My Personal Favourites
by dsensNWN00 | created - 28 Aug 2012 | updated - 09 Jul 2020 | Public"General fiction is pretty much about ways that people get into problems and screw their lives up. Science fiction is about everything else." - Marvin Minsky
"Stupidity... has a habit of getting its way." - The Day After
"Isn't there anybody who can deal with a housewife?" - The Right Stuff
"You know when you're born in Pittsburgh the thing you want to be when you grow up is a zombie" - Tom Savini
"James... earn this. Earn it." - Saving Private Ryan
"However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light." - Stanley Kubrick
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1. Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
R | 229 min | Crime, Drama
A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan 35 years later, where he must once again confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.
Director: Sergio Leone | Stars: Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, Treat Williams
Votes: 377,940 | Gross: $5.32M
- Extended Director's Cut.
2. Stalker (1979)
Not Rated | 162 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
A guide leads two men through an area known as the Zone to find a room that grants wishes.
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky | Stars: Alisa Freyndlikh, Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy, Anatoliy Solonitsyn, Nikolay Grinko
Votes: 144,843 | Gross: $0.23M
3. Alien (1979)
R | 117 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
The crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform after investigating a mysterious transmission of unknown origin.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Veronica Cartwright
Votes: 951,594 | Gross: $78.90M
4. Testament (1983)
PG | 90 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
The life of a suburban American family is scarred after a nuclear attack.
Director: Lynne Littman | Stars: Jane Alexander, William Devane, Rossie Harris, Roxana Zal
Votes: 7,223 | Gross: $2.04M
- nothing in the world could possibly prepare you for Lynne Littman's Testament.
To be watched with "The Day After".
5. WarGames (1983)
PG | 114 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
A young man finds a back door into a military central computer in which reality is confused with game-playing, possibly starting World War III.
Director: John Badham | Stars: Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy, John Wood, Dabney Coleman
Votes: 110,821 | Gross: $79.57M
Perfection.
- To be watched with "The Day After".
6. Come and See (1985)
Not Rated | 142 min | Drama, Thriller, War
After finding an old rifle, a young boy joins the Soviet resistance movement against ruthless German forces and experiences the horrors of World War II.
Director: Elem Klimov | Stars: Aleksey Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Liubomiras Laucevicius, Vladas Bagdonas
Votes: 97,386
7. The Time Machine (1960)
G | 103 min | Adventure, Romance, Sci-Fi
A man's vision for a utopian society is disillusioned when travelling forward into time reveals a dark and dangerous society.
Director: George Pal | Stars: Rod Taylor, Alan Young, Yvette Mimieux, Sebastian Cabot
Votes: 44,866
8. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
G | 149 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi
After uncovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, a spacecraft is sent to Jupiter to find its origins: a spacecraft manned by two men and the supercomputer HAL 9000.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Daniel Richter
Votes: 719,997 | Gross: $56.95M
9. White Dog (1982)
PG | 90 min | Drama, Horror
A trainer attempts to retrain a vicious dog that's been raised to attack black people.
Director: Samuel Fuller | Stars: Kristy McNichol, Christa Lang, Vernon Weddle, Jameson Parker
Votes: 10,800
- great acting performances (i): Burl Ives, Paul Winfield and just about everybody.
10. Aliens (1986)
R | 137 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Decades after surviving the Nostromo incident, Ellen Ripley is sent out to re-establish contact with a terraforming colony but finds herself battling the Alien Queen and her offspring.
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Carrie Henn, Paul Reiser
Votes: 763,522 | Gross: $85.16M
* nothing has ever kicked -ss as thorough, deep and hard as Aliens did. Nothing will ever come CLOSE. They should have stopped making movies altogether.
* music by James Horner.
11. Europa Report (2013)
PG-13 | 90 min | Adventure, Drama, Mystery
An international crew of astronauts undertakes a privately funded mission to search for life on Jupiter's fourth largest moon.
Director: Sebastián Cordero | Stars: Sharlto Copley, Michael Nyqvist, Christian Camargo, Embeth Davidtz
Votes: 75,539 | Gross: $0.13M
"Compared to the breadth of knowledge yet to be known... what does your life actually matter?" (Europa Report)
12. Vertigo (1958)
PG | 128 min | Mystery, Romance, Thriller
A former San Francisco police detective juggles wrestling with his personal demons and becoming obsessed with the hauntingly beautiful woman he has been hired to trail, who may be deeply disturbed.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore
Votes: 427,178 | Gross: $3.20M
13. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
Approved | 178 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
A 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.
