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.

What We Learned This Week: July 14-20

LESSON #1: WE NEED TO REMEMBER TO THANK THE SPACE AGE FOR THE SCIENCE FICTION WE ENJOY TODAY— I’ll lead with the recommendations instead of end with them this week.  July 20th marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, causing many of us to nostalgically appreciate the wonder of that monumental history.  It was actualized science fiction that has only gone on the inspire even more since. We owe those pioneers a little thank you every time we watch a space movie made after 1969.  First, educate yourself with the sharp documentary chronicle Apollo 11 from earlier this year.  After that, go dreamy with more movies made before and after 1969 that gaze upon or point towards our celestial neighbor.  These lists from Vox and DVD.com are perfect.  

LESSON #2: YOUR BUZZ REFILL COMES THIS WEEKEND— Speaking of this third weekend of July, San Diego hosts its annual Comic-Con.  Expect some outstanding trailers like the ones that have already dropped for Top Gun: Maverick, Cats, and It: Chapter 2Disney/Marvel returns to Hall H after a year of radio silence to sell the post-Infinity War dire straits.  Be ready for a windfall of announcements in many directions between Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the quickly-approaching trilogy caper Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, new previews and details on the Disney+ service, and likely a whole bunch more.  Expect ballsy surprises and the other studios (WB and more) trying to resume their own chase of Mouse House.

LESSON #3: THE MOVIE OF THE SUMMER THAT WILL MAINTAIN A 100% ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE ISN’T RUN BY DISNEY— You all know I’ve seen the vitriol possible when something big and popular gets criticized.  Folks, you can keep all the supposed and righteous universal love due for Avengers: Endgame, Toy Story 4, and The Lion King.  The most endearing and impenetrable movie this summer is going to be The Farewell.  Whoever writes that excellent movie a negative review (and it wasn’t me this time) is going to have more explaining to do than some “douche nozzle” from Chicago who gave a low grade to Buzz and Woody.  Lulu Wang’s bracing dramedy of love and loss within family circles is the movie that deserves a three-digit crown of vine-ripened internet fruit.

LESSON #4: HAVING THE RIGHT DOESN’T MAKE YOU RIGHT— Somebody needs to offer their superior publicist and image consultant services to Scarlett Johansson.  A year ago, she wisely backed out of playing a transgender character after pushback and course correction from the studio.  It didn’t sink in. Scarlett doubled-down recently in an interview saying “As an actor I should be allowed to play any person, or any tree, or any animal because that is my job and the requirements of my job.” Yes and no, Ms. Johansson and it might be as easy as swapping “should” with “could” instead.  A hard maybe is all she, or any star, should get. We have reached a societal marketplace in entertainment where the strives for fair representation matter and a big star isn’t getting it. It’s ugly when this news has to follow and sour good news like Lashana Lynch gaining a callsign title for Bond 25.

LESSON #5: ONE MORE TIME, WITH FEELING, IT’S TIME FOR CONSUMERS TO BE REFLECTIVE AND FAIR— This final lesson of the week is a callback to a January “Soapbox Special” edition of “What We Learned This Week” and it goes back even deeper. The person of interest (or elephant in the room) that brings this one back is Kevin Spacey.  News broke this week that the felony sexual assault charges against the Academy Award-winning actor were dropped this week after some nefarious measures with evidence came to light from the accuser’s side.  We all know “not guilty” in the court of public opinion is different than the same label in the court of law.  More wrongs or truths may still hover, but Kevin Spacey has a clearer name than he did last week.  That said, I bring back the bullet points of that Soapbox lesson and ask that those be applied to Spacey:

1) What’s the proper waiting period between allegations and actual guilt?  MY ANSWER REMAINS: When it gets its day in court and no less that that.  The gavel has sounded the man is free to go.  That’s the judgment that matters.

2) What amount of contrition or correction is necessary in order for people to continue their careers?  MY ANSWER REMAINS: That’s up to each case and each consumer, but the amount can’t be zero.  Spacey has made statements of contrition and, other than an odd YouTube video which probably went a little overboard, he has stayed respectfully away from spotlights.

3) What are these people allowed to do with their rest of their careers? MY ANSWER REMAINS: Anything they want or anything a boss wants to hire to run their business.  Simply put, Kevin Spacey, for the moment, is clear and deserves a chance to be a professional again.  He comes with risk, certainly, but I’ve never been a boycott list-maker (that’s a whole other “Soapbox” from days past) and I will welcome seeing him work again.  Kevin will be an interesting reclamation case to follow in the coming years.


