking have misused music that’s used to back bad movies, but with Sky High, you get an honestly decent family-friendly superhero movie that’s ultimately brought down by the music it uses.

Well, actually, the songs here are good, but it’s the fact that they’re all lackluster covers that hurts things. Seems like it’s cheaper to license covers of existing songs, so that was done for Sky High, and so if you’re a fan of bands like Talking Heads, The Smiths, The Cars, Tears for Fears, and Devo, among others, then you get to hear inferior versions of some of their songs! Yay! (Again, it’s a family movie, so kids probably won’t care or notice, unless they’re kids who really like new wave stuff from the ‘80s for whatever reason).

3

‘Suicide Squad’ (2016)

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

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Like with Thor: Love and Thunder, this is an instance of good music being misused, and perhaps even the definitive example of good music being misused: 2016’s Suicide Squad. If you just listen to the music, you’ll get some admittedly good music, since you will technically hear the likes of Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, Kanye West, The White Stripes, and Queen here.

That’s really only scratching the surface, and therein more or less lies the problem: Suicide Squad just keeps throwing so many iconic songs from iconic artists at you, and it gets exhausting. They feel cynically inserted to distract from the sheer messiness of the overall movie, and so yeah, the music’s generally not bad, but it is all utilized badly, if that makes sense. It feels like a desperate attempt to recapture the lightning-in-a-bottle nature of the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie, without really understanding how that soundtrack, though stacked with great/iconic songs, was also rather carefully assembled, so that the songs used actually meant something within the film itself.

2

‘Lost Horizon’ (1973)

1937’s Lost Horizon is a pretty great fantasy movie, especially for its time, but 1973’s Lost Horizon might well be a somewhat more engaging watch, even though it’s technically a far inferior movie. In both cases, the narrative concerns the discovery of a mythical and seemingly utopian land known as Shangri-La, with the 1937 film being a non-musical, and the 1973 version being a very shoddy musical.

With the 1973 film, it’s a more or less watchable – if slightly underwhelming – fantasy film until the scenes when people break out into song, when it becomes unintentionally hilarious. Maybe the songs here don’t sound so bad out of context, but in context, they are ludicrously cheesy, stilted, and just off… it’s hard to know who to blame, though. It is just the case that the songs don’t work, and the musical numbers are incredibly silly, so the soundtrack does end up ultimately feeling, in one way or another, pretty bad.

1

‘Cocktail’ (1988)

Image via Buena Vista Pictures Distribution

If you don’t venture too far into the past, it’s hard to find many genuinely bad Tom Cruise movies (okay, aside from The Mummy, if anyone remembers that). But in the 1980s, he was in a few genuine stinkers, and Cocktail is one of them. This is a complete nothing of a movie that people seem to kind of like because of the vibes? Maybe? It’s very ‘80s, for what that’s worth, but 1986’s Top Gun is a better “vibes only” Cruise movie from around the same time (as in, that one’s also flawed in some ways, but it’s still watchable).

Cocktail contains one shoddy song after another, and it’s not the main issue of the movie, yet the soundtrack here does not help, by any means. “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” and perhaps the worst Beach Boys song, “Kokomo,” are here, for starters, and then there’s some other really limp and uninteresting song choices throughout. There was good music that came out in the 1980s, but you wouldn’t know it, from listening to the Cocktail soundtrack.

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Cocktail

Release Date

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July 29, 1988

Runtime

104 minutes

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Director

Roger Donaldson

Writers

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Heywood Gould

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The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills executive producer Alex Baskin shut down rumors of a cast overhaul for season 16.

On Friday, May 23, rumors circulated that Dorit Kemsley was being put on pause for next season after clashing with longtime friends Kyle Richards and Erika Jayne in the season 15 reunion.

Per a blind item, Kyle, 57, 54, Erika, Sutton Stracke, Bozoma Saint John and Rachel Zoe were all “locked in” for season 16, with Jennifer Tilly returning as “friend of the Housewives.” Plus, the blind item alleged that Bravo offered controversial newbie Amanda Frances a new contract and that RHOBH alum Crystal Kung Minkoff was “back in the mix.”

