Top 100 films in Romance
Singin' in the Rain
Directed by Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly | 103 min | 1952
A silent film production company and cast make a difficult transition to sound.
Casablanca
Directed by Michael Curtiz | Rated PG | 102 min | 1942
In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications.
Annie Hall
Directed by Woody Allen | Rated PG | 93 min | 1977
Neurotic New York comedian Alvy Singer falls in love with the ditzy Annie Hall.
Vertigo
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock | Rated PG | 128 min | 1958
A San Francisco detective suffering from acrophobia investigates the strange activities of an old friend's wife, all the while becoming dangerously obsessed with her.
Some Like It Hot
Directed by Billy Wilder | 120 min | 1959
When two musicians witness a mob hit, they flee the state in an all-female band disguised as women, but further complications set in.
On the Waterfront
Directed by Elia Kazan | 108 min | 1954
An ex-prize fighter turned longshoreman struggles to stand up to his corrupt union bosses.
Gone with the Wind
Directed by Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Sam Wood | Rated G | 238 min | 1939
A manipulative Southern belle carries on a turbulent affair with a blockade runner during the American Civil War.
Sunset Boulevard
Directed by Billy Wilder | 110 min | 1950
A hack screenwriter writes a screenplay for a former silent-film star who has faded into Hollywood obscurity.
The Best Years of Our Lives
Directed by William Wyler | 172 min | 1946
Three World War II veterans return home to small-town America to discover that they and their families have been irreparably changed.
The Graduate
Directed by Mike Nichols | 106 min | 1967
A disillusioned college graduate finds himself torn between his older lover and her daughter.
The Apartment
Directed by Billy Wilder | 125 min | 1960
A man tries to rise in his company by letting its executives use his apartment for trysts, but complications and a romance of his own ensue.
Sunrise
Directed by F.W. Murnau | 94 min | 1927
A married farmer falls under the spell of a slatternly woman from the city, who tries to convince him to drown his wife.
City Lights
Directed by Charles Chaplin | 87 min | 1931
With the aid of a wealthy erratic tippler, a dewy-eyed tramp who has fallen in love with a sightless flower girl accumulates money to be able to help her medically.
It Happened One Night
Directed by Frank Capra | 105 min | 1934
A spoiled heiress, running away from her family, is helped by a man who is actually a reporter in need of a story.
Mean Streets
Directed by Martin Scorsese | Rated R | 112 min | 1973
Following the life of a small-time hood who struggles with a moral crisis regarding his friends, family, business, and his conflicting religious beliefs.
Brokeback Mountain
Directed by Ang Lee | Rated R | 134 min | 2005
The story of a forbidden and secretive relationship between two cowboys, and their lives over the years.
Notorious
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock | 101 min | 1946
A woman is asked to spy on a group of Nazi friends in South America. How far will she have to go to ingratiate herself with them?
Gladiator
Directed by Ridley Scott | Rated R | 155 min | 2000
When a Roman general is betrayed and his family murdered by an emperor's corrupt son, he comes to Rome as a gladiator to seek revenge.
The Philadelphia Story
Directed by George Cukor | 112 min | 1940
When a rich woman's ex-husband and a tabloid-type reporter turn up just before her planned remarriage, she begins to learn the truth about herself.
Titanic
Directed by James Cameron | Rated PG-13 | 194 min | 1997
A seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic.
Network
Directed by Sidney Lumet | Rated R | 121 min | 1976
A television network cynically exploits a deranged former anchor's ravings and revelations about the news media for its own profit.
Doctor Zhivago
Directed by David Lean | Rated PG-13 | 197 min | 1965
The life of a Russian physician and poet who, although married to another, falls in love with a political activist's wife and experiences hardship during the First World War and then the October Revolution.
Slumdog Millionaire
Directed by Danny Boyle, Loveleen Tandan | Rated R | 120 min | 2008
A Mumbai teen reflects on his upbringing in the slums when he is accused of cheating on the Indian Version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?"
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Directed by Michael Curtiz, William Keighley | Rated PG | 102 min | 1938
When Prince John and the Norman Lords begin oppressing the Saxon masses in King Richard's absence, a Saxon lord fights back as the outlaw leader of a rebel guerrilla army.
The Red Shoes
Directed by Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger | 133 min | 1948
A young ballet dancer is torn between the man she loves and her pursuit to become a prima ballerina.
Manhattan
Directed by Woody Allen | Rated R | 96 min | 1979
The life of a divorced television writer dating a teenage girl is further complicated when he falls in love with his best friend's mistress.