DON SHANAHAN is a Chicago-based and Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic writing on his website Every Movie Has a Lesson. His movie review work is also published on 25YL (25 Years Later) and also on Medium.com for the MovieTime Guru publication.  As an educator by day, Don writes his movie reviews with life lessons in mind, from the serious to the farcical. He is a proud director and one of the founders of the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle and a member of the nationally-recognized Online Film Critics Society.  As a contributor here on Feelin’ Film now for over two years, he’s going to expand those lessons to current movie news and trends while chipping in with guest spots and co-hosting duties, including the previous “Connecting with Classics” podcasts.  Find “Every Movie Has a Lesson” on Facebook, Twitter, and Medium to follow his work.  (#108)

FF+ Maiden, Apollo 11 & Top Gun: Maverick

This week for FF+ we get naval with reviews of Maiden and Apollo 11, as well as some trailer talk about Top Gun: Maverick.

New For You 

Maiden – 0:02:01

Apollo 11 –  0:08:46

Trailer Talk

Top Gun: Maverick – 0:31:15

 

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Music: City Sunshine – Kevin MacLeod

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What We Learned This Week: August 26-September 1

LESSON #1: SEARCHING SHOULD BE REQUIRED VIEWING FOR TEENS AND THEIR PARENTS EQUAL TO EIGHTH GRADE EARLIER THIS SUMMER— Standing as another dramatic dose of the perils of being a teenager and raising a teenager in this current times, Aneesh Chaganty’s electric Searching would make a heck of a twin-bill with Bo Burnham’s startling slice of truths from July.  If you have a son or daughter with a connected device and a digital footprint of apps and engagement, you need to be floored by this film’s stance as one-part cautionary tale and one-part family feels.  You’ll be diving to Protect Young Eyes and similar sites in a hurry afterwards.  Hear Aaron and I gush over this film in a recent Feelin’ Film minisode.  It’s my #1 film so far this year.  You NEED to see this one!

LESSON #2: WAIT AND SEE A FILM BEFORE PASSING JUDGMENT— Advance reviews, hot takes, and click bait web articles that stir up angles, tangents, and nonsensical conversations before a movie makes it to the general public are the wrong place to form an opinion on a film.  This lesson rears its ugly head today on the heels of the world premiere reviews for Damien Chazelle’s First Man and a Business Insider piece about whether or not the planting of the American flag during the Apollo 11 mission is shown or not.  People are already circling their wagons to either defend the assumed choice as an artistic or narrative decision or start lighting up the puff-chested patriotism-fueled “how dare you” revisionist opposition pitchforks.  First Man is not the first film to be bitten by this stuff and it won’t be the last.  Simply put, wait and see the film for yourself before falling for rumors and rants. 

LESSON #3: AWARDS SEASON STARTS RIGHT NOW— Speaking of all that early buzz, First Man is sounding pretty darn legit.  I’m remain on my “No Trailers Diet” to remain unspoiled and untarnished which includes reading advance reviews, especially for First Man which has been my #1 anticipated film all year.  It sounds like I’m going to like what I see in October.

LESSON #4: PUSHING BACK A RELEASE DATE TO MAKE A FILM BETTER SHOULD ALWAYS BE A WELCOME DECISION— Much like Lesson #2, other decisions shouldn’t always be met with gasps, groans, and uninformed opinions.  Release dates are one of them.  Too often, when a film has to blink from a planned release date to a later one, the first flags flying are the “lemon on their hands,” “it’s going to be a bomb,” and “obvious production troubles” ones from all the haters and doubters.  You know what, if a studio is actually stable enough and smart enough to not rush brilliance, they might just get rewarded with brilliance.  It was announced this week that the hotly-anticipated Top Gun sequel, which is still in pre-production before shooting, is going to delay a year from July 2019 to July 2020 to improve planned action sequences.  Like our own founder Aaron White said on this news in the Facebook group, it’s better to get it right than anything else.  I remember the boo-birds making all kinds of noise 20+ years ago when Titanic moved from a July 4th release to a holiday one.  I’d say that turned out pretty well.  I’ll take patience over hubris every time.

