100 recommended films (no order)
by chrysillo | created - 16 Sep 2011 | updated - 16 Sep 2011 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Braveheart (1995)
R | 178 min | Biography, Drama, History
When his secret bride is executed for assaulting an English soldier who tried to rape her, Sir William Wallace begins a revolt against King Edward I of England.
Director: Mel Gibson | Stars: Mel Gibson, Sophie Marceau, Patrick McGoohan, Angus Macfadyen
Votes: 840,881 | Gross: $75.60M
2. Little Nicholas (2009)
91 min | Comedy, Family
Nicolas has a happy existence, parents who love him, a great group of friends with whom he has great fun, and all he wants is that nothing changes. However, one day, he overhears a ... See full summary »
Director: Laurent Tirard | Stars: Maxime Godart, Vincent Claude, Charles Vaillant, Victor Carles
Votes: 10,560
3. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
PG-13 | 178 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
A meek Hobbit from the Shire and eight companions set out on a journey to destroy the powerful One Ring and save Middle-earth from the Dark Lord Sauron.
Director: Peter Jackson | Stars: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom, Sean Bean
Votes: 1,406,002 | Gross: $315.54M
4. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
PG | 124 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
After the rebels are brutally overpowered by the Empire on the ice planet Hoth, Luke Skywalker begins Jedi training with Yoda, while his friends are pursued by Darth Vader.
Director: Irvin Kershner | Stars: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams
Votes: 977,863 | Gross: $290.48M
5. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
PG | 131 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
After a daring mission to rescue Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt, the rebels dispatch to Endor to destroy a more powerful Death Star. Meanwhile, Luke struggles to help Vader back from the dark side without falling into the Emperor's trap.
Director: Richard Marquand | Stars: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams
Votes: 804,066 | Gross: $309.13M
6. The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
PG-13 | 115 min | Action, Mystery, Thriller
Jason Bourne dodges a ruthless CIA official and his agents from a new assassination program while searching for the origins of his life as a trained killer.
Director: Paul Greengrass | Stars: Matt Damon, Edgar Ramírez, Joan Allen, Julia Stiles
Votes: 557,017 | Gross: $227.47M
7. American History X (1998)
R | 119 min | Crime, Drama
A former neo-nazi skinhead tries to prevent his younger brother from going down the same wrong path that he did.
Director: Tony Kaye | Stars: Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Beverly D'Angelo, Jennifer Lien
Votes: 892,617 | Gross: $6.72M
8. Good Will Hunting (1997)
R | 126 min | Drama
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: 710,161 | Gross: $138.43M
9. The Pianist (2002)
R | 150 min | Biography, Drama, Music
A Polish Jewish musician struggles to survive the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto of World War II.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Emilia Fox
Votes: 588,226 | Gross: $32.57M
10. Casino (1995)
R | 178 min | Crime, Drama
A tale of greed, deception, money, power, and murder occur between two best friends: a mafia enforcer and a casino executive, compete against each other over a gambling empire, and over a fast living and fast loving socialite.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci, James Woods
Votes: 386,124 | Gross: $42.44M
11. Tiempo de valientes (2005)
112 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Mariano Is a psychologist who must fulfill community service after losing a lawsuit by a traffic accident. He is forced to provide therapeutic support to Alfredo, a policeman depressed over... See full summary »
Director: Damián Szifron | Stars: Diego Peretti, Luis Luque, Óscar Ferreiro, Gabriela Iscovich
Votes: 4,954
12. The Endless Summer 2 (1994)
TV-14 | 109 min | Documentary, Adventure, Sport
Bruce Brown, king of surfing documentaries, returns after nearly thirty years to trace the steps of two young surfers to top surfing spots around the world. Along the way we see many of the... See full summary »
Director: Bruce Brown | Stars: Patrick O'Connell, Robert 'Wingnut' Weaver, Robert August, T.J. Barron
Votes: 1,633 | Gross: $2.16M
13. Rebound: The Legend of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault (1996 TV Movie)
R | 120 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
A dramatization of the life of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault (Don Cheadle), with a lot of factual based occurrences. A reformed junkie returns from prison to clean up his act and devote the ... See full summary »
Director: Eriq La Salle | Stars: Don Cheadle, James Earl Jones, Michael Beach, Ronny Cox
Votes: 2,591
14. Global Metal (2008)
93 min | Documentary, Music
A continued examination of the heavy metal subculture focusing on the adaptation and performance of heavy metal in various global communities, and how the increased import of Western cultural forms has impacted new global markets.