Director: Sergio Leone | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef, Aldo Giuffrè
Votes: 811,695 | Gross: $6.10M
14. The Claim (2000)
R | 120 min | Drama, Romance, Western
A prospector who sold his wife and infant daughter in exchange for a mining claim, tries desperately to win them back as he helps to build the Pacific Railroad with a group of pioneer friends.
Director: Michael Winterbottom | Stars: Wes Bentley, Peter Mullan, Ron Anderson, Marty Antonini
Votes: 6,618 | Gross: $0.67M
* music by Michael Nyman.
15. The Remains of the Day (1993)
PG | 134 min | Drama, Romance
A butler who sacrificed body and soul to service in the years leading up to World War II realizes too late how misguided his loyalty was to his lordly employer.
Director: James Ivory | Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, John Haycraft, Christopher Reeve
Votes: 84,498 | Gross: $22.95M
- and the whole James Ivory.
16. No Country for Old Men (2007)
R | 122 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Violence and mayhem ensue after a hunter stumbles upon the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong and over two million dollars in cash near the Rio Grande.
Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen | Stars: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson
Votes: 1,060,957 | Gross: $74.28M
- endlessly fascinating. Hint: everything happens at least twice (often the same time to the same persons and/or locations). Everything is related to everything else. Every dialog line and every WORD resembles another (though they're continously contradicting themselves). Note, that they don't encounter ONCE over the course of the movie, but still adapt each others methods. The space-time continuum, causality/logic is f-cked up beyond belief, quantum mechanics, chaos theory, relativity as well as the old AND new testament and Zoroastrianism are featured heavily. Endlessly quotable. Also warrants its own psychosis.
17. Inland Empire (2006)
R | 180 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
As an actress begins to adopt the persona of her character in a film, her world becomes nightmarish and surreal.
Director: David Lynch | Stars: Karolina Gruszka, Krzysztof Majchrzak, Grace Zabriskie, Laura Dern
Votes: 62,240 | Gross: $0.75M
- and most other Lynch movies.
18. La Femme Nikita (1990)
R | 117 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Convicted felon Nikita isn't going to jail; she's given a new identity and trained, stylishly, as a top secret spy/assassin.
Director: Luc Besson | Stars: Anne Parillaud, Marc Duret, Patrick Fontana, Alain Lathière
Votes: 76,458 | Gross: $5.02M
- if that's not the best movie ever made, it's darn close.
19. Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)
PG-13 | 93 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Faced with both her hot-tempered father's fading health and melting ice-caps that flood her ramshackle bayou community and unleash ancient aurochs, six-year-old Hushpuppy must learn the ways of courage and love.
Director: Benh Zeitlin | Stars: Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry, Levy Easterly, Lowell Landes
Votes: 85,087 | Gross: $12.80M
20. Once Were Warriors (1994)
R | 102 min | Crime, Drama
A family descended from Maori warriors is bedeviled by a violent father and the societal problems of being treated as outcasts.
Director: Lee Tamahori | Stars: Rena Owen, Temuera Morrison, Mamaengaroa Kerr-Bell, Julian Arahanga
Votes: 36,863 | Gross: $2.20M
- great acting performances (ii): Rena Owen, Temuera Morrison.
21. Johnny Got His Gun (1971)
R | 111 min | Drama, War
During World War I, a patriotic young American is rendered blind, deaf, limbless, and mute by a horrific artillery shell attack. Trapped in what's left of his body, he desperately looks for a way to end his life.
Director: Dalton Trumbo | Stars: Timothy Bottoms, Kathy Fields, Marsha Hunt, Jason Robards
Votes: 18,358 | Gross: $0.55M
- perfect first date movie. Donald Sutherland plays Jesus Christ. What's there not to like.
22. The Deer Hunter (1978)
R | 183 min | Drama, War
An in-depth examination of the ways in which the Vietnam War impacts and disrupts the lives of several friends in a small steel mill town in Pennsylvania.
Director: Michael Cimino | Stars: Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Cazale, John Savage
Votes: 362,397 | Gross: $48.98M
23. Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
R | 111 min | Drama, Romance
Ben Sanderson, a Hollywood screenwriter who lost everything because of his alcoholism, arrives in Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There, he meets and forms an uneasy friendship and non-interference pact with prostitute Sera.
