On my final day as a thirty-something, I’d like to honor my favorite art form by singling out a great many films that have enriched my life over the past four decades. Thanks to the organizational tools provided by Letterboxd, I was able to easily compile lists of my favorite films from each year, beginning with 1926.
These lists will be ever-evolving as I continue my moviegoing journey, and since they each occupy their own page on my Letterboxd account, I figured that I should have them all in one place as well. As of now, they begin primarily with Top 5 lists for each year until 1932, which has enough cherished titles to fill up my first Top 10 list. They expand into Top 20 lists by 2005, my first full year in college, as I was discovering a greater number of cinematic treasures on a weekly basis.
But before we get to all those, I’ll begin with my Top 30 favorite films from the dawn of cinema, spanning 1895 through 1925. So grab some popcorn and enjoy…
1. “Our Hospitality” (1923), Buster Keaton & John G. Blystone
2. “A Trip to the Moon” (1902), Georges Méliès
3. “He Who Gets Slapped” (1924), Victor Sjöström
4. “Safety Last!” (1923), Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor
5. “Sherlock Jr.” (1924), Buster Keaton
6. “Battleship Potemkin” (1925), Sergei Eisenstein
7. “The Phantom of the Opera” (1925), Rupert Julian
8. “The Thief of Bagdad” (1924), Raoul Walsh
9. “The Freshman” (1925), Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor
10. “Nosferatu” (1922), F.W. Murnau
11. “The Kid” (1921), Charlie Chaplin
12. “Cabiria” (1914), Giovanni Pastrone
13. “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” (1920), Robert Wiene
14. “Häxan” (1922), Benjamin Christensen
15. “The Great Train Robbery” (1903), Edwin S. Porter
16. “Intolerance: Love’s Struggle Throughout the Ages” (1916), D.W. Griffith
17. “The Gold Rush” (1925), Charlie Chaplin
18. “Nanook of the North” (1922), Robert Flaherty
19. “Souls for Sale” (1923), Rupert Hughes
20. “Greed” (1924), Erich von Stroheim
21. “The Witch” (1906), Georges Méliès
22. “The Immigrant” (1917), Charlie Chaplin
23. “The Bewitched House” (1906), Segundo de Chomón
24. “The Cabbage-Patch Fairy” (1896), Alice Guy-Blaché
25. “The Magic Book” (1900), Georges Méliès
26. “Kuleshov Effect” (1919), Lev Kuleshov
27. “The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat” (1896), Louis & Auguste Lumière
28. “The Kiss” (1896), William Heise
29. “The Navigator” (1924), Buster Keaton & Donald Crisp
30. “The Last Laugh” (1924), F.W. Murnau
Top 2 Films of 1926
1. “The General,” Buster Keaton & Clyde Bruckman
2. “Faust,” F.W. Murnau
Top 5 Films of 1927
1. “Metropolis,” Fritz Lang
2. “The King of Kings,” Cecil B. DeMille
3. “Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans,” F.W. Murnau
4. “The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog,” Alfred Hitchcock
5. “The Unknown,” Tod Browning
Top 5 Films of 1928
1. “The Passion of Joan of Arc,” Carl Theodor Dreyer
2. “The Man Who Laughs,” Paul Leni
3. “Steamboat Bill Jr.”, Buster Keaton & Charles Reisner
4. “The Circus,” Charlie Chaplin
5. “Steamboat Willie,” Walt Disney & Ub Iwerks
Top 5 Films of 1929
1. “Diary of a Lost Girl,” G.W. Pabst
2. “Blackmail,” Alfred Hitchcock
3. “Un Chien Andalou,” Luis Buñuel
4. “Man with a Movie Camera,” Dziga Vertov
5. “Pandora’s Box,” G.W. Pabst
Top 5 Films of 1930
1. “Morocco,” Josef von Sternberg
2. “The Blue Angel,” Josef von Sternberg
3. “People on Sunday,” Robert Siodmak & Edgar G. Ulmer
4. “À propos de Nice,” Jean Vigo & Boris Kaufman
5. “Brats,” James Parrott
Top 5 Films of 1931
1. “City Lights,” Charlie Chaplin
2. “Frankenstein,” James Whale
3. “Dracula,” Tod Browning
4. “M,” Fritz Lang
5. “Dishonored,” Josef von Sternberg
Top 10 Films of 1932
1. “Grand Hotel,” Edmund Goulding
2. “I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang,” Mervyn LeRoy
3. “Freaks,” Tod Browning
4. “Shanghai Express,” Josef von Sternberg
5. “The Music Box,” James Parrott
6. “Blonde Venus,” Josef von Sternberg
7. “The Mummy,” Karl Freund
8. “The Old Dark House,” James Whale
9. “Queen Kelly,” Erich von Stroheim
10. “Island of Lost Souls,” Erle C. Kenton
Top 10 Films of 1933
1. “She Done Him Wrong,” Lowell Sherman
2. “Busy Bodies,” Lloyd French
3. “Duck Soup,” Leo McCarey
4. “I’m No Angel,” Wesley Ruggles
5. “Zero for Conduct,” Jean Vigo
6. “King Kong,” Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack
7. “Mystery of the Wax Museum,” Michael Curtiz
8. “Dragnet Girl,” Yasujirō Ozu
9. “Alice in Wonderland,” Norman Z. McLeod
10. “The Invisible Man,” James Whale
Top 5 Films of 1934
1. “L’Atalante,” Jean Vigo
2. “The Scarlet Empress,” Josef von Sternberg
3. “Babes in Toyland,” Gus Meins & Charley Rogers
4. “The Thin Man,” W.S. Van Dyke
5. “Imitation of Life,” John M. Stahl
Top 5 Films of 1935
1. “Top Hat,” Mark Sandrich
2. “Bride of Frankenstein,” James Whale
3. “Mutiny on the Bounty,” Frank Lloyd
4. “The 39 Steps,” Alfred Hitchcock
5. “The Devil is a Woman,” Josef von Sternberg
Top 5 Films of 1936
1. “Sabotage,” Alfred Hitchcock
2. “The Only Son,” Yasujirō Ozu
3. “My Man Godfrey,” Gregory La Cava
4. “Swing Time,” George Stevens
5. “San Francisco,” W.S. Van Dyke
Top 10 Films of 1937
1. “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce & Ben Sharpsteen
2. “Heidi,” Alan Dwan
3. “Make Way for Tomorrow,” Leo McCarey
4. “Captains Courageous,” Victor Fleming
5. “Stage Door,” Gregory La Cava
6. “Grand Illusion,” Jean Renoir
7. “A Star is Born,” William A. Wellman
8. “The Life of Emile Zola,” William Dieterle
9. “Young and Innocent,” Alfred Hitchcock
10. “Lost Horizon,” Frank Capra
Top 5 Films of 1938
1. “Bringing Up Baby,” Howard Hawks
2. “The Lady Vanishes,” Alfred Hitchcock
3. “Holiday,” George Cukor
4. “A Christmas Carol,” Edwin L. Marin
5. “You Can’t Take it With You,” Frank Capra
Top 10 Films of 1939
1. “The Wizard of Oz,” Victor Fleming
2. “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” Frank Capra
3. “Goodbye, Mr. Chips,” Sam Wood
4. “The Rules of the Game,” Jean Renoir
5. “Destry Rides Again,” George Marshall
6. “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” William Dieterle
7. “Stagecoach,” John Ford
8. “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” Sidney Lanfield
9. “Dark Victory,” Edmund Goulding
10. “Wuthering Heights,” William Wyler
Top 10 Films of 1940
1. “The Great Dictator,” Charlie Chaplin
2. “Fantasia,” Wilfred Jackson, Bill Roberts, Paul Satterfield, Samuel Armstrong, Jim Handley, T. Hee, Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, James Algar, Norman Ferguson, David Band & Ford Beebe Jr.
