2000
Almost Famous: bootleg edition (US (2001)…Cameron Crowe)
American Psycho (US…Mary Harron)
Amores Perros (Mexico…Aléjandro González Iñarritu)
As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (US…Jonas Mekas)
At the Height of Summer (Vietnam…Tran Anh-Hung)
Baise Moi! (France…Virginie Despentes, Coralie Trinh Thi)
Battle Royale (Japan…Kenji Fukasaku)
Best in Show (US…Christopher Guest)
Billy Elliot (UK…Stephen Daldry)
Blackboards (Iran…Samira Makhmalbaf)
Chicken Run (UK/US…Peter Lord, Nick Park)
The Claim (UK/Canada…Michael Winterbottom)
Code Unknown (France/Germany…Michael Haneke)
La Commune (Paris 1871) (France…Peter Watkins)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Hong Kong…Ang Lee)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (US (until ?)…various)
Dancer in the Dark (Denmark…Lars Von Trier)
Dark Days (US…Marc Singer)
Dayereh (Iran…Jafar Panahi)
Devils on the Doorstep (China…Jiang Wen)
Erin Brockovich (US…Steven Soderbergh)
Eureka (Japan…Shinji Aoyama)
Faithless (Sweden…Liv Ullmann)
George Washington (US…David Gordon Green)
Gladiator (US…Ridley Scott)
The Gleaners and I (France…Agnès Varda)
Gormenghast (UK…Andy Wilson)
Le Gout des Autres (France…Agnès Jaoui)
Great Excavations (UK…Sonali Fernando)
Gulag (UK…Angus MacQueen)
The Heart of the World (Canada…Guy Maddin)
High Fidelity (US…Stephen Frears)
A History of Britain (UK (until 2002)…Liz Hartford)
The House of Mirth (UK…Terence Davies)
In the Mood for Love (Hong Kong…Wong Kar-Wai)
Intolerance (UK…Jeff Mulloy)
The Isle (South Korea…Kim Ki-duk)
Ivansxtc (US…Bernard Rose)
Joint Security Area (South Korea…Park Chan-wook)
Kippur (Israel…Amos Gitai)
Longitude (UK…Charles Sturridge)
Malèna: director’s cut (Italy…Giuseppe Tornatore)
Memento (US…Christopher Nolan)
Mysterious Object at Noon (Thailand…Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
O Brother Where Art Thou? (US…Joel Coen)
A One and a Two (Taiwan…Edward Yang)
Paradise Lost 2: Revelations (US…Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky)
Paromitar Ek Din (India…Aparna Sen)
Party 7 (Japan…Katsuhito Ishii)
Platform (Hong Kong…Zhang-Ke Jia)
The Pledge (US…Sean Penn)
Pollock (US…Ed Harris)
Quills (US…Philip Kaufman)
Requiem for a Dream (US…Darren Aronofsky)
Scarlet Diva (Italy…Asia Argento)
Sexy Beast (US…Jonathan Glazer)
Songs from the Second Floor (Sweden…Roy Andersson)
Tears of the Black Tiger (Thailand…Wisit Sasanatieng)
A Time for Drunken Horses (Iran…Bahman Ghobadi)
Together (Sweden…Lukas Moodysson)
The Town is Quiet (France…Robert Guédiguian)
Traffic (US…Steven Soderbergh)
Under the Sand (France…François Ozon)
Werckmeister Harmonies (Hungary/Germany…Béla Tarr)
Wonder Boys (US…Curtis Hanson)
You Can Count on Me (US…Kenneth Lonergan)
2001
A.I.Artificial Intelligence (US…Steven Spielberg)
À ma soeur (France…Catherine Breillat)
Ali (US…Michael Mann)
Alias (US (until 2006)…various)
Amélie (France…Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
As White as in Snow (Sweden…Jan Troell)
Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (Canada…Zacharias Kunuk)
Band of Brothers (US …various)
Batang West Side (Philippines…Lav Diaz)
A Beautiful Mind (US…Ron Howard)
Behind the Sun (Brazil…Walter Salles)
Black Hawk Down (US…Ridley Scott)
The Blue Planet (UK…Alastair Fothergill)
Brief Crossing (France…Catherine Breillat)
The Brotherhood of the Wolf (France…Christophe Gans)
Bully (US…Larry Clark)
Chico (Hungary…Ibolya Fekete)
The Child and the Soldier (Iran…Seyyed Riza Mir Karimi)
Conspiracy (UK…Frank Pierson)
Daddy’s Girl (UK…Irving Allen)
The Devil’s Backbone (Spain…Guillermo del Toro)
Dog Days (Austria…Ulrich Seidl)
Domestic Violence (US…Frederick Wiseman)
Donnie Darko (US…Richard Kelly)
Éloge de l’Amour (France…Jean-Luc Godard)
From Hell (US…Allen Hughes, Albert Hughes)
From the Queen to the Chief Executive (Hong Kong…Herman Yau)
Gerry (US…Gus Van Sant)
Ghost World (US…Terry Zwigoff)
Go (Japan…Isao Yukisada)
Gosford Park (UK/US…Robert Altman)
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (US/UK…Chris Columbus)
Ichi the Killer (Japan…Takashi Miike)
In a Land of Plenty (UK…David Moore, Hattie MacDonald)
In the Bedroom (US…Todd Field)
In Vanda’s Room (Portugal…Pedro Costa)
Intimacy (UK…Patrice Chereau)
Jazz (US…Ken Burns)
Kandahar (Iran…Mohsen Makhmalbaf)
L.I.E. (US…Michael Cuesta)
The Lady and the Duke (France…Eric Rohmer)
Lagaan (India…Ashutosh Gowariker)
Laissez-Passer (France…Bertrand Tavernier)
Lantana (Australia…Ray Lawrence)
Last Orders (UK…Fred Schepisi)
Late Marriage (France…Dover Koshashvili)
The Lawless Heart (UK…Neil Hunter, Tom Hunsinger)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Version) (US/New Zealand (2002)…Peter Jackson)
Lost and Delirious (Canada…Léa Pool)
The Man Who Wasn’t There (US…Joel Coen)
Millennium Actress (Japan…Satoshi Kon)
Millennium Mambo (Taiwan…Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
Monsoon Wedding (US…Mira Nair)
Monster’s Ball (US…Marc Forster)
Monster’s Inc. (US…Pete Docter, Lee Unkrich, David Silverman)
Moulin Rouge (Australia/US…Baz Luhrmann)
Mulholland Drive (US…David Lynch)
My Voyage to Italy (Italy/US…Martin Scorsese)
No Man’s Land (Bosnia…Danis Tanovic)
Nowhere in Africa (Germany…Caroline Link)
The Office (UK (until 2003)…Stephen Merchant, Ricky Gervais)
Oui, mais… (France…Yves Lavandier)
Perfect Strangers (UK…Stephen Poliakoff)
Phoenix Nights (UK (until 2002)…Jonny Campbell, Peter Kay)
The Piano Teacher (France…Michael Haneke)
Porto of my Childhood (Portugal…Manoel de Oliveira)
Pulse (Japan…Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
Quo Vadis? (TV version) (Poland…Jerzy Kawalerowicz)
The Road (Kazakhstan…Dareshan Omirbayev)
Roberto Succo (France/Italy…Cédric Kahn)
The Royal Tenenbaums (US…Wes Anderson)
Sex and Lucia (Spain…Julio Medem)
Shrek (US…Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson)
Silence…en tourne (France/Egypt…Youssef Chahine)
Six Feet Under (UK (until 2005)…various)
Sobibor (France…Claude Lanzmann)
The Son’s Room (Italy…Nanni Moretti)
Spirited Away (Japan…Hayao Miyazaki)
Suicide Club (Japan…Shion Sono)
Sur Mes Lèvres (France…Jacques Audiard)
Tape (US…Richard Linklater)
Three Businessmen (UK…Alex Cox)
To the Left of the Father (Brazil…Luiz Fernando Carvalho)
24 (US (until 2009)…various)
Utsab (India…Rituparno Ghosh)
Va Savoir (France…Jacques Rivette)
Visitor Q (Japan…Takashi Miike)
Waking Life (US…Richard Linklater)
Warm Water Under a Red Bridge (Japan…Shohei Imamura)
The Way we Live Now (UK…David Yates)
