– Years 2012-2000 are listed by U.S./San Diego release dates, not festival premiere dates. Pre-2000 are listed by IMDB year.
Updates: Revamped 1962 completely
2012:
1. This is Not a Film / Jafar Panahi, Mojtaba Mirtahmasb
2. Zero Dark Thirty / Kathryn Bigelow
3. The Turin Horse / Bela Tarr
4. It’s Such a Beautiful Day / Don Hertzfeldt
5. The Day He Arrives / Hong Sang-soo
6. Miss Bala / Gerardo Naranjo
7. The Deep Blue Sea / Terence Davies
8. Barbara / Christian Petzold
9. Girl Walk // All Day / Jacob Krupnick
10. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia / Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Honorable Mentions:
11. Whores’ Glory / Michael Glawogger
12. Perfect Sense / David Mackenzie
13. Burn / Tom Putnam, Brenna Sanchez
14. Tabu / Miguel Gomes
15. Oslo 31. August / Joachim Trier
16. Django Unchained / Quentin Tarantino
17. Not Fade Away / David Chase
18. Two Years at Sea / Ben Rivers
19. The Kid With a Bike / Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
20. Post Mortem / Pablo Larrain
21. Bestiaire / Denis Cote
22. Haywire / Steven Soderbergh
23. Moonrise Kingdom / Wes Anderson
24. The Forgiveness of Blood / Jonathan Marston
25. El Velador / Natalia Almada
26. Savages / Oliver Stone
27. Quill: Life of a Guide Dog / Yoichi Sai
28. Amour / Michael Haneke
29. Detention / Joseph Kahn
30. Killing Them Softly / Andrew Dominik
2011:
1. Mysteries of Lisbon / Raul Ruiz
2. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives / Apichotpong Weerasethakul
3. The Tree of Life / Terrence Malick
4. Certified Copy / Abbas Kiarostami
5. In the Family / Patrick Wang
6. A Separation / Asghar Farhadi
7. Nostalgia For the Light / Patricio Guzman
8. Margaret / Kenneth Lonergan
9. Hugo / Martin Scorsese
10. Drive / Nicolas Winding Refn
Honorable Mentions:
11. The Arbor / Clio Barnard
12. A Dangerous Method / David Cronenberg
13. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy / Tomas Alfredson
14. Meek’s Cutoff / Kelly Reichardt
15. Heartbeats / Xavier Dolan
16. Martha Marcy May Marlene / Sean Durkin
17. Rebirth / James Whitacker
18. Take Shelter / Jeff Nichols
19. Rango / Gore Verbinski
20. Shit Year / Cam Archer
21. Tuesday, After Christmas / Radu Muntean
22. 13 Assassins / Takashi Miike
23. Cave of Forgotten Dreams / Werner Herzog
24. Poetry / Lee Chang-dong
25. Essential Killing / Jerzy Skolimowski
26. Attack the Block / Joe Cornish
27. The Interrupters / Steve James
28. Go Go Tales / Abel Ferrara
29. Fright Night / Craig Gillespie
30. Midnight in Paris / Woody Allen
2010:
1. White Material / Claire Denis
2. Eccentricities of a Blond-haired Girl / Manoel de Oliveira
3. The Father of My Children / Mia Hansen-Løve
4. Amer / Helene Cattet, Bruno Forzani
5. Everyone Else / Maren Ade
6. Another Year / Mike Leigh
7. True Grit / Joel and Ethan Coen
8. Lourdes / Jessica Hausner
9. The Social Network / David Fincher
10. Secret Sunshine / Lee Chang-dong
Honorable Mentions:
11. The New Year / Brett Haley
12. Around and Small Mountain / Jacques Rivette
13. Prodigal Sons / Kimberly Reed
14. Last Train Home / Lixin Fan
15. Shutter Island / Martin Scorsese
16. Alamar / Pedro Gonzalez-Rubio
17. Exit Through the Gift Shop / Bansky
18. Valhalla Rising / Nicolas Winding Refn
19. Mother / Bong Joon-ho
20. Blue Valentine / Derek Cianfrance
21. Toy Story 3 / Lee Unkrich
22. Inception / Christopher Nolan
23. Winter’s Bone / Debra Granik
24. Ramona and Beezus / Elizabeth Allen
25. The Strange Case of Angelica / Manoel de Oliveira
26. Black Swan / Darren Arronofsky
27. I Love You Phillip Morris / Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
28. Our Beloved Month of August / Miguel Gomes
29. Trash Humpers / Harmony Korine
30. Step Up 3D / Jon M. Chu
2009:
1. The Headless Woman / Lucrecia Martel
2. Fantastic Mr. Fox / Wes Anderson
3. Summer Hours / Olivier Assayas
4. Inglorious Basterds / Quentin Tarantino
5. Lake Tahoe / Fernando Eimbcke
6. Bright Star / Jane Campion
7. A Serious Man /Joel and Ethan Coen
8. Hunger / Steve McQueen
9. The Hurt Locker / Kathryn Bigelow
10. Revanche / Gotz Spielmann
Honorable Mentions:
11. Public Enemies / Michael Mann
12. Mugabe and the White African / Lucy Baily and Andrew Thompson
13. Up / Pete Doctor and Bob Peterson
14. Afterschool / Antonio Campos
15. The Messenger / Oren Moverman)
16. The Box / Richard Kelly
17. Still Walking / Hirokazu Kore-eda
18. Somers Town / Shane Meadows
19. Two Lovers / James Gray
20. The Limits of Control / Jim Jarmusch
Also Essential:
21. Halloween 2 / Rob Zombie
22. Drag Me to Hell / Sam Raimi
23. The White Ribbon / Michael Haneke
24. Where the Wild Things Are / Spike Jonze
25. 35 Shots of Rum / Claire Denis
26. Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea / Hayao Miyazaki
27. The Beaches of Agnes / Agnes Vards
28. My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done / Werner Herzog
29. Broken Embraces / Pedro Almodovar
30. Antichrist / Lars von Trier
2008:
1. WALL•E / Andrew Stanton
2. La France / Serge Bozon
3. Wendy and Lucy / Kelly Reichardt
4. In the City of Sylvia / Jose Luis Guerin
5. Shotgun Stories / Jeff Nichols
6. Silent Light / Carlos Reygadas
7. Happy-Go Lucky / Mike Leigh
8.The Duchess of Langeais / Jacques Rivette
9.Che / Steven Soderbergh
10. Flight of the Red Balloon / Hou Hsiao-hsien
Honorable Mentions:
11. Sparrow / Johnnie To
12. Still Life / Jia Zhang-ke
13. Let the Right One In / Tomas Alfredson
14. The Wrestler / Darren Arronosky
15. Synecdoche, New York / Charlie Kaufman
16. Gran Torino / Clint Eastwood
17. Gardens of the Night / Damian Harris
18. Mad Detective / Johnnie To
19. My Winnipeg / Guy Maddin
20. Vicky Christina Barcelona / Woody Allen
Also Essential:
21. Woman on the Beach / Hong Sang-soo
22. Speed Racer / The Wachowski Brothers
23. In Bruges / Martin McDonagh
24. Boarding Gate / Olivier Assayas
25. Beaufort / Joseph Cedar
26. Milk / Gus van Sant
27. Waltz With Bashir / Ari Folman
28. Revolutionary Road / Sam Mendes
29. Tropic Thunder / Ben Stiller
30. The Fall / Tarsem
2007:
1. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford / Andrew Dominik
2. Zodiac / David Fincher
3. There Will Be Blood / Paul Thomas Anderson
4. The Darjeeling Limited / Wes Anderson
