This page contains references to newspaper and magazine articles that contain top film lists.
The 100 Best Movies of All Time (2024) 100 Best Films Ever—A magazine-length publication presented a ranked list of the best films of all time in random order.
The Advertiser (March 13, 1999) 100 Best Films Ever—A poll of 100 filmmakers.
The Advertiser (January 5, 2002)—Critic Stan James chose a list of the best 100 films of all time.
American History Magazine (2009) 100 Greatest Spy Movies—A special issue of the magazine presented its list of the best films on intrigue and espionage.
American History Magazine (2010) 100 Greatest Sports Movies—Another special issue of the magazine presented its list of the best sports films.
Arizona Republic (1998)—This list contains critic Richard Nilsen's 100 greatest foreign films.
Asia Weekly (December 19, 1999) 100 Strongest Chinese Films of the 20th Century—The magazine selected its top 100 films from China.
Atlanta Journal and Constitution (March 18, 2001)—Critics ranked the Academy Award winners for Best Picture and nominated 28 films that should have won.
Baltimore Sun (June 17, 1998)—Using the 400 nominees for the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies list, readers picked their top 100 films.
Biography (August 2003) 100 Unforgettable Movies—The magazine associated with A&E's series presented lists of ten unforgettable films for each of ten different genres. Apparently, the memory span of the list's creators is less than 25 years, because no film on the list was made before 1979.
Blender (November 2005) 100 Greatest Rock & Roll Movies Of All Time —The music magazine picked the best films that exemplify its favored music genre.
Boston Globe (March 21, 1993)—Critic Jay Carr nominated 50 films that he believed should be listed on the National Film Registry. In the updates since this article was published, most of his choices made the Registry.
Boston Herald (April 30, 1999) Film's 100 Best—Critic James Verniere picked his top 100 films.
CFQ: Spotlite (Special issue #2) 50 Greatest Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror DVDs—A special edition of the genre magazine lists its 50 favorite DVDs and DVD sets. This list includes a six-disc set of 27 Universal horror films as one DVD.
Cinemascope (Winter 2000) Best Films Of The 1990's—The magazine polled 150 critics, scholars, filmmakers etc. for the best films of the 1990s.
Cleveland Plain Dealer (January 8, 1995)—Reports on a list that the Cleveland Museum of Art compiled from several lists.
Courier Mail (February 6, 2002) Our 100 Most Popular Movies—An article on a fan poll conducted by the Australian edition of Empire Magazine.
Dallas Morning News (June 14, 1998)—Another list.
Denver Post (June 15, 1998) The 100 greatest Movies of all time—Critic Steven Rosen picked his top 100 American movies.
Empire (December 2000) The 50 Greatest Horror Movies Ever —The magazine picked its greatest horror films in several categories such as "Creature Features," "Nightmare Movies," and "Psychomania."
Empire (January 2001) The 50 Greatest Crime Movies Ever—This time, the magazine picked crime films in categories such as "Courtroom Thrillers," "Heist Movies," and "Organized Crime."
Empire (April 2001) The 50 Greatest Action Movies Ever—The magazine also selected action films in categories such as westerns, war films, and historical epics.
Empire (January 2004) 50 Magical Movie Moments—The British film magazine apologized for a list of stupid movie moments by selecting 50 "magical" moments.
Empire (March 2004) 100 Greatest Movies of All Time—The British film magazine presented the results of a fan poll of great films.
Empire (November 2005-August 2006) All-Time 100—Critic Ian Nathan selected ten representative films in each of ten genres over ten months.
Empire (March 2006) The 201 Greatest Movies of All Time—The British film magazine decided that it had to conduct another greatest films poll.
Empire (Australian edition) (October 2007) 250 Greatest Films You've Never Seen—The film magazine presented 25 films in each of ten categories that its readers have alllegedly never seen.
Empire (June 2008) True Originals—The British film magazine selected 50 of the most groundbreaking films of all time.
Empire (November 2008) The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time—The latest poll from the British film magazine selected 500 of the readers favorite films in a mainstream/popular list.
