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 never mentioned them on my blog, so they're not on the list. This is so I don't feel the need to try to remember every movie I've ever seen and rack my brain about whether it's good enough to go on the list. Fargo (1996) is a good example. I saw in 1997 and again in the mid-2000s, but it didn't go on this list until I watched it in 2018 and wrote down my thoughts.

Okay, enough chatter, here's the list:

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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	Queen Christina
1938	The Awful Truth
1939	Stagecoach †
1939	The Grapes of Wrath
1939	The Women
1940	The Great Dictator
1941	Ball of Fire †
1941	Citizen Kane
1941	Sullivan's Travels †
1943	Shadow of a Doubt †
1943	The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
1944	Double Indemnity ★★
1946	The Big Sleep
1947	Nightmare Alley
1948	Red River
1948	Unfaithfully Yours
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	The Whole Town's Talking †
1954	Godzilla ★★
1954	S-73 Sofa Compact ↔
1954	Sabrina
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	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
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
1970	Cotton Comes to Harlem †
1970	Norman Mailer v Fun City, USA
1971	A New Leaf †
1971	McCabe & Mrs. Miller
1971	Taking Off
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 †
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
1978	The Brink's Job †
1978	The Cheap Detective
1979	Alien †
1979	The Jerk †
1979	The Muppet Movie †
1980	Nine to Five
1981	Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior
1981	Short Working Day
1982	Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan †
1982	The King of Comedy ★★
1984	Blood Simple
1984	Ghostbusters †
1984	This Is Spinal Tap ★★
1985	Brazil †
1985	Calculated Movements † ↔
1985	Desperately Seeking Susan
1985	Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
1985	Tampopo ★★
1986	Big Trouble in Little China
1986	Down By Law
1986	No No Nooky TV † ↔
1986	Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home ★★
1987	Ishtar †	Yes, seriously.
1987	Matewan
1988	A Short Film about Killing †
1988	Big Business
1988	Miracle Mile ★★	Recommend you see without knowing anything about it
1988	My Neighbor Totoro †
1989	Dekalog 1 †
1989	Dekalog 10 ★★
1989	Do the Right Thing
1989	Kiki's Delivery Service †
1990	Gremlins 2: The New Batch
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	The Hudsucker Proxy
1995	Apollo 13 †
1995	Clueless
1996	Fargo ★★
1996	Kansas City
1998	Run Lola Run
1998	The Big Lebowski ★★
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	University of Laughs †
2006	Brick
2006	Inside Man
2006	Paprika
2006	Synecdoche, New York
2006	The Lives of Others †
2007	Children of Men
2007	Hot Fuzz †
2009	A Town Called Panic †	The short films are also highly recommended.
2009	Fantastic Mr. Fox
2009	Moon
2011	Attack the Block
2011	Cat Scratch Fever
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	Wreck-it Ralph
2013	Caucus
2013	Frozen
2013	Gravity †
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	Sorry to Bother You
2018	Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse