My 25 Favorite Films!

Alright! Back in 2019, I did a post on My Top 17 Favorite Films, and now, three years later, I am reviving my list (As my opinions are subject to change as I grow more mature). Right off the bat, there's a major flaw with this list - a heavy 2010 bias. It can't be helped, those are the movies I grew up with and thus the most familiar with.

Recency bias is a thing. Only six movies on this list came out before 2000. I do my best to educate on cinema's touchstones, but movies like M and Yojimbo aren't exactly my favorite material. You can recognize their quality, but wanting to watch them repeatedly is a different skill entirely.

These are movies that, should I ever have friends over, and we decide to see a movie, I'm completely down to watch any of these. Any time of day, you say "Bro, you wanna see this movie?" I'm going to say "Absolutely, dude." I also limited myself to one movie per trilogy, because otherwise the list would be overrun with The Lord of the Rings and Dark Knight Trilogies.

Now before we begin, here are some films that just barely missed out:

Zack Snyder's Justice League
The Batman
Gladiator
The Mitchells vs. The Machines
How to Train Your Dragon

25. 2001: A Space Odyssey

Starting off the list is Stanley Kubrick’s bizarre masterpiece that is 2001: A Space Odyssey, which is an epic story spanning thousands of years about humankind and how they come into contact with mysterious monoliths that signal the next change in human evolution, starting with apes who commit the first murder and ending with an astronaut who becomes a star child.

While some of the timelines are a bit less interesting than others and the establishing shots set to classical music can become a bit much, the fact that these visual effects from 1968 look better than some of the ones made today is what does the heavy lifting, creating a stunning visual media that’s often more odd than sensical - to quote Benoit Blanc, “It makes no damn sense. Compels me though.”

24. To Kill A Mockingbird

The adaptation of one of the greatest novels ever written is, as expected, an all-time great. Rooted in the ever-relevant themes of racial injustice, the movie presents the story of Atticus Finch's quest to acquit Tom Robinson, a black man accused of rape by a white woman, in Alabama during the 1930s.

Anchored by Gregory Peck's calming performance as Atticus, the movie speaks to fundamental truths of acceptance and the fact that all men are created equal, crafting a powerful and enduring story that perfectly captures its Pulitzer Prize-winning source material. Despite its stark subject matter, the movie never becomes too much of a downer, always remembering the childish wonder and disbelief the events are seen through.

23. Tron: Legacy

Tron: Legacy is the only objectively bad movie on the list. The plot is generic, the characters even more so, and the dialogue is horrendous. That being said, I still can’t help but be strangely attached to the film. Maybe it’s the sheer amount of trailers they put on the early 2010 DVDs, maybe it’s the (Significantly better) tie-in TV show Tron Uprising, maybe it’s the god-tier soundtrack from Daft Punk, or maybe the real answer is the fact that it looks gorgeous.

I never let bad movies coast by on cool visuals. That being said, Tron: Legacy is the exception. The grid is starkly desolate, the Lightcycle scene is the coolest arena fight since Gladiator, the production design (Especially for the costumes) is on point, and everything has a techno sheen that’s coldly sinister. It’s the definition of style over substance, and sometimes that’s an okay trade-off.

22. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Singlehandedly here from childhood nostalgia, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is one of the most charming movies ever made. The only time the scratchy animation found in Disney’s Bronze Age actually worked in tandem with the movie, it’s a fun, pitch-perfect take on the whimsical world of A.A. Milne.

The title character’s affable disposition and accidental wisdom are part of what makes the movie fantastic, making him one part comic relief, one part philosopher, and all parts Poohbear. The soundtrack is fantastic as well, encapsulating the movie’s childlike wonder. The film also works as an interesting thought experiment when you realize this was the first time these characters had their now-iconic voices.

21. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

Likely the film with the highest runtime:meme ratio of all time, Revenge of the Sith is where the fun begins. Featuring intense space battles where anything can happen, tuberculosis-ridden cyborgs, space Jesus, the best score John Williams made for Star Wars, and the coolest lightsaber duel of all time, the film is a campy good time.

