best film: I had to tell myself not to overcomplicate this one. It’s a tremendous year worthy of all the praise form retro podcasts and articles—warranted-- a towering year for cinema with that top 5-6

best film: Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men is going to be revered as one of the great films of the 21st century. People are either already there or not there yet. Haha. Cuaron’s camerawork doesn’t

best film: I’m probably less comfortable here than I have been with any other year. I have a strong pull towards Cache, but frankly my top 4 from 2005 are all very close so this

best film: Before Sunset is still Linklater’s crowning achievement. The film takes some of what Malle did in My Dinner with Andre (of course Linklater already did this with the wonderful 1994 first leg of

best film: With Kill Bill married to the second half of the film, which came out in 2004, I think it’s pretty easy to declare Lost in Translation the best singular film of 2003. The

best film: It took me 15 years for full clarity here, but I’m now fully convinced  that Punch -Drunk Love is is the best film of 2002. As much as I love some of the

best film: David Lynch’s Mullholland Drive is the Hollywood nightmare-- just like Blue Velvet is for the suburbs fifteen years prior. It’s abstract and mesmerizing. It’s a wholly unique world filled with small-town naiveté (Watts,

best film:  In Werckmeister Harmonies Bela Tarr became one of the all-time great movers of the camera. The cinematography in the film rivals the best work of the greatest since the beginning of the art

best film:  Magnolia has slowly edged its way into my top 50 of all-time and is, by a decent margin, the best film of 1999- which is a superb and incredibly deep year for cinema. 

best film:  The Thin Red Line fulfilled the promise of a 20 year wait since Terrence Malick’s previous feature, also a masterpiece (and the best film of its year), Days of Heaven. It didn’t have

best film:  PT Anderson’s Boogie Nights is that sonic boom giant masterpiece from a filmmaker under 30 (Chazelle in la la land missing the cut by a year) like citizen kane, the 400 blows, jaws,

best film:  Breaking the Waves is a monumental achievement, the pinnacle of Von Trier’s career thus far, Dogme 95, and by a slight edge over Goodfellas, every other film in the 1990’s. Emily Watson’s debut