The Best Films Of All Time

AKA: My Totally Subjective Cinematic Time Capsule

A scene from Yorgos Lanthimos film The Lobster.
Image: David and the Short-Sighted Woman flee in Yorgos Lanthimos’ 2015 film The Lobster.

An alphabetical list of films that really, really got my attention, from the art house to pop to poorly dubbed cult classics. Four hundred and eighty-seven of them (and running) spanning from 1920-2024, including absolute favorites like Jean-Luc Godard’s Weekend, Lucrecia Martel’s Zama, Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster, Jacques Tati’s Playtime, and Emir Kusturica’s Underground along with probably a handful of borderline movies. Enjoy and reach out with any recommendations!

The Best Films List

(Alphabetized)

A Clockwork Orange (Kubrick, 1971)†
A Fish Called Wanda (Crichton, 1988)
A Most Violent Year (Chandor, 2014)
A Room With A View (Ivory, 1985)†
A Serious Man (Coens, 2009)
Adaptation (Jonze, 2002)†
Adjuster, The (Egoyan, 1992)
Adventures Of Baron Munchausen, The (Gilliam, 1988)
Accidental Tourist, The (Kasdan, 1988)†
Aguirre, The Wrath Of God (Herzog, 1972)
Alien (Scott, 1979)†
Alphaville (Godard, 1965)
Alps (Lanthimos, 2011)
Amarcord (Fellini, 1973)
American Movie (Smith, 1999)
American Psycho (Harron, 2000)†
Amour Fou (Hausner, 2014)
An Angel At My Table (Campion, 1990)§
An Easy Girl (Zlotowski, 2019)
Anatomy Of A Fall (Triet, 2023)
Annie Hall (Allen, 1977)
Apocalypse Now (Coppola, 1979)†
Artist, The (Hazanavicius, 2011)
Asteroid City (Anderson, 2023)
Attenberg (Tsangari, 2010)
Bad Lieutenant (Ferrara, 1992)
Badlands (Malick, 1973)
Balance of Improbabilities (Ramírez, 2021)
Band Of Outsiders (Godard, 1964)
Banshees Of Inisherin, The (McDonagh, 2022)
Barcelona (Stillman, 1994)
Barry Lyndon (Kubrick, 1975)†
Barton Fink (Coens, 1991)
Battleship Potemkin (Eisenstein, 1925)
Beanpole (Balagov, 2019)
Beetlejuice (Burton, 1988)
Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead (Lumet, 2007)
Being John Malkovich (Jonze, 1999)
Berberian Sound Studio (Strickland, 2012)
Bergman Island (Hansen-Løve, 2021)
Bicycle Thieves (De Sica, 1948)
Big Chill, The (Kasdan, 1983)
Big Fish (Burton, 2003)†
Big Lebowski, The (Coens, 1998)
Big Short, The (McKay, 2015)
Bird With The Crystal Plumage, The (Argento, 1970)†
Birdman (Inarritu, 2014)
Birds Without Feathers (McColm, 2018)
Birth (Glazer, 2004)
Black Swan (Aronofsky, 2010)
Blade Runner (Scott, 1982)†
Blood Simple (Coens, 1985)
Bloody Child, The (Menkes, 1996)
Blow Out (De Palma, 1981)
Blow Up (Antonioni, 1966)
Blue (Kieślowski, 1993)
Blue Velvet (Lynch, 1986)
Boogie Nights (Anderson, 1997)
Borat (Charles, 2006)
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (Woliner, 2020)
Bottle Rocket (Anderson, 1995)
Bound (Wachowskis, 1996)
Bowling For Columbine (Moore, 2002)
Boys Don’t Cry (Peirce, 1999)
Boyz N The Hood (Singleton, 1991)
Brazil (Gilliam, 1985)
Breathless (Godard, 1960)
Breaking The Waves (von Trier, 1996)
Bright Star (Campion, 2009)§
Broadcast News (Brooks, 1987)
Broadway Danny Rose (Allen, 1984)
Broken Flowers (Jarmusch, 2005)
Buena Vista Social Club (Wenders, 1999)
Buffalo ’66 (Gallo, 1998)
Burden of Dreams (Blank, 1982)
Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari (Wiene, 1920)
Caché (Haneke, 2005)
Camaleón (Ramírez, 2017)
Cameraperson (Johnson, 2016)
Camille Claudel (Nuytten, 1988)
Cape Fear (Scorsese, 1991)†
Captive, La (Akerman, 2000)†
Capturing The Friedmans (Jarecki, 2003)
Career Girls (Leigh, 1997)
Chevalier (Tsangari, 2015)
Chinatown (Polanski, 1974)
Chloe (Egoyan, 2009)
Chuck & Buck (Arteta, 2000)
Cinema Paradiso (Tornatore, 1990)
Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)
Citizen Ruth (Payne, 1996)
City Of Lost Children, The (Caro + Jeunet, 1995)
Civil Dead, The (Tatum, 2022)
Claire’s Knee (Rohmer, 1970)
Code Unknown (Haneke, 2000)
Coffee and Cigarettes (Jarmusch, 2003)
Cold War (Pawlikowski, 2018)
Contempt (Godard, 1963)†
Conversation, The (Coppola, 1974)
Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, The (Greenaway, 1989)
Corporation, The (Achbar, 2003)
Corsage (Kreutzer, 2022)
Crash (Cronenberg, 1996)†
Cremaster Cycle, The (Barney, 1994)
Crimes And Misdemeanors (Allen, 1989)
Crimewave (Raimi, 1985)
Croupier (Hodges, 1998)
Crying Game, The (Jordan, 1992)