Where Does Your Hidden Smile Lie? (France/Portugal…Pedro Costa, Thierry Lounas)
Y Tu Mamá También (Mexico…Alfonso Cuaron)
2002
Abouna (Chad…Mahamat-Saleh Haroun)
About Schmidt (US…Alexander Payne)
Adaptation (US…Spike Jonze)
All or Nothing (UK…Mike Leigh)
Auto Focus (US…Paul Schrader)
Big Girls Don’t Cry (Germany…Maria von Heland)
Blissfully Yours (Thailand…Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Bloody Sunday (UK/Ireland…Paul Greengrass)
Bowling for Columbine (US…Michael Moore)
Bus 174 (Brazil…Jose Padilha)
Carnages (France…Delphine Gleize)
The Cat Returns (Japan…Horoyuki Morita)
Catch Me if You Can (US…Steven Spielberg)
The Century of the Self (UK…Adam Curtis)
Chicago (US…Rob Marshall)
Chihwaseon (South Korea…Im Kwon-taek)
Chinese Odyssey 2002 (Hong Kong…Jeffrey Lau)
Choses Secrètes (France…Jean-Claude Brisseau)
City of God (Brazil…Fernando Meirelles)
The Clay Bird (Bangladesh…Tareque Masud)
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (US…George Clooney)
Corpus Callosum (US…Michael Snow)
Cremaster 2 (US…Matthew Barney)
The Cuckoo (Russia…Aleksandr Rogozhkin)
Daniel Deronda (UK…Tom Hooper)
Dark Water (Japan…Hideo Nakata)
Decasia (US…Bill Morrison)
Demonlover (France…Olivier Assayas)
The Deserted Station (Iran…Ali Reza Raisian)
Les Diables (France…Christophe Ruggia)
Divine Intervention (France/Israel…Elia Suleiman)
Dolls (Japan…Takeshi Kitano)
Etre et Avoir (France…Nicolas Philibert)
Falcons (Iceland…Fridrik Thór Fridriksson)
Far from Heaven (US…Todd Haynes)
Femme Fatale (US…Brian de Palma)
Le Fils (France…Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne)
Frida (US…Julie Taymor)
Gangs of New York (US…Martin Scorsese)
The Gathering Storm (UK…Richard Loncraine)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (US/UK…Chris Columbus)
Hero: Special Edition (China…Zhang Yimou)
Hlemmur (Iceland…Olafur Sveinsson)
The Hours (US/UK…Stephen Daldry)
House of Fools (Russia…Andrei Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky)
Hukkle (Hungary…Gyorgy Palfi)
Hush! (Russia…Viktor Kossokovsky)
I Remember (Poland…Marcel Lozinski)
In America (US…Jim Sheridan)
In My Skin (France…Marina de Van)
In This World (UK…Michael Winterbottom)
Infernal Affairs (Hong Kong…Alan Mak, Wau Lai-Kung)
Insomnia (US…Christopher Nolan)
Irreversible (France…Gaspar Noé)
Kannathil Muthamittal (India…Mani Ratnam)
Ken Park (US…Larry Clark, Ed Lachman)
Lilya 4-Ever (Sweden/Russia…Lukas Moodysson)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Extended Version) (US/New Zealand (2003)…Peter Jackson)
The Magdalene Sisters (Ireland…Peter Mullan)
Man Without a Past (Finland…Aki Kaurismäki)
Marriage is a Crazy Thing (South Korea…Ha Yoo)
Minority Report (US…Steven Spielberg)
Mondays in the Sun (Spain…Fernando Léon de Aranoa)
Morvern Callar (UK…Lynne Ramsay)
The Name of a River (India…Anup Singh)
Naqoyqatsi (US…Godfrey Reggio)
Oasis (South Korea…Lee Chang-dong)
Open Hearts (Denmark…Susanne Bier)
Out of Control (UK…Dominic Savage)
Process (France…C.S.Leigh)
Punch-Drunk Love (US…Paul Thomas Anderson)
The Quiet American (US…Philip Noyce)
Rabbit Proof Fence (Australia…Philip Noyce)
Respiro (Italy…Emanuele Crialese)
Ripley’s Game (Italy…Liliana Cavani)
Road to Perdition (US…Sam Mendes)
Russian Ark (Russia/Germany…Alexander Sokurov)
Secretary (US…Steven Shainberg)
The Shield (US (until 2008)…various)
A Snake of June (Japan…Shinya Tsukamoto)
Solaris (US…Steven Soderbergh)
Southeast Passage (Germany…Ulrike Ottinger)
Space Station (US…Toni Myers)
Spellbound (US…Jeffrey Blitz)
Spider (Canada/UK…David Cronenberg)
Spider-Man (US…Sam Raimi)
Sunshine State (US…John Sayles)
Sweet Sixteen (UK…Ken Loach)
Sympathy for Mr Vengeance (South Korea…Park Chan-wook)
Talk to Her (Spain…Pedro Almodóvar)
10 (Iran…Abbas Kiarostami)
Tipping the Velvet (UK…Geoffrey Sax)
Trilogy: On the Run, An Amazing Couple, After Life (France…Lucas Belvaux)
Turning Gate (South Korea…Hong Sang-soo)
28 Days Later (UK…Danny Boyle)
25th Hour (US…Spike Lee)
24 Hour Party People (UK…Michael Winterbottom)
Twilight Samurai (Japan…Yoji Yamada)
Unknown Pleasures (China/Japan/South Korea…Zhang-Ke Jia)
Uzak (Turkey…Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
Vendredi Soir (France…Claire Denis)
La Vie Nouvelle (France…Philippe Grandrieux)
War and Peace (India…Anand Patwardhan)
Whale Rider (New Zealand…Niki Caro)
The Wire (US (until 2008)…various)
Women in the Mirror (Japan…Yoshishige Yoshida)
Zhou Yu’s Train (China…Zhou Sun)
2003
Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer (US…Nick Broomfield, Joan Churchill)
All the Real Girls (US…David Gordon Green)
American Splendor (US…Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini)
Angels in America (US…Mike Nichols)
At Five in the Afternoon (Iran…Samira Makhmalbaf)
The Barbarian Invasions (Canada…Denys Arcand)
Battlestar Galactica (US (until 2009)…various)
Belleville Rendez-vous (France…Sylvain Chomet)
The Best of Youth (Italy…Marco Tullio Giordano)
The Brown Bunny (US…Vincent Gallo)
Café Lumière (Taiwan/Japan…Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
Capturing the Friedmans (US…Andrew Jarecki)
Charles II: The Power and the Passion (UK…Joe Wright)
Coffee and Cigarettes (US…Jim Jarmusch)
Cold Mountain (US…Anthony Minghella)
Crimson Gold (Iran…Jafar Penahi)
Dogville (Denmark/UK…Lars Von Trier)
The Dreamers (France/US…Bernardo Bertolucci)
Elephant (US…Gus van Sant)
L’Esquive (France…Abdellatif Kechiche)
Finding Nemo (US…Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich)
The Five Obstructions (Denmark…Lars Von Trier, Jorgen Leth)
The Forest for the Trees (Germany…Maren Ade)
Girl With a Pearl Earring (UK…Peter Webber)
The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai (Japan…Mitsuru Meike)
Goodbye, Dragon Inn (Taiwan…Tsai Ming-Liang)
Goodbye Lenin! (Germany…Wolfgang Becker)
Histoire de Marie et Julien (France…Jacques Rivette)
I’m Not Scared (Italy…Gabriele Salvatores)
In the Cut (US…Jane Campion)
Kamikaze Girls (Japan…Tetsuya Kawashima)
Kill Bill Vol 1 (US…Quentin Tarantino)
Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair (US (2014)…Quentin Tarantino)
Last Life in the Universe (Thailand…Pen-Ek Ratanaruang)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Extended Version) (US/New Zealand (2004)…Peter Jackson)
Los Angeles Plays Itself (US…Thom Andersen)
Lost in Translation (US…Sofia Coppola)
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (US…Peter Weir)
Memories of Murder (South Korea…Bong Joon-ho)
My Architect (US…Nathaniel Kahn)
Mystic River (US…Clint Eastwood)
