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.

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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.