The Best Films by Year
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Key: ♠ = great, favorite. Qualified: ♥ = pleasure without respect; ♦ = something great in dubious whole; ♣ = archaeological value. Other movies are relative best. |
Anatomy of a Fall Monster Dream Scenario The Killer Leave the World Behind |
Aftersun Pacifiction The Banshees of Inisherin Nope Barbarian Emily the Criminal Breaking Glass Onion |
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 |
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Nomadland Never Rarely Sometimes Always I'm Thinking of Ending Things Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets Feels Good Man Totally Under Control Minari Supernova |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
Mad Max: Fury Road ♠ Spotlight Anomalisa Tangerine Palio Right Now, Wrong Then The Duke of Burgundy Beasts of No Nation |
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 |
Nebraska ♠ Inside Llewyn Davis ♠ Enemy La Vie d'Adele Bridegroom Under the Skin American Hustle The Spectacular Now |
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 |
Once upon a Time in Anatolia ♠ The Tree of Life Margin Call The Day He Arrives The Descendants Tomboy Moneyball A Separation |
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 |
Logorama ♠ Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo The Hedgehog A Serious Man Moon Adventureland Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench The Damned United |
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Gomorrah Tulpan Burn After Reading The Order of Myths Wendy and Lucy Waltz with Bashir Let the Right One In |
No Country for Old Men ♠ My Winnipeg ♠ Zodiac Up the Yangtze Big Man Japan |
Inland Empire ♠ Deliver Us from Evil Iraq for Sale |
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu ♠ Grizzly Man Our Daily Bread Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room The Aristocrats |
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Tropical Malady ♠ The Saddest Music in the World ♠ Nobody Knows ♠ 2046 ♠ Fahrenheit 9-11 Turtles Can Fly The World Sideways Closer |
Elephant ♠ A Certain Kind of Death ♠ American Splendor
Intolerable Cruelty Monster The Hulk ♦ |
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 |
Mulholland Dr. ♠ Hedwig and the Angry Inch Little Otik ♠ In the Bedroom Gosford Park The Man Who Wasn't There No Man's Land |
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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 |
Election ♠ Not One Less ♠ Topsy-Turvy ♠ Eyes Wide Shut South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut Being John Malkovich Ghengis Blues The Straight Story |
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 |
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 |
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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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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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 |
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 ♦ |
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 |
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 |
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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 |
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 |
Blue Velvet ♠ Sid and Nancy ♠ Down by Law Tampopo Aliens Hannah and Her Sisters Mona Lisa Peggy Sue Got Married Manhunter The Fly |
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 ♥ |
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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 |
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life ♠ Local Hero ♠ Zelig ♠ The King of Comedy ♠ L'Argent The Makioka Sisters Betrayal The Right Stuff |
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 |
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 |
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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 |
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 |
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 |
Annie Hall ♠ The Devil, Probably Three Women Killer of Sheep The Duellists Stroszek Star Wars Allegro Non Troppo Padre Padrone |
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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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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The Godfather ♠ Aguirre, Wrath of God ♠ Solaris ♠ Cabaret ♠ Frenzy ♠ Deliverance High Plains Drifter The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie Fat City Pocket Money |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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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 ♣ |
Weekend ♠ Bedazzled ♠ Play Time ♠ In Cold Blood Belle de Jour Bonnie and Clyde Made in U.S.A. Cool Hand Luke Quatermass and the Pit Hombre |
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 |
Film ♠ Alphaville ♠ Repulsion ♠ Darling The Sleeping Car Murders The Pawnbroker The Shop on Main Street The Loved One The Ipcress File |
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Dr. Strangelove... ♠ Woman of the Dunes ♠ Charulata Onibaba The Umbrellas of Cherbourg The Night of the Iguana Goldfinger ♥ |
La Jetée ♠ High and Low ♠ 8½ Winter Light The Insect Woman Tom Jones This Sporting Life The Silence Contempt From Russia with Love Hud The Birds |
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 |
Viridiana ♠ The Hustler ♠ Yojimbo ♠ The Exiles Through a Glass Darkly |
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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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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The Searchers ♠ Aparajito ♠ Mon Oncle Forbidden Planet Earth Versus the Flying Saucers Invasion of the Body Snatchers |
Pather Panchali ♠ The Night of the Hunter ♠ Umberto D. Richard III The Ladykillers Kiss Me Deadly Marty Smiles of a Summer Night |
Seven Samurai ♠ On the Waterfront ♠ La Strada Les Diaboliques Them! Rear Window The Maggie |
Tokyo Story ♠ I Vitelloni Monsieur Hulot's Holiday Madame De Ugetsu Stalag 17 Beat the Devil Roman Holiday Viaggio in Italia Robot Monster ♣ |
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Singin' in the Rain ♠ Jeux interdits Mother (Japan) High Noon The Importance of Being Earnest Ikiru The Life of Oharu |
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 |
The Asphalt Jungle La Ronde Los Olvidados Sunset Boulevard ♥ All About Eve ♥ D.O.A. Les Enfants terribles Rashomon |
The Third Man ♠ Whisky Galore ♠ Passport to Pimlico ♠ Kind Hearts and Coronets Orphée Late Spring |
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Oliver Twist ♠ Bicycle Thieves ♠ The Treasure of Sierra Madre Hamlet Jour de Fete Key Largo The Red Shoes ♦ The Naked City |
Monsieur Verdoux Black Narcissus Dark Passage Gentleman's Agreement Odd Man Out |
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 ♦ |
The Lost Weekend Detour Rome, Open City Les Enfants du Paradis Scarlet Street Mildred Pierce The Southerner A Walk in the Sun |
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Henry V ♠ Day of Wrath ♠ Double Indemnity Murder, My Sweet |
The Ox-Bow Incident The Miracle of Morgan's Creek Meshes of the Afternoon Shadow of a Doubt Sahara |
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 |
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 |
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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 |
The Rules of the Game ♠ Le Jour se lève The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums The Hunchback of Notre Dame Young Mr. Lincoln |
Alexander Nevsky Blockheads Pygmalion The Adventures of Robin Hood The Lady Vanishes You Can't Take It with You |
La Grande Illusion |
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Osaka Elegy ♠ Modern Times Sisters of the Gion Mr. Deeds Goes to Town Une Partie de campagne Things to Come ♣ |
The Informer The Bride of Frankenstein The Thirty-Nine Steps |
The Thin Man ♠ It's a Gift ♠ L'Atalante Three Songs of Lenin Aelita, Queen of Mars ♥ |
Duck Soup ♠ Gold Diggers of 1933 ♠ Zero de Conduite ♠ King Kong Forty-Second Street The Invisible Man Gabriel over the White House ♣ |
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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 |
Le Million ♠ M ♠ Vampyr ♠ Kameradschaft ♠ Maedchen in Uniform The Threepenny Opera A Nous La Liberté Limite City Lights Frankenstein Come Clean |
Earth ♠ L'Age d'or All Quiet on the Western Front The Blood of a Poet The Blue Angel Little Caesar City Girl |
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 |
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The Passion of Joan of Arc Steamboat Bill Jr. The Crowd Queen Kelly |
October ♠ Berlin, Symphony of a City The General A Page of Madness Napoleon ♦ Sunrise The Ring |
Anémic cinéma Metropolis Faust Po zakonu [By the law] |
The Battleship Potemkin ♠ Greed ♠ The Gold Rush ♠ The Big Parade The Lost World The Phantom of the Opera |
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Strike ♠ Sherlock Junior ♠ Entr'acte ♠ Ballet Mecanique Girl Shy The Thief of Bagdad The Hands of Orlac |
Safety Last! |
Nosferatu Haxan |
Nanook of the North |
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The Golem |
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari ♠ The Oyster Princess ♠ |
The Ghost of Slumber Mountain |
Intolerance ♠ |
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The Birth of a Nation ♦ |
Cabiria |
A Corner in Wheat |
Le Cochon danseur |
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Voyage autour d'une etoile |
The Great Train Robbery ♣ Le Chaudron infernel |
Le Voyage dans la lune |
Jeanne d'Arc |
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Le Manoir du diable |