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Having Hepburn, Grant AND Stewart in one film and handing them this script has to be a crime. Especially because Mankiewicz is producing it, it’s like they are just teasing you with a better writer associated with the project. Also this is part of a really weird sub genre of comedy throughout the 30s and 40s which was really anti divorce, and the plot doesn’t try and hide that notion, but surprisingly seeing three acting titans be funny on screen does distract you from that for the most part.

“Nobody told me that everybody was going to school to be the same thing.”

No one else was doing noir quite like Welles. The ending really is that good that it saves the rest of the film from being a serviceable noir at best. Not really sure why he decided to be Irish but it wasn’t the worst accent I’ve heard on film.

Added to Orson Welles Ranked
 

Welles’ Depth of field is insane. I think this suffers coming after Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons because both were so ambitious that this feels like he played it safer while it’s still a layered film noir.

Added to Orson Welles Ranked 

Tonally separate from the other Spike Lee films I have seen so far. A melancholy photo book of childhood memory. The soundtracks in his films are class.

Added to Spike Lee Ranked 

One of the Great American works. Incredibly bold for Spike to self-insert into the life of Malcolm X. Reminds us this is his film, his vision of the political iconoclast, encouraging you to explore his life more. I think there’s a valid arguement for Spike Lee being the most important director of the late 20th century.

Added to Spike Lee Ranked 

As much as I resonate with that closing credits message from Welles, I can only take this film as it unfortunately exists as. Each time I watch films that contain such depth and creative use of space within their primary locations I respect The Rules of the Game even more, that film really did do it first to inspire a multitude of other great films. The script and delivery of the dialogue is stellar and the way the story is going makes it so dull that it ends on a positive note. Even a Hollywood giant such as Welles still had to adhere to the soulless industrial complex of the production company tyranny.

Added to Orson Welles Ranked

Medium Cool stands between two incredibly significant transitions within American Society; the change from the classical to the new wave of Hollywood, and the long brewing civil unrest spread across the country coming to a boiling point as the American people, in a loose extract of Howard Beale’s words, are Mad as hell and cannot take it anymore, and more than rightly so. The fact this film isn’t considered a historical treasure is ludicrous.  

Wexler imbues the film with a Cinema Verite style, and the blend of real footage with the fictional has never been more seamless than it is here. I was already deeply impressed, but then an hour in a very Demme style close up was employed and it just blew me away. The man known for his close ups took influence from this film too? Again, ludicrous. Then Peter Boyle shows up and it’s bbq chicken from there. I love this film.

I love when actors look as distinct as someone like Denis Lavant looks. A completely absurd trip through 9 ‘appointments’ in Mr.Oscar’s life. I love that I have tried to gather my interpretation and there’s about 5 different ways it can satisfy me but it’s not meant to be deciphered, only felt. Leos Carax is one of the best contemporary champions of this attitude.

Allen at his most snarky, bitter and self-reflective. Probably a favourite on a rewatch.

Added to Woody Allen Ranked 

The goofiness is turned up to 11 in yet another great Hawks Screwball comedy. Grant and Hepburn are a brilliant dynamic and this must’ve been impossible to film without laughing.

Added to Howard Hawks Ranked 

This is so unlike any other Haneke film I’ve seen. About as depressingly bleak as the rest but with a weirdly hopeful ending? That’s how I interpreted it anyway. Quite comfortably the worst of his I’ve seen so far but a bad Haneke is still a good film.

Added to Michael Haneke Ranked 

Was in genuine awe at the entire fight by the ship. This is seriously underrated and tells me I really need to see more Raoul Walsh!

1:45 of this song

A New Hope just edges this one for me but not large enough to make this a bad sequel. The forging of the hero into a legend.

Every time I watch a Kubrick I’m reminded that yeah, he really is that great. Those slow zoom outs could’ve been the whole film and I wouldn’t have complained. Feels almost like a loose successor of The Story of a Cheat by Guitry, both films dealing with shallow outcasts pushing their luck to enter high society. Also, another great soundtrack!

Added to Stanley Kubrick Ranked 

Naturalistic arthouse meta-commentary on the state of the film industry. Maggie Cheung is basically being the coolest character ever for the entire runtime. Another great soundtrack today!

Belongs in an art museum. Gallo like a handful of other filmmakers can make truly great films at the cost of being an insufferable Bellend. Cool soundtrack!

Just as good as the first part, if not better in some aspects. Sandrine Bonnaire is incredible, and gives an all timer performance. I felt myself getting hypnotised by the long takes and perfect period setting, as if we are really there, more so than most movies I have seen.

