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300 Best Movies of All Time

Welcome to the 300 highest-rated best movies of all time, as reviewed and selected by Tomatometer-approved critics and Rotten Tomatoes users.

How did we select and rank the movies? First, every movie here is Certified Fresh.

Then we applied our recommendation formula, which considers a movie’s Tomatometer rating with assistance from its Audience Score, illuminating beloved sentiment from both sides. Critics-certified, audience-approved!

Other factors weighing into the recommendation formula: a movie’s number of critics reviews, the number of Audience Score votes, and its year of release. An editorial pass is reserved to finesse the final list, which included minimum thresholds for each of these data points.

After this guide’s launch period, we’ll visit movies released in 2024, with frequent updates and refreshes from there.

L.A. Confidential (1997) 99%

The Godfather (1972) 97%

Casablanca (1942) 99%

Seven Samurai (1954) 100%

Parasite (2019) 99%

Schindler's List (1993) 98%

Top Gun: Maverick (2022) 96%

Toy Story 2 (1999) 100%

Chinatown (1974) 98%

On the Waterfront (1954) 99%

The Battle of Algiers (1966) 99%

Toy Story (1995) 100%

Rear Window (1954) 98%

Modern Times (1936) 98%

How to Train Your Dragon (2010) 99%

All About Eve (1950) 99%

Spirited Away (2001) 96%

Up (2009) 98%

The Third Man (1949) 99%

Spotlight (2015) 97%

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) 97%

The Philadelphia Story (1940) 100%

Finding Nemo (2003) 99%

Singin' in the Rain (1952) 100%

12 Angry Men (1957) 100%

Toy Story 3 (2010) 98%

Sunset Boulevard (1950) 98%

Coco (2017) 97%

The Godfather, Part II (1974) 96%

Three Colors: Red (1994) 100%

Selma (2014) 99%

Zootopia (2016) 98%

Citizen Kane (1941) 99%

Annie Hall (1977) 97%

Cool Hand Luke (1967) 100%

The Holdovers (2023) 97%

Inside Out (2015) 98%

Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) 98%

Let the Right One In (2008) 98%

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) 95%

Knives Out (2019) 97%

M (1931) 100%

Toy Story 4 (2019) 97%

The Wrestler (2008) 99%

Goodfellas (1990) 94%

The Wizard of Oz (1939) 98%

Double Indemnity (1944) 97%

Psycho (1960) 97%

Paddington 2 (2017) 99%

Before Sunrise (1995) 100%

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IMDb Charts

Imdb top 250 movies.

1. The Shawshank Redemption

2. The Godfather

3. The Dark Knight

4. The Godfather Part II

5. 12 Angry Men

6. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

7. Schindler's List

8. Pulp Fiction

9. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

10. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

11. Forrest Gump

12. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

13. Fight Club

14. Inception

15. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

16. The Matrix

17. Goodfellas

18. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

19. Interstellar

21. It's a Wonderful Life

22. Seven Samurai

23. The Silence of the Lambs

24. Saving Private Ryan

25. City of God

The Top Rated Movie list only includes feature films.

• Shorts, TV movies, and documentaries are not included
• The list is ranked by a formula which includes the number of ratings each movie received from users, and value of ratings received from regular users
• To be included on the list, a movie must receive ratings from at least 25000 users

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30 Highest Rated Movies of all Time: Movies With 100% on Rotten Tomatoes

For 23 years, Rotten Tomatoes has been the go-to for those looking to get the scoop on what is new in movies. Aggregating opinions from fans and critics across the country, Rotten Tomatoes uses its “Tomatometer” system to calculate critical reception for any given film. If 60% of reviews are positive, the movie is given a “Fresh” status, but if positive reviews fall below that benchmark, it is deemed “Rotten.” A popular piece of media will typically fall between the 70-90% range, but rarely, a project will receive a 100% score. This means every last review from critics was positive.

Close to 480 films with at least 20 reviews have achieved a 100% score, with many coming very close. Greta Gerwig’s “Lady Bird” had a 100% rating with 196 positive reviews before a critic submitted a negative one, knocking it down to 99%. The immortal classic “Citizen Kane” had a 100% rating until a negative review from a 1941 issue of the Chicago Tribune was rediscovered, revoking its 100% status.

Here are Rotten Tomatoes’ highest-rated movies that have managed to maintain a 100% score and have the highest number of reviews.

The Philadelphia Story (1940)

“The Philadelphia Story” is based on the 1939 Broadway play and follows a socialite whose wedding plans are complicated by the arrival of her ex-husband and a tabloid magazine journalist. Directed by George Cukor, he film stars Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, James Stewart and Ruth Hussey.

“It’s definitely not a celluloid adventure for wee lads and lassies and no doubt some of the faithful watchers-out for other people’s souls are going to have a word about that,” Variety ‘s review said. “…All of which, in addition to a generous taste of socialite quaffing to excess and talk of virtue, easy and uneasy, makes “The Philadelphia Story” a picture every suburban mamma and poppa must see – after Junior and little Elsie Dinsmore are tucked away.”

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

Christmas musical film “Meet Me in St. Louis” follows a year of the Smith family’s life in St. Louis leading up to the opening of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, known as the St. Louis World’s Fair, in the spring of 1904. The film stars Judy Garland, Margaret O’Brien, Mary Astor, Lucille Bremer, Tom Drake, Leon Ames, Marjorie Main, June Lockhart and Joan Carroll and directed by Vincente Minnelli, who Garland later married.

“‘Meet Me in St. Louis’ is wholesome in story [from the book by Sally Benson], colorful both in background and its literal Technicolor, and as American as the World’s Series,” Variety ‘s review said. “Garland achieves true stature with her deeply understanding performance, while her sisterly running-mate, Lucille Bremer, likewise makes excellent impact with a well-balanced performance.”

Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

The musical romantic comedy “Singin’ In the Rain” follows three Hollywood stars in the late 1920s dealing with the transition from silent films to talkies. Starring Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O’Connor, the movie was one of the first 25 films selected by the U.S. Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry.

“‘Singin’ In the Rain’ is a fancy package of musical entertainment with wide appeal and bright grossing prospects,” Variety ‘s review said. “Concocted by Arthur Freed with showmanship know-how, it glitters with color, talent and tunes, and an infectious air that will click with ticket buyers in all types of situations.”

Seven Samurai (1954)

Epic samurai action film “Seven Samurai” follows the story of a village of farmers in 1586 who seek to hire samurai to protect their crops from thieves. The film was the most expensive movie made in Japan at the time.

“Director Akira Kurosawa has given this a virile mounting,” Variety ‘s review said. “It is primarily a man’s film, with the brief romantic interludes also done with taste. Each character is firmly molded. Toshiro Mifune as the bold, hairbrained but courageous warrior weaves a colossal portrait. He dominates the picture although he has an extremely strong supporting cast.”

The Terminator (1984)

Sci-fi action film “The Terminator” follows a cyborg assassin (Arnold Schwarzenegger) sent back in time to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), whose son will one day save mankind from extinction from artificial intelligence, Skynet. Co-written and directed by James Cameron and co-written and produced by Gale Anne Hurd, the film topped the U.S. box office for two weeks and grossed $78.3 million.

“‘The Terminator,’ which opens today at Loews State and other theaters, is a B-movie with flair. Much of it, as directed by James Cameron (‘Piranha II’), has suspense and personality, and only the obligatory mayhem becomes dull,” wrote Janet Maslin in a New York Times review. “There is far too much of the latter, in the form of car chases, messy shootouts and Mr. Schwarzenegger’s slamming brutally into anything that gets in his way. Far better are the scenes that follow Sarah (Linda Hamilton) from cheerful obliviousness to the grim knowledge that someone horrible is on her trail.”

Toy Story (1995)

Animated comedy film “Toy Story” follows the first adventures of cowboy doll Woody and space cadet action figure Buzz Lightyear. Owned by a boy named Andy, Woody and Buzz are a part of a group of toys that spring to life when humans aren’t around. Birthed after the success of Pixar’s short film “Tin Toy,” “Toy Story” was the first feature film from Pixar and the first entirely computer-animated feature film.

“To swipe Buzz’s motto –“To infinity and beyond”–“Toy Story” aims high to go where no animator has gone before,” wrote Leonard Klady in a 1995 Variety film review . “Fears at mission control of the whole effort crashing to Earth proved unwarranted; this is one entertainment that soars to new heights.”

Toy Story 2 (1999)

“Toy Story 2” continues Woody and Buzz Lightyear’s journey as the co-leaders of the toy group. When Woody is stolen by a toy collector, Buzz and the other toys must find set out to find him. During his time with the collector, Woody meets Jessie and Stinky Pete, other toys also based on characters from the TV show “Woody’s Roundup.” The animated film was originally supposed to be a direct-to-video sequel, but was upgraded to a theatrical release by Disney.

“In the realm of sequels, “Toy Story 2″ is to “Toy Story” what “The Empire Strikes Back” was to its predecessor, a richer, more satisfying film in every respect,” wrote former chief film critic Todd McCarthy in a 1999 Variety film review . “The comparison between these two franchises will be pursued no further, given their utter dissimilarity. But John Lasseter and his team, their confidence clearly bolstered by the massive success of their 1995 blockbuster, have conspired to vigorously push the new entry further with fresh characters, broadened scope, boisterous humor and, most of all, a gratifying emotional and thematic depth.”

Deliver Us From Evil (2006)

“Deliver Us From Evil” is a documentary that follows the case of convicted pedophile Oliver O’Grady, who molested approximately 25 children as a priest in northern California between the late 1970s through early 1990s. Filmmaker Amy Berg tracks O’Grady down to Ireland, where he was deported after being convicted of child molestation in 1993 and serving seven years in prison.

“Given how strong this kind of testimony is, “Deliver Us From Evil’s” decision to hype it more than it needs to be is unfortunate,” L.A. Times film critic Kenneth Turan said about the film in a 2006 review. “The film has a weakness for over-dramatization, for unsettling music and portentous close-ups of O’Grady’s hands and lips that are distracting and unnecessary.”

“There is nothing over-dramatic, however, about the deeply painful testimony of the adults who were victimized as children and their still traumatized parents,” he continued. “’He was the closest thing to God that we knew,’ one mother says. ‘I let the wolf in through the gate.'”

Taxi to the Dark Side (2007)

“Taxi to the Dark Side” is a documentary film directed by Alex Gibney about the 2002 killing of an Afghan taxi drive named Dilawar, who was beaten to death by American soldiers while being detained without a trial and interrogated at a black site, a detention center operated by a state where prisoners are incarcerated without due process or court order.

The film was a part of the “Why Democracy?” series, produced by The Why Foundation, which consisted of 10 documentary films examining democracy.

“Gibney (“Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room”) has crafted more than just an important document of systemic abuse — he’s stripped the rhetoric from official doublespeak to expose a callous disregard for not only the Geneva Conventions but the vision of the Founding Fathers,” writes Jay Weissberg in a Variety film review . “All enemies in wartime are perceived as animals, but Gibney uncovers the ways the White House and Pentagon have encouraged torture while distancing themselves from responsibility.”

Man on Wire (2008)

James Marsh’s “Man on Wire” documents the death-defining hire-wire stunts of Philippe Petit, who in 1974, performed a tightrope walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. “For contemporary audiences, Petit’s moment of mastery is inevitably shot through with a sense of loss; the following scenes, which reveal the band’s subsequent dissolution, reaffirm the bittersweet truth that triumph is but fleeting,” wrote Catherine Wheatley, who reviewed the film for Sight and Sound in 2010. “The film’s vision, though, is ultimately uplifting: relationships, like buildings, can collapse into rubble, but as [Annie Allix] tenderly puts it, sometimes ‘It is beautiful that way’.”

Poetry (2010)

Lee Chang-dong’s “Poetry” chronicles the life of Mija, a Korean grandmother who is simultaneously dealing with an early-onset Alzheimer’s diagnosis and the violent crime committed by her teenage grandson. “Now is the time to bestow on yourself the gift of one of the most, well, poetic films of 2010,” Lisa Kennedy wrote for the Denver Post in 2011. “And by ‘poetic,’ we mean rich with soulful pauses that are at once visual and aural and deeply observant of the dance of routine and quiet surprise.”

Waste Land (2010)

Lucy Walker’s “Waste Land” follows modern artist Vik Muniz to Jardim Gramacho, Brazil, the world’s largest landfill. There, he photographs the work of “catadores,” men and women who collect the refuse to recreate classical art. Legendary film critic Roger Ebert wrote for the Chicago Sun-Times in 2011, “I do not mean to make their lives seem easy or pleasant. It is miserable work, even after they grow accustomed to the smell. But it is useful work, and I have been thinking much about the happiness to be found by work that is honest and valuable.”

The Square (2013)

“The Square” is a documentary film by Jehane Noujaim, which follows Egyptian revolutionaries during the Egyptian Crisis, a period that started with the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 at Tahrir Square and lasted for three years. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and won three Emmys.

“Continuing to follow a group of activists as they rally against the undue powers of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Army, ‘The Square’ understands that the Revolution itself is a work in progress, and while its immediacy means it, too, will soon be superseded, it stands as a vigorous, useful account,” writes Jay Weissberg in a 2013 Variety film review .

