Best Films

Top 10 Films of the Year (1950- )

If a year is missing, it simply means I haven’t seen enough good/great films to compile a top 10 list for that year. As usual feel free to comment, complain, gently harass, tell me to get a life, etc. Actually, don’t tell me to get a life, that’s mean and I’ll cry. You don’t want to see a grown man cry do you?

So, working backwards to 1950...

2023

1. Godzilla Minus One

2. John Wick Chapter 4

3. MI: Dead Reckoning

4. Sisu

5. The Primevals

6. John Farnham: Finding the Voice

7. Oppenheimer

8. The Offering

9. Dracula: Voyage of the Demeter

10. Knock at the Cabin

2022 (Only a Top 8!)

1. Men 

2. The Batman

3. Everything Everywhere All At Once

4. Violent Night

5. The Northman

6. Ambulance

7. The Banshees of Inisherin

8. Accident Man: Hitman's Holiday

2021

1. Godzilla vs. Kong

2. Antlers

3. Wrath of Man

4. Those Who Wish Me Dead

5. The Eyes of Tammy Faye

6. Life After the Navigator

7. Old

8. Nobody

9. One-Shot

10. Prisoners of the Ghostland

2020

(Really a Top 5 if I'm honest)

1. Sound of Metal

2. One Night in Miami...

3. Promising Young Woman

4. Class Action Park

5. Black Water: Abyss

6. Let Him Go

7. Nomadland

8. Monster Hunter

9. Judas and the Black Messiah

10. Fatman

 

2019

1. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

2. Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood

3. John Wick 3: Parabellum

4. Doctor Sleep

5. Joker

6. Terminator: Dark Fate

7. Parasite

8. Triple Threat

9. Luce

10. Richard Jewell

2018 

1. Tea With the Dames

2. Avengers: Infinity War

3. Hereditary

4. Widows

5. Accident Man 

6. Kickboxer: Retaliation

7. Ant-Man and the Wasp

8. Sicario: Day of the Soldado

9. Chappaquiddick

10. Hostiles

Top 10 Films of 2017 

1. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
2. Colossal
3. War for the Planet of the Apes
4. Hounds of Love
5. XXX 3: The Return of Xander Cage
6. Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2
7. Get Out
8. Black Panther
9. The Shape of Water

10. John Wick: Chapter 2

Top 10 Films of 2016

1. Moonlight
2. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
3. Bright Lights: Starring Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher
4. The Jungle Book
5. The Nice Guys
6. Lion
7. Hidden Figures
8. Train to Busan

9. Manchester By the Sea
10. Hell or High Water

Top 10 Films of 2015

1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
2. Southpaw
3. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
4. Ex Machina
5. The Revenant

6. Project Almanac
7. Kingsman: The Secret Service
8. The Martian
9. Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
10. Turbo Kid

Top 10 Films of 2014

1. Gone Girl
2. The Babadook
3. Fury
4. Nightcrawler
5. The Theory of Everything
6. Under the Skin
7. Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead
8. Wild

9. I Am Big Bird
10. Birdman

Top 10 Films of 2013

1. Saving Mr. Banks
2. Her
3. Man of Steel
4. Gravity
5. Nebraska

6. The Company You Keep
7. Seduced and Abandoned
8. 20 Feet From Stardom
9. The Imposter
10. Silence in the House of God/Now You See Me

Top 10 Films of 2012

1. Django Unchained
2. Chronicle
3. The Five Year Engagement
4. Frankenweenie
5. Safety Not Guaranteed
6. The Sessions
7. Searching for Sugar Man
8. The Perks of Being a Wallflower

9. Killing Them Softly
10. Argo/The Master

Top 10 Films of 2011

1. Hugo
2. Rango

3. The Adjustment Bureau
4. Take Shelter
5. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
6. My Week With Marilyn
7. The Skin I Live In
8. Drive
9. Like Crazy

10. Snowtown

Top 10 Films of 2010

1. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
2. Repo Men 
3. Buried
4. 127 Hours
5. Inception
6. Machete
7. The Social Network
8. Mulan
9. Knight and Day
10. The Other Guys

Top 10 Films of 2009

1. Funny People

2. The Boat That Rocked

3. Zombieland

4. Inglourious Basterds

5. Thirst

6. Valhalla Rising

7. Up in the Air

8. Watchmen

9. Drag Me To Hell

10. The Road/The Hills Run Red

Top 10 Films of 2008

1. Doubt

2. Shine a Light

3. The Wrestler

4. Synecdoche, New York

5. The Black Balloon

6. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

7. Tropic Thunder

8. In Bruges

9. Black Water

10. The Midnight Meat Train

Top 10 Films of 2007

1. Assassination of Jesse James

2. Elizabeth: The Golden Age

3. Kurt Cobain: About a Son

4. [REC]

