20 unforgettable films you must have on your bucket list, according to our critics
Stuck for what to watch on your next movie night? Here are our very varied picks you simply have to make time for.
Janus Films/Working Title Films/Faces Distribution
- Patrick Cremona
Published: Thursday, 16 July 2026 at 7:00 am
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With more options than ever before, it's never been harder to settle on the ideal film for your next movie night.
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The sheer number of streaming services now available, coupled with the constant stream of brand new releases, can be overwhelming – especially when your busy schedule means you don't always have time to watch as many films as you'd like.
With that in mind, we've taken it upon ourselves to compile a list of unforgettable films that we reckon you simply have to move to the top of your watchlist – the kind of films that everyone should watch at least once in their life.
To draw up this list, we asked our writers to each select one movie they considered a "bucket list" film – and the result is a very varied selection that includes everything from 1960s war films to 1990s romcoms and 2020s coming-of-age dramas.
Read on for our list of 20 films you must have on your bucket list.
1. Chungking Express
Faye Wong as Faye in Chungking Express. Jet Tone Production Co., Ltd.
Wong Kar-wai’s hard-to-categorise 1994 romantic classic is split into two stories, each of which follows a different male cop in Hong Kong who forms a strange connection with a similarly lonely soul. Wong’s seamless slides between tones are remarkable: at times, deeply moody; others, a little wacky; and, when the moment calls for it, the film is simply effervescent.
There’s an on-the-hoof buzz to this, all set around the Chungking Mansions area of the city, while a perfect pop soundtrack and Christopher Doyle’s cool, oft-imitated cinematography contribute to something that remains era-defining but also – in its yearning and anxiety – timeless. – Calum Baker
2. A Woman Under the Influence
Gena Rowlands as Mabel Longhetti in A Woman Under the Influence. MUBI
If there’s one acting performance you watch in your lifetime, it should be Gena Rowlands in A Woman Under the Influence. Often cited as one of the greatest of all time, Rowlands plays Mabel Longhetti, a housewife suffering from a nervous breakdown, in what is widely regarded as John Cassavetes’s magnum opus.
A masterful example of cinema at its most intimate and personal – a raw, realistic examination of mental health, domesticity and sexual politics – it’s the heartbreaking yet fascinating volatility of an outstanding Rowlands that propels A Woman Under the Influence so powerfully.
In equal measures both moving and mesmeric, with a dinner scene that’ll certainly imprint on your brain, A Woman Under the Influence truly expanded the potentials of what unforgettable cinema, and even more unforgettable acting, can be. – Chezelle Bingham
3. Another Year
Lesley Manville as Mary Smith in Another Year Focus Features
When you’re but a wee child, one year around the sun feels like a generation, but as you flourish into later life, the years ebb and flow, passing in what feels like the blink of an eye. Such is the basis of Mike Leigh’s modern masterpiece, Another Year, a story detailing the relationships that blossom and droop in the lives of a married couple across four seasons.
A showcase of British greats, from David Bradley to Ruth Sheen to an utterly hypnotic performance from Lesley Manville as a woman whose former self haunts her every step, this is one of Leigh’s most nuanced scripts, swelling with quiet, devastating tension. Yet, this is not sensationalist melodrama; it’s merely a deftly tuned tale about just another tumultuous year in a beautiful, absurd, heartbreaking life. – Calum Russell
4. Petite Maman
Petite Maman.
Throughout her career, French writer/director Céline Sciamma has delivered a number of sensitively told, understated yet emotionally stirring films, perhaps most famously with Portrait of a Lady on Fire in 2019. That film is more than worthy of a place on this list in itself, but it also seems right to shine a light on her 2021 follow-up Petite Maman, which is relatively underseen by comparison.
A delicate, tender portrait of childhood told in just 73 minutes, it follows a young girl named Nelly who – in the aftermath of her grandmother's passing – wanders into the woods and encounters a younger version of her own mother.
