Favorite films by year

[leroysghost]

https://rateyourmusic.com/list/leroysgh ... -progress/

[j-p]

Here’s mine. Includes a bit of everything, even short films, but no series or TV films. This is in no way meant to be a definitive list of great films - I just took a previous list I compiled containing most of my favourites and sorted them by decade, so there are some years without films for them.

Pre 1930’s
Broken Blossoms (D.W. Griffith) 1919
The Gold Rush (Charlie Chaplin) 1925
Man with a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov) 1929

30’s
L'Age D'Or (Luis Bunuel) 1930
A Propos de Nice (Jean Vigo) 1930
Dishonored (Josef von Sternberg) 1931
M (Fritz Lang) 1931
La Nuit du Carrefour (Jean Renoir) 1932
Boudu Sauve des Eaux (Jean Renoir) 1932
I Was Born But... (Yasujiro Ozu) 1932
Shanghai Express (Josef von Sternberg) 1932
The Scarlet Empress (Josef von Sternberg) 1934
Toni (Jean Renoir) 1935
Captain Blood (Michael Curtiz) 1935
The Only Son (Yasujiro Ozu) 1936
Partie De Campagne (Jean Renoir) 1936
Le Quai des Brumes (Marcel Carne) 1938
La Bête Humaine (Jean Renoir) 1938
Stagecoach (John Ford) 1939
Story of Late Chrysanthemums (Kenji Mizoguchi) 1939
Only Angels Have Wings (Howard Hawks) 1939
Destry Rides Again (George Marshall) 1939

40’s
His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks) 1940
The Philidelphia Story (George Cukor) 1940
The Shanghai Gesture (Josef von Sternberg) 1941
Le Corbeau (Henri-Georges Clouzot) 1943
At Land (Maya Deren) 1944
The Curse Of The Cat People (Robert Wise) 1944
Children of Paradise (Marcel Carne) 1945
The Killers (Robert Siodmak) 1946
Canyon Passage (Jacques Tourneur) 1946
Motion Painting 1 (Oskar Fischinger) 1947
The Lady From Shanghai (Orson Welles) 1947
Out of the Past (Jacques Tourneur) 1947
Germany Year Zero (Roberto Rosselini) 1948
Red River (Howard Hawks) 1948
Spring in a Small City (Fei Mu) 1948
Late Spring (Yasujiro Ozu) 1949
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (John Ford) 1949
Stray Dog (Akira Kurosawa) 1949

50’s
In a Lonely Place (Nicholas Ray) 1950
Night And The City (Jules Dassin) 1950
Wagon Master (John Ford) 1950
Les Enfants Terribles (Jean-Pierre Melville) 1950
Rio Grande (John Ford) 1950
Night and the City (Jules Dassin) 1950
The Quiet Man (John Ford) 1952
Singin' In The Rain (Stanley Donen) 1952
The Big Sky (Howard Hawks) 1952
Madame de... (Max Ophuls) 1953
Ugetsu Monogatari (Kenji Mizoguchi) 1953
The Wages of Fear (Henri-Georges Clouzot) 1953
Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu) 1953
Gion Bayashi (Kenji Mizoguchi) 1953
Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock) 1954
Dial M For Murder (Alfred Hitchcock)
Johnny Guitar (Nicholas Ray) 1954
The Sound of the Mountain (Mikio Naruse) 1954
Journey to Italy (Roberto Rosselini) 1954
Ordet (Carl Theodor Dreyer) 1955
The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton) 1955
Les Diaboliques (Henri-Georges Clouzot) 1955
Rentree des Classes (Jacques Rozier) 1955
Early Spring (Yasujiro Ozu) 1956
The Mystery of Picasso (Henri-Georges Clouzot) 1956
Bob le Flambeur (Jean-Pierre Melville) 1956
Toute La Memoire du Monde (Alain Resnais) 1956
7 Men from Now (Budd Boetticher) 1956
Flowing (Mikio Naruse) 1956
A Man Escaped (Robert Bresson) 1956
The Searchers (John Ford) 1956
The Tall T (Budd Boetticher) 1957
Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock) 1958
Equinox Flower (Yasujiro Ozu) 1958
Floating Weeds (Yasujiro Ozu) 1959
Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks) 1959
Warlock (Edward Dmytryk) 1959
Ride Lonesome (Budd Boetticher) 1959
Hiroshima Mon Amour (Alain Resnais) 1959

