my top 100 films -- movies I think about when I think about movies
What this is not: This is not my own personal assessment of the “best” or “greatest” or “most influential” movies ever made, or any categorization that pretends to objectivity.
What this is: These are the movies that I think about when I think about movies. If you want to know where I'm coming from as a critic and a movie fan, take a look at these movies. Many of these are the movies I've memorized, the movies I quote from all the time. Some of these are movies that haunt my nightmares. All are movies that warped my brain. Many could be called my favorite movies; many could be called my comfort movies. All of them have been a profound influence on me, for good or ill.
Why: This list grew out of a project I and my fellow members of Cinemarati put together years ago, our group canon. I have just [October 2006] updated the list with a few films from the early 2000s; most of the titles that dropped off the list were TV shows -- perhaps eventually I’ll put together a top 100 list of TV shows that I think about when I think about TV.
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- The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the Eighth Dimension (1984)
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
- The Princess Bride (1987) [review]
- This Is Spinal Tap (1984) [review]
- Ghostbusters (1984) [review]
- The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-3) [review]
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) [review]
- A Night at the Opera (1935)
- Beauty and the Beast (1991) [review]
- The Empire Strikes Back (1980) [review]
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) [review]
- GoodFellas (1990) [review]
- Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) [geek retrospective]
- Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
- The Wizard of Oz (1939) [review]
- Fantasia (1940) [review]
- Star Wars (1977) [review]
- Gladiator (2000) [review]
- A Christmas Story (1983) [review]
- E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) [review]
- Aliens (1986)
- The Matrix (1999) [review]
- Brazil (1985)
- Airplane! (1980)
- Truly Madly Deeply (1991)
- Until the End of the World (1991)
- Back to the Future (1985)
- Edward Scissorhands (1990) [review]
- The Silence of the Lambs (1991) [review]
- Memento (2000) [review]
- The Hunt for Red October (1990) [review]
- Raising Arizona (1987)
- Blade Runner (1982)
- Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
- The Producers (1968)
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
- Die Hard (1988)
- Say Anything (1989) [geek retrospective]
- O Brother Where Art Thou? (2000) [review]
- Terminator (1984)
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
- Babe (1995)
- Casablanca (1942) [review]
- The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) [review]
- Being John Malkovich (1999) [review]
- Robocop (1987)
- The Fugitive (1993)
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
- Ocean's Eleven (2001) [review]
- The Day After (1983) [review]
- Braveheart (1995) [review]
- Moulin Rouge! (2001) [review]
- Earth Girls Are Easy (1989)
- Monty Python's Meaning of Life (1983)
- The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
- Testament (1983) [review]
- Threads (1984) [review]
- Superman: The Movie (1978) [review]
- Dances with Wolves (1990) [review]
- A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
- Batman (1989)
- Groundhog Day (1993)
- The Lion King (1994)
- Spider-Man (2002)
- Roxanne (1987)
- Superman II (1980) [review]
- Toy Story 2 (1999) [review]
- Lethal Weapon (1987)
- Jaws (1975)
- Back to the Future II (1989)
- Forrest Gump (1994) [review]
- Spirited Away (2001) [review]
- Shallow Grave (1994)
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
- Toy Story (1995)
- Adaptation (2002) [review] [geek retrospective]
- Pump Up the Volume (1990)
- Big (1988) [review]
- Miracle on 34th Street (1947) [review]
- Apollo 13 (1995) [review] [geek retrospective]
- Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
- Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979) [review]
- The Muppet Movie (1979)
- The Stand (TV miniseries) (1994)
- The Usual Suspects (1995)
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) [review]
- Rear Window (1954)
- Repo Man (1984) [review]
- Duck Soup (1933)
- Bob Roberts (1992) [review]
- Jurassic Park (1993) [review]
- The Player (1992)
- The Truman Show (1998) [review]
- The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978) [review]
- Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)
- Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
- The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
- JFK (1991)
- Witness (1985)
- Donnie Darko (2001) [review]
