The Best Films by Year

Key: ♠ = great, favorite. Qualified: ♥ = pleasure without respect; ♦ = something great in dubious whole; ♣ = archaeological value. Other movies are relative best.

 
2023

Anatomy of a Fall

Monster

Dream Scenario

The Killer

Leave the World Behind

2022

Aftersun

The Banshees of Inisherin

Nope

Barbarian

Emily the Criminal

Breaking

Glass Onion

2021

Val

Hit the Road

Ascension

Summer of Soul

Lost Illusions

Mad God

Wrath of Man

The Tragedy of Macbeth

Masking Threshold

Don't Look Up

Hold Your Fire

Parallel Mothers

2020

Nomadland

Never Rarely Sometimes Always

I'm Thinking of Ending Things

Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets

Feels Good Man

Totally Under Control

Minari

Supernova

2019

Apollo 11

Marriage Story

Us

Uncut Gems

Buffaloed

Knives Out

The Wild Goose Lake

Color out of Space

Pain and Glory

Long Day's Journey into Night (Gan Bi)

The Vast of Night

Hustlers

Ash Is Purest White

2018

We the Animals

Capernaum

The Death of Stalin

Seven Stages to Achieve Eternal Bliss

Roma

Stan & Ollie

Rudeboy: The Story of Trojan Records

Eighth Grade

Leave No Trace

Thunder Road

BlackkKlansman

First Reformed

2017

Loveless ♠

The Florida Project ♠

The Phantom Thread ♠

The Rider

Get Out

A Prayer Before Dawn

Last Men in Aleppo

Filmworker

Final Portrait

Custody

Super Dark Times

Human Flow

2016

I Am Not Your Negro ♠

The Death of Louis XIV ♠

Wakefield ♠

The 13th

20th Century Woman

Manchester by the Sea

Tower

Moonlight

Sausage Party

Catfight

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

After Love

2015

Mad Max: Fury Road ♠

Spotlight

Anomalisa

Tangerine

Palio

Right Now, Wrong Then

The Duke of Burgundy

Beasts of No Nation

2014

Mr. Turner ♠

Boyhood

A Most Violent Year

Leviathan (Zvyagintsev)

Force Majeure

Timbuktu

Wild Tales

What We Do in the Shadows

Calvary

Foxcatcher

Gett: The Trial of Vivianne Amsalem

Clouds of Sils Maria

2013

Nebraska ♠

Inside Llewyn Davis ♠

Enemy

La Vie d'Adele

Bridegroom

Under the Skin

American Hustle

The Spectacular Now

2012

The Waiting Room ♠

The Master

How to Survive a Plague

Stories We Tell

The House I Live In

The Act of Killing

The Pervert's Guide to Ideology

Resolution

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Killing Them Softly

Silver Linings Playbook

Compliance

2011

Once upon a Time in Anatolia ♠

The Tree of Life

Margin Call

The Day He Arrives

The Descendants

Tomboy

Moneyball

A Separation

2010

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu

Bibliotheque Pascal

Tuesday, After Christmas

Tabloid

Inside Job

The Fighter

Aurora

Carlos

Cave of Forgotten Dreams

2009

Logorama ♠

Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo

The Hedgehog

A Serious Man

Moon

Adventureland

Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench

The Damned United

2008

Gomorrah

Tulpan

Burn After Reading

The Order of Myths

Wendy and Lucy

Waltz with Bashir

Let the Right One In

2007

No Country for Old Men ♠

My Winnipeg ♠

Zodiac

Up the Yangtze

Big Man Japan

2006

Inland Empire ♠

Deliver Us from Evil

Iraq for Sale

2005

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu ♠

Grizzly Man

Our Daily Bread

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

The Aristocrats

2004

Tropical Malady ♠

The Saddest Music in the World ♠

Nobody Knows ♠

2046 ♠

Fahrenheit 9-11

Turtles Can Fly

The World

Sideways

Closer

2003

Elephant ♠

A Certain Kind of Death ♠

American Splendor

Intolerable Cruelty

Monster

The Hulk ♦

2002

Unknown Pleasures ♠

Adaptation ♠

24-Hour Party People ♠

The Kid Stays in the Picture ♠

Lost in La Mancha ♠

Laurel Canyon

Ten (Kiarostami)

