* Illustration: Gluekit

Donnie Darko and Mulholland Drive: Kobal Collection; Madonna, Ziggy and 2001: Everett Collection; Jimmy Corrigan: Chris Ware * 2001: A Space OdysseyMonoliths instigate evolutionary leaps forward—monkey to human, computer to AI, human to hippie-dippy starchild.

The WallPink's father dies. His teachers abuse him. His mom smothers him. His wife leaves him. He's paranoid and isolated. Fame is no respite.

UlyssesTwo drunkards meander around Dublin like Odysseus in the Aegean. Bloom's wife is cheating on him. Everyone poops.

Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on EarthJimmy relives his granddad's life. He finally meets his father, who then dies. Superman can't save him.

Blade RunnerDeckard is a replicant but doesn't know it. Gaff knows but doesn't retire Deckard. Even fake memories make us human.

Ziggy StardustEarth will be destroyed in five years. Ziggy is a Martian rock star who sings the news. He prophesizes the coming of a starman. Starman bad.

Mulholland DriveThe first two-thirds are a masturbatory fantasy after Diane orders a hit on Camilla (the characters from the last one-third) and shoots herself.

Infinite JestTerrorists are chasing the world's most entertaining movie. Addiction—to drugs, entertainment, tennis, whatever—is a bitch.

Like a PrayerWhite dudes attack woman. Black man jailed. Witness Madonna prays to black Jesus and dreams he lives. She snitches. Prisoner freed.

Donnie DarkoParallel universe opens. Its pending collapse threatens our own. Donnie sacrifices himself to save us.

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