Screen Rant owner Vic Holtreman originally founded this site with the intention of providing readers with a middle-ground/average person perspective on movie news and reviews – hence our old mantra “movie and TV news without the sugar coating.” While the site has certainly evolved – we now cover a wider range of genres and provide readers with a variety of diverse “voices” – our willingness to champion both entertaining and/or artistic movies (at least on a case by case basis) hasn’t changed.
Which is why we (Vic and myself) jumped at the chance to participate in Film School Reject‘s recent article the “10 Greatest Movies of All Time (According to the Internet).” Now the results are in.
The original idea (read the full FSR list), drummed-up by the host of their popular podcast (Reject Radio), Cole Abaius, was a response to Sight & Sound‘s acclaimed “Greatest Films Poll” – which is revisited every ten years (the 2012 list should be revealed soon). That said, while previous Sight and Sound lists are certainly full of celebrated films – FSR was more interested in discovering which entries would make the cut if the “greatest movies” list was decided by a younger generation of Internet-based personalities (plus, as mentioned, a few bonus filmmakers).
Check out the 2002 Sight and Sound “Critics Top 10 Poll” list below, followed by FSR‘s compiled list of the “10 Greatest Movies of All Time (According to the Internet)”:
2002 Sight and Sound “Critics Top 10 Poll”
- Citizen Kane (46 mentions)
- Vertigo (41 mentions)
- La Règle du Jeu (The Rules of the Game) (30 mentions)
- The Godfather and The Godfather Part II (23 mentions)
- Tokyo Story (22 mentions)
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (21 mentions)
- The Battleship Potemkin (19 mentions)
- Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (19 mentions)
- 8½ (18 mentions)
- Singin’ in the Rain (17 mentions)
- Citizen Kane (73 points)
- Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (61)
- The Godfather (57)
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (53)
- Casablanca (48)
- 8½ (44)
- Back to the Future (44)
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (43)
- Bicycle Thieves (41)
- Vertigo (40)
FSR was intentionally vague about how respondents should interpret the word “greatest” – which certainly allows for more ambiguity than a similar word such as “Best.” As a result, not only were contributor lists presented individually, everyone was also allowed a brief explanation detailing why they selected the films on their list – which, no doubt, offered interesting insight into how online writers approached deciding which films are the “greatest.”
You can check out the full list of contributors over on the original Film School Rejects article – but I have included the lists (and explanations) put forth by Vic and myself below. Without question, our choices should (if nothing else) stir some interesting debate in the comments.
Vic Holtreman (Owner/Editor-In-Chief, Screen Rant)
- Aliens
- It’s a Wonderful Life
- Casablanca
- The Godfather Part 2
- Goodfellas
- The Princess Bride
- Die Hard
- The Matrix
- The Incredibles
- Rocky
On His List: Call me a populist, I don’t care – for me, movies that make my overall top 10 list are those that I can watch over and over again and never tire of them – mostly movies that entertain me, not movies with some deep, meaningful message (if I want that, I’d rather read a novel). Really, I could add another 10-15 films to the list above and just jumble them in no particular order as favorites, but as of the moment when I assembled the list, this is where I stand.
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Ben Kendrick (Screen Rant Editor and Host of the Screen Rant Underground Podcast)
- Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope
- The Dark Knight
- Pulp Fiction
- Up
- The Godfather
- Inception
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
- The Sixth Sense
- Se7en
- The Avengers
On His List: While other contributors will no-doubt have a list of superiorly-crafted dramas chock-full of Academy Award winners (and for good reason), I tend to think about the “Top 10 Movies of All Time” in terms of the lasting effect they had on moviegoers and the industry alike. Plenty of my selections could be picked apart for cheesy dialogue and awkward directing choices, among other technical shortcomings. However, these films either set the standard for future entries in their respective genres, offered some genuinely interesting core story ideas, and/or provided flat-out fun moviegoing experiences worthy of repeat viewings – all while remaining grounded in memorable and intriguing character moments.