Tootsie
Directed by Sydney Pollack | Rated PG | 116 min | 1982
Michael Dorsey, an unsuccessful actor, disguises himself as a woman in order to get a role on a trashy hospital soap.
An American in Paris
Directed by Vincente Minnelli | 113 min | 1951
Three friends struggle to find work in Paris. Things become more complicated when two of them fall in love with the same woman.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Directed by Michel Gondry | Rated R | 108 min | 2004
When their relationship turns sour, a couple undergoes a procedure to have each other erased from their memories. But it is only through the process of loss that they discover what they had to begin with.
The African Queen
Directed by John Huston | Rated PG | 105 min | 1951
In Africa during WWI, a gin-swilling riverboat captain is persuaded by a strait-laced missionary to use his boat to attack an enemy warship.
Sense and Sensibility
Directed by Ang Lee | Rated PG | 136 min | 1995
Rich Mr. Dashwood dies, leaving his second wife and her three daughters poor by the rules of inheritance. The two eldest daughters are the titular opposites.
The Artist
Directed by Michel Hazanavicius | Rated PG-13 | 100 min | 2011
A silent movie star meets a young dancer, but the arrival of talking pictures sends their careers in opposite directions.
A Place in the Sun
Directed by George Stevens | 122 min | 1951
A poor boy gets a job working for his rich uncle and ends up falling in love with two women.
Day for Night
Directed by François Truffaut | Rated PG | 115 min | 1973
A committed film director struggles to complete his movie while coping with a myriad of crises, personal and professional, among the cast and crew.
Bringing Up Baby
Directed by Howard Hawks | 102 min | 1938
While trying to secure a $1 million donation for his museum, a befuddled paleontologist is pursued by a flighty and often irritating heiress and her pet leopard, Baby.
Breaking the Waves
Directed by Lars von Trier | Rated R | 159 min | 1996
Oilman Jan is paralyzed in an accident. His wife, who prayed for his return, feels guilty; even more, when Jan urges her to have sex with another.
A Room with a View
Directed by James Ivory | 117 min | 1985
When Lucy Honeychurch and chaperone Charlotte Bartlett find themselves in Florence with rooms without views, fellow guests Mr Emerson and son George step in to remedy the situation. Meeting...
L'Atalante
Directed by Jean Vigo | 89 min | 1934
Newly married couple Juliette and a ship captain Jean struggle through marriage as they travel on the L'atalante along with the captain's first mate Le père Jules and a cabin boy.
Shakespeare in Love
Directed by John Madden | Rated R | 123 min | 1998
A young Shakespeare, out of ideas and short of cash, meets his ideal woman and is inspired to write one of his most famous plays.
Life Is Beautiful
Directed by Roberto Benigni | Rated PG-13 | 116 min | 1997
When an open-minded Jewish librarian and his son become victims of the Holocaust, he uses a perfect mixture of will, humor and imagination to protect his son from the dangers around their camp.
Amour
Directed by Michael Haneke | Rated PG-13 | 127 min | 2012
Georges and Anne are an octogenarian couple. They are cultivated, retired music teachers. Their daughter, also a musician, lives in Britain with her family. One day, Anne has a stroke, and the couple's bond of love is severely tested.
Wuthering Heights
Directed by William Wyler | 104 min | 1939
A servant in the house of Wuthering Heights tells a traveler the unfortunate tale of lovers Cathy and Heathcliff.
The English Patient
Directed by Anthony Minghella | Rated R | 162 min | 1996
At the close of WWII, a young nurse tends to a badly-burned plane crash victim. His past is shown in flashbacks, revealing an involvement in a fateful love affair.
Days of Heaven
Directed by Terrence Malick | Rated PG | 94 min | 1978
A hot-tempered farm laborer convinces the woman he loves to marry their rich but dying boss so that they can have a claim to his fortune.
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Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu | Rated R | 119 min | 2014
Illustrated upon the progress of his latest Broadway play, a former popular actor's struggle to cope with his current life as a wasted actor is shown.
The Piano
Directed by Jane Campion | Rated R | 121 min | 1993
A mute woman along with her young daughter, and her prized piano, are sent to 1850s New Zealand for an arranged marriage to a wealthy landowner, and she's soon lusted after by a local worker on the plantation.
Marty
Directed by Delbert Mann | 90 min | 1955
A middle-aged butcher and a school teacher who have given up on the idea of love meet at a dance and fall for each other.
