50 Movie Directors Selected By Ian Freer

In 2009 Ian Freer wrote a book called Movie Makers: 50 Iconic Directors. He organized them by birth date, which is exactly how I would have done it, but he included a few directors I would have left out. Anyway, here’s his list. I’ve included a must-see movie from the director if I know of one:

1. D.W. Griffith (born 1875)

2. Cecil B. DeMille (born 1881)

3. Michael Curtiz (born 1886)

4. Charlie Chaplin (born 1889) — all until 1940

5. Fritz Lang (born 1890) — M

6. John Ford (born 1894) — Stagecoach

7. Jean Renoir (born 1894)

8. Josef von Sternberg (born 1894) — The Blue Angel

9. Howard Hawks (born 1896)

10. Frank Capra (born 1897)

11. Sergei Eisenstein (born 1898)

12. George Cukor (born 1899)

13. Alfred Hitchcock (born 1899) — The 39 Steps, many more

14. Luis Bunuel (born 1900) — Simon of the Desert

15. Walt Disney (born 1901) — The Jungle Book

16. William Wyler (born 1902) — Roman Holiday

17. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (born 1905, 1902)

18. John Huston (born 1906) — The Asphalt Jungle

19. Roberto Rossellini (born 1906) — Germany Year Zero

20. Billy Wilder (born 1906) — Some Like It Hot

21. David Lean (born 1908)

22. Elia Kazan (born 1909)

23. Akira Kurosawa (born 1910)

24. Orson Welles (born 1915)

25. Ingmar Bergman (born 1918) — Sawdust and Tinsel

26. Federico Fellini (born 1920)

27. Satyajit Ray (born 1921)

28. Robert Altman (born 1925) — Nashville

29. Sam Peckinpah (born 1925)

30. Stanley Kubrick (born 1928) — Dr. Strangelove, many more

31. Sergio Leone (born 1929)

32. Jean-Luc Godard (born 1930) — Breathless

33. Francois Truffaut (born 1932) — Soft Skin

34. Roman Polanski (born 1933) — Chinatown

35. Woody Allen (born 1935) — Hannah and Her Sisters, many more

36. Ridley Scott (born 1937) — Blade Runner

37. Francis Ford Coppola (born 1939) — The Godfather

38. Bernardo Bertolucci (born 1940)

39. Krzysztof Kieslowski (born 1941) — Three Colors series

40. Werner Herzog (born 1942)

41. Martin Scorsese (born 1942) — Taxi Driver

42. George Lucas (born 1944) — THX 1138, Star Wars series

43. David Lynch (born 1946) — Eraserhead

44. Steven Spielberg (born 1946) — Duel

45. Pedro Almodovar (born 1949)

46. Joel and Ethan Coen (born 1954, 1957) — Blood Simple, many more

47. Spike Lee (born 1957)

48. Tim Burton (born 1958) — Pee-wee's Big Adventure

49. Peter Jackson (born 1961) — The Lord of the Rings series

50. Quentin Tarantino (born 1963)

Newly Added to Criterion Channel in October 2026

Movies seen already are in bold, italics means my buddy John recommended it:

