Today I decided to create a post that I can update yearly, thereby creating less work for me to do in the future but more work for me to do now. What is this post, you ask? The answer is this. I went through this entire list of the top 250 IMDb movies, and talked about them if I watched them. Of course, I haven’t come close to watching all of the movies on this list, so hopefully in a year’s time I will increase my percentage. The goal is to be both a personal tracker for me, and a way for you all to browse what the top movies of all time are! If the title of a Movie is hyperlinked, that means there’s a review of said movie on this site that you should go read.

I plan on doing more lists like these, so if you have list ideas that you’d like me to use, drop those in the comments as well.

Total Watched as of August 16th 2022: 44/250 (17.6%)

• The Shawshank Redemption
• The Godfather
• The Dark Night
• The Godfather Part II
• 12 Angry Men
• Schindler’s List
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (#7)

It should be expected that the first movie on the list that I’ve actually seen is Lord of the Rings. They were great movies, but none were as good as the books.

• Pulp Fiction
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (#9)

The second movie I’ve watched is also in the same series. I remember this one being better than The Return of the King, so I’m surprised by the ordering of the two.

• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
• Forrest Gump
• Fight Club
• Inception
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (#14)

The third! Also Lord of the Rings! I give up.

• Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (#15)

You can tell that the people who rate movies on IMDb are primarily fandom boys, because Star Wars is way too high on the list. While I’ve sen all of the star wars movies, I don’t really remember then.

• The Matrix
• Goodfellas
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
• Se7en
• Seven Samurai
• It’s a Wonderful Life
• The Silence of the Lambs (#22)

This was a GREAT movie. I loved it. The plot, the tension, the cast, all of it was incredibly well done. 10/10 stars.

• City of God
• Saving Private Ryan
• Life is Beautiful
• The Green Mile (#26)

I read this book (which was technically a serial novel) by Stephen King before I watched the movie. While the book was obviously much better, the movie was good as a stand alone. 7/10 stars.

• Interstellar (#27)

Okay full disclosure, I’m fully in love with Jessica Chastain, and I love Matthew McConaughey as well. That has probably affected my rating of the movie, but either way I loved it, and the place it’s in on this list seems to agree with me. 9/10 stars.

• Star Wars (#28)

Bummm Bummm Bum Bum Bum Bummmm Bumm…. Star Wars!! No further thoughts. 6/10 stars.

• Terminator 2: Judgement Day
• Back to the Future (#30)

I loved Back to the Future! It was great. 9/10 stars.

• Spirited Away (#31)

Levatio recently did an entire issue based on this and other Studio Ghibli films. I had no idea Spirited Away was so popular until that!

• Psycho
• The Pianist
• Leon: The Professional
• Parasite
• The Lion King (#36)

This is my pick for the most overrated Disney movie of all time. The Lion King is just soooo overplayed. I don’t want to see another poster for a live action Lion King for as long as I live. 6/10 stars.

• Gladiator
• American History X
• The Departed
• The Usual Suspects
• The Prestige
• Casablanca
• Whiplash
• The Intouchables
• Harakiri
• Grave of the Fireflies
• Modern Times
• Once Upon a Time in the West
• Top Gun: Maverick (#49)

This is the only movie on this list that I’ve reviewed so far, which is pretty wild considering I’ve watched 44 of the movies. I loved Top Gun: Maverick and I love that a 2022 movie has made it onto the list. It’s cool to think that as time goes by, more of the old movies will slip off the list as newer movies take high places. You can also see the bias of IMDb raters here, since the original Top Gun is nowhere to be seen.

• Rear Window
• Alien
• City Lights
• Cinema Paradiso
• Apocalypse Now
• Memento
• Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
• Django Unchained
• WALL-E (#58)

WALL-E was such a cute movie. I guess looking back it’s a little fatphobic, which isn’t something that I picked up on consciously until I was writing this review, but the robot romance was very cute.

• The Lives of Others
• Sunset Blvd.
• Paths of Glory
• The Shining
• The Great Dictator
• Witness for the Prosecution
• Avengers: Infinity War
• Aliens
• American Beauty
• Dr. Strangelove or: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
• The Dark Knight Rises
• Oldboy
• Joker
• Amadeus
• Braveheart
• Toy Story (#75)

I loved Toy Story so much. Talking toys are such a fun concept, and as a child I secretly hoped that my toys were also getting up and moving around whenever I left the room. 8/10 stars.

