In 2021 we conducted a survey of the forums’ favorite movies. Many of us weren’t around back then and it’s time for an update.
Please submit a list, in any order, of 10 films you love. Specify the year of release for all list items as well as the version if there are several, for example The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976 // 108-minute cut). Where multiple versions exist and none in particular is declared, I will assume the most popular version.
Remember this is not a contest, it’s a survey. Everyone is welcome to participate!
movieFAQs:
What is a film?
Does it feel like a film? —> It’s a film. (documentary, animation, music videos, experiments, individual TV episodes)
Does it feel more like something else? Not a film. (entire TV series, video games, the phonebook)
Can I rank my list?
You may rank your list for the sake of show-and-tell, but it will not have any effect on the final tally.
Like the latest edition of the video game poll, votes are cumulative. Unlike with games, if a film from the 2021 results receives no votes in 2025, that film is kicked off the list. For example, last time Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) received 3 votes. If it receives 2 votes in this instance, it will be noted for 5 votes. If it receives no votes this time, it will be back down to 0 for this poll and start there for any future polls. Hopefully this reflects the change in voting population since 2021 and doesn’t backfire in some horrible and unforeseen fashion.
Feel free to make changes to your list before the end of the submission period. Just reply to your previous post and tag me to make sure I see it.
Oh, so you’re remaking that list? Let me think and I’ll edit and put my own 10 movies, then
Céline and Julie go boating (1974)
Enthusiasm (1930)
The Passion of Joan d’Arc (1928)
The Crowd (1928)
Film Socialisme (2010)
Away with words (1999)
Pièce touchée (1989)
Tea and sympathy (1956)
An affair to remember (1957)
Mammame (1986)
Honourable mentions (not avantgarde films, since those are very difficult to see or share sometimes):
Rio Bravo (1959)
His Girl Friday (1940)
Boyfriends and Girlfriends (1987)
The Brown Bunny (2003)
Faust (1926)
Les Vampires (1915) - didn’t count it down since I feel it’s a film saga rather than a film per se, but dope thing, truly
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) - One of my first films on video, so nostalgia is definitely talking here. But even as an adult, I appreciate how much the opening of the film shows with little dialogue. Marion and Indiana are both irresistable leads, and Belloq himself is a compelling villain, an archaeologist who plays just a bit more sinister and unscrupulous.
Some Like It Hot (1959) - I first watched this in full in graduate school on a professor’s recommendation. The play with disguise and gender is so much fun, and in its way surprisingly radical. “Well, nobody’s perfect.”
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928; Criterion edition with accompanying Richard Einhorn 1994 composition Voices of Light) - Requisite medievalist film. So much expressive detail in the faces. It’s like watching the best Shakespeare production by the Royal Shakespeare Company from the front row, except (a) it’s French and (b) film captures detail that even a front row viewer may strain to see.
Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind (1984) - I go back and forth on my favorite Ghibli film, but this one is always near the top. I love futuristic and post-apocalyptic films, so one where the hero is empathetic to nature and people, along with awesome flying machines, is one I’m going to like.
The Princess Bride (1987) - it’s clear they had a blast making it, and fortunately I also have a blast watching it. Wordplay, situational play, deconstructing the adventure and romance story and then putting heart right in the middle of it, that’s what I’m here for.
Fellowship of the Ring (2001) - I went to this opening night in 2001 with my sister. I carried the book Fellowship of the Ring in my oversized jeans pocket. What I got was not the book itself, but an excellent example of the way that a film can deviate from the source material and still capture the sense of adventure of wonder. Editing down - switching Arwen in for Glorfindel, removing Tom Bombadil, hinting at stuff like Bill Ferny without outright explaining that - created a well-paced epic, and even its memorable additions (“what about second breakfast”?) feel justified.
The Terminator (1984) - the more I’ve watched the Terminator films, the more I come back to the first as an almost perfectly scary thriller. There is some lore (in Kyle’s dreams, in what he tells Sarah), but most of this is a simple premise done very well: a nigh-unstoppable machine from the future wants to kill Sarah.
Amelie (2001) - I’m a romantic, and this film hit at a formative time.
Apollo 13 (1995) Cat Ballou (1965) - Westerns were never a genre I actively sought out, but they were on all the time growing up. My dad and grandfather both watched them. Out of them, Cat Balou always seemed special, both for its musical elements (Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye playing through the key narrative) and for Jane Fonda / Lee Marvin playing their hearts out.
Excalibur (1981) - It should be apparent I like films that are romantic and somewhat silly. Excalibur takes itself so seriously that it becomes silly again. That is eminently fitting for an Arthurian story, as they have melded the earnest and the silly for hundreds and hundreds of years. This film is steeped in talent playing their hearts out, and meanwhile it is saturated with symbolism and homoeroticism. Most other Arthurian films either take themselves too seriously (the “historical” 2004 King Arthur) or too farcical (The Sword of the Valiant, the 1980s adaptation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight); this one gets the balance just right. (For another that comes close, look at the 1974 Lancelot du Lac by Robert Bresson.
I wasn’t around for the 2021 poll, so this is exciting! I feel like my taste may be a little more basic than others on the forum, movies aren’t a thing I’ve dived into super deep, but these are still movies I love dearly.
Ikiru (1952)
Songs from the Second Floor (2000)
Inland Empire (2006)
Rat Film (2016)
Supermarket Woman (1996)
A Short Film About Killing (1988)
The Cremator (1969)
The Invisible Man (1933)
Strike (1925)
Born in Flames (1983)
That was harder to narrow down to 10 than I expected! Had to make some tough cuts. I would like to give honorable mentions to Sex House (2012), Lucky (2017) and A Wolf House (2018). I love those too but slightly less than the other 10.
Me and my garbage taste! These aren’t in any order because I’m not sure I could put them in order if I tried:
The Wicker Man (1973)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992)
Penda’s Fen (1974)
Sadko (1953)
Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920)
Righting Wrongs (1986)
Hereditary (2018)
Godzilla vs Hedorah (1971)
Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
Per Aspera Ad Astra (1981)
(This list edged out a few, like The Night Stalker (1972), Star Trek the Motion Picture (1979), Time Walker (1982), and Dr Mabuse the Gambler (1922)-- they still deserve to be mentioned though!)
Oooo have u read Richard Martin’s section of the film’s cinematic architecture? I was already enamored with it but that gave me an even higher appreciation for it
Come and See (1985)
Parasite (2019)
Drunken Master 2 (1978)
The Good, The Bad, The Weird (2008)
The Wind That Shakes The Barley (2006)
ACTION BUTTON REVIEWS DOOM (2020)
Utu (1983)
Once Were Warriors (1994)
Amadeus (1984)
Shoah (1985)
Might make some changes at some point but maybe not. It’s mostly my list from last time with some cooler replacements
Adventures of a Dentist (1965)
Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo (1984)
Heart of Glass (1976)
I Saw the TV Glow (2024)
Junk Head (2017)
The Matrix (1999)
Poor Things (2023)
Princess Mononoke (1997)
Rebels of the Neon God (1992)
Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1968)