Oldboy (South Korea…Park Chan-wook)
The Other Boleyn Girl (UK…Philippa Lowthorpe)
La Petite Lili (France…Claude Miller)
The Return (Russia…Andrei Zvyagintsev)
Saraband (Sweden…Ingmar Bergman)
School of Rock (US…Richard Linklater)
Shubho Mahurat (India…Rituparno Ghosh)
Silent Waters (Pakistan…Sabiha Sumar)
Since Otar Left (France/Georgia…Julie Bertucelli)
Sky Blue (South Korea…Kim Moon-Saeng)
Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter…and Spring (South Korea…Kim Ki-Duk)
State of Play (UK…David Yates)
Stevie (US…Steve James)
Swimming Pool (France…François Ozon)
Take My Eyes (Spain…Iciar Bollain)
A Talking Picture (Portugal…Manoel de Oliveira)
Textism (Japan…Isamu Hirabayashi)
Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks: Parts I, II & III (China…Wang Bing)
Tokyo Godfathers (Japan…Satoshi Kon)
Touching the Void (UK…Kevin MacDonald)
Trilogy: The Weeping Meadow (Greece…Theo Angelopoulos)
Tsumugi (Japan…Hidekazu Takehara)
21 Grams (US/Mexico…Alejandro González Iñárritu)
Vodka Lemon (Armenia…Hiner Saleem)
Zatoichi (Japan…Takeshi Kitano)
Zelary (Czech Republic…Andrej Trojan)
2004
À Toute de Suite (France…Benoït Jacquot)
Aftermath (Denmark…Paprika Steen)
Agnes and His Brothers (Germany…Oskar Roehler)
Anatomy of Hell (France…Catherine Breillat)
Antares (Austria…Götz Spielmann)
The Aviator (US…Martin Scorsese)
Bad Education (Spain…Pedro Almodóvar)
Before Sunset (US…Richard Linklater)
Birth (US…Jonathan Glazer)
Blackpool (UK…Julie Anne Robinson, Coky Giedroyc)
The Bourne Supremacy (US…Paul Greengrass)
Breaking News (Hong Kong…Johnnie To)
Brotherhood (South Korea…Kang Ge-Gyu)
Brothers (Denmark…Susanne Bier)
Closer (US/UK…Mike Nichols)
Collateral (US…Michael Mann)
The Consequences of Love (Italy…Paolo Sorrentino)
Crash (US…Paul Haggis)
Crying Out Love in the Centre of the World (Japan…Isao Yukisada)
Deadwood (US (until 2006)…various)
Delamu (Taiwan…Tian Zhuangzhuang)
Don’t Move (Italy…Sergio Castellito)
Downfall (Germany…Oliver Hirschbiegel)
Elfen Lied (Japan…Lynn Okamoto)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (US…Michel Gondry)
Evolution of a Filipino Family (Philippines…Lav Diaz)
Exiles (France…Tony Gatlif)
Fahrenheit 9/11 (US…Michael Moore)
Finding Neverland (UK…Marc Forster)
Five (Iran…Abbas Kiarostami)
Four Shades of Brown (Sweden…Tomas Alfredson)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (US…Alfonso Cuaron)
Head-On (Germany…Fatih Akin)
Heimat 3 (Germany…Edgar Reitz)
A Hole in My Heart (Sweden…Lukas Moodysson)
Hotel Rwanda (US…Terry George)
The House of Flying Daggers (China…Zhang Yimou)
Howl’s Moving Castle (Japan…Hayao Miyazaki)
The Incredibles (US…Brad Bird)
Innocence (France…Lucile Hadzihalilovic)
Intimate Strangers (France…Patrice Leconte)
The Intruder (France…Claire Denis)
The Ister (Australia…David Barison, Daniel Ross)
Keane (US…Lodge Kerrigan)
Kill Bill Vol 2 (US…Quentin Tarantino)
Kinsey (US…Bill Condon)
Kontroll (Hungary…Nimrod Antal)
Kung-Fu Hustle (Hong Kong…Stephen Chow)
Last Days (US…Gus Van Sant)
The Libertine (UK…Lawrence Dunmore)
Life is a Miracle (Serbia…Emir Kusturica)
Look at Me (France…Agnès Jaoui)
Lost (US (until 2010)…various)
Maria Full of Grace (US/Colombia…Joshua Marston)
Mila from Mars (Bulgaria…Sophia Zornitsa)
Million Dollar Baby (US…Clint Eastwood)
Monarchy (UK (until 2007)…various)
Moolaadé (Senegal…Ousmane Sembene)
The Motorcycle Diaries (Brazil…Walter Salles)
My Summer of Love (UK…Pawel Pawlikowski)
The Night of Truth (Burkina Faso…Fanta Régina Nacro)
La Nina Santa (Argentina…Lucrecia Martel)
Nobody Knows (Japan…Hirokazu Kore-Eda)
North & South (UK…Brian Percival)
Notre Musique (France…Jean-Luc Godard)
Off the Map (US…Campbell Scott)
Paranoia Agent (Japan…Satoshi Kon)
The Passion of the Christ (US…Mel Gibson)
Le Porte du Soleil (France…Yousry Nasrallah)
The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear (UK…Adam Curtis)
Promised Land (Israel…Amos Gitai)
Raincoat (India…Rituparno Ghosh)
Ray (US…Taylor Hackford)
Rois et Reine (France…Arnaud Desplechin)
The Sea Inside (Spain…Alejandro Aménabar)
Sex Traffic (UK…David Yates)
Shrek 2 (US…Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury, Conrad Vernon)
Sideways (US…Alexander Payne)
Spider Man 2 (US…Sam Raimi)
Stage Beauty (UK…Richard Eyre)
Star Spangled to Death (US…Ken Jacobs)
Tarnation (US…Jonathan Caouette)
The Taste of Tea (Japan…Katsuhito Ishii)
Three Rooms of Melancholia (Finland/Russia…Pirko Honkasalo)
Tropical Malady (Thailand…Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Troy: director’s cut (US (2007)…Wolfgang Petersen)
The Tuner (Russia/Ukraine…Kira G.Muratova)
Turtles Can Fly (Iran…Bahman Ghobadi)
2046 (Hong Kong…Wong Kar-Wai)
Vera Drake (UK…Mike Leigh)
Veronica Mars (US (until 2007)…various)
A Very Long Engagement (France…Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
Une visite au Louvre (France…Jean-Marie Straub, Danièle Huillet)
Vital (Japan…Shinya Tsukamoto)
A Way of Life (UK…Amma Asante)
Woman is the Future of Man (South Korea…Hong Sang-soo)
The World (China…Zhang-Ke Jia)
2005
Auschwitz (UK…Laurence Rees)
Avenge But One of My Two Eyes (France/Israel…Avi Mograbi)
Ballets Russes (US…Daniel Keller, Dayna Goldfine)
Batman Begins (US…Christopher Nolan)
Battle in Heaven (Mexico…Carlos Reygadas)
The Beat My Heart Skipped (France…Jacques Audiard)
A Bittersweet Life (South Korea…Kim Ji-woon)
Bleak House (UK…Justin Chadwick, Susanna White)
The Bothersome Man (Norway…Jens Lien)
The Bow (South Korea…Kim Ki-duk)
Brokeback Mountain (US…Ang Lee)
Buffalo Boy (Vietnam…Minh Nguyen-Vo)
Caché (France…Michael Haneke)
Capote (US…Bennett Miller)
Casanova (UK…Sheree Folkson)
Cinema Iran (UK…Mark Cousins)
A Cock and Bull Story (UK…Michael Winterbottom)
The Constant Gardener (UK…Fernando Meirelles)
C.R.A.Z.Y. (Canada…Jean-Marc Vallée)
Days of Glory (France/Belgium…Rachid Bouchareb)
The Death of Mr Lazarescu (Romania…Cristi Puiu)
The Descent (UK…Neil Marshall)
Doctor Who (new series) (UK (until ?) various)
Election (Hong Kong…Johnnie To)
L’Enfant (Belgium/France…Jean-Luc Dardenne, Pierre Dardenne)
Extras (UK (until 2007)…Stephen Merchant, Ricky Gervais)
Fateless (Hungary…Lajos Koltai)
Funland (UK …Dearbhla Walsh, Susan Tully, Brian Kirk)
The Genius of Beethoven (UK…Damon Thomas, Ursula MacFarlane)
Good Night, and Good Luck (US…George Clooney)
Grizzly Man (Germany…Werner Herzog)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (US…Mike Newell)
Haze (Japan…Shinya Tsukamoto)
A History of Violence (US/Canada…David Cronenberg)
I for India (UK…Sandhya Suri)