I’m sure I’ll take a lot of guff for including The Avengers as one of the “greatest” movies of all time (the answer was, admittedly, intended to be a fun underdog choice at #10) but that’s why the FSR list is, ultimately, an enjoyable opportunity for moviegoers – because we all have a few guilty pleasures.
We’d love to hear your lists for the “10 Greatest Movies of All Time” in the comments below – and be sure to check out the full list over at Film School Rejects.
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Follow me on Twitter @benkendrick for more movie, TV, and gaming news.
Source: Film School Rejects
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Man, it hard but here it goes.
1.Star Wars (All of them)
2.Pirates of the Caribbean
3.Back to the Future
4.The Dark Knight
5.The Lord of the Rings (All of them)
6.The Godfather II
7.Shawshank Redemption
8.Toy Story
9.The Avengers (I dreamed about it when I was a kid and it’s amazing to see it finally on the big screen)
10.Weekend at Bernie’s lol just kidding
10.Inception
1. LOTR (In this, I will consider them one movie to save up space)
2. Shawshank Redemption (most satisfying ending ever)
3. Star Wars 4-6
4. Godfather 1+2
5. Scarface
6. Back to the Future (all 3)
7. Pulp Fiction
8. Matrix (JUST the first one)
9. Avatar
10. The Dollars Trilogy
Some of the most influential movies ever in my opinion.
This is, in all honesty, an impossible task for me. There are just too many great movies to pick 10 (and then rank them no less). Simply impossible.
No doubt. But I’m gonna do it anyways. Here’s an alternate list:
1. The Shining
2. Slapshot
3. Pee Wee’s Big Adventure
4. Badlands
5. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
6. Purple Noon
7. Bullitt
8. Reds
9. The Verdict
10. The Thing
…really wanted to fit Ed Wood, Being There, The Getaway, and Royal Tenenbaums in there too, but as you said, it’s an impossible task.
1. Die Hard
2. The Matrix
3. Face Off
4. The Rock
5. Armor of god 2 (go Jackie chan)
6. Monsters Inc
7. Shawshank Redemption
8. Snatch
9. Inglourious Basterds
10. Terminator 2
Guilty pleasure indeed
The Godfather/Godfather II
Dr. Strangelove
Jaws
Back To The Future
Goodfellas
Pulp Fiction
The Shawshank Redemption
Seven
The Big Lebowski
There Will Be Blood
Those are some good ones
My picks
1. Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back
2. The Godfather II
3. Shall We Dance (Japanese, 1996)
4. Terminator II
5. Aliens – Alien is in my top 20
6. Blade Runner
7. Citizen Kane
8. Casablanca
9. North by Northwest (1959)
10. Lethal Weapon (1987)
Come on guys, no Shawshank or The Usual Suspects?
Usual Suspects is definitely up there
totally agree. usual suspects must be in everyone’s top 10. impossible not to love it. as for shawshank, impossible to be out of the top 3!
in no particular order (mosr are action/martial arts movies btw so bear with me
):
1. the raid – everyone who has seen the mvie knows why
2. undisputed 2: last man standing – best choreography in a martial arts movie to date (in terms of one on one)
3. the avengers – epic pacing and action throughout
4. blade 2 – dark, violent and downright bad a**
5. the grey – due to emotional heightening at the end, not b/c of the survival aspects.
6. halloween (rob zombie remake) – he remade the boring and seemingly invincible midget into a downright evil, sadistic and freaky killing machine.
7. requiem of/for a dream – taught me why i should never do drugs
8. fearless – one of few martial arts movies with a deep and meaningful story, this movie gets me into a sad state almost every time i watch it
that’s all i can think up of on the spot, i tried ot variate my list with something from everything (‘tried to’ are the key words here). it would have been so much better if it was top ten per category b/c i would have skipped half the genres
how could i have forgotten terminator 2, thanks for reminding me lloyd
terminator/t2
dark knight
forrest gump
halloween (og version)
scream
city of god
aliens
silence of the lambs
dumb and dumber
City of God rules!
