Part 4: 50 Films You Should See, Maybe, If You Want To

[You can view the rest of this list by choosing a section at the bottom of this page.]

20. Toy Story
It’s easy to forget how fun Toy Story was the first time you watched it, I know that I had never seen anything like it and everything just felt so right. Now, over 10 years after it was originally released, it’s become one of the largest stepping stones in animation history. It generated a furry of new computer animated films and simultaneously marked the death of hand drawn animation in American cinemas. Starting next year Disney hopes to return to what they used to do best with The Princess and the Frog, but I have the feeling it will lack the old Disney flare we once took for granted. I guess Toy Story is the end of one road and the beginning of another in that way. If you look at the animation John Lasseter came up with, you’ll notice that it has its own unique style which will end up preserving it much like a mosquito trapped in amber.
- Daniel Frohlich

All Pixar films, purely from a visual, animation point of view, are incredible and worthy of the highest praise. However, unlike most animation studios, Pixar also imbues the films with wonderful and imaginative characters and settings. Sometimes I think we forget the quality of the scripts of these movies, which in some cases can match the quality of the animation. Toy Story is one such case. The concept and the themes it explores are universal, and this is a fine example of a film which appeals to children without pandering to them, and as such it becomes enjoyable to adults as well.
- Jesse Balzer

19. Citizen Kane
It is very important as a student of film, or simply as a snobby enthusiast, to revere Citizen Kane as the AFI does. Often times it is even more important to pretend to like it far more than you actually do. And for as much as I can criticize the unwavering adoration of the film by the cinema elite, I cannot do disservice to the film itself. It is a wonderful film, a technical textbook on cinematography. I can understand why it is so very highly regarded, although I cannot agree with the reasons why. Although I cannot agree with the reasons for its complete and utterly unflinching worship, I can easily understand why it is regarded as one of the most influential films ever made. The first to do anything deserves to be honored, but continuing to hold it above works which have surpassed and expanded on it in immeasurable ways is altogether too much. Citizen Kane deserves to be honored, not resuscitated.
- Jesse Balzer

“The best film ever made” is a common line used to describe Citizen Kane. This is probably true, Citizen Kane’s use of “deep focus” is arguably one of the film’s greatest inventions. But what I think people doubt most about the film is its superb story. One person’s life is told by the people who knew him best, yet, no one seemed to know him enough to figure out what he meant by “rosebud,” the final word spoken before his death. Alongside other notable movie mysteries, this stands at the top. Don’t let anyone tell you this is the best film ever made; instead, all you have to do is simply read about all the film’s accomplishments (aside from actually watching it.) Even with all these accomplishments I still can’t willingly put it atop a list of films you should see. A certain level of understanding has to be developed first. But one thing is certain, Citizen Kane will continue to be examined as long as it can be.
- Daniel Frohlich

18. Amadeus
“That was God laughing at me. Through that obscene giggle…” That obscene laugh belongs to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. I’m sure we’ve all learned about Mozart in our elementary music class and probably decided at that point we were glad the days of extreme formality are gone. But Amadeus explores the side of Mozart not commonly taught in schools. It’s probably hard to believe that there’s some truth to be found in the film, but things like Mozart’s vulgarity are actually supported by facts. Those facts were simply stretched to make a hilarious recreation of his life. I don’t really believe Amadeus enjoyed showcasing a fart in public; still, he probably had a quirkier side not seen by the public eye.

What makes Milos Forman’s Amadeus funny is the formal approach it takes on the famed musician’s life. Amadeus is filmed as truth and for a short moment it’s easy to believe nearly all of it. This is largely accomplished by the strong screenplay written by Peter Shaffer and including some of the 1980’s best cinematography. To my amazement the film never won an Academy Award in that category (though it was nominated) when it’s clear that’s one of its strongest aspects. Combine this with a Mozart inspired soundtrack and it makes it easy to watch the movie just to hear his compositions let alone the fiction-based plot.
- Daniel Frohlich

17. The Graduate
Long before I saw the Graduate, I knew the music, and I hated it. In some ways I still do hate it. It’s just not for me. I realize now, though, how perfect and fitting it is for the film. It might even be more memorable than the film it is inspired by, at least in our society. Without the music, however, the Graduate is still one of the best, most radical and influential films ever made. The word provocative is used too much, especially now in the world of advertising. Few things in the media or in our world are actually provocative. The Graduate was, and still is, genuinely original and shocking.
- Jesse Balzer

Films like the Graduate make you really wonder what happened to Dustin Hoffman. At the beginning of his career he challenged himself with interesting roles that were diverse enough to keep you interested. Since then he’s be on a constant downward spiral beginning with Outbreak and continued with films like Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium. The Graduate is on the opposite end of the critical spectrum. It’s a comedic look at the life of a college graduate who leaves with zero prospects and ends up back at home with his parents. His confusion and indecisiveness are often too familiar with us and that’s why I feel the film has received so much praise since its original release in 1967.
- Daniel Frohlich

16. Breathless
I have a good rule for judging someone’s interest in film: When you start watching the films of Godard, it can easily be said you have a more-than-simply-healthy interest in the art of film. Of course I’m teasing, but I do think it does have some validity. You can’t really find any of Godard’s films at chain rental stores in Nowhere, North Dakota. To watch these films, you have to be really interested and willing to search everywhere, in addition to paying high prices. Or start a Netflix account. That’s what I did.

