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Cinemension: Film's Extra Dimension

 

Film Essays  & Reviews: Alphabetically : By Date  : By Director : By Genre : By Website : Contact

 

This list is a compilation of films that I have seen or reviewed, which could be argued as great films. 

1) I only list films I’ve actually seen, and the list will grow, with time and viewing. 2) While subjective, in some ways, none of the films are meritless nor dependent upon an emotional response.

3) The genres are c = comedy; d = drama; c-d = comedy & drama; doc = documentary; h = horror; and sf = science fiction. Musicals and silent films are not so noted, but under separate listings.

4) The types represent the type of great film it is: g = great (meaning inarguably great- a 95 or above out of 100); ng = near-great (meaning arguments can be made, but the film may fall just shy of unadulterated greatness- 90-94 out of 100, yet it is even better than excellent- 85-89 out of 100); and gg = genre greatness (meaning the film is a great horror or musical film, but may well fall short of overall filmic greatness).

Scanning the list from top to bottom, (as first uploaded on 6/12/08) there will be some surprises. A few explanations: Woody Allen’s Annie Hall is usually listed as his greatest film, but clearly later works as Manhattan and Stardust Memories go beyond it. Annie Hall, is therefore a near-great film, not a great one, but I accept that arguments can be made for it. Similarly, perennial ‘greatest films’ like Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal, Federico Fellini’s, and Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon, just miss greatness. The first is too heavyhanded in its symbolism, the second too long and bloated, and the last one suffers for its abysmal last five minutes. But, they are all eminently arguable. There are surprises, even if genre surprises: Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Alien make it as unadulterated greats, whereas the only Coen Brothers film on the list is O Brother, Where Art Thou? Then there are some B films- like Curse Of The Cat People, and kids films like My Dog Skip. Even the often reviled Godzilla’s Revenge makes the list as a genre great under kids films. But, where are the Spielberg films and Hitchcock classics? Well, Spielberg’s films are garbage- starting from the screenplays to the acting, and ending with the maudlin banalities that suffuse everything from E.T. The Extraterrestrial to Schindler’s List. His buddy, George Lucas, however, makes the cut, but not for his trite Star Wars films, nor even American Graffiti, but for his first film THX-1138. It was all downhill after that. And Hitch? Well, aside from The Lodger- a silent film, Psycho- which, like Rashomon, is a near great, the only film I have seen of his that is near great is The Birds. Forget the trite Vertigo and Rear Window. Better arguments for even near greatness can be made for Strangers On A Train, Rope, and Frenzy. But, all of them fail, due to Hitchcock’s essential shallowness and plot-heavy predictability, no matter how well crafted. On a similar note, most of Frank Capra's films have not dated well, except for It's A Wonderful Life, which was not as well regarded as his other classics, upon its release. Then there are comedies, from the Marx Brothers to Billy Wilder to silent stars Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd. I’ve left off Laurel and Hardy and Abbott and Costello films because, save for Babes In Toyland, it’s been years since I’ve watched them. Serials suffer a similar fate until rewatched. Anyway, that’s enough for now; enjoy the list, argue over it, and click on the linked reviews for further explanations of why the films are ranked as they are. If you have any suggestions or arguments you can email me at cinemension - at- gmail- dot- com.

Director/Other Film Name Genre Type
Woody Allen Annie Hall c gg
Interiors d g
Manhattan c g
Stardust Memories c g
Hannah And Her Sisters c-d g
Radio Days c g
Another Woman d g
Crimes And Misdemeanors c-d g
Husbands And Wives c-d g
Sweet And Lowdown c gg
Match Point d ng
Cassandra's Dream d ng
Broadway Danny Rose c gg
Robert Altman M*A*S*H c g
Nashville d g
Lindsay Anderson This Sporting Life d g
Theo Angelopoulos Eternity And A Day d g
Landscape In The Mist d g
Trilogy: The Weeping Meadow d g
Ulysses' Gaze d ng
The Travelling Players d ng
The Suspended Step Of The Stork d g
Michelangelo Antonioni La Notte d g
L'Eclisse d g
The Red Desert d g
Blowup d g
The Passenger d ng
Il Grido d ng
Darren Aronofsky The Wrestler d g
Ingmar Bergman Fanny And Alexander d g
Wild Strawberries d g
The Seventh Seal d ng
Persona d g
Shame d g
Scenes From A Marriage d g
Autumn Sonata d g
Winter Light d g
The Silence d g
A Passion d g
From The Life Of The Marionettes d g
Robert Bresson Au Hasard Balthazar d g
Mouchette d g
A Man Escaped d g
James Cameron Terminator 2: Judgment Day sf g
The Terminator sf gg
Aliens sf gg
Michael Cacyoyannis Electra d ng
Iphigenia d g
Frank Capra It's A Wonderful Life d g
It Happened One Night c gg
John Cassavetes Faces d g
The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie d g
Opening Night d g
Nuri Bilge Ceylan Distant d g
Climates d g
Once Upon A Time In Anatolia d g
Winter Sleep d g
The Wild Pear Tree d g
       