Added to Jacques Rivette Ranked

I know that the Western and the Chanbara genres are already linked in multiple ways, but this film really felt like a western more than any other. its pure plot with very little effort on building up our characters and the world, but its a decent 75 minutes of bloody violence.

Three of my all time favourite actors comedically one upping eachother for 95 minutes. Low angled Sterling Hayden smoking a cigar is cool as fuck!!! Probably the closest 4.5 to a 5.

I need to go back in time and stop myself from watching Out 1 as my introduction to Rivette, because I have loved what else I’ve seen so far and perhaps in the future ill revisit it. Telling the story of Joan of Arc feels redundant when Dreyer’s version exists, at least that’s what I thought when I saw the Bresson adaptation, but Rivette has upped the scale and matched it brilliantly. Complete mastery of pace on display. Bonnaire’s performance is no Falconetti, but then not many really are, and it’s still a great embodiment of the eponymous hero. Ill get round to part 2 later today.

Horror in the mundane. Not two feet away from the family returning from their day out, or the old couple travelling to see their kids, a man is kidnapping a woman, and no one can see. Two cans are the only visible trace left behind and yet a boy playing on the grass picks one up to drink like it’s some stroke of luck. Really gets under your skin and horrifically reminds you that it can happen to anyone, anywhere, anytime.

Culture being wiped out by the daunting March of late stage capitalism. 11 years on and Zhangke’s vision is unwatered.

Jia Zhangke is clearly a big fan of Bresson, taking influence from the homonymous film of his. A Very intimate bit of social realism backdropped by change on a multitude of aspects. A great debut and introduction into his work.

Only Studio Ghibli food looks this good. Intimate and bittersweet. One of the loveliest period pieces I’ve had the joy of watching.

Few film movements were as politically significant as the Czech new wave of the 60s. Almost all of what came out of it are critiques of communism and/or Facism told in surreal, rule breaking ways. Here however, other than some brilliant Timelapsed handheld closeups, it’s a pretty straightforward unsubtle satire of the communist regime. No wonder it was immediately banned.

It’s immediately made known how this film is gonna go, so those who have issues with the vaguer ending shouldn’t be surprised. A Camus quote opening and a headquarters set up in a derelict cinema tell you that this film is on Absurdism and the futility of our actions in the face of pre-determination. Our characters combat this glance into the abyss by wearing the coolest jackets and chainsmoking cigarettes in this gloomy rural neo-noir. Nice blend of the conventional and the surreal.

A third space is vital for our mental health. Eephus explores the importance of this concept better than anything else I’ve seen. Feels like a memory reconstructed from multiple perspectives, sometimes gaining sentience and going beyond the characters, but never leaving the hallowed pitch. Might just be the ultimate sports movie.

The only time Jimmy Stewart and Billy Wilder collaborated, and it’s wasted on a forgotten biopic about an aviation legend. I’m not loving this period of Wilder but I can’t wait to get to Witness for the Prosecution. 

The lyrics they come up with are fucking hilarious. I think Connor O’ Malley is entering a field of comedians I revere greatly.

Of course Miyazaki’s take on Masculinity is this good. Why am I ever surprised at what this man can do. Every line Porco says should be put on a shirt.
Added to Hayao Miyazaki Ranked

A very grounded straightforward story that Ferrara mixes with his experimental approach. I had high hopes for this one that I probably shouldn’t have had, because I’m slightly disappointed but even a middle of the pack Ferrara is a good time.

Added to Abel Ferrara Ranked 

This feels more like Wilder cashing in on the chance to cast Monroe for her star power than anything else, nothing like how I Some Like it Hot being. The story is probably the worst Wilder has written but it sort of works because of how good Monroe really was. This sits in a weird gateway between her unfortunate typecast and her later more acclaimed performances, and you can see that here where she plays a bit of both. The dialogue however is still what you’d expect from Wilder, and it’s definitely not as bad as some of his more forgettable works.

Renowned literary genius Samuel Beckett tries his hand at screenplays. From an entirely film based standpoint I thought it was good, but perhaps it doesn’t hold up to Becketts’s great works, which I have not delved into yet. Buster Keaton in a battle of the perceived vs the perceiver.

Feels weird revisiting this with a whole new lens on film, understanding it’s significance in the canon and whatnot. Gonna rewatch all 9 of the Skywalker Saga over the coming days. This one has always been my favourite and I wonder now if that will change.

A brilliant blend of formalism and surrealism. The more Nouvelle vague films I watch the more I lean towards the ‘left bank’ filmmakers.

