Rotten Tomatoes is a reliable resource for getting a consensus of how good or bad a film is, but there are some remarkable absences from their best of all-time list. Rotten Tomatoes is a community-driven site that gathers together reviews from across the web. Official entertainment journalists and critics have their reviews collected and added together, along with reviews from the public.
Together, these points of information help the site to create a percentage score for both the critics and the audience, with anything above 50% being categorized as ‘Fresh,’ and anything below marked ‘Rotten.’ Across the site, countless films have been reviewed and scores added up, which have been used to make a list of the 300 best movies of all-time (via Rotten Tomatoes). However, despite the comprehensive ranking and scales on the site, there are some glaring omissions of movies which are commonly held up as some of the best movies of all time.
First on the list is one that is included on most lists, The Shashank Redemption. The film is adapted from a story by Stephen King, and directed by Frank Darabont, who also adapted the screenplay. The film features some outstanding talent with Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman in major roles as two of the inmates at the Shawshank State Penitentiary.
Admittedly, there are some very uncomfortable scenes featured in the movie, but these are featured in a way that makes them additive and essential for the film as a whole, and the movie is not meant to be a comfortable experience. The film was also nominated for a total of seven Oscars due to the wide array of things it did absolutely perfectly, from the adaptation, to the casting and beyond. It makes no sense for this film to not be included on the top 300 list at RT.
A movie that offers up a very different tone, but arguably remains just as culturally effective and impactful, Forrest Gump is nowhere to be seen on the list. This film, directed by Robert Zemeckis, and starring Tom Hanks, tells a powerful story of a boy who grows up to be a man who, by most accounts, should not be special. However, through his persistence and determination, he is able to become someone that is incredibly important.
This film was not only nominated for 13 Oscars at the Academy Awards, but it won six of the categories where it was nominated. The film remains an incredible story of hope, and it features some of the most quotable lines of any film. Despite being released 30 years ago in 1994, the film remains iconic and popular to this day, just not on RT’s list.
David Fincher climbed to new heights because of his talents as a director during the 90s, and in 1999, he released one of his greatest contributions to cinema of all time. Fight Club is a movie which adapts the original novel by Chuck Palahniuk to great effect. The story follows Brad Pitt and Edward Norton as two men who live life in directly opposite ways. However, as Norton’s character begins to lose faith in the system, he emulates Tyler Durden (Pitt) more and more.
The film features incredible twists and thought-provoking ideas from the start, with many people studying the film and gleaming their own meanings from the incredible story. The film also stars Helena Bonham Carter and Meat Loaf in supporting roles. The movie is a spectacular piece of film, which was nominated for an Oscar, and should be acknowledged along with other films that are frequently labeled the best of all time.
Christopher Nolan is one of the most spectacular filmmakers currently working in Hollywood, and every film he makes appears to be an award magnet. However, one of his greatest masterpieces came in 2010, Inception, taking home four Oscar wins, and still failing to make it onto the top 300 list at RT. When also considering the incredible talent involved in the film, it boggles the mind almost as much as the film’s mind-bending narrative how it could be excluded.
The story follows a group of people who have a particular set of skills for incepting ideas into the minds of others without them knowing. While Cillian Murphy serves as the mark in the film, Leonardo DiCaprio leads a team which includes Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elliot Page, and Michael Caine as the father-in-law to Cobb (DiCaprio). The talent here is overwhelming, not to mention the spectacular story and visuals, which all combine to make this one of the best films ever made.
Surprisingly, The Matrix, the film which rang in the millennium in 1999 and introduced several new words into the common vernacular, is also missing from the list. The Wachowski’s made their masterpiece and may well have been unaware of the cultural impact their movie would have. However, the rest of the world immediately saw the film’s potential, and it has since been included on many of the most prominent best films of all time lists.
The movie stars Keanu Reeves, Hugo Weaving, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Laurence Fishburne among an incredible cast. It also won four Oscars out of a possible four. The film was groundbreaking when it first appeared, and in the world today, where AI is rapidly developing and the idea of simulations and virtual reality draws ever nearer, the movie remains extremely prescient. However, it was not featured in RT’s top 300.
Perhaps the only film on this list that could arguably be excluded due to a recency bias, but regardless, the 2018 box office hit, Avengers: Infinity War, deserves a spot for the spectacular ending alone. The film may be a part of the MCU, which is bound to divide crowds who value or disavow comic book movies, but Infinity War changed the narrative for superhero movies. Joe and Anthony Russo did not give into the loud voices that suggest every hero movie should end with good triumphing over evil, and instead offered a bold and daring finale for their story.
Of course, this would only be topped by the second part and the concluding chapter of The Infinity Saga, as far as Thanos is concerned, in Endgame. Both movies amassed well over $2 billion, with Endgame claiming the number 1 spot as the highest earning film of all time briefly. These movies clearly made an impression on a significant percentage of the population on Earth, but remain absent from the RT list.
Another incredible movie from David Fincher, Seven, this time bringing together Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman as detectives on the tail of a religious murderer. The story is deep, compelling, and thrilling throughout, and it doesn’t shy away from including uncomfortable and gruesome details. However, the film’s greatest strength perhaps comes from the way it concludes, and the message that it leaves long after the screen fades to black.
Seven did not perform as well as some other films, only having received one nomination at the Academy Awards, but it did win over audiences. The film is frequently listed as one of the all-time greatest movies, but it is glaringly absent from RT’s list. Despite this, it is still well worth watching for anyone who has yet to see it for the dark, deliciously complex story it reveals.
Jurassic Park may not be the first movie that springs to mind when considering the best movies of all time, but it is nonetheless a worthy entry when taken into consideration. Despite the film being aimed at families, it is a deep and dark narrative about the god complex of man, and the dangers that can come from running before they can walk. When people uncover a way to bring real dinosaurs back from extinction, growing them and giving them a place to roam, they fail to take the necessary precautions to protect the modern world from a former Apex Predator.
Directed by Steven Spielberg, the film became an instant classic and went on to inspire several sequels and a franchise. The original film was also the recipient of three Oscars, and it featured graphics that remain fairly believable to this day thanks to the use of machines, and practical effects in combination with CGI. The movie is a clear candidate for one of the all time best slots, or at least somewhere in the top 300, but it is nowhere to be seen.
From one visionary director to the next, the classic film, Blade Runner from 1982 is the next one that needs to be highlighted here. Ridley Scott, as a visionary sci-fi director, took the building blocks of a story by Philip K. Dick and adapted it into something similar, but much more suited to the big screen. Then, he cast Hollywood’s favorite sly hero of the decade, Harrison Ford, to play the lead.
The film had everything right, and featured an outstanding script, twists and turns, and deep philosophical questions. While the film was only nominated for two Oscars, it remains one of the most widely celebrated and beloved films of the 80s, and the franchise it gave birth to continues to thrive to this day. Despite some disputes about how real the main protagonist may or may not be, the film really deserves to be considered for a top 300 space on RT’s list.