Gotta be Cast Away. Roger Rabbit gives me a headache, Contact nauseates me and Forrest Gump makes me roll my eyes. They are all generally crowd pleasers but Cast Away is the one I would gladly watch again. Rescue that volleyball out the incinerator. Wilson!!!
Nathan McKinney - 1 month ago
Adam, I'm a little shocked you haven't completed the journey by watching both Back to the Future sequels. While Im certain neither will live up to your nostalgic fondness of the first, they are certainly worth a spin, especially the last chapter which pays off several character arcs for both Marty and Doc, who is adorable swooning for a delightfully naive Mary Steenburgen as the town's schoolteacher. While I didnt put either of these in my vote, to me they are essential viewing for any BTTF fan. Great Scott!
eric nelson (racine, wi) - 1 month ago
Single? Cinephile? Here’s your move:
Take them to a movie that says, “This is who I am. Buckle up.”
That’s what I did in 1994—Forrest Gump was my first date with the woman who’s now my wife.
Sure, I could’ve gone with Jane Campion’s latest to show off my arthouse cred, but let’s be honest: you want a second date. Forrest Gump checks all the boxes—art that connects with the most people, crafted by a master filmmaker at the top of his game.
It’s emotionally accessible, technically brilliant, and—yes—peak mise en scène. Every element, from the feather to the framing, is working in harmony to elevate Hanks’s performance and awaken a pathos that feels both deeply personal and universally human. Zemeckis doesn’t always reach this level—but when he does, he doesn’t just move the camera; he moves something in us.
The others comments prove this. Step Schwarz nailed my feelings about Contact—for years, it sat among my top ten films—but it was Trent Robb’s pointing out that Romancing the Stone was missing that made me realize something: the essence of a great Zemeckis film is how he ups the wattage of his central star’s power. Whether it’s Hanks, Jodie Foster, Michael J. Fox, or Roger Rabbit, Zemeckis has this uncanny ability to leverage his stars to connect with the audience in ways that are thrilling, hilarious, and deeply emotional.
So obviously Forrest Gump was going to be the right answer for me—I just needed to wrap it in enough mise en scène and meta-commentary to make sure vouching for Forrest Gump didn’t come off as purely nostalgic or sentimental. I’d rather not be forced to hand in my Filmspotting Family membership card.
TJ Ronningen - 1 month ago
I think these lopsided poll results demand a sacred cow review for Roger Rabbit. It's heads-and-shoulders (ears-and-tails) above Back to the Future.
Step Schwarz - 1 month ago
There isn't a bad film on the list, but it's Contact for me. I was nervous about Contact initially, being a huge fan of the novel, but Zemeckis (and Sagan) nailed the adaptation. And that trick mirror shot, c'mon!
Rob Staeger - 1 month ago
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is not only great.. it's also drawn that way.
Qball - 1 month ago
Forrest Gump is his #1 and I don’t care what anyone thinks. A strong #2 is Castaway. Contact is #3…then Back to the Future comes in at #4. All great flicks in their own right.
rmp - 1 month ago
There's enough crap in Zemeckis' filmography to backfill the Panama Canal. At least Roger Rabbit has Bob Hoskins, so let's flush that one last.
Maria (from Kent) - 1 month ago
My vote for Castaway is more for exclusion than because I really rate the film.
I find Forrest Gump absolutely unbearable and ridiculous with the sound track the only saving grace of this nonsense film.
Contact, being myself an Astrophysicist, infuriates me no end. I admire Carl Sagan, but this film is so pretentious, bloated and silly, it just makes me want to scream. The "wormhole" sequence is decent.
Roger rabbit not my cup of tea and I find Jessica an insult to women. Back to the future II is not Back to the feature, what else is there to say.
So Castaway it is, which is ok, I guess. Hanks puts a good performance in but the Oscar goes to Wilson, the best thing in the film.
Julian Papas - 1 month ago
Any What Lies Beneath fans here?
Timothy May - 2 months ago
Zemeckis didn't make a less than excellent movie for the first 25 years of his career, and his late period has several underrated gems.