5. Black Snake Moan / Craig Brewer
6. Day Night Day Night / Julia Loktev
7. This is England / Shane Meadows
8. Election 2 [Triad Election] / Johnnie To
9. Syndromes and a Century / Apichatpong Weerasethakul
10. Things We Lost in the Fire / Susanne Bier
Honorable Mentions:
11. Offside / Jafar Panahi
12. No Country For Old Men / Joel and Ethan Coen
13. Once / John Carney
14. Gone Baby Gone / Ben Affleck
15. 28 Weeks Later / Juan Carlos Fesnadillo
16. Eastern Promises / David Cronenberg
17. Hot Fuzz / Edgar Wright
18. Sunshine / Danny Boyle
19. Red Road / Andrea Arnold
20. Rescue Dawn / Werner Herzog
Also Essential:
21. The Host / Bong Joon-ho
22. Into the Wild / Sean Penn
23. Black Book / Paul Verhoeven
24. We Own the Night / James Gray
25. The Bourne Ultimatum / Paul Greengrass
26. Death Proof / Quentin Tarantino
27. The Mist / Frank Darabont
28. Honeydripper / John Sayles
29. No End in Sight / Charles Ferguson
30. Shooter / Antoine Fuqua
2006:
1. Miami Vice / Michael Mann
2. Happy Feet / George Miller
3. Children of Men / Alfonso Cuaron
4. When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts / Spike Lee
5. Twelve and Holding / Michael Cuesta
6. Letters From Iwo Jima / Clint Eastwood
7. The Departed / Martin Scorsese
8. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu / Cristi Puiu
9. United 93 / Paul Greengrass
10. Volver / Pedro Almodovar
Honorable Mentions:
11. A Prairie Home Companion / Robert Altman
12. Old Joy / Kelly Reichardt
13. Idiocracy / Mike Judge
14. Deja Vu / Tony Scott
15. Inland Empire / David Lynch
16. Half Nelson / Ryan Fleck
17. Man Push Cart / Ramin Bahrani
18. A Scanner Darkly / Richard Linklater
19. The Devil and Daniel Johnston / Jeff Feuerzeig
20. The Host / Bong Joon-ho
Also Essential:
21. Marie Antoinette / Sofia Coppola
2005:
1. The New World / Terrence Malick
2. A History of Violence / David Cronenberg
3. The World / Jia Zhang-ke
4. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada / Tommy-Lee Jones
5. Cafe Lumiere / Hou Hsiao-hsien
6. The White Diamond / Werner Herzog
7. Junebug / Phil Morrison
8. Memories of Murder / Bong Joon-ho
9. Cache / Michael Haneke
10. Tropical Malady / Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Honorable Mentions:
11. Nobody Knows / Hirokazu Kore-eda
12. Good Night and Good Luck / George Clooney
13. Batman Begins / Christopher Nolan
14. Downfall / Oliver Hirschbiegel
15. Tale of Cinema / Hong Sang-soo
16. Vera Drake / Mike Leigh
17. Brokeback Mountain / Ang Lee
18. Just Friends / Roger Kumble
19. Munich / Steven Spielberg
20. Broken Flowers / Jim Jarmusch
2004:
1. Dying At Grace / Allan King
2. Time of the Wolf / Michael Haneke
3. Spartan / David Mamet
4. Dogville / Lars Von Trier
5. Los Angeles Plays Itself / Thom Andersen
6. A Talking Picture / Manoel de Oliveira
7. Collateral / Michael Mann
8. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind / Michel Gondry
9. Sideways / Alexander Payne
10. The Return Andrei Zvyaginstev
Honorable Mentions:
11. Before Sunset / Richard Linklater
12. Unknown Soldier / Ferenc Toth
13. The Village / M. Night Shyamalan
14. Metallica: Some Kind of Monster / Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky
15. The Manchurian Candidate / Jonathan Demme
16. Fahrenheit 9/11 / Michael Moore
17. The Incredibles / Brad Bird
18. Kill Bill: Vol. 2 / Quentin Tarantino
19. The Aviator / Martin Scorsese
20. When Will I Be Loved / James Toback
2003:
1. All the Real Girls / David Gordon Green
2. Elephant / Gus Van Sant
3. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King / Peter Jackson
4. The School of Rock / Richard Linklater
5. Mystic River / Clint Eastwood
6. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 / Quentin Tarantino
7. I’m Not Scared / Gabriele Salvatores
8. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World / Peter Weir
9. Irreversible / Gaspar Noe
10. The Son / Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
Honorable Mentions:
11. The Barbarian Invasions / Denys Arcand
12. The Secret Lives of Dentists / Alan Rudolph
13. My Architect / Nathaniel Kahn
14. demonlover / Olivier Assayas
15. Dirty Pretty Things / Stephen Frears
16. In My Skin / Marina de Van
17. Open Range / Kevin Costner
18. American Splendor / Robert Pulcini & Shari Springer Berman
19. Finding Nemo / Andrew Stanton
20. Sweet Sixteen / Ken Loach
Blind Spots: Balseros, Millenium Actress, Friday Night, Waiting for Happiness, Come and Go
2002:
1. 25th Hour / Spike Lee
2. Bloody Sunday / Paul Greengrass
3. Punch-Drunk Love / Paul Thomas Anderson
4. Adaptation. / Spike Jonze
5. Stevie / Steve James
6. Morvern Callar / Lynne Ramsay
7. Y Tu Mama Tambien / Alfonso Cuaron
8. Far From Heaven / Todd Haynes
9. Turning Gate / Hong Sang-soo
10. Spider / David Cronenberg
Honorable Mentions:
11. The Piano Teacher / Michael Haneke
12. Road to Perdition / Sam Mendes
13. Catch Me If You Can / Steven Spielberg
14. Gangs of New York / Martin Scorsese
15. The Bourne Identity / Doug Liman
16. I’m Going Home / Manoel de Oliveira
17. Minority Report / Steven Spielberg)
18. Femme Fatale / Brian De Palma
19. Spirited Away / Hayao Miyazaki
20. Solaris / Steven Soderbergh
Also Essential:
21. Bowling For Columbine / Michael Moore
Blind Spots: Blissfully Yours, In Praise of Love, The Lady and the Duke, Trouble Every Day, What Time Is It There?, Late Marriage, The Truth About Charlie, Domestic Violence, Merci Pour Le Chocolate, All or Nothing,
2001:
1. Mulholland Drive / David Lynch
2. In the Mood For Love / Wong-Kar wai
3. The Royal Tenenbaums / Wes Anderson
4. Ghost World / Terry Zwigoff
5. Waking Life / Richard Linklater
6. Brief Crossing / Catherine Breillat
7. A.I.: Artificial Intelligence / Steven Spielberg
8. Donnie Darko / Richard Kelly
9. Gosford Park / Robert Altman
10. Bully / Larry Clark
Honorable Mentions:
11. The Devil’s Backbone / Guillermo Del Toro
12. The Believer / Henry Bean
13. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring / Peter Jackson
14. Fat Girl / Catherine Breillat
15. The Man Who Wasn’t There / Joel and Ethan Coen
16. Black Hawk Down / Ridley Scott
17. Audition / Takashi Miike
18. Pulse / Kiyoshi Kurosawa
19. The Gleaners and I / Agnes Varda
20.
