Entertainment
The 6 Best Books Released Since 2000
A strange thing happens with truly great novels. Their premise stops being the part you remember most. Years later, what comes back is a moral complication, a voice, a particular room, the feeling of somebody making the wrong choice for reasons you understand too well. Plot gets you inside. The book’s way of seeing people is what follows you home.
That is especially true of the six novels on this particular list. They deal with slavery, migration, political power, cloning, parenthood, and the collapse of civilization, yet none of them can be reduced to the large subjects printed on their jackets. Their real force comes from making history and systems feel painfully private. Or maybe let’s put it this way — these are books that keep expanding after you finish them.
6
‘The Underground Railroad’ (2016)
The Underground Railroad follows Cora, an enslaved young woman on a Georgia plantation who escapes with Caesar and discovers that the Underground Railroad is literally operating beneath the country through hidden stations and trains. Colson Whitehead takes a historical network and makes it physical, then uses each stop on Cora’s journey to expose a different American method of controlling Black life. South Carolina initially offers apparent safety. North Carolina reveals another form of terror. The geography keeps changing, while the larger machinery of racism simply learns new disguises.
That speculative choice gives Whitehead enormous freedom without loosening the historical weight. Slave catcher Ridgeway pursues Cora with an almost ideological devotion, treating her escape as an insult to the national order he believes in. Cora’s own understanding of freedom keeps evolving because survival in one place does not guarantee dignity in the next. The novel won both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, but its staying power comes from how naturally history, horror, adventure, and allegory coexist. It moves quickly enough to feel dangerous and leaves enough behind to make every station worth thinking about afterward.
5
‘Never Let Me Go’ (2005)
Kathy H. remembers growing up at Hailsham, an English boarding school where the children are encouraged to create art, remain healthy, and accept rules whose real purpose they barely understand. Never Let Me Go gradually clarifies that Kathy, Ruth, Tommy, and their classmates were created as organ donors. Their lives have been designed in advance by a society that prefers not to look too closely at the human cost of extending everyone else’s. Kazuo Ishiguro never turns that discovery into a conventional rebellion story. The horror is that these characters have been raised so completely inside the system that its limits feel almost natural to them.
Kathy’s calm narration is devastating because memory does most of the emotional work. She recalls schoolyard jealousies, cassette tapes, friendships, sex, minor betrayals, and the possibility that love might somehow earn two people more time. Tommy’s childhood anger becomes more painful once adulthood explains what he could sense without understanding. Ruth’s behavior also grows richer when insecurity and regret begin catching up with her. Ishiguro makes an enormous ethical crime visible through people remembering very ordinary days, which is precisely why the book hurts. The science fiction stays quiet. The humanity does not.
4
‘Pachinko’ (2017)
Pachinko begins with Sunja growing up in a poor Korean family during Japanese occupation and follows the consequences of one relationship across generations. After becoming pregnant by Koh Hansu, a wealthy married man, she accepts a marriage proposal from Isak, a Christian minister who takes her to Osaka. Japan offers the family opportunities Korea could not, but it also places them inside a society that treats Koreans as permanent outsiders. Children are born there, businesses are built there, and still the question of belonging refuses to disappear.
Min Jin Lee makes that history intimate through money, food, work, education, marriage, religion, and the small humiliations people learn to anticipate before entering a room. Sunja selling kimchi to support her family carries as much importance as larger historical events because survival is built from those decisions. Noa tries to move through Japanese society by distancing himself from what others despise about his background. Mozasu finds another path through the pachinko business, where luck, manipulation, and economic possibility sit together rather neatly. The novel spans decades without losing sight of the people paying for those decades. You finish with the feeling that one family has somehow taught you an entire century.
3
‘Wolf Hall’ (2009)
Thomas Cromwell is usually remembered as one of the cold operators surrounding Henry VIII. Wolf Hall does something far more interesting. Hilary Mantel enters his perspective during the king’s effort to end his marriage to Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn, turning Tudor politics into a world of negotiations, debts, religious pressure, memory, family alliances, and people constantly measuring what another person might want. Cromwell begins the novel carrying the death of his wife and daughters while navigating the political collapse of his mentor Cardinal Wolsey.
The pleasure is in watching how quickly his mind works. Cromwell remembers favors, recognizes weaknesses, understands money, and notices when somebody’s public position no longer matches the private reality underneath it. Mantel’s present-tense prose keeps sixteenth-century England from feeling embalmed, while the famous use of “he” pulls the reader unusually close to Cromwell’s consciousness. Henry remains dangerous partly because everybody around him has to convert royal desire into lawful reality. Anne is equally alert to the stakes of every conversation. Wolf Hall won the Booker Prize and began one of modern historical fiction’s greatest trilogies, yet the immediate appeal is simpler. Politics has rarely felt this alive at table level.
2
‘The Road’ (2006)
Few books make love feel this practical, frightened, and necessary. A father and son travel south through a burned America in The Road, pushing their possessions in a shopping cart and trying to survive cold, hunger, armed strangers, and a landscape where almost nothing living remains. Cormac McCarthy removes nearly every comfort associated with post-apocalyptic adventure. There are no rebuilding montages, clever factions, or exciting scavenger runs. Food means another day. A locked cellar can contain something worse than starvation. The father’s entire idea of the future has narrowed to keeping the boy alive long enough to reach somewhere safer.
That simplicity makes every moral decision enormous. The father has learned to distrust almost everyone, while the boy keeps asking whether compassion still has a place in a world where kindness can be fatal. Their language about “carrying the fire” becomes a way of preserving some idea of goodness when civilization can no longer enforce one. McCarthy’s stripped prose can make a can of Coca-Cola, a remembered meal, or a shared blanket feel almost sacred because scarcity has changed the value of ordinary things. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize, though awards are almost beside the point once these two begin walking.
1
‘The Known World’ (2003)
The Known World won the Pulitzer Prize in 2004, but its greatness sits deeper than recognition. The book begins with the death of Henry Townsend, a formerly enslaved Black man in antebellum Virginia who became a slaveholder himself. That fact immediately disrupts any comfortable way of organizing the world around him. Henry owns people because the society he lives in has taught him that property, race, status, and freedom can coexist inside grotesque contradictions. After his death, the plantation begins losing its fragile order, and Edward P. Jones widens the story through Henry’s widow Caldonia, the enslaved people he owned, neighboring families, white authorities, and lives that will continue long after the immediate events have passed.
Jones refuses to arrange these characters according to easy moral categories. A person can suffer under one hierarchy and still participate in another. Affection can exist inside ownership without making ownership less monstrous. The narration moves freely across time, sometimes telling us what becomes of a seemingly minor character decades before the present story reaches that future, which gives the novel the eerie authority of a historian who already knows where everybody ends up. That structure turns one Virginia county into a complete social system with memory stretching in every direction. The Known World literally makes American history harder to simplify once you have lived inside its contradictions.
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James Gunn is back on social media once again, doing what he does best — interacting with fans. The DC filmmaker takes time out of his busy schedule to reply to comments, while also addressing rumors and speculation about upcoming DC projects, including this recent one involving the Blue Beetle animated series.
