The 10 Best Movies of All Time.
Welcome to my first post!
Howdy!
Welcome to The Entertainment Journal! A brand new digital “magazine” that focuses on movie, TV show, and book reviews. Though, if you read the description, you’re probably wondering about the “more” part. Well, that’s for occasional updates on my business, Free Play Studios, and maybe some writing tips.
I wanted to start my Substack on a high note. So, what better way to do it than to rank what I believe to be the best movies of all time?
(If you see a *, it means the description contains spoilers.)
Number 10:
The Green Mile
Studio:
Warner Bros.
“I’m tired, boss,”
Iconic for the movie theater scene, The Green Mile follows Paul Edgecomb, and his experiences as a death row guard during what he calls “The John Coffey Years”. This movie is what I consider one of the saddest movies. From the beginning, you do not believe John Coffey to be a bad man. Throughout the movie, he helps each person he meets. Paul with his urinary infection, the dead mouse, ect. But it’s the ending. He has the chance to escape. Paul and the other guards want it to happen, but he refuses. Instead, he asks to watch a movie. He watches it, and the next night, he gets electrocuted in the chair. I very much recommend watching it, but beware, it is sad.
Number 9: Blade Runner (1982)
Studio:
Warner Bros.
“I need the old Blade Runner, I need your magic.”
A dystopian tale that tells what happens when machine and man are too much alike. While I stand against AI and things in that sense, this story introduces philosophical questions. Ridley Scott is at his finest here, a genius of directing. I won’t spoil the story, go watch it.
Number 8: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb*
Studio:
Columbia Pictures
“Mein Fuhrer, I can walk!”
Even with the long title, this movie is the perfect satire in the worst. The decision to make the movie about, well, the end, a comedy is perfect. It all perfectly leads up to the end, where the nuclear holocaust ensues accompanied by Vera Lynn’s We’ll Meet Again. Again, ironically, because I don’t think anyone will meet again after that.
Number 7: The Truman Show*
Paramount
“In case I don’t see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night.”
What if you found out your entire life was a 24/7 TV show? Well, sometimes it certainly feels like one. This movie explores that in what I believe to be Jim Carrey’s best performance. The movie is never slow and instead moves at a steady pace. It follows John Truby’s 7 steps perfectly and has some of the best shots. The ending is perfect, Truman walks up a dreamy sky painted staircase to a door. It looks perfect and also makes a great Dreamcore image. It even has an underlying theme that everyone’s attention span is so low, and expectations in movies are so high, that the minute it ends you stop caring. I’m looking at you, security guards.
Number 6: Gladiator*
Studio:
Paramount
“Are you not entertained?!”
It’s not just that it’s a great movie, I’m also named after the main character, Maximus Decimus Meridius. It is the story of riches to rags to riches(?) again. The story goes well with the sequel, Gladiator 2, and I recommend watching them as 1 movie. The villain is also perfect, as you almost get his side. He was supposed to be king, and when his father was instead going to give the position to another man, he kills him and turns the man into a slave. See what I mean? Imagine your dad owning Apple and giving the ownership to, I don’t know, Chris Evans.
Number 5: It’s a Wonderful Life
Studio:
Paramount
“Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings.”
Of angels and men, this movie shows how different the world would be without one person. I refuse to spoil this, it is a masterpiece of the Christmas movie genre and, for a movie of its age, explores some dark themes.
Number 4: Spirited Away*
Studio:
Studio Ghibli
“Once You’ve Met Someone You Never Really Forget Them.”
Hayao Miyazaki’s first Oscar winner, and the first anime to win an Oscar. While some Anime can be… questionable, Miyazaki explores worlds I can only describe as dreamlike. It follows a young girl, Chihero, moving to a new town. On the way there, they find an abandoned “amusement park” (at least that’s what the father says). The parents begin to eat some random food that appears fresh (Weird and gross), and Chihero, refusing to eat the food, begins to explore. Soon the sun begins to set, and she returns to her parents, turned into pigs. Spirits roam everywhere and she gets a job at a spirit bathhouse. It is a very good movie and includes the very interesting No-Face character. It definitely deserved its Oscar.
Number 3: The Wind Rises
Studio:
Studio Ghibli
“Japanese Boy, you're 10 years in the sun, did you live them well?”
Two Miyazaki movies in a row. This is my personal favorite movie, and it follows airplane designer Jiro Horikoshi designing the Zero Plane. It has a romance subplot, but I can’t get into it without spoilers. I plan on doing a full length review of this soon. I will say, it had the saddest, yet most hopeful ending I have ever seen.
Number 2:
2001: a space odyssey.
Studio:
Warner Bros.
“I am sorry Dave, I’m feeling much better now.”
A movie that breaks all the rules of filmmaking, 2001, is the greatest odyssey mankind has ever gone on. Every little thing is thought out, down to the song Hal sings, Daisy. The song itself doesn’t have much meaning, but it’s the background info that it was the first song sung by a computer. Again, I won’t be giving spoilers, but I will say that my personal head cannon is that the Monolith is God in this movie, not aliens. Go watch this.
Number 1:
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya.
Studio:
Studio Ghibli
“Birds, Bugs, Beasts, Grass, Flowers and Trees,”
I know what you’re thinking, “What the heck is this? I was expecting ‘Citizens Caine’, not an animated movie. Are you a man child or something?” My answer? This is a masterpiece, and the fact that even though it’s animated, it is the most real movie I have seen. Even Rotten Tomatoes agrees with me, as they gave it a 100%. The song throughout the movie matches the theme and the ending. Everything about this movie is well thought. It’s about a bamboo cutter in feudal Japan who finds a baby in one of the stalks. She grows quickly, and as the man also finds gold and valuable silk from more bamboo, they end up moving to the rich town to make her a princess. She doesn’t want to go, and in fact loves the ‘poor lifestyle’. When they go to the big house, she stops growing quickly. After many conflicts, including the princes of the east trying to marry her, it is revealed that (bear with me) she was from the moon, and the king from there is trying to take her back. The king is, in fact, Buddha, and before you ask, no. Her efforts to stay don’t work. Explaining this movie doesn’t do it justice. Go to Walmart, Amazon, or HBO Max and watch this movie beginning to end. Some may disagree, but for me, this is in fact the greatest movie ever made.
Runners Up:
Whisper of the Heart: Believe it or not, this is the origin of the Lo-Fi Girl livestream that every student trying to get their homework done 10 minutes before its due has listened to. Written by Miyazaki, it follows Seiji as she struggles to write a novel.
Full Metal Jacket: Very violent, not for the faint of heart. Follows the horrors of Vietnam.
ET: While it’s a good movie, the part where the military gets involved weighs it down for me personally.
Vertigo: Also good, but did not fit onto the list.
…and that’s it! My top 10 list. I hope you enjoyed it.
Before I go, I wanted to give some announcements about my upcoming projects.
First, I want to announce The Legend of Fungi, an estimated 1h 15m film that will (hopefully) release November 1st, 2025. It’s about Fungi, a village member with depression, who volunteers to help Alexander, an experienced Knight, stop Knight Terror from taking the Cube of Dimensions for the Colonel. For those who like fantasy, this is for you.
Second, I have begun working on a short story collection called Inquiring Tales. While I will not disclose the stories being included in it, keep watch of an upcoming excerpt.
Third, I will post reviews of THE WIND RISES and Oppenheimer as a double-feature review soon.
I hope you enjoyed, and I want to know your top 10 movie lists! And as always, if I don’t see you, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!
None of this should be used to train AI.
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Great list!