Ben Garvey’s 101 Greatest Movies of All Time

Thanks to John Resig Net::Netflix perl module, I was able to download my ratings for every movie I’ve rated on Netflix. The total number was 608. Based on the typical two hour movie, I’ve watched 50 days of movies in my lifetime. That seems like a lot to me. Probably too much. Anyway, I decided to pull my rating together and come up with a top 101 list of the greatest movies of all time. Why 101? Because I forgot to include Pulp Fiction on my original top 100 list. I’ll start with the bottom 50 today and work my way up to #1.

Here’s 101-51:

Rank Title Year
101 L.A. Confidential -1997
100 Clerks -1994
99 Magnolia -1999
98 The Last Picture Show -1971
97 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas -1998
96 Happy Endings -2005
95 The Royal Tenenbaums -2001
94 Monty Python and the Holy Grail -1975
93 Psycho -1960
92 Sideways -2004
91 Network -1976
90 Close Encounters of the Third Kind -1977
89 Little Miss Sunshine -2006
88 Heathers -1989
87 Terminator 2 -1991
86 Jackie Brown -1997
85 Full Metal Jacket -1987
84 Run Lola Run -1998
83 The Silence of the Lambs -1991
82 Napoleon Dynamite -2004
81 Tommy Boy -1995
80 Young Frankenstein -1974
79 The Shining -1980
78 Office Space -1999
77 Pi: Faith in Chaos -1998
76 Being John Malkovich -1999
75 Taxi Driver -1976
74 Life Is Beautiful -1997
73 Ferris Bueller’s Day Off -1986
72 The Usual Suspects -1995
71 This Is Spinal Tap -1984
70 Ray -2004
69 Requiem for a Dream -2000
68 The Pianist -2002
67 Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me -1992
66 Amelie -2001
65 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest -1975
64 Bowling for Columbine -2002
63 Monty Python’s Life of Brian -1979
62 Monster’s Ball -2001
61 The Deer Hunter -1978
60 Swingers -1996
59 Reservoir Dogs -1992
58 Sexy Beast -2001
57 The Piano -1993
56 Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure -1985
55 The Matrix -1999
54 Batman -1989
53 The Virgin Suicides -1999
52 Donnie Darko -2001
51 Raiders of the Lost Ark -1981

So that’s the list. A few comments:

These movies don’t take genre into consideration. Pee Wee’s Big Adventure is my second favorite comedy of all time, but it’s only 56 here. I took all my 5 star movies and just started sorting them.

Sorting a list this big is difficult and a bad decision here or there can cause a movie to drop down, ie. the Piano probably deserves better than 57.

My list is probably the only one where you’ll find Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. I’m a huge David Lynch fan and I loved Fire Walk with Me. The second season of Twin Peaks just came out of DVD and I highly recommend it. Fire Walk with Me is the prequel movie that (barely) tried to answer some of lingering questions after the show was canceled. The only downside was replacing Lara Flynn Boyle with some random actress.

If you’re a Kevin Smith fan, be prepared to dislike my list. Clerks is the only movie that cracks the list at 100.

I don’t cry too often, but Life is Beautiful? Forget about it. Probably the saddest/happiest ending ever.

Little Mis Sunshine is the most recent movie on the list. I wonder if it will hold up?

Thoughts? Comments?


Comments

One response to “Ben Garvey’s 101 Greatest Movies of All Time”

  1. Amelie? I never knew! Good bottom 51, can’t wait to see the Top 50.