This is a ranked list of the books I finished reading in 2022.
1. Compass, Mathias Énard 2. On the Road, Jack Kerouac 3. The Seagull, Anton Chekhov 4. The Philosophy of Modern Song, Bob Dylan 5. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens 6. Death on the Nile, Agatha Christie 7. Norwood, Charles Portis 8. A Hero Born (Condor Heroes #1), Louis Cha 9. A Bond Undone (Condor Heroes #2), Louis Cha 10. These Fists Break Bricks, Grady Hendrix & Chris Poggiali 11. The Flintstones: Deluxe Edition, Mark Russell & Steve Pugh 12. Murder in Mesopotamia, Agatha Christie 13. Memento Mori, Muriel Spark 14. The Essence of Entertainment: Cinema City’s Glory Days, HKFA 15. Cards on the Table, Agatha Christie 16. A Different Brilliance, The D & B Story, HKFA 17. Bruce, Peter Carlin Ames 18. Masters of Atlantis, Charles Portis 19.. The Good Asian Vol 1, Pornsak Pichetshote 20. Bruce Springsteen: The Stories Behind the Songs, Brian Hiatt 21. Ask for the Moon, Meredith Lewis 22. Poirot Loses a Client, Agatha Christie 23. Red Carpet, Erich Schwartzel
These are my favorites of the books I spent significant time reading in 2022 but did not (yet) finish:
1. The Annotated Arabian Nights, trans. Yasmine Seale 2. The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens 3. The Silmarillion, JRR Tolkien 4. The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Robert Irwin 5. Hawaii (first two sections only), James Michener 6. Typee, Herman Melville 7. Killing Floor, Lee Child 8. The King James Bible 9. The Method, Isaac Butler 10. The Dawn of Everything, David Wengrow and David Graeber 11. Always in the Dark: A Study of Hong Kong Gangster Films, HK Film Archive 12. Dictionary of the Khazars, Milorad Pavić 13. Bullshit Jobs, David Graeber 14. The World of Jia Zhang-ke, Jean-Michel Frodon 15. God Only Knows: The Story of Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys, and the California Myth, David Leaf
It is time once again for a Top 100 Films of All-Time list. The film listed here were randomly selected from a consideration set of 310 films . The order is also randomized.
My Left Eye Sees Ghosts (Johnnie To & Wai Ka-fai, 2002) Reds (Warren Beatty, 1981) Hellzapoppin’ (HC Potter, 1941) It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (Bill Melendez, 1966) Last Life in the Universe (Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, 2003) Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (Sam Peckinpah, 1973) The Killer (John Woo, 1989) A Day in the Country (Jean Renoir, 1936) The Lion in Winter (Anthony Harvey, 1968) Mother! (Darren Aronofsky, 2017)
Broadcast News (James L. Brooks, 1987) Titanic (James Cameron, 1997) The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir, 1939) Duck Soup (Leo McCarey, 1933) Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami, 2010) What’s Opera, Doc? (Chuck Jones, 1957) Original Cast Album: Company (DA Pennebaker, 1970) The Love Eterne (Li Han-hsiang, 1963) One Froggy Evening (Chuck Jones, 1955) Journey to the West (Tsai Ming-liang, 2014)
The Wind that Shakes the Barley (Ken Loach, 2006) Les amants du Pont-Neuf (Leos Carax, 1991) Meek’s Cutoff (Kelly Reichardt, 2010) News from Home (Chantal Akerman, 1977) The Gang’s All Here (Busby Berkeley, 1943) Meet Me in St Louis (Vincente Minnelli, 1944) The Big Red One (Samuel Fuller, 1980) They Were Expendable (John Ford, 1946) Duvidha (Mani Kaul, 1973) The Bellboy (Jerry Lewis, 1960)
Early Summer (Ozu Yasujiro, 1951) Three Times (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 2005) Rouge (Stanley Kwan, 1987) The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940) The Manchurian Candidate (John Frankenheimer, 1962) Yourself & Yours (Hong Sangsoo, 2016) The Lady Eve (Preston Sturges, 1941) Bound for the Fields, the Mountains, and the Seacoast (Obayashi Nobuhiko, 1986) 8 Diagram Pole Fighter (Lau Kar-leung, 1984) Intolerance (DW Griffith, 1916)
Seven Samurai (Kurosawa Akira, 1954) The Terrorizers (Edward Yang, 1986) City on Fire (Ringo Lam, 1987) Last of the Mohicans (Michael Mann, 1992) Tropical Malady (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2004) Robin and Marian (Richard Lester, 1976) Zulu (Cy Endfield, 1964) Japanese Girls at the Harbor (Shimizu Hiroshi, 1933) Drive My Car (Hamaguchi Ryusuke, 2021) Beau travail (Claire Denis, 1999)
The Young Girls of Rochefort (Jacques Demy, 1967) Made in Hong Kong (Fruit Chan, 1998) Morocco (Josef von Sternberg, 1930) Xiao Wu (Jia Zhangke, 1997) Don’t Look Back (DA Pennebaker, 1967) The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966) Fire Walk with Me (David Lynch, 1992) The Quiet Man (John Ford, 1952) Kiss Me Kate (George Sydney, 1953) Pierrot le fou (Jean-Luc Godard, 1965)
Cat People (Jacques Tourneur, 1942) Only Angels Have Wings (Howard Hawks, 1938) Miami Vice (Michael Mann, 2006) Choose Me (Alan Rudolph, 1984) Time and Tide (Tsui Hark, 2000) Om Shanti Om (Farah Khan, 2007) The Harder they Come (Perry Henzell, 1972) Rock n Roll High School (Allan Arkush, 1979) Liz and the Blue Bird (Yamada Naoko, 2018) Jazz on a Summer’s Day (Aram Avakian & Bert Stern, 1959)
Heat (Michael Mann, 1995) Green Snake (Tsui Hark, 1993) Yearning (Naruse Mikio, 1964) Shanghai Blues (Tsui Hark, 1984) Out of the Past (Jacques Tourneur, 1947) Metropolitan (Whit Stillman, 1990) Bull Durham (Ron Shelton, 1988) Speed Racer (Lana & Lilly Wachowski, 2008) The Music Room (Satyajit Ray, 1958) Ace Attorney (Miike Takashi, 2012)
The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949) Linda Linda Linda (Yamashita Nobuhiro, 2005) F for Fake (Orson Welles, 1973) The Last Days of Disco (Whit Stillman, 1998) Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975) Phantoms of Nabua (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2009) Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958) The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock, 1962) Hero (Zhang Yimou, 2002) A Brighter Summer Day (Edward Yang, 1991)
The Docks of New York (Josef von Sternberg, 1928) Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2014) Amanda (Mikhaël Hers, 2018) His Motorbike, Her Island (Obayashi Nobuhiko, 1986) Mughal-e-azam (K. Asif, 1960) La Commune (Paris, 1871) (Peter Watkins, 2000) Fat Choi Spirit (Johnnie To & Wai Ka-fai, 2002) The Day He Arrives (Hong Sangsoo, 2011) Once Upon a Time in China (Tsui Hark, 1991) Dirty Ho (Lau Kar-leung, 1979)
An annual tradition here at The End, this is a look at my favorite film discoveries of the year, any movie more than a few years old that I saw for the first time in 2021. Previous years include: 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, and 2006. I watched just over 260 films this year, less than a quarter of which qualified for this list. Here are 55 of my favorites.