Gloria (2013)

Sebastián Lelio’s “Gloria” follows the relationship between an aging divorce and an amusement park operator after their chance encounter at a singles disco. “With someone else in the central role, ‘Gloria’ might have been cloyingly sentimental or downright maudlin,” wrote Joe Morgenstern in his 2014 Wall St. Journal review. “With [Paulina García] on hand, it’s a mostly convincing celebration of unquenchable energy.”

The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2014)

Isao Takahata’s “The Tale of Princess Kaguya” tells the fable of a beautiful young woman who sends her suitors away on impossible tasks in hopes of avoiding a loveless marriage. In a 2015 review for Sight and Sound, Andrew Osmond wrote, “While the characters feel very simplified at times, there are scenes that put great weight on performance and subtle expressions, in a way that’s nearer to the classical Disney tradition than most Japanese animation.”

Seymour: An Introduction (2014)

Ethan Hawke’s documentary “Seymour: An Introduction” chronicles the life of Seymour Bernstein, a concert pianist who, at age 50, gave up performing to become an educator and composer. “Coming off of his superb one-two performances for Richard Linklater in ‘Before Midnight’ and ‘Boyhood,’ Hawke continues to work at a creative high level,” wrote Bruce Ingram in his 2015 review for the Chicago Sun-Times. “He demonstrates a rapport and openness with his subject that proves exceptionally affecting.”

Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem (2014)

From directors Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz, “Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem” follows an Israeli woman’s three-year battle to separate from her husband who refuses to dissolve their marriage. “Ultimately the movie is wearying, but then it’s likely supposed to be,” Tom Long wrote for Detroit News in 2015. “If Viviane’s going through the wringer, you’re going through the wringer too.”

One Cut of the Dead (2017)

Shin’ichirô Ueda’s “One Cut of the Dead” follows Director Higurashi and his crew who attempt to shoot a zombie movie at an abandoned WWII Japanese facility. Things go wrong when they realize they are being attacked by real zombies. In his 2019 Los Angeles Times review, Carlos Aguilar called the film, “A master class in endless narrative inventiveness and an ode to the resourceful and collaborative spirit of hands-on filmmaking, ‘One Cut of the Dead’ amounts to an explosively hilarious rarity.”

Leave No Trace (2018)

Debra Granik’s “Leave No Trace” follows a father and daughter hiding in the forests of Portland, Ore. When a misstep tips off their location to local authorities, they must escape and find a new place to call home. Peter Travers wrote in his 2018 Rolling Stone review, “Debra Granik’s drama about a damaged war vet (Ben Foster) living off the grid with his teen daughter, brilliantly played by breakout star Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, is hypnotic, haunting and one of the year’s best.”

Summer 1993 (2018)

Carla Simón’s “Summer 1993” is told through the eyes of six-year-old Frida, who watches in silence as her recently deceased mother’s last possessions are packed into boxes. “Some creatures are able to grow new limbs,” wrote Joe Morgenstern in his 2018 Wall Street Journal review. “Frida, given more than half a chance after demanding it, achieves something no less remarkable. She grows new joy and hope.”

Minding the Gap (2018)

“Minding the Gap” follows the relationship of three boys who use skateboarding as an outlet to escape their hardships at home. “The film captures more than a decade long documentary footage showcasing their friendship. In some documentaries, the filmmakers attempt to make themselves invisible. Despite Liu’s camera-shyness, he never pretends to be anything other than a part of the story, hitting his subjects with direct, deeply personal questions,” wrote Peter Debruge, who reviewed the film for Variety in 2018.

Honeyland (2019)

“Honeyland” is a Macedonian documentary film that was directed by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov. The movie follows a woman and her beekeeping traditions to cultivate honey in the mountains of North Macedonia. Guy Lodge from Variety describes “Honeyland” as it begins as a “calm, captured-in-amber character study, before stumbling upon another, more conflict-driven story altogether — as younger interlopers on the land threaten not just Hatidze’s solitude but her very livelihood with their newer, less nature-conscious farming methods,” he said.

Welcome to Chechnya (2020)

“Welcome to Chechnya” released in 2020, exposes Russian leader Ramzan Kadyrov and his government as they try to detain, torture and execute LGBTQ Chechens. “A vital, pulse-quickening new documentary from journalist-turned-filmmaker David France that urgently lifts the lid on one of the most horrifying humanitarian crises of present times: the state-sanctioned purge of LGBTQ people in the eponymous southern Russian republic,” wrote Guy Lodge from Variety in 2020.

Crip Camp (2020)

“Crip Camp” is based on Camp Jened, which was a summer camp for teens with disabilities in the ’70s that inspired real-life activism. The film eliminates stereotypes and challenges the way people think about disabilities. “It may be startling for those who haven’t spent time with people with cerebral palsy or polio to see how a paraplegic gets from his wheelchair into the pool,” wrote Peter Debruge for Variety in 2020. “On closer inspection, it becomes clear that these teenagers…are having the time of their lives.”

76 Days (2020)

“76 Days” is a documentary released on Netflix in 2020 that shows the struggles of medical professionals and patients in Wuhan, China dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. “As an artifact alone, the result is remarkable, capturing all the panic and pragmatism greeting a disaster before its entire global impact had been gauged, while strategies and protocols are adjusted on the hoof,” wrote Guy Lodge for Variety in 2020. “That it’s so artfully and elegantly observed, and packs such a candid wallop of feeling, atop its frontline urgency is testament to the grace and sensitivity of its directorial team, not just their timely savvy.”

His House (2020)

“His House” is a horror movie that initially released on Netflix and terrified audiences. The plot follows a refugee couple that try to create a new life for themselves in an English town by escaping South Sudan but find their new home is haunted. Jessica Kiang reviewed the film for Variety in 2020 and wrote “‘His House’ is at its most persuasively terrifying when it gets out of the house and into the existential terror of reality. Out there are aspects of the refugee experience that contain greater horrors and mortifications than all the blackening plaster, childish ghostly humming and skittering presences in the walls could ever hope to suggest.”

Quo Vadis, Aida? (2020)

“Quo Vadis, Aida?” documents the journey of Aida, a translator for the U.N. in Srebrenica interpreting the crime taking place when the Serbian army takes over the Bosnian town. “This is not historical revisionism, if anything, ‘Quo Vadis, Aida?’ works to un-revise history, re-centering the victims’ plight as the eye of a storm of evils — not only the massacre itself, but the broader evils of institutional failure and international indifference,” wrote Jessica Kiang, who reviewed the film in 2020 for Variety.

Hive (2021)

“Hive” tells the true story about a woman, Fahrije, who becomes an entrepreneur, after her husband goes missing during the Kosovo War. She sells her own red pepper ajvar and honey, and recruiting more women to join her. “Within the heavily patriarchal hierarchy of the country’s rural society, this places these maybe-widows in an impossible situation, especially when, like Fahrije, they have a family to care for,” writes Jessica Kiang for Variety . “They are expected to wait in continual expectation of their breadwinner-husbands’ return, subsisting on paltry welfare handouts, because to take a job or set up a business is looked on not only as a subversion of the natural order, but as a sign of disrespect to the husband and possibly loose morals.” 

Descendant (2022)

Netflix described its 2022 film, saying, “Descendants of the enslaved Africans on an illegal ship that arrived in Alabama in 1860 seek justice and healing when the craft’s remains are discovered.” “This past remains present, Brown shows, as activists explain how the land on which Africatown (formerly Magazine Point) was established once belonged to Meaher, who sold some of it to former slaves.,” wrote Peter Debruge for Variety . “Talk of racial injustice calls for nuance, and it’s impressive just how many facets of the conversation Brown is able to include in her film.”

20 Days in Mariupol (2023)

“20 Days in Mariupol” tells the story of a group of Ukrainian journalists who are trapped in Mariupol during the Russian invasion and struggle to continue documenting the war. The film is directed by Mstyslav Chernov, a Ukrainian director and it won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film in 2024. “Powerful as those glimpses were to international viewers, Chernov doesn’t spare his documentary more brutally sustained moments,” wrote Dennis Harvey for Variety . “There’s no political analysis or sermonizing here, just a punishingly up-close look at the toll of modern warfare on a population.”

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News | 100 best films of all time, according to critics

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The greatest films of all time

I am faced once again with the task of voting in Sight & Sound magazine's famous poll to determine the greatest films of all time. Apart from my annual year's best lists, this is the only list I vote in. It is a challenge. After voting in 1972, 1982 and 1992 , I came up with these ten titles in 2002:

"Aguirre, Wrath of God" (Herzog), " Apocalypse Now " (Coppola), " Citizen Kane " (Welles), "Dekalog" (Kieslowski), " La Dolce Vita " (Fellini), " The General " (1927) (Keaton), " Raging Bull " (Scorsese), " 2001: A Space Odyssey " (Kubrick), " Tokyo Story " (Ozu), " Vertigo " (Hitchcock).

To add a title, I must remove one. Which film can I do without? Not a single one. One of my shifts last time was to replace Hitchcock's " Notorious " (1946) with "Vertigo," because after going through both a shot at a time during various campus sessions, I decided that "Vertigo" was, after all, the better of two nearly perfect films.

The other titles I consider the best work by their directors. I expect Coppola's " The Godfather " to be on this year's S&S list again, and it may even move higher. It is a great film. But "Apocalypse Now" is a film which still causes real, not figurative, chills to run along my spine, and it is certainly the bravest and most ambitious fruit of Coppola's genius.

I've written before how its critical reputation was harmed after he made an unwise statement at the Cannes premiere about being dissatisfied with the ending. I was there the night he said it, on a yacht while chatting with six or seven film critics. It was clear the film was a triumph. It was clear he was referring to the fact that the film's 70mm version was intended to play without end titles, which would be supplied by a brochure. The 35mm ending was as we see it now. That's all he meant. An urban legend has somehow perpetuated itself that he was referring to the entire Kurtz segment.

More critics would say " 8 1/2 " was Fellini's greatest work, and there is support for " Amarcord " and " La Strada ." Sometimes the way you consider a film depends on when and why you saw it, and what it meant to you at that time. "La Dolce Vita" has become a touchstone in my life: A film about a kind of life I dreamed of living, then a film about the life I was living, the about my escape from that life. Now, half a century after its release, it is about the arc of my life, and its closing scene is an eerie reflection of my wordlessness and difficulty in communicating. I still yearn and dream, but it is so hard for me to communicate that--not literally, but figuratively. So the Fellini stays.

So does the Keaton. There must be a silent film, and I consider " The General " to be his best. "Aguirre" is the most evocative expression of Herzog's genius, and I admire it even more after watching him go through it a shot at a time with Ramin Bahrani a few years ago at Boulder. (Having agreed to do one of his films, it was the one he chose.)

"Citizen Kane" speaks for itself. "2001: A Space Odyssey" is likewise a stand-along monument, a great visionary leap, unsurpassed in its vision of man and the universe. It was a statement that came at a time which now looks something like the peak of humanity's technological optimism. Many would choose " Taxi Driver " as Scorsese's greatest film, but I believe "Raging Bull" is his best and most personal, a film he says in some ways saved his life. It is the greatest cinematic expression of the torture of jealousy--his "Othello."

There must be an Ozu. It could be one of several. All of his films are universal. The older I grow and the more I observe how age affects our relationships, the more I think "Tokyo Story" has to teach us. Kurosawa's " Ikiru " has as much to say, but in the rigid economy of the Sight & Sound limitations, impossible choices are forced.

That leaves only one title to be replaced: "Dekalog," by Kieslowski. This is an easy decision, because the magazine's new rules insist that if you vote for, say, a pair of films ("The Godfather" and "The Godfather Two"), or a trilogy (Ray's "Apu" trilogy or Kieslowski's " Blue ," " White " and " Red " trilogy), each film counts as a separate title. Therefore, since "Dekalog" consists of ten films, averaging an hour long, it would take all ten places on my list.

At one point in pondering this list, here's what I thought I would do: I would simply start all over with ten new films. Once any film has ever appeared on my S&S list, I consider it canonized. "Notorious" or "The Gates of Heaven," for example, are still two of the ten best films of all time, no matter what a subsequent list says.

I decided not to do that--trash the 2002 list and start again. It was too much like a stunt. Lists are ridiculous, but if you're going to vote, you have to play the game. Besides, the thought of starting with a blank page and a list of all the films ever made fills me with despair.

So there must be one new film.

The two candidates, for me, are Charlie Kaufman's " Synecdoche, New York " (2008) and Terrence Malick's " The Tree of Life " (2011). Like the Herzog, the Kubrick and the Coppola, they are films of almost foolhardy ambition. Like many of the films on my list, they were directed by the artist who wrote them. Like several of them, it attempts no less than to tell the story of an entire life,

In "Synecdoche," Kaufman does this with one of the most audacious sets ever constructed: An ever-expanding series of boxes or compartments within which the protagonist attempts to deal with the categories of his life. The film has the insight that we all deal with life in separate segments, defined by choice or compulsion, desire or fear, past or present. It is no less than a film about life.

In "The Tree of Life," Malick boldly begins with the Big Bang and ends in an unspecified state of attenuated consciousness after death. The central section is the story of birth and raising a family.

