If you search top 5, top 10, top 100 must-see movies, there are some movies that are never absent, like The Godfather, Star Wars, or Pulp Fiction. Sadly, I haven't actually watched every single movie on those lists, so I'll only put the movies that I've watched on my list. It might include some movies that never make it to popular top 10 movies worldwide, but I'm considering what you should watch instead of just what is good.
PLOT: "It follows a fictional story set in a Nazi-occupied France during World War II where a group of jewish U.S. soldiers planned to murder Adolf Hitler. Their plan collides with a theatre owner who is also planning for the same thing, driven by personal revenge."
WHAT ABOUT IT? I've stated that this movie is my favorite movie of all time, and to date, it still is. For me, this is a proof of Tarantino's masterpiece. Plus, personally, I like movies about WWII, even though this is fictional. You'll see how complicated yet easy to understand the plot is, you'll be super interested with the characters, and you'll like how Tarantino use French and German as the main language for this movie, aside from English. It's perfectly crafted to build the tense, the humor, and everything else the movie wanted you to feel. If you want to check the full movie review I've made, click here.
PLOT: "When the men of USA have to go to war during WWII, including all the baseball players, a women baseball league was made to temporarily replace them. The story is based on the real All American Girl-Professional Baseball League but with dramatized and fictional characters"
WHAT ABOUT IT? I've never really seen a baseball movie with girls in it, and this one offered something different. The Baseball League is real but the characters and story are fictional and dramatized. The movie provided that in a really good portion. Every characters are interesting, the relationship development throughout the movie is great, the arrangement of the storyline is perfect to give you all the feels, and basically the whole story is great. Baseball with all the complicated drama and amazing ending.
PLOT: "On their fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne's wife, Amy went missing. The story then got a huge attention from the media. During the investigation, Nick's lies and strange behavior added with a few evidence made people ask "Did Nick Dunne really killed his own wife?""
PLOT: "When home-schooled American teenage Cady Heron moved from Africa to Illinois and attend a public school, she started learning how girl's world in public high school work. All while being part of an A-list girl clique in that school, 'The Plastics'. But Cady soon realizes how her group of friends earned their nickname."
WHAT ABOUT IT? I thought this will be just another rom-com movie that's super simple with predictable ending, but it sure isn't. If you're a girl and in high school, there's a big chance you can relate to everything going on in this movie. Overall, the story is super funny, logical, touching, and spread a logical and realistic moral message. It's a lot more entertaining and meaningful than any other rom-com movies in the 2000s. The whole story is connected and you won't get bored at all. You won't even think it's lame because it's perfectly arranged. And the character development somehow satisfies you.
PLOT: "The lives of two mob hitmen, a boxer, a gangster's wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption." -IMDb
PLOT: "A 17-year-old high school student, Marty McFly traveled to the past with a DeLorean time machine invented by a scientist named Doc Brown."
PLOT: "Set in 18th century France, the movie follows the journey of a man with superior olfactory sense in creating the world's finest perfume with unusual ingredients which he collected in the most disturbing ways."
WHAT ABOUT IT? It's a one of a kind story that I've never encountered anywhere else so far. It takes a simple uniqueness in the character and develop it so diligently into a complex and long, interesting story. It's also full of dark elements you didn't expect to be in the movie. Ben Wishaw potrayed the main character really well, making you feel what he feels, despite him being a murderer. There are some disturbing scenes too but it adds up to how genius this film is. To see my full review of this movie, click here
PLOT: "A woman leaves an Austrian convent and become a governess for seven children whose father is a wealthy, respected naval captain who has lost his wife."
PLOT: It's basically superhero movies, guys. But it's awesome for its coolness.
WHAT ABOUT IT? I'm pretty sure everybody knows Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, and almost every other superhero in the MCU. Even if they don't watch the movie, big chance they still have heard of them. I have to give an applause to Marvel because they created this new culture of movie making, which is "the Universe thing". Make tons of movies in one universe and always connect them little by little. I don't read the comics but I'm pretty sure it's like that in the comics. They're just brave enough to take this to the movies. Thankfully, it worked very successfully and a lot of other production company started doing the same thing (DC with DCEU and Universal with their Dark Universe, which didn't really start well). I'm sure more of big production companies will do the same, but they have to be careful since until now, only Marvel that have really succeeded in doing this. Some movies in the MCU are not that great or just average, but they still make a lot of people hyped up to wait for new MCU movies and watch the climax. I mean, who's not excited for Avengers: Infinity War, right? Probably some of you aren't. But a lot more do care. And to conclude it, I recommend you watch those MCU movies because overall, they're good and cool superhero movies with hot actors playing the characters. Also, just to catch up with everyone living in the 2010s who are young enough to care about MCU.
