Movie Directors' Top Films

[pauldrach]

Updates for page 25:

Jeff Nichols
1. Mud (2012)
2. Take Shelter (2011)
3. Loving (2016)
4. Midnight Special (2016)
5. The Bikeriders (2023)

Mike Nichols
1. The Graduate (1967)
2. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
3. Angels in America (2003)
4. Silkwood (1983)
5. The Birdcage (1996)
6. Catch-22 (1970)
7. Working Girl (1988)
8. Charlie Wilson's War (2007)
9. Carnal Knowledge (1971)
10. Closer (2004)

Gaspar Noé
1. Irréversible (2002)
2. Enter the Void (2009)
3. I Stand Alone (1998)
4. Vortex (2021)
5. Climax (2018)
6. Carne (1991)
7. Love (2015)
8. Lux Æterna (2019)
9. Sodomites (1998)
10. Placebo: Protège-moi (2004)

Christopher Nolan
1. The Dark Knight (2008)
2. Inception (2010)
3. Memento (2000)
4. Oppenheimer (2023)
5. Interstellar (2014)
6. Dunkirk (2017)
7. Batman Begins (2005)
8. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
9. The Prestige (2006)
10. Tenet (2020)

Yuri Norstein
1. Tale of Tales (1979)
2. Hedgehog in the Fog (1975)
3. The Heron and the Crane (1974)
4. The Battle of Kerzhenets [with Ivan Ivanov-Vano] (1971)
5. The Fox and the Hare (1973)

Change his spelling since this seems to generally be the way his name is transliterated now (except on TSPDT).

Phillip Noyce
1. Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002)
2. Clear and Present Danger (1994)
3. Patriot Games (1992)
4. Dead Calm (1989)
5. Salt (2010)
6. The Quiet American (2002)
7. The Bone Collector (1999)
8. Fast Charlie (2023)
9. The Saint (1997)
10. Newsfront (1978)

Sidney Olcott
1. From the Manger to the Cross (1912)
2. Ben Hur [with Frank Oakes Rose] (1907)
3. Little Old New York (1923)
4. The Lad from Old Ireland (1910)
5. Poor Little Peppina (1916)
6. Monsieur Beaucaire (1924)
7. The Green Goddess (1923)
8. The Railroad Raiders of '62 (1911)
9. Madame Butterfly (1915)
10. The Girl Spy: An Incident of the Civil War (1909)

Manoel de Oliveira
1. Abraham's Valley (1993)
2. I'm Going Home (2001)
3. Aniki-Bóbó (1942)
4. Francisca (1981)
5. The Strange Case of Angelica (2010)
6. A Talking Picture (2003)
7. Doomed Love (1978)
8. Labor on the Douro River (1931)
9. No, or the Vain Glory of Command (1990)
10. Rite of Spring (1963)

Laurence Olivier
1. Hamlet (1948)
2. Henry V (1944)
3. Richard III (1955)
4. The Prince and the Showgirl (1957)
5. Three Sisters [with John Sichel] (1970)

Ermanno Olmi
1. The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978)
2. Il posto (1961)
3. The Fiances (1963)
4. The Legend of the Holy Drinker (1988)
5. Time Stood Still (1959)
6. The Profession of Arms (2001)
7. Greenery Will Bloom Again (2014)
8. Long Live the Lady! (1987)
9. One Hundred Nails (2007)
10. Singing Behind Screens (2002)

Marcel Ophüls
RIP 1927-2025

Max Ophüls
1. Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)
2. The Earrings of Madame de... (1953)
3. Lola Montès (1955)
4. La ronde (1950)
5. Le plaisir (1952)
6. Liebelei (1933)
7. The Reckless Moment (1949)
8. Everybody's Woman (1934)
9. Caught (1949)
10. There's No Tomorrow (1939)

Nagisa Ōshima
1. In the Realm of the Senses (1976)
2. Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983)
3. Death by Hanging (1968)
4. Boy (1969)
5. Cruel Story of Youth (1960)
6. The Ceremony (1971)
7. Night and Fog in Japan (1960)
8. Empire of Passion (1978)
9. Taboo (1999)
10. Max mon amour (1986)

Frank Oz
1. Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
2. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
3. The Dark Crystal [with Jim Henson] (1982)
4. Bowfinger (1999)
5. In & Out (1997)
6. What About Bob? (1991)
7. The Score (2001)
8. The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984)
9. Death at a Funeral (2007)
10. Housesitter (1992)

François Ozon
1. 8 Women (2002)
2. In the House (2012)
3. Under the Sand (2000)
4. Frantz (2016)
5. Swimming Pool (2003)
6. Potiche (2010)
7. The Crime Is Mine (2023)
8. By the Grace of God (2018)
9. Young & Beautiful (2013)
10. When Fall Is Coming (2024)

