Movies — Reviews & Rankings

Frank Darabont · 1994 · 142 min

Wrongfully imprisoned man forms a bond with a fellow inmate. The most-beloved film on IMDb.

Francis Ford Coppola · 1972 · 175 min

The Corleone family mafia saga. Possibly the greatest American film ever.

Christopher Nolan · 2008 · 152 min

Heath Ledger's Joker elevates a superhero film into a crime masterpiece.

Francis Ford Coppola · 1974 · 202 min

Parallel stories of young Vito and Michael. Rarely beaten sequels this good.

Steven Spielberg · 1993 · 195 min

A German industrialist saves over a thousand Jewish refugees. Unflinching and humane.

Quentin Tarantino · 1994 · 154 min

Non-linear LA crime tapestry. Changed indie film forever.

Peter Jackson · 2003 · 201 min

The trilogy's crowning. 11 Oscars, a victory lap earned over nine hours.

Bong Joon-ho · 2019 · 132 min

First foreign-language Best Picture winner. Class commentary as thriller.

Daniels · 2022 · 139 min

Multiverse mother-daughter tax-audit comedy epic. Best Picture 2023.

Sidney Lumet · 1957 · 96 min

Twelve jurors debate a murder case in one room. Economical genius.

Robert Zemeckis · 1994 · 142 min

A simple man witnesses half a century of American history.

Martin Scorsese · 1990 · 145 min

A gangster's 30-year rise and fall. Scorsese's pure cinema.

Damien Chazelle · 2014 · 106 min

Jazz drummer and his abusive teacher. Not quite my tempo.

Christopher Nolan · 2023 · 180 min

The architect of the atomic bomb. 3 hours of IMAX conversations that hit like nukes.

Gus Van Sant · 1997 · 126 min

A janitor at MIT is a mathematical genius. "It's not your fault."

David Fincher · 2010 · 120 min

How Facebook was born. Sorkin's razor-sharp dialogue.

Paul Thomas Anderson · 2007 · 158 min

Oil prospector's rise. Day-Lewis roars. "I drink your milkshake."

Robert Eggers · 2019 · 109 min

Two lighthouse keepers lose their minds in black and white.

Taika Waititi · 2019 · 108 min

A boy in Nazi Germany has an imaginary Hitler friend. Warm and devastating.

Barry Jenkins · 2016 · 111 min

Three chapters in a Black boy's life. Best Picture winner (after the envelope).

Sam Mendes · 1999 · 122 min

A middle-aged man in suburban America has a midlife crisis after becoming infatuated with his teenage daughter's best friend. Kevin Spacey's performance anchors a sharp, uncomfortable dissection of the American dream. Won five Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director. The plastic bag scene is one of cinema's most discussed images of finding beauty in the mundane.

Ron Howard · 2001 · 135 min

The true story of Nobel Prize-winning mathematician John Nash, his groundbreaking work in game theory, and his decades-long struggle with paranoid schizophrenia. Russell Crowe delivers a transformative performance that spans 50 years. Won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars. A film about the cost of genius and the power of devotion.

Martin Scorsese · 2006 · 151 min

An undercover cop and a mob mole try to identify each other while the Boston Irish mob and the Massachusetts State Police play a deadly double game. Scorsese won his long-overdue Best Director Oscar for this remake of Infernal Affairs. DiCaprio, Damon, Nicholson, and Wahlberg all deliver career highlights. The final act is relentless.

Christopher Nolan · 2010 · 148 min

Dream-heist thriller with a top that never stops spinning.

Christopher Nolan · 2014 · 169 min

A father leaves Earth to save humanity. Emotional sci-fi on a cosmic scale.

Wachowskis · 1999 · 136 min

There is no spoon. The film that gave philosophy bullet-time.

Denis Villeneuve · 2024 · 166 min

Paul Atreides' rise to messianic power on Arrakis. Cinematic spectacle.

Denis Villeneuve · 2017 · 164 min

Sequel to a classic, now itself a classic. Visually overwhelming.

Denis Villeneuve · 2016 · 116 min

A linguist communicates with aliens. Sci-fi that's really about grief.

Stanley Kubrick · 1968 · 149 min

Humanity evolves from apes to space travel, guided by mysterious black monolith, culminating in a mission to Jupiter watched over by the AI HAL 9000. Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke redefined what science fiction film could be. Every frame calculated, every silence loaded. The Stargate sequence remains visually unmatched after 55 years. Voted the greatest sci-fi film ever made in multiple polls.

James Cameron · 1986 · 137 min

Ellen Ripley returns to the planet where her crew encountered a lethal alien organism, this time accompanied by a unit of space marines. Cameron turned Ridley Scott's claustrophobic horror into a relentless action thriller without losing the dread. Sigourney Weaver earned an Oscar nomination — rare for an action role. "Get away from her, you bitch" remains one of cinema's great final-act lines.

Denis Villeneuve · 2021 · 155 min

Paul Atreides journeys to the desert planet Arrakis to secure its supply of the universe's most precious resource. Villeneuve's first half of Frank Herbert's epic is a slow-burning, visually stunning world-building achievement. Hans Zimmer's score is alien and overwhelming. The foundation for Part Two's payoff — patient, grand-scale sci-fi that trusts its audience.

David Fincher · 1999 · 139 min

Insomniac office worker meets a soap maker. First rule: you know what it is.

David Fincher · 1995 · 127 min

Two detectives hunt a serial killer inspired by the seven deadly sins.

Jordan Peele · 2017 · 104 min

Social thriller turned horror masterpiece. The sunken place.

Jonathan Demme · 1991 · 118 min

FBI trainee consults Hannibal Lecter. Best Picture winner with icy dread.

David Fincher · 2014 · 149 min

A wife disappears. What follows is media frenzy and something worse.

Coen Brothers · 2007 · 122 min

A hunter finds drug money and an assassin follows. Bleak western poetry.

Christopher Nolan · 2006 · 130 min

Rival magicians escalate. Watch closely.

Christopher Nolan · 2000 · 113 min

A man with short-term memory loss hunts his wife's killer. Told backward.

Stanley Kubrick · 1980 · 146 min

A family caretakes a haunted hotel. Here's Johnny.

Ari Aster · 2018 · 127 min

A family unravels after grandmother's death. One of horror's scariest decades.

Rian Johnson · 2019 · 130 min

A whodunit done with style. Revived the genre.

Nicolas Winding Refn · 2011 · 100 min

A getaway driver with a strict code. Synthwave aesthetics defined.