Into a Dream (Japan…Shion Sono)
Into Great Silence (Germany/France…Philip Gröning)
Jestem (Poland…Dorota Kedzierzawska)
Junebug (US…Phil Morrison)
The Kautokeino Rebellion (Norway…Nils Gaup)
King Kong (US…Peter Jackson)
Kingdom of Heaven: Special Edition (US/UK (2007)…Ridley Scott)
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (US…Shane Black)
Longing (Germany…Valeska Grisebach)
Mad Hot Ballroom (US…Marilyn Agrelo)
Manderlay (Denmark…Lars Von Trier)
Me and You and Everyone we Know (US…Miranda July)
Memoirs of a Geisha (US…Rob Marshall)
Munich (US…Steven Spielberg)
Mysterious Skin (US…Gregg Araki)
The New World: Extended Version (US…Terrence Malick)
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (US…Martin Scorsese)
Noriko’s Dinner Table (Japan…Shion Sono)
Not Here to be Loved (France…Stephane Brizé)
Old Joy (US…Kelly Reichardt)
Paradise Now (Israel/Netherlands…Hany Abu-Assad)
Pervert (US…Jonathan Yudis)
The President’s Last Bang (South Korea…Im Sang-soo)
The Proposition (Australia…John Hillcoat)
Rampo Noir (Japan…Akio Jissoji, Atsushi Kaneko, Hisayasu Sato, Suguru Takeuchi)
Regular Lovers (France…Philippe Garrel)
Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (Hong Kong…Zhang Yimou)
Rome (US (until 2007)…various)
The Secret Life of Words (Canada…Isabel Coixet)
Serenity (US…Joss Whedon)
The Shutka Book of Records (Serbia…Aleksandar Manic)
Sin City (US…Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller, Quentin Tarantino)
Sophie Scholl: The Last Days (Germany…Marc Rothemund)
Spiral (France (until ?) …various)
The Squid and the Whale (US…Noam Baumbach)
Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith (US…George Lucas)
Strange Circus (Japan…Shion Sono)
The Sun (Japan/Russia…Aleksandr Sokurov)
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (South Korea…Park Chan-wook)
Syriana (US…Stephen Gaghan)
The Thick of It (UK (until 2012)…Armando Iannucci)
13 Tzameti (France…Gela Babluani)
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (US…Tommy Lee Jones)
Three Times (Taiwan/France…Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
Twenty-Thousand Streets Under the Sky (UK…Simon Curtis)
V for Vendetta (US…James McTeague)
The Violin (Mexico…Francisco Vargas)
Walk the Line (US…James Mangold)
Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (UK…Nick Park)
Water (Canada…Deepa Mehta)
The Wayward Cloud (Taiwan…Tsai Ming-Liang)
2006
After the Wedding (Denmark…Susanne Bier)
Away from Her (Canada…Sarah Polley)
Babel (US/Mexico…Alejandro González Iñárritu)
Bamako (France/Mali…Abderrahmane Sissako)
The Banquet (China…Feng Xiaogang)
Belle Toujours (Portugal/France…Manoel de Oliveira)
Black Book (Netherlands…Paul Verhoeven)
The Black Dahlia (US…Brian de Palma)
Black Snake Moan (US…Craig Brewer)
Blockade (Russia…Sergei Loznitsa)
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (US…Larry Charles)
Brand Upon the Brain! (Canada…Guy Maddin)
Casino Royale (US/UK…Martin Campbell)
Children of Men (US/UK…Alfonso Cuarón)
Climates (Turkey…Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
Colossal Youth (Portugal…Pedro Costa)
Coming Soon (Czech Republic…Sir Tijn Po)
Conversations with My Gardener (France…Jean Becker)
Curse of the Golden Flower (China…Zhang Yimou)
The Dead Girl (US…Karen Moncrieff)
Death Note (Japan…Shusuke Kaneko)
The Departed (US…Martin Scorsese)
Everything Will be OK (US…Don Hertzfeldt)
Exiled (Hong Kong…Johnnie To)
Fireworks Wednesday (Iran…Asghar Farhadi)
Flags of Our Fathers (US…Clint Eastwood)
The Fountain (US…Darren Aronofsky)
Ghosts (UK…Nick Broomfield)
Gideon’s Daughter (UK…Stephen Poliakoff)
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Japan…Mamoru Hosoda)
The Golden Door (Italy…Emanuele Crialese)
The Good Shepherd (US…Robert DeNiro)
Grbavica (Bosnia…Jasmila Zbanic)
Half Nelson (US…Ryan Fleck)
Heimat the Fragments – Women (Germany…Edgar Reitz)
Herbert (India…Suman Mukhopadhyay)
The History Boys (UK…Nicholas Hytner)
The Host (South Korea…Bong Joon-ho)
I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone (Taiwan/Malaysia…Tsai Ming-Liang)
I Just Didn’t Do It (Japan…Masayuki Suo)
I Served the King of England (Czech Republic…Jiri Menzel)
The Illusionist (US…Neil Burger)
Inland Empire (US…David Lynch)
Iraq in Fragments (US…James Langley)
The Island (Russia…Pavel Lungin)
Jane Eyre (UK…Susanna White)
Jindabyne (Australia…Ray Lawrence)
Lady Chatterley: Extended Version (France…Pascale Ferran)
The Last King of Scotland (UK…Kevin MacDonald)
Letters from Iwo Jima (US…Clint Eastwood)
Life on Mars (UK (until 2007)…various)
Little Children (US…Todd Field)
Little Miss Sunshine (US…Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris)
The Lives of Others (Germany…Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)
Longford (UK…Tom Hooper)
Man, Woman & the Wall (Japan…Masashi Yamamoto)
Manufactured Landscapes (Canada…Jennifer Baichwal)
Marcela (Czech Republic…Helena Trestnikova)
Marie Antoinette (US…Sofia Coppola)
Memories of Matsuko (Japan…Tetsuya Nakashima)
Mirrored Mind (Japan…Gakuryu Ishii)
La Morte Rouge (Spain…Victor Erice)
My Brother is an Only Child (Italy…Daniele Luchetti)
The Namesake (India/US…Mira Nair)
Notes on a Scandal (UK…Richard Eyre)
Offside (Iran…Jafar Penahi)
Once (Ireland…John Carney)
The Page Turner (France…Denis Dercourt)
The Painted Veil (US…John Curran)
Pan’s Labyrinth (Mexico…Guillermo del Toro)
The Paper Will be Blue (Romania…Radu Muntean)
Paprika (Japan…Satoshi Kon)
Planet Earth (UK…various)
The Power of Art (UK…various)
A Prairie Home Companion (US…Robert Altman)
The Prestige (US…Christopher Nolan)
Private Fears in Public Places (France…Alain Resnais)
The Queen (UK…Stephen Frears)
Razone (Denmark…Christian E.Christiansen)
Red Road (UK…Andrea Arnold)
Reprise (Norway…Joachim Trier)
Requiem (Germany…Hans-Christian Schmid)
Sakuran (Japan…Mika Ninagawa)
Shortbus (US…John Cameron Mitchell)
The Singer (France…Xavier Giannoli)
Still Life (Hong Kong/China…Zhang-Ke Jia)
Summer Palace (China…Le You)
Syndromes and a Century (Thailand…Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Tell No One (France…Guillaume Canet)
This is England (UK…Shane Meadows)
12:08 East of Bucharest (Romania…Corneliu Porumboiu)
United 93 (US…Paul Greengrass)
Volver (Spain…Pedro Almodóvar)
The Wind That Shakes the Barley (UK/Ireland…Ken Loach)
Woman on the Beach (South Korea…Hong Sang-soo)
2007
Across the Universe (US…Julie Taymor)
Alexandra (Russia…Aleksandr Sokurov)
American Gangster: director’s cut (US (2008)…Ridley Scott)
