* Important Note: Strictly Speaking, Film Noir Is Not a Genre, but Rather the Mood, Style

Film Genres List
Action / The story is largely told through physical action as opposed to dialogue. The action typically involves individual efforts on the part of the hero.
· Rambo
· James Bond
· Die Hard
· Lethal Weapon
Adult / The depiction of explicit sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual excitement.
· The Blue Angel
· Deep Throat
· Debbie Does Dallas
Adventure / Exciting stories, with new experiences or exotic locales.
· Indiana Jones
· Romancing the Stone
· The Mummy
· Robin Hood
· The Three Musketeers
Animation / Animation is a series of still drawings or photos that, when viewed in rapid succession, gives the impression of a moving picture.
· The Lion King
· Wall-E
· Up
· Wallace and Gromit
· Nightmare before Christmas
Cult / A cult film is a movie that attracts a devoted group of followers, despite having failed on its initial release. The term also describes films that have remained popular over a long period of time
· This is Spinal Tap
· The Rocky Horror Picture Show
· The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
· Scarface
· Withnail and I
Biopic / Derives from the combination of the words "biography" and "pictures." They dramatize the life of an important historical personage/group from the past/present era. They sometimes stretch the truth.
· Gandhi
· Ray
· Milk
· My Left Foot
Comedy / Comedy Films are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are light-hearted dramas, crafted to amuse, entertain, and provoke enjoyment.
· The Gold Rush
· Some Like it Hot
· M*A*S*H
· Annie Hall
· Trading Places
· A Fish Called Wanda
· There’s Something About Mary
· Monty Python
Crime / Crime films developed around the sinister actions of criminals or gangsters, particularly bank robbers, underworld figures, or ruthless hoodlums who operate outside the law.
· The Godfather
· Goodfellas
· Bonnie and Clyde
· Pulp Fiction
· The Public Enemy
Disaster / Along with showing the spectacular disaster, these films concentrate on the chaotic events surrounding the disaster, including efforts for survival, the effects upon individuals and families, and 'what-if' scenarios.
· Metropolis
· King Kong
· The Towering Inferno
· Poseidon Adventure
· Titanic
Documentary / Documentaries are strictly speaking, are non-fictional, "slice of life" factual works of art - and sometimes known as cinema verite.
· When We Were Kings
· Sicko
· Supersize Me
· Bowling for Columbine
· Grizzly Bear
Drama / Drama Films are serious presentations or stories with settings or life situations that portray realistic characters in conflict with either themselves, others, or forces of nature.
· On the Waterfront
· Traffic
· Crash
· Donnie Darko
· Forrest Gump
· Hotel Rwanda
· The Wrestler
Epic/
Historical / Epics often take an historical or imagined event, mythic, legendary, or heroic figure, and add an extravagant setting and lavish costumes, accompanied by grandeur and spectacle and a sweeping musical score.
· Lawrence of Arabia
· Gladiator
· The Ten Commandments
· Lord of the Rings
· Ben Hur
Fantasy / Fantasy Films, unlike science fiction films that base their content upon some degree of scientific truth, take the audience to netherworld, fairy-tale places where events are unlikely to occur in real life.
· Chronicles of Narnia
· The Wizard of Oz
· Beowulf
· The Princess Bride
· The Witches
Horror / Horror Films are unsettling films designed to frighten and panic, cause dread and alarm, and to invoke our hidden worst fears, often with a terrifying, shocking finale.
· The Grudge
· The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
· Nightmare on Elm Street
· Friday 13th
· The Ring
· The Exorcist
Musical / Musicals/Dance Films are cinematic forms that emphasize and showcase full-scale song and dance routines, usually with a musical or dance performance as part of the film narrative, or as an unrealistic "eruption" within the film.
· Singin in the Rain
· Moulin Rouge
· The Sound of Music
· Grease
· Mary Poppins
Rom-Com / Romantic comedy films are movies with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as a true love able to surmount most obstacles.
· When Harry Met Sally
· The Philadelphia Story
· Four Weddings and a Funeral
· Sleepless in Seattle
· Something’s Gotta Give
Romance / Romance Films or love stories centre on passion, emotion, and the romantic, affectionate involvement of the main characters (usually a leading man and lady), and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage.
· Casablanca
