Former Favorites
by Anonymous-733 | created - 05 Nov 2016 | updated - 1 month ago | PublicMovies I once considered 10/10, but not anymore. It's entirely possible that these are still amazing, I've just seen them too much. Or maybe I've changed.
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1. Good Will Hunting (1997)
R | 126 min | Drama, Romance
Will Hunting, a janitor at M.I.T., has a gift for mathematics, but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.
Director: Gus Van Sant | Stars: Robin Williams, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Stellan Skarsgård
Votes: 1,068,781 | Gross: $138.43M
9/10. Thinking about it, there's a lot of stuff I've rated 9/10 that I think I enjoy more than this. For example, Goldeneye, Die Hard, The Gold Rush, First Person Plural, and many others. Last review:
2016, 15(?): I once ranked this as my 5th-favorite movie. In 2016, four years after the last time I saw the film, and only the third time ever watching it, I bring it way down to the bottom of this list. I don't see myself as similar to the main character (obviously much less smart) as much as I did in the past.
Original review: A perfect story with perfectly-written characters, if you find yourself connecting with the movie. If you don't end up with that same connection, you'll still enjoy it, but maybe not as much as I did.
2. Groundhog Day (1993)
PG | 101 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
A narcissistic, self-centered weatherman finds himself in a time loop on Groundhog Day.
Director: Harold Ramis | Stars: Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott, Stephen Tobolowsky
Votes: 685,344 | Gross: $70.91M
9/10. 2017, 8?
3. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
PG | 91 min | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table embark on a surreal, low-budget search for the Holy Grail, encountering many, very silly obstacles.
Directors: Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones | Stars: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam
Votes: 570,454 | Gross: $1.23M
7/10. 2017, 12
4. Airplane! (1980)
PG | 88 min | Comedy
After the crew becomes sick with food poisoning, a neurotic ex-fighter pilot must safely land a commercial airplane full of passengers.
Directors: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker | Stars: Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Leslie Nielsen, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Votes: 261,243 | Gross: $83.40M
2021, 10(???). Max rank: 11 (2014). Probation on one viewing, removed for sure on additional viewing years later. But how much can you criticize a comedy once you know all the jokes?
5. Forrest Gump (1994)
PG-13 | 142 min | Drama, Romance
The history of the United States from the 1950s to the '70s unfolds from the perspective of an Alabama man with an IQ of 75, who yearns to be reunited with his childhood sweetheart.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Sally Field
Votes: 2,258,311 | Gross: $330.25M
Max rank: 6 (2013). 2013, 15
6. Inception (2010)
PG-13 | 148 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A thief who steals corporate secrets through the use of dream-sharing technology is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a C.E.O., but his tragic past may doom the project and his team to disaster.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elliot Page, Ken Watanabe
Votes: 2,552,096 | Gross: $292.58M
Max rank: 36ish (2010). 2010, 15
7. The Navigator (1924)
Unrated | 59 min | Action, Comedy, Romance
Two spoiled rich people find themselves trapped on an empty passenger ship.
Directors: Donald Crisp, Buster Keaton | Stars: Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire, Frederick Vroom, Clarence Burton
Votes: 11,069 | Gross: $1.48M
Max rank: 11 (2016). 2016, 20: Holy smokes! This is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. Edge of my seat thrills, top of my register laughs. Never a dull moment. Does everything you could ever do with its story line, and does so with technical perfection. Wonderful, beautiful use of color tinting for different settings.
8. The Game (1997)
R | 129 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
After a wealthy San Francisco banker is given an opportunity to participate in a mysterious game, his life is turned upside down as he begins to question if it might really be a concealed conspiracy to destroy him.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Michael Douglas, Deborah Kara Unger, Sean Penn, James Rebhorn
Votes: 429,613 | Gross: $48.32M
Top: 16ish (2014) 2014, 19: Thrilling. Reminds me of North By Northwest, with a hint of Vertigo (without the bad elements).
9. All About Eve (1950)
Passed | 138 min | Drama
A seemingly timid but secretly ruthless ingénue insinuates herself into the lives of an aging Broadway star and her circle of theater friends.
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Stars: Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, Celeste Holm
Votes: 138,807 | Gross: $0.01M
Top: 36 2014, 18
10. The Godfather (1972)
R | 175 min | Crime, Drama
The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Diane Keaton
Votes: 2,013,554 | Gross: $134.97M
top: 3 2013, 13
11. Pulp Fiction (1994)
R | 154 min | Crime, Drama
The 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.
Director: Quentin Tarantino | Stars: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis
Votes: 2,221,403 | Gross: $107.93M
top 11, 2013, 13
12. Citizen Kane (1941)
PG | 119 min | Drama, Mystery
Following the death of publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane, reporters scramble to uncover the meaning of his final utterance: 'Rosebud.'