He has quite a jaundiced view of American greatness that's present throughout his career. Used Cars (which should be on this poll) is a movie about a character with a stated dream is to become a corrupt politician. Gump has a reputation as a rah-rah-we-did-it boomer fantasia, but it's pretty clear-eyed about the dumb luck of being born into post-war prosperity. His newest film, Here, is ultimately about the erosion of the American middle class over a single lifetime. I think people get tripped up on the satirical or cutting elements of his movies because he also wants you to care about the characters, which is a tricky mix that's not going to work for all viewers, but big ambitious Hollywood storytelling can and should contain these sorts of contradictions. His closest cousin is probably Capra, another filmmaker whose assumed (small c) conservatism is belied by a deep distrust of institutions of power and wealth present in most of his work.
That's what makes Roger Rabbit his magnum opus; it's a technically astonishing movie about the human (or toon) cost of groundbreaking innovation, a simultaneous celebration and condemnation of Hollywood's role in creating the American Century, the sentimentality and the cynicism in perfect balance.
For a BTTF mega fan, BTTF 2 is the obvious choice.. you can’t beat Marty going back back to 1955 TWICE, masterfully creating a near riff in the space time continuum…
Honorable mention to Zemekis’ film I Wanna Hold Your Hand… an overlooked gem about crazed Beatle fans!
-Jill from Los Angeles
Alex “Mitch & Murray” Annear - 2 months ago
Forrest Gump gets far too little respect. A classic Tom Hanks role, a moving love story and excellent turn from Robin Wright, and an engaging tour through a few decades of American history. Maudlin? Maybe. Genuinely emotional? You bet!
Wow. Makes me respect Zemeckis more- what a list! Hard decisions. Making the choice based on the incinerator logic although I love Roger rabbit and castaway I think I care more about showing Forrest Gump to my children and could live without the others. Hmmm I’m almost talking myself into castaway but …. As a social studies teacher I have a soft spot for the deeply flawed but historically adjacent and fun romp that is Gump…
Jack - 2 months ago
When I put together my best of the 2000s list, Cast Away came in at No. 2 behind There Will Be Blood. It’s a nearly note perfect film, and the more I watch it the more I’ve come to appreciate its three segments as equally essential. Zemeckis often walks the line between trailblazing and gimmickry, but the marooned island segment of Cast Away is decidedly in the former category. Few films have so viscerally reckoned with the indispensability of human connection or confronted in such stark terms how lost we would become in its sudden and utter absence. Cast Away should be considered among the great works of American naturalism, alongside Stephen Crane’s Open Boat. Instead, it’s trailing the one about the cartoon rabbit. Stupid is as stupid does, indeed.
Liston - 2 months ago
I’m voting for Forrest Gump - even though I have not seen it in years and strongly suspect I’d hate it if I watched it today.
Curt Hansman - 2 months ago
Contact is the Zemeckis film I continue to think about because it acknowledges there is much we won't be able to understand and represents that idea in a visually poetic way. Heresy, perhaps but it's #1
Anthony Reich - 2 months ago
I do not agree with this Zemeckis hate. Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a masterpiece. It is a wonderful noir-styled whodunnit with excellent voice work and Hoskins at his best. The technology is brilliant too, and Christopher Lloyd as Judge Doom is terrifying. I have loved this film for nearly 30 years. I do not get why neither Sam or Adam like it. Josh must like it as he likes all films with the word Rabbit in the title. Having given 3½ out of 4 stars to Rabbit-Proof Fence, Jojo Rabbit, Rabbit Hole, and Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit, one can only logically assume he has given Who Framed Roger Rabbit 3½ out of 4 stars too.
Forrest Gump is also excellent and a very good adaptation of Winston Groom's novel. The technology was way beyond its time and Hanks was brilliant in the titular role. This film is eminently quotable which is certainly a sign of greatness ("sometimes there just aren't enough rocks", "You have to do the best with what God gave you", "That's all I have to say about that.", "I'm pretty tired... I think I'll go home now.", "I'm not a smart man... but I know what love is.", "Mama always said, dying was a part of life. I sure wish it wasn't." and "Your mama sure does care about your education, son". to name a few) and the cinematography is extremely beautiful. I recently watched it with my tweenage daughter and she thought it was fantastic too.
