(Photo by TWC. Thumbnail: Warner Bros./Everett Collection.)
100 Best Movies on HBO Max (April 2021)
HBO comes out swinging in the increasingly crowded streaming arena, with HBO Max offering the masses arguably the deepest, most far-reaching library of titles among platform competitors. That’s why we’ve combed through the entire archive and pulled out movies with the highest Tomatometer scores, creating the 100 Best Movies on HBO Max to Watch Right Now!
Our selection process for this list was simple: Certified Fresh movies only, meaning each entry’s Tomatometer score was at least 75% after hitting a review count threshold. For contemporary mainstream movies, that minimum is 80 reviews, while it takes 40 reviews for limited releases and older films for consideration. With that, take the plunge into the 100 Best Movies on HBO Max!
Update: All Is Lost, GoodFellas, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Risky Business, Spellbound added.
#100
Adjusted Score: 95.408%
Critics Consensus: A cinematic gift for Springsteen fans, Western Stars serves as a worthy companion piece to the album of the same name.
Synopsis: "Western Stars" is a cinematic film version of Bruce Springsteen's latest globally successful album of the same name. Springsteen's longtime...
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#99
Adjusted Score: 96.789%
Critics Consensus: This re-imagining of Shakespeare's Crookback King relocates the story in 1930 and features an indelible star turn for Ian McKellen as the monstrous and magnetic King Richard.
Synopsis: This innovative, fast-paced, cinematic adaptation of Shakespeare's classic work transposes the setting to an imaginary Nazi-like 1930s England. Ian McKellan...
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#98
Adjusted Score: 100.81%
Critics Consensus: A taut, solidly acted paean to the benefits of a free press and the dangers of unchecked power, made all the more effective by its origins in real-life events.
Synopsis: A reconstruction of the discovery of the White House link with the Watergate affair by two young reporters from the...
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#97
Adjusted Score: 99.814%
Critics Consensus: L'Avventura marks a bewitchingly ambiguous milestone in Antonioni's career -- and European cinema in general.
Synopsis: This exceptional Italian mystery offers potent comments upon life in the bourgeoisie class and upon the isolation sometimes suffered by...
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#96
Adjusted Score: 96.727%
Critics Consensus: Led by an outstanding Peter Fonda performance, Ulee's Gold movingly depicts a family in crisis -- and a patriarch willing to sacrifice for the good of others.
Synopsis: Ulee is a beekeeper living on a farm where he takes care of his two granddaughters; their mother is missing....
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#95
Adjusted Score: 97.639%
Critics Consensus: Enlivened by the antagonistic chemistry between Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin, Midnight Run is an uncommonly entertaining odd couple comedy.
Synopsis: Director Martin Brest, of Going in Style and Beverly Hills Cop fame, was in charge of Midnight Run. Robert De...
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#94
Adjusted Score: 97.639%
Critics Consensus: My Neighbor Totoro is a heartwarming, sentimental masterpiece that captures the simple grace of childhood.
Synopsis: This superbly animated children's tale is directed by Hayao Miyazaki, one of Japan's most beloved animators. The story follows Satsuke...
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#93
Adjusted Score: 101.031%
Critics Consensus: Superman deftly blends humor and gravitas, taking advantage of the perfectly cast Christopher Reeve to craft a loving, nostalgic tribute to an American pop culture icon.
Synopsis: Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel in a big-budget epic with Oscar-winning effects. Marlon Brando, Margot Kidder, Gene Hackman,...
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#92
Adjusted Score: 102.95%
Critics Consensus: The onscreen battle between Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher serves as a personal microcosm of the culture wars of the 1970s -- and testament to the director's vision that the film retains its power more than three decades later.
Synopsis: With an insane asylum standing in for everyday society, Milos Forman's 1975 film adaptation of Ken Kesey's novel is a...
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#91
Adjusted Score: 97.618%
Critics Consensus: Affectionate without sacrificing honesty, Behind the Candelabra couples award-worthy performances from Michael Douglas and Matt Damon with some typically sharp direction from Steven Soderbergh.
Synopsis: Before Elvis, before Elton John, Madonna and Lady Gaga, there was Liberace: virtuoso pianist, outrageous entertainer and flamboyant star of...
