My Top 250 Films
Based on two general criteria:
1. Personal impact of the film
2. Admiration for the film
201-250 are listed alphabetically.
1. Personal impact of the film
2. Admiration for the film
201-250 are listed alphabetically.
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259 titles
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinPaulette GoddardHenry BergmanThe Tramp struggles to live in modern industrial society with the help of a young homeless woman.USA | A brilliant satire and timeless comedy that holds universal truths for the working class.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneTakashi ShimuraKeiko TsushimaFarmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, who gathers six other samurai to join him.Japan | Seven Samurai serves as a reference of quality to generations of filmmakers, actors, and movie watchers alike. The quality in acting, storytelling, musical score, action, mise-en-scène cinematography, characterization, the cast's unique cohesion, and Akira Kurosawa's skilled attention to every technicality together produced one of the most remarkable films ever made.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsKeir DulleaGary LockwoodWilliam SylvesterAfter uncovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, a spacecraft is sent to Jupiter to find its origins: a spacecraft manned by two men and the supercomputer HAL 9000.USA | 2001: A Space Odyssey is more of an experience than it is a film. It is a thick and unshakable mood that overcomes the viewer, creating an intense journey from the first frame to the last... a true space odyssey.
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsMarlon BrandoAl PacinoJames CaanThe aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.USA | Superbly acted, intricately filmed, and a technical marvel on every front.
- DirectorVittorio De SicaStarsLamberto MaggioraniEnzo StaiolaLianella CarellIn post-war Italy, a working-class man's bicycle is stolen, endangering his efforts to find work. He and his son set out to find it.Italy | Never has cinema felt so real, personal, and intimate. Brilliance found through simplicity.
- DirectorRoberto BenigniStarsRoberto BenigniNicoletta BraschiGiorgio CantariniWhen an open-minded Jewish waiter and his son become victims of the Holocaust, he uses a perfect mixture of will, humor and imagination to protect his son from the dangers around their camp.Italy | A film about the lengths to which one man will go in an attempt to protect his family from the hatred in the world around them.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinVirginia CherrillFlorence LeeWith the aid of a wealthy erratic tippler, a dewy-eyed tramp who has fallen in love with a sightless flower girl accumulates money to be able to help her medically.USA | A wonderful film that will make you laugh, cry, and then laugh until you cry.
- DirectorSergio LeoneStarsHenry FondaCharles BronsonClaudia CardinaleA mysterious stranger with a harmonica joins forces with a notorious desperado to protect a beautiful widow from a ruthless assassin working for the railroad.Italy | With great direction, music, and an extraordinary cast, Sergio Leone produced the ultimate western.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsAnthony PerkinsJanet LeighVera MilesA Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.USA | Psycho succeeds as a masterfully-crafted horror film at every angle. Tightly scripted, a haunting score, and a prime example of excellent directing.
- DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsJohn TravoltaUma ThurmanSamuel L. JacksonThe lives of two mob hitmen, a boxer, a gangster and his wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.USA | Tarantino's masterpiece gives us a little bit of everything, and then some, achieving a brilliant balance between violence/suspense and comic situations. The dialogue will glue any viewer to the screen... whether it's your first viewing or your hundredth.
- DirectorCarl Theodor DreyerStarsMaria FalconettiEugene SilvainAndré BerleyIn 1431, Jeanne d'Arc is placed on trial on charges of heresy. The ecclesiastical jurists attempt to force Jeanne to recant her claims of holy visions.France | Hauntingly filmed and emotionally resonant, The Passion of Joan of Arc relentlessly instills empathy into the viewer. There is no other film like it.
- DirectorDavid LeanStarsPeter O'TooleAlec GuinnessAnthony QuinnThe story of T.E. Lawrence, the English officer who successfully united and led the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes during World War I in order to fight the Turks.UK | Lawrence of Arabia's magnificence lies in its range--from an up-close and complex character study to a sweeping war epic with some of the most breathtaking cinematography ever filmed.
