Hey there guys. Well, I’ve had a number of you tell me that I need to put up my personal Top 100 Films of all time list since the AFI and the OFC’s lists have come out. So here it is.
Now, keep in mind that film is subjective… that means NO ONE will agree with my list because we all see things differently. And just so you know, I ranked these between an equal balance of my ENJOYMENT of the film, and the MERRIT of the film 50/50, so that will give you some insight into how I came up with the list.
So here you go. The Movie Blog’s Top 100 Films of all time:
1. Lord of the Rings, The: The Return of the King (Jackson, 2003)
2. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (Lucas, 1977)
3. Shawshank Redemption, The (Darabont, 1994)
4. Life is Beautiful (Benigni, 1997)
5. Highlander (Mulcahy, 1986)
6. Godfather, The (Coppola, 1972)
7. Usual Suspects, The (Singer, 1995)
8. Spartacus (Kubrick, 1960)
9. Ben-Hur (Wyler, 1959)
10. Braveheart (Gibson, 1995)
11. Lawrence of Arabia (Lean, 1962)
12. Lord of the Rings, The: The Fellowship of the Ring (Jackson, 2001)
13 Lord of the Rings, The: The Two Towers (Jackson, 2002)
14. Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (Marquand, 1983)
15. Raiders of the Lost Ark (Spielberg, 1981)
16. Lion King, The (Allers/Minkoff, 1994)
17. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Gilliam/Jones, 1975)
18. Gandhi (Attenborough, 1982)
19. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (Kershner, 1980)
20. 40 Year Old Virgin, The (Apatow, 2005)
21. To Kill a Mockingbird (Mulligan, 1962)
22. Untouchables, The (De Palma, 1987)
23. It’s a Wonderful Life (Capra, 1946)
24. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? (Kramer, 1967)
25. Bridge on River Kwai, The (Lean, 1957)
26. Moulin Rogue (Luhrmann, 2001)
27. Princess Bride, The (Reiner, 1987)
28. Schindler’s List (Spielberg, 1993)
29. In the Heat of the Night (Jewison, 1967)
30. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Spielberg, 1989)
31. An American Werewolf in London (Landis, 1981)
32. A Fish Called Wanda (Chrichton/Cleese, 1988)
33. Die Hard (McTiernan, 1988)
34. Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)
35. Blazing Saddles (Brooks, 1974)
36. Borat (L. Charles, 2006)
37. Broadcast News (Brooks, 1987)
38. Gladiator (R. Scott, 2000)
39. Butch Cassidy and theSundance Kid (Hill, 1969)
40. Infernal Affairs (Lau, 2002)
41. Caddyshack (Ramis, 1980)
42. Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942)
43. Departed, The (Scorsese, 2006)
44. Elephant Man, The (Lynch, 1980)
45. Toy Story 2 (Lasseter, 1999)
46. Descent, The (Marshall, 2005)
47. Snatch (Ritchie, 2000)
48. Seven Samurai (Kurosawa, 1954)
49. Incredibles, The (Bird, 2004)
50. E.T. (Spielberg, 1982)
51. Army of Darkness (Raimi, 1992)
52. Beauty and the Beast (Trousdale and Wise, 1991)
53. 12 Angry Men (Lumet, 1957)
54. Aliens (Cameron, 1986)
55. Glengarry Glenn Ross (Foley, 1992)
56. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Cameron, 1992)
57. Silence of the Lambs, The (Demme, 1991)
58. Miracle on 34th Street (Seaton, 1947)
59. X2: X-Men United (Singer, 2003)
60. Spider-Man 2 (Raimi, 2004)
61. Matrix, The (Wachowski/Wachowski, 1999)
62. Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The (Leone, 1966)
63. Jaws (Spielberg, 1975)
64. Tootsie (Pollack, 1982)
65. Million Dollar Baby (Eastwood, 2004)
66. Cool Hand Luke (Rosenburg, 1967)
67. Alien (R. Scott, 1979)
68. Rocky (Avildsen, 1976)
69. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (Verbinski, 2003)
70. Pan’s Labyrinth (Del Toro, 2006)
71. Good Will Hunting (Van Sant, 1997)
72. Grosse Point Blank (Armitage, 1997)
73. Toy Story (Lasseter, 1995)
74. True Lies (Cameron, 1994)
75. Amelie (Jeunet, 2001)
76. Dances With Wolves (Costner, 1990)
77. Iron Giant, The (Bird, 1999)
78. Tombstone (Cosmatos, 1993)
79. Passion of the Christ, The (Gibson, 2004)
80. Dead Poet’s Society (Weir, 1989)
81. American History X (Kaye, 1998)
82. Back to the Future (Zemeckis, 1985
83. Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The (Ford, 1962)
84. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (Meyer, 1991)
85. Blues Brothers, The (Landis, 1982)
86. Jurassic Park (Spielberg, 1993)
87. Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World (Weir, 2003)
88. Airplane! (Zucker/Abrahams, 1980)
89. Singin’ in the Rain (Donen/Kelly, 1952)
90. Das Boot (W/ Petersen, 1981)
91. Batman Begins (Nolan, 2005)
92. Se7en (Fincher, 1995)
93. Fight Club (Fincher, 1999)
94. Groundhog Day (Ramis, 1993)
95. A Beautiful Mind (Howard, 2001)
96. Slap Shot (Hill, 1977)
97. Roger & Me (Moore, 1989)
98. Shaun of the Dead (Wright, 2004)
99. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Black, 2005)
100. Clerks 2 (Smith, 2006)
Now, lists are useless without conversation… so now head into the comments and make sure to leave your thoughts. What films on there do you think have no business being there… which ones aren’t there that you feel should absolutely have a spot?
