Updated my list of two favorite films per year. There are certain years where I don't think I have a strong enough pool to draw from and I researched some films from those years that might be worth checking out. This will guide my viewing next time I have a classic film to pick:
2019 Two Popes (Fernando Meirelles)/Knives Out (Riann Johnson)
2018 Green Book (Peter Farrelly)/First Reformed (Paul Schrader)
2017 Florida Project (Sean Baker)/Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, MO (Martin McDonagh)
2016 Eye in the Sky (Gavin Hood)/La La Land (Damien Chazelle)
2015 Martian (Ridley Scott)/Spotlight (Thomas McCarthy)
2014 Gone Girl (David Fincher)/Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)
2013 Gravity (Alfonso Cuaron)/American Hustle (David O Russell)
2012 Dark Knight Rises (Chris Nolan)/Flight (Rob Zemeckis)
2011 Artist (Michel Hazanavicius)/Tree of Life (Terrence Malick)
2010 Inception (Chris Nolan)/Scott Pilgrim vs the World (Edgar Wright)
2009 Up in the Air (Jason Reitman)/Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
2008 Gran Torino (Clint Eastwood)/FrostNixon (Ron Howard)
2007 3:10 to Yuma (James Mangold)/Lars and the Real Girl (Craig Gillespie)
2006 Little Miss Sunshine (Jonothan Dayton and Valerie Harris)/Departed (Marty Scorsese)
2005 The New World (Terrence Malick)/Junebug (Phil Morrison)
2004 The Aviator (Martin Scorsese)/Life Aquatic (Wes Anderson)
2003 Cold Mountain (Anthony Minghella)/Last Samurai (Edward Zwick)
2002 City of God (Fernando Meirelles)/Chicago (Rob Marshall)
2001 Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson)/Ghost World (Terry Zwigoff)
2000 Gladiator (Ridley Scott)/Wonderboys (Curtis Hanson)
1999 Three Kings (David O Russell)/Sweet and Lowdown (Woody Allen)
1998 Truman Show (Peter Weir)/Enemy of the State (Tony Scott)
1997 Titanic (James Cameron)/Good Will Hunting (Gus Van Sant)*.................................. Lolita, Full Monty, Devil’s Advocate
1996 Independence Day (Roland Emmerich)/Evita (Alan Parker)
1995 Apollo 13 (Ron Howard)/Batman Forever (Joel Schumacher)
1994 Ed Wood (Tim Burton)/Quiz Show (Robert Redford)
1993 Fugitive (Andrew Davis)/Pelican Brief (Alan Pakula)*….True
Romance, Short Cuts
1992 The Player (Robert Altman)/A League of their Own (Penny Marshall)
1991 Terminator 2 (James Cameron)/Fisher King (Terry Gilliam)
1990 Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese)/Misery (Rob Reiner)
1989 Dead Poets Society (Peter Weir)/Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Stephen Spielberg)
1988 Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Rob Zemeckis)/School Daze (Spike Lee)
1987 Good Morning Vietnam (Peter Weir)/Princess Bride (Rob Reiner)
1986 Children of a Lesser God (Randa Haines)/Star Trek IV (Leonard Nimoy) *…Highlander,
Labyrinth, Stand By Me, Space Camp
1985 Back to the Future (Rob Zemeckis)/Witness (Peer Weir)
1984 Amadeus (Milos Forman)/Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Stephen Spielberg)
1983 Year of Living Dangerously (Peter Weir)/Return of the Jedi (George Lucas)*
…Outsiders, Local Hero, Silkwood Meaning of Life, Blue Thunder
1982 Verdict (Sidney Lumet) /ET (Stephen Spielberg)*….Tron, Fanny and Alexander, King of Comedy
1981 On Golden Pond (Mark Rydell)/Chariots of Fire (Hugh Hudson)
1980 Gods Must be Crazy (Jamie Uys)/Shining (Stanley Kubrick)*…Urban Cowboy, Xanadu, Flash
Gordon
1979 Being There (Hal Ashby)/China Syndrome (Jeff Bridges)
1978 Badlands (Terrence Malick)/Every Which Way But Loose (Hal Ashby)*….Deer Hunter, The
