Top 35 Films of All Time — Ascending Order
by Brian_McInnis | created - 29 Apr 2013 | updated - 2 weeks ago | PublicHere they are. No arguing. #1's the least, #35's the greatest. Hop to it.
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1. Come and See (1985)
Not Rated | 142 min | Drama, Thriller, War
After finding an old rifle, a young boy joins the Soviet resistance movement against ruthless German forces and experiences the horrors of World War II.
Director: Elem Klimov | Stars: Aleksey Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Liubomiras Laucevicius, Vladas Bagdonas
Votes: 97,213
'I understood that this would be a very brutal film and that it was unlikely that people would be able to watch it. I told this to my screenplay coauthor, the writer Ales Adamovich. But he replied: "Let them not watch it, then. This is something we must leave after us."' — Elem Klimov
2. Amadeus (1984)
R | 160 min | Biography, Drama, Music
The life, success and troubles of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as told by Antonio Salieri, the contemporaneous composer who was deeply jealous of Mozart's talent and claimed to have murdered him.
Director: Milos Forman | Stars: F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge, Roy Dotrice
Votes: 427,985 | Gross: $51.97M
3. The Heart of the World (2000)
Not Rated | 6 min | Short, Action, Fantasy
A scientist chooses a wealthy man over her two lovers but must heal the earth's core to save humanity.
Director: Guy Maddin | Stars: Leslie Bais, Caelum Vatnsdal, Shaun Balbar, Greg Klymkiw
Votes: 3,593
Watch here: https://vimeo.com/115997353
4. The Long Day Closes (1992)
PG | 85 min | Biography, Drama
A lyrical reverie about a young Liverpool boy coming of age in the 1950s among his loving family and the austere Catholic Church as he enters the rigors of school, nurtures a bedazzled love of the movies and longs for companionship.
Director: Terence Davies | Stars: Leigh McCormack, Marjorie Yates, Anthony Watson, Nicholas Lamont
Votes: 3,995 | Gross: $0.16M
5. Our Time (2018)
Not Rated | 177 min | Drama
A family lives in the Mexican countryside raising fighting bulls. Esther is in charge of running the ranch, while her husband Juan, a world-renowned poet, raises and selects the beasts. ... See full summary »
Director: Carlos Reygadas | Stars: Natalia López, Phil Burgers, Carlos Reygadas, Yago Martínez
Votes: 2,051 | Gross: $0.01M
6. Sexy Beast (2000)
R | 89 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Brutal gangster Don Logan recruits "retired" safecracker Gal for one last job, but it goes badly for both of them.
Director: Jonathan Glazer | Stars: Ray Winstone, Ben Kingsley, Ian McShane, Amanda Redman
Votes: 69,228 | Gross: $6.95M
'Once upon a time, there was a man who thought he was very happy. And so the gods sent to him the unhappiest man in the world.' — Ben Kingsley
7. Begotten (1989)
Unrated | 72 min | Fantasy, Horror
Presented in a surreal, gory and entirely visual manner, Begotten tells of the death of religion, the abuse of nature by Man and a nihilistic outlook on what life ultimately is.
Director: E. Elias Merhige | Stars: Brian Salzberg, Donna Dempsey, Stephen Charles Barry, James Gandia
Votes: 11,755
'I wanted Begotten to look not as if it were from the 20s, not even as if it were from the 19th century, but as if it were from the time of Christ. As if it were a cinematic Dead Sea Scroll that had been buried in the sands, a remnant of a culture with customs and rites that no longer apply to this culture, yet are somewhere underneath it.' — E. Elias Merhige
8. Son of the White Mare (1981)
Unrated | 86 min | Animation, Adventure, Fantasy
In this dreamlike Hungarian folk myth, a horse goddess gives birth to three powerful brothers who set out into the Underworld to save three princesses from three evil dragons and reclaim their ancestors' lost kingdom.
Director: Marcell Jankovics | Stars: György Cserhalmi, Vera Pap, Gyula Szabó, Ferenc Szalma
Votes: 2,860
9. Citizen Kane (1941)
PG | 119 min | Drama, Mystery
Following the death of publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane, reporters scramble to uncover the meaning of his final utterance: 'Rosebud.'
Director: Orson Welles | Stars: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore, Agnes Moorehead
Votes: 465,909 | Gross: $1.59M
10. The Master (2012)
R | 138 min | Drama, History
A Naval veteran arrives home from war unsettled and uncertain of his future - until he is tantalized by the Cause and its charismatic leader.
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson | Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Jesse Plemons
Votes: 186,185 | Gross: $16.38M
Watch an uncommonly insightful analysis of the film here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06Jg1EoXSy4
11. The Other Side of the Wind (2018)
R | 122 min | Drama
At a media-swamped party to celebrate his 70th birthday and screen his avant-garde film-in-progress, a legendary but jaded Hollywood director is faced both with voracious fans and unsettling questions about what became of his lead actor.
Director: Orson Welles | Stars: John Huston, Oja Kodar, Peter Bogdanovich, Susan Strasberg
Votes: 8,040
12. El Topo (1970)
Not Rated | 125 min | Drama, Western
A mysterious black-clad gunfighter wanders a mystical Western landscape encountering multiple bizarre characters.
Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky | Stars: Alejandro Jodorowsky, Brontis Jodorowsky, José Legarreta, Alfonso Arau
Votes: 31,386 | Gross: $0.04M
I should note that I consider most of the last forty minutes to be a step down from the greatness of the rest of the film.
13. Inglourious Basterds (2009)
R | 153 min | Adventure, Drama, War
In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a plan to assassinate Nazi leaders by a group of Jewish U.S. soldiers coincides with a theatre owner's vengeful plans for the same.
Director: Quentin Tarantino | Stars: Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Eli Roth, Mélanie Laurent
Votes: 1,583,778 | Gross: $120.54M
14. Mad God (2021)
Unrated | 83 min | Animation, Fantasy, Horror
The Assassin travels through a nightmare underworld of tortured souls, ruined cities and wretched monstrosities forged from the primordial horrors of the unconscious mind of Phil Tippett, the world's preeminent stop-motion animator.
Director: Phil Tippett | Stars: Alex Cox, Niketa Roman, Satish Ratakonda, Harper Taylor
Votes: 14,701
'When I was very young I had a dream. Behind these screens lurked a gigantic dark being. Its intentions were very bad. And I was terrified of what that thing was. Instead of running away, I imagined that what I had to do to confront the demon was to be worse than the demon. And so I charged screaming and yelling with the intent to kill.' — Phil Tippett
15. Tár (2022)
R | 158 min | Drama, Music
Set in the international world of Western classical music, the film centers on Lydia Tár, widely considered one of the greatest living composer-conductors and the very first female director of a major German orchestra.
Director: Todd Field | Stars: Cate Blanchett, Noémie Merlant, Nina Hoss, Sophie Kauer
Votes: 93,758
16. Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)
R | 137 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
The Bride continues her quest of vengeance against her former boss and lover Bill, the reclusive bouncer Budd, and the treacherous, one-eyed Elle.
Director: Quentin Tarantino | Stars: Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah
Votes: 805,357 | Gross: $66.21M
17. Mandy (I) (2018)
Not Rated | 121 min | Action, Fantasy, Horror
The enchanted lives of a couple in a secluded forest are brutally shattered by a nightmarish hippie cult and their demon-biker henchmen, propelling a man into a spiraling, surreal rampage of vengeance.
Director: Panos Cosmatos | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Andrea Riseborough, Linus Roache, Ned Dennehy
Votes: 89,477 | Gross: $1.21M
18. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
R | 116 min | Drama, War
A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Matthew Modine, R. Lee Ermey, Vincent D'Onofrio, Adam Baldwin
Votes: 790,303 | Gross: $46.36M
'The first half of F.M.J. is brilliant. Then the film degenerates into a masterpiece.' — Unknown film critic
19. Apocalypse Now (1979)
R | 147 min | Drama, Mystery, War
A U.S. Army officer serving in Vietnam is tasked with assassinating a renegade Special Forces Colonel who sees himself as a god.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest
Votes: 710,078 | Gross: $83.47M
20. Nostalghia (1983)
Not Rated | 125 min | Drama
A Russian poet and his interpreter travel to Italy researching the life of an 18th-century composer, and instead meet a ruminative madman who tells the poet how the world may be saved.
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky | Stars: Oleg Yankovskiy, Erland Josephson, Domiziana Giordano, Patrizia Terreno
Votes: 30,064 | Gross: $0.01M
21. Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010)
R | 110 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Despite being under heavy sedation, a young woman tries to make her way out of the Arboria Institute, a secluded, quasifuturistic commune.
Director: Panos Cosmatos | Stars: Eva Bourne, Michael J Rogers, Scott Hylands, Rondel Reynoldson
Votes: 16,898 | Gross: $0.06M
'If THX 1138, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Rapunzel and a lava lamp had a love child.' — Francis Neal Cornett Jr.
22. Dreams (1990)
PG | 119 min | Drama, Fantasy
A collection of tales based upon eight of director Akira Kurosawa's recurring dreams.