Breathless is perhaps Godard’s best film, or at the very least his most famous or noteworthy, and the high esteem it enjoys from so many contemporary directors is not coincidental. The style, the editing, the cinematography, all have been borrowed (or sometimes more directly, stolen) by the directors of recent times. The best expound on it, further it, while the worst have directly taken from it, with no expansion. Yet the influence is undeniable.
- Jesse Balzer

15. Silence of the Lambs
Hannibal Lector has become pop culture. So has Clarice Starling and Buffalo Bill, all of it parodied and quoted millions of times, all the way down to your idiotic friends who think they can do a good Anthony Hopkins. I try to avoid anything so famous, so universal in appeal and praise. Silence of the Lambs is a strange, unusual case in that the public taste’s and my own are in accord.

I do not know, cannot even guess how many times I’ve seen it. It might be the first film I took seriously as a piece of art. I think I saw it for the first time when I was 12 or 13, and contrary to what everyone had told me about it, I was not scared or frightened by any of it. It intrigued me. I watched it again and again, continuously finding all new levels of meaning. Now that I’m older, and my film experience and knowledge has grown, I can appreciate the technical aspect of it, the script, and the acting. I watched it again a few days ago, and I realized I have never seen a film so wonderfully paced. Every shot, every piece of dialogue, every look or camera pan has a definite purpose. Silence of the Lambs has no wasted movement. Like Hannibal, the film is elegant and vicious, sleek, cunning and devastating.
- Jesse Balzer

14. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey is a perennial film student favorite, if only for its experimentation and willingness to be explained and analyzed on numerous levels. It also, quite conveniently I think, draws a bold, clear line between those who view film as a form of artistic exploration open to any idea, and those who want strictly dialogue-driven, easily-understood dramas. 2001 is a polarizing film in this way. It can be aggravating at times, challenging, and unyielding, not to mention obscenely experimental (I mean this is the best way possible). It’s like a independent film with a large budget and free-reign. No film I have ever seen is as mesmerizing: simply watching it, following the movements of the people and objects on screen, is quite enough. The philosophic nature of the film and the lack of a single clear thesis make 2001 a film-poem, open to interpretation and personal vision.
- Jesse Balzer

After I finished watching 2001: A Space Odyssey for the first time I couldn’t even come up with words to describe it. Of course I thought it looked wonderful but then again, what Stanley Kubrick film doesn’t? I guess in many ways I felt like the initial audiences who saw the film, not particularly blown away just indifferent to what I saw. Following subsequent viewings, I came to the conclusion that my initial gut reaction was prompted by a lack of understanding. As a recommendation I can only say be patient with 2001 and don’t be too quick to judge it. You’ll soon develop a clear understanding for its belated acclaim. I personally feel it’s the best movie to record the development of human existence and understanding.
- Daniel Frohlich

13. Do the Right Thing
Say what you will about Spike Lee, but nobody can deny his ability as a director. And although he has been criticized for being too political or risky, for “overreaching” in his job as director, I think his films prove that this is a necessary, maybe even desirable trait for a director to have. A director, I think, needs to have confidence in what he creates, he needs to take a position on it and interpret the film from this position. Film, as a medium, is almost impossible to do completely objectively, and Spike does not give his films the pretense, the shadow, or the idea of objectivity.

These are films from his point of view, colored by his life experiences and his concerns. He is assured in what he does, and it shows. His best film, Do the Right Thing, gives us the best example of this. It might be the best film of the 80s, and its portrait of impending violence in race relations is not-strangely prescient of the early 90s. It shows how unwilling or unable the society was to regard its message, and how right Spike Lee was.
- Jesse Balzer

12. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
I love black comedies, and Dr. Strangelove is the absolute blackest. It is hilarious not only because of its script and its ideas, but maybe more so because of its cast, the strength of its performances. Peter Sellers gives one of the best comedic performances ever on film, and much of it his own invention and improvisation on the set. George C. Scott is also so ridiculous he becomes a caricature, which is exactly what is needed for the part to be effective.

In the hands of other directors, a film about nuclear war is an entirely serious issue. And it truly is a serious issue, and has been treated as such on the screen before and since Dr. Strangelove. But I think Stanley Kubrick is the only director who could find in such a dark setting the ridiculous and the absurd, and to make nuclear destruction farcical.
- Jesse Balzer

11. The Wizard of Oz
The first film that I ever remember watching is Wizard of Oz. I literally grew up watching this, and maybe a few other films, on constant rotation and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if I’ve seen it well over fifty times. Besides the obvious sentimental value it holds with me, it’s a family and child favorite throughout the world. At the time I’m sure the producers felt uneasy about the Wizard of Oz since it started off awkwardly. Richard Thorpe was originally set to direct but the torch was eventually passed to Victor Fleming (who did most of the filming) before he left to finish Gone with the Wind. They also wanted to have Judy Garland in a blond wig with heavy makeup, which would’ve killed her “homegrown” appeal.

Regardless of the film’s child-like spirit, it still managed to scare the shit out of me when I was a kid. The combination of the Wicked Witch of the West and flying monkeys was at the time, one of the most terrifying villain combinations I had come across. In some ways, it still is today. The Wizard of Oz is often remembered for its technical achievements and award winning music; but for me it’s much more than that. It singlehandedly formed my imagination and childhood. How many films have the power to accomplish something like that?

Side note: It’s worth recognizing that the film had an amazing Academy Award nominated sequel that somehow went under the radar. Return to Oz is much darker than its predecessor but hardly forgettable. If my sense of creativity was spawned from the Wizard of Oz then I can only attribute my sense of humor to Return to Oz. See it as soon as possible.
- Daniel Frohlich

Further reading: 50 - 41 | 40 - 31 | 30 - 21 | 20 - 11 | 10 - 01