15 Best Hollywood Movies of all Time (IMDb Rating): The Dark Knight, Forrest Gump, Inception and More

Over the course of time, we have seen many Hollywood movies that have stuck with the audience and have gone on to become some of the best Hollywood movies to have ever been made. Not only people from west, but people all around the globe prefer to watch Hollywood movies when they are free or when they wish to spend some time with their loved ones. We have listed some of the best Hollywood movies over the years that were critically acclaimed, and even after so many years of their release, they can still be found in the list of comfort movie of some people. So, if you’re the one in-charge to pick a movie for the movie night, we hope that the movies listed below are great suggestions, and we hope you enjoy them!

List of Best Hollywood Movies

Movie Name	IMDb Rating
Forrest Gump	8.8
Inception	8.8
The Matrix	8.7
Catch Me If You Can	8.1
The Dark Knight	9
Gladiator	8.5
The Da Vinci Code	6.6
Back to the Future	8.5
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind	8.3
The Terminator	8.1
The Terminal	7.4
Titanic	7.9
The Notebook	7.8
A Walk to Remember	7.3
Toy Story	8.3

Forrest Gump (1994)

Directed by Robert Zemeckis, the story of the movie revolves around a man named Forrest Gump who narrates his life story to some strangers who are waiting with him at the bus stop in Savannah. Forrest starts his story when back in 1956, he had an IQ of 75 and had leg braces to correct his curved spine. While living with his mother in Greenbow, he happens to meet a girl named Jenny Curran, who he becomes best friends with. After having his leg braces removed, Forrest learns that he is a fast runner, because of which he joins the U.S. Army after his graduation. After having saved many soldiers from the danger, which resulted him in receiving Medal of Honour by President Lyndon B. Johnson. After being part of many historical events, Forrest reveals that he is waiting for his girlfriend Jenny at the bus stop, who he wishes to spend rest of his life with. 

Cast: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Sally Field, Haley Joel Osment, Peter Dobson, and others. 

Release Date: July 6th, 1994

Duration: 142 minutes

Genre: Drama, Romance

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Producer: Wendy Finerman, Steve Tisch, Steve Starkey

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video

Inception (2010)

Directed by Christopher Nolan, the story of the movie revolves around a man named Cobb, a thief who is known to use the technique of dream-sharing in order to extract some confidential information from someone. Being impressed by his talent, Saito offers Cobb a job to implant an idea into the subconscious of Robert, who is the son of Saito’s competitor Maurice Fishcer. After Cobb accepts Saito’s offer, he forms a team that included a chemist named Yusuf and a college student named Ariadne. Once Cobb and his team go on with their plan, Cobb’s past come back haunting him which results in affecting his plan. 

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elliot Page, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy, Dileep Rao, Cillian Murphy, and others.

Release Date: July 16th, 2010

Duration: 148 minutes

Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

Director: Christopher Nolan 

Producer: Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas 

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video

The Matrix (1999)

Directed by The Wachowkis, the story of the movie revolves around Trinity, who has some superhuman powers, who gets in touch with a computer programmer Thomas Anderson, also known as Neo, and tells him that a man named Morpheus has all the answers that Neo has been looking for. After Trinity saves him from the agents who arrests him, and takes him to Morpheus. When Morpheus offers him two pills, red and blue, such that if Neo chooses red pill the truth about the Matrix would be revealed to him and if he chooses blue pill, it would enable him to forget everything and return to his normal life. Neo ends up choosing the red pill, which takes him to a place that looked like a liquid-filled pod that also had other humans in it. While giving the tour of the Matrix in his flying ship, the Nebuchadnezzar, he revealed that the Matrix has been created to save humans from the machines that could make the human’s life miserable in the coming future. The movie was critically acclaimed and has been named as one of the best Hollywood movies to have ever been made. 

Cast: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Joe Pantoliano, Marcus Chong, Anthony Ray Parker, Julian Arahanga, Matt Doran, Gloria Foster, Belinda McClory, Paul Goddard, Robert Taylor, and others. 