Alex, 45, quickly denied there was any validity to these latest rumors, dismissing them as “not true” via his Instagram Story on Friday.

Dorit, 49, is currently in the middle of a messy divorce with husband PK Kemsley, with the couple battling this month over allegations that she spent more than $1 million — calculated to be 80 percent of her available funds — on luxury items over the past year.

Dorit reacted to PK’s allegations during an Extra interview on Thursday, May 21, promising that she would “have a response to it” in court soon.

“When you’re in litigation, you have to sort of follow the legal process,” she explained. “I think there will be answers to everything. When you hear one version or one narrative, there’s always another side.”

Dorit added, “Do I love fashion? Yes. Do I spend a lot of money on clothes, expensive clothes, designer clothes? Yes. It is my choice. It is also my money. It’s my money that I earn, that I work for. Not his money. However, once PK and I can finish and have an agreement, what I choose to spend my money on and what he chooses to spend his money on, it’s our own choice.”

“I think, right now because we’re sort of intertwined, there’s a sort of feeling like you can have a say about what the other is spending,” she concluded.

Dorit’s extravagant spending was a major point of contention during RHOBH season 15, as Kyle openly questioned whether her frenemy was acting out because of her marital issues. Kyle warned at the recent reunion that it was “a lot of money [Dorit] is spending” during shopping sprees on RHOBH.

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“Being judged by you [hurts], having you go and speak to the girls about, ‘That’s a lot of money she’s spending.’ Kyle, especially from you of all people,” Dorit vented.

Kyle clapped back: “By the way, I’m not in the same financial position as you, I’m sorry.”

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airs on Bravo and streams via Peacock.

Romantic movies get forgotten for reasons that honestly make me a little bitter. There are films like The Notebook, A Walk to Remember, etc. that almost everybody watches religiously growing up. Then there is this whole other shelf of romance, stranger, softer, funnier, bruisier, more intimate, where movies understood longing in very human ways and somehow still slipped out of the conversation. Not because they failed. Because romance is one of the first genres people condescend to when memory gets lazy.

That is a shame. But no more. I’m bringing up all the movies that mattered now. The 10 films in this list know chemistry is not enough. Timing matters. Class matters. Grief matters. Baggage matters. Shyness matters. The version of yourself you become around one person versus another person matters. All of them deserve better than being treated like secret treasures when they should just be treasures.

10

‘Only You’ (1994)

Image Via TriStar Pictures

What I love about Only You is how recklessly it believes in romantic destiny without becoming stupid about it. Faith in “the one” can get unbearable fast in movies if it is written as some smug cosmic guarantee. Here it works because Faith Corvatch (Marisa Tomei) does not come off like a manic fantasy machine. When she hears the name Damon Bradley and bolts toward Italy, the movie understands that what looks absurd from the outside can feel emotionally necessary from the inside. That is the whole charm.

And then the film gives you Peter Wright (Robert Downey Jr.) at exactly the right frequency, mischievous, improvisational, a little dangerous in that charming way people in romantic films used to be allowed to be. The Italian setting helps, obviously, but not because it is postcard-pretty. It helps because the movie knows travel can loosen a person’s grip on their old self. Only You is really about what happens when fantasy collides with a living, breathing, inconvenient person and turns out to be better because it is messier. That is real romantic intelligence. It is not mocking idealism. It is testing whether idealism can survive contact with chemistry.

9

‘Return to Me’ (2000)

Image via MGM Distribution Co.

This movie could have been unbearable. That premise, widower unknowingly falls for the woman who received his late wife’s heart, could have gone wrong in about seventeen manipulative ways. But Return to Me works because it never treats the concept like a cheap twist. It treats it like an emotional problem that human beings are trying, with great difficulty, not to mishandle. Bob Rueland (David Duchovny) is not just sad in a polished rom-com way. He is genuinely hollowed out, moving through life like the shape of routine remained after the feeling got burned away. Grace Briggs (Minnie Driver), meanwhile, has this warmth and fragility that the movie is wise enough not to oversell.

