When film critics are the only factor taken into account for such a list, however, the results skew in unexpected directions.
To find out which films have been the most critically acclaimed in history, we turned to the reviews aggregator Metacritic for its ranking of the all-time greatest movies, which scores films by their composite critical reception.
The resulting list includes modern masterpieces, like "Moonlight" and "Pan's Labyrinth," in contention with classics like "The Godfather."
Here are the 50 best movies of all time, according to the critics on Metacritic:
50. "Maborosi" (1994)
Critic score: 94/100
User score: N/A
Plot summary: "A young woman's husband apparently commits suicide without warning or reason, leaving behind his wife and infant."
49. "Carlos" (2010)
Critic score: 94/100
User score: 7.8/10
Plot summary: "The story of Venezuelan revolutionary Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, who founded a worldwide terrorist organization and raided the 1975 OPEC meeting."
48. "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (2003)
Critic score: 94/100
User score: 9.1/10
Plot summary: "Gandalf and Aragorn lead the World of Men against Sauron's army to draw his gaze from Frodo and Sam as they approach Mount Doom with the One Ring."
47. "We Were Here" (2011)
Critic score: 94/100
User score: 7.0/10
Plot summary: "A deep and reflective look at the arrival and impact of AIDS in San Francisco and how individuals rose to the occasion during the first years of this unimaginable crisis."
46. "Apocalypse Now" (1979)
Critic score: 94/100
User score: 8.8/10
Plot summary: "During the Vietnam War, Captain Willard is sent on a dangerous mission into Cambodia to assassinate a renegade colonel who has set himself up as a god among a local tribe."
45. "Sideways" (2004)
Critic score: 94/100
User score: 6.7/10
Plot summary: "Two men reaching middle age with not much to show but disappointment embark on a week-long road trip through California's wine country, just as one is about to take a trip down the aisle."
44. "Inside Out" (2015)
Critic score: 94/100
User score: 8.7/10
Plot summary: "After young Riley is uprooted from her Midwest life and moved to San Francisco, her emotions - Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness - conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house, and school."
43. "The Hurt Locker" (2009)
Critic score: 94/100
User score: 7.3/10
Plot summary: "During the Iraq War, a Sergeant recently assigned to an army bomb squad is put at odds with his squad mates due to his maverick way of handling his work."
42. "Mr. Turner" (2014)
Critic score: 94/100
User score: 7.0/10
Plot summary: "An exploration of the last quarter century of the great, if eccentric, British painter J.M.W. Turner's life."
41. "Killer of Sheep" (1978)
Critic score: 94/100
User score: 6.9/10
Plot summary: "Stan works in drudgery at a slaughterhouse. His personal life is drab. Dissatisfaction and ennui keep him unresponsive to the needs of his adoring wife, and he must struggle against influences which would dishonor and endanger him and his family."
40. "Pulp Fiction" (1994)
Critic score: 94/100
User score: 9.1/10
Plot summary: "The lives of two mob hit men, a boxer, a gangster's wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption."
39. "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962)
Critic score: 94/100
User score: 8.3/10
Plot summary: "A former prisoner of war is brainwashed as an unwitting assassin for an international Communist conspiracy."
38. "Dunkirk" (2017)
Critic score: 94/100
User score: 8.4/10
Plot summary: "Dunkirk opens as hundreds of thousands of British and Allied troops are surrounded by enemy forces. Trapped on the beach with their backs to the sea they face an impossible situation as the enemy closes in."
37. "45 Years" (2015)
Critic score: 94/100
User score: 7.5/10
Plot summary: "A married couple preparing to celebrate their wedding anniversary receives shattering news that promises to forever change the course of their lives."
36. "Before Midnight" (2013)
Critic score: 94/100
User score: 8.3/10
Plot summary: "We meet Jesse and Celine nine years on in Greece. Almost two decades have passed since their first meeting on that train bound for Vienna."
35. "WALL-E" (2008)
Critic score: 95/100
User score: 8.9/10
Plot summary: "In the distant future, a small waste-collecting robot inadvertently embarks on a space journey that will ultimately decide the fate of mankind."
34. "Faces Places" (2017)
Critic score: 95/100
User score: N/A
Plot summary: "Director Agnes Varda and photographer/muralist J.R. journey through rural France and form an unlikely friendship."
33. "A Separation" (2011)
Critic score: 95/100
User score: 8.8/10
Plot summary: "A married couple are faced with a difficult decision - to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease."
32. "Zero Dark Thirty" (2012)
Critic score: 95/100
User score: 6.8/10
Plot summary: "A chronicle of the decade-long hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after the September 2001 attacks, and his death at the hands of the Navy S.E.A.L.s Team 6 in May 2011."
31. "I Am Not Your Negro" (2017)
Critic score: 95/100
User score: 5.4/10
Plot summary: "Writer James Baldwin tells the story of race in modern America with his unfinished novel, Remember This House."
30. "The Social Network" (2010)
Critic score: 95/100
User score: 8.2/10
Plot summary: "Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg creates the social networking site that would become known as Facebook, but is later sued by two brothers who claimed he stole their idea, and the co-founder who was later squeezed out of the business."
29. "Call Me by Your Name" (2017)
Critic score: 95/100
User score: N/A
Plot summary: "In 1983, the son of an American professor is enamored by the graduate student who comes to study and live with his family in their northern Italian home. Together, they share an unforgettable summer full of music, food, and romance that will forever change them."
28. "Toy Story" (1995)
Critic score: 95/100
User score: 9.0/10
Plot summary: "A cowboy doll is profoundly threatened and jealous when a new spaceman figure supplants him as top toy in a boy's room."
