Feeling all list-y today. Two things I learned while compiling this beast: 1994 and 1999 were both banner years for movies, and P.T. Anderson is the greatest film director of the last two decades. I didn’t pick any silent films, though Haxan, Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari almost made the cut; I like those movies but I can’t say I watch them over and over. I tried to pick at least one film by each of my favorite directors, but I couldn’t find room for Terry Gilliam, Werner Herzog and Jan Svankmajer; again, easier to admire than to love.
Listed in order of preference (along with the director’s name and the year the movie came out), here are my…
100 Favorite Movies
1. Chungking Express (Wong Kar-Wai, 1994)
2. Dazed and Confused (Richard Linklater, 1993)
3. Harold and Maude (Hal Ashby, 1971)
4. Band of Outsiders (Jean-Luc Godard, 1964)
5. Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)
6. The Godfather/The Godfather: Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972/1974)
7. Fanny and Alexander (Ingmar Bergman, 1982)
8. Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
9. The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malick, 1998)
10. Boogie Nights (Paul Thomas Anderson, 1997)
11. Songs from the Second Floor (Roy Andersson, 2000)
12. Akira (Katsuhiro Otomo, 1988)
13. Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985)
14. The Ice Storm (Ang Lee, 1997)
15. 2001: A Space Odyssey/Solaris (Stanley Kubrick, 1968/Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972)
16. Pump Up the Volume (Allan Moyle, 1990)
17. Bottle Rocket (Wes Anderson, 1996)
18. Raising Arizona (Coen Brothers, 1987)
19. Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954)
20. Paths of Glory (Kubrick, 1957)
21. Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (Tim Burton, 1985)
22. True Romance (Tony Scott, 1993)
23. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Zemeckis, 1988)
24. Murmur of the Heart/Au revoir les enfants (Louis Malle, 1971/1987)
25. Heavenly Creatures (Peter Jackson, 1994)
26. Lorenzo’s Oil (George Miller, 1992)
27. Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001)
28. Carrie (Brian De Palma, 1976)
29. Titus (Julie Taymor, 1999)
30. Badlands (Malick, 1973)
31. The Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont, 1994)
32. Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (Sam Raimi, 1987)
33. Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975)
34. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)
35. River’s Edge/Over the Edge (Tim Hunter, 1986/Jonathan Kaplan, 1979)
36. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Kubrick, 1964)
37. Magnolia (P.T. Anderson, 1999)
38. Oldboy (Park Chan-wook, 2003)
39. A Clockwork Orange (Kubrick, 1971)
40. Miller’s Crossing (Coen Brothers, 1990)
41. Blue Velvet (Lynch, 1986)
42. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Milos Forman, 1975)
43. Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly, 2001)
44. Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe, 2000)
45. Welcome to the Dollhouse (Todd Solondz, 1995)
46. The 400 Blows (Francois Truffaut, 1959)
47. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
48. They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (Sydney Pollack, 1969)
49. Deliverance (John Boorman, 1972)
50. Marathon Man (John Schlesinger, 1976)
51. Angels in America (Mike Nichols, 2003)
52. Walkabout (Nicolas Roeg, 1971)
53. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (James Cameron, 1991)
54. Go (Doug Liman, 1999)
55. Election (Alexander Payne, 1999)
56. Fight Club (David Fincher, 1999)
57. Mysterious Skin (Gregg Araki, 2004)
58. The Last Waltz/Woodstock (Scorsese, 1978/Michael Wadleigh, 1970)
59. The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, 1955)
60. Stop Making Sense (Jonathan Demme, 1984)
61. After Hours (Scorsese, 1985)
62. Amarcord (Federico Fellini, 1973)
63. Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)
64. Battle Royale (Kinji Fukasaku, 2000)
65. The Iron Giant (Brad Bird, 1999)
66. Forrest Gump (Zemeckis, 1994)
67. Sullivan’s Travels (Preston Sturges, 1941)
68. Waking Life (Linklater, 2001)
69. Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson, 2008)
70. Jacob’s Ladder (Adrian Lyne, 1990)
71. There Will Be Blood (P.T. Anderson, 2007)
72. Safe (Todd Haynes, 1995)
73. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (Trey Parker, 1999)
74. Together (Lukas Moodysson, 2000)
75. Ran (Kurosawa, 1985)
76. Punch-Drunk Love (P.T. Anderson, 2002)
77. Flirting (John Duigan, 1991)
78. Funny Ha Ha (Andrew Bujalski, 2002)
79. All the Real Girls (David Gordon Green, 2003)
80. Grave of the Fireflies (Isao Takahata, 1988)
81. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2000)
82. Dance Party, USA (Aaron Katz, 2006)
83. Wet Hot American Summer (David Wain, 2001)
84. Slacker (Linklater, 1991)
85. Y tu mama tambien (Alfonso Cuaron, 2001)
86. Lolita (Kubrick, 1962)
87. The Devil’s Backbone (Guillermo del Toro, 2001)
88. The Rules of Attraction (Roger Avary, 2002)
89. What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (Lasse Hallstrom, 1993)
90. Reality Bites (Ben Stiller, 1994)
91. Trainspotting (Danny Boyle, 1996)
92. The Man in the Moon (Robert Mulligan, 1991)
93. Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950)
94. Hunger (Steve McQueen, 2008)
95. Boys Don’t Cry (Kimberly Peirce, 1999)
96. Reservoir Dogs (Tarantino, 1992)
97. King of the Hill (Steven Soderbergh, 1993)
98. The Lion King (Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, 1994)
99. Detroit Rock City (Adam Rifkin, 1999)
100. eXistenZ (David Cronenberg, 1999)
Stephen Shupe is a Web writer, film critic and aspiring screenwriter living in Miami. He directed a handful of short films in college, winning a screenwriting award for the horror movie The Realm. Recently, he's gotten into the video-sharing business, and is currently at work on two film and play projects. 
eXitstenZ… yes. Great list by the way, I’m gonna have to check out the ones I haven’t seen.
