We hold these picks to be self-evident.

Our picks for the movies that capture the spirit, history, and characters of America—for better or worse.

I pledge allegiance to Nicolas Cage’s big, beautiful, bonkers 2004 action-adventure film.

As both an American history lover and a cinephile, I’ve seen so many ways a biopic can go wrong. Steven Spielberg’s 2012 masterpiece Lincoln avoids all of them.