I could choose either film. I will choose "The Tree of Life" because it is more affirmative and hopeful. I realize that isn't a defensible reasons for choosing one film over the other, but it is my reason, and making this list is essentially impossible, anyway.

Apart from any other motive for putting a movie title on a list like this, there is always the motive of propaganda: Critics add a title hoping to draw attention to it, and encourage others to see it. For 2012, I suppose this is my propaganda title. I believe it's an important film, and will only increase in stature over the years. "Aguirre, Wrath of God" (Herzog), "Apocalypse Now" (Coppola), "Citizen Kane" (Welles), "La Dolce Vita" (Fellini), " The General " (Keaton), "Raging Bull" (Scorsese), "2001: A Space Odyssey" (Kubrick), "Tokyo Story" (Ozu), "The Tree of Life" (Malick), "Vertigo" (Hitchcock).

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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The 10 Greatest Movies of All Time, According to Roger Ebert

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Perhaps the most respected and well-known movie critic of all time, Roger Ebert is a key figure in cinema history. His widely read reviews were poignant and incisive yet sometimes divisive and ever so entertaining; often, his opinion was the one that could decide the fate of a movie.

In the days before the internet, audiences looked to the newspapers for his take on the latest films. That was the magic of Ebert: bringing film criticism to the mainstream. From 1967 until his death in 2013, Ebert wrote for The Chicago Sun-Times and became the first critic to receive a Pulitzer Prize for his film criticism. Now, Ebert's opinion matters just as much, or perhaps even more than it did during his heyday. These movies are the best, in Ebert's not-so-humble opinion , and any dedicated cinephile would add his top ten to their watchlist .

"If I must make a list of the Ten Greatest Films of All Time, my first vow is to make the list for myself, not for anybody else." - Roger Ebert.

10 'Gates of Heaven' (1978)

Directed by errol morris.

For movie fans, this four-star film selection by Ebert may have raised some eyebrows. A renowned documentarian, Errol Morris ' oeuvre explores knowledge itself, concerned as much with the people possessing it as it is with the highly specific nature of expertise. With the help of cinematographer Ned Burgess , Morris' ticket to mainstream recognition was Gates of Heaven , a documentary about a pet mortician and the animals he's buried in a California pet cemetery.

No matter if it's a documentary or a feature film, sharp, story-driven movies always caught Ebert's eye . Gates of Heaven is a curious piece of filmmaking, walking a fine line between satire and heartfelt honesty. The result is a film about human nature itself and the power of some unexplained, unbreakable bonds. While it took a different direction than other narratives reviewed by the legendary critic, Gates of Heaven speaks to pet owners and their experiences .

Gates of Heaven

Watch on Criterion

9 '28 Up' (1984)

Directed by michael apted.

This documentary is a prime example of how filmmaking can bridge time, and for Ebert, that bridge extends into his own life. 28 Up is a biographical piece in which director Michael Apted interviews the same group of British adults over several seven-year wait periods. While it's one that audiences might not be familiar with, the documentary is a passionate project that services the fascination with personal evolution and perspective.

Ebert's four-star review ruminates with the mystery of time and legacy through the lens of real people. Fictional films like Boyhood create a fictional time capsule, while Apted's documentary is authentically raw. 28 Up quietly craved audience participation in forming predictions and emotional investment into the lives of the subjects during the four documented periods of lives. Ebert willingly indulged and encouraged viewers to do so with his placement of this film on his greatest of all-time list.

Rent on BritBox

8 'Floating Weeds' (1959)

Directed by yasujirō ozu.

An emotional review from the heart , Ebert speaks of Floating Weeds and its director, Yasujirō Ozu , as if they are life-long friends. The excellent international feature film flies mostly under the radar when it comes to mainstream attention, but earned a four-star rating and place on Ebert's greatest of all time list. The 1959 drama tells the story of a man who returns to the small town where he left his son and attempts to make up for the missed years while the child remains under the assumption the man is his uncle.

"This material could be told in many ways. It could be a soap opera, a musical, a tragedy. Ozu tells it in a series of everyday events. He loves his characters too much to crank up the drama into artificial highs and lows. Above all we get a sense of the physical existence of these people..."

Mirroring the softness of the film, Ebert's review is lulling and easy to get lost in mirroring the serenity of the film and its understated beckoning call. Ebert recognized that many viewers had probably never seen or heard of the film or director Yasujirô Ozu . Floating Weeds is visually stunning, with highly contrasting colors painting a beautiful picture of what is, essentially, a tender tale of reconciliation and moving on .

Floating Weeds

Watch on Max

7 '2001: A Space Odyssey' (1968)

Directed by stanley kubrick.

Iconic, top-rated, foundational...all descriptors that apply to 2001: A Space Odyssey . A transformative film, Ebert's four-star rating praised and understood the ingenious multi-level craftsmanship that produced a tedious, thought-provoking film. Directed by Stanley Kubrick , this sci-fi film takes audiences through space and time as a spaceship, operated by two men and an AI computer named H.A.L 9000, is sent to Jupiter to understand a mysterious artifact.

The Oscar winner for Best Visual Effects, 2001: A Space Odyssey set the bar for where technology was headed in cinematic storytelling. Ebert referred to the film as "a landmark of non-narrative, poetic filmmaking , in which the connections were made by images, not dialog or plot." It's truly difficult to put 2001 's profound impact into words. Instead, the film should speak for itself, and it truly does; it's evocative, profoundly eerie, and thought-provoking, the very definition of a cinematic masterpiece.

2001: A Space Odyssey

Not available

6 'Notorious' (1946)

Directed by alfred hitchcock.

Adding another iconic director to the greatest of all time, Notorious was Alfred Hitchcock 's ticket to Ebert's heart. A drama starring Hollywood royalty Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman , the movie follows T.R. Devlin, who recruits the daughter of a convicted German criminal, Alicia, to act as a spy. When she becomes involved with a Nazi hiding in Brazil, their dangerous scheme threatens to slip out of their hands. Ebert's four-star review revels in Hitchcock's ability "to pluck the strings of human emotion—to play the audience."

Ebert notes that the film, alongside Casablanca , secured Bergman's legacy in cinematic history with her commanding performance. Notorious is among Hitchcock's greatest movies , a sleek and stylish spy noir elevated by the electrifying chemistry between Grant and Bergman. Among Hitchcock's large and famous filmography , Notorious stands out as one of his most alluring and purely rewatchable efforts, a masterclass in filmmaking that excels at nearly every conceivable level.

Watch on Tubi

5 'Raging Bull' (1980)

Directed by martin scorsese.

The film that perhaps knocked Taxi Driver off Ebert's top ten list, Raging Bull is one of the best sports movies of all time and arguably the all-time best boxing picture. Starring as real-life boxer Jake La Motta , Robert De Niro portrays the middleweight champ's dominating, violent force inside the ring, which translated into a volatile and painful life outside of it. Ebert's four-star rating commends the technical command demonstrated by Martin Scorsese, from the visual effects, sound design, and striking camera work, and its marriage to a sports narrative that isn't exclusive to that genre audience.

An adaptation of La Motta's autobiography, Raging Bull is now widely regarded as possibly Scorsese's finest, a grueling and emotionally violent portrayal of a complicated yet fascinating figure. Raging Bull is often a challenging watch, but De Niro's fierce, committed performance and Scorsese's assured direction make it worthy of the greatest of all-time distinction for Ebert.

Raging Bull

4 'the third man' (1949), directed by carol reed.

A film with a "reckless, unforgettable visual style," The Third Man maintains a narrative just as powerful about the optimism of Americans slates against the weary European post-war perspective. A gripping mystery and visually distinctive triumph, this film-noir tells the story of Holly Martins ( Joseph Cotten ) in postwar Vienna as he investigates the death of his friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles). From its on-location filming to the atmospheric and striking cinematography, The Third Man is a four-star-rated film and among the greatest of all time for Ebert.

This cinematic masterpiece captured not only the heart of Ebert but new audiences for decades. In his review , Ebert details the physical cinematic experience he encountered when he saw the movie, capturing the importance of how the movie-going experience is unparalleled, no matter where you are in the world. The Third Man is the ultimate film noir and an engaging mystery that keeps enthralling nearly a century after its release.

The Third Man

3 'la dolce vita' (1960), directed by federico fellini.

An Oscar-winning Italian masterpiece, La Dolce Vita is a romanticized tale of a week's worth of stories for a tabloid journalist living in Rome. It secured one golden statute for Best Costume Design, yielded three other nominations, and now stands as one of its country's greatest cinematic achievements. The film stars Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg and is directed by Federico Fellini .

Rewatching the movie once a decade, Ebert poignantly reminds readers that "Movies do not change, but their viewers do." Like any good film study, Ebert's four-star review and praise encourage viewers to look beyond the surface popularity or scandal of the film's release and understand what it's trying to say. Filled with iconic imagery and thought-provoking themes, La Dolce Vita is a timeless and riveting film about life itself , which will surely mean something different for every person, depending on where and, most importantly, when they watch it.

La Dolce Vita

Buy on Criterion

2 'Casablanca' (1942)

Directed by michael curtiz.

Doting upon the cinematic masterpiece, Ebert's four-star review paints an adoring picture of a movie about love and the sacrifices made in the name of it. Casablanca features Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman as Rick Blaine and Ilsa Lund, a pair of former lovers reuniting in the Vichy-controlled city of Casablanca. Fighting their lingering feelings, Rick must help Ilsa's husband, a Czechoslovak resistance leader, escape so he can continue his fight against the Nazis during World War II.

The movie is a beautiful blend of excellent writing brought to life by masterful onscreen performances , with characters who are redeemable despite their shortcomings. For Ebert and cinephiles around the world, Casablanca is a rewatchable movie whose familiarity never fails to be inviting and refreshing, invoking an emotional response that isn't easily replicated.

1 'Citizen Kane' (1941)

Directed by orson welles.

Citizen Kane is a movie that continues to age like fine wine, retaining its status as one of the best movies of all time to Ebert and audiences alike. Directed by Orson Welles , this movie tells the story of a group of reporters desperate to decode the final words of publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane (Welles), infamously based on real-life magnate William Randolph Hearst. His four-star review highlights iconic symbolism and invitation to seek out deeper meaning in every frame.

Highly influential from nearly every technical and narrative perspective, Citizen Kane stands out as one of the greatest movies ever made , a timeless tale of all-consuming greed and the tragedy of the American Dream. The legacy this film leaves for Welles is unmatched, Ebert describing the looming presence of the film as "a towering achievement that cannot be explained yet cannot be ignored.

Citizen Kane

NEXT: Movies Roger Ebert Hated, But Audiences Loved

• Roger Ebert

Screen Rant

The 10 best movies of all time, according to metacritic.

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Dwayne Johnson's Red One Box Office Finally Hits Milestone, But Still Well Short Of Massive Budget After 2 Weeks

10 worst castings in non-mcu marvel movies, ranked, john lithgow was replaced on 2 big disney & pixar movies after recording “the entire role” and he worried his new netflix movie was doing it again.

2022 has seen very well-received movies like Everything Everywhere All at Once and Top Gun: Maverick that have fetched great critical ratings. However, reaching the heights of the best films ever released is a whole other achievement, especially when it comes to Metacritic, where films face sterner tests in gaining high scores.

Still, certain movies have managed to reach that seemingly unattainable height of Metacritic excellence. Whether it’s the crime drama The Godfather or a timeless romantic drama like Casablanca , it’s interesting to see which films have impressed Metacritic reviewers like few others have been able to. It also sets viewers up for potential binge-watches of some of the finest works in cinematic history.

Related: The 50 Best Movies Of All Time

City Lights (1931) - 99

Stream on hbo max.

Charlie Chaplin’s famous Tramp character took on his greatest adventure yet in City Lights. It has a simple premise of the protagonist falling in love with a blind woman and attempting to impress her. True to form, City Lights features Chaplin’s trademark slapstick comedy.

RELATED: Ewan McGregor’s 10 Best Movies, According To Metacritic

The movie proved to be a hit at a time when silent movies were dying in favor of “the Talkies,” making it a remarkable achievement. It remains a family-friendly affair fit for all generations to watch, as the Tramp’s good-natured and innocent charm never fails to tickle the funny bone.

Singin' In The Rain (1952) - 99

Largely considered the greatest musical movie to ever be made , it’s the charming performances of the cast that makes it so appealing. Singing’ in the Rain is about three stars who have to contend with the transition of silent films into “the talkies” era and the resulting impact on the industry.

Singin’ in the Rain takes a lighthearted approach to the matter, making for a heartwarming film that justifies watching the protagonists’ struggles because a happy ending is guaranteed. The singing and dancing of Gene Kelly, in particular, is a timeless performance.

Notorious (1946) - 100

Stream on tubi tv.

While the average moviegoer generally knows Cary Grant for his many comedy movies , the actor was prolific in other genres as well. Notorious paired him with Ingrid Bergman under the direction of Alfred Hitchcock as two government agents who infiltrate a hideout during WWII.