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#90
Adjusted Score: 100.099%
Critics Consensus: Only the most hardened soul won't be moved by this heartwarming doc.
Synopsis: Emperor penguins overcome daunting obstacles in order to return to their breeding grounds for mating season. This tells the story...
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#89
Adjusted Score: 99.253%
Critics Consensus: Exhilarating both stylistically and for its entertaining, moving portrayal of an everyman, American Splendor is a portrait of a true underground original.
Synopsis: Harvey Pekar is file clerk at the local VA hospital. His interactions with his co-workers offer some relief from the...
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#88
Adjusted Score: 99.959%
Critics Consensus: With death-defying action sequences and epic historic sweep, Hero offers everything a martial arts fan could ask for.
Synopsis: Hero is two-time Academy Award nominee Zhang Yimou's directorial attempt at exploring the concept of a Chinese hero. During the...
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#87
Adjusted Score: 103.4%
Critics Consensus: Anchored by another tremendous performance in a career full of them, All Is Lost offers a moving, eminently worthwhile testament to Robert Redford's ability to hold the screen.
Synopsis: Academy Award-nominated writer/director J.C. Chandor (Margin Call) takes the helm for this tense adventure drama about a man (Robert Redford)...
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#86
Adjusted Score: 103.298%
Critics Consensus: Colin Firth gives a masterful performance in The King's Speech, a predictable but stylishly produced and rousing period drama.
Synopsis: After the death of his father King George V (Michael Gambon) and the scandalous abdication of King Edward VIII (Guy...
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#85
Adjusted Score: 107.693%
Critics Consensus: Dark, complex, and unforgettable, The Dark Knight succeeds not just as an entertaining comic book film, but as a richly thrilling crime saga.
Synopsis: Christopher Nolan steps back into the director's chair for this sequel to Batman Begins, which finds the titular superhero coming...
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#84
Adjusted Score: 99.768%
Critics Consensus: A '60s time capsule stuffed with ideas about politics, pop culture, and the battle of the sexes, Masculine-Feminine is one of Godard's classic black-and-white films.
Synopsis: A love affair between a young Parisian radical and a ye-ye singer....
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#83
Adjusted Score: 100.719%
Critics Consensus: A career high point for Akira Kurosawa -- and one of the best film adaptations of a Shakespeare play.
Synopsis: This moody and violent drama is the Japanese version of Shakespeare's "Macbeth." Even translated into the Japanese language, the timeless...
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#82
Adjusted Score: 102.031%
Critics Consensus: Wild Strawberries were never so bittersweet as Ingmar Bergman's beautifully written and filmed look at one man's nostalgic journey into the past.
Synopsis: Possibly Ingmar Bergman's greatest film, this profound character study chronicles an automobile trip taken by an elderly medical professor to...
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#81
Adjusted Score: 100.739%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Belle de Jour dramatizes the collision between depravity and elegance, one of the favorite themes of director Luis Buñuel. Catherine...
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#80
Adjusted Score: 98.623%
Critics Consensus: A powerful, thought-provoking film that covers different angles of its topic without resorting to preaching, Dead Man Walking will cause the viewer to reflect regardless of their political viewpoint.
Synopsis: Tim Robbins' second directorial effort (after the political satire Bob Roberts) was this drama based on a true story, which...
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#79
Adjusted Score: 100.566%
Critics Consensus: Solaris is a haunting, meditative film that uses sci-fi to raise complex questions about humanity and existence.
Synopsis: Based on a novel by Stanislaw Lem, Solaris centers on widowed psychologist Kris Kelvin (Donata Banionis), who is sent to...
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#78
Adjusted Score: 100.097%
Critics Consensus: Smartly directed, brilliantly acted, and packed with endlessly quotable moments, This Is Spinal Tap is an all-time comedy classic.
Synopsis: A spoof about a filmmaker making a documentary about a once-famous, now almost forgotten British heavy metal band returning to...
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#77
Adjusted Score: 103.962%
Critics Consensus: With its magical optical effects and enchanting performances, Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast remains the most surreal -- and soulful -- of the fairy tale's film adaptations.
Synopsis: Jean Cocteau's adaptation of Beauty and the Beast (originally released in France as La Belle et la Bte) stars Josette...