Daisies (Chytilová, 1966)
Dancer In The Dark (von Trier, 2000)
Dead Man (Jarmusch, 1995)
Death And The Maiden (Polanski, 1994)‡
Deconstructing Harry (Allen, 1997)
Deerskin (Dupieux, 2019)
DePalma (Baumbach + Paltrow, 2015)
Departed, The (Scorsese, 2006)
Delicatessen (Cano + Jeunet, 1991)
Dial M For Murder (Hitchcock, 1954)‡
Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The (Buñuel, 1972)
District 9 (Blomkamp, 2009)
Do The Right Thing (Lee, 1989)
Dogtooth (Lanthimos, 2009)
Dogville (von Trier, 2003)
Donnie Darko (Kelly, 2001)
Double Indemnity (Wilder, 1944)†
Double Life Of Veronique, The (Kieślowski, 1991)
Down By Law (Jarmusch, 1986)
Draughtsman’s Contract, The (Greenaway, 1982)
Dreams (Kurosawa, 1990)
Drifting Clouds (Kaurismäki, 1996)
Drugstore Cowboy (Van Sant, 1989)§
Duke Of Burgundy, The (Strickland, 2014)
Dune (Lynch, 1984)†
Dune (Villeneuve, 2021)†
Ed Wood (Burton, 1994)
Edward Scissorhands (Burton, 1990)
Eileen (Oldroyd, 2023)†
Election (Payne, 1999)†
Elizabeth (Kapur, 1998)
Empire Strikes Back, The (Kershner, 1980)
End Of The Affair, The (Jordan, 1999)†
Eternal Beauty (Roberts, 2019)
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (Gondry, 2004)
Europa (von Trier, 1991)
Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick, 1999)†
Ex Machina (Garland, 2014)
Existenz (Cronenberg, 1999)
Exotica (Egoyan, 1994)
Fairy, The (Abel, Gordon, + Romy, 2011)
Fallen Leaves (Kaurismaki, 2023)
Fargo (Coens, 1996)
Favourite, The (Lanthimos, 2018)
Fellowship Of The Ring, The (Jackson, 2001)†
Fire Walk With Me (Lynch, 1992)
Fisher King, The (Gilliam, 1991)
Fly, The (Cronenberg, 1986)†
Flux Gourmet (Strickland, 2022)
Forbidden Room, The (Maddin, 2015)
France (Dumont, 2021)
Frances Ferguson (Byington, 2019)
Frances Ha (Baumbach, 2012)
French Dispatch, The (Anderson, 2021)
From Russia With Love (Young, 1963)†
Funny Games (Haneke, 2007)
Funny Ha Ha (Bujalski, 2002)