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (US…Andrew Dominik)
Atonement (UK…Joe Wright)
The Banishment (Russia…Andrei Zvyagintsev)
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (US…Sidney Lumet)
Beowulf (US…Robert Zemeckis)
The Bourne Ultimatum (US…Paul Greengrass)
Boy A (UK…John Crowley)
The Brutal Hopelessness of Love (Japan…Takashi Ishii)
California Dreamin’ (Romania…Cristian Nemescu)
Control (UK…Anton Corbijn)
The Counterfeitors (Austria…Stefan Ruzawitsky)
Cous-Cous (France…Abdel Kachiche)
Cranford (UK (and 2009)…Simon Curtis, Steve Hudson)
The Darjeeling Limited (US…Wes Anderson)
Death in the Land of Encantos (Philippines…Lav Diaz)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (US…Julian Schnabel)
Don’t Touch the Axe (France…Jacques Rivette)
Eastern Promises (UK/Canada…David Cronenberg)
The Edge of Heaven (Turkey…Fatih Akin)
Egg (Turkey…Semih Kaplanoglu)
Enchanted (US…Kevin Lima)
Encounters at the End of the World (US…Werner Herzog)
Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone (Japan…Kazuya Tsurumaki, Masayuki, Hideaki Anno)
Fengming, a Chinese Memoir (China…Wang Bing)
The Flight of the Red Balloon (France/Taiwan…Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Romania…Cristian Mungiu)
Frozen (India…Shivajee Chandrabhushan)
Fugitive Pieces (Canada…Jeremy Podeswa)
Ghosts of the Cité Soleil (France…Asger Leth)
The Girl Cut in Two (France…Claude Chabrol)
Gone Baby Gone (US…Ben Affleck)
Grindhouse (US…Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino)
Guardian of the Spirit (Japan …Shigeru Ueda)
Hallam Foe (UK…David McKenzie)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (US/UK…Steve Yates)
Help Me Eros (Taiwan…Lee Kang-sheng)
Henri le Chat Noir (US-Online (until ?)…Will Braden)
Honeydripper (US…John Sayles)
I’m Not There (US…Todd Haynes)
Import/Export (Austria…Ulrich Seidl)
In the City of Sylvia (Spain/France…José Luis Guerin)
In the Shadow of the Moon (US…David Sington)
In the Valley of Elah (US…Paul Haggis)
Inside (France…Alexandre Bustillo, Julien Maury)
Into the Wild (US…Sean Penn)
Johnny Gaddar (India…Sriram Raghavan)
Juno (US…Jason Reitman)
Katyn (Poland…Andrzej Wajda)
The Killing (Denmark (until 2012)…various)
The King of Kong (US…Seth Gordon)
The Last Mistress (France…Catherine Breillat)
The Lie of the Land (UK…Molly Dineen)
The Lookout (US…Scott Frank)
Lost in Beijing (China…Li Yu)
Lust, Caution (Hong Kong/China/US…Ang Lee)
Mad Men (US (until 2014)…various)
Michael Clayton (US…Tony Gilroy)
Mongol (Germany/Kazakhstan/Russia…Sergei Bodrov)
My Blueberry Nights (Hong Hong/US…Wong Kar-Wai)
My Winnipeg (Canada…Guy Maddin)
Nightwatching (UK/Netherlands…Peter Greenaway)
No Country for Old Men (US…Joel Coen, Ethan Coen)
No End in Sight (US…Charles Ferguson)
Paranormal Activity (US…Oren Peli)
Persepolis (France…Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Strapi)
RR (US…James Benning)
Ratatouille (US…Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava)
[●Rec] (Spain…Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza)
Roman de Gare (France…Claude Lelouch)
The Romance of Astrea and Celadon (France…Eric Rohmer)
The Savages (US…Tamara Jenkins)
A Secret (France…Claude Miller)
Secret Sunshine (South Korea…Lee Chang-dong)
Shotgun Stories (US…Jeff Nicholls)
Shuga (Kazakhstan…Dareshan Omirbayev)
Sicko (US…Michael Moore)
The Silence Before Bach (Spain…Pere Portabella)
Silent Light (Mexico…Carlos Reygadas)
Skins (UK (until 2013)…various)
Starting Out in the Evening (US…Andrew Wagner)
The Sun Also Rises (China/Hong Kong…Jiang Wen)
Surfwise (US…Doug Pray)
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (US…Tim Burton)
Taxi to the Dark Side (US…Alex Gibney)
There Will be Blood (US…Paul Thomas Anderson)
The Trap: What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom? (UK…Adam Curtis)
Trick ‘r Treat (US…Michael Dougherty)
Tricks (Poland…Andrzej Zakimowski)
The Tudors (US/Ireland (until 2010)…various)
2 Days in Paris (France…Julie Delpy)
United Red Army (Japan…Koji Wakamatsu)
The Unpolished (Germany…Pia Marais)
Up the Yangtse (Canada/China…Yung Chang)
La Vie en Rose (France…Olivier Dahan)
Waitress (US…Adrienne Shelly)
The War (US…Ken Burns, Lynn Novick)
The Witnesses (France…André Téchine)
You, the Living (Sweden…Roy Andersson)
Zodiac (US…David Fincher)
2008
Ashes to Ashes (UK (until 2010)…various)
Autumn (Turkey…Oscan Alper)
The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany…Uli Edel)
Ballast (US…Lance Hammer)
Bathory (Czech Republic/Hungary…Juraj Jakubisko)
The Beaches of Agnès (France…Agnès Varda)
Breaking Bad (US (until (2013)…various)
Changeling (US…Clint Eastwood)
Che: Parts I & II (US…Steven Soderbergh)
Chop Shop (US…Ramin Bahrani)
A Christmas Tale (France…Arnaud Desplechin)
The Class (France…Laurent Cantet)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (US…David Fincher)
The Dark Knight (US…Christopher Nolan)
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About his Father (US…Kurt Kuenne)
Delta (Hungary…Kornél Mundruczó)
Departures (Japan…Yojiro Takita)
The Devil’s Whore (UK…Marc Munden)
Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (US-Online…Joss Whedon)
The Dust of Time (Greece…Theo Angelopoulos)
Everlasting Moments (Sweden…Jan Troell)
Extraordinary Stories (Argentina…Mariano Llinás)
Flame and Citron (Denmark…Ole Christian Madsen)
Frost/Nixon (US…Ron Howard)
Generation Kill (US…Susanna White, Simon Cellan Jones)
Gomorrah (Italy…Mateo Garrone)
The Good, the Bad and the Weird (South Korea…Kim Jee-Woon)
Goodbye Solo (Iran…Rahmin Bahrani)
Gran Torino (US…Clint Eastwood)
Happy-Go-Lucky (UK…Mike Leigh)
The Headless Woman (Argentina…Lucrecia Martel)
A History of Scotland (UK (until 2009)…various)
Hunger (UK…Steve McQueen)
The Hurt Locker (US…Kathryn Bigelow)
I am so Proud of You (US…Don Hertzfeldt)
In Bruges (UK…Martin McDonagh)
In Treatment (US (until 2010) …various)
Involuntary (Sweden…Ruben Ostlund)
I’ve Loved You So Long (France…Philippe Claudel)
John Adams (US…Tom Hooper)
Kaalpurush (India…Buddhadeb Dasgupta)
Kisses (Ireland…Lance Daly)
Let the Right One In (Sweden…Tomas Alfredson)
Let’s Talk About the Rain (France…Agnès Jaoui)
Linha de Passe (Brazil…Walter Salles, Daniela Thomas)
Little Dorrit (UK …Adam Smith, Dearbhla Walsh, Diarmuid Lawrence)
Liverpool (Argentina…Lisandro Alonso)
Love Exposure (Japan…Shion Sono)
Man on Wire (US…James Marsh)
Manila in the Fangs of Darkness (Philippines…Khavn)
Me and Orson Welles (US/UK…Richard Linklater)
Melancholia (Philippines…Lav Diaz)
Mesrine: Parts I & II (France…Jean-François Richet)