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#76
Adjusted Score: 97.931%
Critics Consensus: Thoroughly disquieting but impossible to ignore, Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief is a searing investigative work from a master documentarian.
Synopsis: Directed by Oscar winner Alex Gibney and based on the book by Pulitzer Prize winner Lawrence Wright, Going Clear profiles...
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#75
Adjusted Score: 98.365%
Critics Consensus: You Can Count On Me may look like it belongs on the small screen, but the movie surprises with its simple yet affecting story. Beautifully acted and crafted, the movie will simply draw you in.
Synopsis: Two siblings, orphaned at an early age, have grown apart as adults. Sammy, the older of the two, has stayed...
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#74
Adjusted Score: 100.31%
Critics Consensus: Visually lush, refreshingly free of family-friendly clatter, and anchored with soulful depth, The Secret World of Arrietty lives up to Studio Ghibli's reputation.
Synopsis: Arrietty (Bridgit Mendler), a tiny, but tenacious 14-year-old, lives with her parents (Will Arnett and Amy Poehler) in the recesses...
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#73
Adjusted Score: 102.527%
Critics Consensus: The Two Towers balances spectacular action with emotional storytelling, leaving audiences both wholly satisfied and eager for the final chapter.
Synopsis: Frodo and Samwise press on toward Mordor. Gollum insists on being the guide. Can anyone so corrupted by the ring...
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#72
Adjusted Score: 103.501%
Critics Consensus: Girded by strong performances from Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, and newcomer Hailee Steinfeld, and lifted by some of the Coens' most finely tuned, unaffected work, True Grit is a worthy companion to the Charles Portis book.
Synopsis: Fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) joins an aging U.S. marshal (Jeff Bridges) and another lawman (Matt Damon) in tracking her...
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#71
Adjusted Score: 101.77%
Critics Consensus: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington -- and returns with an uplifting ode to idealism that distills the strengths of its director and leading man.
Synopsis: Frank Capra's classic comedy-drama established James Stewart as a lead actor in one of his finest (and most archetypal) roles....
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#70
Adjusted Score: 100.703%
Critics Consensus: Framed by great work from director Sidney Lumet and fueled by a gripping performance from Al Pacino, Dog Day Afternoon offers a finely detailed snapshot of people in crisis with tension-soaked drama shaded in black humor.
Synopsis: Based on a true 1972 story, Sidney Lumet's 1975 drama chronicles a unique bank robbery on a hot summer afternoon...
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#69
Adjusted Score: 102.615%
Critics Consensus: A complex and timely satire with as much darkness as slapstick, Ernst Lubitsch's To Be or Not To Be delicately balances humor and ethics.
Synopsis: Ernst Lubitsch's To Be or Not to Be is a black comedy about a Polish theater company--led by Joseph and...
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#68
Adjusted Score: 102.192%
Critics Consensus: The Searchers is an epic John Wayne Western that introduces dark ambivalence to the genre that remains fashionable today.
Synopsis: If John Ford is the greatest Western director, The Searchers is arguably his greatest film, at once a grand outdoor...
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#67
Adjusted Score: 102.1%
Critics Consensus: Cruel, dark, but undeniably effective, Diabolique is a suspense thriller as effective as Hitchcock's best work and with a brilliant twist ending.
Synopsis: The greatest film that Alfred Hitchcock never made, Henri-Georges Clouzot's Diabolique is set in a provincial boarding school run by...
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#66
Adjusted Score: 98.778%
Critics Consensus: You will see what's coming, but the masterful performances, especially Thornton's, will leave you riveted.
Synopsis: Sling Blade marked the directorial debut of country singer turned actor Billy Bob Thornton, who also authored the script (expanding...
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#65
Adjusted Score: 98.062%
Critics Consensus: With Revanche, Götz Spielmann has crafted a debut as surprising as it is suspenseful.
Synopsis: A happily married couple becomes unlikely friends with a man whose life has been marked by chaos and violence in...
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#64
Adjusted Score: 103.551%
Critics Consensus: Hard-hitting and stylish, GoodFellas is a gangster classic -- and arguably the high point of Martin Scorsese's career.
