Movie Directors' Top Films

[pauldrach]

Updates for page 37:

Sam Wood
1. A Night at the Opera (1935)
2. A Day at the Races (1937)
3. The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
4. For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
5. Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
6. Kings Row (1942)
7. The Devil and Miss Jones (1941)
8. Beyond the Rocks (1922)
9. Kitty Foyle (1940)
10. The Stratton Story (1949)

Edgar Wright
1. Shaun of the Dead (2004)
2. Hot Fuzz (2007)
3. Baby Driver (2017)
4. Spaced (1999-2001)
5. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
6. The World's End (2013)
7. Last Night in Soho (2021)
8. The Running Man (2025)
9. The Sparks Brothers (2021)
10. A Fistful of Fingers (1995)

Joe Wright
1. Atonement (2007)
2. Pride & Prejudice (2005)
3. Darkest Hour (2017)
4. Hanna (2011)
5. Anna Karenina (2012)
6. Mussolini: Son of the Century (2024-)
7. Cyrano (2021)
8. The Soloist (2009)
9. Charles II: The Power and the Passion (2003)
10. Pan (2015)

William Wyler
1. Ben-Hur (1959)
2. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
3. Roman Holiday (1953)
4. Dodsworth (1936)
5. The Heiress (1949)
6. Wuthering Heights (1939)
7. Mrs. Miniver (1942)
8. Jezebel (1938)
9. The Little Foxes (1941)
10. The Letter (1940)

Boaz Yakin
1. Remember the Titans (2000)
2. Fresh (1994)
3. Uptown Girls (2003)
4. Safe (2012)
5. Max (2015)
6. Aviva (2020)
7. Boarding School (2018)
8. A Price Above Rubies (1998)
9. Death in Love (2008)
10. Wake the Fuck Up (2012)

David Yates
1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (2011)
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (2010)
3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
4. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
5. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)
6. State of Play (2003)
7. The Girl in the Café (2005)
8. The Way We Live Now (2001)
9. Sex Traffic (2004)
10. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)

Wilson Yip
1. Ip Man (2008)
2. Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster (2010)
3. SPL: Kill Zone (2005)
4. Ip Man 3 (2015)
5. Ip Man 4: The Finale (2019)
6. Flash Point (2007)
7. Bullets over Summer (1999)
8. Paradox (2017)
9. Bio Zombie (1998)
10. Juliet in Love (2000)

Terence Young
1. Dr. No (1962)
2. From Russia with Love (1963)
3. Thunderball (1965)
4. Wait Until Dark (1967)
5. Red Sun (1971)
6. The Valachi Papers (1972)
7. Mayerling (1968)
8. Corridor of Mirrors (1948)
9. The Red Beret (1953)
10. Zarak (1956)

Masaaki Yuasa
1. Mind Game (2004)
2. Night Is Short, Walk On Girl (2017)
3. Devilman Crybaby (2018)
4. The Tatami Galaxy (2010)
5. Kaiba (2008)
6. Ping Pong the Animation (2014)
7. Inu-Oh (2021)
8. Ride Your Wave (2019)
9. Lu over the Wall (2017)
10. Kick-Heart (2013)

Robert Zemeckis
1. Back to the Future (1985)
2. Forrest Gump (1994)
3. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
4. Cast Away (2000)
5. Back to the Future Part II (1989)
6. Romancing the Stone (1984)
7. Back to the Future Part III (1990)
8. Contact (1997)
9. Flight (2012)
10. The Polar Express (2004)

Zhang Yimou
1. Raise the Red Lantern (1991)
2. Hero (2002)
3. Red Sorghum (1988)
4. House of Flying Daggers (2004)
5. To Live (1994)
6. Ju Dou [with Yang Fengliang] (1990)
7. The Story of Qiu Ju (1992)
8. Not One Less (1999)
9. Full River Red (2023)
10. The Road Home (1999)

Fred Zinnemann
1. High Noon (1952)
2. From Here to Eternity (1953)
3. A Man for All Seasons (1966)
4. The Day of the Jackal (1973)
5. The Nun's Story (1959)
6. Act of Violence (1948)
7. Oklahoma! (1955)
8. Julia (1977)
9. The Seventh Cross (1944)
10. The Search (1948)

Rob Zombie
1. The Devil's Rejects (2005)
2. Halloween (2007)
3. House of 1000 Corpses (2003)
4. The Lords of Salem (2012)
5. Halloween II (2009)
6. 3 from Hell (2019)
7. 31 (2016)
8. White Zombie: More Human than Human (1998)
9. The Munsters (2022)
10. The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (2009)

Zucker, Abrahams & Zucker (JA: 1944-2024)
1. Airplane! (1980)
2. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! [DZ] (1988)
3. Police Squad! (1982)
4. Ghost [JZ] (2001)
5. Hot Shots! [JA] (1991)
6. Ruthless People
7. Top Secret!
8. The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear [DZ] (1991)
9. Hot Shots! Part Deux [JA] (1993)
10. Scary Movie 3 [DZ] (2003)

Andrzej Żuławski
1. Possession (1981)
2. L'important c'est d'aimer (1975)
3. On the Silver Globe (1988)
4. The Devil (1972)
5. The Third Part of the Night (1971)
6. My Nights Are More Beautiful than Your Days (1989)
7. Cosmos (2015)
8. The Public Woman (1984)
9. L'amour braque (1985)
10. Blue Note (1991)