Milk (US…Gus Van Sant)
Milk (Turkey…Semih Kaplanoglu)
Night and Day (South Korea…Hong Sang-soo)
Of Time and the City (UK…Terence Davies)
One Million Yen Girl (Japan…Yuki Tanada)
Our Beloved Month of August (Portugal…Miguel Gomes)
Our Mother (Japan…Yoji Yamada)
Rachel Getting Married (US…Jonathan Demme)
The Reader (US…Stephen Daldry)
Rembrandt’s J’Accuse (UK…Peter Greenaway)
Revanche (Austria…Gotz Spielmann)
Revolutionary Road (US…Sam Mendes)
RIN – Daughters of the Mnemosyne (Japan…Shigeru Ueda)
Seraphine (France…Martin Provost)
Shine a Light (US…Martin Scorsese)
Shirin (Iran…Abbas Kiarostami)
The Silence of Lorna (Belgium/France…Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne)
Sleep Furiously (UK…Gideon Koppel)
Slumdog Millionaire (UK/India…Danny Boyle)
Snow (Bosnia…Aida Begic)
Somers Town (UK…Shane Meadows)
Still Walking (Japan…Hirokazu Kore-Eda)
Summer Hours (France…Olivier Assayas)
Synecdoche, New York (US…Charlie Kaufman)
Terribly Happy (Denmark…Henri Ruben Genz)
35 Shots of Rum (France…Claire Denis)
Three Monkeys (Turkey…Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
Tokyo Sonata (Japan…Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
True Blood (US (until 2014)…various)
24 City (China…Zhang-Ke Jia)
Two Lovers (US…James Gray)
Tyson (US…James Toback)
Wall-E (US…Andrew Stanton)
Waltz with Bashir (Israel…Ari Folman)
Wendy and Lucy (US…Kelly Reichardt)
Winter in Wartime (Netherlands…Martin Koolhoven)
World War II: Behind Closed Doors (UK…Laurence Rees)
The Wrestler (US…Darren Aronofsky)
2009
About Elly (Iran…Asghar Farhadi)
Agora (Spain…Alejandro Aménabar)
Air Doll (Japan…Hirokazu Kore-Eda)
Animal Kingdom (Australia…David Michôd)
Antichrist (Denmark…Lars Von Trier)
Avatar: director’s cut (US (2010)…James Cameron)
Baaria (Italy…Giuseppe Tornatore)
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (US…Werner Herzog)
Be Sure to Share (Japan…Shion Sono)
Blue Beard (France…Catherine Breillat)
Braquo (France (until ?)…various)
Bright Star (Australia…Jane Campion)
Broken Embraces (Spain…Pedro Almodóvar)
Butterflies Have No Memories (Philippines…Lav Diaz)
Café Noir (South Korea…Jung Sung-il)
City of Life and Death (China…Lu Chuan)
Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Elliot Spitzner (US…Alex Gibney)
Coraline (US…Henry Selick)
Cracks (UK…Jordan Scott)
La Danse (France/US…Frederick Wiseman)
The Disappearance of Alice Creed (UK…J.Blakeson)
District 9 (US…Neill Blomkamf)
Dog Pound (France/UK…Kim Chapiron)
Dogtooth (Greece…Giorgos Lanthimos)
Dollhouse (US (until 2010)…Joss Whedon and various)
Drag Me to Hell (US…Sam Raimi)
Eccentricities of a Blonde-Haired Girl (Portugal…Manoel de Oliveira)
Emma (UK…Jim O’Hanlon)
Enter the Void (France…Gaspar Noé)
Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance (Japan…Kazuya Tsurumaki, Masayuki, Hideaki Anno)
Eyes Wide Open (Israel…Haim Tabakman)
Fantastic Mr Fox (US…Wes Anderson)
Father of my Children (France…Mia Hansen-Love)
The First Movie (UK…Mark Cousins)
Fish Tank (UK…Andrea Arnold)
(500) Days of Summer (US…Marc Webb)
Five Minutes of Heaven (UK…Oliver Hirschbiegel)
The Girl on the Train (France…André Téchiné)
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Sweden…Nils Arden Oplev)
The Girlfriend Experience (US…Steven Soderbergh)
Hadewijch (France…Bruno Dumont)
Hamlet (UK…Gregory Doran)
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (US/UK…Steve Yates)
Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Inferno (France…Serge Bromberg, Ruxandra Medrea)
Les Herbes Folles (France…Alain Resnais)
The House of the Devil (US…Ti West)
The Human Centipede (The First Sequence) (Netherlands…Tom Hix)
Human Zoo (France…Rie Rasmussen)
I am Love (France…Luca Guadagnino)
I Killed My Mother (Canada…Xavier Dolan)
In the Beginning (France…Xavier Giannoli)
In the Loop (UK…Armando Iannucci)
Independencia (France/Philippines…Raya Martin)
Inglourious Basterds (US…Quentin Tarantino)
Kinatay (France…Brillante Mendoza)
Lebanon (Israel…Samuel Maoz)
The Life and Death of a Porno Gang (Serbia…Mladen Djordjevic)
Lola (Phillippines…Brillante Mendoza)
Looking for Eric (UK…Ken Loach)
Loren Cass (US…Chris Fuller)
Lourdes (France…Jessica Hausner)
Mademoiselle Chambon (France…Stephane Brizé)
The Maid (Chile/Mexico…Sebastián Silva)
Mammoth (Sweden…Lukas Moodysson)
Manila (Philippines…Raya Martin)
Mary and Max (Australia…Adam Elliot)
Melody for a Street Organ (Ukraine…Kira G.Muratova)
The Messenger (US…Oren Moverman)
Min Ye (Mali/France…Souleymane Cissé)
Moon (UK…Duncan Jones)
Mother (South Korea…Bong Joon-ho)
Police, Adjective (Romania…Corneliu Porumboiu)
Precious (US…Lee Daniels)
Un Prophète (France…Jacques Audiard)
Public Enemies (US…Michael Mann)
Red Riding: 1974, 1980 & 1983 (UK…Julian Jerrold, James Marsh, Anand Tucker)
The Secret of the Kells (Ireland…Tomm Moore)
A Serious Man (US…Ethan Coen, Joel Coen)
Sin Nombre (Mexico…Cary Fukunaga)
A Single Man (US…Tom Ford)
Star Trek (US…J.J.Abrams)
Tales from the Golden Age (Romania…Hanna Höfer, Razvan Marculescu, Cristian Mungiu, Ioana Uricaru, Constantin Popescu)
Thirst (South Korea…Park Chan-wook)
The Time That Remains (Israel…Elia Suleiman)
Tiny Furniture (US…Lena Dunham)
To Die Like a Man (Portugal…Joao Pedro Rodrigues)
The Unloved (UK…Samantha Morton)
Unmade Beds (UK…Alexia dos Santos)
Up (US…Pete Docter, Bob Peterson)
Up in the Air (US…Jason Reitman)
Vincere (Italy…Marco Bellocchio)
Visage (France/Taiwan…Tsai Ming-Liang)
Watchmen: the director’s cut (US…Zach Snyder)
Welcome (France…Philippe Lioret)
Whip It! (US…Drew Barrymore)
White Material (France…Claire Denis)
The White Ribbon (Germany/France…Michael Haneke)
Wild Grass (France…Alain Resnais)
A Woman in Berlin (Germany…Max Färberböck)
Zombieland (US…Ruben Fleischer)
where is twilight on this list!?
still waiting!
Where the Hell is Twilight on here?
This is horse shit!
Taylor and Samantha, my 13 year old daughter would love you two! But alas, that film is a far cry from the serious cinema that is promoted on these pages. I sympathize with your love for the film though. I saw it myself and thought it OK.
Twilight is a terrible movie! I thought it was a joke. I think Gangster No.1 should be on the list, also 3:10 to Yuma
Yes, this is a list of the major works of cinema…Twilight has no reason to exist but to make money for dreamy teens who adore the novels like obsessives. Note only the third and fourth Harry Potters made the list, and then only by the skin of their teeth, as they were the only two to rise above the mediocre.
