The Canon
A list of films that I've rated either 4.5 or 5 stars on Letterboxd, collected in one place as a way to illustrate the entirety of my taste, ordered by year of release. Any films in bold are five stars. In mid-2020 I started rating films again after years of not doing so, and I've back-dated the ratings as far back as January 1st 2015. A lot of gaps, then, particularly the silents and the sixties, but a lot of ground covered, too. Let's see how this evolves.
Update: I stopped using star ratings on Letterboxd in August 2023 because as much as it's an arbitrary thing to do, I started to find it more distracting than helpful. I'll probably back-date this again in a few years time, but in the mean time the only requirement for entry here is for a film to have moved or impressed me in a significant way, in whatever form that may take.
Last Update: 16/03/24
The Shop Around The Corner | Ernst Lubitsch, 1940
How Green Was My Valley | John Ford, 1941
Canyon Passage | Jacques Tourneur, 1946
My Darling Clementine | John Ford, 1946
Cat People | Jacques Tourneur, 1942
Daisy Kenyon | Otto Preminger, 1947
The Heiress | William Wyler, 1949
Late Spring | Yasujiro Ozu, 1949
Stars in My Crown | Jacques Tourneur, 1950
Stromboli | Roberto Rossellini, 1950
Wagon Master | John Ford, 1950
Anne of the Indies | Jacques Tourneur, 1951
The River | Jean Renoir, 1951
The Steel Helmet | Sam Fuller, 1951
The Life of Oharu | Kenji Mizoguchi, 1952
Limelight | Charlie Chaplin, 1952
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes | Howard Hawks, 1953
Tokyo Story | Yasujiro Ozu, 1953
Brigadoon | Vincente Minnelli, 1954
The Crucified Lovers | Kenji Mizoguchi, 1954
Johnny Guitar | Nicholas Ray, 1954
Journey To Italy | Roberto Rossellini, 1954
Silver Lode | Allan Dwan, 1954
Vera Cruz | Robert Aldrich, 1954
All That Heaven Allows | Douglas Sirk, 1955
The Cobweb | Vincente Minnelli, 1955
The Long Gray Line | John Ford, 1955
Wichita | Jacques Tourneur, 1955
7 Men From Now | Budd Boetticher, 1956
Street of Shame | Kenji Mizoguchi, 1956
Bitter Victory | Nicholas Ray, 1957
The Lineup | Don Siegel, 1958
Vertigo | Alfred Hitchcock, 1958
Rio Bravo | Howard Hawks, 1959
Ten Seconds To Hell | Robert Aldrich, 1959
Home From The Hill | Vincente Minnelli, 1960
The Last Sunset | Robert Aldrich, 1961
An Autumn Afternoon | Yasujiro Ozu, 1962
El Dorado | Howard Hawks, 1966
The Boston Strangler | Richard Fleischer, 1968
Rosemary's Baby | Roman Polanski, 1968
Le Boucher | Claude Chabrol, 1970
The Ballad of Cable Hogue | Sam Peckinpah, 1970
Too Late The Hero | Robert Aldrich, 1970
Eight Hours Don't Make A Day | Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1972
The Godfather | Francis Ford Coppola, 1972
The Crazies | George A. Romero, 1973
Emperor of the North | Robert Aldrich, 1973
Celine and Julie Go Boating | Jacques Rivette, 1974
The Godfather Part II | Francis Ford Coppola, 1974
Lancelot du Lac | Robert Bresson, 1974
Mr Klein | Joseph Losey, 1976
Dawn of the Dead | George A. Romero, 1978
The Deer Hunter | Michael Cimino, 1978
Apocalypse Now | Francis Ford Coppola, 1979
The Big Red One | Sam Fuller, 1980
The Fog | John Carpenter, 1980
Blow Out | Brian De Palma, 1981
Le Pont du Nord | Jacques Rivette, 1981
Southern Comfort | Walter Hill, 1981
Thief | Michael Mann, 1981
Boat People | Ann Hui, 1982
Cat People | Paul Schrader, 1982
