My Essentials — Film & TV Favorites

Listing here for personal reference. I hope to write about all of them someday.

To address people who ask me (likely in outrage), “Why is so-and-so film, director… missing?” This list isn’t necessarily the greatest works of all time — rather, these are films/TV that have influenced, shaped, and carved an impression. For example, Hitchcock’s Psycho isn’t on here; does that mean I didn’t like it? No—Psycho is one of the greatest films ever but for reasons unexplained, I enjoy Vertigo, Rear Window, Shadow of a Doubt more.

Films underlined will link to an essay I’ve written on them.

In Chronological Order:

1. A Trip to the Moon (1902) dir. George Melies
2. Metropolis (1927) dir. Fritz Lang
3. Un Chien Andalou (1928) dir. Luis Buñuel/Salvador Dali
4. Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) dir. Michael Curtiz
5. Shadow of a Doubt (1943) dir. Alfred Hitchcock
6. Detour (1945) dir. Edgar G. Ulmer
7. The Red Shoes (1948) dir. Powell + Pressburger
8. The Third Man (1949) dir. Carol Reed
9. Los Olvidados (1950) dir. Luis Bunuel
10. Sunset Boulevard (1950) dir. Billy Wilder
11. Ace in the Hole (1950) dir. Billy Wilder
12. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) Elia Kazan
13. Ikiru (1952) dir. Akira Kurosawa
14. Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (1953) dir. Jacques Tati
15. La Strada (1954) dir. Federico Fellini
16. Seven Samurai (1954) dir. Akira Kurosawa
17. Rear Window (1954) dir. Alfred Hitchcock
18. Wild Strawberries (1955) dir. Ingmar Bergman
19. Mon Oncle (1956) dir. Jacques Tati
20. Touch of Evil (1957) dir. Orson Welles
21. Nights of Cabiria (1957) dir. Federico Fellini
22. Vertigo (1958) dir. Alfred Hitchcock
23. Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) dir. Alain Resnais
24. The Twilight Zone (1959–1964) cr. Rod Serling
25. La Dolce Vita (1960) dir. Federico Fellini
26. Viridiana (1961) dir. Luis Buñuel
27. La Notte (1961) dir. Michelangelo Antonioni
28. The Virgin Spring (1960) dir. Ingmar Bergman
29. Hud (1963) dir. Martin Ritt
30. 8 1/2 (1963) dir. Federico Fellini
31. La Rivière du Hibou (1963) dir. Robert Enrico (short)
32. From Russia with Love (1963) dir. Terence Young
33. Blow-Up (1966) dir. Michaelangelo Antonioni
34. Persona (1966) dir. Ingmar Bergman
35. Belle de Jour (1967) dir. Luis Buñuel
36. Weekend (1967) dir. Jean-Luc Godard
37. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1967) dir. Sergio Leone
38. Rosemary’s Baby (1968) dir. Roman Polanski
39. Bullitt (1968) dir. Peter Yates
40. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) dir. Stanley Kubrick
41. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) dir. George Roy Hill
42. The Conformist (1970) dir. Bernardo Bertolucci
43. Five Easy Pieces (1970) dir. Bob Rafelson
44. The French Connection (1971) dir. William Friedkin
45. The Godfather I (1972) dir. Francis Ford Coppola
46. The Getaway (1972) dir. Sam Peckinpah
47. La Cabina (1972) dir. Antonio Mercero (short)
48. Last Tango in Paris (1973) dir. Bernardo Bertolucci
49. The Last Detail (1973) dir. Hal Ashby
50. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974) dir. Sam Peckinpah
51. The Parallax View (1974) dir. Alan J. Pakula
52. The Conversation (1974) dir. Francis Ford Coppola
53. The Godfather II (1974) dir. Francis Ford Coppola
54. Chinatown (1974) dir. Roman Polanski
55. The Phantom of Liberty (1974) dir. Luis Buñuel
56. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) dir. Milos Forman