Director: Mike Figgis | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Elisabeth Shue, Julian Sands, Richard Lewis
Votes: 134,739 | Gross: $32.03M
24. The Parallax View (1974)
R | 102 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
An ambitious reporter gets in way-over-his-head trouble while investigating a senator's assassination which leads to a vast conspiracy involving a multinational corporation behind every event in the world's headlines.
Director: Alan J. Pakula | Stars: Warren Beatty, Paula Prentiss, William Daniels, Walter McGinn
Votes: 21,789 | Gross: $2.15M
- the 70s conspiracy thriller to end all 70s conspiracy thrillers (brainwash included).
25. American Me (1992)
R | 125 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A Mexican-American Mafia kingpin is released from prison, falls in love for the first time, and grows introspective about his gangster lifestyle.
Director: Edward James Olmos | Stars: Edward James Olmos, William Forsythe, Sal Lopez, Vira Montes
Votes: 10,384 | Gross: $13.09M
26. Madadayo (1993)
134 min | Drama
Following World War II, a retired professor approaching his autumn years finds his quality of life drastically reduced in war-torn Tokyo. Denying despair, he pursues writing and celebrates his birthday with his adoring students.
Directors: Akira Kurosawa, Ishirô Honda | Stars: Tatsuo Matsumura, Hisashi Igawa, George Tokoro, Masayuki Yui
Votes: 6,158 | Gross: $0.05M
27. Dead Ringers (1988)
R | 116 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
Twin gynecologists take full advantage of the fact that nobody can tell them apart, until their relationship begins to deteriorate over a woman.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Jeremy Irons, Geneviève Bujold, Heidi von Palleske, Barbara Gordon
Votes: 53,614 | Gross: $9.13M
- and most other Cronenberg movies.
28. The Thin Red Line (1998)
R | 170 min | Drama, History, War
Adaptation of James Jones' autobiographical 1962 novel, focusing on the conflict at Guadalcanal during the second World War.
Director: Terrence Malick | Stars: Jim Caviezel, Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Kirk Acevedo
Votes: 199,671 | Gross: $36.40M
29. The Right Stuff (1983)
PG | 193 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
The U.S. space program's development from the breaking of the sound barrier to selection of the Mercury 7 astronauts, from a group of test pilots with a more seat-of-the-pants approach than the program's more cautious engineers preferred.
Director: Philip Kaufman | Stars: Sam Shepard, Scott Glenn, Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid
Votes: 65,373 | Gross: $21.50M
30. Lost Highway (1997)
R | 134 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Anonymous videotapes presage a musician's murder conviction, and a gangster's girlfriend leads a mechanic astray.
Director: David Lynch | Stars: Bill Pullman, Patricia Arquette, John Roselius, Louis Eppolito
Votes: 153,279 | Gross: $3.80M
31. Convoy (1978)
PG | 110 min | Action, Drama
Truckers form a mile-long "convoy" in support of a trucker's vendetta with an abusive sheriff - Based on the country song of the same title by C.W. McCall.
Director: Sam Peckinpah | Stars: Kris Kristofferson, Ali MacGraw, Ernest Borgnine, Burt Young
Votes: 18,615 | Gross: $45.00M
Arizona (noon)...
32. Runaway Train (I) (1985)
R | 111 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Two escaped convicts and a female railway worker find themselves trapped on a speeding train with no brakes and nobody driving.
Director: Andrey Konchalovskiy | Stars: Jon Voight, Eric Roberts, Rebecca De Mornay, Kyle T. Heffner
Votes: 33,030 | Gross: $7.94M
33. The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
R | 112 min | Drama
A bus crash in a small town brings a lawyer to defend the families, but he discovers everything isn't what it seems.
Director: Atom Egoyan | Stars: Ian Holm, Sarah Polley, Caerthan Banks, Tom McCamus
Votes: 36,746 | Gross: $3.25M
- great acting performances (iii): Ian Holm.
34. Love (I) (2011)
Not Rated | 84 min | Drama, Music, Sci-Fi
A man spends years alone on a space station orbiting Earth after losing communication with Houston/Earth. He spends time on maintenance, exercise, watching old messages, and reading a journal by a soldier in the American Civil War.
Director: William Eubank | Stars: Gunner Wright, Corey Richardson, Bradley Horne, Nancy Stelle
Votes: 8,965
35. Lust, Caution (2007)
NC-17 | 157 min | Drama, History, Romance
During World War II era, a young woman, Wang Jiazhi, gets swept up in a dangerous game of emotional intrigue with a powerful political figure, Mr. Yee.