5. 30 Days of Night

6. American Gangster

7. The Savages

8. Death at a Funeral

9. Zodiac

10. There Will Be Blood

Top 10 Films of 2006

1. Stranger Than Fiction

2. Black Snake Moan

3. Déjà Vu

4. The Good Shepherd

5. Curse of the Golden Flower

6. Undisputed II: Last Man Standing

7. Apocalypto

8. Bubba Ho-Tep

9. Crank

10. Jesus Camp

Top 10 Films of 2005

1. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

2. War of the Worlds

3. Sin City

4. Walk the Line

5. V For Vendetta

6. The Descent

7. Jarhead

8. Brokeback Mountain

9. Good Night and Good Luck

10. Murderball

Top 10 Films of 2004

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

2. Dreamship Surprise- Period 1

3. Kill Bill vol. 2

4. The Aviator

5. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

6. Million Dollar Baby

7. Troy

8. Open Water

9. Hotel Rwanda

10. Collateral

Top 10 Films of 2003

1. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

2. Love Actually

3. The Last Samurai

4. Capturing the Friedmans

5. Kill Bill vol. 1

6. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

7. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

8. A Mighty Wind

9. Mystic River

10. Identity

Top 10 Films of 2002

1. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

2. Frailty

3. We Were Soldiers

4. Minority Report

5. Panic Room

6. Signs

7. May

8. Gangs of New York

9. One Hour Photo

10. About Schmidt

Top 10 Films of 2001

1. LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring

2. Black Hawk Down

3. Brotherhood of the Wolf

4. Memento

5. Donnie Darko

6. Planet of the Apes

7. Sexy Beast

8. A Beautiful Mind

9. In the Bedroom

10. No Man's Land

Top 10 Films of 1999

1. Being John Malkovich

2. Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace

3. The Talented Mr. Ripley

4. The Matrix

5. The Blair Witch Project

6. Fight Club

7. Sleepy Hollow

8. Magnolia

9. Office Space

10. Bowfinger

Top 10 Films of 1998

1. Saving Private Ryan

2. Life is Beautiful 


3. Pleasantville

4. Elizabeth

5. Enemy of the State

6. Primary Colours

7. Simon Birch

8. The Big Lebowski

9. American History X

10. A Simple Plan

Top 10 Films of 1997

1. L.A. Confidential

2. The Rainmaker

3. The Ice Storm

4. Starship Troopers

5. Con Air

6. Rosewood

7. As Good as it Gets

8. Deconstructing Harry

9. Tomorrow Never Dies

10. Alien Resurrection

Top 10 Films of 1996

1. Sling Blade

2. Shine

3. Mars Attacks!

4. Bound

5. Star Trek First Contact

6. Beautiful Girls

7. Scream

8. Dragonheart

8. Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills

9. The Last Supper

10. From Dusk 'Til Dawn

Top 10 Films of 1995

1. Braveheart

2. The Usual Suspects

3. Se7en

4. Heat

5. Get Shorty

6. Leaving Las Vegas

7. Higher Learning

8. The American President

9. Copycat

10. Crying Freeman

Top 10 Films of 1994

1. Forrest Gump

2. The Crow

3. True Lies

4. Four Weddings and a Funeral

5. Muriel's Wedding

6. Ed Wood

7. Maverick

8. Crumb

9. The Mask

10. Stargate

Top 10 Films of 1993

1. Groundhog Day

2. In the Line of Fire

3. The Fugitive

4. Tombstone

5. So, I Married an Axe Murderer

6. Demolition Man

7. Philadelphia

8. My Life

9. Schindler's List

10. The Three Musketeers

Top 10 Films of 1992

1. A Few Good Men

2. Last of the Mohicans

3. Malcolm X

4. Under Siege

5. Muppet Christmas Carol

6. Naked Killer

7. Sneakers

8. Dust Devil

9. Alien ³

10. Chaplin

Top 10 Films of 1991

1. Terminator 2: Judgement Day

2. L.A. Story

3. Point Break

4. Boyz N The Hood

5. Riki-Oh/The Story of Ricky

6. New Jack City

7. JFK

8. Silence of the Lambs

9. Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey

10. What About Bob?

Top 10 Films of 1990

1. Goodfellas

2. Awakenings

3. Misery

4. Hard to Kill

5. State of Grace

6. Wrong Bet/Lionheart

7. Blind Fury

8. Ghost

9. Nightbreed

10. White Hunter, Black Heart

Top 10 Films of 1988

1. Child's Play

2. Die Hard

3. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