Index, Title, Year, Running Time

1 Magazine 2026 11 — quit after two minutes

2 The Last Jiangshi 2026 20 — quit after five minutes

3 Hideous 2022 22 — quit after two minutes

4 Hustler White 1996 80 — quit after five minutes

5 Gerontophilia 2013 82 — quit after ten minutes

6 Spider's Eyes 1998 83 —- quit after fifteen minutes

7 The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 1974 83

8 Cohen and Tate 1989 85 — quit after thirty minutes at ffwd

9 Serpent's Path 1998 85 — Kiyoshi Kurosawa

10 Dust Devil 1992 87

11 Door III 1996 88 — Kiyoshi Kurosawa

12 Race with the Devil 1975 88

13 Duel 1971 89

14 The Appointment 1981 89

15 The Wraith 1986 92

16 Highway to Hell 1991 93

17 When a Stranger Calls Back 1993 93

18 Demon Seed 1977 94

19 Homebodies 1974 94

20 Party Girl 1995 94

21 You're Next 2011 94

22 Otto; or, Up with Dead People 2008 94

23 Ring 2 1999 95

24 The Keep 1983 95

25 The Bird with the Crystal Plumage 1970 96

26 Alone 2020 97

27 Dark Night of the Scarecrow 1981 97

28 Joy Ride 2001 97

29 Someone's Watching Me! 1978 97

30 The Hitcher 1986 97

31 Maximum Overdrive 1986 98

32 And Soon the Darkness 1970 99

33 Kisapmata 1981 99

34 By Hook or by Crook 2001 100

35 Road Games 1981 100

36 The Last One for the Road 2025 100

37 Tenebrae 1982 101

38 Jennifer's Body 2009 102

39 Play Misty for Me 1971 102

40 Altered States 1980 103

41 Charisma 1999 104

42 The Faculty 1998 104

43 Batch '81 1982 105

44 The Others 2001 105

45 Inferno 1980 106

46 Will Your Heart Beat Faster? 1980 106

47 Itim 1976 107

48 The Gift 2015 108

49 Don't Look Now 1973 110

50 The Cat o' Nine Tails 1971 111

51 The Omen 1976 111

52 Serpent's Path 2024 113 — Kiyoshi Kurosawa

53 Bright Future 2002 115

54 Dead Ringers 1988 115

55 Lifeforce 1985 116

56 Pulse 2001 119

57 The Social Network 2010 120

58 To the Ends of the Earth 2019 120 — Kiyoshi Kurosawa

59 Two Evil Eyes 1991 120

60 The Entity 1982 125

61 Three 2002 128

62 Creepy 2016 130

63 Rosemary's Baby 1968 136

64 Lolita 1962 153

65 The Wailing 2016 156

66 Eyes Wide Shut 1999 159

67 Salem's Lot 1979 183

68 Barry Lyndon 1975 185

69 Terror in Resonance 2014 253

---

Only these 16 recommended by John:

1. Lolita 1962 153

2. Rosemary's Baby 1968 136

3. Duel 1971 89

4. Don't Look Now 1973 110

5. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 1974 83

6. Barry Lyndon 1975 185

7. Altered States 1980 103

8. Inferno 1980 106

9. The Entity 1982 125

10. The Keep 1983 95

11. Maximum Overdrive 1986 98

12. Dead Ringers 1988 115

13. Party Girl 1995 94

14. The Faculty 1998 104

15. The Others 2001 105

16. The Social Network 2010 120

Maoxian's One a Day Playlist for September 2026

Here is the One a Day playlist for September 2026. Check out the One a Day playlists for August, July, June, May, April, March, February and January.

30 amazing songs, 1 hour 58 minute running time. Talented human curation still way better than GIGO (what I call AI). I hope you discover some new music that you like. Kendra Morris, Erykah Badu, Bob Marley, and Van Morrison talented enough to appear as coveted repeat artists.

The songs are ordered chronologically from latest to earliest:

1. MorMor, Celeste, Like Heaven

2. Joey Quinones, Don't Be Late

3. Bel Cobain, Am I Dumb

4. Degiheugi, Ipanemax

5. Nubiyan Twist, Mamani Keita, Slow Breath

6. TAMTAM, Seven Seas

7. Peter Somuah, Pat Thomas, We Give Thanks

8. 30/70, HOLY ROLLER

9. Kendra Morris, Cry Sometimes

10. Weyes Blood, Andromeda

11. Pat Thomas, Kwashibu Area Band, Onfa Nkosi Hwee

12. Laura Cahen, Ca Depend Des Saisons

13. Charles Bradley, Menahan Street Band, The World (Is Going Up in Flames)

14. Angie Stone, Wish I Didn't Miss You

15. Erykah Badu, Didn't Cha Know

16. Mos Def, Ms. Fat Booty

17. Fugees, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, Pras, Fu-Gee-La

18. A Tribe Called Quest, Can I Kick It? 

19. Jungle Brothers, What's Going On

20. Cheb Hasni, Nebhilk mani hani

21. Bob Marley & the Wailers, So Much Trouble In The World

22. William Onyeabor, Heaven and Hell

23. Gospel Comforters, Jesus Will Help Me

24. Hector Lavoe, El Todopoderoso

25. Big Star, September Gurls

26. Van Morrison, Crazy Love

27. It's A  Beautiful Day, White Bird

28. Big Brother & the Holding Company, Summertime

29. The Beatles, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds

30. Jefferson Airplane, White Rabbit

Maoxian's One a Day Playlist for August 2026

Here is the One a Day playlist for August 2026. Check out the One a Day playlists for July, June, May, April, March, February and January.

Another amazing collection of songs, clearly curated by a straight, white, over-educated, Gen-X male with an enormous amount of time on his hands.

The songs are ordered chronologically from latest to earliest:

1. Vulfmon, Jackie Evans, Leave You

2. Alela, Diane Could Be

3. Searows, Photograph of a Cyclone

4. Luna Li, That's Life

5. Brooke Combe, This Town

6. Charif Megardbane, Souk el Ahad

7. Mitski, The Frost

8. Jemba Groove, K.O.G., Sweet My Ear

9. Ana Layla, Someone

10. Kazam, Litchi

11. Jack Harlow, WHATS POPPIN

12. Vicente Amigo, Nina Pastori, Amor de Nadie 

13. The Blind Boys of Alabama, Way Down in the Hole

14. People Under the Stairs, San Francisco Knights

15. Slide Five, Outerspace

16. Elia des Ochoa, Llora Mi Nena

17. 4 non Blondes, What's Up?

