Dave’s Movie Database: Top 100 Films Based on Awards Points

Dave’s Movie Database: Top 100 Films Based on Awards Points

This list was created by awarding points to movies for taking home annual best-of-movie awards from a variety of organizations such as the Academy (Oscars), the Golden Globes, the National Board of Review, the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the Online Film Critics Society, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and the Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or. Also included are awards from the Directors’ Guild of America, the Producers’ Guild of America, and the Screen Actors’ Guild. A variety of city-based critics association awards are factored in as well: Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, and San Francisco. See a full list of year-end movie awards by clicking on the Awards link. With an abundance of these awards coming about since the ‘90s, this list is heavily slanted toward modern films. Still, it is worth seeing what films have been celebrated most in the last three decades. 1. Schindler’s List (1993) 2. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) 3. Saving Private Ryan (1998) 4. No Country for Old Men (2007) 5. Brokeback Mountain (2005) 6. The Hurt Locker (2009) 7. The Social Network (2010) 8. Nomadland (2020) 9. American Beauty (1999) 10. The Godfather (1972) 11. L.A. Confidential (1997) 12. Fargo (1996) 13. Slumdog Millionaire (2008) 14. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) 15. 12 Years a Slave (2013) 16. Lawrence of Arabia (1962) 17. Titanic (1997) 18. Unforgiven (1992) 19. Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) 20. Ben-Hur (1959) 21. Moonlight (2016) 22. Parasite (Gisaengchung) (2019) 23. Goodfellas (1990) 24. The Sound of Music (1965) 25. On the Waterfront (1954) 26. Dances with Wolves (1990) 27. Amadeus (1984) 28. Argo (2012) 29. Pulp Fiction (1994) 30. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) 31. West Side Story (1961) 32. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) 33. All About Eve (1950) 34. Chicago (2002) 35. Forrest Gump (1994) 36. Star Wars – Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) 37. The Godfather Part II (1974) 38. Patton (1970) 39. Terms of Endearment (1983) 40. Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) 41. La La Land (2016) 42. The Artist (2011) 43. The Apartment (1960) 44. From Here to Eternity (1953) 45. Boyhood (2014) 46. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) 47. My Fair Lady (1964) 48. The Deer Hunter (1978) 49. The French Connection (1971) 50. Gladiator (2000) 51. Annie Hall (1977) 52. Spotlight (2015) 53. The Power of the Dog (2021) 54. Oppenheimer (2023) 55. Sideways (2004) 56. Rocky (1976) 57. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) 58. Platoon (1986) 59. Marty (1955) 60. Apocalypse Now (1979) 61. Ordinary People (1980) 62. The Graduate (1967) 63. It Happened One Night (1934) 64. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) 65. Gone with the Wind (1939) 66. A Man for All Seasons (1966) 67. Tom Jones (1963) 68. Cabaret (1972) 69. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) 70. Apollo 13 (1995) 71. Driving Miss Daisy (1989) 72. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) 73. The Dark Knight (2008) 74. A Beautiful Mind (2001) 75. Citizen Kane (1941) 76. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) 77. The Sting (1973) 78. The Lost Weekend (1945) 79. Going My Way (1944) 80. A Place in the Sun (1951) 81. Casablanca (1942) 82. Sunset Boulevard (1950) 83. Midnight Cowboy (1969) 84. All the King’s Men (1949) 85. M*A*S*H (1970) 86. The Departed (2006) 87. Nashville (1975) 88. Chinatown (1974) 89. All the President’s Men (1976) 90. An American in Paris (1951) 91. Shakespeare in Love (1998) 92. The Exorcist (1973) 93. Bonnie and Clyde (1967) 94. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) 95. Gravity (2013) 96. Gandhi (1982) 97. Around the World in 80 Days (1956) 98. In the Heat of the Night (1967) 99. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) 100. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) Resources: Dave’s Movie Database: Awards Page Originally posted 8/6/2019; last updated 2/24/2025.