Yasujirō Ozu
1. Tokyo Story (1953)
2. Late Spring (1949)
3. I Was Born, but... (1932)
4. Early Summer (1951)
5. An Autumn Afternoon (1962)
6. Floating Weeds (1959)
7. The Only Son (1936)
8. Good Morning (1959)
9. Equinox Flower (1958)
10. The End of Summer (1961)

G. W. Pabst
1. Pandora's Box (1929)
2. Diary of a Lost Girl (1929)
3. The 3 Penny Opera (1931)
4. The Joyless Street (1925)
5. Kameradschaft (1931)
6. Westfront 1918 (1930)
7. The Love of Jeanne Ney (1927)
8. The White Hell of Pitz Palu [with Arnold Fanck] (1929)
9. Secrets of a Soul (1926)
10. The Treasure (1923)

José Padilha

4. The Mechanism [with Elena Soarez] (2018-2019)

Marcel Pagnol
1. The Baker's Wife (1938)
2. César (1936)
3. Heartbeat (1938)
4. Angèle (1934)
5. Manon of the Spring (1952)
6. The Well-Digger's Daughter (1940)
7. Harvest (1937)
8. Merlusse (1935)
9. Jofroi (1933)
10. Topaze (1951)

Alan J. Pakula
1. All the President's Men (1976)
2. Klute (1971)
3. Sophie's Choice (1982)
4. The Parallax View (1974)
5. Presumed Innocent (1990)
6. The Pelican Brief (1993)
7. The Sterile Cuckoo (1969)
8. Starting Over (1979)
9. The Devil's Own (1997)
10. Comes a Horseman (1978)

And the new list:

Céline Sciamma (1978-)
1. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
2. Petite maman (2021)
3. Tomboy (2011)
4. Girlhood (2014)
5. Water Lilies (2007)

[Dubrow555]

Take Shelter made the original 2010's list while Mud did not. It's quite a bit more acclaimed from what I've seeing, even if Mud wins popularity/box office.

[Tim]

If we wanna consistency with the 1970s list, Tale of Tales > Hedgehog in the Fog for Norstein.

[pauldrach]

If we wanna consistency with the 1970s list, Tale of Tales > Hedgehog in the Fog for Norstein.

As they well should be. This was an oversight.

Take Shelter made the original 2010's list while Mud did not. It's quite a bit more acclaimed from what I've seeing, even if Mud wins popularity/box office.

This, though, was deliberate. What do others think? No Nichols made MP's 2010s revision. As Mud actually has a higher IMDb user rating, a higher critics score at RT and a bigger number of likes on Letterboxd, whereas its popularity win is almost universal, I figured the gap in pop was bigger than that in acclaim.

[Tim]

I'd say I have no problems with Mud > Take Shelter.

[pauldrach]

Just sent the page 23 updates.

[ManPerson]

I could go either way on Mud vs Take Shelter.

[pauldrach]

Just sent the page 24 updates.

[pauldrach]

Updates for page 26:

Jafar Panahi
1. Taxi (2015)
2. The White Balloon (1995)
3. The Circle (2000)
4. This Is Not a Film [with Mojtaba Mirtahmasb] (2011)
5. Crimson Gold (2003)
6. Offside (2006)
7. The Mirror (1997)
8. It Was Just an Accident (2025)
9. No Bears (2022)
10. 3 Faces (2018)

Park Chan-Wook
1. Oldboy (2003)
2. The Handmaiden (2016)
3. Decision to Leave (2022)
4. Lady Vengeance (2005)
5. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)
6. J.S.A.: Joint Security Area (2000)
7. Thirst (2009)
8. The Little Drummer Girl (2018)
9. I'm a Cyborg, but That's OK (2006)
10. Stoker (2013)

Nick Park
1. Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers (1993)
2. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit [with Steve Box] (2005)
3. Chicken Run [with Peter Lord] (2000)
4. Wallace & Gromit: A Close Shave (1995)
5. A Grand Day Out with Wallace and Gromit (1989)
6. Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl [with Merlin Crossingham] (2024)
7. Creature Comforts (1989)
8. Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008)
9. Early Man (2018)
10. Wallace & Gromit: Jubilee Bunt-a-thon (2012)

Trey Parker
1. South Park [with Matt Stone] (1997-)
2. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
3. Team America: World Police (2004)
4. Cannibal! The Musical (1993)
5. South Park: Joining the Panderverse (2023)
6. South Park: Post COVID (2021)
7. Orgazmo (1997)
8. South Park: Imaginationland (2008)
9. South Park: Post COVID – The Return of COVID (2021)
10. South Park (Not Suitable for Children) (2023)

If "Imaginationland" should be considered ineligible because it consists entirely of "South Park" content, I would add back "Cannibal! The Musical".