Director: Ang Lee | Stars: Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Tang Wei, Joan Chen, Leehom Wang
Votes: 45,543 | Gross: $4.60M
- the whole Ang Lee comes recommended.
36. Heaven & Earth (1993)
R | 140 min | Action, Biography, Drama
During the Vietnam War, a Vietnamese woman struggles hustling on the streets, where she comes face to face with those involved in the conflict around her.
Director: Oliver Stone | Stars: Hiep Thi Le, Tommy Lee Jones, Haing S. Ngor, Bussaro Sanruck
Votes: 15,120 | Gross: $5.86M
* You will feel emotionally exhausted.
37. Paris, Texas (1984)
R | 145 min | Drama
Travis Henderson, an aimless drifter who has been missing for four years, wanders out of the desert and must reconnect with society, himself, his life, and his family.
Director: Wim Wenders | Stars: Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski, Dean Stockwell, Sam Berry
Votes: 119,150 | Gross: $2.18M
38. The Great Dictator (1940)
G | 125 min | Comedy, Drama, War
Dictator Adenoid Hynkel tries to expand his empire while a poor Jewish barber tries to avoid persecution from Hynkel's regime.
Director: Charles Chaplin | Stars: Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie, Reginald Gardiner
Votes: 237,462 | Gross: $0.29M
39. Barry Lyndon (1975)
PG | 185 min | Adventure, Drama, War
An Irish rogue wins the heart of a rich widow and assumes her dead husband's aristocratic position in 18th-century England.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Ryan O'Neal, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee, Hardy Krüger
Votes: 183,196
- and most other Kubrick movies.
40. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
R | 83 min | Horror
Five friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Something armed with a chainsaw.
Director: Tobe Hooper | Stars: Marilyn Burns, Edwin Neal, Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain
Votes: 183,776 | Gross: $30.86M
41. Map of the Human Heart (1992)
R | 109 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
Arctic, 1965: Avik tells his story starting in 1931. A mapmaker flies Avik, then a preteen Eskimo boy with TB, to a hospital in Montreal where he meets Albertine. They meet again when Avik joins World War II in the UK.
Director: Vincent Ward | Stars: Jason Scott Lee, Anne Parillaud, Patrick Bergin, Robert Joamie
Votes: 3,431 | Gross: $2.81M
42. Starting Out in the Evening (2007)
PG-13 | 111 min | Drama, Romance
An ambitious graduate student convinces a writer that her thesis can resurrect his career.
Director: Andrew Wagner | Stars: Frank Langella, Lauren Ambrose, Patti Perkins, Lili Taylor
Votes: 3,346 | Gross: $0.90M
- great acting performances (ii): Frank Langella. See also: Robot & Frank (2012) and for... uh everything since the 80s. If not 70s.
* first masterpieces of the 21th century (i).
43. Westworld (1973)
PG | 88 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
A robot malfunction creates havoc and terror for unsuspecting vacationers at a futuristic, adult-themed amusement park.
Director: Michael Crichton | Stars: Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin, James Brolin, Norman Bartold
Votes: 62,991 | Gross: $16.06M
- or any Michael Crichton.
44. Highlander (1986)
R | 116 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
An immortal Scottish swordsman must confront the last of his immortal opponents, a murderously brutal barbarian who lusts for the fabled "Prize".
Director: Russell Mulcahy | Stars: Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, Clancy Brown, Roxanne Hart
Votes: 147,525 | Gross: $5.90M
- perfection.
45. The Cincinnati Kid (1965)
TV-14 | 102 min | Drama
An up-and-coming poker player tries to prove himself in a high-stakes match against a long-time master of the game.
Directors: Norman Jewison, Sam Peckinpah | Stars: Steve McQueen, Ann-Margret, Edward G. Robinson, Karl Malden
Votes: 18,251 | Gross: $15.26M
46. Million Dollar Baby (2004)
PG-13 | 132 min | Drama, Sport
Frankie, an ill-tempered old coach, reluctantly agrees to train aspiring boxer Maggie. Impressed with her determination and talent, he helps her become the best and the two soon form a close bond.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Hilary Swank, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Jay Baruchel
Votes: 722,089 | Gross: $100.49M
47. Longitude (2000)
200 min | Drama, History
In two parallel stories, the clockmaker John Harrison builds the marine chronometer for safe navigation at sea in the 18th Century and the horologist Rupert Gould becomes obsessed with restoring it in the 20th Century.