The Thing | John Carpenter, 1982
Christine | John Carpenter, 1983
The Dead Zone | David Cronenberg, 1983
L'Argent | Robert Bresson, 1983
Local Hero | Bill Forsyth, 1983
Rumble Fish | Francis Ford Coppola, 1983
Scarface | Brian De Palma, 1983
Body Double | Brian De Palma, 1984
Choose Me | Alan Rudolph, 1984
Love in a Fallen City | Ann Hui, 1984
Special Effects | Larry Cohen, 1984
Starman | John Carpenter, 1984
Stop Making Sense | Jonathan Demme, 1984
Streets of Fire | Walter Hill, 1984
Day of the Dead | George A. Romero, 1985
Lifeforce | Tobe Hooper, 1985
Bound For The Fields, The Mountains and The Seacoast | Nobuhiko Obayashi, 1986
Blue Velvet | David Lynch, 1986
The Fly | David Cronenberg, 1986
His Motorbike, Her Island | Nobuhiko Obayashi, 1986
Peggy Sue Got Married | Francis Ford Coppola, 1986
Something Wild | Jonathan Demme, 1986
City on Fire | Ringo Lam, 1987
Ishtar | Elaine May, 1987
Opera | Dario Argento, 1987
Predator | John McTiernan, 1987
Prince of Darkness | John Carpenter, 1987
Prison on Fire | Ringo Lam, 1987
Road | Alan Clarke, 1987
RoboCop | Paul Verhoeven, 1987
Where Is The Friend's House? | Abbas Kiarostami, 1987
Crossing Delancey | Joan Micklin Silver, 1988
Dead Ringers | David Cronenberg, 1988
Die Hard | John McTiernan, 1988
Iguana | Monte Hellman, 1988
School on Fire | Ringo Lam, 1988
Always | Steven Spielberg, 1989
Casualties of War | Brian De Palma, 1989
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover | Peter Greenaway, 1989
Gang of Four | Jacques Rivette, 1989
The Killer | John Woo, 1989
Street of No Return | Sam Fuller, 1989
An Angel At My Table | Jane Campion, 1990
The Godfather Part III | Francis Ford Coppola, 1990
Spontaneous Combustion | Tobe Hooper, 1990
Trust | Hal Hartley, 1990
A Scene At The Sea | Takeshi Kitano, 1991
La Belle Noiseuse | Jacques Rivette, 1991
Lovers on the Bridge | Leos Carax, 1991
Van Gogh | Maurice Pialat, 1991
Bram Stoker's Dracula | Francis Ford Coppola, 1992
Life, and Nothing More | Abbas Kiarostami, 1992
Light Sleeper | Paul Schrader, 1992
Unforgiven | Clint Eastwood, 1992
Carlito's Way | Brian De Palma, 1993
M. Butterfly | David Cronenberg, 1993
Naked | Mike Leigh, 1993
The Puppetmaster | Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1993
The Invincibles | Dominik Graf, 1994
The Bridges of Madison County | Clint Eastwood, 1995
La Ceremonie | Claude Chabrol, 1995
The Mangler | Tobe Hooper, 1995
My Sister's Good Fortune | Angela Schanelec, 1995
Strange Days | Kathryn Bigelow, 1995
Crash | David Cronenberg, 1996
Lone Star | John Sayles, 1996
Party | Manoel de Oliveira, 1996
Career Girls | Mike Leigh, 1997
Cure | Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1997
Full Alert | Ringo Lam, 1997
Jackie Brown | Quentin Tarantino, 1997
Lost Highway | David Lynch, 1997
The Lost World: Jurassic Park | Steven Spielberg, 1997
Made in Hong Kong | Fruit Chan, 1997
Princess Mononoke | Hayao Miyazaki, 1997
Starship Troopers | Paul Verhoeven, 1997
Titanic | James Cameron, 1997
The Hole | Tsai Ming-liang, 1998
License To Live | Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1998
Snake Eyes | Brian De Palma, 1998
There's Something About Mary | Bobby & Peter Farrelly, 1998
eXistenZ | David Cronenberg, 1999
Eyes Wide Shut | Stanley Kubrick, 1999
Forever Mine | Paul Schrader, 1999
Gemini | Shin'ya Tsukamoto, 1999
