A Very Personal List of Top 250 Movies - Intro: Honorable Mentions

Hello!

After six months of active planning and working and debating and agonizing… it’s finally here. I made a list of my Top 250 favorite films of all time. And it’ll be rolling out for the rest of the year (on the other side of Christmas).

First, methodology (so skip this bit if you don’t care): I polled my entire list of logged/watched films on Letterboxd. I pulled from all the lists I’ve made and ended up with about 400 films once I’d whittled everything down to what I thought had a chance of making the list. Then… because I’m crazy, I second guessed myself and the final total I threw into the ranking engine came out to 440 films. This (according to the engine’s guesstimate) took roughly 2,138 comparisons. I ranked for hours upon hours.

It’s not a perfect system. If something loses a matchup early on, that means it’s going to lose versus anything that that winner loses to. One moment of weakness/dishonesty on my part and that film could crash out basically immediately. And I assumed that any film that lost within the first 100 or so comparisons would possibly be out of the running. That said, it’s hard to separate real love from sacred cows. The overriding question I used was “if these two movies were screening at the same time and I have a free ticket but can only go to one, which would it be”. Still, that requires nuance and care and not treating movies as totemic simply because of their rep. I love The Godfather, but I know an early matchup between that and another film screwed things up down the line.

When finished, the list was good if in a rough form. There was a lot of it I liked, but some of it fell prey to the “Godfather fucked it up” theory. If anything, it was a nice framework from which to sculpt a final version. I’ve gone through and done rerankings in smaller, bite-sized blocks and… yeah. I’m really proud of it.

So the rest of the list is coming and soon. For now, I pulled out some films that didn’t make the cut, with most of these these falling just outside the 250 cutoff. When I set out to do this, and I wanted this entire project to have at least 50 films without a ranking that all left me shocked, surprised, saddened, or some combination of the three. More than anything, that was the way I knew I’d created something real and meaningful and not the sort of conventional wisdom with lots of recency bias. This isn’t a list of movies I’ve seen, every single one of these 300 movies are movies I unabashedly love and would recommend to anyone.

While it bums me out to talk about these here, it mostly reflects just how pleased I am with this entire enterprise. And I can’t wait for you to see the next 300 mini-reviews I’m putting out for the rest of the year.

So without further ado, here are 50 Honorable Mentions that didn’t make my Top 250.

8 1/2 (1963)

Directed by: Federico Fellini
Written by: Federico Fellini (Story/Screenplay), Ennio Flaiano (Story/Screenplay), Tullio Pinelli (Screenplay), Brunello Rondi (Screenplay)
Previous Ranking: N/A

My Fellini experience begins and ends with this movie, but watching it was is a fabulous experience. There’s a world where this makes it onto the proper list(honestly I thought it might), but having only seen it once and not really having lived with it outside of that means Fellini’s masterwork doesn’t have the impact on me it probably should have. The director uses a surrealist, almost impressionistic narrative to meditate on art and the struggles of continuing to create after having regular success. It’s one of the great films, but more importantly, it’s one of those great films about creating art and beloved by people with whom I relate very much. This will be in my top someday. Just not yet.

A Simple Favor (2018)

Directed by: Paul Feig
Written by: Jessica Sharzer (Screenplay), Darcey Bell (Original Book)
Previous Ranking: #18

This was in my top 20 in my 2022 list (which is insanely high). Was this recency bias? Absolutely. But my god it’s just so *fun*! Everyone talks about Blake Lively’s outfits, but this fantastic, twisty, utterly batshit thriller has some truly hilarious moments (befitting a comedy director like Feig). More than that, though, Anna Kendrick is simply marvelous as a single mom & vlogger with some weird secrets and questionable personal choices as she starts to unravel the tangled web around her BFF’s mysterious disappearance. The primary reason I’m trying to make time to see The Handmaiden while it’s in theaters is because I want something like this movie every year. I think about it constantly.

The Abyss (1989)

Directed by: James Cameron
Written by: James Cameron
Previous Ranking: #39

This and True Lies didn’t make the cut, and honestly… I’m not surprised. Over and over I’m sure these reviews are going to reference the absolute bloodbath that was narrowing this list down to only 250 films. Given my love for James Cameron and the series I wrote about all of his films this year, this is a high profile casualty. While I stand by my review, there is a languidness to the length that really does leave the film feeling a bit too drawn out (even in the admittedly superior special edition). It’s still great, and Cameron’s ambitious use of water makes this a blockbuster full of things never seen before and hardly seen since. But the sheer scope of films I considered pushed this too far down to make it in.

