I'm a fan of superhero films. But the genre has gotten mired in a disturbing trend that needs to be discussed.

The Kiss in the Tunnell, Cendrillon, L’Affaire Dreyfus, Le Diable au couvent, King John

The production of Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo, in which several people lost their lives or had their bodies mutilated, is often held up as an example of courageous art on the part of the director. It is no such thing, and it's long past time the filimic community cast a more critical eye on Herzog's mystique.

Everyone in Songs from the Second Floor is dead and as stagnant as the city's traffic. They wear ghoulish makeup and are covered in the ashes of Eliot's wasteland.

The Astronomer's Dream, Un homme de têtes, Panorama pendant l'ascension de la Tour Eiffel, The Famous Box Trick, Querelle de matelassière

The shift from bright the pinks and blues of children's rooms to whites and blacks or dark blues show Geneviève's and Guy's painful growth from youth to adulthood.

Here's how I would rank them if I were a member of the Academy -- along with some loose notes on each:

Gardens, however, completely lacks the aspirational element that seems to be a requirement of cable reality TV.

Woman in the Dunes (1964) dir.Hiroshi Teshigahara The form of Woman in the Dunes is horror, but its soul is a family tragedy.

The Surrender of Tournavos, The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight, After the Ball, the Bath, Joueurs de cartes arrosés, Mr. Edison at Work in His Chemical Laboratory

Le manoir du diable, Rip Van Winkle, The Cabbage Fairy, The Kiss, L'arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat

Wintergardenprogram, Annabelle Serpentine Dance, The Arrest of a Pickpocket, Le repas de bébé, Employees Leaving the Lumière Factory

Dickson Experimental Sound Film, Annabelle Butterfly Dance, Fred Ott's Sneeze, Falling Cat, Corbett and Courtney Before the Kinetograph, La Carmencita

Blacksmith Scene

Pauvre Pierrot, Fencing, Handshake

Je vous aime, Dickson Greeting, Two Fencers, Newark Athlete, La Vague

Monkeyshines, No. 1, Monkeyshines, No. 2, Mosquinha, London's Trafalgar Square

The beginning of cinema is a story of murder, mystery, and miraculous invention.