Best of the Best Pictures!

I think what he means to say is that Braveheart should be ranked higher on the list. I tend to agree and I think its positioning has more to do with the politics surrounding Mel's fall from glory in Hollywood thanks to his antics than any real digs against his film. These rankings seem to be heavily swayed by contemporary opinions and not on a film's real merits.

Mar 2 - 02:31 PM

George Patchell

C'Mon, sure its an entertaining film but it's historically inaccurate to the point that its offensive, and they couldn't even get the attire correct!

Mar 4 - 06:59 AM

Christopher Greffin

Braveheart is about where it deserves to be. My main issue isn't really the historical innacuracy, which is glaring, but with the painfuly obvious evil English stereotypes, and then the homophobia connected to it. Elements of it felt forced, though I was certainly entertained, and at certain points exhilerated.

Mar 4 - 10:50 AM

Stephen Bloom

Hurt Locker's a bit highly rated considering popular opinion on the movie, and I despise Slumdog Millionaire. Good to see Annie Hall in the top 15 though; one of the great films, nice to see it where it belongs.

Mar 1 - 05:46 PM

Gaylord Focker

Exactly! The Hurt Locker in at number 11, if it wasn't enough to make you cough your eyes out in despair it'd be the greatest joke of the millenium. Also, Slumdog Millionaire, I completely agree with you. How these turkeys hoodwinked everyone in the first instance is mystery enough, but how they masquerade in the guise of leaders of this list is plain horrifying :/

Mar 2 - 11:11 AM

I fully agree with what you're saying on this. I disliked both of these movies. I definitely expected a lot more from both movies given the amount of hype they both received. Neither lived up to the buzz surrounding them.

Mar 2 - 01:40 PM

I actually haven't seen Hurt Locker yet, so I can't and won't comment on it. However, how could you NOT like Slumdog Millionaire? It was a fantastic love story about a guy looking for the woman he fell in love with as a child. It was a brutally honest depiction of one man's love for a woman, and showed how he was willing to do whatever it took to get the woman back. How could anyone with a heart and a soul NOT like that? Are you inhuman or something?

Mar 4 - 05:30 AM

Christopher Greffin

The Hurt Locker is a masterpiece. You just have terrible judgement on quality films.

Mar 4 - 09:52 AM

Markus Arbutina

Wow, Hurt Locker number 11.....no way. So wrong on so many levels.

Mar 1 - 05:53 PM

Gruns Morelli

yup

Mar 1 - 06:08 PM

Alex Bauman

What? Hurt Locker was a great movie

Mar 1 - 06:12 PM

Markus Arbutina

Have to disagree. Way overrated. It should be 40th on this list.

Mar 1 - 06:22 PM

Jonny 99

Agree, Hurt Locker was not even clearly the best picture of 2009 much less the 11th best of all time.

Mar 1 - 06:58 PM

Mike Barnes

Even so, you finding it overrated still means that most people liked it,so it shouldn't be all that surprising to see it that high on the list, especially considering it's high rating on rotten tomatoes.

I personally loved The Hurt Locker. I thought it was very well directed, well written, and well acted. Obviously opinions are gonna vary, but I personally am glad to see it high on the list.

Mar 1 - 07:36 PM

Andrea Ortiz

Inglourious Basterds was the best last year. Hands down. The Hurt Locker is ridiculously overrated, much like the King's Speech. I mean, I actually forgot that war movie's name for months...

Mar 1 - 07:41 PM

Subhra Roy

Not Really. It is far more introspective than it appears, playing out a man's mind in a movie.

Mar 2 - 05:31 AM

Matthew Cuffe

Why does every film that wins an oscar now get accused of being overrated? Saying a film is overrated is just sad, are only a certain amount of people allowed to enjoy a film?

Mar 2 - 05:47 AM

In this context overrated means something different than the normal use of the phrase. When you're arguing best picture winners I don't think anyone is claiming it's a bad movie, just that it's not as good as recognized classics like Schindlers List. I like The Hurt Locker, think it's a great movie, better than Schindlers List or Ben Hur? Not so much. It's primarily an arguement of degree's of greatness and it's hard for me to support a movie that's a year old over movie's that have stood the test of time and maintained their popularity and status.

