Movies. Films. Hollywood. All these things come to mind when thinking about cinema. Movies have been entertaining folks for centuries. They have evolved so much over the years going from silent films, to black and white, to colored, to classical musicals and even CGI sci-fi adventures. But whatever the genre may be or the actors who star in the films or even the award winning director behind the camera… Movies are all created for the same thing, for people to go to the theaters to disconnect from reality and be enchanted by the new world brought before their eyes. 

As an entertainment columnist, I am quite the movie buff. So as a certified cinephilia I’ve watched my fair share of movies, mostly good titles but there are a few questionable ones up for debate on this list. All of these top popular movie choices are specifically chosen to be one you need to watch at least once in your lifetime.

Animated Feature

• The Iron Giant (1999)
• Shrek (2001)
• Monsters Inc. (2001)
• Shrek 2 (2004)
• Meet the Robinsons (2007)
• Any Studio Ghibli film, especially Ponyo (2008)
• Coraline (2009)
• The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021)

Oscar Worthy Films/Performances

• Dead Poets Society (1989)
• Juno (2007)
• Beautiful Boy (2018)
• Jojo Rabbit (2019)

Family Friendly 

• Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
• Hook (1991)
• Jumanji (1995)
• No One Would Tell (1996)
• A Knight’s Tale (2001)
• Holes (2003)
• Little Manhattan (2005)
• The Game Plan (2007)
• Wonder (2017)

Sci-Fi Adventure

• Star Wars: Episode IV- A New Hope (1977)
• Star Wars: Episode V- The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
• E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982)
• Star Wars: Episode VI- Return of the Jedi (1983)

Fantasy Quests

• The Goonies (1985)
• The Princess Bride (1987)
• Willow (1988)
• Quest For Camelot (1998)
• Ever After (1998)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
• The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
• Stardust (2007)

Cult Classic Films 

• The Karate Kid (1984)
• Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
• Back to the Future (1985)
• Pretty in Pink (1986)
• Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
• The Lost Boys (1987)
• Back to the Future Part II (1989)
• Edward Scissorhands (1990)
• Back to the Future Part III (1990)
• Almost Famous (2000)
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)
• The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
• Edge of Seventeen (2016)

Thee Timothee Chalamet Trilogy

• Lady Bird (2017)
• Call Me By Your Name (2017)
• Little Women (2019)

Cringe Worthy Rom-Coms

• Love Story (1970)
• When Harry Met Sally (1990)
• Clueless (1995)
• 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
• 13 Going On 30 (2004)
• The Corpse Bride (2005)
• Aquamarine (2006)
• Warm Bodies (2013)

Comedy

• Planes, Trains, and Automobile (1987)
• Big (1988)
• My Cousin Vinny (1992)
• Groundhog Day (1993)
• Son in Law (1993)
• Big Daddy (1999)
• Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
• She’s the Man (2006)
• Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
• Easy A (2010)
• The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022)

Festive Holiday Classics

• Scrooged (1988)
• National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)
• Home Alone (1990)
• The Muppets Christmas Carol (1992)
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
• Fred Claus (2007)
• Last Christmas (2019)

Superhero

• Superman II (1980)
• Batman Returns (1992)
• Spider-Man 2 (2004)
• Kick-Ass (2010)
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
• Doctor Strange (2016)
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

Golden Age of Television

• The Twilight Zone (1959-1964)
• Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood (1968-2001)
• Saturday Night Live (1975- )
• Seinfeld (1989-1998)
• Frasier (1993-2004)
• Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000)
• Monk (2002-2009)
• The Office (2005-2013)
• Gravity Falls (2012-2016)
• Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015-2020)
• Fleabag (2016-2019)
• Little Women on Masterpiece (2017)
• Bluey (2018-)
• Dash & Lily (2020)