1. The Departed
2. The Prestiege
3. Inception
4. The Dark Knight
5. Shawshank Redemption
6. Kiss kiss Bang Bang
7. Gross Point Blank
8. Die Hard
9. Gone Baby Gone
10. Serenity
- Shawshank Redemption
- Saving Private Ryan
- The Dark Knight
- Lord of the Rings Trilogy
- Sherlock Holmes A Game of Shadows
- Team America: World Police
- Woman in Black (2012)
- Edward Scissorhands
- Sweeney Todd Demon Barber on Fleet Street (Burton Version)
- Harry Potter Movies (I count them as one movie)
My personal list
1. Pan’s Labyrinth
2. Jaws
3. Se7en
4. Carrie
5. The Shawshank Redemption
6. The Usual Suspects
7. Raiders of the Lost Ark
8. The Empire Strikes Back
9. Psycho
10. Alien
I just did this in about 4 minutes so I’m sure if I took a couple of days the list may change some.
I can agree with most of what’s on Ben and Vic’s list with a exception here and there.
Ben- The Avengers. I loved it but it’s still a little to soon.
Vic- Aliens. A surprise because I have Alien on mine but while I liked it a lot I just don’t really love it. Some of it comes off kind of corny at times and that’s basically how I feel about James Cameron. I like his films but sometimes they’re too cheesey.
To each his own though and it’s been fun reading other Ranters lists.
Oh my god!!!
How can I forget Scream?????
When that movie hit I went into full on movie nerd geek mode
I can’t even begin to count how many times I watched it, and still do.
I swear I’m done after this because otherwise I’m going to drive myself nuts
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
No Country For Old Men
That’s it, I’m done…
I hope.
Love reading everyone’s lists. Most I agree with. One movie I would add that I haven’t seen on here is Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan. That movie still gets me excited during their first confrontation.
Khaaaaaan, no doubt! I’m sure we’re all gonna go to bed tonight with our heads still swimming with all the movies we wish we’d thought of…
live free or die hard
matrix revolutions
phantom menace
baby’s day out
jonah hex
saturday the 14th strikes back
the postman
paint your wagon
saw 3D
weekend at bernie’s 2
wait, what was this list about again?
Glad to see that you were actually making a worst movies list
1.Aliens
2.Terminator 2
3.The Matrix
4.The Dark Knight
5.Back to the Future
6.Predator
7.The Godfather 2
8.Pulp Fiction
9.Ip Man
10.Monster Squad
1. Godfather part 2
2. Star wars empire strikes back
3. Aliens
4. Terminator 2
5. The avengers
6. The dark knight
7. Seven
8. Pursuit of happiness
9. Toy story 3
10. Incredibles
Nobody even has Terminator 2 on their list? Pffffttttt, poor taste in movies fellas, poor taste!!!
LOL j/k.
Not sure if I can actually put them all in order, all I know is my number one is Terminator 2. The rest are in no particular order:
Die Hard
Aliens
The Avengers
True Lies
Predator
Black Hawk Down
Back to the Future 1 or 2
Star Wars Episodes 4-6
Indiana Jones 1 or 3
Iron Man
Gran Torino
Frequency
Toy Story 1-3
Up
The Incredibles
Willow
Harry Potter (not sure which ones I like most)
The Princess Bride
Dragonheart
And so many other movies that I really love… How the heck do you guys rank them like that? I can’t really think of them that way, I love these movies for different reasons, so it’s hard to just rank them all in the same category…
i wasn’t greatly thinking about sci-fi at the time of my post, i would definitely add terminator 2 (the ending get me emo every time i watch it) and predator which would bring the list to a full 10 (of re-watchable favourites that is).
“I order you not to do it! I order you not to go!” :’(
Seen it a million times, I still get misty when I see that thumbs up.
