I had hoped initially to limit myself to a list of ten or so films, but found that impossible. So I decided to expand the list to ten films per genre. Things spiraled out of control from there, sort of like when that scruffy bloke shot the Archduke. I didn't imagine it could be hard, since somebody once told me that there are perhaps seven or eight genres. The person who told me that was clearly a moron, because I've come up with 22. (Who's the bigger moron - he for saying it or me for believing it?) Even at that high number, I'm up nights worrying that I've left some genres out. In fact, it occurs to me that nowhere on this list will you find documentaries, the realization of which has just now given me a nervous twitch below my left eye.

Compiling this list has been, for me, obsessive-compulsive disorder of the worst sort. What started as a lark has kept me anxious for over a year now. During the same period of time, my friend Guillermo del Toro has directed three movies and written 12 novels. The invaluable lesson I have learned is that the next time a film student asks my opinion of anything, I shall go into witness protection. Two important caveats:

1. What follows is not to be confused with a 'best' list. I hate 'best' lists. They are compiled by arrogant fools for the satisfaction of provoking other arrogant fools into spewing angry rebuttals, and before you know it everybody's all puffed-up and dancing around like mountain apes. Stop it, really. Just because I have my favorites, it doesn't mean I think yours suck. I offer my list as highly subjective opinion, not empirically provable fact. If you disagree with it, don't freak out. Instead, be constructive and send me your list so I can fill some of the gaps in my film education.
2. Films are not listed in order of preference, and my genre headings are loose definitions at best. Yes, I'm painfully aware that The Godfather could just as well be listed under 'drama' as 'gangster film'. Yes, Rollerball might be deemed 'science-fiction' rather than 'sports'. Whatever your opinion on these matters, you're absolutely right."

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Your Comments

1	Major ommissions
	Posted on Saturday May 30, 2009, 17:11 by Rusty2046
	WESTERNS: Johnny Guitar, My Darling Clementine; GANGTERS: Once Upon A Time in America (full version); ROMANTIC COMEDY: The Graduate ; SOCIO-POLITICAL: Z; THRILLER: Vertigo; PRISON: Shawshank Redemption Overall a great list & good to see so many Kubrick films. Read More
2	'Favourite' Movies I would watch again & again
	Posted on Tuesday May 19, 2009, 16:40 by esterlinha X
	I like Big Lists, so I was interested to see Mr.Darabont's choices. I prefer to read 'Favourite' lists rather than critic's choices. Favourite Movies are those to watch again & again. I don't claim to have seen even half of his selections & probably won't, though I do have a big movie collection, both on video & DVD. I recently listed my Favourite 25 on my facebook page & I only match 6 of Mr.Darabonts. I doubt if I could even think of any Rom-Coms or silent era films to make my Top 223. 'The Shawshank Redemption' is an obvious omission but I guess Mr.Darabont chose to leave his own movies out. Surprised that he couldn't find a place for 'Withnail & I' or 'Silver Streak' in his comedies, or 'Carlito's Way' & 'Once Upon a Time in America' from his Gangster flicks. Also, I reckon 'Sunshine' is the best Sci-Fi movie of recent years, only rivalled by 'Solaris'. Finally, what genre would 'Kes' come under ? Drama, I'm guessing. Read More
3	RE:
	Posted on Monday May 18, 2009, 18:07 by directorscut
	Why do I get the feeling that the people with a couple of posts are Empire sockpuppets?  And why do they always seem to pop up in threads like this?  Do Empire need to show Frankie this thread and tell him "Look! People are discussing your list!" Read More
4
	Posted on Sunday May 17, 2009, 20:25 by Mopictures
	No list will ever be long enough. That's the beauty of film. Great selection, Frank. I will henceforth endeavor to locate and digest all the films that I haven't yet seen (The fact that I haven't seen some of these is actually ridiculous!) starting with Unforgiven which I purchased the other day anyway! The Shawshank Redemption is one of the films that made me decide to get into this business (Fledgling) and it deserves to be on your list. PS. So great to see Blazing Saddles on a top 10 list of comedies. Best funny they ever was. Read More
5	Thanks Frank
	Posted on Sunday May 17, 2009, 15:18 by oll
	I have to say I agree with most of Frank Darabont's favourites myself, but there are a few notable admissions like 'The Big Lebowski'. Perhaps, it was a casualty of having to narrow down each genre to only 10 films or maybe it just didn't strike the same chord with Darabont as it did with me but in the minuscule chance he hasn't seen it I'd urge him to rectify that. I really enjoyed reading the lists too, each film set off so many memories, if you're reading this comment thanks for taking the time to write them. Now I'm off to add the ones I've not seen to my DVD rental list. Read More
6	Frank is King
	Posted on Saturday May 16, 2009, 10:12 by paganprincess
	What a great list! Some of these films I have not seen in years and will definitately view them again. I would have liked to see Brokeback Mountain mentioned in the western category or romance, and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon one of my favourite Chinese movies. Though I'm not quite sure which category it would be in. Read More
7
	Posted on Friday May 15, 2009, 16:41 by nightspring
	WOW, its makes you realise how many great films you have fogot abot - except the sad gits that keep running tables!!!! ANyway what about Where Eagles Dare, The Hustler, King Rat (fantastic) Kind Hearts & Coronets, Searchers, BTTF, Vertigo, 39 Steps and Enter The Dragon....blah blah blah. As far as genres, the SUperhero genre is popular now, and I would have Dark Knight & Spidey2 in any list Frank, you should also haev included most of your own...I hated the Mist at the time, but I cannot get it out of my head!!!!!!! Read More
8
	Posted on Friday May 15, 2009, 10:46 by murrayjoel
	Interestamundo! If it had been my list I would have made room in there somewhere for Heat, Fight Club and West Side Story. Also, I cant help but think of Schindler's list as a war film rather than a prison film. Frank, just take Schindler out of prison, put him in war and then we have room for the Shawshank Redemption in prison. Sorted! Do you know how many people scoff at me when i tell them that E.T. is one of my favourite films in the world ever? Likewise if i say that I think Titanic was amazing, everyone tells me I'm stupid. Well Fuck you everybody! Darabont's word is LAW! (opinionated law) Read More
