Rotten Tomatoes

It always interests me that the author of the book that The Bridge on the River Kwai was based on; Pierre Boulle, also wrote another book that had a film made about it which also went on to be very popular, that was Planet of the Apes.

I had a look at the list and it's clearly made with a set of biasses, most obviously towards the superhero genre and recent films. The few older films seem crowbarred in so as to refute the appearance of this.

Wot? No Lord of the Rings? The Good the Bad and the Ugly? Yojimbo? Das Boot? Princess Monokoke? even The Dark Knight, to name just a few which have not been mentioned already.

As Mdare mentioned, every 10 years Sight & Sound carries out its 'Ten Greatest Films of All Time' poll, canvassing hundreds of film-makers and reviewers from around the world, and the results of the 2022 Poll should be out very soon.

As a regular contributor to S&S I was invited to come up with my ten. Since 'Greatest' is a pretty meaningless term, mine was a list of ten films that I'd seen countless times and would be very happy to watch countless times again. Here's my choice:

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Director: Wes Anderson

Ikiru (Living, 1952)
Director: Akira Kurosawa

Boudu sauvé des eaux (1932)
Director: Jean Renoir

Charulata (1964)
Director: Satyajit Ray

Vredens Dag (Day of Wrath,1943)
Director: Carl Dreyer

The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
Director: John Huston

The Third Man (1949)
Director: Carol Reed

Cléo de 5 à 7 (1962)
Director: Agnès Varda

My Neighbour Totoro (1988)
Director: Hayao Miyazaki

The General (1926)
Director: Buster Keaton

PhilK
I don't know all of yours, but I do remember Ikiru from many years ago when it was shown on UK television, probably when I was still at school. It must have made a strong impression on me.

I'm glad too you mentioned Buster Keaton - what a genius.

kdpierre
Any list that doesn’t includeWonderful Life’, ‘Shawshank’, Godfather trilogy, Butch Cassidy, Princess Bride, Beaches, Brassed Off, Harvey, The Sting, Mockingbird , love actually and second hand lions….was probably put together by someone under 35

Or by somebody whose tastes differ from yours....

I’m a little over 35 and have only seen four of those films and quite liked one but wouldn’t count it among my favourites. Generally when people tell me something is the greatest film ever and insist I must watch it, I find I don’t much like it, thinking here of Citizen Kane, It’s a wonderful life, Kind Hearts and Coronets, oh and all Bond films, Star Wars/Trek (can’t tell the difference) and anything fantasy or about superheroes. My tastes are mainly for stories about orphans or cute little girls dealing with adversity, and sometimes French films where people sit around talking and nothing much happens. My favourite film ever is But I’m a Cheerleader, with Annie, Au revoir les enfants, Celia, Madchen in Uniform, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and Love and Death all films I’ve happily watched many times.

I love the Bond films and the MCU ones, but I tend to put them in their own special category that doesn't intrude on others. Interestingly enough I don't do this with the Star Wars franchise and Star Wars: A New Hope, always makes any of my top 10 - 20 lists.

At least Rotten Tomatoes gave "Secretary" a Fresh rating.

It seems that Maggie elected to take a real spanking for the movie, rather than rely on special effects, but had not factored in the large number of re-shoots that left her very sore and very tearful.