1. His Motorbike, Her Island (Ōbayashi Nobuhiko, 1986) 2. The Great Silence (Sergio Corbucci, 1968) 3. Yokohama BJ Blues (Kudō Eiichi, 1981) 4. The Shooting (Monte Hellman, 1966) 5. Hercules in the Haunted World (Mario Bava, 1961) 6. Django (Sergio Corbucci, 1966) 7. Mirage (Tsui Siu-ming, 1987) 8. The Gunfighter (Henry King, 1950) 9. Hard Rain (Jacques Levy, 1976) 10. Conquest (Lucio Fulci, 1983)
11. Neil Young: Heart of Gold (Jonathan Demme, 2006) 12. Ride in the Whirlwind (Monte Hellman, 1966) 13. Hercules and the Captive Women (Vittorio Cottafavi, 1961) 14. The Iron Rose (Jean Rollin, 1973) 15. Jerichow (Christian Petzold, 2008) 16. Navajo Joe (Sergio Corbucci, 1966) 17. Black Sunday (Mario Bava, 1960) 18. Queen of Sports (Sun Yu, 1934) 19. Debra Paget, For Example (Mark Rappaport, 2016) 20. The Street Fighter (Ozawa Shigehiro, 1974)
21. Ulysses (Mario Camerini, 1954) 22. The Cat o’Nine Tails (Dario Argento, 1971) 23. The Wicker Man (Robin Hardy, 1973) 24. Every Which Way But Loose (James Fargo, 1978) 25. The Holiday (Nancy Meyers, 2006) 26. Rust Never Sleeps (Neil Young, 1979) 27. The Mysterious Rider (Riccardo Freda, 1948) 28. Festival! (Murray Lerner, 1967) 29. The Road to Fort Alamo (Mario Bava, 1964) 30. The Eiger Sanction (Clint Eastwood, 1975)
31. Iron Angels 2 (Teresa Woo, 1987) 32. Erik the Conquerer (Mario Bava, 1961) 33. Ninja, a Band of Assassins (Yamamoto Satsuo, 1962) 34. Scream 3 (Wes Craven, 2000) 35. Bury Me High (Tsui Siu-ming, 1991) 36. Hercules Unchained (Pietro Francisci, 1959) 37. China 9, Liberty 37 (Monte Hellman, 1978) 38. The American Epic (Bernard MacMahon, 2017) 39. The Mystery of Chess Boxing (Joseph Kuo, 1979) 40. The Other Side of the Mirror (Murray Lerner, 2007)
41. Iron Angels 3 (Teresa Woo, 1989) 42. Red Hollywood (Thom Andersen & Noël Burch, 1996) 43. Scream 4 (Wes Craven, 2011) 44. Hercules (Pietro Francisci, 1958) 45. Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (Brad Silberling, 2004) 46. Akeelah and the Bee (Doug Atchison, 2006) 47. Corpse Bride (Tim Burton & Mike Johnson, 2005) 48. Feel Like Going Home (Martin Scorsese, 2003) 49. Trouble No More (Jennifer LeBeau, 2017)
50. Fatal Termination (Andrew Kam, 1990) 51. Jumanji (Joe Johnston, 1995) 52. The Rocketeer (Joe Johnston, 1991) 53. I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (Danny Cannon, 1998) 54. Paper Marriage (Alfred Cheung, 1988) 55. Princess Madam (Godfrey Ho, 1989)
This is a ranked list of the books I finished reading in 2021:
1. Moby-Dick, Herman Melville 2. Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson 3. Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut 4. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë 5. Hard Times, Charles Dickens 6. As You Like It, William Shakespeare 7. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Unknown 8. The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler 9. The Old Weird America, Greil Marcus 10. Hawkeye, Matt Fraction 11. The Dragon Waiting, John M. Ford 12. Nature, Ralph Waldo Emerson 13. The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury 14. All of the Marvels, Douglas Wolk 15. Shakey, Jimmy McDonough 16. Watching the River Flow, Paul Williams 17. Performing Artist 1960-1973, 1974-1986, & 1986-1990 & Beyond, Paul Williams 18. Crabgrass Frontier, Kenneth T. Jackson 19. The ABC Murders, Agatha Christie 20. A Hundred Years of Japanese Film, Donald Richie 21. Alright Alright Alright, Melissa Maerz 22. When We Were Good, Robert Cantwell 23. Bob Dylan, Greil Marcus 24. Sketches by Boz, Charles Dickens 25. Neil Young: Love to Burn, Paul Williams 26. Hellboy Vol. 1, Mike Mignola 27. True Believer, Abraham Riesman 28. Revolution in the Air & Still on the Road, Clinton Heylin 29. One More Night, Andrew Muir 30. The Time Machine Did It, John Swartzwelder
And here are the books I’m still working on, in order of how long I’ve been reading them:
Against the Day, Thomas Pynchon
The Fourth World Omnibus, Jack Kirby
The Path to Power, Robert Caro
City of Quartz, Mike Davis
Emerson: The Mind on Fire, Robert D. Richardson
The History of Jazz, Ted Gioia
Don Quixote, Cervantes
American Renaissance, FO Matthiessen
The Ramayana: A New Retelling, Linda Egenes & Kumuda Reddy
James Joyce, Richard Ellman
Before the Storm, Rick Perlstein
Debt: the First 5000 Years, David Graeber
Crisis on Infinite Earths (plus Crossovers), Marv Wolfman, etc
Bach: The Learned Musician, Christoph Wolff
The Story of the Stone (Dream of the Red Chamber), Cao Xueqin
Dickens, Peter Ackroyd
The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens
Chaucer: A European Life, Marion Turner
The Canterbury Tales (Riverside), Geoffrey Chaucer
The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, Robert E. Howard
The Dawn of Everything, David Graeber & David Wengrow
The Annotated Arabian Nights, trans. Yasmine Seale
It is time once again for a Top 100 Films of All-Time list. As I’ve done for the last few years, the first ten spots on the list comprise a hypothetical Sight & Sound-style ballot. We had an on-going project related to this on The George Sanders Show, that is now based at Seattle Screen Scene. This top ten is presented here in chronological order. The remaining 90 films were randomly selected from a consideration set of 1024 films, which excluded films that made my Top Tens in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.
