The Best Movies Ever
At Cult Fiction we decided to publish a completely biased list of the best movies per year since the invention of the motion picture. Several classics were omitted because we haven’t seen them yet or because we prefer an obscure cult film over an Oscar winning giant.
The Oscars, the Golden Globes and the SAGs
Some years are left blank because we haven’t seen any movie worth mentioning made that year. Some years spawned many great movies so it was hard to choose.
If we were to recreate the list tomorrow, several other movies would be listed, so we are occasionally going to update the list. Right now, Wuthering Heights won from Gone With The Wind, but frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.
If you can’t agree with any of our laureates, feel free to inform us why a certain movie should of should not be included in the list using our contact page.
The best movies per year
| Year | Best movie | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Dune: Part Two | Denis Villeneuve |
| 2023 | Oppenheimer | Christopher Nolan |
| 2022 | The Batman | Matt Reeves |
| 2021 | Dune | Denis Villeneuve |
| 2020 | Tenet | Christopher Nolan |
| 2019 | Parasite (Gisaengchung) | Bong Joon Ho |
| 2018 | Isle of Dogs | Wes Anderson |
| 2017 | Baby Driver | Edgar Wright |
| 2016 | The Invisible Guest (Contratiempo) | Oriol Paulo |
| 2015 | Creed | Ryan Coogler |
| 2014 | The Grand Budapest Hotel | Wes Anderson |
| 2013 | Nebraska | Alexander Payne |
| 2012 | Moonrise Kingdom | Wes Anderson |
| 2011 | Drive | Nicolas Winding Refn |
| 2010 | Incendies | Denis Villeneuve |
| 2009 | Mr. Nobody | Jaco Van Dormael |
| 2008 | The Dark Knight | Christopher Nolan |
| 2007 | No Country for Old Men | Ethan & Joel Coen |
| 2006 | Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) | Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck |
| 2005 | Sin City | Robert Rodriguez & Frank Miller |
| 2004 | Napoleon Dynamite | Jared Hess |
| 2003 | Kill Bill: Vol. 1 | Quentin Tarantino |
| 2002 | Cidade de Deus (City of God) | Fernando Meirelles |
| 2001 | Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulin (Amélie) | Jean-Pierre Jeunet |
| 2000 | American Psycho | Mary Harron |
| 1999 | Fight Club | David Fincher |
| 1998 | The Big Lebowski | Joel Coen & Ethan Coen |
| 1997 | Boogie Nights | Paul Thomas Anderson |
| 1996 | Fargo | Joel Coen & Ethan Coen |
| 1995 | Braveheart | Mel Gibson |
| 1994 | Pulp Fiction | Quentin Tarantino |
| 1993 | Groundhog Day | Harold Ramis |
| 1992 | Reservoir Dogs | Quentin Tarantino |
| 1991 | Terminator 2: Judgment Day | James Cameron |
| 1990 | Edward Scissorhands | Tim Burton |
| 1989 | Do The Right Thing | Spike Lee |
| 1988 | Spoorloos (The Vanishing) | George Sluizer |
| 1987 | RoboCop | Paul Verhoeven |
| 1986 | Blue Velvet | David Lynch |
| 1985 | Back to the Future | Robert Zemeckis |
| 1984 | The Terminator | James Cameron |
| 1983 | Scarface | Brian De Palma |
| 1982 | Blade Runner | Ridley Scott |
| 1981 | Blow Out | Brian De Palma |
| 1980 | The Shining | Stanley Kubrick |
| 1979 | Alien | Ridley Scott |
| 1978 | Halloween | John Carpenter |
| 1977 | Annie Hall | Woody Allen |
| 1976 | Taxi Driver | Martin Scorsese |
| 1975 | Monty Python and the Holy Grail | Terry Jones & Terry Gilliam |
| 1974 | The Godfather: Part II | Francis Ford Coppola |
| 1973 | The Exorcist | William Friedkin |
| 1972 | The Godfather | Francis Ford Coppola |
| 1971 | A Clockwork Orange | Stanley Kubrick |
| 1970 | Beneath the Planet of the Apes | Ted Post |
| 1969 | Midnight Cowboy | John Schlesinger |
| 1968 | Once Upon a Time in the West | Sergio Leone |
| 1967 | The Graduate | Mike Nichols |
| 1966 | The Good, the Bad and the Ugly | Sergio Leone |
| 1965 | For a Few Dollars More | Sergio Leone |
| 1964 | Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb | Stanley Kubrick |
| 1963 | The Sword in the Stone (Disney film) | Wolfgang Reitherman |
| 1962 | Harakiri | Masaki Kobayashi |
| 1961 | West Side Story | Jerome Robbins & Robert Wise |
| 1960 | Psycho | Alfred Hitchock |
| 1959 | Ben-Hur | William Wyler |
| 1958 | Vertigo | Alfred Hitchock |
| 1957 | 12 Angry Men | Sidney Lumet |
| 1956 | The Killing | Stanley Kubrick |
| 1955 | The Seven Year Itch | Billy Wilder |
| 1954 | Rear Window | Alfred Hitchock |
| 1953 | The Wages of Fear (Le salaire de la peur) | Henri-Georges Clouzot |
| 1952 | Singin’ in the Rain | Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly |
| 1951 | A Streetcar Named Desire | Elia Kazan |
| 1950 | The Postman Always Rings Twice | Tay Garnett |
| 1949 | The Third Man | Carol Reed |
| 1948 | Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di Biciclette) | Vittorio De Sica |
| 1947 | The Secret Life of Walter Mitty | Norman Z. McLeod |
| 1946 | Notorious | Alfred Hitchock |
| 1944 | Double Indemnity | Billy Wilder |
| 1942 | Casablanca | Michael Curtiz |
| 1941 | Citizen Kane | Orson Welles |
| 1940 | The Great Dictator | Charlie Chaplin |
| 1939 | Wuthering Heights | William Wyler |
| 1938 | Bringing up Baby | Howard Hawks |
| 1937 | Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs | David Hand |
| 1936 | Modern Times | Charlie Chaplin |
| 1933 | King Kong | Merian C. Cooper |
| 1931 | M | Fritz Lang |
| 1929 | Un chien andalou | Luis Buñuel |
| 1927 | Metropolis | Fritz Lang |
| 1926 | The General | Buster Keaton |
| 1925 | Battleship Potemkin | Sergei Eisenstein |
| 1922 | Nosferatu | F.W. Murnau |
| 1921 | The Kid | Charlie Chaplin |
| 1920 | The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari | Robert Wiene |
| 1903 | The Great Train Robbery | Edwin S. Porter |
| 1902 | A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans la Lune) | Georges Méliès |