Any “top” list is bound to be fraught with absurdity, especially the “top 250” list on a site like IMDB. After all, it’s all about the popularity of any given piece of work, right? But still, Lil’s entry about which of the 250 she’s seen inspired me to scroll through and mark mine… so here you go, complete with parenthetical translations and commentary where I feel bothered to do so:

1 Godfather, The (1972)
2 Shawshank Redemption, The (1994) (It bears mentioning that I’ve really only seen the last half or so.)
3 Godfather: Part II, The (1974)
4 Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The (2003) (Well, duh.)
5 Schindler’s List (1993)
6 Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The (2002) (Duh.)
7 Shichinin no samurai (1954) (Should see this, some day.)
8 Casablanca (1942)
9 Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The (2001) (Duh Reloaded.)
10 Star Wars (1977) (I remember being very young and seeing it at a drive-in somewhere in Vancouver WA.)
11 Citizen Kane (1941)
12 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
13 Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (Most say it’s the best, but I actually enjoy “Jedi” more. Call me weird.)
14 Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) (This is on the must-see list. Still.)
15 Rear Window (1954)
16 Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
17 Pulp Fiction (1994)
18 Usual Suspects, The (1995)
19 Memento (2000)
20 North by Northwest (1959)
21 12 Angry Men (1957)
22 Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il (1966)
23 Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
24 Psycho (1960)
25 Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain, Le (2001)
26 Silence of the Lambs, The (1991)
27 It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) (Not by choice, thanks.)
28 Goodfellas (1990)
29 American Beauty (1999)
30 Sunset Blvd. (1950)
31 Vertigo
32 Matrix, The (1999)
33 Cidade de Deus (2002)
34 To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
35 C’era una volta il West (1968)
36 Apocalypse Now (1979)
37 Pianist, The (2002)
38 Third Man, The (1949)
39 Paths of Glory (1957)
40 Taxi Driver (1976)
41 Fight Club (1999) (Saw it for the first time in November. Interesting, but I probably won’t watch it again.)
42 Some Like It Hot (1959)
43 Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001) (a.k.a Spirited Away, one of the most beautiful films ever, animated or otherwise.)
44 Double Indemnity (1944)
45 Boot, Das (1981)
46 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
47 Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
48 Chinatown (1974)
49 L.A. Confidential (1997)
50 Maltese Falcon, The (1941)
51 All About Eve (1950)
52 Requiem for a Dream (2000)
53 M (1931)
54 Bridge on the River Kwai, The (1957)
55 Se7en (1995)
56 Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) (Ni!)
57 Saving Private Ryan (1998)
58 Rashômon (1950)
59 Raging Bull (1980)
60 Wizard of Oz, The (1939) (I’ve managed to block most of my memory of this movie, thankfully.)
61 Alien (1979)
62 American History X (1998)
63 Sting, The (1973)
64 Léon (1994)
65 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
66 Manchurian Candidate, The (1962)
67 Vita è bella, La (1997)
68 Touch of Evil (1958)
69 Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The (1948)
70 Finding Nemo (2003)
71 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) (Mostly for the “you can’t call yourself a SF fan if you haven’t seen this” factor.)
72 Reservoir Dogs (1992)
73 Great Escape, The (1963)
74 Modern Times (1936)
75 Clockwork Orange, A (1971) (Mostly for the “you can’t call yourself a film buff if you haven’t seen this” factor.)
76 Amadeus (1984)
77 On the Waterfront (1954)
78 Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
79 Ran (1985)
80 Annie Hall (1977)
81 Wo hu cang long (2000) (a.k.a. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Pretty, but sad.)
82 Jaws (1975)
83 Braveheart (1995)
84 Apartment, The (1960)
85 High Noon (1952)
86 Aliens (1986) (It has its moments. And it also has moments where I hide behind somebody and plug my ears. So I’m a wuss, what’s your point?)
87 Fargo (1996)
88 Strangers on a Train (1951)
89 Shining, The (1980)
90 Metropolis (1927) (No, I’m not mistaking this for the anime version, silly.)
91 Blade Runner (1982)
92 Sixth Sense, The (1999) (I have watched most of this, with the exception of those bits where I had to hide. Interesting, and M. Night’s only truly great work so far.)
93 Donnie Darko (2001)
94 City Lights (1931)
95 Duck Soup (1933) (Marxism at its best. Heh.)
96 Great Dictator, The (1940)
97 Sjunde inseglet, Det (1957)
98 General, The (1927)
99 Dogville (2003)
100 Princess Bride, The (1987) (One of the all-time faves, no doubt about it. Genius.)
101 Nuovo cinema Paradiso (1989)
102 Mononoke-hime (1997) (a.k.a. Princess Mononoke)
103 Notorious (1946)
104 Full Metal Jacket (1987) (Saw it in high school, no less.)
105 Rebecca (1940)
106 Toy Story 2 (1999)
107 Lola rennt (1998)
108 Big Sleep, The (1946)
109 Best Years of Our Lives, The (1946)
110 Yojimbo (1961)
111 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
112 Ladri di biciclette (1948)
113 Graduate, The (1967)
114 Patton (1970)
115 Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) (One of the all-time great popcorn flicks.)
116 It Happened One Night (1934)
117 Deer Hunter, The (1978)
118 Manhattan (1979)
119 Forrest Gump (1994) (Top-250 lists are like a box of chocolates…)
