Summary

• The Rotten Tomatoes best movies of all time list excludes movies with 100% scores, demonstrating the limitations of the list.
• Factors beyond scores, like moviegoer response and influence, decide the greatest films.
• Subgenres like documentaries often get excluded, highlighting potential biases in movie rankings.

The best movies of all time tend to exclude certain subgenres, such as documentaries, or generally below-the-radar movies. Deciding what movies deserve to be included is a bigger matter than which ones have the highest scores; if this were all it was, the Rotten Tomatoes 100% Club would be the only indicator of cinematic greatness needed.

Things to consider include the moviegoer response to a title's release, its influence on movies that came after it, and if it is even enjoyable to watch. It is no secret that some of the lauded movies that make it to the Oscars are a drag. However, there are still many amazing movies with 100% on Rotten Tomatoes that, somewhat surprisingly, did not make the list. It demonstrates a certain bias in Hollywood of what a movie must be if it is to be considered one of the greatest.

10 The Tale Of Princess Kaguya (2013)

Princess Kaguya was excluded in favor of other Studio Ghibli movies.

However, the list does give Ghibli its recognition, with Princess Mononoke being ranked at #223, Grave of the Fireflies at #65, and Spirited Away coming in at #17.

The Tale of Princess Kaguya is one of Studio Ghibli's more experimental movies, with a winding plot that comes to a strange, bittersweet conclusion. Still, it is one of the studio's highlights in of animation. Even if the story doesn't quite make sense in some places, the emotions of the main character are so poignant that they will break the hearts of everyone in the audience. It would not have been a surprise if this movie had made the Rotten Tomatoes list.

However, the list does give Ghibli its recognition, with Princess Mononoke being ranked at #223, Grave of the Fireflies at #65, and Spirited Away coming in at #17. In of which titles are the best Ghibli movies, Princess Kaguya is undoubtedly slower and less typically entertaining than some of the others. It makes sense that other movies would be chosen before it, but that doesn't mean it isn't one of the best. In comparison, all four of the Toy Story movies are on the list.

9 California Typewriter (2016)

California Typewriter is a documentary that was not considered.

California Typewriter is described as "a meditation on creativity and technology," diving into the cultural status of the typewriter and how it went out of fashion, and showcasing California Typewriter, one of the last repair shops in the U.S. The documentary features Tom Hanks among other celebrities and soliloquizes about the heyday of the typewriter. Critics agree that the nostalgia is perfectly executed, and the movie prompts people to think about the advancement of technology and what this means for inventions that have long served humankind well.

Perhaps the most surprising outcome is that California Typewriter was not nominated for Best Documentary at the Oscars. It is not especially surprising that it did not make the Rotten Tomatoes list, but it deserved to be recognized in its time. California Typewriter is hardly one of the best documentaries of all time, but is still underrated, considering its perfect scores.

8 Hannah Gadsby: Nanette (2018)

The Rotten Tomatoes list does not include stand-up specials.

No one really counts Netflix's slew of stand-up specials among the best movies of all time — yet. Hannah Gadsby delivers the most powerful version of their dark, self-deprecating humor yet in Hannah Gadsby: Nanette, making it one of the best stand-up specials on Netflix. Gadsby is a brilliant comedian who takes their audience on a rollercoaster of jokes that inspire contrasting reactions, making viewers laugh out loud and think deeply at different parts of the special.

However, Nanette actually being on the best of all time list would constitute a major move in an ongoing debate about performing arts movies and how they are to be considered by awards shows. The Golden Globes only recently added a category for comedy specials, likely due to the increasing number of them on Netflix. Yet they are still not really considered "movies," hence the need for a separate category. Therefore, Nanette remains in limbo regarding its status among Rotten Tomatoes' highest-scored titles.

7 Only Yesterday (1991)

Only Yesterday is an underrated Studio Ghibli movie.

Only Yesterday is a lesser-known Ghibli movie that was likely excluded from the Rotten Tomatoes best of all time list for the same reasons as Princess Kaguya. Many classic Ghibli movies merit this recognition but lose out due to the tough competition; Howl's Moving Castle, The Wind Rises, and The Boy and the Heron also do not make the list. One of these movies should probably be counted before Only Yesterday, but it is still a worthwhile watch.

Only Yesterday follows a Tokyo office worker in her late 20s who decides to visit her family in the country and reminisces about her childhood along the way. It has all the hallmarks of fans' favorite Ghibli movies, including a countryside setting and themes of childhood set against the corporate, urban existence of adulthood. Only Yesterday's debut in the U.S. was delayed, and it came before Spirited Away; both conditions would have lessened its impact on a Hollywood audience.

6 Honeyland (2019)

Honeyland showcases a woman's determination to preserve the bee population.