PLOT: "Carl Fredricksen, a 78-year-old man, travels to Paradise Falls riding his own house. How? By attaching thousands of balloons on it and make it fly. Inadvertently, he took a young boy scout with him."
WHAT ABOUT IT? One word: beautiful. The whole movie is funny, touching, and tensed. It's all crammed into one movie with perfect portions and timing. The main plot is already beautiful from the beginning, so it's not hard to start with. It then evolved into more and more complex yet still lovely. The boy scout, Russell is adorable and easily loved. While, Fredricksen is the grumpy old man. What wouldn't make that funny? But what you won't guess is how touching and meaningful the whole thing is. Definitely one of the best animated films of all time.
PLOT: "Follow the story of a 17-year-old girl growing in Sacramento, California."
WHAT ABOUT IT? Coming-of-age movie has been quite popular as indie movies. This one is another good one. It highlights more about the complicated relationship of mother and daughter, how it's not always smooth yet still loving. This also include love stories, but since it's a coming-of-age movie, it's not lame or too much. It depicts perfectly how teenage girls fall in love, how good it is, how bad it is, how things can be so right, and how things can go wrong. Overall, it's what everyone go through in their life. Simple yet complex because of how realistic it is.
PLOT: "Leonardo DiCaprio plays a thief who stole secrets through people's dreams. This time he's given a different task: to plant an idea through dreams."
WHAT ABOUT IT? At first, this movie is completely confusing. A lot of people told me they don't understand what the movie is about when they first watched it. I understood because I was told about the main point of the movie by a friend. It's different, unique, and new. A lot of movies about dream have been made throughout the movie history, but they're always new and different. Dreams are very complicated, unique, and easy to be reimagined and constructed based on how the movie makers want it to be. So, most of the times, they're twisting and awesome. Inception is no different, it's spectacular, like nothing you've ever seen. A lot of action is involved, but accompanied by lots of scientific theories that makes it more complicated, yet interesting. The actions are also not always simple ones.
As you know, the characters are a lot. But it's not Valentine's Day or New Year's Eve a lot. They're all interesting and everyone has an important part of the movie, so no one can be erased from the script.
Basically, it's a movie only Christopher Nolan can pull. And he never failed to make them good.
Oh, and the music (the score) really makes this movie totally different than any other. It's loud and tensed but not lame and too much. Inception really created a difference in movie scores after it's released. A lot of movies try to do the same thing / same concept of movie score. You won't be able to not notice it once you've known it.
PLOT: "When shooting of a big war movie goes wrong, a group of actors must fight their way to survive by actually become the characters of soldiers that they're potraying."
WHAT ABOUT IT? Yes, this movie is almost never mentioned in any must-see movies list, but it's actually awesome. It's comedy, action, drama, and movie-in-movie all crammed into one super good movie. Ben Stiller, who directed and starred in the movie really make one good story. Not much subplots, all focused on the actors' journey. You somehow learn actors aren't always as nice and perfect as they're potrayed, and it's shown in the funniest ways. Other than the laughs, you'll also see how the characters develop throughout the movie, whether it's about their relationships or just fixing theirselves. Another interesting part of this movie is how Robert Downey Jr. potrayed a white Australian playing an African-American. Wow, he's so great you won't even recognize it's him. The Oscars even acknowledged that. Another one is Tom Cruise. In a fat suit. With a bald head and beard. Acting like the biggest a-hole person on the planet. Definitely not the Tom Cruise you see daily on the big screen. And surprisingly, he did amazing and unsurprisingly became my favorite character of the movie. Thing is, I know it's Tom Cruise, that's what makes it funnier. Overall, it's just a really funny movie that's not lame and quite original.
1. INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (2009)
PLOT: "It follows a fictional story set in a Nazi-occupied France during World War II where a group of jewish U.S. soldiers planned to murder Adolf Hitler. Their plan collides with a theatre owner who is also planning for the same thing, driven by personal revenge."WHAT ABOUT IT? I've stated that this movie is my favorite movie of all time, and to date, it still is. For me, this is a proof of Tarantino's masterpiece. Plus, personally, I like movies about WWII, even though this is fictional. You'll see how complicated yet easy to understand the plot is, you'll be super interested with the characters, and you'll like how Tarantino use French and German as the main language for this movie, aside from English. It's perfectly crafted to build the tense, the humor, and everything else the movie wanted you to feel. If you want to check the full movie review I've made, click here.