Here’s my top twenty:
1.Pan’s Labyrinth (best movie I’ve ever seen)
2.Titanic (aw, screw you, that movie was great!)
3.Lord of the Rings (It’s only one movie that had to be split up in order for us to not be in the theaters for 11 hours)
4.Ben-Hur (who knew the 50’s could make violent movies!)
5.Braveheart (one of the most thrilling history movies I’ve ever seen)
6.Star Wars (I had to choose between Ben-Hur and this at #6)
7.Saving Private Ryan (first time I almost cried at a movie)
8.The Godfather (You gotta be crazy if you don’t like this)
9.Forrest Gump (Run, Forrest, Run!)
10.Gladiator (Crowe is awesome in this)
11.Sweeney Todd (The first and last musical I will ever like)
12.Iron Man (Totally)
13.Blazing Saddles (Back when rascism became funny)
14.Beowulf (He beats up 9 sea monsters and then still has enough tank to screw a mermaid. Awesome)
15.Spider-Man 2 (Totally)
16.The Princess Bride (Funniest fight scene ever!)
17.Harry Potter 4 (Best of the series)
18.I Am Legend (Emotional and scary)
19.History of the World, Part 1 (That movie was so funny)
20.Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (Incredible)
I’d do more but I’m outta time…See ya!
Why is Pan’s Labyrinth at 70? It should be in the top ten.
(Type your comment here. Make sure you’ve read the commenting rules before doing so)
Where’s the beef?
I can’t believe that I saw only 1 say movie on 1 list. I think all of the saw movies need to be on the top 100 list they are the best.
Tastes are sure different. This is not even close to what I would put in a top 100. Don’t have time for that, but here’s my top 20, for what its worth:
1. THE BLUES BROTHERS
2. GOING MY WAY
3. BATMAN (1989)
4. ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES
5. KING CREOLE
6. PASSION OF THE CHRIST
7. DEAD END
8. JAILHOUSE ROCK
9. BATMAN RETURNS
10. SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT
11. POPEYE
12. THE ODD COUPLE
13. AIRPLANE
14. SPIDER-MAN
15. ELVIS: THAT’S THE WAY IT IS (SPECIAL EDITION)
16. LOVE AT FIRST BITE
17. HEAD
18. A HARD DAY’S NIGHT
19. FOLLOW THAT DREAM
20. SUPERMAN THE MOVIE
Well thats my list. I know i may have put a bit too many comedies in but again these are my personal favorites not necessarily the best directed or best acted movies. At least i didnt post stupid commments without contributing a list of my own. i did forget a couple of of my favorites like heat,harvey,the untouchables and catch me if you can.
ok here is my top 100 favorites in my collection. note its not 1-100 best to worst. im seperating it into genre.
Sci-Fi/Fantasy
1. donnnie darko
2. pans labyrinth
3. the princess bride
Horror/Thriller
4. army of darkness
5. the exorcist
6. the grudge
7. interveiw with a vampire
8. saw
9. the thing
10. the vanishing (original)
Action
11. braveheart
12. enemy at the gates
13. fight club
14. full metal jacket
15. gladiator
16. the godfather
17. kill bill 1 & 2
18. the mechanic
19. misery
20. ong-bak
21. pulp fiction
22. saving private ryan
23. silence of the lambs
24. shogun assassin
25. spiderman 2
26. 300
27. troy
28. true romance
29. u-571
Drama
30. american beauty
31. american history x
32. basketball diaries
33. beat street
34. belly
35. blow
36. boiler room
37. casino
38. cool hand luke
39. good fellas
40. grapes of wrath
41. the hustler
42. the mack
43. menace to society
44. memento
45. mr. majestyk
46. one flew over the cuckoos nest
47. owning mahowny
48. the quiet man
49. raging bull
50. scarface
51. taxi driver
52. walk the line
Western
53. culpepper cattle co.