3. “The Grapes of Wrath,” John Ford
4. “The Shop Around the Corner,” Ernst Lubitsch
5. “Foreign Correspondent,” Alfred Hitchcock
6. “Pinocchio,” Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Norman Ferguson, Jack Kinney & Bill Roberts
7. “Rebecca,” Alfred Hitchcock
8. “His Girl Friday,” Howard Hawks
9. “The Thief of Bagdad,” Til Whelan, Ludwig Berger & Michael Powell
10. “The Mortal Storm,” Frank Borzage
Top 10 Films of 1941
1. “Citizen Kane,” Orson Welles
2. “The Maltese Falcon,” John Huston
3. “The Lady Eve,” Preston Sturges
4. “Dumbo,” Ben Sharpsteen, Bill Roberts, Samuel Armstrong, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney & Norman Ferguson
5. “The Wolf Man,” George Waggner
6. “Sullivan’s Travels,” Preston Sturges
7. “How Green Was My Valley,” John Ford
8. “Hold That Ghost,” Arthur Lubin
9. “Suspicion,” Alfred Hitchcock
10. “The Little Foxes,” William Wyler
Top 10 Films of 1942
1. “Casablanca,” Michael Curtiz
2. “The Magnificent Ambersons,” Orson Welles
3. “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” Michael Curtiz
4. “Bambi,” David Hand
5. “To Be or Not to Be,” Ernst Lubitsch
6. “Kings Row,” Sam Wood
7. “Jungle Book,” Zoltan Korda
8. “Saboteur,” Alfred Hitchcock
9. “Mrs. Miniver,” William Wyler
10. “The Major and the Minor,” Billy Wilder
Top 5 Films of 1943
1. “Shadow of a Doubt,” Alfred Hitchcock
2. “Meshes of the Afternoon,” Maya Deren & Alexander Hammid
3. “The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp,” Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
4. “Lassie Come Home,” Fred M. Wilcox
5. “Le Corbeau,” Henri-Georges Clouzot
Top 10 Films of 1944
1. “Double Indemnity,” Billy Wilder
2. “Arsenic and Old Lace,” Frank Capra
3. “National Velvet,” Clarence Brown
4. “Going My Way,” Leo McCarey
5. “Gaslight,” George Cukor
6. “Ivan the Terrible, Part I,” Sergei Eisenstein
7. “Meet Me in St. Louis,” Vincent Minnelli
8. “The Three Caballeros,” Norman Ferguson, Jack Kinney, Bill Roberts, Clyde Geronimi & Harold Young
9. “Laura,” Otto Preminger
10. “Lifeboat,” Alfred Hitchcock
Top 10 Films of 1945
1. “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,” Elia Kazan
2. “Leave Her to Heaven,” John M. Stahl
3. “Brief Encounter,” David Lean
4. “Children of Paradise,” Marcel Carné
5. “Mildred Pierce,” Michael Curtiz
6. “The Bells of St. Mary’s,” Leo McCarey
7. “Detour,” Edgar G. Ulmer
8. “Spellbound,” Alfred Hitchcock
9. “The Body Snatcher,” Robert Wise
10. “Christmas in Connecticut,” Peter Godfrey
Top 10 Films of 1946
1. “It’s a Wonderful Life”, Frank Capra
2. “Notorious,” Alfred Hitchcock
3. “The Best Years of Our Lives,” William Wyler
4. “Beauty and the Beast,” Jean Cocteau
5. “To Each His Own,” Michael Leiden
6. “My Darling Clementine,” John Ford
7. “Great Expectations,” David Lean
8. “The Big Sleep,” Howard Hawks
9. “Ivan the Terrible, Part II,” Sergei Eisenstein
10. “Peter and the Wolf,” Clyde Geronimi
Top 5 Films of 1947
1. “Black Narcissus,” Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
2. “Miracle on 34th Street,” George Seaton
3. “Out of the Past,” Jacques Tourneur
4. “The Lady from Shanghai,” Orson Welles
5. “Lured,” Douglas Sirk
Top 10 Films of 1948
1. “The Naked City,” Jules Dassin
2. “Rope,” Alfred Hitchcock
3. “The Red Shoes,” Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
4. “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” John Huston
5. “Oliver Twist”, David Lean
6. “Brighton Rock,” John Boulting
7. “Bicycle Thieves,” Vittorio De Sica
8. “Unfaithfully Yours,” Preston Sturges
9. “They Live By Night,” Nicholas Ray
10. “Nuremberg: Its Lesson for Today,” Stuart Schulberg
Top 10 Films of 1949
1. “The Third Man”, Carol Reed
2. “The Heiress,” William Wyler
3. “The Set-Up,” Robert Wise
4. “White Heat,” Raoul Walsh
5. “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” Jack Kinney & Clyde Geronimi
6. “Adam’s Rib,” George Cukor
7. “Late Spring,” Yasujirō Ozu
8. “Long-Haired Hare,” Chuck Jones
9. “Caught,” Max Ophüls
10. “A Letter to Three Wives,” Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Top 10 Films of 1950
1. “Sunset Boulevard,” Billy Wilder
2. “Cinderella,” Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson & Hamilton Luske
3. “Rashomon,” Akira Kurosawa
4. “All About Eve,” Joseph L. Mankiewicz
5. “Orpheus,” Jean Cocteau
6. “In a Lonely Place,” Nicholas Ray
7. “Harvey,” Henry Koster
8. “Night and the City,” Jules Dassin
9. “Stage Fright,” Alfred Hitchcock
10. “Gun Crazy,” Joseph H. Lewis
Top 10 Films of 1951
1. “Strangers on a Train,” Alfred Hitchcock
2. “A Christmas Carol,” Brian Desmond Hurst
3. “The African Queen,” John Huston
4. “Ace in the Hole,” Billy Wilder
5. “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” Robert Wise
6. “The Red Badge of Courage,” John Huston
7. “Alice in Wonderland,” Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson & Hamilton Luske
8. “A Streetcar Named Desire,” Elia Kazan
9. “The River,” Jean Renoir
10. “An American in Paris,” Vincent Minnelli
Top 10 Films of 1952
1. “Ikiru,” Akira Kurosawa
2. “Singin’ in the Rain,” Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen
3. “Forbidden Games,” René Clément
4. “Umberto D.”, Vittorio De Sica
5. “Limelight,” Charlie Chaplin
6. “The Bad and the Beautiful,” Vincent Minnelli
7. “Rabbit Seasoning,” Chuck Jones
8. “The Quiet Man,” John Ford
9. “The Life of Oharu,” Kenji Mizoguchi
10. “Hans Christian Andersen,” Charles Vidor
Top 10 Films of 1953
1. “The Wages of Fear,” Henri-Georges Clouzot
2. “Duck Amok,” Chuck Jones
3. “Roman Holiday,” William Wyler
4. “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” Howard Hawks
5. “Tokyo Story,” Yasujirō Ozu
6. “The Big Heat,” Fritz Lang
7. “Beat the Devil,” John Huston
8. “Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday,” Jacques Tati
9. “Shane,” George Stevens
10. “Ugetsu,” Kenji Mizoguchi
Top 10 Films of 1954
1. “A Star is Born,” George Cukor
2. “Rear Window,” Alfred Hitchcock
3. “On the Waterfront,” Elia Kazan
4. “Seven Samurai,” Akira Kurosawa
5. “Senso,” Luchino Visconti
6. “Sansho the Bailiff,” Kenji Mizoguchi
7. “Dial M for Murder,” Alfred Hitchcock
8. “The Country Girl,” George Seaton
9. “Johnny Guitar,” Nicholas Ray
10. “Touchez Pas au Grisbi,” Jacques Becker
Top 10 Films of 1955
1. “The Night of the Hunter,” Charles Laughton
2. “Marty,” Delbert Mann
3. “Diabolique,” Henri-Georges Clouzot
