Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Movies Of The Year(s): The Top 150

I haven't done this for awhile, so I wanted to revise and update my Top 20 movies. Of course, in order to do that I needed a list of movies I loved, which I could whittle down to the requisite number. My initial list was 152 movies long. With two eliminated to avoid that inelegant number, I was left with these 150. At this moment, these are my 150 favorite films, the 150 movies that I think are the best.


150. L'Avventura
149. Magnolia
148. Big Night
147. Alien
146. The Life Of Brian
145. The Last Of The Mohicans
144. Modern Times
143. The World
142. Battleship Potemkin
141. Flight Of The Red Balloon
140. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
139. Happy Together
138. Children Of Paradise
137. Kill Bill, Vol. 1
136. The Wind Will Carry Us
135. Tropical Malady
134. LA Story
133. Mean Streets
132. The Princess Bride
131. The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin


130. Monty Python And The Holy Grail
129. Still Life
128. The Man With A Movie Camera
127. Zulu
126. Chimes At Midnight
125. Goodbye Dragon Inn
124. Shoot The Piano Player
123. I'm Not There
122. The Shining
121. The English Patient
120. Throne Of Blood
119. Lola
118. Three Times
117. Boogie Nights
116. A Matter Of Life And Death
115. Yojimbo
114. Taste Of Cherry
113. I Am Cuba
112. Pulp Fiction
111. Sansho The Bailiff


110. Jaws
109. Hiroshima mon amour
108. Last Life In The Universe
107. Day Of Wrath
106. Trainspotting
105. Star Wars
104. Ikiru
103. Hero
102. F For Fake
101. Chinatown
100. Bringing Up Baby
99. 2046
98. Punch-Drunk Love
97. Dazed And Confused
96. Top Hat
95. Tokyo Story
94. Nights Of Cabiria
93. Eyes Wide Shut
92. Taxi Driver
91. The Godfather


90. Hard-Boiled
89. Morocco
88. Swing Time
87. House Of Flying Daggers
86. Rushmore
85. The Lion In Winter
84. Slacker
83. Unforgiven
82. The General
81. Three Colors: Blue
80. The Thin Red Line
79. Raiders Of the Lost Ark
78. Dead Man
77. The Godfather Part II
76. Contempt
75. Psycho
74. Red River
73. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
72. The Passion Of Joan Of Arc
71. The Maltese Falcon


70. Apocalypse Now
69. Tabu
68. Satantango
67. Last Year At Marienbad
66. McCabe & Mrs. Miller
65. The Wind That Shakes The Barley
64. Fitzcarraldo
63. Celine And Julie Go Boating
62. Sherlock Jr.
61. 8 1/2
60. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington
59. M. Hulot's Holiday
58. Rio Bravo
57. Stranger Than Paradise
56. Lawrence Of Arabia
55. Au hasard Balthazar
54. Sans soleil
53. Andrei Rublev
52. Two-Lane Blacktop
51. Out Of The Past


50. Once Upon A Time In The West
49. The New World
48. The Shop Around The Corner
47. Black Narcissus
46. Rashomon
45. City Lights
44. L'Eclisse
43. Funny Face
42. The Manchurian Candidate
41. The Seventh Seal
40. Young Mr. Lincoln
39. Ugetsu
38. A Canterbury Tale
37. North By Northwest
36. The Big Sleep
35. A Woman Is A Woman
34. It's A Wonderful Life
33. Late Spring
32. Stagecoach
31. Steamboat Bill Jr


30. The Birds
29. Miller's Crossing
28. The Empire Strikes Back
27. Dr. Strangelove
26. 2001: A Space Odyssey
25. Do The Right Thing
24. The Big Lebowski
23. Ran
22. The Rules Of The Game
21. Duck Soup


20. The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg
19. Citizen Kane
18. Millennium Mambo
17. Playtime
16. The Red Shoes
15. Manhattan
14. Vertigo
13. All About Eve
12. Days Of Heaven
11. The Third Man


10. Sunrise
9. The Searchers
8. Touch Of Evil
7. Rear Window
6. Pierrot le fou
5. Singin' In The Rain
4. Annie Hall
3. Casablanca
2. Chungking Express
1. Seven Samurai

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3 comments:

  1. tif10:35 AM, February 01, 2010

    Hi, Sean. Do you explain anywhere how you build your lists of favorites? For example, do you differentiate between enjoyment and artistic merit? I'm supposing that some folks build their lists based solely on whether they "like" a movie or not, whereas others build theirs based on passionless artistic judgement, others on some mixture of the two, and others on some other parameters altogether.

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  2. Sean Gilman11:00 AM, February 01, 2010

    I do sort of, it's at the top of each of The Big Lists:

    "The order isn't definitive: ranking works of art is not meant to be a hierarchical activity, but rather an organizational one. It gives me a chance to write about some movies. It's interesting trivially and comparatively to see what movies came out at the same time, to see the progression of film history. And lists are just plain fun to argue over. They are meant to be conversation starters, not finishers. I don't have any particular criteria for what ranks above what, it's just my own subjective opinion, informed by a reasonable knowledge of film and film history (though not nearly what it should be, as you can see from the Unseen lists in the individual Movies Of The Year entries).

    The rankings change over time: when I see a new movie from a year I've already posted, I add it to The Big List here. Sometimes I'll see a movie again and my opinion of it will change, or my feelings about a film will evolve over time, and so I'll move it up or down its list here as well. The Big List is, and always will be, a work in progress."

    ReplyDelete
  3. p L9:27 PM, December 05, 2012

    best movie.Sunrise.i watched it. thanx for information.

    ReplyDelete

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