Recently, DC announced it would be scrapping some projects, some of which were initially announced when Gunn and Peter Safran took over DC in 2023 and announced “Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters”. So it comes as no surprise that people started speculating another DC project was added to that list of shelved projects, despite the filmmaker confirming in the past that it was still in the works.
On social media, a fan asked Gunn whether Blue Beetle was scrapped after a video by another content creator reacted to news that the animated show was cancelled. In response, Gunn reminded people that he had previously addressed Blue Beetle‘s status and that the cancellation rumors were not true. Responding to rumors has been a common thread in Gunn’s social media activity; in the past, he had to address misinformation about the upcoming Batman project, The Brave and the Bold, as well as rumors about a Teen Titans adaptation.
What Is ‘Blue Beetle’ About?
Blue Beetle is an upcoming DC animated superhero series that follows Jamie Reyes, aka Blue Beetle. In 2023, a live-action adaptation of the superhero’s origin story was released, starring Xolo Maridueña (Cobra Kai), and also featured Bruna Marquezine as Jenny Kord, Raoul Trujillo (Dutton Ranch) as Ignacio Carapax, Susan Sarandon (Rick and Morty) as Victoria Kord, and Becky G as the voice of Khaji-Da, the sentient entity that controls the Scarab that gives Jamie his powers. Blue Beetle made over $130.8 million worldwide and received a 78% critics’ score and a 90% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. The plot for the animated series has yet to be revealed, as well as a full cast list, but Maridueña will reprise his role in the show. Additionally, Maridueña will return as Blue Beetle in the upcoming DC film Man of Tomorrow, which features a team-up between Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) and Superman (David Corenswet) as they face a bigger threat: Brainiac, played by Lars Eidinger.
The Blue Beetle animated series has not yet announced a release date. You can stream the live-action adaptation on HBO Max. Follow Collider for more updates.
- Release Date
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August 18, 2023
- Runtime
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128 minutes
- Director
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Ángel Manuel Soto
- Writers
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Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer
- Producers
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John Rickard, Zev Foreman
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are moving on to the next phase of their married life with a home purchase. The pair may have found the perfect place to call home for the foreseeable future.
As intense public attention continues to swirl around their relationship, it is only natural that they find a home with a mix of quiet and elegance.
The luxury home sits inside Bratenahl, a tiny Ohio village known for its population of millionaires, prominent business figures, and residents who do not shy away from protecting their famous neighbors.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Kelce reportedly finalized the purchase of the Lake Erie property in March this year. The NFL star closed the deal about four months before his wedding took place at Madison Square Garden.
The audacious lakefront estate in Bratenahl, Ohio, sits on a 3.5-acre lot that measures about 21000 square feet.
Kelce reportedly purchased the property from Figurati Construction Group, which initially got the estate in 2023 for a whopping $1.95 million. However, the home underwent vigorous renovations before it was put on the market.
In 2024, when the company first listed the property, it was going for $6.99 million; however, when it fell to $5.99 million, Kelce decided to seize the opportunity to purchase it.
Reports suggested that Kelce’s new home became the highest recorded residential sale in the area. The listing agents David Ayers and Nick Zawitz celebrated the successful transaction, saying they were “so excited for Cleveland.”
Although this is a huge buy for the couple, it is unclear if the mansion will become their primary place of residence or just a vacation home.
The Newlyweds Have Yet To Reveal Their Plans For The Mansion
While the purchase has been finalized and all parties are satisfied, Kelce and Swift have not spoken about their plans for the new place. There is still no news yet on when they will move into the home or how frequently they will reside there.
The newlyweds already boast of several amazing homes across the United States, making it difficult for anyone to know what plans they have for the property.
Kelce still maintains a home he purchased in 2023, shortly after his relationship with Swift became public. The mansion is situated in Leawood, Kansas. Swift, in turn, has a vast real estate portfolio with properties in Nashville, Rhode Island, New York City, and California.
For now, fans can only see this new property as another notch on the couple’s belt.
Taylor Swift And Travis Kelce Will Reportedly Have ‘Privacy’ In Ohio
Per Page Six, the residents of Bratenahl are supposedly elated about the newest addition to their area. The possibility of spotting Swift and Kelce has brought excitement to them, and they promise not to bother the newlyweds.
“They will have privacy,” an insider told the outlet, stating that LeBron James’ experience in the Cleveland area is more than enough proof that the residents know how to coexist, especially with their famous neighbors.
Another source admitted that residents would love to see Swift at the nearby Shoreby Club, but said people were mostly curious about whether the couple would spend significant time at their new property.
The quiet reaction from residents could be particularly appealing to Swift and Kelce, whose relationship, engagement and eventual wedding generated enormous international attention.
The New Home Brings The NFL Star Back Near His Childhood Home
While Swift and Kelce have connections to several cities, this new home is dear to the NFL star’s heart because it is just a short drive away from Cleveland Heights.
Kelce grew up in the Cleveland suburb alongside his older brother, former Philadelphia Eagles player Jason Kelce. The siblings have continued celebrating their Ohio roots through their “New Heights” podcast.
The property gives the Chiefs tight end a luxurious base near the place where his football career began. It also offers the couple an alternative to larger celebrity hubs such as New York City and Los Angeles.
Although Kelce’s arrival in this quiet area has now put the community on the map for huge attention, the residents still appear to welcome them with open arms. They are also determined to preserve the sense of privacy that made Bratenahl an attractive place for prominent homeowners.
Travis Kelce’s New Estate Comes With Resort-Style Amenities
Kelce’s new property reportedly offers much more than privacy, as advertised by the residents. Reports reveal that the mansion known as Moyenage was built in the 90s by a Chicago-based architect known as Harvis Hunt.
The key features in the mansion include eight bedrooms and 11 bathrooms. Other incredible attributes include a media room, fitness facilities, a wine cellar, fireplaces, and a five-car garage.
A former ballroom has been converted into a large entertainment space containing a game room and home theater. The property also reportedly features billiards and poker areas, giving the residence several places for hosting guests.
The estate is also conveniently located near Burke Lakefront Airport, which Page Six reported is approximately seven minutes away.
Tammy Rivera had a full-on mommy moment in the comment section of her daughter Charlie Rivera’s last social media post. Charlie shared some cute snapshots from her summer, but Tammy wasted NO time bringing a lil’ parental energy right on over to the pics.
RELATED: All Me, For Real! 5 Facts About Tammy Rivera That’ll Have You Saying “She Really Did That”
Not Mama In The Comments! Tammy Rivera Had A Lil’ Reminder For Charlie Rivera
Recently, Charlie Rivera dropped a lil’ summer recap on Instagram, sharing snapshots of moments with her friends, her mom Tammy Rivera, and Tammy’s boo, Kosher Oasis. One flick shows Charlie chucking up two peace signs while Tammy and Kosher look like they’re putting in work in the background during an event. Tammy slid into Charlie’s comment section with a lil’ joke of her own, writing, “Look at me and my man looking like help… oh we was my bad lol.” Charlie clearly got a kick out of her mom’s comment, responding with four laughing emojis.
