UltimateMovieRankings.com has scored over 20,000 movies so far. A huge part of the score is how well the movie was received by film critics and the movie going public.
Each movie in my database has a minimum of 5 sources that are used in calculating a movie’s Critic/Audience rating. Here are some of the more popular websites/reviewers that I use: Rottentomatoes.com, IMDb.com, Roger Ebert, Leonard Maltin, VideoHound, Letterbox.com, MetaCritic and Fandango.
Of the thousands of movies in my database…the following table shows the Top 100 Best Reviewed Movies. Some of the interesting things you will find in the table? The oldest movie is 1921’s The Kid….while the newest movie is 2014’s Whiplash. 8 Alfred Hitchcock movies made the Top 100. James Stewart had 7 movies make the Top 100. Johnny Depp got shut out. Obviously there are many many movies that I have not scored yet….but here is the currently Top 100 in my database.
Top 100 Best Reviewed Movies Can Be Sorted 5 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Sort Top 100 Best Reviewed Movies by decades movie was made
- Sort Top 100 Best Reviewed Movies by IMDb rank
- Sort Top 100 Best Reviewed Movies by the stars of the movie
- Sort Top 100 Best Reviewed Movies by the director of the movie
- Sort Top 100 Best Reviewed Movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie
- The search button makes it easy to play with this table….if you type in “James Stewart” in the search box…the 7 Stewart movies that made this Top 100 will pop up.
| Rank | MovieYear | Decade | IMDb Rank on 5/15/15 | Stars of the Movie | Director | AvgOfRating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Godfather (1972) | 1970s | 2nd | Marlon Brando & Al Pacino | Francis Ford Coppola | 94.50 | |
| Schindler's List (1993) | 1990s | 6th | Liam Neeson & Ralph Fiennes | Steven Spielberg | 94.33 | |
| Casablanca (1942) | 1940s | 30th | Humphrey Bogart & Ingrid Bergman | Michael Curtiz | 94.25 | |
| The Godfather: Part II (1974) | 1970s | 3rd | Al Pacino & Robert Duvall | Francis Ford Coppola | 94.23 | |
| Rear Window (1954) | 1950s | 37th | James Stewart & Grace Kelly | Alfred Hitchcock | 94.22 | |
| Tokyo Story (1953) | 1950s | Not in Top 250 | Chishû Ryû | Yasujiro Ozu | 94.21 | |
| The Good the Bad and the Ugly (1966) | 1960s | 8th | Clint Eastwood & Eli Wallach | Sergio Leone | 93.66 | |
| 12 Angry Men (1957) | 1950s | 7th | Henry Fonda & Jack Warden | Sidney Lumet | 93.50 | |
| North by Northwest (1959) | 1950s | 63rd | Cary Grant & James Mason | Alfred Hitchcock | 93.45 | |
| Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) | 1980s | 12th | Harrison Ford & Mark Hamill | Irvin Kershner | 93.42 | |
| Pulp Fiction (1994) | 1990s | 5th | Bruce Willis & John Travlota | Quentin Tarantino | 93.41 | |
| Seven Samurai (1954) | 1950s | 20th | Toshiro Mifune | Akira Kurosawa | 93.25 | |
| All About Eve (1950) | 1950s | 98th | Bette Davis & George Sanders | Joseph L. Mankiewicz | 92.67 | |
| On the Waterfront (1954) | 1950s | 121st | Marlon Brando & Karl Malden | Elia Kazan | 92.66 | |
| Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) | 1960s | 49th | Peter Sellers & George C. Scott | Stanley Kubrick | 92.54 | |
| Aliens (1986) | 1980s | 64th | Sigourney Weaver & Michael Biehn | James Cameron | 92.53 | |
| Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) | 1960s | 28th | Charles Bronson & Henry Fonda | Sergio Leone | 92.52 | |
| One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) | 1970s | 15th | Jack Nicholson & Danny DeVito | Milos Foreman | 92.51 | |
| Goodfellas (1990) | 1990s | 17th | Robert DeNiro & Joe Pesci | Martin Scorsese | 92.50 | |
| Apocalypse Now (1979) | 1970s | 47th | Martin Sheen & Robert Duvall | Francis Ford Coppola | 92.33 | |
| Chinatown (1974) | 1970s | 117th | Jack Nicholson & Faye Dunaway | Roman Polanski | 92.15 | |
| Sunset Blvd. (1950) | 1950s | 48th | William Holden & Gloria Swanson | Billy Wilder | 92.10 | |
| Double Indemnity (1944) | 1940s | 80th | Barbara Stanwyck & Fred MacMurray | Billy Wilder | 92.08 | |
| Modern Times (1936) | 1930s | 40th | Charlie Chaplin | Charlie Chaplin | 92.03 | |