57. Barry Lyndon (1975) dir. Stanley Kubrick
58. The Mirror (1975) dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
59. The Passenger (1975) dir. Michaelangelo Antonioni
60. The Tenant (1976) dir. Roman Polanski
61. Taxi Driver (1976) dir. Martin Scorsese
62. Sorcerer (1977) dir. William Friedkin
63. The Deer Hunter (1978) dir. Michael Cimino
64. Apocalypse Now (1979) dir. Francis Ford Coppola
65. Manhattan (1979) dir. Woody Allen
66. Raging Bull (1980) dir. Martin Scorsese
67. The Shining (1980) dir. Stanley Kubrick
68. Blow Out (1981) dir. Brian De Palma
69. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) dir. Steven Spielberg
70. The Thing (1982) dir. John Carpenter
71. Videodrome (1983) dir. David Cronenberg
72. Once Upon a Time in America (1984) dir. Sergio Leone
73. Back to the Future (1985) dir. Robert Zemeckis
74. After Hours (1985) dir. Martin Scorsese
75. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) dir. Woody Allen
76. Blue Velvet (1986) dir. David Lynch
77. Full Metal Jacket (1987) dir. Stanley Kubrick
78. Spoorloos (1988) dir. George Sluizer
79. I…Dreaming (1988) dir. Stan Brakhage (short)
80. Life Lessons (1989) dir. Martin Scorsese (short)
81. Goodfellas (1990) dir. Martin Scorsese
82. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) dir. Jonathan Demme
83. Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1992) dir. James Cameron
84. Carlito’s Way (1993) dir. Brian De Palma
85. Menace II Society (1993) dir. The Hughes Brothers
86. The Age of Innocence (1993) dir. Martin Scorsese
87. The X-Files (1993–2016) cr. Chris Carter
88. Pulp Fiction (1994) dir. Quentin Tarantino
89. Casino (1995) dir. Martin Scorsese
90. Before Sunrise/Sunset (1995; 2004) dir. Richard Linklater
91. The Bridges of Madison County (1995) dir. Clint Eastwood
92. Heat (1995) dir. Michael Mann
93. Se7en (1995) dir. David Fincher
94. Cure (1997) dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa
95. Lost Highway (1997) dir. David Lynch
96. L.A. Confidential (1997) dir. Curtis Hanson
97. Jackie Brown (1997) dir. Quentin Tarantino
98. The Spanish Prisoner (1998) dir. David Mamet
99. Saving Private Ryan (1998) dir. Steven Spielberg
100. The Ninth Gate (1999) dir. Roman Polanski
101. Eyes Wide Shut (1999) dir. Stanley Kubrick
102. Traffic (2000) dir. Steven Soderbergh
103. Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001) dir. Alfonso Cuaron
104. Mulholland Drive (2001) dir. David Lynch
105. Punch-Drunk Love (2002) dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
106. Habla con Ella (2002) dir. Pedro Almodovar
107. 25th Hour (2002) dir. Spike Lee
108. The Pianist (2002) dir. Roman Polanski
109. Cache (2005) dir. Michael Haneke
110. Match Point (2005) dir. Woody Allen
111. Three Times (2005) dir. Hou Hsiao Hsien
112. No Country for Old Men (2007) dir. The Coen Brothers
113. There Will Be Blood (2007) dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
114. The Dark Knight (2008) dir. Christopher Nolan
115. Breaking Bad (2008–2013) cr. Vince Gilligan
116. The Ghost Writer (2009) dir. Roman Polanski
117. Tree of Life (2011) dir. Terrence Malick
118. Midnight in Paris (2011) dir. Woody Allen
119. The Master (2012) dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
120. True Detective S1 (2014) dir. Cary Fukanaga / wr. Nic Pizzalatto
121. Interstellar (2014) dir. Christopher Nolan
122. Burning (2018) dir. Lee Chang Dong
123. The Irishman (2019) dir. Martin Scorsese