Quintessential top 50 movies of all time

Joekers

What is the recommended go to list for the top 50 of all time ?

So many different sources and variations would anyone have the most reliable source. Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb (seems to be made lists from random people)?

Not trying to start a list here either just looking to work my way through the best

johnny_ultimate

Every list is going to have its own limitations, but the Sight & Sound top 100 (and indeed top 250) is a good start for anyone looking to dive into the full breadth of cinema. Only a starting point really and absolutely has blind spots. But don’t think there’s any other list quite as thoroughly constructed.

https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/greatest-films-all-time

flasher0030

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122609655#Comment_122609655

That list in the link is very subjective - as I guess are all best off lists. I was having a look at the top 100 - and out of the few that I saw on that part, there is only one of them that I would give a second watch - Goodfellows. You'd need some patience to sit through some of them. I don't doubt that some of them are cinematic masterpieces. But in terms of entertainment, many of them leave a lot to be desired.

~Rebel~

It's specifically a list of best American movies, but the AFI top 100 is worth a look through;

https://www.afi.com/afis-100-years-100-movies-10th-anniversary-edition/

Quantum Erasure

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122610198#Comment_122610198

Just go with the top audience rated on rotten tomatoes so.

flasher0030

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122610790#Comment_122610790

Ya. That's generally what I look at. And same on metacritic. And amazon.

That gives a good indication of whether or not I'd like the movie. Doesn't always work. but more often than not, it does.

loyatemu

IMDB top 100 is a pretty solid list, wisdom of crowds and all that though. More recent films tend to rank higher but that's the case with every list.

The Sight and Sound poll is interesting if you're a real movie buff, but it's very skewed towards the high-brow and arty (I'd never heard of the film at no. 1 until it hit the top of the most recent poll).

speedboatchase

IMDB's Top 100 is very blokey and a bit fanboy-driven. Sight and Sound seems deliberately opposed to anything fun. AFI's list is a good start but obviously lacks foreign films.

Strangely enough, I made my own list a few months ago of 40 movies from the 30s to the 70s. It changes but I try to include Best Picture winners and at least one movie from a specific cultural icons (Hepburn, Dean, Monroe).

johnny_ultimate

I’d push back gently against the idea that the S&S list is inaccessible or anti-fun. It certainly could do with a bit more recency bias and genre representation (alas, even 250 is a limiting size) but most of the films are immensely watchable affairs. I wouldn’t recommend Jeanne Dielman or Shoah to anyone wanting a casually entertaining evening watch, but would absolutely recommend Seven Samurai, a Hitchcock film, The Godfather, Playtime or My Neighbour Totoro, to pick just a few examples.

It is just one list, but at least is put together by a uniquely large sample of genuine film enthusiasts, professionals and experts. It’s IMO a good entry point to the wider world of cinema - not definitive, but a starting point where you can pick any given film and almost be guaranteed a worthwhile watch.

Fysh

I'd second what johnny_ultimate says about the S&S list - if you're interested in film, it's hard to beat their list (which, also worth noting, they update every 10 years, with the most recent list being amongst other things the result of a conscious effort to broaden its scope, both in terms of films covered and contributors invited to submit lists).

But it's still only 1 list, and therefore limited. (Even the most recent list still had 1 contributor, clearly high on the smell of their own farts, who nominated only their own films - which until then I would have assumed was not allowed since I hadn't seen anyone else nominate even a single one of their own films...) But if the S&S list is limited, other lists are even more so.

Having said all that, if you're looking for a list of a double-digit number of films that you expect to be in any way useful as an "all time best" I would say you need to add more qualifiers on there, e.g. genre, language, country of production. Otherwise you'll just get what amounts to a Rotten Tomatoes list, which might or might not have any bearing on your own taste and will almost certainly have glaring omissions as well as unworthy entries…

shazzerman

They Shoot Pictures, Don't They collate all the major lists worldwide (it includes the S&S Poll) and publish a Top 1000. The latest one has all the usual suspects close to the top (Citizen Kane at #1, Vertigo at #2, etc. Jeanne Dielman is #12…). In terms of giving you inspiration to broaden your cinema-viewing horizons, it is hard to beat.

https://www.theyshootpictures.com/gf1000_rank1-1000.htm

one armed dwarf

That BFI list is essentially a list of popular films if you look at it a certain way. Everyone just submitted their top 10 and that's how it came out

In the past couple years I've tried a few films on that list, found some of them boring and some of them transcendant, but even in the boring ones it's triggered a rabbit hole for myself into looking into other films by the same actors, directors, movements connected with each other. Which is where the really fun discoveries happen. Why does Truffaut like Hitchcock so much? Lets watch some and find out. Why are there silent films on here, aren't they really boring? Time to check out Sherlock Jr, holy **** it's amazing and recontextualises what Jacques Tati is doing. Hell it recontextualises what Johnny Knoxville and Mr Bean are doing

Film is a continuum of ideas, influences, it's full of people reacting to and against certain visions. The BFI list is a handy primer to just find a thing to check out, what's even better is if you click through the list to see who voted for what, and why. Here's Edgar Wright's top 10 which puts American Werewolf in London alongside Madame de. Why would a horror guy like an old Italian film? Only one way to see. Also has Fury Road on there, speaking of Silent Film, Buster Keaton's The General sets the blueprint for what George Miller would do nearly 100 years later. From a certain perspective that's a film that might seem a bit quaint, but the sheer danger of some of the stuff they were doing makes it kinda incredible and yes, tremendous fun

https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/greatest-films-all-time/all-voters/edgar-wright

Kurosawa is fun as well, so is Billy Wilder. Third Man is really entertaining. So are Powell and Pressburger. There's also admittedly some films on there which are like eating your veggies, Italian neo realism is a bit like that for me. But they're also really interesting historical documents capturing a specific time, the artistic expression of Italy's filmmakers after the ruin of World War II, and so they are a bit like a dramatic documentary in that sense. Edifying, rather than 'fun'. I don't always want a film to feel like homework tho, for me it's primarily about escape

My favorite list is the one that has a lot of things which are unknown to me, and sometimes even has picks I strongly disagree with. Here's Indiewire's list of the best films of the 2000s and I doubt many here would agree with their top pick. I kinda respect it tho

https://www.indiewire.com/features/best-of/best-movies-2000s-1235032266/