Film Roundup Roundup
I watch a lot of movies and I post my reviews on
my
weblog as a series called "Film Roundup". This page distills my
hundreds of reviews into a simple table of recommendations. I
don't give numeric ratings to my reviews, because I don't think the
quality of a film can be measured precisely as a single number, but I
am comfortable giving operational advice: should you see this movie?
Every movie on this list is one I recommend you see. Some movies
I've marked with ★, and that means I highly recommend it. I
think you should give a ★ movie a chance even if you wouldn't
normally watch a silent movie or a horror flick or an art film or
whatever. Movies marked with ★★ are among my all-time
favorites. Some of them changed the way I look at life, some have
been big inspirations for my own work, and some are just incredibly
entertaining, well-executed movies. Movies marked with ↔ are shorts.
I prefer genre fiction and comedy. I watch mainline dramas, but
they don't generally make this list. There are a lot of "difficult"
and artsy movies in here, but there's usually also something weird or
funny about them. The exceptions tend to be really special, movies
like Ikiru (1952).
Every film is linked to a blog post where I wrote about
it. Sometimes my review doesn't match my current opinion of the film!
Whatever, things change. Some films won't let you forget them, and
some forget easier than you thought. I've included a few movies that I
wrote about in the pre-Film Roundup era, as far back as 2004, mainly
movies that I've seen again since then. (I almost never re-watch a
movie, so if I saw it twice, that's a very good sign.)
There are a lot of movies I have seen and would recommend if you
asked me about them, but I haven't written a review of them, so they're
not on the list. This is for the sake of my own sanity, so I don't
feel the need to try to remember every movie I've ever seen and decide
whether it's good enough for this list.
Okay, enough chatter, here's the list:
| Year | Film | Comment |
|---|
| 1925 | Seven Chances ★ | |
| 1926 | The General ★★ | |
| 1927 | It | |
| 1929 | Man With A Movie Camera ★★ | |
| 1931 | What Price Pants ↔ | |
| 1932 | Horse Feathers | |
| 1933 | Dinner at Eight | |
| 1933 | Queen Christina | |
| 1934 | It Happened One Night ★ | |
| 1938 | The Awful Truth | |
| 1939 | Stagecoach ★ | |
| 1939 | The Grapes of Wrath | |
| 1939 | The Women | |
| 1940 | Remember The Night | |
| 1940 | The Great Dictator | |
| 1941 | Ball of Fire ★ | |
| 1941 | Citizen Kane | |
| 1941 | Sullivan's Travels ★ | |
| 1941 | The Devil And Miss Jones | |
| 1942 | To Be Or Not To Be ★ | |
| 1943 | Shadow of a Doubt ★ | |
| 1943 | The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp | |
| 1944 | Double Indemnity ★★ | |
| 1946 | The Big Sleep | |
| 1947 | Monsieur Verdoux | |
| 1947 | Nightmare Alley | |
| 1947 | The Bishop’s Wife | |
| 1948 | Red River | |
| 1948 | Unfaithfully Yours | |
| 1949 | I Was A Male War Bride | |
| 1949 | My Love Has Been Burning ★ | |
| 1949 | Passport to Pimlico | |
| 1950 | All About Eve ★ | |
| 1950 | Sunset Boulevard ★ | |
| 1950 | The Breaking Point ★ | |
| 1950 | Wagon Master | |
| 1951 | The Man in the White Suit | |
| 1952 | Ikiru ★★ | |
| 1953 | Gentlemen Prefer Blondes ★ | |
| 1953 | How To Marry A Millionaire | |
| 1953 | Stalag 17 | |
| 1953 | The Earings of Madame De... | |
| 1953 | The Whole Town's Talking ★ | |
| 1954 | Godzilla ★★ | |
| 1954 | S-73 Sofa Compact ↔ | |
| 1954 | Sabrina | |
| 1955 | Bob le Flambeur | |
| 1955 | Diabolique | |
| 1955 | The Court Jester ★★ | |
| 1955 | The Ladykillers ★ | |
| 1956 | Invasion of the Body Snatchers | |
| 1957 | Desk Set | |
| 1957 | Sweet Smell of Success ★ | |
