Recommended Movies

Posted by Elliot

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Sure, there are lots of movie review sites. And if you’re looking up something particular, they’re a great help. But if you don’t know what to watch, you need trustworthy advice to heighten the signal/noise ratio. Welcome to etg Design’s database of worthwhile movies.

The few hundred films included focus mostly on classic movies, which today probably need a little extra help getting the attention of younger viewers. These recommendations are brought to you by Elliot and Steve Grant, longtime movie buffs who are relatively open-minded about what constitutes a good movie.

To get second opinions, you can choose to display only movies that made the AFI’s 400 nominations for Top 100 movies (62K PDF) or FilmSite.org’s 200 Greatest Films. NB: Both these lists exclude foreign films; the AFI 400 was finalized in 1996.

Steve’s list includes roughly 100 movies and also excludes foreign films. To continue the pattern of 50% greater exclusivity, Elliot’s list attempts to capture the approximately 50 most important films. Within those 50, I’ve tried to cover as many genres, cultures, eras, and themes as possible. Don’t write to me complaining about the choices—it’s subjective, it’s an impossible task, and it’ll probably change over time. Finally, the intersection of all four lists is approximately 30 movies.

(If you want a larger list, take a look at the New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made.)

To display films, simply select the appropriate search criteria below. You can filter the search by genre, rating, or inclusion on the various lists mentioned above.

Movie Ratings

Movies are rated on a system devised by my movie-watching cabal based on the simple question: How much worth your time and/or money is seeing this film?

There are six levels of ratings. They’re easy to remember, and they even proceed in alphabetical order:

  1. A (Advance Showing): Some films are such must-sees that they’re worth paying extra and going out of your way to catch—as you might do for an advance (a.k.a. special sneak preview) showing.
  2. F (Full Price): A film rated Full is worth seeing on its intital run in the theaters, even though you’ll have to pay the full ticket price. It’ll be worth it.
  3. M (Matinee): Matinee movies are worth seeing in the theaters, but only if you can get a discount on the ticket price. They’re good—usually a lot of fun—but probably not worth seeing more than once.
  4. R (Rental): Rental flicks have redeeming qualities, but they’re ones you definitely won’t mind catching on video. The screen may be small, but you don’t want to pay even a matinee ticket price for this kind of film.
  5. TV: A movie that gets a TV rating isn’t worth spending any money on. If it comes on TV, you probably wouldn’t mind spending a few hours to catch it, but otherwise you can avoid it with a clear conscience.
  6. W (Worthless): This bottom category is exactly what it says. A Worthless film is one that you should skip even if it comes on TV and you have nothing better to do.

Recommended Movies

Movie Genre Rating Lists
Lilies of the Field

Sidney Poitier stars in this film about the strength of human vision and faith. Poitier’s Best Actor win was the first top Oscar for an African-American.
Drama
F
SAG100
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Little Big Man

Arthur Penn Warren’s revisionist look at nearly a century of American history, through the eyes of a white man/Indian raised in and moving between two very different cultures. A western only in part, it’s also a lengthy political statement cum diatribe against the scourge of modern times—the white man, species americanus predatorus. Made at the…

Western
M
SAG100
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Living in Oblivion

Hysterical account of the tribulations facing an independent film crew during one day of shooting.
Comedy
F
AFI400
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Local Hero

Another offbeat charmer from Bill Forsyth; oil magnet Burt Lancaster sends Peter Riegert to buy a sleepy Scottish fishing town.
Comedy
M
AFI400
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Lord of the Rings, The

Splendid screen treatment of the J.R.R. Tolkien saga. All fans of the books will have criticisms, but on the whole the films are a rousing success. Includes The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King (2003).
SciFi
F
AFI400
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Lost Horizon

Ronald Colman crashes in Tibet and discovers Shangri-La, an earthly paradise.
Drama
A
AFI400
Movie Genre Rating Lists
M

When a police crackdown fails to nab a serial childkiller, the criminal element begins its own search. Years ahead of its time, M raises questions of responsibility and justice that remain unanswered today. (subtitled)
Mystery
A
ETG50
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Magnificent Seven, The

Western version of The Seven Samurai is a strong entry in its own right.
Western
F
SAG100
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Maltese Falcon, The

The preeminent film noir. Bogart is hard-boiled sleuth Sam Spade, on the trail of a gem-encrusted statuette.
Mystery
A
SAG100
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Man Who Knew Too Much, The

The real mystery is why Hitch decided to refilm this tale of a vactioning family dragged into an international assassination attempt. Stick with this version over the 1956 Jimmy Stewart/Doris Day remake.
Mystery
M
AFI400