What makes the film special is its decency. Not softness. Decency. It understands that both people are carrying something sacred and awkward and potentially disastrous into the relationship, and it lets the sweetness of their connection grow before the premise’s moral complication fully crashes down on them. The supporting ensemble helps too. In a nutshell — Return to Me is romantic because it believes love can arrive through grief without disrespecting grief, and that is a very hard balance to strike.

8

‘Untamed Heart’ (1993)

Image via Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

I have a real weakness for movies like this, films that are almost too vulnerable for their own good. Untamed Heart is not sophisticated in the cool, lacquered sense. It is emotionally naked. Adam (Christian Slater) is shy, wounded, inward, the kind of romantic figure modern movies are often too embarrassed to take seriously because sincerity now gets treated like something that needs defense mechanisms around it.

Caroline (Marisa Tomei) has more noise in her life, more chaos, more visible confusion, and the movie is smart enough to understand what would make these two people pull toward each other. Not just attraction. Recognition. The feeling of meeting someone whose loneliness rhymes with yours in a different key. And yes, the movie has that famous romantic-symbolism angle that some people find too much. I do not care. It works because the film’s emotional world is already pitched toward fable. What matters is that Untamed Heart knows love sometimes enters through protectiveness, through quietness, through being looked at by somebody who does not seem to want to consume you or perform around you. Tenderness feels erotic in this film and real ones know that hits different on a low-dopamine day.

7

‘One Fine Day’ (1996)

Image via 20th Century Studios

One Fine Day is two stressed single parents having a chaotic day in New York and falling for each other, and sure, that is the skeleton. But the reason it works is that Melanie Parker (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Jack Taylor (George Clooney) understand speed. They understand how adults under pressure flirt while pretending they do not have time to flirt. The movie is built on scheduling panic, childcare panic, work panic, urban panic, and that is exactly why the romantic current feels so satisfying. It has to sneak in through irritation.

And that grown-up quality is what makes the film more than just a pleasant studio romance. These people are not drifting around waiting for a meet-cute to reorganize their souls. They are busy, frustrated, overextended, carrying the low-level fatigue of people whose lives are already spoken for. So when chemistry starts happening, it feels earned in a very adult way. It feels like relief mixed with surprise. And New York helps enormously, as a city where timing, inconvenience, and momentum constantly shove people into each other’s orbit. One Fine Day gets the texture of that kind of accidental intimacy exactly right.

6

‘Crossing Delancey’ (1988)

Image via Warner Bros.

This is one of the greatest romantic films about a woman mistaking self-image for self-knowledge. Crossing Delancey follows Isabelle Grossman (Amy Irving) who is smart, cultured, ambitious, a little vain in the totally human sense, and deeply attached to the version of herself that belongs to one social world rather than another. That is what makes the movie so good. It is not just “career woman learns to appreciate nice guys.” It is about class taste, embarrassment, intellectual vanity, Jewish family expectation, urban loneliness, and the way romance often reveals where a person’s self-myth has started working against them.

And Sam (Peter Riegert) is such a wonderful romantic hero because the movie never turns his steadiness into blandness. Riegert gives him this dry, grounded, slightly wounded presence that makes him feel like a man who has already done the work of becoming a whole person and is now standing in front of someone still trapped by performance. The pickle man setup could have gone sitcom-broad in lesser hands. Instead the film lets the social and emotional awkwardness breathe. That is why Crossing Delancey feels so rich. It is not just about choosing between two men. It is about choosing between two versions of adulthood, one curated and impressive, one more ordinary and maybe more real.

5

‘The Truth About Cats & Dogs’ (1996)

Image via 20th Century Studios

This movie is so much smarter than people give it credit for. The premise already sounds like a romantic comedy pressure cooker, a radio host with low self-esteem uses her glamorous friend as a physical stand-in for a man she connected with over the phone, but what makes it work is how cruelly and accurately it understands comparison. And instead of abstract insecurity, it’s about comparison. The constant, exhausting way people build a second self out of what they imagine others would prefer.

