imdb top 250
Nick Plowman over at Fataculture inspired me to post the IMDB Top 250, which some consider to be a list of the best films of all time (I have my doubts). The ones I've seen are listed in bold, and you can click on the few one that I've reviewed on this site.
So... out of 250 movies, I've seen a paltry 91. All right, let the ridiculing begin. I do have a teensy excuse, though: I haven't been fully aware of my movie geekdom for all that long. Let a girl catch up.
OK, so feel free to express your outrage in the comments section. I'll even help you out. Fill in the blank: "You've never seen _________?!?! And you call yourself a movie buff? Shame, Nayana, shame."
So... out of 250 movies, I've seen a paltry 91. All right, let the ridiculing begin. I do have a teensy excuse, though: I haven't been fully aware of my movie geekdom for all that long. Let a girl catch up.
OK, so feel free to express your outrage in the comments section. I'll even help you out. Fill in the blank: "You've never seen _________?!?! And you call yourself a movie buff? Shame, Nayana, shame."
- The Godfather (1972)
- The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
- The Godfather: Part II (1974)
- The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly(1966)
- Pulp Fiction (1994)
- Schindler's List (1993)
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
- Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
- Casablanca (1942)
- The Seven Samurai (1954)
- Star Wars (1977)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
- 12 Angry Men (1957)
- Rear Window (1954)
- Goodfellas (1990)
- City of God (2002)
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
- Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
- The Usual Suspects (1995)
- Psycho (1960)
- Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
- Fight Club (1999)
- The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
- Citizen Kane (1941)
- North by Northwest (1959)
- Memento (2000)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
- Sunset Blvd. (1950)
- It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
- The Matrix (1999)
- Lawrence of Arabia (1962) -- I started to watch this one, and fell asleep.
- Se7en (1995)
- Apocalypse Now (1979) -- I've started to watch this one TWICE. I suppose I'll try again.
- Taxi Driver (1976)
- American Beauty (1999)
- The Professional (1994)
- There Will Be Blood (2007)
- Vertigo (1958)
- Amélie (2001)
- American History X (1998)
- The Departed (2006)
- Paths of Glory (1957)
- M (1931)
- No Country for Old Men (2007)
- To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
- The Third Man (1949)
- Chinatown (1974)
- The Lives of Others (2006)
- A Clockwork Orange (1971)
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
- Alien (1979)
- The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
- The Shining (1980)
- Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
- The Pianist (2002)
- Spirited Away (2001)
- Double Indemnity (1944)
- Forrest Gump (1994)
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
- Saving Private Ryan (1998)
- L.A. Confidential (1997)
- The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
- Das Boot (1981)
- Requiem for a Dream (2000)
- Reservoir Dogs (1992)
- The Downfall (2004)
- Aliens (1986)
- The Maltese Falcon (1941)
- Raging Bull (1980)
- Rashômon (1950)
- Metropolis (1927)
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
- Modern Times (1936)
- Singin' in the Rain (1952)
- Hotel Rwanda (2004)
- Rebecca (1940)
- Sin City (2005)
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
- All About Eve (1950)
- The Seventh Seal (1957)
- Some Like It Hot (1959)
- City Lights (1931) -- It's up next on my Netflix. Thanks, David.