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)

Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Written by: Steven Spielberg (Screenplay), Ian Watson (Screen Story), Brian Aldiss (Original Book)
Previous Ranking: N/A

Like 8 1/2, this suffers from only having done one watch. So much of it is so good, and Spielberg sprinkling his emotional pixie dust over the sterility of Kubrick’s intellectual framework makes it one of the most unique films in the director’s canon. This has been getting a critical re-evaluation over the past decade, and its rep is only going to grow as time goes on. Not sure if I’ll like it as much as I love other Spielberg’s, but… time will tell.

All That Jazz (1979)

Directed by: Bob Fosse
Written by: Robert Alan Aurthur, Bob Fosse
Previous Ranking: N/A

Very surprised this didn’t make it. Bob Fosse’s semi-autobiographical portrayal of life as a theater director who’s transitioning to a serious film career is so so personal. Roy Scheider nails the entire spirit of the character. Haunting in its message and themes, it’s also a killer musical with some amazing dance numbers and an utterly jaw-dropping final reel. Great film.

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)

Directed by: Jay Roach
Written by: Mike Myers
Previous Ranking: N/A

God it’s just marvelous, isn’t it? It’s the perfect balance of Mike Myers at the height of his powers and having to work within the constraints against him rather than fighting violently against what he views as compromising his imagination’s perfect vision. He will always be one of the brightest stars to come out of SNL, but the man really needs collaborators to temper his more garish tastes. If anything, his followups prove just how important rails are to even the most genius of artists.

Back to the Future Part III (1990)

Directed by: Robert Zemeckis
Written by: Bob Gale (Screenplay/Story), Robert Zemeckis (Story)
Previous Ranking: #45

This is one of those rankings where I’m trusting the process. Even amidst the other films above it, this isn’t where it’s been for most of my life. I’ve long been a proponent of this film, one that takes place in the old west for no reason other than Zemeckis & Gale want to do a western. It’s also a better movie than its predecessor (which, spoiler: did make the list), but there’s a delirious fun to Part II. Its paradoxes, sliding door interactions, and alternate timelines make that movie a big twisty, turny time travel plot, fulfilling the promise of “big time travel adventure”. Part III, though, brings the Back to the Future trilogy home while inverting the premise of the original film. Marty spending a week in 1885 trying to save Doc echoes his week in 1955, but his friend falling in love with Clara echoes the first movie’s plot of him struggling to get his parents to do the same. With this, they totally stick the landing, and while I’ve always wanted to know what happens next with the Doc, his family, and their steampunk time traveling train, it’s outside the scope of the Marty/Doc relationship and their brief span with the Delorean. Centering that relationship helps this cement the three films as one of the great trilogies in cinema history.

Black Panther (2018)

Directed by: Ryan Coogler
Written by: Ryan Cooger, Joe Robert Cole
Previous Ranking: #90

Ryan Coogler’s fabulous freshman entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe remains one of their greatest triumphs and a jewel in their crown. Outside of the Guardians of the Galaxy films, this is maybe the best example of why Marvel’s biggest mistake in running their studio is treating these films like they’re coming off an assembly line. When they let a bench of hungry, visionary directors trust their incredible instincts we get movies like this. And that could be a constant possibility if they felt like taking more risks. All of this, but the lasting legacy here is Chadwick Boseman’s performance. It’s remarkable work, and elevates Wakanda and all its citizens into something really special. Boseman was always on the path to being a big deal actor, but that he was able to do all those other parts and T’Challa in his all-too-brief career reflects his incredible talent. That loss will always be devastating. Thank god this movie exists as one of the monuments to his life.

Boyz n the Hood (1991)

Directed by: John Singleton
Written by: John Singleton
Previous Ranking: N/A

At the age of 24, John Singleton received two Oscar nominations for this, his directorial debut. In a year where the big winner was Silence of the Lambs, this was always going to lose out. But that’s not because it’s not deserving. Boyz n the Hood is both a beautiful portrait of life in late 80s/early 90s Los Angeles and a grim portrayal of the dangers of being black in America. It’s one of the great works of its era, an important piece in this genre. Singleton’s vision in bringing these characters and this world to life is one of the seminal examples of why diversity in stories and who gets to tell them matters so much.

