Top 10, one per director:
1. 8 ½ (Federico Fellini) 1963, Italy
2. Andrey Rublyov (Andrei Tarkovsky) 1966, Soviet Union
3. L’année dernière à Marienbad (Alain Resnais) 1961, France
4. Harakiri (Masaki Kobayashi) 1962, Japan
5. Persona (Ingmar Bergman) 1966, Sweden
6. Shichinin no samurai (Akira Kurosawa) 1954, Japan
7. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (F.W. Murnau) 1927, US
8. Ladri di biciclette (Vittorio De Sica) 1948, Italy
9. Ordet (Carl Th Dreyer) 1954, Denmark
10. Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray) 1955, India-—— 11-20 are all good enough to make the 9 or 10 spot -——
11. Week End (Jean-Luc Godard) 1967, France/Italy
12. La Strada (Federico Fellini) 1954, Italy
13. Det Sjunde Inseglet (Ingmar Bergman) 1957, Sweden
14. Les Quatre cents coups (François Truffaut) 1959, France
15. Banshun (Yasujiro Ozu) 1949, Japan
16. Zerkalo (Andrei Tarkovsky) 1975, Soviet Union
17. Fanny och Alexander – TV (Ingmar Bergman) 1982, Sweden
18. Un condamné à mort s’est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut (Robert Bresson) 1956, France
19. El Angel Exterminador (Luis Buñuel) 1962 Mexico
20. Suna no Onna (Hiroshi Teshigahara) 1964, Japan
1. Ran (Kurosawa)
2. Sunrise (Murnau)
3. Rebecca (Hitchcock)
4. Last Year At Marienbad (Resnais)
5. The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer)
6. Letter From an Unknown Woman (Ophuls)
7. Meghe Dhaka Tara (Ghatak)
8. The Seventh Seal (Bergman)
9. Touch of Evil (Welles)
10. City of Sadness (Hou)
On any given day, I could be talked into putting Ordet, Notorious, In the Mood for Love, Roma Citta Aperta, Throne of Blood, Alexander Nevsky, Le Jour Se Leve, Intolerance, or any of a number of other really great films in my top ten.
This is a great place to source great movies, thanks everyone!
My top 10 (not in order)
1. Magnolia
2. Battle Royale
3. Time (Shi Gan)
4. Mulholland Drive
5. Golden Eye!!!
6. The Rules of Attraction
7. No Country for Old Men
8. Being John Malkovich
9. Mind Game
10. Love Exposure
Underground (1995) Emir Kusturica
L’Avventura (1960) Michelangelo Antonioni
L’Atalante (1934) Jean Vigo
I Am Cuba (1964) Mikhail Kalatozov
Husbands (1970) John Cassavetes
La Commare Secca (1962) Bernardo Bertolucci
Le Lit De La Vierge (1969) Phlippe Garrel
El Romance del Aniceto y La Francisca (1967) Leonardo Favio
Blade Runner (1980) Ridley Scott
Apocalypse Now (1979) Francis Ford Coppola
The films I love most, for various reasons — many outside of the realm of critical taste:
AN ANGEL AT MY TABLE, 1990 – Jane Campion
CHILDREN OF PARADISE, 1945 – Marcel Carne
THE COOK, 1918 – Fatty Arbuckle
HAUSU, 1977 – Nobuhiko Obayashi
IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, 2001 – Wong Kar-Wai
MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO, 1988 – Hayao Miyazaki
MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO, 1991 – Gus Van Sant
PATHER PANCHALI, 1955 – Satyajit Ray
THE PHILADELPHIA STORY, 1940 – George Cukor
PLAYTIME, 1967 – Jacques Tati
THE THIN RED LINE, 1998 – Terrence Malick
UP!, 1976 – Russ Meyer
VAMPYR, 1932 – Carl Th. Dreyer
1. Harakiri/ Le Samurai
2. American Beauty/ There Will Be Blood
3. Mulholland Dr./ Visitor Q
4. Amores Perros/ Y Tu Mama Tambien
5. The Sacrifice/ A Man Escaped
6. The Apartment/ It Happened One Night
7. Autumn Sonata/ 3 Women
8. The Beauty and The Beast/ City Lights
9. Children of Men/ Star Wars/The Matrix
10. Ninja Scroll/Ratatullie/ Millennium Actress
11. 400 Blows/ Days of Being Wild
@Matt Parks
I was referring to the Artificial Eye set of Les Vampires. For some reason i prefer the grayscale to the color tinting.
1. Last Year at Marienbad
2. The Fountain
3. Brick
4. West Side Story
5. Pather Panchali
6. Oldboy
7. Eureka
8. Spirited Away
9. The Godfather
10. Synecdoche, New York / Aladdin (’92) / Network / Blade Runner
The top 9 are definites. My tenth choice shifts around a bit based on my mood – at the moment I’m in a Network mood, but to not mention all four of those would be unfair I think.