LESSON #5: LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY SHOULD BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT WHEN RANKING AND VOTING ON THE BEST FILMS OF ANY GIVEN YEAR— I’ve ranted on the “popular film” Oscar at length once already, but the reactions from within the industry are starting to develop in really strong and rightfully righteous directions.  This new category feels like a shorter hurdler being put on the race course for fluff films to clear.  Because of the comic film landscape and the Disney puppet strings behind-the-scenes, Black Panther is being labeled as a beneficiary of such a new award.  Don’t tell that to Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman.  Relayed by friend-of-the-podcast Emmanuel Noisette of The Movie Blog through LA Times and Hollywood Reporter sources, Marvel czar Kevin Feige and Boseman support the studio’s efforts to aim for the top prize and not the popular one.  Bozeman outlines a challenge for voters expressing: 

What is the difficulty of the thing that you did? And do people appreciate what you did; the quality of it, the difficulty of it. What we did was very difficult. Because we created a world. We created a culture. It doesn’t exist in a world that you already know. It’s a world that we had to completely…we had to create a religion, a spirituality, a politics.  We had to create an accent. We had to pull from different cultures to create clothing styles and hair styles. It’s very much like a period piece[…] So you can’t honor any period piece that you ever did, technically, more than you can this one. So as far as that’s concerned, I dare any movie to try to compare to the difficulty of this one.

I absolutely love that statement. You’ll hear Emmanuel and I talk about this within the Feelin’ Film Discussion Group on Facebook, but, more and more, we see room for the objective to be valued equal, if not higher, to the subjective when it comes to rating, ranking, and scoring films for review or awards contention.  I support that notion 100%.

LESSON #6: SPEAKING OF RECOGNIZING DIFFICULTY, MAYBE IT’S TIME WE CALL GENRES “DISCIPLINES” INSTEAD OF THE ORIGINAL TERM THAT HAS BECOME ATTACHED TO STIGMAS— Despite matching the definition of being of a different story type, the adjective of “genre” and term “genre film” have acquired negative connotations over these decades of blockbuster filmmaking.  It’s become a scarlet letter of supposedly fantasy and childish things that get looked down upon as lesser than some gilded ideal of theatrical drama and thespian brilliance.  This is where a guy like Ethan Hawke can be seen as the opposite of Chadwick Boseman from Lesson #5.  Instead of seeing what most of the masses see as the genre label pigeonholing superhero films, the First Reformed actor came out to call them “overpraised.”  I’m a firm believer that there is indeed true art to be found in ANY film genre, even the comfort food and dream fulfillment of comic book films.  Like Boseman alluded to, genre films like superhero films have their own unique degree of difficulty, one worthy of respect and admiration.  For me, I beginning to think of different “genres” of films to be more like martial arts disciplines.  Think of defensive karate versus the whirl of kung-fu or submissions of Brazilian jiu-jitsu.  Each are unique for their movement, execution, and overall purpose.  Each take a different degree of difficulty, skill sets, and work effort.  I think it’s time to put different film genres on that kind of plane.  I’m going to add “genre” to my personal list of “banned” words in film reviews, joining words like “great” and “masterpiece.”  I want to value what I’m talking about higher.


DON SHANAHAN is a Chicago-based film critic writing on his website Every Movie Has a Lesson and also on Medium.com where he is one of the 50 “Top Writers” in the Movies category.  As an educator by day, Don writes his movie reviews with life lessons in mind, from the serious to the farcical. He is a proud director and one of the founders of the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle.  As a contributor here on Feelin’ Film now for over a year, he’s going to expand those lessons to current movie news and trends while chipping in with guest spots and co-hosting duties, including the special “Connecting with Classics” podcast program.  Find “Every Movie Has a Lesson” on Facebook, Twitter, and Medium to follow his work.

What We Learned This Week: May 27-June 2

LESSON #1: MATCHES MADE IN HEAVEN— After rumors had been swirling for months, Slumdog Millionaire Academy Award winner Danny Boyle has been confirmed to direct the 25th James Bond film.  Daniel Craig will star and production will begin before the end of this year.  Word is Boyle’s go-to Trainspotting writer John Hodge pitched a screenplay idea the producers enjoyed, which will bump Neal Purvis and Robert Wade from their six-film and 16-year run as the long-time franchise screenwriters.  Not that Bond was getting stale, but the Boyle/Hodge tonic of energy and wit couldn’t be a better fit for elevating the franchise and Craig’s performances.  Another ideal match this week came with the announced casting of Jamie Foxx to step into the chains and cape of Al Simmons in a new film attempt from at Todd McFarlane’s comic staple Spawn.  The Ray Oscar winner has the right intensity, chops, and stature to elevate this film from the joke it was over 20 years ago with its first film.  Universal Pictures-backed Blumhouse Productions (Get Out, Whiplash, Insidious, The Purge) is perfect nest as well.  The one drawback is McFarlane insisting on directing.  He should really defer to experienced hand.