The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

Directed by: Drew Goddard
Written by: Drew Goddard, Joss Whedon
Previous Ranking: #8

How far this has fallen. The first time I made a Top 10 Films list (in 2013) it came in at #7. Its minor drop in 2022 is equally impressive considering the competition of another decade of films under my belt. But in a post-Whedon world it feels less revolutionary than it did, and my viewing of it this year felt way creakier than I was expecting.. If anything, its meta commentary about the state of horror movies proved prescient, as the genre tropes of the horror in the late 00s have relegated themselves to basically Art the Clown. Still a blast, though. I don’t know if there’s a better example of straight up gateway horror, and the “purge” moment in the third act is one of my favorite twists of any movie ever.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Directed by: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Written by: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely
Previous Ranking: #95

This is probably not worth highlighting, but it and Black Panther were the only two single-character MCU movies that made it into the ranking engine. Both made the 2022 list, neither did this time. It’s weird. Despite my current sourness on the MCU and the state of blockbusters, I thought this still might have squeaked in and made it. As it stands, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a perfect corollary to Black Panther. If Coogler’s MCU movie is the one that exemplifies what can happen if a studio like Marvel gives a great artist the opportunity to make something personal and thematic, the Russo Brothers prove what’s possible when Marvel finds directors who work perfectly within their desired machinery. They direct the shit out of the action, and (along with help from producer Kevin Feige and script writers Markus & McFeely) perfectly capture the paranoia and danger of a 70s spy thriller. It’s filmmaking by committee that works. That said, the success of the first two acts is probably why the third feels so weird. No amount of personal Bucky-v-Cap fight is going to change how much the bombast of its climax doesn’t suit the tight, cloak-and-dagger nature of its chosen genre. If there was one prescription to get Marvel Studios back on track, it would be to return to this idea of telling stories about these characters fusing interesting and unique genres to their superhero infrastructure. I would kill for Marvel to make a solo outing this good again.

Chess of the Wind (1976)

Directed by: Mohammad Reza Aslani
Written by: Mohammad Reza Aslani
Previous Ranking: N/A

This was a film I watched for the 2024 Criterion Challenge, and I picked it because I wanted some of my foreign film selections to not just be far eastern action/adventure movies. Mohammad Reza Aslani’s allegory for the state of Iran in the years leading up to the as-yet-to-happen Revolution is absolutely incredible in its prescience and unsparing in its critique of both sides of the cultural split in his country. I was sad that this didn’t make it into my rankings (and it wasn’t close enough for me to justify trying to squeeze it in), but it’s one of the best examples of why film preservation is so important. This screened one time and then the Iranian government banned it. They burned the negative and all copies and the film community assumed it lost… until Aslani’s children found a copy in a Tehran junk shop nearly four decades later. After an expensive and complex restoration, it’s now viewable to anyone who wants to watch it. Violent, full of intrigue and allegory, and a hell of a ride. Highly recommended to anyone for whom that sounds interesting.

Chungking Express (1994)

Directed by: Wong Kar-Wai
Written by: Wong Kar-Wai
Previous Ranking: N/A

Wong Kar-Wai two most famous movies are In the Mood For Love and this. While the former (and one other) did make the forthcoming 250, I was initially surprised that the latter didn’t. That is, until I started thinking about how this is a bifurcated narrative. The second half is the part everyone remembers, and the love story between the police officer and the snack bar worker is one of the most glorious, joyous romances I’ve had the pleasure of watching. Ever. But the first half is… just good. And because it’s the vegetables to chrew through before the sublime gourmet love story that follows, it feels like a slog by comparison. Still love this movie, though. That second half is so so good. Can’t believe it didn’t make it.

Cloverfield (2008)

Directed by: Matt Reeves
Written by: Drew Goddard
Previous Ranking: #40

My favorite found footage film. This has been high in my favorite films list since it first came out, and all of it is only possible because JJ Abrams is doing what he does best: producing. Lean budget, good marketing, and a killer script by Drew Goddard. It rules. Tastes change, though and while my love for this hasn’t diminished, I’ve grown quite a bit and love things differently now. A lot of these honorable mentions (and even some of the lower ranked films) are films I never would have dreamed not making the top 100, let alone a list that’s more than twice as long. But… here we are. It feels good to know that I’ve grown, but with a list I’m so proud of and Cloverfield not on it, this one of a thousand bittersweet paper cuts.

Collateral (2004)

Directed by: Michael Mann
Written by: Stuart Beattie
Previous Ranking: N/A

A cab driver named Max (Jamie Foxx) picks up a fare from a silver-haired man named Vincent (Tom Cruise). Unfortunately for him, it doesn’t take long before he finds himself embroiled in a criminal conspiracy that takes him all over the city and puts him in escalating dangers. Michael Mann’s tight crime thriller has everything I love in a movie: a one-night premise, people in cars sharing intimacy while driving around, and a love letter to Los Angeles… Foxx earned an Oscar nomination for this film (one of two he got that year; he won for Ray), but it’s also great to see Tom Cruise as a vicious assassin. It’s rare he plays the bad guy, especially after this. I can put this on anytime, and while I wasn’t necessarily expecting this to place high, I’m shocked this isn’t at least in the #201-250 range.