- Amadeus (1984)
- On the Waterfront (1954)
- Life is Beautiful (1997)
- The Great Escape (1963)
- Touch of Evil (1958)
- The Prestige (2006)
- The Elephant Man (1980)
- Full Metal Jacket (1987)
- Jaws (1975)
- The Sting (1973)
- Cinema Paradiso (1988)
- Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
- The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
- The Apartment (1960)
- Braveheart (1995)
- The Great Dictator (1940)
- Blade Runner (1982)
- Strangers on a Train (1951)
- Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
- Batman Begins (2005)
- The Bicycle Thief (1948)
- High Noon (1952)
- Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
- The Big Sleep (1946)
- The Wages of Fear (1953)
- Notorious (1946)
- Back to the Future (1985)
- The Wizard of Oz (1939)
- Ran (1985)
- Oldboy (2003)
- Fargo (1996)
- Unforgiven (1992)
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
- Donnie Darko (2001)
- Princess Mononoke (1997)
- Cool Hand Luke (1967)
- Ratatouille (2007)
- Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
- For a Few Dollars More (1965)
- Yojimbo (1961)
- The Green Mile (1999)
- Million Dollar Baby (2004)
- The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
- Nights of Cabiria (1957)
- Gladiator (2000)
- Into the Wild (2007)
- Die Hard (1988)
- Annie Hall (1977)
- The Battle of Algiers (1966)
- The Deer Hunter (1978)
- Ben-Hur (1959)
- It Happened One Night (1934)
- The Sixth Sense (1999)
- Platoon (1986)
- The General (1927)
- Life of Brian (1979)
- Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
- The Killing (1956)
- Wild Strawberries (1957)
- Amores perros (2000)
- Les Diaboliques (1955)
- Finding Nemo (2003)
- The Incredibles (2004)
- V for Vendetta (2005)
- Heat (1995)
- Brief Encounter (1945)
- The Wild Bunch (1969)
- Children of Men (2006)
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
- The Graduate (1967)
- The Princess Bride (1987)
- 8½ (1963)
- Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
- The Night of the Hunter (1955)
- Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
- The Big Lebowski (1998)
- Juno (2007)
- Stand by Me (1986)
- Crash (2004)
- Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
- Gandhi (1982)
- Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
- The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
- Snatch (2000)
- Harvey (1950)
- Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
- Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)
- The Thing (1982)
- The African Queen (1951)
- Trainspotting (1996)
- The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
- Gone with the Wind (1939)
- The Gold Rush (1925)
- Groundhog Day (1993)
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
- Beauty and the Beast (1946)
- Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
- Scarface (1983)
- The Conversation (1974)
- American Gangster (2007) -- This movie so does not belong on this list, IMHO.
- Patton (1970)
- Duck Soup (1933)
- Toy Story (1995)
- Twelve Monkeys (1995)
- The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
- Nosferatu (1922)
- The Terminator (1984)
- Sleuth (1972)
- The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
- The Hustler (1961)
- Umberto D. (1952)
- Stalker (1979)
- The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
- Glory (1989)
- Ed Wood (1994)
- King Kong (1933)
- Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
- The Lion King (1994)
- The Exorcist (1973)
- Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
- Grindhouse (2007)
- Spartacus (1960)
- The Lost Weekend (1945)
- Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
- All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
- The Lady Vanishes (1938)
- The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)
- Magnolia (1999)
- Stalag 17 (1953)
- Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
- In the Heat of the Night (1967)
- Run Lola Run (1998)
- The Philadelphia Story (1940)
- Frankenstein (1931)
- Big Fish (2003)
- Out of the Past (1947)
- Casino (1995)
- Rosemary's Baby (1968)
- Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
- Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
- Mystic River (2003)
- Toy Story 2 (1999)
- Once (2006)
- 3:10 to Yuma (2007)
- Rififi (1955)
- A Christmas Story (1983)
- Hot Fuzz (2007)
- Ikiru (1952)
- Dial M for Murder (1954)
- Manhattan (1979)
- Young Frankenstein (1974)
- Infernal Affairs (2002)
- Rope (1948)
- A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
- The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
- Roman Holiday (1953)
- In Cold Blood (1967)
- His Girl Friday (1940)
- Hero (2002)
- The 400 Blows (1959)
- Shaun of the Dead (2004)
- Harold and Maude (1971)
- La Strada (1954)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
- The Searchers (1956)
- In Bruges (2008)
- Le Samouraï (1967)
March 27, 2008 at 5:53 PM
Catching up is where all the fun is anyway!
