Any of the top lists that rank the best movies of all time? like the one of the American Film Institute “100 years, 100 movies” of the year 1998? has ordered the names of thousands of films to agree on which are the movie classics.
When movie reviews are the only factor taken into account to organize that ranking, the results are surprising.
To find out which films have been the most critically acclaimed, we have turned to the Metacritic opinion aggregator to compile the ranking, which measures the films by their set of reviews.
The resulting list includes modern movies like Moonlight or Pan’s Labyrinth, along with classics like The Godfather.
50. Pulp Fiction (1994)
Plot Summary: “The lives of two mob men, a boxer, a gangster’s wife, and a pair of restaurant robbers intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.”
49. The Messenger of Fear (1962)
Plot summary: “A former prisoner of war is brainwashed into becoming an involuntary assassin in the service of an international communist conspiracy.”
48. Taxi Driver (1976)
Plot summary: “A mentally unstable former soldier works as a night cab driver in New York, where the atmosphere of decadence fuels his need for violence while trying to free a 12-year-old prostitute.”
47. 45 years (2015)
Plot summary: “A married couple preparing to celebrate their wedding anniversary receive shocking news that will forever change the course of their lives.”
46. ​​The Man Who Shot Liberty Balance (1962)
45. Dunkerque (2017)
44. Before midnight (2013)
43. WALL-E (2008)
42. Faces and places (2017)
Plot summary: “Director Agnes Varda and photographer/artist JR travel through rural France and form an unlikely friendship.”
41. A separation (2011)
Plot summary: “A married couple is faced with a difficult decision – to improve their children’s lives by moving to another country or to remain in Iran and care for the frail health of a father with Alzheimer’s.”
40. Blackest Night (2012)
Plot summary: “A chronicle of the decade-long manhunt for Al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden following the September 2001 bombings and his death at the hands of Navy SEALs in May 2011.
39. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1938)
Plot summary: “Exiled in a dangerous forest by her stepmother, a princess is rescued by seven mining dwarves who offer her shelter.”
38. Doom (1944)
Plot summary: “An insurance salesman gets involved in a murder/insurance fraud that raises the suspicions of investigators.”
37. I’m Not Your Black (2017)
Plot Summary: “Writer James Baldwin tells the story of race in modern America with his unfinished novel, Remember This House .”
36. On the social network (2010)
35. The grapes of Wrath (1940)
34. Toy Story (1995)
Plot Summary: “A cowboy doll is left out and jealous when a new spaceman doll snatches the spot as his owner’s favorite toy.”
33. Carol (2015)
Plot summary: “An aspiring photographer develops an intimate relationship with an older woman in 1950s New York.”
32. Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Plot summary: “A young woman whose father has been captured by a terrifying beast offers to take his place, unaware that her captor is actually a prince whose appearance has been altered by a spell.”
31. Spirited Away (2001)
Plot summary: “During her family’s move to the suburbs, a 10-year-old girl travels through a world populated by gods, witches, and spirits where humans have been turned into beasts.”
30. Gravity (2013)
Plot summary: “A biomedical engineer and an astronaut cooperate to survive after an accident leaves them adrift in space.”
29. Mean Streets (1973)
Plot Summary: “A petty criminal aspires to rise up in the local mob.”
28. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Plot summary: “Disturbed Blanche DuBois moves with her sister to New Orleans and is tormented by her brutal stepbrother as her reality crumbles around her.”
27. Ratatouille (2007)
Plot summary: “A rat who can cook makes an unlikely alliance with a young kitchen worker at a famous restaurant.”
26. Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Plot summary: “A mad general tries to cause a nuclear holocaust that the rest of the generals and politicians try to stop.”
25. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Plot summary: “A private detective takes on a case that ends up involving him with three eccentric criminals, a big liar, and his quest for a priceless statuette.”
24. Seed of Evil (1968)
Plot summary: “A young couple moves into a flat with some peculiar neighbors. When the woman mysteriously becomes pregnant, paranoia about the safety of her unborn child begins to control her life.”
23. Manchester on the Mar (2016)
Plot summary: “A depressed uncle must take care of his nephew after the death of the boy’s father.”
22. 12 Angry Men (1957)
Plot summary: “A juror tries to prevent a ruling by forcing his fellow jurors to reconsider the evidence.”
21. 12 Years of Slavery (2013)
Plot summary: “In pre-war America, Solomon Northup, a free black man from New York is kidnapped and sold to slavers.”
20. Ran (1985)
Plot summary: “In medieval Japan an old feudal lord retires, dividing his empire among his three sons. He vastly underestimates how his newly acquired power will corrupt his sons and turn them against each other.”
19. American Graffiti (1973)
Plot Summary: “A couple of recent high school graduates spend one last night out with their buddies before heading off to college.”
18. Psycho (1960)
Plot Summary: “A Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from one of her boss’s clients and goes on the run. She stops to rest at a remote motel run by Norman Bates, a young man under the influence of his mother.”
17. With Skirts and Crazy (1959)
Plot summary: “When two male musicians witness a mob brawl, they flee the state disguised as members of an all-female marching band, but things end up getting complicated.”
16. 4 months 3 weeks 2 days (2008)
Resumen del argumento: “Una mujer asiste a su amiga para hacer un aborto ilegal en la RumanÃa de los años 80”.
15. Gone with the wind(1940)
14. My left leg (1990)
13. Hoop Dreams (1994)
12. Everything about Eva (1950)
11. With the death behind (1959)
Plot summary: “A New York marketing manager is mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies and is hunted across the country as he searches for a way to survive.”
10. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
Plot summary: “In Franco’s Spain in 1944, the young daughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into a mysterious but captivating fantasy world.”
9. Moonlight (2016)
Plot summary: “A story of human connection and self-discovery, Moonlight follows the life of a young black man from boyhood to adulthood as he struggles to find his place in the world living in a tough Miami neighborhood.”
8. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Plot summary: “Fred Dobbs and Bob Curtin, two Americans looking for work in Mexico, convince an old gold prospector to help them look for the precious metal in the Sierra Madre mountains.”
7. Singing in the Rain (1952)
Plot summary: “A silent film production company makes a difficult transition to sound.”
6. Three Colors: Red (1994)
Plot summary: “Final of a trilogy dealing with contemporary French society, a model discovers that her neighbor is invading people’s privacy.”
5. Boyhood (2014)
Plot summary: “Mason’s life, from his early childhood to his arrival at the university.”
4. Casablanca (1943)
Plot summary: “A casino owner in Casablanca, Morocco, protects her former lover and husband, a Czech guerrilla fighter, from the Nazis in 1941.”
3. Rear Window (1954)
Plot summary: “A wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his apartment window and becomes convinced that one of them has committed murder.”
2. The Godfather (1972)
Plot summary: “The aging patriarch of an organized crime family hands over control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.”
1. Citizen Kane (1941)
Plot summary: “After the death of a news mogul, journalists investigate to find out the meaning of his last words.”