Besties For Life! Charlie Doesn’t Play About Her Mom
Outside of their funny family moments, fans also love seeing Tammy and Charlie show each other some mother-daughter love on social media. Back in July, Charlie shared the sweetest post to celebrate Tammy’s 40th birthday on July 30. Charlie dropped a carousel filled with sweet snapshots, including a few throwbacks, and paired the pics with a heartfelt message calling her mom her best friend and thanking Tammy for standing by her through every chapter of her life.
“Happy Birthday to the woman who gave me life, my biggest supporter, and my best friend. 🤍 Thank you for always loving me, believing in me, and being there through every chapter of my life. I wouldn’t be who I am without you. I pray this year brings you as much happiness, peace, love, and success as you bring to everyone around you. You deserve the world and so much more. I love you forever. Happy Birthday, Mom! 🎂🎉✨” Charlie captioned the post.
Forever Her Baby! Tammy Doesn’t Play About Charlie
Tammy doesn’t play about Charlie either! At the beginning of July, she celebrated Charlie’s birthday with a heartfelt post of her own. Tammy told fans that she and Charlie planned to be outside celebrating their birthdays together since her own big day was coming up on July 30. She also reminded Charlie that no matter how old she gets, she’ll always be her baby.
“Thank you for making me a mama. No matter how grown you get, you’ll always be my baby.” Tammy continued, “Keep chasing your dreams, keep being exactly who you are, and never forget that I’ll be cheering for you every single step of the way. I’m so blessed that God chose me to be your mom.
I love you forever, bookie.”
RELATED: Tammy Rivera Doesn’t “Recognize” Herself After Lifestyle Change, But She & Her Man Are “Really Happy” (PICS + VIDEOS)
What Do You Think Roomies?
Paramount Pictures and Legendary Entertainment have unleashed a new trailer for Street Fighter, giving fans another action-packed look at the upcoming live-action adaptation of Capcom’s legendary fighting franchise.
The trailer debuted as Paramount and Legendary kicked off the film’s global World Warrior Tour in Tokyo, bringing the movie back to the country where the Street Fighter franchise was born.
Street Fighter [legendary pictures]
Set in 1993, Street Fighter follows former friends and fighters Ryu and Ken Masters, played by Andrew Koji and Noah Centineo. After growing apart, the two are pulled back into the fight when Chun-Li, played by Callina Liang, recruits them to compete in the World Warrior Tournament.
What initially appears to be a battle to determine the world’s greatest fighter soon becomes something much more dangerous, with a conspiracy lurking behind the tournament and Ryu and Ken eventually forced to confront both each other and their pasts.
The latest footage continues to embrace the wild personality of the games, mixing martial arts action with the colorful characters and larger-than-life style that have defined Street Fighter for decades.
Cody Rhodes as Guile [paramount]
And there are plenty of familiar faces joining the fight.
The massive cast includes Jason Momoa as Blanka, David Dastmalchian as M. Bison, Cody Rhodes as Guile, Joe “Roman Reigns” Anoa’i as Akuma, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson as Balrog, Vidyut Jammwal as Dhalsim, Orville Peck as Vega, Olivier Richters as Zangief, Hirooki Goto as E. Honda and Mel Jarnson as Cammy. Eric André also appears as tournament announcer Don Sauvage.
Kitao Sakurai directs the film, which is produced by Legendary Pictures in association with Capcom. Sakurai recently explained that his goal was to avoid making an “off-the-shelf” video game movie, instead leaning into martial arts cinema, comedy and the distinct personality of the games.
Street Fighter hits theaters on October 16, 2026.
Summary
- Collider’s Steve Weintraub talks with Gal Gadot for Prime Video’s The Runner.
- Gadot discusses her extensive training, channeling Tom Cruise, and filming in London.
- She also teases her hopes for the Fast & Furious franchise and Doug Liman’s thriller, Bitcoin.
Recently, Collider spoke with Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot about Prime Video’s new action-packed thriller, The Runner, from director Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland). In the movie, Gadot plays a high-powered London attorney, Maia, whose morning jog is cut short by a cryptic phone call informing her that her son has been abducted. This anonymous caller explains that Maia must race through London and carefully follow a series of instructions — and that her son’s life depends on her participation in this sick game.
In this interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, which you can watch above, Gadot discusses Macdonald’s “cerebral and methodical” filmmaking, the whirlwind shooting experience in London, how Tom Cruise inspired her, and why she’s more interested in starring in “The Foodie” than The Runner 2. Gadot also comments on the upcoming final installment of the Fast & Furious franchise, and what it was like on the set of Doug Liman’s (Edge of Tomorrow) Bitcoin, working opposite Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea) and Pete Davidson (Saturday Night Live).
Gal Gadot Reveals What She Wants To See in the Final Fast & Furious Movie
Gadot plays Gisele Yashar in the franchise.
COLLIDER: The Fast & Furious franchise is about to end. It has a release date. I’m still not sure it’s getting made, but what do you hope happens in the final Fast & Furious movie?
GAL GADOT: Everybody come together and… I don’t know. I think part of the reason why it’s taking so long is to make sure that the script is being completely figured out in a perfect way, and I think it takes time. But I know there’s so many people involved who love this franchise — I’m one of them — and I hope we will finish on a very, very high, great note.
I do as well. And I do hope it comes back to LA full circle with the first film.
GADOT: That’s a great idea. You see. Why are you asking me? You have all the answers.
That’s what I would like.
Gal Gadot Channeled Tom Cruise for ‘The Runner’
The Mission: Impossible star kept her motivated throughout the shoot.
After making this movie, what is your current relationship with running? Is it love it, hate it, or never again?
GADOT: I have a love-hate relationship with running, but it’s better because before I simply hated running. So now it’s like, I love it, I know it’s good for me. It’s like eating broccoli: I know it’s good for me, it’s not my favorite, but after I choose to eat broccoli, I know I’ve made the right decision. It’s kind of the same thing. I didn’t fall in love with running, and that was my hope. But also, to be fair, it kind of abused the way we used the running. How can one expect to love running after I run an entire film all the time nonstop?
I think you did more running in this movie than Tom Cruise in all the Mission: Impossibles, because he’s always running. There’s the famous montage of him running. But in all seriousness, when you signed on for this, were you like, “Oh, I can do this,” and at what point in the shoot were you like, “What did I sign on for?”
GADOT: It’s funny you mentioned Tom Cruise. Tom Cruise was the one person I kept thinking about whenever it got really, really difficult. I was like, “You can do it. Tom Cruise does it. You can try and do it as well.”
I think it’s one of those things that you just take a big leap of faith and trust the process. None of us knew how exactly we were going to be able to film it and to capture everything. We weren’t able to lock down all of London. We had to have the camera guy on a skateboard or on rollerblades capturing everything, holding the camera at me, hardly being able to see.
It was like everything about making this film was challenging, and I like it. I like the idea of one overcoming a challenge, and also, as much as in my life I like certainty, I like to let the path reveal itself when you’re doing something creative like this. So, I just trusted the process, and I became as ready as I could. I trained for nine months, and that’s it. And we have a great movie.
There are a lot of shots where you are clearly running through real people in London. How many takes were actually ruined because people recognized who you are while you’re filming? Because they must see a camera. They see you.