9	This is a Great List...
	Posted on Friday May 15, 2009, 03:48 by JLG87
	I agree that "Best Lists" are ridiculous... "Favourite Movies" is the right way. What I don't get is why people say that coming up with a list of favourites is hard. Right now, I have a liast of almost 400 Favourite Movies, all ranked with a combination of favoritism and value. It is also hard for me to pick my Top 10 movies, because I always insist on going further than that. Read More
10	Darabont is awesome
	Posted on Friday May 15, 2009, 00:04 by m_reporter
	I love the guy's work, The Mist is probably the best Horror film of the decade. And I love him even more now for giving so much love to Ridley Scott's work. I also would love to hear what Mr. Darabont thinks of "Kingdom of Heaven" (DC of course). Although I really like the list and I know it is subjective I also want to say that I partially disagree with his "animated" selection. I'm a huge Pixar fan also, but not a single Miyazaki film!? Read More
11
	Posted on Thursday May 14, 2009, 22:01 by Gowoso
	Seen most, good list. For me the surprise omissions are: The Lives of Others, Gone with the Wind, The Black Book, Letters from Iwo Jima, Tootsie - I could easily bump several to make room. (GWTW and T were mentioned by others). Read More
12	Wonderful list
	Posted on Thursday May 14, 2009, 11:59 by gsharpe
	A great & varied list, I'll need to add this list to my 'Must See' DVDs. But Empire, no Shark Attack 3? Boo. Read More
13	Never forgive Frank...
	Posted on Thursday May 14, 2009, 00:41 by bbbbeeeennnn
	...for shooting down King Kong in the 2005 version! Great list overall. Read More
14	I'm NOT criticising this list whatsoever...
	Posted on Wednesday May 13, 2009, 17:31 by gpd1991
	but I was kind of surprised by the omission of "Gone with the Wind." Also.. "Stand By Me"?? (It's one of my favourite films of all time...) And I think there is a noticeable lack of foreign language films... "Cinema Paradiso," "The Lives of Others," "Three Colours Trilogy"?? But overall a great list!! I'll be taking this into account when building up my dvd collection!! Read More
15	I'm NOT criticising this list whatsoever...
	Posted on Wednesday May 13, 2009, 17:30 by gpd1991
	but I was kind of surprised by the omission of "Gone with the Wind." Also.. "Stand By Me"?? (It's one of my favourite films of all time...) And I think there is a noticeable lack of foreign language films... "Cinema Paradiso," "The Lives of Others," "Three Colours Trilogy"?? But overall a great list!! I'll be taking this into account when building up my dvd collection!! Read More
16
	Posted on Wednesday May 13, 2009, 10:37 by HRG
	A good list, but is it just me, or does it seem to be a bit lacking in foreign films? I'm not suggesting that these are bad choices, but they sem a bit sided toward English language films. Read More
17	I Heart Empire and Frank
	Posted on Wednesday May 13, 2009, 06:42 by miketang99
	Well done both empire and Frank for making this list! to hear fomr actors about their faves is somethign but from the guy behind the actors bravo! please do more of these as its great to know he has such a refined taste in movies (which we know by the movies he makes) but also that he isnt affraid to throw in modern pieces such as Children of Men! For Animated movies he coudl have looked a little further though as i woudl have assumed such a romantic DIrector of old would have selected some Don Bluth movies such as Watership down or its "coke light" cousin the secret of Nimh Read More
18	Film Education
	Posted on Wednesday May 13, 2009, 02:42 by VincentWire
	I'd like to educate the great Mr Darabont by pointing out that Silent Era and Animated are NOT genres but are a style and a technique respectively. Now get back to making good Stephen King adaptations. Read More
19	Noir suggestion
	Posted on Wednesday May 13, 2009, 00:07 by keaneye
	I'm not sure if this is film-noir or not, need to brush up on those terms, but Brick is a film I absolutely love. It's the type of film in which I get hooked on the details. Brilliantly shot, with it's framing and character specific sets. It has great dialogue also, not all of it I catch, but every time I watch it I notice something new. Donnie Darko is also a suggestion, which I guess you could put under fantasy? Either way though I can't argue really with the list. Most of the films up there I really like, though it's hard cause it's a big list. I kind of get irritable myself over questions of my all time favourite film, or my top 5. How can you possibly narrow it down when you just love movies? Read More
20	no Heat?