This meeting leads to several profound, deeply moving moments and despite dabbling in fantasy and magical realism, Sciamma tells her story with great naturalism (the autumnal colours are to die for). As far as films about our relationships with our parents go, it doesn't get much better than this. – Patrick Cremona
5. Little Miss Sunshine
Little Miss Sunshine. Fox Searchlight
It hardly seems possible that a film involving death, heavy drug use, depression and the horrors of child beauty pageants could leave you feeling warm and hopeful – but this 2006 tragicomedy pulls it off. When the dysfunctional Hoover family embarks on a road trip across America to get to a beauty contest, each member's problems are quietly eased by time spent connecting with one another and glimpsing life beyond their own individual gloomy bubbles.
With a plot that feels genuinely original, characters layered with depth and melancholy, and moments of dark but endearing humour, the film manages to feel both familiar and entirely singular. Its toughest themes are handled with a touch that's direct yet gentle, so the sobering moments land without ever leaving the audience feeling too bad.
There are career-best performances from a staggering ensemble cast featuring Steve Carell, Alan Arkin and Toni Collette – but like the Hoovers, we’re all left rooting for 7-year-old Olive, a fearless, aspiring beauty queen played by an Oscar-nominated Abigail Breslin. – Alex Berry
6. The Battle of Algiers
The Battle of Algiers. Getty
The Battle of Algiers is a 1966 black and white, subtitled French language film made by an Italian director, Gillo Pontecorvo. When it won the Golden Lion at the 1966 Venice Film Festival, every French film critic walked out.
Have I sold it to you yet? No? Well, to me and many famous film makers it is simply one of the greatest films ever made. Shot with documentary realism and performed largely by non-professional actors, it’s one of the most powerful war films you’ve probably never seen.
Set during Algeria’s struggle for independence, it is dark, haunting, brutal and deeply human. More than half a century on, its questions about power, resistance and violence still resonate. If you care about cinema, this is a film you owe it to yourself to watch. Oh, and did I say it has a cracking score by Ennio Morricone? – Shem Law
7. Scooby-Doo
Scooby-Doo Warner Bros
If you're of a certain (millennial) age, there's a high chance James Gunn's 2002 movie Scooby-Doo already changed your life. But if you haven't seen it, add it to your bucket list right now.
The line-up for this live-action flick that's as much – if not more – for the adults as it is for kids is a masterclass in casting direction. Freddie Prinze Jr and Sarah Michelle Gellar bring their real-life chemistry to the screen as a suitably himbo-esque Fred and a Daphne who subverts her damsel in distress trope with a knowing wink to the audience, while Linda Cardellini breathes dimension into Velma and Matthew Lillard slips so effortlessly into the Shaggy archetype you forget the character ever existed before him.
The film (and its 2004 sequel Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed) is an action-packed, laugh-out-loud thrill from start to finish with a delectably '00s soundtrack, infinitely rewatchable and somehow perfectly suited to any mood. – Minnie Wright
8. Get Out
Daniel Kaluuya as Chris Washington in Get Out.
There is objectively a certain irony in being a white person banging on about how everyone simply must watch Get Out. I am the “I would have voted for Obama for a third term, if I could” guy in this scenario.
But there’s a reason Jordan Peele’s social horror, in which a Black photographer’s weekend with his white girlfriend’s family turns into a blood-soaked nightmare, appears on so many lists of the greatest films of the 21st century: it achieved instant-classic status.
As compelling as it is important, Peele’s razor-sharp exploration of contemporary white racism is a masterclass in marrying style and substance, making Get Out essential viewing. – Abby Robinson
9. Submarine
Craig Roberts as Oliver Tate in Submarine. Channel 4 Television Corporation/UK Film Council/Warp/StudioCanal
Richard Ayoade’s directorial apex can be described in a multitude of ways, but perhaps the most apt is simply as “a vibe”. It tells the story of Oliver Tate, a 15-year-old boy who tries to hold his family together as his parents’ marriage crumbles, while also experiencing his first romantic relationship.
Adapted from Joe Dunthorne’s equally brilliant novel, the film perfectly encapsulates the awkward teenage years, with a laugh-out-loud, offbeat sense of humour and a distinctly Welsh edge.