GADOT: Not many, because they wouldn’t approach while we were shooting. People were very respectful. They had the double take and stuff, but they only approached me after we cut, which was great, because then not a lot of the shots were ruined.
But I can tell you a funny story. We were very limited when we were filming in the tube, and at one point I had to go, just me, my security guy, and the camera guy, to the tube to a different station, get on the thing, and just the both of us were filming it, and it was just me there. I had this, like, bloody cut on my forehead, and I was so worried that people would come, worried about me, and actually people didn’t mind it too much. I was telling the camera guy, “Wow, I thought people would be like, ‘Is everything okay? You have something. What’s going on?’” But that wasn’t the case. It was interesting. It was a social experiment that was very interesting to do.
If Kevin calls you tomorrow and says The Runner 2 takes place on a treadmill, are you taking his call or hanging up on it?
GADOT: So I told him that I think the sequence, if we had The Runner, the next one should be The Foodie. The one after it should be The Spa, or something like that, I think. I think the running kind of… It was a lot; let’s just put it this way.
Gal Gadot Teases Her New Doug Liman Thriller ‘Bitcoin’
She stars opposite Pete Davidson and Casey Affleck.
Before I run out of time with you, I’m a big fan of Doug Liman, and you did that movie with him called Bitcoin. What can you tell people about this film? Is it based on anything real, or is it a Hollywood take on it?
GADOT: I think it’s everything all together, and it’s crazy. We finished filming it a few months ago. It was a crazy experience. It was amazing to be able to work with Doug Liman and Pete Davidson and Casey Affleck. But the tone of the film is like Bitcoin — it’s real, but it’s not real at the same time type of thing.
One of the things about Doug that’s very unique is he will redo things like he’s a very unique filmmaker. So what was your experience working with Doug as compared to, say, Kevin on, on The Runner?
GADOT: Doug is so wonderful. He would try different things at different times. He’s very associative. He’ll have different ideas. He’ll have us reshooting a scene we already shot because he wants to play with it. He’s very that type of director.
And Kevin was amazing on this film. I feel like he’s more cerebral. He’s very methodical with the way that he films and the way that he thinks. He kind of knows what he wants to get from the very first moment.
The Runner is available to stream on Prime Video.
- Release Date
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September 2, 2026
- Runtime
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84 Minutes
- Director
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Kevin Macdonald
The Sergio Leone movie you’re probably most likely to have seen is The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. That one might well be the best, or at least you can understand why it’s the most iconic. The Sergio Leone movie you’re second most likely to have seen… uh, that’s a bit harder to guess. It’s something that isn’t The Colossus of Rhodes, which was his directorial debut. That movie came out in 1961, and it’s kind of understandable why few people know about it. It’s not very good, and Sergio Leone’s style doesn’t really shine through. It took until the Dollars trilogy for him to become recognized as a director, with the aforementioned The Good, the Bad and the Ugly being the final movie in that trilogy, even if it’s possible that it takes place before A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More chronologically.
Those movies didn’t make Sergio Leone legendary in his time, because spaghetti Westerns weren’t always taken seriously, and it feels like more people have come to recognize how good they are in the years since. Sergio Leone directed another loose trilogy after the Dollars films, and these ones also weren’t fully appreciated to the extent they should’ve been. Like, the Academy Awards aren’t everything, even when they get more things right, but none of Leone’s movies ever got a single Oscar nomination, which is kind of absurd, frankly, just for how they look and sound alone (Ennio Morricone’s scores are always a highlight). The second Leone trilogy has been more appreciated as time has gone on, too. It’s admittedly more of a thematic trilogy than the already loose Dollars trilogy, but the films share a “Once Upon a Time” motif in their titles, so that’s how they’re linked, and that’s why they’re being ranked. Well, one movie only kind of has “Once Upon a Time” in one of its titles. It’s complicated. Speaking of complications…
3
‘Once Upon a Time… the Revolution,’ AKA ‘Duck, You Sucker!’ (1971)
This is the complicated movie, when it comes to titles. It’s hard to know what to call this movie, which is the second of the Once Upon a Time trilogy, but isn’t often referred to by its “Once Upon a Time” title. The best title would be Once Upon a Time… the Revolution, though, because that links it with the other two movies, and it also sounds the best. Like, the most popular title is probably Duck, You Sucker!, which is the worst of the bunch. You’ll also sometimes see this movie called A Fistful of Dynamite, which is a tiny bit better, but still not as good as Once Upon a Time… the Revolution. A Fistful of Dynamite just feels like an attempt to link it to A Fistful of Dollars, and that’s misleading, because this is a considerably longer, bleaker, and more challenging Western than A Fistful of Dollars. Actually, it’s bleaker and more challenging than all the Westerns Leone directed (the genre for which he’s best known, since his only non-Westerns were The Colossus of Rhodes and his final film… but more on that final film a little further down).
Once Upon a Time… the Revolution is one of the most underrated movies of its era, or maybe even of all time.
Anyway, it’s Once Upon a Time… the Revolution. That’s the best title. Using it here might well help further the idea that it should be called that, over the other titles. Once Upon a Time… the Revolution is one of the most underrated movies of its era, or maybe even of all time, and it’s fantastic, to the point where having to rank it last here hurts. But it’s the kind of film that might get, like, an A-, if you were grading it, while the other two Once Upon a Time movies are both well and truly A-grade, or possibly even worthy of an A+. Once Upon a Time… the Revolution does indeed play out against the backdrop of the 1910s Mexican Revolution, only just scraping by into the period of time that most Westerns take place in. It functions as a war movie at the same time, and then it’s also intensely tragic at points, being maybe the most drama-heavy of any Sergio Leone film. It’s offbeat and potentially not for everyone, but it’s got a lot to offer, and it’s extremely well-made, all the while having an admirably unique tone, too.
2
‘Once Upon a Time in the West’ (1968)
Unambiguously called Once Upon a Time in the West, this one is the first in the Once Upon a Time trilogy, and it’s pretty much a coin flip between this and the other movie, if you’re trying to determine the best of the bunch. Once Upon a Time in the West is also the Sergio Leone Western that you might well find people placing above The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and it’s hard to be envious of the people making such a decision, because it’s very hard to pick a favorite of the two. Leone just knew how to make a Western, and Once Upon a Time in the West is perfect while being very different tonally and pacing-wise from the also pretty much perfect The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. There are four main characters here, and the plot mostly involves a bloody dispute over a piece of land that’s highly desirable. That’s simplifying things a bit. Once Upon a Time in the West isn’t really too narrative-focused.
What it does dramatically is still interesting, and there is eventually a ton of emotion here, once certain things come to light in the film’s final act. Once Upon a Time in the West does draw things out before then, miraculously without ever feeling boring. That’s especially apparent in the long opening scene, which has a trio of people waiting at a remote train station for another person to arrive. That’s it. You’re watching people wait, and Leone makes it entertaining. The same goes for a good many other sequences that can’t really be called set pieces, because they’re not particularly explosive or action-packed, but they’re riveting in unexpected ways. The whole movie is kind of like that, and it’s hard to put into words just what works so well about Once Upon a Time in the West. You also can only go so far in trying to rave about how good this film looks and sounds, too. Everyone brought their A-game, and it really does feel like Sergio Leone’s ambitious vision for the whole epic was well and truly realized.
