Dave's Blog

I watch a fair number of movies. Most I watch at home and once in a while I’ll see one in the theatre.

If you read my post from yesterday you won’t be surprised that I have a particular interest in science fiction and fantasy movies. And yes, there are lists for those on the Sci-Fi Lists web site as well: check out the science fiction list and the fantasy list. I’ll let you know what I think of the movies on these lists one of these days.

When I review a movie the only thing I can do is rate it according to how I feel about it on that occasion. I sometimes rewatch movies, and it’s certainly possible that I’ll give a movie a different rating upon subsequent viewing.

For now, here are my picks for the best of the best movies. These aren’t etched in stone — I might change my mind tomorrow. But they give you a good idea of what kind of movies I like.

Top 20 science fiction movies

• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• The Adjustment Bureau
• Batman Begins
• Blade Runner
• Brazil
• Dark City
• Dr. Strangelove
• Galaxy Quest
• Gattaca
• Inception
• Last Night
• The Matrix
• Planet of the Apes (1968)
• Serenity
• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
• Star Trek: Insurrection
• Star Trek
• The Truman Show
• Twelve Monkeys
• WALL-E

Top 20 fantasy movies

• Babe
• Being John Malkovich
• Big Fish
• Chicken Run
• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
• Field of Dreams
• The Green Mile
• Hero
• The Incredibles
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• Monsters, Inc.
• The Princess Bride
• Shrek
• The Sixth Sense
• Spider-man 2
• Toy Story
• Toy Story 2
• Unbreakable

Top 20 comedy movies

• Amelie
• The Big Lebowski
• Bowfinger
• Broken Flowers
• Bulworth
• Clerks
• Crocodile Dundee
• Dave
• Dogma
• Dr. Strangelove
• Drowning Mona
• Fargo
• Grumpy Old Men
• Life is Beautiful
• Maverick
• Napoleon Dynamite
• Strictly Ballroom
• The Triplets of Belleville
• Tropic Thunder
• Zoolander

Top 20 dramatic movies

• American Beauty
• Backdraft
• Citizen Kane
• The Color Purple
• Dances With Wolves
• Dead Again
• Dead Poets Society
• Forrest Gump
• The Fugitive
• Good Will Hunting
• A Love Song for Bobby Long
• The Mission
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
• Rain Man
• The Reader
• The Secret Life of Words
• The Shawshank Redemption
• The Sweet Hereafter
• Water
• Witness

Top 14 action/adventure movies

• The Bourne Identity
• The Bourne Supremacy
• The Bourne Ultimatum
• Hero
• The Hunt for Red October
• The Italian Job
• Leon
• Mission Impossible 3
• Ocean’s Eleven
• Ocean’s Twelve
• The Rock
• Seraphim Falls
• Speed
• The Sting

Top 13 romance movies

• 50 First Dates
• As Good As It Gets
• Bridget Jones’s Diary
• Definitely, Maybe
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• It Could Happen to You
• Jerry Maguire
• Notting Hill
• Shakespeare in Love
• Sommersby
• The Wedding Singer
• While You Were Sleeping
• You’ve Got Mail

Top 20 movies based on a true story

• Apollo 13
• The Aviator
• Awakenings
• A Beautiful Mind
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
• Capote
• Catch Me If You Can
• Changeling
• Chaplin
• Ed Wood
• Erin Brockovich
• Finding Neverland
• Freedom Writers
• Gandhi
• Gorillas in the Mist
• Infamous
• Kundun
• October Sky
• Ray
• Walk the Line

Top 10 musicals

• Enchanted
• Fiddler on the Roof
• Grease
• Jesus Christ Superstar
• Mary Poppins
• My Fair Lady
• The Nightmare Before Christmas
• The Sound of Music
• West Side Story
• The Wizard of Oz

Top 9 documentaries

• Bowling For Columbine
• The Corporation
• Fahrenheit 9/11
• The Fog of War
• An Inconvenient Truth
• Lost in La Mancha
• Walking With Cavemen
• Walking With Dinosaurs
• Walking With Prehistoric Beasts

Top 3 seeing-the-world-in-a-new-way movies

• Baraka
• Koyaanisqatsi
• Powaqqatsi