Recently my daughter asked me what are my favourite movies ever and it inspired me to make the list below. I describe only the top-3 movies and then I only name the remaining ones. Obviously I didn't see all the movies and my personal taste is as it is, so my list is very subjective by definition.
My list is arranged in a very specific way – at the top there is a movie that I can watch over and over again and I still enjoy it. At the end is a movie that I would enjoy the least, but I would still prefer it over watching any other movie over and over again. This is why there are mostly science-fiction, action and/or comedy movies on my list. And this is also why there are NO movies like The Shawshank Redemption or L.A. Confidential on my list – these movies are great, but I definitely wouldn't enjoy watching them over and over again.
My top-10 favourite movies ever:
1. Aliens (1986)
Aliens is a great science-fiction action movie with great characters, great actors, great plot, great world design and hardly any flaws. It's BY FAR my favourite movie ever. I had already written a lot about this awesome movie in this post:
Aliens director’s cut trivia
Here's a great tribute video that focuses on a supporting, but very memorable character:
2. Back to the Future (1985)
The plot of Back to the Future is awesome and very consistent – there are hardly any flaws and the number of little details the screenwriters put in there is remarkable. The only science-fiction aspect of the movie is the time travel itself (a very small part of the whole), but it allows some hilarious scenes when a son sees his parents in the time when they were at the same age as he is now. This movie is a timeless classic for the whole family.
Here's a great tribute video for the whole trilogy (most parts are actually from the first movie):
3. Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
The whole Star Wars universe is simply fantastic and The Empire Strikes Back is crucial for some of the main ideas in this great series. I loved especially Yoda's teachings about the force and about the light side and the dark side – quite spiritual (in a universal way) and very much to my liking. Unfortunately some minor plot aspects were a little flawed and this is why this great movie is only 3rd on my list.
4. Avatar (2009)
5. The Matrix (1999)
6. The Terminator (1984)
7. Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra (2002)
8. Back To The Future II (1989)
9. Ghostbusters II (1989)
10. Spaceballs (1987)
My 10-year-old daughter has already seen all of the movies listed above and my 4-and-a-half-year-old son has already seen 7 of them. They enjoyed all the movies they have seen very much and they didn't have any nightmares. However in some movies, even in the movie Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra, I omitted some scenes that I felt would disturbed my children too much (some of them disturb even me). This is why I made a parental guide to the list above.
In EVERY case I watched the movie together with my children for the first time and commented on some difficult plot aspects, but I didn't explain some adult allusions at all – if they asked me about the allusions I only said that they were too young to understand. If there was some swearing I explained which words they shouldn't use because such words are used by bad people. Overall I believe that keeping our children in the dark about some tough aspects of life is a huge mistake – it's better they knew how bad some people are.
Interestingly, I got a feeling that my little son was somewhat uplifted by some of the scenes because not long he had started to go to a nursery school where he had met some children who hadn't been nice to him. Then in some of the movies from my list he saw that some people are simply not nice overall and there is not much you can do about it. In every movie on my list it is clear who is good and who is bad.
In the brackets below there are age limits that in my opinion are best – based on my daughter's/children's reactions and my own dislike for some scenes.
1. Aliens (10 years old, but one scene omitted)
(The omitted scene is when the colonial marines find one adult woman who is still alive and then a small alien bursts out of her chest. Ugh. Definitely not for children, but for adults that scene is quite important for a plot sequence towards the end of the movie.)
2. Back to the Future (5 years old)
3. Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (5 years old)
4. Avatar (5 years old)
5. The Matrix (10 years old)
6. The Terminator (10 years old, but one scene omitted)
(The omitted scene is when the terminator “cleans” his damaged eye. Ugh.)
7. Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra (4 years old, but one scene omitted)
(The omitted scene is when a small lamb is being lowered towards crocodiles as their meal. Ugh, even though nothing gruesome is actually shown.)
8. Back to the Future II (5 years old)
9. Ghostbusters II (5 years old, but one scene omitted)
(The omitted scene is when the ghostbusters go down to an old underground railway system and they got scared by ghostly impaled dead heads that disappear a moment later. Ugh.)
10. Spaceballs (5 years old, but one scene omitted)
(The omitted scene is when Lone Starr and Barf are waiting for a lunch at a diner and a small alien bursts out of a man's chest. Ugh, even as a parody of Alien.)
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