The Godfather isn't in any real conversation on the greatest film -- it's a mainstream filmgoer's idea of "greatest"; watch more foreign films! -- and one absolutely should, after watching at least the first two films, read Puzo's novel. It's mediocre pulp fiction, for sure, but offers so much valuable context.

In answer to the greatest of film masterpieces, the 12 I'd place foremost in that conversation:

The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir, 1939)

Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)

A Brighter Summer Day (Edward Yang, 1991)

Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954)

Satantango (Bela Tarr, 1994)

Man With a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929)

Stalker (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979)

The Cranes are Flying (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1957)

Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953)

The Wild Pear Tree (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2018)

Berlin Alexanderplatz (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1980)

La Dolce Vita (Federico Fellini, 1960)

Probably another dozen or so deserving of consideration, the vast majority of them in a language other than English.

I see three masterpieces here (Fight Club, Princess Mononoke and GoodFellas), another that might be (The Silence of the Lambs) and one other very good film (Pulp Fiction). Then a lot of overrated films, one of them truly awful (Forrest Gump) if quite entertaining.

Your guys' take on cinema is so pedestrian, like a kindergartner's take on, well, anything. You really ought to look for contributors who know cinema.

Here are 20 actual 1990s masterpieces (I could list more):

A Brighter Summer Day (Edward Yang, 1991)

Satantango (Bela Start, 1994)

Underground (Emir Kusturica, 1995)

The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malick, 1998)

La Promesse (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, 1996)

Flowers of Shanghai (Hou Hsiao Hsein, 1998)

Raise the Red Lantern (Zhang Yimou, 1991)

Rosetta (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, 1999)

The Remains of the Day (James Ivory,, 1993)

Quiz Show (Robert Redford, 1994)

Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)

The Big Lebowski (Joel and Ethan Coen, 1998)

Jackie Brown (Quentin Tarantino, 1997)

Howards End (James Ivory, 1992)

Casino (Martin Scorsese, 1995)

Dazed and Confused (Richard Linklater, 1993)

Sense and Sensibility (Ang Lee, 1995)

Boogie Nights (Paul Thomas Anderson, 1997)

Rushmore (Wes Anderson, 1998)

Cold Water (Olivier Assayas, 1994)

It's better to educate than to pander.

This is a weird list, in that it's the 10 greatest nominees not to win the Oscar. As opposed to the 10 films that should have won in years when a hugely objectionable decision was made. There are several spot-on choices here -- the ranking seems to be chronological, so, really, there shouldn't be a No. 1, No. 2, etc. If you honestly think Get Out is superior to Citizen Kane, then you have no business opining professionally about cinema.

The problem is that sometimes more than one great, deserving film is nominated the same year. Sometimes one of them wins (1950: All About Eve over Sunset Blvd), sometimes not (1975: Barry Lyndon and Dog Day Afternoon). So the parameters are a bit loose.

Your list has some great choices but fails under the "10 greatest" criterion. All of these are very good movies, save Get Out, but the 10 greatest? Some of them. Two of these should not have won: Pulp Fiction and Get Out. Pulp Fiction would not have been objectionable, but the best nominee for '94 was Quiz Show, a far deeper and thoughtful film, the best thing in which Redford's ever been involved. Get Out was great until destroying itself in its final act. (The film works only if it ends with Chris among the young black men dressed as old white men greeting Rose's new black boyfriend.)

The others, absolutely. But the 10 best never to win? C'mon, you should know better.

One can haggle over the top 10, and several of your choices either belong or aren't far outside. Here's a more reasonable top 10, in order of greatness:

Citizen Kane, 1941

Apocalypse Now, 1979

The Thin Red Line, 1998

GoodFellas, 1990

Amour, 2012

Taxi Driver, 1976

Dr. Strangelove, 1964

A Room With a View, 1986

Her, 2013

Raging Bull, 1980

A second 10:

Chinatown, 1974

Barry Lyndon, 1975

The Remains of the Day, 1993

The Right Stuff, 1983

The Grand Illusion, 1938

The Tree of Life, 2011

Toy Story 3, 2010

The Zone of Interest, 2023

Roma, 2018

The Wizard of Oz, 1939

Plenty more to consider.

"Come and See" is astonishing. Some other good choices here, one poor choice (the leaden "The Lives of Others") and some mind-numbing omissions:

The Cranes are Flying

Forbidden Games

The Grand Illusion

A War

...

Along with so many great British war films.

I'd place Renoir's 1939 "The Rules of the Game," which neither depicts nor mentions war but is all about the coming war atop any such list.

Seriously? Of the Best Picture nominees, it's "Quiz Show" that stands highest. And it's not close.

"Pulp Fiction" is a fine if uneven film. Second-best of nominees. "Forrest Gump" is one of the best examples of an awful film that's quite entertaining.

Best film of 1994? "Satantango," of course.