Movies – General

I love movies and spend a lot of time watching, thinking about, and analysing movies. I watch funny movies, boring movies, old movies and animated movies. There are esoteric movies have left a mark on me, and there are blockbusters that left me indifferent.

As I became older and more obsessive-compulsive, it was clear to me that I need to put my “movie history” in order. I had to be able to ask questions like “how many John Ford movies have I seen?”, “Did I watch more John Wayne movies or more Dustin Hoffman movies?”, “How many 1950s movies did I watch?” and more.

But most importantly- what are my top movies? That’s always a tricky one, and here my obsessive compulsion comes in handy… It took about 6 months, but I covered most of the relevant* movies I’ve seen, and catalogued them by year, director, actors and my rank. There’s no #1 Top Movie here, and the movies aren’t ordered one by one, but rather in buckets of Top 5, Top 20, Top 50, etc (each sorted by year of production).

I also have a wishlist I need to cover, and you’re welcome you suggest movies you think I missed, just drop me a note at roee@soluto.com.

Here are my top 100 movies, you’re welcome to browse the full list of 600 movies, as well as my analysis of decades, directors and soon Oscars, IMDB Top 250, and actors & actresses.

My Top 100 Movies

Rank Year Movie Title Director
Top 5 1942 Casablanca Michael Curtiz
Top 5 1968 Once Upon a Time in the West Sergio Leone
Top 5 1979 Being There Hal Ashby
Top 5 1994 Leon (The Professional) Luc Besson
Top 5 1994 Pulp Fiction Quentin Tarantino
Top 20 1950 Sunset Boulevard Billy Wilder
Top 20 1952 High Noon Fred Zinnemann
Top 20 1954 On The Waterfront Elia Kazan
Top 20 1962 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance John Ford
Top 20 1967 The Graduate Mike Nichols
Top 20 1967 In the Heat of the Night Norman Jewison
Top 20 1972 The Godfather Francis Ford Coppola
Top 20 1979 Life of Brian Terry Jones
Top 20 1992 Chaplin Richard Attenborough
Top 20 1994 The Shawshank Redemption Frank Darabont
Top 20 1995 Twelve Monkeys Terry Gilliam
Top 20 1998 The Big Lebowski Ethan Cohen
Top 20 1999 Fight Club David Fincher
Top 20 1999 Dogma Kevin Smith
Top 20 2003 Mystic River Clint Eastwood
Top 50 1941 Citizen Kane Orson Welles
Top 50 1943 The Ox Bow Incident William A. Wellman
Top 50 1950 All About Eve Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Top 50 1955 The Night Of The Hunter Charles Laughton
Top 50 1957 Paths of Glory Stanley Kubrick
Top 50 1958 Vertigo Alfred Hitchcock
Top 50 1959 Some Like It Hot Billy Wilder
Top 50 1964 My Fair Lady George Cukor
Top 50 1964 Dr. Strangelove Stanley Kubrick
Top 50 1966 Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Mike Nichols
Top 50 1969 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Howard Hawks
Top 50 1974 The Godfather, Part II Francis Ford Coppola
Top 50 1975 Monty Python and the Holy Grail Terry Gilliam
Top 50 1977 Annie Hall Woody Allen
Top 50 1977 Star Wars: A New Hope George Lucas
Top 50 1979 Apocalypse Now Francis Ford Coppola
Top 50 1982 Poltergeist Tobe Hopper
Top 50 1986 Stand by Me Zack Snyder
Top 50 1990 Edward Scissorhands Tim Burton
Top 50 1992 Reservoir Dogs Quentin Tarantino
Top 50 1992 Unforgiven Clint Eastwood
Top 50 1994 Forrest Gump Robert Zemeckis
Top 50 1995 Se7en David Fincher
Top 50 1996 Sleepers Barry Levinson
Top 50 1996 Trainspotting Danny Boyle
Top 50 1997 Chasing Amy Kevin Smith
Top 50 1998 American History X Tony Kaye
Top 50 1999 The Matrix Andy Wachowski
Top 50 2000 Snatch Guy Ritchie
Top 50 2003 Return of the King Peter Jackson
Top 100 1936 Modern Times Charles Chaplin
Top 100 1939 Gone With The Wind Victor Fleming
Top 100 1944 Double Indemnity Billy Wilder
Top 100 1946 Gilda Charles Vidor
Top 100 1948 Red River Howard Hawks
Top 100 1953 From Here to Eternity Fred Zinnemann
Top 100 1954 Dial M for Murder Alfred Hitchcock
Top 100 1955 The Seven Year Itch Billy Wilder
Top 100 1956 The Searchers John Ford
Top 100 1956 Giant George Stevens
Top 100 1957 The Bridge on the River Kwai David Lean
Top 100 1957 Witness For The Prosecution Billy Wilder
Top 100 1957 12 Angry Men Sidney Lumet
Top 100 1958 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Richard Brooks
Top 100 1962 What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Robert Aldrich
Top 100 1962 To Kill A Mockingbird Robert Mulligan
Top 100 1963 The Birds Alfred Hitchcock
Top 100 1966 The Good, The Bad and The Ugly Sergio Leone
Top 100 1971 The Last Picture Show Peter Bogdanovich
Top 100 1972 Deliverance John Boorman
Top 100 1972 Cabaret Bob Fosse
Top 100 1974 Chinatown Roman Polanski
Top 100 1975 Jaws Steven Spielberg
Top 100 1979 Alien Ridley Scott
Top 100 1983 Start Wars: Return of the Jedi Richard Marquand
Top 100 1983 Terms of Endearment James L. Brooks
Top 100 1984 Top Secret! David Zucker
Top 100 1984 Amadeus Milos Forman
Top 100 1986 Platoon Oliver Stone
Top 100 1987 The Princess Bride Rob Reiner
Top 100 1987 Full Metal Jacket Stanley Kubrick
Top 100 1988 Time of the Gypsies Emir Kusturica
Top 100 1989 Parenthood Ron Howard
Top 100 1990 Total Recall Paul Verhoeven
Top 100 1991 The Silence of the Lambs Jonathan Demme
Top 100 1993 A Perfect World Clint Eastwood
Top 100 1994 Clerks Kevin Smith
Top 100 1995 Mighty Aphrodite Woody Allen
Top 100 1995 The Usual Suspects Bryan Singer
Top 100 1996 Everyone Says I Love You Woody Allen
Top 100 1996 Mars Attacks! Tim Burton
Top 100 1996 Fargo Ethan Cohen
Top 100 1996 The Long Kiss Goodnight Renny Harlin
Top 100 1997 The Fifth Element Luc Besson
Top 100 1997 L.A. Confidential Curtis Hanson
Top 100 1999 Arlington Road Mark Pellington
Top 100 2002 Gangs of New York Martin Scorsese
Top 100 2004 Team America Trey Parker
Top 100 2005 Match Point Woody Allen
Top 100 2006 The Departed Martin Scorsese

 

* Needless to say that not every movie I see enters this listing. There are Rules for that…