My Top 100 Films: 2017 Edition

Eight years ago I sat down and scribbled out a list of my top 100 all-time films. Almost a decade later now, it feels time to update this list. Below is My Top 100 Films: 2017 Edition.

There were lots of changes this time around. Lots of new films, lots of previously included films moving up and down. Overall, the list below feels a lot more personal and self-indulgent -- which is a good thing. Looking back now, the 2009 Edition was a little too interested in impressing people with older films that I legitimately loved, but didn't LOVE love. In the 2017 Edition, I've tried to throw all of that out the window, and just focus on the films that mean the most to me, regardless of anything else. Some could argue there are some real stinkers on this list -- I am OK with that.

1. The Insider (Mann, 1999)
2. Kids (Clark, 1995)
3. The Silence of the Lambs (Demme, 1991)
4. Lost in Translation (Coppola, 2003)
5. Crumb (Zwigoff, 1994)
6. Sexy Beast (Glazer, 2000)
7. The September Issue (Cutler, 2009)
8. Magnolia (Anderson, 1999)
9. There Will Be Blood (Anderson, 2007)
10. A Single Man (Ford, 2009)
11. Lovely & Amazing (Holofcener, 2001)
12. Clueless (Heckerling, 1995)
13. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968)
14. Fight Club (Fincher, 1999)
15. American Beauty (Mendes, 1999)
16. Tiny Furniture (Dunham, 2010)
17. Indie Game: The Movie (Swirsky, Pajot, 2012)
18. Ghost World (Zwigoff, 2001)
19. Bully (Clark, 2001)
20. DiG! (Timoner, 2004)
21. The Great Happiness Space (Clennell, 2006)
22. I Heart Huckabees (Russell, 2004)
23. The Dreamers (Bertolucci, 2003)
24. Dazed and Confused (Linklater, 1993)
25. Sabrina (Pollack, 1995)
26. Tombstone (Cosmatos, 1993)
27. Rounders (Dahl, 1998)
28. Lorenzo's Oil (Miller, 1992)
29. Object of My Affection (Hytner, 1998)
30. Shame (McQueen, 2011)
31. The 400 Blows (Truffaut, 1959)
32. Wayne's World (Spheeris, 1992)
33. Spirited Away (Miyazaki, 2001)
34. Almost Famous (Crowe, 2000)
35. Good Will Hunting (Van Sant, 1997)
36. Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Mitchell, 2001)
37. Donnie Darko (Kelly, 2001)
38. Punch-Drunk Love (Anderson, 2002)
39. Boogie Nights (Anderson, 1997)
40. Capturing the Friedmans (Jarecki, 2003)
41. The Squid and the Whale (Baumbach, 2005)
42. Artificial Intelligence: AI (Spielberg, 2001)
43. Startup.com (Noujaim/Hegedus, 2001)
44. Igby Goes Down (Steers, 2002)
45. Rachel Getting Married (Demme, 2008)
46. Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (Cassavetes, 2004)
47. A Serious Man (Coen, Coen, 2009)
48. Adventureland (Mottola, 2009)
49. Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels Of A Tribe Called Quest (Rapaport, 2011)
50. Bill Cunningham New York (Press, 2011)
51. Jiro Dreams of Sushi (Gelb, 2011)
52. The Paradise Lost Trilogy (Berlinger, Sinofsky, 1996, 2000, 2011)
53. Superbad (Mottola, 2007)
54. Dont Look Back (Pennebaker, 1967)
55. Casino (Scorsese, 1995)
56. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (Gibney, 2005)
57. Se7en (Fincher, 1995)
58. Auto Focus (Schrader, 2002)
59. Being John Malkovich (Jonze, 1999)
60. Romeo + Juliet (Luhrman, 1996)
61. Moulin Rouge! (Luhrman, 2001)
62. Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy, 2010)
63. He Got Game (Lee, 1998)
64. One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Geronimi/Luske/Reitherman, 1961)
65. Wonder Boys (Hanson, 2000)
66. Manhattan (Allen, 1979)
67. A Clockwork Orange (Kubrick, 1971)
68. Once Upon a Time in America (Leone, 1984)
69. Jackie Brown (Tarantino, 1997)
70. Lolita (Kubrick, 1962)
71. Point Break (Bigelow, 1991)
72. Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick, 1999)
73. The Cell (Tarsem, 2000)
74. The Exorcist (Friedkin, 1973)
75. Boiler Room (Younger, 2000)
76. The Royal Tenenbaums (Anderson, 2001)
77. My Father the Hero (Miner, 1994)
78. One Fine Day (Hoffman, 1996)
79. The Craft (Fleming, 1996)
80. Father of the Bride (Shyer, 1991)
81. Bye Bye, Love (Weisman, 1995)
82. Cruel Intentions (Kumble, 1999)
83. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (Parker, 1999)
84. Top Gun (Scott, 1986)
85. Empire Records (Moyle, 1995)
86. Fear (Foley, 1996)
87. Bend it Like Beckham (Chadha, 2002)
88. True Lies (Cameron, 1994)
89. The Blair Witch Project (Myrick/Sanchez, 1999)
90. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (Zemeckis, 1988)
91. Friday (Gray, 1995)
92. 24 Hour Party People (Winterbottom, 2002)
93. The Shining (Kubrick, 1980)
94. Natural Born Killers (Stone, 1994)
95. Gosford Park (Altman, 2001)
96. Pulp Fiction (Tarantino, 1994)
97. Inglourious Basterds (Tarantino, 2009)
98. Zodiac (Fincher, 2007)
99. Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Allen, 2008)
100. Mallrats (Smith, 1995)

My Top 100 Films: 2009 Edition

Psst! I now have a 2017 edition of this list.

