best film:   The last update of the top 500 films of all-time included five (5) films featuring Morgan Freeman between 200-300 on the list. In order, they are Unforgiven (#218), Se7ev (#219), The Dark Knight (#234), Million Dollar Baby (#263) and The Shawshank Redemption (#293). The moratorium did not allow The Dark Knight Rises to be considered but that film will somewhere near The Dark Knight upon the next update. So, even if that top 100 of all-time film escapes Freeman, this is certainly not a category of shame here - there is small treasure trove of high

  best film:   Citizen Kane is a cinematic sonic boom of artistic style – it is jarring how different it looks than every other film before it and nearly every film since. But, it is also one of cinema’s finest character studies with twenty-six (26) year old wunderkind Orson Welles as not only the director – but the lead actor playing Kane himself. The film is so clearly worthy of its lofty reputation and the praise bestowed upon it. It is an aesthetic showpiece that never gets old or relents. That said, Welles is an all-time great auteur and

  best film:   Michael Fassbender’s three (3) Steve McQueen collaborations between 2008 and 2013 (Hunger, Shame, 12 Years a Slave) is where this category starts – and the middle film, the one most centrically featuring Fassbender, Shame, is the answer - though they are very close in artistic quality. Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds (2009) deserves a long, hard look as well.   best performance:  Shame again triumphs in this category and this is a strength for Fassbender. There are not many films of this quality in general in cinema history, but far fewer that are unflinching character studies –

  best film:   This is a rough category for Laurence Olivier - certainly the biggest obstacle in making his case. The highlights are Rebecca (1940), Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1948), The Entertainer (1960) and Spartacus (1960). It is a shame – because there is an Alfred Hitchcock and a Stanley Kubrick collaboration in there - the two best directors of all-time. But (and it is a big but) – these are roughly the tenth (10th) best film by each of these directors – definitely not their top tier.   best performance:  This category is much more fun. Olivier dazzles

  best film:  Blade Runner (1982) feels like the best answer because Harrison Ford is only in about five (5) minutes of Apocalypse Now (1979) and he is the fourth (4th) most important/impressive actor during that scene. However you slice it, this means Harrison Ford is in two of the best ten (10) films of all-time – even if a detractor would point out that neither are a big add to his resume. Blade Runner is one of the greatest artistic achievements in set design and mise-en-scene in cinema history. From an acting performance standpoint, Ford’s achievement is not

  best film:  Joseph Losey’s The Servant (1963) features Akira Kurosawa-like frame compositions and William Wyler-like deep focus. In front of the camera, it is a brilliant sort of love triangle with Dirk Bogarde as Barrett, James Fox as Tony, and Sarah Miles as Vera. This is Bogarde’s best film, edging out strong contenders like Luchino Visconti’s The Damned (1969) and Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Despair (1978).   best performance:  It is a Losey film, Visconti film and a Fassbinder film here again numbers one through three for Bogarde with Death in Venice taking the place of The Damned (moving

  best film:  The Silence of the Lambs is the only masterpiece Anthony Hopkins appears in.  Howard’s End is sublime – as is The Elephant Man – and Oliver Stone’s rapid montage aesthetic is still producing high quality artistic work in 1995 for Nixon, but the choice here is simple. The Silence of the Lambs (and Hopkins' performance – more on that in the category below) is a behemoth. It became part of the culture, (which is more of an observation more so than something that carries evaluative weight for this category or the larger list in general) reinvigorated

  best film:  Three options here for Christian Bale’s best film: American Psycho, The New World, and The Dark Knight (and Rises is not far back). It is Terrence Malick’s film that reigns supreme. Though perhaps not quite as dogmatically rigid as Days of Heaven with the natural lighting and magic hour photography - The New World (complete with Emmanuel Lubezki on board as director of photography) measures up with just about any other film ever shot. The exterior location shooting (largely in Virginia, but certainly in England as well as the story dictates) is as much (if not more so)

  best film:  This category is lacking that big scale monolith for the great Sean Connery. But still, The Hill from Sidney Lumet in 1965 is skillfully shot, features a great set piece (the title of the film) and is immaculately written and acted (specifically, by Connery). Alfred Hitchcock’s entry Marnie (1964 – same year as Goldfinger) and Hitchcock’s acolyte Brian De Palma’s entry The Untouchables (1987) are probably the silver and bronze.   best performance:  Sean Connery is among the best actors in cinema in the years 1964, 1975 and 1987 as well - but it is The

  best film:  It is tempting to forget Sean Penn is in The Tree of Life (2011). That is not a good sign for him in terms of his impact on the film’s masterpiece status. This has happened before with Malick where actors’ roles are significantly cut or they get left completely on the cutting room floor (https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/10-actors-cut-from-terrence-malick-films-how-they-reacted-99568/ ) - and nobody can argue with the results when it comes to The Tree of Life. The film has plenty for Jessica Chastain, Brad Pitt, and young Hunter McKracken. Next in line in this category would be another Malick film

  best film:  With Michael Caine’s long career (archiveable films span fifty-six (56) years - from 1964 to 2020), vast collection of archiveable films (twenty-nine (29)), and his collaborations with Christopher Nolan - this category requires some maneuvering. Starting with Nolan might be easiest. Caine is unfortunately not physically in Nolan’s strongest work, the 2017 film Dunkirk – so Inception is the top contender here from their frequent collaborations. The Ipcress File is stunning and has to be broached. Non-auteur masterpieces are few and far between – so kudos to Caine for having this film on his resume. Brian