Synopsis: Martin Scorsese explores the life of organized crime with his gritty, kinetic adaptation of Nicolas Pileggi's best-selling Wiseguy, the true-life...
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#63
Adjusted Score: 104.12%
Critics Consensus: As both director and star, Clint Eastwood strips away decades of Hollywood varnish applied to the Wild West, and emerges with a series of harshly eloquent statements about the nature of violence.
Synopsis: Dedicated to his mentors Sergio Leone and Don Siegel, Clint Eastwood's 1992 Oscar-winner examines the mythic violence of the Western,...
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#62
Adjusted Score: 102.732%
Critics Consensus: Birds of Passage traces the familiar arc of the drug crime thriller from a different direction that's as visually absorbing as it is hard-hitting.
Synopsis: From the Oscar (R)-nominated team behind the genre-defying Embrace of the Serpent, comes an equally audacious saga centered on the...
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#61
Adjusted Score: 97.336%
Critics Consensus: Raw and rich in decade-spanning detail, Jane Fonda in Five Acts paints a living portrait of one popular culture's most compelling figures.
Synopsis: This documentary provides an intimate perspective on Jane Fonda's multi-faceted life as an award-winning actress, sex icon, political activist, feminist,...
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#60
Adjusted Score: 105.751%
Critics Consensus: The Red Shoes is one of the best-looking movies ever, and blends multiple moods and styles with balletic grace.
Synopsis: The tale of a famous ballerina who must choose between art and love....
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#59
Adjusted Score: 104.468%
Critics Consensus: Breathless rewrote the rules of cinema -- and more than 50 years after its arrival, Jean-Luc Godard's paradigm-shifting classic remains every bit as vital.
Synopsis: Enjoy brunch in the Torpedo Room before screening BREATHLESS hosted by John DeSando and Johnny DiLoretto. There was before BREATHLESS,...
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#58
Adjusted Score: 101.305%
Critics Consensus: The rare family-friendly feature with a heart as big as its special effects budget, Babe offers timeless entertainment for viewers of all ages.
Synopsis: A young pig fights convention to become a sheep dog -- or, rather, sheep pig -- in this charming Australian...
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#57
Adjusted Score: 99.973%
Critics Consensus: Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck makes a persuasive case for its subject without resorting to hagiography -- and includes plenty of rare and unreleased footage for fans.
Synopsis: Kurt Cobain, lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of Nirvana, remains an icon 20 years after his death. Here, we take...
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#56
Adjusted Score: 100.648%
Critics Consensus: A suspenseful, gripping documentary that features an engaging cross section of American children.
Synopsis: Eight kids of wildly disparate ethnic, class, and regional backgrounds are followed from their individual hometowns to Washington D.C. for...
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#55
Adjusted Score: 100.838%
Critics Consensus: In a striking debut, Moreno carries the movie and puts a human face on the drug trade.
Synopsis: A bright, spirited 17-year old, Maria Alvarez, lives with three generations of her family in a cramped house in rural...
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#54
Adjusted Score: 101.177%
Critics Consensus: A haunting depiction of a disintegrating family, and a powerful argument on the elusiveness of truth.
Synopsis: The Friedmans are a seemingly typical, upper-middle-class Jewish family whose world is instantly transformed when the father and his youngest...
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#53
Adjusted Score: 103.854%
Critics Consensus: Bolstered by a strong performance from Matthew McConaughey in the title role, Mud offers an engaging Southern drama that manages to stay sweet and heartwarming without being sappy.
Synopsis: Mud is an adventure about two boys, Ellis and his friend Neckbone, who find a man named Mud hiding out...
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#52
Adjusted Score: 102.32%
Critics Consensus: Spirited Away is a dazzling, enchanting, and gorgeously drawn fairy tale that will leave viewers a little more curious and fascinated by the world around them.
Synopsis: Master animation director Hayao Miyazaki follows up on his record-breaking 1997 opus Princess Mononoke with this surreal Alice in Wonderland-like...
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#51
Adjusted Score: 114.006%
Critics Consensus: With exhilarating action and a surprising amount of narrative heft, Mad Max: Fury Road brings George Miller's post-apocalyptic franchise roaring vigorously back to life.
Synopsis: Filmmaker George Miller gears up for another post-apocalyptic action adventure with Fury Road, the fourth outing in the Mad Max...
