The Wizard of Oz (1939) Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer Wicked is shaping up to be one of the movie events of the year. Before the movie, there was the Tony Award-winning musical. Prior to the musical, there was a book. However, everything in the Wicked Universe stems from the novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its groundbreaking live-action film from 1939. In The Wizard of Oz, Judy Garland stars as Dorothy (Judy Garland), a young girl transported to the magical land of Oz after a tornado strikes her Kansas home. Dorothy is greeted by Glinda (Billie Burke), the Good Witch of the North, who tells her to follow the Yellow Brick Road to Emerald City to meet the Wizard (Frank Morgan). Along the way, Dorothy gains three allies: Scarecrow (Ray Bolger), Tin Man (Jack H aley), and the Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr). Together, they’re off to see the Wizard, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, who can hopefully solve all of their problems. Stream The Wizard of Oz on Max. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) New Line Cinema The end of the year is always the perfect time for a Lord of the Rings rewatch. 2024 has been a good year for Tolkien fans thanks to Amazon’s The Rings of Power and the anime The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, the latter arriving in December. The War of the Rohirrim has a special connection to Helm’s Deep, the epic battle site in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Picking up after The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers continues Frodo’s (Elijah Wood) quest to destroy the One Ring. Elsewhere in Middle-earth, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom), and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) head to the kingdom of Rohan, where they prepare for war against the legions of Saruman. It’s no hyperbole to say the Battle of Helm’s Deep remains one of the greatest combat sequences ever filmed. Stream The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers on Max. Editors’ Recommendations