Welcome to the archive of LookingCloser.org’s annual movie lists!

These are the films I found most rewarding, most worth revisiting.

But please note: I cannot say that I recommend all of them, as they may not be appropriate or rewarding to all audiences. So please do your research: Don’t just grab one of these titles and sit down to watch it on a date, or with the kids.

Films in red

are films I’d call “Essential.” They’re sitting on the shelf of my Dream Library. These are the films that I watch over and over again, enjoying more about them with every visit. Some years, we get several. Some years I’m lucky to find one.

*’d films

were released outside of America, and/or played in a festival or a very brief limited U.S. engagement, earlier than the year where I’ve rated them here.

Categories

Films are categorized by year, with a “Looking Closer Movie of the Year,” a “Favorite Fantasy Film of the Year,” a “Top Ten,” and then a list of other films worth seeing more than once.

These lists will be revised and expanded from time to time.

I’m working backward through my life, reassessing and revising old lists, so check back as this record expands back into the 1990s and 1980s.

Please don’t hesitate to email me and recommend films that I’ve missed, or tell me if I’ve mis-categorized something.

To the best of my ability, I’ve organized films by the year that they became accessible in the U.S., either through a theatrical release or on DVD. (Brief Oscar-qualifying runs in L.A. and New York are not enough to qualify a film for that year’s release, in my opinion. I’m going by when they became available to most of us ordinary moviegoing Americans.)
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2009

Read Jeffrey’s commentary on the best films of 2009 here.

2009 “LOOKING CLOSER” MOVIE OF THE YEAR: Summer Hours

TWENTY-FIVE FAVORITE FILMS OF 2008 (in a not-so-exact order of preference)

1. Summer Hours
2. Munyurangabo
3. Seraphine
4. Up
5. The Class
6. Lake Tahoe
7. A Serious Man
8. Where the Wild Things Are
9. Coraline
10. Gomorra
11. The Fantastic Mr. Fox
12. Lorna’s Silence
13. The Girlfriend Experience
14. Departures
15. The Song of Sparrows
16. Phoebe in Wonderland
17. Bright Star
18. Ponyo
19. Moon
20. Goodbye Solo
21. The Maid
22. Duplicity
23. District 9
24. Police, Adjective
25. The Limits of Control

FAVORITE FANTASY FILM OF THE YEAR: Up

OTHER REMARKABLE, MEMORABLE, AND IMPORTANT FAVORITES FROM 2008 (in no particular order):

• In the Loop
• Treeless Mountain
• The Road
• Inglourious Basterds
• Avatar
• The Headless Woman
• Still Walking
• Hunger
• Public Enemies
• The Informant!
• Star Trek
• Julia
• The Hurt Locker
• An Education
• The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
• Invictus
• Away We Go
• The Princess and the Frog

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2008

Read Jeffrey’s commentary on the best films of 2008 here.

2008 ”LOOKING CLOSER” MOVIE OF THE YEAR: Shotgun Stories

TWENTY-FIVE FAVORITE FILMS OF 2008 (in a not-so-exact order of preference)

1. Shotgun Stories
2. WALL•E
3. Flight of the Red Balloon
4. Heartbeat Detector (added to this list in 2009)
5. Times and Winds* (added to this list in 2009)
6. The Secret of the Grain(added to this list in 2010)
7. Rachel Getting Married
8. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
9. Man on Wire
10. Silent Light
11. Syndromes and a Century*
12. Ostrov (The Island)
13. Still Life*
14. Up the Yangtze*
15. Let the Right One In
16. The Dark Knight
17. A Christmas Tale
18. Synecdoche, New York
19. The Visitor
20. Doubt
21. Waltz With Bashir
22. Ballast
23. Persepolis (added to this list in 2009)
24. Encounters at the End of the World*
25. The Band’s Visit*
26. In Bruges

