Killer of Sheep 1978

The Sight and Sound critic's poll began in 1952, and has continued on each decade, growing in scope as time has passed.

This list represents the results of the 2022 critic's poll, which is the eighth poll overall, and the largest ever, with 1,639 participants. This year is notable for Vertigo falling to the number two slot, replaced by Jeanne Dielman at number one.

Taken from Metacritic.com's top movie release by all time metascore. Updated May 2020.

In response to the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 greatest American movies, film scholar Jonathan Rosenbaum took the AFI to task for what he saw as a product "symptomatic of an increasingly dumbed-down film culture that continues to outflank our shrinking expectations." Of course, any list of this kind (including Sight and Sound’s decennial roster and the Village Voice Film Critic’s Poll from a few years back) is not without its blind spots. Participants are often forced to pick a select group of favorites and make a number of concessions ("Well, if I want Antonioni to make it into the collective top 10, I’d better hedge my bets with L’Avventura instead of my personal favorite Zabriskie Point."). Consequently, underdogs and obscure gems have little chance of being represented on a composite list that’s typically unveiled with little-to-no "justification for any of its titles" (to borrow again from Rosenbaum). Rather than present a list that looks like everyone else’s, Slant Magazine has decided to do something a little different. While you will find many popular classics and critical favorites on our list of 100 Essential Films, our goal was to mix things up a bit. This list should not be construed as a definitive "greatest films" package, but as an alternative compiled by a group of kinky film-lovers wanting to give serious critical thought to neglected, forgotten and misunderstood gems. We aimed for the kind of list where post-Cahiers Orson Welles could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with a pre-pastiche Brian De Palma; where it’s understood that Hitchcock, Dreyer, Ford, and Ozu created masterpieces besides film school staples like Vertigo, The Passion of Joan of Arc, The Searchers, and Tokyo Story; and where the postmodern irony of Douglas Sirk’s Imitation of Life is allowed space next to its modern-day equivalent: Paul Verhoeven’s Showgirls (gasp!). Because space was tight, documentaries, shorts and animated films were not eligible. Additionally, we limited directors to no more than one spot on the list.

The top 100 American independent films as selected by Jason Wood, author of BFI Screen Guides' "100 American Independent Films."

BBC Culture polled film critics from around the world to determine the best American movies ever made. The results are surprising – Gone With the Wind appears at 97.

Pulled from: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/top/bestofrt/?year=2007

In 1952, the Sight and Sound team had the novel idea of asking critics to name the greatest films of all time. The tradition became decennial, increasing in size and prestige as the decades passed.

The Sight and Sound poll is now a major bellwether of critical opinion on cinema and this year's edition (its eighth) is the largest ever, with 1,639 participating critics, programmers, curators, archivists and academics each submitting their top ten ballot. What has risen up the ranks? What has fallen? Has 2012's winner Vertigo held on to its title? Find out below.

(Description taken from BFI website)

Rotten Tomatoes - Best of year

http://observador.pt/2015/07/21/serao-estes-os-100-melhores-filmes-americanos/

"While you will find many popular classics and critical favorites on our list of 100 Essential Films, our goal was to mix things up a bit. This list should not be construed as a definitive “greatest films” package, but as an alternative compiled by a group of kinky film-lovers wanting to give serious critical thought to neglected, forgotten and misunderstood gems."

Source: http://www.slantmagazine.com/features/article/100-essential-films

(2022 edition)

In 1952, the Sight and Sound team had the novel idea of asking critics to name the greatest films of all time. The tradition became decennial, increasing in size and prestige as the decades passed.

The Sight and Sound poll is now a major bellwether of critical opinion on cinema and this year’s edition (its eighth) is the largest ever, with 1,639 participating critics, programmers, curators, archivists and academics each submitting their top ten ballot. What has risen up the ranks? What has fallen? Has 2012’s winner Vertigo held on to its title? Find out below.

https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/greatest-films-all-time

This is the list of the critics' 100 greatest films of all time 2022 for Sight & Sound.

Source:
https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/greatest-films-all-time

Once a decade Sight and Sound asks critics to select the Greatest Films of All Time. In our biggest ever poll, conducted in 2022, 1639 critics, programmers and curators from around the world nominated ten best movies ever made.
https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/greatest-films-all-time

This is the list that Spike Lee distributes to his graduate students at NYU every year.

Spike says: "I've Been A Professor At The NYU Graduate Film For The Past 15 Years.The 1st Day Of Every Class I Hand Out My List Of Films That I Feel You Must See If You Want To Make Films. Please Look At This List And See What You Might Have Missed. As I Tell My Students If You Want Your Film "Game" To Be Tight You Must Have Seen Great Movies, World Cinema, It Just Can't Be Hollywood Films. Educate Yourself. Learn. Grow. Evolve. Make Great Films.

Peace, Onward And Upward,

Spike Lee."

Source: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/spikelee/the-newest-hottest-spike-lee-joint/posts/574874

As The Fall Semester Nears At NYU Grad, We Thought We Would Reprint My Revised Essential Film List (With Women Directors). Many Of You Informed Me Of That Omission. Thank You For That Coat Pulling.

Slate's Black Film Canon is two things: first, a reaction to #OscarsSoWhite and the exclusion of black filmmakers from most canonical film lists. Second, by challenging how film lovers think about which films matter in cinema history, the hope is Hollywood will encourage and honor black stories told by black filmmakers.

Slate asked "prominent filmmakers, critics, and scholars" (including Ava DuVernay, Robert Townsend, Charles Burnett, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Wesley Morris, and Henry Louis Gates Jr) and used their lists of favorite movies to develop a curated canon of fifty great films by black directors made in the Americas and Africa. The project excluded movies about black people but directed by non-blacks (A Raisin in the Sun, Coming to America). It is also not a poll: it’s an unranked list presented chronologically.

Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/cover_story/2016/05/the_50_greatest_films_by_black_directors.html

This is the Black Film Canon created by Slate.com. Located here - http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/cover_story/2016/05/the_50_greatest_films_by_black_directors.html

*These movies appear in Alphabetical order.

From 2009, Time Out London lists the 50 finest, most fully formed and influential debut movies of all time.

In honor of Black History Month, TIME critic Richard Corliss surveys nearly a century of cinema, and reflects on 25 defining works that broke down the walls of intolerance on the big screen.

Films watched over the course of my ENGLISH 2263 class, "Introduction to Film"