1. Hellzapoppin’ (HC Potter, 1941)
2. Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger, 1959)
3. Duvidha (Mani Kaul, 1973)
4. Renaldo & Clara (Bob Dylan, 1978)
5. His Motorbike, Her Island (Obayashi Nobuhiko, 1986)
6. Slacker (Richard Linklater, 1990)
7. Ballet (Frederick Wiseman, 1995)
8. Goodbye, Dragon Inn (Tsai Ming-liang, 2003)
9. Throw Down (Johnnie To, 2004)
10. Claire’s Camera (Hong Sangsoo, 2017)
11. New York, New York (Martin Scorsese, 1977)
12. Woodstock (Michael Wadleigh, 1970)
13. Return of the King (Peter Jackson, 2003)
14. Mr. Thank You (Shimizu Hiroshi, 1936)
15. Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)
16. They Live by Night (Nicholas Ray, 1948)
17. Predator (John McTiernan, 1987)
18. Andrei Rublev (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1969)
19. Miami Vice (Michael Mann, 2006)
20. Trouble in Paradise (Ernst Lubitsch, 1932)
21. The Romance of Astrea and Celadon (Eric Rohmer, 2007)
22. Dishonored (Josef von Sternberg, 1931)
23. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974)
24. Suspicion (Alfred Hitchcock, 1941)
25. My Night at Maud’s (Eric Rohmer, 1969)
26. Window Water Baby Moving (Stan Brakhage, 1959)
27. A Matter of Interpretation (Lee Kwangkuk, 2014)
28. How Green was My Valley (John Ford, 1941)
29. Bye Bye Birdie (George Sidney, 1963)
30. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (Fritz Lang, 1933)
An annual tradition here at The End, this is a look at my favorite film discoveries of the year, any movie more than a few years old that I saw for the first time in 2019. Previous years include: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, and 2006. I watched just over 275 films this year, almost a hundred of which qualified for this list. These are 75 of my favorites.
1. Mughal-e-Azam (K. Asif, 1960) 2. The Rocking Horsemen (Obayashi Nobuhiko, 1992) 3. The Bridges of Madison County (Clint Eastwood, 1995) 4. Duvidha (Mani Kaul, 1973) 5. Real Life (Albert Brooks, 1979) 6. The Harder they Come (Perry Henzell, 1972) 7. Om Shanti Om (Farah Khan, 2007) 8. Black Christmas (Bob Clark, 1974) 9. Mother India (Mehboob Khan, 1957) 10. Original Cast Album: Company (DA Pennebaker, 1970)
11. Dil Se.. (Mani Ratnam, 1998) 12. Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (Itō Shun’ya, 1972) 13. Welcome to LA (Alan Rudolph, 1976) 14. Eega (SS Rajamouli, 2012) 15. Lagaan (Ashutosh Gowariker, 2001) 16. Peggy Sue Got Married (Francis Ford Coppola, 1986) 17. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Philip Kaufman, 1978) 18. Mikey and Nicky (Elaine May, 1976) 19. Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje (V. Shantaram, 1955) 20. Klute (Alan J. Pakula, 1971)
21. Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa (Kundan Shah, 1994) 22. Stray Cat Rock: Machine Animal (Hasebe Yasuharu, 1970) 23. Aag (Raj Kapoor, 1948) 24. Diwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (Aditya Chopra, 1995) 25. Cageman (Jacob Cheung, 1992) 26. In Our Time (Edward Yang, Yi Chang, Ko I-Chen and Tao Te-Chen, 1982) 27. Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion (Itō Shun’ya, 1972) 28. Mrs Parker & the Vicious Circle (Alan Rudoplh, 1994) 29. The Dead Zone (David Cronenberg, 1983) 30. The Crazies (George A. Romero, 1973)
31. Deewar (Yash Chopra, 1975) 32. Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor (Dave Fleischer, 1936) 33. Tamasha (Imtiaz Ali, 2015) 34. Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter (Hasebe Yasuharu, 1970) 35. Amrapali (Lekh Tandon, 1966) 36. Fan (Maneesh Sharma, 2015) 37. On the Run (Alfred Cheung, 1988) 38. Night Moves (Arthur Penn, 1975) 39. Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable (Itō Shun’ya, 1973) 40. Deathdream (Bob Clark, 1974)
41. Main Hoon Na (Farah Khan, 2004) 42. Gangs (Lawrence Ah Mon, 1988) 43. Ram Jaane (Rajiv Mehra, 1995) 44. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: Hammersmith Odeon, London ’75 (Derek Burbidge, 2005) 45. New Blood (Soi Cheang, 2002) 46. Devdas (PC Barua, 1936) 47. Ringu (Nakata Hideo, 1998) 48. Stray Cat Rock: Delinquent Girl Boss (Hasebe Yasuharu, 1970) 49. Iron Angels (Teresa Woo, 1987) 50. Batman Forever (Joel Schumacher, 1995)
51. Enthiran (S. Shankar, 2010) 52. Wings for Wheels (Thom Zimny, 2005) 53. Dangal (Nitesh Tiwari, 2016) 54. Stray Cat Rock: Beat 71 (Fujita Toshiya, 1971) 55. Clash (Le Thanh Son, 2009) 56. Ordinary Heroes (Ann Hui, 1999) 57. Salem’s Lot (Tobe Hooper, 1979) 58. Who Killed Captain Alex? (Nabwana IGG, 2010) 59. The Delinquent (Kuei Chih-hung & Chang Cheh, 1973) 60. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (Karan Johar, 1998)
61. Dream Home (Pang Ho-cheung, 2010) 62. Growing Up (Chen Kun-hou, 1983) 63. The Dark Knight Rises (Christopher Nolan, 2012) 64. Our Time Our Story (Hsiao Chu-Chen, 2002) 65. A Chinese Ghost Story II (Ching Siu-tung, 1990) 66. Happy New Year (Farah Khan, 2014) 67. A Christmas Story (Bob Clark, 1983) 68. Twilight (Robert Benton, 1998) 69. Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (John Hancock, 1971) 70. Jackie Chan: My Stunts (Jackie Chan, 1999)
71. The Rebel (Charlie Nguyen, 2007) 72. The Iceman Cometh (Clarence Fok, 1989) 73. Friday the 13th (Sean S. Cunningham, 1980) 74. Love at Large (Alan Rudolph, 1990) 75. Sex and Zen (Michael Mak, 1991)
It is time once again for a Top 100 Films of All-Time list. As I’ve done for the last few years, the first ten spots on the list comprise a hypothetical Sight & Sound-style ballot. We had an on-going project related to this on The George Sanders Show, that is now based at Seattle Screen Scene. This top ten is presented here in chronological order. The remaining 90 films were randomly selected from a consideration set of 402 films, which excluded films that made my Top Tens in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.