FAVORITE FANTASY FILM OF THE YEAR: WALL•E

FAVORITE “SPECIAL EDITION” RELEASES: The New World – Extended Cut, Blade Runner – Final Cut

OTHER REMARKABLE, MEMORABLE, AND IMPORTANT FAVORITES FROM 2008 (in no particular order):

• U23D*
• The Grocer’s Son*
• Trouble the Water
• Burn After Reading
• Hellboy 2: The Golden Army
• The Fall*
• Days and Clouds*
• Awake My Soul: The Story of the Sacred Harp*
• Ben X*
• Yella
• Chop Shop
• Call + Response
• I’ve Loved You So Long
• Honeydripper*
• Happy-Go-Lucky
• Paranoid Park
  
• We Are Together*
• Son of Rambow
• The Orphanage
• Iron Man
• The Edge of Heaven (added to this list in 2009)
• Revolutionary Road (added to this list in 2009)

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2007

2007 “LOOKING CLOSER” MOVIE OF THE YEAR: Into Great Silence

TWENTY FAVORITES FILMS OF 2007 (in a not-so-exact order of preference)

1. Into Great Silence*
2. There Will Be Blood
3. My Kid Could Paint That
4. Lars and the Real Girl
5. Ratatouille
6. Killer of Sheep*
7. Once
8. The Taste of Tea (added to this list in 2009)
9. The Devil Came on Horseback
10. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
11. No Country for Old Men
12. Zodiac
13. I’m Not There
14. Paris Je T’aime*
15. Paprika*
16. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
17. This Is England*
18. Into the Wild
19. Heading South*
20. Adam’s Apples*
21. The Savages

FAVORITE FANTASY FILM OF THE YEAR: Ratatouille

OTHER REMARKABLE, MEMORABLE, AND IMPORTANT FAVORITES FROM 2007 (in no particular order):

• Juno
• No End in Sight
• Away from Her
• The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
• The Wind that Shakes the Barley
• La Vie En Rose
• God Grew Tired of Us*
• Manufactured Landscapes*
• Angel-A*
• Private Fears in Public Places*
• Longford*
• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
• Gone Baby Gone
• Rescue Dawn*
• Bridge to Terabithia
• Climates*
• Jindabyne*
• Perfume: The Story of a Murderer*
• Waitress
• Eastern Promises
• The Darjeeling Limited
• The Namesake*
• Offside*
• The Lookout
• The Simpsons Movie
• The Host*
• Bella*
• Amazing Grace
• Hot Fuzz
• Knocked Up
• Inland Empire*

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2006

2006 “LOOKING CLOSER” MOVIE OF THE YEAR: The New World

TWENTY FAVORITE FILMS OF 2006 (in a not-so-exact order of preference)

1. The New World*
2. Children of Men
3. Pan’s Labyrinth
4. Little Children
5. L’Enfant*
6. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu*
7. Sophie Scholl: The Final Days*
8. United 93
9. The Queen
10. Trilogy: The Weeping Meadow*
11. Three Times*
12. Army of Shadows*
13. Babel
14. Little Miss Sunshine
15. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
16. The Proposition
17. Sweet Land
18. Half Nelson
19. The Science of Sleep
20. Cars

FAVORITE FANTASY FILM OF THE YEAR: Pan’s Labyrinth

OTHER REMARKABLE, MEMORABLE, AND IMPORTANT FAVORITES FROM 2006 (in no particular order):

• Marie Antoinette
• Land of Plenty*
• A Prairie Home Companion
• The Prestige
• The Illusionist
• Don’t Come Knocking
• The Fountain
• The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
• 49 Up*
• The Painted Veil
• Lassie
• Half Nelson
• Notes on a Scandal
• Tsotsi*
• A Scanner Darky
• The Second Chance
• Flags of Our Fathers
• Inside Man
• Murderball*

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2005

2005 “LOOKING CLOSER” MOVIE OF THE YEAR: Millions

TWENTY FAVORITE FILMS OF 2005 (in a not-so-exact order of preference)