Release Date: April 8th, 1999

Duration: 136 minutes

Genre: Action, Sci-Fi

Director: The Wachowkis

Producer: Joel Silver 

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video

Catch Me If You Can (2002)

Directed by Steven Spielberg, the movie takes place in 1963, which revolves around the life of a man named Frank Willian Abagnale Jr., whose father is known for conning people. After finding about his mother’s affair, his parents end up separating which forces Frank to run away. In order to survive, following his father’s footsteps, Frank make a living out of scamming and impersonating other people. He starts impersonating a pilot of Pan Am, which enables him to make millions of dollars. Soon, FBI gets to know about his crime, and Agent Carl is made in-charge to investigate the case and arrest Frank. When Carl finds him in a hotel, Frank fools him and escapes from the hotel. Then, Frank starts to impersonate a doctor, where he falls in love with a hospital worker Brenda, who he later asks to get married. Carl tracks him down again and ends up being at their engagement party, which Frank manages to escape. In 1967, Frank is found in a French prison, where he is found in a very poor condition because of his poor health. After listening to the news of his father’s demise, Frank hands himself to Carl and suffers twelve years in prison. Soon, Carl offers Frank to help him in a case he’s been working on, and the movie ends with Frank being happily married with three sons, and has now been living a successful life as a leading expert on bank fraud and forgery. 

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Nathalie Baye, Amy Adams, James Brolin, Nancy Lenehan, Candice Azzara, Malachi Throne, and others.

Release Date: December 25th, 2002

Duration: 141 minutes

Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama

Director: Steven Spielberg

Producer: Steven Spielberg, Walter F. Parkes

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video

The Dark Knight (2008)

Directed by Christopher Nolan, the story of the movie starts with a group of masked criminals who robs a bank in Gotham City, that is owned by a mafia. On learning that each group member has betrayed the other, the Joker, who is the sole survivor, claims to be the mastermind and ends up escaping with all the money. This enables Batman, district attorney Harvey Dent, and police officer Jim Gordon to form an alliance in order to make the city a place free of crimes. One day, when all the mafia get together to discuss the plan to protect themselves from the Joker, Batman, and the police, the Joker barges and tells them that he would kill Batman if they offered him money that their accountant, Lau, had hidden before going to Hong Kong. When they accept the Joker’s offer, he goes on a spree to kill many people that are involved in the trial, which also included the judge and the police commissioner. The story flows when the Batman has taken the duty to protect everyone else in the city from the Joker, and tries to eliminate any sorts of crime that takes place in the city. 

Cast: Christopher Bale, Michael Caine, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllanhall, Morgan Freeman, and others. 

Release Date: July 25th, 2008

Duration: 152 minutes

Genre: Action, Crime, Drama

Director: Christopher Nolan

Producer: Emma Thomas, Charles Roven, Christopher Nolan

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video

Gladiator (2000)

Directed by Ridley Scott, the story of the movie takes place in 180 AD, when Maximus Decimus Meridius returns home after winning against the Germanic tribes. When Commodus overhears his father telling Maximus that he wishes him (Maximus) to succeed him, Commodus kills his father and taken on the throne and announces himself to be the new emperor. When Maximus refuses his offer to stay by his side, Commodus have him arrested and also kills his wife and son. An injured buries his wife and son, and wishes to reunite with them in the afterlife. Upon collapsing, he is taken to the city of Zucchabar, where he is handed to gladiator trainer Proxino. After winning many tournaments, Maximus become quite popular among the gladiators and is known to become the confidant of Proximo. When Commodus organizes an event that would last for 150 days, Maximus disguises himself as a Carthaginian and leads his team to victory. Impressed by his skills, Commodus comes to congratulate him and asks him to reveal his real identity. After many events of unfortunate events, Commodus challenges Maxima for a fight and stabs him just before the fight. However, Commodus ends up getting killed in the fight, and Maximus dies too. 

Cast: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielson, Oliver Reed, Derek Jacobi, Djimon Hounsou, Richard Harris, Ralf Moller, and others. 

