20 awesome films with short runtimes that still pack a punch

Wes Anderson's best film is one of his shortest. Before he made blockbusters with giant casts and sets that looked like dollhouses, he made indies that arguably weighed a larger punch. His comedy about a high school loser is a winner at heart.

Stuntmen have been getting a lot of credit in movies lately, but Andy Samberg was there first. In his comedy about the worst stuntman ever, he shows an appreciation for the profession while mocking it as well. It's one of the funniest movies you probably haven't seen. 

The line between fact and fiction gets lost in a jungle of perspective, ego and misunderstanding. Three people have different stories about the same crime, causing the viewer to guess just who is telling the truth. While everyone might have different perspectives on the matter, one thing is for certain: Akira Kurosawa has turned a mystery into a masterpiece.

A flower in desert forlorn misery. City Lights is about tramp who falls for a blind girl who eventually sees the light. By turns hilarious, heartbreaking and unbelievably uplifting, this may be the greatest comedy ever made.

Before she was directing Barbie, she was one of the greatest actresses on screen. Greta Gerwig has a youthful energy that translates perfectly to Frances, a specific girl who tries to find her way through what for many are universal issues. Her husband, Noah Baumbach, matches that energy with New Wave direction.

I've never tried acid and cocaine on the same day, but I imagine the experience would be something like this heart-thumping trip of a movie. Following a girl who has to sprint across town to help her boyfriend, it's one of the most electric experiences in all of cinema. A marathon and a sprint at the same pace. 

You know all about dog shows. Those well-manicured pooches prancing about well-manicured green lawns, but how well do you know dog show owners? What kind of people are devoted to turning their dogs into champions? Weirdos, that's who. And Christopher Guest's mockumentary has a field day with those caricatures.

Atmosphere is perhaps most important to horror, which is why The Thing is one of the best examples of the genre. The snowy tundras, chilly winds, and frigid paranoia of a research center where a monster is slaughtering people is truly transporting and terrifying. The icing on the cake is the practical effects.

Speaking of atmospheric horror, The Wickerman transports you to a place unlike any other. A remote island where the inhabitants dance around fires naked, wear masks, and burn visitors, this is not where you want to book your next vacation. But you might want to book a night to visit the place on film. It's eerily beautiful.

Oh, to be a kid. Adventures seem to beckon every day, even when there's nothing to do. When a group of friends venture to the woods to find a dead body, they end up discovering themselves. Profound, mesmerizing and entertaining, it's a journey worth taking for the audience as well.

He's got to drive across multiple states and back within a certain amount of days or he's dead. Why? I honestly can't remember. What's most memorable about this road trip is the tone, which captures the feeling of a country trying to find itself on the road but being denied at every turn. The hippie era was running out of gas, and speed bumps were everywhere you looked.

They meet again. On the cobblestone streets, the characters from Before Sunrise reconnect over long conversations in languorous locations. It's one of the rare occasions where eavesdropping seems rewarding.

This is an adrenaline rush at the pace of a snail moving across the desert. As three drivers attempt to transport explosives across rocky terrain, they learn they can only drive the car at a slow pace. It's a sweaty road trip that should give you sweaty palms. 

Alfred Hitchcock has you hanging by a thread as he establishes a scenario where a dead body is hidden under a table. What happens if the dinner guests find it? That's where the master of suspense ropes you in.

It's like a Twilight Zone episode with more plot since the story mixes supernatural and sociopolitical so well. You can't help but be swept away by this film about aliens invading suburbia. 

One of the most romantic movies ever made is about a grandma falling for a teenager? But somehow this comedy finds flowers in a graveyard, sunshine on a foggy day and hope in a state of doom. Don't judge this movie until you watch it. There's more to the plot than meets the eye.

The neo-realist movement saw directors coping with the state of Italy after the war, telling stories that pertain to actual people and casting non-actors who were themselves living through the same harsh realities. These movies packed incredible punches and the greatest example is Bicycle Thieves, a story of a father and son whose source of income, a bike, is stolen. It might have the wheels spinning in your head months after the credits role. 

Okay, so it's not exactly a masterpiece. It's got the brain size of an acorn, but it's still fun to watch talking animals live through an ice age. 

An animated movie about gentrification? Yeah, maybe don't show this one to the kids--they won't be nearly as interested as the adults are. 

The greatest animated movie ever made is one of the cutest, fluffiest and most gorgeous movies ever made as well. Following a family moving to the countryside to care for their mom, the film is a wonderful example of how imagination and splendor can combine to make a truly special movie. Something you can cherish in your heart.