Empire (June 2009) Masterpiece Special—Director Frank Darabont selected his top-ten films in each of 22 different genres in a mainstream list. For some reason, he may be the only person not to consider The Shawshank Redemption to be one of the top prison films.
Empire (2017) 101 Classic Scenes—A special issue of the magazine presented 101 memorable scenes in a mainstream leaning list.
Empire (July 2017) 100 Greatest Movies—The magazine conducted another poll to determine the top films of all time.
Empire (Autumn 2017) The Greatest Action Movies Ever—Includes films better described as adventure films or thrillers.
Empire (Winter 2017) The Greatest Sci-Fi Movies Ever—Lists films in six generes: Dystopias, Traveling through Time, Outer Space Epics, Alien Contacts, Fantastic Worlds, and Science Out of Control.
Empire (September 2020) Ultimate Movie Playlist—Various filmmakers created lists of films to watch during the pandemic along various themes.
Entertainment Weekly (October 16, 1998) Top 100 Science Fiction Movies/Shows/Books/Radio—The magazine presented its list of the best in science-fiction. Most of the items on the list are films, but a significant minority of items come from other media sources.
Entertainment Weekly (October 12, 2001) 100 Best Movie Soundtracks—Music critic Chris Willman selected 100 of the best examples of movie music.
Entertainment Weekly (May 23, 2003) The Top 50 Cult Movies—The magazine presented its list of the best films adored by a few film fans and unknown to the rest.
Entertainment Weekly (November 28, 2003) The 50 Greatest Tearjerkers—The magazine presents the list of films most likely to make viewers cry. The list was updated at the magazine's Web site in 2007.
Entertainment Weekly (November 25, 2005) Top Jocks—The magazine presented the list of the 30 greatest sports films on DVD with additional lists of documentaries, boxing films, films not on DVD and great films that are questionably about sports.
Entertainment Weekly (June 22, 2007) The 25 greatest action movies of all time! and Ketel One asks, are these the 50 best films of all time?—This issue contained two lists. The cover article presented the magazine's 25 greatest action films. There was also an advertisement from Ketel One presenting a strongly mainstream list of the vodka company's top-50 films. The webmaster does not know why a vodka company decided to do so.
Entertainment Weekly (July 5/12, 2013) The Greatest Films Ever—The magazine presented its 100 best films of all time in a strongly mainstream list.
Entertainment Weekly (special issue, 2016) The Must List—The magazine presented a list of the top films of the last 25 years (1990-2015, which is actually 26 years, but what's a year between friends) as well as top-25 lists for the top sports films, sequels, comedies, biopics, foreign language films (i.e., films not in English), special effects films, and flashback films (i.e., films taking place between 1960 and 1999). Overall, this created a popular leaning list.
Film Comment (September/October 2006) Film Canon—Writer/Director Paul Schrader presented the 60 films in his canon.
Film Review (March 2005) 101 Definitive DVDs—The magazine presents what it considers the most important DVDs and DVD sets.
50 Greatest Westerns: 100 Years of Cowboy Classics (Fall 2014)—A special issue listed top western films.
The Guardian (January 22, 1993)—Presented Cahiers du Cinema's top 100 films on video.
The Guardian (March 25, 1993)—Presented Sight and Sound's top 100 films on video.
The Guardian (May 5, 2006; June 2, 2006) The Top 50 Film Adaptations—The British newspaper set up a panel to select the 50 best adaptations of novels into films. One month later, the newspaper printed a ranked list based on a reader poll.
The Guardian (June 25-29, 2007) 1,000 films to see before you die—The British newspaper's "team of experts" selected its highbrow list of must-see films that also leaned popular.
(Sunday) Herald (January 11, 2004)—Critic Stephen Phelan listed his top 50 feel good films.
Irish Times (December 31, 1994)—Polled 41 filmmakers and compiled their top-10 lists.
Los Angeles Times (April 17, 2005) 129 DVDs You Must Own—Film critic Peter Rainer selected his favorite 129 films that are available on DVD and also named 28 more films that should be on DVD. His list favors films directed by Satyajit Ray and Preston Sturges.
