What Are The Top Ten Best Films Of All Time?

This is an almost impossible question to answer, tastes vary so drastically from person to person.  Kids will have their own favourites, Italian males will love different films than Australian females, old people different from young etc.

However, I'm willing to tell you ten films that I think you should see!

Leon- Luc Beson, Jean Reno and Natalie Portman in career creating form as the assassin and the little girl who changes his life.

Hot Fuzz - to be honest, it's just bloody funny (it's also clever and well acted)

The Godfather Part 2 - Just seeing Strasberg and Pacino acting together is such a treat.

The Lion King - although it's basically animated Hamlet, it's the most impressive and moving cartoon I've ever seen.

Casablanca - some of the finest examples of unembellished acting on film

Scream - The film that made fun of its own genre

The Hours - tender, slightly depressing but beautifully acted

Gone with the Wind - frankly my dear, an epic that gets better with time

House of Games - the ultimate con film, early Mamet, early Macy, classic con

Run Silent, Run Deep - man against man at the bottom of the ocean, forerunner to Crimson Tide.

I agree with Epicletus - ask 10 people this question and you'll get 10 (or more!) different lists.  But for what it's worth, here's mine, in no particular order:

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY - Blew me away with its imagery and ideas almost 40 years ago, and still does today.

THE GRAND ILLUSION - Lyrical and haunting meditation on war and what it does to people.

THE THIRD MAN - For the cuckoo clock speech alone, but also for its use of camera angles and its understated humor.

CITIZEN KANE - Yes, I know, it's become a cliche and a predictable choice.  But there's a reason why it tops so many all-time lists.

THE CONVERSATION - To me, this is Coppola's real masterwork: a portrait of paranoia and secrecy.  The fact that it came out during Watergate gave it even more resonance.

MANHATTAN - Although it's impossible to see the relationship between Woody Allen and Mariel Hemingway in this movie without now thinking of Soon-Yi, it's still Allen's tour de force; hilarious, romantic and wise.

NASHVILLE - Robert Altman at the peak of his powers.

BRINGING UP BABY - "Oh, you've torn your coat."  Screwball comedy at its screwiest.

CASABLANCA - Arguably one of the greatest screenplays of all time, with the possible exception of the next movie on my list.

THE LION IN WINTER - Oh, man, does this movie have tremendous dialogue! "What shall we hang - the holly or each other?"

I'm limited to 10?  You mean I can't mention SHADOW OF A DOUBT or NASHVILLE or THE GOLD RUSH or M*A*S*H or DR STRANGELOVE or HORSE FEATHERS or SUNSET BOULEVARD or DOUBLE INDEMNITY or THE MALTESE FALCON or THE RETURN OF THE SECAUCUS SEVEN or THE LAST WALTZ or RAGING BULL or SINGIN' IN THE RAIN or OH BROTHER WHERE ART THOU? or SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS or OH LUCKY MAN or THE SIXTH SENSE or. STOP MAKING SENSE or THE GENERAL or MELVIN AND HOWARD or DINER or LOCAL HERO or THE PRINCESS BRIDE or....

Just to throw in more titles in the mix

The Shawshank Redemption
Chariots of Fire
Mississippi Burning
The Untouchables
The GodFather Part 2
Gone with the Wind
Battle of the Bulge
Forever Young
Mad Max 2
A Beautiful Mind