Gordon Parks
1. Shaft (1971)
2. The Learning Tree (1969)
3. The Super Cops (1974)
4. Solomon Northup's Odyssey (1984)
5. Shaft's Big Score (1972)

Pier Paolo Pasolini
1. The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964)
2. Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
3. Accattone (1961)
4. Teorema (1968)
5. Mamma Roma (1962)
6. Arabian Nights (1974)
7. The Hawks and the Sparrows (1966)
8. Oedipus Rex (1967)
9. The Decameron (1971)
10. Medea (1969)

Alexander Payne
1. Sideways (2004)
2. The Descendants (2011)
3. Election (1999)
4. The Holdovers (2023)
5. About Schmidt (2002)
6. Nebraska (2013)
7. Citizen Ruth (1996)
8. Downsizing (2017)
9. The Passion of Martin (1991)
10. Carmen (1985)

Sam Peckinpah
1. The Wild Bunch (1969)
2. Straw Dogs (1971)
3. Ride the High Country (1962)
4. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo García (1974)
5. The Getaway (1972)
6. Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973)
7. Cross of Iron (1977)
8. The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)
9. Major Dundee (1965)
10. Junior Bonner (1972)

Arthur Penn
1. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
2. Little Big Man (1970)
3. The Miracle Worker (1962)
4. Night Moves (1975)
5. The Missouri Breaks (1976)
6. Mickey One (1965)
7. Alice's Restaurant (1969)
8. The Chase (1966)
9. The Left Handed Gun (1958)
10. Four Friends (1981)

D. A. Pennebaker
1. Dont Look Back (1967)
2. Monterey Pop (1968)
3. The War Room [with Chris Hegedus] (1993)
4. Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1979)
5. Depeche Mode: 101 [with David Dawkins & Chris Hegedus] (1989)
6. Daybreak Express (1953)
7. Original Cast Album: Company (1970)
8. Town Bloody Hall [with Chris Hegedus] (1979)
9. Jimi Plays Monterey [with Chris Hegedus] (1986)
10. Kings of Pastry [with Chris Hegedus] (2009)

Tyler Perry
1. The Six Triple Eight (2024)
2. Straw (2025)
3. House of Payne (2006-)
4. Madea's Family Reunion (2006)
5. Madea Goes to Jail (2009)
6. The Haves and the Have Nots (2013-2021)
7. I Can Do Bad All by Myself (2009)
8. Why Did I Get Married? (2007)
9. Meet the Browns [TV series] (2009-2011)
10. Madea's Witness Protection (2012)

Wolfgang Petersen
RIP 1941-2022

And the new list:

Barry Jenkins (1979-)
1. Moonlight (2016)
2. If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)
3. The Underground Railroad (2021)
4. Mufasa: The Lion King (2024)
5. Medicine for Melancholy (2008)

[Dubrow555]

It's too hard to say for now, but I could see "It Was Just an Accident" shooting way up in 8-9 months from now or so.

[pauldrach]

Ditto. But I'm not sure it's there yet. And quite often these projected changes have to be reversed later on.

[pauldrach]

Updates for page 27:

Todd Phillips
1. Joker (2019)
2. The Hangover (2009)
3. Old School (2003)
4. Due Date (2010)
5. Starsky & Hutch (2004)
6. Road Trip (2000)
7. War Dogs (2016)
8. The Hangover Part II (2011)
9. Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)
10. Hated: GG Allin & the Murder Junkies (1993)

Maurice Pialat
1. À nos amours (1983)
2. Naked Childhood (1968)
3. Van Gogh (1991)
4. Loulou (1980)
5. We Won't Grow Old Together (1972)
6. Under the Sun of Satan (1987)
7. La maison des bois (1971)
8. The Mouth Agape (1974)
9. Police (1985)
10. L'amour existe (1961)

Roman Polański
1. Chinatown (1974)
2. Rosemary's Baby (1968)
3. Repulsion (1965)
4. The Pianist (2002)
5. The Tenant (1976)
6. Knife in the Water (1962)
7. Tess (1979)
8. The Ghost Writer (2010)
9. Cul-de-sac (1966)
10. The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967)

Sydney Pollack
1. Tootsie (1982)
2. Out of Africa (1985)
3. They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969)
4. Three Days of the Condor (1975)
5. Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
6. The Way We Were (1973)
7. Absence of Malice (1981)
8. The Firm (1993)
9. The Yakuza (1974)
10. The Electric Horseman (1979)

