The full list of my favorite movies of each year (1920 - 2020)

Welcome to my extended love letter to movies! Click any year in the list below — from 1920 to 2020 — for stuff about my favorite movies from that year: videos, photos, quotes, and more.

• Where to stream movies on this blog
• Which directors directed the most movies on this blog

Movies with an asterisk * were nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture, and movies with two ** won that award. The globe 🌍 emoji is for movies nominated for what’s now called the Oscar for Best International Feature Film, and movies with two 🌍 🌏 won that award. Movies with the plant 🌿 emoji won the Palme d’Or, the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Here are “the rules” for my list.

2020	(1) The Father*
	(2) The Trip to Greece
2019	(1) Parasite** 🌍 🌏 🌿
	(2) Rocketman
	(3) Portrait of a Lady on Fire
	(4) Knock Down the House
2018	Burning (with in-depth notes)
2017	(1) Ingrid Goes West
	(2) The Trip to Spain
2016	Graduation
2015	Victoria
2014	(1) Gone Girl
	(2) They Came Together
	(3) Mitt
2013	(1) Blue Is the Warmest Color 🌿
	(2) Nebraska*
	(3) Before Midnight
2012	Wadjda
2011	(1) A Separation 🌍 🌏
	(2) Margaret (NEW)
	(3) Oslo, August 31st
2010	(1) The Trip
	(2) Certified Copy
	(3) The Social Network*
2009	Mother
2008	(1) Happy-Go-Lucky
	(2) Milk*
	(3) U2 3D
2007	(1) 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days 🌿
	(2) The Counterfeiters 🌍 🌏
	(3) Secret Sunshine
2006	The Lives of Others 🌍 🌏
2005	(1) Match Point
	(2) The Baxter
2004	(1) Napoleon Dynamite (NEW)
	(2) Before Sunset
	(3) Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
2003	The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara
2002	(1) About Schmidt
	(2) Spellbound
2001	Ghost World (with in-depth notes)
2000	Memento
1999	American Movie
1998	(1) Run Lola Run
	(2) Happiness
1997	Boogie Nights
1996	(1) Fargo*
	(2) The People vs. Larry Flynt
	(3) Secrets & Lies* 🌿
	(4) Hard Eight
1995	(1) Welcome to the Dollhouse
	(2) Before Sunrise
	(3) Living in Oblivion
1994	(1) Heavenly Creatures (NEW)
	(2) Crumb
	(3) Pulp Fiction* 🌿
	(4) What Happened Was …
	(5) The Shawshank Redemption*
1993	(1) The War Room
	(2) Red Rock West
	(3) The Scent of Green Papaya 🌏
1992	(1) The Player
	(2) Howards End*
	(3) Husbands and Wives
	(4) Single White Female (NEW)
1991	(1) Defending Your Life
	(2) Dogfight (NEW)
	(3) Terminator 2: Judgment Day (NEW)
1990	(1) Slacker
	(2) GoodFellas*
	(3) Back to the Future Part III
	(4) Life Is Sweet (NEW)
	(5) Misery
1989	(1) Back to the Future Part II
	(2) Crimes and Misdemeanors
1988	(1) Talk Radio
	(2) Heathers
	(3) The Unbearable Lightness of Being
1987	(1) Au Revoir les Enfants* 🌍
	(2) No Way Out
1986	(1) Something Wild
	(2) The Fly
	(3) Hannah and Her Sisters*
	(4) About Last Night …
1985	(1) Back to the Future
	(2) After Hours (with in-depth notes)
1984	(1) Paris, Texas 🌿
	(2) The Terminator
	(3) Stop Making Sense
	(4) Purple Rain
	(5) Broadway Danny Rose
1983	The Big Chill*
1982	(1) Fast Times at Ridgemont High
	(2) Tenebrae (NEW)
1981	My Dinner with Andre
1980	(1) The Shining
	(2) Atlantic City*
1979	Manhattan
1978	(1) Days of Heaven
	(2) Invasion of the Body Snatchers (NEW)
	(3) Girlfriends
1977	(1) Annie Hall**
	(2) A Special Day (NEW)
1976	Taxi Driver* 🌿
1975	(1) One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest**
	(2) Dog Day Afternoon*
1974	(1) The Conversation* 🌿
	(2) Chinatown* (NEW)
	(3) Young Frankenstein (NEW)
	(4) The Godfather Part II**
	(5) Lacombe, Lucien 🌍
1973	(1) American Graffiti*
	(2) Sleeper (NEW)
1972	(1) The Godfather**
	(2) The New Land 🌍
1971	(1) A Clockwork Orange*
	(2) The Last Picture Show*
	(3) The Emigrants* 🌍
	(4) Bananas (NEW)
1970	Five Easy Pieces*
1969	(1) Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
	(2) Law and Order
1968	(1) Monterey Pop
	(2) Romeo and Juliet*
	(3) High School
	(4) Shame
	(5) Planet of the Apes
1967	Le Samouraï
1966	Persona
1965	The Shop on Main Street 🌍 🌏
1964	(1) A Hard Day’s Night
	(2) Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb*
1963	(1) The Fire Within
	(2) High and Low
1962	(1) Lolita