Abby Barnes (Janeane Garofalo) is shy, funny, intelligent, competent, and still unable to believe those things can fully compete with visible beauty inside the romantic marketplace. That is why the movie hits. It knows the central deception is not only plot. It is psychological truth externalized. Noelle Slusarsky (Uma Thurman) is perfect for this too because the film never makes her just the pretty obstacle. She has her own loneliness, her own softness, her own sense of being read superficially by the world. So the triangle never becomes morally easy. And Brian (Ben Chaplin) works because the movie lets him feel genuinely drawn to both the mind he has met and the body he thinks belongs to it. That complication is the whole movie’s pulse. The Truth About Cats & Dogs is romantic, yes, but it is also painfully alert to how desirability scrambles identity.

4

‘The Baxter’ (2005)

Image via IFC Films

I will always go to bat for The Baxter because it understands one of the saddest truths in romantic comedy history: some people are structurally written to lose the girl in other people’s movies. That is such a funny, weird, secretly heartbreaking idea, and Michael Showalter milks it beautifully. Elliot Sherman (Michael Showalter) is the safety choice male lead. The nice guy who seems right on paper. The fiancé who exists in the final act so the heroine can realize she is meant for somebody else.

Most movies do not care what that person’s interior life feels like. The Baxter cares, and that is what makes it special. It is a meta-romantic comedy, yes, but it is never only clever about genre. It is emotionally invested in what repeated almost-love does to a person’s sense of worth. Elliot is so desperate to perform stability and likability that the performance itself becomes part of his sadness. Then along comes Michelle Williams in exactly the kind of role that can make a movie feel lighter just by entering the frame, and suddenly the film becomes about whether someone like Elliot can stop auditioning to be chosen and actually become emotionally present enough to choose. That is lovely.

3

‘Truly, Madly, Deeply’ (1990)

Image via The Samuel Goldwyn Company

Truly, Madly, Deeply is one of the rare ghost romances that genuinely understands the cruelty of recovery. This is one of the most emotionally devastating romantic films ever made because it understands that grief is possessive. Nina (Juliet Stevenson) is not just mourning Jamie. She is living in the afterlife of their relationship so completely that ordinary life has started feeling like betrayal. Then he comes back, and the movie turns it into a confrontation with mourning itself. What did she lose? What did she idealize? What did she freeze in amber because the person was gone and could no longer complicate the memory? That is the genius of the film.

The ghost is there to destabilize grief’s version of love. And because Jamie (Alan Rickman) brings so much warmth and wit and quiet exasperating humanity, the movie gets even sadder. He is lovable enough to justify her attachment and ordinary enough to make that attachment impossible to sustain as pure fantasy. That is what lifts Truly, Madly, Deeply into greatness.

2

‘Love Jones’ (1997)

Image via New Line Cinema

This is one of the most alive romantic films of the 1990s and it should be spoken about with far more reverence than it usually is. Love Jones gets something right that most romances either overpolish or completely miss: attraction between two intelligent, stylish, emotionally unfinished adults can be thrilling, frustrating, seductive, immature, generous, selfish, poetic, and badly timed all at once. The film follows Darius Lovehall (Larenz Tate) and Nina Mosley (Nia Long) and they’re two very specific people who want each other and still keep getting snagged on who they are when desire is not enough to solve the rest.

And the film’s texture is such a huge part of its greatness. The nightlife, the poetry, the music, the circles of friends, the flirtation as performance and sincerity interwoven, it all gives the romance an environment rather than just a sequence of scenes. That environment matters because the movie is really about emotional rhythm, how two people can be on the same wavelength in one moment and entirely out of phase in the next. Tate and Long are incredible partly because neither of them tries to smooth that out. They let attraction stay messy. They let pride and confusion and bad timing keep interrupting what could otherwise become some polished movie-love fantasy. That mess is exactly what makes Love Jones feel so true and so sexy.

