You only get one life — you'll never know what it feels like to be a mob boss, to walk out of prison after twenty years, to fly through a wormhole and leave your daughter behind. But a movie can do that. In two hours you borrow someone's entire life, and come back carrying their fear, their choices, their regret. The IMDb Top 250 is humanity's list of the 250 lives most worth borrowing, curated across a century of filmmaking. Finishing it won't make you a critic. But you'll understand the world — and yourself — a little better than most people do.

Tasks

250 total

1The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

2The Godfather (1972)

3The Dark Knight (2008)

4The Godfather Part II (1974)

512 Angry Men (1957)

6The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

7Schindler's List (1993)

8The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

9Pulp Fiction (1994)

10The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

11The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)

12Forrest Gump (1994)

13Fight Club (1999)

14Inception (2010)

15The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

16The Matrix (1999)

17GoodFellas (1990)

18Interstellar (2014)

19One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

20Se7en (1995)

21It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

22The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

23Seven Samurai (1954)

24Saving Private Ryan (1998)

25The Green Mile (1999)

26City of God (2002)

27Life Is Beautiful (1997)

28Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

29Star Wars (1977)

30Back to the Future (1985)

31Spirited Away (2001)

32The Pianist (2002)

33Gladiator (2000)

34Parasite (2019)

35Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

36Psycho (1960)

37The Lion King (1994)

38Harakiri (1962)

39The Departed (2006)

40Whiplash (2014)

41Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair (2011)

42The Prestige (2006)

43American History X (1998)

44Léon: The Professional (1994)

45Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

46Cinema Paradiso (1988)

47Casablanca (1943)

48The Intouchables (2011)

49The Usual Suspects (1995)

50Alien (1979)

51Django Unchained (2012)

52Rear Window (1954)

53Modern Times (1936)

54Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

55City Lights (1931)

56Apocalypse Now (1979)

57WALL·E (2008)

58Memento (2000)

59Dune: Part Two (2024)

60Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

61Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

62The Lives of Others (2006)

63Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

64Sunset Boulevard (1950)

65Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

66Paths of Glory (1957)

67The Shining (1980)

68The Great Dictator (1940)

69Inglourious Basterds (2009)

7012th Fail (2023)

71Aliens (1986)

72High and Low (1963)

73Good Will Hunting (1997)

74Avengers: Endgame (2019)

75The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

76Coco (2017)

77Amadeus (1984)

78Toy Story (1995)

79Project Hail Mary (2026)

80Your Name. (2016)

81Das Boot (1981)

82Oldboy (2003)

83Braveheart (1995)

84Princess Mononoke (1997)

85Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

863 Idiots (2009)

87American Beauty (1999)

88Capernaum (2018)

89Singin' in the Rain (1952)

90Joker (2019)

91Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

92Come and See (1985)

93Return of the Jedi (1983)

94Requiem for a Dream (2000)

95Toy Story 3 (2010)

96Ikiru (1952)

97The Hunt (2012)

98Incendies (2010)

99Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

100The Apartment (1960)

101Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

102Heat (1995)

1032001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

104Scarface (1983)

105Reservoir Dogs (1992)

106Up (2009)

107Double Indemnity (1944)

108North by Northwest (1959)

109Like Stars on Earth (2007)

110Full Metal Jacket (1987)

111M (1931)

112Amélie (2001)

113Vertigo (1958)

114Citizen Kane (1941)

115A Separation (2011)

116Die Hard (1988)

117To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

118Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

119The Sting (1973)

120A Clockwork Orange (1971)

121Metropolis (1927)

1221917 (2019)

123Snatch (2000)

124The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

125L.A. Confidential (1997)

126Downfall (2004)

127Dangal (2016)

128The Truman Show (1998)

129Bicycle Thieves (1948)

130Green Book (2018)

131Oppenheimer (2023)

132Shutter Island (2010)

133Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

134Batman Begins (2005)

135Hamilton (2025)

136For a Few Dollars More (1965)

137Jurassic Park (1993)

138Taxi Driver (1976)

139Some Like It Hot (1959)

140I Swear (2025)

141There Will Be Blood (2007)

142The Father (2020)

143The Kid (1921)

144All About Eve (1950)

145The Sixth Sense (1999)

146Ran (1985)

147Casino (1995)

148No Country for Old Men (2007)

149The Thing (1982)

150Prisoners (2013)

151Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

152Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

153Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

154Unforgiven (1992)

155A Beautiful Mind (2001)

156The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

157Howl's Moving Castle (2004)

158Finding Nemo (2003)

159Klaus (2019)

160Yojimbo (1961)

161The Great Escape (1963)

162The Elephant Man (1980)

163Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

164Dial M for Murder (1954)

165Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle (2025)

166The Best of Youth (2003)

167The Secret in Their Eyes (2009)

168Gone with the Wind (1939)

169Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)

170Chinatown (1974)

171V for Vendetta (2006)

172Catch Me If You Can (2002)

173Inside Out (2015)

174Rashomon (1950)

175Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)

176Trainspotting (1996)

177The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

178Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)

179Dead Poets Society (1989)

180The Wild Robot (2024)

181Warrior (2011)

182Barry Lyndon (1975)

183Fargo (1996)

184Ben-Hur (1959)

185Million Dollar Baby (2004)

186Raging Bull (1980)

187Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

188Hacksaw Ridge (2016)

189Children of Heaven (1997)

190My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

191Gran Torino (2008)

192Ratatouille (2007)

19312 Years a Slave (2013)

194The Chaos Class Failed the Class (1975)

195The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

196Before Sunrise (1995)

197Memories of Murder (2003)

198How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

199Blade Runner (1982)

200Gone Girl (2014)

201Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

202Monsters, Inc. (2001)

203Jaws (1975)

204Ford v Ferrari (2019)

205In the Name of the Father (1993)

206Wild Tales (2014)

207The Gold Rush (1925)

208Mary and Max (2009)

209Sherlock Jr. (1924)

210The Deer Hunter (1978)

211The Wages of Fear (1953)

212The General (1926)

213Logan (2017)

214Rocky (1976)

215Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

216Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

217Tokyo Story (1953)

218On the Waterfront (1954)

219A Silent Voice: The Movie (2016)

220La Haine (1995)

221Spotlight (2015)

222Wild Strawberries (1957)

223The Terminator (1984)

224The Sound of Music (1965)

225Jai Bhim (2021)

226Maharaja (2024)

227The Third Man (1949)

228The Big Lebowski (1998)

229Chainsaw Man - The Movie: Reze Arc (2025)

230The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

231Before Sunset (2004)

232The Seventh Seal (1957)

233Room (2015)

234Hotel Rwanda (2004)

235The Incredibles (2004)

236Platoon (1986)

237Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009)

238The Exorcist (1973)

239Rush (2013)

240The Iron Giant (1999)

241The Wizard of Oz (1939)

242Stand by Me (1986)

243The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

244The Battle of Algiers (1966)

245My Father and My Son (2005)

246The Handmaiden (2016)

247Network (1976)

248Drishyam (2015)

249Gangs of Wasseypur - Part 1 (2012)

250Lost Ladies (2024)

The IMDb Top 250 Movies

Tasks