27. "Carol" (2015)
Critic score: 95/100
User score: 7.9/10
Plot summary: "An aspiring photographer develops an intimate relationship with an older woman in 1950s New York."
26. "Beauty and the Beast" (1991)
Critic score: 95/100
User score: 8.8/10
Plot summary: "A young woman whose father has been imprisoned by a terrifying beast offers herself in his place, unaware that her captor is actually a prince, physically altered by a magic spell."
25. "Spirited Away" (2001)
Critic score: 96/100
User score: 9.0/10
Plot summary: "During her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches, and spirits, and where humans are changed into beasts."
24. "Gravity" (2013)
Critic score: 96/100
User score: 7.8/10
Plot summary: "A medical engineer and an astronaut work together to survive after an accident leaves them adrift in space."
23. "Ratatouille" (2007)
Critic score: 96/100
User score: 8.6/10
Plot summary: "A rat who can cook makes an unusual alliance with a young kitchen worker at a famous restaurant."
22. "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" (1964)
Critic score: 96/100
User score: 8.3/10
Plot summary: "An insane general triggers a path to nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and generals frantically try to stop."
21. "Rosemary's Baby" (1968)
Critic score: 96/100
User score: N/A
Plot summary: "A young couple move into an apartment, only to be surrounded by peculiar neighbors and occurrences. When the wife becomes mysteriously pregnant, paranoia over the safety of her unborn child begins to control her life."
20. "Manchester by the Sea" (2016)
Critic score: 96/100
User score: 8.2/10
Plot summary: "A depressed uncle is asked to take care of his teenage nephew after the boy's father dies."
19. "12 Angry Men" (1957)
Critic score: 96/100
User score: 9.5/10
Plot summary: "A jury holdout attempts to prevent a miscarriage of justice by forcing his colleagues to reconsider the evidence."
18. "12 Years a Slave" (2013)
Critic score: 97/100
User score: 8.0/10
Plot summary: "In the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery."
17. "Ran" (1985)
Critic score: 96/100
User score: 8.3/10
Plot summary: "In Medieval Japan, an elderly warlord retires, handing over his empire to his three sons. However, he vastly underestimates how the new-found power will corrupt them and cause them to turn on each other...and him."
16. "A Fantastic Woman" (2017)
Critic score: 96/100
User score: TBD
Plot summary: "The story of Marina, a waitress and singer, and Orlando, an older man, who are in love and planning for the future. After Orlando suddenly falls ill and dies, Marina is forced to confront his family and society, and to fight again to show them who she is: complex, strong, forthright, fantastic."
15. "American Graffiti" (1973)
Critic score: 97/100
User score: N/A
Plot summary: "A couple of high school grads spend one final night cruising the strip with their buddies before they go off to college."
14. "Psycho" (1960)
Critic score: 97/100
User score: N/A
Plot summary: "A Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run, and checks into a remote motel run by a young man, Norman Bates under the domination of his mother."
13. "Some Like It Hot" (1959)
Critic score: 97/100
User score: N/A
Plot summary: "When two male musicians witness a mob hit, they flee the state in an all-female band disguised as women, but further complications set in."
12. "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" (2008)
Critic score: 97/100
User score: 7.9/10
Plot summary: "A woman assists her friend in arranging an illegal abortion in 1980s Romania."
11. "Gone With The Wind" (1940)
Critic score: 97/100
User score: 8.5/10
Plot summary: "A Southern belle struggles with the devastation of the Civil War and Reconstruction. This classic won 8 Academy Awards, including Best Picture."
10. "My Left Foot" (1990)
Critic score: 97/100
User score: N/A
Plot summary: "True story of cerebral palsied Christy Brown, who overcame his illness and poverty to become an accomplished artist, poet and writer."
9. "Hoop Dreams" (1994)
Critic score: 98/100
User score: 8.2/10
Plot summary: "A film following the lives of two inner-city Chicago boys who struggle to become college basketball players on the road to going professional."
8. "Pan's Labyrinth" (2006)
Critic score: 98/100
User score: 8.6/10
Plot summary: "In the falangist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world."
7. "Moonlight" (2016)
Critic score: 99/100
User score: 7.2/10
Plot summary: "A timeless story of human connection and self-discovery, 'Moonlight' chronicles the life of a young black man from childhood to adulthood as he struggles to find his place in the world while growing up in a rough neighborhood of Miami."
6. "Singin' In The Rain" (1952)
Critic score: 99/100
User score: N/A
Plot summary: "A silent film production company and cast make a difficult transition to sound."
5. "Three Colors: Red" (1994)
Critic score: 100/100
User score: 7.9/10
Plot summary: "Final entry in a trilogy of films dealing with contemporary French society concerns a model who discovers her neighbour is keen on invading people's privacy."
4. "Boyhood" (2014)
"Boyhood"/Universal
Critic score: 100/100
User score: 7.7/10
Plot summary: "The life of Mason, from early childhood to his arrival at college."
3. "Casablanca" (1943)
Critic score: 100/100
User score: 9.3/10
Plot summary: "A Casablanca, Morocco casino owner in 1941 shelters his former lover and her husband, a Czechoslovakian freedom fighter, from the Nazis."
2. "The Godfather" (1972)
Critic score: 100/100
User score: 9.2/10
Plot summary: "The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son."
1. "Citizen Kane" (1941)
Critic score: 100/100
User score: 8.5/10
Plot summary: "Following the death of a publishing tycoon, news reporters scramble to discover the meaning of his final utterance."