The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940)
Mughal-e-azam (K. Asif, 1960)
Yearning (Naruse Mikio, 1964)
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (Bill Melendez, 1966)
Night of the Living Dead (George Romero, 1968)
The Terrorizers (Edward Yang, 1986)
Om Shanti Om (Farrah Khan, 2007)
Dusty Stacks of Mom (Jodie Mack, 2013)
The Midnight After (Fruit Chan, 2014)
Liz and the Blue Bird (Yamada Naoko, 2018)
Steamboat Bill, Jr (Charles Resiner, 1928)
Meet Me in St. Louis (Vincente Minnelli, 1944)
Miller’s Crossing (Joel & Ethan Coen, 1990)
The Gold Rush (Charles Chaplin, 1925)
Safety Last! (Sam Taylor & Fred C. Newmeyer, 1923)
Rushmore (Wes Anderson, 1998)
Dirty Ho (Lau Kar-leung, 1979)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (John Ford, 1962)
The Last Waltz (Martin Scorsese, 1978)
The Day He Arrives (Hong Sangsoo, 2011)
Awaara (Raj Kapoor, 1951)
Meshes of the Afternoon (Maya Deren, 1943)
Romancing in Thin Air (Johnnie To, 2012)
7 Women (John Ford, 1966)
Sparrow (Johnnie To, 2008)
Modern Times (Charles Chaplin, 1936)
Only Angels Have Wings (Howard Hawks, 1939)
The Godfather Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)
The Dawn Patrol (Howard Hawks, 1930)
The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, 1946)
The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949)
Little Women (Greta Gerwig, 2019)
Wagon Master (John Ford, 1950
The Manchurian Candidate (John Frankenheimer, 1962)
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (Joseph Sargent 1974)
The Outlaw Josey Wales (Clint Eastwood, 1976)
The Right Stuff (Philip Kaufman, 1983)
School on Fire (Ringo Lam, 1988)
Japanese Girls at the Harbor (Hiroshi Shimizu, 1933)
A Matter of Life and Death (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, 1946)
Histoire(s) du cinèma (Jean-Luc Godard, 1998)
Welcome to LA (Alan Rudolph, 1976)
Choose Me (Alan Rudolph, 1984)
Reds (Warren Beatty, 1981)
My Neighbor Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki, 1988)
Heaven’s Gate (Michael Cimino, 1980)
Cabaret (Bob Fosse, 1972)
Fantasia (Ben Sharpsteen, et al, 1940)
The Pan-American Exposition By Night (Edwin S. Porter, 1901)
Red River (Howard Hawks, 1948)
L’Atalante (Jean Vigo, 1934)
Sans soleil (Chris Marker, 1983)
Sátántangó (Béla Tarr, 1994)
All that Jazz (Bob Fosse, 1979)
New Rose Hotel (Abel Ferrara, 1998)
Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman, 2016)
Hanagatami (Obayashi Nobuhiko, 2017)
Les amants du pont-neuf (Leos Carax, 1991)
The Harder They Come (Perry Henzell, 1972)
Dawson City: Frozen Time (Bill Morrison, 2016)
Made in Hong Kong (Fruit Chan, 1997)
Three Times (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 2005)
Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone, 1968)
La danse: The Paris Opera Ballet (Frederick Wiseman, 2009)
Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975)
Desperately Seeking Susan (Susan Seidelman, 1985)
How Green was My Valley (John Ford, 1941)
Mahjong (Edward Yang, 1996)
Pauline at the Beach (Eric Rohmer, 1983)
Kid Auto Races at Venice (Henry Lehrman, 1914)
Legend of the Mountain (King Hu, 1979)
Maison du bonheur (Sofia Bohdanowicz, 2017)
The Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kershner, 1980)
My Left Eye Sees Ghosts (Johnnie To & Wai Ka-fai, 2002)
We are now halfway through the year and as hasbecome anannual traditionhere atThe End, it’s time to look back at the best movies of the year so far. As I discussed in the 2013 halfway post, the consensus movie-dating system is nonsensical and posits New York as the center of the universe. Far more logical (and much easier to use) is a system reliant on imdb’s dating system, which locates a film in whatever year it first played for an audience. That’s what we use here for all Rankings & Awards as it’s the most fair to all eras and areas. (A dating system reliant on playing in a certain locality I think can be valuable for a publication that is geographically specific, like a local newspaper or website. But here at The End, we have a global reach.)
A by-product of the system is that a number of films that first go into wide-release in any given year actually had their premiere in the year before. A number of the films on many critics’ halfway-point lists will include these films, films that find their proper home here on my 2019 list. And so here we have two lists: the Best Movies of 2020, following the strict imdb dating system, and the Best 2019 Movies of 2020, which includes those films from last year (and a couple from years before that) that you might find on a more chronologically-illogical list. On this list I’m including anything that didn’t get a theatrical release but was made available on VOD and is therefore eligible for this year’s Seattle Film Critics Awards. For obvious reasons, the New York theatrical release standard is even more nonsensical this year. I also have a third list, Best Unreleased Movies of 2019, of last year’s films that have yet to see a New York release and therefore don’t (yet) exist by the standards of most critics. And there’s a fourth list, a halfway version of my annual Best Older Movies list, counting the top movies I saw for the first time this year that are more than a few years old.
The Best Movies of 2020 (So Far)
1. The Woman Who Ran (Hong Sangsoo)
2. The History of the Seattle Mariners (Jon Bois)
3. Da 5 Bloods (Spike Lee)
4. We Have Boots (Evans Chan)
5. Birds of Prey (Cathy Yan)
6. New York New York (Spike Lee)
7. Be Water (Bao Nguyen)
8. The Cube Phantom (Alan Lau)
9. Enter the Fat Dragon (Wong Jing & Tanigaki Kenji)
10. Long Gone Summer (AJ Schnack)
The Best 2019 Movies of 2020 (So Far)
1. Yourself and Yours (Hong Sangsoo)
2. Fourteen (Dan Sallitt)
3. Made in Hong Kong (Fruit Chan)
4. Bacurau (Kleber Mendonça Filho & Juliano Dornelles)
5. Ride Your Wave (Masaaki Yuasa)
6. The Grand Bizarre (Jodie Mack)
7. Jallikattu (Lijo Jose Pellissery)
8. Hill of Freedom (Hong Sangsoo)
9. I Wish I Knew (Jia Zhangke)
10. Woman on the Beach (Hong Sangsoo)
11. MS Slavic 7 (Sofia Bohdanowicz & Deragh Campbell)
12. The Wild Goose Lake (Diao Yinan)
13. Weathering With You (Makoto Shinkai)
14. The Whistlers (Corneliu Porumboiu)
15. Young Ahmed (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne)
16. Disappearance at Clifton Hill (Albert Shin)
17. House of Hummingbird (Kim Bora)
The Best Unreleased Films of 2019 (So Far)
1. Labyrinth of Cinema (Obayashi Nobuhiko)
2. Chasing Dream (Johnnie To)
3. Martin Eden (Pietro Marcello)
4. Jeux de plage (Aimi Natsuto)
5. A Voluntary Year (Henner Winckler & Ulrich Köhler)
6. Heart (Jeong Gayoung)
7. Demolition Girl (Matsugami Genta)
8. The Bob Emergency (Jon Bois)
9. To Live To Sing (Johnny Ma)
10. Wet Season (Anthony Chen)
2020 Discoveries (So Far)
1. Mughal-e-Azam (K. Asif, 1960)
2. The Rocking Horsemen (Obayashi Nobuhiko, 1992)
3. Om Shanti Om (Farah Khan, 2007)
4. Duvidha (Mani Kaul, 1973)
5. Mother India (Mehboob Khan, 1957)
6. Lagaan (Ashutosh Gowariker, 2001)
7. The Harder They Come (Perry Henzell, 1972)
8. Original Cast Album: Company (DA Pennebaker, 1970)
9. Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje (V. Shantaram, 1955)
10. Dil Se.. (Mani Ratnam, 1998)
11. Welcome to LA (Alan Rudolph, 1976)
12. Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa (Kundan Shah, 1994)
13. Eega (SS Rajamouli, 2012)
14. Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (Itō Shunya, 1972)
15. Deewar (Yash Chopra, 1975)
16. Tamasha (Imtiaz Ali, 2015)
17. Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion (Itō Shunya, 1972)
18. The Crazies (George Romero, 1973)
19. Stray Cat Rock: Machine Animal (Hasebe Yasuharu, 1970)
20. Cageman (Jacob Cheung, 1992)
21. Aag (Raj Kapoor, 1948)
22. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (Aditya Chopra, 1995)
23. Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter (Hasebe Yasuharu, 1970)
24. Devdas (PC Barua, 1936)
25. Stray Cat Rock: Delinquent Girl Boss (Hasebe Yasuharu, 1970)
26. Main Hoon Na (Farah Khan, 2004)
27. Ordinary Heroes (Ann Hui, 1999)
28. Ram Jaane (Rajiv Mehra, 1995)
29. Amrapali (Lekh Tandon, 1966)
30. Fan ((Maneesh Sharma, 2016)
31. Gangs (Lawrence Ah Mon, 1988)
32. emale Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable (Itō Shunya, 1973)