3:10 to Yuma is a minor film, Oli, not in the league of the original, if better than most remakes (Bale and Crowe better than it deserved). Gangster No. 1 is a minor cliched Brit-gangster flick of very few redeeming features…well, one…Malcolm McDowell.
I recently saw In Bruges (2008). While flawed, it is very strong for first-time director Martin McDonagh. I wonder why it did not make the list?
Tony, I LOVE In Bruges.
“The Lovely Bones” makes the list, yet it isn’t even out yet? Granted, this list really shouldn’t even be contemplated before the year is out.
You have a good point there Bob.
Same goes for the Malick directed ‘The Tree of Life’ the earliest possible date I’ve seen is Cannes in 2010 (meaning mid-May).
Other rumors on that film state that as of about 8-10 weeks ago it sits in a cut of anywhere from 6-9 hours. I have been more excited about that film then any other for about the last three years or so.
Yes, there are films on there for predictive success, largely based around major directors, those that don’t fulfil hopes will be dropped. My own list from whicht he timelines are taken runs on to 2012.
Fair enough. I wonder why “King Kong” hasn’t been taken down yet, but that’s my opinion.
While I continue to consider the critically-praised masterpiece RETURN OF THE KING one o fthe greatest films of the new millenium, and will argue that until I’m blue in the face as I did in our site’s most celebrated thread comment-wise, I can see why KING KONG would be derided, Bob.
I prefer “Fellowship of the Ring”, myself. “Two Towers” and “Return of the King” are alright to me, but they lose the essential focus on Sam, Frodo and the ring itself. I simply don’t give a damn about Aragorn, the stoner hobbits or the goddamn elves. Gimli’s cool, though. I just don’t think I’m ever going to watch those movies again, unless I’m with friends who want to.
As for “King Kong”– I really have no idea why anybody thought that movie was a good idea. Three hours devoted to a story that was already perfect at 90 minutes? Bloated and self-indulgent in all the worst ways. My chief memory of that film isn’t actually of the film itself– it’s of the little girl who was sitting behind me in the theater, with her family. About an hour or so in, during one of the many scenes where guys from the boat are being eaten by creepy-crawlers on Skull Island, she said, with definitiveness, “it just doesn’t end…” About half an hour or so later, she said it again, and would continue to do so at twenty-minute intervals.
It just doesn’t end. That’s exactly how I’d sum up my feelings on “King Kong”, and Peter Jackson’s latter-day excesses, in general. I hadn’t been that bored out of my skull by an action movie since the underwater battle sequence from “Thunderball”. Maybe “The Lovely Bones” will show him returning to his senses after all these years, but I’m not crossing my fingers. It just doesn’t end…
Come on, Bob, King Kong is an excellent film. Not great, but far better than you give it credit. It wasn’t taken down as it doesn’t deserve to be taken down.
Mind you, take it on 20 years and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Heavenly Creatures thought of as his best film.
Allan– “Heavenly Creatures” is a great film, and undoubtedly Jackson’s best. As for “King Kong”, suffice to say that I feel the same way it as you feel about “Driving Miss Daisy”.
Let us speak no more about it.
Bob: here are my feelings on the sweeping, operatic and moving RETURN OF THE KING. We had our best thread ever with it:
https://wondersinthedark.wordpress.com/2009/07/14/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-return-of-the-king-is-the-best-film-of-2003/
Bob, I prefer toe Rings trilogy to HC, but I do like Heavenly Creatures a lot, there’s something about it where I sense I will see greatness in it one viewing, but just not yet.
Sam, stop touting for more ROTK comments, isn’t 200+ more than enough.
Allan, I am NOT NOT NOT looking fo rmore comments, just spelling out my feelings for the film for Bob! You always think the worst of everything.
Allan, partly it’s a matter of personal taste. I prefer my escapist entertainment to be sci-fi rather than fantasy. I’ll always take the space-opera of “Star Wars”, the cyberpunk of “The Matrix” or the not-too-distant-future of “Mad Max” to anything involving trolls and people with pointy ears (though I will make an exception for “Willow”).
Sam– don’t make me link my “Phantom Menace” article. I’m warning you.
hahahah Bob! I won’t mind it!!!!
Normally, I’m the same, but I can’t stand Willow, Legend and all that crap. But any LOTR film is better than any Star Wars film. The first two Force films are solid milestones (no 2 Empire is the best), but the LOTR trilogy is really epic while the Star Wars cycle is an epic as dreamt up by an 11 year old.
Funny, because that’s exactly the way I feel about LOTR, and Tolkien’s work in general. I can’t take it seriously at all. I find more substance and maturity in an Ian Flemming book, for chrissake. Again, it’s a personal taste thing.
It’s taken in context. Tolkien was after a mythology for Britain, one to recall the misty days of Arthurian sagas. I just wish someone with Jackson’s vision would do a trilogy on Arthurian legend a few years down the line, it’s made for it. One film dealing with Uther, Igraine, Cornwall, Merlin, the adoption of Arthur and the Sword in the Stone/Excalibur, the second dealing with the flowering of the Round Table and culminating in the affair between Lancelot and Guinevere, and the third dealing with the disintegration of Camelot after the Lancelot affair comes to light, the quest for the Grail, Mordred’s treachery and the final battle.
As Nigel Terry’s Arthur said in Excalibur, “it is a dream I have.”
That’s as good a defense/explanation of LOTR as I’ve ever read. I still prefer the Saturday-morning-serial/Carlos Castaneda/C-SPAN-filibuster monomyth of “Star Wars”, but agreed, Lucas and Tolkien were more or less doing the same thing in their respective mediums, with the same intentions of revitalizing legends for the 20th century. There is also, frankly, the regional difference we’re dealing with– you prefer the British mythmaker (and the adaptation by the fellow from New Zealand), while I prefer the American one. Is there any real surprise there?
I also agree that Arthur’s never really been handled correctly on the screen before, yet there’s always a chance for the future. The sad thing is, myths and legends in their original form rarely ever find themselves ideally suited for film adaptations. Forget Arthur for a second– when was the last time Homer was ever accurately put to screen? The closest we’ve ever gotten was the fictional version of “The Odyssey” that Fritz Lang was making in “Contempt”. The Knights of the Round Table might never make it to the screen in the right way. Let’s just be happy we’ve got Aragorn and the Skywalkers to make up for their absences.
Then again– isn’t somebody doing a version of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, somewhere? I thought I heard something about that.
But you know what I’d really like to see, more than anything else? Dante. And perhaps I’m crazy, but perhaps Mel Gibson could pull it off. It’d be perfect for him– ultra violent, ultra naked, and ultra Catholic (well, not quite, once you get into the theological meat of the work, but close enough). Somebody’s got to do it. Either him or Roberto Benigni.
Bob, as much as I love Godard and ‘Contempt’ the best ‘Odyssey’ I’ve seen is the one directed by Andrei Konchalovsky in 2001 that was made for TV. It’s not great, but pretty decent. Now the Lang probably would have been better but it exists just as a plot point in a fantastic art film from the 60’s.
The one with Armand Assante? Yeah, that’s kinda okay. But it deserves better.
Yes that one. I would agree it could be better.
I’ll defer to you and Allan on this… fantasy epics (or sci-fi fantasy epics) are defiantly not a personal favorite of mine.
Haven’t the Coen’s basically made ‘The Odyssey’ a few times? Isn’t that what ‘O’ Brother Where Art Thou’s supposed to be?
“O Brother” is a fantastic album, a positive treasure trove of folk-music Americana. The movie itself is crap, and I couldn’t care less what it claims to be based on, but at least it got people to listen to the music.
Is that a clue there for upcoming posts?
I agree with both Sam and Bob in different ways here. Like Sam, I feel that ROTK is the best of the trilogy (and your review is great, btw), however I’m not sure I ever need to revisit that film, or the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, ever again. I have no problem admitting or agreeing that it was a landmark for fantasy filmmaking and a cultural phenomenon upon release, but I feel like once you’ve seen it, it’s done. They’re beautifully crafted epics, full of heart, wonder, spectacular set-pieces and astonishing fx, but for some reason I don’t feel compelled to go on that journey again. I do think it’s Jackson’s finest work though. I guess I’m just not as taken by his films as some others have been.