1. Millions
2. Junebug
3. A History of Violence
4. Born Into Brothels
5. Mirrormask
6. Tony Takitani
7. Munich
8. 2046
9. The Best of Youth*
10. Caché
11. The World*
12. Goodbye, Dragon Inn*
13. Nobody Knows*
14. Batman Begins
15. Pride and Prejudice
16. Capote
17. Broken Flowers
18. No Direction Home: Bob Dylan
19. The White Diamond*
20. Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit

FAVORITE FANTASY FILM OF THE YEAR: Mirrormask

OTHER REMARKABLE, MEMORABLE, AND IMPORTANT FAVORITES FROM 2005(in no particular order):

• Blue in Green*
• Serenity
• March of the Penguins
• Grizzly Man
• Downfall*
• The Squid and the Whale
• The Ballad of Jack and Rose
• Touch the Sound*
• Dear Frankie*
• Howl’s Moving Castle*
• Everything is Illuminated
• The Exorcism of Emily Rose
• Hawaii, Oslo*
• In Her Shoes

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2004

2004 “LOOKING CLOSER” MOVIE OF THE YEAR: The Return

TWENTY FAVORITE FILMS OF 2004 (in a not-so-exact order of preference)

1. The Return*
2. The Incredibles
3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
4. Dogville
5. Hero
6. The Motorcycle Diaries
7. The Story of the Weeping Camel*
8. Cafe Lumiere*
9. Birth
10. Distant*
11. The Five Obstructions*
    
12. Mean Creek
13. Time of the Wolf*
    
14. Before Sunset
15. The Bourne Supremacy
    
16. Spider-man 2
17. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
    
18. Vera Drake
19. Million Dollar Baby
20. Hotel Rwanda
    

FAVORITE FANTASY MOVIE OF THE YEAR: The Incredibles

OTHER REMARKABLE, MEMORABLE, AND IMPORTANT FAVORITES (in no particular order):

• Finding Neverland
• Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
• Million Dollar Baby
• The Passion of the Christ
• The Aviator
• Kill Bill, Volume Two
• Primer
• Collateral
• Napoleon Dynamite
• The Saddest Music in the World
• Saved!
• Touching the Void*
• Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
• Since Otar Left*
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Crimson Gold*
• Baadasssss!
• The Manchurian Candidate
• House of Flying Daggers
• Springtime in a Small Town*
• Sideways
• Spartan
• Shrek 2
• Super-Size Me
• Coffee and Cigarettes*
• Closer
• Intimate Strangers
• Maria Full of Grace
• Two Brothers
• We Don’t Live Here Anymore
• Ray
• I Heart Huckabees
• In Good Company
• The Village
• THX 1138: Director’s Cut
• America’s Heart and Soul
• Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring*

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2003

2003 “LOOKING CLOSER” MOVIE OF THE YEAR: Stevie

TWENTY FAVORITE FILMS OF 2003 (in a not-so-exact order of preference)

1. The Son*
2. Stevie*
3. Finding Nemo
4. The Station Agent
5. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
6. Lost in Translation
7. Songs from the Second Floor*
8. In America*
9. Dirty Pretty Things*
10. Pieces of April
11. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
12. Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working in Time
13. Russian Ark
14. Not of This World*
15. City of God
16. Last Life in the Universe
17. X2: X-Men United
18. Pirates of the Caribbean
19. Winged Migration
20. Spellbound

FAVORITE FANTASY MOVIE OF THE YEAR: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

OTHER REMARKABLE, MEMORABLE, AND IMPORTANT FAVORITES (in no particular order):

• American Splendor
• Raising Victor Vargas
• In This World
• Shattered Glass
• 28 Days Later
• Man on the Train
• Whale Rider
• Kill Bill, Vol. 1
• The Triplets of Bellville
• Cold Mountain
• OT: Our Town
• House of Sand and Fog
• The Fog of War
• Stone Reader
• Thirteen
• Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary
• Matchstick Men
• The Human Stain
• Lost in La Mancha
• Intolerable Cruelty
• Girl with a Pearl Earring
• Holes
• Man Without a Past
• Monster
• To Be and to Have

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2002

2002 “LOOKING CLOSER” MOVIE OF THE YEAR: Code Unknown

TWENTY FAVORITES FROM 2002 (in a not-so-exact order of preference)

1. Code Unknown (released on DVD in the U.S. in 2002)
   
2. Punch-drunk Love
3. Spirited Away
4. The Pianist
5. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
6. The Rookie
7. Italian for Beginners
8. Catch Me If You Can
9. Adaptation
10. Monsoon Wedding*
11. Time Out
12. The Quiet American
13. Atanarjuat – The Fast Runner
14. Personal Velocity: Three Portraits
15. Gangs of New York
16. Far from Heaven
17. The Bourne Identity
18. Minority Report
19. The Hours
20. Sunshine State

FAVORITE FANTASY MOVIE OF THE YEAR: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

OTHER REMARKABLE, MEMORABLE, AND IMPORTANT FAVORITES (in no particular order):

• Changing Lanes
• Signs
• Insomnia
• The 25th Hour
• Rabbit-Proof Fence
• Roger Dodger
• Lilo and Stitch
• Ice Age
• The Believer*
• The Son’s Room*
• Derrida
• Bowling for Columbine
• Frida
• The Good Girl
• I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
• Thirteen Conversations About One Thing*
• Max
• Y Tu Mama Tambien*
• Road to Perdition
• Panic Room
• The Cat’s Meow*
• The Lady and the Duke*

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2001

2001 “LOOKING CLOSER” MOVIE OF THE YEAR:
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

TWENTY FAVORITE FILMS OF 2001 (in a not-so-exact order of preference)

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
   
2. Gosford Park
3. Lantana
4. Moulin Rouge
5. The Royal Tenenbaums
6. Waking Life
7. Mulholland Drive
8. The Road Home*
9. Amelie
10. Donnie Darko
11. Flowers of Shanghai*
12. Memento
13. The Circle*
14. The Widow of St. Pierre*
15. The Vertical Ray of the Sun*
16. Zoolander
17. Divided We Fall*
18. Ammores Perros*
19. A.I. (Artificial Intelligence)
20. Iris

FAVORITE FANTASY MOVIE OF THE YEAR: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

OTHER REMARKABLE, MEMORABLE, AND IMPORTANT FAVORITES (in no particular order):

• The Man Who Wasn’t There
• Hearts in Atlantis
• The King is Alive

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2000

2000 “LOOKING CLOSER” MOVIE OF THE YEAR: Yi-Yi (A One and a Two)

TWENTY FAVORITE FILMS OF 2000 (in a not-so-exact order of preference)

1. Yi-Yi (A One and a Two)
2. Almost Famous
3. You Can Count On Me
4. Beau Travail*
5. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
6. The Emperor’s New Groove
7. The Color of Paradise*
8. Wonder Boys
9. The Virgin Suicides
10. The Big Kahuna*
11. High Fidelity
12. Best in Show
13. Unbreakable
14. Erin Brockovich
15. Ghost Dog – The Way of the Samurai*
16. Pollock
17. X-Men
18. O Brother, Where Art Thou
19. Dancer in the Dark*
20. Chicken Run

FAVORITE FANTASY MOVIE OF THE YEAR: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

OTHER REMARKABLE, MEMORABLE, AND IMPORTANT FAVORITES (in no particular order):

• The Terrorist*
• Cast Away
• Traffic
• Thirteen Days
• State and Main
• Hamlet
• Croupier*
• American Movie*
• Chocolat
• Girl on the Bridge*
• Girlfight
• Requiem for a Dream

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 3rd, 2009 at 2:20 pm and is filed under Film Reviews, Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.