Mar 2 - 06:58 AM

Evan Hildreth

Other better war movies (e.g. Saving Private Ryan) didn't even win Best Picture against lower ranking winners.

Mar 5 - 06:09 AM

Ken Wolfson

Are you kidding me? that movie so deserves number eleven. Return of the King should be higher and the Dark Knight deserves to be on this list so badly. As someone else pointed out, wTF is godfather not numer 1?

Mar 2 - 07:53 AM

Let me guess, born in the 90's? and FYI TDK not only didn't win, it wasn't nominated hench it can't be on the list.

Mar 2 - 08:16 AM

Chad W

You'll stole my thunder on this one bro, but kudos nevertheless. lol.

Mar 2 - 08:59 AM

Peter Winters

Eat your milk and cookies and go to bed

Mar 2 - 09:13 AM

How do you figure! Just because you're not part of that battlefield which has so far taken away more than 5,000 American soldiers and no end in sight! Maybe it wouldn't be rated so high if all of our troops are back home with their friends and family!

Mar 2 - 12:21 PM

I'm with you 100%. Honestly I thought "UP" was the best of the bunch of the nominated films for best picture last year, but Crazy Heart should have been nominated and won for best picture among that entire crop of pictures. Also I think Slumdog's win was terrible and its placement in this ranking is pretty terrible.

Casablanca at #4 is a travesty. It should be sitting pretty at either 1 or 2. Very few of these films selected as best picture actually transcend their decade, and yet this film has endured. Most of these recent movies have an over abundance of hype keeping them afloat, but in a decade or two it will be interesting to see how they hold up.

Mar 2 - 01:35 PM

Markus Arbutina

I still feel that cartoon movies should not be nominated for best picture. UP while a good movie was not best picture material.

Mar 2 - 02:28 PM

I actually disagree and I think listing some films as "worthy" of nomination based solely on the genre of the film is under rating the value of these films on cinema history. Action movies, comedies, science fiction are all genres that continuously get overlooked by the Academy but in my opinion they are frequently the genres that produce some of the most loved films of all time. For example The Empire Strikes Back is one of the most timeless movies out there in film history and isn't even a nominee in 1980. However it blows away Ordinary People the winner that year. Science Fiction is overlooked and it shouldn't be. There is as much skill and effort to produce these films as any serious drama and some actually are remembered generations later showing how important they were to the history of film.

I believe animation has a right and even an obligation to be recognized. I think "UP" was a significant movie that is entirely overlooked because it isn't a drama.

Mar 2 - 02:54 PM

Andrew Nguyen

The Hurt Locker is a great movie. It deserves the position it holds on this list. Just because it focuses on a topic that doesn't appeal to mainstream audiences, doesn't mean it isn't a thoughtful, well-acted, and highly relevant in the context of today's society. It is the best war movie since Apocalypse Now.

Mar 3 - 07:31 AM

George Patchell

I have to point to everyone complaining about the Hurt Locker and Slumdog Millionaire that this is not supposed to be a personal choice but rather the Tomatometer rankings. Having said that the list is sort of trivialised if the tomatometer score is disregarded like it is throughout the list; case and point The King's Speech score is 95% but is ahead of Unforgiven which has a score of 96%.

Mar 4 - 07:06 AM

Kenneth W.

I noticed that happens a few times on the list.

Mar 5 - 11:57 AM

Brandon Williamson

Nice to see All About Eve at number 1. Though I still don't understand how these are ranked. It seems to jump back and forth between numbers like 96 then 97 then 100 then back down to 97, etc. Is there some other aspects that are taken into account other than the T-meter rating?

