The Final Countdown: BOT's Top 100 Movies of All-Time - The List is Complete, The Empire is Dead, I Now Go to the Grey Havens

[DAR]

2 minutes ago, TalismanRing said:

 Triumph of The Will or Hamlet? 

Show Dogs

[The Panda]

 

Number 15

Schindler's List (1993)

Universal Pictures, Directed by Steven Spielberg (118 Points, 29 Votes)

 

"Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire."

 

Top 5 Placements: 2

Top 10 Placements: 4

Top 25 Placements: 14

Previous Rankings: 2016 (10, -5), 2014 (15, No Change), 2013 (10, -5), 2012 (21, +6)

Awards Count: Won 7 Oscars, including Best Picture

Tomatometer: 97% (9.0 Avg Rating)

Box Office: 96.1m (210.6m Adjusted)

Synopsis: In German-occupied Poland during World War II, Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazi Germans.

Critic Opinion: "For this film Spielberg has done the best directing of his career. Much of his previous work has been clever and some of it better than that, but Schindler’s List is masterly. He has, with appropriate restraint, shot it in black and white (except for two closing sequences in color). Janusz Kaminski’s superb cinematography uses shadows like prosody—illuminates with shadows. Michael Kahn has edited with intensity and line, never breathless, always fast. (One demurral: the intercutting between a Jewish wedding in a camp, a wild German officers’ party and a German officer’s boudoir romp is heavy.) John Williams has arranged a score, with Itzhak Perlman doing violin solos, that for the most part is quiet: Jewish melodies on woodwinds or a small children’s chorus under scenes of inhumanity.

 

Still, this film is a welcome astonishment from a director who has given us much boyish esprit, much ingenuity, but little seriousness. His stark, intelligent style here, perfectly controlled, suggests that this may be the start of a new period in Spielberg’s prodigious career—Part Two: The Man."  - Stanley Kauffman

User Opinions: "Even though I've seen this movie far fewer times than anything else in my all-time top ten, it's undeniably powerful and unforgettable. As great as Spielberg is with popcorn entertainment, his stark approach with this film is just right, and it's hard to think of other films that have struck as much of an emotional chord within me as this one. With all due respect to Tom Hanks and Tommy Lee Jones, I think that Liam Neeson and (especially) Ralph Fiennes were robbed of Oscar love."  - @Webslinger

 

"Well done film with it's black and white style but also very realistic and dark depiction of the holocaust and has well done acting by Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler and a terrifying performance by Ralph Fiennes."  - @Maxmoser3

 

"I am reminded just how long it's been since I last saw SL.  I am thinking back to the time NBC aired it unedited.  The Year was 1997.  Wow, time flies because that the last time I saw what is one of Spielberg's very best."  - @lilmac

Commentary: Of all of the Steven Spielberg movies, Schindler's List is easy the least Spielbergian.  Spielberg hones in his craft for this film to really do justice to the subject matter, he never gives in to his sentimentalistic tendencies, plays the film rather straight, and ends up crafting a true masterwork that looks like it could be a classic of old, yet with a slight modern flair to it all.  John Williams works in sync with Spielberg, as he always does, and also keeps his score tame, which ends up turning into perhaps Williams' most moving music of any film he composed for.  The film is heartbreaking, but it never goes over the top, never beats you over the head with melodramatic sadness, instead it simply attempts to capture an unreal and horrific event, and display how some of the good of humanity can still shine in the darkness.  It's the most realistic depiction of the holocaust of any movie I've seen, and that's what makes the whole ordeal puncture a little bit more.  The film also features, in my opinion, the greatest straight scene of all-time with the girl in scene.  Schindler's List made 48% of the lists that were submitted and had an average score of 4.1 from each of those lists.