| It's a Wonderful Life (1946) | 1940s | 26th | James Stewart & Donna Reed | Frank Capra | 92.01 | |
| Psycho (1960) | 1960s | 36th | Anthony Perkins & Janet Leigh | Alfred Hitchcock | 92.00 | |
| Some Like It Hot (1959) | 1950s | 105th | Marilyn Monroe & Jack Lemmon | Billy Wilder | 91.70 | |
| Toy Story 3 (2010) | 2010s | 75th | Tom Hanks & Tim Allen | Lee Unkrich | 91.66 | |
| The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) | 1940s | 195th | Frederic March & Myrna Loy | William Wyler | 91.65 | |
| Vertigo (1958) | 1950s | 67th | James Stewart & Kim Novak | Alfred Hitchcock | 91.62 | |
| Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) | 1970s | 19th | Harrison Ford & Mark Hamill | George Lucas | 91.60 | |
| Lawrence of Arabia (1962) | 1960s | 84th | Peter O'Toole & Alec Guinness | David Lean | 91.55 | |
| Spirited Away (2001) | 2000s | 34th | James Marsden & Suzanne Pleshette | Hayao Miyazaki | 91.52 | |
| The Silence of the Lambs (1991) | 1990s | 25th | Jodie Foster & Anthony Hopkins | Jonathan Demme | 91.47 | |
| Taxi Driver (1976) | 1970s | 79th | Robert DeNiro & Jodie Foster | Martin Scorsese | 91.46 | |
| The Dark Knight (2008) | 2000s | 4th | Christian Bale & Michael Caine | Christopher Nolan | 91.44 | |
| Jaws (1975) | 1970s | 212th | Roy Scheider & Richard Dreyfuss | Steven Spielberg | 91.42 | |
| The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (12002) | 2000s | 16th | Viggio Mortensen & Orlando Bloom | Peter Jackson | 91.40 | |
| Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) | 1980s | 33rd | Harrison Ford & Karen Allen | Steven Spielberg | 91.35 | |
| Rebecca (1940) | 1940s | 147th | Laurence Olivier & Joan Fontaine | Alfred Hitchcock | 91.33 | |
| L.A. Confidential (1997) | 1990s | 97th | Russell Crowe & Kevin Spacey | Curtis Hanson | 91.15 | |
| The Philadelphia Story (1940) | 1940s | Not in Top 250 | Katharine Hepburn & Cary Grant & James Stewart | George Cukor | 91.14 | |
| White Heat (1949) | 1940s | Not in Top 250 | James Cagney & Virginia Mayo | Raoul Walsh | 91.10 | |
| Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) | 1930s | 124th | James Stewart & Claude Rains | Frank Capra | 91.09 | |
| It Happened One Night (1934) | 1930s | 152nd | Clark Gable & Claudette Colbert | Frank Capra | 91.08 | |
| The Kid (1921) | 1920s | 94th | Charlie Chaplin | Charlie Chaplin | 91.05 | |
| Alien (1979) | 1970s | 51st | Sigournery Weaver & John Hurt | Ridley Scott | 91.02 | |
| The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) | 2000s | 9th | Viggio Mortensen & Orlando Bloom | Peter Jackson | 91.00 | |
| Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) | 2010s | 84th | Charlize Theron & Tom Hardy | George Miller | 91.00 | |
| Raging Bull (1980) | 1980s | 113th | Robert DeNiro & Joe Pesci | Martin Scorsese | 90.99 | |
| Citizen Kane (1941) | 1940s | 65th | Orson Welles & Joseph Cotten | Orson Welles | 90.95 | |
| Toy Story (1995) | 1990s | 101st | Tom Hanks & Tim Allen | John Lasseter | 90.91 | |
| Annie Hall (1977) | 1970s | 180th | Woody Allen & Diane Keaton | Woody Allen | 90.68 | |
| Strangers on a Train (1951) | 1950s | 205th | Robert Walker & Farley Granger | Alfred Hitchcock | 90.67 | |
| The Great Dictator (1940) | 1940s | 53rd | Charlie Chaplin | Charlie Chaplin | 90.66 | |
| Up (2009) | 2010s | 115th | Ed Asner & Christopher Plummer | Pete Doctor & Bob Peterson | 90.60 | |
| Whiplash (2014) | 2010s | 38th | J.K. Simmons & Miles Teller | Damien Chazelle | 90.59 | |
| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two (2011) | 2010s | 217th | Daniel Radcliffe & Ralph Fiennes | David Yates | 90.55 | |
| Yojimbo (1961) | 1960s | 106th | Toshiro Mifune | Akira Kurosawa | 90.53 | |
| The Terminator (1984) | 1980s | 215th | Arnold Schwarzenegger & Linda Hamilton & Michael Biehn | James Cameron | 90.51 | |
| The Wizard of Oz (1939) | 1930s | 194th | Judy Garland & Frank Morgan | Victor Fleming | 90.49 | |
| The Pianist (2002) | 2000s | 44th | Adrien Brody & Emilia Fox | Roman Polanski | 90.47 | |
| WALL·E (2008) | 2000s | 62nd | Jeff Garlin & Fred Willard | Andrew Stanton | 90.45 | |
| Roman Holiday (1953) | 1950s | 240th | Gregory Peck & Audrey Hepburn | William Wyler | 90.39 | |