1

‘The Lunchbox’ (2013)

Image via Sony Pictures Classics

This is number one because it understands something profound and almost unbearably tender about romance: sometimes love begins not with spectacle, not with chemistry in a room, not even with faces meeting, but with attention. Real attention. A wrong lunchbox gets delivered, notes start passing between two strangers, and suddenly the movie is inside one of the most delicate emotional premises imaginable. Ila (Nimrat Kaur) and Saajan (late Irrfan Khan) are not exactly young but inside lives shaped by disappointment, routine, grief, domestic invisibility, and the quiet ways a person can stop feeling seen while still technically remaining present in every room they are expected to occupy.

That is why the movie hurts so beautifully. Every letter becomes more intimate because it is crossing into spaces where speech had already failed. Food, routine, train schedules, office fatigue, apartment loneliness, all these ordinary structures become channels for emotional revelation. Khan was extraordinary. Kaur did something just as difficult, she lets hope emerge in a person who knows enough about life to fear hope’s cost. The film never cheapens what grows between them by forcing it into easy rom-com release. It understands that longing itself can be transformative, that being known by one person, even briefly, even imperfectly, can change the emotional contour of a life. That is romance in its purest form to me. That is why it is number one.

Brad Pitt has reportedly been completely turned off from marriage and is said to have no intention to even have kids again.

Despite his current romance with jewelry designer Ines de Ramon waxing stronger, insiders claim the actor’s bitter divorce from his ex-wife, Angelina Jolie, has made him averse to the thought of getting married.

Brad Pitt is also struggling with the emotional strain of being estranged from six of his children, whom he shares with Jolie, as most of them have opted to drop his last name.

Sources who spoke with the Daily Mail revealed that the chances of Pitt ever tying the knot again are extremely low due to the emotional and financial fallout from his previous relationship with movie star Angelina Jolie.

Besides his never-ending legal drama with the actress, Pitt also has to deal with the consistently widening rift between him and his six kids, who are primarily under Jolie’s care.

The four older children, Maddox, 24, Pax, 22, Zahara, 21, and Shiloh, 19, have distanced themselves from the actor, with Shiloh in particular, legally dropping Pitt from her name.

The twins, Vivienne and Knox, 17, are also now estranged from Pitt, as previous reports confirmed that he hardly gets to see them despite having court-mandated visits.

Insiders close to Pitt seem to blame the strained relationship on their mother, with a friend telling the news outlet that “there has been a campaign of alienation [by Jolie] which has been successful.”

“The antagonism is huge,” they added. “He has been alienated from the kids completely. It is devastating to him.”

These challenges have seemingly left Pitt with a bad taste in his mouth when it comes to the idea of marrying for a third time or having more kids.

The Actor Doesn’t Have Marriage On The Cards Despite His ‘Happy’ Relationship With Ines de Ramon

Pitt and de Ramon have been dating since 2022 and have even reportedly moved in together. The couple is said to be “very happy,” with the actor enjoying the “peace” and “support” of his “easygoing” partner.

Pitt is also enjoying a career resurgence after starring in the critically acclaimed “F1,” with three more movies in the can.

However, despite the positive state of his love life and career, sources noted that when it comes to the question of a third marriage, the answer is a firm “no” for the 61-year-old actor.

Friends of Pitt noted that at this point, they can no longer see him tying the knot again or even having more children.

“He has a great partner whom he appreciates, but there is no rush in that direction,” a source said, per the Daily Mail.

Brad Pitt’s Rift With His Kids Linked To Alleged 2016 Private Jet Incident

The rift between Pitt and his kids can be traced back to an unfortunate incident that took place in September 2016 on a private jet.

It was alleged that at the time, Pitt, in a drunken moment, poured alcohol on his family, told the kids their mother was “crazy,” and got physical with one of the children after shoving Jolie.

While the actor has consistently denied being a domestic abuser, the allegations have lingered to this day and seem to be at the heart of his estrangement from his kids.

Both Maddox and Pax have since dropped Pitt’s last name, opting to use only Jolie in the credits of films they have worked on.

