I love movies. I’m literally counting down the hours until Captain America: Civil War (there’s only 40 hours left, as of posting this!).
And since summer of the season of blockbusters, I thought it would be fun to share my top three favorite movies from (almost) every genre.
Before we get to the lists I want to offer a couple disclaimers.
First off, I’ve seen almost every movie (not counting horror movies) released in theaters in the last fifteen years. Not to mention the countless movies from the 80s and 90s. Does this make me a movie critic? Absolutely not. All I’m saying is I’ve seen thousands of movies, enough to put together this list with a pretty good set of data based off personal experience.
Secondly, this list isn’t meant to be a best of the best movies list. IMBD and Rotten Tomatoes already have that covered. These are just my favorites, pure and simple. While each movie may not be teh best, they are all incredible, and I guarantee you’ll find some gems on the list that you haven’t seen.
Lastly, I know the title says “My Top 10 Favorite,” but you’ll notice some genres have a few more and some a few less. That’s just the way it goes!
Action/Adventure
Kurt Russell was the definition of badass in Soldier.
- Soldier
- V is for Vendetta
- Ip Man. Greatest martial arts story ever.
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Shredder vs Splinter.
- Rambo: First Blood
- Hero
- The Bourne Identity
- Gladiator
- Jurassic World
- Transformers
Animation
I’m not sure anyone can ever make a better animated movie than The Lion King.
- Lion King
- The Sword in the Stone. This movie is over 50 years old ands till amazing.
- How to Train Your Dragon
- Zootopia
- Space Jam
- Kung Fu Panda
- The Incredibles
- Cars
- Monsters, Inc.
- Toy Story
Comedy
Sorry, this might be another disappointing list for some of you. I just have a hard time getting into comedy, especially newer comedies.
- Ghostbusters
- Office Space
- The Hangover
- 3 Men and a Baby. I wish more comedies were like this.
- The Other Guys
Crime
It’s going to be hard to ever beat the end of Se7en. Seriously, if you haven’t seen this movie be prepared for an unforgettable psychological thriller.
- Se7en
- The Silence of the Lambs
- The Usual Suspects
- Fracture
- Zodiac
- The Town. I’m rewatching this as I write this post 🙂
- Runaway Jury
- A Time to Kill
- The Firm
Documentary
Whether or not you enjoy video games, watch King of Kong. It’s one of the most entertaining documentaries I’ve ever seen.
Drama
This was far and away the toughest genre to narrow down to just ten. So, I ended up nearly doubling it 🙂
By the way…the best movie song ever goes to The Last of the Mohicans. Holy cow it’s good.
- Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives!
- The Last of the Mohicans
- Good Will Hunting
- Braveheart
- The Shawshank Redemption
- Ghost and the Darkness
- Point Break. Swayze, need I say more?
- In the Line of Fire
- Bodyguard
- Whiplash
- Instinct
- Men of Honor
- Top Gun
- The Horse Whisperer
- City Slickers. You want too know the secret to life? Watch this.
- Apollo 13
- The Last Castle
- Armageddon
- Kindergarten Cop. A serious throwback that never gets old.
Fantasy
I have a feeling this list is going to grow pretty quickly with all the Marvel and DC movies coming out. Not to mention another Harry Potter movie soon too!
But, I don’t know if it gets any better than The Dark Knight.
- The Dark Knight
- The Dark Knight Rises. Just two words for you: deshi basara.
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
- Underworld
- Iron Man
- The Avengers
- Man of Steel
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
- Pacific Rim. Just pure fun.
- Avatar. James Cameron invented a camera just to make this movie.
Horror
I’m going to be 100% honest here. When previews of scary movies come on in the theater…I close my eyes. There are only a handful of horror movies I can remember watching, and just typing them here means I might be sleeping with the lights on.
- The Ring
- The Blair Witch Project
- Cabin in the Woods. The end of this movie is insane.
Mystery/Supsense
- Inception. Leonardo DiCaprio’s greatest movie.
- Sherlock Holmes
- Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
- The Prestige
- The Illusionist
- Memento. Prepare to have no idea what’s going on, in a good way.
- Shutter Island.
- The Game. The original thriller.
- No Country for Old Men. Not for the faint of heart; this movie is crazy.
- Ex Machina. Curious about artificial intelligence?
Romance
Believe it or not, but you can watch the full movie of Can’t Buy Me Love below.
- Can’t Buy Me Love. If you love romantic comedies, this is a must.
- Groundhog’s Day
- Serendipity
- When Harry Met Sally
- Pure Country. It’s a little corny with George Strait, but also a lot awesome.
- The American President
- The Proposal
- Charlie St. Cloud
- The Cutting Edge. Blows my mind how many people haven’t even heard of this movie.
- Slumdog Millionaire. One of the best and most original story lines.
Sci-Fi
- Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Yoda. Fight. Scene. Wow.
- Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Darth Maul vs. Obi Wan and Qui Gon is…awesome.
- The Matrix. Probably the first great CGI ever made.
- Constantine. If you like this also check out the Ninth Gate.
- Star Trek.
- Alien. This entire series is a classic, must watch.
- Interstellar.
- The Martian. Movie is great, but the book was better.
- Signs. My wife’s favorite movie of all-time.
- Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Sports
- Without Limits
- Rocky V. Don’t roll your eyes, Rocky is a street fighter and this movie embodies that.
- Rudy. Every guy has cried at least once watching this.
- For Love of the Game
- Days of Thunder
- Hidalgo
- Iron Will. Only available on VHS (I think), but so worth it.
- The Natural
- Warrior
- Side Out
If you want to see some more awesome sports movies, check out my list of top running movies here.
Western
Most people will tell you the best line from Tombstone is the part when Doc confronts Ringo, and says, “I’m your Huckleberry.” While that may be the most popular, the following is far and away the best.
- Tombstone
- Unforgiven
- Young Guns
- Young Guns II
- The Quick and the Dead
- Maverick
- Wyatt Earp
- Open Range. Finally a shootout that felt realistic.
Which one is my absolute favorite?
That’s tough. For the longest time it was Rudy.
However, I’ve probably watched Tombstone, Eddie and the Cruisers, and Without Limits more than the rest. I won’t cop out though and say it’s too tough to pick one (thought it really feels that way).
Ultimately I think I’d have to go with Without Limits, which is why I ended up writing a book like In Her Eyes.
I’d love to know which movies you think I left off the list, or which ones you totally disagree with. Let me know in the comments below.
What? No musicals! Think Footloose (the original), Grease (the original), The Sound of Music, etc. And how could you not have My Cousin Vinny on your comedy list? lol. I love reading your lists like this; introduces me to movies I might not ever have known about otherwise. A lot of your favorites would be on our lists, too. Then there are some we try to watch every time they’re on: Footloose (again, the original); Rambo: First Blood (or at least the beginning of it; Tombstone (love the whole movie, but we’d watch if only for the part where Kurt Russell grabs that guy’s gun and knocks him over the head with it; and The Shawshank Redemption, to name a few. And we loved The Cutting Edge.
Sorry Terry, not a big musical fan. But, I will admit Footloose (the original with Kevin Bacon) was pretty epic.
I recognize a lot of the movies, but the video you posted about Soldier makes me super curious about it. It looks really cool.
Rocky V?? That made all your other list null and void