The Power of the Dog
Directed by Jane Campion | Rated R | 126 min | 2021
Charismatic rancher Phil Burbank inspires fear and awe in those around him. When his brother brings home a new wife and her son, Phil torments them until he finds himself exposed to the possibility of love.
The Magnificent Ambersons
Directed by Orson Welles, Fred Fleck, Robert Wise | 88 min | 1942
The spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved.
From Here to Eternity
Directed by Fred Zinnemann | 118 min | 1953
In Hawaii in 1941, a private is cruelly punished for not boxing on his unit's team, while his captain's wife and second-in-command are falling in love.
Amélie
Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Rated R | 122 min | 2001
Amélie is an innocent and naive girl in Paris with her own sense of justice. She decides to help those around her and, along the way, discovers love.
Brief Encounter
Directed by David Lean | 86 min | 1945
Meeting a stranger in a railway station, a woman is tempted to cheat on her husband.
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Directed by Mike Newell | Rated R | 117 min | 1994
Over the course of five social occasions, a committed bachelor must consider the notion that he may have discovered love.
His Girl Friday
Directed by Howard Hawks | 92 min | 1940
A newspaper editor uses every trick in the book to keep his ace reporter ex-wife from remarrying.
Groundhog Day
Directed by Harold Ramis | Rated PG | 101 min | 1993
A weatherman finds himself living the same day over and over again.
A Star Is Born
Directed by George Cukor | 154 min | 1954
A film star helps a young singer and actress find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career on a downward spiral.
Roman Holiday
Directed by William Wyler | 118 min | 1953
A bored and sheltered princess escapes her guardians and falls in love with an American newsman in Rome.
Top Hat
Directed by Mark Sandrich | 101 min | 1935
An American dancer comes to Britain and falls for a model whom he initially annoyed, but she mistakes him for his goofy producer.
Room at the Top
Directed by Jack Clayton | Rated N/A | 115 min | 1959
An ambitious young accountant schemes to wed a wealthy factory owner's daughter, despite falling in love with a married older woman.
Leaving Las Vegas
Directed by Mike Figgis | Rated R | 111 min | 1995
Ben Sanderson, an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter who lost everything because of his drinking, arrives in Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There, he meets and forms an uneasy friendship and non-interference pact with prostitute Sera.
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Directed by Frank Capra | 115 min | 1936
Longfellow Deeds, a simple-hearted Vermont tuba player, inherits a fortune and has to contend with opportunist city slickers.
The Lady Eve
Directed by Preston Sturges | 94 min | 1941
A trio of classy card sharps targets the socially awkward heir to brewery millions for his money, till one of them falls in love with him.
Howards End
Directed by James Ivory | Rated PG | 140 min | 1992
A businessman thwarts his wife's bequest of an estate to another woman.
Kramer vs. Kramer
Directed by Robert Benton | Rated PG | 105 min | 1979
Ted Kramer's wife leaves her husband, allowing for a lost bond to be rediscovered between Ted and his son, Billy. But a heated custody battle ensues over the divorced couple's son, deepening the wounds left by the separation.
Her
Directed by Spike Jonze | Rated R | 126 min | 2013
A lonely writer develops an unlikely relationship with his newly-purchased operating system that's designed to meet his every need.
Journey to Italy
Directed by Roberto Rossellini | 97 min | 1954
Catherine and Alexander, wealthy and sophisticated, drive to Naples to dispose of a deceased uncle's villa. There's a coolness in their relationship and aspects of Naples add to the strain....
Far from the Madding Crowd
Directed by John Schlesinger | Rated PG | 168 min | 1967
Bathsheba Everdene, a willful, flirtatious, young woman, unexpectedly inherits a large farm and is romantically pursued by three very different men.
Darling
Directed by John Schlesinger | Rated TV-MA | 128 min | 1965
A beautiful but amoral model sleeps her way to the top of the London fashion scene at the height of the Swinging Sixties.
Far from Heaven
Directed by Todd Haynes | Rated PG-13 | 107 min | 2002
In 1950s Connecticut, a housewife faces a marital crisis and mounting racial tensions in the outside world.
Letter from an Unknown Woman
Directed by Max Ophüls | 86 min | 1948
A pianist about to flee from a duel receives a letter from a woman he cannot remember, who may hold the key to his downfall.
Last Tango in Paris
Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci | Rated NC-17 | 129 min | 1972
A young Parisian woman meets a middle-aged American businessman who demands their clandestine relationship be based only on sex.
