Top Ranked Films of Pedro Almodóvar

Pedro Almodóvar
5 titles, 57th in points with 13,429

I always enjoy every Almodóvar film. I agree with the rankings of these, especially the first four, only I'd have them all higher ranked. He has a great touch with films with nearly all-female casts, as are these first four. I first discovered him in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, which is probably his most comic film, almost out of character. It's an exercise in controlled chaos which works, it has an energy all it's own.

These are all the films of Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar’s that made the top 1000 in our 2011 update of the Top Ranked 1000 Films on the Net, all polls.

1. All About My Mother (1999) #206
2. Talk to Her (2002) #317
3. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988) #369
4. Volver (2006) #525 [photo above, w Penelope Cruz]
5. Bad Education (2004) #864

Outside the top 1000
6. Law of Desire (1987) #1271
7. Broken Embraces #1447

I agree that All About My Mother is his best work - for me it's a near top 100 film, very mature and moving. I also found Talk to Her and Volver fascinating. I loved the Oscar®-nominated performance of Penelope Cruz in Volver, who got a nod for best actress, and deserved it.

The first four films here have almost entirely female casts. Not so with Bad Education and Law of Desire, and for some reason I didn't like those films as much - maybe I'm biased, but he seems to have an uncanny affinity for the feminine characters he films. All About My Mother was dedicated to "all women, all women who played women, and all those who want to be women", and begins with All About Eve (1950) on a small television.

Top Ranked Films of Terry Gilliam

Terry Gilliam
4 titles, 52nd in points with 14,392

Gilliam came out the Monty Python's Flying Circus group that had a popular tv show on the BBC in England. Also in the group were comic actors John Cleese, Terry Jones and Eric Idle. Gilliam has gone on to make some of the most inventive and outrageous films ever. For me, the Monty Python ones are the worst of these, lame, sophmoric humor usually associated with lots of blood or pointless arguing by idiots (though this did lead to a great tv skit called "Argument Clinic", a satire of rehabilitation centers in general, this one feature various types of aguing).

The best are science fiction-fantasy films, like Brazil, 12 Monkeys, and Time Bandits, that place the viewer in a unique world that could only be imagined by Gilliam.

These are all the films of British director Terry Gilliam’s that made the top 1000 in our 2011 update of the Top Ranked 1000 Films on the Net, all polls. Ten titles in all made the polls, though the last four were on the bottom, barely mentioned.

1. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) #87 [Co-directed with Terry Jones] I don't find religious humor funny (they're already funny enough on their own)
2. Brazil (1985) #145 This is a minor masterpiece
3. 12 Monkeys (1995) #429
4. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) #860 Stick with the writing of Hunter S. Thompson, while the novel is hilarious throughout this reeks by comparison

out of the top 1000:
5. Monty Python- Meaning of Life (1983) #1722 [you won't find it here]
6. Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) #1926
7. Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) #2122
8. Fisher King, The (1991) #2192
9. Tideland (2005) #2192
10. Time Bandits (1981) #2192 Excellent comedy, this should be ranked in the top 1000

[Last 3 are tied for 'last' of all mentioned films with about 50 other films]

I like most of his films, they are all visual treats, though some are excessive bores (Baron von Munchausen). I think Brazil is a minor masterpiece, and features Robert De Niro in a small role as a rogue repairman the state calls a ‘dangerous terrorist’.

These are my favorites: (1) Brazil [photo left] (2) Time Bandits (3) 12 Monkeys (4) The Fisher King (5) The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus [Heath Ledger’s last film, he died during filming and his part was completed by Jude Law and Johnny Depp, who all played the same character!]

Time Bandits has the biggest heart, about a child who escapes in a fantasy world which is interrupted by dwarves who steal the map of time gates from God and carry the kid on their adventures. Shelly Duvall has a hilarious part as someone who is about to be kissed at various times in history when the group literally ‘drops in’ on her. This was the first film for George Harrison’s Dark Horse film studio.

Gilliam reminds me of the quote from the Pope in The Agony and the Ecstasy about Michaelangelo, "Of course, he's a raving madman, but we put up with him because he's also a genius"

See the full list of top ranked 100 directors here: Top Ranked 100 Directors, 2011 Edition

Top Ranked Films of Werner Herzog

Werner Herzog
5 titles, 56th in points with 13,638

12 titles in all made polls, if all points were included, he would be 41st

Born Werner H. Stipetic in Munich, Germany, Herzog is one of the more visionary directors alive. His films like to penetrate the harshness of nature as a primal force that overpowers men. Many of these are documentaries, so I labeled them as (doc).

These are all the films of Werner Herzog’s that made the top 1000 in our 2011 update of the Top Ranked 1000 Films on the Net, all polls.

1. Aguirre, The Wrath of God (1972)  #83
2. Fitzcarraldo (1982) Germany  #424
3. Grizzly Man (2005) #540 (doc)
4. Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, The (1974) #554
5. Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010) #880 (doc)

Those out of the top 1000, 7 more titles:
6. Encounters at the End of the World (2007) #1024 (doc)
7. White Diamond, The (2004) #1146 (doc)
8. Land of Silence and Darkness (1971) #1615 (doc)
9. Lessons of Darkness (1982) #1616 (doc)
10. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) #1733
11. Nosferatu: Phantom of the Night (1979) #1759
12. My Best Friend (1999) #2137 (doc)


Herzog is a director of vision and one perhaps prone to become obsessed with those visions, which makes him one of the most interesting directors alive.