Peppermint Candy | Lee Chang-dong, 1999
Tempting Heart | Sylvia Chang, 1999
The Thomas Crown Affair | John McTiernan, 1999
Bamboozled | Spike Lee, 2000
A.I. Artificial Intelligence | Steven Spielberg, 2001
All About Lily Chou-Chou | Shunji Iwai, 2001
Fat Girl | Catherine Breillat, 2001
Hush! | Ryosuke Hashiguchi, 2001
Mulholland Drive | David Lynch, 2001
Passing Summer | Angela Schanelec, 2001
Pulse | Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2001
Something To Remind Me | Christian Petzold, 2001
Spirited Away | Hayao Miyazaki, 2001
Blissfully Yours | Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2002
Femme Fatale | Brian De Palma, 2002
Gangs of New York | Martin Scorsese, 2002
Signs | M. Night Shyamalan, 2002
Goodbye, Dragon Inn | Tsai Ming-liang, 2003
The Story of Marie and Julien | Jacques Rivette, 2003
The Aviator | Martin Scorsese, 2004
Before Sunset | Richard Linklater, 2004
Marseille | Angela Schanelec, 2004
Tropical Malady | Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2004
The Village | M. Night Shyamalan, 2004
The World | Jia Zhangke, 2004
Haze | Shin'ya Tsukamoto, 2005
Land of the Dead | George A. Romero, 2005
Loft | Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2005
War of the Worlds | Steven Spielberg, 2005
Flags of our Fathers | Clint Eastwood, 2006
Retribution | Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2006
Still Life | Jia Zhangke, 2006
La Recta Provincia | Raul Ruiz, 2007
Secret Sunshine | Lee Chang-dong, 2007
24 City | Jia Zhangke, 2008
Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull | Steven Spielberg, 2008
Jerichow | Christian Petzold, 2008
Tokyo Sonata | Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2008
Two Lovers | James Gray, 2008
Certified Copy | Abbas Kiarostami, 2010
The Ghost Writer | Roman Polanski, 2010
Poetry | Lee Chang-dong, 2010
The Strange Case of Angelica | Manoel de Oliveira, 2010
Kotoko | Shin'ya Tsukamoto, 2011
Twixt | Francis Ford Coppola, 2011
Cosmopolis | David Cronenberg, 2012
Like Someone in Love | Abbas Kiarostami, 2012
Bastards | Claire Denis, 2013
Stray Dogs | Tsai Ming-liang, 2013
Gone Girl | David Fincher, 2014
Hill of Freedom | Hong Sang-soo, 2014
Pasolini | Abel Ferrara, 2014
Blackhat | Michael Mann, 2015
Journey To The Shore | Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2015
Mountains May Depart | Jia Zhangke, 2015
Aquarius | Kleber Mendonça-Filho, 2016
Nocturama | Bertrand Bonello, 2016
Personal Shopper | Olivier Assayas, 2016
Silence | Martin Scorsese, 2016
Sully | Clint Eastwood, 2016
Sweet Dreams | Marco Bellocchio, 2016
Toni Erdmann | Maren Ade, 2016
Before We Vanish | Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2017
The Day After | Hong Sang-soo, 2017
Western | Valeska Grisebach, 2017
An Elephant Sitting Still | Hu Bo, 2018
Burning | Lee Chang-dong, 2018
Ready Player One | Steven Spielberg, 2018
Transit | Christian Petzold, 2018
The Irishman | Martin Scorsese, 2019
Days | Tsai Ming-liang, 2020
Undine | Christian Petzold, 2020
Drive My Car | Ryusuke Hamaguchi, 2021
Pacifiction | Albert Serra, 2022
Afire | Christian Petzold, 2023
The Beast | Bertrand Bonello, 2023
The Boy And The Heron | Hayao Miyazaki, 2023
Do Not Expect Too Much From The End of The World | Radu Jude, 2023
Evil Does Not Exist | Ryusuke Hamaguchi, 2023
May December | Todd Haynes, 2023
Oppenheimer | Christopher Nolan, 2023