The eighth challenge on my #40Before40 list is to watch all of the films on the iMDB Top 250 films list.
These are the highest rated films on the iMDB (internet Movie Database). As the list is subject to change, I have “frozen” the list on 27.08.2017. My aim is to watch all of them before I turn 40.
Below is the complete list with the films that I have already seen highlighted in another colour. As I previously mentioned, the rule is that I don’t have to rewatch films that I have seen before.
I have been 100% honest with the list. I have seen parts of some of the films and then fallen asleep (think Lord of the Rings, but this was also true for Gladiator). So I will rewatch these in order to tick them off my list with confidence.
Of the 250 films, I have seen 79 of them. The films that are highlighted in green are films that I have recently watched. I have written a small review of these films at the bottom of the list.
- The Shawshank Redemption
- The Godfather
- The Godfather: Part II
- The Dark Knight
- 12 Angry Men
- Schindler’s List
- Pulp Fiction
- The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
- Fight Club
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
- Forrest Gump
- Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back
- Inception
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
- Goodfellas
- The Matrix
- Seven Samurai
- Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope
- City of God
- Se7en
- The Silence of the Lambs
- It’s a Wonderful Life
- Life is Beautiful
- The Usual Suspects
- Léon: The Professional
- Saving Private Ryan
- Spirited Away
- Once Upon a Time in the West
- American History X
- Interstellar
- Psycho
- City Lights
- Casablanca
- The Green Mile
- The Untouchables
- Modern Times
- Raiders of the Lost Ark
- The Pianist
- The Departed
- Rear Window
- Terminator 2: Judgement Day
- Back to the Future
- Whiplash
- Gladiator
- The Prestige
- The Lion King
- Memento
- Apocalyspe Now
- Alien
- The Great Dictator
- Sunset Boulevard
- Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
- Cinema Paradiso
- The Lives of Other
- Grave of the Fireflies
- Paths of Glory
- Django Unchained
- The Shining
- E
- American Beauty
- The Dark Knight Rises
- Princess Mononoke
- Aliens
- Old Boy
- Witness for the Prosecution
- Once Upon a Time in America
- Das Boot
- Citizen Kane
- Dunkirk
- Dangal
- Vertigo
- North by Northwest
- Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi
- Braveheart
- Resevior Dogs
- M
- Requiem for a Dream
- Amélie
- Like Stars on Earth
- A Clockwork Orange
- Lawrence of Arabia
- Double Indemnity
- Taxi Driver
- Your Name
- Amadeus
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- Full Metal Jacket
- Toy Story 3
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- Singin’ in the Rain
- The Sting
- Toy Story
- Bicycle Thieves
- Inglorious Basterds
- The Kind
- 3 Idiots
- Snatch
- Monthy Python and the Holy Grail
- For a Few Dollars More
- L.A. Confidential
- The Hunt
- Good Will Hunting
- Scarface
- The Apartment
- Rashomon
- A Separation
- Metropolis
- My Father and My Son
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
- All About Eve
- Yojimbo
- Batman Begins
- Up
- Some Like It Hot
- The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
- Unforgiven
- Downfall
- Die Hard
- Raging Bull
- Heat
- The Third Man
- Children of Heaven
- The Great Escape
- Chinatown
- Ikiru
- Pan’s Labyrinth
- My Neighbor Totoro
- Ran
- Inside Out
- The Gold Rush
- The Secret in Their Eyes
- On the Waterfront
- Incendies
- Judgement at Nuremburg
- Bridge Over the River Kwai
- Howl’s Moving Castle
- Room
- Bladerunner
- The Seventh Seal
- Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
- Smith Goes to Washington
- Casino
- A Beautiful Mind
- The Elephant Man
- Wild Strawberries
- V for Vendetta
- The Wolf of Wall Street
- The General
- Warrior
- La La Land
- Andrei Rublev
- Trainspotting
- Dial M for Murder
- Sunrise
- Gran Torino
- The Bandit
- The Deer Hunter
- Gone with the Wind
- Fargo
- The Sixth Sense
- The Big Lebowski
- The Thing