Blind Spots: Eureka, La libertad, The Werckmeister Harmonies, Children Underground, Intimacy, Vengo, Baise-moi, Together, Va savior, Songs From the Second Floor
2000:
1. Yi Yi: A One and a Two / Edward Yang
2. Almost Famous / Cameron Crowe
3. O Brother, Where Art Thou? / Joel and Ethan Coen
4. Requiem For a Dream / Darren Aronofsky
5. Bamboozled / Spike Lee
6. George Washington / David Gordon Green
7. Memento / Christopher Nolan)
8. You Can Count on Me (Kenneth Lonergan
9. The House of Mirth / Terence Davies
10. Unbreakable / M. Night Shyamalan
Honorable Mentions:
11. Traffic / Steven Soderbergh
12. Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai / Jim Jarmusch
13. Mission to Mars / Brian De Palma
14. Wonder Boys / Curtis Hanson
15. High Fidelity / Stephen Frears
16. State and Main / David Mamet
17. Panic / Henry Bromell
18. Best in Show / Christopher Guest
19. Cast Away / Robert Zemeckis
Blind Spots: Taboo, Peppermint Candy, Esther Kahn, The Ruination of Men, La captive, Time Regained, Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, In Vanda’s Room, Common Wealth, Mysterious Object at Noon
1999:
1. Three Kings / David O’Russell
2. Magnolia / Paul Thomas Anderson
3. All About My Mother / Pedro Almodovar
4. Being John Malkovitch / Spike Jonze
5. The Insider / Michael Mann
6. The Straight Story / David Lynch
7. Toy Story 2 / John Lasseter
8. Rosetta / Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
9. Election / Alexander Payne
10. Ratcatcher / Lynne Ramsay
Honorable Mentions:
11. The Iron Giant / Brad Bird
12. The Mission / Johnnie To
13. Limbo / John Sayles
14. Topsy Turvy / Mike Leigh
15. The Limey / Steven Soderbergh
16. eXistenZ / David Cronenberg
17. The Sixth Sense / M. Night Shyamalan
18. Galaxy Quest / Dean Parisot
19. Bringing Out the Dead / Martin Scorsese
20. Office Space / Mike Judge
Blind Spots: The Letter, Human Resources, Sicilia!, My Neighbors the Yamadas
1998:
1. The Thin Red Line / Terrence Malick
2. Saving Private Ryan / Steven Spielberg
3. The Big Lebowski / Joel and Ethan Coen
4. Rushmore / Wes Anderson
5. The Celebration / Thomas Vinterberg
6. A Simple Plan / Sam Raimi
7. 42 Up / Michael Apted
8. Out of Sight / Steven Soderbergh
9. Babe: Pig in the City / George Miller
10. The Truman Show / Peter Weir
Honorable Mentions:
11. Taste of Cherry / Abbas Kiarostami
12. Pleasantville / Gary Ross
13. Affliction / Paul Schrader
14. He Got Game / Spike Lee
15. Bulworth / Warren Beatty
16. Buffalo ’66 / Vincent Gallo
17. Snake Eyes / Brian De Palma
18. The Last Days of Disco / Whit Stillman
19. Central Station / Walter Salles
Blind Spots: Besieged, The Power of Kangwon Province, A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries, Lovers of the Arctic Circle, The Apple, The Hole, The Silence, The Legend of 1900, An Autumn Tale, Inequietude, Histoire(s) du Cinema, Dr. Akagi, Khrustalyov, My Car!
1997:
1. Jackie Brown / Quentin Tarantino
2. Boogie Nights / Paul Thomas Anderson
3. L.A. Confidential / Curtis Hanson
4. Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control / Errol Morris
5. Happy Together / Wong-Kar wai
6. Funny Games / Michael Haneke
7. Welcome to Sarajevo (Michael Winterbottom)
8. Starship Troopers (Paul Verhoven)
9. La Promese (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne)
10. Face/Off / John Woo
Honorable Mentions:
11. Eve’s Bayou / Kasi Lemmons
12. Chasing Amy (Kevin Smith)
13. Fireworks (Takeshi Kitano)
14. Grosse Point Blank (George Armitage)
15. Cop Land (James Mangold)
16. The Game (David Fincher)
17. Lost Highway (David Lynch)
18. Men With Guns (John Sayles)
19. Ulee’s Gold (Victor Nunez)
20. In The Company of Men (Neil Labute)
Blind Spots: Mother and Son, The Eel, The Life of a Jesus, Ossos, The River, Xiao Wu, Voyage to the Beginning of the World, Career Girls, Gadjo Dilo, Nowhere, The Apostle
1996:
1. Lone Star / John Sayles
2. Irma Vep / Olivier Assayas
3. Cyclo / Tran Ahn Hung
4. The White Balloon / Jafar Panahi
5. Fargo / Joel and Ethan Coen
6. Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills / Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
7. Kansas City / Robert Altman
8. Breaking the Waves / Lars von Trier
9. Nightjohn / Charles Burnett
10. Mars Attacks! / Tim Burton
Honorable Mentions:
11. Jerry Maguire / Cameron Crowe
12. Courage Under Fire / Edward Zwick
13. The Portrait of a Lady / Jane Campion
14. Perfect Love / Catherine Breillat
15. Bottle Rocket / Wes Anderson
16. Hard Eight / Paul Thomas Anderson
17. Sling Blade / Billy Bob Thornton
Blind Spots: Goodbye South, Goodbye, Drifting Clouds, For Ever Mozart, My Sex Life…, Oriental Elegy, A Moment of Innocence, A Summer’s Tale, Conspirators of Pleasure, The Delta, Mahjong, Thieves, Mother, Nenette et Boni, Hamsin, Three Lives and Only One Death, God of Coockery
1995:
1. Dead Man / Jim Jarmusch
2. Heat / Michael Mann
3. Safe / Todd Haynes
4. Kicking and Screaming / Noah Baumbach
5. The Addiction / Abel Ferrara
6. Before Sunrise / Richard Linklater
7. Toy Story / John Lasseter
8. La Ceremonie / Claude Chabrol
9. Babe / Chris Noonan
10. The Bridges of Madison County / Clint Eastwood
Honorable Mentions:
11. Se7en / David Fincher
12. Devil in a Blue Dress / Carl Franklin
13. Apollo 13 / Ron Howard
14. Fallen Angels / Wong Kar-Wai
15. Crumb / Terry Zwigoff
16. The Glass Shield / Charles Burnett
17. Wild Bill / Walter Hill
18. Dead Man Walking / Tim Robbins
Blind Spots: Underground, The Neon Bible, Good Men, Good Women, Persuasion, An Awfully Big Adventure, Spiritual Voices, The Convent, God’s Comedy, Up Down Fragile, Maborosi, Salaam Cinema,
1994:
1. Sátántangó / Bela Tarr
2. Pulp Fiction / Quentin Tarantino
3. Vive L’Amour / Tsai Ming-liang
4. Through the Olive Trees / Abbas Kiarostami
