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
Support Your Local Sheriff!

Great sendup of the classic Westerns, with James Garner as a drifter reluctantly recruited to be sheriff in a lawless gold town.
Western
M
SAG100
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Sure Thing, The

Rob Reiner’s modern take on It Happened One Night sets John Cusack cross-country for a sure fling; but traveling companion Daphne Zuniga may be his real interest.
Comedy
M
AFI400
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Swing Time

The best of the Astaire-Rogers outings. The “Pick Yourself Up” and “Never Gonna Dance” numbers are screen magic; only a weak ending mars this masterpiece.
Musical
A
ETG50
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Tale of Two Cities, A

Drama
A
AFI400
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Talk of the Town, The

Jean Arthur is caught between Ronald Colman as a respected law professor renting her house and Cary Grant as the escaped convict hiding in her attic.
Drama
A
AFI400
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Tapeheads

Lowbrow but funny tale of two aspiring video directors (John Cusack and Tim Robbins) and a tape with blackmail potential.
Comedy
M
AFI400
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Terminator, The and Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Unstoppable killing machines are sent back in time to eliminate the leader of humanity’s resistance against the machines. T2 is one of the few sequels to match or even best its predecessor. Haven’t heard anything good about the other sequels, so haven’t bothered to watch them.
SciFi
A
AFI400
Movie Genre Rating Lists
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three

An NYC subway train is hijacked. But with their every move tracked, how will the crooks escape with their ransom?
Mystery
A
AFI400
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Thin Man, The

Nick and Nora Charles are a little tipsy, a lot in love, and hot on the trail of murder.
Mystery
A
SAG100
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Third Man, The

Holly Martin (Joseph Cotten) arrives in postwar Vienna only to learn that his best friend has been killed. How, and why? And who was the third man at the scene? Unforgettable zither score by Anton Karas.
Mystery
A
ETG50