My top twenty movies

If anyone asks me what my favourite film is, I have to declare that I don't have one. Of all the films ever made (even just the good ones), it's impossible to single out one as being the best. There are so many good films, of different genres and different time periods; there's just too much to choose from.

I can, however, pick out twenty of my favourite films (I was going to just do ten, but even that proved a headache). They are meaningful to me for various reasons: some are films that had a huge impression on me as a kid, others have affected me as an adult, certain films just represent a specific point in time in relation to the pop culture that have a certain personal resonance.

You'll notice they have a strong sci-fi / fantasy leaning and are mostly from the 1980s. Well, I'm afraid that's just who I am: a sci-fi fantasy geek who grew up in the 80s!

So, in no particular order, here is my list (NB I have lumped some trilogies together to count as one. It's my top 20 so it's my rules!):

1. The Back to the Future Trilogy
2. Ghostbusters
3. Aliens
4. Terminator 2
5. Pulp Fiction
6. Star Wars (Episodes IV-VI)
7. Blade Runner
8. Arrival
9. Raiders of the lost ark
10. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
13. Die Hard
14. Dredd
15. The Matrix
16. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
17. Batman
18. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
19. Innerspace
20. The Goonies

Notable runners up include: Jaws, ET, Gremlins, Saving Private Ryan, Men in Black, Starship Troopers, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Groundhog Day, Point Break, Independence Day, Lost in Translation, Mad Max Fury Road, Whiplash, How to Train your Dragon, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, 1941, William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Serenity, Bram Stoker's Dracula, WarGames, Big Trouble in Little China, The Truman Show, Robocop, Baby Driver and Time Bandits.

Now I've nailed this list (something that took me a while to form in my head), I plan to write up a little note about each of my top 20 films.

As a little taster, I already wrote something about Ghostbusters here.