Back to the Future II is also brilliant. In some ways I prefer it to the first. The dystopian future of Hill Valley where Biff reigns supreme is frightening, but also plausible. I think the film is clever in its storytelling and narrative construction and still oozes the fun of the first one. It was the perfect continuation of the first film.
Don't worry, I won't defend Back to the Future III. There is a serious drop off there.
Okay, granted that outside of the first two Back to the Futures, Forrest Gump and Who Framed Roger Rabbit there is not a huge amount that I can go to bat for (Cast Away was entertaining and Romancing the Stone was fun to watch but I would not call either excellent) but I think you are seriously underplaying the brilliance and importance of those other films which were seminal films in my childhood/adolescence and I hope are for others for many more generations to come.
Weirdly, the answer is Contact. "Weirdly," because I don't have a Zemeckis pantheon to refer back to: I've been kind of annoyed by him for the last few decades. Contact, for whatever reason, kept me mostly boiling away in a state of suspension. (Speaking of Cast Away, I recall the trailer gave away the answer to that movie's only question – will he get off that island? – and so I went in completely spoiled. Perhaps under different circumstances it might have had better reception. On the other hand, if Tom Hanks *hadn't* gotten off that island, would Zemeckis have ever found work again?)
Trent Robb - 2 months ago
Romancing the Stone should be available. Looking at the list I came to the conclusion that I don't think Robert Zemeckis is a good director. But I did really like Romancing the Stone and Back to the Future. After that not so much. I want to watch Used Cars. But this is a perfect director for the incinerator concept you guys talk about. Save Back to the Future and maybe Romancing (if you can save 2) and incinerate the rest. No big whoop.
Danny Cox - 2 months ago
I'm probably lying to myself by not saying Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but I absolutely love Zemeckis's debut film I Wanna Hold Your Hand. The coming of age story that blends the real life event of The Beatles appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show with a fictional coming of age story akin to American Graffiti. It is is not only funny, but technically inventive, and has the same heart that Zemeckis and Gale brought to all of their early films including Back to the Future. It's seemingly only available on the physical Criterion release but very worth tracking down.
John Huntzinger - 2 months ago
The “deeply flawed” description is frequently overused, but it certainly applies here with Romancing the Stone inexplicably left off the list.
Gotta be Cast Away. Roger Rabbit gives me a headache, Contact nauseates me and Forrest Gump makes me roll my eyes. They are all generally crowd pleasers but Cast Away is the one I would gladly watch again. Rescue that volleyball out the incinerator. Wilson!!!
Adam, I'm a little shocked you haven't completed the journey by watching both Back to the Future sequels. While Im certain neither will live up to your nostalgic fondness of the first, they are certainly worth a spin, especially the last chapter which pays off several character arcs for both Marty and Doc, who is adorable swooning for a delightfully naive Mary Steenburgen as the town's schoolteacher. While I didnt put either of these in my vote, to me they are essential viewing for any BTTF fan. Great Scott!
Single? Cinephile? Here’s your move:
Take them to a movie that says, “This is who I am. Buckle up.”
That’s what I did in 1994—Forrest Gump was my first date with the woman who’s now my wife.
Sure, I could’ve gone with Jane Campion’s latest to show off my arthouse cred, but let’s be honest: you want a second date. Forrest Gump checks all the boxes—art that connects with the most people, crafted by a master filmmaker at the top of his game.
It’s emotionally accessible, technically brilliant, and—yes—peak mise en scène. Every element, from the feather to the framing, is working in harmony to elevate Hanks’s performance and awaken a pathos that feels both deeply personal and universally human. Zemeckis doesn’t always reach this level—but when he does, he doesn’t just move the camera; he moves something in us.
The others comments prove this. Step Schwarz nailed my feelings about Contact—for years, it sat among my top ten films—but it was Trent Robb’s pointing out that Romancing the Stone was missing that made me realize something: the essence of a great Zemeckis film is how he ups the wattage of his central star’s power. Whether it’s Hanks, Jodie Foster, Michael J. Fox, or Roger Rabbit, Zemeckis has this uncanny ability to leverage his stars to connect with the audience in ways that are thrilling, hilarious, and deeply emotional.