33. Batman Forever (Joel Schumacher, 1995)
34. Enthiran (S. Shankar, 2010)
35. The Delinquent (Chang Cheh & Kuei Chih-hung, 1973)
1. The History of the Seattle Mariners
2. Lovers Rock
3. Septet: the Story of Hong Kong
4. Wife of a Spy
5. Undine
6. Days
7. Mangrove
8. The Woman Who Ran
9. Her Socialist Smile
10. Still Processing
11. Hold Me Back
12. Da 5 Bloods
13. Inside the Red Brick Wall
14. Tesla
15. We Have Boots
16. Monster Hunter
17. City Hall
18. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
19. Keep Rolling
20. Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes
21. Greyhound
22. The Cure
23. Shock Wave 2
24. The Calming
25. Hubie Halloween
26. Tenet
27. Point and Line to Plane
28. My Missing Valentine
29. Kung Fu Stuntmen
30. Debt Collectors
31. Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue
33. The Invisible Man
34. One Second
35. Hand Rolled Cigarette
36. World of Tomorrow 3
37. Hopper/Welles
38. Lost Bullet
39. Love Aaj Kal
40. Extraction
41. Crazy Samurai Musashi
42. The Eight Hundred
43. The Disciple
44. Love After Love
45. 12 Day Tale of the Monster that Died in 8
46. Birds of Prey
47. Minari
48. Demon Slayer: Mugen Train
49. Emma.
50. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
51. Another Round
52. American Utopia
53. Nomadland
54. Hamilton
55. Leap
56. The Paper Tigers
57. Palm Springs
58. The Rescue
59. Inventing the Future
60. MLK/FBI
61. Miss Agent
62. Sonic the Hedgehog
63. Mank
64. France Against the Robots
65. Promising Young Woman
66. October Rumbles
67. Class Action Park
68. The New Mutants
69. The Cube Phantom
70. Be Water
71. New York New York
72. Visit
73. Long Gone Summer
74. Trial of the Chicago 7
75. Wonder Woman 1984
76. Enter the Fat Dragon
1. The Heike Story
2. Drive My Car
3. Shadow Kingdom
4. In Front of Your Face
5. Benedetta
6. The Night
7. Licorice Pizza
8. West Side Story
9. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
10. Get Back
11. Karnan
12. Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched
13. Baby Assassins
14. A New Old Play
15. The French Dispatch
16. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair
17. Belle
18. A Writer’s Odyssey
19. Limbo
20. Yellow Dragon’s Village
21. Nothing Serious
22. The Velvet Underground
23. Inu-Oh
24. Matrix Resurrections
25. One Shot
26. The History of the Atlanta Falcons
27. Evangelion 3.0+1.01 Thrice Upon a Time
28. Can’t Get You Out of My Head
29. Drifting Petals
30. Introduction
31. Old
32. Cliff Walkers
33. Sycorax
34. Just Remembering
35. Long Promised Road
36. Yanagawa
37. Dune
38. Hell Hath No Fury
39. The Green Knight
40. Queen of Triads
41. Bergman Island
42. The Falls
43. The Power of the Dog
44. Justice League
45. Coffin Homes
46. The Good Woman of Sichuan
47. The Sniper
48. The Worst Person in the World
49. Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time
50. Judas and the Black Messiah
51. Venom: Let There Be Carnage
52. The Battle at Lake Changjin
53. The Voyeurs
54. Kate
55. A Janitor
56. The Witches of the Orient
57. The Last Duel
58. Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas
59. The Fable: The Killer Who Doesn’t Kill
60. Fight Against Evil
61. Cry Macho
62. Once Upon a Time in Uganda
63. Malignant
64. Pompo: The Cinephile
65. The Card Counter
66. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
67. Muppets Haunted Mansion
68. Mad God
69. Spider-Man: No Way Home
70. JFK Revisited: Through The Looking Glass
71. The Suicide Squad
72. Schemes in Antiques
73. Eternals
74. Raging Fire
75. Disney’s FastPass: A Complicated History
76. The Many Saints of Newark
77. No Time to Die
78. Nightmare Alley
79. The Mole Song: Final
80. Queenpins
81. The Great Director
82. The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Dragon Tamer
83. King Richard
84. Kid 90
85. Black Widow
86. Cloudy Mountain
87. Who Are You, Charlie Brown?
88. New York Ninja
89. Diary of a Wimpy Kid
90. As We Like It
91. CODA
92. Don’t Look Up
93. House of Gucci
94. Eyes of Tammy Faye
95. Framing Britney Spears
96. Gunpowder Milkshake
97. Woodstock ’99: Peace Love and Rage
1. Showing Up
2. The Novelist’s Film
3. The Fabelmans
4. Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1
5. Hundreds of Beavers
6. Three Thousand Years of Longing
7. Walk Up
8. Trenque Lauquen
9. Shin Ultraman
10. Captain Ahab: The Story of Dave Stieb
11. Detective vs. Sleuths
12. Decision to Leave
13. The King of Wuxia
14. Apollo 10 1/2
15. Avatar: The Way of Water
16. Tár
17. Where
18. RRR
19. Nope
20. Thirteen Lives
21. Section 1
22. The First Slam Dunk
23. Remembering Every Night
24. The Battle at Lake Changjin II
25. Armageddon Time
26. Sayonara, Girls.
27. Crimes of the Future
28. White Noise
29. When Morning Comes I Feel Empty
30. Blue Island
31. The Banshees of Inishirin
32. Ambulance
33. Prey
34. Turn Every Page
35. Mondays
36. Fire of Love
37. How to Score Ten Runs in the First Inning and Lose
38. Vikram
39. Where the Wind Blows
40. Suzume
41. Hustle
42. Elvis
43. Confess, Fletch
44. The Munsters
45. Furies
46. Disney Channel’s Theme: A History Mystery
47. The Sparring Partner
48. The Eternal Daughter
49. The Princess
50. It’s What Each Person Needs
51. New Kung Fu Cult Master (Parts I & II)
52. Dead for a Dollar
53. Snipers
54. Fall
55. Special Delivery
56. The Roundup
57. Lost Bullet 2
58. Eye for an Eye: The Blind Swordsman
59. Bad City
60. Next Sohee
61. Enter the Girl Dragon
62. A Light Never Goes Out
63. There is a Stone
64. Lynch/Oz
65. Everything Everywhere All at Once
66. Eo
67. Hand
68. The Killer
69. Top Gun: Maverick
70. Female Special Police Officer
71. Confession
72. Emily the Criminal
73. Broker
74. The Woman King
75. Don’t Worry Darling
76. Glass Onion
77. The Northman
78. Warriors of Future
79. Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness
80. Accident Man: Hitman’s Holiday
81. Mutant Ghost Wargirl
82. The Batman
83. The People You’re Paying to Be in Shorts
84. Barbarian
85. Day Shift
86. Queen of Triads 2
87. Death on the Nile
88. The Kids in the Hall: Comedy Punks
89. We Are Still Here
90. George Carlin’s American Dream
91. Hansan: Rising Dragon
92. Werewolf By Night
93. The Menu
94. Convenience Story
95. Song of the Assassins
96. Downton Abbey: A New Era
97. Thor: Love and Thunder
98. Selena Gomez: My Mind and Me
99. I Want You Back
100. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules
101. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
102. Scream
103. Wolf Pack
104. Legendary in Action!
105. Morbius
1. Oppenheimer
2. Kubi
3. Rocky aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani
4. Baby Assassins: 2 Babies
5. 100 Yards
6. Jigarthanda DoubleX
7. Evil Does Not Exist
8. The Taste of Things
9. Godzilla Minus One
10. Hidden Blade
11. Afire
12. Killers of the Flower Moon
13. In Water
14. Kyrie
15. The Boy and the Heron
16. River
17. Menus Plaisirs-Les Troisgros
18. Fallen Leaves
19. Jawan
20. Fist of the Condor
21. The Final Game of Death
22. All Ears
23. Mad Fate
24. Ponniyin Selvan Part 2
25. In Our Day
26. Plastic
27. Sleep
28. Full River Red
29. Asteroid City
30. A Guilty Conscience
31. Raid on the Lethal Zone
32. Only the River Flows
33. Barbie
34. Woman of the Hour
35. Ferrari
36. May December
37. Poor Things
38. Anatomy of a Fall
39. Perfect Days
40. John Wick Chapter 4
41. Hit Man
42. You Hurt My Feelings
43. The Killer
44. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret
45. Ballerina
46. Absence
47. The Lyricist Wannabe
48. Death Notice
49. Blackberry
50. Leo
51. Onlookers
52. The Holdovers
53. The History of the Minnesota Vikings
54. Pathaan
55. Sound! Euphonium: Ensemble Contest
56. Shin Kamen Rider
57. Silent Night
58. Saga Saga
59. Art College 1994
60. Enter the Clones of Bruce
61. Following the Sound
62. Bottoms
63. A Haunting in Venice
64. Extraction 2
65. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
66. Moscow Mission
67. Shadow of Fire
68. Napoleon
69. Eileen
70. Past Lives
71. The Zone of Interest
72. No Hard Feelings
73. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning
74. The Wandering Earth II
75. The Roundup: No Way Out
76. Boudica: Queen of War
77. Indiana Jones & the Dial of Destiny
78. Between the White Key and the Black Key
79. Fight Against Evil 2
80. The White Storm 3: Heaven or Hell
81. The Breaking Ice
82. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse
83. Anyone But You
84. I Did It My Way
85. Albert Brooks: Defending My Life
86. Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3
87. Queen of Triads 3
88. Self-Reliance
89. Maestro
90. The Marvels
91. The Pigeon Tunnel
92. The Super Marios Bros. Movie
93. Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
94. Sakra
95. Vital Sign
96. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
97. Scream VI
98. Kitty the Killer
99: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
100. Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever
2024:
2024 Endy Awards
1. Furiosa
2. Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1
3. Eephus
4. Baby Assassins Everyday!
5. Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In
6. She Taught Me Serendipity
7. Broken Rage
8. The Shadow Strays
9. Baby Assassins: Nice Days
10. Juror #2
11. 11 Rebels
12. Black Dog
13. Chime
14. A Traveler’s Needs
15. The Colors Within
16. Megalopolis
17. Caught by the Tides
18. Cloud
19. By the Stream
20. The Gesuidouz
21. God Hates a Coward
22. I Saw the TV Glow
23. Abiding Nowhere
24. Look Back
25. The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel
26. Ghost Killer
27. Rendez-vous avec Pol Pot
28. Here
29. The Killer
30. Vengeance Most Fowl
31. The Kadarius Toney Fan Club
32. Anora
33. Desert of Namibia
34. Trap
35. Escape from the 21st Century
36. Reform!
37. Second Life
38. Crisis Negotiators
39. Dead Talents Society
40. See You Tomorrow
41. Dahomey
42. Drive-Away Dolls
43. Hideko Akabane’s Bodyguards
44. The Fall Guy
45. That’s Not Entirely Accurate
46. One More Shot
47. The Bodyguard
48. Blade of Fury
49. Possession Street
50. Made in England
51. Eye for an Eye 2
52. Nothing Can’t Be Undone By a Hotpot
53. Veteran 2: I, the Executioner
54. Challengers
55. Serpent’s Path
56. The Last Dance
57. Dune 2
58. Daughter’s Daughter
59. The History of Slipping on Banana Peels
60. Twisters
61. Drunken Prodigy
62. Conclave
63. Would You Like to Buy a Mattress?
64. A Complete Unknown
65. Striking Rescue
66. The Prosecutor
67. Alien: Romulus
68. Wild Agent 2: Peach Assassination
69. The Art of the Calendar
70. The Brutalist
71. Customs Frontline
72. Shell Girl
73. The Roundup: Punishment
74. Black Storm
75. Rainier: A Beer Odyssey
76. Sniper 2
77. Yacht Rock: A DOCKumentary
78. Cunk on Life
79. Nosferatu
80. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
81. Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F
82. Steve!
83. Jim Henson Idea Man
84. Treasure Hunting
85. Civil War
86. Deadpool & Wolverine
87. Brats
88. An Arrow through the Heart
89. Madame Web
90. SWAT Angels in Mission
2025:
1. Rewrite
2. CITY the Animation
3. Sinners
4. Shifty
5. Blazing Fists
6. Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants
7. In the Lost Lands
8. Monomachi Outsiders
9. Bullet Train Explosion
10. Fool Time
11. Red Sonja
12. Deep in the Mountains
13. Superman
14. Girl on Edge
15. Thug Life
16. The Phoenician Scheme
17. Sham
18. Amoeba
19. Ordinary Life
20. Water Sports
21. Glass Heart
22. Predator: Killer of Killers
23. Girls on Wire
24. Dongji Rescue
25. Through Your Eyes
26. Diablo
27. A House of Dynamite
28. A Useful Ghost
29. Scorigami
30. Pee-wee as Himself
31. Ali
32. 28 Years Later
33. Weapons
34. Ballerina
35. Den of Thieves 2: Pantera
36. Prisoner of War
37. The Legend of Condor Hero: What is Love
38. Fantastic Four
39. Informant
40. We Beat the Dream Team
41. Happy Gilmore 2
42. Mr. Scorsese
43. Billy Joel: And So It Goes
44. Holy Night: Demon Hunters
45. Becoming Led Zeppelin
46. Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning
47. Smashing Frank
48. Final Destination: Bloodlines
49. A Very Straight Neck
50. The Stone
51. Dear Stranger
52. A South-Facing Window
53. Behind the Shadows
54. Correct Me If I’m Wrong
55. John Candy: I Like Me
56. Thunderbolts
57. The Prosecutor
58. Lost Bullet 3
59. The Old Woman with the Knife
60. So Beautiful Wonderful and Lovely
61. The Old Way
62. Affinity
63. The Red Banca
64. Another Simple Favor
65. Captain America: Brave New World
1. Oki’s Movie (Hong Sangsoo, 2010)
2. The Midnight After (Fruit Chan, 2014)
3. Baahubali (SS Rajamouli, 2015/2017)
4. Ash is Purest White (Jia Zhangke, 2018)
5. Liz and the Blue Bird (Naoko Yamada, 2018)
6. Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2014)
7. Yourself & Yours (Hong Sangsoo, 2016)
8. The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 2015)
9. Paterson (Jim Jarmusch, 2016)
10. The Grandmaster (Wong Kar-wai, 2013)
11. The Day He Arrives (Hong Sangsoo, 2011)
12. Amanda (Mikhaël Hers, 2018)
13. Romancing in Thin Air (Johnnie To, 2012)
14. Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons (Stephen Chow & Derek Kwok, 2013)
15. Meek’s Cutoff (Kelly Reichardt, 2010)
16. The Missing Picture (Rithy Panh, 2013)
17. Blackhat (Michael Mann, 2015)
18. Blind Detective (Johnnie To, 2013)
19. Claire’s Camera (Hong Sangsoo, 2017)
20. The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019)
21. Blackkklansman (Spike Lee, 2018)
22. A Silent Voice (Naoko Yamada, 2016)
23. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (Isao Takahata, 2013)