Directors: Akira Kurosawa, Ishirô Honda | Stars: Akira Terao, Mitsuko Baishô, Toshie Negishi, Mieko Harada
Votes: 29,171 | Gross: $1.96M
23. No Country for Old Men (2007)
R | 122 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Violence and mayhem ensue after a hunter stumbles upon the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong and over two million dollars in cash near the Rio Grande.
Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen | Stars: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson
Votes: 1,060,023 | Gross: $74.28M
24. The Hateful Eight (2015)
R | 168 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
In the dead of a Wyoming winter, a bounty hunter and his prisoner find shelter in a cabin currently inhabited by a collection of nefarious characters.
Director: Quentin Tarantino | Stars: Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins
Votes: 659,655 | Gross: $54.12M
The greatest of the Great Bard's tales.
25. Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
R | 95 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Socially frustrated Barry Egan calls a phone-sex line to curb his loneliness. Little does he know it will land him in deep trouble and will jeopardize his burgeoning romance with the mysterious Lena.
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson | Stars: Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jason Andrews
Votes: 177,410 | Gross: $17.84M
'You are on your way. You are on your way. Don't stop now. Don't be discouraged and don't be sad.'
26. Bringing Out the Dead (1999)
R | 121 min | Drama, Thriller
Haunted by the patients he failed to save, a monumentally burned-out Manhattan ambulance paramedic fights to maintain his sanity over three increasingly turbulent nights.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Patricia Arquette, John Goodman, Ving Rhames
Votes: 76,048 | Gross: $16.64M
27. Knight of Cups (2015)
R | 118 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
A writer indulging in all that Los Angeles and Las Vegas have to offer, undertakes a search for love and self via a series of adventures with six different women.
Director: Terrence Malick | Stars: Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman, Brian Dennehy
Votes: 29,429 | Gross: $0.56M
'...it’s as if James Joyce, Dante, and Kierkegaard sat down and decided to make a film together.' — Trevor Logan
28. American Pop (1981)
R | 96 min | Animation, Drama, History
The story of four generations of a Russian Jewish immigrant family of musicians whose careers parallel the history of American popular music in the 20th century.
Director: Ralph Bakshi | Stars: Mews Small, Ron Thompson, Jerry Holland, Lisa Jane Persky
Votes: 5,507 | Gross: $6.00M
29. The Shining (1980)
R | 146 min | Drama, Horror
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers
Votes: 1,106,483 | Gross: $44.02M
30. The Trial (1962)
Not Rated | 119 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
An unassuming office worker is arrested and stands trial, but he is never made aware of his charges.
Director: Orson Welles | Stars: Anthony Perkins, Arnoldo Foà, Jess Hahn, Billy Kearns
Votes: 24,018
'...like some tablet found among the dust of forgotten men, speaking a language that has much to say to us, but whose words have largely been rubbed away.' — Charles Higham
31. The Tree of Life (2011)
PG-13 | 139 min | Drama, Fantasy
The story of a family in Waco, Texas in 1956. The eldest son witnesses the loss of innocence and struggles with his parents' conflicting teachings.
Director: Terrence Malick | Stars: Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain, Hunter McCracken
Votes: 184,114 | Gross: $13.30M
'Respice. In gloria circe nos.'
32. Lost in Translation (2003)
R | 102 min | Comedy, Drama
A faded movie star and a neglected young woman form an unlikely bond after crossing paths in Tokyo.
Director: Sofia Coppola | Stars: Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Giovanni Ribisi, Anna Faris
Votes: 488,887 | Gross: $44.59M
'You're not hopeless.'
33. There Will Be Blood (2007)
R | 158 min | Drama
A story of family, religion, hatred, oil and madness, focusing on a turn-of-the-century prospector in the early days of the business.
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Ciarán Hinds, Martin Stringer
Votes: 641,036 | Gross: $40.22M
'You can take the boy out of the mine-shaft, but you can't take the mine-shaft out of the boy.' — Working tagline
34. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
G | 149 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi
After uncovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, a spacecraft is sent to Jupiter to find its origins: a spacecraft manned by two men and the supercomputer HAL 9000.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Daniel Richter
Votes: 719,380 | Gross: $56.95M
'The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.' — Albert Einstein
35. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
R | 159 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A Manhattan doctor embarks on a bizarre, night-long odyssey after his wife's admission of unfulfilled longing.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Todd Field, Sydney Pollack
Votes: 375,047 | Gross: $55.69M
The most elaborately crafted and intricate work I've encountered in any art form.
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