I'm a bit of a fan for compiling lists of personal superlatives. It's a fun way of organising your personality into list form. I've wanted to make my own top 100 films list for a while, mostly to see what it looks like as a complete entity and what it reveals about me. Also, because I love to recommend films.
So what does it reveal? A few things. The most obvious is that I have a penchant for sentimentality; coming of age films, underdogs overcoming obstacles, geeks becoming heroes, ugly ducklings, etc.
It's interesting to note the majority of films are from the 80's and 90's, my formative years. On this note, I have to point out that I called this list my 'fav films', as opposed to 'best films'. Films I like, rather than films I think are 'good'. Hence, a lot of films on this list I have significant emotional connections to. But then others I just find particularly entertaining, gripping or plain funny.
The other interesting thing that came out of this exercise, was noting where and when I saw these films. I was able to categorise the films according to specific periods of my life. For instance; the 80's, on video in my childhood neighbours' living room; early nineties, late teenage years and the independence to decide what films I watch; mid 90's, when I first started working in the cinema in Canberra; late 90's, working in the Prince of Wales Cinema in London; early naughties, the Palace Cinema in Brisbane, late naughties; the Sun Cinema in Melbourne. The films I've chosen from these different periods often reflect who I was and what was going on in my life.
Despite this predominately being an exercise in self indulgence, I hope you enjoy my fav film list. I'm sure it will tell you something about me. I hope it might encourage you to see one of the films. Even better, I hope it might encourage you to make your own list. And if you do, please share it with me!
| 1 | Ferris Bueller's Day Off | John Hughes | 1986 | USA |
| 2 | The Piano | Jane Campion | 1993 | NZ/AUS |
| 3 | The Color Purple | Steven Spielburg | 1985 | USA |
| 4 | Amelie | Jean-Pierre Jeunet | 2001 | France |
| 5 | Magnolia | Paul Thomas Anderson | 1999 | USA |
| 6 | LA Story | Mick Jackson | 1991 | USA |
| 7 | Little Miss Sunshine | Jonathan Dayton | 2006 | USA |
| 8 | Once | John Carney | 2006 | Ireland |
| 9 | Not One Less | Yimou Zhang | 1999 | China |
| 10 | Lost in Translation | Sophia Copola | 2007 | USA |
| 11 | The Princess Bride | Rob Reiner | 1987 | USA |
| 12 | Cactus Flower | Gene Saks | 1969 | USA |
| 13 | Bring It On | Peyton Reed | 2000 | USA |
| 14 | A Room with a View | Merchant/Ivory | 1985 | UK |
| 15 | Amateur | Hal Hartley | 1994 | USA |
| 16 | Edward Scissorhands | Tim Burton | 1990 | USA |
| 17 | Bullets Over Broadway | Woody Allen | 1994 | USA |
| 18 | Everybody Famous | Dominique Deruddere | 2000 | Belgium |
| 19 | The Big Blue | Luc Besson | 1988 | France |
| 20 | Love Serenade | Shirley Barrett | 1996 | AUS |
| 21 | Orlando | Sally Potter | 1992 | UK |
| 22 | Wonderland | Michael Winterbottom | 1999 | UK |
| 23 | Fargo | Cohen Brothers | 1996 | USA |
| 24 | Parenthood | Ron Howard | 1989 | USA |
| 25 | Secrets and Lies | Mike Leigh | 1996 | UK |
| 26 | Anne of Green Gables | Kevin Sullivan | 1985 | Canada |
| 27 | Tootsie | Sydney Pollack | 1982 | USA |
| 28 | Breakfast at Tiffany's | Blake Edwards | 1961 | USA |
| 29 | Run Lola Run | Tom Tykwer | 1998 | Germany |
| 30 | The Dark Crystal | Jim Henson | 1982 | USA |
| 31 | Remains of the Day | James Ivory | 1993 | UK |
| 32 | Brokeback Mountain | Ang Lee | 2005 | USA |
| 33 | The Ice Storm | Ang Lee | 1997 | USA |
| 34 | Baraka | Ron Fricke | 1992 | USA |