The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

Directed by: David Frankel
Written by: Aline Brosh McKenna, Lauren Weisberger (original novel)
Previous Ranking: N/A

Everyone (rightly) talks about Meryl Streep’s performance, but Anne Hathaway holding her own against one of the best-ever actors was another notch on the belt of her incredible breakout run in the early 00s. To give an idea of how good this movie is, look no further than the incredible teaser for the upcoming sequel. The two are electric together. As soon as those elevator doors closed I wanted to leave the movie I was about to see and go home to watch the original all over again. If that’s not a great movie and a lasting legacy I don’t know what is.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

Directed by: Stanley Kubrick
Written by: Stanley Kubrick (Screenplay), Terry Southern (Screenplay), Peter George (Screenplay), Peter Bryant (Original Novel)
Previous Ranking: N/A

There was a night in my youth when my mother rented this and had us sit down to watch it. I lost interest quickly (don’t remember why) and then stayed away for a long time because The Shining makes me feel like dogshit and what I knew about the opening act of Full Metal Jacket gave Kubrick’s perceived coldness an overall bad taste in my mouth. Watching it again, though, it’s brilliant. Peter Sellers is wickedly funny, and the film is incredibly clever in its biting satire of the American military and its resulting complex. It’s the more palatable version of Sidney Lumet’s Fail Safe, which is just as bleak but with none of the comedy. If anyone thinks nuclear weapons aren’t so bad, they should just watch either of these two films and re-evaluate.

The Fugitive (1993)

Directed by: Andrew Davis
Written by: David Twohy (Screenplay/Story), Jeb Stuart (Screenplay), Roy Huggins (original 1963 TV Series)
Previous Ranking: N/A

Maybe the quintessential studio action movie of the ‘90s. Just a nonstop thrill ride with two great performances at the center. Harrison Ford (bearded and then not) is absolutely fabulous, and Tommy Lee Jones’s “I don’t care” remains one of the great line deliveries of all time. Great stuff.

The Godfather Part II (1974)

Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola
Written by: Francis Ford Coppola (Screenplay), Mario Puzo (Screenplay/Original Novel)
Previous Ranking: N/A

The performances are great and there’s some incredible moments (Michael kissing Fredo, Kay revealing her abortion)… but its two narrative threads don’t really cohere. Half the movie follows Michael’s continued descent into the abyss while the other follows the story of how Vito founded his criminal empire. It’s too scattershot: the communist revolution in Cuba, the Senate hearings, the highlighting of Vito’s major moments… it’s feels like a checklist more than the elegant weave of its predecessor. My theory is this sequel’s reputation grows from the original’s totemic perfection. If there’s a success story here, it’s all down to one of the greatest movies of all time; that’s not this one.

Godzilla (1954)

Directed by: Ishiró Honda
Written by: Takeo Murata (Screenplay), Ishiró Honda (Screenplay), Shigeru Kayama (Story)
Previous Ranking: N/A

It’s hard to watch this film through a lens that ignores the dozens of sequels and robust cast of monsters in the Godzilla family. And yet, there’s a purity here that basically justifies every single aspect of Godzilla’s decades-long cultural relevance. Less than a decade after the atomic devastations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, this manifests Japan’s nuclear trauma as a giant lizard bent on wanton destruction. The final product is truly scary stuff and not nearly as campy as many of the subsequent installments.

Hugo (2011)

Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Written by: John Logan (Screenplay), Brian Selznick (Original Novel)
Previous Ranking: N/A

Feels weird to have two Scorsese films in my honorable mentions (on top of the several times he appears in the coming days), but Hugo is one of those films that’s stayed with me since that first viewing. This love letter to film and the history of it feels unique within his filmography, and the big late-movie pivot into that aspect makes complaints about the early, almost Oliver Twisty story of childhood adventure irrelevant. Not only that, but this was a movie I first saw in 3D. To this day I’ve never been able to stop thinking about Scorsese’s use of the technology and how he uses the cinematic innovations of the early 21st Century to comment on the technical revolutions of the early 20th. After Avatar it’s the best deployment of 3D and was a wondrous experience. I’ve never been able to shake off any affection for it. I’m sure I never will.

The Incredibles (2004)

Directed by: Brad Bird
Written by: Brad Bird
Previous Ranking: N/A

Brad Bird’s animated superhero film was a massive leap forward for Pixar. It’s aged a bit since then, and the leaps forward in the animation of human characters have been massive, leaving some of the work her a bit nightmarish (but not as much as Toy Story). But the story of this super powered family brings something for everyone, and the all-ages themes make it one of the best examples of the studio’s broad appeal. It’s almost too bad there’s a sequel. For the longest time this was a great example of how a one-and-done movie could still inspire endless love and affection and stand tall as a pillar of cinematic culture.

Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

Directed by: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Written by: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Previous Ranking: N/A

Someone on Letterboxd remarked that between O Brother and this, the Coens could have full careers as music producers. Though I’m not one for folk music, the lush soundscape of banger after banger as the eponymous singer goes through a rough, bleak week of his life is undeniable. That, plus Adam Driver’s interstitial outcries (“uh oh!” “oh no!” “outer… spayce”) during “Please, Mr. Kennedy” are all phrases that ring in my head relatively constantly. Just a casual masterpiece from a directing team with a library full of them.

Jackass Forever (2022)

Directed by: Jeff Tremaine
Written by: N/A
Previous Ranking: N/A

It’s possible this will be the final movie like this we ever get, but if it is, Johnny Knoxville and co made a love letter to growing old and passing along stupidity to the next generation. It’s maybe the hardest I’ve ever laughed in a theater. Its real legacy, though is the weeks after we saw it, during which my friend and I would text each other one word reminders of the setpieces, allowing us to relive the chaos and mayhem we had witnessed. Every time it made me laugh just how years later I’m laughing about it as I type this.

Joint Security Area (2000)

Directed by: Park Chan-Wook
Written by: Kim Hyun-seok, Jeong Seong-san, Lee Moo-yeong, Park Chan-wook, Park Sang-yeon (Original Text)
Previous Ranking: N/A

It’s the mainstream movie Park Chan-Wook had to make before going into his weird, esoteric explorations of off-kilter love stories and gruesome vengeance. But that accessibility is its charm. As it starts, it feels like a pretty bog standard murder mystery, but as the narrative unfolds, it reveals a deeply humanist nougaty center. The interactions between the two pairs of Koreans on either side of this narrow DMZ bridge is a culture clash amidst cross-national camaraderie. The connection that seems so close at hand is both tragic and uplifiting, and the secret these men hide feels like it should be some terrible secret, when really it’s just a celebration of human connection and that what unites is far more wonderful than the little that divides.

Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001)

Directed by: Ashutosh Gowariker
Written by: Ashutosh Gowariker (Screenplay/Story/English Dialogues), Kumar Dave (Screenplay), Sanjay Damya (Screenplay), K.P Saxena (Hindi Dialogues)
Previous Ranking: N/A

RRR inspired an interest in Indian cinema, and this film about a cricket game between an Indian village and a team of douchebag British overseers is one of the most iconic Bollywood films this century. It’s probably half an hour too long, and it’s not the vibrant energy of Rajamouli… but… it’s maybe the best sports movie I’ve ever seen? And it’s about freaking cricket, a game I don’t understand despite trying. Fabulous.

The Last Picture Show (1971)

Directed by: Peter Bogdanovich
Written by: Peter Bogdanovich (Screenplay), Larry McMurtry (Screenplay/Original Novel)
Previous Ranking: N/A

Peter Bogdanovich’s big breakout hit is a great portrayal of small town life in early 1950s rural Texas. It’s slightly melancholic and certainly revisionist/skeptical of America’s “Golden Decade”, but that’s what makes it so effective. It’s a poison pill of nostalgia, unflinching in how these just-graduated kids are, for good and for ill. All the performances are so good and it’s easy to see not only why Bogdanovich had an affair with Cybill Shepherd but also why Cloris Leachman won an Oscar for her small but remarkable performance. This is one of the first movies I watched early on in this three-year long movie project; it’s still one of my go-to “you should watch this” picks.

The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)

Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Written by: Paul Schrader (Screenplay), Nikos Kazantzakis (original novel)
Previous Ranking: N/A

From afar, this should be a Waterloo for Scorsese. Childhood dream project, laborious birth, muted reception… but it’s aged incredibly well. What stands out most is Scorsese’s attempts to grapple with and humanize the apex of human divinity. Willem Dafoe brings gravitas for sure, but it’s the “Christ just a dude” at the center of this that is so remarkable. It’s empathetic and powerful, with an emphasis on the man himself struggling with what this burden means and what it takes to get him to accept his destiny of savior of all humankind. This is the Jesus I can believe in, and that’s probably why I don’t go to church anymore.

