Thomas T's favorite/best movies by years 1928-2019 (2 Viewers)

[Thomas T]

Here are mine. Feel free to post yours.

1928: Passion Of Joan Of Arc (Carl Theodor Dreyer)
1929: Diary Of A Lost Girl (G.W. Pabst)
1930: Monte Carlo (Ernst Lubitsch)
1931: City Lights (Charlie Chaplin)
1932: Scarface (Howard Hawks)
1933: Bitter Tea Of General Yen (Frank Capra)
1934: L'Atalante (Jean Vigo)
1935: Top Hat (Mark Sandrich)
1936: These Three (William Wyler)
1937: Awful Truth (Leo McCarey)
1938: Lady Vanishes (Alfred Hitchcock)
1939: Gone With The Wind (Victor Fleming)
1940: The Letter (William Wyler)
1941: Maltese Falcon (John Huston)
1942: Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles)
1943: Seventh Victim (Mark Robson)
1944: Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder)
1945: The Clock (Vincente Minnelli)
1946: Duel In The Sun (King Vidor)
1947: Black Narcissus (Powell & Pressburger)
1948: Letter From An Unknown Woman (Max Ophuls)
1949: Third Man (Carol Reed)
1950: All About Eve (Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
1951: Streetcar Named Desire (Elia Kazan)
1952: Singin' In The Rain (Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly)
1953: Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu)
1954: On The Waterfront (Elia Kazan)
1955: All That Heaven Allows (Douglas Sirk)
1956: The Searchers (John Ford)
1957: Seventh Seal (Ingmar Bergman)
1958: Some Came Running (Vincente Minnelli)
1959: Imitation Of Life (Douglas Sirk)
1960: L'Avventura (Michelangelo Antonioni)
1961: West Side Story (Robert Wise & Jerome Rbbins)
1962: Jules And Jim (Francois Truffaut)
1963: Charade (Stanley Donen)
1964: Marnie (Alfred Hitchcock)
1965: Repulsion (Roman Polanski)
1966: Battle Of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo)
1967: Reflections In A Golden Eye (John Huston)
1968: Oliver! (Carol Reed)
1969: They Shoot Horses Don't They? (Sydney Pollack)
1970: Garden Of The Finzi Continis (Vittorio De Sica)
1971: Hired Hand (Peter Fonda)
1972: Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie (Luis Bunuel)
1973: Three Musketeers (Richard Lester)
1974: Chinatown (Roman Polanski)
1975: Nashville (Robert Altman)
1976: Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese)
1977: Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (Steven Spielberg)
1978: Interiors (Woody Allen)
1979: Alien (Ridley Scott)
1980: Dressed To Kill (Brian De Palma)
1981: Reds (Warren Beatty)
1982: E.T. The Extraterrrestrial (Steven Spielberg)
1983: Yentl (Barbra Streisand)
1984: Choose Me (Alan Rudolph)
1985: Mishima: Life In Four Chapters (Paul Schrader)
1986: Blue Velvet (David Lynch)
1987: The Dead (John Huston)
1988: Dead Ringers (David Cronenberg)
1989: Sex Lies And Videotape (Steven Soderbergh)
1990: The Grifters (Stephen Frears)
1991: Silence Of The Lambs (Jonathan Demme)
1992: Stolen Children (Gianni Amelio)
1993: Short Cuts (Robert Altman)
1994: Death And The Maiden (Roman Polanski)
1995: Safe (Todd Haynes)
1996: War At Home (Emilio Estevez)
1997: Titanic (James Cameron)
1998: Playing By Heart (Willard Carroll)
1999: Magnolia (Paul Thomas Anderson)
2000: Dancer In The Dark (Lars von Trier)
2001: Lagaan (Asutosh Gowariker)
2002: The Hours (Stephen Daldry)
2003: Dogville (Lars von Trier)
2004: Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry)
2005: Crash (Paul Haggis)
2006: United 93 (Paul Greengrass)
2007: Sweeney Todd (Tim Burton)
2008: Cassandra's Dream (Woody Allen)
2009: Secret In Their Eyes (Juan Jose Campanella)
2010: Ghost Writer (Roman Polanski)
2011: Skin I Live In (Pedro Almodovar)
2012: Cloud Atlas (Tom Twyker, Lana & Lily Wachowski)
2013: Great Beauty (Paolo Sorrentino)
2014: Two Faces Of January (Hossein Amini)
2015: Youth (Paolo Sorrentino)
2016: La La Land (Damien Chazelle)
2017: Call Me By Your Name (Luca Guadagnino)
2018: Roma (Alfonso Cuaron)
2019: Parasite (Bong Joon Ho)

