Criteria For the Top 100 Films

The first thing that should be said is that that these are not my 100 favorite movies of all time, but those that I think are the best. Yes, there’s a difference. Some of the movies on this list, like 2001, aren’t necessarily personal favorites of mine, but are nonetheless very well-made and influential. Many of my personal favorites are on this list too, including my all-time favorite, Field of Dreams. However, a lot of my pet movies did miss the cut.

It’s also worth mentioning here the limitations I’ve placed on this list. Of course, it’s limited to movies I’ve seen. But it’s also limited to English-language, theatrically distributed, narrative feature films. That means foreign films, documentaries, TV movies and miniseries, and short films are out. That’s not to say that films in those categories aren’t worthy of a being on a list like this -- they certainly are -- but to make informed judgments on those categories would require me to see more movies than I could ever possibly watch. Frankly, I don’t know enough about them, and haven’t seen enough of them, to express a well-founded opinion.

That said, here are what I consider to be the best in each of those categories:

Top Foreign Language Films

1. High and Low (Akira Kurosawa, 1963)
2. The Bicycle Thief (Vittorio De Sica, 1949)
3. Small Change (François Truffaut, 1976)
4. Amores Perros (Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2001)
5. Rififi (Jules Dassin, 1955)
6. M (Fritz Lang, 1931)
7. El Norte (Gregory Nava, 1983)
8. Los Olvidados (Luis Buñuel, 1950)
9. Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa, 1950)
10. Life Is Beautiful (Roberto Benigni, 1998)

Top Documentaries

1. Woodstock (Michael Wadleigh, 1969)
2. Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations (Leni Riefenstahl, 1938)
3. The Weather Underground (Sam Green and Bill Siegel, 2003)
4. Gimme Shelter (Maysles Brothers, 1970)
5. Roger & Me (Michael Moore, 1989)
6. Jimi Plays Monterey (D.A. Pennebaker, 1987)
7. The Civil War (Ken Burns, 1989)
8. Hoop Dreams (Steve James & Frederick Marx, 1994)
9. Bowling For Columbine (Michael Moore, 2002)
10. Spellbound (Jeffrey Blitz, 2003)

The Only Good TV Movie or Miniseries

1. Lonesome Dove (Simon Wincer, 1989)

Top Short Films

1. Easy Street (Charlie Chaplin, 1917)
2. Bedhead (Robert Rodriguez, 1991)
3. The Immigrant (Charlie Chaplin, 1917)
4. The Great Train Robbery (Edwin S. Porter, 1903)
5. The Pawnshop (Charlie Chaplin, 1916)

Top Television Shows

1. Homicide: Life On the Street (1993-1999)
2. Six Feet Under (2001-   )
3. The Simpsons (1989-    )
4. The Sopranos (1999-    )
5. Seinfeld (1990-1998)
6. Cheers (1982-1993)
7. The Wire (2002-    )
8. My So-Called Life (1994)

Top Five Movies I Get Complaints About Because They’re Not On the Top 100 List

1. Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979)
2. Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
3. Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)
4. The Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont, 1994)
5. Braveheart (Mel Gibson, 1995)

If you have gripes, praise, or other opinions about these lists -- and I’m sure you do -- e-mail me.

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