Charlie Chaplin The Gold Rush c gg
Modern Times c gg
The Great Dictator c gg
City Lights c g
The Kid c gg
  The Circus c gg
Limelight d g
Henri-Georges Clouzot Diabolique d g
The Wages Of Fear d g
Coen Brothers O Brother, Where Art Thou? c gg
Comedies It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World c gg
The Odd Couple c gg
Borat c gg
Waiing For Guffman c gg
Best In Show c gg
A Boy Named Charlie Brown c gg
Francis Ford Coppola Apocalypse Now d g
The Conversation d g
The Godfather d g
The Godfather, Part II d g
Patton d ng
Vittorio De Sica Umberto D. d g
The Bicycle Thief d g
Documentaries The Up Series doc g
56 Up doc g
49 Up  doc g
A Certain Kind Of Death doc gg
Koyaanisquatsi doc gg
Winged Migration doc gg
The Fog Of War doc g
Capturing The Friedmans doc g
The Kid Stays In The Picture doc g
Japan's War In Colour doc g
For All Mankind doc g
The War Game doc g
Harlan County, USA doc g
Joan Rivers: A Piece Of Work doc gg
Mr. Death: The Rise And Fall Of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. doc g
Mr. Untouchable doc g
  Eyes Of The Mothman doc g
Nietzsche And The Nazis doc g
Sky Island doc g
The Ends Of The Earth doc g
Ribbon Of Sand doc ng
Remembered Earth: New Mexico's High Desert doc ng
Crown Of The Continent doc g
Man On Wire doc g
Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room doc g
Casino Jack And The United States Of Money doc g
The Most Dangerous Man In America doc ng
The Atomic Cafe doc g
Anvil: The Story Of Anvil! doc gg
The Atomic Cafe doc ng
     
Drama The Salton Sea d g
L.A. Confidential d g
Regeneration (uncut) d g
Memento d g
The Big Red One d ng
Nine Lives d g
A River Runs Through It d ng
Red River d gg
Vera Drake d ng
  Slaughterhouse-Five d ng
The French Connection d gg
The Public Enemy d gg
  I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang d ng
Requiem For A Heavyweight d g
The Homecoming: A Christmas Story d g
The Battle Of Algiers d ng
Out Of The Past d gg
The Bear d gg
       
Carl-Theodor Dreyer Vampyr h g
Day Of Wrath d ng
The Passion Of Joan Of Arc d gg
Victor Erice The Spirit Of The Beehive d g
El Sur d g
Federico Fellini La Dolce Vita d g
Nights Of Cabiria d g
Amarcord c g
  c-d ng
John Ford Stagecoach d ng
Terry Gilliam Brazil c-d g
D.W. Griffith The Birth Of A Nation d gg
Intolerance d gg
Broken Blossoms d gg
Werner Herzog The Enigma Of Kaspar Hauser d g
Little Dieter Needs To Fly doc g
My Best Fiend doc g
Nosferatu: Phantom Of The Night h g
Fitzcarraldo d g
Aguirre: The Wrath Of God d g
Rescue Dawn d ng
Incident At Loch Ness c gg
My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done? d ng
Alfred Hitchcock The Lodger d gg
Psycho h ng
The Birds h g
Lifeboat d ng
Kon Ichikawa Fires On The Plain c-d g
The Burmese Harp d g
Shohei Imamura Guns And Battleships c-d gg
  The Insect Woman d g
       
Independents Office Space c gg
The Red Violin d ng
My Dog Skip d gg
October Sky d gg
Thirteen Days d gg
Sexy Beast d g
 
       
Jean-Pierre Jeunet A Very Long Engagement d g
Amelie c ng
Elia Kazan On The Waterfront d ng
A Streetcar Named Desire d ng
Buster Keaton The General c gg
Kids South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut c g
Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol c-d g
Philip Kaufman Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978) d g
       
Abbas Kiarostami Taste Of Cherry d ng
Close-Up d ng
Krzystof Kieslowski Blue d g
Red d g
The Double Life Of Veronique d ng
The Decalogue d ng
Masaki Kobayashi The Human Condition d ng
Harakiri d g
Samurai Rebellion d g
Hirokazu Kore-eda Still Walking d g
       