5. The Shawshank Redemption / Frank Darabont
6. Natural Born Killers / Oliver Stone
7. Chungking Express / Wong Kar-Wai
8. Exotica / Atom Egoyan
9. In the Mouth of Madness / John Carpenter
10. Ed Wood / Tim Burton
Honorable Mentions:
11. Hoop Dreams / Steve James
12. Four Weddings and a Funeral / Mike Newell
13. To Live / Zhang Yimou
14. Bullets Over Broadway / Woody Allen
15. Quiz Show / Robert Redford
16. Fresh / Boaz Yakin
17. Three Colors: Red / Krzysztof Kieslowski
18. Clerks / Kevin Smith
19. Nobody’s Fool / Robert Benton
Blind Spots: Joan the Maid, Cold Water, I Can’t Sleep, Wild Reeds, U.S. Go Home, Amateur, Time Indefinite, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle,
1993:
1. Dazed and Confused / Richard Linklater
2. A Perfect World / Clint Eastwood
3. Schindler’s List / Steven Spielberg
4. Matinee / Joe Dante
5. Carlito’s Way / Brian De Palma
6. La Scorta / Ricky Tognazzi
7. The Piano / Jane Campion
8. Jurassic Park / Steven Spielberg
9. Groundhog Day / Harold Ramis
10. Naked / Mike Leigh
Honorable Mentions:
11. Short Cuts / Robert Altman
12. The Fugitive / Andrew Davis
13. A Bronx Tale / Robert DeNiro
14. Three Colors: Blue / Krzysztof Kieslowski
15. Menace II Society / Albert and Allen Hughes
16. Manhattan Murder Mystery / Woody Allen
Blind Spots: The Blue Kite, Calender, D’est, The Last Bolshevick, The Puppetmaster, Smoking/No Smoking, Abraham’s Valley, Blue, Latcho Drom, My Favorite Season, Kika, Totally F***cked Up, King of the Holl, The Snapper, Raining Stones, Being Human, The War Room,
1992:
1. Life, and Nothing More… / Abbas Kiarostami
2. The Long Day Closes / Terence Davies
3. Last of the Mohicans / Michael Mann
4. Hard Boiled / John Woo
5. Lessons of Darkness / Werner Herzog
6. Unforgiven / Clint Eastwood
7. Husbands and Wives / Woody Allen
8. Reservoir Dogs / Quentin Tarantino
9. Man Bites Dog / Belvaux/Bonzel
10. Malcolm X / Spike Lee
Honorable Mentions:
11. Raise the Red Lantern / Zhang Yimou
12. Night on Earth / Jim Jarmusch
13. The Player / Robert, Altman
14. Raising Cain / Brian De Palma
15. Rebels of the Neon God / Tsai Ming-liang
16. My Cousin Vinny / Jonathan Lynn
17. Deep Cover / Bill Duke
18. Baraka / Ron Fricke
19. Brother’s Keeper / Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky
20. A League of Their Own / Penny Marshall
Also Essential:
21. A Few Good Men / Rob Reiner
1991:
1. A Brighter Summer Day (4 Hour Cut) / Edward Yang
2. Barton Fink / Joel and Ethan Coen
3. Terminator 2: Judgement Day / James Cameron
4. JFK / Oliver Stone
5. 35 Up / Michael Apted
6. Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse / George Hickenlooper/Bahr/E. Coppola
7. The Double Life of Veronique / Krzysztof Kieslowski
8. Point Break / Kathryn Bigelow
9. Defending Your Life / Albert Brooks
10. The Rapture / Michael Tolkien
Honorable Mentions:
11. Homicide / David Mamet
12. Ju Dou / Zhang Yimou
13. Rambling Rose / Martha Coolidge
14. The Fisher King / Terry Gilliam
15. The Indian Runner / Sean Penn
16. Slacker / Richard Linklater
17. City of Hope / John Sayles
18. Beauty and the Beast / Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise
1990:
1. Miller’s Crossing / Joel and Ethan Coen
2. White Hunter, Black Heart / Clint Eastwood
3. Sweetie / Jane Campion
4. To Sleep With Anger / Charles Burnett
5. Goodfellas / Martin Scorsese
6. Pump Up the Volume / Allan Moyle
7. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover / Peter Greenaway
8. Close-Up / Abbas Kiarostami
9. Total Recall / Paul Verhoeven
10. Joe vs. the Volcano / John Patrick Shanley
Honorable Mentions:
11. Postcards from the Edge / Mike Nichols
12. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer / John McNaughton
13. Metropolitan / Wilt Stillman
14. Bad Influence / Curtis Hanson
15. After Dark, My Sweet / James Foley
16. Trust / Hal Hartley
Blind Spots: Life is Sweet, Europa, Europa, Match Factory Girl, Texasville, The Nasty Girl, The Hot Spot,
1989:
1. The Decalogue (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
2. 84 Charlie MoPic (Patrick Sheane Duncan)
3. Glory (Edward Zwick)
4. The Killer (John Woo)
5. Crimes and Misdemeanors (Woody Allen)
6. Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee)
7. Casualties of War (Brian De Palma)
8. The ‘burbs (Joe Dante)
9. Born on the 4th of July (Oliver Stone)
10. Roger and Me (Michael Moore)
Honorable Mentions:
11. Driving Miss Daisy (Bruce Beresford)
12. The Big Picture (Christopher Guest)
13. Mystery Train (Jim Jarmusch)
14. Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (Stephen Herek)
15. Drugstore Cowboy (Gus Van Sant)
16. Sex, Lies, and Videotape (Steven Soderbergh)
17. Black Rain (Shoei Imamura)
Blind Spots: Santa Sangre, Kiki’s Delivery Service, How To Get Ahead in Advertising
1988:
1. Die Hard (John McTiernan)
2. Grave of the Fireflies (Isao Takahata)
3. Another Woman (Woody Allen)
4. Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders)
5. They Live (John Carpenter)
6. Working Girl (Mike Nichols)
7. The Last Temptation of Christ (Martin Scorsese)
8. Hairspray (John Waters)
9. Willow (Ron Howard)
10. Eight Men Out (John Sayles)
Honorable Mentions:
11. The Thin Blue Line (Errol Morris)
12. Young Guns (Christopher Cain)
Blind Spots: Distant Voices, Still Lives, My Neighbor Torturo, Time of the Gypsies, Story of Women, Tetsuo, Medea, Dangerous Liaisons, A Cry in the Dark, Ariel,
1987:
1. Empire of the Sun (Steven Spielberg)
2. Full Metal Jacket (Stanley Kubrick)
3. Where is the Friend’s House? (Abbas Kiarostami)
4. Tampopo (Juzo Itami)
5. Au Revoir les Enfants (Louis Malle)
6. Matewan (John Sayles)
7. Extreme Prejudice (Walter Hill)
8. Raising Arizona (Joel and Ethan Coen)
9. Ishtar (Elaine May)
10. Dark Age (Arch Nicholson)
