20 movies that are the epitome of cool

There are literally dudes dodging bullets in slow motion. Clad in trench coats that wouldn't be allowed anywhere near a school, these agents of mass destruction save a parallel universe from a Big Brother corporation that controls how people think, and they do it in the coolest way possible. The Matrix pushed the boundaries of technology, action sequences, and yes, cool, in a way that is still gloriously grandiose to witness today.

The first rule of Fight Club: don't talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club ? Let David Fincher cook without studio notes. While a movie about corporate monotony, fragile male egos, and seedy underground fight clubs might not sound entertaining on paper--it actually sounds quite depressing. In the bruised hands of David Fincher, the result is dripping with cinema cool.

The coolest movie ever made. La Piscine is so tangibly atmospheric you might even leave with a tan. When the coolest movie star ever, Alain Delon, gets hot and bothered in a Riviera heatwave with his girlfriend, an endless pool of chic outfits, aesthetic locations, mogging, and twists splash across the screen.

A James Bond movie that leaves you shaken and stirred. Skyfall took the spy movie into emotional, distraught shadows it had never entered before. Albeit mysteriously brooding on paper, the movie remains a showcase of Bond's dope one-liners, suits, Aston Martins, and voluptuous foreign supermodels who serve as elegant eye candy.

Charles Bronson's skin looks like a saddle of sun-beaten leather, his eyes squinted perpetually in the sun as he plays the harmonica and plays the villains for all they've got. In this opulent Western from Sergio Leone, the genre gets a swan song so operatically epic, you're left with goosebumps in a Wild West heatwave.

Leave it to Hayao Miyazaki to make an anime flick about a talking pig endlessly cool. The greatest animated director ever, Miyazaki soars in poetic hand-drawn images and leaves a contrail of operatic emotions in his wake. Even Miyazaki's pig dressed in a trench coat is every bit as sick with aviation as Clark Gable or Tom Cruise. 

A sultry catwalk through the streets of Rome, adorned with fabulous outfits and even more fabulous women, 8 1/2 is the original meta movie, centered on a director making a movie about a director making a movie, based on director Federico Fellini making this very same movie! It's the Met Gala meets meta cinema, yet way freakin' cooler. 

All his life, Scorsese wanted to direct gangster movies. Pulsing with electric music, eccentric gangsters, and endearing emotional arcs unprecedented for the genre, Goodfellas is the best example of Scorsese's action moviemaking. It's always fun to kick it with these "Goodfellas" until their life inevitably spiral toward doom.

Hasta La Vista, Baby--the robot is back in a rare sequel that surpasses the original. A last-ditch effort to save humanity and the future hero, Terminator 2 is an action flick with iconic car chases, one-liners, and explosions that remain epic 25 years later.

Best car chase ever, period, there's nothing that fires out the gate like this Bullit. Steve Mcqueen races through the streets to solve a crime in a turtleneck, a simmering glare and a muscle car that could out-bench Dwayne Johnson--if that ain't cool enough for you, you might wanna trade in your man card for a Victoria Secret's gift card.

I mean, this movie has a guy holding a baby in one hand and shooting bad guys in the other, while explosions and bodies fly in a truly jaw-dropping ballet of bombast. In this tale of detectives in Hong Kong, John Woo takes cool to a whole 'nother level with slow-motion carnage and slow-motion cigarette smoke.

These dudes aren't cool in an "I wanna be like that" sort of way, but there is something to admire about watching a bunch of guys not give an F, go bowling, and solve a crime. In this hilarious, hysterically outrageous crime caper comedy, the Coen Brothers deliver a strike that knocks out every movie genre's bowling pin.

Tom Cruise might not be as cool after the whole couch-jumping debacle, but how can you care when this dude is literally jumping out of planes and driving cars off cliffs? Like Buster Keaton and Jackie Chan, he's the ultimate stuntman movie star, as seen in these spy flicks that merely exist to showcase Cruise defying gravity, physics, and age with some of the most charismatic performances ever put on screen.

George Clooney and Brad Pitt lead a heist with some of the most iconic moments, outfits, and jokes of 21st-century cinema. Need I say more than George Clooney and Brad Pitt?

Yipi-ki-ay, it's one of the great O.G. action flicks! Centering on a man saving his family from terrorists, Die Hard even makes Christmas movies look cool.

One of the ultimate movie bromances. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid excels at neat action sequences, cheeky humor, and French New Wave aesthetics.

A heist movie every dude can enjoy, Heat brings the heat with epic action and character development, setting up one of the most star-studded sequels ever made. The heist shootout alone earns Heat a spot on our list.

Ryan Gosling brings simmering cool to his hitman, modeled after the aloof swag of Alain Delon. A sort of modern Jean Pierre Melville thriller, Drive never puts the pedal to the metal, rather luxuriating in the cold silences that speak volumes about emotional crime.

As a man with a particular set of skills, Liam Neeson kicked off the geri-action thriller genre with a revenge flick about a man saving his daughter from terrorists. Bad guys should know by now not to kidnap one of Neeson's relatives.

Is there a better fantasy movie out there? Inconceivable! The Princess Bride is a wonderful example of how cool action can coexist with true love in a movie that showcases the best of every genre.