Aaron’s Top 100 Movies (2018 Edition)

Posted on by Aaron White.

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.

Aaron’s Top 100 Movies (2017 Edition)

Posted on by Aaron White.

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