2. A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN (1992)
PLOT: "When the men of USA have to go to war during WWII, including all the baseball players, a women baseball league was made to temporarily replace them. The story is based on the real All American Girl-Professional Baseball League but with dramatized and fictional characters"WHAT ABOUT IT? I've never really seen a baseball movie with girls in it, and this one offered something different. The Baseball League is real but the characters and story are fictional and dramatized. The movie provided that in a really good portion. Every characters are interesting, the relationship development throughout the movie is great, the arrangement of the storyline is perfect to give you all the feels, and basically the whole story is great. Baseball with all the complicated drama and amazing ending.
3. GONE GIRL (2014)
PLOT: "On their fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne's wife, Amy went missing. The story then got a huge attention from the media. During the investigation, Nick's lies and strange behavior added with a few evidence made people ask "Did Nick Dunne really killed his own wife?""
WHAT ABOUT IT? This is a very clever mystery movie. A lot of people said they didn't see the twist coming, but I actually do. I don't see it completely, but it's within my guess, so I'm only 50 percent shocked. But apart from that, the whole story is amazing. You're given a great opening part of the movie where you store all the question of what's really going on. Then, the movie answer it in the best way possible. It might sound disappointing because they reveal the answer in the middle, but trust me it get better after that. After the answer, everything became clearer yet more and more intense. You always want to know more, and you won't get disappointed on how the story evolved. Rosamund Pike was also exceptional playing the character.
4. MEAN GIRLS (2004)
PLOT: "When home-schooled American teenage Cady Heron moved from Africa to Illinois and attend a public school, she started learning how girl's world in public high school work. All while being part of an A-list girl clique in that school, 'The Plastics'. But Cady soon realizes how her group of friends earned their nickname."
WHAT ABOUT IT? I thought this will be just another rom-com movie that's super simple with predictable ending, but it sure isn't. If you're a girl and in high school, there's a big chance you can relate to everything going on in this movie. Overall, the story is super funny, logical, touching, and spread a logical and realistic moral message. It's a lot more entertaining and meaningful than any other rom-com movies in the 2000s. The whole story is connected and you won't get bored at all. You won't even think it's lame because it's perfectly arranged. And the character development somehow satisfies you.
5. THE TERMINATOR (1984) & TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY (1991)
PLOT (1984): "A machine called 'The Terminator' is sent from the future to kill Sarah Connor. Killin her will prevent her unborn child to exist and lead the rebellion in the future. Sent also from the future to protect Sarah is Kyle Reese. Together, they must try to survive the attacks from the Terminator."
WHAT ABOUT IT? First of all, I'm not going to talk about the second one in 1991 because that will spoil everything about the first one, but I will talk about its greatness here. The first one was considered a breakthrough because it's in the 80s and a vision about the future full of machine is definitely something. Don't put your standard to high because it's not really as amazing a The Avengers (cause it's in the 80s), but try to watch it with clear mind and you'll see how great the actions are and how terrifying and amazing the Terminator is. This movie clearly started something quite new to the film industry and became an icon. The sequel, arguably is one of the best sequels ever made because it's even better than the first one. I watched the second one first, actually, and it's awesome! I watched it over and over but still never get bored. The action, the story, and the characters development are really interesting. Even if it's in the early 90s, it's like watching a movie from the 2010s (if you're talking about the story, because the visual effects are not as amazing as today).
6. PULP FICTION
PLOT: "The lives of two mob hitmen, a boxer, a gangster's wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption." -IMDb
WHAT ABOUT IT? To be honest, it's hard to conclude the whole movie into a few sentences, that's why I took the plot from IMDb. Why is it hard? Because of the complexity. A lot of people will argue that it's Tarantino's best movie, but my choice is still the no.1 movie on this list. Nevertheless, this movie is a true masterpiece, becoming a classic and a movie for filmmakers to look up to. The story itself is not as complicated as a mystery-solving movie, but how Tarantino showed it is what makes it good. He provided an answer to a question nobody even asked in the first place. But that answer glued everything up and made you realize how everything make sense. He also showed how crime is in real life without making it too lame or weird. Simple things that are usually left and not talked about in other movies are highlighted and became the main thing of the plot. And the way Tarantino put it, it's not weird or unnecessary at all.
7. BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985)
PLOT: "A 17-year-old high school student, Marty McFly traveled to the past with a DeLorean time machine invented by a scientist named Doc Brown."
WHAT ABOUT IT? There's a lot of time-travelling movie, but this one is the most iconic. Again, this is in the 80s so time-travelling with this kind of plot is unique and new. Apart from the time-travelling, everything else about the plot is great. There's action, drama, tense, and comedy throughout the movie. I suggest you also watch the second and third movie, they're just as good as the first one. There's not much to talk about this movie except it offered something new and along the way, became very memorable, influential, and iconic. Overall, it's a super fun and interesting movie. I'm not going to spoil anything, but anyone who has watched it must've known all the things introduced in this movie that became popular and sometimes used or mentioned in other movies too.
8. PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER (2006)
PLOT: "Set in 18th century France, the movie follows the journey of a man with superior olfactory sense in creating the world's finest perfume with unusual ingredients which he collected in the most disturbing ways."WHAT ABOUT IT? It's a one of a kind story that I've never encountered anywhere else so far. It takes a simple uniqueness in the character and develop it so diligently into a complex and long, interesting story. It's also full of dark elements you didn't expect to be in the movie. Ben Wishaw potrayed the main character really well, making you feel what he feels, despite him being a murderer. There are some disturbing scenes too but it adds up to how genius this film is. To see my full review of this movie, click here
9. THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965)
PLOT: "A woman leaves an Austrian convent and become a governess for seven children whose father is a wealthy, respected naval captain who has lost his wife."
WHAT ABOUT IT? It's definitely a classic musical. The whole story is not amazingly complicated but enough to keep you watching. The story is a simple one but still interesting with enough drama and struggle they have to face. The songs are definitely the star of the movie. They're really good quality music, sang beautifully by the actors. Even until now, I still remember all the songs and get excited if I heard them anywhere. The kids are also adorable and each have their own unique characteristics that we will actually care about. The ending is also great so it wraps the whole movie in greatness.
Also: the movie poster has widely become a meme of "Look at all the f**ks I don't give" and many more. So if it's that popular to be a meme, why not watch it and find out about the original?
10. MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE (MCU) MOVIES (2008-?)
PLOT: It's basically superhero movies, guys. But it's awesome for its coolness. WHAT ABOUT IT? I'm pretty sure everybody knows Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, and almost every other superhero in the MCU. Even if they don't watch the movie, big chance they still have heard of them. I have to give an applause to Marvel because they created this new culture of movie making, which is "the Universe thing". Make tons of movies in one universe and always connect them little by little. I don't read the comics but I'm pretty sure it's like that in the comics. They're just brave enough to take this to the movies. Thankfully, it worked very successfully and a lot of other production company started doing the same thing (DC with DCEU and Universal with their Dark Universe, which didn't really start well). I'm sure more of big production companies will do the same, but they have to be careful since until now, only Marvel that have really succeeded in doing this. Some movies in the MCU are not that great or just average, but they still make a lot of people hyped up to wait for new MCU movies and watch the climax. I mean, who's not excited for Avengers: Infinity War, right? Probably some of you aren't. But a lot more do care. And to conclude it, I recommend you watch those MCU movies because overall, they're good and cool superhero movies with hot actors playing the characters. Also, just to catch up with everyone living in the 2010s who are young enough to care about MCU.
11. UP (2009)
PLOT: "Carl Fredricksen, a 78-year-old man, travels to Paradise Falls riding his own house. How? By attaching thousands of balloons on it and make it fly. Inadvertently, he took a young boy scout with him."WHAT ABOUT IT? One word: beautiful. The whole movie is funny, touching, and tensed. It's all crammed into one movie with perfect portions and timing. The main plot is already beautiful from the beginning, so it's not hard to start with. It then evolved into more and more complex yet still lovely. The boy scout, Russell is adorable and easily loved. While, Fredricksen is the grumpy old man. What wouldn't make that funny? But what you won't guess is how touching and meaningful the whole thing is. Definitely one of the best animated films of all time.