4. Rain Man

5. Big

6. The Naked Gun

7. Coming to America

8. Gorillas in the Mist

9. Mississippi Burning

10. Beetlejuice

Top 10 Films of 1987

1. The Untouchables

2. Lethal Weapon

3. Good Morning Vietnam

4. Spaceballs

5. Predator

6. The Running Man

7. Robocop

8. Roxanne

9. La Bamba

10. Near Dark

Top 10 Films of 1986

1. Stand By Me

2. Big Trouble in Little China

3. Platoon

4. Aliens

5. Ferris Bueller's Day Off

6. Lucas

7. Three Amigos!

8. The Hitcher

9. The River's Edge

10. The Fly

Top 10 Films of 1985

1. The Goonies

2. The Breakfast Club

3. Commando

4. Ladyhawke

5. Spies Like Us

6. Mask

7. Fletch

8. Back to the Future

9. Re-Animator

10. Weird Science

Top 10 Films of 1984

1. The Terminator

2. The NeverEnding Story

3. Revenge of the Nerds

4. Ghostbusters

5. The Karate Kid

6. Beverly Hills Cop

7. Gremlins

8. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

9. Streets of Fire

10. Places in the Heart

Top 10 Films of 1983

1. Return of the Jedi

2. National Lampoon's Vacation

3. Monty Python's Meaning of Life

4. The Evil Dead

5. The Entity

6. Trading Places

7. Cujo

8. Octopussy

9. The Outsiders

10. Eight Diagram Pole Fighter

Top 10 Films of 1982

1. ET: The Extra Terrestrial

2. Gandhi

3. Rocky III

4. The Last American Virgin

5. Fast Times at Ridgemont High

6. Tootsie

7. Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

8. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

9. The Beastmaster

10. Visiting Hours

Top 10 Films of 1981

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark

2. History of the World Part 1

3. Gallipoli

4. The Howling

5. Whose Life is it, Anyway?

6. Stripes

7. Mad Max 2

8. Scanners

9. Roadgames

10. Time Bandits

Top 10 Films of 1979 (Hooray for Aussie Cinema!)

1. Mad Max

2. The Changeling

3. The China Syndrome

4. Escape From Alcatraz

5. The Last of the Knucklemen

6. Kramer vs. Kramer

7. Breaker Morant

8. Tim

9. The Odd Angry Shot

10. ...And Justice for All

Top 10 Films of 1978

1. Halloween

2. Superman

3. Invasion of the Body Snatchers

4. Dawn of the Dead

5. The Deer Hunter

6. Coming Home

7. Foul Play

8. The Wild Geese

9. Blue Collar

10. Convoy

Top 10 Films of 1976

1. The Omen

2. Rocky

3. Robin and Marian

4. Network

5. Voyage of the Damned

6. Taxi Driver

7. All the President's Men

8. Carrie

9. Murder By Death

10. Don's Party

Top 10 Films of 1975

1. Monty Python and the Holy Grail

2. Jaws

3. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

4. Dog Day Afternoon

5. One Armed Boxer vs. The Flying Guillotine

6. Death Race 2000

7. Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold

8. Tommy

9. The Wilby Conspiracy

10. The Four Musketeers

Top 10 Films of 1974

1. Blazing Saddles

2. Chinatown

3. Young Frankenstein

4. The Godfather Part II

5. The Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3

6. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

7. Black Christmas

8. Truck Turner

9. Dark Star

10. Foxy Brown

Top 10 Films of 1973

1. The Sting

2. The Wicker Man

3. Serpico

4. Black Caesar

5. Theatre of Blood

6. Don't Look Now

7. Robin Hood

8. Coffy

9. Emperor of the North Pole

10. The Offence

Top 10 Films of 1972

1. Superfly

2. The Poseidon Adventure

3. The Godfather

4. Blacula

5. Sleuth

6. Across 110th Street

7. Blood From the Mummy's Tomb

8. Frenzy

9. Deliverance

10. Fritz the Cat

Top 10 Films of 1971

1. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

2. Bedknobs and Broomsticks

3. Shaft

4. Play Misty For Me

5. Wake in Fright

6. Skin Game

7. A Clockwork Orange

8. The Devil's Nightmare

9. Silent Running

10. Dirty Harry

Top 10 Films of 1970 (Year of the Underrated Horror Film)

1. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

2. Kelly's Heroes

3. Vampyros Lesbos

4. Scars of Dracula

5. Entertaining Mr. Sloane

6. Taste the Blood of Dracula

7. And Soon the Darkness

8. tick...tick...tick...