The only thing about this list/timeline I’m unclear on is how exactly the “major films” are being chosen. If this is for an open poll (for readers), then any movie with a strong following or cult audience should be considered. For example Laurent Cantet’s “Time Out” for 2001. Jarmusch’s “Coffee and Cigarettes” and Gabriele Salvatores’ “I’m Not Scared” for 2003. The Wachowskis “Speed Racer” for 2008. Obviously there’s still the ’80s and ’90s polls to finish, so I imagine a lot of movies will be added to this timeline later on.
I think part of the reason “LOTR” doesn’t have quite as much staying power as other genre-epics is because of the disconnect it has with the viewer’s ordinary life. Tolkien’s world of Wagnerian fairy-tales and Arthurian feudalism has very, very little to do with the modern-day, or even anything as far back as the Renaissance. Lewis’ “Narnia” tales are much more thin, especially in their strained Christian allegory, but at least they have a concrete connection to our world, so we can relate to them.
Lucas’ “Star Wars” films may take place in a galaxy far, far away, but at least he makes that galaxy resemble ours, with heroes that look and act like cowboys and samurai, and villains that look and act like Nazis and Nixon. Probably the best ones to take advantage of the viewer’s relationship with the fantasy-world on screen were the Wachowskis and the existential dilemmas they articulated in the virtual-reality prison of “The Matrix”. It didn’t just show you a strange new world apart from your own– it asked you to believe that perhaps the world you lived in was a far stranger place than you’d imagined, and made you see it with new eyes.
This is why Lucas’ and the Wachowskis’ films are far more conducive to repeat viewings than Jacksons’– “Lord of the Rings” only takes us to another world, while “Star Wars” and “The Matrix” take us to other worlds that remind us of our own enough to bear some relevance to our own lives. The only halfway modern event “LOTR” ever reminded me of was “Zulu”.
Bob, you are an excellent writer and you back up your views compellingly, but this here is a matter of semantics. We are taken to the worlds we want to be taken to, and I much prefer an escort to Tolkien than to the places you offer as an alternative.
Wel Ari, first of all thank you very much for the compliment on the review and the excellent submission here. I continue to watch THE RETURN OF THE KING, and my enthusiasm and high level of entertainment enjoyed never diminishes. The operatic sweep and epic tapestry continues to stir the emotions on a level that few films manage, past and present. It’s a journey I’ll take to the end of the days. LOL!!! But again, as I’ve stated before, the extent to which any person feels strongly is informed by taste, perceptions and value judgement. Your position is as fair as mine anyday.
This is Allan’s timeline. He told me on the phone an hour ago before he retired that he admits there are some glaring omissions, which anyone is welcome to add to, now and before. I uncovered a few myself to be honest, and included them in past lists.
Just discovered this thread. At the risk of re-opening a can of worms, I firmly agree with Bob. While I’ve criticized the acclaim ROTK receives, I accept it as a film many people consider great and can see why to a certain extent even as I disagree. But King Kong is, I think, a genuinely bad movie, not just an overrated one. I was actually offended by Jackson’s sloppiness in crafting this movie, but probably even more offended by the critical praise it received, including placement on Ebert’s year-end list. That shaky-cam shot while Adrien Brody was typing “Skull Island” was like something in a 10-year-old’s first video edited on iMovie.
In short, Jackson has talent, but he doesn’t have taste. I’m resigned to seeing Return of the King on the 00s list, but I’m really hoping Kong doesn’t make the cut…or even the nearlies!
You know Joel, although (as you know) I love the LOTR films deeply (especially the last one) and have defended them passionately, I can’t say I disagree with you on KING KONG, which at this stage is practically forgettable. It’s a taint on that original classic too. I’d liek to see what Mr. Jackson comes up with with the soon-to-open THE LOVELY BONES. Remember his debut film, HEAVENLY CREATURES was a well, crafted, disturbing film. Anyway, Dennis Polifroni will want my head if he reads this. He loves KING KONG!!!!
“Heavenly Creatures” was Jackson’s fourth film, not his first– that would be 1987’s “Bad Taste”. It was, however, his first truly watchable film (unless you’re into the whole splatter/gore-comedy genre, which I ain’t).
Jackson’s film has one good thing going for it– it got Warner Bros. to finally get off their asses and release a DVD of the REAL “King Kong”. Cooper and Schoedsack’s original is a cinematic marvel, innovative and exciting in ways that few classic Hollywood movies are. Jackson’s update is a complete waste of time, and I think the most irrelevant, needless remake ever made. It’s even worse than Gus Van Sant’s shot-for-shot reenactment of “Psycho”, which on one level can be appreciated as an absurdist cinematic joke, and at the very least gave us a shot of Marion Crane’s ass.
As for LOTR– I consider FOTR a near-classic, and the other two tedious, impersonal bores. Part of me wishes there were a “Godfather Saga” style edit that included only the parts with Frodo, Sam and Gollum and got rid of all that sleep-inducing bullshit with the human beings, walking trees and the hobbit from DriveSHAFT. Call it “Treasure of Sierra Mordor”.
Bob, as a non-reader of Tolkien (which seems to have an awful lot to do with who does and doesn’t love the trilogy) I share your sympathies. The first film was a bit lighter on the CGI than the others, certainly lighter on all the obligatory battle scenes, and told a good story with focus. Too few big films like that – the blockbuster “genre” has strayed too far from classical narrative in my opinion…
Yes, I think Psycho was definitely an absurdist joke, or at least a piece of concept art…problem is, as is often the case, the concept is really all there is. Hear about it, and you’ve basically seen the movie…watching it added nothing to the “cleverness” of the idea.
I also have a fair amount of philosophical objections to Tolkien’s tale and Jackson’s telling of it, but it’s really not worth going into in any amount of detail here. Suffice to say I feel that LOTR in all its incarnations represents a set of ugly values that are probably better expressed by something like “300”, warts and all. It’s like “Song of Roland” but without the humanity.
As for “Psycho”– apparently Hitchcock originally wanted a brief nude shot of Janet Leigh (or a body double, I suppose) after Marion Crane had been murdered. It didn’t get past the censors, obviously, and GVS filmed such a shot for his version. If we could find that original shot somewhere, it’d be worth incorporating into the film as a posthumous director’s cut. GVS’s film is something that only works in the hypothetical, obviously.
Just realized a favorite work of mine from this decade isn’t present on the list– Mike Nichols’ miniseries of Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America”. Not up to your standards, Allan?
This is a very comprehensive list to work from, but you are missing a few that deserve to be among them:
2001: Behind The Sun (Salles), No Man’s Land (Tanovic), Lantana (Lawrence), The Piano Teacher (Haneke), and Waking Life (Linklater)
2002: Zhou Yu’s Train, Respiro, Cuckoo, and to a lesser extent, House Of Fools, Mondays In the Sun, and Twilight Samurai.
2003: The Return (one of the very best in the last ten years), Distant, Carnages, I’m Not Scared, This Town Is Quiet, Zelary, Kitchen Stories, Vodka Lemon, and Last Life In the Universe
2004: Don’t Move, and Toute De Suite
2005: The Wayward Cloud (absolutely audacious), Three Times, The Violin, Buffalo Boy, Jestem, and The Proposition (all brilliant)
2006: The Island, Climates, Longing, After The Wedding, The Bothersome Man, and My Brother Is An Only Child (all brilliant)
2007: Frozen, and A Secret
2008: Delta, Autumn, I’ve Loved You For So Long, and I Once Served The King Of England
A couple of these are there, cinewest. I Served the King of England is under its 2006 Czech release date for example, ditto Distant for 2002. The release date should always be the year of its first showing, not when it turned up in the US, UK or wherever.
I will endeavour to add in all the ones you request, however, just give me a couple of days to find the time.
OK, cinewest, all updated. About half a dozen were there under different years, but the rest weren’t and have been added.
Besides, when we get to the 2000s poll around April time, choices aren’t restricted to those in the Movie Timeline, they’re just a guide.