| To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) | 1960s | 82nd | Gregory Peck & Robert Duvall | Robert Mulligan | 90.35 | |
| Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) | 1990s | 41st | Arnold Schwarzenegger & Linda Hamilton | James Cameron | 90.33 | |
| The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) | 2000s | 11th | Viggio Mortensen & Orlando Bloom | Peter Jackson | 90.10 | |
| 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) | 1960s | 93rd | Keir Dullea & & Gary Lockwood & H.A.L. | Stanley Kubrick | 90.08 | |
| How To Train Your Dragon (2010) | 2010s | 149th | Jay Baruchel & Gerard Butler | Dean DeBlois | 90.07 | |
| The Shawshank Redemption (1994) | 1990s | 1st | Tim Robbins & Morgan Freeman | Frank Darabont | 90.06 | |
| The Shop Around the Corner (1940) | 1940s | Not in Top 250 | James Stewart & Magaret Sullavan | Ernst Lubitsch | 90.04 | |
| Manhattan (1979) | 1970s | Not in Top 250 | Woody Allen & Meryl Streep | Woody Allen | 90.03 | |
| Toy Story 2 (1999) | 1990s | Not in Top 250 | Tom Hanks & Tim Allen | John Lasseter & Ash Brannon | 90.02 | |
| The Third Man (1949) | 1940s | 107th | Joseph Cotten & Orson Welles | Carol Reed | 90.01 | |
| Finding Nemo (2003) | 2000s | 167th | Albert Brooks & Ellen DeGeneres | Andrew Stanton & Lee Unkrich | 90.00 | |
| A Seperation (2011) | 2010s | 104th | Leila Hatami & Peyman Moadi | Asghar Farhadi | 89.99 | |
| The Night of the Hunter (1955) | 1950s | 228th | Robert Mitchum & Lillian Gish | Charles Laughton | 89.97 | |
| Full Metal Jacket (1987) | 1980s | 86th | Matthew Modine & R. Lee Emery | Stanley Kubrick | 89.95 | |
| The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) | 1940s | 102nd | Humphrey Bogart & Walter Huston | John Huston | 89.94 | |
| Amadeus (1984) | 1980s | 90th | F. Murray Abraham & Tom Hulce | Milos Foreman | 89.93 | |
| Patton (1970) | 1970s | Not in Top 250 | George C. Scott & Karl Malden | Frank J. Schaffner | 89.92 | |
| The King's Speech (2010) | 2010s | 220th | Colin Firth & Geoffrey Rush | Tom Hopper | 89.90 | |
| Gone with the Wind (1939) | 1930s | 156th | Clark Gable & Vivien Leigh | Victor Fleming | 89.89 | |
| Reservoir Dogs (1992) | 1990s | 76th | Steve Buscemi & Harvey Keitel | Quentin Tarantino | 89.88 | |
| Rio Bravo (1959) | 1950s | Not in Top 250 | John Wayne & Dean Martin | Howard Hawks | 89.87 | |
| Notorious (1946) | 1940s | 221st | Cary Grant & Ingrid Bergman | Alfred Hitchcock | 89.86 | |
| Shadow of a Doubt (1943) | 1940s | Not in Top 250 | Teresa Wright & Joseph Cotten | Alfred Hitchcock | 89.85 | |
| Anatomy of a Murder (1959) | 1950s | Not in Top 250 | James Stewart & George C. Scott | Otto Preminger | 89.83 | |
| Cool Hand Luke (1967) | 1960s | 151st | Paul Newman & George Kennedy | Stuart Rosenberg | 89.59 | |
| Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) | 1930s | Not in Top 250 | James Cagney & Humphrey Bogart | Michael Curtiz | 89.55 | |
| Unforgiven (1992) | 1990s | 110th | Clint Eastwood & Gene Hackman & Morgan Freeman | Clint Eastwood | 89.53 | |
| The Maltese Falcon (1941) | 1940s | 160th | Humphrey Bogart & Peter Lorre | John Huston | 89.52 | |
| The Gold Rush (1925) | 1920s | 128th | Charlie Chaplin | Charlie Chaplin | 89.51 | |
| Manchurian Candidate (1962) | 1960s | Not in Top 250 | Frank Sinatra & Angela Lansbury | John Frankenheimer | 89.50 | |
| Paths of Glory (1957) | 1950s | 60th | Kirk Douglas & Adolphe Menjou | Stanley Kubrick | 89.49 | |
| Singin' In The Rain (1952) | 1950s | 88th | Gene Kelly & Debbie Reynolds | Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly | 89.48 | |
| The Great Escape (1963) | 1960s | 118th | Steve McQueen & James Garner & Charles Bronson | John Sturges | 89.47 | |
| Touch of Evil (1958) | 1950s | 177th | Charlton Heston & Orson Welles | Orson Welles | 89.46 | |
| No Country For Old Men (2007) | 2000s | 171st | Tommy Lee Jones & Josh Brolin | Coen Brothers | 89.44 | |
| Groundhog Day (1993) | 1990s | 216th | Bill Murray & Andie MacDowell | Harold Ramis | 89.40 | |
| Good Will Hunting (1997) | 1990s | 125th | Matt Damon & Ben Affleck & Robin Williams | Gus Van Sant | 89.49 |
Biggest discrepancies between IMDb and my Audience/Critic Rating?
