1964 was a spectacular year for film. So many new film movements were beginning, ending, and converging. The American New Wave was about to give birth, the Japanese New Wave was in full-swing, as were Spaghetti Westerns, the French New Wave, and there were still remnants of Italian neo-realism, all of which are represented on this year’s list.

My list has two films with the brilliant Peter Sellers, with inarguably his best role and perhaps one of the best comedic roles of all time, at the top. At the end of the list is his slapstick version of the Pink Panther, easily the best of what was often a mediocre series despite the talent of Mr. Sellers.

There are four Japanese films, including three in the top six. If this list had gone to 30, there would have been at least two more — Suzuki’s Gate of Flesh and Shinoda’s Pale Flower. It was a phenomenal year for Japanese film, although not quite at the level of the next list, 1954.

1. Dr. Strangelove
2. Woman in the Dunes
3. Charulata
4. I Am Cuba
5. Onibaba
6. Yearning
7. Séance in the Afternoon
8. The Gospel According to St. Matthew
9. Red Desert
10. The Soft Skin
11. Marnie
12. Seduced and Abandoned
13. Fail-Safe
14. The Train
15. A Hard Day’s Night
16. The Pawnbroker
17. A Fistful of Dollars
18. Becket
19. Kwaidan
20. Scorpio Rising
21. A Shot in the Dark

This was arguably one of the weaker years in the 80s. A lot of the American films were dominated by low quality crowd-pleasing flicks. Once Upon a Time in America is an example of how difficult it was to get a challenging film made from within Hollywood. They cut the film to shreds and made it a piece of unwatchable trash. Of course my ranking is for the director’s cut and not the theatrical version. The opposite is true for Amadeus. The theatrical version was shorter and flowed better, whereas the director’s cut is bloated and even boring.

Another interesting tidbit is that my #1 film, Paris, Texas is very similar to Wenders’ Alice in the Cities. My #2 film, The Home and the World is tied to Ray’s Charulata. In fact, even though the movies are 20 years apart, they have the same actor playing the role of the interloper.

1. Paris, Texas
2. The Home and the World
3. This is Spinal Tap
4. Amadeus
5. Once Upon a Time in America
6. The Killing Fields
7. The Times of Harvey Milk
8. Ghostbusters
9. Broadway Danny Rose
10. Under the Volcano
11. 1984
12. A Passage to India
13. Sixteen Candles
14. Repo Man
15. Moscow on the Hudson
16. Stranger than Paradise
17. Secret Honor
18. The River
19. Top Secret
20. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

We’re back to the weekly list. 1994 was a watershed year for film. The most obvious example is Pulp Fiction, which is arguably among the most influential films of the decade. Hoop Dreams was also highly influential on documentaries, and Chungking Express put Wong Kar Wai on the map and began a new aesthetic with Asian film.

1. Trois Couleurs: Rouge
2. Hoop Dreams
3. Pulp Fiction
4. Ed Wood
5. Chungking Express
6. To Live
7. Before the Rain
8. Wyatt Earp
9. Exotica
10. Shawshank Redemption
11. Trois Couleurs: Blanc
12. The Lion King
13. Shallow Grave
14. Secret of Roan Inish
15. Quiz Show
16. Fresh
17. Heavenly Creatures
18. Crumb
19. Dumb and Dumber
19. The Last Seduction

Some friends have been putting together year lists of their favorite 20 films. They give about a 2-3 week deadline for each year, and count down a decade at a time. Since I have some downtime, I’ve jumped in with a 2011 list. From here we’ll go next to 1994, then 1984, and so forth.

The list year was documentary heavy, mostly because I got into a kick and saw quite a few. Listing The Story of Film was a bit of a cheat, as it is more of a TV series than a theatrical film, but I enjoyed it immensely nonetheless.

20. Margaret
19. Shame
18. Beats Rhymes and Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest
17. Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
16. Comic-Con Episode Four: A Fan’s Hope
15. This is Not a Film
14. Ides of March
13. Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times
12. The Descendants
11. 50/50
10. Cabin in the Woods
9. A Better Life
8. The Story of Film: An Odyssey
7. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
6. Jiro Dreams of Sushi
5. Moneyball
4. Project Nim
3. Hugo
2. Paradise Lost 3
1. Tree of Life

Tree of Life may be high concept, but the sheer beauty is hypnotic. Every frame is gorgeous.