6. Miracle Mile
Here's a great movie that isn't particularly well known, a cult classic of sorts famous for its brilliant, mystery-laden high concept, and its unforgettable ending. For most of the film, we don't even know if there
is going to be an apocalypse; a man (played by Anthony Edwards) answers a pay-phone, with the person on the other end of the line claiming that a nuclear bomb is going to detonate within 90 minutes. Unsure if it's a prank or not, Edwards' characters returns to a diner to consider his options with the other patrons, while also trying to get to his girlfriend just in case it happens to be true. The result? It was not a hoax, downtown Los Angeles turns to absolute chaos, and after he tries to flee the city in a helicopter, the blast wave sends him, the pilot and his girlfriend careening into the La Brae tar pits. As the cockpit begins to fill with water, their only resolution for their impending demise is the hope they might suffer a direct hit and be turned into diamonds, or perhaps they might be put in a museum one day. Then the blast hits, killing them and presumably pretty much everyone on Earth.
What it tells us: make a crazy, out-of-your-way trip for your girlfriend, but don't expect to survive because of it.