Lost Highway (1997)

Directed by: David Lynch
Written by: David Lynch, Barry Gilford
Previous Ranking: N/A

David Lynch’s cinematic mobius strip is as confounding as you’d expect from a dude like him doing a premise like that. But it doesn’t have quite the impact of the rest of his filmography. It’s offputting and weird and unexplainable in the way Lynch’s other work is, but without the saturating empathy that defines his best films. Regardless, it’s still absolutely fabulous. Lynch’s films work on an emotional level such that an unexplained and opaque plot like this can have resonance and be this satisfying. Insane that a movie this good isn’t even in the top half of his work.

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1982)

Directed by: George Miller
Written by: George Miller (Written by/Original Characters), Terry Hayes, Brian Hannant, Byron Kennedy (Original Characters)
Previous Ranking: N/A

George Miller’s followup to his dystopic first film is an incredible gnarly action film. Even though he topped himself with Fury Road three decades later, his punk-rock, post-apocalyptic aesthetic became instantly iconic and inspired an entire generation of directors to reach higher. What other filmmaker would have a badass leader with assless chaps and a little mute feral kid with a finger-slicing boomerang?

Moonstruck (1987)

Directed by: Norman Jewison
Written by: John Patrick Shanley
Previous Ranking: N/A

This probably would have made the main list if I’d grow up with it and/or were a bigger Nicolas Cage fan and/or had seen it more than the one time. Still, it’s a great love story/wonderful romantic comedy, but be prepared to go out for pasta afterwards.

Nightcrawler (2014)

Directed by: Dan Gilroy
Written by: Dan Gilroy
Previous Ranking: N/A

A fabulous, cynical look at the power of shock-value journalism and the ambition of an absolute maniac eager to leapfrog his career in a bid to get to the top. Even though I’ve only seen it once, I’ve spent more than a decade turning it over and over in my mind. Gyllenhaal, Russo, Ahmed, Paxton… I should watch more Dan Gilroy movies.

Nope (2022)

Directed by: Jordan Peele
Written by: Jordan Peele
Previous Ranking: N/A

It’s much less clean and obvious compared to the laser focus of Get Out, but Jordan Peele’s third film teased itself as a horror movie only to prove itself weirder and more shocking. It has some intense horror to be sure, not the least of which is the opening beat, which is one of the most harrowing, terrifying things I’ve ever seen in a theater. But there’s more to it than that. Like his other movies, there’s a thematic clarity to all of this, where a film about voyeurism, observation, and the animalistic nature of eye contact adds up to one of the standout films of 2022.

Ocean’s Twelve (2004)

Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Written by: George Nolfi, George Clayton Johnson (Characters)
Previous Ranking: N/A

It has a rep for being a letdown, but considering just how good and singular Ocean’s Eleven is, that success is not something Soderbergh and co can repeat. Ocean’s Thirteen would eventually prove that limiting these movies to a “we rob a Vegas casino” premise is reductive. To make something that will last, the team builds Ocean’s Twelve as a vehicle through which these great characters get to hang out, do some crimes, and enact wild and even reality-breaking plans. Recalibrating that expectation helps see this movie for what it is: a total blast and a template for how to make the Ocean’s movies an ongoing enterprise. It’s entirely understandable why this didn’t work out, but that doesn’t make it any less of a bummer that this is all we get of this particular flavor.

ParaNorman (2012)

Directed by: Sam Fell, Chris Butler
Written by: Chris Butler
Previous Ranking: N/A

Don’t let the poster fool you. Behind the caricatures of this gothy animation is a powerful story about healing intergenerational trauma. It’s depressing yet also uplifting and beautiful. This is an instant Halloween classic and a great stop-motion picture.

Personal Shopper (2016)

Directed by: Olivier Assayas
Written by: Olivier Assayas
Previous Ranking: N/A

Kristen Stewart using her Twilight cache to be an incredible actor is one of the great legacies of that series. This film, in which she plays a girl waiting for word from her dead brother is haunting and strange. So much of it is not rationally explainable, and yet the underlying tone and genre makes for an incredible character study and a wonderful ghost story more people should watch.

Point Break (2015)

Directed by: Kathryn Bigelow
Written by: W. Peter Iliff (Screenplay/Story), Rick King (Story)\
Previous Ranking: N/A

Kathryn Bigelow can be hit or miss. When she’s off her game, it’s perplexing movies like The Weight of Water and Detroit. Luckily she made a sick as hell early 90s crime film about an undercover cop trying to bust a crew of surf bro bank robbers. It has flashy action sequences other movies have spent decades ripping it off. Keanu and Swayze are having a great time, and their bro-y, sexual tension-laden homoerotic relationship comes via zeitgeisty surfer culture within a kickass crime yarn.