Hope and Glory
Directed by John Boorman | Rated PG-13 | 113 min | 1987
A semi-autobiographical project by John Boorman about a nine year old boy called Bill as he grows up in London during the blitz of World War 2. For a young boy, this time in history was ...
Adam's Rib
Directed by George Cukor | 101 min | 1949
Domestic and professional tensions mount when a husband and wife work as opposing lawyers in a case involving a woman who shot her husband.
Cooley High
Directed by Michael Schultz | Rated PG | 107 min | 1975
In 1964, a group of high school friends who live on the Near North Side of Chicago enjoy life to the fullest...parties, hanging out, meeting new friends. Then life changes for two of the ...
Red River
Directed by Howard Hawks, Arthur Rosson | 133 min | 1948
Dunson leads a cattle drive, the culmination of over 14 years of work, to its destination in Missouri. But his tyrannical behavior along the way causes a mutiny, led by his adopted son.
The Band Wagon
Directed by Vincente Minnelli | 112 min | 1953
A pretentiously artistic director is hired for a new Broadway musical and changes it beyond recognition.
Yi Yi
Directed by Edward Yang | 173 min | 2000
Each member of a middle class Taipei family seeks to reconcile past and present relationships within their daily lives.
The Quiet Man
Directed by John Ford | 129 min | 1952
A retired American boxer returns to the village of his birth in Ireland, where he finds love.
Shane
Directed by George Stevens | 118 min | 1953
A weary gunfighter attempts to settle down with a homestead family, but a smoldering settler/rancher conflict forces him to act.
In the Mood for Love
Directed by Kar-Wai Wong | Rated PG | 98 min | 2000
Two neighbors, a woman and a man, form a strong bond after both suspect extramarital activities of their spouses. However, they agree to keep their bond platonic so as not to commit similar wrongs.
Hannah and Her Sisters
Directed by Woody Allen | Rated PG-13 | 103 min | 1986
Between two Thanksgivings two years apart, Hannah's husband falls in love with her sister Lee, while her hypochondriac ex-husband rekindles his relationship with her sister Holly.
Up in the Air
Directed by Jason Reitman | Rated R | 109 min | 2009
With a job traveling around the country firing people, Ryan Bingham enjoys his life living out of a suitcase, but finds that lifestyle threatened by the presence of a new hire and a potential love interest.
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
Directed by Karel Reisz | Rated N/A | 89 min | 1960
A rebellious, hard-living factory worker juggles relationships with two women, one of whom is married to another man but pregnant with his child.
Claire's Knee
Directed by Éric Rohmer | Rated GP | 105 min | 1970
On holiday, a conflicted man lusts after beautiful stepsisters despite his betrothal to a diplomat's daughter.
Gentleman's Agreement
Directed by Elia Kazan | 118 min | 1947
A reporter pretends to be Jewish in order to cover a story on anti-Semitism, and personally discovers the true depths of bigotry and hatred.
Before Midnight
Directed by Richard Linklater | Rated R | 109 min | 2013
We meet Jesse and Celine nine years on in Greece. Almost two decades have passed since their first meeting on that train bound for Vienna.
Brooklyn
Directed by John Crowley | Rated PG-13 | 111 min | 2015
An Irish immigrant lands in 1950s Brooklyn, where she quickly falls into a romance with a local. When her past catches up with her, however, she must choose between two countries and the lives that exist within.
Gertrud
Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer | 116 min | 1964
In the elegant world of artists and musicians, Gertrud ends her marriage to Gustav and takes a lover, the composer Erland Jansson
Pierrot le Fou
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard | 110 min | 1965
Pierrot escapes his boring society and travels from Paris to the Mediterranean Sea with Marianne, a girl chased by hit-men from Algeria. They lead an unorthodox life, always on the run.
Belle
Directed by Amma Asante | Rated PG | 100 min | 2013
The mixed race daughter of a Royal Navy Admiral is raised by her aristocratic great-uncle in 18th century England.
Car Wash
Directed by Michael Schultz | Rated PG | 97 min | 1976
Car Wash is about a close-knit group of employees who one day have all manner of strange visitors coming onto their forecourt, including Richard Pryor as a preaching 'wonder-man' who is ...
Daughters of the Dust
Directed by Julie Dash | Rated TV-PG | 112 min | 1991
Languid look at the Gullah culture of the sea islands off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia where African folk-ways were maintained well into the 20th Century and was one of the last ...
