My Top 5 Favourite Movies of All Time

1. The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Why The Wizard of Oz (1939) is Considered a Great Film?

Roger Ebert chose it as one of his Great Films, writing that "The Wizard of Oz has a wonderful surface of comedy and music, special effects and excitement, but we still watch it six decades later because its underlying story penetrates straight to the deepest insecurities of childhood, stirs them and then reassures them."

In his 2002 critique of the film for the British Film Institute, author Salman Rushdie acknowledged its affect on him, noting "The Wizard of Oz was my very first literary influence". In Step Across This Line, he wrote: "When I first saw The Wizard of Oz, it made a writer of me." His first short story, written at the age of 10, was titled "Over the Rainbow".

In a 2009 retrospective article about the film, San Francisco Chronicle film critic and author Mick LaSalle declared: “...the entire Munchkinland sequence, from Dorothy's arrival in Oz to her departure on the yellow brick road, has to be one of the greatest in cinema history – a masterpiece of set design, costuming, choreography, music, lyrics, storytelling, and sheer imagination."

On the movie review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, The Wizard of Oz has an approval rating of 98% based on 117 reviews, with an average score of 9.4/10. Its critical consensus reads, "An absolute masterpiece whose groundbreaking visuals and deft storytelling are still every bit as resonant, The Wizard of Oz is a must-see film for young and old." At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film received the maximum score of 100 out of 100, based on 4 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim", which, as of March 2020, is matched only by eight other films.

The 1956 television broadcast premiere of the film on the CBS network reintroduced the film to the public; according to the Library of Congress, it is the most seen film in movie history. In 1989, it was selected by the U.S. Library of Congress as one of the first 25 films for preservation in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It is also one of the few films on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register. It was among the top ten in the 2005 BFI (British Film Institute) list of "50 films to be seen by the age of 14", and is on the BFI's updated list of "50 films to be seen by the age of 15" released in May 2020.

Film Information:

Accolades/Notable Records:

• At the 12th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for five Oscars, winning two for Best Original Score (Herbert Stothart) and Best Original Song ("Over the Rainbow" Music by Harold Arlen; lyrics for E.Y. Harburg)
• Judy Garland received a Honourary Academy Juvenile Award that same year.
• In 1939, The Wizard of Oz was the fifth highest-grossing film.

2. The Godfather (1972)

Why The Godfather (1972) is Considered a Great Film?

Since its release, The Godfather has been widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made, especially in the gangster genre. It was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1990, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and is ranked the second-greatest film in American cinema (behind Citizen Kane) by the American Film Institute. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 98% approval rating based on 99 reviews, with an average rating of 9.32/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "One of Hollywood's greatest critical and commercial successes, The Godfather gets everything right; not only did the movie transcend expectations, it established new benchmarks for American cinema." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 100 out of 100 based on 15 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times praised Coppola's efforts to follow the storyline of the eponymous novel, the choice to set the film in the same time as the novel, and the film's ability to "absorb" the viewer over its three-hour run time. While Ebert was mainly positive, he criticized Brando's performance, saying his movements lacked "precision" and his voice was "wheezy." The Chicago Tribune's Gene Siskel gave the film four out of four stars, commenting that it was "very good." The Village Voice's Andrew Sarris believed Brando portrayed Vito Corleone well and that his character dominated each scene it appeared in, but felt Puzo and Coppola had the character of Michael Corleone too focused on revenge. In addition, Sarris stated that Richard Castellano, Robert Duvall, and James Caan were good in their respective roles.

Desson Howe of The Washington Post called the film a "jewel" and wrote that Coppola deserves most of the credit for the film. Writing for The New York Times, Vincent Canby felt that Coppola had created one of the "most brutal and moving chronicles of American life" and went on to say that it "transcends its immediate milieu and genre." Director Stanley Kubrick thought the film had the best cast ever and could be the best movie ever made. Stanley Kauffmann of The New Republic wrote negatively of the film in a contemporary review, claiming that Pacino "rattles around in a part too demanding for him," while also criticizing Brando's make-up and Rota's score.

Previous mafia films had looked at the gangs from the perspective of an outraged outsider. In contrast, The Godfather presents the gangster's perspective of the Mafia as a response to corrupt society. Although the Corleone family is presented as immensely rich and powerful, no scenes depict prostitution, gambling, loan sharking or other forms of racketeering. Some critics argue that the setting of a criminal counterculture allows for unapologetic gender stereotyping, and is an important part of the film's appeal ("You can act like a man!," Don Vito tells a weepy Johnny Fontane).

