Daniel's 150 favourite films so far

I am 17 years old and only started watching films 'seriously' last year, when I signed up to this community and started viewing much more films, with a much wider range than I had before. I do not consider myself to be anywhere near as experienced in terms of film watching as many of the members here, despite watching a lot more films last year than any other year in my life, I still have a watchlist that consists of almost 700 titles and is always getting bigger, and I am yet to see the work of a lot of renowned directors such as Fellini, Bergman and Tarkovskiy. So why am I making this thread/list? Well, 2013 will be my second year of serious film watching which will hopefully be as enjoyable as the last, but I thought it would be fun to reflect on what I have enjoyed so far and give you guys a look at my personal tastes, although I doubt many of my choices will be that surprising to those who know me well.

I have been putting this list together for about a month now. Most of these titles have been favourites for a while and I have seen on multiple occasions. You might complain that a lot of the titles I have only recently seen but due to the sheer amount of films I watch I try to rate films relative to how I felt with others on a first-viewing basis. A lot of the films I found extremely difficult to separate and within reason can move up/down a few positions.

Seeing as it is 150 films I am going to list as opposed to 100, I will try and get through the first 50 quite swiftly, I hope you enjoy my list.


150 - The Usual Suspects (Bryan Singer, 1995)

149 - The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock, 1963)

148 - Road to Perdition (Sam Mendes, 2002)

147 - Planet of the Apes (Franklin J. Schaffner, 1968)

146 - Spider-Man 2 (Sam Raimi, 2004)


145 - Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Steve Box, Nick Park, 2005)

144 - Sydney/Hard Eight (Paul Thomas Anderson, 1996)

143 - Monsters, Inc. (Pete Docter, David Silverman, Lee Unkrich, 2001)

142 - Snatch. (Guy Ritchie, 2000)

141 - Finding Nemo (Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich, 2003)


140 - E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 1982)

139 - The Matrix (Wachowski Siblings, 1999)

138 - Platoon (Oliver Stone, 1986)

137 - The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)

136 - Ratatouille (Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava, 2007)


135 - Donnie Brasco (Mike Newell, 1997)

134 - Boyz n the Hood (John Singleton, 1991)

133 - Raising Arizona (Coen Brothers, 1987)

132 - The Terminator (James Cameron, 1984)

131 - Terminator 2: Judgement Day (James Cameron, 1991)

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Looking forward to this Daniel 150 is a quiet a heft number but if the quality of films stay constant they'll probably all be worth it

From this first set TUS, The Birds, and Rataouille are the ones I really enjoyed. I like Monsters Inc, The Tree of Life, and The Matrix well enough.

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Kudos for The Terminator.

Cheers, I reckon the quality from around 150-60 is very similar, then the top 60 are all films that I personally find to be truly great and enjoyable.

Cheers, judging off your own list, I think you should enjoy mine especially as we get further in

I love The Usual Suspects, both Terminators, E.T., Snatch, Platoon, and Donnie Brasco. I really enjoyed The Birds, Boyz in the Hood, Spider Man 2, Raising Arizona and The Matrix. None there I don't like as I didn't see the rest. Looking forward to the rest!

The only thing I haven't seen your list so far is The Tree of Life. I either really like or love the rest.

Ratatouille, Finding Nemo, and Spiderman 2 are my favorites thus far.

Nice start.

Out of curiosity, how would you rate the movies from your first set? Because I wouldn't be happy putting a movie on any kind of personal list without it getting at least a from me, and I can't cobble together a top 50 I'm satisfied with, let alone a top 150.

The Terminator (1984) > Terminator 2 (1991)

that's good, we were born in almost the same time,so our tastes might be a bit similar because of that.

I'm glad that you shared it,now I will be able to stalk you in IMDB My watchlist is about 70 titles mainly because I don't like to put a lot of films there as it's harder to choose which to watch later.