@Richard
Oh man, that scene was so packed full of powerful moments it’s not even funny. The one you’re talking about of the little kid desperately trying to stop the inevitable. The T-800′s line as a reply to him: “I know now why you cry *wipes tear from John’s face* but it’s something I can never do.” OH… MY… FREAKIN… GOD… That is the best response any poet can come up with and it came from a robot, lol. In that one sentence, he basically convinced a crying desperate young kid that letting him go is what NEEDS to be done. Then it’s not over there, Sarah Connor, the woman who lost her lover to a Terminator, who was locked up in a mental hospital for years, kept from her son, because nobody would believe her story about the Terminator, pretty much has every reason to hate everything about all Terminators with every fiber of her being, looks at this T-800 with RESPECT, and extends her hand to him. WOW, that still blows me away. I know for someone with her life experiences, that was a profound moment. And of course, as the T-800 is consumed by the molten metal, his final gesture is one that he learned from John…
Best ending, EVER… Sorry, no room for discussion guys…
I love that movie, in case you can’t tell, lol…
I agree man. For me, it’s impossible to rank my favorite movies from 1-10… they’re all very different, and for that reason, I don’t know how I could possibly decide.
It’s easy enough to have a top 5 and a bottom 5 favorite movies, but other than that sub-category, I wouldn’t even know how to rank them further…
@The Avenger
Out of curiosity, what are your least favorite movies? I think mine would be:
Battlefield Earth
Colombiana
Twilight
Immortals
Ghost Rider
Alien 4
Terminator 3
And I’m sure there are others that I just absolutely hated…
Movies that I HATED with ever fiber of my being:
).
Twilight & New Moon – the only reason I ever saw those was because of a girl (I broke up with her and haven’t been forced to see another Twilight flick since
Ghost Rider 1 & 2
Electra
Catwoman
Project X
Jaws: The Revenge
Battlefield Earth
There are others… but if I spend any more time thinking about these types of terrible movies, I’ll have an involuntary bowel-movement
Oh wow, definitely need to add Catwoman to my list. Some of the others on your list I never wasted my time to see, thankfully…
Oh, Jason X, lol. Well, I guess we might as well not include those sequels to those horror movies or else the list will go on and on and on and on…
I did, but for some reason, my list keeps disappearing. I tried 3 times yesterday but couldn’t get the list to show up. I’ll try again.
Marvel’s Avengers
Terminator 2
Aliens
Ten Commandments (Heston version)
Ben Hur (Heston version)
Star Wars: Ep 5
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Goodfellas
Enter the Dragon
Star Wars: Ep 4
@John
Oh man, it’s been so long since I’ve seen Ben Hur, but I remember watching that multiple times when I was very young. And I remember really enjoying it. I have to rent it now… Charlton Heston was an awesome actor, RIP. What about the original Planet of the Apes. “Take your stinkin’ paws off me you damn dirty ape!”
The Rock
American History X
Transformers Trilogy
Warrior
Independence Day
Bad Boys 2
Fight Club
Star Trek (2009)
2012
Zombieland
Films that almost made it:
Serenity
Spiderman trilogy
X-Men FIrst Class
Terminator 2
Armageddon
Alpha Dog
I could keep going on but thats enough for now. Depending on how I’m feeling my top 20 will change.
I completely respect your opinion, but the fact that you have “Transformers” listed as one of your favourite films of all time, suggests to me that you need to see more films.
well as you said its my opinion, I’ve grown up with the transformers cartoons from the 90′s and loved the live action films, Michael Bay is my favourite director not just because of transformers, i own all of his films on blu-ray/dvd. I’ve have over 300 dvd/blu-rays in my collection i’ve seen plenty of films, many of them have won an oscar or at least nominated films as i mentioned ‘America History X’ being my second favourite film. If you read the article that the screen rant gave out their top 10′s they clarify that they are films in which they can watch over and over again, all the films on my list i repetitively watch time and time again.
i know people that have twilight/harry potter as their favourite film, but i don’t criticise their choice simply because i don’t like those films. I would like to know your top 10 films
1. Pulp Fiction (1994)
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King (2001,2002,2003)
3. Blade Runner (1982)
4. Psycho (1960)
5. Taxi Driver (1976)
6. Eyes Wide Shut (1999) In my opinion, Kubrick’s most underrated film.
7. Goodfellas (1990)
8. Inception (2010)
9. Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2 (2003,2004)
10. Back to the Future (1985)
I forgot Sin City… :L
I’ve got way too many favorite movies, but I’m gonna try to just list 10:
1) The Empire Strikes Back
2) Raiders of the Lost Ark
3) Inception
4) The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
5) The Dark Knight
6) Jaws
7) Saving Private Ryan
8) When Harry Met Sally
9) Die Hard
10) The Avengers
People, c’mon. Really? Not ONE mention of Highllander? Just the first one, of course, all the others were pure garbage.