24. The Grand Bizarre (Jodie Mack, 2018)
25. Asako I & II (Ryūsuke Hasmaguchi, 2018)
26. Don’t Go Breaking My Heart 2 (Johnnie To, 2014)
27. Let the Bullets Fly (Jiang Wen, 2010)
28. Arabian Nights (Miguel Gomes, 2015)
29. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)
30. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (Paul WS Anderson, 2016)
31. Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami, 2010)
32. Dawson City: Frozen Time (Bill Morrison, 2016)
33. Wolf Children (Mamoru Hosada, 2012)
34. Grass (Hong Sangsoo, 2018)
35. A Touch of Sin (Jia Zhangke, 2013)
36. Bad Genius (Nattawut Poonpiriya, 2017)
37. Support the Girls (Andrew Bujalski, 2018)
38. Little Women (Greta Gerwig, 2019
39. The Wind Rises (Hayao Miyazaki, 2013)
40. Shin Godzilla (Hideaki Anno, 2016)
41. Dusty Stacks of Mom (Jodie Mack, 2013)
42. Mother! (Darren Aronofsky, 2017)
43. La última película (Raya Martin & Mark Peranson, 2013)
44. Fourteen (Dan Sallitt, 2019)
45. 120 Beats per Minute (Robin Campillo, 2017)
46. Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller, 2015)
47. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2010)
48. Night is Short, Walk on Girl (Masaaki Yuasa, 2017)
49. SPL 2: A Time for Consequences (Soi Cheang, 2015)
50. Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson, 2012)
51. Hill of Freedom (Hong Sangsoo, 2014)
52. Mountains May Depart (Jia Zhangke, 2015)
53. Hanagatami (Nobuhiko Obayashi, 2017)
54. Cemetery of Splendour (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2015)
55. Love in a Puff (Pang Ho-cheung, 2010)
56. Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade, 2016)
57. Journey to the West (Tsai Ming-liang, 2014)
58. The Last Jedi (Rian Johnson, 2017)
59. Drug War (Johnnie To, 2012)
60. Like Someone in Love (Abbas Kiarostami, 2012)
61. The Other Side of the Wind (Orson Welles, 2018)
62. Happy Hour (Ryūsuke Hamaguchi, 2015)
63. Our Time Will Come (Ann Hui, 2017)
64. Lincoln (Steven Spielberg, 2012)
65. First Love (Takashi Miike, 2019)
66. Romance Joe (Lee Kwangkuk, 2011)
67. Girl Walk//All Day (Jacob Krupnick, 2011)
68. Lynch: A History (David Shields, 2019)
69. Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Bi Gan, 2018)
70. National Gallery (Frederick Wiseman, 2014)
71. Your Name. (Makoto Shinkai, 2016)
72. The Royal Road (Jenni Olson, 2015)
73. Margaret (Kenneth Lonergan, 2011)
74. Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman, 2016)
75. A Home with a View (Herman Yau, 2019)
76. The Deep Blue Sea (Terence Davies, 2011)
77. Hypernormalization (Adam Curtis, 2016)
78. On the Beach at Night Alone (Hong Sangsoo, 2017)
79. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino, 2019)
80. Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2017)
81. Phoenix (Christian Petzold, 2014)
82. Mistress America (Noah Baumbach, 2015)
83. Stray Dogs (Tsai Ming-liang, 2013)
84. The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese, 2013)
85. Resident Evil: Retribution (Paul WS Anderson, 2012)
86. List (Hong Sangsoo, 2011)
87. K-On! The Movie (Naoko Yamada, 2011)
88. Transit (Christian Petzold, 2018)
89. Don’t Go Breaking My Heart (Johnnie To, 2011)
90. If Beale Street Could Talk (Barry Jenkins, 2018)
91. Damsels in Distress (Whit Stillman, 2011)
92. Crosscurrent (Yang Chao, 2016)
93. Carlos (Olivier Assayas, 2010)
94. Jauja (Lisandro Alonso, 2014)
95. Kaili Blues (Bi Gan, 2015)
96. Maison du bonheur (Sofia Bohdanowicz, 2017)
97. Bacurau (Kleber Mendonça Filho, 2019)
98. Tabu (Miguel Gomes, 2012)
99. The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2012)
100. Ace Attorney (Takashi Miike, 2012)
101. Aquarius (Kleber Mendonça Filho, 2016)
102. 24 Frames (Abbas Kiarostami, 2017)
103. A Quiet Passion (Terence Davies, 2016)
104. Mekong Hotel (Apichatpoing Weerasethakul, 2012)
105. The Forbidden Room (Guy Maddin & Evan Johnson, 2015)
106. Pitch Perfect (Jason Moore, 2012)
107. Our Sunhi (Hong Sangsoo, 2013)
108. The Crossing Part One (John Woo, 2014)
109. Things to Come (Mia Hansen-Love, 2016)
110. Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse (Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey & Rodney Rothman, 2018)
111. Rogue One (Gareth Edwards, 2016)
112. By the Time It Gets Dark (Anocha Suwichakornpong, 2016)
113. A Matter of Interpretation (Lee Kwangkuk, 2014)
114. Little Forest (Yim Soonrye, 2018)
115. Silence (Martin Scorsese, 2016)
116. Cold War (Paweł Pawlikowski, 2018)
117. Marriage Story (Noah Baumbach, 2019)
118. A Hidden Life (Terrence Malick, 2019)