Decade Count: 90s (23), 10s (15), '00s (13), 80s (12), 70s (9), 60s (6), 50s (4), 40s (3), 30s (1)

Tomatometer Count: Over 90% (68), 80%-90% (12), 70%-80% (3)

Adjusted Box Office Count: 1b+ (3), 900m (2), 800m (1), 700m (3), 600m (2), 500m (2), 400m (9), 300m (8), 200m (13), 100m (16), Under 100m (25)

Director Count: Steven Spielberg (6), Alfred Hitchcock (3), James Cameron (3), Ridley Scott (3), Martin Scorsese (3), Damien Chazelle (2), Francis Ford Copolla (2), David Fincher (2), Stanley Kubrick (2), John Lasseter (2), Sergio Leone (2), Richard Linklater (2), John McTiernan (2), Hayao Miyazaki (2), Christopher Nolan (2), Andrew Stanton (2), Lee Unkrich (2), J.J. Abrams (1), Roger Allers (1), Paul Thomas Anderson (1), John Avildsen (1), Brad Bird (1), Ash Brannon (1), Frank Capra (1), Ron Clements (1), Joel and Ethan Coen (1), Alfonso Cuaron (1), Michael Curtiz (1), Jonathan Demme (1), Stanley Donen (1), Frank Darabont (1), Pete Docter (1), Clint Eastwood (1), Victor Fleming (1), Milos Forman (1), Terry Gillam (1), Rian Johnson (1), Terry Jones (1), Gene Kelly (1), Akira Kurosawa (1), David Lean (1), Ang Lee (1), Spike Lee (1), Katia Lund (1), James Mangold (1), Michael Mann (1), Richard Marquand (1), Fernando Meirelles (1), George Miller (1), Rob Minkoff (1), John Musker (1), Jordan Peele (1), Roman Polanski (1), Harold Ramis (1), Rob Reiner (1), Russo Brothers (1), Gus van Sant (1), Bryan Singer (1), Isao Takahata (1), Quentin Tarantino (1), Guillermo Del Torro (1), Gary Trousdale (1), King Vidor (1), Orson Welles (1), Peter Weir (1), Robert Wise (1), David Yates (1), Robert Zemeckis (1)

Franchise Count: Best Picture Winner (13), Pixar (7), Steven Spielberg (6), James Cameron (3), Star Wars (3), Toy Story (3), Alien and Predator (3), Studio Ghibli (3), WDAS (3), Dead Wife Cinematic Universe/Nolan (2), Marvel (2), 'Before' (1), Blade Runner (1), Monty Python (1), X-Men (1), MCU (1), Captain America (1), Terminator (1), Die Hard (1), Harry Potter (1), Rocky (1), Oz (1), Indiana Jones (1), Nemo (1), The Godfather (1), Dollars (1), Hannibal (1), Mad Max (1), Jurassic Park (1), Jaws (1)

Genre Count: Drama (34), Adventure (29), VFX Driven (26), Thriller (22), Sci-Fi (21), Fantasy (21), Epic (20), Comedy (19), Action (18), Family/Children (17), Period Piece (16), Novel Adaption (16), Romance (14), Animation (13), Crime/Noir (13), Sequel (12), Indie (11), Horror (11), Tragedy (11), War (11), Musical (7), Foreign Language (6), Cult Classic (5), Western (5), Melodrama (4), Romantic Comedy (4), Spy/Detective (4), Bio-Pic (4), Christmas (3), Sports (3), Superhero (3), Comic Book (2), Satire (2), Remake (2)

 

 

 

 

Edited May 21, 2018 by Auteur Panda

[DAR]

Schindler’s List is an amazing achievement in film.  It is emotionally draining and difficult to watch, which is why I haven’t seen it in its entirety since I saw it in theaters sometime since 1994

[aabattery]

The Berg is schooling all the other directors now. He'll have 7 films on here once you add in Raiders.

[The Panda]

2 minutes ago, DAR said:

Schindler’s List is an amazing achievement in film.  It is emotionally draining and difficult to watch, which is why I haven’t seen it in its entirety since I saw it in theaters sometime since 1994

I personally don't think there's a scene that is able to top the power, artisty and tragedy that's in the Girl in the Red Dress sequence.  The movie as a whole is phenomenal, but it's that sequence that really makes it one of the top 5 greatest films imo.

[Arlborn]

Schindler’s List is truly one of the very few movies that just shouldn't be absent from any real top 100 lists.

 

Edited May 21, 2018 by Arlborn

[Empire]

Schindler’s List is an A+ film, but it didn’t make my list because it has 0 rewatchability to me. 