Yes, the acting is still spotty and the CGI in overabundance, but the over-the-top soap opera nature of the conflict is the key to the film. A lot of modern blockbusters are very serious about being set in a “realistic” world (Shoot, even the Star Wars sequels are longer, slower, and more muted compared to the vibrancy of the Prequels), so to see this ridiculously fun Star Wars movie that toes the line between “so bad it’s good” and “legitimately fantastic” is a very fun and now rare thing.

20. Jurassic World

The 2015 soft reboot of the Jurassic Park franchise isn’t the most complicated form of media. It’s not going to win Best Picture. It’s not going to be acclaimed for its themes of environmental protection and message on the faults of big business. But you know what it has? Dinosaurs. Dinosaurs and hot movie stars and cool set pieces. Even if it’s held together with plot points as silly as “The raptors should be in the military,” Jurassic World is a fun movie through and through.

It’s a movie made strictly for the inner seven-year-old whose morbid fascination with dinosaurs is still intact. My longstanding love of the movie comes mostly from the hot summer of 2015 when the movie screen looked absolutely huge to eleven-year-old me and the smell of popcorn was thick in the theater, forever cementing it in my mind as the ultimate summer movie.

19. Shrek 2

*slaps Disney* that's how you make an animated sequel

When the first Shrek rocked the world in 2000, forever changing the landscape of animation and redefining the PG rating, a sequel was in hot demand… and demanded it was. The film made $928 million dollars worldwide, which is a jaw-dropping figure even by today’s standards. Called one of the few sequels better than the original, the movie takes everything you loved about Shrek and amplifies it. It’s 100% Shrexy.

Shrek 2 has (Unironically) the greatest finale ever put to film, featuring an absolute banger rendition of “I Need A Hero” set to the greatest cinematic sacrifice (R.I.P. Mongo) and unparalleled acts of heroism as Shrek saves his darling Fiona from the clutches of the evil Prince Charming and his suave evil Fairy Godmother. It's a dazzling comedy that ends on the highest possible note.

18. Spirited Away

This whimsical flight of fancy from Studio Ghibli is the studio’s finest and one of the greatest works of animated films ever made. It’s about Chihiro Ogino, who gets stuck in Kami (The land of spirits in Shintoism) and has to find a way to rescue her turned-into-pigs parents. It’s an extremely sweet and often sad story about learning how to not be scared anymore.

A lot of these “crazy summers in a mystical land” stories are often sweetly nostalgic (Gravity Falls, The Owl House, Luca) or terrifying (Stranger Things). Spirited Away carefully finds the balance between the two, crafting a world of childlike wonder where anything is possible, but also with very real and dangerous malevolent spirits, all enhanced by an absolute banger of a film score that plays the piano like a fiddle.

17. DUNC

The latest take on Frank Herbert’s touchstone of nerd culture, DUNC is an absolute visual marvel. Featuring visual effects that will eventually be held in the same regard as 2001 or Star Wars, a cast with more A-listers than the Cannes, and a gorgeous score from Hans Zimmer, it’s the perfect adaptation of the novel (Or its first half anyways, 2023 can’t come soon enough).

However, aside from the production values, there’s little to marvel about in terms of characters or story. The world-building is admirable, but the movie fails to provide emotional attachment to characters as did The Lord of the Rings or Star Wars. But, then again, it’s missing the second half, and the fact that it’s being compared to The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars in the first place speaks volumes. It's just a bit more visceral than it is emotional.

16. Spider-Man 2

Featuring a variety of now-iconic memes (Pizza time!) and showstopping sequences (Train!), Spider-Man 2 is a force to be reckoned with, adapting the best elements of the character and effusing it with Sam Raimi’s distinct visual flair of a warm New York City. The perfect blend of adrenaline-filled action-packed action and relationship drama that would make the CW pale, Spider-Man 2 is an all-around hit and one of the greatest superhero films ever made.

Spider-Man 2 earns the place in my pantheon because of the sheer camp of the whole affair. Like Revenge of the Sith, it’s not too set on being serious (But can be when it wants to) and is also outlandish and fun in a way not really seen by modern blockbusters.