Stars: Jeremy Irons, Anna Chancellor, Emma Kay, Samuel West
Votes: 2,431
- great acting performances (ii): Michael Gambon (and some other familiar bigwigs).
So good you wish it would never end. You will also learn an awful lot.
see also: Shackleton (2002).
48. The Grey (2011)
R | 117 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
After their plane crashes in Alaska, six oil workers are led by a skilled huntsman to survival, but a pack of merciless wolves haunts their every step.
Director: Joe Carnahan | Stars: Liam Neeson, Dermot Mulroney, Frank Grillo, Dallas Roberts
Votes: 263,402 | Gross: $51.58M
* first masterpieces of the 21th century (ii).
49. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
R | 142 min | Drama
Over the course of several years, two convicts form a friendship, seeking consolation and, eventually, redemption through basic compassion.
Director: Frank Darabont | Stars: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler
Votes: 2,890,660 | Gross: $28.34M
50. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007)
R | 96 min | Comedy, Music
Singer Dewey Cox overcomes adversity to become a musical legend.
Director: Jake Kasdan | Stars: John C. Reilly, Jenna Fischer, David Krumholtz, Nat Faxon
Votes: 77,271 | Gross: $18.32M
Unrated version. (you know it, when you see it)
51. We Own the Night (2007)
R | 117 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A New York City nightclub manager tries to save his brother and father from Russian Mafia hitmen.
Director: James Gray | Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes, Danny Hoch
Votes: 93,019 | Gross: $28.56M
- there is so much brillance at display here.
52. Waterloo (I) (1970)
G | 123 min | Action, Biography, Drama
Facing the decline of everything he has worked to obtain, conqueror Napoleon Bonaparte and his army confront the British at the Battle of Waterloo.
Director: Sergey Bondarchuk | Stars: Rod Steiger, Christopher Plummer, Orson Welles, Jack Hawkins
Votes: 12,638 | Gross: $3.05M
- a life-changing experience.
53. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011)
Not Rated | 157 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A group of men set out in search of a dead body in the Anatolian steppes.
Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan | Stars: Muhammet Uzuner, Yilmaz Erdogan, Taner Birsel, Ahmet Mümtaz Taylan
Votes: 50,328 | Gross: $0.14M
54. The Lives of Others (2006)
R | 137 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck | Stars: Ulrich Mühe, Martina Gedeck, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur
Votes: 410,677 | Gross: $11.29M
55. Back to the Future (1985)
PG | 116 min | Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover
Votes: 1,307,669 | Gross: $210.61M
56. Elizabeth (1998)
R | 124 min | Biography, Drama, History
The early years of the reign of Elizabeth I of England and her difficult task of learning what is necessary to be a monarch.
Director: Shekhar Kapur | Stars: Cate Blanchett, Liz Giles, Rod Culbertson, Paul Fox
Votes: 105,158 | Gross: $30.08M
57. The Last Samurai (2003)
R | 154 min | Action, Drama
Nathan Algren, a US army veteran, is hired by the Japanese emperor to train his army in the modern warfare techniques. Nathan finds himself trapped in a struggle between two eras and two worlds.
Director: Edward Zwick | Stars: Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe, Billy Connolly, William Atherton
Votes: 471,408 | Gross: $111.11M
58. Birdy (1984)
R | 120 min | Drama, War
After two friends return home from the Vietnam War one becomes mentally unstable and obsesses with becoming a bird.
Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Matthew Modine, Nicolas Cage, John Harkins, Sandy Baron
Votes: 24,944 | Gross: $1.46M
59. In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Approved | 110 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A black Philadelphia police detective is mistakenly suspected of a local murder while passing through a racially hostile Mississippi town, and after being cleared is reluctantly asked by the police chief to investigate the case.
Director: Norman Jewison | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates, Lee Grant
Votes: 83,602 | Gross: $24.38M
- great acting performances (iv): Sidney Poitier.
60. The Pawnbroker (1964)
Approved | 116 min | Drama
A Jewish pawnbroker, victim of Nazi persecution, loses all faith in his fellow man until he realizes too late the tragedy of his actions.
Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Rod Steiger, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Brock Peters, Jaime Sánchez
Votes: 10,722
- great acting performances (v): Rod Steiger.
61. In the Bedroom (2001)
R | 131 min | Crime, Drama
A New England couple's college-aged son dates an older woman who has two small children and an unwelcome ex-husband.