4. “Lady and the Tramp,” Hamilton Luske, Wilfred Jackson & Clyde Geronimi
5. “All That Heaven Allows,” Douglas Sirk
6. “Rebel Without a Cause,” Nicholas Ray
7. “Pather Panchali,” Satyajit Ray
8. “Rififi,” Jules Dassin
9. “French Cancan,” Jean Renoir
10. “Summertime,” David Lean
Top 10 Films of 1956
1. “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” Alfred Hitchcock
2. “The Bad Seed,” Mervyn LeRoy
3. “Written on the Wind,” Douglas Sirk
4. “The Killing,” Stanley Kubrick
5. “The Wrong Man,” Alfred Hitchcock
6. “The Red Balloon,” Albert Lamorisse
7. “The Catered Affair,” Richard Brooks
8. “Requiem for a Heavyweight,” Ralph Nelson
9. “Aparajito,” Satyajit Ray
10. “The Searchers,” John Ford
Top 10 Films of 1957
1. “Witness for the Prosecution,” Billy Wilder
2. “Paths of Glory,” Stanley Kubrick
3. “12 Angry Men,” Sidney Lumet
4. “A Face in the Crowd,” Elia Kazan
5. “Old Yeller,” Robert Stevenson
6. “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” David Lean
7. “The Seventh Seal,” Ingmar Bergman
8. “Kanał,” Andrzej Wajda
9. “The Three Faces of Eve,” Nunnally Johnson
10. “Sweet Smell of Success,” Alexander Mackendrick
Top 10 Films of 1958
1. “A Night to Remember,” Roy Ward Baker
2. “Vertigo,” Alfred Hitchcock
3. “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” Richard Brooks
4. “Touch of Evil,” Orson Welles
5. “I Want to Live!”, Robert Wise
6. “The Hidden Fortress,” Akira Kurosawa
7. “The Music Room,” Satyajit Ray
8. “Days of Wine and Roses,” John Frankenheimer
9. “Mon Oncle,” Jacques Tati
10. “Gigi,” Vincent Minnelli
Top 10 Films of 1959
1. “North by Northwest,” Alfred Hitchcock
2. “Ben-Hur,” William Wyler
3. “The 400 Blows,” François Truffaut
4. “The Nun’s Story,” Fred Zinnemann
5. “Apur Sansar,” Satyajit Ray
6. “Darby O’Gill and the Little People,” Robert Stevenson
7. “Some Like It Hot,” Billy Wilder
8. “Pickpocket,” Robert Bresson
9. “Floating Weeds,” Yasujirō Ozu
10. “Sleeping Beauty,” Clyde Geronimi
Top 10 Films of 1960
1. “Inherit the Wind,” Stanley Kramer
2. “Psycho,” Alfred Hitchcock
3. “The Apartment,” Billy Wilder
4. “Pollyanna,” David Swift
5. “La Dolce Vita,” Federico Fellini
6. “The Virgin Spring,” Ingmar Bergman
7. “Breathless,” Jean-Luc Godard
8. “L’Avventura,” Michelangelo Antonioni
9. “Peter Pan,” Vincent J. Donahue
10. “Shoot the Piano Player,” François Truffaut
Top 10 Films of 1961
1. “A Raisin in the Sun,” Daniel Petrie
2. “Judgment at Nuremberg,” Stanley Kramer
3. “West Side Story,” Robert Wise
4. “The Innocents,” Jack Clayton
5. “The Hustler,” Robert Rossen
6. “Splendor in the Grass,” Elia Kazan
7. “Victim,” Basil Dearden
8. “A Taste of Honey,” Tony Richardson
9. “Paris Blues,” Martin Ritt
10. “Yojimbo,” Akira Kurosawa
Top 10 Films of 1962
1. “The Miracle Worker,” Arthur Penn
2. “The Music Man,” Morton DaCosta
3. “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Robert Mulligan
4. “Harakiri,” Masaki Kobayashi
5. “The Manchurian Candidate,” John Frankenheimer
6. “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” Sidney Lumet
7. “Lawrence of Arabia,” David Lean
8. “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” John Ford
9. “Cleo from 5 to 7,” Agnès Varda
10. “The Trial,” Orson Welles
Top 10 Films of 1963
1. “High and Low,” Akira Kurosawa
2. “The Birds,” Alfred Hitchcock
3. “Charade,” Stanley Donen
4. “8 1/2,” Federico Fellini
5. “The Haunting,” Robert Wise
6. “Winter Light,” Ingmar Bergman
7. “The Silence,” Ingmar Bergman
8. “The Leopard,” Luchino Visconti
9. “The Great Escape,” John Sturges
10. “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World,” Stanley Kramer
Top 10 Films of 1964
1. “Mary Poppins,” Robert Stevenson
2. “Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb,” Stanley Kubrick
3. “The Pawnbroker,” Sidney Lumet
4. “A Hard Day’s Night,” Richard Lester
5. “Marnie,” Alfred Hitchcock
6. “Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte,” Robert Aldrich
7. “Fail Safe,” Sidney Lumet
8. “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” Jacques Demy
9. “Band of Outsiders,” Jean-Luc Godard
10. “Pale Flower,” Masahiro Shinoda
Top 10 Films of 1965
1. “The Sound of Music,” Robert Wise
2. “Time Piece,” Jim Henson
3. “A Patch of Blue,” Guy Green
4. “Bunny Lake is Missing,” Otto Preminger
5. “Juliet of the Spirits,” Federico Fellini
6. “Red Beard,” Akira Kurosawa
7. “Doctor Zhivago,” David Lean
8. “Chimes at Midnight,” Orson Welles
9. “Darling,” John Schlesinger
10. “I Knew Her Well,” Antonio Pietrangeli
Top 10 Films of 1966
1. “Blow-Up,” Michelangelo Antonioni
2. “Persona,” Ingmar Bergman
3. “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”, Mike Nichols
4. “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly?”, Sergio Leone
5. “The Battle of Algiers,” Gillo Pontecorvo
6. “Black Girl,” Ousmane Sembène
7. “Evening Primrose,” Paul Bogart
8. “Au Hasard Balthazar,” Robert Bresson
9.“Closely Watched Trains,” Jiří Menzel
10. “Seconds,” John Frankenheimer
Top 10 Films of 1967
1. “In Cold Blood,” Richard Brooks
2. “In the Heat of the Night,” Norman Jewison
3. “Bonnie and Clyde,” Arthur Penn
4. “The Graduate,” Mike Nichols
5. “Wait Until Dark,” Terence Young
6. “The Producers,” Mel Brooks
7. “Cool Hand Luke,” Stuart Rosenberg
8. “La Collectionneuse,” Éric Rohmer
9. “PlayTime,” Jacques Tati
10. “Le Samouraï,” Jean-Pierre Melville
Top 10 Films of 1968
1. “2001: A Space Odyssey,” Stanley Kubrick
2. “Romeo & Juliet,” Franco Zeffirelli
3. “The Lion in Winter,” Anthony Harvey
4. “Targets,” Peter Bogdanovich
5. “Inquiring Nuns,” Gordon Quinn & Gerald Temaner
6. “Rosemary’s Baby,” Roman Polanski
7. “Funny Girl,” William Wyler
8. “The Swimmer,” Frank Perry
9. “Bullitt,” Peter Yates
10. “Kuroneko,” Kaneto Shindo
Top 10 Films of 1969
1. “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” George Roy Hill
2. “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,” Ronald Neame
3. “Midnight Cowboy,” John Schlesinger
4. “Army of Shadows,” Jean-Pierre Melville
5. “The Wild Bunch,” Sam Peckinpah
6. “Sweet Charity,” Bob Fosse
7. “Medium Cool,” Haskell Wexler
8. “Salesman,” David Maysles, Albert Maysles & Charlotte Zwerin
9. “The Alphabet,” David Lynch
10. “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?”, Sydney Pollack
Top 10 Films of 1970
1. “Five Easy Pieces,” Bob Rafelson
2. “M*A*S*H*”, Robert Altman
3. “Patton,” Franklin J. Schaffner
4. “Let It Be,” Michael Lindsay-Hogg
5. “The Grandmother,” David Lynch
