Aaron’s Top 100 Movies (2020 Edition)

Recently I made a major change to how I rate films, doing away with half-stars altogether in favor of a simplified system with only 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 stars as an option. My hope is that by taking away the additional complication of half-stars, I will be able to more accurately rate films on the first go-around. It’s no secret that I struggle with hype and I often find myself using half-stars only to scale ratings back when the end of the year rolls around and I take another look at them. Additionally, and more importantly, I’ve come to thoroughly embrace the conversations that we have about film online in places like our Feelin’ Film Discussion Group and in person at work. What I desire is for the words in my written reviews, on my podcast, or spoken in conversation to tell you more about my feelings for a film than the number assigned to it. To that end, simplifying my ratings means if you want to understand what distinguishes films in a certain group (say my 4-star rating) from each other, you’ll have to actually read what I have to say or… gasp… ask me about them.

With this change came a mass re-rating project, and after completing that and noticing that I am 2.5 years removed from my last Top 100 list, this was the perfect opportunity to give it an update. As always is the case, gray hairs emerged during this painful process as I tried to distinguish between beloved films. As always, my list is ever-changing, but this serves as a current reflection of my personal cinematic taste – a snapshot view of the cinephile that I am at this moment in time. I hope that as you read through this list you might be able to learn a little about who I am as a person by seeing what type of stories I love the most.

Note: For the purposes of this list, any film with an asterisk (*) after it represents its series or trilogy and is only used in cases where all films of the series are rated as 5-star. The arrows and numbers after each title them are just a fun little addition that shows a film’s movement since the last edition of this list. You can see the previous editions here:

2017 Top 100
2018 Top 100

This is my list. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

#1 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring *  —  —
#2 The Princess Bride 3
#3 It’s a Wonderful Life 1
#4 Top Gun 11
#5 Before Sunrise * 4
#6 Casablanca 3
#7 La La Land  —  —
#8 12 Angry Men 4
#9 The Last of the Mohicans 7
#10 Interstellar 4
#11 Die Hard 46
#12 The Lion King 40
#13 Jaws 5
#14 The Dark Knight 7
#15 Jurassic Park 2
#16 Toy Story * 2
#17 Your Name. 41
#18 Raiders of the Lost Ark 1
#19 The Prestige 8
#20 Beauty and the Beast 44
#21 Star Wars 7
#22 The Shawshank Redemption 19
#23 Sleeping Beauty 15
#24 Black Hawk Down 46
#25 Full Metal Jacket 13
#26 The Sound of Music 10
#27 Memento 40
#28 Lawrence of Arabia 9
#29 Titanic NEW NEW
#30 National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation 36
#31 The Wizard of Oz 11
#32 Children of Men 27
#33 Kill Bill * NEW NEW
#34 Singin’ in the Rain 11
#35 Groundhog Day 42
#36 Back to the Future 25
#37 The Departed 56
#38 Gladiator 13
#39 Mary Poppins 21
#40 The Social Network    
#41 The Nightmare Before Christmas 9
#42 Scream 1
#43 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl NEW NEW
#44 Hell or High Water 36
#45 Terminator 2: Judgment Day NEW NEW
#46 My Neighbor Totoro 1
#47 Fast Five NEW NEW
#48 The Incredibles 28
#49 Lost in Translation NEW NEW
#50 Gone Girl NEW NEW
#51 Blade Runner 2049 * 41
#52 Forrest Gump NEW NEW
#53 Tombstone 3
#54 Fight Club 20
#55 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs NEW NEW
#56 Happy Gilmore NEW NEW
#57 The Fault in Our Stars NEW NEW
#58 The Rock NEW NEW
#59 The Bridge on the River Kwai 15
#60 Se7en 31
#61 Armageddon NEW NEW
#62 Young Guns NEW NEW
#63 Avengers: Infinity War NEW NEW
#64 The Great Gatsby NEW NEW
#65 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade NEW NEW
#66 Alien 53
#67 Kubo and the Two Strings NEW NEW
#68 WALL*E NEW NEW
#69 Ex Machina 3
#70 Scott Pilgrim vs. the World 35
#71 The Avengers NEW NEW
#72 The Cabin in the Woods 12
#73 Pitch Perfect NEW NEW
#74 The Hunt for Red October NEW NEW
#75 Inception 48
#76 Creed NEW NEW
#77 Wreck-it Ralph NEW NEW
#78 Reservoir Dogs 10
#79 Little Women NEW NEW
#80 How To Train Your Dragon NEW NEW
#81 Almost Famous 51
#82 Friday Night Lights NEW NEW
#83 TRON: Legacy NEW NEW
#84 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban NEW NEW
#85 Crazy, Stupid, Love NEW NEW
#86 Gravity NEW NEW
#87 Les Misérables NEW NEW
#88 Hamilton NEW NEW
#89 Con Air NEW NEW
#90 The Empire Strikes Back 44
#91 10 Cloverfield Lane NEW NEW
#92 Reality Bites 23
#93 Rashomon 60
#94 Vertigo 70
#95 Moon 10
#96 Rocky NEW NEW
#97 First Man NEW NEW
#98 Passengers NEW NEW
#99 Whiplash 21
#100 A Star is Born (2018) NEW NEW
  • It’s not unlikely for films to enter/leave/re-enter this list, but any film that has dropped out at one point and come back on is still designated as “NEW” just to keep things simple.