Los Angeles Times (November 13, 2005) 54 That Get It Right—Film critic Carina Chocano describes films that she believes contain "female characters who are complicated, flawed, and ... recognizably human." The same issue also contains DVD recommendations by 12 Times critics in television; popular, Latin, and classical music; fashion; dance; theater; and architecture as well as film.
Los Angeles Times (April 9, 2006)—Film critic Kevin Thomas chooses 75 French films that are worth seeing.
Men's Journal (December 2003) The 50 Best Guy Movies of All Time—The men's magazine picked the best films aimed at slightly less than half of the population. These films promise "big guns, fast cars, dumb jokes, and huge explosions."
Military History Magazine (2007) 100 Greatest War Movies—A special issue of the magazine presented its list of the best war films.
[Minneapolis] Star Tribune (June 11, 1995) It's a Wonderful List—The paper's critics picked their favorite films.
Mojo (April 2013) 100 Greatest Music Films—The music magazine ventured into film by selecting its top-film list, focusing primarily but not exclusively on the rock 'n' roll era.
Movie Insider (2003) 100 Movies That Deserve More Love—The magazine presents some of its favorite overlooked and underrated films.
El Mundo (March 26, 1995) Las 100 Mejores Películas [The 100 Best Films]—The newspaper presented a list that was the result of a poll of 100 international critics.
National Review (October 24, 1994) Your 100 Best Conservative Movies—The magazine selected the best films representing its ideology.
National Review (March 11, 1996) Your 100 Best Conservative Movies—The conservative magazine used reader feedback to amend its list of top films that celebrate war, Christianity, and Michael Curtiz.
New Statesman & Society (February 16, 1996) 100 films that changed the world—Critic Boyd Tonkin selected the most influential films of all time.
Newsday (December 24, 1995) 100 Most Significant Movies of All Time—Critic James Mathews picks his the most important 100 films of all time.
Newsweek Japan (April 30/May 7, 2008)—The Japanese version of Newsweek created its own top-100 list.
O: The Oprah Magazine (July 2004) The 50 Greatest 'Chick' Flicks—Critic Karen Durbin chose her top-50 female empowerment films.
The Observer (February 6, 2000) Your most memorable film moments—The British newspaper published the results of a reader poll of favorite film moments.
The Observer (December 17, 2006) 50 Lost Movie Classics—A panel of the newspaper's film writers and British filmmakers selected some of their favorite overlooked films.
The Observer (March 18, 2007) The 50 greatest film soundtracks—The newspaper chose a "star-studded panel of big screen connoisseurs" to rank the top-50 soundtracks in a mainstream leaning list.
The Observer (July 22, 2007) The last laugh: your favourite 50—The newspaper presented the results of a reader poll of the best comedies.
The Observer (April 13, 2008) The top 50: Philip French's pick of the top 50 films from the past five decades—The newspaper's longtime film critic, Philip French, selected his top films since 1960.
Ottawa Citizen (July 9, 1995) The 100 Best Films of All Time—The article presents a best film list from the Montreal Film Festival.
El Pais (July 8, 1995)—Critic Antonio Albert presented his top-ten films in each of ten genres.
Palm Beach Post (July 24, 2003) Top 50 Sports Movies of All-Time—The Florida newspaper presented its list of the best sports films.
Premiere (October 2002) The 100 Best Movies on DVD (1987-2002)—In a supplement to the October 2002 issue, the magazine picks the top films of the previous 15 years.
Premiere (February 2003) The 100 Best Action Movies on DVD—Four months later, the magazine picked the top action films on DVD.
Premiere (March 2003) The 100 Greatest Movie Moments—In the next month, the magazine picked the top movie moments of all time.
Premiere (December 2003/January 2004) The 75 Most Influential Movies on DVD—The magazine selects films that most heavily influenced other films that readers may have in their DVD collection that make up a mainstream leaning list.
Premiere (April 2004) The 100 Greatest Movie Characters—The film magazine picks memorable characters.
Premiere (April 2006) The 100 Greatest Performances of All Time—The film magazine picks the best acting performances.
Premiere (May 2006) The 101 Greatest Screenplays of All Time—The film magazine published the result of a Writers Guild poll on the best of over 1,400 nominated screenplays.