Directors: Sam Dunn, Scot McFadyen | Stars: Tom Araya, Ken Ayugai, Rafael Bittencourt, Max Cavalera
Votes: 4,124
15. Riding Giants (2004)
PG-13 | 105 min | Documentary, History, Sport
Documentary detailing the origins and history of surf culture.
Director: Stacy Peralta | Stars: Laird John Hamilton, Darrick Doerner, Dave Kalama, Jeff Clark
Votes: 4,059 | Gross: $2.28M
16. El crimen del Padre Amaro (2002)
R | 118 min | Drama, Romance
Politics and sexual passions threaten to corrupt a young, newly-ordained priest in a small Mexican town.
Director: Carlos Carrera | Stars: Gael García Bernal, Ana Claudia Talancón, Sancho Gracia, Angélica Aragón
Votes: 11,781 | Gross: $5.71M
17. Innocent Voices (2004)
R | 120 min | Drama, Thriller, War
A young boy, in an effort to have a normal childhood in 1980's El Salvador, is caught up in a dramatic fight for his life as he desperately tries to avoid the war which is raging all around him.
Director: Luis Mandoki | Stars: Carlos Padilla, Leonor Varela, Xuna Primus, Gustavo Muñoz
Votes: 6,657 | Gross: $0.84M
18. Bad Education (2004)
NC-17 | 106 min | Crime, Drama
An examination on the effect of Franco-era religious schooling and sexual abuse on the lives of two longtime friends.
Director: Pedro Almodóvar | Stars: Gael García Bernal, Fele Martínez, Javier Cámara, Daniel Giménez Cacho
Votes: 49,368 | Gross: $5.21M
19. Love in the Time of Cholera (2007)
R | 139 min | Drama, Romance
Florentino, rejected by the beautiful Fermina at a young age, devotes much of his adult life to carnal affairs as a desperate attempt to heal his broken heart.
Director: Mike Newell | Stars: Javier Bardem, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Benjamin Bratt, Gina Bernard Forbes
Votes: 20,562 | Gross: $4.61M
20. He Got Game (1998)
R | 136 min | Drama, Sport
A basketball player's father must try to convince him to go to a college so he can get a shorter sentence.
Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Denzel Washington, Milla Jovovich, Ray Allen, Rosario Dawson
Votes: 39,226 | Gross: $21.55M
21. First Time Felon (1997 TV Movie)
R | 110 min | Drama
Inspired by the true story of Greg Yance. In the film, Yance (Epps) is a hood who goes to jail for possession of drugs. He is given a choice: 5 years in jail or a couple of months in boot ... See full summary »
Director: Charles S. Dutton | Stars: Omar Epps, Delroy Lindo, Rachel Ticotin, Anthony 'Treach' Criss
Votes: 1,130
22. U Turn (1997)
R | 125 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A man heading to Vegas to pay off his gambling debt before the Russian mafia kills him, is forced to stop in an Arizona town where everything that can go wrong, does go wrong.
Director: Oliver Stone | Stars: Sean Penn, Jennifer Lopez, Nick Nolte, Billy Bob Thornton
Votes: 44,871 | Gross: $6.63M
23. Tesis (1996)
R | 125 min | Mystery, Thriller
While doing a thesis about violence, Ángela finds a snuff video where a girl is tortured until death. Soon she discovers that the girl was a former student in her faculty...
