A concise and carefully chosen list of movies that everyone should see... at least I think so
by wantcoffee | created - 27 Jan 2016 | updated - 07 Feb 2016 | PublicIt is my hope that in this list will be contained ONLY movies for which watching them will be a rewarding experience for your investment of time.
Let me start by stating that I am a 35 year-old man and not some high school kid who thinks that Batman is the greatest movie of all time. I apologize for starting off on a negative note, but in searching for new quality movies to watch I have come across a lot of lists containing movies that are just not for the thoughtful... for which after watching (all or part) I felt that my time had been poorly spent.
It is my intention that this list will contain no movies for which after watching them, you will feel that you have wasted your time. On the contrary, I want to provide you with a list of movies that are truly worth seeing. I limit this list to those movies that I think everyone should see. While this is of course my own opinion of what a list of good movies should contain, I think that you will find that my list is solid.
The list is in not in any particular order...
I make no effort to rank the movies, because I see little value in doing so. Who cares if you or I think that The Godfather is better than Shawshank (Personally, I thought Shawshank was just ok, and will not be adding it to my list).
This is not every movie that I like, but a select few, limited to those I think everyone will enjoy. I am by no means an expert on film. I do think that everyone can recognize quality in anything however. I believe that this recognition of what is or contains quality and how much is not culturally biased or the result of experience as many would suggest, but rather is built into human beings. It becomes muddled by experience, but it is fundamental.
Feel free to suggest movies I left off or may have forgotten. The list is not complete by any means. These are movies that come to mind as I am making the list. Feel free to tell me that some of these movies are no good. Feel free to tell me that I have no idea what I am talking about.
For some of the movies I have made comments about the movie, those comments appearing below the movie's description.
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1. American Beauty (1999)
R | 122 min | Drama
A sexually frustrated suburban father has a mid-life crisis after becoming infatuated with his daughter's best friend.
Director: Sam Mendes | Stars: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley
Votes: 1,210,567 | Gross: $130.10M
2. Being John Malkovich (1999)
R | 113 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
A puppeteer discovers a portal that leads literally into the head of movie star John Malkovich.
Director: Spike Jonze | Stars: John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, John Malkovich
Votes: 353,290 | Gross: $22.86M
3. Born in East L.A. (1987)
R | 85 min | Comedy
When an L.A. born American citizen is mistaken for a Mexican illegal alien and deported to Mexico, he has to do everything he can to get across the border.
Director: Cheech Marin | Stars: Cheech Marin, Daniel Stern, Paul Rodriguez, Kamala Lopez
Votes: 6,563 | Gross: $17.36M
You will have to overlook a little 80's cornball humor. If you can do that, you will find a neat story in this one. Yes this movie stars Cheech Marin, but there is no drug use in the movie. It is, in contrast to his better known movies, a thoughtful and intelligent tale.
4. Fargo (1996)
R | 98 min | Crime, Thriller
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
5. Fight Club (1999)
R | 139 min | Drama
An insomniac office worker and a devil-may-care soap maker form an underground fight club that evolves into much more.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Meat Loaf, Zach Grenier
Votes: 2,322,735 | Gross: $37.03M
6. Fury (2014)
R | 134 min | Action, Drama, War
A grizzled tank commander makes tough decisions as he and his crew fight their way across Germany in April, 1945.
Director: David Ayer | Stars: Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Michael Peña
Votes: 546,914 | Gross: $85.82M
7. Get Low (2009)
PG-13 | 103 min | Drama, Mystery
A movie spun out of equal parts folk tale, fable and real-life legend about the mysterious, 1930s Tennessee hermit who famously threw his own rollicking funeral party... while he was still alive.
Director: Aaron Schneider | Stars: Robert Duvall, Bill Murray, Sissy Spacek, Lucas Black
Votes: 24,024 | Gross: $9.18M
8. Goodfellas (1990)
R | 145 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The story of Henry Hill and his life in the mafia, covering his relationship with his wife Karen and his mob partners Jimmy Conway and Tommy DeVito.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco
Votes: 1,256,885 | Gross: $46.84M
9. Gran Torino (2008)
R | 116 min | Drama
After a Hmong teenager tries to steal his prized 1972 Gran Torino, a disgruntled, prejudiced Korean War veteran seeks to redeem both the boy and himself.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Bee Vang, Christopher Carley, Ahney Her
Votes: 814,796 | Gross: $148.10M
10. Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)
R | 107 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Martin Blank is a professional assassin. He is sent on a mission to a small Detroit suburb, Grosse Pointe, and, by coincidence, his ten-year high school reunion party is taking place there at the same time.