120 Glory (1989) (I was pleasantly surprised to see this on the list.)
121 Searchers, The (1956)
122 Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)
123 Philadelphia Story, The (1940)
124 Mystic River (2003)
125 Cool Hand Luke (1967)
126 African Queen, The (1951)
127 Ben-Hur (1959)
128 Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
129 Bringing Up Baby (1938)
130 Unforgiven (1992) (Dark, way effing dark, but still an incredible film.)
131 Green Mile, The (1999)
132 Hable con ella (2002)
133 Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983)
134 Stalag 17 (1953)
135 Grapes of Wrath, The (1940)
136 Shrek (2001)
137 Elephant Man, The (1980) (When it came out, no less… which means I don’t remember it much.)
138 Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
139 Night of the Hunter, The (1955)
140 Gone with the Wind (1939)
141 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) (I think it’s the most fun of the three. Don’t ask me why.)
142 Christmas Story, A (1983) (Under duress, I hasten to point out. I hate this movie.)
143 Wild Bunch, The (1969)
144 Back to the Future (1985)
145 Straight Story, The (1999)
146 Platoon (1986) (Also while in high school. Yeah, I had a weird Social Studies teacher that year.)
147 All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
148 Hustler, The (1961)
149 Amores perros (2000)
150 Smultronstället (1957)
151 Young Frankenstein (1974) (Fraunk-en-steen!)
152 Adventures of Robin Hood, The (1938)
153 Gold Rush, The (1925)
154 Die Hard (1988) (Another all-time great popcorn flick.)
155 Monsters, Inc. (2001)
156 His Girl Friday (1940)
157 Lost in Translation (2003)
158 Life of Brian (1979)
159 Bronenosets Potyomkin (1925)
160 Spartacus (1960)
161 Grande illusion, La (1937)
162 Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The (1962) (No, but I have seen The Shootist, which should’ve made this list.)
163 Charade (1963)
164 Quatre cents coups, Les (1959)
165 Gladiator (2000)
166 Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
167 Festen (1998)
168 Conversation, The (1974)
169 Almost Famous (2000)
170 Ying xiong (2002) (a.k.a. Hero, from most of the same people behind Crouching Tiger. Good, good stuff here!)
171 Sling Blade (1996)
172 Toy Story (1995)
173 Roman Holiday (1953)
174 Magnolia (1999)
175 Day the Earth Stood Still, The (1951)
176 Night at the Opera, A (1935) (Of course I’ve seen it. It’s a Marx Brothers movie!)
177 All the President’s Men (1976)
178 Streetcar Named Desire, A (1951)
179 Brazil (1985)
180 Insider, The (1999)
181 Ed Wood (1994)
182 Trois couleurs: Rouge (1994)
183 To Be or Not to Be (1942)
184 Killing, The (1956)
185 Being John Malkovich (1999)
186 Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
187 Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
188 Exorcist, The (1973)
189 Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
190 Stand by Me (1986)
191 Mulholland Dr. (2001)
192 Harvey (1950)
193 Twelve Monkeys (1995)
194 Terminator, The (1984)
195 Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922)
196 Gandhi (1982)
197 Hotaru no haka (1988) (a.k.a. Grave of the Fireflies. Some day I’ll see this, but I hear it’s awfully depressing.)
198 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) (Best popcorn flick of the new millenium so far. No, really.)
199 Groundhog Day (1993) (When I was told the premise, I thought it stupid. But… it works.)
200 Lion in Winter, The (1968)
201 This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
202 Trainspotting (1996)
203 Miller’s Crossing (1990)
204 Whale Rider (2002)
205 Right Stuff, The (1983)
206 Adaptation. (2002)
207 21 Grams (2003)
208 Rain Man (1988)
209 Ikiru (1952)
210 Big Fish (2003)
211 Network (1976)
212 Midnight Cowboy (1969)
213 Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
214 Laura (1944)
215 Strada, La (1954)
216 8½ (1963)
217 Stagecoach (1939)
218 King Kong (1933)
219 X2 (2003) (Um, the sequel and not the original? Whatever…)
220 39 Steps, The (1935) (I should see this again now that I’m older. Hmm.)
221 Snatch. (2000)
222 Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
223 Passion de Jeanne d’Arc, La (1928)
224 Big Lebowski, The (1998)
225 Others, The (2001)
226 Untouchables, The (1987) (One of the few Costner films I like.)
227 In the Heat of the Night (1967)
228 Rio Bravo (1959)
229 Thin Man, The (1934)
230 Planet of the Apes (1968)
231 Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
232 Minority Report (2002)
233 Red River (1948)
234 Beauty and the Beast (1991)
235 Traffic (2000)
236 Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
237 In America (2002)
238 Fantasia (1940)
239 Sleuth (1972)
240 Good Will Hunting (1997)
241 Die xue shuang xiong (1989)
242 Henry V (1989)
243 Being There (1979)
244 Todo sobre mi madre (1999)
245 Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
246 Enfants du paradis, Les (1945)
247 Heat (1995)
248 Quiet Man, The (1952)
249 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) (I was young, okay?)
250 Clerks. (1994)

Okay, so I’m pretty evenly split between artsy flicks and popcorn movies. A few of these fall into the “under duress” category, but most of them I watched of my own free will.

Almost half of the time I spent on this list was devoted to translating some of the Japanese and Chinese movie titles. It was time well spent, of course, since now I can show off what an art-film snob I am.

Or, maybe not.

In the immortal words of Joel Robinson (appropriately enough, of MST3K), “What do you think, sirs?”