1. My rankings have 1953’s Tokyo Story as the 6th highest rated movie in my database. Tokyo Story is not listed in IMDb’s Top 250 list…..but it has a 8.3 IMDb rating. That is a high enough rating to make IMDb’s Top 250….but probably does not have enough reviews to be considered on the Top 250.
2. My rankings have 1940’s The Philadelphia Story as the 42nd highest rated movie in my database. The Philadelphia Story has a 8.1 IMDb rating….which probably just misses the IMDb Top 250.
3. The 10th highest rated movie on IMDb is 1999’s Fight Club. Fight Club has a 8.9 IMDb rating. In my database Fight Club is ranked in 482nd place. That is higher than more than 20,000 movies but not good enough to crack my Top 100.
4. And now the biggest discrepancy! IMDb has 1994’s Forrest Gump rated as the 13th highest movie. Forrest Gump is ranked 1,244th in my database. The 1,234 difference is easily the largest in my database.
If you do a comment….please ignore the email address and website section.
Funny I can’t seem to find The Waterboy on the list, or to that matter any Adam Sandler movies. There must be a mistake. My attempt at humor. Been looking through your site index so many pages I have yet to check out. Bowing my hat to you and your team.
Hey Stein….I like your sense of humor…..I think to get The Waterboy on the list…my page would have to be called The Top 25,000 Best Reviewed movies…lol. Thanks for the compliment and the visit.
Hi, Bruce.
I thought I’d check out one of your theme pages.
I’ve seen 59 of these films movies. Surprisingly, not all of the ones I have seen were made before I was born. There are some animated films and crime films I’ve seen that are younge than I am.
Still deliberately avoiding The Godfather films.
I have Seven Samerai recorded and waiting for me when I have three hours to watch it uninterrupted.
The highest ranking film I have seen is Casablanca at number 4
The lowest ranking film I have seen is Good Will Hunting at 101.
I’ve seen all of the Hitchcock films as you might guess. I’m missing one James Stewart title. I still haven’t seen Anatomy of a Murder.
I’ve seen the earliest film: The Kid.
The most recent film I’ve seen on this list is The King’s Speech from 2010.
Outside of the themes you noted above, there are a lot of film noir and noir-inspired titles listed as well. This is a favourite genre of mine. I have seen nine of these.
Cheers,
Flora
Hey Flora.
1. Tally list….I have seen 100 of the 101 ….Shop Around The Corner is the missing movie….Steve is at 95 and you are at 59. Thanks for letting me win one of these tally counts.
2. I have been waiting for Mad Max Fury Road to drop out of the Top 100…..it has gone from 2nd to 49th….thinking it is not going to drop out of the Top 100 for awhile….which means Good Will Hunting will be dropping off the list soon.
3. I have a feeling you will never watch The Godfather or The Godfather 2 movies.
4. Seven Samurai is a quick 3 hours…..hope you get a chance to watch it soon.
5. Not surprised that you have seen 9 film noir and noir-inspired titles. I was glad that Double Indemnity not only made the Top 100….but finished so highly rated…..22nd place.
6. As always…thanks for stopping by and talking movies.
Mad Max at 2, are you kidding. Yes here in New York City the News gave it 5 stars out of 5 and the Post 4 out of 4. The Post called it the best action picture of this millennium.
Hey Dan I keep waiting for it to start dropping…..but so far it is holding strong….98% on RottenTomatoes…..8.7 on IMDb…..4.5 on Fandango. The only person who I know that is not raving about Fury Road is my oldest son…..he was very disappointed in the movie. He said it was filled with great action scenes but weak on story. He stands alone…lol.