Following the ‘Man in a Room’ trilogy, Schrader has reunited with Richard Gere to produce one of his most reflective works amongst an oeuvre of reflective work. He’s also really funny in the absolute driest way possible. I really enjoyed the delivery of Fife’s confessions, Gere was brilliant throughout and it’s definitely one of my favourite performances of the decade.

Added to Paul Schrader Ranked 

Well ain’t this a mess sheriff

If it ain’t it’ll do ‘til the mess gets here 

An artist in torment. Having to reckon with being a shadow of your former self. If you gave your life to the art, and it’s so heavily interwoven with who you are, what’s left when the audience turn their back? Perhaps I’m a fool but I was not aware Angelina Jolie could do something like this, she absolutely knocks it out the park with this performance. I’m not sure why this only has a 3.3 because If more biopics were like this then they wouldn’t be so tedious.

So obvious where it’s going, but I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it. The 70s talk show aesthetic was well done, but it gets gradually more goofy to the point where it’s hard to find it exactly scary anymore.

Hitchcock really has been doing it ever since the silent era. Themes of misdirection, distrust in the law, and many other Hitchcock motifs are present here. The shots of the eponymous Lodger walking above the family were brill.

Added to Alfred Hitchcock Ranked 

Has the potential to be brilliant, but I can’t judge a film for what it could be, only what it is. Some solid low budget horror, the documentary style just didn’t work for me, especially as it gets completely abandoned towards the end.

It’s been 124 years and there’s still never been a better way to deal with paparazzi then there is here.

This might Allen at his most complex. There’s a more direct confrontation of morality here than in the others I have seen, there’s usually affairs and scandals rampant in his work but this is the first time I’ve seen characters really question themselves beyond human impulse. I really should start watching his more modern work to see how it holds up, because from the 70s to the 90s he’s pretty damn good.

Added to Woody Allen Ranked 

Watched with the audio commentary. Never have I related to the words of a filmmaker more than here, in the least cringey way possible this is literally me. From the influences to the pathos in life I feel like Linklater has just described my film progression in better words than I ever could. This is also very similar to a film I have made at university in form and one I have planned to make over summer. So much to learn from this for anyone aspiring to pursue film as a career.

Added to Richard Linklater Ranked 

Doesn’t really compare to the original for me, the scale is ramped up but the characters are so plain, it goes on for too long and it’s just dull for a disaster movie.

Late career Coppola is one of the most unique and interesting filmmakers working today. A deeply painful yet cathartic experience this must’ve been to make, learning about Coppola’s son and the similarities of his death to Vicky’s, and the process of making a movie about making movies in this context is nothing short of incredible. I hope to one day revisit this and others like Megalopolis and Tetro (which I haven’t seen yet) with a refined understanding of Coppola’s career as a whole and see whether or not I appreciate them even more.

Added to Francis Ford Coppola Ranked 

The Boetticher western feels like a bedtime story in the best way possible. They feel so human and in an odd way cosy. There’s tough heroes and likeable side characters with villains that deserve their downfalls. Each person has their goals, their vices, their baggage. They are so simple and straightforward but with surprising amounts of world building in such a short runtime that makes them all feel like real figures from the old frontier. Really loving this underrated body of work.

Watched for part of my essay, pleasantly surprised at this. PSH as a stoner storm chaser is what I was missing in life.

Each time I watch a Ford or a Hawks film my opinion on who was the greater American proto auteur sways back and forth. Do I prefer the more straightforward yet beautifully effective style of Hawks or the more poetic thought provoking works of Ford? It’s hard to say but no film has quite got me thinking as much as The Quiet Man has. The story of a man running from his tragic past, only to have to physically and mentally confront it to truly move on, could be the tagline for many a film, but here Ford for me does it best. There’s never a big expositional dump, you learn it naturally and in measures throughout the story and it’s a much more effective way of letting the audience study the character.

Added to John Ford Ranked 

I’d strongly recommend everything here.

• Yi Yi
• Blue Collar
• Pickpocket
• Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
• The Last Command
• Throne of Blood
• The Red Shoes
• Oh, Canada
• Suicide
• Akira

...plus 445 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Touch of Evil
• The Magnificent Ambersons
• The Lady from Shanghai
• Citizen Kane
• F for Fake
• The Stranger

• Bamboozled
• Do the Right Thing
• Malcolm X
• Crooklyn
• BlacKkKlansman

PLEASE READ DESC - CHECK NOTES FOR INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS

I have to have seen a minimum of 3 films by a director for them to feature on this list. Avant-Garde/experimental short film directors will have their own list when I have seen enough directors to make a more complete list.

