I (used?) to love watching movies. At some point, I need to settle on a Top list. For the moment, I will add items to this list when I remember. I will shuffle the list when I feel like it.

There is no real logic to the ranking. It is based simply on feeling rather than any specific criteria. There is a strong preference for movies of my era (1980s-2000s); again, this is not out of a formal criteria of “movie greatness”, since there are certainly great movies of many eras.

I think for the most part, the ranking is based on 'watchability and re-watchability'. So I would not include movies that I find particularly difficult to rewatch (e.g. Requiem for a Dream). After time, I found that ranking movies in a single list didn't really convey a good sense of how I felt, so I divided them into rough categories, but kept a Top 10 list.

1. Stand by Me (1986)
   There is no real competitor to this top spot. The older I get, the more this movie hits; even at a young age, you can appreciate that it's a story about children growing up. As you get through your 20s, 30s, 40s … the movie's simplicity speaks to you.
2. Risky Business (1983)
   Potentially my all-time favourite movie; must be watched with the alternative ending; director never made another movie.
3. Lost in Translation (2003)
4. Only Yesterday (1991)
5. The Up Series (1964-)
   It is hard to imagine a more powerful long-standing work than this series, which follows the lives of ten boys and four girls in England beginning in 1964. Following the death of the director, the series will conclude with 70 Up in 2027. Incredible: 63 years after its first run. It is hard to imagine ever making something with this consistency and vision. Ebert's review
6. Before Sunrise, After Sunset, Before Midnight trilogy (1995-2013)
7. Contact (1997): as a young scientist, I loved this movie.
8. Rocky (1976)
9. Hoop Dreams (1994)
10. Lord of the Rings trilogy

1. Speed (1994)
2. Terminator 2 (1991)
3. Dark Knight (2008); Batman Begins (2005)
4. Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
5. Top Gun (1986) and Maverick (2022)
6. Con Air 1997)

1. The Matrix (1999)
2. Lord of the Rings trilogy
3. Inception (2010)
4. Interstellar (2014)
5. The Princess Bride (1987)

1. Stand by Me (1986)
2. Memento (2001)
3. Oldboy (2003)
4. Magnolia (1999)
5. Cast Away (2000)
6. The Wrestler (2008)

1. Risky Business (1983)
2. Lost in Translation (2003)
3. Home Alone (1990)
4. Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
5. When Harry Met Sally (1989)

1. Only Yesterday (1991)
2. Five Centimeters Per Second

1. Hoop Dreams (1994)
2. Rocky (1976)

1. Frasier
2. Gilmore Girls
3. Smallville
4. Lost
5. Battlestar Galactica
6. The Expanse