60’s
Les Bonnes Femmes (Claude Chabrol) 1960
Les Yeux Sans Visage (Georges Franju) 1960
La Dolce Vita (Frederico Fellini) 1960
Late Autumn (Yasujiro Ozu) 1960
Cruel Story of Youth (Nagisa Oshima) 1960
Viridiana (Louis Bunuel) 1961
Through a Glass Darkly (Ingmar Bergman) 1961
The End Of Summer (Yasujiro Ozu) 1961
One-Eyed Jacks (Marlon Brando) 1961
Last Year at Marienbad (Alain Resnais) 1961
Paris Nous Appartient (Jacques Rivette) 1961
The End of Summer (Yasujiro Ozu) 1961
La Notte (Michelangelo Antonioni) 1961
Seawards the Great Ships (Hilary Harris) 1961
The House is Black (Forough Farrokhzad) 1962
Cleo from 5 to 7 (Agnes Varda) 1962
Le Doulos (Jean-Pierre Melville) 1962
Vivre sa vie (Jean-Luc Godard) 1962
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (John Ford) 1962
I Fidanzati (Ermanno Olmi) 1962
Ivan's childhood (Andrei Tarkvosky) 1962
L'Eclisse (Michelangelo Antonioni) 1962
An Actor's Revenge (Kon Ichikawa) 1963
8 1/2 (Federico Fellini) 1963
Gertrud (Carl Dreyer) 1964
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (Sergei Parajanov) 1964
Intentions of Murder (Shohei Imamura) 1964
Onibaba (Kaneto Shindô) 1964
Woman in the Dunes (Hiroshi Teshigahara) 1964
Ordinary Fascism (Mikhail Romm) 1965
Simon of the Desert (Louis Bunuel) 1965
Andrei Rublev (Andrei Tarkovsky) 1966
Masculin Feminin (Jean-Luc Godard) 1966
Blow-Up (Michelangelo Antonioni) 1966
Made in U.S.A (Jean-Luc Godard) 1966
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Sergio Leone) 1966
Blow-Up (Michelangelo Antonioni) 1966
Lord Love A Duck (George Axelrod) 1966
Django (Sergio Corbucci) 1966
El Dorado (Howard Hawks) 1966
TV (Kurt Kren) 1967
Belle De Jour (Luis Buñuel) 1967
Le Samourai (Jean-Pierre Melville) 1967
Je T'aime, Je T'aime (Alain Resnais) 1968
The Damned (Luchio Visconti) 1969
My Night at Maud's (Eric Rohmer) 1969

70’s
The Ossuary (Jan Svankmajer) 1970
The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci) 1970
Le Cercle Rouge (Jean-Pierre Melville) 1970
Two Lane Blacktop (Monte Hellman) 1971
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Luis Bunuel) 1972
Aguirre: Der Zorn Gottes (Werner Herzog) 1972
Amarcord (Federico Fellini) 1973
The Holy Mountain (Alejandro Jodorowsky) 1973
Du Cote D'Orouet (Jacques Rozier) 1973
O Lucky Man! (Lindsay Anderson) 1973
The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola) 1974
Effi Briest (Rainer Werner Fassbinder) 1974
Céline et Julie Vont en Bateau (Jacques Rivette) 1974
Lancelot Du Lac (Robert Bresson) 1974
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Rainer Werner Fassbinder) 1974
Fox and his Friends (Rainer Werner Fassbinder) 1975
Night Moves (Arthur Penn) 1975
Deep Red (Dario Argento) 1975
Mirror (Andrei Tarkovsky) 1975
The Passenger (Michelangelo Antonioni) 1975
Duelle (Jacques Rivette) 1976
The Anatomy of a Relationship (Luc Moullet) 1976
Eraserhead (David Lynch) 1976
Grin Without a Cat (Chris Marker) 1977
Dog's Dialogue (Raul Ruiz) 1977
Killer of Sheep (Charles Burnett) 1977
Perceval le Gallois (Eric Rohmer) 1978
In a year with 13 Moons (Rainer Werner Fassbinder) 1978
Stalker (Andrei Tarkovsky) 1979
Alien (Ridley Scott) 1979
A Walk Through H (Peter Greenaway) 1979
The Third Generation (Rainer Werner Fassbinder) 1979