Release: May 12th, 2000

Duration: 155 minutes

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama

Director: Ridley Scott

Producer: Douglas Wick, David Franzoni, Branko Lustig 

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video

The Da Vinci Code (2006)

Directed by Ron Howard, the story of the movie revolves around a murder that takes place inside the Louvre. The police officers can only solve the mystery once they decode the clue that was left by the victim Sauniere moments before his death. Once the clue in the painting by Leonardo Da Vinci is decoded, it leads the investigators to learn about the secret society that has been protecting some religious mystery for over two thousand years, which could be one way or the other change the beliefs of Christianity. 

Cast: Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Jean Reno, Ian McKellen, Alfred Molina, Jurgen Prochnow, Paul Bettany, and others. 

Release: May 19th, 2006

Duration: 149 minutes

Genre: Mystery, Thriller

Director: Ron Howard

Producer: Brian Grazer, John Calley 

Where to Watch: Netflix

Back to the Future (1985)

Directed by Robert Zemeckis, the story of the movie revolves around the life of a teenager named Marty who lives with his mother, Lorraine, his siblings and his father, George, who is continuously bullied by Biff Tannen. Marty goes to meet his eccentric scientist friend, Doc, who has created a time machine, powered by plutonium, and has input a destination time of November 5th, 1955. After a few terrorists arrive at Doc’s place and threatens to shoot him, Marty to save himself, flees in the Delorean and waked up in 1955. On arriving, he sees his father as a teenager, who is being bullied by Biff. When he is knocked by a car, he wakes up to see him sitting next to her teenage mother Lorraine, who becomes infatuated with him. When Marty visits a young Doc, he tried to convince him that he is from the future, which Doc feels very hard to believe. Marty then shows him a flyer from the future, and then he notices that the photos of his older siblings begins to fade and Doc warns him that his action may change the future, which also may end up damaging his existence. Lorraine asks Marty to take him to the school dance, and Marty plans George to rescue her, which is disturbed when Biff and his friends’ locks Marty, and takes advantage of Lorraine. Upon reaching back to 1985, the Doc and Marty travel to 2015, where Mary finds his mother healthy again and his father to be a successful author, and Biff to be an employee at George’s employ. 

Cast: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Llyod, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and others. 

Release: July 3rd, 1985

Duration: 116 minutes

Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi

Director: Robert Zemeckis 

Producer: Bob Gale, Neil Canton 

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Directed by Michel Gondry, the story of the movie revolves around the life of a couple named Joel Barish and Clementine Kruczynski, who gets into an argument after Joel learns that Clementine has had her memories of Joel erased by Lacuna, a New York City firm. Heartbroken by this, Joel too decides to go through the same procedure and remove the memories of his girlfriend Clementine. The procedure of having his memory removed takes place at Joel’s apartment, where the Lacuna technician Stan and secretary Mary have sex while the procedure takes place. As Joel experiences his memories of Clementine again, he also experiences some happy memories with her, which makes him change his decision to go ahead with the procedure. As Stan learns that Joel only hid her in memories that did not involve her, he calls his boss Howard, who restarts the procedure. As he reaches the last memory of them meeting for the first time on a beach in Montauk. As the memory faded, Clementine tells Joel to meet her in the same spot. When Howard’s wife catches him kissing Mary, she forces him to tell Mary the truth they were in a relationship before Mary had her memories of him erased. Mary then steals the Lacuna records and mails them to every patient, which also reached to Joel and Clementine. Regardless of the tape, both Joel and Clementine decide to given their relationship a second chance. 

Cast: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kristen Dust, Marck Ruffalo, Elijah Wood, Tom Wilkinson, and others.

Release: March 19th, 2004

Duration: 108 minutes

Genre: Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi

Director: Michel Gondry 

Producer: Steve Golin, Anthony Bregman

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video

The Terminator (1994)

Directed by James Cameron, the story of the movie revolves around the two men who have time travelled from 2029 and arrived in 1984. The Terminator has been sent to kill a woman named Sarah Connor while Kyle Reese has been sent to save her. Before the Terminator could reach her, Reese rescues her and steals a car, with the Terminator chasing him. Reese explain to Sarah that her future son John would be the one who would save the human race from a global nuclear war, so saving her is of utmost importance. After many attempts of the Terminator trying to kill Sarah, both Sarah and Reese manage to escape when she lures the Terminator into a hydraulic press, and destroys it by crushing it. Few months later, Sarah, who is now pregnant with John, visits a gas station and records audio tapes to pass on to him, where a boy takes a picture of her, that would be same photo that John would give to Reese. 

Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, Linda Hamilton, Paul Winfield, Bess Motta, Rick Rossovich, Earl Boen, and others. 

Release: October 26th, 1984

Duration: 107 minutes

Genre: Action, Sci-Fi

Director: James Cameron 

Producer: Gale Anne Hurd

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video

The Terminal (2004)

Directed by Steven Spielberg, the story of the movie revolves around the life of a man named Viktor who has come to New York from a fictional country Krakozhia. However, due to the ongoing war in his country, the police officers do not let Viktor enter the United States and also cease his passport, which forces him to live at the airport. The Acting Field Commissioner Frank Dixon tells Viktor to stay at the transit lounge till everything gets resolved. Viktor along with a peanut can settles himself at the airport and while he is there, he befriends the airport staff as well as the travelers. Soon, he meets a flight attendant Amelia Warren, who he tries to woo. Dixon is very keen on getting Viktor out of this airport and send him back to his country, but regardless of many attempts, he fails to do so. When Viktor explains to Amelia that the peanut can is very dear to him as it belonged to his deceased father who had collected the autograph of all the musician that featured in his Hungarian newspaper, Amelia grows fond of Viktor and kisses him. After the wars end nine months later, Viktor is permitted to leave for his country, but Viktor is still yet to get the autograph of the last musician. However, with the help of his janitor friend Gupta Rajan, Viktor is able to get the last autograph fron Benny Golson, and happily returns to his home back in Krakozhia.

Cast: Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Chi McBride, Stanley Tucci, and others. 

Release Date: June 18th, 2004

Duration: 128 minutes

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance

Director: Steven Spielberg 

Producer: Steven Spielberg, Walter F. Parkes, Laurie MacDonald

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video

Titanic (1997)

Directed by James Cameron, the story of the movie revolves around the life of a teenage girl named Rose, who with her rich fiancé Cal and her widowed mother, Ruth, take the Titanic. Another teenager name Jack Dawson is also aboard in the Titanic, after he won the ticket at a poker game. Both Rose and Jack become good friends, and Rose even start to have feeling for Jack. Jack, being an artist, invites Rose to sketch her nude, wearing nothing but only the Heart of the Ocean necklace, and end having sex in Cal’s servant’s car. When Cal finds the sketch of Rose, and the necklace, he puts it in Jack’s coat, which ends up putting Jack in the master-at-arms’ office. When Rose and Jack overhear about the ship sinking after hitting the iceberg, people get panicked and start to run to save their lives. Rose’s mother Ruth and fiancé Cal take a lifeboat and leave to save their lives, while Rose stays back to save Jack’s life. Jack helps Rose onto a wooden buoyant, and since there was only place for one person, Jack dies of hypothermia, and Rose is saved by a lifeboat. At the end of the movie, it is revealed that Rose had the necklace all along and later drops it into the sea where the accident happened. 

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Frances Fisher, Bernard Hill, Jonathan Hyde, Danny Nucci, David Warner, Bill Paxton, and others.

Release Date: December 19th, 1997

Duration: 195 minutes

Genre: Drama, Romance

Director: James Cameron 

Producer: James Cameron, Jon Landau

Where to Watch: Disney+ Hotstar

The Notebook (2004)