Mar 1 - 06:36 PM

That Guy

In the intro there's a link to "HOW IT WORK" which goes over the math. Basically they use a complicated formula (which includes the number of reviews, Tomatometer score, and average number of reviews per move for corresponding year) to figure it out beyond the basic number. After all, how are they supposed to figure out which movie is higher since there's several with 100%s. And honestly, an 89% based on 200 reviews is more impressive than a 90% based on 50.

Mar 1 - 08:27 PM

Tim Kerridge

OMG All About Eve ???? the worst winner of all time IMO !! one year I sat down and said to myself i was gonna watch them all in a year and AAE was DEFINATELY one that made me regret that idea !! i just cant sit through it, its just so boring, nothing happens, take a camcorder, stick it on a tripod in front of a puddle for three hours then post prod it in black and white and you'll have a shout at a better film than AAE, please explain what you like about it...
Also can someone explain what the 'disturbing message' of forest gump is.
oh and for the record Hurt locker is very good though maybe not 11, and best movie of all time is Schindlers List, just purly and simply nothing wrong with it.

Mar 4 - 09:26 AM

If there were ever an argument for the T-meters fallibility it's the early rankings here. Also who was the jackass who gave Casablanca a bad review? Really?

Mar 1 - 06:51 PM

I hear you on this one. That reviewer should turn in their pen or keyboard because they clearly are not worthy of the title "Film Critic" if they gave this classic movie a bad review.

Mar 2 - 02:34 PM

Scott Day

A Time Magazine Review from 70 years ago was taken into account on the aggregate, I've no idea why, it establises the fallibility of the Tomatometer. (Note: They had also included anegative review of The Good, The Bad and the Ugly from Time Magazine, published in 1968)

Mar 2 - 05:19 PM

Matthew Charlebois

One of the strangest RT lists I've seen in a while. Schindler's List is way under appreciated, while the hurt locker get number 11. Godfather part 2 is only number 10 and The original doesn't even get number 1?

Mar 1 - 07:11 PM

I happen to think both GF1 and GF2 are both some of the most over-rated films in movie history. The first one especially slow and not-especially interesting unless you're in love with the glorification of the mafia. So many folks in the US love to romanticize stories about the mafia. There is nothing uplifting or magical about these films. They're about people doing very bad and shocking things to other people and especially other mafia families. The performances were great and the dialog rings true and the cinematography is good, but I think the stories themselves are dull and lack any real heart or importance in the grand scheme of things. The first one could put me to sleep fast and I think could do with some significant editing.

Mar 2 - 02:40 PM

Kenneth W.

By that logic, 100% of the reviews for the first one having only given it such a rating because they're in love with "glorification of the mafia".

Mar 5 - 12:02 PM

That Guy

I want to see a countdown of the best nominated for Best Picture but didn't win films. Though it would be quite long.

Mar 1 - 07:40 PM

Steven Bailey

They could cut the list off at 100, but I agree that it would be a very interesting list. My guess is that the top 3 would be some combination of Pulp Fiction, Raging Bull, Citizen Kane, Goodfellas and Chinatown.

Mar 1 - 08:48 PM

Dean Nelson

I bet Citizen Kane would be number 1

Mar 1 - 10:41 PM

Peter Winters

And I bet 1 + 1 = 2

Mar 2 - 09:14 AM

jay groon

Raging Bull.

Taxi Driver would be top 10 as well.

Mar 2 - 10:18 AM

That Guy

By my calculations it would be a list of 402 movies. But I would certainly go through them all to see where my favorites like Saving Private Ryan, District 9, and E.T. fall.

Mar 3 - 03:42 PM

George Patchell

What about Shawshank Redemption? Lost to Forrest Gump and is one of the greatest films ever. Also to keep it relevant, The Social Network would be right at the top given its score.

Mar 4 - 07:09 AM

Mysterious F

Gigi too low. Hurt Locker too high. All About Eve ranking number one this year, over The Godfather, is delightful.

Mar 1 - 08:05 PM

Titanic, Schindler's List, The Godfather (both parts), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Lawrence of Arabia are too low.

The Hurt Locker, Mutiny on the Bounty, and a few others are too high. I fell asleep during Mutiny on the Bounty, and I made it through Lawrence of Arabia without blinking.