· Gone with the Wind
· The Notebook
· Out of Africa
· Garden State
· Ghost
Sci-Fi / Science Fiction are usually scientific, visionary and imaginative, and are visualized through imaginative settings, expert production design, advanced technology or by fantastic special effects. Many SF films feature time travel, fantastic journeys, outer space, or in the future.
· 2001: A Space Odyssey
· Planet of the Apes
· Star Wars
· Blade Runner
· Close Encounters of a Third Kind
· Back to the Future
Sports / Sports Films are those that have a sports setting, competitive event and/or athlete that are central to the story.
· Rocky
· Raging Bull
· The Natural
· The Hustler
· The Color of Money
Thriller/
Suspense / Thriller and Suspense Films promote intense excitement, suspense, a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, and nerve-wracking tension.
· The Shining
· Rear Window
· Psycho
· Se7en
· Silence of the Lambs
War / War (and Anti-War Films) often acknowledge the horror and heartbreak of war, letting the actual fighting or conflict (against nations or humankind) provide the primary plot.
· Battleship Potemkin
· The Bridge On the River Kwai
· Saving Private Ryan
· Apocalypse Now
· All Quiet of the Western Front
· The Damn Busters
· The Dirty Dozen
Western / Westerns are the major defining genre of the American film industry, a nostalgic eulogy to the early days of the expansive, untamed American frontier (the borderline between civilization and the wilderness). They are one of the oldest and most enduring genres.
· The Searchers
· The Good the Bad and the Ugly
· Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
· The Magnificent Seven
· High Noon
· The Wild Bunch
Noir* / Fear, mistrust, bleakness, loss of innocence, despair and paranoia are readily evident in noir, reflecting the 'chilly' Cold War period when the threat of nuclear annihilation was ever-present. The criminal, violent, misogynistic, hard-boiled, or greedy perspectives of anti-heroes in film noir were a metaphoric symptom of society's evils, with a strong undercurrent of moral conflict, purposelessness and sense of injustice.
· The Maltese Falcon
· Double Indemnity
· Blood Simple
· Touch of Evil
Family / Family films are non-offensive and entertaining. They are suitable for all age groups, and cover a wide range of genre categories (comedy, adventure, fantasy, musicals, etc.). They often include a child actor/ actress, and focus on children's-related themes that teach a lesson or moral.
· ET
· Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
· Home Alone
· The Snowman
· Old Yeller
· Miracle on 34th Street
· The Goonies
Avant-garde / Experimental film describes a range of filmmaking styles that are generally quite different from, and often opposed to, the practices of mainstream commercial and documentary filmmaking. While "experimental" covers a wide range of practice, an "experimental film" is often characterized by the absence of linear narrative, the use of various abstracting techniques (out of focus, painting or scratching on film, rapid editing), the use of asynchronous (non-diegetic) sound or even the absence of any sound track. The goal is often to place the viewer in a more active and more thoughtful relationship to the film.
Mystery / Mystery Films are considered a sub-type of crime/gangster films (or film noir), or suspense/thriller films that focus on the unsolved crime (usually the murder or disappearance of one or more of the characters, or a theft), and on the central character - the hard-boiled detective-hero, as he/she meets various challenges in the pursuit of the solution to the crime. (Crime/Suspense for list of movies)
Spoof/Parody / A spoof or parody film is a comedy that satirizes other genres or classic films. They employ sarcasm, stereotyping, mockery of scenes from other films, and the obviousness of meaning in a character's actions.
· Airplane!
· Young Frankenstein
· The Naked Gun
· Blazing Saddles
· Austin Powers
· Hot Shots!

* Important Note: Strictly speaking, film noir is not a genre, but rather the mood, style, point-of-view, or tone of a film. It is also helpful to realize that 'film noir' usually refers to a distinct historical period of film history - the decade of film-making after World War II, similar to the German Expressionism or the French New Wave periods. However, it was labeled as such only after the classic period - early noir film-makers didn't even use the film designation (as they would the labels "western" or "musical"), and were not conscious that their films would be labeled noirs.

Sources: