100 Best Films
The Top 100 Classic, Well Done, Groundbreaking, Influential Entertainments of Cinema.
The Top 100 Films you should see in your lifetime.
These are the The Top 100 that may not be for everyone, but should be.
These films truly create their own worlds and make their own rules.
To view this list, start at the bottom and work your way up.
Then, if you're feelin' okay about it, try lookin' at the second page to see a list of movies I didn't order, but added them for consideration.
The best way to critique is to move stuff around in your head, but the only way to argue with an opinion is to make one of your own. Please, go ahead.
The Top 100 Films you should see in your lifetime.
These are the The Top 100 that may not be for everyone, but should be.
These films truly create their own worlds and make their own rules.
To view this list, start at the bottom and work your way up.
Then, if you're feelin' okay about it, try lookin' at the second page to see a list of movies I didn't order, but added them for consideration.
The best way to critique is to move stuff around in your head, but the only way to argue with an opinion is to make one of your own. Please, go ahead.
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- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJames StewartGrace KellyWendell CoreyA wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his Greenwich Village courtyard apartment window and, despite the skepticism of his fashion-model girlfriend, becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.It's in the title, all about perspective. James Stewart acts as an audience member, and our imagination brings the suspense. Hasn't been recreated as perfectly.
- DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsJohn TravoltaUma ThurmanSamuel L. JacksonThe lives of two mob hitmen, a boxer, a gangster and his wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.Beyond philosophical.
This film asks a lot of questions...
Why does Marsellus have a bandage on the back of his head?
That's for your interpretation.
What's in the briefcase?
That doesn't matter.
...therefore, the film raises even more than it answers.
This is life.
This is religion on film. What we've believed for centuries, our entire language, especially in America "don't mean *beep* All we even care about is, essentially, *beep*
Where did the gold watch come from?
The point is clear: in the absence of any lasting, transcendent objective framework of value and meaning, our language no longer points to anything beyond itself. To call something good or evil renders it so, given that there is no higher authority or criteria by which one might judge actions. Jules quotes the Bible before his executions, but he may as well be quoting the Fonz or Buddy Holly.
Yet, everything happens for a reason. Maybe there are no miracles or divine intervention, but what we choose to see and listen to are what make us who we are. Sure, Butch must be as ruthless as the gangster who wants him dead, but in the end it was his loyalty that saved his life. His legacy lives on, but Vince's ignorance met his demise.
Jules: What the *beep* did you just do to his towel?
Vincent: I was just dryin’ my hands.
Jules: You’re supposed to wash ’em first.
Vincent: You watched me wash ’em.
Jules: I watched you get ’em wet.
Vincent: I washed ’em. Blood’s real hard to get off. Maybe if he had some Lava, I coulda done a better job.
Jules: I used the same soap you did and when I dried my hands, the towel didn’t look like a *beep* maxipad.
In the end, Jules' were completely clean. Had Vince washed his hands, the toaster would have still gone off. The smoke alarm would have gone off.
...and Butch would have had opportunity to leave silently.
Wouldn't have saved him from what happens next, but Vince would still be alive. Jules is off to walk the earth like Cain in Kung Fu. What will Vince be remembered for?
At least he's alive at the end of the movie.
Everything happens for a reason. It's movie logic, but no film shows more love for the movies than this. This is all film is capable of. It's an experience, it's comic relief, it's something for everyone, it's something to talk about. The spirit of Quentin Tarantino is there in all of this films, but "Pulp Fiction" stands alone. They're all pulp fiction.
The stories could be biblical. Connections between nihilism and loyalty blend with faith and meaning to add up to your own interpretation of what you believe. In the end, loyalty in yourself is taking care. Not caring just might get your hands dirty. Thinking you know everything is ridiculous.
But there are certainties. We may not have seen it...but...
"Zed's dead, baby, Zed's dead." - DirectorMichael CurtizStarsHumphrey BogartIngrid BergmanPaul HenreidA cynical expatriate American cafe owner struggles to decide whether or not to help his former lover and her fugitive husband escape the Nazis in French Morocco.THIS is a product of "The Golden Age" of Cinema.
You wouldn't be able to remember, but the people who made this film grew up in a world of silent pictures and new ways to tell stories.
Many times, the first picture a filmmaker is able to produce is the best they will ever be. This is because they have been waiting their whole lives to make a movie. Casablanca came, really, when many were making these great films. Many hold up, but none DEFINES the golden age of cinema more than this.
And to prove it, who are the people who grew up without television and only nights out at the movies...at the cinema?
Martin Scorsese and the like of him.
The greatest Hollywood creation proves that romance wins hearts and reality leaves us with the great "what if" questions. In the end, be thankful for what you have. - DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneTakashi ShimuraKeiko TsushimaFarmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, who gathers six other samurai to join him.The original action formula. The story's been done time and time again.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsTom HanksMatt DamonTom SizemoreFollowing the Normandy Landings, a group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.The greatest most realistic war film of all time is shown through an emotional story that audiences for decades will be shocked did not win best picture of the year.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsMarilyn MonroeTony CurtisJack LemmonAfter two male musicians witness a mob hit, they flee the state in an all-female band disguised as women, but further complications set in.The all-time outrageous, satirical, comedy farce favorite, Some Like It Hot (1959) is one of the most hilarious, raucous films ever made. The ribald film is a clever combination of many elements: a spoof of 1920-30's gangster films with period costumes and speakeasies, and romance in a quasi-screwball comedy with one central joke - entangled and deceptive identities, reversed sex roles and cross-dressing. In fact, one of the film's major themes is disguise and masquerade - e.g., the drag costumes of the two male musicians, Joe's disguise as a Cary Grant-like impotent millionaire, and Jerry's happiness with a real wealthy, yacht-owning retiree.
It's also a black and white film (reminiscent of the early film era) filled with non-stop action (e.g., the initial car chase), slapstick, and one-liners reminiscent of Marx Brothers and Mack Sennett comedies.
Director-producer Wilder had purposely challenged the system with this gender-bending and risqué comedy, filled with sly and witty sexual innuendo (the "sweet" and "fuzzy end of the lollipop" represented oral sex), unembarrassed vulgarity, free love, spoofs of sexual stereotypes (bisexuality, transvestism, androgyny, homosexuality, transsexuality, lesbianism, and impotence), sexy costuming for the well-endowed, bosomy Marilyn Monroe, an outrageous and steamy seduction scene aboard a yacht, and a mix of serious themes including abuse, alcoholism, unemployment, and murder, among others.
-Filmsite Review - DirectorSergio LeoneStarsClint EastwoodLee Van CleefGian Maria VolontèTwo bounty hunters with the same intentions team up to track down a gang of outlaws led by a psychotic Mexican bandit, who is plotting an audacious bank robbery.This is an exact note from Justin Bailey to me on August 14th, 2007:
Long post follows: I recently viewed "For a Few Dollars More" for a second time, and I must say, it is comparable to "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly". I'd say it is superior in terms of action, and I like the villain of Indio better than Angel Eyes. However, I think GBU is still the better film, because it is superior in terms of style and the artistic approach. It is an epic story, so it's slow at times and doesn't have the breakneck pacing of the first two, but I think it has the best character development and dialogue. All 3 are great for different reasons, Fistful for its pacing and suspense, FAFDM for its incredible action, and GBU for its epicness. Sergio does Westerns as well as (in fact probably better than) anyone. - DirectorOrson WellesStarsOrson WellesJoseph CottenDorothy ComingoreFollowing the death of publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane, reporters scramble to uncover the meaning of his final utterance: 'Rosebud.'Film-making at its finest. Doesn't matter what a film is about, but film is shown as art here. The "thrill of invention is there in every shot," making every viewing feel like the first.
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsMarlon BrandoAl PacinoJames CaanThe aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.For me, the defining film of what is a "saga."
Starring my favorite actor, Marlon Brando is the title character, even though the meaning of "Godfather" is passed on to Al Pacino. A performance later in his career, (he was considered a "washed up" actor at the time, this being his comeback role for which he won an Oscar) you don't see performance so much as the head of an Italian mob family that one would actually look to for guidance and help. "The Godfather" has become a rulebook of influence towards the loyalty of family.
"Leave the gun, take the cannoli" is a metaphor of importance.
The true meaning of friendship.
The unavoidable penalty of adultery.
Even how to make meatballs sauce for many people.
Of course, dealing with these Italians, violence plays a large part in how they do justice, even though the Don Corleone is smart enough to know vengeance won't bring back the dead. Yet, they are never played like people of which we should be afraid. Not including the last shot of the film. - DirectorAlejandro G. IñárrituStarsMichael KeatonZach GalifianakisEdward NortonA washed-up superhero actor attempts to revive his fading career by writing, directing, and starring in a Broadway production.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsJack NicholsonShelley DuvallDanny LloydA family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.I am biased towards horror. Something that affects you in a way you can't forget is great. I believe horror is the hardest kind of film to make. From script to shoot to edit, a lot of it has to be just right.
This film is not only the greatest horror film, it is the best Stanley Kubrick film.
http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/faq/html/shining/shining.html - DirectorDavid FincherStarsMorgan FreemanBrad PittKevin SpaceyTwo detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his motives.David Fincher was born in Denver, Colorado. Although the acclaimed director is best known for Fight Club (1999) and The Social Network (2010), many forget that his first two feature films were horror. Unfortunately, his debut production - Alien 3 (1992) - was widely panned by critics and fans alike. Yet, Fincher rebounded three years later with a horror blockbuster – Se7en (1995) – opening a little over a month before Halloween and grossing over $100 million by the end of October (more than three-fold a return to New Line Cinema off a $30 million budget). At the time the only horror movies with higher grosses were The Exorcist (1973) and Jaws (1975). Yet even today, Se7en still sits comfortably in the top ten. The film put Fincher on the map and satisfied the appetite of audiences across the country who had been starving for the theatrical release of a decent horror film since the end of the 1980s. From Best-Horror-Movies.com (I'll always be biased towards a good horrific flick): Although the horror genre would not receive its badly needed jumpstart until Wes Craven deconstructed the slasher subgenre with Scream (1996), Se7en reminded studios across the country that America likes horror.
The film was helped along by the talented trio of Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt and Kevin Spacey, but neither actor had yet to make a movie as successful as Se7en ultimately turned out to be. Their execution was first-rate, but the real credit for the dark atmosphere and creepy mood must go to director, David Fincher.
-from Best-Horror-Movies.com - DirectorSergio LeoneStarsClint EastwoodEli WallachLee Van CleefA bounty hunting scam joins two men in an uneasy alliance against a third in a race to find a fortune in gold buried in a remote cemetery.Quentin Tarantino's favorite movie of all time.
The greatest soundtrack created for film. - DirectorPaul Thomas AndersonStarsDaniel Day-LewisPaul DanoCiarán HindsA story of family, religion, hatred, oil and madness, focusing on a turn-of-the-century prospector in the early days of the business.Feels like "Citizen Kane," plays like a Western, styled like a horror movie, and has drama to keep you engaged thoroughly. Powerful performances, too.
- DirectorAlexander MackendrickStarsBurt LancasterTony CurtisSusan HarrisonPowerful but unethical Broadway columnist J.J. Hunsecker coerces unscrupulous press agent Sidney Falco into breaking up his sister's romance with a jazz musician.
- DirectorDavid FincherStarsJesse EisenbergAndrew GarfieldJustin TimberlakeAs Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg creates the social networking site that would become known as Facebook, he is sued by the twins who claimed he stole their idea and by the co-founder who was later squeezed out of the business.The second film on this list from David Fincher with another flawless film...the most intelligent characters in movie history. This should be considered the film of my generation.