The movie has a complicated romance plot when the leads fall in love in a mission where Bergman’s character is supposed to use her charms on an executive to complete the infiltration. Notorious is noted for the sublime performances and Hitchock’s directing abilities, as it remains a highly engrossing spy thriller that has viewers guessing where it’s all leading.

Vertigo (1958) - 100

Rent on itunes.

Another psychological thriller from Alfred Hitchcock, Vertigo is about a former police detective who’s hired as a private detective by a client wanting him to track down his erratic wife. The protagonist’s past demons that led to him developing a fear of heights and vertigo tie into the plot.

RELATED: Jennifer Connelly’s 10 Best Movies (Including Top Gun Maverick), According To Metacritic

While films in the genre are commonplace now, Vertigo took the world by storm at the time for being a genuinely scary thriller. Everything from the set design to the cinematography gives off a stifling atmosphere that enables viewers to feel the protagonist’s paranoia. Critics also loved the mystery behind who the villain is supposed to be until the twist ending.

Three Colors: Red (1994) - 100

While it might not be mainstream popular, Three Colors: Red actually falls under the greatest romance movies of the ‘90s . Moreover, it’s one of only two films (along with Fanny and Alexander ) to garner perfect ratings on both Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic.

The film details an unlikely friendship between a young woman and an old, retired judge, both of whom learn about the flawed love lives of the people in their neighborhood. It brings a different viewpoint to the romantic aspect usually seen in movies by blending love tropes with a realistic depiction of relationships.

Boyhood (2014) - 100

Stream on amc+.

The collaborations between director Richard Linklater and Ethan Hawke have produced some great movies . This one is an epic coming-of-age drama that spans 12 years in the life of Mason Evans, as he grows from the age of 6 to an 18-year-old about to head off to college.

It won numerous accolades at the time of its release for its real-time depiction of the actors’ ages since the movie was genuinely filmed over 12 years. Boyhood was lauded for its intimate portrayal of the challenges of youth and the way people are molded into adulthood, along with the difficulties of being a parent.

Casablanca (1943) - 100

Quite possibly the greatest romantic drama to be made, Casablanca is an iconic film filled with memorable lead characters, well-known quotes, and the theme song that has its own fanbase. It’s about Humphrey Bogart’s Rick Blaine who owns a nightclub in Casablanca that he uses as a front to smuggle people to America during WWII.

The romance aspect comes from the return of Rick’s former flame and the conflict he feels in choosing to be with her or send her to America along with her husband. Casablanca will never fade from pop culture due to popular lines like “Here's looking at you, kid,” and “We'll always have Paris,” remaining so well-quoted.

Rear Window (1954) - 100

Rent on itunes.

One of Alfred Hitchcock’s most famous thrillers ranks among the very best films ever made, with Rear Window commanding a perfect score. The film is about an injured photographer who takes to watching his neighbors with his camera and happens to witness one killing his wife.

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Rear Window’ s premise has been replicated numerous times ever since, although its quality is difficult to top. The movie is packed with thrills through Hitchock’s use of the confined space of the protagonist’s apartment, along with the cat-and-mouse chase between him and the antagonist to expose the latter’s crime.

Citizen Kane (1941) - 100

It’s very common to hear of Citizen Kane ’s name as the greatest film of all time, with Orson Welles’ debut containing a sprawling story of the titular character’s life. In the story, Charles Foster Kane dies uttering the word “Rosebud,” whose significance is then detailed when viewers follow his life’s journey.

It’s considered a landmark in storytelling by coming across as a character piece that develops its protagonist through the twists and turns in his life. Viewers go from being unaware of who Charles Foster Kane is to ultimately sympathizing with how his life and death turned out to be.

The Godfather (1972) - 100

Stream on paramount+.

Vito Corleone is one of the most recognizable characters in film history, owing to the impact of The Godfather on cinema. The movie spans across a decade in the Corleone crime family, where Vito’s time as the godfather comes to an end and his son Michael takes over the reins.

Just about every scene in The Godfather is part of cinematic history, with fans of every generation enjoying its complex themes about family and loyalty. The soundtrack, character traits, and endlessly quotable dialogue make this a can’t-miss film, which makes it easy to understand why it has the top position among all Metacritic movie ratings.

NEXT: 8 Popular Animated Movies & TV Shows Turning 30 in 2022

• Citizen Kane

The 100 Best Movies Of All Time

"What are the 100 best movies of all time?" It's a hell of a question to ask, and an even harder one to answer — even for us here at Empire , the world's biggest and best-loved movie magazine. After all, there are all kinds of reasons why individual films stand the test of time, connecting with us on levels both personal and universal. The very best exemplars of the form conjure indelible images, evoke overwhelming emotions, tell unforgettable stories, and bring us characters who — love 'em or loathe 'em — we truly believe in.

Ever since the movies began, well over a century ago, they have been finding new and ever-edifying ways to, well, move us — to joy, to laughter, to fear, to tears, to the edges of our seats and to profound experiences that resonate through the years and across generations. From the misadventures of Peruvian bears to the epic quests of almighty fellowships; painterly, whisper-quiet period romances to pop culture shaping comic book blockbusters; and from awe-inspiring animated adventures to singular stories about the human experience hailing from all corners of the globe, to try and reach any kind of universal consensus on the best movies of all time is nigh-on impossible. With that being said then...

How We Chose The Top 100 Best Movies Of All Time

In creating Empire 's list of the 100 best movies of all time, we enlisted the help of our esteemed readers, asking you to share your picks for the movies that have comforted, challenged, entertained and inspired you most — the films that, above all else, made and continue to make you feel something. Then, having taken a survey of your perennial faves, contentious picks, and dark horse contenders, we turned to our experienced team of critics and contributors to pool their expertise. Now, having weighed up the final shortlist and its entries' artistic merit and cultural impact, we have after much heated discussion settled on our final line-up. It will delight some, it may rankle others, but we wholeheartedly believe that our list makes for a pretty darn decent rundown of the finest films this medium we love has to offer.

For more about Empire and the folks who helped put this list together, head this way . But without further ado, here is our selection for The 100 Best Movies Of All Time...

The 100 Greatest Movies Of All Time

100) Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Making his uber cool and supremely confident directorial debut, Quentin Tarantino hit audiences with a terrific twist on the heist-gone-wrong thriller. For the most part a single location chamber piece, Reservoir Dogs delights in ricocheting the zing and fizz of its dialogue around its gloriously —and indeed gore-iously) — intense setting, with the majority of the movie's action centring around one long and incredibly bloody death scene. Packing killer lines, killer needledrops, and killer, er, killers too, not only is this a rollicking ride in its own right, but it also set the blueprint for everything we've come to expect from a Tarantino joint. Oh, and by the way: Nice Guy Eddie was shot by Mr. White. Who fired twice. Case closed.

Read Empire 's review of Reservoir Dogs , streaming now on Netflix UK.

99) Groundhog Day (1993)

Bill Murray is at the height of his (eventually) lovable schmuck powers as narcissistic weatherman Phil Connors. Andie McDowell brings the brains and the heart as distant-but-ever-closer-coming producer Rita Hanson. And Harold Ramis, directing and co-writing with Danny Rubin, manages to spin gold from the well-worn thread of a man stuck in time. Whilst this time-loop dramedy might not have been the first film to drink from this particular trope's well, it is inarguably head and shoulders above the rest. Murray's customarily snarky delivery gets the easy laughs flowing early doors, but it's the way the movie finds deeper things to say about existence and morals as it goes on, all whilst never feeling overly preachy or worthy, that keeps us coming back to it again, and again, and again.

Read Empire 's review of Groundhog Day , which is available to rent/buy on all major streaming platforms.

98) Paddington 2 (2017)

When the first Paddington was on the way, early trailers didn't look entirely promising. Yet co-writer/director Paul King delivered a truly wonderful film bursting with joy, imagination, kindness, and just the odd hard stare from our beloved Peruvian bear. How was he going to follow that? By making one of the greatest sequels — nay, one of the best movies period — of all time, naturally. Matching wits with Hugh Grant's moustache-twirlingly evil and deliciously outré washed-up actor Phoenix Buchanan, Paddington (Ben Whishaw) is on typically adorable form here as his search for a special present for his Great Aunt Lucy leads to all sorts of hilarious hijinks . Like all great sequels, this one takes everything that made the first so good and builds on it, dialing up the spectacle, the silliness, and the emotional stakes. The result is as sweet as marmalade.

Read Empire 's review of Paddington 2 , streaming now on Netflix UK and BBC iPlayer.

97) Amélie (2001)

Jean-Pierre Jeunet's fourth feature – his second as a solo artist divorced from Marc Caro – saw the  Delicatessen ,  The City of Lost Children  and  Alien: Resurrection filmmaker leave behind the overwhelming darkness of his earlier works and step out into the glorious sunshine of Amélie 's whimsical fantasy Paris. Sure, a cynic could read the film as the story of Audrey Tatou's monomaniacal title character's relentless, somewhat stalkerish pursuit of the hapless Nino (Matthieu Kassovitz) around Montmartre's dream-like cityscape. But this one isn't for the cynics — it's a tribute to the daydreamers of this world. It's a sweet, nostalgic, sentimental, beautifully sunny, and unforcedly quirky romantic comedy played out amidst a veritable visual fantasia that only Jeunet could have conceived. Amélie will always be on our list of things we like.

Read Empire 's review of Amelie , which is available to rent/buy on all major streaming platforms.

96) Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Ang Lee's adaptation of Annie Proulx's short story (scribed by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana) retains its source's sensitivity and grace whilst expanding its scope gorgeously, 10,000 words of prose turned into a sweeping cinematic romance for the ages before our very eyes. Played out against the beautiful mountain landscapes of Wyoming (or, in reality, the Canadian Rockies), the decades-spanning love story between shepherds Ennis Del Mar (Ledger) and Jack Twist (Gyllenhaal) — two men who unexpectedly find love on the titular mountainside, only to find it tested over the years as societal mores and heteronormative expectations work against them — is sensually observed and immaculately shot. Not only does it give you hope and breaks your heart in equal measure, but the multiple Oscar-winning movie's impact on queer cinema continues to be felt today. Even now, almost two decades later, we still don't know how to quit it (and honestly, we don't want to).

Read Empire 's review of Brokeback Mountain , streaming now on Prime Video UK.

95) Donnie Darko (2001)

A high school drama with a time traveling, tangential universe threading, sinister rabbit featuring twist, Richard Kelly's deliberately labyrinthine opus was always destined for cult classic status. A certifiable flop upon its theatrical release, Kelly's film was one of the early beneficiaries of physical media's move to DVD, with the movie gaining a fandom in film obsessives who could pause, play, and skip back and forth through it at will. Any attempt to synopsise the movie is a fool's errand, but there's more than a hint of  It's A Wonderful Life in the way we see Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal, in a star-making turn) experiencing how the world would be worse off if he survives the jet engine that mysteriously crashes through his bedroom. That the film, with all its heavy themes and brooding atmosphere, manages to eventually land on a note of overwhelming optimism is a testament to Kelly's mercurial moviemaking. A mad world ( mad world ) Donnie Darko 's may be, but it's also one that continues to beguile and fascinate as new fans find themselves obsessed with uncovering its mysteries.

Read Empire 's review of Donnie Darko , which is available to buy/rent on all major streaming platforms.

94) Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (2010)

With Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World , Edgar Wright leaned all the way in to the things that make his directorial style so singular — excellent needle drops, a poppy visual palette, whip-pans and whip-smart wit — in order to do Bryan Lee O'Malley's beloved graphic novels justice. Michael Cera is on peak socially awkward Cera form here as the eponymous put-upon protagonist who's forced to face his new girlfriend's (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) seven evil exes in a series of increasingly wild face-offs. But it's the film's extraordinarily stacked ensemble (Chris Evans! Brie Larson! Anna Kendrick! Aubrey Plaza!), impressive mixed-media aesthetics, and endless pool of iconic quotes and playlist essential tunes that cement it as one of Wright's most memorable. This is good garlic bread.

Read Empire 's review of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World , streaming now on Now TV/Sky GO.

93) Portrait Of A Lady On Fire (2019)

Celine Sciamma's magnetic, masterful lesbian romance may be a recent addition to this list, but became an instant landmark of queer cinema upon its release. Starring Noémie Merlant as an 18th century painter and Adèle Haenel as her elusive subject, Portrait Of A Lady On Fire is a tale of an epic love developed in the quietest, most delicate way, formed in stolen moments and glances. Sciamma's carefully constructed, smouldering screenplay and our leads' electric chemistry are matched only by Claire Mathon's transcendent cinematography, with each impeccably framed, Renaissance inspired 8K shot bringing new meaning to the expression "every frame a painting". Pure poetry.

Read Empire 's review of Portrait Of A Lady On Fire , which is available to buy/rent on all major streaming platforms.

92) Léon: The Professional (1994)

In some ways, Luc Besson's first English-language movie is a spiritual spin-off: after all, isn't Jean Reno's eponymous hitman just Nikita 's Victor The Cleaner renamed and fleshed out? In all seriousness though, Besson's film — which sees Reno's titular contract killer caught up in an unlikely coming-of-age tale after his next-door neighbours wind up on the wrong side of a DEA sting — is very much its own beast. Inarguably, its greatest strength however isn't Reno, or even Gary Oldman's unhinged baddie Stansfield, but a very young Natalie Portman, who delivers a luminous, career-creating performance as vengeful 12-year-old Mathilda. Despite some of the ickiness inherent in the relationship the film presents between a middle-aged man and a pre-teen girl, Portman's phenomenal performance helps augment an unlikely kinship that winds up being deeply affecting to watch.