1. Funny Games

   Michael Haneke Ranked

2. The Big Lebowski

   Joel and Ethan Coen Ranked

3. Mirror

   Andrei Tarkovsky Ranked

4. The American Friend

   Wim Wenders Ranked

5. Taste of Cherry

   Abbas Kiarostami Ranked

6. Blue Velvet

   David Lynch Ranked

7. Inherent Vice

   Paul Thomas Anderson Ranked

8. Eyes Wide Shut

   Stanley Kubrick Ranked

9. Persona

   Ingmar Bergman Ranked

10. News from Home

    Chantal Akerman Ranked

...plus 70 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Sherlock Jr.
• The Last Laugh
• Napoleon
• The ion of Joan of Arc
• M
• The Scarlet Empress
• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
• His Girl Friday
• To Be or Not to Be
• Gentleman Jim

...plus 171 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

This is a very WIP list, these are films that I think best showcase a certain element of film form, or are a good lesson in what and what not to Do.
Check the notes for reasons why.

• It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books

  The Audio commentary is something everyone should listen to, shows that you don’t need any lessons to just go out and film, and learn yourself. 

• Dolly Back

  Very meta, and a very simple yet effective showcase of a reverse dolly shot

• Parasite

  The perfect example of how to successfully pull off an early twist. Everything you’d need to know from tone to pace is done here. 

• The Asphalt Jungle

  This film isn’t particularly special except for one scene, the handoff. If you want to know how to build tension effortlessly watch that scene closely. 

• Sweet Smell of Success

  Probably the greatest one liner to runtime ratio. One of the best 50s scripts!!
  

• Bullets Over Broadway
• Deconstructing Harry
• Love and Death
• Hannah and Her Sisters
• Annie Hall
• Manhattan
• Crimes and Misdemeanors
• The Purple Rose of Cairo
• Broadway Danny Rose
• Zelig

• His Girl Friday
• Rio Bravo
• Bringing Up Baby
• Scarface
• The Big Sleep

Perhaps my favourite filmmaker at least at the moment, haven’t seen his whole filmography yet but want to add to this soon

1. Funny Games
2. The Piano Teacher
3. Amour
4. Caché
5. The White Ribbon
6. 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance
7. Time of the Wolf

1. Star Wars
2. The Empire Strikes Back
3. Return of the Jedi
4. Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
5. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
6. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace
7. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
8. Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones
9. Solo: A Star Wars Story
10. Star Wars: The Last Jedi

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Eyes Wide Shut
2. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
3. 2001: A Space Odyssey
4. Barry Lyndon
5. The Shining
6. Paths of Glory
7. Full Metal Jacket
8. The Killing
9. Spartacus
10. Killer's Kiss

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Joan the Maid II: The Prisons
• Joan the Maid I: The Battles
• Céline and Julie Go Boating
• Out 1

• Pickpocket
• Platform
• Unknown Pleasures
• The World
• Still Life
• 24 City
• A Touch of Sin
• Mountains May Depart
• Ash Is Purest White
• Caught by the Tides

Probably the biggest director I’m still yet to see a film from, will most likely start this once I’m done with the Coen Retrospective.

• Sunset Boulevard
• Stalag 17
• Ace in the Hole
• Double Indemnity
• The Lost Weekend
• A Foreign Affair
• Five Graves to Cairo
• Sabrina
• The Seven Year Itch
• The Major and the Minor

...plus 15 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Princess Mononoke
2. Spirited Away
3. Porco Rosso
4. The Boy and the Heron
5. My Neighbor Totoro
6. Yuki's Sun

• Pasolini
• The Addiction
• King of New York
• Bad Lieutenant
• New Rose Hotel
• The Driller Killer

• Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
• Oh, Canada
• Blue Collar
• Master Gardener
• Light Sleeper
• Hardcore
• The Card Counter

• Psycho
• Strangers on a Train
• Vertigo
• Rope
• North by Northwest
• The 39 Steps
• The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog
• Rebecca
• Notorious

• It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books
• Slacker
• Hit Man

• Apocalypse Now
• Twixt
• The Godfather Part II
• The Godfather
• Megalopolis
• The Conversation

• My Darling Clementine
• Young Mr. Lincoln
• Stagecoach
• The Quiet Man
• The Searchers

• The Maltese Falcon
• The Asphalt Jungle
• The African Queen

• Carrie
• Sisters
• Carlito's Way
• Blow Out

• Anatomy of a Murder
• Bunny Lake Is Missing
• Angel Face
• Laura

This changes constantly, but the top 2 are pretty set in stone.