War Movies: Top 25

image from Apocalypse Now

Top 25 War Movies These are the top 25 war movies of all time, as determined by aggregating multiple lists (see resources at bottom of page) and factoring in the films’ overall status in Dave’s Movie Database. 1. Apocalypse Now (1979) 2. Saving Private Ryan (1998) 3. The Hurt Locker (2009) 4. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957): 5. The Great Escape (1963) 6. Paths of Glory (1957) 7. Platoon (1986) 8. Full Metal Jacket (1987) 9. The Boat (Das Boot) (1981) 10. The Deer Hunter (1978) 11. Patton (1970) 12. Schindler’s List (1993) 13. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) 14. The Thin Red Line (1998) 15. Lawrence of Arabia (1962) 16. The Dirty Dozen (1967) 17. Inglourious Basterds (2009) 18. Casablanca (1942) 19. Dunkirk (2017) 20. The Battle of Algiers (La Battaglia di Algeria) (1966) 21. Grand Illusion (La Grande Illusion) (1937) 22. Ran (1985) 23. M*A*S*H (1970) 24. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) 25. Black Hawk Down (2001) Resources: Dave’s Movie Database: Genre Lists BusinessInsider.com (9/4/2018). “The 45 best war movies of all time, according to critics” CulturedVultures.com (6/5/2019). “20 Best War Movies of All Time” DigitalTrends.com (5/28/2018). “The 10 best streaming war movies” Esquire.com (7/4/2017). “The Best War Films Ever Made” BBC Channel 4 (2005). “100 Greatest War Films of all-time” GamesRadar.com (2/23/2018). “The 25 best war movies – from Dunkirk to Downfall (and everything in between)” GearMoose.com “The 25 Best War Movies of All Time” TheGuardian.com (10/19/2010). “The 25 best action and war films of all time” Guinness Book of Film (1999). “The Top 100 Films by Genre Type” (includes top 5 war movies) Internet Movie Database (5/9/2017). “Top 25 Greatest War Movies of All Time (The Ultimate List)” LiveAbout.com (7/3/2019). “The Top 10 War Movies of All TIme” Newsweek (9/4/2018). “The Greatest War Films Ever Made, According to Critics and Audiences” Norman, Barry (1993). “100 Greatest Films of All Time” (includes top 10 war movies) Paste (5/7/2017). “The 100 Greatest War Movies of All Time” Ranker.com “The Best War Movies Ever” RottenTomatoes.com “100 Best War Movies of All Time” ShortList.com (5/28/2013). “The 30 greatest war films ever” Time Out (2017). “The 50 best war movies of all time” Originally posted 9/4/2019; last updated 5/25/2023.

Top Movies of the 1990s

This page offers lists of the top 25 movies of the decade as determined by two different metrics. The first list is based on box office and the second is based on critics’ picks.

Box Office: Top 25 of the 1990s These are the top 25 movies of the decade as determined by adjusted worldwide box office gross. The first number indicates dollars made in millions. See sources for box office figures here.

1) 5192.10: Titanic (1997) 2) 2860.20: Jurassic Park (1993) 3) 2384.50: The Lion King (1994) 4) 2344.40: Star Wars – Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999) 5) 2173.00: Independence Day (1996) 6) 1924.90: Forrest Gump (1994) 7) 1583.70: Jurassic Park II: The Lost World (1997) 8) 1557.70: The Sixth Sense (1999) 9) 1508.80: Men in Black (1997) 10) 1450.90: Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) 11) 1427.10: Aladdin (1992) 12) 1404.70: Ghost (1990) 13) 1387.20: Armageddon (1998) 14) 1312.40: Twister (1996) 15) 1287.20: Pretty Woman (1990) 16) 1249.60: Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) 17) 1216.70: Mission: Impossible (1996) 18) 1202.20: Saving Private Ryan (1998) 19) 1186.10: Beauty and the Beast (1991) 20) 1180.60: Dances with Wolves (1990) 21) 1163.50: The Bodyguard (1992) 22) 1117.00: Toy Story 2 (1999) 23) 1091.10: True Lies (1994) 24) 1089.90: Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) 25) 1076.30: The Matrix (1999)

Critics’ Picks: Top 25 of the 1990s These are the top 25 movies of the decade as determined by a combination of the movies’ ratings points and awards points.