Premiere (July/August 2006) The 50 Greatest Comedies—The film magazine picked the best comedies.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (December 17, 1997) 100 Faves—Critic Ellen Futterman picked her top American films.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (January 23, 1998) St. Louis' Top 100—The newspaper's readers pick their top American films. Both of the Post-Dispatch lists use films from the 400 nominees for the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies list.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (September 1, 2001) The 100 Best Animal Movies Ever—The newspaper selected the best films with nonhuman actors.
St. Petersburg Times (May 3, 1998) Movies You Love—The newspaper presents the results of its best film poll.
San Diego Union-Tribune (June 28, 1998)—The newspaper picks a list of top films.
San Francisco Chronicle (September 3, 2000; October 1, 2000; November 19, 2000; and December 10, 2000) Building a Video Library—Four of the newspaper's critics pick a total of 223 films that they believe that readers should consider for a video library.
San Jose Mercury News (January 26, 1990)—Critic D. Scott Apel picks the films that he believes that everyone should see.
50 Scariest Movies: 100 Years of Horror Classics (Fall 2014)—A special issue listed top horror films.
The Seattle Times (December 5, 1997) Hartl's Hundred: The Best American Films of All Time—Critic John Hartl picks his top-100 films of all time.
SFX Collection (2009) Five-Star Sci-Fi: Your Guide to the Greatest Sci-Fi Films and TV Ever—A special issue of the magazine presented all the films that received a five-star rating in a popular list.
SFX (May 2012) The Top 100 Science-Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Movies of All Time—A fan poll selected the best 100 (actually 110) genre films of all time with an unusual number of older films for a fan poll.
SFX: The Ultimate Guide to Fantasy (2017) 50 Greatest Fantasy Films Ever—A "bookazine" presented a list of top fantasy films that is heavy on films from the 1980s and light on any film before then.
SFX (2017) 50 Greatest Sci-Fi Movies—A special edition of the magazine presented a list of the top science-fiction films.
Sight and Sound (November 1995)—Sky TV presents its top-100 film list in an advertisement. By coincidence, Sky TV happens to own the rights to all the films on the list.
Sight and Sound (August 2002)—The film magazine presented the results of its decennial poll of film critics and directors.
Sight and Sound (June 2011) Forgotten pleasures of the multiplex—The film magazine asked contributors to nominate underrated mainstream films released from 1981 through 2010.
Sight and Sound (September 2014) Critics' 50 Greatest Documentaries of All Time—The film magazine polled directors and critics for the top documentaries of all time.
Sight and Sound (December 2022) Sight and Sound Presents Ghosts—A special issue of the magazine described the best ghost films.
Sight and Sound (Winter 2022) Greatest Films of All Time—A double issue presented the results of its once-per-decade poll.
Sight and Sound (April 2023) 101 Hidden Gems: One-Vote Wonders from Sight and Sound's Greatest Films of All Time Poll—A selection of films that received only one vote in the poll.
Sports Illustrated (August 4, 2003) The Greatest Sports Movies—The sports magazine tries film criticism and picks the best films about baseball, boxing, horse racing etc.
Starburst (Issue 307) Top 50 Sci-Fi Ever—The magazine created a list of the best examples of science-fiction films, television shows, and books. Approximately 60% of the items listed are films.
Starburst (Issue 473)The Top 100 Sci-Fi Films of All Time (and Space)—Heavy on original-cast Star Trek, Star Wars, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Starburst (Issue 476)The Top 100 Horror Films of All Time—
Starburst (Issue 478)The Superhero 66: The Best Comic Book Movies Ever Made—Does not include non-superhero comic-book films like Ghost World (2001) or Road to Perdition (2002).
Stuff (June 2001) 50 Most Dangerous/Forgotten Movies—The men's magazine picks films that it believes its readers would choose to watch if they did not have to worry about what their female partners would want to watch.
(Sunday) Tasmanian (June 28, 1998) Top 100 Films—Critic Stuart Diwell picks his top-100 film list.
The Telegraph (February 10, 2008) 100 best movie soundtracks—The British newspaper presented its list of the greatest scores in a mainstream leaning list.