- No Country for Old Men
- Finding Nemo
- Tokyo Story
- Logan
- Hacksaw Ridge
- Cool Hand Luke
- Rang De Basanti
- There Will Be Blood
- Rebecca
- The Passion of Joan of Arc
- Come and See
- Kill Bill: Vol. 1
- How to Train Your Dragon
- Mary and Max
- Gone Girl
- A Wednesday
- Into the Wild
- Shutter Island
- It Happened One Night
- Life of Brian
- Wild Tales
- Platoon
- Hotel Rwanda
- The Wages of Fear
- Rush
- Network
- In the Name of the Father
- Stand By Me
- Baby Driver
- The 400 Blows
- Ben-Hur
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- Persona
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- Spotlight
- 12 Years a Slave
- Million Dollar Baby
- Memories of Murder
- Jurassic Park
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
- Amores Perros
- Stalker
- The Maltese Falcon
- Paper Moon
- The Truman Show
- Hachi: A Dog’s Tale
- Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
- The Night of Cabiria
- The Princess Bride
- Before Sunrise
- Munna Bhai M.B.B.S
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
- The Grapes of Wrath
- Prisoners
- Rocky
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- Touch of Evil
- Catch Me If You Can
- Diabolique
- Gandhi
- Sholay
- Donnie Darko
- Monsters, Inc
- Annie Hall
- The Bourne Ultimatum
- The Terminator
- Barry Lyndon
- The Wizard of Oz
- Groundhog Day
- Le Haine
- 8½
- Jaws
- Twelve Monkeys
- Internal Affairs
- The Best Years of Our Lives
- Hera Pheri
- The Help
- In the Mood for Love
- Beauty and the Beast
- The Battle of Algiers
- Gangs of Wasseypur
- Dog Day Afternoon
- What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
- K
Recent film reviews:
71. Dunkirk – I thoroughly enjoyed this film. To my shame I didn’t know much about what happened at Dunkirk. It was an eye opener and very emotional to watch. The woman sat next to me in the cinema was sobbing her heart out. The film shows three separate stories that are intertwined. I was completely engrossed until part way into the film when I thought “Oh that’s Harry Styles!”. In fairness, he performance was good; a lot better than his 1D days.
146. A Beautiful Mind – I am not sure how I have managed to avoid this film for the past 16 years. I think that I have seen the start of the film before because it did seem familiar. It is the story of the mathematician John Nash, who suffered with mental health problems, even though his work and theories have probably influenced economics more than anyone else in the 20th century. The story was not 100% accurate, as I later found out reading more about his life online, but the story is interested and had me gripped.
170. Hawsaw Ridge – I had no idea what this film was about. It charts the life of Desmond Doss, a soldier in WWII, who is a consciencious objector to war because of his religious view. He enlists in the medical corps to save lives rather then take them. The film, more than any other war film I have seen, depicts the senselessness and futility of war and also serves as a reminder than one person can make a difference.
175. How to Train a Dragon – one of only two animated films on the list that I haven’t seen. For me, there weren’t enough innuendos aimed at adults in the film. Normally in these types of films there are several layers so that adults understand some parts of the film in a slightly different way to how a child would. Nevertheless, the good defeats evil in the end. And the dragons are pretty cool.
194. Baby Driver – I have no idea what I was expecting with this film. I had only seen the poster for the film before I went to the cinema. The film was a lot better than I was expecting and had a really good cast. I also loved all the music. Highly recommended.
238. Twelve Monkeys – I have a sneeky suspicion that I have seen this film before, but I watched it all anyway. Bruce Willis’ character time-travels between the 2034 and 1996 trying to find out who has wiped out the human race with a deadly virus. An, at times, complex plot because of the to-ing and fro-ing between the two time periods.
Leave a Reply