Featuring a flawlessly pitched central performance from Craig Roberts, an exquisitely crafted visual style and a soundtrack full of earworms from Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner, it really is the full package, and an essential watch from the catalogues of 21st century British cinema. – James Hibbs
10. Pretty Woman
Richard Gere as Edward Lewis and Julia Roberts as Vivian Ward in Pretty Woman. Disney Media Distribution
A ‘90s classic, Pretty Woman is the ultimate romantic comedy must-watch that is a true love letter to yearning.
Starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, the story follows Edward (Gere), a nonchalant businessman who hires a sex worker, Vivian (Roberts), to accompany him to social events. But what starts as a quick fix for both their troubles, soon becomes a passionate love story as they fall for one another unexpectedly.
Set in the backdrop of Beverly Hills, audiences are taken on an emotional rollercoaster as Vivian tries to adjust to a temporary new life, while commitment-phobe Edward navigates his true feelings for someone who surprises him in every way. – Katelyn Mensah
11. Dolores Claiborne
Kathy Bates in Dolores Claiborne. Colombia Pictures
The best Stephen King adaptation you’ve probably never seen let alone heard of, this dark 1995 drama stars Kathy Bates as the titular, timeworn housekeeper who is accused of murdering her elderly employer (Judy Parfitt).
Jennifer Jason Leigh plays Dolores’s sharp, distant daughter, who returns home to defend her mother and get to the bottom of the mystery.
Steeped in dread, buried memories and shocking secrets, this is a fiercely feminist fable filled with complex characters and a powerfully pervasive mood. And Bates is phenomenal – she deserved another Oscar for this, five years after her win for Misery. – Josh Winning
12. Memories of Murder
Song Kang-ho as Park Doo-man and Kim Sang-kyung as Seo Tae-yoon in Memories of Murder. CJ Entertainment
Director Bong Joon Ho may have gone on to huge Oscar-winning success with class satire Parasite, but his early 2003 thriller Memories of Murder deserves every bit as much recognition. Based on a true story that haunted South Korea for decades, it follows the hunt for a serial killer terrorising a rural community and the ramshackle local police force, ill-equipped to handle such evil in their midst.
Bouncing between crime procedural, horror movie, social critique and full-on slapstick comedy (the sheer number of dropkicks and pratfalls is astounding), it culminates in a showdown on the train tracks that is as electric as anything in cinema, and a coda boasting a final shot that lingers long after the end credits roll. – Christian Tobin
13. Harold and Maude
Bud Cort as Harold Chasen and Ruth Gordon as Maude Chardin in Harold and Maude. Getty
Twenty-something Harold (Bud Cort) is obsessed with death. He goes to the funerals of strangers, stages mock suicides to put off potential girlfriends and customises his E-type car into a hearse. Then – at a funeral, of course – he meets Maude (Ruth Gordon), an eccentric, bohemian 79-year-old with similar hobbies but a brighter outlook on life.
They fall in love which, strangely, doesn’t feel inappropriate given the age difference. Hal Ashby’s delightful film combines black humour, romanticism and optimism with a sing-along Cat Stevens soundtrack. Although it wasn’t well received by audiences and critics when released, it’s rightly a cult classic. – Jane Rackham
14. Sing Street
Ferdia Walsh-Peelo as Conor and Lucy Boynton as Raphina in Sing Street. Lionsgate
Essential viewing for anyone that ever dreamed of their band making it big, Sing Street feels like it captures a moment in time. A universal moment in everyone's life. When your education is about to end and the runway is going to run out. Do you accept your lot in life, or do you dream bigger than your teachers, friends and even your family can fathom?
Writer-director John Carney and his musical collaborator Gary Clark elevate the experience with a suite of absolute bangers (far better than anyone's actual teenage band could write), but the film's heart and humour – and the excellent central performance by Ferdia Walsh-Peelo – will stay with you even longer than the toe-tapping ear-worms. – Rob Leane
15. Toy Story 2
Toy Story 2. Pixar
Not only is this fizzing 1999 animation as close to perfection as Pixar comes, it’s also as enjoyably playful as a film about toys should be. Every beat scores, every gag lands and every film reference is a cute one.