Mar 1 - 08:13 PM

Also, Forrest Gump is too low. Saying its one of the 10 worst Best Picture winners is like saying Plan 9 from Outer Space is better than Star Wars. Scratch that. Saying that is like saying Plan 9 from Outer Space is better than The Empire Strikes Back.

Mar 1 - 08:15 PM

Aaron Yovanovits

Forrest Gump blows son. Sorry I had to be the one to tell you that, but it just takes advantage of people's sympathy for retarded people by putting one through a feel good fairy tale of malevolently dishonest proportions.

Mar 2 - 12:26 AM

Corey Gallagher

Troll troll troll lalala troll troll troll lalala...

Mar 2 - 05:03 AM

Forrest Gump is a great movie. Great acting, great screenplay, great story. You saying it takes advantage off sympathy for retarded people is complete bull. You don't know anything. Don't you think its possible they wrote a book about a retarded person (because it was originally a book) just because thats who they wanted to write about?

Because it sounds like to me everyone in movies have to be smart, according to you.

And PS, I didn't feel any sympathy for Forrest throughout the entire movie. Everything good happens to him (minus the death of loved ones). So stop acting like a big shot and saying a movie blows just because there's a retarded person in it.

Mar 2 - 01:43 PM

Forrest Gump doesn't blow at all. I agree it is way too far down this list. However saying that I think Forrest Gump doesn't hold a candle to the film it beat, The Shawshank Redemption. Not only should that movie have won it should be the #1 title on this list, end of story.

Mar 2 - 02:27 PM

Andrew Nguyen

Forrest Gump is a simplistic fable that generalizes the historical events and social issues of the 20th century. It is popular with mainstream audiences because it is an entertaining, feel-good story with a memorable and likable protagonist. It is however not a great movie. There is nothing thought provoking or deep about this movie. Many of the characters are caricatures of types seen in other movies. The events that happens to Gump are far-fetched and forced. Shawshank Redemption while also a feel-good story, is a much better film and should have won the Oscar over Forrest Gump.

Mar 3 - 10:33 AM

Phogoodness, you are COMPLETELY and UTTERLY wrong about Forest Gump. According to you, there is nothing thought provoking or deep about the movie. Here's a little news flash for you. EVERYTHING about Forest Gump is thought provoking and deep. One of it's most quoted lines, for crying out loud, proves it. What kind of a foolish moron must you be for thinking a line such as "Mamma always said life was like a box of chocolates" isn't thought provoking and deep? You seriously must be a very dimwitted moron, indeed.

Mar 4 - 05:45 AM

Andrew Nguyen

Eric, before you go about verbally attacking people because they don't align with your opinions, you seriously could gain more perspective by watching more and BETTER films. I stand by what I said about Forrest Gump, and upon reading your response, it's humorous in how it lacks supporting evidence to defend your statements, other than the quote "...life is like a box of chocolate..." is thought provoking and deep. This quote while memorable, is quite simplistic in its message, basically meaning "you will never know how your life will turn out." I won't insult your intelligence, but if you watched film or read books, you'd realized it's a very common theme. The problem with Forrest Gump is that it trivializes history in neat, little story arcs: the Vietnam War, the anti-war, hippie movement, the Civil Rights movement, US-Chinese diplomacy, the AIDS crisis. Each event or issue is given some notice and then moved past with little impact on the character development of Gump and minimal exploration of the event's complexities. This is made more egregious by the fact that Gump, who remains largely static throughout the movie, stumbles through historical events and impossible situations through no control of his own. Frankly the movie feels very forced and lacking in any subtlety in its thematic exploration. I understand why the movie is popular with audiences, but don't go about spouting nonsense about the intelligence or complexity of Forrest Gump because the movie is subtle as hitting a hammer on your head.