Gillo Pontecorvo
1. The Battle of Algiers (1966)
2. Burn! (1969)
3. Kapò (1960)
4. Ogro (1979)
5. The Wide Blue Road [with Maleno Malenotti] (1957)

Edwin S. Porter
1. The Great Train Robbery (1903)
2. Life of an American Fireman (1903)
3. Dream of a Rarebit Fiend [with Wallace McCutcheon, Sr.] (1906)
4. Tess of the Storm Country (1914)
5. Hearts Adrift (1914)
6. Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show (1902)
7. Fun in a Bakery Shop (1902)
8. Uncle Tom's Cabin (1903)
9. The Kleptomaniac (1905)
10. Jack and the Beanstalk [with George S. Fleming] (1902)

Michael Powell (& Emeric Pressburger)
1. The Red Shoes (1948)
2. A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
3. Black Narcissus (1947)
4. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
5. The Thief of Bagdad [MP with Ludwig Berger & Tim Whelan] (1940)
6. Peeping Tom [MP] (1960)
7. I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)
8. A Canterbury Tale (1944)
9. 49th Paralle [MP] (1941)
10. The Tales of Hoffmann (1951)

Otto Preminger
1. Laura (1944)
2. Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
3. The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
4. Carmen Jones (1954)
5. Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)
6. Exodus (1960)
7. River of No Return (1954)
8. Angel Face (1952)
9. Advise & Consent (1962)
10. Bonjour Tristesse (1958)

Alex Proyas
1. The Crow (1994)
2. Dark City (1998)
3. I, Robot (2004)
4. Crowded House: Don't Dream It's Over (1986)
5. Knowing (2009)
6. Garage Days (2002)
7. Gods of Egypt (2016)
8. Mask of the Evil Apparition (2021)
9. Spirits of the Air: Gremlins of the Clouds (1987)
10. Book of Dreams – Dream 3: Welcome to Crateland (1994)

Cristi Puiu
1. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005)
2. Sieranevada (2016)
3. Stuff and Dough (2001)
4. Aurora (2010)
5. Malmkrog (2020)

Bob Rafelson (1933-2022)
1. Five Easy Pieces (1970)
2. The Monkees [with Bert Schneider] (1966-1968)
3. The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981)
4. Head (1968)
5. The King of Marvin Gardens (1972)
6. Stay Hungry (1976)
7. Lionel Richie: All Night Long (All Night) (1983)
8. Mountains of the Moon (1990)
9. Black Widow (1987)
10. Blood and Wine (1996)

Sam Raimi
1. The Evil Dead (1981)
2. Evil Dead II (1987)
3. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
4. Spider-Man (2002)
5. Army of Darkness (1992)
6. A Simple Plan (1998)
7. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
8. Drag Me to Hell (2009)
9. Darkman (1990)
10. Spider-Man 3 (2007)

Lynne Ramsay
1. We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)
2. Ratcatcher (1999)
3. Morvern Callar (2002)
4. You Were Never Really Here (2017)
5. Gasman (1997)

Brett Ratner
1. Rush Hour (1998)
2. Red Dragon (2002)
3. Rush Hour 2 (2001)
4. X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
5. Madonna: Beautiful Stranger (1999)
6. The Family Man (2000)
7. Mariah Carey: We Belong Together (2005)
8. Rush Hour 3 (2007)
9. Mariah Carey feat. Jay-Z: Heartbreaker (1999)
10. Tower Heist (2011)

Nicholas Ray
1. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
2. In a Lonely Place (1950)
3. Johnny Guitar (1954)
4. They Live by Night (1948)
5. Bigger than Life (1956)
6. The Lusty Men (1952)
7. On Dangerous Ground (1952)
8. Bitter Victory (1957)
9. King of Kings (1961)
10. Party Girl (1958)

Satyajit Ray
1. Pather Panchali (1955)
2. The World of Apu (1959)
3. Aparajito (1956)
4. The Music Room (1958)
5. Charulata (1964)
6. Mahanagar (1963)
7. Days and Nights in the Forest (1970)
8. The Chess Players (1977)
9. Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (1969)
10. Devi (1960)

And the new list:

Patricio Guzmán (1941-)
1. The Battle of Chile, Part II: The Coup d'État (1976)
2. Nostalgia for the Light (2010)
3. The Battle of Chile, Part I: The Insurrection of the Bourgeoisie (1975)
4. The Battle of Chile, Part III: The Power of the People (1979)
5. The Pearl Button (2015)
6. Chile, the Obstinate Memory (1997)
7. The Cordillera of Dreans (2019)
8. Salvador Allende (2004)
9. My Imaginary Country (2022)
10. The Pinochet Case (2001)

[pauldrach]

I just sent the page 25 updates.