Miscellanea 2.0

This is a list of my favorite films throughout history. I’ll be adding new ones when I feel like it and removing old ones when they don’t live up to my expectations when watching again.

1941

• Citizen Kane — Orson Welles / Orson Welles, Herman J. Mankiewicz

1949

• The Third Man — Carol Reed / Graham Greene

1954

• Rear Window — Alfred Hitchcock / John Michael Hayes

1956

• Forbidden Planet — Fred M. Wilcox / Cyril Hume

1957

• 12 Angry Men — Sidney Lumet / Reginald Rose / A great example of suspenseful, but minimalistic storytelling.

1961

• Yojimbo — Akira Kurosawa / Akira Kurosawa, Ryuzo Kikushima

1962

• To Kill a Mockingbird — Robert Mulligan / Horton Foote

1964

• Marnie — Alfred Hitchcock / Jay Presson Allen / I’d like to think that this perverse film is a pretty good example of the real Alfred Hitchcock.

1968

• 2001: A Space Odyssey — Stanley Kubrick / Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke

1970

• Patton — Franklin J. Schaffner / Francis Ford Coppola, Edmund H. North

1971

• A Clockwork Orange — Stanley Kubrick
• Carnal Knowledge — Mike Nichols / Jules Feiffer / One of those rare dramas that explores emotional territory largely untouched before or since.
• Vanishing Point — Richard C. Sarafian / G. Cabrera Infante, Barry Hall / Action flick with more layers than an onion. They don’t make movies like this anymore.

1972

• Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes — Werner Herzog / One of the most haunting films of all time.
• Solyaris — Andrei Tarkovsky / Andrei Tarkovsky, Fridrikh Gorenshtein

1975

• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest — Milos Forman / Bo Goldman, Lawrence Hauben
• Dog Day Afternoon — Sidney Lumet / Frank Pierson

1976

• Taxi Driver — Martin Scorsese / Paul Schrader / One of those rare dramas that explores emotional territory largely untouched before or since.

1979

• Alien — Ridley Scott / Dan O’Bannon
• Apocalypse Now — Francis Ford Coppola / John Milius, Francis Ford Coppola

1980

• Ordinary People — Robert Redford / Alvin Sargent

1981

• Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior — George Miller / Terry Hayes, George Miller, Brian Hannant
• Heavy Metal — Gerald Potterton / Daniel Goldberg, Len Blum

1982

• The Thing — John Carpenter / Bill Lancaster
• Fitzcarraldo — Werner Herzog

1983

• Scarface — Brian De Palma / Oliver Stone

1984

• Repo Man — Alex Cox / Large parts of your culture come from this film.

1985

• Brazil — Terry Gilliam / Terry Gilliam, Tom Stoppard, Charles McKeown / I have my own interpretation of the film’s ending. (The Director’s Cut version, not the “love conquers all” version.) Watch it and we can discuss it later.
• The Breakfast Club — John Hughes

1986

• Aliens — James Cameron

1987

• Full Metal Jacket — Stanley Kubrick / Stanley Kubrick, Michael Herr, Gustav Hasford
• RoboCop — Paul Verhoeven / Edward Neumeier, Michael Miner / It’s so easy to dismiss this as a B-movie and completely overlook the wonderful social commentary and the film’s exploration of humanity, corporatism, the impact of technology, friendship, loyalty, crime, etc.

1988

• Die Hard — John McTiernan / Jeb Stuart, Steven E. de Souza / The quintessential action film that all other action films have been copying ever since.

1989

• The Abyss — James Cameron

1991

• The Silence of the Lambs — Jonathan Demme / Ted Tally

1992

• Glengarry Glen Ross — James Foley / David Mamet
• Reservoir Dogs — Quentin Tarantino

1993

• Groundhog Day — Harold Ramis / Danny Rubin, Harold Ramis
• Falling Down — Joel Schumacher / Ebbe Roe Smith

1994

• Pulp Fiction — Quentin Tarantino

1995

• The Usual Suspects — Bryan Singer / Christopher McQuarrie / Who is Keyser Soze?
• Tank Girl — Rachel Talalay / Tedi Sarafian
• Se7en — David Fincher / Andrew Kevin Walker

1996

• Schizopolis — Steven Soderbergh / Filmmaking as therapy.
• Fargo — Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

1997

• The 5th Element — Luc Besson / One of the all-time highlights of European sci-fi cinema.
• Cube — Vincenzo Natali / Vincenzo Natali, André Bijelic, Graeme Manson
• Starship Troopers — Paul Verhoeven / Edward Neumeier

1998

• Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels — Guy Ritchie
• Pi — Darren Aronofsky
• The Big Lebowski — Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas — Terry Gilliam / Terry Gilliam, Tony Grisoni
• The Truman Show — Peter Weir / Andrew Niccol

1999

• Fight Club — David Fincher / Jim Uhls
• American Beauty — Sam Mendes / Alan Ball
• The Matrix — Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski
• The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc — Luc Besson / Luc Besson, Andrew Birkin / A seriously underrated film, though, yeah, it was slightly ruined by the ham-handed philosophy.
• The Green Mile — Frank Darabont
• The Boondock Saints — Troy Duffy

2000

• Snatch — Guy Ritchie
• Requiem for a Dream — Darren Aronofsky / Hubert Selby Jr., Darren Aronofsky

2001

• Le Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain — Jean-Pierre Jeunet / Guillaume Laurant, Jean-Pierre Jeunet
• Donnie Darko — Richard Kelly

2002

• Adaptation — Spike Jonze / Charlie Kaufman, Donald Kaufman / It’s a film about writing the film that is the film itself. Douglas Hofstadter probably loves it.
• Equilibrium — Kurt Wimmer

2003

• Dogville — Lars Von Trier / Deeply flawed, but good.

2004

• Sideways — Alexander Payne / Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor
• Primer — Shane Carruth / Indie science fiction that respects the audience’s intelligence.

2005

• Proof — John Madden / David Auburn, Rebecca Miller / An exploration of madness in the context of genius and true discovery. If I ever make a top ten (which I won’t) this film will be there.
• Tideland — Terry Gilliam / Terry Gilliam, Tony Grisoni / If you’re a child, this will be a fun film. If you’re an adult, this will be one of the scariest films you’ll ever see. Watch it with an open mind and you’ll walk away with a better understanding of yourself.
• Grizzly Man — Werner Herzog
• Thank You For Smoking — Jason Reitman / One of the most intelligent screenplays of 2005.
• Sin City — Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino / Frank Miller / Part of the impressionist renaissance.
• Batman Begins — Christopher Nolan / Christopher Nolan, David S. Goyer
• A History of Violence — David Cronenberg / Josh Olson / Feels like a great graphic novel.
• V for Vendetta — James McTeigue / Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski

2006

• 300 — Zack Snyder / Zack Snyder, Kurt Johnstad, Michael Gordon / Part of the impressionist renaissance.
• Children of Men — Alfonso Cuarón / Alfonso Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby / Feels like a great graphic novel.
• The Pursuit of Happyness — Gabriele Muccino / Steve Conrad
• Southland Tales — Richard Kelly / This is the 2001 of our generation.
• London to Brighton — Paul Andrew Williams / Low-budget indie goodness.
• The Fountain — Darren Aronofsky

2007

• The Lookout — Scott Frank / Feels like a great graphic novel.
• The Man from Earth — Richard Schenkman / Jerome Bixby / One of the most intelligent screenplays of 2007.
• Eastern Promises — David Cronenberg / Steven Knight
• Zodiac — David Fincher / James Vanderbilt / You’ll either be bored to death or on the edge of your seat. There’s no third option.
• I’m Not There — Todd Haynes / Todd Haynes, Oren Moverman / A masterpiece of visual storytelling and semiotics.
• Bridge to Terabithia — Gabor Csupo / Jeff Stockwell, David Paterson / Children’s movies don’t get much better than this.
• No Country for Old Men — Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
• Rise of the Footsoldier — Julian Gilbey / Julian Gilbey, Will Gilbey / Best British crime film of all time?
• Ratatouille — Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava / Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco
• There Will Be Blood — Paul Thomas Anderson
• Beowulf — Robert Zemeckis / Neil Gaiman, Roger Avary
• Klass — Ilmar Raag / The most realistic film about violence in school that’s ever been made.