Well over a century has passed since the Lumière brothers frightened the life out of Parisians with The Arrival of a Train at a Station, and well over a million titles have since been recorded - if the Internet Movie Database is anything to go by.
Out of these million-plus movies, our team of experts has picked what we believe is the essential 1,000 - those that best sum up the dazzling achievement and variety of the movies.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/film/series/1000-films-to-see-before-you-die
Source:
Years 1931-2018 come from:
The New York Times: Book of Movies
the essential 1,000 films to see
2019 ed
Years after 2018 come from NYT website.
work in progress
There are discrepancies between the website and the book, particular for years after 2003. Please leave a comment for any errors you find.
Since the 2015 TSPDT has released a companion to their greatest 1000 films, consisting of the films ranked 1001-2000. This list contains the most recent version of this list, with all the previous lists in the history.
Source: http://www.theyshootpictures.com/gf1000_films1001-2000.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cult_films
Rotten Tomatoes - Best of year
List created and maintained by https://listrr.pro
List compiled from: https://www.vogue.com/article/best-documentaries-of-all-time
Ranked as in the list
1: 13th (2016)
2: A Poem Is a Naked Person (2015)
3: The Act of Killing (2012)
4: American Factory (2019)
5: American Movie (1999)
6: Amy (2015)
7: Bill Cunningham New York (2010)
8: Blackfish (2013)
9: Bowling for Columbine (2002)
10: Buena Vista Social Club (1999)
11: Burden of Dreams (1982)
12: Cameraperson (2016)
13: Capturing the Friedmans (2003)
14: Crumb (1994)
15: Citizenfour (2014)
16: City of Gold (2015)
17: Cusp (2021)
18: Dark Money (2018)
19: Disclosure (2020)
20: Don’t Look Back (1967)
21: Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
22: Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)
23: F for Fake (1973)
24: The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons From the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003)
25: Gimme Shelter (1970)
26: The Gleaners and I (2000)
27: Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (2015)
28: Grey Gardens (1975)
29: Grizzly Man (2005)
30: Harlan County, USA (1976)
31: Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse (1991)
32: Hoop Dreams (1994)
33: How to Survive a Plague (2012)
34: I Am Not Your Negro (2016)
35: Jane (2017)
36: Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011)
37: Kate Plays Christine (2016)
38: Kedi (2016)
39: Koyaanisqatsi (1982)
40: Man on Wire (2008)
41: McQueen (2018)
42: Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (2004)
43: My Octopus Teacher (2020)
44: Nanook of the North (1922)
45: Night and Fog (1956)
46: O.J.: Made in America (2016)
47: Original Cast Album: Company (1970)
48: Paris Is Burning (1990)
49: Pina (2011)
50: The Queen of Versailles (2012)
51: Restrepo (2010)
52: Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind (2018)
53: Salesman (1969)
54: Searching for Sugarman (2012)
55: Senna (2010)
56: The September Issue (2009)
57: Sherman’s March (1985)
58: Shoah (1985)
59: Spellbound (2002)
60: Stories We Tell (2012)
61: Super Size Me (2004)
62: The Thin Blue Line (1988)
63: The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)
64: Twenty Feet from Stardom (2013)
65: The Up Series (1964–)
66: Waltz With Bashir (2008)
67: The War Room (1993)
68: Weiner (2016)
69: West of Memphis (2012)
70: When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Parts (2006)
71: Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (2018)
This list is drawn from "The New York Times Book of Movies: The Essential 1,000 Films to See", published in 2019. It contains a selection of 1000 reviews that have been printed in The New York Times. The majority of movies in this book are among the "10 Best Films" chosen by New York Times critics at the end of each year.
Source: https://www.amazon.com/New-York-Times-Book-Movies/dp/078933657X
All the movies with "Must-See" badge on Metacritic. Movie gets the badge when it has a score of 81 or higher and has been reviewed by at least 15 pro critics.
Source: Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzUYPt0OAGY | Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94VIY4pgHnc
James Duncan Rolfe is an American actor, filmmaker, video game/film critic, and internet personality. Rolfe is best known for creating and starring in the web television series Angry Video Game Nerd, a joint production of Rolfe's Cinemassacre Productions, GameTrailers, and ScrewAttack on the online video platform YouTube. His other projects include reviews of board games and classic horror films. Rolfe began creating homemade video productions in the late 1980s. He has created more than 270 films, including shorts, features and webisodes, during his career. His career as an Internet celebrity took off in 2004 with the beginning of the Angry Video Game Nerd. Two years later, Rolfe gained mainstream attention when one of his videos went viral after friend and collaborator Mike Matei persuaded him to publish them on the Internet. Between this time, he filmed videos he created on his own and most of them have been released on his website, Cinemassacre.
In 2014, Sight & Sound polled 340 documentary critics, curators, academics and filmmakers asking for top 10 documentary lists. Over 1000 films got votes, from years as early as 1892 to as recent as 2013. This list is the combined critics and filmmakers list of all films that received 3 or more votes.
Source: http://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-sound-magazine/greatest-docs
Made with the help of Reddit users: https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/9h4g7s/documentaries_about_movies_the_history_of_cinema
All credits go to IMDb user: RDLongoria
All credits go to IMDb user: jakilcz
You might not have seen them, but you should.
The culmination of the Sundance Film Festival is the Awards Ceremony. The competition juries, comprised of individuals from the worldwide film community with original and diverse points of view, select films from both the documentary and dramatic categories to receive a range of awards.
(This award is for U.S. titles, not world cinema)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sundance_Film_Festival_award_winners
Movies covered by Scott Tobias for the AV Club's New Cult Canon (2008-2013).
The introduction can be read at http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-new-cult-canon-an-introduction,9808/.
The Guardian's 1000 Films to See Before You Die
by maxwelldeuxVIP 9