Every serious film nerd has taken the time to compile a top hundred list. So, here's mine. I'm calling it the "2009 Edition" because I'd like to do this once every five years or so, and see how it changes.

For what it's worth, I'm generally uncomfortable with listing any film as being in my top 100 if (a) I've seen it less than three times, and/or (b) it was released in the last three years. With regard to (b), I've made a few exceptions, but I moved them pretty far down on the list. Point being: I feel like a film has to age some before you can really decide how much you like it. Also, keep in mind that I'm not arguing these are the best 100 films ever made, but that these are the 100 films I love the most.

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968)
2. The Insider (Mann, 1999)
3. Kids (Clark, 1995)
4. The Silence of the Lambs (Demme, 1991)
5. Crumb (Zwigoff, 1994)
6. Lost in Translation (Coppola, 2003)
7. Sexy Beast (Glazer, 2000)
8. Manhattan (Allen, 1979)
9. Once Upon a Time in America (Leone, 1984)
10. Lovely & Amazing (Holofcener, 2001)
11. A Clockwork Orange (Kubrick, 1971)
12. Magnolia (Anderson, 1999)
13. Fight Club (Fincher, 1999)
14. American Beauty (Mendes, 1999)
15. Punch-Drunk Love (Anderson, 2002)
16. Ghost World (Zwigoff, 2001)
17. Bully (Clark, 2001)
18. DiG! (Timoner, 2004)
19. Spirited Away (Miyazaki, 2001)
20. The 400 Blows (Truffaut, 1959)
21. I Heart Huckabees (Russell, 2004)
22. Jackie Brown (Tarantino, 1997)
23. The Exorcist (Friedkin, 1973)
24. The Dreamers (Bertolucci, 2003)
25. To Kill a Mockingbird (Mulligan, 1962)
26. Dazed and Confused (Linklater, 1993)
27. Clueless (Heckerling, 1995)
28. Capturing the Friedmans (Jarecki, 2003)
29. Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Mitchell, 2001)
30. Sabrina (Pollack, 1995)
31. Kill Bill: Volume 1 (Tarantino, 2003)
32. Kill Bill: Volume 2 (Tarantino, 2004)
33. Singin' in the Rain (Donen, 1952)
34. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (Parker, 1999)
35. Being John Malkovich (Jonze, 1999)
36. The Cell (Tarsem, 2000)
37. Donnie Darko (Kelly, 2001)
38. Natural Born Killers (Stone, 1994)
39. 24 Hour Party People (Winterbottom, 2002)
40. Tombstone (Cosmatos, 1993)
41. Rounders (Dahl, 1998)
42. Casino (Scorsese, 1995)
43. Good Will Hunting (Van Sant, 1997)
44. The Royal Tenenbaums (Anderson, 2001)
45. Almost Famous (Crowe, 2000)
46. The Asphalt Jungle (Huston, 1950)
47. Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960)
48. American History X (Kaye, 1998)
49. Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick, 1999)
50. Boogie Nights (Anderson, 1997)
51. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (Gibney, 2005)
52. Se7en (Fincher, 1995)
53. Startup.com (Noujaim/Hegedus, 2001)
54. There Will Be Blood (Anderson, 2007)
55. Auto Focus (Schrader, 2002)
56. Sex, Lies and Videotape (Soderbergh, 1989)
57. Wayne's World (Spheeris, 1992)
58. Badlands (Malick, 1973)
59. Barry Lyndon (Kubrick, 1975)
60. Wonder Boys (Hanson, 2000)
61. The Squid and the Whale (Baumbach, 2005)
62. The Blair Witch Project (Myrick/Sanchez, 1999)
63. Lorenzo's Oil (Miller, 1992)
64. Triplets of Belleville (Chomet, 2003)
65. Traffic (Soderbergh, 2000)
66. Lolita (Kubrick, 1962)
67. Point Break (Bigelow, 1991)
68. True Lies (Cameron, 1994)
69. Romeo + Juliet (Luhrman, 1996)
70. Welcome to the Dollhouse (Solondz, 1995)
71. The Shining (Kubrick, 1980)
72. One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Geronimi/Luske/Reitherman, 1961)
73. Fear (Foley, 1996)
74. Igby Goes Down (Steers, 2002)
75. Bend it Like Beckham (Chadha, 2002)
76. Gosford Park (Altman, 2001)
77. The Game (Fincher, 1997)
78. Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (Cassavetes, 2004)
79. Pulp Fiction (Tarantino, 1994)
80. Boiler Room (Younger, 2000)
81. Moulin Rouge! (Luhrman, 2001)
82. Object of My Affection (Hytner, 1998)
83. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (Zemeckis, 1988)
84. Top Gun (Scott, 1986)
85. Annie Hall (Allen, 1977)
86. Rebel Without a Cause (Ray, 1955)
87. Empire Records (Moyle, 1995)
88. Eagle vs Shark (Cohen, 2007)
89. Comedian (Charles, 2002)
90. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Fassbinder, 1974)
91. Full Frontal (Soderbergh, 2002)
92. The Kid Stays in the Picture (Burstein/Morgen, 2002)
93. Friday (Gray, 1995)
94. The Original Kings of Comedy (Lee, 2000)
95. The Basketball Diaries (Kalvert, 1995)
96. Rachel Getting Married (Demme, 2008)
97. Superbad (Mottola, 2007)
98. Not Another Teen Movie (Gallen, 2001)
99. Spellbound (Blitz, 2002)
100. The Good Girl (Arteta, 2002)