My own favorites for discussion

i'd like to see that Imamura. could you comment on it? can't deny the greatness of the Resnais of course.

im gonna try to be as unpretentious as possible and list my favorites that have given the most pleasure regardless of pedigree, almost all of these reach deep into a pretty personal space:

In the Mood for Love
Back to the Future
Jaws
House of Flying Daggers
A.I.
Stalker (only seen this once tho!)
8 1/2
The Thin Red Line
To Catch a Thief
Tokyo Story
The Lady Eve

(not that many of those aren't pretentious picks, heck they all are, but i seem to genuinely love them)

black stallion
todo sobre mi madre
days of heaven
mutiny on the bounty
captain blood
man who would be king
five easy pieces
treasure of the sierra madre
small change

Narayama, since you asked, is one of those rare Cannes winners that I believe truly deserves the praise. In terms of style, I guess it's an anomaly among the bunch, but it's Imamura's politics that I consider fascinating/revolutionary rather than his form, which tends to be quite bland.

It's one of the most deeply mysterious and spiritual of all films I've ever seen. Imamura punctuates his human tale with beautiful nature shots, connecting human behavior with that of the natural world. However, he does a complete turn around in the film's conclusion. The films gorgeous final images question the early nature shots, lifting the human experience out of the primitive world and taking it into the realm of the spiritual.

Dave Kehr's Chicago Reader review is excellent, if you'd like to read more.

Anthony:

Could you comment on the Suzuki film? I've been itching to see that and "Tokyo Drifter."

As for your list, the only one I can really talk about is "Pierrot Le Fou", which I think is great. Godard at his most playful, before he would get all political, in his early period. The bit with Samuel Fuller's cameo is priceless. I also loved it when Belmondo would talk directly to the audience, facing the camera. And Karina's at her best, here (I think). Sure, it dragged a bit in spots, but that is OK.

And as for my current favorites:

The Red Shoes
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Nostalghia
Sherlock Jr. OR The Navigator, not sure
In The Mood For Love (though Fallen Angels is great too, hard to choose)
The Thin Red Line
The Nutty Professor (Lewis)
Sunrise
Shock Corridor
Performance (Roeg)
Breakfast at Tiffany's (I'm a hopeless Audrey fan).

And the honorable mentions: Aguirre, Wrath of God; La Jetee

does anyone else find in the mood for love overrated? i am pretty sure that i am completely alone here, but the film left me really cold the one time i saw it. it locks quickly into a single mood and just hangs there... these tedious, mythologizing, slow-mo shots, and beautiful strings kind of striving for a point... and then the last 5 minutes, which fly out of nowhere and try to recontextualize everything really abruptly and kind of poorly. it's visually very beautiful to watch, but in a very heaped-on way that offers little in terms of emotional or visual... rhythm, or something. in a way i feel terrible, because i guess all i have to lob are these stock criticisms that many of my favorite films (by antonioni/resnais/etc.) are always being unfairly saddled with. but at the same time i can't argue with my emotional reaction, which was a kind of detached admiration but nothing more.

that said, the film has been cited twice upthread and i can easily get behind many of the films it's sandwiched with (the thin red line, the lady eve, etc.)

I can understand that. I think there should be a subtitle there, "The Art of Repetition" or the like. That's what it is, really. If you've seen the first ten minutes of it, you've got the "feel" of the whole thing, already. The rhythms, the repressed emotions, everything.

The visual beauty, of course, is there. I love that aspect. One small detail I think people seem to miss is that the guy is writing martial arts serial publications. I think there is implied cheating between spouses, in there, but it could very well be imagined. I think it's a fascinating tale of the artistic process (what drove him to wrote those stories), more so than a tale of repressed love.

I don't know what you mean about the ending, could you clarify? I liked it, he escaped his repressive environment, he was free to tell his stories..

All that being said, your emotions are your own, and I understand where you're coming from, because I feel similarly about "Hiroshima Mon Amour." All I can advise is that you watch it again, I didn't like it a whole lot on the first go, but something connected on later viewings. Like I need to try Hiroshima, again.

Does this help at all?

I also find In the Mood overrated, as I do WKW (while a consistently interesting and occasionally sublime filmmaker).

Of what I can think of right now:

Sherlock Jr
Aguirre
Duck Soup
Point Blank
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Ikiru
A Moment of Innocence
Fox and His Friends
Barry Lyndon
Dr Mabuse the Gambler
Xala
E.T.
After the Rehearsal
Notorious
The Mirror
Rose Hobart
The Long Goodbye

does anyone else find in the mood for love overrated?

yes, but I like a lot of WKW's other work. That one, though? .... ehh.

Long Goodbye - a good one, Dr Morbius.

"Fox and His Friends"

One of the greatest "simple" films ever made, and arguably Fassbinder's most successful work.

Is this thread about listing our top 10/11, or is it about analyzing Anthony's list? In regards to his list, I've only seen Resnais, Suzuki, Godard & Brakhage (it's amazing how much everyone likes "Mothlight").

I haven't seen anything by Craig Baldwin yet, but I really want to see "Tribulation 99" (http://www.othercinema.com/filmography/trib99.html). Also, after reading about Masumura in Rosenbaum's "Movie Mutations", I really want to check out some of his work (although I'm pretty sure it won't appeal to me).

"Dancer in the Dark" - beautiful. "Downfall" - so bleak but thought-changing.

"Dancer in the Dark" is trash. One of my least favorite movies.

These are the movies mentioned in lists that I've seen:

Mothlight [fantastic]
Back to the Future [meh, it's ok]
Days of Heaven [Pretty nice]
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari [fantastic, but I've only seen it once and I'm getting ready to watch it again]
Sunrise [didn't care for it at all]
Duck Soup [not my favorite Marx Bros]
E.T. [I saw it once when I was 5 and never again since]

i enjoyed downfall, but then i realized after 2.5 hours of watching it that it failed to surprise me in any way. somehow viewing it added nothing to having read about it, which was odd.

the possible exception is ulrich matthes' performance as goebbels. it was less flooring than his performance in the ninth day, but the two juxtaposed together are pretty remarkable.

I dispute that it is "trash". That is merely a subjective opinion. I found it very moving and disturbing, so if it has affected one person than surely it can't just be dismissed so easily.

He looked so much like Goebbels too, the similarity was quite uncanny.