So obviously Forrest Gump was going to be the right answer for me—I just needed to wrap it in enough mise en scène and meta-commentary to make sure vouching for Forrest Gump didn’t come off as purely nostalgic or sentimental. I’d rather not be forced to hand in my Filmspotting Family membership card.
I think these lopsided poll results demand a sacred cow review for Roger Rabbit. It's heads-and-shoulders (ears-and-tails) above Back to the Future.
There isn't a bad film on the list, but it's Contact for me. I was nervous about Contact initially, being a huge fan of the novel, but Zemeckis (and Sagan) nailed the adaptation. And that trick mirror shot, c'mon!
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is not only great.. it's also drawn that way.
Forrest Gump is his #1 and I don’t care what anyone thinks. A strong #2 is Castaway. Contact is #3…then Back to the Future comes in at #4. All great flicks in their own right.
There's enough crap in Zemeckis' filmography to backfill the Panama Canal. At least Roger Rabbit has Bob Hoskins, so let's flush that one last.
My vote for Castaway is more for exclusion than because I really rate the film.
I find Forrest Gump absolutely unbearable and ridiculous with the sound track the only saving grace of this nonsense film.
Contact, being myself an Astrophysicist, infuriates me no end. I admire Carl Sagan, but this film is so pretentious, bloated and silly, it just makes me want to scream. The "wormhole" sequence is decent.
Roger rabbit not my cup of tea and I find Jessica an insult to women. Back to the future II is not Back to the feature, what else is there to say.
So Castaway it is, which is ok, I guess. Hanks puts a good performance in but the Oscar goes to Wilson, the best thing in the film.
Any What Lies Beneath fans here?
Zemeckis didn't make a less than excellent movie for the first 25 years of his career, and his late period has several underrated gems.
He has quite a jaundiced view of American greatness that's present throughout his career. Used Cars (which should be on this poll) is a movie about a character with a stated dream is to become a corrupt politician. Gump has a reputation as a rah-rah-we-did-it boomer fantasia, but it's pretty clear-eyed about the dumb luck of being born into post-war prosperity. His newest film, Here, is ultimately about the erosion of the American middle class over a single lifetime. I think people get tripped up on the satirical or cutting elements of his movies because he also wants you to care about the characters, which is a tricky mix that's not going to work for all viewers, but big ambitious Hollywood storytelling can and should contain these sorts of contradictions. His closest cousin is probably Capra, another filmmaker whose assumed (small c) conservatism is belied by a deep distrust of institutions of power and wealth present in most of his work.
That's what makes Roger Rabbit his magnum opus; it's a technically astonishing movie about the human (or toon) cost of groundbreaking innovation, a simultaneous celebration and condemnation of Hollywood's role in creating the American Century, the sentimentality and the cynicism in perfect balance.
WHERE MY BEOWULF FANS AT
Just kidding, of course it's Forrest Gump.
For a BTTF mega fan, BTTF 2 is the obvious choice.. you can’t beat Marty going back back to 1955 TWICE, masterfully creating a near riff in the space time continuum…
Honorable mention to Zemekis’ film I Wanna Hold Your Hand… an overlooked gem about crazed Beatle fans!
-Jill from Los Angeles
Forrest Gump gets far too little respect. A classic Tom Hanks role, a moving love story and excellent turn from Robin Wright, and an engaging tour through a few decades of American history. Maudlin? Maybe. Genuinely emotional? You bet!
Wow. Makes me respect Zemeckis more- what a list! Hard decisions. Making the choice based on the incinerator logic although I love Roger rabbit and castaway I think I care more about showing Forrest Gump to my children and could live without the others. Hmmm I’m almost talking myself into castaway but …. As a social studies teacher I have a soft spot for the deeply flawed but historically adjacent and fun romp that is Gump…
When I put together my best of the 2000s list, Cast Away came in at No. 2 behind There Will Be Blood. It’s a nearly note perfect film, and the more I watch it the more I’ve come to appreciate its three segments as equally essential. Zemeckis often walks the line between trailblazing and gimmickry, but the marooned island segment of Cast Away is decidedly in the former category. Few films have so viscerally reckoned with the indispensability of human connection or confronted in such stark terms how lost we would become in its sudden and utter absence. Cast Away should be considered among the great works of American naturalism, alongside Stephen Crane’s Open Boat. Instead, it’s trailing the one about the cartoon rabbit. Stupid is as stupid does, indeed.