LESSON #2: MATCHES NOT QUITE MADE IN HEAVEN— Eyebrows were raised and heads were scratched this week when director Zack Snyder answered a social media question of what’s next for him with the answer of adapting Ayn Rand’s 1947 tome The Fountainhead. While nothing has been confirmed, for most armchair film producers and studio executives online (i.e. public fans), the Snyder M.O. of style doesn’t exactly match the visions and fiction of Rand.  I don’t care what their name is, from Martin Scorsese or Todd Haynes filming children’s novels or Patty Jenkins making a comic book film, directors can’t branch out, evolve, grow their talent, or spread their wings without the opportunities to do so.  I’ll be the kind of guy that says “give the guy a chance.”

LESSON #3: JAMES CAMERON IS A HYPOCRITE, BUT A REVOLUTIONARY HYPOCRITE— Another week passing on the calendar in 2018 equals another provocative entry of James Cameron industry commentary.  Speaking at an event in Australia, Cameron railed against the “disservice” that is the studio cash grab of converting films to 3D in post-production instead shooting them in full 3D intentionally like his own Avatar film.  Mind you, this is the same man who post-converted his own Titanic to make more money and pad his stats.  Cameron may be a phony talker, but he’s still a true radical pioneer looking for the next big thing.  He followed his admonishing words with his Avatar sequel goals of creating and capitalizing on glasses-free 3D.  If he pulls that off, he can bluff all he wants because he’ll talk the talk and walk the walk with that magical dazzlement.

LESSON #4: LEAVE SOME THINGS AS TIME CAPSULES AND TRIBUTES TO DIFFERENT ERAS— Ten years of pre-production musical chairs to remake James O’Barr’s graphic novel The Crow lost another song and set of players.  Financial woes have led Sony Pictures to call off the latest remake attempt planned by young director Corin Hardy (The Hallow) and motivated chosen star Jason Momoa.  Sure, today’s cinematic capabilities could make a heck of a film and Momoa is stellar dark hero type, but there’s something about the mystique of all things The Crow that belongs in the past.  The original 1989 mini-series and the ill-fated 1994 film feel like thematic testimonies for then not now.  Even with a Logan-like R-rating, The Crow wouldn’t play popularly or to the same effect today.  I say leave it as a monument to the era and the late Brandon Lee.  Along the same lines, please someone stop Kevin Smith and stick a fork in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot shooting this summer.  Now that’s something that belongs in the past.  That schtick was funny when they were in their twenties and has diminished ever since.  Watching Smith and Jason Mewes now in their forties likely dropping the same dated man-child snark is not going to go well.  Can you imagine if these two ended up as the next Lemmon and Matthau busting each other’s balls 40 years from now in their eighties?  Please no.  Leave Jay and Silent Bob buried.

LESSON #5: SOME TIME CAPSULES DESERVE TO BE OPENED— Going back a decade even earlier than the 1990s, I know I was one of many stoked by Tom Cruise’s tweet on Thursday declaring #Day1 to the long-desired and much-anticipated Top Gun: Maverick sequel, slated for a July 12, 2019 release.  As the years of Mission: Impossible films have shown (including Mission: Impossible – Fallout later this July), Tom Cruise remains an nearly-ageless action hero.  I also trust the top-shelf brand of action capable from director Joseph Kosinski (Tron: LegacyOblivionOnly the Brave).  Nostalgia rules and they can pull this off.  This will be worth the 33 years of unearthed dirt (or at least I hope so).


DON SHANAHAN is a Chicago-based film critic writing on his website Every Movie Has a Lesson.  As an elementary educator by day, Don writes his movie reviews with life lessons in mind, from the serious to the farcical.  He is a proud member and one of the founders of the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle.  As a contributor here on Feelin’ Film, he’s going to expand those lessons to current movie news and trends.  Find “Every Movie Has a Lesson” on FacebookTwitter, and Medium.

 

Aaron’s Top 100 Movies (2018 Edition)

In 2017, I created my first ever Top 100 Movies list. Many gray hairs formed, I’m sure, as I sat trying to distinguish between beloved films. It’s been almost a year since that list was published and I’ve now seen quite a few more classic films that managed to find their way into my heart and onto this list. As is the case for most folks, 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. My hope is that 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 most.

Note: For the purposes of this list, any film with an asterisk (*) after it represents its series or trilogy. The arrows and number after them specify a film’s movement since the last edition of this list, in this case 2017.

