MY 44 FAVORITE FILMS... EVER.

by Tsquared23 | created - 09 Apr 2011 | updated - 27 Jan 2021 | Public

THESE FILMS HAVE MADE THE BIGGEST IMPACT ON ME. I'VE DONE MY BEST TO PUT THEM IN CORRECT ORDER. AND TRIED NOT TO INCLUDE ANY SPOILERS.

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1. Amélie (2001)

R | 122 min | Comedy, Romance

70 Metascore

Despite being caught in her imaginative world, Amelie, a young waitress, decides to help people find happiness. Her quest to spread joy leads her on a journey where she finds true love.

Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Stars: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Rufus, Lorella Cravotta

Votes: 794,029 | Gross: $33.23M

EVERY SINGLE FRAME.

2. Moulin Rouge! (2001)

PG-13 | 127 min | Drama, Musical, Romance

66 Metascore

A poor Bohemian poet in 1890s Paris falls for a beautiful courtesan and nightclub star coveted by a jealous duke.

Director: Baz Luhrmann | Stars: Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, John Leguizamo, Jim Broadbent

Votes: 299,284 | Gross: $57.39M

YOUR SONG.

3. Three Colors: Red (1994)

R | 99 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance

100 Metascore

A model discovers a retired judge is keen on invading people's privacy.

Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski | Stars: Irène Jacob, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Frédérique Feder, Jean-Pierre Lorit

Votes: 109,980 | Gross: $4.04M

PURE GENIUS.

4. Run Lola Run (1998)

R | 80 min | Action, Crime, Thriller

79 Metascore

After a botched money delivery, Lola has 20 minutes to come up with 100,000 Deutschmarks.

Director: Tom Tykwer | Stars: Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu, Herbert Knaup, Nina Petri

Votes: 206,947 | Gross: $7.27M

A RIDE FROM START TO FINISH!

5. The Piano (1993)

R | 121 min | Drama, Music, Romance

89 Metascore

In the mid-19th century a mute woman is sent to New Zealand along with her young daughter and prized piano for an arranged marriage to a farmer, but is soon lusted after by a farm worker.

Director: Jane Campion | Stars: Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill, Anna Paquin

Votes: 95,126 | Gross: $40.16M

HAUNTING SOUNDTRACK.

6. The Color Purple (1985)

PG-13 | 154 min | Drama

78 Metascore

A tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, Margaret Avery

Votes: 97,292 | Gross: $98.47M

OPRAH WINFREY.

7. Before Sunset (2004)

R | 80 min | Drama, Romance

91 Metascore

Nine years after Jesse and Celine first met, they encounter each other again on the French leg of Jesse's book tour.

Director: Richard Linklater | Stars: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Vernon Dobtcheff, Louise Lemoine Torrès

Votes: 287,717 | Gross: $5.82M

LAST LINE OF THE FILM.

8. Before Sunrise (1995)

R | 101 min | Drama, Romance

78 Metascore

A young man and woman meet on a train in Europe, and wind up spending one evening together in Vienna. Unfortunately, both know that this will probably be their only night together.

Director: Richard Linklater | Stars: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Andrea Eckert, Hanno Pöschl

Votes: 339,150 | Gross: $5.54M

THESE ARE LIKE ONE FILM TO ME. MOST ROMANTIC FILM EVER MADE.

9. Aliens (1986)

R | 137 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

84 Metascore

Decades after surviving the Nostromo incident, Ellen Ripley is sent out to re-establish contact with a terraforming colony but finds herself battling the Alien Queen and her offspring.

Director: James Cameron | Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Carrie Henn, Paul Reiser

Votes: 762,766 | Gross: $85.16M

SCARY AS HELL. LIKE IT SHOULD BE.

10. My Life as a Dog (1985)

Unrated | 101 min | Drama, Comedy

82 Metascore

In the late '50s, young Ingemar learns a lot about life and himself when he is sent away from his sick mother to live with his aunt and uncle in a town full of eccentrics.

Director: Lasse Hallström | Stars: Anton Glanzelius, Tomas von Brömssen, Anki Lidén, Melinda Kinnaman

Votes: 22,529 | Gross: $8.35M

JUST ABOUT PERFECT.