Director: George Armitage | Stars: John Cusack, Minnie Driver, Dan Aykroyd, Joan Cusack
Votes: 99,604 | Gross: $28.01M
Cusack compared this movie to Pulp Fiction. I though Pulp Fiction was a terrible movie. This comedy about a killer for hire who returns to his hometown for his 10 year high school reunion after disappearing after graduation is smart and fun.
11. Harlem Nights (1989)
R | 116 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
During the 1930s, a New York City illegal gambling house owner and his associates must deal with strong competition, gangsters, and corrupt cops in order to stay in business.
Director: Eddie Murphy | Stars: Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, Danny Aiello
Votes: 24,785 | Gross: $60.86M
12. Instructions Not Included (2013)
PG-13 | 122 min | Comedy, Drama
A man who has made a new life for himself and the daughter left on his doorstep 6 years ago finds his family threatened when the birth mother resurfaces.
Director: Eugenio Derbez | Stars: Eugenio Derbez, Karla Souza, Jessica Lindsey, Loreto Peralta
Votes: 32,666 | Gross: $44.47M
13. King Kong (2005)
PG-13 | 187 min | Action, Adventure, Romance
A greedy film producer assembles a team of moviemakers and sets out for the infamous Skull Island, where they find more than just cannibalistic natives.
Director: Peter Jackson | Stars: Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann
Votes: 446,739 | Gross: $218.08M
Watch the extended version.
14. King of New York (1990)
R | 103 min | Crime, Thriller
A drug kingpin is released from prison and seeks to take total control of the criminal underworld in order to give back to the community.
Director: Abel Ferrara | Stars: Christopher Walken, David Caruso, Laurence Fishburne, Victor Argo
Votes: 42,081 | Gross: $2.55M
Walken at his finest.
15. Layer Cake (2004)
R | 105 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A successful cocaine dealer gets two tough assignments from his boss on the eve of his planned early retirement.
Director: Matthew Vaughn | Stars: Daniel Craig, Sienna Miller, Michael Gambon, Tom Hardy
Votes: 195,522 | Gross: $2.34M
16. No Country for Old Men (2007)
R | 122 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Violence and mayhem ensue after a hunter stumbles upon the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong and over two million dollars in cash near the Rio Grande.
Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen | Stars: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson
Votes: 1,059,768 | Gross: $74.28M
17. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
PG-13 | 107 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
In the deep south during the 1930s, three escaped convicts search for hidden treasure while a relentless lawman pursues them.
Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen | Stars: George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, John Goodman
Votes: 330,747 | Gross: $45.51M
18. Office Space (1999)
R | 89 min | Comedy
Three company workers who hate their jobs decide to rebel against their greedy boss.
Director: Mike Judge | Stars: Ron Livingston, Jennifer Aniston, David Herman, Ajay Naidu
Votes: 287,478 | Gross: $10.82M
19. Rocky (1976)
PG | 120 min | Drama, Sport
A small-time Philadelphia boxer gets a supremely rare chance to fight the world heavyweight champion in a bout in which he strives to go the distance for his self-respect.
Director: John G. Avildsen | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers
Votes: 628,221 | Gross: $117.24M
No, this choice is not a mistake. The first Rocky movie is really good. The next 19 of them are a waste of time. The first Rocky is not really even about boxing nor is it even an action movie. In fact, Stallone, who wrote the script for the movie, did not write the scene for the fight between Rocky and Creed until the night before the scene was filmed. Do not avoid this one if you thought the other Rocky movies were dumb. By contrast, if you thought they were great, you might not like the first one.
20. Raging Bull (1980)
R | 129 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
The life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destroyed his life outside of it.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci, Frank Vincent
Votes: 380,093 | Gross: $23.38M
The black and white is pretentious. Otherwise, it does not disappoint.
21. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
PG | 115 min | Action, Adventure
In 1936, archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones is hired by the U.S. government to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis can obtain its awesome powers.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, John Rhys-Davies
Votes: 1,036,650 | Gross: $248.16M
Watch Raiders if you have not seen it, and forget that they made more Indiana Jones movies.
22. Ronin (1998)
R | 122 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A freelancing former U.S. Intelligence Agent tries to track down a mysterious package that is wanted by the Irish and the Russians.
Director: John Frankenheimer | Stars: Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone, Stellan Skarsgård
Votes: 195,079 | Gross: $41.62M
23. Sling Blade (1996)
R | 135 min | Drama
Karl Childers, a simple man hospitalized since his childhood murder of his mother and her lover, is released to start a new life in a small town.
Director: Billy Bob Thornton | Stars: Billy Bob Thornton, Dwight Yoakam, J.T. Walsh, John Ritter
Votes: 98,790 | Gross: $24.48M
24. Spanglish (2004)
PG-13 | 131 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A woman and her daughter emigrate from Mexico for a better life in America, where they start working for a family whose patriarch is a newly celebrated chef with an insecure wife.
Director: James L. Brooks | Stars: Adam Sandler, Téa Leoni, Paz Vega, Cloris Leachman
Votes: 88,533 | Gross: $42.73M
25. Suicide Kings (1997)
R | 106 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A group of youngsters kidnap a respected Mafia figure.
Director: Peter O'Fallon | Stars: Christopher Walken, Denis Leary, Sean Patrick Flanery, Mark Watson
Votes: 29,171 | Gross: $1.69M
26. The Big Lebowski (1998)
R | 117 min | Comedy, Crime
Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski, mistaken for a millionaire of the same name, seeks restitution for his ruined rug and enlists his bowling buddies to help get it.
Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen | Stars: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi
Votes: 860,097 | Gross: $17.50M
27. 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: 2,011,568 | Gross: $134.97M
The second Godfather is also worth watching. The third is not.
28. The Hunt for Red October (1990)
PG | 135 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
In November 1984, the Soviet Union's best submarine captain violates orders and heads for the U.S. in a new undetectable sub. The American CIA and military must quickly determine: Is he trying to defect or to start a war?
Director: John McTiernan | Stars: Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Sam Neill
Votes: 214,688 | Gross: $122.01M
As I stated in my description of this list, I am not ranking movies according to what I think of them. If I were to do so however, this would be a contender for number 1.
29. The Karate Kid (1984)
PG | 126 min | Action, Drama, Family
A martial arts master agrees to teach karate to a bullied teenager.
Director: John G. Avildsen | Stars: Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Elisabeth Shue, Martin Kove
Votes: 244,398 | Gross: $90.82M
The ORIGINAL. Not every movie needs to be remade. Not every remake is better or even as good as the original.
30. Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
R | 111 min | Drama, Romance
Ben Sanderson, a Hollywood screenwriter who lost everything because of his alcoholism, arrives in Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There, he meets and forms an uneasy friendship and non-interference pact with prostitute Sera.
Director: Mike Figgis | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Elisabeth Shue, Julian Sands, Richard Lewis
Votes: 134,614 | Gross: $32.03M
I have to warn you, that while this is a good movie, it is filled with subject matter that is hard to watch.
31. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
PG-13 | 138 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
During the Napoleonic Wars, a brash British captain pushes his ship and crew to their limits in pursuit of a formidable French war vessel around South America.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany, Billy Boyd, James D'Arcy
Votes: 237,847 | Gross: $93.93M
32. My Cousin Vinny (1992)
R | 120 min | Comedy, Crime
Two New Yorkers accused of murder in rural Alabama while on their way back to college call in the help of one of their cousins, a loudmouth lawyer with no trial experience.
Director: Jonathan Lynn | Stars: Joe Pesci, Marisa Tomei, Ralph Macchio, Mitchell Whitfield
Votes: 140,501 | Gross: $52.93M
33. The Matrix (1999)
R | 136 min | Action, Sci-Fi
When a beautiful stranger leads computer hacker Neo to a forbidding underworld, he discovers the shocking truth--the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence.
Directors: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving
Votes: 2,052,298 | Gross: $171.48M
Watch the first Matrix movie, and avoid the second and third like the plague.
