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
Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Terrific parody of Fail Safe features a lunatic assortment of paranoid generals, cowboy fighter pilots, ex-Nazi scientists, and a triple performance from Peter Sellers. You can’t fight in here—this is the War Room!
Comedy
A
ETG50
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Duck Soup

The tops in intelligent anarchy. Groucho is the leader of Freedonia, while Chico and Harpo are. . . . Does it matter? Simply a terrifically funny film.
Comedy
A
ETG50
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Duel

As Dennis Weaver drives along a near-deserted California highway to get to work, an 18-wheeler inexplicably tries to kill him. Early Spielberg TV movie has all the suspense of his big-budget thrillers.
Action
F
AFI400
Movie Genre Rating Lists
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial

It’s nearly impossible to resist the charms of this story of intergalactic friendship. Just enjoy.
SciFi
A
ETG50
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Educating Rita

Julie Walters is a cockney hairdresser who wants to better herself; Michael Caine is the alcoholic professor who’s given up on his students and himself.
Comedy
M
AFI400
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Emma

Solid adaptation of the Jane Austen novel. Emma (Gwyneth Paltrow) is a would-be matchmaker with all the wrong instincts.
Comedy
F
AFI400
Movie Genre Rating Lists
English Patient, The

A fatally burned patient in a makeshift Allied hospital may have betrayed the city to the Nazis…but why? An exploration of the cost of personal tragedy during wartime.
Drama
F
AFI400
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Enter the Dragon

The epitome of kung fu movies. Bruce Lee infiltrates a martial arts order to uncover a plot about…oh, who cares? It’s all about the fight sequences.
Action
F
AFI400
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Not for viewers who need linear exposition, this inventive romance tracks Jim Carrey’s attempt to save his fragile relationship with Kate Winslet.
SciFi
F
AFI400
Movie Genre Rating Lists
Exorcist, The

Genuinely spooky movie about demonic posession; thought the effects are slightly dated today, the atmosphere is chilling. Watch it in a dark house.
Horror
F
FilmSite200