The second i read Chungking Express at the top of your list, i instantly knew that i didn’t need to read any further, as i instantly knew you had impeccaple taste in films.
Thanks Razorback! Wong Kar-Wai is KING! Fallen Angels and In the Mood for Love could easily have made this list, too
nice thanks for the list ill check em
Pump up the Volume 16, fight club 56????? WHAT!!!
I just saw Ice Storm per your recommendation on Revolutionary Road. I can’t say I enjoyed it as much as either American Beauty or Revolutionary Road, but I can definitely see how it’s in the same category/genre/type.
The story in Ice Storm wasn’t quite insane or daring enough for me. The biggest issues going on seemed to be cheating and adolescents sneaking sex experimentation. The kid played by Frodo was the most interesting character for me(though I did find Spiderman’s Fantastic Four interpretations and parallels very interesting). The Frodo kid though, I really thought into his character. When the electric line was flailing around, he saw it and had plenty of time to stand, but did not. I feel like that character was not suicidal, but sort of uncaring about whether he lived or died. Unfortunately I don’t think there is enough in the film to figure why he would be like this. Being distanced from his parents would play in. I really enjoyed Sigourney Weaver’s performance and her character as well.
Crying in the end I figure was mainly him being happy that his family is alive and well, being thankful for that, but also feeling horrible guilt for cheating and betraying that which he realizes he’s so lucky to have.
I did enjoy the honesty. As far as directing, somehow I miss what makes Ang Lee special(missed it in Brokeback as well), certainly wasn’t bad or anything though. Overall I enjoyed it, and critically it’s great, but for whatever reason I did not relate to the characters like I did in American Beauty and Revolutionary Road.
Thanks for the recommendation. Chung King express is at my library so I’m gonna have to check that out. Must be good if it’s your number one. =D
macca: I see your point. Fight Club came out when I was in college and I basically watched it over and over until I got sick of it. I’m sure if I made this list back then it would have been No. 1. Btw, props to both of these movies for using The Pixies in such a cool way.
Bearzor: What makes Ang Lee special is his absolute mastery of tone. I think this is especially true of The Ice Storm, but the same could be said for Ride with the Devil, Crouching Tiger and Brokeback Mountain.
I don’t think you’re giving the story enough historical credit in your analysis. The scenes in the film where Christina Ricci is watching the Watergate hearings are key. Nixon and his cronies represented the old conservative vanguard, and the characters (however clumsy they are in their romantic fumblings) represent the liberated new one. That’s what the 1970s were all about - the liberation of the ’60s became mainstream and moved into the white suburbs.
I agree about Elijah Wood’s character - he’s my favorite in the film. I think you should revisit the film and focus on his scenes. Lee makes it clear early on - in the scene where he spaces out during the football game - that this character has drifted into psychosis. It’s not that he “cares” about dying - he’s simply lost touch with reality. And, in the scene with the electric line, reality comes to claim its price.
Again, I don’t think you’re giving the ending enough credit. Everything you say about it is true, but it’s gotta have more to say than that. It’s significant that the film doesn’t end on Kevin Kline, but on Tobey Maguire, who’s completely bewildered by why his dad should be crying in this way. The scene - and much of the movie - is about the wide gap that exists between parents and their children. And their inability to understand each other is a tragedy (in the case of Elijah Wood, a fatal one).
Mostly I love this film because of the tone, aided significantly by the Native American music used throughout. Something seismic is happening in the America Lee depicts, and he visualizes it beautifully in the storm at the end. I can’t wait to watch this film again. It casts a spell that few other films can match.
This is why I loved Openfilm and now this site. I’ve actually never heard the word “tone” used regarding film. I’m taking it as basically the overall mood and feel(correct me if I’m wrong). I did notice the Native American music and I was surprised at how well it worked in the film, I liked that a lot actually. The shots of ice all over everything were very nice, and now that I think about it I’m remembering the sparkly sounds when frozen trees blew in the wind, which I’m thinking is probably a tone thing. I’ll have to pay more attention to this sort of thing next time I’m watching an Ang Lee film.
Thanks for pointing out the historical aspect. I didn’t catch onto it. It makes the issues and troubles going on within the film feel more significant.
For Elijah Wood’s character, the scene that made me realize his loss of reality was when his father comes home and he says “You were gone?” I found that interesting. I had forgotten about the football scene, I think the kid doing the marijuana motion made me overlook the scene’s depth and I thought he had just given up for whatever reason. Which I guess is sorta what happened, but I didn’t think into why at the time.
The ending was good, I didn’t mean to make it sound simple or something. =P
Where’s Children of Men? And Ernest Goes to Camp?
One of those is a serious question. ; )
I hope everything is going well for my Miami homies.
Peace.
C
Yep, Children of Men deserves to be on there. So does Goodfellas, Catch-22, and a million other movies I couldn’t think of when I was making this thing. Damn it!!!