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#50
Adjusted Score: 100.722%
Critics Consensus: No doubt most will come to My Left Foot for Daniel Day-Lewis' performance, but the movie's refusal to go downbeat will keep it in viewer minds afterwards.
Synopsis: An alternative to the general run of "triumph over the odds" biopics, My Left Foot is the true story of...
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#49
Adjusted Score: 100.722%
Critics Consensus: Kiki's Delivery Service is a heartwarming, gorgeously-rendered tale of a young witch discovering her place in the world.
Synopsis: Veteran animator Hayao Miyazaki directs this buoyant children's adventure yarn about a young witch striking out on her own. At...
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#48
Adjusted Score: 102.343%
Critics Consensus: A Star is Born is a movie of grand scope and intimate moments, featuring Judy Garland's possibly greatest performance.
Synopsis: The 1954 musical remake of A Star is Born could have been titled A Star is Reborn, in that it...
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#47
Adjusted Score: 103.592%
Critics Consensus: Ikiru is a well-acted and deeply moving humanist tale about a man facing his own mortality, one of legendary director Akira Kurosawa's most intimate films.
Synopsis: Akira Kurosawa's drama stars Takashi Shimura as Kanji Watanabe, a government clerk who learns he has only months to live....
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#46
Adjusted Score: 102.202%
Critics Consensus: The Young Girls of Rochefort pays colorful homage to classic Hollywood musicals while earning its own emotionally affecting place of honor in the genre.
Synopsis: Romance begins busting out all over in Rochefort. A fair is being organized, giving the town an air of excitement...
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#45
Adjusted Score: 107.256%
Critics Consensus: One of Alfred Hitchcock's last British films, this glamorous thriller provides an early glimpse of the director at his most stylishly entertaining.
Synopsis: Miss Froy disappears on her return train trip from a vacation in the Balkans. However, Iris Henderson is the only...
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#44
Adjusted Score: 101.159%
Critics Consensus: Three Colors: Blue contains some of director/co-writer Krzysztof Kieslowski's most visually arresting, emotionally resonant work -- and boasts an outstanding performance from Juliette Binoche in the bargain.
Synopsis: A woman (Juliette Binoche) loses her composer husband and child in a tragic accident and must learn to deal with...
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#43
Adjusted Score: 103.955%
Critics Consensus: A film that requires and rewards patience in equal measure, Pather Panchali finds director Satyajit Ray delivering a classic with his debut.
Synopsis: Pather Panchali (Father Panchali), Indian director Satyajit Ray's first feature film, relates the story of an impoverished Bengalese family. When...
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#42
Adjusted Score: 103.887%
Critics Consensus: Inventive, thought-provoking, and funny, 8 1/2 represents the arguable peak of Federico Fellini's many towering feats of cinema.
Synopsis: Exhausted from the success of his latest blockbuster film, already feeling pressured to come up with another smash hit, and...
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#41
Adjusted Score: 103.467%
Critics Consensus: A horrific tale of guilt and obsession, Eyes Without a Face is just as chilling and poetic today as it was in 1959.
Synopsis: A brilliant but crazed surgeon resorts to horrifying measures to restore the beauty of his daughter's disfigured face....
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#40
Adjusted Score: 106.606%
Critics Consensus: One of legendary director Akira Kurosawa's most acclaimed films, Rashomon features an innovative narrative structure, brilliant acting, and a thoughtful exploration of reality versus perception.
Synopsis: This landmark Japanese masterpiece is Akira Kurosawa's cinematic examination of the subjective nature of truth. In feudal Japan, three men...
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#39
Adjusted Score: 102.244%
Critics Consensus: Beyond ravishing, Wings of Desire is Wim Wenders' is aching and heartbreaking exploration of how love makes us human.
Synopsis: Damiel (Bruno Ganz) and Cassiel (Otto Sander) are angels who watch over the city of Berlin. They don't have harps...
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#38
Adjusted Score: 105.026%
Critics Consensus: The Passion of Joan of Arc is must-see cinema for Renée Maria Falconetti's incredible performance alone -- and an all-time classic for innumerable other reasons.
Synopsis: With its stunning camera work and striking compositions, Carl Th. Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc convinced the world...