Ghost Dog (Jarmusch, 1999)
Ghost World (Zwigoff, 2001)†
Ghost Writer, The (Polanski, 2010)†
Gimme Danger (Jarmusch, 2016)
Glengarry Glen Ross (Foley, 1992)‡
Godfather, The (Coppola, 1972)†
Godfather Part II, The (Coppola, 1974)†
Goldfinger (Hamilton, 1964)†
Gone With The Wind (Fleming, 1939)†
Goodfellas (Scorsese, 1990)§
Grand Budapest Hotel, The (Anderson, 2014)
Grey Gardens (Maysles, 1975)
Greenberg (Baumbach, 2010)
Greener Grass (DeBoer + Luebbe, 2019)
Grifters, The (Frears, 1990)†
Grosse Pointe Blank (Armitage, 1997)
Grizzly Man (Herzog, 2005)
Hail, Caesar! (Coens, 2016)
Hannah And Her Sisters (Allen, 1986)
Happiness (Solondz, 1998)
Happy Go Lucky (Leigh, 2008)
Heat (Mann, 1995)
Heaven Adores You (Rossi, 2014)
Heavenly Creatures (Jackson, 1994)
Henry Fool (Hartley, 1997)
Hideous Kinky (MacKinnon, 1992)
Holdovers, The (Payne, 2023)
Hollywood Shuffle (Witherspoon, 1987)
Holy Girl, The (Martel, 2004)
Holy Motors (Carax, 2012)
Host, The (Bong, 2006)
Hour Of The Wolf (Bergman, 1968)
House Of Games (Mamet, 1987)
Howards End (Ivory, 1992)†
Hudsucker Proxy (Coens, 1994)
I Called Him Morgan (Collin, 2016)
I Heart Huckabees (Russell, 2004)
I Love You To Death (Kasdan, 1990)
Idiocracy (Judge, 2006)
I’m Thinking Of Ending Things (Kaufman, 2020)†
In Bruges (McDonagh, 2008)
In Fabric (Strickland, 2018)
In My Room (Köhler, 2018)
In The Company Of Men (LaBute, 1997)‡
Inglorious Basterds (Tarantino, 2009)
Inland Empire (Lynch, 2006)
Insider, The (Mann, 1999)§
Jabberwocky (Gilliam, 1971)
Jacob’s Ladder (Lyne, 1990)
Jazz (Burns, 2000)
Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (Akerman, 1975)
Jerk, The (Reiner, 1979)
Juliet Of The Spirits (Fellini, 1965)
Kagero-za (Suzuki, 1981)†
Kajillionaire (July, 2020)
Keep An Eye Out (Dupieux, 2021)
Kicking And Screaming (Baumbach, 1995)
Killer, The (Fincher, 2023)
Killing Of A Sacred Deer, The (Lanthimos, 2017)
King Kong (Cooper, 1933)
King Kong (Jackson, 2005)
King Of Kong (Gordon, 2007)
Knife In The Water (Polanski, 1963)