1) Schindler’s List (1993) 2) Saving Private Ryan (1998) 3) Fargo (1996) 4) Pulp Fiction (1994) 5) American Beauty (1999) 6) L.A. Confidential (1997) 7) Goodfellas (1990) 8) The Silence of the Lambs (1991) 9) Forrest Gump (1994) 10) Titanic (1997) 11) Dances with Wolves (1990) 12) Unforgiven (1992) 13) Toy Story (1995) 14) Apollo 13 (1995) 15) The Shawshank Redemption (1994) 16) Jurassic Park (1993) 17) Shakespeare in Love (1998) 18) Beauty and the Beast (1991) 19) The Matrix (1999) 20) The Sixth Sense (1999) 21) Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) 22) Good Will Hunting (1997) 23) The Lion King (1994) 24) The English Patient (1996) 25) Hoop Dreams (1994)

Resources: Dave’s Movie Database: Eras Dave’s Movie Database: Movies of the Year Dave’s Movie Database: Box Office Dave’s Movie Database: Awards Page Dave’s Movie Database: Ratings Page Originally posted 3/8/2025.

Saving Private Ryan released

Saving Private Ryan Released: July 24, 1998 Studio: DreamWorks Genre: war drama Box Office (numbers in millions): Domestic: 217.00 Worldwide: 482.30 Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: 412.69 Worldwide: 917.70

Directing: Steven Spielberg Screenwriting: Robert Rodat Starring: Tom Hanks, Edward Burns, Tom Sizemore, Matt Damon, Adam Goldberg, Giovanni Ribisi, Barry Pepper, Harve Presnell, Vin Diesel, Jeremy Davies Review: Because of its “realistic and uncompromising account of the war often romanticized by Hollywood,” AFI07 Saving Private Ryan is “considered as one of the greatest war dramas ever made.” MSN “The film was a critical and box office smash and brought Spielberg his second Best Director Oscar (his first was for his other World War II era film, Schindler’s List (1993).” FS The first half hour of the film is marked by “the brutal, uncompromising, and graphic depiction of the landing at bloody Omaha Beach on D-Day (June 6, 1944) .” FS Most of the film, however, “revolves around the rescue of a downed paratrooper in the French countryside, Pvt. James Ryan (Damon), whose three brothers have recently been killed in action.” FS Thanks to a “morale-lifting, propagandistic, PR effort for the military brass (Army Chief of Staff Gen. George C. Marshall (Presnell),” FS “a unit of war-weary soldiers is forced to risk their lives to find the young man and bring him home.” AFI07 Captain John Miller (Hanks) leads a platoon of “seven stereotypical characters…hard-nosed Sgt. Horvath (Sizemore), a frightened, militarily-inexperienced translator Cpl. Upham (Davies), and five privates (Burns, Ribisi, Diesel, Pepper and Goldberg) – including a cynical hothead from Brooklyn, an introspective medic, a decent soldier, a religious Southern sharpshooter, and a tough Jew.” FS “Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks had been longtime friends before this movie, yet somehow had never worked together. Once each learned the other was reading Robert Rodat’s script, discussions ensued.” MSN Sources: AFI07 American Film Institute (2007). “AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies – 10th Anniversary Edition” FS Filmsite.org “100 Greatest Films” MSN MSN Entertainment (7/19/2018). “100 Best Movies” by Shahnaz Mahmud

Awards/Honors/Lists: Oscars: Wins: 5: Best Director – Steven Spielberg, Best Cinematography – Janusz Kaminski, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Effects Editing Nominations: 11, including Best Picture, Best Actor – Tom Hanks, Best Original Screenplay – Robert Rodat, Best Original Score – John Williams, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Makeup Dave’s Movie Database Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Genre Lists: Awards: Other Lists/Honors: First posted 8/23/2019; last updated 5/27/2023.