• Coco
• The Boat
• Inglourious Basterds
• Princess Mononoke
• Avengers: Endgame
• Once Upon a Time in America
• Good Will Hunting (#82)

I really enjoy Good Will Hunting. It had so much emotion and really brought me warmth. 10/10 stars.

• Your Name
• Requiem for a Dream
• Toy Story 3 (#84)

It’s weird that Toy Story 2 is not on the list but 1 and 3 are. I suppose the last one has some sense of nostalgia, whereas the second wasn’t as good as the first so it was a letdown. I don’t think this particularly stood out as a good movie to me. 6/10 stars.

• Singin’ in the Rain
• 3 Idiots
• Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (#88)

Another Star Wars movie. No comment. No stars because I honestly don’t remember.

• High and Low
• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• Reservoir Dogs
• Capernaum
• Lawrence of Arabia
• Citizen Kane
• The Hunt
• M
• North by Northwest
• Vertigo
• Come and See
• Amelie
• A Clockwork Orange
• Double Indemnity
• Full Metal Jacket
• The Apartment
• Scarface
• Ikiru
• The Sting
• To Kill a Mockingbird (#109)

I think To Kill a Mockingbird was probably revolutionary for the time, and helped a lot of white people realize that black people are also people. Now, though, it’s just a white savior narrative that’s well past its prime. 6/10 stars.

• Taxi Driver
• Up (#111)

I feel like this is known as the saddest opening to a Pixar movie of all time. The rest of the movie is uplifting and cute, but the beginning is depressing, and I think that’s why this is so high on the list. 7/10 stars.

• Heat
• LA Confidential
• Metropolis
• A Separation
• Incendies
• Die Hard
• Snatch
• Hamilton
• Bicycle Thieves
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
• 1917
• Like Stars on Earth
• Downfall
• For a Few Dollars More
• Batman Begins
• Dangal
• The Kid
• Some Like it Hot
• All About Eve
• The Father
• Spider-Man: No Way Home (#132)

I liked Spider-Man but I don’t think it was the best of the superhero movies. 6/10 stars.

• Green Book
• The Wold of Wall Street
• Judgement at Nuremberg
• Ran
• Casino
• Unforgiven
• Pan’s Labyrinth
• There Will Be Blood
• The Sixth Sense
• The Truman Show (#142)

The first time you watch The Truman Show, it’s such a mind bend that you’re immediately forced to watch it again. It was such an ingenious concept, and so flawlessly executed. 10/10 stars.

• A Beautiful Mind (#143)

I love A Beautiful Mind. I do, however, believe that Nash was undoubtedly actually gay, and that the articles that say otherwise, as well as this movie’s implications that say otherwise, are harmful to the truth of many gay people who lived at the time. 6/10 stars.

• Monty Python and the Holy Grail
• Yojimbo
• The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
• Shutter Island- 2010 (#147)

I have no strong feelings about Shutter Island. All in all it was just a waste of time. 2/10 stars.

• Jurassic Park- 1993 (#148)

Jurassic Park was such an extraordinarily great movie. I loved it. Dinosaurs come to life is such a ridiculous concept, but somehow this movie pulled it off in a way that seemed real. 9/10 stars.

• Rashomon
• The Great Escape
• Kill Bill: Vol 1
• No Country for Old Men
• Finding Nemo (#153)

I cannot believe how high up on this list Finding Nemo is. I mean it’s great, I agree. Dory is one of the best animated characters of all time. It just still feels a little ridiculous that it’s on a ‘best movies of all time” list. 7/10 stars.

• The Elephant Man
• Chinatown
• Raging Bull
• The Thing
• Gone with the Wind
• V for Vendetta
• Inside Out (#160)

I was a full adult when I watched Inside Out for the first time, and I still loved it. It’s so well done. 10/10 stars.

• Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels
• Dial M for Murder
• The Secret in their Eyes
• Howl’s Moving Castle
• The Bridge on the River Kwai
• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
• Trainspotting
• Warrior
• Gran Torino
• Fargo
• Everything Everywhere All at Once
• Prisoners
• My Neighbor Totoro
• Million Dollar Baby
• The Gold Rush
• Catch Me if You Can (#176)

For some reason, my accounting teacher in high school decided that Catch Me if You Can would be the perfect movie to watch, on repeat, for the last month of the school year. As such, I’ve seen it quite a lot. It was a good movie the first couple times, 7/10 stars.

