The Ten Best Films by Year — 1990-2017 – Part 2

By John H. Foote

And continuing…

Most of the films I see through the year are English language, though I do try and see as many foreign language films as I can. It is not always easy as most foreign language films are the films submitted by their country for Oscar consideration. The nominees get a release, screeners are sent, but the bulk of what I see is English language.

Some commenters on Facebook attacked me for excluding foreign language films from 1970-1989 but I included Satyricon (1970), The Emigrants (1972), Cries and Whispers (1973), Last Tango in Paris (1973), The Story Of Adele H. (1975), Face to Face (1976), The Tin Drum (1979), Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), Das Boot (1982) and Fanny and Alexander (1983) among others. I think the second half of this article should keep the naysayers happy, but if not, well, I wrote honestly about the Ten Best Films I saw each year. Can’t please everyone, nor do I try. Call them as I see them, always have.

Foreign language films marked with an asterisk *.

 

1990

1. Goodfellas
2. Dances with Wolves
3. Awakenings
4. The Grifters
5. Millers Crossing
6. Dick Tracy
7. The Sheltering Sky
8. Men Don’t Leave
9. Postcards from the Edge
10. Black Robe*

 

1991

1. The Silence of the Lambs
2. JFK
3. Bugsy
4. Thelma and Louise
5. The Fisher King
6. Rambling Rose
7. Raise the Red Lantern*
8. Boyz n the Hood
9. Beauty and the Beast
10. The Prince Of Tides

 

1992

1. Unforgiven
2. Malcolm X
3. A League Of Their Own
4. Howard’s End
5. The Player
6. The Last of the Mohicans
7. Aladdin
8. A Few Good Men
9. Bram Stoker’s Dracula
10. The Crying Game

 

1993

1. Schindler’s List
2. The Piano
3. Fearless
4. In the Name of the Father
5. The Age of Innocence
6. Philadelphia
7. The Remains of the Day
8. Short Cuts
9. A Perfect World
10. A Bronx Tale

 

1994

1. Pulp Fiction
2. The Shawshank Redemption
3. Forrest Gump
4. Bullets Over Broadway
5. Natural Born Killers
6. The Lion King
7. Ed Wood
8. Nell
9. Nobody’s Fool
10. Leon: The Professional

 

1995

1. Apollo 13
2. Dead Man Walking
3. Toy Story
4. Leaving Las Vegas
5. The Bridges Of Madison County
6. Sense and Sensibility
7. Seven
8. Get Shorty
9. Babe
10. Casino

 

1996

1. Trainspotting
2. The Crucible
3. Fargo
4. Jerry Maguire
5. The People vs. Larry Flynt
6. Hamlet
7. Sling Blade
8. Shine
9. When We Were Kings
10. Fly Away Home

 

1997

1. LA Confidential
2. The Sweet Hereafter
3. Boogie Nights
4. The Apostle
5. Contact
6. Jackie Brown
7. Good Will Hunting
8. As Good As It Gets
9. Donnie Brasco
10. Face/Off

 

1998

1. Saving Private Ryan
2. The Truman Show
3. Shakespeare in Love
4. Bulworth
5. The Thin Red Line
6. Central Station*
7. Gods and Monsters
8. Elizabeth
9. Primary Colors
10. Out of Sight

 

1999

1. Magnolia
2. Fight Club
3. The Sixth Sense
4. The Talented Mr. Ridley
5. Boys Don’t Cry
6. Toy Story 2
7. Election
8. The Limey
9. Man on the Moon
10. The Cider House Rules

 

2000

1. Requiem for a Dream
2. Cast Away
3. Almost Famous
4. Traffic
5. The House Of Mirth
6. Pollock
7. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon*
8. Quills
9. O Brother Where Art Thou?
10. Gladiator

 

2001

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
2. A.I. Artificial Intelligence
3. The Royal Tenenbaums
4. Ghost World
5. In the Bedroom
6. Monsters, Inc.
7. Shrek
8. Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone
9. Amelie*
10. Monsters Ball