1
‘Once Upon a Time in America’ (1984)
Once Upon a Time in America shook things up, as an entry in Sergio Leone’s filmography, by being his sole gangster movie, and also being the only one based on a book. It’s not super accurate to say it’s the only Sergio Leone movie based on a pre-existing story, since A Fistful of Dollars was rather infamously an unofficial remake of Yojimbo, but yeah, still not a book. The source material here, a novel called The Hoods, by Harry Grey, is fairly obscure. And it was published in 1952, while Once Upon a Time in America spans decades and ends up in the 1960s, so it’s not a direct adaptation or anything. To keep the focus on the film, it doesn’t really start in the 1910s and end in the 1960s, because it’s told in a non-chronological way… but the earliest events in the movie take place during the former decade, and the final events (chronologically speaking) of the movie take place in the latter decade.
So, to call Once Upon a Time in America an epic would be an understatement, because it’s about a long stretch of time, and then it’s also about four hours long, too. Or it’s a bit longer, if you watch the most complete cut. It’s only the severely cut-down original U.S. cut that has to be avoided, because it was chopped down to 139 minutes, and the storytelling was made chronological. It ruined the film, or that’s what the people who saw that cut say, and you have to go by their opinions because that’s not a widely available cut nowadays. Once Upon a Time in America probably stood the best chance of being properly appreciated in its time, since it was clearly a labor of love, and epic gangster movies had done well in the previous decade, what with The Godfather and its sequel coming out then and all. Honestly, Once Upon a Time in America is about at their level, quality-wise. It’s a more brutal and despairing gangster movie than even The Godfather Part II, and goes to some incredibly dark places, but with reason, and it’s powerfully done as a stark look at crime and a group of genuinely irredeemable gangsters. On a technical front, it matches how impressive Leone’s previous several movies had been, too. It’s unfortunate that Once Upon a Time in America ended up being a swansong, since it was Sergio Leone’s final film, and he wasn’t old when he passed away in 1929 (at 60 years of age). Still, what a legacy he ultimately left behind, and the three Once Upon a Time movies are all essential in strengthening said cinematic legacy.
Once Upon a Time in America
- Release Date
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June 1, 1984
- Runtime
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229 Minutes
- Writers
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Harry Grey, Leonardo Benvenuti, Piero De Bernardi, Enrico Medioli, Franco Arcalli, Franco Ferrini, Stuart Kaminsky, Sergio Leone
Counting On alum Joy-Anna Duggar decided to wait to publicly announce her pregnancy — and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Thank you all so much for the love on our pregnancy announcement,” Duggar, 28, wrote via her Instagram Stories on Wednesday, September 2. “We are over the moon and cannot wait.”
Duggar and her husband, Austin Forsyth, announced on Tuesday, September 1, that they are expecting another baby. The couple already share sons Gideon, 8, and Gunner, 2, as well as daughter Evelyn, 6. (Duggar suffered a stillbirth in 2019 and named her late daughter Annabell.)
“It’s [definitely] been challenging keeping it under wraps b/c [because] I feel like, with each pregnancy, I show sooner,” she noted on Wednesday. “But, having a lil time for us to soak this in quietly as a family has been so special.”
To share her pregnancy news, Duggar asked Gideon and Evelyn to snap maternity portraits in their family’s living room. In the images, Duggar cuddled up to Forsyth, 32, as they looked over sonogram photos.
“Decided to have the kids take these photos for us on a whim,” the former TLC personality wrote in a follow-up upload on Wednesday. “They turned out to be so cute.”
Joy-Anna is one of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar’s 19 children. She received a flurry of support from her siblings amid her pregnancy.
“Sooooo excited to meet this baby!!” Jinger Duggar replied, while sister-in-law Maddie Duggar added, “Sooooo excited to meet baby!!!! You look amazing ♥️.”
Joy-Anna Forsyth (née Duggar) is there for her sisters during their pregnancies, despite suffering a miscarriage in June. “I thought it was going to be a lot harder being around [Kendra Duggar (née Caldwell), Abbie Duggar (née Burnett) , Lauren Duggar (née Swanson), and Anna Duggar (née Keller) … because there are three sisters that […]
While raising her growing family, Joy-Anna has continued to honor Annabell, who died at 20 weeks.
“That was extremely hard. I felt like, at first, I was like, ‘I’m going to be strong and I’m going to push through this,’” Joy-Anna recalled of her loss on the Wednesday episode of Jinger’s podcast. “But after the dust settled and, like, a new normal had to start happening, it was really hard.”
She continued at the time, “I really had to work through a lot of hard things and … I guess in a lot of ways, I didn’t know how to handle it. I was like, ‘I don’t want to turn into this bitter person that just can’t move on from the past, like, I want to be able to work through this.’ It felt like I would never see light at the end of the tunnel.”
According to the influencer, the fog from her grief slowly began to lift after six months.
“True joy comes from the Lord, and I think my kids help me have a little bit of happiness here and there in the dark moments,” she recalled. “It is really hard to find joy in those hard moments.”
Days of Our Lives hints that with the current events happening in Salem, it seems like the perfect time for Chloe Lane (Nadia Bjorlin) to return and reconnect with her sister Joy Wesley (AlexAnn Hopkins) and with friends and maybe some old flames.
And we may see Chloe returning in the not too distant future. But it will not be Nadia Bjorlin in the role. Now, let’s talk about why Chloe is needed for storyline reasons, what Nadia Bjorlin said about her return. That’s a big red flag, and the actress who might be recast Chloe Lane, who is already on set and has been for a while.
Days of our Lives: Nadia Bjorlin Exits
So, it’s been almost 3 years since Nadia Bjorlin exited Days of Our Lives when Chloe Lane left Salem. That was October 2023. Chloe took off out of town after major relationship drama and what was rumored to be some behind the scenes possible real life drama as well. If you recall, Xander Cook (Paul Telfer) was involved with Chloe at that point and they had a hot and heavy romance and then Xander proposed.
And after a couple weeks of considering it, Chloe finally said yes and they were going to elope. But then she called it quits with Xander and that was when Chloe found out Xander was the biological father of Sarah Horton (Linsey Godfrey)’s little girl Victoria and things fizzled. In the end, it was just that Chloe felt like she and Xander were a rebound and she left him.
And then Chloe turned to Xander’s brother, Philip Kiriakis (John-Paul Lavoisier), who was one of her exes. If you recall, you know, they’d been off and on since her girl days back at Salem High. And then Chloe decided she’d had enough heartbreak and drama in Salem. So, Chloe and Philip left for New York City to get themselves both a nice fresh start.
Chloe Put Family First on DOOL
And the storyline at the time was that Chloe wanted to reunite with her son Parker Jonas and she wanted to be near her parents Craig Wesley (Kevin Spirtas) and Nancy Wesley (Patrika Darbo). So, Chloe and Philip decided that by leaving town they could focus on each other, their new relationship, and lead a quieter life close to her family and also to put her close to where there’s more opera career opportunities.