Herzog moved this boat over a hill in the

jungle in Fitzcarraldo

Fitzcarraldo is my favorite, a mad jungle adventure with opera and a big river boat. Les Blank’s documentary of the making of this, Burden of Dreams (1982), shows just how obsessed Herzog can get with a film project.

Aguirre, the Wrath of God is another great adventure in South America, also starring Klaus Kinski, who’s a bit more mad here than as Fitzcarraldo. He seems to have truly lost it as a Spanish conquistador obsessed with finding the city of gold.

Grizzly Man was a riveting documentary about a man who lived among grizzly bears in the Alaskan wilderness. My Best Friend is about his relationship with actor Klaus Kinski.

Not ranked but also worthy of being in the top 1000 is Cobra Verde (1987) (see review here), his last with Kinski, about a South American sugar cane plantation manager sent to Africa to see about some trouble there in connection with slave trading.

His overall films' awards total 35 out of 58 nominations:

See the full list of top ranked 100 directors here: Top Ranked 100 Directors, 2011 Edition

Top Ranked Films of Krszystof Kieslowski

Krszystof  Kieslowski
6 titles, 51st with 14,576 points

These are all the films of Polish director Krszystof Kieslowski’s that made the top 1000 in our 2011 update of the Top Ranked 1000 Films on the Net, all polls.

1. Three Colours: Red (1994) #275
2. Double Life of Veronique, The (1991) #344
3. Dekalog (1988) #361
4. Three Colours: Blue (1993) #420 My favorite of the three colors
5. Short Film About Killing, A (1988) #771
6. Three Colours: White (1994) #844

Just outside the top 1000
7. Short Film About Love, A (1988) #1396 I prefer this to the Killing one, but I could be wrong

Three Colours: Blue is a very interesting film about a woman continuing with her life after the death of her husband. This film has a strong music composition component that interested me.

I have a hard time picking a most distinguished film among these – they are all very good, none seem to be masterpieces. I suppose just because of the attempt, scope, and ingenuity that Dekalog may be the one deemed a classic in the future. It’s really ten short films put together in two feature length parts. I found it slow and uneven but riveting in parts.

Kieslowski is an artist, no one will deny that. Each film is at least interesting and worth seeing.

See the full list of top ranked 100 directors here: Top Ranked 100 Directors, 2011 Edition

Top Ranked Films of Terrence Malick

Terrence Malick
4 titles, 55th in points with 13,683

These are all the films of U.S. director Terrence Malick’s that made the top 1000 in our 2011 update of the Top Ranked 1000 Films on the Net, all polls.

1. Days of Heaven (1978) #110
2. Badlands (1972) #232
3. The Thin Red Line (1998) #373 [photo top]
4. Tree of Life, The (2011) #650
5. New World, The (2005) #1329 [photo bottom]

An amazing artist, he has chosen to make about one film per decade. I believe these five are all of his films so far. I like them all, but have not seen The Tree of Life yet.

The New World should be ranked in the top 1000 as well, a beautifully filmed story of John Smith and the first settlers in Virginia.

I’d probably move Days of Heaven down some, beautiful to look at but I wasn’t as emotionally involved in it for some reason, perhaps the performance of Richard Gere.

Badlands is a very good crime film, a fictional telling of the Starkwether murder spree, starring a young Martin Sheen and an even younger Sissy Spacek.

The Thin Red Line is also an underrated war film, perhaps a little to existential for many, but still a good combination of both philosophy and action.

Colin Farrell and Q'orianca Kilcher in The New World

See the full list of top ranked 100 directors here: Top Ranked 100 Directors, 2011 Edition

Top Ranked Films of Elia Kazan

Elia Kazan
3 titles, 54th in points with 13,688

Severely underrated on the polls today, all seven of these films should be in the top 1000. America, America is based on his own immigrant uncle’s experience coming to the the U.S.

These are all the films of U.S. director Elia Kazan’s that made the top 1000 in our 2011 update of the Top Ranked 1000 Films on the Net, all polls.

1. On the Waterfront (1951) bw #42
2. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) bw #158
3. East of Eden (1955) #573

Those just outside the top 1000
4. Splendor in the Grass (1961) #1003
5. America, America (1963) #1264
6. Wild River (1960) #1758
7. A Face in the Crowd (1957) bw #1853

Were all these included, and they should all be ranked in the top 1000, Kazan would still only be ranked 44th, after Peter Jackson, and just ahead of Christopher Nolan.

On the Waterfront is a classic, winner of 8 Oscars®, and deservedly in the top 100. A Streetcar Named Desire is one of the best acted films ever recorded. Three of the four lead actors won Oscars®, only Brando did not - go figure! Vivien Leigh was tremendous, I thought, amazing versatility and vulnerability is on display here.

Of these the most underrated is A Face in the Crowd, a brilliant indictment of the power of mass media to make anyone popular and also manipulate the voters. Andy Griffith was cast against character in a dramatic part and it worked, while a young Patricia Neal turned in one of her best performances. An added bonus is Walter Matthau in an early dramatic role before he switched to comedy exclusively.

Splendor in the Grass is also a puzzling yet mesmerizing romance with some bizarre performances from nearly everyone in the cast – it definitely belongs in the top 1000. So does Wild River. For me, East of Eden could come down a bit, I didn’t like it as much as the rest of these. Still, he’s a genius.