Favorite Movies

This list is pretty self-explanatory. There are five groupings, in descending order of preference. Each grouping will have in the neighborhood of 20 movies.

Key:

↑ likely to move up
↓ likely to move down
† candidate for deletion

Desert-Island Movies (Roughly in Order of Preference)

Magnolia; 1999; Anderson, Paul Thomas. Essay here.
Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control; 1997; Morris, Errol.
Calendar; 1993; Egoyan, Atom. Essay here.
Memento; 2001; Nolan, Christopher. Essay here.
Antonia's Line; 1995; Gorris, Marleen.
Trees Lounge; 1996; Buscemi, Steve.
Vertigo; 1958; Hitchcock, Alfred.
Sweet Hereafter, The; 1997; Egoyan, Atom.
Intacto; 2001; Fresnadillo, Juan Carlos. Essay here.
Crumb; 1994; Zwigoff, Terry.
Truman Show, The; 1998; Weir, Peter.
Monster in a Box; 1992; Broomfield, Nick. Essay here.
Requiem for a Dream; 2000; Aronofsky, Darren. Essay here..
JFK; 1991; Stone, Oliver.
American Movie; 1999; Smith, Chris.
Three Colors: Blue; 1993; Kieslowski, Krzysztof.
Batman Begins; 2005; Nolan, Christopher. Essay here.
Fearless; 1993; Weir, Peter. Essay here.
Rushmore; 1998; Anderson, Wes. Essay here.
Spider Forest (Geomi sup); 2004; Song, Il-gon. Essay here.

Group B (Alphabetical Order)

π; 1998; Aronofsky, Darren.
↓ Beauty and the Beast; 1991; Trousdale, Gary, and Kirk Wise.
Before the Rain; 1994; Manchevski, Milcho.
Brief History of Time, A; 1992; Morris, Errol.
Casablanca; 1942; Curtiz, Michael.
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind; 2002; Clooney, George. Essay here.
Conversation, The; 1974; Coppola, Francis Ford.
Defending Your Life; 1991; Brooks, Albert.
Donnie Darko; 2001; Kelly, Richard. Essays here and here.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; 2004; Gondry, Michel. Essay here.
eXistenZ; 1999; Cronenberg, David. Essay here.
Fireworks (Hana-Bi); 1997; Kitano, Takeshi. Essay here.
Five Obstructions, The; 2003; Leth, Jørgen, and von Trier, Lars. Essay here.
Godfather, The; 1972; Coppola, Francis Ford.
Godfather, The, Part II; 1974; Coppola, Francis Ford.
Heat; 1995; Mann, Michael.
Insider, The; 1999; Mann, Michael. Essay here.
Karaoke (television); 1996; Rye, Renny.
L.A. Confidential; 1997; Hanson, Curtis.
Mulholland Drive; 2001; Lynch, David.
Oldboy; 2003; Park, Chan-wook. Essay here.
Out of Sight; 1998; Soderbergh, Steven.
Picnic at Hanging Rock; 1975; Weir, Peter. Essay here.
Player, The; 1992; Altman, Robert. Essay here.
Plumber, The (television); 1979; Weir, Peter. Essay here.
Rosemary's Baby; 1968; Polanski, Roman.
This Is Spinal Tap; 1983; Reiner, Rob.
Touching the Void; 2003; Macdonald, Kevin. Essay here.

Group C (Alphabetical Order)

American Splendor; 2003; Berman, Shari Springer, and Pulcini, Robert. Essay here.
Chinatown; 1974; Polanski, Roman.
Dead Ringers; 1988; Cronenberg, David.
Do the Right Thing; 1989; Lee, Spike.
Election; 1999; Payne, Alexander.
Fight Club; 1999; Fincher, David. Essay here.
Fly, The; 1986; Cronenberg, David.
French Connection, The; 1971; Friedkin, William.
Insomnia; 1997; Skjoldbjaerg, Erik.
Iron Giant, The; 1999; Bird, Brad.
Mothman Prophecies, The; 2002; Pellington, Mark. Essay here.
Moulin Rouge; 2001; Luhrmann, Baz.
One False Move; 1991; Franklin, Carl.
Primer; 2004; Carruth, Shane. Essay here.
Royal Tenenbaums, The; 2001; Anderson, Wes. Essay here.
Run Lola Run; 2000; Tykwer, Tom.
Schindler's List; 1993; Spielberg, Steven.
Toy Story 2; 1999; Lasseter, John.
Tucker: The Man and His Dream; 1988; Coppola, Francis Ford.
Vincent & Theo; 1990; Altman, Robert.
Welcome to the Dollhouse; 1995; Solondz, Todd.

Group D (Alphabetical Order)

28 Days Later; 2003; Boyle, Danny. Essay here.
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore; 1974; Scorsese, Martin.
Babe; 1995; Noonan, Chris.
Being John Malkovich; 1999; Jonze, Spike.
Birds, The; 1963; Hitchcock, Alfred.
Chasing Amy; 1997; Smith, Kevin.
Citizen Kane; 1941; Welles, Orson.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind; 1977; Spielberg, Steven.
Family Viewing; 1987; Egoyan, Atom.
Ginger Snaps; 2001; Fawcett, John. Essay here.
Heavenly Creatures; 1994; Jackson, Peter.
Holes; 2003; Davis, Andrew. Essay here.
House of Games; 1987; Mamet, David.
Incident at Loch Ness; 2004; Penn, Zak. Essay and commentary track here.
Little Princess, A; 1995; Cuaron, Alfonso.
Miller's Crossing; 1990; Coen, Joel.
Murderball; 2005; Rubin, Henry Alex, and Shapiro, Dana Adam. Essay here.
Se7en; 1995; Fincher, David.
Searching for Bobby Fischer; 1993; Zaillian, Steven.
Stuart Saves His Family; 1994; Ramis, Harold. Essay here.
Three Colors: Red; 1994; Kieslowski, Krzysztof.
Vanishing, The (Spoorloos); 1988; Sluizer, George.

Group E (Alphabetical Order)

25th Hour; 2002; Lee, Spike. Essay here.
Blue Velvet; 1986; Lynch, David.
Carnival of Souls; 1962; Harvey, Harold.
Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover, The; 1990; Greenaway, Peter.
Crying Game, The; 1992; Jordan, Neil.
Dancer in the Dark; 2000; von Trier, Lars.
Dawn of the Dead; 1978; Romero, George. Essay here.
† Dolores Claiborne; 1994; Hackford, Taylor. Essay here.
Empire Strikes Back, The; 1980; Kershner, Irvin.
Funny Games; 1997; Haneke, Michael. Essay here.
Gates of Heaven; 1978; Morris, Errol. Essay here.
Halloween; 1978; Carpenter, John.
Happiness; 1998; Solondz, Todd.
Incredibles, The; 2004; Bird, Brad. Essay here.
Jacob's Ladder; 1990; Lyne, Adrian. Essay here.
Jaws; 1976; Spielberg, Steven.
L.A. Story; 1991; Jackson, Mick.
Limey, The; 1999; Soderbergh, Steven.
† Lion King, The; 1994; Allers, Roger, and Rob Minkoff.
Lost in Translation; 2003; Coppola, Sofia. Essay here.
Martin; 1977; Romero, George.
Rear Window; 1954; Hitchcock, Alfred.
Shining, The; 1980; Kubrick, Stanley.
Simple Plan, A; 1998; Raimi, Sam.
† Suture; 1993; McGehee, Scott, and David Siegel