1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2. 25th Hour
3. Se7en
4. Children of Men
5. Gladiator
6. The Royal Tenenbaums
7. Primal Fear
8. Pulp Fiction
9. L.A. Confidential
10. Almost Famous
11. The Godfather: Part 2
12. No Country for Old Men
13. Revolutionary Road
14. The Departed
15. Apocalypse Now
16. Gone Baby Gone
17. American Beauty
18. Memento
19. Saving Private Ryan
20. Inception
21. Alien
22. Rushmore
23. Vanilla Sky
24. 3:10 to Yuma
25. The Hurt Locker
26. Blade Runner
27. Adaptation
28. Annie Hall
29. Moon
30. Fight Club
31. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
32. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
33. Taxi Driver
34. District 9
35. Groundhog Day
36. Zodiac
37. (500) Days of Summer
38. Fargo
39. The Purple Rose of Cairo
40. The Dark Knight
41. Goodfellas
42. Micheal Clayton
43. Raging Bull
44. Kingdom of Heaven: Directors Cut
45. Cinderella Man
46. The Shawshank Redemption
47. The Bourne Supremacy
48. The Perks of Being a Wallflower
49. Good Will Hunting
50. Leaves of Grass
A Door Into Movies 
Ah, nice to see the expanded list, and that you’re a fan of Lost in Translation. It has a lot of haters, but I think it’s one of the best American films of the past 10 years.
– Joel (a/k/a MovieMan0283)
Thanks a lot for checking it out. I never got why Lost in Translation got a lot of hate, it is such a good and interesting movie.
Mostly Sofia I think – she’s resented for “ruining” the Godfather films (terrible performance, but it wasn’t really her fault), for becoming a director on her father’s reputation, and for presenting a bit of a snobby, self-absorbed viewpoint in her films. The latter point is somewhat true, but so what? The mood she creates is so absorbing, I don’t think the characters have to be entirely sympathetic, even if they’re supposed to be.
By the way, since you’ve said you’re starting to explore classics, you would be a guinea pig for a video series I created last fall: http://thedancingimage.blogspot.com/p/video-gallery.html. It’s chronological clips from the DVDs I own and one of several hopes for it was that it would introduce people to some interesting films, since seeing a clip from a movie (in my experience) always made me want to see the movies more. Unfortunately, some of the video uploads are a bit pixelated but for the most part quality’s OK. There are some spoilers but I usually included warnings with timecode in the intros to each chapter. At any rate, hope it serves as a useful guide in your viewing… there’s also a review of 25th Hour on the site you might enjoy (though it’s pretty damn long).
Thanks a bunch, I will check those things out that you mentioned later. You said that review of 25th Hour is long, it’s okay because I don’t mind reading long reviews if they are well written. I was originally going to write mini reviews for my top 50, but I decided not to, maybe I will do that in upcoming weeks, focusing on getting my next review out right now. It’s hard for me to write a review on my favorite movies like 25th Hour. I always feel whatever I am saying is not giving the movie the proper justice I feel it deserves.
I did a top 100 right before I took a break, and I actually found it to be a blast writing mini-reviews (like really mini – a sentence or so). I tend to go long, but sometimes looking at it after I can see the fat. Limiting oneself to a choice description can be kind of liberating in an odd way.
I’d love to read your thoughts on 25th Hour though no rush. It’s a movie that deserves to be talked about more.
I will do that soon
A very nice collection Alec. MEMENTO and L.A CONFIDENTIAL would both be in my top ten also. I notice youre a fan of Wes Anderson? I am also but THE DARJEELING LIMITED would be favourite of his. Nice to see REVOLTUTIONARY ROAD included. That’s a film that hasn’t recieved enough praise in my opinion. Good taste!
Thanks, it seems like you have good taste as well. I have never seen THE DARJEELING LIMITED, but I want to see it sometime soon. You are right, Revolutionary Road is very underrated.
I’ve seen #s 13 (Adaptation.), 18 (Annie Hall), 22 (The Departed), 27 (Inception), 35 (Groundhog Day), and 37 (Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World). All appear on my top 100 list except #18, which I gave a 3.5/5 when I first saw it not too long ago (here’s my review: http://themoviefreakblog.wordpress.com/2011/11/11/review-annie-hall/). It was the first Woody Allen film I saw, and it got me into loving him, but I think his best has to be either Midnight in Paris, Sleeper, or Crimes & Misdemeanors. Great list; I’ll try to check all these out. Especially #s 3, 4, 14, 28, 38, 43, and 45, which I already had pretty high on my list. Thanks!!
Thanks. “Memento” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” are outstanding, when you ever have time for one of those, you should defiantly see them. “Memento” is directed by the same guy who made “Inception”, so it’s a real mind bender. I guess “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” falls under the category of a romance movie, but it’s so much more than that. Thanks again.