Directed by Nick Cassavetes, the story of the movie revolves around the life of a seventeen-year-old girl named Allie, who is visiting Seabrook Island with her parents during summer. There she meets with a poor lumber mill worker named Noah, and they both start seeing each other. Both Noah and Allie meet with each other parents, but Allie’s parent does not like Noah, since Noah belonged to not so wealthy class. One night, Noah takes Allie to an abandoned house that he wishes to buy someday, and Allie asks him to make love to her, but things do not go well when Allie gets nervous. They are interrupted by Noah’s friend Fin, who informs them that Allie’s parents are searching for her. Allie’s parents order her not to see Noah anymore, which ends their summer romance. When Allie returns back home, Noah wrote letters to her every day for a year, which unfortunately never reached Allie. Noah then decides to fight in World War 2, where Allie volunteers as a nurse and meets with Captain Lon, who she later gets engaged to. After Noah returns from the war, he buys the house and renovates it. Upon seeing the picture of Noah in the newspaper, Allie takes a trip to Seabrook few days before her wedding, and meets with Noah, to rekindle their romance. Her wedding with Cal is called off, she returns to live with Noah. Few years later, it can be seen Allie suffering from dementia and not remembering much. After an unfortunate event, Noah suffers a heart attack and Allie is seen resting in the ward. Moments later, a nurse finds them dead with both of them holding each other’s hands. 

Cast: Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, James Garner, Gena Rowlangs, James Marsden, Kevin Connolly, Sam Shepard, Joan Allen, and others. 

Release Date: June 25, 2004

Duration: 12 minutes

Genre: Drama, Romance

Director: Nick Cassavetes

Producer: Lynn Harris, Mark Johnson

Where to Watch: Netflix

A Walk to Remember (2002)

Directed by Adam Shankman, the story of the movie revolves around the life of popular high school senior Landon, who is punished to complete several service projects in order to not get expelled because of the prank he played on Clay, which ended up hurting him badly. After Landon struggles in a play, he seeks help from Jamie, who he has known for several years but never really spoke to her. Jamie agrees to help him but under one condition that he will not fall in love with her. After school, Jamie and Landon would spend a lot of time practicing the play, but after his change of behaviour towards her in school in front of his friend, Jamie tries to distance herself from him. During the play, being impressed by Jamie’s singing, Landon kisses her which starts their romance. After going on a few dates, they both fall in love with each other. Soon, Jamie reveals to Landon that she has Leukemia and does not have much time to live, which leaves Landon helpless and heartbroken. One night when Landon builds a telescope to show Jamie a star he named after her, he asks her to marry him, to which Jamie says yes. They get married at the church, and spend their last summer as husband and wife, before Jamie passed away soon later. Jamie’s father described Landon to be Jamie’s miracle, and Landon describes their love like a wind: he cannot see it, but can feel it.

Cast: Shane West, Mandy Moore, Peter Coyote, Daryl Hannah, and others. 

Release Date: January 25th, 2002

Duration: 102 minutes

Genre: Drama, Romance

Director: Adam Shankman

Producer: Denise Di Novi, Hunt Lowry

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video

Toy Story (1995)

Directed by Peter Chelsom, the story of the movie revolves around the toys who come alive when humans are not present, who live with their owner, Andy, who is preparing to move houses with his sister and mother. During Andy’s birthday, the toys and Andy’s favourite toy Woody decide to spy on the birthday gifts that Andy gets, but are later relieved when Andy receives a gift that would not replace them. However, upon receiving a surprise gift that had a Buzz Lightyear action figure, Woody becomes jealous that he would become Andy’s new favourite toy. When Andy goes out for dinner at Pizza Planet, he is allowed to take only one toy along with him. Woody decides to knock Buzz behind the dresser, but accidentally knocks him out of the window, leaving Andy to take Woody with him. Buzz reaches for the car and confronts Woody for his action. They both get involved in an argument, which leaves them stranded at the Pizza Planet. They are later found by a teenage boy named Sid, who takes them with him. Sid, who is under the impression of destroying toys, forces both Woody and Buzz to make a plan to get out of the house. After several attempts to save themselves, both Buzz and Woody manage to get out of the house and reunites with Andy. 

Cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberg, Annie Potts, John Morris, Erik von Detten, and others. 

Release Date: November 22nd, 1995

Duration: 81 minutes

Genre: Comedy, Animation, Adventure

Director: John Lasseter 

Producer: Bonnie Arnold, Ralph Guggenheim

Where to Watch: Disney+ Hotstar

We hope that this list made it easier for you to pick a movie you want to watch in your free time, and we hope you have a wonderful time watching it as much as we had suggested them to you.