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#37
Adjusted Score: 101.575%
Critics Consensus: One of the most critically acclaimed documentaries of all time, Hoop Dreams is a rich, complex, heartbreaking, and ultimately deeply rewarding film that uses high school hoops as a jumping-off point to explore issues of race, class, and education in modern America.
Synopsis: This documentary about the aspirations of high-school basketball players from inner city Chicago won awards from the Sundance film festival,...
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Directed By:
#36
Adjusted Score: 107.292%
Critics Consensus: A feverish rendition of a heart-rending story, A Streetcar Named Desire gives Tennessee Williams' stage play explosive power on the screen thanks to Elia Kazan's searing direction and a sterling ensemble at the peak of their craft.
Synopsis: In the classic play by Tennessee Williams, brought to the screen by Elia Kazan, faded Southern belle Blanche DuBois (Vivien...
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#35
Adjusted Score: 107.669%
Critics Consensus: An Italian neorealism exemplar, Bicycle Thieves thrives on its non-flashy performances and searing emotion.
Synopsis: This landmark Italian neorealist drama became one of the best-known and most widely acclaimed European movies, including a special Academy...
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#34
Adjusted Score: 110.077%
Critics Consensus: King Kong explores the soul of a monster -- making audiences scream and cry throughout the film -- in large part due to Kong's breakthrough special effects.
Synopsis: "How would you like to star opposite the tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood?" Enticed by these words, brunette leading...
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#33
Adjusted Score: 102.592%
Critics Consensus: Bitingly cynical without succumbing to bitterness, The Player is one of the all-time great Hollywood satires -- and an ensemble-driven highlight of the Altman oeuvre.
Synopsis: Robert Altman's provocative satire of the movie industry stars Tim Robbins as Griffin Mill, an unscrupulous Hollywood studio executive who...
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#32
Adjusted Score: 101.028%
Critics Consensus: A triumphant coda to a beloved series, Deadwood: The Movie will satisfy fans longing for a little f---ing closure.
Synopsis: In this original movie based on David Milch's acclaimed, Emmy (R)-winning HBO series of the same name which debuted 15...
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#31
Adjusted Score: 108.042%
Critics Consensus: Compelling, well-crafted storytelling and a judicious sense of terror ensure Steven Spielberg's Jaws has remained a benchmark in the art of delivering modern blockbuster thrills.
Synopsis: Based on Peter Benchley's best-selling novel, Steven Spielberg's 1975 shark saga set the standard for the New Hollywood popcorn blockbuster...
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#30
Adjusted Score: 109.162%
Critics Consensus: A Hard Day's Night, despite its age, is still a delight to watch and has proven itself to be a rock-and-roll movie classic.
Synopsis: The year is 1964 and four young lads from Liverpool are about to change the world - if only the...
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#29
Adjusted Score: 115.203%
Critics Consensus: An absolute masterpiece whose groundbreaking visuals and deft storytelling are still every bit as resonant, The Wizard of Oz is a must-see film for young and old.
Synopsis: L. Frank Baum's classic tale comes to magisterial Technicolor life! The Wizard of Oz stars legendary Judy Garland as Dorothy,...
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#28
Adjusted Score: 103.186%
Critics Consensus: Helmed in elegant and exhilarating style by Spike Lee, David Byrne's American Utopia is a concert film that doubles as a joyously cathartic celebration.
Synopsis: The brilliant minds of Spike Lee and Talking Heads frontman, David Byrne collide in the film version of Byrne's wildly...
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#27
Adjusted Score: 105.476%
Critics Consensus: Jacques Demy elevates the basic drama of everyday life into a soaring opera full of bittersweet passion and playful charm, featuring a timeless performance from Catherine Deneuve.
Synopsis: Jacques Demy's 1964 masterpiece is a pop-art opera, or, to borrow the director's own description, a film in song. This...
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#26
Adjusted Score: 101.548%
Critics Consensus: The Tale handles its extraordinarily challenging subject matter with sensitivity, grace, and the power of some standout performances led by a remarkable Laura Dern.
Synopsis: Based on the filmmaker's own story, THE TALE is an investigation into one woman's memory as she's forced to re-examine...