	(2) The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (NEW)
	(3) Le Doulos (NEW)
	(4) What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (NEW)
1961	(1) West Side Story**
	(2) Through a Glass Darkly 🌍 🌏
	(3) Breakfast at Tiffany’s
	(4) Cash on Demand (NEW)
1960	(1) The Apartment**
	(2) Psycho
	(3) Zazie dans le Métro
	(4) The Time Machine
1959	(1) Some Like It Hot
	(2) Anatomy of a Murder* (NEW)
	(3) Imitation of Life
1958	(1) Vertigo
	(2) The Music Room
	(3) Elevator to the Gallows
1957	(1) Paths of Glory
	(2) The Cranes Are Flying 🌿
	(3) Witness for the Prosecution*
	(4) Wild Strawberries
	(5) White Nights
1956	(1) The Wrong Man
	(2) The Killing
1955	(1) The Night of the Hunter
	(2) Rififi
	(3) All That Heaven Allows
	(4) Smiles of a Summer Night
	(5) The Big Combo
1954	(1) Rear Window
	(2) La Strada 🌍 🌏
	(3) Dial M for Murder
	(4) Human Desire
	(5) Sansho the Bailiff
1953	(1) Summer with Monika
	(2) Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
	(3) From Here to Eternity** (NEW)
	(4) Stalag 17
	(5) Niagara
	(6) Sawdust and Tinsel
	(7) Dangerous Crossing (NEW)
	(8) The Big Heat
1952	(1) Sudden Fear
	(2) Singin’ in the Rain
	(3) Forbidden Games 🌍 🌏
	(4) Ikiru
	(5) Limelight
	(6) Don’t Bother to Knock
1951	(1) A Streetcar Named Desire* (NEW)
	(2) A Place in the Sun* (NEW)
	(3) Ace in the Hole
	(4) Strangers on a Train
1950	(1) The Asphalt Jungle
	(2) In a Lonely Place (NEW)
	(3) Sunset Boulevard*
	(4) All About Eve**
	(5) Rashomon 🌍 🌏
	(6) Harvey
	(7) The Man Who Cheated Himself
1949	(1) Gun Crazy
	(2) A Letter to Three Wives*
	(3) Thieves’ Highway
	(4) The Heiress*
	(5) Bitter Rice
	(6) Obsession
1948	(1) Unfaithfully Yours
	(2) Bicycle Thieves 🌍 🌏
	(3) Rope
	(4) The Big Clock
	(5) The Treasure of the Sierra Madre*
	(6) Road House
	(7) Pitfall
1947	(1) Out of the Past
	(2) Brute Force
	(3) Repeat Performance (NEW)
1946	(1) The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
	(2) It’s a Wonderful Life*
	(3) Notorious
	(4) The Best Years of Our Lives**
	(5) The Postman Always Rings Twice
	(6) Gilda (NEW)
1945	(1) Leave Her to Heaven
	(2) Scarlet Street
	(3) Hangover Square
	(4) The Lost Weekend**
1944	(1) Double Indemnity*
	(2) Laura (NEW)
	(3) Gaslight*
1943	(1) Meshes of the Afternoon
	(2) Stormy Weather
	(3) Shadow of a Doubt
1942	(1) Casablanca**
	(2) Cat People
1941	(1) Citizen Kane*
	(2) Sullivan’s Travels
	(3) The Sea Wolf
	(4) Love Crazy
1940	(1) Rebecca** (with in-depth notes)
	(2) The Great Dictator*
	(3) The Bank Dick
	(4) The Shop Around the Corner
1939	(1) Mr. Smith Goes to Washington*
	(2) The Wizard of Oz*
	(3) Gone with the Wind**
	(4) The Women (NEW)
	(5) Wuthering Heights*
	(6) Destry Rides Again
1938	Bringing up Baby
1937	(1) Confession
	(2) The Awful Truth* (NEW)
1936	(1) Modern Times
	(2) Dodsworth*
1935	(1) A Night at the Opera
	(2) Bride of Frankenstein
	(3) Top Hat (NEW)
	(4) The Whole Town’s Talking
1934	(1) It’s a Gift
	(2) It Happened One Night**
1933	(1) Duck Soup
	(2) The Story of Temple Drake
	(3) Design for Living
	(4) The Invisible Man
1932	(1) I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang*
	(2) Horse Feathers
	(3) Broken Lullaby (NEW)
	(4) Trouble in Paradise
	(5) Jewel Robbery (NEW)
	(6) Island of Lost Souls
1931	(1) City Lights
	(2) Frankenstein
	(3) Monkey Business
	(4) Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (NEW)
	(5) M
1930	Animal Crackers
1929	Pandora’s Box
1928	The Wind
1927	(1) Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
	(2) Metropolis
	(3) The Unknown
	(4) The Kid Brother
1926	(1) The General
	(2) Ménilmontant
1925	The Gold Rush
1924	Girl Shy
1923	(1) Safety Last!
	(2) Our Hospitality
1922	Day Dreams
1921	The Kid
1920	Way Down East

MORE:

• Letterboxd list: my #1 favorite movie of each year from 1920 to 2020

• Movies I added to this blog based on watching them in 2022 and 2023

• Which composers wrote the musical score for the most movies on this list?

• Which acclaimed movies did I see but leave off the list?

“One of the gifts a movie lover can give another is the title of a wonderful film they have not yet discovered.”            — Roger Ebert