Top 10 Movies Every Human Must Watch Before They Die

I’m not a film critic nor do I have a degree in cinema. But I’ve watched a lot of movies — especially on long ass flights from Canada to Asia — and some of them rewired how I see the world.

By no means is this a “best movies of all time” list. It’s just a list of films that hit me at exactly the right moment, in exactly the right way. Some made me laugh. Some made me think. One made me ugly-cry after a heartbreak with a girl I thought was the love of my life. *sigh*

Anyway, it takes 3 to 4 minutes to make popcorn, so while it pops, scroll and pick one of my top 10 movies (and directors) that every human needs to experience before they die.

Top 10 Movies of All Time

10. Project Hail Mary (2026)

Let’s kick off with the movie that inspired me to write this list. I work 5 to 10+ hours a day in front of a screen and sometimes I need a break. And what better way to take a break from building websites than by sitting in front of the big screen?”

Project Hail Mary is based on Andy Weir’s novel — the same author behind The Martian. It features Ryan Gosling as Ryland Grace, a middle-school science teacher who wakes up alone on a spaceship with no memory of how he got there. What follows is part survival thriller, part buddy comedy — except his buddy is an alien that communicates through musical chords.

If you like space, sarcasm, and sci-fi all rolled into one — this movie is for you.

P.S. You may want to bring some tissues for your lover, mine bawled her eyes out a few times during the film!

9. Donnie Darko (2001)

Donnie Darko was the first mind-bending film I ever watched, and it absolutely wrecked me. I was an emo kid and this movie felt like an alternate version of my nihilism-is-everything life.

The movie stars Jake Gyllenhaal who plays a troubled teenager in 1988 — that’s also the year I was born, btw. He’s haunted by visions of a figure in a rabbit suit who tells him the world will end in 28 days. It sounds absurd, because It is absurd. But it’s also terrifyingly smart — blending time travel, teen angst, and suburban horror into something that doesn’t fully reveal itself until the second or third viewing.

Watch on

8. Everything Everywhere, All at Once (2022)

On paper, it’s about a Chinese-American laundromat owner getting audited by the IRS. In practice, it’s a multiverse-hopping, genre-smashing ride that won seven Academy Awards — including Best Picture.

Michelle Yeoh plays Evelyn Wang, a woman who discovers she can access alternate versions of herself across infinite realities. One moment you’re watching a kung fu sequence involving a fanny pack. The next you’re watching a mother and daughter fall apart. It’s unpredictable, exciting, and genuinely moving.

Watch on

7. Jojo Rabbit (2019)

Taika Waititi directed and stars in this film — as Adolf Hitler. Specifically, as a 10-year-old boy’s imaginary version of Hitler who serves as his bumbling best friend during WWII.

Jojo is a lonely kid in Nazi Germany who discovers his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their attic. The film is funny in one scene and devastating in the next. Scarlett Johansson plays Jojo’s mother, and Sam Rockwell steals every scene as a disillusioned German officer. Underneath the satire, it’s a story about a boy unlearning hate. If you’re into Nazi-spin-off movies, give the next one on this list a watch too.

Watch on

6. Inglourious Basterds (2009)

If you liked Jojo Rabbit, you’re gonna love Inglorious Bastards.

Quentin Tarantino builds an alternate-history revenge fantasy where a squad of Jewish-American soldiers hunts Nazis in occupied France. Brad Pitt drawls his way through it, but the real star is Christoph Waltz as SS Colonel Hans Landa — one of the most chilling villain performances I’ve ever seen.

If this hooks you into the Tarantino rabbit hole, here’s where to go next:

• Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2,
• Django Unchained,
• Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,
• The Hateful Eight,
• and the classic Pulp Fiction.

Watch on

5. Before Sunrise (1995) — and the entire Before Trilogy

This was the first movie that made me cry.

I was recovering from my first real heartbreak, and someone told me to watch Before Sunrise. Richard Linklater’s film follows Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Céline (Julie Delpy), two strangers who meet on a train in Europe and spend one night walking through Vienna, just talking. That’s the whole movie. Two people talking. I sobbed at the part when they left each other. It was insanely romantic, and in the state I was in, it cut right through me.