I’m voting for Forrest Gump - even though I have not seen it in years and strongly suspect I’d hate it if I watched it today.
Contact is the Zemeckis film I continue to think about because it acknowledges there is much we won't be able to understand and represents that idea in a visually poetic way. Heresy, perhaps but it's #1
I do not agree with this Zemeckis hate. Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a masterpiece. It is a wonderful noir-styled whodunnit with excellent voice work and Hoskins at his best. The technology is brilliant too, and Christopher Lloyd as Judge Doom is terrifying. I have loved this film for nearly 30 years. I do not get why neither Sam or Adam like it. Josh must like it as he likes all films with the word Rabbit in the title. Having given 3½ out of 4 stars to Rabbit-Proof Fence, Jojo Rabbit, Rabbit Hole, and Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit, one can only logically assume he has given Who Framed Roger Rabbit 3½ out of 4 stars too.
Forrest Gump is also excellent and a very good adaptation of Winston Groom's novel. The technology was way beyond its time and Hanks was brilliant in the titular role. This film is eminently quotable which is certainly a sign of greatness ("sometimes there just aren't enough rocks", "You have to do the best with what God gave you", "That's all I have to say about that.", "I'm pretty tired... I think I'll go home now.", "I'm not a smart man... but I know what love is.", "Mama always said, dying was a part of life. I sure wish it wasn't." and "Your mama sure does care about your education, son". to name a few) and the cinematography is extremely beautiful. I recently watched it with my tweenage daughter and she thought it was fantastic too.
Back to the Future II is also brilliant. In some ways I prefer it to the first. The dystopian future of Hill Valley where Biff reigns supreme is frightening, but also plausible. I think the film is clever in its storytelling and narrative construction and still oozes the fun of the first one. It was the perfect continuation of the first film.
Don't worry, I won't defend Back to the Future III. There is a serious drop off there.
Okay, granted that outside of the first two Back to the Futures, Forrest Gump and Who Framed Roger Rabbit there is not a huge amount that I can go to bat for (Cast Away was entertaining and Romancing the Stone was fun to watch but I would not call either excellent) but I think you are seriously underplaying the brilliance and importance of those other films which were seminal films in my childhood/adolescence and I hope are for others for many more generations to come.
Weirdly, the answer is Contact. "Weirdly," because I don't have a Zemeckis pantheon to refer back to: I've been kind of annoyed by him for the last few decades. Contact, for whatever reason, kept me mostly boiling away in a state of suspension. (Speaking of Cast Away, I recall the trailer gave away the answer to that movie's only question – will he get off that island? – and so I went in completely spoiled. Perhaps under different circumstances it might have had better reception. On the other hand, if Tom Hanks *hadn't* gotten off that island, would Zemeckis have ever found work again?)
Romancing the Stone should be available. Looking at the list I came to the conclusion that I don't think Robert Zemeckis is a good director. But I did really like Romancing the Stone and Back to the Future. After that not so much. I want to watch Used Cars. But this is a perfect director for the incinerator concept you guys talk about. Save Back to the Future and maybe Romancing (if you can save 2) and incinerate the rest. No big whoop.
I'm probably lying to myself by not saying Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but I absolutely love Zemeckis's debut film I Wanna Hold Your Hand. The coming of age story that blends the real life event of The Beatles appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show with a fictional coming of age story akin to American Graffiti. It is is not only funny, but technically inventive, and has the same heart that Zemeckis and Gale brought to all of their early films including Back to the Future. It's seemingly only available on the physical Criterion release but very worth tracking down.
The “deeply flawed” description is frequently overused, but it certainly applies here with Romancing the Stone inexplicably left off the list.
Cast Away rocks
We love to hate on Forrest Gump — but it's Forrest Gump.
#3 is Allied.