BRYAN'S LISTS

IMPORTANT MODERN MYTHS:

1. The New Hero (Supes, Bats, Wonder)
2. The Monster (Universal monster movies)
3. The Alien Myth (Roswell, Area 51, abductions)
4. The Perfect Future (Star Trek) 
5. The Modern Answer (the Lovecraft mythos, the Black Mailbox)
6. The Great One Fallen (JFK, MLK, X., K.) 
7. The Beast Within (Freud, Jung, Kong, Bruce Banner)
8. The Land of Unlikeness (Bermuda Triangle, Atlantis, name your Eden)
9. The Dark Stranger (vampires, werewolves)
10. The Dark Future (zombies, apocalypse, Baptists)
11. The New Monster (serial killers)
12. The Great Endeavor (Apollo missions, Mars Direct)
13. The Liminal Throwback (Bigfoot & Nessie)
14. The Secret Society (Illuminati, Masons)
15. The Cult Leader (Manson, Jones, Koresh)
16. The Cult (name your pudding) 
17. The Genius (Einstein, Hawking)
18. The Failed Artist (Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Van Gogh, Poe)
19. The Great Man (John Wayne, the Governor of California)
20. The Great Woman (Mother Theresa, Catherine Hepburn)
21. The Princess (Princess Diana)
22. The Easy Answer (Creationism, No Child Left Behind)
23. The Geek Hero (Spiderman)
24. The Gangster or Gunslinger (Scarface, Shane, Beowulf)
25. The Pied Piper (Elvis)

 BEST HORROR FILMS:

1. Eraserhead
2. The Shining
3. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
4. Alien
5. The Exorcist
6. Psycho (1960)
7. Halloween (1978)
8. The Thing (1982)
9. The Fly (1986)
10. The Innocents
11. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
12. Rosemary's Baby
13. Silence of the Lambs
14. Suspiria
15. Beloved
16. Frankenstein (1931)
17. The Descent
18. Jennifer's Body
19. Blair Witch Project
20. The Rapture
21. Nosferatu (1922)
22. Ringu
23. Donnie Darko
24. King Kong (1933)
25. The Sixth Sense
26. Jacob's Ladder

BEST SCIENCE FICTION FILMS:

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. Bladerunner
3. Forbidden Planet
4. Alien
5. Dune
6. Moon
7. A Boy and His Dog
8. The Matrix
9. The Incredible Shrinking Man
10. Solaris (1972, 2002)
11. Metropolis
12. Bride of Frankenstein
13. Pi
14. Things to Come
15. THX 1138
16. The Prestige
17. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
18. Twelve Monkeys
19. Brazil
20. Planet of the Apes (1968)
21. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
22. Escape from New York
23. A Clockwork Orange
24. Gattaca
25. Star Wars (original serials)
26. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
27. Sunshine

(Runners Up:  Minority Report, A.I., Mad Max III, Predator, The Quiet Earth, Pitch Black, Dr. Strangelove, The Fountain, Terminator, The Mist, Videodrome, 1984) 

(Guilty Pleasures:  Starship Troopers, Total Recall, They Live, Barbarella)

BEST COMIC BOOK FILMS:

1. Watchmen 
2. The Hulk (2003)
3. Batman Returns
4. Batman: Dark Knight
5. Batman Begins
6. Batman (1989)
7. V for Vendetta
8. Akira 
9. X Men II
10. Spiderman II
11. Superman II
12. Persepolis
13. Hancock
14. 300
15. Sin City
16. Unbreakable
17. Blade
18. Daredevil (Director's Cut)
19. Iron Man
20. Superman (1978)
21. Constantine
22. The Crow
23. Heavy Metal
24. The Incredibles
25. The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys

BEST GRAPHIC NOVELS:

1. Watchmen
2. Dark Knight Returns
3. Arkham Asylum
4. The Killing Joke
5. Sandman
6. Powers
7. Lucifer
8. Marvels
9. Kingdom Come
10. Maus
11. Superman: Red Son
12. Promethea
13. Electra Assassin
14. Supreme Power
15. Sin City
16. Cerebus
17. Elf Quest
18. A Contract With God
19. Fun Home
20. V For Vendetta
21. From Hell
22. Persepolis
23. American Flagg
24. Love and Rockets
25. Concrete

(Runners Up:  American Splendor, Miracleman, Strangers in Paradise, Swamp Thing, Unstable Molecules, Y: The Last Man)

BEST FANTASY FILMS:

1. Excalibur
2. The Lord of the Rings (2001-03)
3. The Lord of the Rings (1978)
4. Quest for Fire
5. The Seventh Seal
6. Flesh and Blood
7. Wizards
8. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
9. Princess Mononoke
10. Conan the Barbarian
11. The Navigator
12. Braveheart
13. Gladiator
14. Black Orpheus
15. The 13th Warrior
16. Dragonslayer
17. The Golden Voyage of Sinbad
18. Thief of Baghdad (1940)
19. Legend
20. The Dark Crystal
21. Ladyhawke
22. Jason and the Argonauts
23. Hero
24. The Princess Bride
25. Time Bandits
26. The Sword and the Sorcerer

(Runner up:  The Last Unicorn)

BEST FANTASTIC FILMS:

1. Wings of Desire 
2. Wild At Heart
3. Raiders of the Lost Ark 
4. The City of Lost Children
5. Lost Horizon
6. Dark City
7. Pan's Labyrinth
8. Spirited Away
9. The Truman Show
10. Ghost
11. The Navigator
12. The Secret of Roan Inish
13. The Wizard of Oz
14. Return to Oz
15. The Nightmare Before Christmas
16. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
17. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1973)
18. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
19. Edward Scissorhands
20. Ghostbusters
21. Dogma
22. Army of Darkness
23. Big Trouble in Little China
24. The Fisher King
25. Field of Dreams

 BEST FANTASTIC TV SERIES:

1. Star Trek (TOS)
2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
3. Battlestar Galactica (New series)
4. The Twilight Zone (first two incarnations)
5. The X-Files
6. Star Trek (DS9)
7. Dr. Who (any version)
8. Millennium
9. Heroes
10. Lost
11. Babylon 5
12. Angel
13. The Prisoner
14. Firefly
15. Xena
16. Lois & Clark
17. Futurama
18. Science Fiction Theater
19. Wild, Wild West
20. The Bionic Woman
21. Batman (the cartoon)
22. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
23. Justice League (the cartoon)
24. Samurai Jack
25. Smallville

BEST FILMS

1. Citizen Kane
2. Apocalypse Now
3. The Piano
4. 2001: A Space Odyssey
5. Amadeus
6. Henry Fool
7. Ran
8. The Last Temptation of Christ
9. The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, & Her Lover
10. Moulin Rouge
11. The Seventh Seal
12. Eraserhead
13. Jesus Christ Superstar
14. Alien
15. Magnolia
16. Memento
17. Casablanca
18. The Godfather
19. Lawrence of Arabia
20. Sunset Boulevard
21. King Kong
22. The Bridge on the River Kwai
23. Psycho
24. Silence of the Lambs
25. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
26. Network
27. Brazil

GREAT SCIENCE FICTION NOVELS     

1. Stranger in a Strange Land
2. Dune
3. More Than Human
4. The Handmaid’s Tale
5. The Left Hand of Darkness
6. The Martian Chronicles
7. Neuromancer
8. Ender’s Game (& Speaker For the Dead)
9. Watchmen
10. Nova
11. Patchwork Girl
12. The Female Man
13. Engine Summer
14. City
15. Xenogenesis
16. Canopus in Argos: Archives
17. The Stars My Destination
18. A Boy & His Dog
19. Childhood’s End
20. A Canticle For Liebowitz
21. The Time Machine
22. Slaughterhouse Five
23. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
24. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
25. 1984
26. A Wrinkle in Time
27. Brave New World
28. Gateway
29. To Your Scattered Bodies Go
30. Shadow of the Torturer
31. Foundation
32. At the Mountains of Madness
33. Fool’s Run
34. Threshold
35. Brightness Falls From the Air

 GREAT AMERICAN NOVELS 

1. Moby Dick
2. The Scarlet Letter
3. Huckleberry Finn
4. Beloved
5. Invisible Man
6. The Sound and the Fury
7. The Great Gatsby
8. Something Wicked This Way Comes
9. Catch 22
10. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
11. A Canticle for Leibowitz
12. Lolita
13. Wise Blood
14. Gravity’s Rainbow
15. Ceremony
16. The Grapes of Wrath
17. More Than Human
18. Little, Big
19. Slaughterhouse Five
20. All the King’s Men
21. Misery
22. House of Leaves
23. The Haunting of Hill House
24. At the Mountains of Madness
25. The Sun Also Rises
26. The Wings of the Dove
27. The Riddle Master of Hed
28. The Left Hand of Darkness
29. The Jungle
30. The Executioner’s Song
31. Tropic of Cancer
32. House Made of Dawn
33. Them
34. Atlas Shrugged
35. Portnoy’s Complaint
36. The Catcher in the Rye
37. Dhalgren
38. Three Lives
39. Rabbit, Run
40. The Robber Bridegroom
41. The Long Goodbye
42. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym
43. Naked Lunch  
44. The Awakening
45. Fight Club