Top 100: Best Movies (of All-Time)

92. The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

Logline: Project Treadstone has been canned and a new, even more sophisticated one—Operation Blackbriar—emerges to kill former agent Jason Bourne, who seeks to figure out who he really is, at any cost.

Memorable Moments: Three words: EPIC fight scene. The one where Jason and Desh (Joey Ansah) stage one of the most realistic, brutal on-screen fights of all time.

Why People Love It: Dozens of reputable film critics have made it clear: This third installment (and apparently, not the last) is the best of the Bourne franchise to-date.

Best Quote: Noah Vosen (David Strathairn): “You know as well as I do decisions made in real time are never perfect. Don’t second guess an operation from an armchair.”

91. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)

Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

Logline: The time is 1944 and the setting is the mountain retreat of a brutal Spanish army officer. Her mother having eloped with this genocidal tyrant, a young girl is drawn into a fantastical, yet bizarre and sometimes scary, underworld where she’s given a mission of her own.

Memorable Moments: The scene where, perhaps by way of some desperately-needed karma, the brutal, fascistic Spanish Captain Vidal (Sergei Lopez) has his cheek cut in half with a razor—at the hands of one of his own household employees.

Why People Love It: Pan’s Labyrinth, despite being written and spoken entirely in Spanish (with English captions), is one of the most intriguing and visually-stunning “adult fairy tales” possibly ever. What makes this movie is its masterful parallelism, where grim reality and fanatical daydreams seem to converge on a young Spanish girl.

Best Quote: Carmen (Ariadna Gil): “The Captain has been so good to us…Please, Ofelia…call him father. It’s just a word, Ofelia, just a word.”

90. E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (1982)

E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (1982)

Logline: Elliott (Henry Thomas) is a young loner that encounters an elderly, lost alien. Elliott befriends this “squashy guy”; he knows, though, he must keep E.T. under wraps, especially from the government, while he figures out how to get E.T. home.

Memorable Moments: The whole movie. E.T. is hugely and unmistakably reminiscent of many of our childhoods—notably of Generation X’ers.

Why People Love It: Most alien movies embrace the notion that, that if aliens were to make it to Earth, they’d have sinister intentions. E.T., in contrast, portrays aliens (at least the ‘older’ ones) as misunderstood, friendly creatures.

Best Quote: E.T. :E.T….phone home.”

89. Gladiator (2000)

Gladiator (2000)

Logline: After murdering General Maximus’s wife and child, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) twists the knife even further by “stealing” the General’s rightful claim to the throne. Now, Maximus has only one reason to live: To avenge (kill) this evil emperor.

Memorable Moments: The scene where Maximus finally avenges his wife and child’s murders by plunging his sword into the belly of Commodus.

Why People Love It: Gladiator is an epic, poignant tale about betrayal and revenge among two people who were the most powerful in all of ancient Rome.

Best Quote: Maximus (Russell Crowe): “At my signal, unleash hell.”