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
Bringing Up Baby

A rollercoaster screwball with Cary Grant as the meek paleontologist in search of a missing bone and Katharine Hepburn as the dizzy heiress looking after Baby—a pet leopard.
Comedy
A
SAG100
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Americans love rebels. These two may have been scum in real life, but Newman and Redford are charmers in one of the best buddy movies on celluloid.
Western
F
SAG100
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Captain Blood

Errol Flynn in fine swashbuckling form as wrongly imprisoned Dr. Peter Blood, who commands his fellow convicts when they take over their galley ship.
Action
M
AFI400
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Carefree

Though not the best Astaire-Rogers effort, Carefree offers enough fun moments to make the film worthwhile.
Musical
M
AFI400
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Casablanca

Yes, it’s a melodramatic potboiler…but the eminently quotable dialogue and sparkling performances elevate this B film.
Drama
F
ETG50
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Charade

Exquisite blend of suspense, romance, and comedy as Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant, Walter Matthau, James Coburn, et al. seek her dead husband’s stolen fortune.
Mystery
A
AFI400
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Cinema Paradiso

A beautiful movie about movies, and growing up, in a small Italian village. The original 1989 film is wonderful, but the main character’s romance lacks closure—nearly an hour was chopped out for American distribution. Watch the extended Director’s Cut if at all possible. (subtitled)
Drama
A
AFI400
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Citizen Kane

Can one word sum up an entire life, particularly one as complex as that of William Randolph Hearst—uh, Charles Foster Kane? More than 70 years later, the cinematography, direction, and script are still ground-breaking.
Drama
A
ETG50
Movie Genre Rating Lists
City Lights

First-rate Chaplin opus typically combines great comic bits with overly sentimental (maudlin?) ones; one of The Tramp’s three best films (with The Gold Rush and Modern Times).
Drama
A
SAG100
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Close Encounters of the Third Kind

After UFO flybys, Richard Dreyfus and other witnesses become obsessed with a mountainous shape and a five-note musical theme.
SciFi
F
SAG100