Shane's Top 100 Movies
(2004-3-26 - back to top)

To do the fine-grained sorting and assign a rank to every film, I had to make some tough choices. I used the following guideline to help me out:

  • Primarily, when sorting two films against each other, I tried to determine which of the two I could "do without". This is why Star Wars IV is ranked higher than V even though I enjoy watching V more.
  • To a lesser extent, I also decided which of two films should get the higher rank by thinking: if I had to recommend one out of two films for a person to see, given that they may never watch the other one, which one would I recommend?
  • And, in the final reckoning I used a lot of "gut feeling". Mostly I "tested" a film's ranking by seeing if my gut excitement level for a film was on par with films around it.

Rating
Rank
Title


(5-star)

1 to 9
1 Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (original)
2 Aliens
3 Indiana Jones 1 (and the Raiders of the Lost Ark)
4 Terminator 2: Judgment Day
5 Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (original)
6 Abyss, The
7 Real Genius
8 Get Shorty
9 Sneakers


(5-star)

10 to 20
10 Fight Club
11 Matrix, The
12 Back to the Future 1
13 Fifth Element, The
14 Ghostbusters
15 Moulin Rouge
16 Macross+ (The Movie)
17 Groundhog Day
18 Princess Bride, The
19 Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
20 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon


(4.75 star)
21 to 26
21 Indiana Jones 3 (and the Last Crusade)
22 Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (original)
23 Schindlers List
24 Thing, The
25 Blade Runner
26 Akira


(4.75 star)
27 to 39
27 Fisher King, The
28 Whole Nine Yards, The
29 Meet Joe Black
30 Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, The
31 Hero (1992)
32 Dead Again
33 Trading Places
34 Sting, The
35 Mystery Men
36 Run Lola Run
37 Sabrina (1995)
38 Alien
39 Sound of Music, The


(4.5 star)

40 to 49
40 Mummy Returns, The
41 Matrix Reloaded, The
42 History of the World, Part I
43 Chocolat
44 A Fish called Wanda
45 Mary Poppins
46 Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi)
47 Iron Giant, The
48 American President, The
49 Evil Dead 2


(4.5 star)

50 to 66
50 Notting Hill
51 Pleasantville
52 Back to the Future 3
53 Secret of My Success
54 Demolition Man
55 Fletch
56 Mars Attacks!
57 Curse of the Jade Scorpion
58 Antz
59 Monsters, Inc.
60 Trueman Show
61 Better Off Dead
62 Fugitive, The
63 Sleepless in Seattle
64 Game, The
65 Run Away Jury
66 When Harry Met Sally


(4.25 star)
67 to 86
67 Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The
68 Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The
69 True Lies
70 Mummy, The
71 Willow
72 Buckaroo Banzai
73 My Fair Lady
74 Ferris Bueller's Day Off
75 Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
76 Independence Day
77 Porco Rosso (Kurenai no buta)
78 Naushika
79 Total Recall
80 Men in Black (1997)
81 Romancing the Stone
82 Bugsy Malone
83 Toy Story
84 Titanic
85 Joe Versus the Volcano
86 Matrix Revolutions, The


(4.25 star)
87 to 100
87 X-Men
88 Thomas Crown Affair
89 Gattica
90 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
91 What About Bob?
92 Professional, The
93 Jurassic Park
94 Last Action Hero, The
95 Elizabeth
96 Die Hard
97 Office Space
98 Repo Man
99 Shawshank Redemption
100 Zoolander