Director: Alejandro Amenábar | Stars: Ana Torrent, Fele Martínez, Eduardo Noriega, Xabier Elorriaga
Votes: 31,112
24. Ninja Scroll (1993)
Not Rated | 94 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
A vagabond swordsman is aided by a beautiful ninja girl and a crafty spy in confronting a demonic clan of killers - with a ghost from his past as their leader - who are bent on overthrowing the Tokugawa Shogunate.
Director: Yoshiaki Kawajiri | Stars: Kôichi Yamadera, Emi Shinohara, Takeshi Aono, Osamu Saka
Votes: 29,715
25. Limitless (I) (2011)
PG-13 | 105 min | Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
With the help of a mysterious pill that enables the user to access one hundred percent of his brain abilities, a struggling writer becomes a financial wizard, but it also puts him in a new world with lots of dangers.
Director: Neil Burger | Stars: Bradley Cooper, Anna Friel, Abbie Cornish, Robert De Niro
Votes: 467,332 | Gross: $79.25M
26. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
R | 142 min | Crime, Drama
Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency.
Director: Frank Darabont | Stars: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler
Votes: 1,942,962 | Gross: $28.34M
27. Pulp Fiction (1994)
R | 154 min | Crime, Drama
The lives of two mob hitmen, a boxer, a gangster's 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: 1,519,096 | Gross: $107.93M
28. Fight Club (1999)
R | 139 min | Drama
An insomniac office worker, looking for a way to change his life, crosses paths with a devil-may-care soapmaker, forming an underground fight club that evolves into something much, much more.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Meat Loaf, Zach Grenier
Votes: 1,556,972 | Gross: $37.03M
29. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)
PG | 121 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Luke Skywalker joins forces with a Jedi Knight, a cocky pilot, a Wookiee and two droids to save the galaxy from the Empire's world-destroying battle-station while also attempting to rescue Princess Leia from the evil Darth Vader.
Director: George Lucas | Stars: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness
Votes: 1,049,674 | Gross: $322.74M
30. The Lion King (1994)
G | 88 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama
A Lion cub crown prince is tricked by a treacherous uncle into thinking he caused his father's death and flees into exile in despair, only to learn in adulthood his identity and his responsibilities.
Directors: Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff | Stars: Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Irons, James Earl Jones, Whoopi Goldberg
Votes: 762,084 | Gross: $312.90M
31. City of God (2002)
R | 130 min | Crime, Drama
Two boys growing up in a violent neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro take different paths: one becomes a photographer, the other a drug dealer.
Directors: Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund | Stars: Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino, Matheus Nachtergaele, Phellipe Haagensen
Votes: 604,296 | Gross: $7.56M
32. Goodfellas (1990)
R | 146 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The story of Henry Hill and his life in the mob, covering his relationship with his wife Karen Hill and his mob partners Jimmy Conway and Tommy DeVito in the Italian-American crime syndicate.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco
Votes: 838,934 | Gross: $46.84M
33. Forrest Gump (1994)
PG-13 | 142 min | Drama, Romance
The presidencies of Kennedy and Johnson, Vietnam, Watergate, and other history unfold through the perspective of an Alabama man with an IQ of 75.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Sally Field
Votes: 1,473,256 | Gross: $330.25M
34. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
R | 120 min | Drama, Romance
A Mumbai teen reflects on his upbringing in the slums when he is accused of cheating on the Indian Version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?"
Directors: Danny Boyle, Loveleen Tandan | Stars: Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Saurabh Shukla, Anil Kapoor
Votes: 710,164 | Gross: $141.32M
35. Snatch (2000)
R | 102 min | Comedy, Crime
Unscrupulous boxing promoters, violent bookmakers, a Russian gangster, incompetent amateur robbers, and supposedly Jewish jewelers fight to track down a priceless stolen diamond.