119. Camera falls from airplane and lands in pig pen—MUST WATCH END!! (Mia Munselle, 2014)
120. No. 1 Chung Ying Street (Derek Chiu, 2018)
121. Legend of the Demon Cat (Chen Kaige, 2017)
122. Three (Johnnie To, 2016)
123. The Hedonists (Jia Zhangke, 2016)
124. The Case of Hana and Alice (Shunji Iwai, 2015)
125. Pompeii (Paul WS Anderson, 2014)
126. Sunset Song (Terence Davies, 2015)
127. The Dead Don’t Die (Jim Jarmusch, 2019)
128. Wuxia (Peter Chan, 2011)
129. Ex Libris: New York Public Library (Frederick Wiseman, 2017)
130. Murmur of the Hearts (Sylvia Chang, 2015)
131. In Another Country (Hong Sangsoo, 2012)
132. The Three Musketeers (Paul WS Anderson, 2011)
133. Nobody’s Daughter Haewon (Hong Sangsoo, 2013)
134. Hit 2 Pass (Kurt Walker, 2014)
135. In this Corner of the World (Sunao Katabuchi, 2016)
136. The Age of Shadows (Kim Jiwon, 2016)
137. Angels Wear White (Vivian Qu, 2017)
138. 77 Heartbreaks (Herman Yau, 2017)
139. John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection (Julien Faraut, 2018)
140. Non-Fiction (Olivier Assayas, 2018)
141. Night Across the Street (Raúl Ruiz, 2012)
142. Unstoppable (Tony Scott, 2010)
143. World of Tomorrow (Don Hertzfeldt, 2015)
144. Highway (Imtiaz Ali, 2014)
145. Uncut Gems (Josh & Benny Safdie, 2019)
146. MS Slavic 7 (Sofia Bohdanowicz & Deragh Campbell, 2019)
147. Shirkers (Sandi Tan, 2018)
148. Bisbee ’17 (Robert Greene, 2018)
149. Pumpkin Movie (Sophy Romvari, 2017)
150. Downsizing (Alexander Payne, 2017)
151. Train to Busan (Yeon Sangho, 2016)
152. Hit the Night (Jeong Ga-young, 2017)
153. Peterloo (Mike Leigh, 2018)
154. Soulmate (Derek Tsang, 2016)
155. Moonlight (Barry Jenkins, 2016)
156. The Coffin in the Mountain (Xin Yukun, 2014)
157. Mysteries of Lisbon (Raúl Ruiz, 2010)
158. Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charle Brown (Frank Molieri & Andy Beall, 2011)
159. The Lighthouse (Robert Eggers, 2019)
160. Thomas Mao (Zhu Web, 2010)
161. Parasite (Bong Joonho, 2019)
162. The Last Poems Trilogy (Sofia Bohdanowicz, 2016)
163. I Am Not Your Negro (Raoul Peck, 2016)
164. A Bride for Rip Van Winkle (Shunji Iwai, 2016)
165. Bad Black (Nabwanna IGG, 2016)
166. Chasing Dream (Johnnie To, 2019)
167. 1987: When the Day Comes (Jang Joonhwan, 2017)
168. Tremble All You Want (Akiko Ohku, 2017)
169. The Village of No Return (Chen Yu-hsun, 2017)
170. Rolling Thunder Revue (Martin Scorsese, 2019)
171. Jupiter Ascending (Lana & Lilly Wachowski, 2015)
172. The New King of Comedy (Stephen Chow, 2019)
173. Yellowing (Chan Tze-woon, 2016)
174. 607 (Liu Jiayin, 2010)
175. The Shallows (Jaume Collet-Serra, 2016)
176. To the Wonder (Terrence Malick, 2012)
177. What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire? (Roberto Minervini, 2018)
178. Dolemite is My Name (Craig Brewer, 2019)
179. Everybody Wants Some!!! (Richard Linklater, 2016)
180. Port of Call (Philip Yung, 2015)
181. Go Away Mr. Tumor (Han Yan, 2015)
182. Office (Johnnie To, 2015)
183. Obvious Child (Gillian Robespierre, 2014)
184. When Night Falls (Ying Liang, 2012)
185. Viola (Matias Piñeiro, 2012)
186. Noah (Darren Aronfosky, 2014)
187. Life without Principle (Johnnie To, 2011)
188. Hard To Say (Lee Kwangkuk, 2013)
189. Sully (Clint Eastwood, 2016)
190. Let Your Heart Be Light (Sophy Romvari, 2016)
191. Martin Eden (Pietro Marcello)
192. Faces Places (Agnès Varda & JR, 2017)
193. The Wasted Times (Er Cheng, 2016)
194. Love and Goodbye and Hawaii (Shingo Matsumura, 2017)
195. Last Letter (Shunji Iwai, 2018)
196. The Crossing (Bai Xue, 2018)
197. Horse Money (Pedro Costa, 2014)
198. Love Education (Sylvia Chang, 2017)
199. Hermia & Helena (Matías Piñeiro, 2016)
200. Hahaha (Hong Sangsoo, 2010)
201. The Mermaid (Stephen Chow, 2016)
202. Ex (Heiward Mak, 2011)
203. In Jackson Heights (Frederick Wiseman, 2015)
204. Jeux de plage (Aimi Natsuto, 2019)
205. 88:88 (Isiah Medina, 2015)
206. It’s Such a Beautiful Day (Don Hertzfeldt, 2012)
207. Four Ways to Die in My Hometown (Chai Chunya, 2013)
208. Deadwood: the Movie (Daniel Minahan, 2019)
209. At Berkeley (Frederick Wiseman, 2013)
210. The Florida Project (Sean Baker, 2017)
211. Memories Look at Me (Song Fang 2012)
212. Elle (Paul Verhoeven, 2016)
213. Gallants (Derek Kwok & Clement Cheng, 2010)
214. Carol (Todd Haynes, 2015)
215. Knight of Cups (Terrence Malick, 2015)
216. Weathering with You (Makoto Shinkai, 2019)
217. Gone with the Bullets (Jiang Wen, 2014)
218. Tokyo Tribe (Sion Sono, 2014)
219. Sixty Six (Lewis Klahr, 2015)
220. Before We Vanish (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2017)
The End of Cinema 