Remarking on the fortieth anniversary of the film's release, film critic John Podhoretz praised The Godfather as "arguably the great American work of popular art" and "the summa of all great moviemaking before it". Two years before, Roger Ebert had written in his journal that it "comes closest to being a film everyone agrees... is unquestionably great."

It was followed by sequels The Godfather Part II (1974) and The Godfather Part III (1990).

Film Information:

Accolades/Notable Records:

• At the 45th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for 11 Oscars, winning three including Best Adapted Screenplay (Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola), Best Actor in a Leading Role (Marlon Brando), and Best Picture (Albert S. Ruddy).
• The Godfather is listed No. two on the American Film Institute's Top 100 Films Ever Made list, right behind Orson Welles 1941 Epic, Citizen Kane.
• In 1972, The Godfather was the highest-grossing film.

3. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Why The Silence of the Lambs (1991) is Considered a Great Film?

The Silence of the Lambs was a sleeper hit that gradually gained widespread success and critical acclaim. Foster, Hopkins, and Levine garnered much acclaim for their performances. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 96% of 97 film critics have given the film a positive review, with an average rating of 8.87/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Director Jonathan Demme's smart, taut thriller teeters on the edge between psychological study and all-out horror, and benefits greatly from stellar performances by Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster." Metacritic, another review aggregator, assigned the film a weighted average score of 85 out of 100, based on 19 reviews from mainstream critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, specifically mentioned the "terrifying qualities" of Hannibal Lecter. Ebert later added the film to his list of The Great Movies, recognizing the film as a "horror masterpiece" alongside such classics as Nosferatu, Psycho, and Halloween. However, the film is also notable for being one of two multi-Academy Award winners (the other being Unforgiven) to get a bad review from Ebert's colleague, Gene Siskel. Writing for Chicago Tribune, Siskel said, "Foster's character, who is appealing, is dwarfed by the monsters she is after. I'd rather see her work on another case."

In 1998, the film was listed as one of the 100 greatest films in the past 100 years by the American Film Institute. In 2006, at the Key Art Awards, the original poster for The Silence of the Lambs was named best film poster "of the past 35 years". The Silence of the Lambs placed seventh on Bravo's The 100 Scariest Movie Moments for Lecter's escape scene. The American Film Institute named Hannibal Lecter (as portrayed by Hopkins) the number one film villain of all time and Clarice Starling (as portrayed by Foster) the sixth-greatest film hero of all time. In 2011, ABC aired a prime-time special, Best in Film: The Greatest Movies of Our Time, that counted down the best films chosen by fans based on results of a poll conducted by ABC and People magazine. The Silence of the Lambs was selected as the best suspense/thriller and Dr. Hannibal Lecter was selected as the fourth-greatest film character.

It is regularly cited by critics, film directors and audiences alike as one of the greatest and most influential films of all time. In 2018 Empire ranked it 48th on their list of the 500 greatest movies of all time. The American Film Institute ranked it as the 5th-greatest and most influential thriller film of all time while the characters Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lecter were ranked among the greatest film heroines and villains, respectively. The film is considered "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant by the U.S. Library of Congress and was selected to be preserved in the National Film Registry in 2011.

A sequel titled Hannibal was released in 2001, in which Hopkins reprised his role. It was followed by two prequels: Red Dragon (2002) and Hannibal Rising (2007).

Film Information:

Accolades/Notable Records:

• At the 64th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for seven Oscars, winning five, inculding Best Adapted Screenplay (Ted Tally), Best Actress in a Leading Role (Jodie Foster), Best Actor in a Leading Role (Anthony Hopkins), Best Director (Jonathan Demme), and Best Picture(Kenneth Utt, Edward Saxon, and Ron Bozman).
• The Silence of the Lambs is only the third film to win the Big Five (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay) in the history of the Academy Awards. The first was Frank Capra's It Happened One Night (1934) and Milos Forman's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975).
• In 1991, The Silence of the Lambs was the fifth highest-grossing film.

4. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003)

Why The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003) is Considered a Great Trilogy?