Read Empire 's review of Léon: The Professional , which is available to rent/buy on all major streaming platforms.

91) Logan (2017)

If you're going to wrap up your tenure as one of the most loved superhero icons in fiction, it's hard to think of a better way than how Hugh Jackman — under the direction of a never-better James Mangold — punched out on the time clock of playing Wolverine. Set in a dark near-future world where an ageing Logan is caring for a mentally unstable Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and getting mixed up yet again with some very dangerous people, Logan takes cues from Western greats such as Shane as Wolvie wrestles with his mortality and history of violence. A truly original superhero tale that is mournful without being morbid, Mangold's mutant masterwork is the perfect end to Logan's story (an ending, it has to be noted, given a rousing yet respectful encore in Deadpool & Wolverine ).

Read Empire 's review of Logan , streaming now on Disney+.

90) The Terminator (1984)

After his directorial debut Piranha II: Flying Killers fell on its face, James Cameron could've been forgiven for calling it quits on a filmmaking career in Hollywood. Instead, he made The Terminator — and the rest, as they say, is history. Shot on a $6 million budget, Cameron's sophomore feature may crib a little from Michael Crichton's Westworld and Harlan Ellison's Outer Limits episode 'Soldier', but its action — which revolves around Arnold Schwarzenegger's instantly iconic shot-gun toting, shades rocking, time travelling cyborg killer — is, outside of Cameron's own oeuvre since, without comparison. Made with all the relentless tension of a slasher (after all, what is Arnie's Terminator if not Michael Myers in leathers?) and the kinetic thrills of a balls-to-the-wall blockbuster, nothing has been the same since the T-800 told Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor "Come with me if you want to live."

Read Empire 's review of The Terminator , which is available to rent/buy on all major streaming platforms.

89) No Country For Old Men

A perfect meeting of two creative forces' artistic sensibilities, The Coen brothers' adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's literary great sees the directorial duo imbue the existentialism of McCarthy's book with their signature brand of dark and violent filmmaking. The result is a tense, slow, and mysterious take on the chase movie format, lensed immaculately by legendary DP Roger Deakin. It's also a film that thoughtfully considers the question of how — or even if — good people can ever hope to deal with a world that's entirely gone to shit. And lest we forget, this was the movie that gave us Javier Bardem's cold-blooded sociopathic killer Anton Chigurh, a villain so terrifying that Hollywood has scarcely been able to resist casting Bardem as the go-to bad guy ever since.

Read Empire 's review of No Country For Old Men , streaming now on Now TV/Sky GO, and Paramount+.

88) Titanic (1997)

What to say about James Cameron's epic romantic tragedy Titanic ? It's 'My Heart Will Go On'. It's "Paint me like one of your French girls." It's a steamy handprint on a cab's back window and a frosted breath on a floating door that's definitely big enough for two. It's sparks flying between Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet and Billy Zane being the ultimate shit-eating grinning baddie. It is, figuratively and literally, one of the biggest movies ever made. Sure, Cameron's fictive based on the 1912 sinking of the world's biggest cruise liner may have suffered a difficult, overrunning shoot, and sure it may have been predicted to be a career-ending flop. But it turned out to be one of the most successful films of all time, both at the box office and at the Oscars, and as Cameron himself proudly declared, it did indeed make him "King of the world!"

Read Empire's review of Titanic , streaming now on Disney+, Netflix UK, and Paramount+.

87) The Exorcist (1973)

For many still the definitive exorcism film (sorry The Pope's Exorcist !), William Friedkin's 1973 masterwork is the stuff of horror legend. The movie, which sees Linda Blair's 12-year-old Regan possessed by demonic spirit Pazuzu, endures as a jump-out-of-your-skin shocker thanks to its still-gnarly pea-vomiting, spider crawling, head-spinning, and crucifix screwing sequences. But this is no mere jump-scare chiller, not by a long stretch. In fact, the real reason it continues to affect audience so deeply today is because of the way Friedkin, through the figures of Fathers Damien Karras (Jason Miller) and Lankester Merrin (Max Von Sydow), so skilfully stages a soul-shaking crisis of faith, sustaining and building an atmosphere of such dread, such spiritual torment, that you can't help but feel you've unleashed something Satanic simply by watching it.

Read Empire's review of The Exorcist , streaming now on Now TV/Sky GO.

86) Black Panther (2018)

After his standout introduction in Captain America: Civil War , 2018's Black Panther allowed us to properly meet Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa, and see his Wakandan kingdom in all its glory. Impeccably directed by Creed 's Ryan Coogler, it's an astonishing Afrofuturistic vision that oozes with a cool, colourful regality. And that culture-rich canvas the movie creates is beautifully filled with Oscar-winning costume design, a slew of stunning set pieces, and one of the most banger-filled soundtracks of the 21st Century. What's more, its mercurial narrative blend of pulsating espionage thriller and Afro-futurist family saga ensures the movie has the substance to support its style. Soaring to billion dollar-plus box office takings, Black Panther 's cultural impact cannot be understated — and after the tragic loss of Boseman in 2020, the film lives on as the defining role for a truly remarkable talent.

Read Empire 's review of Black Panther , streaming now on Disney+.

85) Shaun Of The Dead (2004)

Before its release, you might have been forgiven for thinking that Edgar Wright's proper feature directorial debut would be Spaced: The Movie . Which, honestly, probably would've been great actually. But what we got was so, so much more. A zom-rom-com made with real genre nous and a distinctly British sense of humour, Wright's movie strikes the perfect balance between laugh-out-loud comedy and seriously gruesome undead horror. From its perfectly synchronised 'Don't Stop Me Now' zombie beatdown, to Nick Frost and Simon Pegg's star-making, side-splitting performances, to Edgar Wright's go-for-broke gonzo approach to shooting and editing, this is British filmmaking at its finest. Fuck-a-doodle-doo!

Read Empire 's review of Shaun Of The Dead , streaming now on Netflix UK.

84) Lost In Translation (2003)

With her sophomore feature, Sofia Coppola took a familiar enough rom-com set-up — two strangers cross paths in a foreign place — and turned it into a mesmerising mumblecore anti-romance. As listless college grad Charlotte and world weary actor Bob, Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray share an ineffable chemistry, both offering beautifully understated performances as two people whose geographic and emotional sense of dislocation in Tokyo is simultaneously what brings them together and, ultimately, what keeps them apart, too. And its ending, in which Bill Murray's Bob whispers words we never hear into Charlotte's ear, is an all-timer. For an anti-romance, it sure does feel incredibly romantic all the same.

Read Empire 's review of Lost In Translation , streaming now on Now TV/Sky GO.

83) Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

A significant factor in the success of the MCU, especially across its first decade, was the way Kevin Feige cannily employed directors better known for making smaller, more independent movies, and then handed them the keys to the franchise's kingdom to let them do their own thing. Among the best to grasp such an opportunity is Kiwi auteur Taika Waititi , the man who helped Chris Hemsworth's Thor find the only weapon in his arsenal more mighty than Mjölnir — his funny bone! After the more Shakespearean severity of his first two solo movies, Thor Ragnarok shakes up the God of Thunder's entire world by, well, pretty much destroying it. And do you know what? It has an absolute blast doing it. Full of action, bursting with colour, and boasting a uniformly excellent ensemble — Mark Ruffalo! Tessa Thompson! Jeff Goldblum! Cate Blanchett! — this is pretty much the Platonic ideal of a popcorn superhero blockbuster. And we're pretty sure The Godfather hasn't got a Korg, either. Anybody want a pamphlet?

Read Empire 's review of Thor: Ragnarok , streaming now on Disney+.

82) The Usual Suspects (1995)

Five criminals are brought together to pull off a jewel snatching heist and suspicion and shoot-outs abound. It sounds like Reservoir Dogs doesn't it? In fact, it was even marketed as such. But a Tarantino picture The Usual Suspects ain't. Taking the line-up team-up concept as a starting point for something altogether different in execution, Bryan Singer and writer Christopher McQuarrie's super-twisted, uber-cool crime thriller attains true greatness through its inventive use of a supernatural-horror style backdrop. In the shape of mythic crime lord Keyser Soze, the movie fashions a phantom menace terrifying enough to put the willies up even the most hardened of criminals. Turns out the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was actually convincing us all this was going to be just another crime movie.

Read Empire 's review of The Usual Suspects , which is available to buy/rent on all major streaming platforms.

81) Psycho (1960)

Imagine what it would've been like to go and see  Psycho  in 1960. No late entry to the multiplex. Virtually no marketing beyond some shots of the Bates Motel and some old house overlooking it. And then, for the entire opening act, you think you've got it all figured out — it's a good old-fashioned noir! Janet Leigh's on the lam with a bunch of her boss' money and heading for a new life. And then she stops at that motel from the promos, meets the strange-but-nice-enough Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), and hops in the shower. Then suddenly STAB! goes a knife. STAB! goes Bernard Hermann's piercing string score. And again, and again, and again. And from that moment on, you're rooted to your seat, in thrall to a madman (whether that's Hitch or Norman is your call), and certain to never be the same again. One of the best horror movies ever made, Hitchcock's monochromatic masterwork is pure cinema! (Also, don’t sleep on  Psycho II , one of the most unexpected, underrated gems in sequel history!)

Read Empire 's review of Psycho , which is available to buy/rent on all major streaming platforms.

80) L.A. Confidential (1997)

Famously dense, knottily plotted, and told in a staccato style that sees the author almost abandon anything recognisable as a sentence altogether, James Ellroy's L. A. Quartet of epic crime novels hardly screams prime fodder for the big-screen treatment. The miracle of Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland's L. A. Confidential then, which adapts the third book in Ellroy's quartet, is that not only does it viscerally capture the author's noirish sense of Los Angeles as a dark-hearted labyrinth, a City of Angels whose angels are falling, but it also manages to trim all the fat off the original 500-ish page tome without losing any of its soul or meaning. That it also features exceptional performances across the board, especially from Russell Crowe as conscience-discovering bruiser Bud White and Guy Pearce as ramrod rookie Ed Exley only solidifies its position further as one of the great modern works of noir cinema.

Read Empire 's review of L.A. Confidential , streaming now on Prime Video UK and Disney+.

79) E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982)

Over the years, the phrase "Amblinesque" has come to be a calling card for family-friendly adventures thrumming with heart, wonder, and just a smidge of darkness. It only takes a look at the success of the Duffer brothers' Stranger Things to see the Amblin approach will never go out of style. Never has that moviemaking method been more perfectly encapsulated however than in Steven Spielberg's actual Amblin joint E.T. The Extraterrestrial . Equal parts stonking children's adventure and poignant meditation on familial dysfunction and our capacity for healing, E.T. carefully beds its supernatural elements in an utterly relatable everykid world, tempering its cuter, more sentimental moments with a true sense of jeopardy. Boasting an extraordinary lead performance from a 10-year-old Henry Thomas, one of John Williams greatest scores, and an ending that still has us in floods over forty years later, E.T. remains the gold standard for family filmmaking.

Read Empire 's review of E.T. The Extraterrestrial , streaming now on Now TV/Sky GO.

78) In The Mood For Love (2000)

Set in 1960s Hong Kong, Wong Kar Wai’s In The Mood For Love sees neighbours Chow (Tony Leung) and Su (Maggie Cheung) falling for one another when they discover their spouses are cheating together. It’s a set-up that seems fit for a farce, but Wong uses it instead to create a sizzlingly sensual yet heartbreakingly restrained exploration of, as Chow puts it, how feelings “can creep up just like that”. With a distinctive, noir inflected visual style (homaged to great effect in Everything Everywhere All At Once ), and two of the most beautiful human beings to ever grace the screen in the form of Leung and Cheung at its centre, In The Mood For Love captures unspeakable desire quite unlike anything else. In any other filmmaker’s hands, the denouement - which sees Chow whisper his affections in Cambodia's Angkor Wat temple - could’ve been mawkish. In Wong Kar Wai’s though, it’s an unparalleled expression of love.

Read Empire 's review of In The Mood For Love , which you can buy from all major physical media retailers.

77) Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi (1983)

Richard Marquand’s  Return of the Jedi,  poured from the pens/tapped from the typewriters of Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas, is the perfect giddy finale to a trilogy that changed cinema forever. Balancing soapy schmaltz with eye-popping action set-pieces ( *that* triple-front finale is just magnificent!), popcorn Ewok antics with a Shakespearean redemption story, Jedi is a blockbuster finale that sees peril and poignance poised on a lasersword-edge as Luke (Mark Hamill), Han (Harrison Ford), Leia (Carrie Fisher) and the gang take the fight back to the imperious Empire. Largely swerving the sense of dread that dominated Empire Strikes Back 's conclusion, Jedi instead — with all its tactile effects, witty dialogue, kinetic action, kick-ass heroes (and villains), and awesome design work — feels like the ultimate embodiment of everything Star Wars is in the cultural consciousness.