Bowling for Columbine

Hero

The Pianist

The Man Without a Past

2001

Mulholland Dr. ♠

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Little Otik ♠

In the Bedroom

Gosford Park

The Man Who Wasn't There

No Man's Land

2000

The House of Mirth ♠

The Circle ♠

In the Mood for Love ♠

Chunhyang ♠

Werckmeister Harmonies

The Day I Became a Woman

You Can Count on Me

1999

Election ♠

Not One Less ♠

Topsy-Turvy ♠

Eyes Wide Shut

South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut

Being John Malkovich

Ghengis Blues

The Straight Story

1998

The Thin Red Line ♠

Clockwatchers ♠

Passion (Hungary) ♠

Underground Orchestra ♠

The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg ♠

Outskirts

The Mirror (Iran)

The Big Lebowski

Safe Men

Two Girls and a Guy

Slums of Beverly Hills

1997

Happy Together ♠

Career Girls ♠

Fast, Cheap and out of Control ♠

Taste of Cherry

Insomnia

Jackie Brown

The Ice Storm

The Lost Highway

After Glow

Hard Eight

Little Dieter Needs to Fly

Boogie Nights

Love and Death on Long Island

The Wrong Guy

1996

Fargo ♠

Irma Vep ♠

Trainspotting

Fire

Secrets and Lies

Kansas City

The Daytrippers

Non-Stop

Heavy

Prisoner of the Mountains

Dead Man Walking

Welcome to the Dollhouse

Normal Life

Shall We Dance

1995

Smoke ♠

The White Baloon ♠

To Die For ♠

Crumb

Shanghai Triad

Leaving Las Vegas

Kids ♦

Devil in a Blue Dress

The Bandit Queen

Shallow Grave

Persuasion

1994

Chungking Express ♠

Lamerica ♠

Pulp Fiction

Heavenly Creatures

Exotica

Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle

Vanya on 42nd St.

Hoop Dreams

To Live

Through the Olive Trees

What Happened Was

Eat Drink Man Woman

Ermo

Bullets over Broadway

Quiz Show

Red Rock West

1993

Betty ♠

Autumn Moon ♠

Short Cuts

Groundhog Day

Six Degrees of Separation

In the Name of the Father

Searching for Bobby Fisher

Naked

Manhattan Murder Mystery

Menace II Society

A Dangerous Woman

1992

The Story of Qiu Ju ♠

Careful ♠

Naked Lunch

Wayne's World

Reservoir Dogs

Unforgiven

Glengarry Glen Ross

One False Move

Schtonk

Lessons of Darkness

The Panama Deception

Visions of Light ♣

Once upon a Time, Cinema

1991

Raise the Red Lantern ♠

Barton Fink ♠

L.A. Story ♠

Life Is Sweet ♠

The Commitments

Tokyo Decadence

Object of Beauty

Slacker

Hear My Song

Taxi Blues

Homicide

Zentropa ♦

1990

The Nasty Girl ♠

Close-Up ♠

Goodfellas ♠

The Elegant Criminal ♠

Angel at My Table

Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down

Paris Is Burning

The Grifters

Reversal of Fortune

Archangel

Days of Being Wild

Edward Scissorhands

Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer

Wild at Heart

Ju Dou

A Shock to the System

After Dark, My Sweet

1989

Drugstore Cowboy ♠

Where Is My Friend's House? ♠

Time of the Gypsies ♠

Roger and Me

Crimes and Misdemeanors

Tetsuo

Marquis

Sweetie

New York Stories

Do the Right Thing

Scandal

The Fabulous Baker Boys

La Lectrice

1988

The Vanishing ♠

A Cry in the Dark ♠

Alice ♠

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

The Thin Blue Line

Red Sorghum

Salaam Bombay

High Hopes

Hairspray

Drowning by Numbers

The Moderns

Family Viewing

Frantic

My Twentieth Century

The Naked Gun

1987

Planes, Trains and Automobiles ♠

Withnail and I ♠

River's Edge

Ironweed

The Stepfather

Tin Men

The Dead

Prick Up Your Ears

Raising Arizona

Full Metal Jacket

Predator

Matewan

A Chinese Ghost Story

1986

Blue Velvet ♠

Sid and Nancy ♠

Down by Law

Tampopo

Aliens

Hannah and Her Sisters

Mona Lisa

Peggy Sue Got Married

Manhunter

The Fly

1985

Runaway Train ♠

Brazil ♠

Come and See ♠

Stranger than Paradise

Kiss of the Spider Woman

My Beautiful Laundrette

Lost in America

Witness

A Zed and Two Noughts

Streetwise

The Emerald Forest

After Hours

Peewee's Big Adventure ♥

1984

Yellow Earth ♠

Comfort and Joy ♠

This Is Spinal Tap ♠

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai ♠

Repo Man ♠

Choose Me

Blood Simple

Body Double

A Private Function

The Purple Rose of Cairo

Brother from Another Planet

The Terminator

1983

Monty Python's The Meaning of Life ♠

Local Hero ♠

Zelig ♠

The King of Comedy ♠

L'Argent

The Makioka Sisters

Betrayal

The Right Stuff

1982

Veronika Voss ♠

Shoot the Moon ♠

Sans Soleil ♠

Blade Runner ♠

Diner ♠

Chan Is Missing ♠

The Draughtsman's Contract ♠

Moonlighting

The Atomic Cafe

Burden of Dreams

The Thing

My Favorite Year

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

1981

Pennies from Heaven ♠

Night of the Shooting Stars (San Lorenzo) ♠

Possession

Pixote

Coup de Torchon

My Dinner with Andre

Reds

The Decline of Western Civilization ♣

The Postman Always Rings Twice

Modern Romance

Tree of Knowledge

1980

Raging Bull ♠

The Empire Strikes Back ♠

The Shining ♠

A Few Days in the Life of I.I. Oblomov

Melvin and Howard

The Elephant Man

Atlantic City

The Long Good Friday

Kagemusha

Dressed to Kill

Return of the Secaucus Seven

Lili Marleen

1979

Nosferatu ♠

The Black Stallion ♠

Stalker ♠

Alien ♠

Manhattan ♠

Apocalypse Now

Every Man for Himself

Wise Blood

Monty Python's Life of Brian

All that Jazz

My Brilliant Career

Tess

The Tin Drum

1978

Days of Heaven ♠

Gates of Heaven

The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Man of Marble

Despair

Movie Movie

The Stunt Man

That Obscure Object of Desire

Opening Night

The Silent Partner

1977

Annie Hall ♠

The Devil, Probably

Three Women

Killer of Sheep

The Duellists

Stroszek

Star Wars

Allegro Non Troppo

Padre Padrone

1976

Taxi Driver ♠

Eraserhead ♠

Heart of Glass

Mikey and Nicky

The Middleman

The Tenant

All the President's Men

In the Realm of the Senses

Nuts in May

The Front

The Pink Panther Strikes Again

1975

Nashville ♠

Jaws ♠

Monty Python and the Holy Grail ♠

Dog Day Afternoon ♠

Barry Lyndon

One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest

The Man Who Would Be King

Day of the Locust

The Story of Adele H.

Love and Death

The Passenger

1974

Chinatown ♠

The Godfather, Part Two ♠

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore ♠

The Conversation ♠

Lenny

Hearts and Minds

The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz

Alice in the Cities

Young Frankenstein

Dersu Uzala

The Arabian Nights

1973

Badlands ♠

La Maman et la putain ♠

Mean Streets ♠

Scarecrow

The Offence

The Last Detail

Amarcord

The Wicker Man

Thieves Like Us

Day for Night

Don't Look Now

Emperor of the North

1972

The Godfather ♠

Aguirre, Wrath of God ♠

Solaris ♠

Cabaret ♠

Frenzy ♠

Deliverance

High Plains Drifter

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie

Fat City

Pocket Money

1971

McCabe and Mrs. Miller ♠

The Sorrow and the Pity ♠

The Last Picture Show ♠

Klute

The French Connection

Fiddler on the Roof

Death in Venice

Minnie and Moskowitz

Bananas

Sunday, Bloody Sunday

T.R. Baskin

A Clockwork Orange

Carnal Knowledge

Dirty Harry

And Now for Something Completely Different ♣

Wake in Fright

1970

The Honeymoon Killers ♠

M*A*S*H*

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion

Patton

Five Easy Pieces

The Garden of the Finzi-Continis

Husbands ♣

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes

The Go-Between

1969

Midnight Cowboy ♠

They Shoot Horses, Don't They? ♠

Ma Nuit Chez Maud

The Wild Bunch

Army of Shadows

Satyricon

Une femme douce

Once upon a Time in the West

Take the Money and Run

1968

Z ♠

Rosemary's Baby ♠

Stolen Kisses

Salesman

Black Lizard

Faces ♣

If...