So, the timing of Nadia’s exit was suspect because it was around the time several women had been let go during that whole Albert Allar scandal. He was fired in August 2023. Camila Banis’s last air date as Gabi Hernandez was November 2023, right after Nadia made her exit. Martha Madison exited between the two of them. But she later came back, but she was part of all that firing spree as well.
And John-Paul Lavoisier’s exit was short-term to facilitate Nadia Bjorlin’s exit because he was back about a year later and then has been on the front burner of Days of Our Lives ever since. So, Philip told everybody when he came back that he and Chloe just didn’t work out. But the exes remain good friends and they recently talked. And this week we had Philip lecturing Joy Wesley for not telling Chloe or her parents about her back surgery and denying them the chance to come help out her and Alex Kiriakis (Robert Scott Wilson). Joy refused.
Big Clue on Days of our Lives
And the thing is though when they named somebody repeatedly that can be a clue about casting and recast. And in a recent interview Nadia Bjorlin said she turned down an offer to return to Days of Our Lives. She refused for a couple of reasons. But mostly that she now lives in Ireland. Her husband’s from there and they live there with their two kids. So, that’s a big reason not to rejoin the cast of Days. But the Chloe actress said it hurt her heart not to come back. But she essentially gave her blessing for another actress to take over as Chloe.
Days of Our Lives: Sofia Mattsson in Salem?
And meanwhile, we have another actress that’s been on set for more than 6 months who’s in a mystery role. That is former General Hospital star Sofia Mattsson, who landed an undisclosed role on Days. And that was announced back in March and they released the standard dressing room door photo behind the scenes.
She used to play Sasha Gilmore on General Hospital. But her contract wasn’t renewed and they wrote her out. And we’ve been wondering if there was a chance she would play recast resurrected Abigail Deveraux DiMera.
But signs point in another direction. For one thing, Sofia is a natural blonde. She’s from Sweden. She became an American citizen four years ago. And I mentioned her natural blonde, typical Swedish looks because in her Days casting announcement, her hair is a really dark brown, like Chloe Lane dark brown. I think Sofia Mattsson could be a great fit to play recast Chloe because it sounds like Nadia Bjorlin is never coming back to Days. And there’s several reasons to bring Chloe back even if Nadia didn’t want to come back and it forced a recast.
Chloe Needs to Return to DOOL
First off, her younger sister Joy is battling spinal stenosis while trying to trap her baby daddy Alex into a relationship. So Chloe may come back to set her sister straight and Chloe may want to rekindle things with Philip. He was her most recent Salem partner. But he’s back on good terms with Gabi Hernandez and they’re fake engage so she can do the Monte Carlo poker game with him.
So, I don’t know. I feel like Philip may not be a big part of a Chloe return if it’s happening. I tend to think if Sofia Mattsson is playing Chloe and there’s romance in her future, it would be with a different ex because we know Sarah is going to wind up back with Xander and that means Brady Black (Eric Martsolf) is going to need comfort after Sarah breaks his heart.
Brady and Chloe have been married. They’ve been engaged. They’ve been close friends for years. And any return of Chloe’s always pulls Brady in emotionally. If you remember, Philip was so jealous of Chloe and Brady, he faked his death. He used his prosthetic leg to frame Brady for killing him to get him out of the way. And of course, poor Brady’s always been unlucky in love. And now we’re waiting for the ball to drop when Sarah dumps him for Xander.
Rachel Interferes Again on Days?
But will Brady’s daughter Rachel Black (Lorelei Olivia Mote) accept Chloe being back in her dad’s life if she’s coming back? Because Rachel actively interfered with Brady when he was in a relationship with Chloe. She did the same thing to Ava Vitali (Tamara Braun), only much worse since Rachel had her kidnapped. When Chloe and Brady tried to rekindle, it was like 2022, 2023, Rachel made it very clear she only wanted her mom Kristen to be with Brady.
And Rachel was hostile to Chloe. And so she ultimately decided Brady had to prioritize things with Rachel. Chloe took a step back because she didn’t want to come between them. Brady hated that. And after Chloe walked out on Brady, that’s when she and Xander got involved. But we’ve seen big changes in Rachel over the last few months. She told her dad, Brady, that’s thanks to her Bay View therapist. Rachel now knows having Kristen in her life isn’t a good thing. And Rachel’s better off without her chaotic mom around, which is sad but true.
Not only that, but Rachel has also accepted that her dad Brady and mom Kristen won’t reunite romantically, and she seems to be okay with Brady dating Sarah now. And that’s a far cry from Rachel poisoning Sarah with pistachio ice cream knowing she’s allergic to tree nuts. If Chloe and Brady do wind up together again, if Chloe is indeed returning, I can see Rachel apologizing to Chloe for her past behavior.
Days of our Lives: Sofia Mattsson Debut Coming Up
Anyway, we’ll see if she is coming back. We won’t know for a few more months. But there’s clearly storyline reasons to have Chloe return, especially since it’s confirmed that Days reached out to Nadia Bjorlin about a return, which means the storyline dictated it, and that may be why they hired Sofia Mattsson.
The interview Nadia did about saying that Days wanted to bring her back was a recent interview. But she did not reveal when Days asked her to return. So, that doesn’t mean because the interview is new that the request was new. It might have been made many months ago. So, it was early this year when Sofia Mattsson was hired. So we’ll see, but the timeline seems to be a fit for them hiring her potentially as recast Chloe.
Throughout history, many fiction books have sold a remarkable number of copies; but only a few have been so commercially popular that they’ve gone down in history as the best-selling works of literature in history. There is nothing quite like sitting down with a good fictional story to read through and quickly grow addicted to, and the ten highest-selling fiction books of all time have clearly been so popular that millions upon millions of people were dying to get their hands on a copy.
From foundational fantasy masterpieces like The Hobbit to ancient texts like Dream of the Red Chamber, the best-selling fiction books ever published are proof that the joy of reading is a truly timeless thing. Even to this day, they continue selling millions of copies around the world, so that they will very likely never cease to be remembered as essential classics of the art form.
10
‘She: A History of Adventure’ (1887)
H. Rider Haggard‘s Gothic British novel She: A History of Adventure was originally serialized in The Graphic magazine between 1886 and 1887, until finally being published in book form that same year. The book, a massively influential pioneer of the lost world genre, was so immensely popular upon publication that it has never been out of print. A whopping 139 years after its publication in book form, it’s still just as enjoyable and admirable today as it was back then.
She has been able to sell around 83 million copies around the world.
Over the course of that nearly one-and-a-half century, She has been able to sell around 83 million copies around the world. It set a wholly new blueprint for fantasy fiction, and its influences can still be felt across adventure classics as foundational as Tarzan or as modern as Indiana Jones. But on top of being so iconic that everyone should read it at least once in their lives, even if only to be able to appreciate how influential it truly has been, it’s also just as fast-paced and fun to read today as it surely was back in the 19th century.
9
‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ (1865)
Nowadays, Lewis Carroll‘s Alice is one of the most iconic characters in all of English-language pop culture, and Wonderland is easily one of the best-known fictional worlds in the history of literature. It all had to start somewhere, though, and that “somewhere” was Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. This paragon of Victorian literature and pioneer of the literary nonsense genre helped usher in a new era of children’s literature, where books became less didactic and more focused on entertaining kids and helping their imaginations flourish.