Director: Todd Field | Stars: Tom Wilkinson, Sissy Spacek, Nick Stahl, Marisa Tomei
Votes: 42,441 | Gross: $35.93M
- great acting performances (v): Tom Wilkinson.
62. Whiplash (2014)
R | 106 min | Drama, Music
A promising young drummer enrolls at a cut-throat music conservatory where his dreams of greatness are mentored by an instructor who will stop at nothing to realize a student's potential.
Director: Damien Chazelle | Stars: Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Melissa Benoist, Paul Reiser
Votes: 990,459 | Gross: $13.09M
63. Girlfight (2000)
R | 110 min | Drama, Sport
Diana, without her father knowing it, trains as a boxer and achieves impressive success, blazing new trails for female boxers.
Director: Karyn Kusama | Stars: Michelle Rodriguez, Douglas Santiago, Jamie Tirelli, Paul Calderon
Votes: 11,383 | Gross: $1.52M
64. They Might Be Giants (1971)
G | 91 min | Comedy, Mystery, Romance
In a Manhattan psychiatric hospital, a man convinced that he is Sherlock Holmes is treated by a female doctor who happens to be named Watson.
Director: Anthony Harvey | Stars: George C. Scott, Joanne Woodward, Jack Gilford, Lester Rawlins
Votes: 3,326
65. Bullet to the Head (2012)
R | 92 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
After watching their respective partners die, a New Orleans hitman and a Washington, D.C. detective form an alliance in order to bring down their common enemy.
Director: Walter Hill | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Momoa, Christian Slater, Sung Kang
Votes: 52,451 | Gross: $9.48M
- NOW the 80s are over.
Either you get it, or you don't.
66. Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
Approved | 117 min | Drama
An alcoholic marries a young woman and systematically addicts her to booze so that they can share his "passion" together.
Director: Blake Edwards | Stars: Jack Lemmon, Lee Remick, Charles Bickford, Jack Klugman
Votes: 14,060
67. The Day After (1983 TV Movie)
TV-PG | 127 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
The effects of a devastating nuclear holocaust on small-town residents of eastern Kansas.
Director: Nicholas Meyer | Stars: Jason Robards, JoBeth Williams, Steve Guttenberg, John Cullum
Votes: 18,174
- see also: Threads, UK 1984
68. Apocalypse Now (1979)
R | 147 min | Drama, Mystery, War
A U.S. Army officer serving in Vietnam is tasked with assassinating a renegade Special Forces Colonel who sees himself as a god.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest
Votes: 710,679 | Gross: $83.47M
69. Schindler's List (1993)
R | 195 min | Biography, Drama, History
In German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Caroline Goodall
Votes: 1,451,687 | Gross: $96.90M
70. In the Valley of Elah (2007)
R | 121 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A retired military investigator works with a police detective to uncover the truth behind his son's disappearance following his return from a tour of duty in Iraq.
Director: Paul Haggis | Stars: Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, Jonathan Tucker, Jason Patric
Votes: 75,113 | Gross: $6.78M
71. Forrest Gump (1994)
PG-13 | 142 min | Drama, Romance
The history of the United States from the 1950s to the '70s unfolds from the perspective of an Alabama man with an IQ of 75, who yearns to be reunited with his childhood sweetheart.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Sally Field
Votes: 2,258,711 | Gross: $330.25M
72. Platoon (1986)
R | 120 min | Drama, War
Chris Taylor, a neophyte recruit in Vietnam, finds himself caught in a battle of wills between two sergeants, one good and the other evil. A shrewd examination of the brutality of war and the duality of man in conflict.
Director: Oliver Stone | Stars: Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Keith David
Votes: 439,733 | Gross: $138.53M
73. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
R | 137 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A cyborg, identical to the one who failed to kill Sarah Connor, must now protect her ten year old son John from an even more advanced and powerful cyborg.
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick
Votes: 1,174,780 | Gross: $204.84M
- see also: The Terminator.
To be watched with "The Day After".
74. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
PG-13 | 166 min | Western
A mysterious stranger with a harmonica joins forces with a notorious desperado to protect a beautiful widow from a ruthless assassin working for the railroad.
Director: Sergio Leone | Stars: Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards
Votes: 349,237 | Gross: $5.32M
75. Year of the Dragon (1985)
R | 134 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A police detective cracks down on organized crime in Chinatown after the murders of Triad and Mafia leaders.