[MrGamer]

93 was a great year for the Berg with Schindler's List and Jurassic Park. 

[narniadis]

A fantastic film. I echo the call that this one should be on a top 100 no matter what else shows up.

[The Panda]

 

Number 14

Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)

TriStar Pictures, Directed by James Cameron (123 Points, 26 Votes)

 

"Come with me if you want to live!"

 

Number 1 Placements: 1

Top 5 Placements: 5

Top 10 Placements: 7

Top 25 Placements: 12

Previous Rankings: 2016 (25, +11), 2014 (33, +19), 2013 (12, -2), 2012 (16, +2)

Awards Count: Won 4 Oscars

Tomatometer: 92% (8.4 Avg Rating)

Box Office: 204.8m (445.7m Adjusted, 99m short of 100m for the 3D re-release)

Synopsis: A cyborg, identical to the one who failed to kill Sarah Connor, must now protect her teenage son, John Connor, from a more advanced and powerful cyborg.

Critic Opinion: "“Terminator 2: Judgment Day” solidified Schwarzenegger’s standing as one of the most unlikely (and most popular) action movie heroes ever. Its massive success gave Cameron the juice to secure increasingly enormous budgets for ever-more ambitious projects, including “Titanic” (which almost sank his career before becoming an Oscar-winning, billion-dollar plus sensation) and eventually the “Avatar” franchise. And Hamilton’s Sarah and Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley five years earlier in “Aliens” (directed by Cameron) were the prototype action heroines.

 

Even though this movie was made nearly 30 years ago, almost nothing about it feels dated. The special effects are badass. The plot about a nuclear holocaust brought about by blind corporate greed, the uncertainty about whether humankind will have a future — these are hardly things we have trouble relating to in 2017.  It’s nearly impossible to overstate the importance of “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” as a creative work and as an influential chapter in Hollywood history." - Richard Roeper

User Opinions: "Glad I got to watch this in cinema (last year), intro was jaw dropping on the big screen.

 

Sorta related... I'm excited for Tim Millers new Terminator. It's going back to hard sci fi."  - @IronJimbo

 

"The first was terrific, this is bigger and better in ever way.  That takes nothing away from the original as it is also in my top 100." - @baumer

 

"I think some people can complain 90s action movies don't age that well, but this one holds up amazingly.

 

A Classic" - @Lordmandeep

Commentary: Maybe IronJimbo will jump with glee, or maybe he will meltdown a little given his insistence that this would make the top 10, but hey it got pretty close!  Terminator 2 takes the high concept from the first film and up's the stakes a few degrees, while throwing in two killer robots!  I still remember my shock when Arnold was a good robot now, and that there was an even bigger bad robot to deal with.  Not to forget, Sarah Conner goes from a bit of a damsel character to an all out bad-ass in this flick, a true character transformation that makes complete sense given what she went through in the first movie.  Terminator 2 perfects what James Cameron had already perfected in the first movie, and he should have ended the series here, because there'll never be a good Terminator installment again.

Decade Count: 90s (24), 10s (15), '00s (13), 80s (12), 70s (9), 60s (6), 50s (4), 40s (3), 30s (1)

Tomatometer Count: Over 90% (69), 80%-90% (12), 70%-80% (3)

Adjusted Box Office Count: 1b+ (3), 900m (2), 800m (1), 700m (3), 600m (2), 500m (2), 400m (10), 300m (8), 200m (13), 100m (16), Under 100m (25)