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 It’s a Wonderful Life 1
#3 Casablanca 31
#4 12 Angry Men 1
#5 The Princess Bride 1
#6 Interstellar 3
#7 La La Land 5
#8 Jaws 4
#9 Before Sunrise * 1
#10 Blade Runner * 1
#11 The Prestige 4
#12 Full Metal Jacket NEW NEW
#13 Alien 5
#14 Toy Story * NEW NEW
#15 Top Gun 1
#16 The Last of the Mohicans 1
#17 Jurassic Park 4
#18 Mary Poppins 60
#19 Raiders of the Lost Ark 14
#20 The Wizard of Oz 20
#21 The Dark Knight 1
#22 2001: A Space Odyssey 7
#23 Singin’ in the Rain 8
#24 Vertigo 6
#25 Scott Pilgrim vs. the World 6
#26 Citizen Kane 18
#27 Inception
#28 Star Wars 44
#29 Rear Window NEW NEW
#30 Almost Famous 2
#31 The Silence of the Lambs 55
#32 The Nightmare Before Christmas 6
#33 Rashomon 36
#34 Fight Club 36
#35 Gone with the Wind 4
#36 The Sound of Music 25
#37 Lawrence of Arabia NEW NEW
#38 Sleeping Beauty NEW NEW
#39 The Exorcist 27
#40 The Social Network 1
#41 The Shawshank Redemption 18
#42 All About Eve NEW NEW
#43 Scream 19
#44 The Bridge on the River Kwai 9
#45 My Neighbor Totoro 9
#46 The Empire Strikes Back 11
#47 Unforgiven 9
#48 The Godfather 37
#49 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington 26
#50 Tombstone 13
#51 Gladiator 14
#52 The Lion King 11
#53 The Thin Red Line NEW NEW
#54 The Iron Giant 9
#55 Seven Samurai 12
#56 McCabe & Mrs. Miller NEW NEW
#57 Die Hard 26
#58 Your Name. 42
#59 Children of Men 38
#60 Aliens 24
#61 Back to the Future 19
#62 Network NEW NEW
#63 Apocalypse Now 19
#64 Beauty and the Beast 23
#65 Monty Python and the Holy Grail 18
#66 National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation NEW NEW
#67 Memento 9
#68 The Right Stuff 3
#69 Reality Bites NEW NEW
#70 Black Hawk Down NEW NEW
#71 The Blair Witch Project 25
#72 Ex Machina 16
#73 Dead Poets Society NEW NEW
#74 3:10 to Yuma 3
#75 The NeverEnding Story 20
#76 The Incredibles 25
#77 Les Miserables NEW NEW
#78 Whiplash 28
#79 Groundhog Day 3
#80 Hell or High Water 13
#81 Into the Wild 21
#82 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest 34
#83 Warrior NEW NEW
#84 The Cabin in the Woods 59
#85 Moon 1
#86 Drive 59
#87 The Red Shoes NEW NEW
#88 Reservoir Dogs 34
#89 War For the Planet of the Apes NEW NEW
#90 The Shining 10
#91 Se7en NEW NEW
#92 The Wailing 13
#93 The Departed 41
#94 The Exorcism of Emily Rose 2
#95 Fargo 12
#96 Stalker NEW NEW
#97 Pacific Rim 42
#98 Arrival NEW NEW
#99 Silence 1
#100 The Perks of Being a Wallflower NEW NEW

Dropped Out: Armageddon, Batman Begins, Dr. Strangelove, Equilibrium, Finding Nemo, Forrest Gump, Gravity, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Inside Llewyn Davis, Kill Bill: Vol. 1, No Country For Old Men, Pan’s Labyrinth, Platoon, Psycho, Pulp Fiction, Serenity, Short Term 12, The Breakfast Club, The Place Beyond the Pines, True Grit (2010), Young Frankenstein

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 how his expectations influenced his experience. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter to be notified when new content is posted.

Episode 057: Top Gun

This week we are flying into the danger zone for a discussion about Top Gun. We’ve also called in our wingman, and joining us for the first time ever is very special guest Josh Larsen from the Filmspotting podcast and Think Christian. It’s true, this film is a macho Navy recruiting ad, but it’s got some depth. Come play with the boys as we unpack all this classic has to offer.

Top Gun Review – 0:04:54

The Connecting Point – 0:48:22

Josh Larsen

Twitter – @larsenonfilm

Website – https://www.filmspotting.net / http://www.larsenonfilm.com

https://thinkchristian.reframemedia.com/about/contributors/josh-larsen

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Intro/Outro Music – “Air Hockey Saloon” by Chris Zabriskie

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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