| 1957 | Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? | |
| 1958 | Invention For Destruction | |
| 1958 | The Defiant Ones | |
| 1959 | Some Like it Hot ★★ | |
| 1959 | The Best of Everything | |
| 1959 | The Crimson Kimono ★ | |
| 1960 | Psycho ★ | |
| 1960 | The Apartment ★★ | |
| 1961 | One, Two, Three ★★ | |
| 1962 | The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance ★ | |
| 1962 | The Music Man | |
| 1964 | Kiss Me, Stupid | |
| 1965 | Alphaville ★ | |
| 1965 | The Americanization of Emily ★ | |
| 1966 | A Man For All Seasons | |
| 1967 | Playtime ★ | |
| 1968 | 2001: A Space Odyssey ★ | |
| 1968 | Inquiring Nuns ★ | |
| 1968 | The Lion in Winter | |
| 1969 | Sweet Charity | |
| 1970 | Cotton Comes to Harlem ★ | |
| 1970 | Norman Mailer v Fun City, USA | |
| 1971 | A New Leaf ★ | |
| 1971 | McCabe & Mrs. Miller | |
| 1971 | Taking Off | |
| 1971 | The Burglars | |
| 1971 | Trafic | |
| 1972 | Avanti! | |
| 1972 | Buck and the Preacher | |
| 1972 | Silent Running ★★ | |
| 1972 | Solaris | |
| 1972 | The Godfather ★★ | |
| 1972 | The Heartbreak Kid | |
| 1973 | Charlie Varrick | |
| 1973 | Cops and Robbers | |
| 1973 | F For Fake | |
| 1973 | Paper Moon ★ | |
| 1973 | The Laughing Policeman | |
| 1973 | The Sting | |
| 1974 | Celine and Julie Go Boating ★★ | The first hour is slow, but give it time! |
| 1974 | Italianamerican | |
| 1974 | The Conversation | |
| 1974 | The Godfather, Part II | |
| 1974 | The Parallax View ★ | |
| 1974 | The Taking of Pelham One Two Three ★ | |
| 1975 | Dog Day Afternoon ★ | |
| 1975 | Jaws | |
| 1975 | Nashville ★ | |
| 1975 | Three Days of the Condor | See review for potential deal-breaker |
| 1976 | Daguerréotypes | |
| 1976 | Emma Mae | |
| 1976 | Marathon Man | |
| 1976 | The Man Who Fell to Earth | |
| 1977 | Close Encounters of the Third Kind | |
| 1977 | Smokey and the Bandit | |
| 1978 | Heaven Can Wait | |
| 1978 | The Brink's Job ★ | |
| 1978 | The Cheap Detective | |
| 1979 | Alien ★ | |
| 1979 | That Sinking Feeling | |
| 1979 | The Jerk ★ | |
| 1979 | The Muppet Movie ★ | |
| 1980 | Gregory’s Girl ★ | |
| 1980 | Nine to Five | |
| 1980 | Private Benjamin | |
| 1981 | Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior | |
| 1981 | My Dinner with Andre | |
| 1981 | Short Working Day | |
| 1981 | The Incredible Shrinking Woman | |
| 1982 | My Favorite Year | |
| 1982 | Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan ★ | |
| 1982 | The King of Comedy ★★ | |
| 1983 | Local Hero ★ | |
| 1983 | Trading Places | |
| 1983 | WarGames | |
| 1984 | All of Me | |
| 1984 | Blood Simple | |
| 1984 | Comfort and Joy ★ | |
| 1984 | Footloose | |
| 1984 | Ghostbusters ★ | |
| 1984 | This Is Spinal Tap ★★ | |
| 1985 | Brazil ★ | |
| 1985 | Calculated Movements ★ ↔ | |
| 1985 | Desperately Seeking Susan | |
| 1985 | Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome | |
| 1985 | Puppy Love ★ | |
| 1985 | Tampopo ★★ | |
| 1986 | Aliens | |
| 1986 | Big Trouble in Little China | |
| 1986 | Down By Law | |
| 1986 | No No Nooky TV ★ ↔ | |
| 1986 | Ruthless People ★ | |
| 1986 | Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home ★★ | |
| 1986 | The Color of Money ★ | |
| 1987 | Ishtar ★ | Yes, seriously. |
| 1987 | Matewan | |
| 1987 | Moonstruck | |
| 1987 | Outrageous Fortune | |
| 1987 | Raising Arizona | |
| 1987 | Roxanne | |
| 1987 | Wings of Desire ★★ | |
| 1988 | A Short Film about Killing ★ | |
| 1988 | Big Business | |
| 1988 | Coming to America | |
| 1988 | Dirty Rotten Scoundrels | |
| 1988 | Miracle Mile ★★ | Recommend you see without knowing anything about it |
| 1988 | My Neighbor Totoro ★ | |
| 1988 | Working Girl ★ | |
| 1989 | Bill & Ted’s Excellent adventure | |
| 1989 | Breaking In ★ | |