80’s
The Aviator's Wife (Eric Rohmer) 1981
Passion (Jean-Luc Godard) 1982
Down to the Cellar (Jan Svankmajer) 1982
My Brother's Wedding (Charles Burnett) 1983
Sans Soleil (Chris Marker) 1983
Pauline at the Beach (Eric Rohmer) 1983
Nostalghia (Andrei Tarkovsky) 1983
All the Youthfull Days (Hou Hsiao Hsien) 1983
Repo Man (Alex Cox) 1984
Love Streams (John Cassavettes) 1984
Full Moon in Paris (Eric Rohmer) 1984
Summer at Grandpa's (Hou Hsiao Hsien) 1984
Blue Velvet (David Lynch) 1986
The Green Ray (Eric Rohmer) 1986
Big Trouble in Little China (John Carpenter) 1986
Damnation (Bela Tarr) 1987
Where Is the Friend's House? (Abbas Kiarostami) 1987
Quatre Aventures De Reinette Et Mirabelle (Eric Rohmer) 1987
Gang of Four (Jacques Rivette) 1988
Hairspray (John Waters) 1988
My Neighbor Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki) 1988
Kick That Habit (Peter Liechti) 1989

90’s
Nouvelle Vague (Jean-Luc Godard) 1990
Close Up (Abbas Kiarostami) 1990
A Brighter Summers Day (Edward Yang) 1991
Lessons of Darkness (Werner Herzog) 1992
Conte d'Hiver (Eric Rohmer) 1992
Sonatine (Takeshi Kitano) 1993
Chunking Express (Wong Kar-Wai) 1994
Rendezvous in Paris (Eric Rohmer) 1995
A Summer's Tale (Eric Rohmer) 1996
Xiao Wu (Jia Zhang-ke) 1997
The River (Tsai Ming-Liang) 1997
Conte d'Automne (Eric Rohmer) 1998
Happy Together (Wong Kar-Wai) 1997
The Wind Will Carry Us (Abbas Kiarostami) 1999
Beau Travail (Claire Denis) 1999

00’s
The Isle (Kim Ki-duk) 2000
YiYi (Edward Yang) 2000
Mulholland Drive (David Lynch) 2001
Dream Work (Peter Tscherkassky) 2001
Millenium Mambo (Hou Hsiao-Hsien) 2001
The Story of Marie and Julien (Jacques Rivette) 2003
Goodbye Dragon Inn (Tsai Ming-liang) 2003
Kung-Fu Hustle (Stephen Chow) 2004
Triple Agent (Eric Rohmer) 2004
My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done? (Werner Herzog) 2005
Iraq in Fragments (James Longley) 2006
Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón) 2006
Syndromes and a Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul) 2006
Death Proof (Quentin Taratino) 2007
Let The Right One In (Tomas Alfredson) 2008
The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke) 2009
Film Socialisme (Jean-Luc Godard) 2010
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul) 2010

edit - updated

[j-p]

So it’s more a list of favourite films in each decade than favourites by year I guess, but I don’t have the energy to fix that. Anyway not as interesting as LGs list above but with a bit of overlap anyway it seems.

[Gaendaal]

Ye gods! How long did that all take to work out?

Do you distinguish between films you think are good and films you like, if you see a difference at all?

[j-p]

Ye gods! How long did that all take to work out?

Do you distinguish between films you think are good and films you like, if you see a difference at all?

I often have the feeling creep up on me during a film that I should like it more than I really do, i.e. there's respect there, but not so much love (same with music). I don't know how correct a perspective that is to have but for me at least the above are all films I really like and consider to be good, some unquestionably great (at least for what they are).

I don't think my list is really that long or exhaustive. I don't watch many recent films and when I do watch something it's normally something I have wanted to watch for a while and something I hope to enjoy.

[leroysghost]

Do you distinguish between films you think are good and films you like, if you see a difference at all?

i don't really see a difference. only that "bad" films can sometimes be good. my original concept was to make an film canon that was an alternative to the ones i've been reading all my life. trying to be as all inclusive as possible with my all or nothing personality. it's a list of films that effected me, a personal film history.

