1. The Shawshank Redemption: Only gets better through repeat viewings.
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: An emotionally and visually stunning journey. My favourite Kauffman film.
3. American Beauty: One of those films that totally changed my view of life at the time, and it still catches me everytime.
4. Fight Club: An edgy, enthralling thrill ride. The first R-rated movie I ever saw.
5. La Vita e Bella: Just heart-wrenching. Holocaust movies are always a sensitive subject, but this one attacks it from an entirely different perspective and succeeds on so many levels.
6. No Country for Old Men: A visually stunning cat and mouse, and ignores so many Hollywood conventions that you can't help but feel sobered by the ending.
7. Stranger Than Fiction: It's cute and quirky, sure, but there's something deeper in the flick. A really good 'serious' outing from Ferrell.
8. The Departed: I would probably prefer Infernal Affairs if it was in English, and definitely prefer the IA ending - but The Departed was slick and stylish, and wonderfully cast.
9. Fellowship of the Ring: I know Return gets all of the props and Towers had more action, but I don't think I ever came out of a movie as buzzed as I did after Fellowship. Just visually stunning, wonderfully cast, and epic in every sense of the word.
10. Oldboy: I dread the day when Hollywood gets ballsy enough to bastardise this into a Hollywood film. The content, the style... it's just a wonderfully made movie.
11. The Green Mile: Like Shawshank, this one is just a beautifully told story. Heart-wrenching and amusing and shocking - it's a ride (to use a cliche) that only improves with time.
12. A Love Song for Bobby Long: I'm sure it wasn't everybody's cup of tea, but I liked the humanity of the drama. It's just a few people and their story without a big budget or epic fight scenes, but it works. Plus, you know, there's some Scarlett Johannsen side-boob
13. Sin City: Translated brilliantly from graphic novel to the big screen without losing any of its style. It's gory and dark and sexy in all of the right places.
14. Pulp Fiction: It's probably a cliche to like this movie, but it's just the complete package. The dialogue and soundtrack, like most everything Tarantino touches, is gold - and the cast has a fantastic chemistry.
15. Battle Royale: Maybe I'm biased because I'm a enamored with CSAMH's game of the same name, but there's something of a guilty pleasure to be found in watching school-children murder one another.
16. The Boondock Saints: It's criminal that this movie wasn't a bigger box office success. It's witty, its violent, and it has Billy fucking Connelly in it!
17. Cruel Intentions: It's no Shakespearean epic, but the sheer steamy sensuality of it scores points for me. There's not a lot of flesh on show, sure, but they say that there's a lot to be said for seduction. Gellar is positively sexual in this.
18. Super Troopers: My favourite comedy film of all time for sheer replay value. I could quote this ad nauseum and never tire of it. Nothing spectacular plot wise, but it's good, innocent fun.
19. Casino Royale: I was never much of a Bond fan, good though the films were, until seeing this. Craig takes the role and reinvents it without the cliches and catch-phrases that had begun to wear thin for me under the previous incarnation. With most of the cheese cut out, it made Bond bad-ass again.
20. Collateral: Another great cat and mouse film, and like No Country, it's delivered with style and flair. Cruise is positively intimidating while Foxx turns whiny bitch without flinching. Thoroughly enjoyable.