Stanley Kubrick Paths Of Glory d g
Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb c g
2001: A Space Odyssey sf g
A Clockwork Orange d g
The Shining h ng
Full Metal Jacket d ng
Eyes Wide Shut d g
Akira Kurosawa Ikiru d g
Rashomon d ng
Seven Samurai d g
The Bad Sleep Well d g
Kagemusha d ng
High And Low d g
Ran d ng
Red Beard d g
Fritz Lang M d ng
Metropolis d g
David Lean Dr. Zhivago d g
Lawrence Of Arabia d g
The Bridge On The River Kwai d g
Sergio Leone Once Upon A Time In The West d g
Once Upon A Time In America d g
For A Few Dollars More d ng
The Good, The Bad And The Ugly d g
Duck, You Sucker d ng
Sidney Lumet Network c ng
Serpico d ng
Dog Day Afternoon d ng
Val Lewton/Jacques Tourneur Cat People h gg
Curse Of The Cat People d g
Night Of The Demon h gg
Harold Lloyd shorts c gg
Terrence Malick Days Of Heaven d g
The Thin Red Line d g
The New World d g
Badlands d ng
The Tree Of Life d ng
       
Louis Malle My Dinner With Andre d g
Joseph Mankiewicz All About Eve d ng
Chris Marker La Jetee d g
Sans Soleil doc ng
The Marx Brothers Animal Crackers c gg
Monkey Business c gg
Duck Soup c gg
A Night At The Opera c gg
A Day At The Races c gg
Steve McQueen Hunger d g
Shame d g
12 Years A Slave d g
Kenji Mizoguchi Ugetsu Momogatari d g
Sansho The Bailiff d g
The Life Of Oharu d ng
Musicals Moulin Rouge m gg
Evita m gg
The Sound Of Music m gg
West Side Story m gg
Yankee Doodle Dandy m gg
Mikio Naruse When A Woman Ascends The Stairs d ng
Nagisa Oshima Violence At Noon d ng
Sing A Song Of Sex d g
Yasujiro Ozu Early Summer d g
Late Spring d g
Tokyo Story d g
Floating Weeds d ng
An Autumn Afternoon d g
The End Of Summer d ng
Sam Peckinpah Major Dundee d ng
The Wild Bunch d ng
Roman Polanski Repulsion h g
Knife In The Water d g
Powell & Pressburger Black Narcissus d g
The Red Shoes d ng
Satyajit Ray Pather Panchali d g
Aparajito d ng
Apur Sansar d g
The Coward d ng
Carol Reed The Third Man d g
Rob Reiner This Is Spinal Tap c gg
Alain Resnais Last Year At Marienbad d g
George Romero Night Of The Living Dead h g
Dawn Of The Dead h gg
Roberto Rossellini Paisan d ng
Germany Year Zero d g
       
John Sayles Lone Star d g
Matewan d g
The Secret Of Roan Inish d gg
Sci Fi-Horror Planeta Burg sf gg
Carnival Of Souls h g
Planet Of The Apes sf g
The Andromeda Strain sf gg
THX 1138 sf gg
Dark City sf g
Alien sf-h g
Aliens sf gg
Gojira-Godzilla: King Of The Monsters sf-h gg
Godzilla's Revenge sf gg
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers sf gg
Forbidden Planet sf gg
The Thing From Another World sf gg
The Day The Earth Stood Still sf gg
Freaks h gg
Dracula h gg
Things To Come sf g
Frankenstein h gg
Bride Of Frankenstein h gg
King Kong (1933) h gg
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978) d g
Goldfinger d gg
Dr. No d gg
Martin Scorsese Mean Streets d g
Taxi Driver d g
Raging Bull d g
The King Of Comedy d g
After Hours c g
Goodfellas d g
Silents Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde h gg
The Phantom Of The Opera h gg
The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari h gg
The Golem h gg
Nosferatu: A Symphony Of Horror h gg
Steven Soderbergh The Limey d g
Jill Sprecher 13 Conversations About One Thing d g
George Stevens Shane d g
Oliver Stone The Doors d g
JFK d g
Nixon d g
Andrei Tarkovsky Solaris sf g
Stalker sf gg
The Mirror d g
Ivan's Childhood d g
Andrei Rublev d g
Bela Tarr Damnation d ng
Satantango d g
Werckmeister Harmonies d g
The Turin Horse d g
Hiroshi Teshigahara The Face Of Another d ng
  Pitfall d g
  Woman In The Dunes d g
Joachim Trier Oslo, August 31st d ng
Luchino Visconti Rocco And His Brothers d g
       
Orson Welles Citizen Kane d g
The Third Man d g
Mr. Arkadin (revised version) d g
The Trial d g
Touch Of Evil d g
F For Fake doc g
Falstaff (Chimes At Midnight) d-c g
The Other Side Of The Wind d g
Sebastian Wesman Metafora d gg
Billy Wilder Sunset Boulevard d ng
The Fortune Cookie c gg
The Apartment d-c ng
Yoji Yamada The Twilight Samurai d g
Fred Zinnemann High Noon d gg
Valerio Zurlini The Desert Of The Tartars d ng
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