6. “The Butcher,” Claude Chabrol
7. “7 Plus 7,” Michael Apted
8. “Brewster McCloud,” Robert Altman
9. “Wanda,” Barbara Loden
10. “The Landlord,” Hal Ashby
Top 10 Films of 1971
1. “Harold and Maude,” Hal Ashby
2. “The Last Picture Show,” Peter Bogdanovich
3. “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory,” Mel Stuart
4. “McCabe & Mrs. Miller,” Robert Altman
5. “THX 1138,” George Lucas
6. “Fiddler on the Roof,” Norman Jewison
7. “The French Connection,” William Friedkin
8. “Walkabout,” Nicolas Roeg
9. “Duel,” Steven Spielberg
10. “Klute,” Alan J. Pakula
Top 10 Films of 1972
1. “The Godfather,” Francis Ford Coppola
2. “Cabaret,” Bob Fosse
3. “What’s Up, Doc?”, Peter Bogdanovich
4. “The Heartbreak Kid,” Elaine May
5. “Cries and Whispers,” Ingmar Bergman
6. “The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant,” Rainer Werner Fassbinder
7. “Last Tango in Paris,” Bernardo Bertolucci
8. “The Candidate,” Michael Ritchie
9. “Solaris,” Andrei Tarkovsky
10. “Play It Again, Sam,” Herbert Ross
Top 10 Films of 1973
1. “Badlands,” Terrence Malick
2. “American Graffiti,” George Lucas
3. “Scenes from a Marriage,” Ingmar Bergman
4. “Paper Moon,” Peter Bogdanovich
5. “The Sting,” George Roy Hill
6. “Amarcord,” Federico Fellini
7. “Don’t Look Now,” Nicolas Roeg
8. “O Lucky Man!”, Lindsay Anderson
9. “Day for Night,” François Truffaut
10. “The Spirit of the Beehive,” Victor Erice
Top 10 Films of 1974
1. “Young Frankenstein,” Mel Brooks
2. “A Woman Under the Influence,” John Cassavetes
3. “The Godfather: Part II,” Francis Ford Coppola
4. “Black Christmas,” Bob Clark
5. “Blazing Saddles,” Mel Brooks
6. “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” Martin Scorsese
7. “The Conversation,” Francis Ford Coppola
8. “je tu il elle,” Chantal Akerman
9. “Lenny,” Bob Fosse
10. “Thieves Like Us,” Robert Altman
Top 10 Films of 1975
1. “Nashville,” Robert Altman
2. “Jaws,” Steven Spielberg
3. “Dog Day Afternoon,” Sidney Lumet
4. “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” Miloš Forman
5. “Grey Gardens,” Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Ellen Giffard & Muffie Meyer
6. “Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles,” Chantal Akerman
7. “Love and Death,” Woody Allen
8. “Mirror,” Andrei Tarkovsky
9. “Picnic at Hanging Rock,” Peter Weir
10. “Seven Beauties,” Lina Wertmüller
Top 10 Films of 1976
1. “Carrie,” Brian De Palma
2. “Harlan County U.S.A.”, Barbara Kopple
3. “Network,” Sidney Lumet
4. “Taxi Driver,” Martin Scorsese
5. “Rocky,” John G. Avildsen
6. “All the President’s Men,” Alan J. Pakula
7. “Sybil,” Daniel Petrie
8. “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” Nicolas Roeg
9. “Not a Pretty Picture,” Martha Coolidge
10. “Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson,” Robert Altman
Top 10 Films of 1977
1. “Annie Hall,” Woody Allen
2. “Star Wars,” George Lucas
3. “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” Steven Spielberg
4. “Eraserhead,” David Lynch
5. “3 Women,” Robert Altman
6. “Opening Night,” John Cassavetes
7. “Saturday Night Fever,” John Badham
8. “Stroszek,” Werner Herzog
9. “House,” Nobuhiko Obayashi
10. “Sorcerer,” William Friedkin
Top 10 Films of 1978
1. “Coming Home,” Hal Ashby
2. “Days of Heaven,” Terrence Malick
3. “Interiors,” Woody Allen
4. “The Deer Hunter,” Michael Cimino
5. “Superman,” Richard Donner
6. “Halloween,” John Carpenter
7. “Gates of Heaven,” Errol Morris
8. “Heaven Can Wait,” Warren Beatty & Buck Henry
9. “Autumn Sonata,” Ingmar Bergman
10. “The Last Waltz,” Martin Scorsese
Top 10 Films of 1979
1. “The Muppet Movie,” James Frawley
2. “All That Jazz,” Bob Fosse
3. “Apocalypse Now,” Francis Ford Coppola
4. “Life of Brian,” Terry Jones
5. “Kramer vs. Kramer,” Robert Benton
6. “Alien,” Ridley Scott
7. “The Black Stallion,” Carroll Ballard
8. “Norma Rae,” Martin Ritt
9. “Nosferatu the Vampyre,” Werner Herzog
10. “The Brontë Sisters,” André Téchiné
Top 10 Films of 1980
1. “The Shining,” Stanley Kubrick
2. “The Empire Strikes Back,” Irvin Kershner
3. “Ordinary People,” Robert Redford
4. “Raging Bull,” Martin Scorsese
5. “The Elephant Man,” David Lynch
6. “The Blues Brothers,” John Landis
7. “Airplane!”, David Zucker, Jim Abrahams & Jerry Zucker
8. “Superman II,” Richard Lester
9. “Popeye,” Robert Altman
10. “Out of the Blue,” Dennis Hopper
Top 10 Films of 1981
1. “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” Steven Spielberg
2. “Possession,” Andrzej Żułalwski
3. “The Great Muppet Caper,” Jim Henson
4. “An American Werewolf in London,” John Landis
5. “Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior,” George Miller
6. “Thief,” Michael Mann
7. “Reds,” Warren Beatty
8. “On Golden Pond,” Mark Rydell
9. “Diva,” Jean-Jacques Beineix
10. “Ragtime,” Miloš Forman
Top 10 Films of 1982
1. “The Snowman,” Dianne Jackson & Jimmy T. Murakami
2. “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,” Steven Spielberg
3. “Burden of Dreams,” Les Blank
4. “The King of Comedy,” Martin Scorsese
5. “The Dark Crystal,” Jim Henson & Frank Oz
6. “Sophie’s Choice,” Alan J. Pakula
7. “Tootsie,” Sydney Pollack
8. “Gandhi,” Richard Attenborough
9. “Fanny & Alexander,” Ingmar Bergman
10. “Frances,” Graeme Clifford
Top 10 Films of 1983
1. “El Norte,” Gregory Nava
2. “Rumble Fish,” Francis Ford Coppola
3. “Return of the Jedi,” Richard Marquand
4. “Silkwood,” Mike Nichols
5. “The Right Stuff,” Philip Kaufman
6. “Risky Business,” Paul Brickman
7. “Terms of Endearment,” James L. Brooks
8. “Valley Girl,” Martha Coolidge
9. “Tender Mercies,” Bruce Beresford
10. “A Christmas Story,” Bob Clark
Top 10 Films of 1984
1. “Paris, Texas,” Wim Wenders
2. “Amadeus,” Miloš Forman
3. “The Muppets Take Manhattan,” Frank Oz
4. “Ghostbusters,” Ivan Reitman
5. “Blood Simple,” Joel & Ethan Coen
6. “Stop Making Sense,” Jonathan Demme
7. “The Times of Harvey Milk,” Rob Epstein
8. “Secret Honor,” Robert Altman
9. “Love Streams,” John Cassavetes
10. “Frankenweenie,” Tim Burton
Top 10 Films of 1985
1. “The Purple Rose of Cairo,” Woody Allen
2. “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure,” Tim Burton
3. “Come and See,” Elem Klimov
4. “Witness,” Peter Weir
5. “Ran,” Akira Kurosawa
6. “The Color Purple,” Steven Spielberg
7. “Back to the Future,” Robert Zemeckis
8. “Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters,” Paul Schrader
9. “Dreamchild,” Gavin Millar