Link to list on Letterboxd

Like it? Hate it? Think I’m crazy? I’d love to hear your thoughts.


Aaron White is a Seattle-based film critic and co-creator/co-host of the Feelin’ Film Podcast. He is also a member of the Seattle Film Critics Society. He writes reviews with a focus on the emotional experience he has with a film. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter to be notified when new content is posted.

Aaron’s Top 100 Movies (2017 Edition)

I’ve always wanted to expand my favorite films list to 100 and my birthday seemed like the perfect time for doing so. With that, I present my list. It is ever changing. This list is a current reflection of my personal cinematic taste – what speaks to me emotionally, and those films that are just too so entertaining that all evaluation of their technical quality doesn’t even matter. I’ve labored over this for quite some time and it was not an easy task, but I feel confident that the results are accurate. For today.

(For the purposes of this list, LotR: The Fellowship of the Ring and Before Sunrise represent their respective trilogy.)

This is my list. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

  1. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
  2. La La Land
  3. It’s a Wonderful Life
  4. Jaws
  5. 12 Angry Men
  6. The Princess Bride
  7. The Prestige
  8. Alien
  9. Interstellar
  10. Before Sunrise
  11. Blade Runner
  12. The Exorcist
  13. Jurassic Park
  14. Top Gun
  15. Singin’ in the Rain
  16. Inside Llewyn Davis
  17. The Last of the Mohicans
  18. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
  19. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
  20. The Dark Knight
  21. Children of Men
  22. Young Frankenstein
  23. The Shawshank Redemption
  24. Aliens
  25. The Cabin in the Woods
  26. Die Hard
  27. Inception
  28. Drive
  29. 2001: A Space Odyssey
  30. Vertigo
  31. Gone with the Wind
  32. Almost Famous
  33. Raiders of the Lost Ark
  34. Casablanca
  35. Short Term 12
  36. My Neighbor Totoro
  37. Tombstone
  38. The Nightmare Before Christmas
  39. The Social Network
  40. The Wizard of Oz
  41. The Lion King
  42. Back to the Future
  43. Seven Samurai
  44. Citizen Kane
  45. The Iron Giant
  46. The Blair Witch Project
  47. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
  48. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
  49. Armageddon
  50. Whiplash
  51. The Incredibles
  52. The Departed
  53. The Bridge on the River Kwai
  54. Reservoir Dogs
  55. Pacific Rim
  56. Unforgiven
  57. The Empire Strikes Back
  58. Memento
  59. Forrest Gump
  60. Into the Wild
  61. The Sound of Music
  62. Scream
  63. Gravity
  64. Pan’s Labyrinth
  65. Gladiator
  66. Batman Begins
  67. Hell or High Water
  68. Pulp Fiction
  69. Rashomon
  70. Fight Club
  71. The Right Stuff
  72. Star Wars
  73. Finding Nemo
  74. Serenity
  75. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
  76. Groundhog Day
  77. 3:10 to Yuma
  78. Mary Poppins
  79. The Wailing
  80. The Shining
  81. True Grit (2010)
  82. Apocalypse Now
  83. Fargo
  84. Moon
  85. The Godfather
  86. The Silence of the Lambs
  87. Beauty and the Beast
  88. Ex Machina
  89. No Country for Old Men
  90. The Breakfast Club
  91. The Place Beyond the Pines
  92. The Exorcism of Emily Rose
  93. Platoon
  94. Equilibrium
  95. The NeverEnding Story
  96. Kill Bill: Vol. 1
  97. Psycho (1960)
  98. Silence
  99. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
  100. Your Name.

Like it? Hate it? Think I’m crazy? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Link to list on Letterboxd