Director: Orson Welles | Stars: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore, Agnes Moorehead
Votes: 466,112 | Gross: $1.59M
top 3 2015, 17
13. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
PG-13 | 112 min | Action, Comedy, Fantasy
In a magically realistic version of Toronto, a young man must defeat his new girlfriend's seven evil exes one by one in order to win her heart.
Director: Edgar Wright | Stars: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Anna Kendrick
Votes: 465,518 | Gross: $31.49M
I wish I could go back to my freshman dorm movie night, watching this on a pirated stream with 20 people on a 32 inch TV and everyone laughing and having a good time. top 20 2013, 18: Resonates deeply with me.
14. North by Northwest (1959)
Approved | 136 min | Action, Adventure, Mystery
A New York City advertising executive goes on the run after being mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and falls for a woman whose loyalties he begins to doubt.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Jessie Royce Landis
Votes: 346,302 | Gross: $13.28M
top: 20ish 2013, 18.
15. F for Fake (1973)
PG | 89 min | Documentary
A documentary about fraud and fakery.
Directors: Orson Welles, Gary Graver, Oja Kodar, François Reichenbach | Stars: Orson Welles, Oja Kodar, François Reichenbach, Elmyr de Hory
Votes: 18,304
top 17 2014, 19
16. Back to the Future (1985)
PG | 116 min | Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover
Votes: 1,307,474 | Gross: $210.61M
top 35 2016, 5(?) or 13(?): Incredible. I can't think of any major flaw in the whole film. It's only two hours long and every line feels like it serves the story. It's not afraid to take what are considered risks by today's standards. There's swearing and non-family-friendly events in what otherwise seems to be a family-friendly movie. When the DeLorean sports car disappears in a flash of light and huge cloud of smoke, leaving a sick trail of fire in its wake, I only thought one thing: "badass".
17. Cinema Paradiso (1988)
R | 174 min | Drama, Romance
A filmmaker recalls his childhood when falling in love with the pictures at the cinema of his home village and forms a deep friendship with the cinema's projectionist.
Director: Giuseppe Tornatore | Stars: Philippe Noiret, Enzo Cannavale, Antonella Attili, Isa Danieli
Votes: 283,052 | Gross: $11.99M
2014, 19: Only saw the edited international theatrical cut, not the original version. I think I would prefer the one I saw to any other version. I loved how vague the movie was. It seems like it would be a mistake to include the scenes that were in the original version and the director's cut.
18. The Godfather Part II (1974)
R | 202 min | Crime, Drama
The early life and career of Vito Corleone in 1920s New York City is portrayed, while his son, Michael, expands and tightens his grip on the family crime syndicate.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton
Votes: 1,364,811 | Gross: $57.30M
2013, 18: Feels identical to the first one, and is less boring, but is missing Marlon Brando.
19. Twenty-Four Eyes (1954)
Not Rated | 156 min | Drama
Schoolteacher Hisako Oishi forms an emotional bond with her pupils and teaches them various virtues, while at the same time worrying about their future.
Director: Keisuke Kinoshita | Stars: Hideko Takamine, Itsuo Watanabe, Makoto Miyagawa, Takeo Terashita
Votes: 2,832
2016, 21: Harkens back to childhood nostalgia in a way that reminds me of My Neighbor Totoro.
20. Porco Rosso (1992)
PG | 94 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
In 1930s Italy, a veteran World War I pilot is cursed to look like an anthropomorphic pig.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Shûichirô Moriyama, Tokiko Katô, Bunshi Katsura VI, Tsunehiko Kamijô
Votes: 102,181
2016, 21
21. Some Like It Hot (1959)
Passed | 121 min | Comedy, Music, Romance
After two male musicians witness a mob hit, they flee the state in an all-female band disguised as women, but further complications set in.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, George Raft
Votes: 283,624 | Gross: $25.00M
2014, 18
22. The Shining (1980)
R | 146 min | Drama, Horror
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers
Votes: 1,107,270 | Gross: $44.02M
2014, 18
23. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
R | 118 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A young F.B.I. cadet must receive the help of an incarcerated and manipulative cannibal killer to help catch another serial killer, a madman who skins his victims.
Director: Jonathan Demme | Stars: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine
Votes: 1,548,914 | Gross: $130.74M
2014, 18
24. RoboCop (1987)
R | 102 min | Action, Crime, Sci-Fi
In a dystopic and crime-ridden Detroit, a terminally wounded cop returns to the force as a powerful cyborg haunted by submerged memories.
Director: Paul Verhoeven | Stars: Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Dan O'Herlihy, Ronny Cox
Votes: 283,252 | Gross: $53.42M
2021, 26: Haunting portrayal of what was on the minds of America in 1987. Shockingly prescient.
25. The Dark Knight (2008)
PG-13 | 152 min | Action, Crime, Drama
When the menace known as the Joker wreaks havoc and chaos on the people of Gotham, Batman must accept one of the greatest psychological and physical tests of his ability to fight injustice.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine
Votes: 2,872,075 | Gross: $534.86M
2014, 13
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