Anyway,I'm looking forward to the the list

All or , from the first 50 films there will be some which are slightly less well rated in terms of quality but I just enjoyed more. Like I said I haven't seen as many 'great films' as others and I wanted to make this list as a reflection of what I feel so far after about a year of watching films properly. Cheers for all the comments guys

Congrats on starting your list Daniel. Looking forward to what you have in store for us.

Of that first set quite a lot I love, including all of these films which also made my list - Usual Suspects, Planet of the Apes, Spider-Man 2, Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc, Matrix, Raising Arizona, Terminator and Terminator 2. Just a few that I've not seen and one brutal disappointment in The Birds.

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+ rep for The Usual Suspects, Monsters, Inc., E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Platoon, Donnie Brasco, Boyz n the Hood and The Terminator.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

130 - Lars and the Real Girl (Craig Gillespie, 2007)

I did a review of this film pretty recently in my reviews thread. Fans of this film should know exactly why this film appears on such a list, it is a warm and enjoyable film, a heart warming and touching film that although stretches plausibility at times, has a human message at its centre.

129 - Argo (Ben Affleck, 2012)
also representing The Town

Having only seen Argo recently, this is probably the first inclusion where viewers of the list will be thinking to themselves 'what? but Argo only came out recently, how can he include it in his list?'. Aside from my opening post explanation where I say do not be surprised to see such titles on a first viewing enjoyability basis, Argo might turn out to be this year's Best Picture winner so why should I exclude it? As well as this film, I also really enjoyed Affleck's The Town which narrowly missed out on this list, so this inclusion pretty much represents how I have definitely enjoyed the start of Affleck's directing career and how I look forward to future films from him.

128 - Shadow of a Doubt (Alfred Hitchcock, 1943)

Hitchcock's personal favourite film works extremely as a suspenseful thriller, largely due to a fantastic performance from Joseph Cotton as the haunting and mysterious Uncle Charlie. Although I do not rate this film as highly as other titles from the director which you will eventually see in this list, one of the reasons why I liked it was because the plot and the main character was almost the opposite as to what we now normally associate with Hitchcock, a loveable innocent character falsely accused who has to prove himself not guilty.

127 - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2000)

I have not seen much love for this film around here, so I am not sure whether this will prove a popular choice or not, but for me this was a magical film that created a world so enchanting and beautiful. There is a fantastic balance of romance and love with action and adventure, with some incredibly well done scenes, fantastic directing from Ang Lee.

126 - From Russia with Love (Terence Young, 1963)

125 - Goldfinger (Guy Hamilton, 1964)

Two films that can be watched back to back here, made in consecutive years, and my two favourite 'classic' Bond films. As a kid growing up I had a video set of all the bond films, and thanks to Sky I have recently been able to watch most of them again. Whilst there are films such as Live and Let Die which I love just as much, that is mainly down to nostalgic reasons and the campiness that Moore brings to Bond where as these two have the serious Sean Connery playing Bond at his best.

124 - Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942)

123 - Schindler's List (Steven Spielberg, 1993)

I am going to do one paragraph for both of these films too, because I feel that both of them are films of fantastic quality and if judged solely on that could of been higher, and are the type of films that you would find on a lot of people's lists. Casablanca is an enjoyable romance with a delightful script, and Schindler's List is an extremely powerful and masterfully directed film. I would have almost definitely included the latter more higher had I not seen it last quite a long time ago now, the same can be said for E.T..

122 - The Killing (Stanley Kubrick, 1963)

An enjoyable film noir that although pales in comparison to Kubrick's later films, is still very good and watchable despite its flaws, with signs of a great director clearly evident.

121 - High Noon (Fred Zinnemann, 1952)

I am a massive fan of Westerns which I am sure will become clear the further I go on, and although not one of my favourites, High Noon is still a great film that is both quality in terms of direction and enjoyable. The characters are great, and the film is finely created to generate great suspense with everything finally coming together once the train finally arrives. I would also like to say that I have only seen two other Zinnemann films, A Man for All Seasons and The Day of the Jackal, and I found both to be very well made films and enjoyable films.

Argo, Schindlers List, The Killing, Casablanca

Lars and The Real Girl

Quite a few there I've not seen.