54. a fistfull of dollars
55. the great silence
56. hombre
57. the life & times of judge roy bean
58. my name is nobody
59. once upon a time in the west
60. the outlaw josey wales
61. the sons of katie elder
62. the war wagon
63. the wild bunch
Comedy
64. ace ventura 1 & 2
65. anchorman
66. the big lebowski
67. blades of glory
68. the burbs
69. dodge ball
70. dumb & dumber
71. 40 year old virgin
72. half baked
73. happy gilmore
74. the jerk
75. kung pow
76. kingpin
77. the ladies man
78. lock, stock, & two smoking barrels
79. made
80. raising arizona
81. robin hood men in tights
82. saving silverman
83. snatch
84. spaceballs
85. stir crazy
86. super troopers
87. swingers
88. talladega nights
89. theres something about mary
90. tommyboy
91. white men cant jump
Anime
92. akira
93. appleseed
94. berserk
95. the dagger of kumui
96. escaflowne
97. final fantasy advent children
98. fist of the north star (original)
99. princess mononoke
100. spirited away
not bad lists but…. seriously i didnt see full metal jacket on anyones list!
@ Kristina
“As mush as John loved Transformers, there is NO WAY IN HELL that he could put that on the top 100 all-time list with a straight face. No way. Top 100 summer movies ever, sure. Top 100 of ALL TIME? NO.”
What about:
33. Die Hard (McTiernan, 1988)
59. X2: X-Men United (Singer, 2003)
74. True Lies (Cameron, 1994)
84. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (Meyer, 1991)
? I’m not saying they don’t deserve to be on a list. (I had Die Hard o mine) I just don’t see how they’re any different than The Transformers if this list is based on personal taste as well as importance.
A top 100 list without a Michael Mann film?????
‘HEAT’ would easily be on my list.
@Ash
As mush as John loved Transformers, there is NO WAY IN HELL that he could put that on the top 100 all-time list with a straight face. No way. Top 100 summer movies ever, sure. Top 100 of ALL TIME? NO.
Great list but where’s anchorman that movie was hilarious c’mon. and i didn’t see if u put eternal sunshine of the spotless mind also really good movie.
Great list. I probalby would have included: Man Without a Face, Pleasantville, Thirteen Days, Contact, Scent of a Women, Shakespeare in Love, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and Tampopo. If you were expanding the definition of film to include documentaries, I would include Ric Burn’s New York, and Ken Burn’s Jazz and Baseball to the list.
Ok, starting that we have as a topic “Top 100 Films of All Time”, I’d like just to review some facts: Lumiere brothers invented the film camera at the end of XIX century. Since those times, people are making movies, sometimes not like we know it nowadays, but finally movies.
Why “Citizen Kane” (1941) just in 34, right after Die Hard? Orson Wells changed the way to make movies with that one. Is not enought to be considered one of the best movies ever?
And the movies from Italy after World War 2? Those directors knew that making movies is not only about entertaining, but also a way to show their own reality to the rest of the world.
Film industry is not only Hollywood (Thanks god). Beside the fact that Hoollywood makes one kind of entertainment, there’s muche more…
Making movies is telling a story, learning about different cultures and learning to deal with them.
A few examples of, both old film industry and actual film industry (not just Hollywood) are:
(no particular order)
Ladri di biciclette (1948) Vittorio da Sica
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) Michel Gondry
Ying xiong (2002) Yimou Zhang
A Clockwork Orange (1971) Stanley Kubrick
Psycho (1960) Alfred Hitchcock
Cidade de Deus (2002) Fernando Meirelles
Det Sjunde inseglet (1956) Ingmar Bergman
La casa del ángel (1957) Leopoldo Torre Nilsson
Die unendliche geschichte (1984) Wolfgang Petersen
La Marche de l’empereur (2005) Luc Jacquet
I’m not saying that this films you’ve just mentioned are not “enjoyable” films, but they’re quite “easy seeing” films… Maybe, the topic “100 films of all time” should be more assertive, rather than subjective. As it was said before, just my thoughts.
wow you must not like Tarantino at all…..or are you still bitter at him for death proof?
What happened to TRANSFORMERS????? and you even put 40 Year Old Virgin in 20th spot, and no transformers! I mean sure 40 year old virgin was good, but you talked up TRANSFORMERS it s big big way! Ah well. I will try and post my list when I get some time to generate it… oh dear that will take a while!
What about Fletch and National Lampoons Vacation?
Very nerdalicious…i like it.
I hate this “it’s subjective” defence all the time. Balls man
That’s a good list, but I would have to find room for Godfather II, Pulp Fiction, Raging Bull, Reservoir Dogs, The Shining and Taxi Driver at least.
You have forgotten American Beauty and True Romance!!
My only wish is that we could give negative scores to some films that were in the ranking that you positively dislike on the list:
Life is Beautiful
Braveheart
The Shawshank Redemption (Don’t hate the film, but fail to see how it belongs in any top 100 — ugh)
Batman Begins is highly overrated and has more than a few glaring faults.