LA Confidential (Hanson, 1997)
LA Story (Jackson, 1991)
L’Avventura (Antonioni, 1961)
L’eclisse (Antonioni, 1962)
La Chinoise (Godard, 1968)†
La Ciénaga (Martel, 2001)
La Collectionneuse (Rohmer, 1967)
La Dolce Vita (Fellini, 1960)
La Femme Nikita (Besson, 1990)
La Strada (Fellini, 1954)
Last Days (Van Sant, 2005)
Last Picture Show, The (Bogdanovich, 1971)†
Last Temptation Of Christ, The (Scorsese, 1988)
Last Year At Marienbad (Resnais, 1962)
Le Petit Soldat (Godard, 1963)
Le Rendez-vous d’Anna (Akerman, 1978)
Le Samouraï (Melville, 1967)
Leon: The Professional (Besson, 1994)
Licorice Pizza (Anderson, 2021)
Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, The (Anderson, 2004)
Life Of Brian (Jones, 1979)
Limey, The (Soderberg, 1999)
Living In Oblivion (DeCillo, 1995)
Lobster, The (Lanthimos, 2015)
Lolita (Kubrick, 1962)†
Long Goodbye, The (Altman, 1973)†
Lost Daughter, The (Gyllenhaal, 2021)†
Lost Highway (Lynch, 1997)
Lost In Translation (Coppola, 2003)
Love & Friendship (Stillman, 2016)†
Love In The Afternoon (Rohmer, 1957)
M (Lang, 1931)
Macbeth (Kurzel, 2015)‡
Machinist, The (Anderson, 2004)
Mad Max (Miller, 1979)
Mad Max 2 (Miller, 1981)
Magnificent Ambersons, The (Welles, 1942)†
Magnolia (Anderson, 1999)
Malcolm X (Lee, 1992)§
Man Bites Dog (Belvaux, Bonzel + Poelvoorde, 1993)
Man On Wire (Marsh, 2008)
Mandibles (Dupieux, 2020)
Manhattan (Allen, 1979)
Manhattan Murder Mystery (Allen, 1993)
Manhunter (Mann, 1986)†
Masculin Féminin (Godard, 1966)
M*A*S*H (Altman, 1970)†
Match Factory Girl, The (Kaurismäki, 1990)
May December (Haynes, 2023)
Mean Streets (Scorsese, 1973)
Melancholia (von Trier, 2011)
Memento (Nolan, 2000)
Metropolis (Lang, 1927)
Metropolitan (Stillman, 1990)
Miller’s Crossing (Coens, 1990)†
Mo’ Better Blues (Lee, 1990)
Mon Oncle (Tati, 1958)
Monty Python And The Holy Grail (Gilliam, 1975)
Moonrise Kingdom (Anderson, 2012)
Mr. Turner (Leigh, 2014)
Mulholland Drive (Lynch, 2001)
Mutual Appreciation (Bujalski, 2005)
My Best Fiend (Herzog, 1999)
My Brilliant Career (Armstrong, 1979)†
My Dinner With Andre (Malle, 1981)
My Left Foot (Sheridan, 1989)§
My Winnipeg (Maddin, 2007)
My Night At Maud’s (Rohmer, 1970)
My Own Private Idaho (Van Sant, 1991)‡
Mystery Train (Jarmusch, 1989)