	Posted on Tuesday May 12, 2009, 22:36 by SanjT
	all great choices but no heat? THE best crime/action-thriller/character drama ever? wow. and I thought that was a pretty bonafide classic. oh well, the mist is still brilliant. Read More
21	Darabont = Cool Dude
	Posted on Tuesday May 12, 2009, 20:06 by Snake-Eyes
	I love listening to his commentaries! His love for Cinema is Infectious. Read More
22	I know it's not a movie category but....
	Posted on Tuesday May 12, 2009, 19:15 by Justin Greene
	Television has become so good that I'd love to know what your favourite TV shows of all time are? <cough Galactica! cough> Read More
23	Interesting stuff.
	Posted on Tuesday May 12, 2009, 18:37 by snowplowsteve
	As I say, interesting stuff. A lot I like, a lot I've not seen but should/want to. And in order t'be a true 'cinemagoer' and have a tizzy, just where was There Will Be Blood? Course, this is Darabont's opinion. And he did make The Mist and The Mile. And that gay prison thing. Really; man kills wife (or doesn't, APPARENTLY) and surrounds himself with other fellas, purchases phallic implement for digging brown hole for him to enter. And he gets - or shall we say - 'comes' out. Frank, fancy giving me a job? Read More
24	No Tootsie?
	Posted on Tuesday May 12, 2009, 16:06 by Riverwide
	Tootsie would definitely be in my Top 10 comedy movies of all time! And Team America too. Read More
25	Frank
	Posted on Tuesday May 12, 2009, 15:42 by Andybee76
	The one thing that bothers me about this list is under prison movies you could have had two of your own efforts Shawshank and the Green Mile, these are both excellent pictures and you should have blown your own trumpet buddy!!! Read More
26	Lists
	Posted on Tuesday May 12, 2009, 15:26 by Lindz28
	Kudos to Frank for laying it all out there. Lists are so hard to do and seperating into genre's causes more headaches IMO. Where would say, Back to the Future go? Sci-fi? Adventure? Action? To solve Frank's twitch I would include Hoop Dreams into sports, then you've included some (the best!) documentary. Read More
27	Great list BUT...
	Posted on Tuesday May 12, 2009, 14:56 by DGener8
	Where the hell is The Matrix?!! Not that any of the entries are unworthy - I was relieved to note the justifiable absence of Moulin Rouge - but the ORIGINAL Matrix film is a better sci-fi movie than THX-1138 and a better action movie than The Road Warrior. And, hard to categorise as it may be, with so many possibilities surely there's room for City of God? It could be action, gangster, even socio-political at a push Read More
28
	Posted on Tuesday May 12, 2009, 14:50 by Audreson Michael
	The problem with genres, though it makes it easy to follow, is that some categories should have more entries than others. Drama? Well you can get more entries by sub-dividing into Noir, Crime, Sport etc but comedies, is Rom-Com the only vaild subdivision? Where would you put The Apartment? I know the get out clause is a fair one but having You've Got Mail but not The Shop Around The Corner is... Read More
29	: )
	Posted on Tuesday May 12, 2009, 14:22 by Kapa
	i think its great, that i can get the news for free.. i live in austria, so i cant buy the magazine and even if i could, i like the news in the original language.. THANK YOU Read More
30	RE: RE:
	Posted on Tuesday May 12, 2009, 14:12 by Drone
	F*cking hell Frank, narrow it down why don't you? Read More
31	RE:
	Posted on Tuesday May 12, 2009, 12:43 by JonathanMardukas
	the first 2 comments had you looking like a very informative and knowlegeable person until ya turned condescending for your 3rd point. it was a fair question in my opinion. Read More
32
	Posted on Tuesday May 12, 2009, 11:54 by sinaplenty
	"This website is free, so why should I be paying for the magazine?" Three possible reasons for you...1. you like to have a physical copy of things, 2. you value the (probably fairly substantial) stuff in the magazine that doesn't get stuck online, or 3. you are a dolt with no better perception of value for money than the Parliamentary Fees Office. I'm afraid I can't narrow it down further. Read More
33
	Posted on Tuesday May 12, 2009, 11:22 by McQueen
	Why is Empire just recycling articles from the magazine to the website? I feel a bit cheated as I have signed up for another 6 months subscription when clearly there is no point as I can get all of it online. I would actually like somebody at Empire to explain to me why there are so many articles that have been taken directly from the magazine and lazily slapped onto your website. Why should I continue to buy your magazine if everything in that month's edition eventually ends up here? Surely this website would be better if it had some genuinely original articles instead of recycling the same material. Afterall, this website is free, so why should I be paying for the magazine? Read More
34
	Posted on Tuesday May 12, 2009, 10:57 by homesick alien
	well i don't think u have to worry about leaving people out, although i did miss shawshank ;) Read More