1. The Big Lebowski
2. No Country for Old Men
3. Fargo
4. Miller's Crossing
5. A Serious Man
6. Barton Fink
7. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
8. The Man Who Wasn't There
9. Raising Arizona
10. Blood Simple

...plus 9 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• The American Friend
• Wings of Desire
• Paris, Texas
• Perfect Days
• Buena Vista Social Club
• Alice in the Cities

1. A Trip to the Moon
2. The Great Train Robbery
3. The Birth of a Nation
4. The Vampires or, The Arch Criminals of Paris
5. Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
6. Broken Blossoms
7. Within Our Gates
8. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
9. Way Down East
10. The Phantom Carriage

...plus 1235 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• News from Home
• The Meetings of Anna
• Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
• Je Tu Il Elle

• Taxi Driver
• Raging Bull
• GoodFellas
• The King of Comedy
• After Hours
• Killers of the Flower Moon
• The Departed
• Casino
• The Big Shave
• The Irishman

...plus 6 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Inherent Vice
2. There Will Be Blood
3. Punch-Drunk Love
4. The Master
5. Phantom Thread
6. Boogie Nights
7. Licorice Pizza
8. Magnolia
9. Hard Eight
10. Anima

• M
• The Big Heat
• Moonfleet
• Ministry of Fear

• Parasite
• Mickey 17
• Memories of Murder
• Okja

• The Big Swallow
• A Trip to the Moon
• The Great Train Robbery
• Fantasmagorie
• Suspense.
• The Birth of a Nation
• Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
• J'accuse
• The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
• The Phantom Carriage

...plus 124 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
• It's a Wonderful Life
• It Happened One Night

1. 13 Assassins
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey
3. 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her
4. The 39 Steps
5. The 3 Penny Opera
6. The 400 Blows
7. 42nd Street
8. The 4th Man
9. Seven Men from Now
10. 8½

...plus 586 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Bigger Than Life
• In a Lonely Place
• Rebel Without a Cause
• Johnny Guitar

• Black Bag
• Presence
• Contagion

• Videodrome
• Crimes of the Future
• A History of Violence
• Cosmopolis
• Eastern Promises

• The ion of Joan of Arc
• Vampyr
• Ordet
• Michael

There’s 4 Coen Brothers films I still haven’t seen, so I thought I’d go through their entire filmography just to make a final definitive ranking, as I feel (beyond the first and second place) that my current ranking is not reflective of what I actually feel. I’ll probably start this next week.

• The Big Lebowski
• No Country for Old Men
• Fargo
• Miller's Crossing
• A Serious Man
• Barton Fink
• O Brother, Where Art Thou?
• The Man Who Wasn't There
• Raising Arizona
• Blood Simple

...plus 8 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• King Lear
• Hail, Sarajevo
• Contempt
• Trailer of a Film That Will Never Exist: Phony Wars
• Breathless
• Alphaville
• Band of Outsiders
• A Woman Is a Woman

• To Be or Not to Be
• The Wildcat
• Trouble in Paradise

• Julien Donkey-Boy
• Trash Humpers
• Baby Invasion
• AGGRO DR1FT
• Gummo
• The Beach Bum
• Blood of Havana

1. Seven Samurai
2. High and Low
3. Dreams
4. Rashomon
5. Sanjuro
6. Throne of Blood
7. The Hidden Fortress
8. Stray Dog
9. Yojimbo

Posters are meant to reflect the cover of the dvd. I hope this list grows forever.

• 12 Angry Men
• 49th Parallel
• Bait
• The Battle of the River Plate
• Battle Royale
• Being There
• The Big Clock
• The Big Heat
• Black Narcissus
• Blue Collar

...plus 72 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• PlayTime
• Jour de Fête
• Monsieur Hulot's Holiday

• The Long Goodbye
• The Player
• McCabe & Mrs. Miller

• Rio Bravo
• Johnny Guitar
• First Cow
• My Darling Clementine
• McCabe & Mrs. Miller
• Drugstore Cowboy
• The Ox-Bow Incident
• Down by Law
• Dead Man

• Three Colours: Red
• Three Colours: White
• A Short Film About Killing
• Three Colours: Blue

Ordered by release

• Man with a Movie Camera
• Meshes of the Afternoon
• Badlands
• The Holy Mountain
• Dog Day Afternoon
• Sans Soleil
• The Celebration
• In the Mood for Love
• London Orbital
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

...plus 18 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.