Everyone has that one friend. The one who insists that if you haven't seen a four-hour black-and-white epic about a farmer in post-war Italy, you don't actually "get" cinema. It's exhausting. But here’s the thing: those pretentious conversations usually start with the same document. Whether it's the Sight & Sound poll or the American Film Institute’s rankings, a 100 greatest movies of all time list isn't just a list. It’s a battlefield.
Lately, the ground is shifting. For decades, the "greatest" tag was a gated community. You had Citizen Kane sitting at the top like an untouchable king, with The Godfather and Vertigo fighting for the silver medal. Then 2022 happened, and the British Film Institute’s Sight & Sound poll—the one critics take way too seriously—crowned Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles as the best ever.
It sent the internet into a total meltdown. Paul Schrader, the guy who wrote Taxi Driver, called it a "politically correct rejiggering." Others cheered because, honestly, seeing the same five dudes at the top for sixty years gets boring.
The Myth of the Perfect 100 Greatest Movies of All Time List
Lists are lies. Or at least, they're snapshots of what a specific group of people valued at a specific second in time. When the AFI dropped its 10th Anniversary list back in 2007, it was very "Hollywood-centric." It felt like a warm hug from your grandpa. The Wizard of Oz, Singin' in the Rain, Casablanca. All great, obviously. But it ignored basically everything made outside the US.
The 2026 perspective is different. We're seeing a massive collision between "Old Guard" critics and the "Letterboxd generation."
If you look at modern aggregators like They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?—which basically blends every major list into one giant math equation—you see a weird tension. The math says Citizen Kane is still the GOAT. But if you poll 1,000 random people at a multiplex, they're going to tell you it's The Dark Knight or The Shawshank Redemption.
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Neither side is "wrong," but they are speaking different languages. One values historical "firsts." The other values how a movie makes you feel on a Tuesday night.
Why Citizen Kane Still Refuses to Die
Orson Welles was 25 when he made Citizen Kane. Think about that. Most of us at 25 are just trying to figure out how to fold a fitted sheet. Welles was reinventing how cameras moved.
Critics keep it on the 100 greatest movies of all time list because it’s basically the "Source Code" of modern movies. Deep focus photography? Kane. Non-linear storytelling that doesn't treat the audience like idiots? Kane. It's the movie that taught everyone else how to use the toolkit. Even if it feels a bit "eat your vegetables" to watch now, you can't erase the DNA it left behind.
The Modern Shakeup: Beyond the Usual Suspects
In the last few years, the "canon" has been forced to open its doors. It's not just about being "woke" or whatever the latest buzzword is. It's about realizing that great movies weren't just being made in California or Paris.
- In the Mood for Love (2000): Wong Kar-wai’s masterpiece has rocketed up the rankings. It’s a movie about a missed connection and beautiful wallpaper, and somehow it’s more intense than an Avengers movie.
- Parasite (2019): This was a literal game-changer. It proved a non-English film could dominate the global conversation and the Oscars simultaneously. It’s already cracking top 100 lists everywhere.
- Mulholland Drive (2001): David Lynch’s surrealist nightmare is the highest-ranked 21st-century film on many serious lists. It’s basically a puzzle that has no solution, and we love it for that.
The "temporal bias" is real, though. Critics usually wait 20 years before they let a movie into the "Greatest" club. They want to see if it rots or if it stays fresh.
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The Letterboxd Effect
Social media changed the math. Before, you needed a PhD or a newspaper column to influence the canon. Now? You just need a funny one-liner and 50,000 followers on Letterboxd.
This has led to the "climbing" of movies like Come and See or Portrait of a Lady on Fire. These aren't just "good" movies; they are movies that have found a second life through digital word-of-mouth. The 2026 landscape shows that the public's 100 greatest movies of all time list is becoming more diverse and experimental than the critics' lists used to be.
How to Actually Use These Lists Without Losing Your Mind
If you're looking at a 100 greatest movies of all time list and feeling overwhelmed, you're doing it wrong. Don't treat it like a syllabus for a class you're going to fail.
Treat it like a menu.
Some nights you want a $50 steak (Seven Samurai). It’s long, it’s expensive to produce, and it’s a masterpiece. Other nights you want a really high-end burger (Jaws). It’s "popular" art, but it’s executed so perfectly that it becomes high art.
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The "Big Three" Lists to Track
- Sight & Sound (BFI): The "Snob" list. Updated every 10 years. This is where you go for intellectual street cred.
- AFI 100 Years... 100 Movies: The "American" list. It’s a bit dated now, but it’s the best guide for the Golden Age of Hollywood.
- IMDb Top 250: The "People's Choice." It’s heavily skewed toward movies made after 1990, but it reflects what people actually enjoy watching on their sofas.
What's Missing?
Honestly? Comedy.
The biggest flaw in almost every 100 greatest movies of all time list is the lack of laughs. For some reason, people think "greatness" has to be miserable. You’ll find Schindler’s List and Stalker (a movie about people walking through a damp field), but you rarely see Annie Hall or Some Like It Hot in the top 10.
Making people cry is easy. Killing a dog on screen is a cheap trick. Making someone laugh for two hours? That’s high-wire act stuff. If your personal list doesn't have a comedy, you're taking life too seriously.
Actionable Insights for the Aspiring Cinephile
If you want to tackle the "Greatest" lists without burning out, here is a simple plan that actually works:
- Don't watch chronologically. Watching The Birth of a Nation followed by Sunrise is a great way to never want to watch a movie again. Mix it up. Pair a 1940s Noir with a 2010s Sci-Fi.
- Use the "Double Feature" trick. Watch Hidden Fortress and then watch Star Wars. Watch The Searchers and then Breaking Bad. Seeing how greatness evolves makes the older films feel more alive.
- Ignore the rankings. The difference between #1 and #47 is usually just three critics having a bad lunch. If a movie is on the list, it's worth a look. The specific number doesn't matter.
- Trust your gut. If you watch 2001: A Space Odyssey and you think it’s a boring movie about a floating baby, that’s fine. You’re allowed to hate the "greats." Just be able to explain why.
Cinema is changing. The technology is getting wilder, the stories are getting more global, and the gatekeepers are losing their keys. Whether you're a Godfather loyalist or a Jeanne Dielman convert, the best movie of all time is usually just the one that changed the way you saw the world the next morning.
To start your journey, pick one movie from the top 10 of the Sight & Sound list and one from the IMDb Top 250. Compare them. You'll quickly see that "greatness" isn't a single destination—it's a massive, messy, beautiful conversation that's been going on for over a century.
Now, go find something to watch.