Director: Michael Cimino | Stars: Mickey Rourke, John Lone, Ariane, Leonard Termo
Votes: 17,731 | Gross: $18.70M
76. White Tiger (2012)
Not Rated | 104 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Great Patriotic War, early 1940s. After barely surviving a battle with a mysterious, ghostly-white Tiger tank, Red Army Sergeant Ivan Naydenov becomes obsessed with its destruction.
Director: Karen Shakhnazarov | Stars: Aleksey Vertkov, Vitaliy Kishchenko, Valeriy Grishko, Dmitriy Bykovskiy-Romashov
Votes: 4,895
77. First Blood (1982)
R | 93 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
A veteran Green Beret is forced by a cruel Sheriff and his deputies to flee into the mountains and wage an escalating one-man war against his pursuers.
Director: Ted Kotcheff | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Brian Dennehy, Richard Crenna, Bill McKinney
Votes: 275,725 | Gross: $47.21M
- see it for what it is: a masterpiece.
78. Manhunter (1986)
R | 120 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Former FBI profiler Will Graham returns to service to pursue a deranged serial killer dubbed "the Tooth Fairy" by the media.
Director: Michael Mann | Stars: William Petersen, Kim Greist, Joan Allen, Brian Cox
Votes: 80,979 | Gross: $8.62M
- Michael Mann re-invents cinema. Goes places cinema has never been before, and most likely never will again.
79. The Vanishing (1988)
Not Rated | 107 min | Mystery, Thriller
Rex and Saskia, a young couple in love, are on vacation. They stop at a busy service station and Saskia is abducted. After three years and no sign of Saskia, Rex begins receiving letters from the abductor.
Director: George Sluizer | Stars: Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, Gene Bervoets, Johanna ter Steege, Gwen Eckhaus
Votes: 44,287
80. White God (2014)
R | 121 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Thirteen-year-old Lili fights to protect her dog Hagen. She is devastated when her father eventually sets Hagen free on the streets. Still innocently believing love can conquer any difficulty, Lili sets out to find her dog and save him.
Director: Kornél Mundruczó | Stars: Zsófia Psotta, Sándor Zsótér, Lili Horvát, Szabolcs Thuróczy
Votes: 17,078 | Gross: $0.28M
81. Brainstorm (1983)
PG | 106 min | Sci-Fi, Thriller
Researchers develop a system where they can jump into people's minds. But when people involved bring their personal problems into the equation, it becomes dangerous - perhaps deadly.
Director: Douglas Trumbull | Stars: Christopher Walken, Natalie Wood, Louise Fletcher, Cliff Robertson
Votes: 13,130 | Gross: $8.90M
82. Local Hero (1983)
PG | 111 min | Comedy, Drama
An American oil company has plans for a new refinery and sends someone to Scotland to buy up an entire village, but things don't go as expected.
Director: Bill Forsyth | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Peter Riegert, Fulton Mackay, Denis Lawson
Votes: 26,714 | Gross: $5.90M
- perfection.
83. Nokas (2010)
87 min | Action, Biography, Crime
The movie portrays Norway's most spectacular robbery, where 11 men occupied central Stavanger for twenty minutes and escaped with 57 million kroner (appx $10 million). A police officer was shot and killed.
Director: Erik Skjoldbjærg | Stars: Marit Synnøve Berg, Frode Winther, Morten Larsen, Tov Sletta
Votes: 4,850
- quite unlike anything else. Features the window to end all windows.
84. The Last Picture Show (1971)
R | 118 min | Drama, Romance
In 1951, a group of high schoolers come of age in a bleak, isolated, atrophied North Texas town that is slowly dying, both culturally and economically.
Director: Peter Bogdanovich | Stars: Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd, Ben Johnson
Votes: 52,415 | Gross: $29.13M
85. Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
PG-13 | 111 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
The Borg travel back in time intent on preventing Earth's first contact with an alien species. Captain Picard and his crew pursue them to ensure that Zefram Cochrane makes his maiden flight reaching warp speed.
Director: Jonathan Frakes | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton
Votes: 132,108 | Gross: $92.00M
- and the whole ST:TNG.
86. Cosmos (1980)
TV-PG | 60 min | Documentary
Astronomer Carl Sagan leads us on an engaging guided tour of the various elements and cosmological theories of the universe.
Stars: Carl Sagan, Jaromír Hanzlík, Jonathan Fahn, Jean Charney
Votes: 44,187
87. Contact (1997)
PG | 150 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Dr. Ellie Arroway, after years of searching, finds conclusive radio proof of extraterrestrial intelligence, sending plans for a mysterious machine.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt
Votes: 293,226 | Gross: $100.92M
88. From the Earth to the Moon (1998)
TV-14 | 60 min | Action, Drama, History
Dramatized portrayal of the Apollo manned space program.