Mar 4 - 06:49 AM

Phogoodness, I do also disagree with you (you probably saw that coming). Once upon a time I thought Shawshank was better than Gump, but upon a repeat showing of Forrest Gump on television I changed my mind. Forrest Gump is indeed a great movie, and while not particularly thought provoking (why does a film have to be? The Godfather is not particularly complex either...II is though) it is filled with heartwarming scenes and hysterical moments. Forrest Gump's retardation is used to allow a more simplistic look at what's been going on in the past few decades, rather than a biased over thought out presentation about controversial topics such as Vietnam, which is GENIUS.

In addition, why can't Forrest Gump be a great movie? Its undeniably witty and funny, and honestly I find some of the scenes heartbreaking. When Forrest's talking to Jenny's grave, I couldn't help but cry at how undeniably in love Forrest was with Jenny, and the last scene when his son gets on the bus, and he just sits down and waits hours for him to come home is by far one of the greatest moments in movie history for its amount of emotion it presents without any thoughts on making Forrest look even dumber than he really is.

Mar 12 - 01:33 PM

Sorry, I realized I was rambling. Let me put it like this: no, Forrest Gump is not particularly complex, but its filled with true and raw emotion and THAT is what makes it great.

Mar 12 - 01:35 PM

Bay is .001 Nolan

Haha ditto on 'Mutiny on the Bounty'! I haven't watched all of the Best Picture winners YET and SO FAR two films gave me the R.E.M. treatment: 'Mutiny on the Bounty' and 'The English Patient'.

Mar 5 - 04:08 AM

I actually enjoyed The English Patient. Yeah, i understand why you might fall asleep, but I particularly like Ralph Fiennes, so i may be a bit biased.

Mar 12 - 01:39 PM

Rick Greene

Wow. I cannot believe "The Hurt Locker" is so high. And what's with "All About Eve"? Really?

Mar 1 - 08:22 PM

dethburger hates Flixster

Why not! More critics saw it and liked it! RT has only been around like since 2004 or something along the lines of that with old critics already dead and new ones showing up!

Mar 3 - 02:06 PM

Dylan Hair

I LOVE LOVE LOVE All About Eve, so personally I'm ecstatic to see that rank #1, however take these with a grain of salt, they are based on their respective T-meters anyway aren't they? I too think its ludicrous Hurt Locker is #11, personally I thought that was a GOOD movie overall, with some impeccably directed suspense sequences, but the rest of the film was a slog. I found myself bored quite a bit during that movie, and personally didn't find it Oscar quality. I couldn't believe that it won Best Screenplay, I thought Basterds had that locked up, let alone Best Picture! I thought Avatar, Precious, Up in the Air, District 9, Basterds, heck even Up and An Education were better choices, Avatar was my top pick for Best Pic and Director. However, JMO, clearly the Academy disagreed.

Mar 1 - 08:32 PM

Since these films are rated not completely by TM I wonder what the final determining factor is.

Mar 1 - 08:34 PM

Dylan Hair

Didn't take a good look at the list, but I liked seeing Rebecca in the top 10, just watched it again recently and it is brilliant! Right up there, possibly better than Vertigo, Rear Window, et al. I'd swap Slumdog, one of my all-time faves, and No Country's positions, just me, I liked Slumdog more than No Country, heck I'd even swap it with Hurt Locker, Liked Slumdog wayyyyy better than Hurt Locker.

Mar 1 - 08:39 PM

David Rocha

I agree, Rebecca is the best Hitchcock film. His others are amazing, but Rebecca is a very special film.

Mar 3 - 08:50 PM

Steven Bailey

I'm glad they didn't overrate Forrest Gump, but the Hurt Locker being that far ahead of NCFOM and Schindler's list is a laughable joke. THL had a pedestrian script and was very repetitive.

And I just read from "man in the water"'s post that it won best screenplay. Wow, the Oscars just lost a lot of credibility in my eyes. I'm beginning to wonder who these so called movie experts that they select to be on their little panel are. They also picked The Departed for best editing, and that was a very sloppily edited movie.

Mar 1 - 08:45 PM

Anthony W.

