The List

I decided to pick my favourite film from every year (harder than it sounds for some years!) and write about what's good about it, what's bad about it, and, if applicable, why I think it might be important in the history of cinema. Wherever possible, I'll try to avoid spoilers, but no guarantees.


This is the preliminary list. It is not based on anything other than my judgement of which film, from this year, I'm more likely to pull off my DVD shelf and have a look at. So, for example, while I absolutely love Aliens, I have listed The Fly from 1986, as this is the film which I find most moving.

I will also be writing about other films which don't appear on this list. Just because it didn't make the list doesn't mean its not noteworthy, especially in the case where the film appears in a year with a lot of competition.

This list is subject to change as this blog progresses; I hope to fill in those missing years, and I also intend to cover some of the runners-up from years where there are multiple contenders.


Cendrillon (1899)
The Enchanted Drawing (1900)
Le Voyage dans la Lune (1902)
Alice in Wonderland (1903)
Frankenstein (1910)
The Birth of a Nation (1915)
Intolerance (1916)
Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari (1919)
Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam (1920)
The Phantom Carriage (1921)
Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922)
Haxan (1923)
The Thief of Baghdad (1924)
The Lost World (1925)
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927)
La Passion de Jeanne d'arc (1928)
Blackmail (1929)
M (1931)
Freaks (1932)
King Kong (1933)
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Sabotage (1936)
Lost Horizon (1937)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Gone With the Wind (1939)
Rebecca (1940)
High Sierra (1941)
Casablanca (1942)
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
The Lost Weekend (1945)
Notorious (1946)
Dark Passage (1947)
Rope (1948)
Adam's Rib (1949)
Rashomon (1950)
The African Queen (1951)
The Quiet Man (1952)
Stalag 17 (1953)
Rear Window (1954)
To Catch a Thief (1955)
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
Throne of Blood (1957)
The Blob (1958)
North by Northwest (1959)
Psycho (1960)
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Lolita (1962)
The Great Escape (1963)
Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worry and Love the Bomb (1964)
Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
The Graduate (1967)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
The Italian Job (1969)
Mash (1970)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
The Godfather (1972)
The Exorcist (1973)
The Conversation (1974)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Carrie (1976)
Eraserhead (1977)
Animal House (1978)
Alien (1979)
The Blues Brothers (1980)
The Evil Dead (1981)
The Thing (1982)
The Right Stuff (1983)
The Terminator (1984)
Lifeforce (1985)
The Fly (1986)
The Untouchables (1987)
Die Hard (1988)
The Abyss (1989)
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Groundhog Day (1993)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Twelve Monkeys (1995)
Fargo (1996)
Starship Troopers (1997)
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
The Matrix (1999)
The Patriot (2000)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Serenity (2005)
300 (2006)
No Country for Old Men (2007)
Iron Man (2008)
Pandorum (2009)
Inception (2010)