Gregz123 – Thanks for the shout out. I’m really surprised that there was not more Billy Wilder on the list, but the nomination process yielded 502 films out of the entire history of cinema (oi!). So unless 3 of the voters had a film on the initial list, you couldn’t vote for it. Many more obscure and foreign stuff didn’t have as many of the support (or it was too widely varied and things didn’t make the 502 list). I think less than 1/2 of my original list made it, then 1/2 of the voted list that I chose didn’t make it. So I was in the minority on this venture (most likely along with Peter Nelhaus, Dennis Cozzalio and Damian Arlyn)
John, I like the list for the most part, but there are a few things I need to say about it and a few questions for you too.
1. I noticed that you only have a few horror movies on the list like the Descent, which I really liked but is it really better than John Carpenters Halloween, and Romeros Night of the Living Dead and also the original Dawn of the Dead, I don’t think so.
2. Why no Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, I think that the other two are better the Doom but I still thought Doom was outstanding.
3.I’m glad you have all of the original Star Wars Trilogy on the list, but I think Empire was better than Return of the Jedi and I think Empire should be higher than where you had Jedi.
4.John I’m also glad you had the balls to put Batman Begins on the list, because it is proably the 2nd best comic book movie ever just behind Spiderman 2.
I think if most people saw “The Untouchables” again they would agree that it was laughable.
And I know everyone LOVES Borat, but one of the best FILMS of ALL TIME? One of the best comedies, sure, I’ll give you that, but one of the all time great films? I can’t give you that:)
And I’m glad to see Disney get shown so much love on the list. Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King are two of my all-time favorites. You don’t want to see what happens to me when I watch the opening sequence to The Lion King:)
Wow.
All of these people telling you you’re wrong about your own taste in movies. It’s a fine list John. I don’t agree with all of your choices, but at least I’m not so self centered as to pretend that my choices are superior to your own (unlike JS, B, ANDREI, JS, LARRY(XGDFALCON), JOSH). Yes, I know I said JS twice, he just made an ass of himself more than once. I appreciate the people here who made good contributions to the discussion without being rude (SKIP, KRISTINA, PHIL FROM LI NY, DAN, etc…too many to mention you all). Disagreeing is fine, but a few of you did so inappropriately, thus taking away from the discussion at hand. Here are a couple of MY disagreements:
1. Personally, I would have put ESB before ROTJ.
2. Movies that WOULDN’T have made my list: Life is Beautiful, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Amelie, Roger & Me, Borat.
3. Movies you didn’t add, but I would: The Last Samurai, The Natural, Field of Dreams.
John:
“so now head into the comments and make sure to leave your thoughts”… may i ask why you always say that, if then you’re not taking “our thoughts” like in:
“I love it when people say something is “invalid” if it’s not in accordance with their opinion. Next time I’ll check with you first.
So I must ask… it invalidates the list according to whom?”
Does your opinion counts much much more than any other’s else?
Personally, I liked many of the films there listed, but c’mon… BORAT, 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN, and no Clockwork orange, nor Big Fish?
And I agree as you, 300 is not that good, enjoyable, but not an all-time movie at all!
Ah… JUST MY THOUGHTS!
It’s good to see An American Werewolf In London is on the list. Fucking love that movie. I’m suprised you love Pirates more then Fight Club.
I would pick Kurt’s list. I hated all the Lord of the Rings.
And 300, if it matters. Overblown epic crap just doesn’t jive with me.
After reading TMB for a while, I was surprised LOTR beat Star Wars.
Also, I’m sure it was not planned, you have both Fincher movies back to back. I found that amusing
Excellent list. Yes, mine would look different, but I love some of the ones you put on there.
I took the liberty of making a shortened list of your films, only including ones that actually deserve to be on a Top 100 list.
2. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (Lucas, 1977)
3. Shawshank Redemption, The (Darabont, 1994)
6. Godfather, The (Coppola, 1972)
8. Spartacus (Kubrick, 1960)
9. Ben-Hur (Wyler, 1959)
11. Lawrence of Arabia (Lean, 1962)
15. Raiders of the Lost Ark (Spielberg, 1981)
18. Gandhi (Attenborough, 1982)
23. It’s a Wonderful Life (Capra, 1946)
24. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? (Kramer, 1967)
25. Bridge on River Kwai, The (Lean, 1957)
27. Princess Bride, The (Reiner, 1987)
28. Schindler’s List (Spielberg, 1993)
29. In the Heat of the Night (Jewison, 1967)
34. Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)
39. Butch Cassidy and theSundance Kid (Hill, 1969)
42. Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942)
48. Seven Samurai (Kurosawa, 1954)
50. E.T. (Spielberg, 1982)
53. 12 Angry Men (Lumet, 1957)
62. Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The (Leone, 1966)
63. Jaws (Spielberg, 1975)
67. Alien (R. Scott, 1979)
68. Rocky (Avildsen, 1976)
82. Back to the Future (Zemeckis, 1985
83. Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The (Ford, 1962)
What? What is this shit? The UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY and no KHAAAAAN? CLERKS 2 INSTEAD OF CLERKS? I’M SO CONFUSED
Although I do agree with you on some of these, I think you’ve gone and lost your mind John. “Jedi” and “A New Hope” definitely rank behind “Empire” but whatever. Where are films like “Bicycle Thieves” or “A bout de Souffle?”