Honorable Mentions:
11. Law of Desire (Pedro Almodovar)
12. The Untouchables (Brian De Palma)
13. RoboCop (Paul Verhoeven),
14. Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (Todd Haynes)
15. Withnail and I (Bruce Robinson)
16. Barfly (Barbet Schroeder)
Blind Spots: Housekeeping, Opera, Law of Desire, Yeelen, The Stepfather, Boyfriends and Girlfriends, O.C. and Stiggs, Rouge, Made in Heaven, Swimming to Cambodia, King Lear, Under the Sun of Satan,
1986:
1. Manhunter (Michael Mann)
2. Blue Velvet (David Lynch)
3. Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen)
4. Aliens (James Cameron)
5. The Fly (David Cronenberg)
6. Stand By Me (Rob Reiner)
7. Down By Law (Jim Jarmusch)
8. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (John Hughes)
9. The Mission (Roland Joffe)
10. Sherman’s March (Ross McElwee)
Honorable Mentions:
11. She’s Gotta Have It (Spike Lee)
12. The Hitcher (Robert Harmon)
13. Big Trouble in Little China (John Carpenter)
14. A Better Tomorrow (John Woo)
Blind Spots: The Terrorizer, The Sacrifice, Melo, Scene of the Crime, Shadows in Paradise, The Horse Thief, The Green Ray, Dust in the Wind, The Bee-Keeper, Landscape Suicide,
1985:
1. Ran (Akira Kurosawa)
2. After Hours (Martin Scorsese)
3. Come and See (Elem Klimov)
4. Brazil (Terry Gilliam)
5. Witness (Peter Weir)
6. The Purple Rose of Cairo (Woody Allen)
7. Back to the Future (Robert Zemekis)
8. Vagabond (Agnes Varda)
9. 28 Up (Michael Apted)
10. The Goonies (Richard Donner)
Honorable Mention:
11. My Life as a Dog (Lasse Hallstrom)
12. Real Genius (Martha Coolidge)
13. Re-Animator
14. Prizzi’s Honor (John Huston)
15. Fool for Love (Robert Altman)
16. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
Blind Spots: Taipei Story, A Time To Live, a Time To Die (need to re-watch), The Runner, Shoah, Mix-Up, A Room With a View, Insignificance,Better Off Dead, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Runaway Train, Cocoon
1984:
1. Brother From Another Planet / John Sayles
2. The Terminator / James Cameron
3. Gremlins / Joe Dante
4. Streets of Fire / Walter Hill
5. Blood Simple / Joel and Ethan Coen
6. Ghostbusters / Ivan Reitman
7. The Evil That Men Do / J. Lee Thompson
8. Beverly Hills Cop / Martin Brest
9. Stranger Than Paradise / Jim Jarmusch
10. Body Double / Brian De Palma
Honorable Mention:
11. Once Upon a Time in America / Sergio Leone
12. All of Me / Rob Reiner
13. The Times of Harvey Milk / Robert Epstein
14. The Killing Fields / Roland Joffe
15. The Hit / Stephen Frears
16. Starman / John Carpenter
Blind Spots: Love Streams, Full Moon in Paris, Boy Meets Girl, Choose Me, Stop Making Sense, Birdy, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, City of Pirates, Next of Kin, The Funeral, Meantime, Shanghai Blues, 1984, What Have I Done to Deserve This?, Almanac of Fall, Boy Meets Girl, Comfort and Joy, A Sunday in the Country, Special Effects
1983:
1. The King of Comedy (Martin Scorsese)
2. El Norte (Gregory Nava)
3. Tender Mercies (Bruce Beresford)
4. Sans Soleil (Chris Marker)
5. My Brother’s Wedding (Charles Burnett)
6. Videodrome (David Cronenberg)
7. Zelig (Woody Allen)
8. Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (Nagisa Oshima)
9. The Dead Zone (David Cronenberg)
10. Nostalghia (Andrei Tarkovsky)
Honorable Mention:
11. Local Hero (Bill Forsyth)
12. The Right Stuff (Kaufman, US)
Blind Spots: Pauline at the Beach, Three Crowns at the Sailor, The Eighties, L’argent, A nour Amores,
1982:
1. White Dog (Sam Fuller)
2. Fanny and Alexander (Ingmar Bergman)
3. Fitzcarraldo (Werner Herzog)
4. The Thing (John Carpenter)
5. Missing (Costa Gravas)
6. E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg)
7. Blade Runner (Ridley Scott)
8. Moonlighting (Jerzy Skolimowski)
9. Honkytonk Man (Clint Eastwood)
10. The State of Things (Wim Wenders)
Honorable Mention:
11. Burden of Dreams (Les Blank)
12. Fast Times and Ridgemont High (Amy Heckerling)
13. Diner (Barry Levinson)
Blind Spots: A Room in Town,
1981:
1. Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg)
2. My Dinner With Andre (Louis Malle)
3. Escape From New York (John Carpenter)
4. Blow Out (Brian De Palma)
5. The Road Warrior (George Miller)
6. Body Heat (Lawrence Kasdan)
7. Reds (Warren Beatty)
8. Ms. 45 (Abel Ferrara)
9. Modern Romance (Albert Brooks)
10. Scanners (David Cronenberg)
Honorable Mentions:
11. Prince of the City (Sidney Lumet)
12. Gallipoli (Peter Weir)
13. Pixote (Hector Babenco)
Blind Spots: Possession, Cutter’s Way, Lola, Francisca, The Aviator’s Wife, Mommie Dearest, Man of Iron, Agony, They All Laughed,
1980:
1. Gloria (John Cassavetes)
2. The Big Red One (Sam Fuller)
3. The Shining (Stanely Kubrick)
4. Breaker Morant (Bruce Beresford)
5. Dressed to Kill (Brian De Palma)
6. Heaven’s Gate (Michael Cimino)
7. Bad Timing (Nicholas Roeg)
8. Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese)
9. Coal Miner’s Daughter (Michael Apted)
10. Atlantic City (Louis Malle)
Honorable Mentions:
11. The Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kershner)
12. Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood)
13. The Long Good Friday (John Mackenzie)
14. Kagemusha (Akira Kurosawa)
Blind Spots: Out of the Blue, Berlin Alexanderplatz, Mon Oncle d’ Amerique, Voyage en Douce, Pepi, Luci, Bom, Inferno, Popeye, From the Life of Marrionettes, God’s Angry Man, H.E.A.L.T.H, The Gods Must Be Crazy, Death Watch, Loulou, The Falls, Seems Like Old Times, Altered States, Death Watch, Shogun Assassin, Inferno, The Gods Must Be Crazy
1979:
1. Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola)
2. Manhattan (Woody Allen)
3. Dawn of the Dead (George Romero)
4. Stalker (Andrei Tarkovsky)
5. Being There (Hal Ashby)
6. Alien (Ridley Scott)