9. The Red Circle

10. The Horror of Frankenstein

Top 10 Films of 1968                        

1. Planet of the Apes

2. Romeo and Juliet

3. Barbarella

4. Once Upon a Time in the West

5. Rosemary's Baby

6. Destroy All Monsters!

7. Night of the Living Dead

8. Firecreek

9. No Way to Treat a Lady

10. Golden Swallow

Top 10 Films of 1967                        

1. The Dirty Dozen

2. Cool Hand Luke

3. Bonnie and Clyde

4. In Cold Blood

5. The Deadly Affair

6. The President's Analyst

7. You Only Live Twice

8. The Graduate

9. Hour of the Gun

10. Hell's Angels on Wheels

Top 10 Films of 1966                       

1. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

2. For a Few Dollars More

3. Flight of the Phoenix

4. Fantastic Voyage

5. Kill, Baby...Kill!

6. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

7. The Professionals

8. The Blue Max

9. The Fortune Cookie

10. Godzilla vs. Monster Zero

Top 10 Films of 1965           

1. Repulsion

2. Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte

3. A Patch of Blue

4. The Hill

5. The Cincinnati Kid

6. King Rat

7. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold

8. Help!

9. The Tomb of Ligeia

10. Mirage

Top 10 Films of 1964                             

1. The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao

2. At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul

3. The Night of the Iguana

4. The Fall of the Roman Empire

5. Godzilla vs. The Thing (Mothra)

6. The Masque of the Red Death

7. The Comedy of Terrors

8. Spider Baby

9. A Hard Day's Night

10. Seven Days in May

Top 10 Films of 1963

1. The Great Escape

2. The Haunting

3. Hud

4. The Informers/Underworld Informers

5. From Russia With Love

6. The Whip and the Body

7. The Raven

8. Charade

9. A Child is Waiting

10. Four for Texas

Top 10 Films of 1962                   

1. The Days of Wine and Roses

2. Dr. No

3. The Birdman of Alcatraz

4. How the West Was Won

5. To Kill a Mockingbird

6. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

7. The Intruder

8. Lolita

9. Requiem for a Heavyweight

10. Cape Fear/Lawrence of Arabia

Top 10 Films of 1961

1. The Misfits (My favourite film of all-time)

2. El Cid

3. The Innocents

4. The Pit and the Pendulum

5. Black Sunday

6. Judgement at Nuremberg

7. Yojimbo

8. Underworld USA

9. The Guns of Navarone

10. The Curse of the Werewolf

Top 10 Films of 1960

1. The Magnificent Seven

2. The Apartment

3. Little Shop of Horrors

4. The Entertainer

5. Elmer Gantry

6. Fall of the House of Usher

7. Psycho

8. Peeping Tom

9. Our Man in Havana

10. Spartacus

Top 10 Films of 1959

1. Some Like it Hot

2. A Bucket of Blood

3. Last Train From Gun Hill

4. The Diary of Anne Frank

5. Odds Against Tomorrow

6. The Mummy

7. The Hound of the Baskervilles

8. Anatomy of a Murder

9. The World, the Flesh and the Devil

10. North by Northwest

Top 10 Films of 1958     

1. Vertigo

2. The Horror of Dracula

3. The Vikings

4. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

5. The Big Country

6. The Defiant Ones

7. The House on Haunted Hill

8. The Haunted Strangler

9. Inn of the Sixth Happiness

10. A Tale of Two Cities

Top 10 Films of 1957

1. 12 Angry Men

2. Sweet Smell of Success

3. Edge of the City

4. Throne of Blood

5. The Incredible Shrinking Man

6. Gunfight at the OK Corral

7. Bridge on the River Kwai

8. Fire Down Below

9. Sayonara

10. Witness for the Prosecution

Top 10 Films of 1956

1. Bus Stop

2. The Harder They Fall

3. Lust for Life

4. The Ten Commandments

5. Three Violent People

6. Jubal

7. The Last Hunt

8. The Killing

9. 23 Paces to Baker Street

10. X the Unknown

Top 10 Films of 1955

1. Night of the Hunter

2. The Ladykillers

3. Bad Day at Black Rock

4. Marty

5. To Catch a Thief

6. The Big Combo

7. The Seven Year Itch

8. The Day the World Ended

9. Lady and the Tramp

10. The Virgin Queen

Top 10 Films of 1954

1. The Caine Mutiny

2. The Creature From the Black Lagoon

3. Gojira

4. Them!

5. River of No Return

6. Dial M for Murder

7. Suddenly

8. Hobson's Choice

9. Broken Lance

10. The Seven Samurai

Top 10 Films of 1953

1. From Here to Eternity

2. House of Wax

3. The Big Heat

4. Peter Pan

5. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

6. How to Marry a Millionaire

7. Julius Caesar

8. Niagara

9. Pickup on South Street

10. I Confess

Top 10 Films of 1952

1. My Cousin Rachel

2. The Bad and the Beautiful

3. Limelight

4. Clash By Night

5. The Lawless Breed

6. Bend of the River

7. The Greatest Show on Earth

8. Phone Call From a Stranger

9. The Prisoner of Zenda

10. Venetian Bird

Top 10 Films of 1950

1. All About Eve

2. The Asphalt Jungle

3. Night and the City

4. Cinderella

5. Rashomon

6. So Long at the Fair

7. The Winslow Boy

8. The Happiest Days of Your Life

9. Winchester '73

10. Stage Fright