[jbushnell]

Do you distinguish between films you think are good and films you like, if you see a difference at all?

I think about that question, too. I kind of have a three-circle Venn diagram in my head. One circle is "Films I Like," one is "Films That Are Important," and one is "Films That Are Good." Ideally they all line up, but not always. Like... I like Star Wars, and think it's important, but I can't say that it's really a good film. By contrast, I think Breathless is important, and it's a good film, but I don't really like it. Something like Cronenberg's Existenz is a film that is so tailored to my exact sensibilities that it's one of my favorite films, but from an objective standpoint I don't think it's either that good or that important.

I made up a roughly 100-film "personal canon" that is a list of films that I think are "important," but it's very different from a iist I would make of films that are either my favorites or that are of exceptionally high quality.

[Dan Warburton]

Am I mistaken or was there no Orson Welles on your list, LG? Don't like the big man?

[leroysghost]

You are kind of mistaken. I love the big man, but i'm not a fan of a lot of his films. The ones I think are great are up there.

[leroysghost]

Something like Cronenberg's Existenz is a film that is so tailored to my exact sensibilities that it's one of my favorite films

Wasn't just a more frantic version of Videodrome? The only specific differentiating part that sticks out in my memory is the sexy bit with Jenn sticking her fingers in Jude's port hole.

[Dan Warburton]

You are kind of mistaken. I love the big man, but i'm not a fan of a lot of his films. The ones I think are great are up there.

Not "kind of", mistaken period! Sorry, missed those! Yikes!

[jbushnell]

Something like Cronenberg's Existenz is a film that is so tailored to my exact sensibilities that it's one of my favorite films

Wasn't just a more frantic version of Videodrome?

Existenz is Videodrome done as a comedy.

[P. Wretch]

Something like Cronenberg's Existenz is a film that is so tailored to my exact sensibilities that it's one of my favorite films, but from an objective standpoint I don't think it's either that good or that important.

Glad to find another defender of eXistenZ on this forum! I think it's possible to make a case for it being 'objectively good', actually, but of course it will appeal much more to Cronenberg connoisseurs. So many appealing micro-elements, including the acting contributions of Christopher Eccleston, Willem Dafoe, Don McKellar (with his deliberately ridiculous accent, chopping up mutant trout), Ian Holm and Robert A. Silverman (an old Cronenberg regular: see also Rabid and Naked Lunch). One can make the case for the film as an off-kilter genre exercise, or as an ironic take on one (the ending is not without its hint of bathos, but even that is strangely fitting).

As I've argued elsewhere, it achieves, with restrained use of special effects, an otherworldly atmosphere that 1999's other virtual reality flick The Matrix could only dream of. Unfortunately, I don't think anything D.C. has done since (Spider perhaps excepted), has really succeeded in quite the same way, although that is a minority critical opinion. (Fairly low expectations for the forthcoming A Dangerous Method, featuring the awful Ms. Knightley.)

[jbushnell]

Something like Cronenberg's Existenz is a film that is so tailored to my exact sensibilities that it's one of my favorite films, but from an objective standpoint I don't think it's either that good or that important.

So many appealing micro-elements

That's it exactly. As a whole, I don't think the film qualifies as a masterpiece, but any given moment in the film is only a few seconds away from some "micro-element"-- a facial expression, a line of dialogue, or a throwaway visual --that I know will absolutely delight me.

[leroysghost]

featuring the awful Ms. Knightley.

she isn't so bad. has she ever even had to do anything other than just be present?

[Dan Warburton]

(to LG) Cannibal Holocaust? I'd sooner have Salo myself More Arthur Penns and fewer Altmans for me too. Great list of fillums though, thanks for taking the time

[leroysghost]

unlike Salo, for me Cannibal Holocaust is both very interestingly constructed and actually disturbing (and it has a killer soundtrack to boot).

i've only seen two Arthur Penn films. Night Moves is great but i sort of wrote him off after i saw Bonnie And Clyde.

[savantgarde]

1970:
The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci)

Such a brilliant movie! Not only is it absolutely masterfully realized cinematographically, the depiction of the "protagonist" is so good.