7. Eraserhead (David Lynch)
8. Kramer vs. Kramer (Robert Benton)
9. Wise Blood (John Huston)
10. Real Life (Albert Brooks)
Honorable Mentions:
11. Love on the Run (Francois Truffaut)
12. The China Syndrome (James Bridges)
13. Mad Max (George Miller)
14. Breaking Away (Peter Yates)
15. Vengeance Is Mine (Shohei Imamura)
16. The Warriors (Walter Hill)
17. The Tin Drum (Volker Schlondorff)
Blind Spots: Winter Kills, My Brilliant Career, The Castle of Cagliostro, The Euruopeans, Life of Brian, The In-Laws, Bloody Kids, Nosferatu the Vampyre, The Third Generation, Norma Rae,
1978:
1. Blue Collarr (Paul Schrader)
2. Coming Home (Hal Ashby)
3. Halloween (John Carpenter)
4. An Unmarried Woman (Paul Mazursky)
5. Days of Heaven (Terrence Malick)
6. Interiors (Woody Allen)
7. The Driver (Walter Hill)
8. I Spit On Your Grave (Meir Zarchi)
9. Go Tell the Spartans (Ted Post)
Honorable Mentions: Piranha (Joe Dante),
Blind Spots: The Fury, In a Year of 13 Moons, Despair, The Eyes of Laura Mars, The Green Room, Autumn Sonata, Backyard, Empire of Passion, Newsfront, Who’ll Stop the Rain
1977:
1. Killer of Sheep (Charles Burnett)
2. Annie Hall (Woody Allen)
3. Stroszek (Werner Herzog)
4. 3 Women (Robert Altman)
5. Twilights Last Gleaming (Robert Aldrich)
6. Suspiria (Dario Argento)
7. 21 Up (Michael Apted)
8. An American Friend (Wim Wenders)
9. Alambrista! (Robert Young)
10. Cross of Iron (Sam Peckinpah)
Honorable Mentions: Opening Night (John Cassavetes), Rabid (David Cronenberg),
Blind Spots: Padre Padrone, The Station Master’s Wife, That Obscure Object of Desire, Providence, Scum, 1900, Citizen’s Band, New York, New York, Man of Marble, A Grin Without a Cat
1976:
1. Kings of the Road (in the course of time) (Wim Wenders)
2. Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese)
3. All the President’s Men (Alan J. Pakula)
4. The Outlaw Josey Whales (Clint Eastwood)
5. Network (Sidney Lumet)
6. Assault on Precinct 13 (John Carpenter)
7. Carrie (Brian De Palma)
8. Mikey and Nicky (Elaine May)
9. Nuts in May (Mike Leigh)
10. Harlan County, U.S.A. (Barbara Kopple)
Honorable Mentions: Stay Hungry (Bob Rafelson), Missouri Breaks (Arthur Penn)
Blind Spots: Salo, Jeanne Dielman, Monsieur Klein, Meat, Heart of Glass, 1900, In the Realm of the Senses, Small Change, Robin and Marion, A Matter of Time, The Middleman, The Front,
1975:
1. Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick)
2. Dersu Uzala (Akira Kurosawa)
3. Jaws (Steven Spielberg)
4. Overlord (Stuart Cooper)
5. Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (Martin Scorsese)
6. Shivers (David Cronenberg)
7. The Passenger (Michelangelo Antonioni)
8. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Milos Forman)
9. Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir)
10. Night Moves (Arthur Penn)
Honorable Mention: Dog Day Afternoon (Sidney Lumet), Grey Gardens (Elle Hovde, Albert Maysles, David Maysles, and Muffie Meyer), Xala (Osumane Sembene), Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Terry Jones), Seven Beauties (Lina Wertmuller)
Need to Re-watch: Numero Duex (Godard)
Blind Spots: Deep Red, Fox and His Friends, Welfare, Mother Justers Goes to Heaven, Promised Land (Wajda), Lost Honor of Katharina Blum, Fear of Fear, Hustle, Crazy Mama (Demme), Mandingo, French Connection II, Innocents With Dirty Hands
1974:
1. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul / R.W. Fassbinder
2. Celine and Julie Go Boating / Jacques Rivette
3. Chinatown / Roman Polanski
4. Hearts and Minds / Peter Davis
5. Don’t Look Now / Nicholas Roeg
6. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia / Sam Peckinpah
7. The Godfather, Part II / Francis Ford Coppola
8. Zardoz / John Boorman
9. A Woman Under the Influence / John Cassavetes
10. The Gambler / Karel Reisz
Honorable Mention:
11. Thunderbolt and Lightfoot / Michael Cimino
12. Lacombe, Lucien / Louis Malle
13. Thieves Like Us / Robert Altman
14 The Conversation / Francis Ford Coppola
15. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre / Tobe Hooper
16. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser / Werner Herzog
Blind Spots: The Phantom of Liberty (Bunuel), Martha, The Traveler, Deathdream, Stavisky,
1973:
1. Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (Sam Peckinpah)
2. The Long Goodbye (Robert Altman)
3. Paper Moon (Peter Bogdanavich)
4. American Graffiti (George Lucas)
5. Badlands (Terrence Malick)
6. The Last Detail (Hal Ashby)
7. Serpico (Sidney Lumet)
8. Amarcord (Federico Fellini)
9. Day For Night (Francois Truffaut)
10. The Friends of Eddie Coyle (Peter Yates)
Honorable Mentions: Scarecrow (Jerry Schatzberg),
Sisters (Brian De Pama), The Exorcist (William Friedkin), The Holy Mountain (Alejandro Jodorowsky), Sleeper (Woody Allen), The Wicker Man (Robin Hardy)
Need to Re-watch: The Spirit of the Beehive
Blind Spots: The Mother and the Whore, Distant Thunder, Scenes From a Marriage, Heavy Traffic, State of Siege, Blume in Love, Season of the Witch (Romero)
1972:
1. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Luis Bunuel)
2. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola)
3. Aguirre, The Wrath of God (Werner Herzog)
4. The Heartbreak Kid (Elaine May)
5. Deliverance (John Boorman)
6. Ulzanna’s Raid (Robert Aldrich)
7. The King of Marvin Gardens (Bob Rafelson)
8. Solaris (Andrei Tarkovsky)
9. Hickey and Boggs (Robert Culp)
10. Avanti! (Billy Wilder)
Honorable Mentions: Images (Robert Altman), The Last Tango in Paris (Bernardo Bertolucci), Tout va Bien (Jean-Luc Godard), The Offence (Sidney Lumet), High Plains Drifter (Clint Eastwood), Fat City (John Huston), Frenzy (Alfred Hitchcock), The Candidate (Michael Ritchie)