Read Empire 's review of Return Of The Jedi , streaming now on Disney+.

76) Arrival (2016)

Denis Villeneuve's empathic, perception-bending alien visitation drama is sci-fi at its very best. Offering a mercurial blend of blockbuster scale and spectacular special effects and grounded, intensely cerebral human drama, the Quebecois filmmaker's first venture into speculative fiction — bolstered by an emotional, career standout turn from Amy Adams as linguistics professor Dr Louise Banks — takes Ted Chiang's short story and makes of it something vast and singular. With its message that open-minded communication enables us to realise the things we have in common with those who appear vastly different, Arrival endures as a soul-piercing call for understanding in increasingly troubled times.

Read Empire 's review of Arrival , streaming now on Netflix UK and Now TV/Sky GO.

75) A Quiet Place (2018)

Take a simple concept (don't make a sound, or aliens will get you), a stellar cast ( Emily Blunt , Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe) and a director with a laser-focused vision ( John Krasinski ) and what do you get? As it turns out, one of the most innovative, refreshing, and unbearably tense horror movies of the 21st century. From the second it starts, the imposed silence of A Quiet Place makes it a revelatory cinematic experience. As the Abbott family pad gently around their home, the store, the woods, you feel in your bones that one wrong step equals disaster. The (loudly) ticking time bomb of imminent childbirth sets the scene for a stellar scary finale, but it's the deeply endearing family dynamic at play and Bryan Woods and Scott Beck's subtle screenplay that really sets this apart.

Read Empire's review of A Quiet Place

74) Trainspotting (1996)

For their follow up to the superb Shallow Grave , Danny Boyle (director), Andrew Macdonald (producer) and John Hodge (screenwriter) foolhardily elected to film the supposedly unfilmable: Irvine Welsh 's scrappy, episodic, multi-perspective novel about Edinburgh low-lives. The result couldn't have been more triumphant: the cinematic incarnation of 'Cool Britannia' came with a kick-ass soundtrack, and despite some dark subject matter, came with a punch-the-air uplifting pay-off.

Read Empire's review of Trainspotting

73) Mulholland Drive (2001)

David Lynch messes with Hollywood itself in a mystery tale that's as twisted as the road it's named after, while presenting Tinseltown as both Dream Factory and a realm of Nightmares. It also put Naomi Watts on the map; her audition scene remains as stunning as it was 20 years ago.

Read Empire's review of Mulholland Drive

72) Rear Window (1954)

Photographer LB Jeffries ( James Stewart ) is on sick leave, with a broken leg. He's bored to tears, so he starts spying on his neighbours. Then he witnesses a murder. OR DOES HE? Alfred Hitchcock really knew how to take a corker of a premise and spin it into a peerless thriller (that's why they called him The Master Of Suspense), but Rear Window also deserves praise for an astonishing set build: that entire Greenwich Village courtyard was constructed at Paramount Studios, complete with a drainage system that could handle all the rain.

Read Empire's review of Rear Window

71) Up (2009)

A lot has been said about the opening to Pete Docter 's Pixar masterpiece, and rightly so, wringing tears from the hardest of hearts with a wordless sequence set to Michael Giacchino 's lovely, Oscar-winning score that charts the ups and downs of a couple's marriage. Yet while the majority of the film is more of a straight-ahead adventure tale (albeit one with a wacky bird and talking dogs), that doesn't make it any less satisfying. And let's be honest — the story of a man who uses balloons to float his house to a foreign land, accidentally picking up a young wilderness explorer scout as he does, feels perfectly Pixar.

Read Empire's review of Up

70) Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (2018)

Having Phil Lord and Chris Miller 's names on a movie is regularly the guarantee of something great, but the full team behind this animated marvel (in both upper- and lower-case senses of the word) is what makes it work. Bob Persichetti , Peter Ramsey , and Rodney Rothman all added something as directors (with Rothman co-writing alongside Lord) and their animators whipped up a visually dynamic, exciting, and heartwarming adventure that literally spans multiverses before the MCU introduced it. Bringing Miles Morales to the screen was a masterstroke, and Shameik Moore 's vocal work gives him buckets of charm.

Read Empire's review of Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse

69) Inglourious Basterds (2009)

From its Sergio Leone-riffing opening to its insanely OTT, history-rewriting finale, Tarantino' s World War II caper never once fails to surprise and entertain. As ever, though, QT's at his best in claustrophobic situations, with the tavern scene ramping up the tension to almost unbearable levels.

Read Empire's review of Inglourious Basterds

68) Lady Bird (2017)

With her directorial debut, the wry wit and emotional potency of Greta Gerwig 's previous work came even sharper into focus – telling a beautifully nuanced coming-of-age story about mothers, daughters, and the hometowns you yearn to leave, only for them to be truly appreciated in the rear-view mirror. Saoirse Ronan is perfectly precocious as the not-always-likeable Christine 'Lady Bird' McPherson, experiencing fractured friendships, first fuckboys, and fateful fumbles in her final year of high school in 2003 Sacramento.

Read Empire's review of Lady Bird

67) Singin' In The Rain (1952)

A joyous, vibrant Technicolor celebration of the movies, that's such an essential viewing experience there should perhaps be a law that it feature in every DVD and Blu-ray collection. It's no mere Hollywood self-love exercise, though. As star Don Lockwood, Gene Kelly brings a sense of exasperation at the film industry's diva-indulging daftness, making it a gentle piss-take, too.

Read Empire's review of Singin' In The Rain

66) One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

Ken Kesey's era-defining novel was in good hands with screenwriters Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman, not to mention director Milos Forman : five Oscars were testament to that, including one for Jack Nicholson , who's arguably never been better as a man destined to be chewed up by the unfeeling system (ditto Louise Fletcher , who represents that system in the form of Nurse Ratched).

Read Empire's review of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

65) Seven Samurai (1954)

A film so good they remade it twice — as The Magnificent Seven , then as Battle Beyond The Stars . Or four times, arguably... if you count A Bug's Life and the remake of The Magnificent Seven . You could also make the case that Avengers Assemble is a version, too. The point is this: Akira Kurosawa 's epic, 16th century-set drama about a motley gang of warriors uniting to save a village from bandits couldn't be more influential. Cinema simply wouldn't be the same without it.

Read Empire's review of Seven Samurai

64) La La Land (2016)

As much a technical marvel as it is an acting tour-de-force, Damien Chazelle 's Los Angeles love letter proved a ridiculously easy movie to fall in love with, even for those who may have grumbled that they weren't really into musicals before sitting down to watch it. Go on, admit it: You're still humming "Another Day Of Sun", aren't you?

Read Empire's review of La La Land

63) Get Out (2017)

Even given the darker tones of a few Key And Peele sketches, no one could have predicted that Jordan Peele would place himself on track to become a modern master of horror. And it all started with this, the Oscar-winning kick-off to his film career in which Daniel Kaluuya 's Chris meets his girlfriend Rose's ( Allison Williams ) parents and discovers some truly shocking secrets. White guilt, specific racism, slavery and more blend into a socially conscious terror tale that rings every note with pitch-perfect accuracy. You'll never look at a cup of tea the same way again.

Read Empire's review of Get Out

62) Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)

If you only ever see one David Lean movie... well, don't. Watch as many as you can. But if you really insist on only seeing one David Lean movie, then make sure it's Lawrence Of Arabia , the movie that put both the "sweeping" and the "epic" into "sweeping epic" with its breath-taking depiction of T.E. Lawrence's ( Peter O'Toole ) Arab-uniting efforts against the German-allied Turks during World War I. It's a different world to the one we're in now, of course, but Lean's mastery of expansive storytelling does much to smooth out any elements (such as Alec Guinness playing an Arab) that may rankle modern sensibilities.

Read Empire's review of Lawrence Of Arabia

61) Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

Guillermo Del Toro 's fairy tale for grown-ups, as pull-no-punches brutal as it is gorgeously, baroquely fantastical. There's an earthy, primal feel to his fairy-world here, alien and threatening rather than gasp-inducing and 'magical', thanks in no small part to the truly cheese-dream nightmarish demon-things Del Toro conjures up, sans CGI, with the assistance of performer Doug Jones .

Read Empire's review of Pan's Labyrinth

60) Hot Fuzz (2007)

Edgar Wright , Simon Pegg and Nick Frost 's tribute to big American cop movies isn't just a great fish-out-of-water comedy, sending high-achieving London policeman Nick Angel (Pegg) to the most boring place in the UK (or so it seems). It also manages to wring every last drip of funny out of executing spot-on bombastic, Bayhem-style action in a sleepy English small-town setting.

Read Empire's review of Hot Fuzz

59) Moonlight (2016)

Adapted from Tarell Alvin's play In Moonlight, Black Boys Look Blue , Barry Jenkins ' Oscar-winning drama is the kind of film that seeps under your skin and stays there. Tracking one man's life in three stages, and the love (and lack of it) that made him who he is, Moonlight evokes a sense of intimacy so palpable, the camera's gaze into the characters' eyes so intense, you can't bear to look away. Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris are impeccable in supporting roles, with Trevante Rhodes and Andre Holland delivering an unforgettable final act.

Read Empire's review of Moonlight.

58) Guardians Of The Galaxy (2014)

Marvel took one of its biggest swings with this space-borne adventure, which featured the MCU's freakiest and least-known characters (a talking raccoon, a walking tree, a green assassin lady, a muscleman named after a Bond villain and Star-who!?), starred that schlubby fellah from Parks And Rec , and was directed by the guy who turned Michael Rooker into a giant slug-monster in Slither . Which is pretty cool, when you think about it.

Read Empire's review of Guardians Of The Galaxy

57) Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Putting together the director of Arrival with a sci-fi franchise that – for box office performance reasons — hasn't been overexploited the way some others have, seemed like a no-brainer. It's actually a big brainer, with Denis Villeneuve dipping into Philip K. Dick' s universe and constructing a sequel that not only doesn't embarrass Ridley Scott 's original, but builds out that world, adding layers and texture while still feeling of a piece. Audiences still didn't exactly bite, but between Harrison Ford revisiting his iconic replicant hunter and Ryan Gosling grappling with his own identity, 2049 is a triumph of quiet character moments and glorious, sense-enveloping spectacle.

Read Empire's review of Blade Runner 2049

56) The Social Network (2010)

Or, I'm Gonna Git You Zuckerberg. Portrayed as an über-ruthless ultra-nerd by Jesse Eisenberg , it's fair to say the Facebook founder came out of David Fincher 's social-media drama smelling less of roses than the stuff you grow them in. But it is great drama, expertly wrought by screenwriter Aaron Sorkin , who exploits the story's central paradox (a guy who doesn't get people makes a fortune getting people together online) to supremely juicy effect.

Read Empire's review of The Social Network

55) Taxi Driver (1976)

Martin Scorsese and Paul Schrader 's gripping portrayal of a mentally crumbling Vietnam vet ( Robert De Niro 's Travis Bickle) who ultimately figures the only way to wash the crime-caked streets of New York is with a nice, big bloodbath. Everyone here's at the top of their game: Scorsese, Schrader, De Niro, 14-year-old Jodie Foster and composer Bernard Herrmann . Yes, it's still talkin' to us.

Read Empire's review of Taxi Driver

54) Saving Private Ryan (1998)

The sheer bludgeoning, blood-spilling, visceral power of its Omaha Beach, D-Day-landing opening act ensured that Steven Spielberg 's fourth World War II movie set the standard for all future battle depictions. Its shaky-staccato-desaturated style (courtesy of Janusz Kaminski 's ingenious cinematography) newsreel made cinema has been oft-copied, but rarely bettered.

Read Empire's review of Saving Private Ryan

53) Forrest Gump (1994)

Robert Zemeckis ' affable stroll through some of America's most turbulent decades, as seen through the childlike eyes of the simple-but-successful Forrest — the role which earned Tom Hanks his second Oscar in two years. And it says a lot about the film's emotional heft that it managed to win an Oscar itself, when it was in competition with both Pulp Fiction and The Shawshank Redemption .

Read Empire's review of Forrest Gump

52) Point Break (1991)

"Ever fired your gun in the air and gone 'Ahhhh?'" PC Danny Butterman's well-placed reference in Hot Fuzz confirmed, if confirmation were ever needed, that Point Break is a fundamental pillar of '90s pop culture cool, and one of the most memorable action blockbusters ever made. In Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze , we get two smouldering sides of the same anti-heroic coin; in W. Peter Iliff's screenplay, we get gems of dialogue like "The correct term is 'babes', sir"; and in Kathryn Bigelow 's frenetic, confident direction, we get intense foot chases, fiery shoot-outs, epic surfing, and a spot of light skydiving. It shouldn't work: extreme sports, bank robberies and male bonding? But it does, every time.

Read Empire's review of Point Break

51) Whiplash (2014)

If Damien Chazelle 's semi-autobiographical drama taught us anything, it's that jazz drumming is more hazardous to learn than base jumping. Especially when your mentor is J.K. Simmons ' monstrous Fletcher: a raging bully who makes army drill instructors look like Care Bears. Though, of course, you could always argue that Fletcher's methods certainly got great results out of Miles Teller 's battered but triumphant Andrew...