Director: Guy Ritchie | Stars: Jason Statham, Brad Pitt, Benicio Del Toro, Dennis Farina
Votes: 679,641 | Gross: $30.33M
36. 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: 935,259 | Gross: $130.10M
37. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
PG-13 | 166 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Tells the story of Benjamin Button, a man who starts aging backwards with bizarre consequences.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton, Julia Ormond
Votes: 511,249 | Gross: $127.51M
38. Gladiator (2000)
R | 155 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
When a Roman General is betrayed, and his family murdered by an emperor's corrupt son, he comes to Rome as a gladiator to seek revenge.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed
Votes: 1,126,476 | Gross: $187.71M
39. American Psycho (2000)
R | 102 min | Crime, Drama
A wealthy New York investment banking executive, Patrick Bateman, hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he delves deeper into his violent, hedonistic fantasies.
Director: Mary Harron | Stars: Christian Bale, Justin Theroux, Josh Lucas, Bill Sage
Votes: 404,338 | Gross: $15.07M
40. The Sopranos (1999–2007)
TV-MA | 55 min | Crime, Drama
A New Jersey mob boss, Tony Soprano, deals with personal and professional issues in his home and business life, which affects his mental state and leads him to seek professional psychiatric counseling.
Stars: James Gandolfini, Lorraine Bracco, Edie Falco, Michael Imperioli
Votes: 226,762
41. A Beautiful Mind (2001)
PG-13 | 135 min | Biography, Drama
After John Nash, a brilliant but asocial mathematician, accepts secret work in cryptography, his life takes a turn for the nightmarish.
Director: Ron Howard | Stars: Russell Crowe, Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly, Christopher Plummer
Votes: 715,916 | Gross: $170.74M
42. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
R | 118 min | Drama, Fantasy, War
In the falangist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.
Director: Guillermo del Toro | Stars: Ivana Baquero, Ariadna Gil, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú
Votes: 537,986 | Gross: $37.63M
43. The Green Mile (1999)
R | 189 min | Crime, Drama, Fantasy
The lives of guards on Death Row are affected by one of their charges: a black man accused of child murder and rape, yet who has a mysterious gift.
Director: Frank Darabont | Stars: Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan, David Morse, Bonnie Hunt
Votes: 925,932 | Gross: $136.80M
44. Submarine (2010)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
15-year-old Oliver Tate has two objectives: To lose his virginity before his next birthday, and to extinguish the flame between his mother and an ex-lover who has resurfaced in her life.
Director: Richard Ayoade | Stars: Craig Roberts, Sally Hawkins, Paddy Considine, Noah Taylor
Votes: 75,904 | Gross: $0.47M
45. Crash (I) (2004)
R | 112 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Los Angeles citizens with vastly separate lives collide in interweaving stories of race, loss and redemption.
Director: Paul Haggis | Stars: Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, Thandie Newton, Karina Arroyave
Votes: 387,553 | Gross: $54.58M
46. 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: 258,871 | Gross: $50.87M
47. Pride & Prejudice (2005)
PG | 129 min | Drama, Romance
Sparks fly when spirited Elizabeth Bennet meets single, rich, and proud Mr. Darcy. But Mr. Darcy reluctantly finds himself falling in love with a woman beneath his class. Can each overcome their own pride and prejudice?
Director: Joe Wright | Stars: Keira Knightley, Matthew Macfadyen, Brenda Blethyn, Donald Sutherland
Votes: 216,559 | Gross: $38.41M
48. Trainspotting (1996)
R | 94 min | Drama
Renton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out, despite the allure of the drugs and influence of friends.
Director: Danny Boyle | Stars: Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd
Votes: 554,940 | Gross: $16.50M
49. Catch Me If You Can (2002)
PG-13 | 141 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A seasoned FBI agent pursues Frank Abagnale Jr. who, before his 19th birthday, successfully forged millions of dollars' worth of checks while posing as a Pan Am pilot, a doctor, and a legal prosecutor.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen
Votes: 651,356 | Gross: $164.62M
50. The Bourne Identity (2002)
PG-13 | 119 min | Action, Mystery, Thriller