Here’s my thoughts on your no:1 choice Alec. http://mrmarakai.wordpress.com/2012/01/12/25th-hour-12/
A review of No Country for Old Men is happening soon. Quality stuff.
Cool, checking it out now.
Please extend to a top 100!!!
I will try to later today, so check back tonight or tomorrow mid day
Thanks! I’m excited to see your other 50 picks. 😀 😀
Love the extension. Let’s see…I’ve seen #13 (Adaptation.), #18 (Annie Hall), #22 (The Departed), #27 (Inception), #35 (Groundhog Day), #37 (Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World–just a heads up, you wrote “Far Far Side”), #49 (The Batman Trilogy, and I agree that I’ll be utterly shocked if Rises is disappointing in any way), #55 (Manhattan, which I just saw the other day, as you know), #59 (The Shawshank Redemption), #62 (The Truman Show), #64 (The Aviator), #68 (As Good As It Gets), #69 (Apollo 13), #78 (One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest), #81 (The Harry Potter movies, though I wouldn’t rank all of them on my top 100, especially 5 and 6), #82 (Schindler’s List), #83 (Warrior), #86 (Iron Man; surprised to see it on your list), #88 (Juno), #89 (The Italian Job), #92 (Rain Man), #96 (All the Pixar movies, though there’s a few I haven’t seen, like Cars 2 and Toy Story 3, and I hated The Incredibles and Cars), #98 (The Terminator), and #99 (Spider-Man 2, but I saw the rare director’s cut, I guess, called Spider-Man 2.1). I’ll make an effort to view these all, but especially Memento, Eternal Sunshine, Pulp Fiction, American Beauty, Se7en, Fight Club, The Big Lebowski, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (that’s a long title), Blade Runner, (500) Days of Summer, Saving Private Ryan, Cinderella Man, Lost in Translation, Drive, The Matrix (been on my list FOREVER), Watchmen, Mighty Aphrodite, Raging Bull, Moneyball, Silence of the Lambs, King of Comedy, There will be Blood (also been on my list since it came out initially), and Minority Report.
Thanks for checking out my list, there are still some I want to see that are on your list as well.
Not the list I would expect from a teenager. This is quite a mature selection. My only beef is where is “Jaws”??? That’s my all-time favorite movie and I never tire of watching it. I see a lot of Scorsese, Tarantino, Nolan, among others, but I don’t see any Kubrick. If you haven’t seen his films yet, I highly suggest setting aside a long weekend to do a Kubrick film festival, and don’t leave out his early works like “Spartacus,” “Paths of Glory” and “The Killing.” However, in particular you need to see “Dr. Strangelove,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “A Clockwork Orange,” “The Shining,” and “Full Metal Jacket.” Seeing them back to back may blow your mind, however, so be warned.
I have not seen any of those movie you mentioned. But I will get to those really soon. Thanks for the recommendations. I think I will see Jaws first because you mentioned it was your favorite movie.
Most definitely watch “Jaws”! But I really think based on your taste in movies that you’ll get into Kubrick. Be warned, though, that “2001” is a very slow movie (though really beautiful) that can be difficult to watch and may take repeated viewings to fully appreciate it. I still have difficulty watching it straight through in one sitting.
?! You haven’t seen Jaws!? See it immediately… It comes off as a BIT corny today, but just a bit, because it’s so damn suspenseful. I saw it when I was 10 or 11 years old, and since then, I’ve been trying to watch it every fourth of July. It’s actually set on the fourth of July, so it’s great to see a horror movie of sorts that ISN’T set around Halloween, if any holiday. There’s 3 sequels, and for years there have been joking rumors of a fifth. I’d recommend seeing the first sequel, because it’s not half bad, but then Jaws 3 (originally Jaws 3-D) and Jaws: The Revenge are both terrible. 3 takes place in SeaWorld instead of the original Amity Island setting. So then for the fourth outing, they realized their error and went back to the original setting. But they made many asinine errors, i.e. Michael Caine comes straight out of the ocean dry as a bone.
I just went to the library and got two few movies from this list: The Silence of the Lambs and Raging Bull. I also got The Prestige, Life Is Beautiful, and (for my horse-obsessed sister who has seen the following five times already) Secretariat. So excited to see the four of them, especially The Silence of the Lambs. Thanks.
Cool, hope you enjoy those.
I just saw The Godfather Part II. Like you, I thought it was even better than Part I. It’ll definitely make my top ten when I have time to place it.
Here’s my writeup:
http://themoviefreakblog.com/2012/06/08/review-the-godfather-part-ii/
Yeah, both are great. But Part II is just a step higher that I never expected the series to go. Part III, while good, is a huge step down for the rest. Going to check your review out now.