From the whizz-bang of the false start to the tense action of a climactic airport rescue, the film is beautifully orchestrated, while a never-better Randy Newman score heightens showpiece moments like The Cleaner’s craft in close-up or Jesse’s moving backstory.
Wearing its messages lightly (the power of the imagination; the necessity of friendship), it’s the quintessence of a family film – my wife and I loved it as much as our then-young kids, and we all still do. And the fine detail of dust, fluff, smoke and reflections is just the icing on a magical, multi-tiered cake. – Mark Braxton
16. Project Hail Mary
Ryan Gosling as Ryland Grace in Project Hail Mary. Amazon MGM Studios
I went into Project Hail Mary thinking it would be “just another space movie” where there’s some sort of face-off with aliens in the all-too expected us vs them dynamic. In reality, I had the most magical cinematic experience I have had in years.
In this adaptation of Andy Weir’s fantastic book (I immediately bought it after), Ryan Gosling plays school teacher and former biologist Ryland Grace, who wakes up aboard a spacecraft, unsure of how he got there. His mission is to save Earth from an alien microorganism that is eating the Sun.
He meets an unusual ally, and what follows is a life-affirming story of friendship, bravery and belonging beautifully realised in mainly practical effects (including genius puppetry). It’s also very funny. There are enough films out there that comment on and critique society, that reflect our depressing reality back at us, but I say choose joy and hope – I defy anyone not to feel immensely moved after watching Project Hail Mary. – Laura Rutkowski
17. Hot Fuzz
Simon Pegg as Nicholas Angel and Nick Frost as Danny Butterman in Hot Fuzz. SEAC
The second film in Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg’s Cornetto Trilogy, Hot Fuzz is a pastiche of the buddy-cop action movie set in rural England. All the hallmarks of the genre are here – epic silliness, terrible one-liners, over the top violence, heartfelt camaraderie, a redemption arc and hammy villains.
The twist (aside from lines that are deliberately funny) is it’s done in such an unapologetically and lovingly British way, seemingly inspired as much by Midsomer Murders or The Bill as Hollywood. It captures the eccentricity of British culture and humour perfectly, which makes it a unique film in what is (very) well-trodden territory. – Matt Rodriguez
18. Condorman
Michael Crawford as Condorman and Barbara Carrera as Natalia Rambova in Condorman. Buena Vista Distribution
As a child in the '80s, the thought of an ordinary person becoming an accidental superhero was incredibly exciting. Throw in physical comedian Michael Crawford – TV star of Some Mothers Do Ave 'Em – and a whole host of gadgets and vehicles (plus a sprinkle of Disney magic) and you had the perfect movie.
There was jeopardy too; evil black Porsches and KGB speedboats, chased Condorman around mountain roads and the coast of Monte Carlo. Many of the stunts were performed by Crawford himself. The film has admittedly aged a bit but it's still a slice of happy family fun. – Jon Restall
19. Double Jeopardy
Annabeth Gish as Angela Green and Ashley Judd as Elizabeth Parsons in Double Jeopardy. Paramount Pictures
Forget prestige cinema, give me Ashley Judd in a wet blouse plotting revenge across state lines. This is camp at its most riveting: a woman framed for her conman husband's murder, who learns in prison that since she's already done the time, she can legally kill him for real. Iconic logic!
Judd’s two-minute revenge-prep prison sequence alone deserves a Criterion release. There's a sex scene on a boat that my parents fast-forwarded through with surgical precision, which only made me more obsessed. I learned more about reproductive biology from that boat than from any '90s sex-ed class. Tommy Lee Jones is also there. – Ruairidh Pritchard
20. A Good Year
Abbie Cornish as Christie Roberts and Russell Crowe as Max Skinner in A Good Year 20th Century Fox
A Good Year is one of those easy, feel-good films that makes you want to book a trip to Provence immediately. It follows a work-obsessed London trader who inherits a vineyard in the south of France and starts to realise there’s more to life than work and money. Expect gorgeous scenery, great wine, a bit of romance and a healthy dose of escapism. Perfect for a cosy Sunday watch. – Millie Stothert
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Authors
Patrick CremonaSenior Film Writer
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
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