11. Howards End (1992)

PG | 142 min | Drama, Romance

88 Metascore

Set in the early 20th century, class distinctions and troubled relations affect the relationship between two families and the ownership of a cherished British estate known as Howards End.

Director: James Ivory | Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, Vanessa Redgrave, Helena Bonham Carter

Votes: 35,829 | Gross: $25.97M

STUNNING.

12. The Decalogue (1989–1990)

TV-MA | 572 min | Drama

100 Metascore

Ten television drama films, each one based on one of the Ten Commandments.

Stars: Artur Barcis, Olgierd Lukaszewicz, Olaf Lubaszenko, Aleksander Bardini

Votes: 27,864 | Gross: $0.10M

A MASTERPIECE.

13. Magnolia (1999)

R | 188 min | Drama

78 Metascore

An epic mosaic of interrelated characters in search of love, forgiveness and meaning in the San Fernando Valley.

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson | Stars: Tom Cruise, Jason Robards, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Votes: 328,387 | Gross: $22.46M

PHARMACY SCENE WITH JULIANNE MOORE.

14. Terms of Endearment (1983)

PG | 132 min | Comedy, Drama

79 Metascore

Follows hard-to-please Aurora looking for love and her daughter's family problems.

Director: James L. Brooks | Stars: Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito

Votes: 65,456 | Gross: $108.42M

MORPHINE SCENE WITH SHIRLEY MACLAINE.

15. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

R | 137 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

75 Metascore

A cyborg, identical to the one who failed to kill Sarah Connor, must now protect her ten year old son John from an even more advanced and powerful cyborg.

Director: James Cameron | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick

Votes: 1,173,618 | Gross: $204.84M

AWESOME. CAN'T BELIEVE THERE'S AN ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER FILM ON THIS LIST.

16. Inglourious Basterds (2009)

R | 153 min | Adventure, Drama, War

69 Metascore

In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a plan to assassinate Nazi leaders by a group of Jewish U.S. soldiers coincides with a theatre owner's vengeful plans for the same.

Director: Quentin Tarantino | Stars: Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Eli Roth, Mélanie Laurent

Votes: 1,583,319 | Gross: $120.54M

CLEVER. SMART. FUN.

17. Fargo (1996)

R | 98 min | Crime, Thriller

88 Metascore

Minnesota car salesman Jerry Lundegaard's inept crime falls apart due to his and his henchmen's bungling and the persistent police work of the quite pregnant Marge Gunderson.

Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen | Stars: William H. Macy, Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare

Votes: 726,419 | Gross: $24.61M

WILLIAM H MACY WAS ROBBED.

18. The Sound of Music (1965)

G | 172 min | Biography, Drama, Family

63 Metascore

A young novice is sent by her convent in 1930s Austria to become a governess to the seven children of a widowed naval officer.

Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Eleanor Parker, Richard Haydn

Votes: 260,951 | Gross: $163.21M

BEST NAZI MUSICAL EVER!

19. La Vie En Rose (2007)

PG-13 | 140 min | Biography, Drama, Music

66 Metascore

Biopic of the iconic French singer Édith Piaf. Raised by her grandmother in a brothel, she was discovered while singing on a street corner at the age of 19. Despite her success, Piaf's life was filled with tragedy.

Director: Olivier Dahan | Stars: Marion Cotillard, Sylvie Testud, Pascal Greggory, Emmanuelle Seigner

Votes: 90,729 | Gross: $10.30M

LEARNING HER LOVER'S FATE AND RIGHT INTO HER STAGE ENTRANCE.

20. Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)

PG-13 | 97 min | Comedy, Romance, Thriller

28 Metascore

A small-town beauty pageant turns deadly as it becomes clear that someone will go to any lengths to win.

Director: Michael Patrick Jann | Stars: Kirsten Dunst, Denise Richards, Ellen Barkin, Allison Janney

Votes: 40,783 | Gross: $10.56M

FUNNY AS HELL.

21. Far from Heaven (2002)

PG-13 | 107 min | Drama, Romance

84 Metascore

In 1950s Connecticut, a flustered housewife faces a marital crisis and mounting racial tensions in the outside world.

Director: Todd Haynes | Stars: Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert, Patricia Clarkson

Votes: 49,300 | Gross: $15.85M

GORGEOUS.