2001: A Space Odyssey ♦

The Odd Couple

Planet of the Apes

The Night of the Living Dead ♣

1967

Weekend ♠

Bedazzled ♠

Play Time ♠

In Cold Blood

Belle de Jour

Bonnie and Clyde

Made in U.S.A.

Cool Hand Luke

Five Million Years to Earth

Hombre

1966

Persona ♠

Masculin, féminin: 15 faits précis ♠

Seconds ♠

Blow Up ♠

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? ♠

Closely Watched Trains

War and Peace (Bondarchuk)

Alfie

Violence at Noon

The Pornographers

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Chimes at Midnight

1965

Film ♠

Alphaville ♠

Repulsion ♠

Darling

The Sleeping Car Murders

The Pawnbroker

The Shop on Main Street

The Loved One

The Ipcress File

1964

Dr. Strangelove... ♠

Woman of the Dunes ♠

Charulata

Onibaba

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

The Night of the Iguana

Goldfinger ♥

1963

La Jetée ♠

High and Low ♠

Winter Light

The Insect Woman

Tom Jones

This Sporting Life

The Silence

Contempt

From Russia with Love

Hud

The Birds

1962

The Exterminating Angel ♠

Vivre Sa Vie ♠

Jules and Jim

Lawrence of Arabia

L'Eclisse

My Name Is Ivan

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner

Knife in the Water

Mamma Roma

1961

Viridiana ♠

The Hustler ♠

Yojimbo ♠

The Exiles

Through a Glass Darkly

1960

Devi ♠

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning ♠

La Dolce Vita ♠

L'Avventura ♠

Le Trou

Les Bonnes Femmes

The Apartment

Village of the Damned

Shoot the Piano Player

Plein Soleil

1959

Ohayo ♠

Hiroshima Mon Amour ♠

Shadows ♠

The World of Apu ♠

Some Like It Hot ♠

Fires on the Plain

Breathless

I'm All Right Jack

The Virgin Spring

Floating Weeds

Pickpocket

1958

Vertigo ♠

The Four Hundred Blows ♠

Ashes and Diamonds ♠

The Music Room

Black Orpheus

Touch of Evil ♥

The Hidden Fortress

L'Ascenseur pour l'echafaud

Room at the Top

The Horse's Mouth

1957

Paths of Glory ♠

Nights of Cabiria ♠

Kanal ♠

Throne of Blood

The Seventh Seal

The Cranes Are Flying

The Incredible Shrinking Man

Twenty Million Miles to Earth ♣

Witness for the Prosecution

1956

The Searchers ♠

Aparajito ♠

Mon Oncle

Forbidden Planet

Earth Versus the Flying Saucers

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

1955

Pather Panchali ♠

The Night of the Hunter ♠

Umberto D.

Richard III

The Ladykillers

Kiss Me Deadly

Marty

Smiles of a Summer Night

1954

Seven Samurai ♠

On the Waterfront ♠

La Strada

Les Diaboliques

Them!

Rear Window

The Maggie

1953

Tokyo Story ♠

I Vitelloni

Monsieur Hulot's Holiday

Madame De

Ugetsu

Stalag 17

Beat the Devil

Roman Holiday

Viaggio in Italia

Robot Monster ♣

1952

Singin' in the Rain ♠

Jeux interdits

Mother (Japan)

High Noon

The Importance of Being Earnest

Ikiru

The Life of Oharu

1951

The Man in the White Suit ♠

The River ♠

The Lavender Hill Mob ♠

Miracle in Milan ♠

Othello (Welles)

The Thing

A Streetcar Named Desire

The Day the Earth Stood Still

1950

The Asphalt Jungle

La Ronde

Los Olvidados

Sunset Boulevard ♥

All About Eve ♥

D.O.A.