15. WALL-E

The go-to example of nonverbal storytelling after Genndy Tartakovsky, Pixar’s ninth and greatest film is a tragic tale about the Earth destroyed by poor waste management and the two robots that find true love in the rubble of that once-proud society. Starring the ever likable WALL-E, a cute droid who gains sentience after centuries of isolation and scavenging his dead brothers to stay alive, and EVE, a high tech droid sent from a spaceship containing the last of humanity to check if Earth is habitable, the film is a lovely tale of the star-crossed romance that happens between them.

It’s a movie that’s impossible to watch without feeling touched. Moments as intimate and beautiful as the “All That Love’s About” scene are sure to inspire the hopeless romantic found inside all of us, and the movie’s use of “And That Is Love” and “Put On Your Sunday Clothes” from Hello Dolly! set the precedent for what true love is. Maybe it’s a sweeter night with the homies than you’re used to, but WALL-E’s a good party movie nonetheless.

14. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

However, I don’t think there has even been a greater party movie made than Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. It’s incredibly fun to show this cult classic to people who have never seen it, if only for the reaction to the transition from oddly edited rom-com to action-packed tournament. The movie is gut-bustingly hilarious, featuring what must be one of the best joke:runtime ratios of all time, and features a game cast that perfectly play into the over-the-top nature of the film.

While the title character is morally questionable, the large cast of iconic and ever-quotable supporting characters round out the moral ambiguity of Scott’s actions. Like all Edgar Wright flicks, the flair of the editing reinforces the style of the movie, which is best evident in the superb Clash at Demonhead musical sequence “Black Sheep". It's a movie for the record books, both in terms of money lost and unexpected guests wowed, but mostly in the rewatchability. It was practically the anthem of my sophomore year of high school.

13. The Social Network

The David Finch directing/Alan Sorkin screenplay is a dangerous combination, and nothing displays that better than The Social Network. The dialogue is so sharp that it could puncture the hull of an empire-class fire nation battleship, leaving thousands to die at sea (Because it’s so sharp). The delivery is cold and calculated and almost robotic in the case of Zuckerberg, which is an apt portrayal of the tech giant.

The mostly true story of the youngest self-made billionaire, the movie has a knack for making the unexciting (Rowing competitions, company shares) into some of the most dramatic and exhilarating scenes you’ll ever see. The performances and direction are all spectacularly top-notch, carefully creating the greatest Best Picture snub since Shakespeare in Love.

12. Inception

The mind-bending summer spectacular from Christopher Nolan rocked the minds of viewers in July of 2010, creating, by default, the greatest action spectacular set three levels deep in the dreams of a young heir elaborated by an ensemble cast of A-list dream stealers who have been hired to be dream planters.

Although the large action scenes are large as they can be and the heist nature of the movie is instrumental to the tensity of the action, it’s the close follow of Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his quest to return to his family that sells the piece. For as much of the high-stake action occupies screen time, it’s the emotional drive of his quest that endears the film, as well as the most emotional pinwheel in cinematic history. It’s basically the thinking man’s action movie

11. Avengers: Infinity War

It almost feels disingenuous to have an MCU flick this high up on the list, but here we are. Probably the movie with the largest scale ever made (Citation needed), the movie has an absolutely ginormous cast of nearly 40 named characters, all well-utilized within the context of the film, and their plot to stop the mad Titan Thanos, who wants to eliminate half of all life in the universe.

The film was the culmination of ten years of intricate plotting and beloved hit after beloved hit, and by golly did they hit it out of the park. The interactions, plotting, and pacing are pitch-perfect, giving everyone enough screen time and definitive moments to offer up the very best of the MCU without offering a montage of its greatest hits (As did its sequel). The movie is a fun extravagant affair that exemplifies what people love about the MCU: the wide cast of iconic characters interacting with high enough stakes to tether it all together.

10. Jurassic Park

Steven Spielberg's greatest film and the reemergence of velociraptors into the pop culture lexicon after 72 million years of extinction, Jurassic Park is a cinema classic full of memorable lines, characters, astounding visual effects that hold up to this day, and enough dinosaurs to make every child have a dinosaur phase for the foreseeable future.

A fun and imaginative story, Jurassic Park is half a world of wonderful fantasy and half a world of horror. The movie can become genuinely scary (Spielberg did direct Jaws, after all), which gives it the bite it needs to have the 90s classic feel. Ah, to live in the days when blockbusters had an edge to them that made parents squeamish. It’s also a fun little experiment to tell people the film is nearly 30 years old, it’s a reality check for all those who saw it in theaters.