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#25
Adjusted Score: 109.063%
Critics Consensus: A documentary-like depiction of a nation's real-life efforts to expel a colonizing force, The Battle of Algiers puts viewers on the front lines with gripping realism.
Synopsis: This highly political film about the Algerian struggle for independence from France took "Best Film" honors at the 1966 Venice...
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#24
Adjusted Score: 118.622%
Critics Consensus: Orson Welles's epic tale of a publishing tycoon's rise and fall is entertaining, poignant, and inventive in its storytelling, earning its reputation as a landmark achievement in film.
Synopsis: This is the labyrinthine study of the life of a newspaper tycoon....
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#23
Adjusted Score: 117.767%
Critics Consensus: An undisputed masterpiece and perhaps Hollywood's quintessential statement on love and romance, Casablanca has only improved with age, boasting career-defining performances from Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.
Synopsis: One of the most beloved American films, this captivating wartime adventure of romance and intrigue from director Michael Curtiz defies...
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#22
Adjusted Score: 103.673%
Critics Consensus: Marvelously directed by Sebastian Lelio and beautifully led by a powerful performance from Paulina Garcia, Gloria takes an honest, sweetly poignant look at a type of character that's all too often neglected in Hollywood.
Synopsis: Gloria is a "woman of a certain age" but still feels young. Though lonely, she makes the best of her...
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#21
Adjusted Score: 108.672%
Critics Consensus: Powerfully acted and directed, Never Rarely Sometimes Always reaffirms writer-director Eliza Hittman as a filmmaker of uncommon sensitivity and grace.
Synopsis: Faced with an unintended pregnancy and a lack of local support, Autumn (Sidney Flanigan) and her cousin Skylar (Talia Ryder)...
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#20
Adjusted Score: 102.631%
Critics Consensus: Pehaps Kenneth Branagh's most fully realized Shakespeare adaptation, Henry V is an energetic, passionate, and wonderfully acted film.
Synopsis: Kenneth Branagh makes his feature-film directorial debut with this adaptation of William Shakespeare's +Henry V. After the Chorus (Derek Jacobi)...
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#19
Adjusted Score: 104.771%
Critics Consensus: Rio Bravo finds director Howard Hawks -- and his stellar ensemble cast -- working at peak performance, and the end result is a towering classic of the Western genre.
Synopsis: Set in Texas during the late 1860s, Rio Bravo is a story of men (and women) and a town under...
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#18
Adjusted Score: 105.792%
Critics Consensus: Open City fills in the familiar contours of its storyline with three-dimensional characters and a narrative depth that add up to a towering -- and still powerfully resonant -- cinematic achievement.
Synopsis: This was Roberto Rossellini's revelation, a harrowing drama about the Nazi occupation of Rome and the brave few who struggled...
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#17
Adjusted Score: 105.967%
Critics Consensus: An existential suspense classic, The Wages of Fear blends nonstop suspense with biting satire; its influence is still being felt on today's thrillers.
Synopsis: Together with Diabolique, The Wages of Fear (Le Salaire de la Peur) earned Henri-Georges Clouzot the reputation as a "French...
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#16
Adjusted Score: 105.77%
Critics Consensus: Typifying the best that the Western genre has to offer, Stagecoach is a rip-roaring adventure given dramatic heft by John Ford's dynamic direction and John Wayne's mesmerizing star turn.
Synopsis: Although there were Westerns before it, Stagecoach quickly became a template for all movie Westerns to come. Director John Ford...
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#15
Adjusted Score: 106.431%
Critics Consensus: Tokyo Story is a Yasujiro Ozu masterpiece whose rewarding complexity has lost none of its power more than half a century on.
Synopsis: Originally Tokyo Monogatari, Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story centers on a provincial Japanese family. The elderly parents and youngest daughter journey...
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#14
Adjusted Score: 110.189%
Critics Consensus: Errol Flynn thrills as the legendary title character, and the film embodies the type of imaginative family adventure tailor-made for the silver screen.
Synopsis: In order to avoid the material copyrighted by Douglas Fairbanks Sr. for his 1922 Robin Hood, the scripters of this...
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#13
Adjusted Score: 106.074%
Critics Consensus: A technical masterpiece, Battleship Potemkin is Soviet cinema at its finest, and its montage editing techniques remain influential to this day.