John I want you to look at this list next year and realize what you’ve done.
Pretty solid list John. As evident by responses there are differences in individual taste but your list is representative of many other’s choices.
Didn’t you rank SW above LOTR a short while ago?
Great to see so many classics on your list like To Kill A Mockingbird as an example.
What does invalidate this list is that it is called “The Movie Blog’s Top 100” and Rodney & Doug are not part of it. For that matter, it should include Darren and Bruxy to be complete.
you are not a big horror guy I see…..
and I know this is a personal list and all but 40 year old virgin the second best comedy of all time?? really????
fair enough…to each their own…
and I know everyones tastes are different but to the commentor afew posts up who said airplane is terrible you are a fool….
i might have to put together my own top 100 i think…..
I think we have not enough non-American productions in there, and a bit too much Spielberg. Then again, it’s a personal top 100.
John I think you missed Transformers. That is your blockbuster sommer move right? Anyway where is Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon?
Well I was ALSO part of the contributors of the OFC but the list I sent in is different to my PERSONAL favourite films of all time. Here is that list (remember this is a PERSONAL list so films like Saw and Con Air are only on there because I love them and they are certainly not the BEST of all time):
100) The Machinist
99) Ichi The Killer
98) Mystic River
97) Matchstick Men
96) Lost Highway
95) Equilibrium
94) Taxi Driver
93) Labyrinth
92) Forrest Gump
91) A Bittersweet Life
90) United 93
89) 2001: A Space Odyssey
88) This Is Spinal Tap
87) Psycho
86) The Prestige
85) Rain Man
84) Glengarry Glen Ross
83) Aliens
82) The Departed
81) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
80) Sin City
79) A Beautiful Mind
78) A Clockwork Orange
77) Batman
76) Groundhog Day
75) Anchorman
74) Desperado
73) Office Space
72) The Bourne Identity
71) Brick
70) Terminator 2: Judgment Day
69) Minority Report
68) Blade
67) Little Miss Sunshine
66) Man on Fire
65) Children of Men
64) Collateral
63) The 40 Year Old Virgin
62) Crash
61) Die Hard With a Vengeance
60) Face/Off
59) Clerks II
58) Friday
57) 12 Monkeys
56) Pan’s Labyrinth
55) Blue Velvet
54) American Psycho
53) Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
52) 28 Days Later
51) Brazil
50) The Faculty
49) Training Day
48) Ocean’s Eleven
47) Catch Me If You Can
46) Unbreakable
45) The Descent
44) Saving Private Ryan
43) V For Vendetta
42) Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
41) Die Hard
40) Alien
39) Leon
38) Life of Brian
37) Saw
36) The Truman Show
35) The Shining
34) Fargo
33) Jackie Brown
32) Toy Story
31) Battle Royale
30) Raiders of the Lost Ark
29) Kill Bill Vol.1
28) Shaun of the Dead
27) Goodfellas
26) Requiem for a Dream
25) Con Air
24) Big Trouble In Little China
23) Dumb and Dumber
22) Mulholland Drive
21) Beetlejuice
20) City of God
19) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
18) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
17) Oldboy
16) The Matrix
15) Snatch
14) From Dusk Till Dawn
13) Kill Bill Vol.2
12) Batman Begins
11) The Usual Suspects
10) Se7en
9) American History X
8) The Big Lebowski
7) American Beauty
6) The Shawshank Redemption
5) Memento
4) Reservoir Dogs
3) Fight Club
2) Donnie Darko
1) Pulp Fiction
Not a foreign film fan, are ya?
I dont agree with anyones list here, they are all very diffrent from mine but i m its nice to see such diverse and vibrant tastes.
no casino royale john? ur list is shit :-)
I mean you brought up the fact that 300 only had a 61% on rotten tomatoes.
Casino Royale was the highest rated wide release film of ’06 (96%)
Woooo, no Transformers in the list ?! ;-)
No Spike Lee films wow.
Finally a top 100 list thats more my taste, thank you kurt! I was wondering if anyone enjoyed Billy Wilder films any more, at least you mentioned double indemnity. Also Apocalypse Now and the Conversation are both great additions aside from the “top 100 movies” favorite The godfather. How could anyone forget Romero, good add!! Good list Kurt
I’m surprised to see Batman Begins so low down on the list at number 91. Thought it might at least make top 50
Oi, I was a part of the voting process for this top 100. most of my pics didn’t seem to make it, but just for fun, I’ll post ’em here. I think my film tastes differ than the average Movie Blog reader, certainly miles apart from John’s but variety is the spice of life.