 

[JohnRice]

The most interesting choice: 1995

The one I disagree with the most: 2005

The one(s) I agree with the most: 1928 & 2004 (tie)

 

[Angelo Colombus]

On your list Thomas T you have three of my favorite films of all time. Here is just my list of the top 10.

1) Citizen Kane
2) The Magnificent Ambersons
3) The Third Man
4) Wild Strawberries
5) Lawrence of Arabia
6) 8 1/2
7) Shadows of our Forgotten Ancestors
8) 2001: A Space Odyssey
9) The Garden of the Finzi Continis
10) The Remains of the Day

 

[Keith Cobby]

Interesting idea and list, agree with 1938, 1941, 2013, 2016.

 

[bujaki]

So many great films in your list, Thomas, and not a single one stars you know who . As much as I like These Three, I'd rate Dodsworth a better film. I'd scratch Titanic, Crash and La La Land as unworthy of even being considered "good" movies. Three cheers for subjectivity!

 

[Thomas T]

The one I disagree with the most: 2005

Crash has always been a polarizing film from the day it was released and, of course, received an enormous amount of backlash when it snatched the best picture Oscar away from Brokeback Mountain. While I thought Brokeback was an excellent film, I had some minor problems with it. But I stand by my choice of Crash as the more worthy film of 2005. Not a popular opinion I grant you but it reflected Los Angeles at a certain time and as an Angeleno, it spoke to me. I could well understand why a New Yorker or Bostonian couldn't accept it.

 

[Thomas T]

On your list Thomas T you have three of my favorite films of all time. Here is just my list of the top 10.

1) Citizen Kane
2) The Magnificent Ambersons
3) The Third Man
4) Wild Strawberries
5) Lawrence of Arabia
6) 8 1/2
7) Shadows of our Forgotten Ancestors
8) 2001: A Space Odyssey
9) The Garden of the Finzi Continis
10) The Remains of the Day

I must confess I've not seen Shadows Of Our Forgotten Ancestors even though I've heard wonderful things about it. Of the others on your list, the only one I found puzzling was Remains Of The Day. But, of course, these kinds of list are personal so there's no right or wrong, just differences. My favorite Merchant/Ivory remains (no pun intended) Howards End.

 

[JohnRice]

Interesting idea and list, agree with 1938, 1941, 2013, 2016.

I'm guessing 2016 is a typo.

Correction... You two both have the same avatar, and I didn't realize those two consecutive posts were by different people.

 

[JohnRice]

Crash has always been a polarizing film from the day it was released and, of course, received an enormous amount of backlash when it snatched the best picture Oscar away from Brokeback Mountain. While I thought Brokeback was an excellent film, I had some minor problems with it. But I stand by my choice of Crash as the more worthy film of 2005. Not a popular opinion I grant you but it reflected Los Angeles at a certain time and as an Angeleno, it spoke to me. I could well understand why a New Yorker or Bostonian couldn't accept it.

Plus, Haggis is (was) such a polarizing person as well. I have to admit I am probably swayed by that factor, at least a little bit. It just crosses over from structured storytelling to gross manipulation in my book.

 

[Thomas T]

I'd scratch Titanic, Crash and La La Land as unworthy of even being considered "good" movies. Three cheers for subjectivity!