22. Strictly Ballroom (1992)

PG | 94 min | Comedy, Drama, Music

72 Metascore

A maverick dancer risks his career by performing an unusual routine and sets out to succeed with a new partner.

Director: Baz Luhrmann | Stars: Paul Mercurio, Tara Morice, Bill Hunter, Pat Thomson

Votes: 29,397 | Gross: $11.74M

LOVE IS IN THE AIR!

23. Léon: The Professional (1994)

R | 110 min | Action, Crime, Drama

64 Metascore

12-year-old Mathilda is reluctantly taken in by Léon, a professional assassin, after her family is murdered. An unusual relationship forms as she becomes his protégée and learns the assassin's trade.

Director: Luc Besson | Stars: Jean Reno, Gary Oldman, Natalie Portman, Danny Aiello

Votes: 1,245,271 | Gross: $19.50M

TRYING TO GET HIM TO OPEN THE DOOR.

24. E.T. (1982)

PG | 115 min | Adventure, Family, Sci-Fi

92 Metascore

A troubled child summons the courage to help a friendly alien escape from Earth and return to his home planet.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Peter Coyote, Dee Wallace

Votes: 437,375 | Gross: $435.11M

MUST BE ON EVERY FAVORITE FILM LIST, NO?

25. Titanic (1997)

PG-13 | 194 min | Drama, Romance

75 Metascore

A seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic.

Director: James Cameron | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates

Votes: 1,279,917 | Gross: $659.33M

DON'T HATE. I LOVED IT.

26. Muriel's Wedding (1994)

R | 106 min | Comedy, Drama

63 Metascore

A young social outcast in Australia steals money from her parents to finance a vacation where she hopes to find happiness, and perhaps love.

Director: P.J. Hogan | Stars: Toni Collette, Rachel Griffiths, Bill Hunter, Sophie Lee

Votes: 41,718 | Gross: $15.19M

HEARTBREAKING AND UPLIFTING ALL IN ONE MOVIE.

27. Atonement (2007)

R | 123 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance

85 Metascore

Thirteen-year-old fledgling writer Briony Tallis irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he did not commit.

Director: Joe Wright | Stars: Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Brenda Blethyn, Saoirse Ronan

Votes: 299,742 | Gross: $50.93M

AMAZING FILM MAKING.

28. Fatal Attraction (1987)

R | 119 min | Drama, Thriller

67 Metascore

A married man's one-night stand comes back to haunt him when that lover begins to stalk him and his family.

Director: Adrian Lyne | Stars: Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, Anne Archer, Ellen Latzen

Votes: 97,059 | Gross: $156.65M

SUPER SUSPENSEFUL. UNREAL PERFORMANCE.

29. Donnie Darko (2001)

R | 113 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

88 Metascore

After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a man in a large rabbit suit who manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.

Director: Richard Kelly | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Mary McDonnell, Holmes Osborne

Votes: 849,820 | Gross: $1.48M

WTF?!

30. Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)

R | 122 min | Documentary, Drama, War

67 Metascore

Michael Moore's view on what happened to the United States after September 11 and how the Bush Administration allegedly used the tragic event to push forward its agenda for unjust wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Director: Michael Moore | Stars: Michael Moore, George W. Bush, Ben Affleck, Stevie Wonder

Votes: 132,378 | Gross: $119.19M

IMPORTANT.

31. The Bridges of Madison County (1995)

PG-13 | 135 min | Drama, Romance

69 Metascore

Photographer Robert Kincaid wanders into the life of housewife Francesca Johnson for four days in the 1960s.

Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Meryl Streep, Annie Corley, Victor Slezak

Votes: 88,876 | Gross: $71.52M

REACHING FOR THE CAR DOOR HANDLE.

32. Grey Gardens (1975)

PG | 95 min | Documentary, Comedy, Drama

83 Metascore

Meet a mother and daughter, high-society dropouts, reclusive cousins of Jackie O., managing to thrive together amid the decay and disorder of their East Hampton, NY, mansion, making for an eerily ramshackle echo of the American Camelot.

Directors: Ellen Hovde, Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Muffie Meyer | Stars: Edith Bouvier Beale, Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale, Brooks Hyers

Votes: 15,272 | Gross: $0.03M

CAN'T TAKE YOUR EYES OFF IT.

33. Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)

PG | 104 min | Comedy, Mystery

71 Metascore

A middle-aged couple suspects foul play when their neighbor's wife suddenly drops dead.

Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Jerry Adler, Lynn Cohen

Votes: 46,807 | Gross: $11.29M

MY FAVORITE WOODY!

34. Raising Arizona (1987)

PG-13 | 94 min | Comedy, Crime

69 Metascore

When a childless couple--an ex-con and an ex-cop--decide to help themselves to one of another family's quintuplets, their lives become more complicated than they anticipated.

Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, Trey Wilson, John Goodman

Votes: 150,302 | Gross: $22.85M

"GET CARRIED OFF BY A TWISTER!"

35. Heavenly Creatures (1994)

R | 99 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

86 Metascore

Two teenage girls share a unique bond; their parents, concerned that the friendship is too intense, separate them, and the girls take revenge.

Director: Peter Jackson | Stars: Melanie Lynskey, Kate Winslet, Sarah Peirse, Diana Kent

Votes: 67,397 | Gross: $3.05M

WHERE I FIRST FELL IN LOVE WITH KATE WINSLET.

36. 8 Women (2002)

R | 111 min | Comedy, Crime, Musical

64 Metascore

A man is murdered in an isolated chalet, and the eight female residents are all suspects; their secrets are revealed as they try to determine who is guilty.

Director: François Ozon | Stars: Fanny Ardant, Emmanuelle Béart, Danielle Darrieux, Catherine Deneuve

Votes: 34,330 | Gross: $3.08M

COLORFUL. FUN. SUSPENSEFUL. LOVED IT.

37. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

R | 110 min | Comedy, Drama

76 Metascore

The eccentric members of a dysfunctional family reluctantly gather under the same roof for various reasons.

Director: Wes Anderson | Stars: Gene Hackman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller

Votes: 313,096 | Gross: $52.36M

AWESOME PERFORMANCES.

38. Breathless (1960)

Not Rated | 90 min | Crime, Drama

A small-time crook, hunted by the authorities for a car theft and the murder a police officer, attempts to persuade a hip American journalism student to run away with him to Italy.

Director: Jean-Luc Godard | Stars: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, Van Doude, Jean-Luc Godard

Votes: 87,902 | Gross: $0.34M

THE ENDING IS BEYOND COOL.

39. Heathers (1988)

R | 103 min | Comedy, Crime

72 Metascore

At Westerburg High where cliques rule, jocks dominate and all the popular girls are named Heather, it's going to take a Veronica and mysterious new kid to give teen angst a body count.

Director: Michael Lehmann | Stars: Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Shannen Doherty, Lisanne Falk

Votes: 115,796 | Gross: $1.11M

CLASSIC.

40. Halloween (1978)

R | 91 min | Horror, Thriller

90 Metascore

Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.

Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tony Moran, Nancy Kyes

Votes: 306,704 | Gross: $47.00M

STILL SCARES THE HELL OUT OF ME. A CLASSIC.

41. Back to the Future (1985)

PG | 116 min | Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi

87 Metascore

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: 1,306,272 | Gross: $210.61M

CHILDHOOD FAVORITE.

42. Nine to Five (1980)

PG | 109 min | Comedy

58 Metascore

Three female employees of a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot find a way to turn the tables on him.

Director: Colin Higgins | Stars: Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, Dabney Coleman

Votes: 39,408 | Gross: $103.29M

SO MUCH FUN.

43. The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)

R | 121 min | Action, Crime, Drama

43 Metascore

Samantha Caine lives in a small town with her daughter. Eight years ago she emerged, two months pregnant, from a nearby river with no memory of her past or who she is. However, she's getting closer to finding out about her past.

Director: Renny Harlin | Stars: Geena Davis, Samuel L. Jackson, Yvonne Zima, Craig Bierko

Votes: 85,657 | Gross: $33.33M

"I WAS A CHEF!"

44. Time After Time (1979)

PG | 112 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi

69 Metascore

H.G. Wells pursues Jack the Ripper to the 20th Century when the serial murderer uses the future writer's time machine to escape his time period.

Director: Nicholas Meyer | Stars: Malcolm McDowell, Mary Steenburgen, David Warner, Charles Cioffi

Votes: 20,631

FASCINATING AND FUN.



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