Stars: Tom Hanks, Nick Searcy, Lane Smith, David Andrews
Votes: 13,230
89. Holy Motors (2012)
Not Rated | 115 min | Drama, Fantasy
A man boards a limousine to be driven to his day's work: nine mysterious "appointments."
Director: Leos Carax | Stars: Denis Lavant, Edith Scob, Eva Mendes, Kylie Minogue
Votes: 48,932
90. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)
PG | 112 min | Drama, Romance
A recently widowed woman is on the road with her precocious young son, determined to make a new life for herself as a singer.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Kris Kristofferson, Mia Bendixsen, Alfred Lutter III
Votes: 27,485 | Gross: $18.60M
91. The Thing (1982)
R | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David, Richard Masur
Votes: 466,993 | Gross: $13.78M
- see also: The Fog, Halloween, Dark Star - with the memorable known as-Sgt. Pinback monologues. Also: They Live (1988), featuring the only 20 minutes fistfight about a pair of sunglasses we will ever need (between friendlies, nonetheless).
92. Pulse (2001)
R | 119 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Two groups of people discover evidence that suggests spirits may be trying to invade the human world through the Internet.
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa | Stars: Haruhiko Katô, Kumiko Asô, Koyuki, Kurume Arisaka
Votes: 25,619 | Gross: $0.05M
93. Dead Man Walking (1995)
R | 122 min | Crime, Drama
A nun, while comforting a convicted killer on death row, empathizes with both the killer and his victim's families.
Director: Tim Robbins | Stars: Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, Robert Prosky, Raymond J. Barry
Votes: 101,817 | Gross: $39.39M
94. John Adams (2008)
TV-14 | 71 min | Biography, Drama, History
The life of one of the USA's Founding Fathers, its second President, and his role in the nation's first 50 years.
Stars: Paul Giamatti, Laura Linney, John Dossett, Stephen Dillane
Votes: 36,657
- TV doesn't get any better than this. Or movies, for that matter.
95. The Grey Zone (2001)
R | 108 min | Drama, History, War
A Nazi doctor, along with the Sonderkommando, Jews who are forced to work in the crematoria of Auschwitz against their fellow Jews, find themselves in a moral gray zone.
Director: Tim Blake Nelson | Stars: David Arquette, Velizar Binev, David Chandler, Michael Stuhlbarg
Votes: 11,428 | Gross: $0.52M
- great acting performances (vi): Harvey Keitel, and everyone involved.
96. The Best of Youth (2003)
R | 374 min | Drama, Romance
An Italian epic that follows the lives of two brothers from the 1960s to the 2000s.
Director: Marco Tullio Giordana | Stars: Luigi Lo Cascio, Alessio Boni, Jasmine Trinca, Adriana Asti
Votes: 23,216 | Gross: $0.27M
97. The Wages of Fear (1953)
Not Rated | 131 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
In a decrepit South American village, four men are hired to transport an urgent nitroglycerine shipment without the equipment that would make it safe.
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot | Stars: Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, Peter van Eyck, Folco Lulli
Votes: 66,619
98. Seabiscuit (2003)
PG-13 | 140 min | Drama, History, Sport
True story of the undersized Depression-era racehorse whose victories lifted not only the spirits of the team behind it but also those of their nation.
Director: Gary Ross | Stars: Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges, Elizabeth Banks, Chris Cooper
Votes: 76,806 | Gross: $120.28M
99. Walkabout (1971)
GP | 100 min | Adventure, Drama
Two city-bred siblings are stranded in the Australian Outback, where they learn to survive with the aid of an Aboriginal boy on his "walkabout": a ritual separation from his tribe.
Director: Nicolas Roeg | Stars: Jenny Agutter, David Gulpilil, Luc Roeg, John Meillon
Votes: 27,358 | Gross: $0.02M
100. We Have a Pope (2011)
Not Rated | 102 min | Comedy, Drama
A story centered on the relationship between the newly elected Pope and his therapist.
Director: Nanni Moretti | Stars: Michel Piccoli, Nanni Moretti, Jerzy Stuhr, Renato Scarpa
Votes: 14,302 | Gross: $0.48M
- great acting performances (v): Michel Piccoli.
Somewhere I lost track of the numbering, but that's completely besides the point.
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