Fruitvale Station
Directed by Ryan Coogler | Rated R | 85 min | 2013
The story of Oscar Grant III, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident, who crosses paths with friends, enemies, family, and strangers on the last day of 2008.
House Party
Directed by Reginald Hudlin | Rated R | 100 min | 1990
Young Kid has been invited to a party at his friend Play's house. But after a fight at school, Kid's father grounds him. None the less, Kid sneaks out when his father falls asleep. But Kid ...
I Like It Like That
Directed by Darnell Martin | Rated R | 104 min | 1994
Lisette and husband Chino face marital difficulties. She is fed up with the kids, while he has job troubles. His mother Rosaria hates Lisette and the neighborhood tramp has designs on Chino...
La Jetée
Directed by Chris Marker | 28 min | 1962
Time travel, still images, a past, present and future and the aftermath of World War III. The tale of a man, a slave, sent back and forth, in and out of time, to find a solution to the ...
Love & Basketball
Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood | Rated PG-13 | 124 min | 2000
In 1981 in L.A., Monica moves in next door to Quincy. They're 11, and both want to play in the NBA, just like Quincy's dad. Their love-hate relationship lasts into high school, with ...
Medicine for Melancholy
Directed by Barry Jenkins | Rated N/A | 88 min | 2008
Twenty-four hours in the tentative relationship of two young San Franciscans also dealing with the conundrum of being a minority in a rapidly gentrifying city.
Mo' Better Blues
Directed by Spike Lee | Rated R | 130 min | 1990
Jazz trumpeter Bleek Gilliam makes questionable decisions in his professional and romantic lives.
Night Catches Us
Directed by Tanya Hamilton | Rated R | 90 min | 2010
In 1976, complex political and emotional forces are set in motion when a young man returns to the race-torn Philadelphia neighborhood where he came of age during the Black Power movement.
Latest News
2021 Award Winners :) May 3, 2022
Per usual, we've added the award winners from last year (2021), and updated our rankings!
2020 Award Winners! May 9, 2021
As always, we've added the award winners from last year (2020), and updated our rankings!
All the 2019 Award Winners and Updated Rankings February 22, 2020
We've added all the award winners from 2019, and updated our rankings!
Film lists
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1. Top 100 Movies of All Time by Rotten Tomatoes
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2. 100 All-Time Greatest Movies by Entertainment Weekly
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3. The 50 Greatest Films of All Time by Sight & Sound
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4. The 50 Greatest Movies by Black Directors by Slate
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5. The 80 Best-Directed Films by Directors Guild of America (DGA)
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6. Directors’ 10 Greatest Films of All Time by Sight and Sound
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7. Hollywood's 100 Favorite Films by The Hollywood Reporter
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8. The 100 best movies of all time by Time Out
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9. The 100 greatest American films by BBC
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10. Best Picture by New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC)
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11. Best Film by National Board of Review of Motion Pictures
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12. The 50 Greatest Films by The One-Line Review
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13. BAFTA Award for Best Film by British Academy of Film and Television Arts
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14. Top 100 British films by British Film Institute
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15. Best Picture by National Society of Film Critics
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16. AFI's 100 Greatest American Movies of All Time by American Film Institute
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17. Top Rated Movies by IMDb
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18. 102 Greatest Films by filmsite
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19. John Kobal Presents the Top 100 Movies by John Kobal
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20. Ten Greatest Films of All Time by Roger Ebert
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21. The 25 Best Films of the 21st Century So Far by The New York Times
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22. 12 Greatest Films of All Time by Quentin Tarantino
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23. Academy Award for Best Picture by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
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24. Essential List of Films for Filmmakers by Spike Lee
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25. 12 Greatest Films of All Time by Martin Scorsese
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26. Best Picture by Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association
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27. Best European Film of the Year by European Film Awards
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28. Best Film by Independent Spirit Awards
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29. Best Picture by Los Angeles Film Critics Association
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30. Best Picture by Chicago Film Critics Association
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31. Best Picture by Boston Society of Film Critics
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32. The 25 "Greatest" Documentaries of All Time by POV
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33. Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy by Hollywood Foreign Press Association (Golden Globe)
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34. Best Film by Austin Film Critics Association
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35. Best Picture by The San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle
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36. Best Film by Village Voice Film Poll
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37. Best Motion Picture - Drama by Hollywood Foreign Press Association (Golden Globe)
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38. The 25 Best Sci-Fi Movies of the Last 25 Years by ScreenCrush
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39. Best Picture by Florida Film Critics Circle
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40. Best Theatrical Motion Picture by Producers Guild of America