12. LADY BIRD (2017)
PLOT: "Follow the story of a 17-year-old girl growing in Sacramento, California."WHAT ABOUT IT? Coming-of-age movie has been quite popular as indie movies. This one is another good one. It highlights more about the complicated relationship of mother and daughter, how it's not always smooth yet still loving. This also include love stories, but since it's a coming-of-age movie, it's not lame or too much. It depicts perfectly how teenage girls fall in love, how good it is, how bad it is, how things can be so right, and how things can go wrong. Overall, it's what everyone go through in their life. Simple yet complex because of how realistic it is.
13. INCEPTION (2010)
PLOT: "Leonardo DiCaprio plays a thief who stole secrets through people's dreams. This time he's given a different task: to plant an idea through dreams."
WHAT ABOUT IT? At first, this movie is completely confusing. A lot of people told me they don't understand what the movie is about when they first watched it. I understood because I was told about the main point of the movie by a friend. It's different, unique, and new. A lot of movies about dream have been made throughout the movie history, but they're always new and different. Dreams are very complicated, unique, and easy to be reimagined and constructed based on how the movie makers want it to be. So, most of the times, they're twisting and awesome. Inception is no different, it's spectacular, like nothing you've ever seen. A lot of action is involved, but accompanied by lots of scientific theories that makes it more complicated, yet interesting. The actions are also not always simple ones.
As you know, the characters are a lot. But it's not Valentine's Day or New Year's Eve a lot. They're all interesting and everyone has an important part of the movie, so no one can be erased from the script.
Basically, it's a movie only Christopher Nolan can pull. And he never failed to make them good.
Oh, and the music (the score) really makes this movie totally different than any other. It's loud and tensed but not lame and too much. Inception really created a difference in movie scores after it's released. A lot of movies try to do the same thing / same concept of movie score. You won't be able to not notice it once you've known it.
14. THE ROOM (2003)
PLOT: "A love triangle between Johnny, a successful banker, his future wife Lisa, and his best friend Mark whom Lisa cheated with."
WHAT ABOUT IT? Ah, yes, the worst movie ever made. When The Room was released, not a lot of people watched. Actually, almost none. It was called the worst movie ever made. Simply because of the super simple and uninteresting story, one-dimensional characters, weird dialogues, bad settings, no constant or interesting development throughout the movie, unnecessary and ridiculous scenes that made the movie look dumb, and the acting. Oh, Lord, help us all. My friend could only watch the first 10 minutes before she got too many cringe and stopped.
So, why do I even put it on this list? Cause it's so bad, it's good! This movie has become a classic cult, being played during midnight and sometimes people can watch it together with Tommy Wiseau himself, the writer, director, producer, and also actor of the movie. So many scenes that are actually meant to be sad or romantic ended up bringing you laugh. So many dialogues meant to be serious ended up making you cringe. So many ridiculous gestures that make you frown. Thing is, this movie is sensational because of how bad it is, but it won't make you stop talking about it. It's not the bad movie that you forget because it's boring or lame, it's so, so bad, you won't forget it, even after 15 years! James Franco even made a movie about the making of the movie, The Disaster Artist. You can watch that too if you're interested. That one is actually good.
So,watch The Room for yourself so you'll know awesome the worst movie of all time is.
15. TROPIC THUNDER (2008)
PLOT: "When shooting of a big war movie goes wrong, a group of actors must fight their way to survive by actually become the characters of soldiers that they're potraying."WHAT ABOUT IT? Yes, this movie is almost never mentioned in any must-see movies list, but it's actually awesome. It's comedy, action, drama, and movie-in-movie all crammed into one super good movie. Ben Stiller, who directed and starred in the movie really make one good story. Not much subplots, all focused on the actors' journey. You somehow learn actors aren't always as nice and perfect as they're potrayed, and it's shown in the funniest ways. Other than the laughs, you'll also see how the characters develop throughout the movie, whether it's about their relationships or just fixing theirselves. Another interesting part of this movie is how Robert Downey Jr. potrayed a white Australian playing an African-American. Wow, he's so great you won't even recognize it's him. The Oscars even acknowledged that. Another one is Tom Cruise. In a fat suit. With a bald head and beard. Acting like the biggest a-hole person on the planet. Definitely not the Tom Cruise you see daily on the big screen. And surprisingly, he did amazing and unsurprisingly became my favorite character of the movie. Thing is, I know it's Tom Cruise, that's what makes it funnier. Overall, it's just a really funny movie that's not lame and quite original.
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