Porco Rosso (1992)

Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki
Written by: Hayao Miyazaki
Previous Ranking: N/A

Miyazaki views this as a failure because of how he made a more adult movie that’s not as kid friendly as the rest of his filmography. And yet, that lapse in judgment let him build something thematically rich and wondrous. That adultier appeal is what makes it one of my favorite Miyazaki films. And what is better than a movie that proves it’s better to be a pig than a fascist?

Raising Arizona (1987)

Directed by: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Written by: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Previous Ranking: N/A

The Coens sophomore effort is a massive step up from their already impressive freshman one. It’s pure Loony Tunes and screwball comedy, but at the center is a remarkably emotional story about the longing for family and parenthood and the lengths some will go to fill that void. Without their ability to tap into empathy and pathos, the Coens never would have had the success they (rightly) had. It started here and even to this day there’s never really been another movie like this.

Scream 4 (2011) / Scream (2022)

Directed by: Wes Craven (Scream 4), Matt Bettinelli-Olpin (Scream), Tyler Gillett (Scream)
Written by: Kevin Williamson (Scream 4; characters: Scream), James Vanderbilt (Scream), Guy Busick (Scream)
Previous Ranking: #66 (Scream 4)

Splitting the difference and putting both of these here. Scream 4 is a terrific return to form after a disastrous Scream 3 and the series turns from the too-witty, meta-clever genre send-up into the shlocky slasher it always could have been. If it fails, it’s in the final five minutes, where writer Kevin Williamson swerves the film from bold new flavor into cowtowing to the original. Meanwhile, 2022’s Scream coined the term “lega-sequel”. It hit all the beats of a great Scream movie and paid homage to its predecessor while also building something new and exciting. Unlike Scream 4, it doesn’t undercut its own existence while also proving that the iconic horror series could survive without Williamson and director Wes Craven. It’s a fabulous, fabulous slasher. The upcoming, Williamson-penned Scream VII might be good, but any turning back the clock on Scream and its sequel (Scream VI) is a damn shame. There’s a good chance whatever comes next will be regressive, diminishing the series after such an incredible run of demonstrating it can be so much more.

Speed Racer (2008)

Directed by: The Wachowskis
Written by: The Wachowskis, Tatsuo Yoshida (original manga)
Previous Ranking: N/A

The Spritle and Chim-Chim of it all plays a bit too much to the kid audience the Wachowskis catered to, and when I first saw this late in its theatrical run, the entire screening was parents and their yelly kids. That’s too bad, because everything else here is remarkable. It’s an anime cartoon in film form. The race sequences are incredible, the family stuff is dynamite, and the anti-capitalist screed is exactly in line with the Wachowskis’ queer perspective on society. Since their beginning, the Wachowskis’ have brought an invaluable perspective and voice to blockbusters and cinema as a whole. Audiences’ demure reaction to their post-Matrix work will always be one of the great tragedies of our time. Bro we coulda had so many other great movies like this. Thank god they rode it out as hard as they could for as long as they could.

Spotlight (2015)

Directed by: Tom McCarthy
Written by: Josh Singer, Tom McCarthy
Previous Ranking: N/A

Mainstream features so regularly default to hero’s journey narratives that it’s easy to forget movies like Spotlight can happen and even be massive hits. Most of this Best Picture winner’s appeal comes from the salaciousness of the Catholic Church’s child sexual abuse scandal and the journalism process porn that unraveled the whole conspiracy. The greatest irony of the whole thing? Writer/director Tom McCarthy had a major role on the final season of The Wire, where he plays a sleazebag reporter who fakes news stories so he can enjoy unearned success and career advancement. More movies about journalism, please.

Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

Directed by: Jonathan Frakes
Written by: Brannon Braga (Screenplay/Story), Ronald D. Moore (Screenplay/Story), Rick Berman (Story), Gene Roddenberry (creator, Star Trek)
Previous Ranking: N/A

The good Next Generation movie. It’s got action, thrills, and great performances amidst slick Borg action and a great time travel premise. As a kid, this felt like a massive spectacle unlike any other Trek I’d ever seen. As an adult, I marvel at the limited budget, remarkable constraint, and how the team worked within these limitations to make a singular Trek film that’s one of the all-time bests.

Starship Troopers (1997)

Directed by: Paul Verhoeven
Written by: Edward Neumeier, Robert A Heinlein (original novel)
Previous Ranking: N/A

My parents read this substack, so I won’t be going into details about the first time I saw large sections of this movie. Instead, it’s worth highlighting the point where I watched this movie with the full context of what director Paul Verhoeven is doing. He’s not adapting Robert Heinlein’s classic sci-fi novel so much as he is using that to make a straight-up in-universe Nazi propaganda film and not tell anyone that’s what he’s doing. It’s a genius move and makes this a singular film worth the time of anyone who can stomach Verhoeven’s level of violence, sex and gore.