| 35 | Stand By Me | Rob Reiner | 1986 | USA |
| 36 | The Party | Blake Edwards | 1968 | USA |
| 37 | Cyclo | Tran Anh Hung | 1995 | Vietnam |
| 38 | Slumdog Millionaire | Danny Boyle | 2008 | UK/India |
| 39 | All About My Mother | Pedro Almoldovar | 1999 | Spain |
| 40 | The Muppet Movie | James Frawley | 1979 | USA |
| 41 | Priscilla Queen of the Desert | Stephan Elliot | 1994 | AUS |
| 42 | The Castle | Rob Sitch | 1997 | AUS |
| 43 | A Fish Called Wanda | Charles Crichton | 1998 | UK |
| 44 | The Breakfast Club | John Hughes | 1985 | USA |
| 45 | Happiness | Todd Holondz | 1998 | USA |
| 46 | Inception | Christopher Nolan | 2010 | USA |
| 47 | The Year My Voice Broke | John Duigan | 1987 | AUS |
| 48 | Trainspotting | Danny Boyle | 1996 | UK |
| 49 | Bend It Like Beckham | Gurinder Chadha | 2002 | UK |
| 50 | The Blues Brothers | John Landis | 1980 | USA |
| 51 | Aliens | James Cameron | 1986 | USA |
| 52 | Pulp Fiction | Quentin Tarantino | 1994 | USA |
| 53 | Terminator 2 | James Cameron | 1991 | USA |
| 54 | Being John Malkovich | Spike Jonze | 1999 | USA |
| 55 | Eternal Sunshine on the Spotless Mind | Michel Gondry | 2004 | USA |
| 56 | The Lives of Others | Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck | 2006 | Germany |
| 57 | Pan's Labyrinth | Guillermo del Toro | 2006 | Spain |
| 58 | Hedwig and the Angry Inch | John Cameron Mitchell | 2001 | USA |
| 59 | Happy Together | Wong Kar-Wai | 1997 | HK |
| 60 | Brazil | Terry Gilliam | 1985 | UK |
| 61 | Rocky Horror Picture Show | Jim Sharman | 1975 | USA |
| 62 | The Wizard of Oz | Victor Fleming | 1939 | USA |
| 63 | The Shining | Stanley Kubrick | 1980 | USA |
| 64 | ET | Steven Spielburg | 1982 | USA |
| 65 | Heathers | Michael Lehmann | 1988 | USA |
| 66 | 28 Days Later | Danny Boyle | 2002 | UK |
| 67 | Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon | Ang Lee | 2000 | Taiwan/HK |
| 68 | Mary & Max | Adam Elliot | 2009 | AUS |
| 69 | The September Issue | R.J. Cutler | 2009 | USA |
| 70 | Naked | Mike Leigh | 1993 | UK |
| 71 | Reservoir Dogs | Quentin Tarantino | 1992 | USA |
| 72 | Pleasantville | Gary Ross | 1998 | USA |
| 73 | Annie Hall | Woody Allen | 1977 | USA |
| 74 | North By Northwest | Alfred Hitchcock | 1959 | USA |
| 75 | Like Water for Chocolate | Alfonso Arau | 1992 | Mexico |
| 76 | Life of Brian | Terry Jones | 1979 | UK |
| 77 | My Neighbour Totoro | Hayao Miyazaki | 1988 | Japan |
| 78 | 9 to 5 | Colin Higgins | 1980 | USA |
| 79 | Happy Gilmore | Dennis Dugan | 1996 | USA |
| 80 | Driving Miss Daisy | Bruce Beresford | 1989 | USA |
| 81 | It's a Wonderful life | Frank Capra | 1946 | USA |
| 82 | Steel Magnolias | Herbert Ross | 1989 | USA |
| 83 | Cocoon | Ron Howard | 1985 | USA |
| 84 | Ghostbusters | Ivan Reitman | 1984 | USA |
| 85 | The NeverEnding Story | Wolfgang Petersen | 1984 | USA |
| 86 | Chitty Chitty Bang Bang | Ken Hughes | 1968 | USA |
| 87 | Mighty Aphrodite | Woody Allen | 1995 | USA |
| 88 | Husbands & Wives | Woody Allen | 1992 | USA |
| 89 | This Is England | Shane Meadows | 2006 | UK |
| 90 | City of God | Fernando Meirelles | 2002 | Brazil |
| 91 | Man On Wire | James Marsh | 2008 | USA |
| 92 | Soapdish | Michael Hoffman | 1991 | USA |
| 93 | Fried Green Tomatoes | Jon Avnet | 1991 | USA |
| 94 | Napolean Dynamite | Jared Hess | 2004 | USA |
| 95 | Opposite of Sex | Don Roos | 1998 | USA |
| 96 | American Beauty | Sam Mendes | 1999 | USA |
| 97 | Mulholland Drive | David Lynch | 2001 | USA |
| 98 | Babel | Alejandro González Iñárritu | 2006 | USA |
| 99 | Notes on a Scandal | Richard Eyre | 2006 | UK |
| 100 | Best in Show | Christopher Guest | 2000 | USA
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