I agree with almost every list as far as the entertainment value goes. Pretty good choices. There just can’t be a consensus absolute list…but come on, no one wants to put Highander on their list?
Well, it’s tops on my list of most entertaining movies.
@Carloshlander
HAHA, I liked Highlander, but just wanted to point something out that I found a little funny.
You mentioned Highlander twice, and misspelled it both times, but that’s not the funny thing, typos happen all of the time, nothing special about that. The funny thing is that the first time you had one “l” too many, then the second time you were missing the “l” so it’s like the “l” from one left and went to join the other.
There can be only one!(L, that is)
1) The Matrix
2) Reservoir Dogs
3) Battle Royale
4) Die Hard
5) The Shining
6) Lethal Weapon
7) Total Recall
8) The Fly
9) Oldboy
10) The Fifth Element
Honorable mentions would be Alien and Aliens, Predator, The Terminator, True Lies. I would have put these somewhere on the top ten list but i thought I’d be giving an unfair advantage to Schwarzenegger and Cameron. These movies are incredible though, I couldn’t just ignore them.
1)The Avengers
2)No Country for Old Men
3)Sweeney Todd
4)Scent of a woman
5)Scarface
6)Casino
7)Fast and Furious tokio drift
8)Rudo y Cursi
9)Xmen first class
10)POTC, The Black Pearl
i wil give it a try.
star wars episode v
saving private ryan
aliens
lord of the rings
pulp fiction
batman begins
terminator 2
rear vindow
sin city
taxy driver
i knew it soon as i posted it 1000 more movies came to my mind
braveheart,memento,pscyho,red dragon, silence of the lambs,american gangster,kill bill…
and signs
Certainly not the “greatest” of all time, but my top 10 favorites
1) 2001
2) Braveheart
3) Terminator
4) Back to the Future
5) Memento
6) The Shawshank Redemption
7) Aliens
8) Star Trek II
9) Raising Arizona
10) Dances with Wolves
My favorite movies are the Harry Potter movies so I wont include them here, The Potter films have their own list
10. Halloween
9. Thor
8. Up
7. Inception
6. Dumb and Dumber
5. Face/Off
4. The Hunger Games
3. The Lion King
2. The Dark Knight
1. Titanic
I can go on…. but for me these are 10/10
Aliens
The Big Lebowski
Pulp Fiction
The Prestige
Goodfellas
Terminator 2
Se7en
Blood Simple
Full Metal Jacket
Star Wars Episode 4
10. The Third Man
9. How to Train your Dragon
8. X-Men: First Class
7. The Professional
6. Pulp Fiction
5. Drive
4. Chronicle
3. Captain America
2. Alien
1. The Avengers
Honorable Mention: The The Incredibles(My favorite Disney/Pixar movie)
Come on guys…what about the movies that live outside the action genre?
1. Shawshank Redemption
2. Color Purple
3. Forrest Gump
4. Lord of the Rings Trilogy
5. The Exorcist
6. The Godfather
7. Princess Bride
8. Return to Me
9. Gone with the Wind
10.Big Lebowski
Would you watch those over and over again though?
I agree with Vic: for me, my favorite/best movies are (mainly) movies that I’d never get tired of watching (and movies like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Avengers and Batman Begins fit that bill), some of my other favorite movies like The Godfather, Inception, TDK, Pulp Fiction (as well as some of those you mentioned: LOTR, Forrest Gump and Shawshank Redemption) are also masterpieces IMO, but I can only watch those every once in a while…