Director Count: Steven Spielberg (6), James Cameron (4), Alfred Hitchcock (3), Ridley Scott (3), Martin Scorsese (3), Damien Chazelle (2), Francis Ford Copolla (2), David Fincher (2), Stanley Kubrick (2), John Lasseter (2), Sergio Leone (2), Richard Linklater (2), John McTiernan (2), Hayao Miyazaki (2), Christopher Nolan (2), Andrew Stanton (2), Lee Unkrich (2), J.J. Abrams (1), Roger Allers (1), Paul Thomas Anderson (1), John Avildsen (1), Brad Bird (1), Ash Brannon (1), Frank Capra (1), Ron Clements (1), Joel and Ethan Coen (1), Alfonso Cuaron (1), Michael Curtiz (1), Jonathan Demme (1), Stanley Donen (1), Frank Darabont (1), Pete Docter (1), Clint Eastwood (1), Victor Fleming (1), Milos Forman (1), Terry Gillam (1), Rian Johnson (1), Terry Jones (1), Gene Kelly (1), Akira Kurosawa (1), David Lean (1), Ang Lee (1), Spike Lee (1), Katia Lund (1), James Mangold (1), Michael Mann (1), Richard Marquand (1), Fernando Meirelles (1), George Miller (1), Rob Minkoff (1), John Musker (1), Jordan Peele (1), Roman Polanski (1), Harold Ramis (1), Rob Reiner (1), Russo Brothers (1), Gus van Sant (1), Bryan Singer (1), Isao Takahata (1), Quentin Tarantino (1), Guillermo Del Torro (1), Gary Trousdale (1), King Vidor (1), Orson Welles (1), Peter Weir (1), Robert Wise (1), David Yates (1), Robert Zemeckis (1)

Franchise Count: Best Picture Winner (13), Pixar (7), Steven Spielberg (6), James Cameron (4), Star Wars (3), Toy Story (3), Alien and Predator (3), Studio Ghibli (3), WDAS (3), Dead Wife Cinematic Universe/Nolan (2), Marvel (2), Terminator (2), 'Before' (1), Blade Runner (1), Monty Python (1), X-Men (1), MCU (1), Captain America (1), Die Hard (1), Harry Potter (1), Rocky (1), Oz (1), Indiana Jones (1), Nemo (1), The Godfather (1), Dollars (1), Hannibal (1), Mad Max (1), Jurassic Park (1), Jaws (1)

Genre Count: Drama (34), Adventure (29), VFX Driven (27), Thriller (23), Sci-Fi (22), Fantasy (21), Epic (20), Comedy (19), Action (19), Family/Children (17), Period Piece (16), Novel Adaption (16), Romance (14), Animation (13), Crime/Noir (13), Sequel (13), Horror (12), Indie (11), Tragedy (11), War (11), Musical (7), Foreign Language (6), Cult Classic (5), Western (5), Melodrama (4), Romantic Comedy (4), Spy/Detective (4), Bio-Pic (4), Christmas (3), Sports (3), Superhero (3), Comic Book (2), Satire (2), Remake (2)

 

 

 

 

[That One Girl]

Yoooo is Titanic the highest rated Cameron film  

[Fancyarcher]

[Fancyarcher]

Also Schindler's List is hard to watch, but it is amazing. Honestly I couldn't imagine this list without it. That Girl in the Red Dress sequence is about as good, powerful, and emotional as film gets. 

Edited May 21, 2018 by Fancyarcher

[dxmatrixdt]

the silly pretend attempts at doxing the current list, or calculating the final movies based on process of elimination could be anti-climactic.  I saw this coming when I ran a search on all the previous lists with The Prestige, but I did not look too close at other movies because I want to think everything still has to be voted in first.  Now James Cameron is at (4) and Christopher Nolan is at (2) and The Dark Knight and Titanic have yet to appear.  I really do not think Batman Begins stands a chance unless it got a ton of fan votes that would outrank The Dark Knight and top ten movies.  Also, people who see a lot of movies might have found 100 movies they like above Titanic and maybe Titanic didn't make it to this final list either?  I think a personal top 250 would be a very difficult thing to construct.

*but it looks like Spielberg will win with (6) ^^ from the latest 

Edited May 21, 2018 by Thematrixfilm

[Cap]

We have 13 spots left and 12 movies I can rattle off that haven't made it, but usually do.  This is gonna be fun.

[The Panda]

 

Number 13

Back to the Future (1985)

Universal Pictures, Directed by Robert Zemeckis (123 Points, 28 Votes)

 

"Roads?  Where we're going, we don't need roads!"

 

Number 1 Placements: 1

Top 5 Placements: 5

Top 10 Placements: 8

Top 25 Placements: 12

Previous Rankings: 2016 (19, +6), 2014 (16, +3), 2013 (13, No Change), 2012 (19, +6)

Awards Count: Won 1 Oscar

Tomatometer: 96% (8.7 Avg Rating)

Box Office: 210.6m (540.9m Adjusted)

Synopsis: Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent thirty years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown.