1 Once Upon a Time in the West (Leone, 1968)
2 Chinatown (Polanski, 1974)
3 Conversation, The (Coppola, 1974)
4 Maltese Falcon, The (Huston, 1941)
5 Blue Velvet (Lynch, 1986)
6 L’Avventura (Antonioni, 1960)
7 Alien (R. Scott, 1979)
8 Picnic at Hanging Rock (Weir, 1975)
9 Aguirre: Wrath of God (Herzog, 1972)
10 Seven Samurai (Kurosawa, 1954)
11 In the Mood For Love (Wong, 2000)
12 Raise the Red Lantern (Zhang, 1991)
13 Dr. Strangelove or: How ILearned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Kubrick, 1964)
14 Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)
15 Blade Runner (R. Scott, 1982)
16 Barry Lyndon (Kubrick, 1975)
17 Apocalypse Now (Coppola, (1979)
18 City of God (Meirelles, 2002)
19 400 Blows, The (Truffaut, 1959)
20 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968)
21 Fargo (Joel and Ethan Coen, 1996)
22 Killer, The (Woo, 1989)
23 Rear Window (Hitchcock, 1954)
24 Third Man, The (Reed, 1949)
25 Jaws (Spielberg, 1975)
26 Three Colours: Red (Kieslowski, 1994)
27 Carrie (De Palma, 1976)
28 Blow Up (Antonioni, 1966)
29 8 ½ (Fellini, 1963)
30 Taxi Driver (Scorsese, 1976)
31 Fight Club (Fincher, 1999)
32 Das Boot (W/ Petersen, 1981)
33 M (Lang, 1931)
34 Night of the Living Dead (Romero, 1968)
35 Rashomon (Kurosawa, 1950)
36 King Kong (Cooper/Shoedsack, 1933)
37 Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958)
38 Double Indemnity (Wilder, 1944)
39 Cabaret (Fosse, 1972)
40 Princess Mononoke (Miyazaki, 1997)
41 Godfather, The (Coppola, 1972)
42 Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The (Leone, 1966)
43 Hard Boiled (Woo, 1992)
44 Goodfellas (Scorsese, 1990)
45 La Dolce Vita (Fellini, 1960)
46 Magnolia (Anderson, 1999)
47 Metropolis (Lang, 1927)
48 Brazil (Gilliam, 1985)
49 Modern Times (Chaplin, 1936)
50 Lord of the Rings, The: The Fellowship of the Ring (Jackson, 20 Pulp Fiction (Tarantino, 1994)
52 Raiders of the Lost Ark (Spielberg, 1981)
53 Patton (Schaffner, 1970)
54 Nosferatu (Murnau, 1922)
55 Grave of the Fireflies (Takahata, 1988)
56 Grand Illusion (Renoir, 1937)
57 Ghostbusters (Reitman, 1984)
58 General, The (Keaton/Bruckman, 1927)
59 Evil Dead II (Raimi, 1987)
60 Eternal Sunshine of theSpotless Mind (Gondry, 2004)
61 Die Hard (McTiernan, 1988)
62 Do the Right Thing (S Lee, 1989)
63 Seventh Seal, The (Bergman, 1957)
64 Shining, The (Kubrick, 1980)
65 Singin’ in the Rain (Donen/Kelly, 1952)
66 Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (Kershner, 1980)
67 Thin Red Line, The (Malick, 1998)
68 Searchers, The (Ford, 1956)
69 Robocop (Verhoeven, 1987)
70 Suspiria (Argento, 1977)
71 Thing, The (Carpenter, 1982)
72 Requiem for a Dream (Aranofsky, 2000)
73 Planet of the Apes (Schaffner, 1968)
74 Life of Brian (Jones, 1979)
75 Infernal Affairs (Lau, 2002)
76 Se7en (Fincher, 1995)
77 Terminator, The (Cameron, 1984)
78 This is Spinal Tap (Reiner, 1984)
79 Wizard of Oz, The (Fleming, 1939)
80 Cinema Paradiso (Tornatore, 1988)
81 Catch Me if You Can (Spielberg, 2002)
82 Children of Men (Cuarón, 2006)
83 Little Children (Field, 2006)
84 Dawn of the Dead (Romero, 1978)
85 An American Werewolf in London (Landis, 1981)
86 Badlands (Malick, 1973)
87 Miller’s Crossing (Coen, 1990)
88 Bonnie & Clyde (Penn, 1967)
89 Raging Bull (Scorsese, 1980)
90 Hustler, The (Rossen, 1961)
91 Glengarry Glenn Ross (Foley, 1992)
92 12 Angry Men (Lumet, 1957)
93 True Romance (Scott, 1993)
94 Trial, The (Welles, 1962)
95 Unforgiven (Eastwood, 1992)
96 Untouchables, The (De Palma, 1987)
97 Videodrome (Cronenberg, 1983)
98 Wings of Desire (Wenders, 1987)
99 Sweet Hereafter, The (Egoyan, 1997)
100 A Clockwork Orange (Kubrick, 1971)
Clerks 2? I realize that maybe #100 should be a freebie, and I know you’ve said before that you liked it. But. Better than Chinatown? Better than Pulp Fiction? Better than Dr. Strangelove? Which also makes me wonder how Spartacus is #8 and there’s no other Kubrick to be found on this list. Those are the two main spots with which I have to take issue. My list would look very different than yours, John, but I certainly respect your choices.