Symbiopsychotaxiplasm (1971)

Directed by: William Greaves
Written by: William Greaves
Previous Ranking: N/A

In my senior year of college, my History of African American Film professor tasked the class with expanding Wikipedia articles about various topics. Building the pages for Symbiopsychotaxiplasm (and its director William Greaves) was one of the best assignments of my academic career (and the revision history of my articles are still there). As such, Greaves and his signature documentary will always have a special place in my heart. Even if it didn’t, though, Greaves added to the cinematic canon of films that try to capture reality without the instinctual performance that comes from knowing the cameras are on. Through a convoluted system of camera teams recording various subjects (including each other) simultaneously, he starts to knock down the artifice of that instinct to get to something real. There are moments where the nature of performance devolves into a strange showcase of behavior in the abstract. It‘s a weird movie and can feel like going insane. But this (and its sequel) are great examples of black cinema that doesn’t define itself by race or generational trauma or social issues. Instead it’s just a weird visionary dude who used the medium to explore his thematic interests. One day maybe we’ll get to a place where this sort of project isn’t so unique and special. It’ll be a good one when we do.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Directed by: Frank Darabont
Written by: Frank Darabont (Screenplay), Stephen King (Original Novella)
Previous Ranking: N/A

The most interesting aspect of The Shawshank Redemption is how its muted theatrical release gave way to a popularity spike when it hit regular rotation on cable TV and resulted in its coronation as one of the best films of all time in the era of IMDB. It’s a tremendous film, one born of writer/director Frank Darabont’s empathy in adapting a great Stephen King novella. Quality like this is undeniable, and its not on the 250 list is entirely down to personal taste and not a reflection of the film as a whole.

There Will Be Blood (2007)

Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson
Written by: Paul Thomas Anderson (Screenplay), Upton Sinclair (Original Novel)
Previous Ranking: N/A

Paul Thomas Anderson’s partnerships with Daniel-Day Lewis are incredible portraits of fascinating, troubled men who rule their domains by virtue of the patriarchy. In 2007, it was between this and No Country for Old Men for the Oscar. A decade later, the two PTA and Daniel-Day Lewis would collaborate on the more balanced Phantom Thread. Comparing the two, this falls just shy of greatness. Lewis’s singular performance as Daniel Plainview overshadows the entire film, such that it’s hard to appreciate everything else PTA is doing in this story of the early days of the American oil rush. As a character showcase there’s basically nothing better. Unfortunately, everything else suffers as a result.

True Grit (2010)

Directed by: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Written by: Joel Coen (Screenplay), Ethan Coen (Screenplay), Charles Portis (Original Novel)
Previous Ranking: N/A

The Coens remake of the classic John Wayne western is one of several apotheoses in their career. After decades of playing with the genre’s tropes, the first of their two western efforts is an absolute home run. Bridge is terrific, but watching a 14-year old Hailee Steinfeld hold her own and anchor the entire film is an incredible kickoff to a glorious career.

Unforgiven (1992)

Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Written by: David Webb Peoples
Previous Ranking: N/A

One of the best Westerns of all time about one of the most vile men to ever live. When we first meet William Munny he’s escaped his life as one of the great bastards of his age, but circumstances pull him back in. It’s almost two hours of waiting for him to reveal who he is, but when the man finally breaks, it’s a haunting climax that shows what true evil really looks like. You hate to see it.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)

Directed by: Mel Stuart
Written by: Roald Dahl (Screenplay/Original Novel), David Seltzer (uncredited)
Previous Ranking: N/A

What’s remarkable about Gene Wilder’s performance as the eponymous chocolatier is how much he makes it his own. Dahl’s take on the character was a bit more aloof, but Wilder chooses something different, blending near-malice, thinly-veiled contempt, and a reckless ambivalence into an intoxicating concoction. Best of all, he managed to establish all of that with one single somersault. God he was one of a kind.

One other quick note…

For completionism’s sake, I’m also including in all the films that were on my 2022 Top 100 Films list that didn’t make either the 2025 Top 250 or the aforementioned Honorable Mentions. Not gonna do write-ups on these (this is plenty long as is), but wanted to clock them and where they last ranked for posterity’s sake.

• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (#68)
• Casino Royale (#79)
• Eighth Grade (#99)
• Fight Club (#56)
• Goldeneye (#97)
• The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (#85)
• Rocketman (#88)
• Skyfall (#69)

Coming up next…

That’s it for the honorable mentions this time. I’ll be back on the other side of Christmas with the actual kickoff of the top 250 countdown, starting with #250-201!

Gosh this is terribly exciting. Thanks for reading!