 

2002

1. Far from Heaven
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
3. Road to Perdition
4. Minority Report
5. About Schmidt
6. Gangs of New York
7. Atarjuat – The Fast Runner*
8. Adaptation
9. Catch Me If You Can
10. Frida

 

2003

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2. Lost in Translation
3. Mystic River
4. Monster
5. Cold Mountain
6. The Last Samurai
7. Open Range
8. The Barbarian Invasions*
9. Bad Santa
10. Finding Nemo

 

2004

1. Sideways
2. The Passion of the Christ*
3. The Aviator
4. Million Dollar Baby
5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
6. The Incredibles
7. A Very Long Engagement*
8. The Motorcycle Diaries*
9. Kinsey
10. Kill Bill: Volume 2

 

2005

1. Brokeback Mountain
2. King Kong
3. Munich
4. A History Of Violence
5. Good Night and Good Luck
6. Match Point
7. Downfall*
8. Capote
9. C.R.A.Z.Y.*
10. Sophie Scholl*

 

 

2006

1. The Departed
2. Letters from Iwo Jima*
3. United 93
4. Pan’s Labyrinth*
5. Children of Men
6. Dreamgirls
7. Marie Antoinette
8. Apocalypto*
9. The Queen
10. Babel*

 

2007

1. There Will Be Blood
2. No Country for Old Men
3. Into the Wild
4. Zodiac
5. Away from Her
6. Michael Clayton
7. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
8. Juno
9. Gone Baby Gone
10. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

 

2008

1. The Dark Knight
2. Milk
3. Revolutionary Road
4. WALL-E
5. The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
6. Frost/ Nixon
7. Doubt
8. The Wrestler
9. Tropic Thunder
10. Gran Torino

 

2009

1. Up!
2. The Hurt Locker
3. The Road
4. Up in the Air
5. Inglorious Basterds
6. Precious
7. The Young Victoria
8. Where the Wild Things Are
9. District 9
10. The Messenger

 

2010

1. The Social Network
2. True Grit
3. Toy Story 3
4. 127 Hours
5. Shutter Island
6. The Fighter
7. Black Swan
8. The Town
9. The King’s Speech
10. Inception

 

2011

1. The Descendants
2. Hugo
3. The Artist
4. Midnight in Paris
5. We Need to Talk About Kevin
6. War Horse
7. Young Adult
8. The Help
9. Moneyball
10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2

 

2012

 

1. Lincoln & Zero Dark Thirty (tied)
2. The Master
3. Moonrise Kingdom
4. Life of Pi
5. Django Unchained
6. Amour*
7. Argo
8. Cloud Atlas
9. Silver Linings Playbook
10. Skyfall

 

2013

1. The Wolf Of Wall Street
2. Her
3. 12 Years a Slave
4. Captain Phillips
5. Gravity
6. Nebraska
7. American Hustle
8. Blue is the Warmest Color*
9. Blue Jasmine
10. Inside Llewyn Davis

 

2014

1. The Grand Budapest Hotel
2. Boyhood
3. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
4. Whiplash
5. American Sniper
6. Gone Girl
7. The Theory Of Everything
8. Lucy
9. Edge of Tomorrow
10. Interstellar

 

2015

1. The Revenant
2. Spotlight
3. The Martian
4. Brooklyn
5. Room
6. Carol
7. Bridges of Spies
8. Creed
9. Steve Jobs
10. The Hateful Eight

 

2016

1. Manchester By The Sea
2. La La Land
3. Arrival
4. Silence
5. Hacksaw Ridge
6. Hell or High Water
7. Moonlight
8. Jackie
9. Fences
10. Captain Fantastic

 

2017

1. The Shape of Water
2. The Post
3. Hostiles
4. Lady Bird
5. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
6. I, Tonya
7. Call Me By Your Name
8. The Florida Project
9. Blade Runner 2049
10. Phantom Thread