Movies offer a glimpse into other worlds, real or imaginary, which allows us an escape from whatever it is we're trying to escape from. They inspire, they evoke, they entice, and they make us laugh, cry, and cringe in fear ... sometimes all from the same film. A good movie can be an asset to one's own life, if they allow it to be.
That's why I love film and why I proudly consider myself a movie buff, destined to take in as many great titles as possible before I no longer exist. Because I am so enthusiastic, I wanted to share my passion for exceptional cinema, via my "diary books" The 100 Greatest Movies Challenge and the upcoming The 100 Greatest Horror Movies Challenge. Instead of copying somebody else's "best of" list, I assembled the "Top 100" compilations of numerous publications, websites, and organizations, amalgamated their rankings, and came up with lists to end all lists when it comes to the best of the best of cinema.
Despite producing these books myself, I have yet to complete the actual challenges myself, although that's what this particular goal is dedicated to. Follow along and take on the challenge yourself, because these movies will almost certainly influence you in one way or another. That is their mission, after all. I have listed the 200 films below and have linked each one that I have seen to my Letterboxd review and/or rating of each particular title.
94% DONE
1. The Godfather (1972)
2. Citizen Kane (1941)
3. Casablanca (1942)
4. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
5. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
6. Psycho (1960)
7. Star Wars (1977)
8. The Godfather: Part II (1974)
9. Pulp Fiction (1994)
10. Apocalypse Now (1979)
11. Schindler's List (1993)
12. Vertigo (1958)
13. GoodFellas (1990)
14. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
15. The Dark Knight (2008)
16. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
17. Gone with the Wind (1939)
18. City Lights (1931)
19. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
20. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
21. Jaws (1975)
22. Rear Window (1954)
23. Forrest Gump (1994)
24. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
25. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
26. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
28. Taxi Driver (1976)
29. North by Northwest (1959)
30. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
31. Back to the Future (1985)
32. Alien (1979)
33. Blade Runner (1982)
34. Some Like It Hot (1959)
35. Seven Samurai (1954)
36. Fight Club (1999)
37. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
38. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
39. All About Eve (1950)
40. The Matrix (1999)
41. The Searchers (1956)
42. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop... (1964)
43. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
44. 12 Angry Men (1957)
45. Modern Times (1936)
46. Inception (2010)
47. The Sound of Music (1965)
48. Chinatown (1974)
49. Toy Story (1995)
50. Gladiator (2000)
51. Rashomon (1950)
52. The Usual Suspects (1995)
53. Sunset Blvd. (1950)
54. The Lion King (1994)
55. Spirited Away (2001)
56. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
57. Jurassic Park (1993)
58. The Shining (1980)
59. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
60. Titanic (1997)
61. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
62. Annie Hall (1977)
63. Raging Bull (1980)
64. Moonlight (2016)
65. Die Hard (1988)
66. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
67. Double Indemnity (1944)
68. Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)
69. Se7en (1995)
70. The Third Man (1949)
71. Mulholland Dr. (2001)
72. The General (1926)
73. The Departed (2006)
74. It Happened One Night (1934)
75. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
76. Bicycle Thieves (1948)
77. In the Mood for Love (2000)
78. American Beauty (1999)
79. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
80. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
81. Tokyo Story (1953)
82. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
84. Persona (1966)
85. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1927)
86. Interstellar (2014)
87. Grand Illusion (1937)
88. The Graduate (1967)
89. La Dolce Vita (1960)
90. Aliens (1986)
91. Roma (2018)
92. There Will Be Blood (2007)
93. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
94. The Princess Bride (1987)
95. Boyhood (2014)
96. Touch of Evil (1958)
97. The Big Lebowski (1998)
98. The Green Mile (1999)
99. Rocky (1976)
100. Battleship Potemkin (1925)
83% DONE
1. The Shining (1980)
2. The Exorcist (1973)
3. Psycho (1960)
4. Alien (1979)
5. The Thing (1982)
6. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
7. Halloween (1978)
8. Rosemary's Baby (1968)
9. Dawn of the Dead (1978)
10. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
11. Jaws (1975)
12. The Fly (1986)
13. Suspiria (1977)
14. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
15. Evil Dead II (1987)
16. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
17. The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
18. Nosferatu (1922)
19. An American Werewolf in London (1981)
20. Get Out (2017)
21. Carrie (1976)
22. Poltergeist (1982)
23. The Wicker Man (1973)
24. The Innocents (1961)
25. 28 Days Later (2002)
26. The Omen (1976)
27. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
28. Repulsion (1965)
29. Scream (1996)
30. The Birds (1963)
31. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
32. Don't Look Now (1973)
33. Freaks (1932)
34. Audition (1999)
35. Let the Right One In (2008)
36. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
37. The Evil Dead (1981)
38. The Descent (2005)
39. The Haunting (1963)
40. The Babadook (2014)
41. Videodrome (1983)
42. Eyes Without a Face (1960)
43. Frankenstein (1931)
44. Peeping Tom (1960)
45. The Witch (2015)
46. The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
47. Hereditary (2018)
48. Hellraiser (1987)
49. Black Christmas (1974)
50. [REC] (2007)
51. Cat People (1942)
52. It Follows (2014)
53. Re-Animator (1985)
54. Ringu (1998)
55. The Devil's Backbone (2001)
56. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
57. Martyrs (2008)
58. Eraserhead (1977)
59. Possession (1981)
60. Dracula (1931)
61. Dead of Night (1945)
62. Misery (1990)
63. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
64. The Sixth Sense (1999)
65. Carnival of Souls (1962)
66. Deep Red (1975)
67. Black Sunday (1960)
68. King Kong (1933)
69. Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
70. I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
71. The Vanishing (1988)
72. Kwaidan (1965)
73. The Fog (1980)
74. The Changeling (1980)
75. The Others (2001)
76. The Orphanage (2007)
77. Godzilla (1954)
78. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
79. Pulse (2001)
80. Candyman (1992)
81. The Last House on the Left (1972)
82. Vampyr (1932)
83. The Conjuring (2013)
84. It (2017)
85. Hour of the Wolf (1968)
86. Jacob's Ladder (1990)
87. Near Dark (1987)
88. Under the Skin (2013)
89. Paranormal Activity (2007)
90. A Quiet Place (2018)
91. They Live (1988)
92. The Ring (2002)
93. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
94. Curse of the Demon (1957)
95. Drag Me to Hell (2009)
96. Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
97. The Wolf Man (1941)
98. You're Next (2011)
99. Train to Busan (2016)
100. Saw (2004)