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
Psycho

Hitchcock switched gears ever so slightly from his usual edge-of-the-seat suspense films to this mystery-cum-horror story and made it work brilliantly. Some of the most unforgettable scenes in all filmdom enhance this tale of an unlikely bank robber, a gothic motel, a shy boy, and his mother. Thousands gave up taking showers altogether after viewing…

Mystery
A
ETG50
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Quiet Man, The

American John Wayne returns to the Irish village of his youth and falls for Maureen O’Hara—but he refuses to fight her domineering brother for her dowry.
Comedy
F
SAG100
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Raiders of the Lost Ark

Nonstop excitement, based on the cliffhanger serials of the 1940s and 1950s. Don’t bother with the sequels, though.
Action
A
FilmSite200
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Rashomon

In this examination of the subjectivity of reality, a samurai, his wife, a bandit, and a woodcutter offer varying accounts of a rape and murder. (subtitled)
Drama
A
ETG50
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Rear Window

Confined to a wheelchair in his high-rise, Jimmy Stewart begins to believe a neighbor is a wife-murderer. Glamorous girlfriend Grace Kelly aids his investigation in this Hitchcock masterpiece.
Mystery
A
SAG100
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Rebecca

A naive young woman falls for and marries a moody widower but cannot escape the legacy of first wife Rebecca.
Mystery
M
FilmSite200
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Red River

Montgomery Clift takes on patriarch John Wayne in this tale of mutiny on the trail.
Western
F
SAG100
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Reservoir Dogs

Not for the weak of stomach. But Quentin Tarantino’s terrific script and directing are matched by great performances from Tim Roth, Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, and others in this account of a badly botched bank robbery. Far superior, IMHO, to the more-lauded Pulp Fiction.
Drama
F
AFI400
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Richard III

Delicious Ian McKellen rendition of Shakespeare’s crooked spider has the eponymous monarch creating a Fascist state after murdering his rivals to the throne.
Drama
F
AFI400
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Ride the High Country

Sam Peckinpah is among the greatest directors of westerns—right up there with Howard Hawks and John Ford. While not as virtuosic a film as his Wild Bunch, this elegiac tale of two aging gunfighters is a great film. Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott play two ex-lawmen entrusted with bringing a large sum of money back…

Western
M
SAG100