However, I do kind of question if you really went 50/50. To me, this list looks more like 80/20 because there are movies in these same genres (or by certain directors) that most would agree carry more merit than the ones you chose. Unless “MERRIT” is really some made up word you decided to sneak past us (yeah, I know, don’t complain about spelling, but maybe you, like, had your fingers crossed).
Anyway, I applaud you for making a top 100 list, but now I may think twice about following your reviews (not b/c you’re wrong – just that you and I have different tastes – which is cool).
I understand perfectly that this, as any other list is subjective… but Borat?
Borat?
Man, I just can’t believe it. It could be you totally enjoyed, but the fact you’ve enjoyed it doesn’t make it a very good movie. At least not that *good*.
And what really pisses me off is that Borat is there but no “Unforgiven” or “ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST” would made it in a top 100 list.
And Highlander is plain awesome, but no #5. At least for me.
Also I would throw some Woody Allen’s films in, like Matchpoint, Annie Hall or Crimes and Misdemeanors.
Oh, yeah, and frakking MAGNOLIA.
It may seem I am coming after you, but:
>>Hey JS,
You said:
“Borat being above Seven Samurai invalidates the list.”
I love it when people say something is “invalid” if it’s not in accordance with their opinion. Next time I’ll check with you first.
So I must ask… it invalidates the list according to whom?< According to historical sense. At least what I'm thinking.
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You have to be high on crack to put the lord of the rings above star warw. Clerks 2 was crap, all of Kevin Smith’s films, sans Jersy Girl, are better than Clerks 2.
Crazy
I few disagreements, Empire for me is by far the best of the Star Wars trilogy, its got everything. The lack of any John Woo movie is disappointing, Hard Boiled or the Killer blow X 2 out of the water in my opinion. Though I loved Clerks 2 i thought Clerks was the better but Kevin Smiths best was Mall Rats. Great list though.
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest should easily make the top ten
I think Jaws deserves to be put higher then movies such as X2 and The 40 Year Old Virgin…I dunno, thats probably just me…
I would add:
Spirited Away (Miyazaki, 2001) – It’s still one of the best animated films I’ve ever seen, and it’s the film responsible for introducing me to anime
Other than that, I agree with a lot of the list
Oh I think Wizard of Oz for me would be on there as well as Forest Gump and Thank God Titanic wasn’t on there I would have had to shoot myself lolol
You have some awesome movies on that list. BUT Airplane?? in all honesty that probably would have been on one of my top 100 worst movies of all time list… I recall someone saying you were basicly stuck in the 90’s well your list sure does disprove that theory..
btw, here was mine – If I were to have taken more time in it, I wouldnt have forgotten, for example: Capote, Ikiru, French Connection, Cinema Paradiso, and others… I made mine in haste.
1. This is Spinal Tap
2. The Big Lebowski
3. City of God
4. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
5. The Royal Tenenbaums
6. Fargo
7. Ratatouille
8. Back to the Future
9. The Iron Giant
10. Leon (The Professional)
11. Pan’s Labyrinth
12. Adaptation
13. Back to the Future Part II
14. The Pianist
15. Citizen Kane
16. Downfall
17. Gandhi
18. Goodfellas
19. Hoop Dreams
20. Jackie Brown
21. 12 Angry Men
22. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
23. Shawshank Redemption
24. Boogie Nights
25. Rushmore
26. Waiting For Guffman
27. Dazed and Confused
28. Dancer in the Dark
29. Jaws
30. Lost in Translation
31. Pulp Fiction
32. L.A. Confidential
33. Die Hard
34. Clerks
35. The Empire Strikes Back
36. Ed Wood
37. Trainspotting
38. Schindler’s List
39. Children of Men
40. A Clockwork Orange
41. Paradise Lost 2: Revelations
42. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
43. Lord of the Rings: Two Towers
44. American Psycho
45. Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
46. Alien
47. Toy Story 2
48. The Thing
49. Aliens
50. Raiders of the Lost Ark
51. Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
52. Spirited Away
53. Before Sunset
54. Reservoir Dogs
55. Usual Suspects
56. The Graduate
57. The Incredibles
58. Paradise Lost: The Child Murders At Robin Hood Hills
59. The Godfather
60. Lawrence of Arabia
61. The Godfather Part II
62. The Nightmare Before Christmas
63. Run Lola Run
64. The Silence of the Lambs
65. Unforgiven
66. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
67. Monsters Inc
68. Toy Story
69. 12 Monkeys
70. Almost Famous: Untitled (the Directors Cut)
71. Kill Bill vol 2
72. True Romance
73. Finding Nemo
74. The Departed
75. Amadeus
76. 2001: A Space Odyssey
77. Oldboy
78. Groundhog Day
79. The Shining
80. Memento
81. Million Dollar Baby
82. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
83. Star Wars
84. Ghost World
85. Dog Day Afternoon
86. Brazil
87. Do the Right Thing
88. X2: X-Men United
89. Kill Bill vol. 1
90. Spider-Man 2
91. Rope
92. Roger & Me
93. Grizzly Man
94. Waking Life
95. Big Trouble In little China
96. Dark City
97. Slacker
98. Sin City
99. Capturing the Friedmans
100. The Man with the Golden Gun
87. Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World (Weir, 2003)
but no boondock saints ….. interesting…..
