I can't say I've really watched any of those films that always grace the top 100. Maybe one or two but not all of them.

For me it is all about how memorable it is. I always shake my head with some films that I watch being bandied about as "Classics" when I could watch it 100 times and not have a clue what it was about or even care what its about.

I just don't see anything being a classic from modern cinema.

The Godfather, Schindler's List, Casablanca, The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, Psycho, Forrest Gump, The Sound of Music, Star Wars, ET, Ben-Hur. All Classics.

What makes a classic? Re-watchable, Memorable, Stands the test of time...

If it isn't recognized at the time as a hit it could be a Cult Classic. Big films that stay with us through the generations.

I think there are a few films that could be seen as classics but the big problem is a lot of the "teen aimed" crap like Twilight. When you live in a time when poor acting, poor stories and big flashy films with little substance are the most popular and talked about films when gems might get recognized widely for being great but get overshadowed. Well. There is something wrong when that happens. I watched Harry Potter like the rest of us, good film it might be but the amount of idiots that think its "classic" or that it should have won all of the awards possible are just silly. Culturally the Harry Potter franchise is important to our generation but that is it, will it stand the test of time? Possibly but I feel that the love for the films has already dimmed, the books are set to be a classic kids/teens/young adult series but the films? Not so much.

I'll agree to some degree that everything will eventually start to become dated. Isn't the point though that the QUALITY of these films won't date, whatever Wizard of Oz is now a days it still is seen as a must see film before you die and that is purely down to the fact that it is a classic and camp/dated or whatever it is still a great film. Yeah it is camp but I think even at the time it was intended to be a camp film in their own way.

I personally don't think LotR will become outdated, proven by the fact that 10 years later The Hobbit comes out looking exactly the same and is a massive hit and looks wonderful. Then again the big I agree with in all this is that it WON'T seem dated to us because this is what we are used to!

I really do struggle to think of anything I'd class as a classic. Most of them have Tom Hanks in them (Forrest Gump, Castaway, The Green Mile) personally I do think there is a load of crud that comes out though. And Twilight will not be a classic, popular but not a classic.