Naked (Leigh, 1993)
Napoleon Dynamite (Hess, 2004)
Nashville (Altman, 1975)
Natural Born Killers (Stone, 1994)
Night On Earth (Jarmusch, 1992)
Nightcrawler (Gilroy, 2014)
Nights Of Cabiria (Fellini, 1957)
Ninth Gate, The (Polanski, 1999)†
No Country For Old Men (Coens, 2007)†
North By Northwest (Hitchcock, 1959)
Nosferatu (Murnau, 1922)†
Nostalgia (Martone, 2022)†
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Coens, 2000)†
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (Hunt, 1969)†
On The Waterfront (Kazan, 1954)§
Only Dream Things (Maddin, 2012)
Our Man In Havana (Reed, 1959)†
Out Of Sight (Soderberg, 1998)†
Out Of The Past (Tourneur, 1947)†
Palindromes (Solondz, 2004)
Pan’s Labyrinth (del Toro, 2006)
Parasite (Bong, 2019)
Paris, Texas (Wenders, 1984)
Passenger, The (Antonioni, 1975)
Persona (Bergman, 1966)
Peter von Kant (Ozon, 2022)
Phantom Love (Menkes, 2007)
Phantom Thread (Anderson, 2017)
Piales (Lebrija, 2019)
Piano, The (Campion, 1993)
Pillow Book, The (Greenaway, 1996)
Pink Floyd—The Wall (Parker, 1982)
Pity (Makridis, 2018)
Planet Of The Apes (Schaffner, 1968)†
Platoon (Stone, 1986)
Player, The (Altman, 1992)†
Playtime (Tati, 1967)
Plumber, The (Weir, 1979)
Poor Things (Lanthimos, 2023)†
Power Of The Dog, The (Campion, 2021)†
Prestige, The (Nolan, 2006)†
Pride & Prejudice (Langton, 1995)†
Pride & Prejudice (Wright, 2005)†
Princess Bride, The (Reiner, 1987)†
Private Property (Stevens, 1960)
Promising Young Woman (Fennell, 2020)
Prospero’s Books (Greenaway, 1991)‡
Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960)†
Psycho (Van Sant, 1998)†
Pulp Fiction (Tarantino, 1994)
Punch Drunk Love (Anderson, 2002)
Purple Rose Of Cairo, The (Allen, 1985)
Putney Swope (Downey, Sr., 1969)

Queen of Diamonds (Menkes, (1991)
Raging Bull (Scorsese, 1980)§
Raiders Of The Lost Ark (Spielberg, 1981)
Raising Arizona (Coens, 1987)
Ran (Kurosawa, 1985)‡
Rashomon (Kurosawa, 1950)†
Rear Window (Hitchcock, 1954)†
Red (Kieślowski, 1994)
Red Desert (Antonioni, 1964)
Red Rocket (Baker, 2021)
Red Rock West (Dahl, 1993)
Remains Of The Day (Ivory, 1989)†
Repulsion (Polanski, 1965)†
Reservoir Dogs (Tarantino, 1992)
Retrograde (Heineman, 2022)
Return Of The King, The (Jackson, 2003)†
Requiem For A Dream (Aronofsky, 2000)
Robocop (Verhoeven, 1987)
Roger & Me (Moore, 1989)
Romper Stomper (Wright, 1992)
Room With A View (Ivory, 1986)†
Rosemary’s Baby (Polanski, 1968)
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (Stoppard, 1990)‡
Royal Tenenbaums, The (Anderson, 2001)
Rumble Fish (Coppola, 1983)†
Rushmore (Anderson, 1998)
Sans Soleil (Marker, 1983)
Safe (Haynes, 1995)
Satyricon (Fellini, 1969)
Savages, The (Jenkins, 2007)
Scarface (De Palma, 1983)†
Scarlet Street (Lang, 1945)†
Secrets & Lies (Leigh, 1996)
Sense And Sensibility (Lee, 1995)†
Seven Samurai (Kurosawa, 1954)
Seventh Seal, The (Bergman, 1958)
Sex, Lies, And Videotape (Soderberg, 1989)
Sexy Beast (Glazer, 2001)
Shadows In Paradise (Kaurismäki, 1986)
She’s Gotta Have It (Lee, 1986)
Short Cuts (Altman, 1993)†
Sid And Nancy (Cox, 1986)
Sideways (Payne, 2004)†
Silence Of The Lambs, The (Demme, 1991)†
Sixteen Candles (Hughes, 1984)
Smoke (Wang, 1995)
Solaris (Soderberg, 2002)†
Sorry To Bother You (Riley, 2018)
Souvenir, The (Hogg, 2019)
Spider (Cronenberg, 2002)
Squid And The Whale, The (Baumbach, 2005)
Stalker (Tarkovsky, 1979)†
Stanleyville (McCabe-Lokos, 2021)
Star Wars (Lucas, 1977)
Stardust Memories (Allen, 1980)
Starship Troopers (Verhoeven, 1997)†
Strange Brew (Thomas, 1983)‡
Stranger Than Paradise (Jarmusch, 1984)
Storytelling (Solondz, 2001)
Sudden Fear (Miller, 1952)†
Susperia (Argento, 1977)
Sweet And Lowdown (Allen, 1999)
Sweet Hereafter, The (Egoyan, 1997)†
Swimming Pool (Ozon, 2003)
Swingers (Liman, 1996)
Synecdoche, NY (Kaufman, 2008)
Synonyms (Lapid, 2019)