Critic Opinion: "Despite repeated asteroid threats, nuclear meltdowns, wars great and small and potentially species-eliminating plagues, we as a planet have finally made it. Happy ‘Back to the Future’ Day, everyone! October 21, 2015 is the day Doc and Marty jetted off to at the end of the first film: the dream destination for these experienced time travellers. What would the world be like so far in the future, everyone asked back in 1985? The answer came four years later in ‘Back to the Future 2’ and involved hoverboards (yep, we have those), ’80s nostalgia (check) and ‘Jaws 15’ (sadly, still in development hell). 

 

But how, on this momentous day, does the original ‘Back to the Future’ stack up? Pretty much perfectly, to be honest. Time has not blunted its fresh wit, Capraesque sweetness, effortless moebius-strip storytelling and endlessly charming performances one iota. There’s the odd you-wouldn’t-get-away-with-that-now moment – Marty (Michael J Fox) basically hatches a plan to sexually assault his own mum (Lea Thompson) in a car park, and there’s that scene where it turns out a white guy invented rock ’n’ roll after all. But overall this is every bit as classy, clever and cockle-warming as it was 30 years ago." - Tom Huddleston

User Opinion: "I’m gonna throw the gauntlet down and say: Back To The Future is the tightest, the most impeccable script ever written.
 
Everything the audience needs to know about the movie, we see and hear in the opening sequence.  Over a black screen we hear ticking clocks, already we know the entire film’s going to be about time.  As the camera pans over a wall of clock, we settle on a radio and hear an ad for a Sale on Toyotas, then the TV appears with a news report on stolen plutonium (possibly tied to a Lebanon terrorist group), then we see a series of fun inventions that half work, and then we pan down to OMG the Plutonium!, and finally the door to Doc Brown’s workshop opens and in walks a kid with a skateboard, Marty McFly."  - @captainwondyful

 

"One of the best feel good films of all time.  Amazing cast, terrific direction and a soundtrack to die for...that's the power of love, baby!" - @baumer

Commentary: Back to the Future comes into our list, as expected, and it's one of the most consistent performers on our list, always ranking right within this range every single year.  The film is timeless, still re-watched to this day, and by the nature of the plot, still as culturally relevant as ever (at least until the sequel mispredicting the future).  It's a hilarious and vastly entertaining film, with the time travel and high school antics, the film is universally accessible to anyone who stumbles into a seat for a viewing of this movie.  Everyone's seen it, I don't think there's anything I need to say to convince you that this movie is a rocking good time.  Back to the Future made 46% of the lists that were submitted with an average score of 4.4.

Decade Count: 90s (24), 10s (15), '00s (13), 80s (13), 70s (9), 60s (6), 50s (4), 40s (3), 30s (1)

Tomatometer Count: Over 90% (70), 80%-90% (12), 70%-80% (3)

Adjusted Box Office Count: 1b+ (3), 900m (2), 800m (1), 700m (3), 600m (2), 500m (3), 400m (10), 300m (8), 200m (13), 100m (16), Under 100m (25)

Director Count: Steven Spielberg (6), James Cameron (4), Alfred Hitchcock (3), Ridley Scott (3), Martin Scorsese (3), Damien Chazelle (2), Francis Ford Copolla (2), David Fincher (2), Stanley Kubrick (2), John Lasseter (2), Sergio Leone (2), Richard Linklater (2), John McTiernan (2), Hayao Miyazaki (2), Christopher Nolan (2), Andrew Stanton (2), Lee Unkrich (2), Robert Zemeckis (2), J.J. Abrams (1), Roger Allers (1), Paul Thomas Anderson (1), John Avildsen (1), Brad Bird (1), Ash Brannon (1), Frank Capra (1), Ron Clements (1), Joel and Ethan Coen (1), Alfonso Cuaron (1), Michael Curtiz (1), Jonathan Demme (1), Stanley Donen (1), Frank Darabont (1), Pete Docter (1), Clint Eastwood (1), Victor Fleming (1), Milos Forman (1), Terry Gillam (1), Rian Johnson (1), Terry Jones (1), Gene Kelly (1), Akira Kurosawa (1), David Lean (1), Ang Lee (1), Spike Lee (1), Katia Lund (1), James Mangold (1), Michael Mann (1), Richard Marquand (1), Fernando Meirelles (1), George Miller (1), Rob Minkoff (1), John Musker (1), Jordan Peele (1), Roman Polanski (1), Harold Ramis (1), Rob Reiner (1), Russo Brothers (1), Gus van Sant (1), Bryan Singer (1), Isao Takahata (1), Quentin Tarantino (1), Guillermo Del Torro (1), Gary Trousdale (1), King Vidor (1), Orson Welles (1), Peter Weir (1), Robert Wise (1), David Yates (1)