Edward Zwick
1. Glory (1989)
2. thirtysomething [with Marshall Herskovitz] (1987-1991)
3. The Last Samurai (2003)
4. Blood Diamond (2006)
5. Legends of the Fall (1994)
6. Once and Again [with Marshall Herskovitz] (1999-2002)
7. Special Bulletin (1983)
8. Courage Under Fire (1996)
9. About Last Night... (1986)
10. Love & Other Drugs (2010)

And the new list:

Joanna Hogg (1960-)
1. The Souvenir (2019)
2. The Souvenir Part II (2021)
3. Archipelago (2010)
4. The Eternal Daughter (2022)
5. Unrelated (2007)

[ManPerson]

I think Pride and Prejudice's win in popularity is bigger than Atonement's win in acclaim, and I'd argue for Pride and Prejudice over Atonement on the 2000s revision as well.

I'm curious about The Heiress vs Dodsworth and The Big Country vs The Letter

It seems like Contact beats Flight in both acclaim and popularity, while BttF 3's win in popularity seems much more definitive than Flight's fairly arguable win in acclaim.

I'd give Red Sorghum acclaim and influence over the two films above it.

I'd have Naked Gun > Police Squad

I'm curious about On the Silver Globe vs L'important c'est d'aimer

Legends of the Fall seems 2-3 spots too low, and I'd add Love & Other Drugs as well.

[pauldrach]

I think Pride and Prejudice's win in popularity is bigger than Atonement's win in acclaim, and I'd argue for Pride and Prejudice over Atonement on the 2000s revision as well.

I don't necessarily agree. They're definitely superclose in both popularity and acclaim and I just put them in the order they were in the last 2000s revision. We can still swap them later.

I'm curious about The Heiress vs Dodsworth and The Big Country vs The Letter

The Heiress and Dodsworth are also rather close by the criteria but The Heiress was a notable box office disappointment while Dodsworth was basically Wyler's artistic breakthrough. Similar award resume, Dodsworth slightly higher on TSPDT. I'd leave them in this order.

The Letter clearly had a stronger initial reception than The Big Country (both popularity- and award-wise). Overall lasting reception goes to TBC but I'd say The Letter's edge in initial reception is slightly bigger.

It seems like Contact beats Flight in both acclaim and popularity, while BttF 3's win in popularity seems much more definitive than Flight's fairly arguable win in acclaim.

Will move Flight down to #9.

I'd give Red Sorghum acclaim and influence over the two films above it.

I'd be fine with that.

I'd have Naked Gun > Police Squad

Seems reasonable. Will swap.

I'm curious about On the Silver Globe vs L'important c'est d'aimer

L'important's wins in initial reception (popularity and acclaim) seem to me more substantial than Silver Globe's wins in lasting reception. Also, L'important was Żuławski's breakthrough.

Legends of the Fall seems 2-3 spots too low, and I'd add Love & Other Drugs as well.

Fine on both accounts.

[ManPerson]

I think Pride and Prejudice's win in popularity is bigger than Atonement's win in acclaim, and I'd argue for Pride and Prejudice over Atonement on the 2000s revision as well.

I don't necessarily agree. They're definitely superclose in both popularity and acclaim and I just put them in the order they were in the last 2000s revision. We can still swap them later.

Fair enough, though I still think Pride and Prejudice having almost 3 times as many letterboxd ratings as Atonement indicates a pretty clear win in lasting popularity. I'm fine with everything else.

[Tim]

As a small counterpoint, Pride and Prejudice is an adaptation of a much more famous a novel.

[Dubrow555]

As a small counterpoint, Pride and Prejudice is an adaptation of a much more famous a novel.

It is also piggybacking off the success of the 1990's TV miniseries. I'd also give credit to Atonement for being Saoirse Ronan's breakout role.

[pauldrach]

OK, I swapped.

[ManPerson]

As a small counterpoint, Pride and Prejudice is an adaptation of a much more famous a novel.

It is also piggybacking off the success of the 1990's TV miniseries. I'd also give credit to Atonement for being Saoirse Ronan's breakout role.

The movie is clearly more popular than the TV series, especially now, so I'd say it's a bit disingenuous to credit the TV series for the movie's lasting popularity. Additionally, Pride and Prejudice has more letterboxd ratings than The Chronicles of Narnia, The Great Gatsby (which came out almost a decade later than Pride and Prejudice), and Da Vinci Code adaptations showing it's stronger in many ways than other major book adaptations of the time.

Fair point on Saoirse Ronan breakthrough though.

[pauldrach]

I reswapped since I somehow misread the Saoirse Ronan part as giving credit to P&P though I should have known Ronan wasn't anywhere near that. Let's just keep them in this order till there has been an update of the 2000s list.

[pauldrach]

Sent the page 36 updates to lew btw.

[pauldrach]

And sent the page 37 updates!

[ManPerson]

Good work, Paul!

[Fido]

Yeah, I didn't realize that was the last one! Awesome job guys

[pauldrach]

Thanks to everyone, especially MP, for your help!

[pauldrach]

And with lew having added the last page's updates and the Hogg list to the main site this long revision is officially completed!

[Zach]

Good stuff. Congrats.