The Lord of the Rings is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential film series ever made. It was a major financial success and is among the highest-grossing film series of all time with $2.981 billion in worldwide receipts. Each film was critically acclaimed and heavily awarded, the series winning 17 out of its 30 Academy Award nominations. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "the trilogy will not soon, if ever, find its equal", while Todd McCarthy of Variety described the films as "one of the most ambitious and phenomenally successful dream projects of all time". The Fellowship of the Ring was voted the greatest fantasy movie of all time in a reader's poll conducted by American magazine Wired in 2012, while The Two Towers and The Return of the King placed fourth and third respectively.

The series appears in the Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association: Top 10 Films, Time's All-Time 100 Movies, and James Berardinelli's Top 100. In 2007, USA Today named the series as the most important films of the past 25 years. Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "Bringing a cherished book to the big screen? No sweat. Peter Jackson's trilogy — or, as we like to call it, our preciousssss — exerted its irresistible pull, on advanced Elvish speakers and neophytes alike." Paste named it one of the 50 Best Movies of the Decade (2000–2009), ranking it at No. 4. In another Time magazine list, the series ranks second in "Best Movies of the Decade". In addition, six characters and their respective actors made the list of 'The 100 Greatest Movie Characters', also compiled by Empire, with Viggo Mortensen's portrayal of Aragorn ranking No. 15, Ian McKellen's portrayal of Gandalf ranking No. 30, Ian Holm's portrayal of Bilbo Baggins (shared with Martin Freeman for his portrayal of the same character in The Hobbit films) ranking No. 61, Andy Serkis' portrayal of Gollum ranking No. 66, Sean Astin's portrayal of Samwise Gamgee ranking No. 77, and Orlando Bloom's portrayal of Legolas ranking No. 94.

The series also drew acclaim from within the industry, including from Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and George Lucas. John Boorman, who once wrote a script for a Lord of the Rings film, said he was happy his own version was unmade as Jackson's films was "of such scope and magnitude that it can only be compared to the building of the great Gothic cathedrals." Forrest J. Ackerman, who once presented a film treatment to Tolkien, and appeared on Jackson's Bad Taste said his pitch "could never have been given the grand treatment that Peter Jackson afforded it."

Film Information:

Accolades/Notable Records:

• The entire trilogy is the most awarded film series of all time, winning a total of 475 different awards across all three films.
• During the 74th, 75th and 76th Academy Awards, the trilogy was nominated for a total of 30 Oscars, winning 17. At the 74th Award Ceremony, The Fellowship of the Ring earned 13 nominations, the most nominated film that year with only winning four. At the 75th Award ceremony, The Two Towers was nominated for six Oscars with only winning two.
• At the 76th Academy Awards, The Return of the King was nominated for 11 Oscars and won in every category, setting the current Oscar record for the highest clean sweep in history. It also is the first fantasy film to win Best Picture.
• With its 11 Academy Award wins, it ties the record with Ben-Hur (1959) and Titanic (1997) as the most awarded films in Oscar history. The Return of the King also became the second sequel to win the Oscar for Best Picture after The Godfather Part II (1974).
• In 2001, The Fellowship of the Ring was the second highest-grossing film. In 2002, The Two Towers was the highest-grossing film. In 2003, The Return of the King was the highest-grossing film.

5. The Dark Knight (2008)

Why The Dark Knight (2008) is Considered a Great Film?

The Dark Knight is considered one of the best films of the 2000s and one of the best superhero films of all time. On aggregating review website Rotten Tomatoes, The Dark Knight has an approval rating of 94%, based on 338 reviews, with an average score of 8.59/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Dark, complex and unforgettable, The Dark Knight succeeds not just as an entertaining comic book film, but as a richly thrilling crime saga." Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating based on reviews from top mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 84 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "universal acclaim." CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade cinemagoers gave the film was "A" on an A+ to F scale; audiences skewed slightly male and older. The Dark Knight appeared on 287 critics' top-ten lists, more than any other film of 2008 with the exception of WALL-E, and more critics (77) named The Dark Knight the best film released that year.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, awarding four out of four stars, described The Dark Knight as a "haunted film that leaps beyond its origins and becomes an engrossing tragedy." He praised the performances, direction, and writing, saying the film "redefine[s] the possibilities of the comic-book movie." Ebert stated that the "key performance" is by Heath Ledger; he pondered whether he would become the first posthumous Academy Award-winning actor since Peter Finch in 1976. The Oscar was awarded to the late Ledger. Ebert ranked this as one of his twenty favorite films of 2008. Film critic Andrew Sarris acknowledged that after seeing The Dark Knight he would "rethink my past reservations" about Nolan's work.