Sorry if I write too much, I have a habit of using long words. So please bear with me. This is a great list and includes many of my favorites. I have not seen 25th hour but now I am quite interested in it. Also good to see some Wes Anderson’s films. I just recently saw Fantastic Mr. Fox, my first Wes Anderson film and now I am gonna start my journey in to his wonderful universe. Brilliant film. You have included many classics here, well every movie fanatic has them on their list. You are also a great fan of Charlie Kaufman I believe. I personally loved Eternal Sunshine and Being John Malkovich very much. Now, I don’t like Hurt Locker and No Country for Old Men that much and I know you and many others will disagree. I just want to read your review on these two films, I wish to know your personal opinion. Also after exploring your blog, I noticed you haven’t checked out any foreign stuff. Well, I suggest you should. If you come to my page I have reviewed many great foreign films.
Nevertheless, this list is good, and you are a great movie fanatic. Keep posting and have a good day. Take care.
It’s fine, it’s great to write. Check out my blog page Buy, Rent, or Skip for older reviews. I am trying to get get more out right now on those two. I will also check out your site more on foreign films. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is very underrated in my opinion as well. Glad to hear you are a fan. Thanks a lot.
If you would like to know my all time favorites, I love films by Stanley Kubrick and Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki very much. First of all, Kubrick’s films are ingenious. His style is totally different and it was difficult even for me to understand them all at first. But they are Quite out-of-the-world. I can see that Jamie already described them. And Miyazaki is an animator. He has created 10 world-class anime films all which I adore very much. This direcotr has his own animation studio by the name Studio Ghibli, second best after Pixar.vHe is the best friend of John Lasseter and Lasseter himself admitted that his films influenced most of the Pixar classics. His films too are quite different, not something you experience in the animation genre. Primarily, if you have time watch these films of his: Princess Mononoke (my fav of all time), Spirited Away (won oscar for best animated film in 2001) and My neighbor Totoro.
Sorry for the long words again :). Good day…
Interesting and eclective list of films, I agree with you on alot of the films you’ve listed.
Thank you.
many of these i have seen among your list , yes they are worth to watch , but i disagree about your review of Sherlock Holmes : A game of shadow .
Guy ritchie has layered it with some new thoughts & with strange style , but still it’s watchable .
Thanks. Sherlock Holmes : A game of shadow has a very mixed reactions. Some people love it, and others hate it. I thought it was just okay but I’m glad you liked his new style. I might give it another look…
Good list. I love that you have my favorite movie at #2.
Thanks! No Country For Old Men is a masterpice and I can’t fault anyone in the least for being there favorite movie. It almost did it for me, but I still have it at #2
I just saw your number fourteen. Loved it. Can’t wait to get it on DVD so I can try to figure it out again.
Also, I don’t want to be nitpicky, but being the spelling Nazi that I am, I noticed a few typos here: [Michael] Clayton – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert [Ford]
Well I’m a bit late to the party but I dont give a fuck I have to comment. You sir have great taste for a 16 year old (I’m guessing thats how old you are based on your name). I’m the same age and rarely do I see someone my age who is serious about cinema and has similiar tastes to mine. In fact your top two are two of my very personal favorites- No Country for Old Men is my all time favorite and 25th Hour would be in the top 30. Yeah there is some stuff we would disagree with but overall great list.
Hey, thanks for stopping by and for the compliments. I know what you mean, rare to find a 16 year old like me – guess I just found one. I’m curious what your top ten would be…
My top ten? Off the top of my head…
1. No Country For Old Men
2. Unforgiven
3. GoodFellas
4. Days of Heaven
5. Bicycle Theives
6. Apocalypse Now
7. Vertigo
8. Mullholand Drive
9. The Wages of Fear
10. Fargo
All ten of these films I have seen several times and they all left a big impact on me. There are many more that I could include and many classics I haven’t seen yet (The Godfather Trilogy, Citizen Kane, alot of Hitchcock, etc)
I decided to consult your list today for recommendations (slowly clearing it off, and at a mere guess I’ve seen at least 25 of them), and I found five films that I haven’t seen but I have easy access to:
The Royal Tenenbaums
Zodiac
Vanilla Sky
The Painted Veil
Young Adult
Urgh. Can’t decide!
I’d see Zodiac first, great dialog driven crime movie. You weren’t the biggest fan of Rushmore, but TRT is better, and deeper. All good choices, look forward to your take on them.
I ended up watching The Royal Tenenbaums. Really enjoyed it, so thanks. My only problem with it was the ending–I felt it was sudden, and over-rushed.
Just saw Pulp Fiction this weekend. Easily #1 for me; I’m dying to buy the BluRay, but I know I should probably wait till next year since they’ll release a 20th anniversary edition.