Take, The (Lewis, 2004)
Talented Mr. Ripley, The (Minghella, 1999)†
Tár (Field, 2022)
Taxi Driver (Scorsese, 1976)
Terms Of Endearment (Brooks, 1983)†
Tesnota (Balagov, 2017)
There Will Be Blood (Anderson, 2007)†
They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead (Neville, 2018)§
Things To Come (Hansen-Løve, 2016)
Third Man, The (Reed, 1949)
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (McDonaugh, 2017)
Thunderball (Young, 1965)†
THX 1138 (Coppola, 1971)
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (Almodovar, 1989)
Time Bandits (Gilliam, 1981)
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Alfredson, 2011)†
Tiny Furniture (Dunham, 2010)
To Die For (Van Sant, 1995)
Topsy-turvy (Leigh, 1999)
Touch Of Evil (Welles, 1958)†
Tragedy Of Macbeth, The (Coen, 2021)‡
Trainspotting (Boyle, 1996)†
Trees Lounge (Buscemi, 1996)
Triangle Of Sadness (Östlund, 2022)
Trip, The (Winterbottom, 2010)
True Romance (Scott, 1993)
Trust (Hartley, 1990)
Two Towers, The (Jackson, 2002)†
Under The Skin (Glazer, 2013)†
Underground (Kusturica, 1997)
Until The End Of The World (Wenders, 1991)
Untouchables, The (De Palma, 1987)§
Usual Suspects, The (Singer, 1995)
Vanya On 42nd Street (Malle, 1994)‡
Velvet Underground, The (Haynes, 2021)
Vera Drake (Leigh, 2004)
Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958)†
Vice (McKay, 2018)
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Allen, 2008)
Videodrome (Cronenberg, 1983)
Virgin Spring, The (Bergman, 1960)†
Virgin Suicides, The (Coppola, 1999)†
Wasp (Arnold, 2003)
Weekend (Godard, 1968)
Welcome To The Dollhouse (Solondz, 1995)
When We Were Kings (Gast, 1996)
White Noise (Baumbach, 2022)†
White Material (Denis, 2009)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Zemeckis, 1988)
Wild At Heart (Lynch, 1990)
Wings of Desire (Wenders, 1987)
Winter Flies (Omerzu, 2018)
Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown (Almodovar, 1988)
Women Talking (Polley, 2022)†
Wuthering Heights (Arnold, 2011)†
Year Of Living Dangerously, The (Weir, 1982)†
Yojimbo (Kurosawa, 1961)
Young Frankenstein (Brooks, 1974)
Zabriskie Point (Antonioni, 1970)
Zama (Martel, 2017)†
Zed & Two Noughts, A (Greenaway, 1985)
Zelig (Allen, 1983)
Zero Effect (J Kasdan, 1998)†
Zone Of Interest, The (Glazer, 2023)†

12 Monkeys (Gilliam, 1995)
1984 (Radford, 1984)†
2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968)†
7 Chinese Brothers (Byington, 2015)
8 ½ (Fellini, 1963)

KEY
† = literary source
‡ = theatrical source
§ = biographical source

Best Films By Century

While 20th century films represent roughly two thirds of my list thus far, it’s 21st century films that are steadily expanding their share. From Marie Kreutzer’s Corsage to Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest and Nadav Lapid’s Synonyms, there’s been much to watch in the aughts, teens, and twenties. The doughnut chart below shows the ratio-in-progress of 20th century films to 21st century films in my list.

Doughnut chart showing the best films of all time by century.