Blind Spots: Cries and Whispers, Heat (Morrissey), Bone (Cohen), Sounder, The Merchant of Four Seasons, Chloe in the Afternoon, the Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant, Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania
1971:
1. McCabe and Mrs. Miller (Robert Altman)
2. The Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanovich)
3. Harold and Maude (Hal Ashby)
4. A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick)
5. Walkabout (Nicholas Roeg)
6. Carnal Knowledge (Mike Nichols)
7. The French Connection (William Friedkin)
8. A New Leaf (Elaine May)
9. Dirty Harry (Don Siegel)
Honorable Mentions: The Beguiled (Don Siegel)
Blind Spots: Whity, Macbeth, Johnny Got His Gun, Pink Narcissus, The Cat o’ Nine Tails, La Region Centrale (Snow), Wanda, Land of Silence and Darkness, Fata Morgana, Bay of Blood, Two-Lane Blacktop, Red Psalm, Trafic, W.R.: Mysteries of an Organism, Two English Girls (Truffaut)
1970:
1. The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci)
2. Five Easy Peaces (Bob Rafelson)
3. Dodes’ka-den (Akira Kurosawa)
4. Little Big Man (Arthur Penn)
5. Monte Walsh (William A. Fraker)
6. Deep End (Jerzy Skolimowski)
7. Bed and Board (Francois Truffaut)
8. The Landlord (Hal Ashby)
9. Le Boucher (Claude Chabrol)
10. Tristana (Luis Bunuel)
Honorable Mentions: Puzzle of a Downfall Child (Jerry Schatzberg), El Topo (Alejandro Jodorowsky), Zabriske Point (Michelangelo Antonioni), Performance (Nicolas Roeg), The Ballad of Cable Hogue (Sam Peckinpah), Two Mules For Sister Sara (Don Siegel), Even Dwarfs Started Small (Werner Herzog)
Blind Spots: The Garden of Finzi-Continis, The Bird With the Crystal Plumage, Trash, Claire’s Knee, Days and Nights in the Forrest, Why Does Herr R. Run Amok?, Five Dolls for an August Moon (Bava), Hatchet For a Honeymoon (Bava), The Go-Between (Losey), Fast Company (Cronenberg), La Rupture (Chabrol),
1969:
1. The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah)
2. Kes (Ken Loach)
3. Army of Shadows (Jean-Pierre Melville)
4. Z (Costa Gravas)
5. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (George Roy Hill)
6. They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (Sydney Pollack)
7. A Married Couple (Allan King)
8. Midnight Cowboy (John Schelsinger)
9. Medium Cool (Haskell Wexler)
Honorable Mentions:
Blind Spots: Andrei Rubilev, Putney Swope, Blind Beast, Diaries, Notebooks, and Sketches (Mekas), My Night at Maud’s, That Cold Day in the Park (Altman), The Unfaithful Wife (Chabrol), Double Suicide, Salesman, The Passion of Anna, Medea, Katzelmacher, Law and Order (Wiseman), Mississippi Mermaid (Truffuat), The Sorrow and the Pity, This Man Must Die, A Gentle Woman (Bresson)
1968:
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick)
2. Once Upon A Time in the West (Sergio Leone)
3. Rosemary’s Baby (Roman Polanski)
4. Stolen Kisses (Francois Truffaut)
5. Faces (John Cassavetes)
6. Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero)
7. High School (Frederick Wiseman)
8. The Swimmer (Frank Perry)
9. Targets (Peter Bogdanovich)
Honorable Mentions: Hell in the Pacific (John Boorman)
Blind Spots: Memories of Underdevelopment, Rachel, Rachel (Paul Newman), Shame, The Color of Pomergranates, Danger: Diabolik, Hour of the Wolf, Flesh, Teorema, The Party, Mandabi, Madigan, Play Dirty (de Toth), J’taime, J’taime (Resnais), The Devil Rides Out, Head
1967:
1. Week-end (Jean-Luc Godard)
2. Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn)
3. Le Depart (Jerzy Skolimowski)
4. Le Samurai (Jean-Pierre Melville)
5. The Red and the White (Miklos Jansco)
6. The Graduate (Mike Nichols)
7. Mouchette (Robert Bresson)
8. Warrendale (Allan King)
9. Titicut Follies (Frederick Wiseman)
10. Point Blank (John Boorman)
Honorable Mentions: Wavelength (Michael Snow), In the Heat of the Night (Norman Jewison), The Dirty Dozen (Robert Aldrich)
Need to Re-Watch: 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (Godard)
Blind Spots: The Young Girls of Rochefort (Demy), The Shooting, Scattered Clouds (Naruse), Accident (Losey), Samurai Rebellion, The Thief of Paris, Don’t Look Back, Hombre, David Holzman’s Diary, One-Armed Swordsman, Peppermint Frappe (Saura), Bedazzled (Donen), The Stranger (Visconti)
1966:
1. Au hasard Balthazar (Robert Bresson)
2. Black Girl (Ousmane Sembene)
3. The Naked Prey (Cornel Wilde)
4. Blowup (Michelangelo Antonioni)
5. Persona (Ingmar Bergman)
6. The Sand Pebbles (Robert Wise)
7. Masculine, Feminine (Jean-Luc Godard)
8. El Dorado (Howard Hawks)
9. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly(Sergio Leone)
10. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf? (Mike Nichols)
Honorable Mentions:
Blind Spots: Kill, Baby…Kill! (Bava), Chelsea Girls, Santa Claus has Blue Eyes, Hunger, Cul-de-Sac, The Hawks and the Sparrows, Second Breath, The Face of Another, The Glass Bottom Boat, The Pornographers, La Caza (Saura), Seconds, The Nun
1965:
1. The War Game (Peter Watkins)
2. The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo)
3. Red Beard (Akira Kurosawa)
4. Repulsion (Roman Polanski)
5. For a Few Dollars More (Sergio Leone)
6. Red Line 7000 (Howard Hawks)
7. Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (Russ Meyer)
8. Alphaville (Jean-Luc Godard)
9. Simon of the Desert (Luis Bunuel)
10. The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (Martin Ritt)
Honorable Mentions: The Hill (Sidney Lumet)
Blind Spots: My Hustler (Warhol), Bunny Lake is Missing, Pierrot le Fou, Le Bonheur, Ride in the Whirlwind, Chimes at Midnight, The Shop on Main Street, Tokyo Olympiad, Fists in the Pocket, Mickey One,
1964:
1. The Naked Kiss (Sam Fuller)
2. The Soft Skin (Francois Truffaut)
3. Dr. Strangelove: Or How Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Stanley Kubrick)