What a dull world it would be if we agreed on everything. It's our differences that makes us individuals. But we can agree that Titanic, Crash and La La Land aren't good movies. They're great movies

 

[Thomas T]

Plus, Haggis is (was) such a polarizing person as well. I have to admit I am probably swayed by that factor, at least a little bit.

I tried to keep personalities out of it. After all, I've got several Roman Polanski and Woody Allen films on my list.

 

[JohnRice]

Thomas, I'm curious which year you considered Far From Heaven being from, and how close did it come to winning that year?

 

[Thomas T]

Thomas, I'm curious which year you considered Far From Heaven being from, and how close did it come to winning that year?

Far From Heaven was released in 2002. I ended up with three candidates for 2002 as favorite/best: Far From Heaven, Chicago and The Hours. It was a difficult choice because truly I love all three but I hate ties. I went with The Hours because of the emotional impact the film had on me. After I saw it theatrically the first time, I was so shattered that I literally couldn't talk for almost 15 minutes. I recently revisited it a few years ago and it still had that emotional wallop.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Something like this, putting this together kind of tired me out (Hey, I am not getting any younger. ) so here is a partial list:

2019 - Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
2018 - Roma
2017 - Dunkirk
2016 - Arrival
2015 - The Revenant
2014 - Boyhood
2013 - Nebraska
2012 - Beasts of the Southern Wild
2011 - Tree of Life
2010 - Inception
2009 - Inglourious Basterds
2008 - In Bruges
2007 - There Will Be Blood
2006 - The Departed
2005 - Syriana
2004 - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2003 - Open Range
2002 - Adaptation
2001 - Mulholland Drive
2000 - Almost Famous
1999 - Magnolia
1998 - The Big Lebowski
1997 - The Sweet Hereafter
1996 - The English Patient
1995 - Heat
1994 - Pulp Fiction
1993 - The Piano
1992 - The Last of the Mohicans
1991 - The Commitments
1990 - Miller’s Crossing
1989 - The Abyss
1988 - Dead Ringers
1987 - Angel Heart
1986 - Blue Velvet
1985 - Brazil
1984 - The Natural
1983 - Tender Mercies
1982 - Blade Runner
1981 - Chariots of Fire
1980 - Raging Bull
1979 - Alien
1978 - The Deer Hunter
1977 - Star Wars
1976 - Taxi Driver
1975 - Three Days of the Condor
1974 - Chinatown
1973 - Papillon
1972 - The Godfather
1971 - A Clockwork Orange
1970 - Catch-22
1969 - The Wild Bunch
1968 - 2001: A Space Odyssey
1967 - Cool Hand Luke
1966 - The Good, the Bad,and the Ugly
1965 - The Naked Prey
1964 - Doctor Strangelove
1963 - The Great Escape
1962 - Lawrence of Arabia
1961 - Last Year at Marienbad
1960 - Spartacus
1959 - Some Like It Hot
1958 - The Big Country
1957 - The Bridge on the River Kwai
1956 - The Ten Commandments
1955 - The Night of the Hunter
1954 - Seven Samurai
1953 - Roman Holiday
1952 - Singin’ In The Rain
1951 - The African Queen
1950 - Sunset Boulevard

Some of these years were pretty difficult to pick just one film. There are some great films that I love that didn't quite make the cut.

- Walter.

 

[Thomas T]

Some of these years were pretty difficult to pick just one film. There are some great films that I love that didn't quite make the cut.

Tell me about it! It's like picking your favorite child. You just can't! On the other hand, there were a few years that I didn't feel were all that great so I picked the best of the litter even though I wasn't in love with it. A formidable list, even if our taste in cinema seems quite different.

