Super Pop!: Pop Culture Recommendations for Every Occasion

Be More Responsible: Ten Reminders That If You Don't Do It, No One Will

Be More Responsible: Ten Reminders That If You Don't Do It, No One Will

It isn’t very sexy to “be responsible,” but man alive, is it a good thing to be. Responsible people are excellent at not leaving the stove on when they head out of town, and they thrive in “don’t forget to lock the door” scenarios. And if you accrue trash (as humans do), and have a raccoon for a pet (as irresponsible citizens might), you definitely need to have someone responsible around to help you remember to take out the trash and walk the raccoon. (Also, responsible people are probably really good at dissuading others from adopting feral pets.)

So yeah, obviously: It’s better to be responsible. But it’s also very hard. It takes a lot of work, and there are other things to do, like . . . wait, what? Sorry I was just watching a raccoon do a little dance on this pile of unopened mail over here. (Man is that little guy cute!) Anyway, like I was saying, sometimes it’s worth considering what the world would look like if all of us paid no attention to due dates and deadlines and dancing raccoons. That world, as it happens, is a very scary place. So scare yourself straight with these edifying entertainments—and then pay your rent, you derelict.

10. FIELD OF DREAMS (1989), BASED ON THE BOOK BY W.P. KINSELLA

In addition to containing one of the most ridiculous premises ever, Field of Dreams is also one of the all-time great non-baseball-oriented baseball movies. And like all great non-baseball-oriented baseball movies, it begins when a whispering spirit (literally) tells a wooden Kevin Costner (metaphorically), that “if you build it, they will come.” (“They” being Shoeless Joe Jackson’s “Black Sox” of the 1919 baseball season, who allegedly threw the World Series for a gambling pay-off). Costner then builds it, they then come, and at that point grab your handkerchiefs, because things are about to get sobby.

For me, the best sobs occur when the voice of Darth Vader (aka James Earl Jones)—here playing a withdrawn, embittered writer—slowly gets on board with Kevin Costner’s absolutely nut-balls project: to follow the voice wherever it leads. And in the process everyone learns lessons about learning to forgive the past, I guess? I don’t know. Ask the whispering voice in the cornfield. (Is that you, Batman?)

Essential for when: You think maybe someone else will build it? (They won’t. You have to, or he won’t come.)

9. ALIEN (1979), DIRECTED BY RIDLEY SCOTT

You know what’s a bad idea? Swimming too soon after eating, that’s what! What a bellyache that is! Also, going into outer space. That too. It has no oxygen in it for breathing!— and also, god only knows what it does have! Probably your worst nightmares. And definitely H.R. Giger’s worst nightmares, because he designed the alien in Alien, and man is his nightmare-alien awful. Unlike other special effects from the late 1970s (I’m looking at you, Exorcist II) Alien looks like it could have been shot yesterday. It knew the limits of the time; it knew exactly how far it could go and how much it could get away with. How much, you ask? The answer to that question is exactly how much pants you have left after it has scared 99 percent of the pants off of you. So listen, if you do encounter an alien, just please, please let there be no survivors, because seriously, alien babies, though somewhat cute, are the absolute worst.

Essential for when: You’re tempted to just ignore that queasy rumbling in your tum-tum. (Don’t. Explode yourself immediately.)

8. TELL NO ONE (2006), DIRECTED BY GUILLAUME CANET

Tell No One is a Netflix miracle. It’s the movie you put on because it just keeps popping up. So you know: Netflix wants you to watch this movie, and eventually you do. The first scene has you at hello: It opens with a charmingly mature French dinner party. You want to hang out with these people. And then these people go home, and hey, what’s that noise? Oh, it’s MURDER. And MYSTERY. And CONSPIRACY. And CHAOS. And then this guy is running through the streets of Paris and getting help from charming gangsters and the soundtrack is all of a sudden the most romantic and evocative piece of American soul you could ever hope to encounter on the slow-mo streets of Paris and then—well, that’s the point where the plot kicks into high gear. (You know, with horses and horse trainers and such. Just the youge.) Does that make sense? Of course not! But trust in this: You will love it, so just give it a chance. Oh, and also: Do not trust anyone, anywhere, except your one true love. (PS: When I say “you” I definitely mean “me,” but I also definitely mean “you” because Tell No One tells everyone the same story, and it is, in a word, totally, beautifully walnuts.)