100% ‘certified fresh’: our pick of Rotten Tomatoes’ best films
Film and TV series rating site Rotten Tomatoes has become one of the most highly-respected sources on the internet.
Their trusted Tomatometer bases its score on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics, and seems to hardly ever get it wrong; if a film lands a top score, we’re even more likely to watch it.
The films with perfect scores are a surprisingly varied bunch: there are jaw-dropping documentaries, old classics, modern horrors and heart-wrenching dramas.
With so many fantastic films out there to choose from, we’ve narrowed down the list by picking some of the very best films that have scored that coveted 100% Tomatometer rating, listed in no particular order.
12 Angry Men (1957)
(100% from 62 votes)
This American courtroom drama from American director Sidney Lumet is the classic courtroom drama, despite most of the high-stakes activity unfolding in the room behind the actual court. Twelve jurors must decide the fate of a man who is accused of first degree murder. The stakes couldn’t be higher: if the man is found guilty he will be given a mandatory death sentence, so if any of the jurors have reasonable doubt, they must vote not guilty.
Honeyland (2019)
(100% from 134 reviews)
This exquisite documentary directed by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov follows the life of beekeeper Hatidže Muratova, a woman living in a remote village in the north of Macedonia. Muratova lives an extraordinary life: she is one of the last keepers of wild bees in Europe, lives in a spot with no electricity or running water, and has to walk four hours to the country’s capital, Skopje, where she sells her honey to make a living. But her life starts to change when new neighbours move into the area.
“The opening minutes of Honeyland are as astonishing — as sublime and strange and full of human and natural beauty — as anything I’ve ever seen in a movie,” said reviewer A.O. Scott in The New York Times. Others agreed: The film picked up two Oscar nominations in 2020, including Best Documentary Feature.
Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem (2014)
(100% from 80 reviews)
This extraordinary Israeli film from brother and sister Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz stars Ronit as Viviane Amsalem, a woman who is fighting to divorce her husband. She is trying to obtain a gett – a document in religious law necessary for the divorce to proceed – from her husband, but he won’t oblige her, despite the unhappiness of their marriage.
“Year after year, Viviane pleads her case before a rabbinic court, waiting for her divorce as days slip into weeks and then months,” said The New York Times, “her pacific face glazed with tears and her body occasionally rocked by a laugh tinged with knowing and madness.”
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
(100% from 51 reviews)
Otto Preminger’s Anatomy of a Murder was selected for preservation by the Library of Congress in 2012, confirming its place as one of the great classic crime dramas. The film stars James Stewart as Paul Biegler, a semi-retired lawyer. One day a woman gets in touch to ask him to defend her husband, US Army Lieutenant Manny Manion (Ben Gazzara), who has been arrested for the murder of an innkeeper. Not only does Manion not deny the murder, but he also accuses the innkeeper of raping his wife. Despite the difficulties of the case, Biegler agrees to defend him, and all the drama plays out in a gripping court case. Picking up seven Oscar nominations, Criterion Collection describes Anatomy of a Murder as “an American movie landmark”.
Leave No Trace (2018)
(100% from 252 reviews)
American director Debra Granik is best known for her 2010 Oscar-nominated drama Winter’s Bone, which arguably launched Jennifer Lawrence’s career. But it’s her 2018 film, Leave No Trace, which has an 100 per cent Rotten Tomato score. The film tells the story of military veteran Will (Ben Foster) and his daughter Tom (Thomasin McKenzie) who live together in total isolation in a forest. When they are spotted by a jogger they get arrested, which leads to a series of encounters as the duo move between facilities and various homes.
The film pulled in near-universal acclaim, with Mark Kermode describing the film as “flawless” and “deeply affecting”, and with Sight & Sound magazine describing it as a “tremendously subtle drama of diverging yearnings”.
Gloria (2013)
(100% from 129 reviews)
Gloria tells the story of 58-year-old Gloria (Paulina García) who starts to date a decade after her divorce. She’s looking for excitement as well as companionship, but it turns out this combination is harder to find than she had perhaps imagined: despite meeting someone at singles disco, things don’t go smoothly.
Although Sebastián Lelio went on to win an Oscar for his 2017 film, A Fantastic Woman, the accolade could have come much sooner: Gloria is big-hearted – uplifting, funny, and sad – and was selected as the Chileon Oscar entry in 2014.
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
(100% from 50 reviews)
Kind Hearts and Coronets is without a doubt one of the greatest films of all time. Dennis Price stars as Louis Mazzini, a man whose mother was disowned by her very wealthy family and who has therefore lost his direct right to his inheritance. When he grows up he hatches a mad plot to kill off the eight family members who now stand between him and his fortune. Somehow, Mazzini is absolutely delightful as he goes about his assassinations and the plot is made all the funnier by Alec Guinness playing all eight members of the D’Ascoyne family.
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
(100% from 104 reviews)
This classic from director George Cukor has three romances at its heart, and begins just before a high society wedding, but The Philadelphia Story is really about a woman coming to terms with who she is. The exquisite Katharine Hepburn is Tracy Lord, the daughter of a wealthy family, whose ex-husband, Dexter (Cary Grant) turns up to her wedding, alongside two reporters (one of whom, Mike Connor, is played by James Stewart). It’s one of the best screwballs of all time, and Hepburn is – as always – bewitching.
His House (2020)
(100% from 122 reviews)
Remi Weekes’ 2020 horror His House is a clever meditation on the horrors of the refugee experience, presented as a horror. Wunmi Mosaku stars as Rial and á¹¢á»páº¹Ì DiÌriÌsuÌ plays Bol, a couple who have fled their war-torn South Sudan, somehow surviving the perrilous trip to Britain. Now in the UK, their aslyum has been accepted, and they are provided with a dilapidated home of their own. But strange, horrible things start happening in the house, and the story quickly transforms from heart-wrenching drama to nail-biting psychological horror.
“His House is not misery porn by any means, upsetting as it may sound,” said Vanity Fair. “It’s devastating, but also has the thrill of its execution and the urgency of its ideas to propel it forward. Weekes’s film is compelling in a variety of dimensions, from the personal to the sociopolitical, the formal to the emotional.”
Barbie opens in cinemas on July 21
