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
UHF

Weird Al Yankovic, ably supported by soon-to-be TV stars Michael Richards and Fran Drescher, run increasingly strange shows to salvage an inherited UHF station. Best if seen after midnight.
Comedy
M
AFI400
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Unfaithfully Yours

Preston Sturges’s wonderfully acerbic fantasy of a famed conductor contemplating revenge for his wife’s infidelity while leading the orchestra through three pieces.
Comedy
F
AFI400
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Vanishing, The

Chilling account of one man’s search for his lover, who disappears at a highway rest stop. As usual, don’t bother with the remake—even though it’s by the same director. (subtitled)
Mystery
A
AFI400
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Vertigo

Hitch’s psychological magnum opus starts slowly but builds to a fever pitch of tension as acrophobic Jimmy Stewart investigates suicidal housewife Kim Novak.
Mystery
A
ETG50
Movie Genre Rating Lists
West Side Story

Classy musical based on the hit Broadway show, with score by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreography by Jerome Robbins. the opening scene, as the camera descends from the sky to the gang-run streets of New York will long stay with you. The two leads (Richard Beymer and Natalie Wood) leave something to…

Musical
F
SAG100
Movie Genre Rating Lists
When Harry Met Sally

Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan in an on-again, off-again relationship that spans a decade.
Comedy
A
SAG100
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Whiskey Galore!

A cargo ship of whiskey crashes just offshore of Toddy Island during wartime rationing. The Home Patrol is sworn to protect the goods, but the islanders have their own plans.
Comedy
F
AFI400
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Wild Bunch, The

This Sam Peckinpah masterpiece about an aging gang of outlaws and their last big job came out at a defining moment in American cinema, when violence was being portrayed on the screen in new and different ways. Along with Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde, this western redefined how much gore was allowed in films and…

Western
F
SAG100
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Wings of Desire

Wim Wenders’s masterpiece about an angel who yearns to feel, taste, and love like the humans he has observed since the beginning of history. (subtitled)
Drama
A
ETG50
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Witness

Gripping story of culture clash when a young Amish boy witnesses a brutal killing in a Philadelphia train station rest room. As his investigation turns deadly, Harrison Ford hides out with the boy’s family.
Mystery
A
AFI400