10. “After Hours,” Martin Scorsese
Top 10 Films of 1986
1. “Stand by Me,” Rob Reiner
2. “Blue Velvet,” David Lynch
3. “Aliens,” James Cameron
4. “Hannah and Her Sisters,” Woody Allen
5. “Platoon,” Oliver Stone
6. “The Sacrifice,” Andrei Tarkovsky
7. “Mona Lisa,” Neil Jordan
8. “A Room with a View,” James Ivory
9. “Little Shop of Horrors,” Frank Oz
10. “Labyrinth,” Jim Henson
Top 10 Films of 1987
1. “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” John Hughes
2. “The Princess Bride,” Rob Reiner
3. “Broadcast News,” James L. Brooks
4. “The Untouchables,” Brian De Palma
5. “Good Morning, Vietnam,” Barry Levinson
6. “Au Revoir les Enfants,” Louis Malle
7. “House of Games,” David Mamet
8. “Evil Dead II,” Sam Raimi
9. “Hansel and Gretel,” Len Talan
10. “A Muppet Family Christmas,” Peter Harris & Eric Till
Top 10 Films of 1988
1. “The Last Temptation of Christ,” Martin Scorsese
2. “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” Frank Oz
3. “Beetlejuice,” Tim Burton
4. “The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!”, David Zucker
5. “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” Robert Zemeckis
6. “Grave of the Fireflies,” Isao Takahata
7. “Midnight Run,” Martin Brest
8. “Alice,” Jan Švankmajer
9. “Another Woman,” Woody Allen
10. “Chocolat,” Claire Denis
Top 10 Films of 1989
1. “Roger & Me,” Michael Moore
2. “Dead Poets Society,” Peter Weir
3. “Parenthood,” Ron Howard
4. “Say Anything,” Cameron Crowe
5. “Do the Right Thing,” Spike Lee
6. “The Little Mermaid,” John Musker & Ron Clements
7. “Field of Dreams,” Phil Alden Robinson
8. “Born on the Fourth of July,” Oliver Stone
9. “Crimes and Misdemeanors,” Woody Allen
10. “Prancer,” John D. Hancock
Top 10 Films of 1990
1. “Joe Verses the Volcano,” John Patrick Shanley
2. “Dick Tracy,” Warren Beatty
3. “Home Alone,” Chris Columbus
4. “Edward Scissorhands,” Tim Burton
5. “GoodFellas,” Martin Scorsese
6. “Pump Up the Volume,” Allan Moyle
7. “The Nasty Girl,” Michael Verhoeven
8. “Close-Up,” Abbas Kiarostami
9. “The Grifters,” Stephen Frears
10. “Dances with Wolves,” Kevin Costner
Top 10 Films of 1991
1. “Dogfight,” Nancy Savoca
2. “The Double Life of Véronique,” Krzysztof Kieślowski
3. “What About Bob?”, Frank Oz
4. “The Fisher King,” Terry Gilliam
5. “Only Yesterday,” Isao Takahata
6. “Beauty and the Beast,” Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise
7. “Defending Your Life,” Albert Brooks
8. “The Rapture,” Michael Tolkin
9. “La Belle Noiseuse,” Jacques Rivette
10. “JFK,” Oliver Stone
Top 10 Films of 1992
1. “The Muppet Christmas Carol,” Brian Henson
2. “Sister Act,” Emile Ardolino
3. “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me,” David Lynch
4. “Reservoir Dogs,” Quentin Tarantino
5. “Malcolm X,” Spike Lee
6. “Aladdin,” Ron Clements & John Musker
7. “Noises Off…”, Peter Bogdanovich
8. “A Tale of Winter,” Éric Rohmer
9. “The Player,” Robert Altman
10. “Glengarry Glen Ross,” James Foley
Top 10 Films of 1993
1. “The Secret Garden,” Agnieszka Holland
2. “Groundhog Day,” Harold Ramis
3. “Schindler’s List,” Steven Spielberg
4. “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” Henry Selick
5. “The Fugitive,” Andrew Davis
6. “Jurassic Park,” Steven Spielberg
7. “The Age of Innocence,” Martin Scorsese
8. “The Piano,” Jane Campion
9. “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?”, Lasse Hallström
10. “Carlito’s Way,” Brian De Palma
Top 10 Films of 1994
1. “Quiz Show,” Robert Redford
2. “Pulp Fiction,” Quentin Tarantino
3. “Cold Water,” Olivier Assayas
4. “Ed Wood,” Tim Burton
5. “Hoop Dreams,” Steve James
6. “Three Colours: Red,” Krzysztof Kieślowski
7. “Bullets Over Broadway,” Woody Allen
8. “The Mask,” Chuck Russell
9. “The Lion King,” Roger Allers & Rob Minkoff
10. “Forrest Gump,” Robert Zemeckis
Top 10 Films of 1995
1. “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” Stephen Herek
2. “Safe,” Todd Haynes
3. “Before Sunrise,” Richard Linklater
4. “Toy Story,” John Lasseter
5. “Welcome to the Dollhouse,” Todd Solondz
6. “Dead Man Walking,” Tim Robbins
7. “Apollo 13,” Ron Howard
8. “The American President,” Rob Reiner
9. “Heat,” Michael Mann
10. “The Bridges of Madison County,” Clint Eastwood
Top 10 Films of 1996
1. “Fargo,” Joel & Ethan Coen
2. “Mother,” Albert Brooks
3. “La Promesse,” Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
4. “Waiting for Guffman,” Christopher Guest
5. “Flirting with Disaster,” David O. Russell
6. “Hard Eight,” Paul Thomas Anderson
7. “That Thing You Do!”, Tom Hanks
8. “Bastard Out of Carolina,” Anjelica Huston
9. “Secrets & Lies,” Mike Leigh
10. “Breaking the Waves,” Lars von Trier
Top 10 Films of 1997
1. “Contact,” Robert Zemeckis
2. “Titanic,” James Cameron
3. “Good Will Hunting,” Gus Van Sant
4. “Liar Liar,” Tom Shadyac
5. “Boogie Nights,” Paul Thomas Anderson
6. “Jackie Brown,” Quentin Tarantino
7. “Princess Mononoke,” Hayao Miyazaki
8. “Gummo,” Harmony Korine
9. “Little Dieter Needs to Fly,” Werner Herzog
10. “The Fifth Element,” Luc Besson
Top 10 Films of 1998
1. “The Truman Show,” Peter Weir
2. “Happiness,” Todd Solondz
3. “Ever After,” Andy Tennant
4. “Pleasantville,” Gary Ross
5. “Saving Private Ryan,” Steven Spielberg
6. “The Big Lebowski,” Joel & Ethan Coen
7. “The Thin Red Line,” Terrence Malick
8. “Primary Colors,” Mike Nichols
9. “42 Up,” Michael Apted
10. “From the Earth to the Moon,” Tom Hanks, David Frankel, Lili Fini Zanuck, Graham Yost, Frank Marshall, John Turteltaub, Gary Fleder, David Carson, Sally Field & Jonathan Mostow
Top 10 Films of 1999
1. “Magnolia,” Paul Thomas Anderson
2. “The Straight Story,” David Lynch
3. “The Sixth Sense,” M. Night Shyamalan
4. “The Blair Witch Project,” Eduardo Sanchez & Daniel Myrick
5. “Being John Malkovich,” Spike Jonze
6. “Boys Don’t Cry,” Kimberly Peirce
7. “The Insider,” Michael Mann
8. “Election,” Alexander Payne
9. “Sweet and Lowdown,” Woody Allen
10. “Eyes Wide Shut,” Stanley Kubrick
Top 10 Films of 2000
1. “Best in Show,” Christopher Guest
2. “Almost Famous,” Cameron Crowe
3. “Memento,” Christopher Nolan
4. “Requiem for a Dream,” Darren Aronofsky
5. “Billy Elliot,” Stephen Daldry
6. “You Can Count on Me,” Kenneth Lonergan
7. “Werckmeister Harmonies,” Béla Tarr
8. “Sound and Fury,” John Aronson
9. “Girlfight,” Karyn Kusama
10. “Frequency,” Gregory Hoblit
Top 10 Films of 2001
1. “Mulholland Dr.”, David Lynch
2. “Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows,” Robert Allan Ackerman