It’s no wonder why Alice is far and way one of the best-selling fantasy books of all time, with its having sold around 100 million copies worldwide to date. Fum, whimsical, and wonderfully (pun not intended) imaginative, it’s such a fresh and creative novel that anyone—regardless of their age—should still be able to thoroughly enjoy it today. Many a fantasy book from the 19th century feels a bit dated by modern standards, but not Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, which is still one of the most important pillars of fantasy pop culture.
8
‘The Hobbit’ (1937)
It would be a later fantasy novel by J. R. R. Tolkien that would revolutionize the fantasy genre in a way that it had never seen before, but that isn’t to discredit the value and importance of the world’s introduction to Middle-earth, the magical children’s novel The Hobbit. The book was an immediate critical and commercial success, and that’s hardly surprising. This is, after all, the sort of book you know will be a masterpiece just from reading the first 10 pages.
The Hobbit has sold around 100 million copies worldwide, and even that still isn’t enough considering just how delightfully timeless, entertaining, and influential it has proven to be over the years. Whether as a bedtime story, as a breezy weekend read for a fantasy fan, or as a re-read for anyone who loves Middle-earth, it’s an absolutely perfect whose commercial success shouldn’t be surprising in the slightest.
7
‘Dream of the Red Chamber’ (1791)
Also known as The Story of the Stone, Dream of the Red Chamber is an ancient family saga penned by Cao Xueqin, considered one of the Four Great Classic Novels of Chinese literature—and thus, a must-read for anyone interested in the history of world literature. Surprisingly deep in its psychological scope and wonderfully intricate in its plotting, it follows the rise and tragic fall of a wealthy aristocratic family.
Since its publication over two centuries ago, Dream of the Red Chamber has sold over 100 million copies worldwide, a continued commercial success that’s nothing short of impressive for a text so old. Through its depth, thematic layeredness, and profoundly humanist and emotional tone, the novel has transcended cultural and language barriers over the centuries. It offers social commentary on themes like wealth and social decline that’s still shockingly timely in 2026.
6
‘And Then There Were None’ (1939)
British writer Dame Agatha Christie is one of the most legendary writers in the history of literature not only because she authored several of the most iconic thriller and mystery novels ever, but also because she’s the most translated author in history and the best-selling fiction writer of all time. A staggering number of those sales come from what’s both her highest-selling book ever and the highest-selling mystery book ever by an admirable margin: And Then There Were None, one of those essential thriller books everyone should read at least once.
To date, And Then There Were None has sold around 100 million copies around the world—over 20 million more than the next best-selling mystery thriller ever, Dan Brown‘s The Da Vinci Code. All of that commercial hype is perfectly warranted. And Then There Were None is a brilliant subversion of the whodunnit formula which has aged like fine wine, creating an atmosphere of psychological dread that’s still just as effective today as it surely was back in 1939.
5
‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ (1997)
Setting J. K. Rowling‘s condemnable personal views aside is always necessary when talking about the best-selling books in history, because there’s no conversation about the topic than can elude the highest-selling book series in history: Harry Potter. The most commercially successful novel of the bunch is the one that started it all, a children’s fantasy novel which revolutionized the publishing industry as a whole: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, published as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in the United States.
A landmark in the genre’s history whose nearly-unprecedented pop-cultural importance and level of influence simply can’t be overstated.
It’s one of the best fantasy books of the last 100 years, a landmark in the genre’s history whose nearly-unprecedented pop-cultural importance and level of influence simply can’t be overstated. Having sold around 120 million copies around the world to date, Sorcerer’s Stone continues to further enshrine itself as one of the most timeless pieces of children’s literature the world has ever seen.
4
‘The Alchemist’ (1988)
When it comes to world literature, few regions have had an output more historically important than Latin America. Case in point: the great Brazilian author Paulo Coelho, whose The Alchemist sold quite poorly when originally published in Portuguese. It was after finding a larger publisher and landing an English translation that slow-burning word-of-mouth (and even Coelho’s embracing of Internet piracy) would eventually transform what was originally a flop into one of the most widely-read novels in history.
This wonderful fantasy adventure has historically received some criticism for presenting ideas and themes that are at times deemed too simplistic, but it’s precisely the universal accessibility of its philosophical messages and musings that has allowed it to sell around 150 million copies worldwide. That’s without even counting the people who have read The Alchemist through the piracy that Coelho himself supported in an effort to get his book even further out there.
3
‘The Lord of the Rings’ (1954–1955)
As incredible as The Hobbit is and as massively influential as it was back in the ’30s, it wouldn’t be until the ’50s that Tolkien would publish an epic novel which would completely change the course of fantasy literature’s history: The Lord of the Rings, far and away one of the most ambitious books of all time. Published in three volumes, this fantasy epic is widely regarded as the greatest and most foundational of the entire 20th century.
Due to its often being sold in three separate volumes, the book’s sales numbers aren’t the clearest, but it’s generally accepted that it has sold a little over 150 million copies worldwide to date. Indeed, over the years, The Lord of the Rings has never ceased to be a pillar of modern fantasy, Tolkien’s writing having completely redefined the way several future generations of fantasy authors would approach the genre going forward.
2
‘The Little Prince’ (1943)
French author and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry‘s The Little Prince was written and illustrated by him at the suggestion of a publisher, who said that he should write a children’s book to calm himself during his self-imposed exile in New York during World War II. What Saint-Exupéry ended up writing is one of the most important novellas in history, the second most translated literary work ever published, right behind only the Bible.
It’s one of the most perfect fantasy books ever published, making the fact that it has sold around 200 million copies worldwide all the less surprising. Saint-Exupéry’s deceptively simple and charming prose is a great way to get children to enjoy The Little Prince, but the book hides such beautifully complex and profound truths about the human condition and being an adult that anyone, regardless of their age, should consider it essential reading.
1
‘A Tale of Two Cities’ (1859)
Calling Charles Dickens one of the greatest and most influential authors in the history of the English language could be considered an understatement, seeing as he’s almost universally hailed as the most prominent novelist of the Victorian era. For proof of why, one needn’t look any further than his best-selling work, the historical novel A Tale of Two Cities.
The book is an absolute masterpiece, but that doesn’t make it any less surprising or admirable that it has sold more than 200 million copies around the world since its publication, making it the best-selling fiction book in history. Dickens’ writing can feel a bit slow or overly dense at times, but A Tale of Two Cities is nevertheless a pretty-much-perfect must-read. It’s a truly timeless story about love, sacrifice, and revolution which will likely only continue to be a commercial juggernaut as the years continue to pass.
Unfairly or not, sequels have had a less-than-great reputation over who knows how many years now for being inferior to the stories that came before. It’s not exclusive to movies, since book sequels had existed before feature films were really a thing, but there have been a lot of movie sequels, to put it mildly. And some have missed the mark, or felt cynically made, potentially just existing to piggyback off the success of one movie. A sequel being worthy of standing alongside the original is desirable, of course, but then the instances where sequels are arguably better than the originals have proven rare enough that such films have been praised a ton (see The Empire Strikes Back, Toy Story 2, and debatably The Godfather Part II, which more than filled what were already some pretty big shoes).
