I already know that my opinions on some of these films are going to be controversial, and might piss some people off, but I figured I might document some of my thoughts here anyway. Might be a good way of sparking some discussion. Feel free to weigh in with your own thoughts of the films I'm reviewing, or to tell me how wrong I am about your favourite films.
I'm going to post a list of the Top 250 here, because this is the list we'll be working through. The IMDB 250 is changing all the time, and given it takes a while to watch this many movies, it may be changing too fast for us to keep up with. So the goal instead is to watch the 250 films listed below:
001. The Shawshank Redemption
002. The Godfather
003. The Godfather: Part II
004. The Dark Knight
005. Pulp Fiction
006. 12 Angry Men
007. Schindler's List
008. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
009. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
010. Fight Club
011. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
012. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
013. Forrest Gump
014. Inception
015. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
016. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
017. Goodfellas
018. The Matrix
019. Star Wars: A New Hope
020. Seven Samurai
021. Interstellar
022. City of God
023. Se7en
024. The Usual Suspects
025. The Silence of the Lambs
026. It's a Wonderful Life
027. Once Upon a Time in the West
028. Léon: The Professional
029. Life is Beautiful
030. Casablanca
031. Raiders of the Lost Ark
032. American History X
033. Saving Private Ryan
034. City Lights
035. Spirited Away
036. Psycho
037. Rear Window
038. Whiplash
039. The Untouchables
040. Modern Times
041. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
042. Memento
043. The Green Mile
044. The Pianist
045. The Departed
046. Sunset Blvd.
047. Apocalypse Now
048. Gladiator
049. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
050. Back to the Future
051. Alien
052. The Prestige
053. The Great Dictator
054. The Lion King
055. The Lives of Others
056. Django Unchained
057. Cinema Paradiso
058. The Dark Knight Rises
059. The Shining
060. Paths of Glory
061. American Beauty
062. Wall-E
063. North by Northwest
064. Aliens
065. Citizen Kane
066. Vertigo
067. Amélie
068. M
069. Grave of the Fireflies
070. Das Boot
071. Oldboy
072. Princess Mononoke
073. Toy Story 3
074. Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
075. Once Upon a Time in America
076. Reservoir Dogs
077. A Clockwork Orange
078. Taxi Driver
079. Braveheart
080. Double Indemnity
081. Requiem for a Dream
082. To Kill a Mockingbird
083. Witness for the Prosecution
084. Lawrence of Arabia
085. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
086. Full Metal Jacket
087. Singin' in the Rain
088. The Sting
089. Bicycle Thieves
090. Amadeus
091. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
092. Snatch
093. 2001: A Space Odyssey
094. For a Few Dollars More
095. Rashomon
096. L.A. Confidential
097. The Kid
098. All About Eve
099. The Apartment
100. Inglourious Basterds
101. Some Like It Hot
102. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
103. Toy Story
104. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
105. The Third Man
106. A Separation
107. Yojimbo
108. Batman Begins
109. Like Stars on Earth
110. Metropolis
111. Unforgiven
112. Scarface
113. Raging Bull
114. 3 Idiots
115. Up
116. Chinatown
117. Downfall
118. The Great Escape
119. Die Hard
120. The Hunt
121. On the Waterfront
122. Pan's Labyrinth
123. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
124. Heat
125. The Bridge on the River Kwai
126. Good Will Hunting
127. My Neighbour Totoro
128. The Seventh Seal
129. The Bandit
130. The Gold Rush
131. Ikiru
132. Gone Girl
133. The Elephant Man
134. Ran
135. Wild Strawberries
136. Blade Runner
137. The Wolf of Wall Street
138. The General
139. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
140. A Wednesday
141. The Secret in their Eyes
142. Casino
143. Gran Torino
144. Warrior
145. The Big Lebowski
146. Boyhood
147. Howl's Moving Castle
148. V for Vendetta
149. Rebecca
150. Ran De Basanti
151. The Deer Hunter
152. How to Train Your Dragon
153. Cool Hand Luke
154. It Happened One Night
155. Judgment at Nuremberg
156. Fargo
156. Trainspotting
158. Gone with the Wind
159. Into the Wild
160. A Beautiful Mind
161. Rush
162. The Maltese Falcon
163. Dial M for Murder
164. The Sixth Sense
165. The Wages of Fear
166. Hotel Rwanda
167. The Thing
168. Finding Nemo
169. No Country for Old Men
170. Mary and Max
171. Incendies
172. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
173. Kill Bill: Volume 1
174. Platoon
175. Life of Brian
176. 12 Years a Slave
177. Network
178. Touch on Evil
179. Diabolique
180. Annie Hall
181. There Will Be Blood
182. The Princess Bride
183. Birdman
184. Dil Chahta Hai
185. Stand By Me
186. Guardians of the Galaxy
187. The Grand Budapest Hotel
188. Sin City
189. Ben-Hur
190. In the Name of the Father
191. The 400 Blows
192. Amores Perros
193. Million Dollar Baby
194. Hachi: A Dog's Tale
195. The Grapes of Wrath
196. Persona
197. The Wizard of Oz
198. The Best Years of Our Lives
199. The Imitation Game
200. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
201. The Avengers
202. Gandhi
203. The Bourne Ultimatum
204. Donnie Darko
205. Strangers on a Train
206. 8 1/2
207. Shutter Island
208. Infernal Affairs
209. Twelve Monkeys
210. Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India
211. Stalker
212. Jaws
213. Gangs of Wasseypur
214. High Noon
215. Before Sunrise
216. The Terminator
217. Notorious
218. X-Men: Days of Future Past
219. Groundhog Day
220. The King's Speech
221. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
222. Ip Man
223. Fanny and Alexander
224. Rocy
225. The Night of the Hunter
226. Monsters, Inc.
227. Dog Day Afternoon
228. The Battle of Algiers
229. La Haine
230. Memories of Murder
231. Barry Lyndon
232. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
233. A Fistful of Dollars
234. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
235. The Truman Show
236. The Road
237. Castle in the Sky
238. The Big Sleep
239. The Help
240. Jurassic Park
241. Roman Holiday
242. The Graduate
243. Papillon
244. Beauty and the Beast
245. The Hustler
246. Prisoners
247. In the Mood for Love
248. Rope
249. The Celebration
250. Before Sunset
I'm really looking forward to some of these films, and I'm dreading some of the others. But at this early stage, I'm still pretty excited about the idea.
WARNING: There may be some spoilers ahead, so browse with caution!