30 Things #25 - See 150 of IMDB's top 250 movies

So this one one is going to be tricky because the list changes as votes come in, which means that it could look very, very different in 4 years, but I think that's part of what makes it fun.   Why is this goal important to me?  As you can see, I haven't seen many movies and I don't like getting pity points when playing SceneIt with friends.   Here's the ones I've seen so far:

1. The Shawshank Redemption
2. The Dark Knight
3. Schindler's List
4. Pulp Fiction
5. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
6. Fight Club
7. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
8. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
9. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
10. Inception
11. Star Wars
12. The Matrix
13. Forrest Gump
14. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
15. The Silence of the Lambs
16. Raiders of the Lost Ark
17. It's a Wonderful Life
18. The Dark Knight Rises
19. Saving Private Ryan
20. Citizen Kane
21. American Beauty
22. The Pianist
23. The Departed
24. WALL·E
25. Gladiator
26. The Green Mile
27. To Kill a Mockingbird
28. The Prestige
29. Reservoir Dogs
30. Requiem for a Dream
31. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
32. The Lion King
33. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi
34. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
35. Braveheart
36. 2001 A Space Odyssey
37. Die Hard
38. Batman Begins
39. Up
40. Snatch
41. Inglourious Basterds
42. Toy Story
43. Blade Runner
44. The Big Lebowski
45. The Sixth Sense
46. The Wizard of Oz
47. Trainspotting
48. Gone with the Wind
49. The King's Speech
50. Life of Brian
51. Finding Nemo
52. V for Vendetta
53. How to Train your Dragon
54. My Neighbor Totoro
55. Goundhog Day
56. Mary and Max
57. The Bourne Ultimatum
58. The Princess Bride
59. Slumdog Millionaire
60. A Beautiful Mind
61. District 9
62. Ratatouille
63. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
64. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
65. Monsters, Inc.
66. Beauty and the Beast
67. The Nightmare Before Christmas
68. Jurassic Park
69. Arsenic and Old Lace

Update! As of 5/17/2013, I've now also seen

70. The Godfather
71. The Usual Suspects
72. Goodfellas
73. The Perks of Being a Wallflower

This challenge is tricky, because the list keeps changing.  I've decided that if a movie is on the list at any time when I'm checking my progress, it's going to count.

Update 1/19/2013:

75. The Godfather Part II
76. Django Unchained
77. Mr Smith Goes to Washington
78. The Avengers
79. Star Trek (2009)

Update 8/11/2016:

80. Interstellar
81. Back to the Future
82. Toy Story 3
83. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
84. Deadpool
85. Catch Me If You Can
86. The Martian
87. The Imitation Game
88. Guardians of the Galaxy
89. The Avengers
90. The King's Speech

Update 8/20/2016

91. Spotlight
92. Zootopia
93. Mad Max: Fury Road
94. Grapes of Wrath

I feel like the movies I've been watching recently to make this goal warrant some quick reviews.  

Spotlight is a fantastic film.  It is beautifully acted and directed, and poignantly asks the question "why didn't anyone do anything sooner?" in a way that leaves everyone in the audience feeling responsible for the rape of countless children by Catholic priests, even if you aren't Catholic.  It's a testament to the power of strong journalism and a warning of what happens when we don't hold our institutions accountable.  I loved this film.

I don't think Zootopia merits being in top 250 territory and expect it to slowly slip off the list, but it was a cute film that I will happily show my kids some day.  The animation was superb, the characters relatable, and the plot fitting for a world where civilian / police relations are tense.

Mad Max is good, and the visual effects were stunning, but the plot was lacking a bit.  A woman steals the wives of an evil dictator and fights his hordes as they drive across a postapocalyptic desert and befriend an escaped fugitive along the way.  When they finally get free, they decide to turn around, do it all over again, and overthrow said dictator.  I'm not saying it's bad, just that this movie is clearly made for dudes while trying to pass off as a progressive film with a strong female lead.  In reality, the characters barely do or say anything while ridiculous CGI explosions happen all around them and a flaming guitar plays a battle cry.  I've seen Michael Bay films that had more of a plot, although weren't as artistic.  

Grapes of Wrath is an old film, but it has earned it's right to stay on the top 250 for all these years.  Based on the classic Steinbeck novel, the movie captures both the despair and the optimism of Depression-era families.  

Update 9/6/2016

95. No Country for Old Men

I hated this movie.  I appreciate the cinematographic accomplishments - some of the shots were truly amazing - but I found the characters difficult to believe, the motives of various actors impossible to follow, and the lack of anyone to feel good about in the end utterly disheartening.  The main character is a poacher who stumbles upon a drug deal gone wrong, so he pockets the two million dollars and runs home to his wife.  There's still a dude alive in a truck and he doesn't call the cops or an ambulance.  I don't want to root for this stupid, heartless prick.  The rest of the movie is just run-of-the-mill cartel members and an evil assassin following him around trying to kill him while the sheriff laments that he's too old and crappy at his job to do anything effective to help diffuse the situation.  For some reason, a DEA agent (?) also joins the hunt for about 20 minutes of the film until he conveniently gets killed.  I feel like his scenes were only included so they could list another big name actor on the playbill.  Words cannot describe my disappointment in this film.  If you want to watch an artistically directed show about people running around the desert with drugs while incompetent cops are unable to catch them, watch Breaking Bad.