4. I Am Cuba (Mikheil Kalatozishvili)
5. A Fistful of Dollars (Sergio Leone)
6. A Hard Day’s Night (Richard Lester)
7. Marnie (Alfred Hitchcock)
8. Before the Revolution (Bernardo Bertulucci)
Honorable Mentions:
Blind Spots: Diary of a Chambermaid, The Gospel According to Matthew, Woman in the Dunes, Yearning, Intention of Murder, Man’s Favorite Sport? (Hawks), Seance on a Wet Afternoon, Charulata, Red Desert, Kwaidan, Blood and Black Lace
————–
1963:
1. Winter Light (Ingmar Bergman)
2. High and Low (Akira Kurosawa)
3. The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock)
4. Contempt (Jean-Luc Godard)
5. Hands Over the City (Francisco Rossi)
6. 8 1/2 (Federico Fellini)
7. Shock Corridor (Samuel Fuller)
Honorable Mentions:
Blind Spots: The Leopard, Muriel, The Trial, The Nutty Professor, La ricotta,
————————-
1962:
1. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence / John Ford
2. Cleo from 5 to 7 / Agnes Varda
3. Hara-Kiri / Maski Kobayashi
4. Ride the High Country / Sam Peckinpah
5. The Exterminating Angel / Luis Bunuel
6. Advise and Consent / Otto Preminger
7. The Manchurian Candidate John Frankenheimer
8. To Kill a Mockingbird / Robert Mulligan
9. Le Doulos / Jean-Pierre Melville
10. Hatari / Howard Hawks
Honorable Mentions:
11. Knife in the Water / Roman Polanski
12. Lawrence of Arabia / David Lean
13. Vivra Sa Vie / Jean-Luc Godard
14. Lolita / Stanley Kubrick
Blind Spots: Ivan’s Childhood, An Autumn Afternoon, L’Eclisse, Carnival of Souls, The Trial of Joan of Arc, The Loneliness of a Long Distance Runner —-———
1961:
2. Viridiana (Luis Bunuel)
3. The Last Year At Marienbad (Alain Resnais)
4. Blast of Silence (Allen Baron)
5. The Hustler (Robert Rossen)
6. Victim (Basil Dearden)
7. Underworld U.S.A. (Samuel Fuller)
8. Through a Glass Darkly (Ingmar Bergman)
9.
10.
Honorable Mentions:
Blind Spots:
—————
1960:
1. L’Avventura (Michelangelo Antonioni)
2. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock)
3. Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard)
4. Comanche Station (Budd Boetticher)
5. The Apartment (Billy Wilder)
6. Le Trou (Jacques Becker)
7. Peeping Tom (Michael Powell)
8. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (Karel Reisz)
Honorable Mentions: Shoot the Piano Player (Francois Truffaut), The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond (Budd Boetticher)
Blind Spots:
1959:
1. The 400 Blows (Francois Truffaut)
2. Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks)
3. The World of Apu (Satyajit Ray)
4. Good Morning (Yasujiro Ozu)
5. Some Like it Hot (Billy Wilder)
6. Pickpocket (Robert Bresson)
7. Fires on the Plain (Kon Ichikawa)
8. Day of the Outlaw (Andre de Toth)
9. Shadows (John Cassavetes)
10. Ride Lonesome (Budd Boetticher)
Honorable Mentions: Black Orpheus (Marcel Camus)
Blind Spots:
1958:
1. Man of the West (Anthony Mann)
2. The Music Room (Satyajit Ray)
3. Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock)
4. Some Came Running (Vincente Minnelli)
5. Touch of Evil (Orson Welles)
6. Ashes and Diamonds (Andrzej Wajda)
7. The Tarnished Angels (Douglas Sirk)
8. Machine-Gun Kelly (Roger Corman)
9. Elevator to the Gallows (Louis Malle)
10. Big Deal on Madonna Street (Mario Monicelli)
1957:
1. Kanal (Andrzej Wajda)
2. Nights of Cabiria (Federico Fellini)
3. Aparajito (Satyajit Ray)
4. Wild Strawberries (Ingmar Bergman)
5. Paths of Glory (Stanley Kubrick)
6. Sweet Smell of Success (Alexander Mackendrick)
7. An Affair to Remember (Leo McCarey)
8. The Tall T (Budd Boetticher)
9. Twelve Angry Men (Sidney Lumet)
10. Throne of Blood (Akira Kurosawa)
Honorable Mentions: The Seventh Seal (Ingmar Bergman), Bridge on the River Kwai (David Lean), Bitter Victory (Nicholas Ray), Forty Guns (Samuel Fuller)
Blind Spots: Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, Run of the Arrow, A King in New York,
1956:
1. The Searchers (John Ford)
2. The Killing (Stanley Kubrick)
3. The Burmese Harp (Kon Ichikawa)
4. Bigger Than Life (Nicholas Ray
5. The Killer is Loose (Budd Boetticher0
6. A Man Escaped (Robert Bresson)
7. The Wrong Man (Alfred Hitchcock)
8. Written on the Wind (Douglas Sirk)
9. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Don Siegel)
10. Seven Men From Now (Budd Boetticher)
Honorable Mentions:
Blind Spots: , Attack!, Street of Shame, La Pointe Courte, Death in the Garden, The Girl Can’t Help It, Autumn Leaves, Baby Doll, There’s Always Tomorrow, The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit, Early Spring
1955:
1. Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray)
2. All That Heaven Allows (Douglas Sirk)
3. Kiss Me Deadly (Robert Aldrich)
4. Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton)
5. Rebel Without a Cause (Nicholas Ray)
6. The Phenix City Story (Phil Karlson)
7. Diabolique (Henri-Georges Clouzot
8. The Criminal Life of Archiabldo de la Cruz (Luis Bunuel)
9. The Ladykillers (Alexander Mackendrick)
10. Rififi (Jules Dassin)
Honorable Mentions:
11. The Trouble With Harry (Alfred Hitchcock)
12. Bob le flambeur (Jean-Pierre Melville)
13. The Man From Laramie (Anthony Mann)
Blind Spots: Ordet, French Cancan, Lola Montes, Smiles of a Summer Night, The Man With the Golden Arm, Princess Yang Kwei Fei, The Girlfriends, Floating Clouds, Richard III,
1954:
Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock) A+
1953:
99 River Street (Phil Karlson) B+
1952:
The Machine That Killed Bad People (Roberto Rossellini) A-
1950:
La Ronde (Max Ophuls) A-
1948:
The Bicycle Thief (Vittorio De Sica) A-
A Foreign Affair (Billy Wilder) B+
1942:
The Palm Beach Story (Preston Sturges) A+
1941:
Man Hunt (Fritz Lang) A-
1939:
The Roaring Twenties (Raoul Walsh) A-
1933:
The Wild Boys of the Road (William Wellman) A
MATCH CUTS 