- DirectorAlfonso CuarónStarsYalitza AparicioMarina de TaviraDiego Cortina AutreyA year in the life of a middle-class family's maid in Mexico City in the early 1970s.Among the richest examples of cinema, Roma is a fully lived-in depiction of a time and place left permanent in the minds of the people who experienced it.
- DirectorFernando MeirellesKátia LundStarsAlexandre RodriguesLeandro FirminoMatheus NachtergaeleIn the slums of Rio, two kids' paths diverge as one struggles to become a photographer and the other a kingpin.Brazil | City of God takes us to another realm, where the gritty streets of Rio are unforgiving. It hides nothing and consequentially, presents a brutally raw and unique experience.
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsSigourney WeaverTom SkerrittJohn HurtThe crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform after investigating a mysterious transmission of unknown origin.USA | A masterpiece of atmospheric horror and science fiction that stands head and shoulders above any similar works.
- DirectorJulian SchnabelStarsMathieu AmalricEmmanuelle SeignerMarie-Josée CrozeThe true story of Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby who suffers a stroke and has to live with an almost totally paralyzed body; only his left eye isn't paralyzed.France | An experience that communicates a perspective that could only be imagined or dreamed in a nightmare. The poetically filmed venture from suffocating confinement to weightless freedom is all the more resonant as a true story.
- DirectorIsao TakahataStarsTsutomu TatsumiAyano ShiraishiAkemi YamaguchiA young boy and his little sister struggle to survive in Japan during World War II.Japan | Transcends the animation genre as an unforgettable, emotionally-wrecking drama.
- DirectorMichael HanekeStarsJean-Louis TrintignantEmmanuelle RivaIsabelle HuppertGeorges and Anne are an octogenarian couple. They are cultivated, retired music teachers. Their daughter, also a musician, lives in Britain with her family. One day, Anne has a stroke, and the couple's bond of love is severely tested.Austria | A tedious and emotional journey through the inherent inescapability of life itself.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsBibi AnderssonLiv UllmannMargaretha KrookA nurse is put in charge of a mute actress and finds that their personae are melding together.Sweden | As two personalities are expressed, they intertwine through intense reflection and isolation. Disorienting and erotic, Persona is Ingmar Bergman's masterpiece.
- DirectorDarren AronofskyStarsEllen BurstynJared LetoJennifer ConnellyThe drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island people are shattered when their addictions run deep..USA | Bottomless abyss; Psychological trip; Relentless disturbia--Some of the many ways to sum up Darren Aronofsky's masterpiece.
- DirectorAlain ResnaisStarsEmmanuelle RivaEiji OkadaStella DassasA French actress filming an anti-war film in Hiroshima has an affair with a married Japanese architect as they share their differing perspectives on war.France | Entrancing images and repetitive dialogue jointly create a poetically romantic atmosphere on the backdrop of a tragedy-stricken city.
- DirectorDerek CianfranceStarsRyan GoslingMichelle WilliamsJohn DomanThe relationship of a contemporary married couple, charting their evolution over a span of years by cross-cutting between time periods.
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsYôji MatsudaYuriko IshidaYûko TanakaOn a journey to find the cure for a Tatarigami's curse, Ashitaka finds himself in the middle of a war between the forest gods and Tatara, a mining colony. In this quest he also meets San, the Mononoke Hime.Japan | Princess Mononoke features organic animation, an enveloping story, and a mature and refined atmosphere. Hayao Miyazaki's masterpiece.
- DirectorFranklin J. SchaffnerStarsCharlton HestonRoddy McDowallKim HunterAn astronaut crew crash-lands on a planet where highly intelligent non-human ape species are dominant and humans are enslaved.USA | A brilliantly ironic testament to the self-destructive nature of man.
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsHenry FondaLee J. CobbMartin BalsamThe jury in a New York City murder trial is frustrated by a single member whose skeptical caution forces them to more carefully consider the evidence before jumping to a hasty verdict.USA | 12 Angry Men feels like a classic as you are watching it. It demonstrates the power of swaying opinions vs. independent logic in a roller coaster of deliberations towards objective truth.