My top 10 always changes. But here is how it looks right now, in no order:
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
Fanny & Alexander
Pierrot Le Fou
Stalker
The Wrestler
Andrei Rublev
Last Year At Marienbad
Solyaris
Blade Runner
The Seventh Seal
The Smiling Lieutenant (1931)
The Invisible Man (1933)
Mildred Pierce (1945)
Monsieur Verdoux (1947)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
The Killers (1964)
Marnie (1964)
Sword of Doom (1965)
Minority Report (2002)
In the Loop (2009)
This was my top ten in April, but I’ll repost it now, because I haven’t done another list lately; oh, and, by top ten, I mean my top ten favorites:
1. Synecdoche, New York
2. Lost in Translation
3. Winter Light
4. 8 1/2
5. Waking Life
6. The 400 Blows
7. The Royal Tenenbaums
8. The Silence
9. Breathless
10. The Dark Knight
and I always put a Lucky 11: The Fall
Savvy
Christi2n: I like that you put Casino in there [I’m one of those who thinks it’s better than GF ;) ] and The Invisible Man too, greatly underrated Universal Horror film.
Right right, JoshS. Though, note that that’s just a top 10.
Casino > Goodfellas. IMO
Christi2n: I know it’s just a top 10, though it’s always refreshing to see a list that doesn’t seem to copy a film poll. ;)
I always thought Casino’s biggest disadvantage was it was released after GoodFellas. Makes it too easy for people to say, ’it’s the same’, imo.
My top 10 today 9/2/2009: 1 Wavelength by Michael Snow 2 Comrades by Bill Douglas 3 Parsifal by Hans Syberberg 4 Ludwig by Visconti 5 Rear Window by Hitchcock 6 The Little Flowers of St Francis by Rossellini 7 Voice of the Moon by Fellini 8 The Green Room by Truffaut 9 L’Atalante by Jean Vigo 10 Empress Yang Kwei Fei by Mizoguchi. How do like them golden apples? All these lists shift and change as we see more films by the masters— any top 10 is temporary as you age while you are watching these movies!
Streetcar: I’d read about Ludwig a long time ago when I was first learning about Visconti, what did you like about it?
Definitely JoshS. I’ve always been fascinated by your highly personal top 25 list. It has stood out to me more than any other top list on here besides Dushane’s.
“I’d read about Ludwig a long time ago when I was first learning about Visconti”
Ludwig is epic shit but requires patience because it’s philosophy + architecture at the same time…
Christi2n: But, it can be a double-edged sword. While personal, it may make a question of my sanity to other cinephiles. ;)
Or your foray into cinema, how deep it might be…are you an amateur? Maybe. ;)
Thanks, Dimitris—Josh, whose sanity are we talking about, mine or yours or both? Thanks any way I guess?
Christi2n: Semi-amateur, if you will. Plus it’s only twenty-five out of seventy-something films I’ve called ‘favorites’. ;)
Streetcar: I was talking about mine. :D
I was just wondering what you liked about Ludwig. :)
The vast real scale incl esp 1 the actual castles Ludwig built, 2 the totally authentic, often actual costumes, 3 the true authentic dialogue taken only from actual documents, and 4 finally the morbidity and unintentional bizarre hilarity of these real words in the actual historic context— Actual history proves repeatedly that it is more strange than fiction—Visconti proves literally that you can not make these things/events up!
Streetcar: Sounds really interesting, I hope there was alot of Wagner on the soundtrack too. :)
Josh, you have a unbelievable treat in store for you, Not only is the music background nearly all Wagner, but Wagner himself dominates the movie as a very major character but has of course less screen time than subject character—Wagner bilks his patron Ludwig of massive amounts of money, second only in cost to the extravagant castles which all appear in the film! This film 4+ hrs in length is one of the great experiences in all film history, and the best critic currently living the great Martin Scorsese agrees with me on this matter!
Streetcar: Is this on Region 1 at all, new or used? I checked Amazon and I came up with zip.
If I manage to get ahold of it, I hightly doubt I wouldn’t like it. Classical music, history, a sympathetic character with a ‘condition’, great architecture and presumably great photography.
Just rent it from Netflix—that’s what I did twice—it’s very difficult to find to buy in Region 1 or 2—it’s currently almost impossible to buy now because a lot of cineastes have bought it recently or they’re looking for it—it’s partly my fault because I did 100+ postings 6 months or so ago on its availability on 2 discs in Region 1 in its entirety for 1st time. By the way I’ve never had complaint about Ludwig partly because it’s one of most morbid, over the top, but totally accurate films ever made in its historical details—for me it’s best historical film ever made and a lot of cineastes in recent times have agreed with me—anybody who knows strange but true when they see it will laugh their asses off for 4+ hrs!
Streetcar: I need to remember this once I get Netflix, hopefully it’ll come out on Region 1 eventually though anyway.
Andy Stead
Just 10 could never cover it but here are some off the top of my head (in no particular order):
The Shooting Party
Nil By Mouth
The Third Man
Persona
Blow Up
Road To Perdition
Full Metal Jacket
Network
Pyscho
On The Waterfront
Dimitris, I’d be very interested to see your Top 500 too.