Searching For The Greatest Films of All Time

With the country currently in lockdown and with sources of entertainment limited to home-viewing, now seems the time to figure out the question of what are the greatest films of all time.

To help me, I'm starting with the top 100-rated films on IMDb. While I'm aware that this isn't a definitive list of the greatest films of all time - e.g. The Dark Knight Rises is somehow on there, and rated above The Shining - it seems like a good place to start and will get me watching films I ordinarily wouldn't choose to watch.

The one proviso I have made ahead of tackling this list of films is to focus primarily on those films in the English language. I know this makes me something of a philistine, but this is purely down to personal preference. As a result, the top 100 films of all time, comes down to 75 - this does include subtitled foreign language films in Amelie and Parasite, both of which I have watched recently enough to be able to analyse.

Over the course of the next however many days it takes to complete this exercise, I'll be posting reviews of every film in ascending order of their IMDb rating, assessing whether they may belong in my own personal top 100 films.

I'm looking forward to the opportunity to watching great films that I wouldn't have otherwise watched, particularly in genres - such as anime and westerns - that I'm unfamiliar with, as well as eras of film that I've never previously chosen to encounter.

The list of films I'm going to watch, in order, are below. However, I'm viewing this as very much a starting-off point, if your favourite films of all-time are not included in the list, let me know and I'll include in my list to watch and analyse.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
The Godfather (1972)
The Dark Knight (2008)
The Godfather: Part II (1974)
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Schindler's List (1993)
12 Angry Men (1957)
Inception (2010)
Fight Club (1999)
Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Forrest Gump (1994)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
The Matrix (1999)
Goodfellas (1990)
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Parasite (2019)
Interstellar (2014)
Spirited Away (2001)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
The Green Mile (1999)
Seven (1995)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Star Wars Episode IV:  A New Hope (1977)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Joker (2019)
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Whiplash (2014)
The Prestige (2006)
The Departed (2006)
The Pianist (2002)
Gladiator (2000)
American History X (1998)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
Leon (1994)
The Lion King (1994)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Back to the Future (1985)
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Psycho (1960)
Casablanca (1942)
Modern Times (1936)
City Lights (1931)
1917 (2019)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Coco (2017)
Django Unchained (2012)
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
WALL·E (2008)
Memento (2000)
Princess Mononoke (1997)
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
The Shining (1980)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Alien (1979)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
Paths of Glory (1957)
Rear Window (1954)
Sunset Blvd. (1950)
The Great Dictator (1940)
Toy Story 3 (2010)
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Amélie (2001)
Snatch (2000)
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
American Beauty (1999)
Good Will Hunting (1997)
Toy Story (1995)
Braveheart (1995)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Full Metal Jacket (1987)