9. The Lion King

While the film would later be rebooted into a soulless cash grab in 2019, The Lion King’s original form (No, not Kimba) is something that makes me openly cry, a claim that I proudly support and advertise frequently. The film is Disney’s masterpiece, the bright and vibrant world where animals talk and Hamlet has fewer monologues (Because, by golly, there are a lot of monologues in that thing). It’s full of fabulous characters whose dramatic deaths, victories, and celebrations all cement the Circle of Life.

The Lion King also contains the overall best song selection from all of Disney’s works (Even if “I Won’t Say I’m In Love” takes the cake for best Disney song), my personal favorite from the soundtrack being the Triumph of the Will-inspired “Be Prepared.” I also love Hans Zimmer’s Academy Award-winning score, which is responsible for a lot of the emotional weight the film has. It’s especially potent during Mufasa’s cloudly return, which leaves me shaken to the core during every rewatch.

8. 1917

1917, a story about two WWI soldiers who journey across No Man’s Land to save a battalion of sixteen-hundred men about to die in a trap set by the Germans, is bloody fantastic. It’s a close and extremely emotional story that instantly has that epic “one man on a quest against insurmountable odds” feel to it. Like Gladiator, some themes are just so universally epic (Lifelong revenge quests) that it becomes instantly classic.

The movie’s also an editing marvel - edited to look like one continual shot, director Sam Mendes and cinematographer Roger Deakins outdo themselves here, crafting a two-hour visual marvel that’s just as impressive to watch as it is to feel. It’s not an understatement that this movie has some of the greatest scenes ever put to film - the Burning Church scene is visceral candy whilst the ending run is one of the greatest feats of heroism ever told.

7. Mean Girls

It’s a good rule of thumb that early 2000s rom coms suck - why, just off the top of my head, I can name What A Girl Wants, Penelope, 13 Going on 30, and Confessions of a Shopaholic - but Mean Girls stands tall above them as 1) The best of all of them and 2) The only one that doesn’t suck. The greatest rom-com ever and the greatest representation of high school ever made, Mean Girls is just a really fun movie to watch.

There’s something about it that captures the quintessential high school vibe, the air of parties and relationships and climbing the social hierarchy that we’ve seen a thousand times but works so well here, largely in part due to Lindsey Lohan’s wide-eyed naïveté. The song frequently played in the film, "Built This Way," also adds to this instantly nostalgic vibe, featuring a guitar riff that somehow feels young. To summarize, it’s fetch.

6. Interstellar

Yet another Christopher Nolan flick, Interstellar is the magnum opus of the auteur’s career and my favorite film, occasionally. It’s an emotional story about a dying Earth that sends an astronaut into space to find a new planet that can support human life. Now, why is it my favorite? Well, the movie absolutely shook me on my first watch, and every subsequent rewatch. Interstellar, much like Life of Pi, is one of the few movies to have given me an identity crisis as I came to terms with how small humans really are. The wide shots of the Endurance entering the black hole, heartbreakingly lonely shots of the ship compared to Saturn, it’s… oof. If Life of Pi makes me feel small in the face of Earth, Interstellar has an entire galaxy to work with.

The movie is also the only one that reduces me to a puddle of tears every time I watch it. I am left absolutely devastated by three separate scenes in the movie - The unread messages, the space bookshelf, and this little scene at the end. It's a guaranteed tissue box every time. The movie's visual effects are magnificent as well, making a visually scientifically-accurate blockbuster that has Hans Zimmer providing his A-game for an absolutely lovely score. The movie isn't perfect (It's so, so, soooo long), but by golly does it resonate.

5. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

There is nothing that could be said about The Return of the King that has not already been said. The large-scale battle scenes, acting, production, action, music, direction, emotion, and satisfying conclusion for every character introduced are unparalleled. The film (Extended Edition anyways) is a four-hour and twenty-three-minute masterpiece that doesn’t remotely feel like four hours. It’s an epic in every sense of the word.