Read Empire's review of Whiplash

50) Vertigo (1958)

If Psycho was Hitchcock 's big shocker, then Vertigo is the one that gets properly under your skin. With James Stewart 's detective stalking Kim Novak's mysterious woman, witnessing her suicide, then becoming obsessed with her double, it's certainly disturbing and most definitely (as the title suggests) disorientating. In the most artful and inventive way.

Read Empire's review of Vertigo

49) Spirited Away (2001)

For a Western world raised on Disney movies, Spirited Away was a bracing change of pace – pure, uncut Studio Ghibli. Taking in bathhouses, spirits of Shinto folklore, and morality without clear-cut distinctions of good and evil, Hayao Miyazaki 's major crossover hit is distinctly Japanese. It's the film that brought Studio Ghibli – and anime at large – to mainstream Western audiences, an influence increasingly felt in the likes of Moana and Frozen II .

Read Empire's review of Spirited Away

48) Ghostbusters (1984)

As high-concept comedies go, Ghostbusters is positively stratospheric: a story of demonic incursion... with gags! And it manages to wring a fantastic supernatural adventure out of that concept, while never neglecting the opportunity to deliver a great laugh; or, on the flipside, ever allowing the zaniness to swallow up plot coherence. Ray Parker Jr was right. Bustin' did indeed make us feel good.

Read Empire's review of Ghostbusters

47) Do The Right Thing (1989)

Spike Lee had already caused a stir with his first two films – She's Gotta Have It and School Daze – but this was the one that changed everything, with Lee at full pelt, fully formed, in full command and full of fury. Over the longest, hottest summer's day in Brooklyn's Bed-Stuy, already boiling tensions between the African-Americans on the block and the Italian-Americans running a pizzeria eventually peak, erupting into violence. It's an absolutely flawless, funny, frightening piece of work, rammed with soon-to-be iconography from start to finish. It hasn't dated a day.

Read Empire's review of Do The Right Thing

46) Schindler's List (1993)

Spielberg's masterpiece, hands down. You might say the shark looks fakey in Jaws. You may wonder how Indy clung to the German sub in Raiders. But there's no flaws to be found in his harrowing, (mostly) monochromatic depiction of Nazi persecution of the Jewish community in Krakow. Unless you're the kind of shallow person who only watches movies that are 'entertaining'. In which case, you're missing out.

Read Empire's review of Schindler's List

45) The Big Lebowski (1998)

You've got to hand it to the Coen brothers. Not only did they make arguably the funniest movie of the '90s — which has since spawned a genuine film cult — they also managed to construct a kidnap mystery in which the detective isn't a detective and nobody was actually kidnapped. With bowling, marmots and a urine-stained rug.

Read Empire's review of The Big Lebowski

44) It's A Wonderful Life (1946)

Frank Capra's Christmas fantasy was the movie that coaxed a war-battered James Stewart back to acting, and a good thing, too: as George Bailey, who's shown a mind-blowing parallel reality in which he never existed, Stewart was never more appealing. And he tempers any potential schmaltz, too, with a sense of underlying world-weariness — one that he no doubt brought back from the conflict in Europe.

Read Empire's review of It's A Wonderful Life

43) There Will Be Blood (2007)

If America were a person, then oil man Daniel Plainview ( Daniel Day-Lewis ) is a vampire. (A milkshake-drinking vampire, if you feel like mixing our metaphor with his own.) Which is why it's appropriate that Paul Thomas Anderson gives the film a bit of a horror-movie vibe throughout and Day-Lewis delivers such a deliciously monstrous performance... right up to the point where he spills literal blood in an empty mansion, haunted only by himself.

Read Empire's review of There Will Be Blood

42) 12 Angry Men (1957)

Juries most often amount to little more than set dressing in courtroom dramas. But Sidney Lumet 's film finds all its drama outside the courtroom itself and inside a jury deliberation room packed with fantastic character actors, who are forced to re-examine a seemingly straightforward case by lone-voice juror Henry Fonda. It's all about the value of looking at things differently, and a reminder that nothing is more important than great dialogue.

Read Empire's review of 12 Angry Men

41) The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)

Not only the first horror to win a Best Picture Oscar, it's also only the third movie to score in all four main categories: Picture, Director (the late, great Jonathan Demme ), Actress ( Jodie Foster ) and Actor ( Anthony Hopkins ) — the latter managing that despite technically being a supporting performer, with a mere 25-ish minutes of screen time. Even so, it feels like Foster's movie more than anybody's: her vulnerable-but-steely Clarice Starling is defined by her ability, not her gender.

Read Empire's review of The Silence Of The Lambs

40) Citizen Kane (1941)

Orson Welles ' game-changing fictional biopic, that managed to both launch his film career and ruin it at the same time (turns out it's not a good idea to piss off powerful newspaper magnates by viciously satirising them to a mass audience). Not only did he use impressive new film-making techniques that make it feel like a movie far younger than its 76 years, but its power-corrupts story still resonates loudly. Now more than ever, in fact.

Read Empire's review of Citizen Kane

39) Gladiator (2000)

Ridley Scott 's comeback (after a bad run with 1492, White Squall and G.I. Jane). Russell Crowe' s big Hollywood breakthrough. And, thanks to the scope of Scott's visual ambition combined with a leap forward in CGI quality, the movie that showed the industry you could make colossal historical epics commercially viable once more. Yes, we were entertained.

Read Empire's review of Gladiator

38) The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1966)

Sergio Leone sets three renegades against each other in a treasure hunt backdropped against the chaos and madness of the American Civil War. The result is the movie on his CV which best balances art and entertainment. Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef are great value as Blondie and Angel Eyes, but it's Eli Wallach's Tuco who steals this Wild West show: "When you have to shoot, shoot. Don't talk."

Read Empire's review of The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

37) Se7en (1995)

Aka David Fincher 's second debut movie. What sounded like a daft, novelty serial-killer thriller turned out to be a deeply rattling proper-shocker, which had the guts to throw down its biggest narrative twist halfway through, as warped murderer-moralist John Doe gives himself up. A twist made all the more effective thanks to Kevin Spacey 's insistence he wasn't billed until the end credits.

Read Empire's review of Seven

36) Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004)

Director Michel Gondry and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman deconstruct the relationship drama via a fantastic psycho-sci-fi device, as Jim Carrey 's Joel races through his own mind to reverse a process by which all his memories of his failed relationship with Kate Winslet 's Clementine are to be erased. Which is a brilliantly weird, round-the-houses way of reminding us that heartbreak should be valued as one of the things that makes us. Better to have loved and lost, and all that.

Read Empire's review of Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

35) The Shining (1980)

Stanley Kubrick 's elegant adaptation of Stephen King 's haunted-hotel story, starring a wonderfully deranged Jack Nicholso n, is often cited as The Scariest Horror Movie Ever Made (perhaps tied with The Exorcist ), but it's also the Least Suitable Movie To Watch On Father's Day Ever. Unless you're the kind of Dad who thinks obsessively typing the same sentence over and over then chasing after your wife and kid with an axe constitutes good parenting.

Read Empire's review of The Shining

34) The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers (2002)

Aside from Boromir, Aragorn and the small-town denizens of Bree, there's not a huge amount of human representation in The Fellowship Of The Ring . So one of the pleasures of The Two Towers is seeing Middle-earth truly open out after the arrival at Rohan, where the series takes on more of a sweeping, Nordic feel... Building up, of course, to Helm's Deep, a ferocious action crescendo which features gratuitous scenes of dwarf-tossing.

Read Empire's review of The Two Towers

33) Casablanca (1942)

When you've got such a clear-cut good-vs-evil scenario as World War II, it takes guts to put out a film which lets its (anti-) hero lurk for so long in a grey area of that conflict — while said War was still raging, no less. Of course, Rick ( Humphrey Bogart ) eventually does the right thing, but watching him make both the Resistance and the Nazis squirm right up to the final scene is truly joyous.

Read Empire's review of Casablanca

32) The Thing (1982)

Any argument about whether or not modern remakes can ever be better than the 'classic' originals should be ended pretty quickly by mentioning this movie. With the help of SFX genius Rob Bottin , John Carpenter took the bones of Howard Hawks ' 1951 The Thing From Another World and crafted an intense, frosty sci-fi thriller featuring Hollywood's ultimate movie monster: one that could be any of us at any time, before contorting into a genuine biological nightmare.

Read Empire's review of The Thing

31) Interstellar (2014)

Christopher Nolan 's tribute to 2001 and The Right Stuff (with a little added The Black Hole ) presents long-distance space travel as realistically as it's possible to with the theoretical physics currently available. From the effects of gravity to the emotional implication of time dilation, it mixes science and sentiment to great effect. And it has a sarcastic robot, too.

Read Empire's review of Interstellar

30) Heat (1995)

Michael Mann 's starry upgrade of his TV movie LA Takedown squeezed every last drop of icon-juice out of its heavyweight double-billing, bringing Pacino and De Niro together on screen, sharing scenes for the very first time. The trick was to only do it twice during the entire running time, with that first diner meeting virtually fizzing with alpha-star electricity.

Read Empire's review of Heat

29) Apocalypse Now (1979)

The film-maker go-to movie du jour. Gareth Edwards cited Coppola 's vivid and visceral jungle trek as a major influence on Rogue One ; Jordan Vogt-Roberts drew from it extensively for Kong: Skull Island , and Matt Reeves sees War For The Planet Of The Apes as his own simian-related tribute. Hardly surprising; it's both a visually rich war movie and also a powerfully resonant journey into the darkest recesses of the human soul.

Read Empire's review of Apocalypse Now

28) Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade (1989)

You voted... wisely. There may only be 12 years' difference between Harrison Ford and Sean Connery , but it's hard to imagine two better actors to play a bickering father and son, off on a globetrotting, Nazi-bashing, mythical mystery tour. After all, you've got Spielberg / Lucas ' own version of James Bond... And the original Bond himself.

Read Empire's review of Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade

27) The Lord Of The Rings The Return Of The King (2003)

Anyone who bangs on about all those endings is missing the many joys of Peter Jackson 's Academy Award-laden trilogy-closer. It has some of the most colossal and entertaining battle scenes ever mounted; it has an awesome giant spider; it has that fantastic dramatic-ironic twist when Gollum saves the day through his own treachery; and it has that bit where Eowyn says, "I am no man". Deserves. Every. Oscar.

Read Empire's review of The Return Of The King

26) Die Hard (1988)

One man using only his wits and whatever he can extract from his environment. A gang of bad guys terrorising the locals. If Die Hard wasn't set in a skyscraper during the 1980s, it could easily be a Western. A Western which, in the form of Bruce Willis , not only convinced the world a TV-comedy star could be an action-hero, but also gave us one of our most seethingly charismatic big-screen villain-players: Alan Rickman .

Read Empire's review of Die Hard

25) Fight Club (1999)

After all the pre-release hype about how dark and brutal Fight Club was, one of the most surprising things to discover on seeing it was just how funny it actually was. And just as well; if you weren't laughing at Bob's "bitch-tits" or Tyler Durden's human-fat soap-making antics, it would be pretty hard to process David Fincher 's bravura take on Chuck Palahniuk 's tale of modern masculinity running insanely rampant.

Read Empire's review of Fight Club

24) Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Making Arnie' s T-800 a protector rather than killer for part two could have been a shark-jump moment for the Terminator series, but we're talking about James Cameron here. So it paid off — especially as this Terminator was just as much a student in human behaviour (with John Connor his teacher) as guardian, with some darkly comical results ("He'll live"). Is it really better than the original? In terms of scale and sheer, balls-out action spectacle, yes.

Read Empire's review of Terminator 2: Judgment Day

23) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

You've voted it your favourite Kubrick movie, which makes sense to us. It is arguably his greatest gift to cinema, an infinitely ambitious vision of a space-faring future whose narrative centres on the most pivotal moment in human evolution since some ape-man first bashed another ape-man with an old bone. Graceful, gorgeous, unwearied by time's passing. Rather like that monolith.

Read Empire's review of 2001: A Space Odyssey

22) Avengers: Endgame (2019)

What does it take to dethrone James Cameron ? A blockbuster of behemothic proportions. The weight of expectations on Endgame — the culmination of 11 years of interweaving stories, following up the greatest cinematic cliffhanger since The Empire Strikes Back — was immense, which only makes it more miraculous that the Russo Brothers (and writers Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeeley) delivered a thrilling, adventurous, emotional time-travelling trip through the entire MCU so far. The character pay-offs are just as staggering as the action — and when Steve Rogers finally proved worthy enough to lift Mjolnir, a stone-cold cultural moment was created.

Read Empire's review of Avengers: Endgame

21) Alien (1979)

On the one hand, re-watching Ridley Scott' s deep-space monster-slasher (and it's a movie which can handle as many re-watches as you can throw at it) makes you appreciate why he keeps coming back to that universe: it's so intoxicatingly atmospheric and deeply compelling, it sticks to you like a parasite. On the other hand, it really does make you wonder why he feels the need to keep tinkering with new cuts. After all, he got it perfectly right the first time around.