| 1989 | Dekalog 1 ★ | |
| 1989 | Dekalog 10 ★★ | |
| 1989 | Do the Right Thing | |
| 1989 | Kiki's Delivery Service ★ | |
| 1990 | Gremlins 2: The New Batch | |
| 1990 | Mo’ Better Blues | |
| 1991 | Barton Fink ★ | |
| 1991 | L.A. Story ★ | |
| 1991 | Point Break | |
| 1991 | Thelma and Louise | |
| 1993 | Jurassic Park ★ | |
| 1993 | Three Colors: Blue | |
| 1993 | Three Colors: Red | |
| 1993 | Three Colors: White | |
| 1994 | Cabin Boy | |
| 1994 | Ed Wood | |
| 1994 | Pom Poko ★★ | |
| 1994 | Speed | |
| 1994 | The Hudsucker Proxy | |
| 1995 | Apollo 13 ★ | |
| 1995 | Clueless | |
| 1996 | Fargo ★★ | |
| 1996 | Kansas City | |
| 1996 | Set It Off | |
| 1997 | Face/Off ★ | |
| 1998 | Pleasantville | |
| 1998 | Run Lola Run | |
| 1998 | The Big Lebowski ★★ | |
| 1999 | Three Kings | |
| 2000 | Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon | |
| 2000 | J.S.A.: Joint Security Area | |
| 2000 | O Brother, Where Art Thou? | |
| 2000 | The Target Shoots First | |
| 2001 | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring | I like them all but this one's my favorite. |
| 2001 | The Man Who Wasn’t There ★ | |
| 2003 | Good Bye, Lenin! ★★ | |
| 2004 | Chisholm '72: Unbought and Unbossed ★ | |
| 2004 | Shaun of the Dead ★ | |
| 2004 | Shrek 2 | |
| 2004 | University of Laughs ★ | |
| 2006 | Brick | |
| 2006 | Inside Man | |
| 2006 | Paprika | |
| 2006 | Synecdoche, New York | |
| 2006 | The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift | |
| 2006 | The Lives of Others ★ | |
| 2007 | Children of Men | |
| 2007 | Hot Fuzz ★ | |
| 2007 | Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story | |
| 2009 | A Town Called Panic ★ | The short films are also highly recommended. |
| 2009 | Fantastic Mr. Fox | |
| 2009 | Moon | |
| 2009 | The Informant! | |
| 2011 | Attack the Block | |
| 2011 | Cat Scratch Fever | |
| 2011 | Fast Five | |
| 2011 | Wu xia | |
| 2012 | No | |
| 2012 | Tai Chi Zero | |
| 2012 | The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey | I don't like the other ones. The 4-hour cut that spans the entire trilogy is great. |
| 2012 | The Lebanese Rocket Society | |
| 2012 | Wreck-it Ralph | |
| 2013 | Caucus | |
| 2013 | Frozen | |
| 2013 | Gravity ★ | |
| 2013 | Queen | |
| 2013 | The World's End ★ | |
| 2014 | Approaching the Elephant ★ | |
| 2014 | Guardians of the Galaxy | |
| 2014 | I Am Big Bird: The Carroll Spinney Story | |
| 2014 | Kundo: Age of the Rampant | |
| 2014 | Pride | |
| 2015 | Inside Out ★ | |
| 2015 | Love and Taxes | |
| 2015 | Mad Max: Fury Road ★ | |
| 2015 | Star Wars: The Force Awakens | |
| 2015 | World of Tomorrow ↔ | |
| 2016 | Deadpool | |
| 2016 | Ghostbusters | |
| 2016 | Hail, Ceasar! | |
| 2016 | La La Land | |
| 2016 | Moana | |
| 2016 | The Cinema Travelers | |
| 2016 | The Peacemaker | |
| 2016 | The Teacher | |
| 2016 | your name. | |
| 2017 | Coco | |
| 2017 | Get Out ★★ | |
| 2017 | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 | |
| 2017 | Hidden Figures | |
| 2017 | Logan Lucky | |
| 2017 | Lots of Kids, a Monkey, and a Castle | |
| 2017 | Newton | |
| 2017 | Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi | |
| 2017 | The Death of Stalin | |
| 2018 | Born Bone Born | |
| 2018 | Sorry to Bother You | |
| 2018 | Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse | |
| 2019 | Apollo 11 ★ | |
| 2019 | Booksmart | |
| 2019 | Dolemite Is My Name | |
| 2019 | Knives Out ★ | |
| 2019 | Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project | |
| 2019 | The Irishman | |
| 2021 | The Afterlight ★ | Recommended for the experience of watching it, rather than the content. |
| 2022 | Everything Everywhere All at Once ★ | |
| 2022 | Glass Onion | |
| 2022 | The Lost City | |