To focus on one genre and one decade, though, the 2000s seemed like a pretty great one, in hindsight, for sequels to superhero movies. The following ones are all “first” sequels, in the sense that they’re all basically a “Part 2” to a single movie that came before. All but one of these sequels got a third movie, and all those third movies were inferior to the second ones, so the momentum wasn’t perfectly kept up in any example here. Still, the fact that in this decade, five superhero movies came out and improved upon originals that were already good to great in quality is worth celebrating, and so these sequels have all played a part in making superhero films as dominant as they have been throughout the 2010s and until now, too (the 2020s, at the time of writing).
5
‘X2’ (2003)
The first X-Men movie came out in 2000, and it was pretty good. For its time, it was pretty great. Nowadays, it’s pretty good. Quite a lot in the superhero/comic book movie sphere has surpassed it, including X2, which might not be the very best X-Men movie, but it’s a contender (and might only place behind the likes of X-Men: Days of Future Past and Logan, if the latter counts). It does what good sequels tend to do by hitting the ground running and giving more interesting things for most of the returning characters to do. If you want Professor Charles Xavier to do a lot, you might be disappointed, and the same goes for Cyclops, though the latter is infamously discarded across the first three X-Men movies, so it’s not as surprising that happens in X2.
Also, X2 looks ever greater when you see where the X-Men films went, because 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand is not very good at all, and unfortunately squandered the momentum the run of films up until that point had been building. Still, it’s good to just focus on what works, and X2 holds up well. It’s got better action than the first, a great villain played by Brian Cox, and a good mix of returning characters and interesting new ones (as people tend to say, Nightcrawler is indeed a highlight). This one just gets most things right, as far as superhero movies with ensemble casts go, and it’s definitely the best of the “original trilogy” of X-Men movies.
4
‘Blade II’ (2002)
Of all the movies here, Blade II is probably the furthest from great, but quality-wise, it still more than delivers. And also, of all the movies here, there’s probably the smallest difference in quality between it and the movie it’s a sequel to. Blade (1998) is quite good, and also fairly ahead-of-its-time, given it was a successful R-rated comic book movie at a time when that was quite the novelty. And for one more thing, calling Blade II better than Blade might not be the most popular opinion, since both are well-regarded, and Blade (1998) might be the slightly more consistent and straightforward film. It’s unlikely anyone would consider Blade: Trinity the best of the bunch, though.
There’s sufficient eccentricity here that gives the movie a bit more personality than the first, even if that first movie gives the title character a bit more to do.
That one’s a mess that makes X-Men: The Last Stand look not all that bad in comparison. Blade II is much easier to like, and it’s technically the strongest of the bunch, since Guillermo del Toro was brought in to direct this one, and though he didn’t go full del Toro, he went fairly hard on the del Toro-isms. There’s sufficient eccentricity here that gives the movie a bit more personality than the first, even if that first movie gives the title character a bit more to do, and is particularly appreciable as a shock to the system (so to speak) for superhero movies overall.
3
‘Hellboy II: The Golden Army’ (2008)
Guillermo del Toro did another superhero sequel a few years on from Blade II: Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Between then, he also directed the first Hellboy, so Hellboy II: The Golden Army feels heavier with his style, compared to Blade II, because both films feel more like passion projects, or movies where he had more control. Hellboy (2004) was not a huge hit, but a couple of years later, del Toro did Pan’s Labyrinth, and no, that one’s not a superhero movie, but it was a perfect movie. So del Toro probably had a lot of freedom going into his first post-Pan’s Labyrinth movie, and he poured it into Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Like the first, it wasn’t really a hit in the financial sense, though it did rock, at least.
Since The Golden Army, there have been two Hellboy movies not directed by Guillermo del Toro, and neither of them did well financially. The whole series seems a bit cursed, as far as box office is concerned. Also, the two more recent ones aren’t great, so at least del Toro’s are actually good. Money ain’t everything, and the important thing is that Hellboy II: The Golden Army has aged so well in the nearly 20 years since its release. It’s a great dark fantasy movie on top of being a fun and fast-paced superhero film, and it effectively set up a third installment that sadly never came to fruition. 2008 was a crowded year for superhero movies, so The Golden Army probably got buried under Iron Man and another film that’ll be mentioned shortly (since it was also an excellent sequel), though it’s held up well, and even if not enough people have watched it, you’ll probably struggle to find too many people who have watched it and don’t have nice things to say about it.
2
‘Spider-Man 2’ (2004)
Spider-Man 2 is so good. It’s so, so good. It’s perfect. How is it #2 here? Well, this rambling isn’t necessarily ranked, though if it was, there’s an argument to be made that the one movie that appears below is somehow even better than Spider-Man 2. With Spider-Man 2, though, this is about as good as a live-action Spider-Man movie can possibly be. And there have been other great ones, with Spider-Man: Brand New Day being quite recent at the time of writing, and also beloved, in part because it scratches the same itch as Spider-Man 2. Peter Parker is going through a lot in both, even by Peter Parker/Spider-Man standards. And he is the ultimate underdog/relatable hero, so the more he struggles, and the more he has to overcome, the better the story he’s at the center of usually is.
Having a great villain also helps, and you get that with Doc Ock here, who’s about as iconic as the already incredible Green Goblin, who was the main antagonist of Spider-Man (2002). As for Spider-Man (2002), that movie was also great, being even more important than the first X-Men movie for establishing just how a superhero film could be done on a proper blockbuster scale. The tone’s a bit chaotic with that first movie, and some of the effects don’t hold up, but otherwise, there’s not much done wrong in the first Spider-Man. So, to highlight Spider-Man 2 as a movie that does hold up, in its entirety, and improves upon just about everything found in that first film? It’s a pretty bold statement to make, but it’s accurate.
1
‘The Dark Knight’ (2008)
Christopher Nolan made his first superhero movie in 2005, when he directed Batman Begins, and that was also his first full-fledged blockbuster. Like with X-Men, Blade, and Hellboy, it was good for its time, albeit not quite as exciting nowadays. There are a few flaws that feel more evident nowadays, but the foundation is still good, and it was one of those first movies in a series that walked so that the next one could run. The Dark Knight actually didn’t run. It got in a monster truck, accelerated to 100 miles an hour in the span of a few seconds (it’s a really modded-out monster truck or something), ran over all the other runners, and crossed the finish line without being disqualified, somehow. It just did that much right, and proved that good.
It’s all undeniable. And like a long-distance runner who is allowed to mod a monster truck, use it instead of running, and then get away with murdering their competition, it’s hard for many movies to compete with The Dark Knight. It overshadows Batman Begins, and then it was too difficult to match, quality-wise, when it came to Nolan directing The Dark Knight Rises in 2012 (still, at least that movie’s better than X-Men: The Last Stand and Blade: Trinity). The Dark Knight goes above and beyond, in terms of what you’d expect out of a superhero/comic book movie, and also in terms of what you might expect from a sequel (even a good sequel). It really is simply that great.
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