Honeyland follows a woman in North Macedonia who makes a living by cultivating honey from wild bee colonies, showcasing her sustainable methods. Her livelihood is threatened when a nomadic family of beekeepers set up camp near her home and fail to heed a piece of key advice to preserve the bee population. Honeyland is a gorgeous and impactful example of how cinema is used to emphasize environmental issues; however, this is a unique and contained story about humans taking more than nature can give.

In addition to its 100% score, Honeyland earned two Oscar nominations for Best Documentary and Best International Feature. It might have won the latter category if it had not had the misfortune of coming out the same year as Parasite. If Rotten Tomatoes were going to offer more recognition to documentaries, this is a prime example of a movie that deserves it.

5 Sound City (2013)

Sound City recounts the history of one of the most successful recording studios ever.

The documentary titled Sound City showcases the history of the Van Nuys studio of the same name, known for producing the music of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, Johnny Cash, and many, many more. Directed by Dave Grohl, founder of the rock band Foo Fighters, the documentary is an excellent gem of music history. Some of the musical artists who recorded at Sound City appear in Sound City, including Petty, as the movie came out a few years before his death.

Sound City scored 100% because it did what it was intended to do well. However, while it is valuable to the history of music, it may not represent anything groundbreaking in of cinema. Critics highlight the stories it tells rather than how it tells them. It is a great music documentary for fans of Netflix's The Greatest Night in Pop to watch, but it might not hold the same appeal for of the Academy. Sound City is an amazing celebration of music production and innovation, just not necessarily cinematic vision.

4 Pinocchio (1940)

Pinocchio is not one of Disney's best animated movies.

Pinocchio is needed to complete the collection of Disney animated classics, but it does not hold up well in its own right.

Not one of the best animated Disney classics, Pinocchio perhaps only has 100% on Rotten Tomatoes because no one has bothered to dispute it. Disney's second animated feature, following Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio initially flopped but found success later upon re-release. While it is enough of a staple of pop culture to have inspired multiple remakes in recent years, it is not a fantastic movie.

Pinocchio is too strange to really resonate with the audience and didn't make any waves in the industry. Snow White was the first animated feature-length movie, while Fantasia showed off an new experimental format. Pinocchio is needed to complete the collection of Disney animated classics, but it does not hold up well in its own right. It is very basic — Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, on the other hand, utilizes the true potential of the story.

3 Nostalgia For The Light (2010)

The story of two different searches for answers in the Chilean Atacama Desert.

In the documentary Nostalgia for the Light, a team of astronomers takes to the Atacama Desert, where the clear skies are perfect to study the cosmos and hopefully infer answers about the history of humanity. Meanwhile, a group of Chilean women search the desert for the remains of family who were executed during Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship. One storyline in Nostalgia for the Light is not necessarily dependent on the other, but they are held up next to each other for a powerful comparison about delving into the past.

Despite near-perfect reviews, with Amy Biancolli of the San Francisco Chronicle (via sfgate.com) noting its stunning imagery in particular, Nostalgia for the Light flew under the radar of most major cinematic awards. It is worth noting that Rotten Tomatoes reports "No [critic] consensus yet," despite a decent number of reviews and the movie coming out more than 10 years ago (100% Club page). It is possible that the movie's atypical structure confused some people, and that, through an unfortunate set of circumstances, it was largely ignored.

2 Poetry (2010)

A dramatic masterpiece about the power of literature.

The movie Poetry's premise promises and delivers a story about the strength found in creativity. In Poetry, a woman in her sixties with Alzheimer's has recently discovered a terrible truth about her grandson and enrolls and finds comfort in a poetry class. Rotten Tomatoes' Critics Consensus for the movie aptly declares that "Poetry is an absorbing, poignant drama because it offers no easy answers to its complex central conflict" (100% Club page).

Poetry achieved many other awards in recognition of Mi-ja's heartrending journey that uses poetry as an expression tool for her problems with her family and her subtle connections to other women. However, it was ed over by the Academy and the Rotten Tomatoes list. This is perhaps one of the most surprising movies missing from the list, given that its gut-wrenching narrative that has real-world implications for how people deal with different kinds of tragedy.

1 Crip Camp (2020)

Despite being an Oscar contender, Crip Camp is not one of the best movies of all time.

One of the praised movies to be produced by the Obamas, Crip Camp was a favored documentary at its Oscars but lost out to My Octopus Teacher. Documenting a revolutionary community of people with disabilities, Crip Camp shows a broken system and the people who fought against it in the 1970s. However, like with Sound City, Crip Camp's strength is more in the story than the storytelling techniques.

Crip Camp is well-produced but not majorly distinctive from other documentaries comprising old footage. This, in addition to the tendency to overlook documentaries when considering the best of cinema, is probably why Crip Camp is not one of the Rotten Tomatoes 300 best movies of all time. Yet, there are certainly more than 300 good movies in existence, and there is probably at least one person who would argue for each one of them.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes, sfgate.com