Love Lars and the Real Girl and Goldfinger (another two also on my list), and also a fan of From Russia With Love and Crouching Tiger. Shadow of a Doubt is good but not a personal favourite when it comes to Hitch's films. And Casablanca just left me completely cold, did nothing for me whatsoever.

Shadow Of A Doubt is a great film. After Psycho, it's my favourite Hitchcock film.

With every film in this set made in the 21st century, it is bound to raise a few eyebrows, don't worry, I've tried to include more recent favourites just on the outside of my top 100!


120 - Holy Motors (Leos Carax, 2012)

One of the strangest film experiences in my recent memory, what it is about is hard to put down on paper. A mysterious man drifts between different 'appointments' that really do vary in what exactly he has to do, Lavant is superb, the costumes are fantastic, this film is a bizzare experienced which had me entertained from the opening strange cinema scenes to the very end of Oscar's fascinating journey.

119 - Killing Them Softly (Andrew Dominik, 2012)

I love crime films, and I love Brad Pitt, and I love The Sopranos, so is it really surprising that I loved this film? Probably not. The film is brutal, cold, and will certainly not be for everyone. There is a grim, pessimistic outlook on not only the criminal world that the characters inhabit, but America as a whole. Brad Pitt and James Gandolfini are superb, you can read my full review here.

118 - Life of Pi (Ang Lee, 2012)

I watched this extremely recently, but I was just so blown away by what is definitely a fantastic film that I felt I had to include it. If there is going to be an upset in the Best Picture category at the Oscars then I really hope this is it, seeing as Lee also has a Best Director nomination. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon appeared in the previous set and shares similar qualities with this film in the way it kept me engaged and fascinated by the magical world Lee creates through fantastic visuals and a great story at the heart of it.

117 - The King's Speech (Tom Hooper, 2010)

This film is a great example of how to create a fantastic historical drama. Masterfully directed, tensions is built up superbly with a superb performance from Firth, straightforward but powerful, a great film.

116 - The Royal Tenebaums (Wes Anderson, 2001)

This film seems to divide people around here, some love it and some hate it, and whilst I do not pretend it is the greatest thing ever, for me it was a great film that I thoroughly enjoyed from Anderson. It is not my favourite but I really do love this film, a great all round cast with particularly great performances from Paltrow and Hackman.

115 - Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson, 2012)

Watched this recently and I would place it just above The Royal Tenenbaums in terms of class,a delightful and enjoyable film, one of my 2012 favourites as explained in my full recent review.

114 - The Simpsons Movie (David Silverman, 2007)

I love The Simpsons although I have not actually seen that many episodes, but I thought that as a single film this was great, extremely funny as you would expect and the story/narrative stays strong and enjoyable throughout.

113 - How to Train Your Dragon (Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders, 2010)

I am a sucker for animated films and find myself enjoying most of them, so you will see a few on this list. How to Train Your Dragon is on of my favourite Dreamworks animations, not only is it great visually, with delightful dragons (particularly the main one), but it also has an enjoyable story at its centre, a bit soppy/childish perhaps, but I loved it

112 - Casino Royale (Martin Campbell, 2006)

111 - Skyfall (Sam Mendes, 2012)

A paragraph for both of these Bond films, my two favourites are three of the latest two. When I watched Casino Royale I loved it instantly, a fantastic introduction to the series for Daniel Craig, going back to the start of Bond works extremely well, the film is crafted superbly with a fantastic poker game and great direction to build suspense. Skyfall is very different in its style, but I think it is slightly more enjoyable overall. Another favourite of 2012, Mendes does a great job of giving me, at least, everything that I love about Bond, you can read my full review here.

The Kings Speech and Moonrise Kingdom are filled with tons of great performances. The Kings Speech was like 11 on my top 100 (wouldn't be near that now but it's a great movie).

The Simpsons Movie is funny, I used to love that show, a lot.

You already know I love How to Train Your Dragon. I also really like Moonrise Kingdom and The King's Speech· I watched The King's Speech for the second time last week and I think it's one I'll watch many times in the future.