Synopsis: After the success of Strike (1924), Sergei Eisenstein was commissioned by the Soviet government to make a film commemorating the...
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#12
Adjusted Score: 106.219%
Critics Consensus: A delightful blend of slapstick humor, poignant emotion, and social commentary, The Gold Rush encapsulates Chaplin's strengths as a writer, director, and star.
Synopsis: During the Gold Rush, prospectors brave Alaska's dangerous Chilkoot Pass, hoping to strike it rich in the snowy mountains. Just...
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#11
Adjusted Score: 103.117%
Critics Consensus: A complex, stirring, and beautifully realized portrait of interconnected lives, Red is the captivating conclusion to a remarkable trilogy.
Synopsis: A beautiful model named Valentine crosses paths with a retired judge, whose dog she runs over with her car. The...
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#10
Adjusted Score: 103.801%
Critics Consensus: Thanks to director Juzo Itami's offbeat humor and sharp satirical edge, Tampopo is a funny, sexy, affectionate celebration of food and its broad influence on Japanese culture.
Synopsis: The tale of an enigmatic band of ramen ronin who guide the widow of a noodle shop owner on her...
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#9
Adjusted Score: 103.863%
Critics Consensus: Only Yesterday's long-delayed U.S. debut fills a frustrating gap for American Ghibli fans while offering further proof of the studio's incredibly consistent commitment to quality.
Synopsis: It's 1982, and Taeko (Daisy Ridley) is 27 years old, unmarried, and has lived her whole life in Tokyo. She...
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#8
Adjusted Score: 109.311%
Critics Consensus: Suspenseful, labyrinthine, and brilliantly cast, The Maltese Falcon is one of the most influential noirs -- as well as a showcase for Humphrey Bogart at his finest.
Synopsis: After two previous film versions of Dashiell Hammett's detective classic The Maltese Falcon, Warner Bros. finally got it right in...
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#7
Adjusted Score: 101.604%
Critics Consensus: Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds is a touching, bittersweet, and ultimately charming love story that serves as a poignantly effective tribute to the strangely complicated, uniquely resilient mother/daughter duo.
Synopsis: The story of a family's complicated love, this hilarious and heart-rending film is an intimate portrait of a unique mother/daughter...
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#6
Adjusted Score: 108.226%
Critics Consensus: A landmark psychological thriller with arresting images, deep thoughts on modern society, and Peter Lorre in his finest performance.
Synopsis: Fritz Lang's classic early talkie crime melodrama is set in 1931 Berlin. The police are anxious to capture an elusive...
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#5
Adjusted Score: 112.437%
Critics Consensus: A slapstick skewering of industrialized America, Modern Times is as politically incisive as it is laugh-out-loud hilarious.
Synopsis: This episodic satire of the Machine Age is considered Charles Chaplin's last "silent" film, although Chaplin uses sound, vocal, and...
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#4
Adjusted Score: 111.213%
Critics Consensus: Clever, incisive, and funny, Singin' in the Rain is a masterpiece of the classical Hollywood musical.
Synopsis: Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O'Connor star in Singin' in the Rain, one of the greatest and most successful...
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#3
Adjusted Score: 108.551%
Critics Consensus: Offering a wonderfully witty script, spotless direction from George Cukor, and typically excellent lead performances, The Philadelphia Story is an unqualified classic.
Synopsis: Set among the upper class in 1930s Philadelphia, this irreverent classic romantic comedy features radiant performances by three legendary stars....
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#2
Adjusted Score: 108.739%
Critics Consensus: Arguably Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece, The Seven Samurai is an epic adventure classic with an engrossing story, memorable characters, and stunning action sequences that make it one of the most influential films ever made.
Synopsis: Akira Kurosawa's epic tale concerns honor and duty during a time when the old traditional order is breaking down. The...
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#1
Adjusted Score: 103.222%
Critics Consensus: Boasting narrative depth, frank honesty, and exquisite visual beauty, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is a modern animated treasure with timeless appeal.
Synopsis: Legendary Studio Ghibli cofounder Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies, Pom Poko) revisits Japan's most famous folktale in this gorgeous,...
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