34. The Untouchables (1987)
R | 119 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
During Prohibition, Treasury agent Eliot Ness sets out to stop ruthless Chicago gangster Al Capone, and assembles a small, incorruptible team to help him.
Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Robert De Niro, Charles Martin Smith
Votes: 330,719 | Gross: $76.27M
35. Top Gun (1986)
PG | 109 min | Action, Drama
As students at the United States Navy's elite fighter weapons school compete to be best in the class, one daring young pilot learns a few things from a civilian instructor that are not taught in the classroom.
Director: Tony Scott | Stars: Tom Cruise, Tim Robbins, Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer
Votes: 502,391 | Gross: $179.80M
36. Set It Off (1996)
R | 123 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Desperation drives four inner-city women to bank robbery in Los Angeles, then they start mistrusting each other.
Director: F. Gary Gray | Stars: Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox, Kimberly Elise
Votes: 18,455 | Gross: $36.05M
37. Stand Up Guys (2012)
R | 95 min | Comedy, Crime, Thriller
A pair of aging stickup men try to get the old gang back together for one last hurrah before one of the guys takes his last assignment - to kill his comrade.
Director: Fisher Stevens | Stars: Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, Alan Arkin, Julianna Margulies
Votes: 57,727 | Gross: $3.30M
38. Young Guns (1988)
R | 107 min | Action, Drama, Western
A group of young gunmen, led by Billy the Kid, become deputies to avenge the murder of the rancher who became their benefactor. But when Billy takes their authority too far, they become the hunted.
Director: Christopher Cain | Stars: Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Charlie Sheen
Votes: 68,026 | Gross: $45.66M
39. Open Range (2003)
R | 139 min | Action, Drama, Romance
A former gunslinger is forced to take up arms again when he and his cattle crew are threatened by a corrupt lawman.
Director: Kevin Costner | Stars: Kevin Costner, Robert Duvall, Diego Luna, Abraham Benrubi
Votes: 78,135 | Gross: $58.33M
"...there are things that gnaw on a man worse than dying."
40. Apocalypto (2006)
R | 139 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
As the Mayan kingdom faces its decline, a young man is taken on a perilous journey to a world ruled by fear and oppression.
Director: Mel Gibson | Stars: Gerardo Taracena, Raoul Max Trujillo, Dalia Hernández, Rudy Youngblood
Votes: 331,200 | Gross: $50.87M
41. The Last Samurai (2003)
R | 154 min | Action, Drama
Nathan Algren, a US army veteran, is hired by the Japanese emperor to train his army in the modern warfare techniques. Nathan finds himself trapped in a struggle between two eras and two worlds.
Director: Edward Zwick | Stars: Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe, Billy Connolly, William Atherton
Votes: 470,903 | Gross: $111.11M
42. Witness (1985)
R | 112 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
While protecting an Amish boy - who is the sole witness to a brutal murder - and his mother, a detective is forced to seek refuge within their community when his own life is threatened.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis, Lukas Haas, Josef Sommer
Votes: 104,608 | Gross: $68.71M
43. The Last King of Scotland (2006)
R | 123 min | Biography, Drama, History
Based on the events of the brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's regime as seen by his personal physician during the 1970s.
Director: Kevin Macdonald | Stars: James McAvoy, Forest Whitaker, Gillian Anderson, Kerry Washington
Votes: 195,990 | Gross: $17.61M
44. Lord of War (2005)
R | 122 min | Crime, Drama
An arms dealer confronts the morality of his work as he is being chased by an INTERPOL Agent.
Director: Andrew Niccol | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Ethan Hawke, Jared Leto, Bridget Moynahan
Votes: 336,812 | Gross: $24.15M
45. Road to Perdition (2002)
R | 117 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A mob enforcer's son in 1930s Illinois witnesses a murder, forcing him and his father to take to the road, and his father down a path of redemption and revenge.
Director: Sam Mendes | Stars: Tom Hanks, Tyler Hoechlin, Paul Newman
Votes: 284,458 | Gross: $104.45M
46. Blow (2001)
R | 124 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The story of how George Jung, along with the Medellín Cartel headed by Pablo Escobar, established the American cocaine market in the 1970s in the United States.
Director: Ted Demme | Stars: Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz, Franka Potente, Rachel Griffiths
Votes: 274,990 | Gross: $52.99M
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