It’s the kind of movie you’re surprised exists because of how perfect it is. Every frame is beautiful, always accompanied by Howard Ashman’s cinema-best soundtrack. I mean, seriously. Who would have thought lighting up some beacons would turn out to be the most epic thing ever filmed? Only to be topped shortly thereafter by King Theoden’s glorious “DEATH!” speech? Only to be topped by Sam carrying Frodo? It’s fabulous. It’s a slam dunk for everyone involved, especially New Zealand’s tourism industry.

4. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways; be it the revolutionary animation that sets the precedent for the industry moving forward, the fantastic soundtrack, the wide variety of amazing supporting characters introduced, the humor, and the reinvention of Miles Morales - hell, the reinvention of Spider-Man himself.

Spider-Verse is an absolute banger of a movie that perfectly captures the themes it preaches - that anyone can be Spider-Man. When Miles takes his leap of faith, the audience becomes Spider-Man. The fear, tension, and dizzying vertigo all leave with that one jump, replaced only by a swinging scene where you can feel the momentum. Forget the rest of the movie, the “What’s Up Danger?” scene takes the cake and gets it to the #4 spot singlehandedly.

3. The Prince of Egypt

DreamWorks’ all-time best, The Prince of Egypt is the definitive story of Moses and the greatest animated film ever made (Yes, it’s even better than Meet the Robinsons). The film takes the epic and several millennia-old story and frames it as a conflict between two brothers, creating a far more compelling story than predecessors such as The Ten Commandments. It’s also not preachy - every character accepts the existence of God point-blank, and the movie’s not here to convert. It’s here to tell the story.

I respect that greatly. It’s a very rare thing to get a religious story that hits the balance of being spiritual and turning away the unconverted and questioning. The movie’s also a musical, featuring underrated bops such as “The Plagues” and “All I Ever Wanted,” the entire thing of which is scored by Hans Zimmer, who creates themes that perfectly capture the majesty of an omnipotent being and the quite sincerity of a still small voice.

2. The Dark Knight

It is a constant war between The Dark Knight and my #1 pick for the title of “Favorite movie” (It’s normally decided by whichever I’ve seen more recently) but at the moment TDK glides in at a solid #2. Gotham’s favorite Caped Crusader spends much of this film trying to stop his archnemesis the Joker, who has an elaborate plot to prove that deep down, everyone’s just as ugly as he is. The cast is cast to perfection, each actor and actress defining the character and setting the standard for years to come, the writing in the film is impeccable, and the score from Hans Zimmer is beautiful. It’s like listening to a symphony that rolls through every scene transition with unnerving heroism, scoring the philosophic fight between the two greats perfectly.

The Dark Knight is so good that it almost feels wrong to call it a superhero movie. Yes, it stars the most popular superhero in the world, but everything about the movie is so iconic and definitive that it’s less the perfect adaptation of Batman and more the perfect movie. It doesn’t feel like a comic book bought to life, but rather a superb movie about a rich kid with issues (Lots of issues) beating up a clown prince of crime. It does so well at what it’s doing it’s not the perfect comic adaptation because it’s perfect at being perfect.

1. Life of Pi

A lot of movies have pretty generic themes: “Be nice to the environment,” Reckless pursuit of knowledge is bad,” “The real friends were the ones we made along the wau” and so on and so forth. Life of Pi is one of the few movies where the themes the movie pushes connect and hit as hard as a bag of existential bricks dropped from the Empire State Building. There’s something so simple and beautiful about the line “And so it goes with God” that makes the experience devastating. Like, sure, one story is realistic and is “the truth.” But the one with the tiger, wow. It’s a powerful parable.

The movie is also a visual marvel and the singular film to properly utilize the post-Avatar 3D boom. Every single scene is breathtakingly gorgeous and wallpaper-worthy. At the end of the post, I have a list of my favorite movie scenes and I feel like I could have filled that entire list with the visual wonders that can be found here. Giant whales leaping out of jellyfish-filled water, an ocean so still it’s a mirror, a vision of a boat sinking under waves, lightning hitting stormy water, and an isolated shot of the boat at night showing the reflection of the stars framed from 100 meters away. They’re all spectacular. The movie’s visuals match the beauty of its message. and the movie's message is as beautiful as its visuals.

My favorite movie scenes in no particular order (Named in relation to the movie's soundtrack):

The Audience Thinks

Ready Player One