• Blade Runner
• On the Waterfront
• Children of Heaven
• The Third Man
• Ben-Hur
• Before Sunrise
• Wild Strawberries
• 12 Years a Slave
• The General
• Gone Girl (#186)

I. Love. Gone. Girl. Amy Dunne is my gaslight girlboss queen. 10/10 stars. The cool girl monologue is my mantra.

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (#187)

It’s sort of shocking to me that the final movie is the highest rated of the series. I would have given it solidly to #4, but alas, this is the only one of the series that made the list. 8/10 stars.

• The Deer Hunter
• In the Name of the Father
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
• The Wages of Fear
• Barry Lyndon
• Sherlock Jr.
• Memories of Murder
• Hacksaw Ridge
• Klaus
• The Seventh Seal
• Wild Tales
• Room (#200)

I freaking love Room. It’s so emotionally resonant. The story is not for the faint of heart, and it did make me terrified of walking around outside for over a year after I read the book (a period of time which was further extended by watching the movie), but I think it’s the one movie on this list that everyone needs to watch. 10/10 stars.

• Mad Max: Fury Road (#201)

I was forced to watch this movie for my Apocalyptic Storytelling class in college, and I overall thought it was a perfectly average movie. 5/10 stars.

• How to Train Your Dragon (#202)

There’s so many childhood movies on this list, and I think this is one of the best. It holds up so well, there’s great character development, and there’s DRAGONS. Incredible. 9/10 stars.

• The Big Lebowski
• Mary and Max
• Monsters, Inc (#205)

I think Monsters, Inc, is a great movie. I’m not sure if they thought this would cure little kid’s fears of monsters under the bed, but at the very least it gave me a good laugh for a few hours. 7/10 stars.

• Jaws (#206)

It’s so funny to me how good everyone thinks Jaws is. It’s so bad. Maybe it was good at the time it came out, but now the shark is so fake that I can hardly bear it. Besides that, I don’t think the plot is particularly innovative. 4/10 stars.

• The Passion of Joan of Arc
• Tokyo Story
• Dead Poets Society (#209)

Dead Poets Society is one of those movies that’s intoxicatingly good, but you don’t want to watch it again. 9/10 stars.

• Hotel Rwanda
• Rocky (#211)

I think every Gen-Z kid in the world has been forced to watch this movie by their overeager father. The movie was good, but I think it’s a bit overhyped if I’m being honest. 6/10 stars.

• Platoon
• Ford v Ferrari
• Pather Panchali
• Stand by Me
• The Terminator
• Spotlight
• Rush
• Network
• Logan
• Into the Wild
• The Wizard of Oz (#222)

I love The Wizard of Oz. It’s so good. I love the soundtrack, the plot, and The Wicked Witch of the West. It’s one of those kids movies that actually holds up as an adult. 10/10 stars.

• Ratatouille (#223)

Oddly enough I don’t think I watched this movie after the first time, even though it was good. It’s somehow become a classic, I think because of the pure ridiculousness of the premise. 8/10 stars.

• Groundhog Day
• Before Sunset
• The Exorcist
• The Best Years of Our Lives
• The Incredibles (#228)

I love The Incredibles. It’s such a classic movie, with a great family dynamic and even better villains. 9/10 stars.

• To Be or Not to Be
• The Grapes of Wrath
• The Battle of Algiers
• Rebecca
• Hachi: A Dog’s Tale (#233)

This movie is engraved into my mind because I remember watching it with my sister and having her SOB at the end of it. It was solid. 7/10 stars.

• Cool Hand Luke
• Amores perros
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (#236)

I don’t remember this Pirates of the Caribbean specifically, but I know that I enjoyed them all. 7/10 stars.

• La Haine
• The 400 Blows
• Persona
• My Father and My Son
• It Happened One Night
• Life of Brian
• The Sound of Music (#243)

I know that The Sound of Music is a much watch, but I honestly never thought it was very good. It’s simply far too long and too boring for me to stay invested. 5/10 stars.

• Dersu Uzala
• The Handmaiden
• Jai Bhim
• Aladdin (#247)

I love Disney movies, but Aladdin isn’t even close to my favorite. Jasmine is a cool princess, but other than that I didn’t feel full investment in the story. 6/10 stars.

• Gandhi
• The Help (#249)

The Help may be in danger of falling off this list completely, but it’s still a classic. The book was absolutely incredible, and the movie had an all star cast of actors. 8/10 stars.

• The Iron Giant

Let me know in the comments how many you’ve watched!