- DirectorVittorio De SicaStarsLamberto MaggioraniEnzo StaiolaLianella CarellIn post-war Italy, a working-class man's bicycle is stolen, endangering his efforts to find work. He and his son set out to find it.Given an honorary Oscar in 1949, routinely voted one of the greatest films of all time, revered as one of the foundation stones of Italian neorealism, it is a simple, powerful film about a man who needs a job.
-Roger Ebert
Like "Citizen Kane," this is directed by an actor, but it truly shows as we don't see actors on screen. Most of them are just "real people" in real locations. While the realistic style feels consistently present, the stunning photography is far from just a documentary feel, although it works as a historical document, a social statement, and a record of one of the century's most influential film movements.
It's all about the cycle itself, in the end, after his son sees something he thought he would never see. The boy follows his father into a crowd becoming just like everyone else. - DirectorGeorge Roy HillStarsPaul NewmanRobert RedfordKatharine RossIn 1890s Wyoming, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid lead a band of outlaws. When a train robbery goes wrong, they find themselves on the run with a posse hard on their heels. After considering their options, they escape to South America.A different way to make a western, but entirely realistic. The entirely classic story is similar to "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967) in several ways, but the original implementation of the western genre added a thrill the former could not.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsJulie AndrewsChristopher PlummerEleanor ParkerA young novice is sent by her convent in 1930s Austria to become a governess to the seven children of a widowed naval officer.The greatest musical of all time!
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsJack LemmonShirley MacLaineFred MacMurrayA Manhattan insurance clerk tries to rise in his company by letting its executives use his apartment for trysts, but office politics and his own romantic hopes complicate matters.
- DirectorDavid FincherStarsBrad PittEdward NortonMeat LoafAn insomniac office worker and a devil-may-care soap maker form an underground fight club that evolves into much more.Based on a great book, proves the art of film is superior when it comes to story telling.
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsMartin SheenMarlon BrandoRobert DuvallA U.S. Army officer serving in Vietnam is tasked with assassinating a renegade Special Forces Colonel who sees himself as a god.More than a war movie. This is an experience.
- DirectorJames CameronStarsLeonardo DiCaprioKate WinsletBilly ZaneA seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic.The greatest romance of all time in the greatest disaster film of all time using the biggest budget of it's time to appeal to every kind of audience member.
- DirectorJoel CoenEthan CoenStarsJeff BridgesJohn GoodmanJulianne MooreJeff "The Dude" Lebowski, mistaken for a millionaire of the same name, seeks restitution for his ruined rug and enlists his bowling buddies to help get it.The greatest film with a massive
cult following.
The greatest bowling movie (even if the main character doesn't even throw a ball).
The greatest stoner movie.
The second greatest comedy.
Talking about the "Nostalgia Critic" segment on "The Big Lebowski":
That segment was okay, although unsure of itself. I was afraid he was putting down the whole movie, but at least he admits it's a masterpiece. The theme of The Big Lebowski is "Ignorance is Bliss."
The Dude smokes weed. He goes bowling, yet never throws the ball. The other Lebowski has a wife he never sees. The line "He fixes the cable?" (one of my favorites).
Even "Hey man, there's a beverage here!" is ignorant on both characters on screen.
As a society, we can't be nor can we afford to be ignorant like The Dude. Therefore, he is one of the greatest characters in movie history because he could never really be recreated. Film makers have tried. Tirelessly. There are plenty of terrible role models that star in "stoner movies," but The Dude never tries to be a role model. His life is not lived glamorously, and he doesn't promote anything that he does. He's just getting by. He's doing what he has to do. He's not in control of his life. However, no matter what he gets himself into...he's happy.
The whole movie is designed almost with a noir-rish Elmore Leonard feel to it, which would be normal for a detective story, but the only detectives in the flick are either laughing at The Dude or angry with him to the extent that they would waste a mug of coffee on his head. Beverage abuse all over the place. - DirectorLana WachowskiLilly WachowskiStarsKeanu ReevesLaurence FishburneCarrie-Anne MossWhen a beautiful stranger leads computer hacker Neo to a forbidding underworld, he discovers the shocking truth--the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence.The greatest comic-book movie (even if there's no comic book).