If you love movies (and you obviously do), you owe it to yourself to explore more pre-1950’s films.
A few great ones to seek out if you haven’t seen them previously:
THE MIRACLE OF MORGAN’S CREEK (Preston Sturges, 1944)
THE GENERAL (Buster Keaton, 1927)
HIS GIRL FRIDAY (Howard Hawks, 1940)
THE THIRD MAN (Carol Reed, 1949)
THE BANK DICK (Edward Cline, 1940)
IT’S A GIFT (Norman McLeod, 1934)
NAPOLEON (ABEL GANCE, 1927)
CITY LIGHTS (Charles Chaplin, 1931)
I’d also recommend some Fellini (8 1/2, AMARCORD) and Altman (MCCABE & MRS. MILLER, NASHVILLE).
Bah, you beat me to posting mine. I still have to sort it and compare it to the OFC list. We have quite a few in common, of course.
Vic
Hey Mikey,
I liked 300 a lot. But the reality is that it had some huge weaknesses. I still had a ton of fun with it… but in my personal opinon, it doesn’t even come close to belonging on this list. 61% on Rotten Tomatoes too.
Cheers.
@ Kristina
He put Borat and the 40 year old virgin on the list. 300 worse then those? Doubtful…
Oh shit just relized i wrote 3000. lol i guess that would be the sequel anyway “300” ok, thats better.
Hey JS,
You said:
“Borat being above Seven Samurai invalidates the list.”
I love it when people say something is “invalid” if it’s not in accordance with their opinion. Next time I’ll check with you first.
So I must ask… it invalidates the list according to whom?
how about some Billy Wilder, “Double Indemnity” or “Sunset Boulevard” or maybe some Ashby love like “Harold and Maude”. and maybe Fargo or other Coen brother films. i must agree with mikey no 3000???
Borat being above Seven Samurai invalidates the list.
…fight club?
I think City of God deserves to be on the list….also why is One flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest not on here….what?!?
@Mikey
I ADORE 300, but one of the best movies of ALL TIME? ALL TIME? I don’t think so. But hey, these lists are subjective so…..you can’t go wrong with a bunch of half-naked men killing each other.
NO 300?!?!?!?! Are you serious? Do like the fact that Lion King, Monty Python, and Die Hard are there…. really thought Good Will Hunting should have been higher….And no Remember the Titans… actually i found there to be a lack in sports movies in general…Caddyshack doesnt count
i really can’t say that certain movies NEED or don’t need to be on your list…it’s YOUR list, i will say that it’s pretty good. do you consider movies like LOTR to be 3 seperate movies or one movie broken into three parts. it’s just that for that movie in particular it has (to me) a middle (the two towers) that drags, but i realy don’t see it as dragging when i combine the film into one story (movie)
And I gotta agree with Skip about The Passion. That movie is just a guy getting his ass handed to him for two hours straight. That flick is more torture porn than Saw and Hostel combined.
Wow, your probably the first person to think ST The Undiscovered Country is better then ST The Wrath of Khan. Other then that, I think your list is pretty good. Bottom line is, nobody will ever agree with anyones list.
And i agree with skip about “Memento”
You put on “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” and “True Lies” but you left out Forrest Gump??????
I personally prefer Hot Fuzz to Shaun of the Dead, not that Shaun isn’t brilliant, but since I love action flicks more than horror flicks, Hot Fuzz holds a special place in my heart.
And John, BRAVO for ranking Moulin Rouge so high!
also no list is complete without Taxi Driver or Raging Bull….
I dont think the passion was that good at all…you’re missing Memento and Pulp Fiction….other then that its certainly not a bad list.