Read Empire's review of Alien

20) The Matrix (1999)

How two sibling indie film-makers with only a slick, sexy little crime film to their name ( Bound ) created their own blockbuster sci-fi franchise. And opened up western audiences to the truth that kung-fu acrobatics are so much more fun than watching American or European muscle-men waving guns around. While also making everyone examine some fundamental philosophical questions about reality. Thanks to the Wachowskis, we all took the red pill, and we've never regretted it.

Read Empire's review of The Matrix

19) Inception (2010)

Will Christopher Nolan ever make a Bond movie? Well, with Inception he kind of already has. Except, instead of a British secret agent, we get a freelance corporate dream-thief. And the big climactic action sequence is so huge it takes up almost half the movie and is actually three big action sequences temporally nested inside each other around a surreal, metaphysical-conflict core.

Read Empire's review of Inception

18) Parasite (2019)

Few award ceremony moments stick in the mind more than Parasite taking the Best Picture gong at the Oscars in 2020. It's no surprise that it made history as the first non-English language movie to do so – this South Korean genre-defying delight offers some of the biggest twists and expertly mounted tension in recent memory, with a family of excellent performances from Song Kang-ho , Park So-dam, Choi Woo-shik and more. Bitingly satirical, darkly comedic and made with unmatched precision, Parasite doesn't just overcome the 'one inch barrier' of subtitles, as referenced in director Bong Joon-ho 's acceptance speech – it obliterates it entirely.

Read Empire's review of Parasite

17) Aliens (1986)

The genius of James Cameron 's self-penned Alien follow-up was to not try to top the original as one of the greatest ever horror movies. Instead, he transplanted the Alien (and, significantly, Ripley) to a different genre, and created one of the greatest ever action movies. That's also a Vietnam metaphor. And also one of the most enduringly quotable films.

Read Empire's review of Aliens

16) Blade Runner (1982)

Rain-lashed, noodle-bar-packed streets shrouded in perpetual night, with giant adverts and neon signs doing the job you'd usually expect of the sun itself... The not-too-distant future had never looked cooler than in Ridley Scott 's sci-fi gumshoe noir, and we're not sure it ever will.

Read Empire's review of Blade Runner

15) Jurassic Park (1993)

When dinosaurs first ruled the movie-Earth, they did so in a herky-jerky stop-motion manner that while charmingly effective, required a fair dose of disbelief-suspension. When Steven Spielberg brought them back on Isla Nublar, we felt for the first time they could be real, breathing animals (as opposed to monsters). And that's as much thanks to Stan Winston 's astonishing animatronics work as to ILM's groundbreaking CGI.

Read Empire's review of Jurassic Park

14) The Godfather Part II (1974)

Often cited as the greatest-ever sequel, TGPII , as no-one's ever called it, is more accurately described as a seprequel. In a narrative masterstroke, it parallels Michael's ( Al Pacino ) consolidation of power with the ascendance of his Dad, Vito ( Robert De Niro ); the triumph of one paving the way to the utter corruption of the other.

Read Empire's review of The Godfather Part II

13) Back To The Future (1985)

Part science-fiction caper, part generational culture-clash movie, part weirdo family drama (in which the hero has to rescue his own existence after his mother falls in lust with him, eww), Back To The Future still manages to be timeless despite being so rooted in, well, time. And it might just have the best title of anything on this entire list.

Read Empire's review of Back To The Future

12) Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

In which old dog George Miller taught Hollywood some new tricks. Stripping the chase movie down to its raw essentials (the plot is basically: run away... then run back again!), Miller expertly built the narrative through some of the most astonishing and gloriously operatic action scenes we'd seen in yonks. While also ensuring his female characters are the film's strongest; Charlize Theron 's Furiosa and Immortan Joe's ex-brides are inheriting a world "killed" by men... Read Empire's review of Mad Max: Fury Road

11) Star Wars (1977)

Such is its cultural ubiquity and omnipresence today that it's hard now to even imagine the seismic impact of the original Star Wars — of that opening moment in which the Star Destroyer looms over the camera for a seeming infinity; of that first glimpse of a binary sunset; of that first, well, everything that we've come to know and love about that galaxy far, far away. Bursting with iconic aliens, hyper-space travel, and galactic overlords, George Lucas transplanted the classic hero's journey narrative (Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker is the simple farm-boy who discovers he's got a much bigger destiny out in the world) into a boundlessly imaginative universe of laser-swords and mystical religions, space-princesses and loveable rogues. From its incredible model work, to its cosmic dogfights, to the look of the opening crawl as it drifts off into the stars, the original Star Wars changed everything – and the world at large has been feeling the Force ever since.

Read Empire's review of Star Wars

10) Goodfellas (1990)

No film hits like Goodfellas . Just like the cocaine that turns effortlessly charismatic gangster fanboy Henry Hill into a reckless maniac, that drives him to the edge of a heart attack, that makes him paranoid (OR IS HE?), the film enters your system with a jolt, giving you an immediate rush, and keeps you wanting more, more, more, MORE, until it finally comes crashing down, back to bleak reality, and then just  finishes . And you have to live the rest if your life like a schnook, because, frankly, no other film compares to  Goodfellas . The only solution: another big snort of  Goodfellas . Scorsese, writer Nicholas Pileggi and editor Thelma Schoonmaker constructed almost the entire film like a trailer, one scene bleeding into the next, not giving you the opportunity to stop watching, to let go, to take a breath. It’s an unstoppable feat of propulsion. Now  that ’s cinema.

Read Empire's review of Goodfellas

9) Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)

In '81, it must have sounded like the ultimate pitch: the creator of Star Wars teams up with the director of Jaws to make a rip-roaring, Bond-style adventure starring the guy who played Han Solo, in which the bad guys are the evillest ever (the Nazis) and the MacGuffin is a big, gold box which unleashes the power of God. It still sounds like the ultimate pitch.

Read Empire's review of Raiders Of The Lost Ark

8) Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

It was the biggest crossover event in cinematic history, and the biggest cliffhanger we never saw coming. After ten years and eighteen movies, Marvel took superhero filmmaking to a new level when they united all of Earth's mightiest heroes (and several more) against The Mad Titan himself – and incredibly, devastatingly, they lost. Infinity War crashed much-loved characters into each other's orbits, flitting between planets at breakneck speed as the Avengers desperately tried to stop Thanos from clicking his fingers and wiping out half the universe. Spectacular action, punch-the-air moments and big-scale battles are perfectly balanced, as all things should be, with hilarious interplays and aching emotion. Cinema doesn't get much bigger, or better, than this.

Read Empire's review of Avengers: Infinity War

7) Pulp Fiction (1994)

After Reservoir Dogs announced Tarantino as a blistering new voice in American indie cinema, the filmmaker took everything that made his debut great and expanded on it. Across a set of interweaving tales, a host of hitmen, armed robbers, fixers and an ageing boxer find themselves entangled in stories of death, drugs, and lucky escapes in '90s LA – all interspersed with self-aware conversations on pop culture, religion, and the nature of crime itself. It's about everything and nothing at once, an exercise in pure style but with substance to match, and dialogue so memorable that entire chunks have entered the cultural consciousness at large. Pulp Fiction embodies everything that made early '90s independent cinema (and Tarantino himself) so exciting and fresh – playful and unexpected, steeped in genre knowledge, the coolest images set to the coolest soundtrack. And with truly iconic performances from John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Harvey Keitel, Bruce Willis and more, the whole thing is an embarrassment of cinematic riches. Somehow both of its time and entirely timeless, Pulp Fiction just never gets old.

Read Empire's review of Pulp Fiction

The impact of  Jaws  simply cannot be overstated. It created the notion of the summer blockbuster. It made millions feel it wasn’t safe to go back in the water. And, for all the clear potential of his early work, it well and truly put Spielberg on the map. It was, famously, nightmarish to shoot — waterlogged, behind schedule, over budget, and with a mechanical shark that kept breaking. But for all that churn beneath the surface, what the audience sees is effortless brilliance — a tense, beautifully-shot shark-attack thriller with deeply-layered characters, outstanding dialogue, and heart-stopping moments forever burned in the cultural landscape. Roy Scheider is utterly believable as vulnerable everyman police chief Martin Brody, forced to face the reality of a murderous shark on the shores of Amity Island, teaming up with Richard Dreyfuss’ preppy marine biologist Hooper and Robert Shaw’s salty sea-dog Quint to blow it to bits. Their chemistry steers the entire ship — sure, the scary set-pieces are outstanding, but so too is Quint’s haunting USS Indianapolis monologue. But the real star here isn’t them, or even Bruce the shark — it’s Spielberg himself. The eerie shark POV shots. The mind-bending dolly zooms. The head popping out of the boat. His work here is a pure display of cinematic mastery from first minute to last — the head, the tail, the whole damn thing.

Read Empire's review of Jaws

5) The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

The warm, leathery embrace of Morgan Freeman 's narration... The reassuringly Gary Cooper -ish rumple of Tim Robbins ' face... Odd that a movie which features such harshness and tragedy should remain a feel-good perennial — even odder when you consider it was a box-office flop on release. Few directorial debuts are so deftly constructed; no surprise, then, that Frank Darabont has yet to top it.

Read Empire's review of The Shawshank Redemption

4) The Dark Knight (2008)

And away… we… go! After constructing a whole new Gotham in Batman Begins , Christopher Nolan introduced the clown intent on tearing the whole thing down. Despite being a Batman movie (albeit the first ever not to have 'Batman' in the title), The Dark Knight is absolutely The Joker's show – the late, great Heath Ledger (an initially controversial choice) putting in a visceral, transformative, truly terrifying performance as the Clown Prince Of… not exactly Crime, but pure, unadulterated Chaos. Less than a decade after 9/11, Nolan re-conceived Batman's greatest foe as an unpredictable terrorist intent on turning the people of Gotham against each other – his actions intended to spark mass discord pulled off in jaw-dropping set-pieces. For all the spectacle, this is a very different blockbuster from the off – the genius opening clown-mask bank heist is the film in miniature, an ambitious crime saga clad in superhero trappings, daring and ruthless and full of surprises. The Dark Knight is full-strength, no-holds-barred, firing-on-all cylinders Nolan, and not just an all-time great comic book movie, but an all-time great movie period — as the movie's rightful high ranking here attests.

Read Empire's review of The Dark Knight

3) The Godfather (1972)

Stanley Kubrick once described Francis Ford Coppola 's adaptation of Mario Puzo 's novel as the best film ever made – though having previously topped this list, this time it falls to bronze position. At once an art movie and a commercial blockbuster, The Godfather marked the dawn of the age of the mega-movie. An icon of the gangster genre, its imprinted in popular culture – "Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes", the horse's head in the bed – but the first instalment of Brando's cotton-cheeked patriarch's fight for power is so much more than those moments. With performances, style and substance to savour, it's managed to both smash box office records and live on as a staple of cinematic canon.

Read Empire's review of The Godfather

2) Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

If Star Wars gave us a whole new cinematic galaxy, Empire made that galaxy feel so much larger, deeper, and richer. Bolstered by the original's success, George Lucas shot for the moon a second time around, teaming up with director Irvin Kershner to tell the story of Luke training under Master Yoda, Han and Leia heading to Cloud City, and Darth Vader dropping the daddy of all twists. Episode V ramped up the scope with more astonishing model work, dizzying dogfights, the snowy Hoth battle, and a ferocious lightsaber duel between Luke and Vader. It is, simply, bigger and better than the original Star Wars , influential in its own right with its downer-ending and game-changing familial revelations. We love it. You know.

Read Empire's review of The Empire Strikes Back

1) The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring (2001)

A wizard is never late. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he... well, you know the rest. It might have taken 20 years for Peter Jackson 's plucky fantasy to clamber, Mount-Doom-style, to the very pinnacle of our greatest-movies pantheon. But here it is, brighter and more resplendent than ever. The Fellowship Of The Ring contains so much movie. Even at the halfway point, as the characters take a breather to bicker in Rivendell, you already feel sated, like you've experienced more thrills, more suspense, more jollity and ethereal beauty than a regular film could possibly muster up. But Jackson is only getting started. Onwards his adventure hustles, to the bravura dungeoneering of Khazad-dum, to the sinisterly serene glades of Lothlorien, to the final requiem for flawed Boromir amidst autumnal leaves. As Fellowship thrums to its conclusion, finally applying the brakes with a last swell of Howard Shore 's heavenly score, you're left feeling euphoric, bereft and hopeful, all at the same time. The Two Towers has the coolest battle. The Return Of The King boasts the most batshit, operatic spectacle. But Fellowship remains the most perfect of the three, matching every genius action beat with a soul-stirring emotional one, as its Middle-earth-traversing gang swells in size in the first act, then dwindles in the third. This oddball suicide squad has so much warmth and wit, they're not just believable as friends of each other — they've come to feel like they're our pals too.An ornately detailed masterwork with a huge, pulsing heart, it's just the right film for our times — full of craft, conviction and a belief that trudging forward, step by step, in dark days is the bravest act of all. Its ultimate heroes aren't the strongest, or those with the best one-liners, but the ones who just keep going. And so Fellowship endures: a miracle of storytelling, a feat of filmmaking and still the gold standard for cinematic experiences. Right, now that's decided, who's up for second breakfast?

Read Empire's review of The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring

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