Zahara, like her brothers, also began using just Jolie when she began college. Fourth child, Shiloh, dropped the name legally right after turning 18, while Vivienne notably opted not to be identified with her dad’s name in the credits of a musical adaptation she worked on in 2025.

More recently, the actor was noticeably absent from Zahara’s graduation from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia.

Sources told TMZ that Pitt did not “reach out” ahead of the graduation, adding that “nothing prevented him from showing up for her. Or ever visiting her.”

These remarks have since alarmed people in Pitt’s circle, as they accuse Jolie of being “manipulative” and “evil.”

The Actor Still Has Hope For Reconciliation With His Six Children

Regarding Pitt’s absence from Zahara’s graduation, a source told the Daily Mail that the actor was simply faced with a hard situation due to the estrangement from his children.

They noted, “You can’t have it both ways – to promote a complete estrangement and then criticize someone for not going to an event when you’ve made sure that they would not be welcome.”

“That’s not a situation which he created,” the source added.

Despite how bitter things have become, a friend said that Pitt is still hopeful for a reunion with all six of his children, citing the past feud between Alec Baldwin and his daughter, Ireland, who have now become close in recent years.

“He continues to hope that one day a reconciliation is possible,” the insider noted. “There’s a hope that in time they will all find each other.”

Brad Pitt Is ‘Happier Than Ever’ With Ines de Ramon

While marriage may not be on the cards for Pitt and de Ramon, the couple is reportedly content with how things are right now and very serious about each other.

Last October, a source told People Magazine that Pitt and de Ramon are now fully living together, noting that the actor always makes sure to include the jewelry designer in his plans as she makes him happy.

“Brad is really including Ines in all his travel plans, and when they are home, they just relax together,” the insider said. “They are really making their home into a home.”

Another source specified that Pitt, in particular, is “so happy and in love” as he and de Ramon make future plans as a couple.

Earlier this year, Academy Award winner Cillian Murphy said goodbye to his most beloved franchise, as he donned his flat cap once more as Tommy Shelby in the Netflix feature Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man. Scoring 25.3 million views in its first three days of release, the movie was a huge hit on the streamer and proved so popular that the plans for it to end the Peaky saga were scrapped, with creator and writer Steven Knight continuing the story with two 6-episode seasons.

Before Peaky Blinders returns, albeit without the genius Murphy, one of the Irish actor’s most underrated movies is heading to a new streamer. The film in question is Red Eye, a 2005 thriller starring Murphy alongside Rachel McAdams (Send Help) and Succession‘s Brian Cox. The movie follows hotel manager Lisa Reisert (McAdams) as she bumps into the charming Jackson Rippner (Murphy) whilst attempting to fly home. Thinking she has struck luck when they are seated next to one another, it quickly becomes clear that this was no accident, with Jackson hiding a dark secret.

At the 2005 box office, the movie was a quiet success, earning just shy of $100 million against a reported budget of $26 million. This success was no doubt helped by the pedigree of the movie’s director: horror icon and all-round Hollywood legend Wes Craven. Critics were fond of the film too, with Red Eye “certified fresh” at 80% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with critics calling the film “slick fun,” “electric,” and “a simple, straightforward, surprisingly effective thriller with a minimum of gimmickry.” Over two decades on, and you can officially catch this underrated Murphy effort on Starz, starting June 1, 2026.

What Is Cillian Murphy Doing Next?

Alongside an as-yet-untitled Damien Chazelle movie, Murphy’s next project is as part of the ensemble in one of the most exciting returning horror movies. No, it’s not the next installment in the 28 Years Later trilogy; it’s A Quiet Place Part III, which features Murphy alongside the returning Emily Blunt and Jason Clarke. John Krasinski will be back behind the camera for the threequel, which recently kicked off production, as announced via a first-look image on The Office star’s social media.

Cillian Murphy’s Red Eye officially joins Starz this June 1. Make sure to stay tuned to Collider for more updates on the latest streaming news.

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Release Date

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2024 – 2026-00-00

Network

ITV1

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Directors

Kieron Hawkes

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  Lesley Sharp

  Madeline Delaney

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