Then I watched Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013) — the same characters, nine years apart each time, aging in real time. I didn’t cry at the sequels, but the pang was there. If you’ve ever loved someone and lost them, watch all three.

Watch on

4. Wes Anderson — the Entire Filmography

I tried to pick a single film from Wes Anderson to add to my list, but I couldn’t choose.

The first Anderson movie I watched was Moonrise Kingdom (2012). As a former Boy Scout, this clever love story about two 12-year-olds who run away together on a New England island got me. The symmetry, the pastel colors, the deadpan humor hiding real tenderness — it was unlike anything I’d seen.

I’ve since watched every single Wes Anderson movie since, and I highly recommend you do the same.

Here’s your watchlist:

• Moonrise Kingdom (2012) — the one that started it all for me
• Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) — stop-motion perfection
• Isle of Dogs (2018) — beautiful, weird, Japanese-inspired
• The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) — probably his best work
• The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) — dysfunctional family done right
• Rushmore (1998) — Bill Murray at his most Bill Murray
• The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) — underrated
• The Darjeeling Limited (2007) — three brothers on a train in India
• The French Dispatch (2021) — love letter to journalism
• Asteroid City (2023) — meta, strange, gorgeous

Watch on

3. The Creator (2023)

I live in Chiang Mai. This movie was filmed in Chiang Dao, about an hour from my apartment. Watching a Hollywood sci-fi epic set in the rice paddies and jungles I drive through every week was surreal.

Gareth Edwards — the guy behind Rogue One — built a future where the US has banned AI and is at war with “New Asia,” a coalition of countries where humans and robots live side by side. John David Washington plays a soldier sent behind enemy lines to find a weapon that could end the war. The weapon turns out to be a child.

It’s gorgeous. The visuals look like they cost $200 million but the budget was $80 million — Edwards shot on location across Thailand, Cambodia, and Nepal with a small crew and layered the sci-fi elements on top. The result feels lived-in and real in a way that most CGI-heavy sci-fi doesn’t. I recognized roads, temples, and train stations.

If you care about AI, if you’ve spent any time in Southeast Asia, or if you just want a sci-fi film that doesn’t look like everything else — watch this one.

Watch on

2. Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die (2026)

Gore Verbinski — the director behind Pirates of the Caribbean — made a movie about a man from the future who shows up at a diner in Los Angeles to recruit a group of strangers to save humanity from a rogue AI. Sam Rockwell plays the lead and he’s having the time of his life.

It’s chaotic, funny, and completely on-the-nose about our collective screen addiction. The AI villain isn’t some cold calculating machine — it’s an emotionally needy manchild, which is both hilarious and uncomfortably accurate. If you liked Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, this sits in the same neighborhood. It’s at 83% on Rotten Tomatoes and I think it’ll be a cult classic within a few years.

Watch on

1. Ponyo (2008)

I know what you’re thinking. A Studio Ghibli animated film about a goldfish who wants to become human? As my number one?

Yeah. Let me explain.

I watched Ponyo during a bike trip from Toronto to St. John’s, Newfoundland. I got caught in a nor’easter — sleet, harsh wind, the works. A guy pulled over to help me after my tire kept popping from the mess that Hurricane Sandy left behind. His name was John Mansley, and he was the manliest man I’ve ever met. He let me stay at a chalet he’d hand-built, and that night, I watched Ponyo.

There’s a longer story here — and I’ll write it one day — but Ponyo was my introduction to Hayao Miyazaki, and it changed what I thought animation could be. It’s simple, beautiful, and full of a kind of warmth that most live-action films can’t touch.

Watch on

Thanks for reading (and watching, lol)!

This is part of my “Before You Die” series. Let me know your Top 10 Movies in the comments below. Or check out some other stuff I believe everyone must consume before they die:

• Top 10 Books Every Human Must Read
• Top 10 Series Every Human Must Binge
• Top 10 Anime Every Nerd Must See