+13
Kind of surprised to see Halloween. It's really good in the horror film genre (imagine Jaws, but with a serial killer instead of a shark), but I thought it wouldn't show up here especially in the top half. Donald Pleasance is memorable as Dr. Loomis and Jamie Lee Curtis offers a strong presence as Laurie Strode. And much like Jaws, Halloween benefits from limiting the amount of time Michael Myers shows up so when he does, it's impactful. Plus, it doesn't try to explain who Myers is other than he's pure evil.
Unforgiven is strong. Clint Eastwood feels at home in the western genre and Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman's characters are memorable as well. Even though I felt similar themes were done a bit better by The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Unforgiven still does a fine job.
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is for my money the best of the trilogy, because it doesn't take too long to get started and it doesn't take too long to end it. But your mileage may vary because I saw the extended versions and I might have nodded off a bit. But, I got the gist of the story. I do think it helped that its blend of practical effects to CGI was fairly high.
Schindler's List is very good, a rumination on one man's efforts to save the lives of others in World War 2 with his factory operated by Jewish workers, through cleverness and bribes. It can be a very sad movie at times, but it also offers hope.
Schindler's List, Halloween and Unforgiven probably make my top 100, but none of them made it to my top 25.