Just to tell you, the Academy is made up of 6,000 voters who are the producers, directors, actors & screenwriters who are working in the film industry. Spielberg, Scorsese, Eastwood, Hanks, Bruckheimer and so forth all vote for the Academy Awards. People like Lucas, Tarantino & Rodriguez do not vote because they are not memebers of their perspected Guilds.

Mar 2 - 12:23 AM

Anthony W.

Just to add, The Academy is made up of the Guild members of the PGA, DGA, SAG & WGA. Only members from the Guilds can vote on the Academy Awards. So yes, the best of the best vote for the Academy Awards.

Mar 2 - 12:27 AM

Does the guild rule apply even for Oscar winners? I thought all past winners got to vote as well. Could be mistaken, that was just my understanding.

Mar 2 - 05:36 AM

Anthony W.

You know I don't have the answer to that but I'm sure, if not most them are already voters especially if there are with one of the Guilds. There is so many rules, regulations & stipulations involved with the Guilds & the Acadmey it's truly a web of webs.

Mar 2 - 02:06 PM

First, I haven't seen the Hurt Locker. However, I could NEVER get into NCFOM. It was a snooze fest of a film. Hurt Locker actually looks interesting. Heck, most films look more interesting than NCFOM. I'd probably put Hurt Locker way ahead of NCFOM any day of the week.

Mar 4 - 05:49 AM

Michael Ackerman

Hell yeah, Amadeus at 17! I love that flick! In my opinion, F. Murray Abraham's Salieri is one of the greatest villains in movie history. He's creepy, conniving, pathetic, hilarious, and...human. So imperfectly human. Check out the anguished look on his face when, describing Mozart's music, he says, "I was staring through the cage of those meticulous ink strokes at an absolute beauty."

Mar 1 - 09:46 PM

Dean Nelson

There needs to be a list of the best picture noms that didn't win!

Mar 1 - 10:44 PM

Joshua Dinsmore

I second that. Movies like Jaws and Star Wars should get some praise. Where's the love?

Mar 1 - 11:42 PM

Mike Anderson

Talk about a ridiculously flawed list. I have no doubt it is hard to try to rank so many movies, but there are a few mistakes so egregious that it discredits the entire list.

The Hurt Locker being ranked higher than Schindler's List? Is that a joke?I'm going to go ahead and say that there isn't a single well-respected movie critic on this planet that would agree with that. That's not saying that THL wasn't a good movie, because it was... but Schindler's List is LEGENDARY. It's a film that will be praised and remembered for as long as there is a thing called cinema.

Mar 1 - 11:06 PM

Chip McNair

Agreed. The Hurt Locker is a bit overpraised imo. Now, a REAL war movie is one that didn't win, Saving Private Ryan.

Mar 1 - 11:11 PM

Aaron Yovanovits

Agreed, it's still a travesty that Ryan got bypassed in favor of Shakespeare in Love.

Mar 2 - 12:29 AM

Peter Winters

No one would putt Hurt Locker ahead of Schindler's List, including every employee at RT. This list is based purely on an adjusted RT tomato meter.

Mar 2 - 09:49 AM

These ratings are not based on the employers of RT but on paid movie citics!

Mar 3 - 02:08 PM

NOTHING about the list is flawed. ONLY a dimwitted and arrogant moron would make such an idiotic claim as you have. What you believe is not necessarily what others believe. ALL film lists such as this, no matter how the films are ranked, are valid. Film is wholeheartedly a subjective art form. To claim a list is flawed simply because you don't agree with it, which you in your ignorance have just done, is ignorant, arrogant, and just plain idiotic. You cannot make any such factual claim as a flawed list when it is mere opinion, you know, especially when it comes to the art of film making, a purely subjective art form, where NO such lists are flawed and can NEVER be flawed.

Mar 4 - 05:57 AM

Christopher Greffin

Well I think The Hurt Locker is better than Schinder's List. Both films are masterpieces, and Schindler's List is more important, but to me The Hurt Locker with it's extreme intensity and the way it deals with the pyschology of war is really one of the best war films ever made.

Mar 4 - 09:57 AM