 

[bujaki]

What a dull world it would be if we agreed on everything. It's our differences that makes us individuals. But we can agree that Titanic, Crash and La La Land aren't good movies. They're great movies

Titanic: the sinking of the damn thing is great. The grafted story and the dialogue are impossible to digest.
La La Land: the opening number is great. There's a thread here about movies that you like for one scene. This is one such movie for me. It went downhill from there. And I like Gosling's acting. Not hers.
Crash: great acting. The plot coincidences in a sprawling city like LA crash it. Not even Dickens would have dared such outlandish leaps of faith, and he had more talent than Haggis.
I still love your choices.
But don't you think The Rules of the Game might be just a bit better than Gone with the Wind (a film that I've seen at least 15 times, never on TV, and even a 35mm Technicolor IB print)?
Dreyer's Ordet left me speechless for a while.
I kneel at the altar of L'Atalante. Even when I first saw it as a teenager in TV print I was entranced by it and the frank eroticism displayed. I could even appreciate Boris Kaufmann's cinematography! The BD from France is a must have.

 

[JohnRice]

La La Land: the opening number is great. There's a thread here about movies that you like for one scene. This is one such movie for me. It went downhill from there.

My feeling exactly. I was jumping out of my seat with the opening sequence, just revved for what was to come... then it never did. I have the 4K stream and frequently play the first 5 minutes of the movie, then shut it off.

 

[Thomas T]

Titanic: the sinking of the damn thing is great. The grafted story and the dialogue are impossible to digest.
La La Land: the opening number is great. There's a thread here about movies that you like for one scene. This is one such movie for me. It went downhill from there. And I like Gosling's acting. Not hers.
Crash: great acting. The plot coincidences in a sprawling city like LA crash it. Not even Dickens would have dared such outlandish leaps of faith, and he had more talent than Haggis.
I still love your choices.
But don't you think The Rules of the Game might be just a bit better than Gone with the Wind (a film that I've seen at least 15 times, never on TV, and even a 35mm Technicolor IB print)?
Dreyer's Ordet left me speechless for a while.
I kneel at the altar of L'Atalante. Even when I first saw it as a teenager in TV print I was entranced by it and the frank eroticism displayed. I could even appreciate Boris Kaufmann's cinematography! The BD from France is a must have.

Titanic is the GWTW of disaster movies. Both great fictional love stories told against an epic historical backdrop (the Civil War, the sinking of the Titanic). One either buys into those movie romances or one doesn't.

I adore La La Land. As much for its homage to Jacques Demy as to its tip of the hat to the MGM musical. I loved its theme. That dreams come with a price. We can't always have it all and have to make a choice. How that choice once made will cause regrets forever. Yet the movie gives us that wonderfully bittersweet "what might have been" finale. As someone said on another thread, it's what Francis Coppola tried to do in One From The Heart but failed. Chazelle got it right this time.

I didn't find the plot coincidences in Crash any more difficult to accept than the plot coincidences in Altman's Nashville. Both films employed different stories criss crossing each other's path until eventually converging. And before you say it, yes ..... Haggis is no Altman!

GWTW and Rules Of The Game are such different kettles of fish and hard to compare and those two battled it out for my no. 1 choice. You'll notice I called the thread favorite/best since they're not mutually exclusive but in this case, if I restricted it to best then Rules Of The Game would have dominated. But GWTW takes over when it comes to favorite and favorite always takes precedence over best ..... for me anyway.

I really should give Ordet another go. When I first saw it, it was sheer torture to sit through. Like a Bergman movie but without Bergman's insight. Not as unbearable as Gertrud. After a second viewing, I gave my DVD away (or did I throw it away?).

We're on the same page with L'Atalante.

 

[Angelo Colombus]

Rules of the Game was one of the first Criterion laserdiscs i purchased and still have it.

 

[TravisR]

Titanic is the GWTW of disaster movies. Both great fictional love stories told against an epic historical backdrop (the Civil War, the sinking of the Titanic). One either buys into those movie romances or one doesn't.

I've said it before and I'll say it again but Titanic is pretty incredible from my POV as someone who is interested in the actual ship and event. Cameron had the clout to get a budget that enabled him to recreate huge chunks of the ship. In 1997, there was no CG recreations for documentaries so I went from seeing the Titanic in a handful of pictures and paintings to seeing a near perfect replica of the ship. It was amazing to see that and it was like a time machine.