Les Enfants terribles

Rashomon

1949

The Third Man ♠

Whisky Galore ♠

Passport to Pimlico ♠

Kind Hearts and Coronets

Orphée

Late Spring

1948

Oliver Twist ♠

Bicycle Thieves ♠

The Treasure of Sierra Madre

Hamlet

Jour de Fete

Key Largo

The Red Shoes ♦

The Naked City

1947

Monsieur Verdoux

Black Narcissus

Dark Passage

Gentleman's Agreement

Odd Man Out

1946

Great Expectations

Paisa

A Matter of Life and Death

La Belle et la bete

Brief Encounter ♦

Notorious

My Darling Clementine

Panique

The Big Sleep

It's a Wonderful Life ♦

1945

The Lost Weekend

Detour

Rome, Open City

Les Enfants du Paradis

Scarlet Street

Mildred Pierce

The Southerner

A Walk in the Sun

1944

Henry V ♠

Day of Wrath ♠

Double Indemnity

Murder, My Sweet

1943

The Ox-Bow Incident

The Miracle of Morgan's Creek

Meshes of the Afternoon

Shadow of a Doubt

Sahara

1942

The Magnificent Ambersons ♠

To Be or Not to Be

Ball of Fire

Ivan the Terrible, Part I

Sullivan's Travels

Casablanca

The Palm Beach Story

Woman of the Year

1941

Citizen Kane ♠

The Maltese Falcon ♠

The Little Foxes

The Devil and Daniel Webster

The Lady Eve

How Green Was My Valley

Meet John Doe

Never Give a Sucker an Even Break

Suspicion

1940

The Grapes of Wrath ♠

Christmas in July ♠

Pinocchio ♦

The Shop Around the Corner

The Bank Dick

Pride and Prejudice

The Great Dictator

The Great McGinty

The Return of Frank James

The Philadelphia Story

Fantasia

1939

The Rules of the Game ♠

Le Jour se lève

The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Young Mr. Lincoln

1938

Alexander Nevsky

Blockheads

Pygmalion

The Adventures of Robin Hood

The Lady Vanishes

You Can't Take It with You

1937

La Grande Illusion

1936

Osaka Elegy ♠

Modern Times

Sisters of the Gion

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

Une Partie de campagne

Things to Come ♣

1935

The Informer

The Bride of Frankenstein

The Thirty-Nine Steps

1934

The Thin Man ♠

It's a Gift ♠

L'Atalante

Three Songs of Lenin

Aelita, Queen of Mars ♥

1933

Duck Soup ♠

Gold Diggers of 1933 ♠

Zero de Conduite ♠

King Kong

Forty-Second Street

The Invisible Man

Gabriel over the White House ♣

1932

Trouble in Paradise ♠

Boudu sauvé des eaux

Extase

Love Me Tonight

Horse Feathers ♥

A Farewell to Arms

Freaks ♣

Scarface

The Old Dark House

Music Box

Island of Lost Souls

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang

1931

Le Million ♠

M ♠

Vampyr ♠

Kameradschaft ♠

Maedchen in Uniform

The Threepenny Opera

A Nous La Liberté

Limite

City Lights

Frankenstein

Come Clean

1930

Earth ♠

L'Age d'or

All Quiet on the Western Front

The Blood of a Poet

The Blue Angel

Little Caesar

City Girl

1929

The Man with the Movie Camera ♠

The General Line ♠

Arsenal

Un Chien Andalou

Sous les toits de Paris

Pandora's Box

Erotikon

Fragment of an Empire

1928

The Passion of Joan of Arc

Steamboat Bill Jr.

The Crowd

Queen Kelly

1927

October ♠

Berlin, Symphony of a City

The General

A Page of Madness

Napoleon ♦

Sunrise

The Ring

1926

Anémic cinéma

Metropolis

Faust

Po zakonu [By the law]

1925

The Battleship Potemkin ♠

Greed ♠

The Gold Rush ♠

The Big Parade

The Lost World

The Phantom of the Opera

1924

Strike ♠

Sherlock Junior ♠

Entr'acte ♠

Ballet Mecanique

Girl Shy

The Thief of Bagdad

The Hands of Orlac

1923

Safety Last!

1922

Nosferatu

Haxan

1921

Nanook of the North

1920

The Golem

1919

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari ♠

The Oyster Princess ♠

1918

The Ghost of Slumber Mountain

1916

Intolerance ♠

1915

The Birth of a Nation ♦

1914

Cabiria

1909

A Corner in Wheat

1907

Le Cochon danseur

1906

Voyage autour d'une etoile

1903

The Great Train Robbery ♣

Le Chaudron infernel

1902

Le Voyage dans la lune

1900

Jeanne d'Arc

1896

Le Manoir du diable