3. “Moulin Rouge!”, Baz Luhrmann
4. “Spirited Away,” Hayao Miyazaki
5. “A.I. Artificial Intelligence,” Steven Spielberg
6. “Donnie Darko,” Richard Kelly
7. “The Others,” Alejandro Amenábar
8. “In the Bedroom,” Todd Field
9. “13 Conversations About One Thing,” Jill Sprecher
10. “Fat Girl,” Catherine Breillat
Top 10 Films of 2002
1. “Adaptation.”, Spike Jonze
2. “Chicago,” Rob Marshall
3. “Bowling for Columbine,” Michael Moore
4. “Punch-Drunk Love,” Paul Thomas Anderson
5. “Minority Report,” Steven Spielberg
6. “Whale Rider,” Niki Caro
7. “About Schmidt,” Alexander Payne
8. “In America,” Jim Sheridan
9. “Far from Heaven,” Todd Haynes
10. “Changing Lanes,” Roger Michell
Top 10 Films of 2003
1. “Angels in America,” Mike Nichols
2. “Kill Bill: Vol. 1,” Quentin Tarantino
3. “Elephant,” Gus Van Sant
4. “Monster,” Patty Jenkins
5. “Lost in Translation,” Sofia Coppola
6. “Finding Nemo,” Andrew Stanton
7. “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,” Peter Jackson
8. “American Splendor,” Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini
9. “The Station Agent,” Tom McCarthy
10. “Windy City Heat,” Bobcat Goldthwait
Top 10 Films of 2004
1. “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” Michel Gondry
2. “Kill Bill: Vol. 2,” Quentin Tarantino
3. “Fahrenheit 9/11,” Michael Moore
4. “Moolaadé,” Ousmane Sembène
5. “Innocence,” Lucile Hadžihalilović
6. “Vera Drake,” Mike Leigh
7. “Before Sunset,” Richard Linklater
8. “Palindromes,” Todd Solondz
9. “The Aviator,” Martin Scorsese
10. “Sideways,” Alexander Payne
Top 20 Films of 2005
1. “Nine Lives,” Rodrigo García
2. “Grizzly Man,” Werner Herzog
3. “Kissing on the Mouth,” Joe Swanberg
4. “Caché,” Michael Haneke
5. “Pride & Prejudice,” Joe Wright
6. “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room,” Alex Gibney
7. “A History of Violence,” David Cronenberg
8. “Match Point,” Woody Allen
9. “Me and You and Everyone We Know,” Miranda July
10. “The Upside of Anger,” Mike Binder
11. “The Puffy Chair,” Jay Duplass
12. “No Direction Home: Bob Dylan,” Martin Scorsese
13. “North Country,” Niki Caro
14. “Junebug,” Phil Morrison
15. “The Devil and Daniel Johnston,” Jeff Feuerzeig
16. “The New World,” Terrence Malick
17. “Mutual Appreciation,” Andrew Bujalski
18. “Batman Begins,” Christopher Nolan
19. “Tsotsi,” Gavin Hood
20. “Bubble,” Steven Soderbergh
Top 20 Films of 2006
1. “Little Miss Sunshine,” Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris
2. “Jesus Camp,” Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady
3. “Children of Men,” Alfonso Cuarón
4. “Pan’s Labyrinth,” Guillermo del Toro
5. “Inland Empire,” David Lynch
6. “Tell No One,” Guillaume Canet
7. “United 93,” Paul Greengrass
8. “An Inconvenient Truth,” Davis Guggenheim
9. “The Queen,” Stephen Frears
10. “Half Nelson,” Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden
11. “Letters from Iwo Jima,” Clint Eastwood
12. “The Departed,” Martin Scorsese
13. “When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts,” Spike Lee
14. “Volver,” Pedro Almodóvar
15. “After the Wedding,” Susanne Bier
16. “Deliver Us from Evil,” Amy J. Berg
17. “The Lives of Others,” Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
18. “Stephanie Daley,” Hilary Brougher
19. “Lake of Fire,” Tony Kaye
20. “Casino Royale,” Martin Campbell
Top 20 Films of 2007
1. “There Will Be Blood,” Paul Thomas Anderson
2. “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” Julian Schnabel
3. “Superbad,” Greg Mottola
4. “Juno,” Jason Reitman
5. “No End in Sight,” Charles Ferguson
6. “No Country for Old Men,” Joel & Ethan Coen
7. “I’m Not There,” Todd Haynes
8. “Water Lilies,” Céline Sciamma
9. “Once,” John Carney
10. “Death at a Funeral,” Frank Oz
11. “The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters,” Seth Gordon
12. “Atonement,” Joe Wright
13. “L’iceberg,” Bruno Romy, Dominique Abel & Fiona Gordon
14. “Into the Wild,” Sean Penn
15. “Away from Her,” Sarah Polley
16. “Waitress,” Adrienne Shelly
17. “Persepolis,” Marjane Satrapi
18. “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” Andrew Dominik
19. “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” Cristian Mungiu
20. “Paranormal Activity,” Oren Peli
Top 20 Films of 2008
1. “Kisses,” Lance Daly
2. “Synecdoche, New York,” Charlie Kaufman
3. “Rachel Getting Married,” Jonathan Demme
4. “The Wrestler,” Darren Aronofsky
5. “Hunger,” Steve McQueen
6. “The Dark Knight,” Christopher Nolan
7. “John Adams,” Tom Hooper
8. “Doubt,” John Patrick Shanley
9. “Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father,” Kurt Kuenne
10. “WALL•E,” Andrew Stanton
11. “Wendy and Lucy,” Kelly Reichardt
12. “In Bruges,” Martin McDonagh
13. “The Visitor,” Tom McCarthy
14. “Recount,” Jay Roach
15. “Milk,” Gus Van Sant
16. “Slumdog Millionaire,” Danny Boyle
17. “The Beaches of Agnès,” Agnès Varda
18. “Ponyo,” Hayao Miyazaki
19. “Man on Wire,” James Marsh
20. “A Summer in Genoa,” Michael Winterbottom
Top 20 Films of 2009
1. “The White Ribbon,” Michael Haneke
2. “The Messenger,” Oren Moverman
3. “Bad Lieutenant—Port of Call: New Orleans,” Werner Herzog
4. “Where the Wild Things Are,” Spike Jonze
5. “Bright Star,” Jane Campion
6. “Two Lovers,” James Gray
7. “(500) Days of Summer,” Marc Webb
8. “In the Loop,” Armando Iannucci
9. “I Am Love,” Luca Guadagnino
10. “Antichrist,” Lars von Trier
11. “The Cove,” Louie Psihoyos
12. “The Hurt Locker,” Kathryn Bigelow
13. “The Secret in Their Eyes,” Juan José Campanella
14. “Coraline,” Henry Selick
15. “Silent Light,” Carlos Reygadas
16. “The Girlfriend Experience,” Steven Soderbergh
17. “World’s Greatest Dad,” Bobcat Goldthwait
18. “A Single Man,” Tom Ford
19. “Anvil! The Story of Anvil,” Sacha Gervasi
20. “Sugar,” Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden
Top 20 Films of 2010
1. “Trust,” David Schwimmer
2. “Plastic Bag,” Ramin Bahrani
3. “Enter the Void,” Gaspar Noé
4. “The Social Network,” David Fincher
5. “Temple Grandin,” Mick Jackson
6. “Inception,” Christopher Nolan
7. “Toy Story 3,” Lee Unkrich
8. “True Grit,” Joel & Ethan Coen
9. “Blue Valentine,” Derek Cianfrance
10. “Winter’s Bone,” Debra Granik
11. “The King’s Speech,” Tom Hooper
12. “Let Me In,” Matt Reeves
13. “Somewhere,” Sofia Coppola
14. “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” Banksy
15. “Inside Job,” Charles Ferguson
16. “Tiny Furniture,” Lena Dunham