Franchise Count: Best Picture Winner (13), Pixar (7), Steven Spielberg (6), James Cameron (4), Star Wars (3), Toy Story (3), Alien and Predator (3), Studio Ghibli (3), WDAS (3), Dead Wife Cinematic Universe/Nolan (2), Marvel (2), Terminator (2), 'Before' (1), Blade Runner (1), Monty Python (1), X-Men (1), MCU (1), Captain America (1), Die Hard (1), Harry Potter (1), Rocky (1), Oz (1), Indiana Jones (1), Nemo (1), The Godfather (1), Dollars (1), Hannibal (1), Mad Max (1), Jurassic Park (1), Jaws (1), Back to the Future (1)

Genre Count: Drama (34), Adventure (30), VFX Driven (27), Thriller (23), Sci-Fi (23), Fantasy (21), Epic (20), Comedy (20), Action (19), Family/Children (17), Period Piece (17), Novel Adaption (16), Romance (15), Animation (13), Crime/Noir (13), Sequel (13), Horror (12), Indie (11), Tragedy (11), War (11), Musical (7), Foreign Language (6), Cult Classic (5), Western (5), Romantic Comedy (5), Melodrama (4), Spy/Detective (4), Bio-Pic (4), Christmas (3), Sports (3), Superhero (3), Comic Book (2), Satire (2), Remake (2)

 

 

 

 

[The Panda]

Listen closely

 

I will reveal number 12, but you must be prepared for what is to come after

 

Here is a clip

 

 

Edited May 21, 2018 by Auteur Panda

[Empire]

Back to the Future was my #3! I think it was the greatest script of any film ever!

[Fancyarcher]

Back to the Future is one of the most rewatchable films ever. Terrific script, and characters. "Great scott!" 

[Cap]

5 minutes ago, Empire said:

Back to the Future was my #3! I think it was the greatest script of any film ever!

SAAAME.

 

The only reason it wasn't #1 for me?  I went full in for Captain America: The Winter Soldier (placed at #1. Which worked, I got it on the list) and hail mary'd The Birdcage at #2.

 

And the script.  It's like I said in the blurb: it's impeccable.  
 

Spoiler

 

What does Marty McFly want at the beginning of this movie? To take the car to the lake with his girlfriend and conform to the 1980s ideals of success. What does he get in the changed world ending? The same Toyota 4X4 advertised at the beginning of the movie, thus achieving his ultimate goal. Doc Brown stole the plutonium to power the DeLorean, and the Lebanese terrorist group shows up in the inciting incident which causes Marty to drive over 88MPH, which causes him to go back in time.  Doc Brown tells Marty to meet him 1:15AM at the Mall to assist him on his major breakthrough; that’s when we find out that all of the clocks are wrong -- and he’s late; and Marty’s about to enter a story where his entire life literally depends on him being on time. The opening even plants the gag that Marty is a guitarist and loves Rock’N’Roll which plays an iconic part of the Third Act.

 

1

 

All of this is set up in under six minutes with minimum exposition.  It’s beautiful. Combine the fantastic script with timeless performances from Christopher Lloyd and Michael J Fox, the best non-John Williams movie score of all time, and the coolest car ever, you have for one of the best films of all time.

 

Okay.

 

I'm good.  I'm happy.  It made it.  I was seriously heading for a meltdown, because it hadn't shown up yet by #20.