MSN.com's 100 Best Movies of All Time
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Whether we watch them at drive-in theatres (yes, they do still exist) or multiplexes, or on our TV sets, laptops, or smartphones, movies are a part of our life. They divert and entertain us, make us laugh or cry (or both), get us thinking, inspire us, and sometimes are so powerful that they leave us simply drained.
What makes a good movie? It’s largely a matter of personal taste, of course. The history of cinema is full of examples of critically acclaimed films that do little at the box office (“Brazil,” “The King of Comedy”) and, conversely, smash hits that the critics mostly disliked (“The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” “The Da Vinci Code”).
Movies that score well with both audiences and reviewers — and there are many — tend to have a few basic characteristics in common: a strong, coherent storyline; richly drawn -- and well-acted -- characters; well-done cinematography and (if applicable) special effects; and a satisfying ending.
The movies on this list share those virtues to a greater or lesser extent. They cover a wide range, spanning cinema history from 1921 to 2018. They include silent films and technologically dazzling blockbusters. Many feature famous performers of the past and present, as well as some of the film world’s most acclaimed directors — Charlie Chaplin, Frank Capra, George Cukor, Alfred Hitchcock, John Huston, Stanley Kubrick, Sam Peckinpah, and Francis Ford Coppola.
Some of these movies will be familiar to almost anyone — “Citizen Kane,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “The Silence of the Lambs,” “Star Wars” (now retitled “Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope”). Others are more obscure, but well worth discovering.
Taken as a whole, this list provides a vivid illustration of why movies are so important to us.
List added January 2019
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4 new
12 Angry Men
1957, in 30 top lists Check -
58 new
12 Years a Slave
2013, in 22 top lists Check -
55 new
2001: A Space Odyssey
1968, in 45 top lists Check -
48 new
Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes
1972 — a.k.a. Aguirre, the Wrath of God, in 18 top lists Check -
57 new
Alien
1979, in 30 top lists Check -
78 new
Aliens
1986, in 24 top lists Check -
16 new
All About Eve
1950, in 25 top lists Check -
76 new
All Quiet on the Western Front
1930, in 19 top lists Check -
79 new
All the President's Men
1976, in 21 top lists Check -
91 new
The Apartment
1960, in 28 top lists Check -
41 new
Apocalypse Now
1979, in 37 top lists Check -
94 new
Badlands
1973, in 23 top lists Check -
97 new
Black Narcissus
1947, in 15 top lists Check -
62 new
Boyhood
2014, in 16 top lists Check -
23 new
The Bridge on the River Kwai
1957, in 32 top lists Check -
21 new
Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo
1966 — a.k.a. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, in 28 top lists Check -
7 new
Casablanca
1942, in 39 top lists Check -
18 new
Chinatown
1974, in 31 top lists Check -
6 new
Citizen Kane
1941, in 39 top lists Check -
10 new
City Lights
1931, in 34 top lists Check -
88 new
Coco
2017, in 14 top lists Check -
84 new
Cool Hand Luke
1967, in 13 top lists Check -
19 new
The Dark Knight
2008, in 27 top lists Check -
32 new
Double Indemnity
1944, in 37 top lists Check -
20 new
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop...
1964, in 37 top lists Check -
63 new
Duck Soup
1933, in 24 top lists Check -
36 new
The General
1926, in 33 top lists Check -
2 new
The Godfather
1972, in 42 top lists Check -
1 new
The Godfather Part II
1974, in 32 top lists Check -
51 new
The Gold Rush
1925, in 30 top lists Check -
12 new
Goodfellas
1990, in 31 top lists Check -
73 new
The Grapes of Wrath
1940, in 24 top lists Check -
34 new
The Great Dictator
1940, in 25 top lists Check -
80 new
His Girl Friday
1940, in 22 top lists Check -
77 new
Holiday
1938, in 8 top lists Check -
93 new
In a Lonely Place
1950, in 19 top lists Check -
86 new
Inception
2010, in 21 top lists Check -
43 new
Inside Out
2015, in 18 top lists Check -
52 new
It Happened One Night
1934, in 29 top lists Check -
44 new
It's a Wonderful Life
1946, in 33 top lists Check -
15 new
Kes
1969, in 11 top lists Check -
81 new
The Kid
1921, in 17 top lists Check -
35 new
Kind Hearts and Coronets
1949, in 21 top lists Check -
82 new
L.A. Confidential
1997, in 27 top lists Check -
45 new
The Last Picture Show
1971, in 21 top lists Check -
92 new
Laura
1944, in 21 top lists Check -
25 new
Lawrence of Arabia
1962, in 40 top lists Check -
90 new
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2002, in 26 top lists Check -
46 new
The Maltese Falcon
1941, in 27 top lists Check -
59 new
A Matter of Life and Death
1946, in 22 top lists Check
Last updated on Mar 24, 2019; source