17. “The Tillman Story,” Amir Bar-Lev
18. “In a Better World,” Susanne Bier
19. “If God is Willing and da Creek Don’t Rise,” Spike Lee
20. “127 Hours,” Danny Boyle
Top 20 Films of 2011
1. “The Wise Kids,” Stephen Cone
2.. “The Tree of Life,” Terrence Malick
3. “Melancholia,” Lars von Trier
4. “Life in a Day,” Kevin Macdonald, Zillah Bowes, Phil Loarie, Kjell Bismeyer & Jon Haas
5. “Tomboy,” Celiné Sciamma
6. “The Artist,” Michel Hazanavicius
7. “Certified Copy,” Abbas Kiarostami
8. “House of Tolerance,” Bertrand Bonello
9. “Shame,” Steve McQueen
10. “Drive,” Nicolas Winding Refn
11. “George Harrison: Living in the Material World,” Martin Scorsese
12. “Rebirth,” Jim Whitaker
13. “Hugo,” Martin Scorsese
14. “Martha Marcy May Marlene,” Sean Durkin
15. “The Sunset Limited,” Tommy Lee Jones
16. “The Interrupters,” Steve James
17. “A Separation,” Asghar Farhadi
18. “Hanna,” Joe Wright
19. “The Zone,” Joe Swanberg
20. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” David Yates
Top 20 Films of 2012
1. “Moonrise Kingdom,” Wes Anderson
2. “Monsieur Lazhar,” Philippe Falardeau
3. “Lincoln,” Steven Spielberg
4. “The Kid with a Bike,” Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
5. “Amour,” Michael Haneke
6. “The Impossible,” J.A. Bayona
7. “The Master,” Paul Thomas Anderson
8. “Marriage Material,” Joe Swanberg
9. “Ruby Sparks,” Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris
10. “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” Stephen Chbosky
11. “Holy Motors,” Leos Carax
12. “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry,” Alison Klayman
13. “The Other Son,” Lorraine Levy
14. “The Deep Blue Sea,” Terence Davies
15. “Patang,” Prashant Bhargava
16. “The Invisible War,” Kirby Dick
17. “Take This Waltz,” Sarah Polley
18. “Nate & Margaret,” Nathan Adloff
19. “A Simple Life,” Ann Hui
20. “This is 40,” Judd Apatow
Top 20 Films of 2013
1. “Her,” Spike Jonze
2. “12 Years a Slave,” Steve McQueen
3. “In Bloom,” Nana Ekvtimishvili & Simon Groß
4. “Short Term 12,” Destin Daniel Cretton
5. “In the Family,” Patrick Wang
6. “Blue is the Warmest Color,” Abdellatif Kechiche
7. “The Act of Killing,” Joshua Oppenheimer
8. “The Spectacular Now,” James Ponsoldt
9. “Inside Llewyn Davis,” Joel & Ethan Coen
10. “War Witch,” Kim Nguyen
11. “Upstream Color,” Shane Carruth
12. “Before Midnight,” Richard Linklater
13. “A Hijacking,” Tobias Lindholm
14. “Stories We Tell,” Sarah Polley
15. “The Great Beauty,” Paolo Sorrentino
16. “I hate myself :),” Joanna Arnow
17. “The Wolf of Wall Street,” Martin Scorsese
18. “The Hunt,” Thomas Vinterberg
19. “Frances Ha,” Noah Baumbach
20. “Nebraska,” Alexander Payne
Top 20 Films of 2014
1. “Stations of the Cross,” Dietrich Brüggemann
2. “Wet Bum,” Lindsay MacKay
3. “Ida,” Paweł Pawlikowski
4. “Whiplash,” Damien Chazelle
5. “Under the Skin,” Jonathan Glazer
6. “Life Itself,” Steve James
7. “Concrete Night,” Pirjo Honkasalo
8. “Stand Clear of the Closing Doors,” Sam Fleischner
9. “The Overnighters,” Jesse Moss
10. “See You Next Tuesday,” Drew Tobia
11. “Love is Strange,” Ira Sachs
12. “This Afternoon,” Stephen Cone
13. “The Babadook,” Jennifer Kent
14. “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” Wes Anderson
15. “Supernova,” Tamar van den Dop
16. “Selma,” Ava DuVernay
17. “Citizenfour,” Laura Poitras
18. “The President,” Mohsen Makhmalbaf
19. “Boyhood,” Richard Linklater
20. “Leviathan,” Andrey Zvyagintsev
Top 10 Films of 2015
1. “Inside Out,” Pete Docter
2. “The Diary of a Teenage Girl,” Marielle Heller
3. “In Transit,” Albert Maysles, Ben Wu, David Usui, Nelson Walker & Lynn True
4. “Anomalisa,” Charlie Kaufman & Duke Johnson
5. “Almost There,” Dan Rybicky & Aaron Wickenden
6. “Keeper,” Guillaume Senez
7. “Son of Saul,” László Nemes
8. “James White,” Josh Mond
9. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” J.J. Abrams
10. “Youth,” Paolo Sorrentino
11. “Mustang,” Deniz Gamze Ergüven
12. “The Armor of Light,” Abigail Disney
13. “Amy,” Asif Kapadia
14. “Spotlight,” Tom McCarthy
15. “Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom,” Evgeny Afineevsky
16. “Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party,” Stephen Cone
17. “Cool Apocalypse,” Michael Glover Smith
18. “Girlhood,” Celiné Sciamma
19. “Radical Grace,” Rebecca Parrish
20. “Mad Max: Fury Road,” George Miller
Top 20 Films of 2016
1. “Toni Erdmann,” Maren Ade
2. “Life, Animated,” Roger Ross Williams
3. “La La Land,” Damien Chazelle
4. “Sonita,” Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami
5. “I, Daniel Blake,” Ken Loach
6. “Moonlight,” Barry Jenkins
7. “The Blackcoat’s Daughter,” Osgood Perkins
8. “The Lobster,” Yorgos Lanthimos
9. “A War,” Tobias Lindholm
10. “Manchester by the Sea,” Kenneth Lonergan
11. “Newtown,” Kim A. Snyder
12. “Sami Blood,” Amanda Kernell
13. “Hooligan Sparrow,” Nanfu Wang
14. “Don’t Think Twice,” Mike Birbiglia
15. “Raw,” Julia Ducournau
16. “A Light Beneath Their Feet,” Valerie Weiss
17. “Graduation,” Cristian Mungiu
18. “A Monster Calls,” J.A. Bayona
19. “The Witch,” Robert Eggers
20. “Eye in the Sky,” Gavin Hood
Top 20 Films of 2017
1. “Twin Peaks: The Return,” David Lynch
2. “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Martin McDonagh
3. “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” Rian Johnson
4. “Apostasy,” Daniel Kokotajlo
5. “Call Me By Your Name,” Luca Guadagnino
6. “Shingal, Where Are You?”, Angelos Rallis & Hans Ulrich Gossl
7. “Novitiate,” Margaret Betts
8. “I Am Not Your Negro,” Raoul Peck
9. “Lady Bird,” Greta Gerwig
10. “Lucky,” John Carroll Lynch
11. “Bobbi Jene,” Elvira Lind
12. “Milla,” Valerie Massadian
13. “Rat Film,” Theo Anthony
14. “A Quiet Passion,” Terence Davies
15. “Mudbound,” Dee Rees
16. “Five Came Back,” Laurent Bouzereau
17. “Dunkirk,” Christopher Nolan
18. “Princess Cyd,” Stephen Cone
19. “The Florida Project,” Sean Baker
20. “78/52,” Alexandre O. Philippe
Top 20 Films of 2018
1. “Eighth Grade,” Bo Burnham
2. “Minding the Gap,” Bing Liu
3. “Roma,” Alfonso Cuarón
4. “First Reformed,” Paul Schrader
5. “Muppet Guys Talking,” Frank Oz
6. “Leave No Trace,” Debra Granik
7. “The Sentence,” Rudy Valdez
8. “Custody,” Xavier Legrand
9. “The Tale,” Jennifer Fox
10. “Mercy’s Girl,” Emily Lape
11. “Life and Nothing More,” Antonio Méndez Esparza
12. “Capernaum,” Nadine Labaki
13. “Putin’s Witnesses,” Vitaly Mansky
14. “22 July,” Paul Greengrass