I think that you are lucky, you still have to see some gems (the biggest one for me "The 400 Blows"). Everyone should see that film as soon as possible, everything else could wait! I bet you have seen tons of great films that are not on this list...am I right?
I cannot ridicule you; I have much catching up to do myself, and am glad I have someone like you to catch up with.
March 27, 2008 at 7:14 PM
This is a great list, I haven't looked at it in a while. Nice to see the additions from 2007! I've seen 155. If it makes you feel better, Lawrence of Arabia put me to sleep too. Took me a week to see it, and I bitch about it to this day. If you like adventure, Raiders of the Lost Ark is one of the best, pure adventure films, check it out before the new Indiana Jones comes to screens this spring. Enjoy!
March 27, 2008 at 7:39 PM
Captain Crash and I are definitely planning an Indy marathon before Kingdom of the Crystal Skull comes out. I have seen pieces and parts of all three Indy movies, but none of them all the way through.
Nick... thanks for being sweet.
March 27, 2008 at 11:28 PM
Sigh. I already shot my mouth off over this list at Nick's place, but I think it's a joke. How some of these recent movies even make the top 500 is beyond me, and it's only made worse when they're ranked in order. I've seen over 150, but that's an inflated number from where this list was about 10 years ago. There used to be a bunch of old classics on there that I'd never heard of. Oh well...
March 28, 2008 at 12:00 AM
I couldn't possibly judge you on what movies you haven't seen so long as the movies you have seen includes Serenity or Moulin Rouge. Also, I'm stealing this idea.
March 28, 2008 at 1:31 AM
The nice thing about movies is how absolutely subjective lists like these are and I can tell you that if I sat down and locked myself in a room for days on end scouring every corner of my brain for 250 movies that were in my opinion, the best of all time, a sizable chunk of these would most definitely have not made the list.
I think a lot of times people go into movies from lists like these expecting too much or feeling badly if they don't like said movie, which always makes me feel bad. Movies should be fun!
March 28, 2008 at 8:31 AM
I know what opinions are like, but IMDb really needs to do something about their list if they want it to remain relevant. As I've discussed previously, I'm no giant fan of "the classics," but it's laughable that American Gangster and In Bruges are on this list. Even though we all know that they'll be gone from it in six months, the fact that they're on it in the first place reeks.
March 28, 2008 at 8:56 AM
You have seen quite a lot! I don't know how many of those movies I have seen. Just out of curiosity, how many movies of the IMDB Bottom 100 have you seen?
March 28, 2008 at 9:38 AM
The list is absolutely a joke. Maybe I'll do the same with the AFI Top 100.
Of the IMDB Bottom 100, I have seen... one. From Justin to Kelly. And, yes, my eyes still hurt.
March 28, 2008 at 9:42 AM
I can't take this list seriously, although it is fun to see what's on it and what I've actually seen. (I think I'd seen about 155 of them, per the list that was posted late last year.)
You are going to love "City Lights."
March 29, 2008 at 12:01 AM
You should really check out Hayao Miyazaki's films. At least two are on the list here: Spirited Away, and Princess Mononoke. I'm not much of an anime person, but his films manage to reach me anyway.
March 29, 2008 at 10:07 PM
Don't worry about the films you haven't seen... just add them to your list! Not all of them suit everyone but it's a great place to start when looking for overall acclaimed films.
I would say that I'd recommend The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. I had no idea that I would enjoy this film at all and now it's on of my faves of all time. It's perfect in so many ways.
March 31, 2008 at 2:37 PM
To echo the above posters: this list is a joke. I've seen 93, but it changes on a consistent basis. In fact, it's probably changed in the four days since your post. And though I quote the number as 93, some I honestly can't remember a thing about, but I did watch them.
I don't feel the least bit bad or dumb for not seeing what the general idiotic public think are the "best" 250 films of all time. In fact I don't feel bad for not seeing most films on any "best of list," as it is always a matter of someone else's opinion.