Boys from Brazil
1977 Star Wars (George Lucas)/High Anxiety (Mel Brooks) *…Smokey and the Bandit, Turning
Point, Close Encounters
1976 Network (Sidney Lumet)/All the President’s Men (Alan J Pakula)
1975 The Man Who Would Be King (John Huston)/Death Race 2000 (Paul Bartel)*…Nashville,
Three Days in the Condor
1974 Chinatown (Roman Polanski)/Murder on the Orient Express (Sidney Lumet)
1973 American Graffiti (George Lucas)/Three Musketeers (Richard Lester)
1972 Poseidon Adventure (Roland Neame)/Cabaret (Bob Fossee)*…Slueth, Deliverance,
Discreet Cham of the Burgoisee
1971 McCabe & Mrs Miller (Rob Altman)/Live and Let Die (Terrence Young)*….Andromeda
Strain, Straw Dogs, Klute
1970 MASH (Rob Altman)/Five Easy Pieces (Bob Rafelson)
1969 Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah)/They Shoot Horses Don’t They (Sydney Pollock)
1968 Lion in Winter (Anthony Harvey)/Odd Couple (Gene Saks)
1967 In the Heat of the Night (Norman Jewison)/Wait Until Dark (Terrence Young)
1966 Our Man Flint (Daniel Mann)/Walk Don’t Run (Charles Walters)
1965 Great Race (Blake Edwards)/Cat Ballou (Elliot Silverstein)
1964 Beckett (Peter Glenville)/Goldfinger (Guy Hamilton)
1963 It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (Stanley Kramer)/Great Escape (John Sturges)
1962 Manchurian Candidate (John Frankenheimer)/To Kill a Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan)
1961 West Side Story (Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins)/Judgment at Nuremberg (Stanley Kramer)
1960 The Apartment (Billy Wilder)/Magnificent Seven (John Sturges)
1959 North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock)/Some Like it Hot (Billy Wilder)
1958 Touch of Evil (Orson Welles)/Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock)
1957 Bridge on the River Kwai (David Lean)/12 Angry Men (Sidney Lumet)
1956 Searchers (John Ford)/Man Who Knew Too Much (Alfred Hitchcock)
1955 East of Eden (Elia Kazan)/Kismet (Vincente Minnelli)*….Blackboard Jungle, Desperate
Choirs
1954 Caine Mutiny (Edward Dmytryk)/Salt of the Earth (Herbert Biberman)
1953 From Here to Eternity (Fred Zinnemann)/Roman Holiday (William Wyler)
1952 Singing in the Rain (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly)/High Noon (Fred Zinnemann)
1951 African Queen (John Huston)/Day the Earth Stood Still (Robert Wise)
1950 All About Eve (Joseph L Mankiewicz)/Harvey (Henry Koster)
1949 The Third Man (Carol Reed)/Pinky (Elia Kazan)
1948 Key Largo (John Huston)/Treasure of the Seirra Madre (John Huston)
1947 Lady from Shanghai (Orson Welles)/Bishop’s Wife (Henry Koster)*…Ghost and Mrs
Muir, Odd Man Out, Secret Life of Walter
Mitty
1946 Big Sleep (Howard Hawks)/It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra)
1945 Detour (Edgar Ullmer)/Scarlett Street (Fritz Lang)*…Along Came Jones, Mildred
Pierce, Blithe Spirit
1944 Arsenic and Old Lace (Frank Capra)/Meet me in Saint Louis (Vincente Minnelli)
1943 Shadow of a Doubt (Alfred Hitchcock)/Miracle at Morgan’s Creek (Preston Sturges)*…Song of
Bernadette, The More the Merrier, Five Graces to Cairo
1942 Sabetour (Alfred Hitchcock)/Major and the Minor (Billy Wilder)*... Ox-Bow Incident, Tortilla Flat, Talk of the Town, Now Voyager
1941 Ball of Fire (Howard Hawks)/Meet John Doe (Frank Capra)
1940 His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks)/Go West (Leo McCarey) *…Great McGinty, Phantom of
Chinatown, Great Dictator
1939 Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir)/Mr Smith Goes to Washington (Frank Capra)