15. “The Guilty,” Gustav Möller
16. “The King,” Eugene Jarecki
17. “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”, Morgan Neville
18. “You Were Never Really Here,” Lynne Ramsay
19. “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey & Rodney Rothman
20. “Mission: Impossible—Fallout,” Christopher McQuarrie
Top 20 Films of 2019
1. “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” Celiné Sciamma
2. “Saint Frances,” Alex Thompson
3. “Clemency,” Chinonye Chukwu
4. “Marriage Story,” Noah Baumbach
5. “37 Seconds,” Hikari
6. “The Nightingale,” Jennifer Kent
7. “Hail Satan?”, Penny Lane
8. “Chained for Life,” Aaron Schimberg
9. “Waves,” Trey Edward Shults
10. “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood,” Quentin Tarantino
11. “The Load,” Ognjen Glavonić
12. “One Child Nation,” Nanfu Wang
13. “Diane,” Kent Jones
14. “1917,” Sam Mendes
15. “Memory: The Origins of Alien,” Alexandre O. Philippe
16. “The Farewell,” Lulu Wang
17. “How Does It Start,” Amber Sealey
18. “Tape,” Deborah Kampmeier
19. “Share,” Pippa Bianco
20. “Knives Out,” Rian Johnson
Top 20 Films of 2020
1. “Small Axe: Lovers Rock,” Steve McQueen
2. “Small Axe: Mangrove,” Steve McQueen
3. “I’m Thinking of Ending Things,” Charlie Kaufman
4. “Beanpole,” Kantemir Balagov
5. “Rewind,” Sasha Joseph Neulinger
6. “Nomadland,” Chloé Zhao
7. “Beyond the Visible—Hilma af Klint,” Halina Dyrschka
8. “The Assistant,” Kitty Green
9. “Finding Yingying,” Jiayan Shi
10. “The Father,” Florian Zeller
11. “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” George C. Wolfe
12. “Athlete A,” Bonni Cohen & Jon Shenk
13. “Sound of Metal,” Darius Marder
14. “Small Axe: Red, White and Blue,” Steve McQueen
15. “Cuties,” Maïmouna Doucouré
16. “Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution,” Jim LeBrecht & Nicole Newnham
17. “The Wolf House,” Cristóbal León & Joaquín Cociña
18. “The Twentieth Century,” Matthew Rankin
19. “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” Jason Woliner
20. “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” Aaron Sorkin
Top 20 Films of 2021
1. “Derek DelGaudio’s In & Of Itself,” Frank Oz
2. “Quo Vadis, Aida?”, Jasmila Žbanić
3. “Mass,” Fran Kranz
4. “Shiva Baby,” Emma Seligman
5. “The Worst Person in the World,” Joachim Trier
6. “North by Current,” Angelo Madsen Minax
7. “Drive My Car,” Ryusuke Hamaguchi
8. “Clara Sola,” Nathalie Álvarez Mesén
9. “In the Same Breath,” Nanfu Wang
10. “Licorice Pizza,” Paul Thomas Anderson
11. “CODA,” Sian Heder
12. “Procession,” Robert Greene
13. “The Power of the Dog,” Jane Campion
14. “A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks,” John Maggio
15. “The Humans,” Stephen Karam
16. “Torn,” Max Lowe
17. “Adrienne,” Andy Ostroy
18. “Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street,” Marilyn Agrelo
19. “Pink Skies Ahead,” Kelly Oxford
20. “Saint Maud,” Rose Glass
Top 20 Films of 2022
1. “Falcon Lake,” Charlotte Le Bon
2. “Happening,” Audrey Diwan
3. “Lynch/Oz,” Alexandre O. Philippe
4. “Nitram,” Justin Kurzel
5. “Tar,” Todd Field
6. “Bad Axe,” David Siev
7. “Close,” Lukas Dhont
8. “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande,” Sophie Hyde
9. “Palm Trees and Power Lines,” Jamie Dack
10. “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” Daniel Scheinert & Daniel Kwan
11. “Pearl,” Ti West
12. “You Resemble Me,” Dina Amer
13. “Bardo: False Chronicles of a Handful of Truths,” Alejandro González Iñárritu
14. “Let the Little Light Shine,” Kevin Shaw
15. “Relative,” Michael Glover Smith
16. “Women Talking,” Sarah Polley
17. “The Justice of Bunny King,” Gaysorn Thavat
18. “Mothering Sunday,” Eva Husson
19. “The Fabelmans,” Steven Spielberg
20. “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” Guillermo del Toro & Mark Gustafson
Top 20 Films of 2023
1. “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.”, Kelly Fremon Craig
2. “Judy Blume Forever,” Davina Pardo & Leah Wolchok
3. “Barbie,” Greta Gerwig
4. “The Zone of Interest,” Jonathan Glazer
5. “Anatomy of a Fall,” Justine Triet
6. “Past Lives,” Celine Song
7. “Our Father, the Devil,” Ellie Foumbi
8. “Poor Things,” Yorgos Lanthimos
9. “Memory,” Michel Franco
10. “Fuzzy Head,” Wendy McColm
11. “Monster,” Hirokazu Kore-eda
12. “Mighty Afrin: In the Time of Floods,” Angelos Rallis
13. “Tori and Lokita,” Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
14. “Albert Brooks: Defending My Life,” Rob Reiner
15. “Sanctuary,” Zachary Wigon
16. “Priscilla,” Sofia Coppola
17. “Moon Garden,” Ryan Steven Harris
18. “Eileen,” William Oldroyd
19. “Tótem,” Lila Avilés
20. “Oppenheimer,” Christopher Nolan
Top 20 Films of 2024
1. “Out of My Mind,” Amber Sealey
2. “Ghostlight,” Kelly O’Sullivan & Alex Thompson
3. “Sing Sing,” Greg Kwedar
4. “Conclave,” Edward Berger
5. “A Complete Unknown,” James Mangold
6. “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” Mohammad Rasoulof
7. “The Brutalist,” Brady Corbet
8. “The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed,” Joanna Arnow
9. “Anora,” Sean Baker
10. “JessZilla,” Emily Sheskin
11. “My First Film,” Zia Anger
12. “Jim Henson: Idea Man,” Ron Howard
13. “Green Border,” Agnieszka Holland
14. “The Beast,” Bertrand Bonello
15. “Longlegs,” Osgood Perkins
16. “Hundreds of Beavers,” Mike Cheslik
17. “Girls State,” Jesse Moss & Amanda McBaine
18. “Fitting In,” Molly McGlynn
19. “Joy,” Ben Taylor
20. “Inside Out 2,” Kelsey Mann
Top 20 Films of 2025
1. “Sorry, Baby,” Eva Victor
2. “Pee-Wee as Himself,” Matt Wolf
3. “Shari & Lamb Chop,” Lisa D’Apolito
4. “Weapons,” Zach Cregger
5. “The Plague,” Charlie Polinger
6. “Hamnet,” Chloé Zhao
7. “One Battle After Another,” Paul Thomas Anderson
8. “Sound of Falling,” Mascha Schilinski
9. “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” Kaouther Ben Hania
10. “It Was Just an Accident,” Jafar Panahi
11. “Rental Family,” Hikari
12. “Sentimental Value,” Joachim Trier
13. “April,” Dea Kulumbegashvili
14. “Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore,” Shoshannah Stern
15. “Is This Thing On?”, Bradley Cooper
16. “Sinners,” Ryan Coogler
17. “The Long Walk,” Francis Lawrence
18. “Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight,” Embeth Davidtz
19. “Griffin in Summer,” Nicholas Colia
20. “Preparation for the Next Life,” Bing Liu
Stay tuned for my favorite films lists for 2026 and beyond!
Indie Outlook 