Huge (600+) List of Movies Everyone Should See
There are so many good, classic, culturally relevant films out there and I wanted to make sure that my kids leave home having seen most of them, so this is my (ridiculously anal-retentive) effort at organizing towards that goal.
The movies are ordered based on how we will view them as a family, starting when our kid is at age 5 (or thereabouts), so the first movies are pre-school friendly and they go up in age/maturity until they are watching things like 'Saving Private Ryan'. Although the movie order may seem a bit random, I specifically tried to do it that way in order to mix up the genre/tone/style so that each movie could be seen on it's own merit rather than compared to something very similar. So, for example, I don't simply go through and list all the Disney animated movies in a block, but rather break them up with animated movies from other studios or even some live-action films in between. Or I made sure something like 'Babe' was not next to 'Charlotte's Web', since they have a fairly similar feel. So while I do apologize that this massive list may seem disorganized, please be aware that this is why it is the way it is.
Please note that I am approaching this as an educational opportunity (teaching about our popular culture, movie making history, and appreciation of film mediums) as much as an entertainment opportunity, so my choices reflect that. I do not have every (or even most) Oscar winning films - this is a list of movies that either 'everyone has seen', movies that greatly impacted our culture in some way, or are great examples of a genre/style/etc. This means that I have examples of genres that I'm not a huge fan of (like Westerns, stupid comedies, and Horror) simply to provide a well-rounded selection. This is not an exhaustive list, but it should provide a fairly good overview. I viewed many 'top ten' lists to try to get a sampling of almost everything. And, besides the movies actually listed, I mention quite a few more in the comments (especially sequels) for those interested. Almost everything here is highly rated (over 6 stars), but there are exceptions. I also include upcoming movies that may or may not stay on this list (depending on whether they turn out to be well done or not).
I frequently add discussion ideas for you to bring up with your kids (or project ideas for some of the younger ages) as I am also posting this list with the idea that it would be read by a parent planning to watch these movies with their child.
Many of the age ratings came from CommonSenseMedia. I stuck fairly close to their recommendations for the first several years, but then don't bother for the later ones (I didn't always agree with those age-ratings and feel more relaxed about what an older child sees anyway). If you are interested in films for supplementing history studies, see my other lists!
As always, parental discretion is advised!
The movies are ordered based on how we will view them as a family, starting when our kid is at age 5 (or thereabouts), so the first movies are pre-school friendly and they go up in age/maturity until they are watching things like 'Saving Private Ryan'. Although the movie order may seem a bit random, I specifically tried to do it that way in order to mix up the genre/tone/style so that each movie could be seen on it's own merit rather than compared to something very similar. So, for example, I don't simply go through and list all the Disney animated movies in a block, but rather break them up with animated movies from other studios or even some live-action films in between. Or I made sure something like 'Babe' was not next to 'Charlotte's Web', since they have a fairly similar feel. So while I do apologize that this massive list may seem disorganized, please be aware that this is why it is the way it is.
Please note that I am approaching this as an educational opportunity (teaching about our popular culture, movie making history, and appreciation of film mediums) as much as an entertainment opportunity, so my choices reflect that. I do not have every (or even most) Oscar winning films - this is a list of movies that either 'everyone has seen', movies that greatly impacted our culture in some way, or are great examples of a genre/style/etc. This means that I have examples of genres that I'm not a huge fan of (like Westerns, stupid comedies, and Horror) simply to provide a well-rounded selection. This is not an exhaustive list, but it should provide a fairly good overview. I viewed many 'top ten' lists to try to get a sampling of almost everything. And, besides the movies actually listed, I mention quite a few more in the comments (especially sequels) for those interested. Almost everything here is highly rated (over 6 stars), but there are exceptions. I also include upcoming movies that may or may not stay on this list (depending on whether they turn out to be well done or not).
I frequently add discussion ideas for you to bring up with your kids (or project ideas for some of the younger ages) as I am also posting this list with the idea that it would be read by a parent planning to watch these movies with their child.
Many of the age ratings came from CommonSenseMedia. I stuck fairly close to their recommendations for the first several years, but then don't bother for the later ones (I didn't always agree with those age-ratings and feel more relaxed about what an older child sees anyway). If you are interested in films for supplementing history studies, see my other lists!
As always, parental discretion is advised!
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