The Telegraph (February 18, 2008) The 100 best films—The British newspaper presented its top-ten films in each of ten different genres.
Time (December 9, 2021) The 100 Best Movies of the Past 10 Decades—Stephanie Zacharek picks her top-100 film list.
The Times (October 18, 1997) The Virgin Mega-poll—The newspaper presents the results of a poll of 15,000 Virgin Mega-Store customers in the United Kingdom.
The Times (June 9, 2005) Halliwell's best movies 1-100—The newspaper promotes the new book Halliwell's top 1000 by presenting the top-100 films from that list.
Total Film (May 2002) 50 Movies that Shook the World—The film magazine picked 50 of the most important films ever made.
Total Film (June 2004) 50 Greatest Movie Epics—The film magazine picked 50 of the greatest epic films or film series.
Total Film (November 2004) The 50 Greatest British Movies... Ever—The film magazine picked 49 top British films with an eye to diversity. For example, the list includes films in which Michael Caine did not star. Readers elected the 50th film.
Total Film (Summer 2005) 50 Five Star Movies You've Never Heard Of—The film magazine selects favorite films that it thinks that at least some people never heard of.
Total Film (November 2005) The 50 Greatest Horror Movies Of All Time—The film magazine presents its list of the greatest horror films.
Total Film (2006) Top 100 Movies Of All Time—A special edition of the film magazine presented the results of a fan poll for the best films of all time.
Total Film (August and September 2007) The 100 Greatest Directors Ever—The magazine counted down the 100 greatest directors of all time and nominated a "perfect picture" for each director in a mainstream leaning list. The August issue contained #100 through #51, and the September issue contained the top 50.
Total Film (December 2007) 69 Sexiest Movie Moments—The magazine chose the 69 sexiest moments from 68 different films.
Total Film (May 2009) The 67 Most Influential Films Ever Made—The magazine chose 67 milestone films.
Total Film (November 2010) The Definitive 25 Greatest Horror Movies Ever Made—A poll of critics and filmmakers came up with a list of the best horror films of all time. Despite the title, the article presented a top-50 list.
Total Film (October 2016) 100 Greatest Movie Moments Ever—The magazine celebrated its 250th issue by presenting a list of the greatest moments in film in a mainstream list.
Total Film Film Presents Classic Films: Your Essential Guide to Retro Cinema (March 2017) 10 Films from Early Cinema/10 Films That Defined a Decade—A special edition celebrated classic film by presenting a list of the top ten films from each decade from the 1950s to the 2000s, which resulted in a mainstream-leaning list. All films from 1895 to 1949 were treated as being from one decade.
Total Film/SFX (2018) The Ultimate Guide to Sci-Fi Movies—A "bookazine."
Total Film Film Presents Cult Classics (2021)—Apparently, there were no cult films before 1970. Lists top cult films in categories such as "The Ones That Are so Bad They're Good," "The Ones You Wouldn't Watch with Your Mum," "The Freaks and Geeks," "The Smarter-Than-They-Look Spoofs," "Cult Leaders" (mostly directors with their top cult films), "The Ones Everyone Heard of but Haven't Seen," "The Rebels without a Crew," "The Misunderstood Masterpieces," and "So Cult It's Not."
Trains Magazine (2010) 100 Greatest Train Movies—The magazine selected the best films about trains, or that included a scene with a train, or had the word, "train," in the title.
Vancouver Sun (October 4, 2007) 100 Greatest Films—The newspaper presented its mainstream/highbrow leaning list of the best films.
Vanity Fair (September 2005) 50 Greatest Films—The magazine presents its version of the best films of all time.
Washington Post (August 27, 1977)—Staff critics picked their top 50 films.
Washington Post (March 21, 1999)—The newspaper presented a list of prominent films that did not win an Academy Award for Best Picture.
Wild West Magazine (2008) 100 Greatest Westerns—A special issue of the magazine presented its list of the best westerns.
Zombies: The Ultimate Celebration (Spring 2016) The 66 Greatest Zombie Movies Ever—Another "bookazine," this time on zombies. It includes a list that may be a surprise to some who did not know that there were 66 zombie films worthy of being on a greatest list.