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote that the film is deeper than its predecessor, with a "deft" script that refuses to scrutinize the Joker with popular psychology, instead pulling the viewer in with an examination of Bruce Wayne's psyche. Travers praised all the cast, saying each brings his or her "'A' game" to the film. He says Bale is "electrifying", evoking Al Pacino in The Godfather Part II, that Eckhart's portrayal of Harvey Dent is "scarily moving," and that Oldman "is so skilled that he makes virtue exciting as Jim Gordon." Travers says Ledger moves the Joker away from Jack Nicholson's interpretation into darker territory, and expresses his support for any potential campaign to have Ledger nominated for an Academy Award, Travers says that the filmmakers move the film away from comic book cinema and closer to being a genuine work of art, citing Nolan's direction and the "gritty reality" of Wally Pfister's cinematography as helping to create a universe that has something "raw and elemental" at work within it. In particular, he cites Nolan's action choreography in the IMAX-tailored heist sequence as rivaling that of Heat (1995). Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote, "Pitched at the divide between art and industry, poetry and entertainment, it goes darker and deeper than any Hollywood movie of its comic-book kind." Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "Every great hero needs a great villain. And in 2008, Christian Bale's Batman found his in Heath Ledger's demented dervish, the Joker." BBC critic Mark Kermode, in a positive review, said that Ledger is "very, very good" but that Oldman's turn is "the best performance in the film, by a mile"; Kermode felt Oldman was deserving of an Oscar nomination.

Emanuel Levy wrote Ledger "throws himself completely" into the role, and that the film represents Nolan's "most accomplished and mature" work, and the most technically impressive and resonant of all the Batman films. Levy calls the action sequences some of the most impressive seen in an American film for years, and talks of the Hong Kong-set portion of the film as being particularly visually impressive. Levy and Peter Travers conclude that the film is "haunting and visionary," while Levy goes on to say that The Dark Knight is "nothing short of brilliant." On the other hand, David Denby of The New Yorker said that the story is not coherent enough to properly flesh out the disparities. He said the film's mood is one of "constant climax," and that it feels rushed and far too long. Denby criticized scenes which he argued to be meaningless or are cut short just as they become interesting. Denby remarks that the central conflict is workable, but that "only half the team can act it," saying that Bale's "placid" Bruce Wayne and "dogged but uninteresting" Batman is constantly upstaged by Ledger's "sinister and frightening" performance, which he says is the film's one element of success. Denby concludes that Ledger is "mesmerizing" in every scene. The vocalization of Christian Bale's Batman (which was partly altered during post-production) was the subject of particular criticism by some commentators, with David Edelstein from NPR describing Bale delivering his performance with "a voice that's deeper and hammier than ever." Alonso Duralde at MSNBC, however, referred to Bale's voice in The Dark Knight as an "eerie rasp," as opposed to the voice used in the Batman Begins, which according to Duralde "sounded absurdly deep, like a 10-year-old putting on an 'adult' voice to make prank phone calls."

In 2018, Bilge Ebiri of The Village Voice wrote, "Its politics have been discussed ad infinitum. Its stylistic influence has become ubiquitous, then passé, then somehow aspirational ... The Dark Knight is perhaps the most powerful exploration of guilt the modern American blockbuster has given us."

According to David Sims of The Atlantic, The Dark Knight "legitimized" the genre of the comic book movie in the eyes of film studios, thereby setting the stage for the success of franchises such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Darren Franrich of Entertainment Weekly wrote that the film "cemented a new way of talking about superhero movies," specifically one that acknowledged them as serious vehicles for political commentary and artistic achievement.

Film Information:

Accolades/Notable Records:

• At the 81st Academy Awards, the film was nominated for eight Oscars, winning two, inculding Best Sound Editing (Richard King), and Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Heath Ledger).
• Heath Ledger's performance of the Joker received widespread acclaim, earning him a posthumous Academy Award. This marked the first in comic book/superhero movie history that an actor won an oscar for portraying a comic book character.
• The film is considered by many to be one of the best films of its decade and one of the best superhero films ever made.
• In 2008, The Dark Knight Was the highest-grossing film. At the time, it was the first comic book/superhero to cross the billion dollar mark.

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