18. De La Soul, (3 Is) The Magic Number

19. The Smiths, The Boy With The Thorn In His Side

20. The Jesus and Mary Chain, Just Like Honey

21. Martha and the Muffins, Echo Beach

22. The Jam, Girl on the Phone

23. John Renbourn, Stefan Grossman, Bermuda Triangle Exit

24. Bob Marley & the Wailers, Crazy Baldhead

25. Peter Tosh, Legalize It

26. Steely Dan, Kid Charlemagne

27. Tim Maia, Over Again

28. Elia y Elizabeth, Descripcion

29. The Braen's Machine, Description

30. Jeannie Piersol, The Nest

31. Nina Simone, Ain't Got No - I Got Life

Coen Brothers' Movies, Ranked

I need to re-watch a lot of these, but this is my snap judgment:

1. 1998 The Big Lebowski

2. 1984 Blood Simple

3. 2007 No Country for Old Men

4. 1996 Fargo

5. 2009 A Serious Man

6. 1991 Barton Fink

7. 1987 Raising Arizona

8. 2001 The Man Who Wasn't There

9. 2013 Inside Llewyn Davis

10. 2000 O Brother, Where Art Thou?

11. 2018 The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

12. 1990 Miller's Crossing

13. 2010 True Grit

14. 2004 The Ladykillers

15. 2003 Intolerable Cruelty

16. 2008 Burn After Reading

17. 1994 The Hudsucker Proxy

18. 2016 Hail, Caesar!

Maoxian's One a Day Playlist for July 2026

Here is the One a Day playlist for July 2026. Check out the One a Day playlists for June, May, April, March, February and January.

It’s unusual for me to include an artist more than once in the One a Day playlist since I combine the monthly lists to make the annual list … but I love Melissa Leveaux and Olive Jones and Ellen Mcilwaine enough to bend the rules for them. I also took perverse pleasure putting Billy Joel between Pablo Moses and Junior Murvin … hey, it’s just chronology.

The songs are ordered chronologically from latest to earliest:

1. The Sha La Das, Stop Using My Love

2. Foushee, war

3. Olive Jones, A Woman's Heart

4. The Lemon Twigs, My Golden Years

5. Nectar Woode, Good Vibrations

6. The Innocence Mission, On Your Side

7. Snoh Aalegra, I Want You Around

8. Melissa Leveaux, Nan fon bwa

9. Andrew Bird, Are You Serious

10. Mazzy Starr, In the Kingdom

11. Gnarls Barkley, Crazy

12. The Derek Trucks Band, Volunteered Slavery

13. Feist, Secret Heart

14. The Libertines, What Katie Did

15. Kurt Elling, Orange Blossoms in Summertime

16. Richard Ashcroft, A Song For The Lovers

17. Belle and Sebastian, Is It Wicked Not To Care?

18. Tarkan, Simarik

19. 2Pac, Dear Mama

20. Massive Attack, Tracey Thorn, Better Things

21. Francky Vincent, Le jeu des cinq

22. Pablo Moses, Dubbing Is A Must

23. Billy Joel, Just the Way You Are

24. Junior Murvin, Police & Thieves

25. Ellen Mcilwaine, Higher Ground

26. Minnie Ripperton, Lovin' You

27. Smokey Robinson, The Tracks of My Tears

28. Millie Small, My Boy Lollipop

29. Nancy Wilson, I Wish You Love

30. Lorez Alexandria, Nature Boy

31. The Chordettes, Lollipop

Maoxian's One a Day Playlist for June 2026

Here is the One a Day playlist for June 2026. Check out the One a Day playlists for May, April, March, February and January.

I “discovered” Olivia Dean on YouTube a decade? ago and said this girl is gonna be a star. I have a HUGE crush on Mari Froes, who is super beautiful and has an amazing voice. Dent May is my kind of smartass. Then we have classic GenX stuff (Sade, David Bowie, The Cure). Then we have GenX baby-in-the-womb stuff: Ellen McIlwaine, Stevie Wonder, Janis Joplin, Roberta Flack, Allman Bros. And that old Cole Porter song takes me back to many a night spent in the Cafe Carlyle. R.I.P. Bobby!

The songs are ordered chronologically from latest to earliest:

1. spill tab, Suckerrr

2. Olivia Dean, A Couple Minutes

3. Andrea Laszlo De Simone, Per te

4. Mari Froes, Figa De Guine

5. Avenue A,  Run Cold

6. Sababa 5, Bezani

7. Peter Cat Recording Co., Seed

8. Shay Hazan, Nitai Hershkovits, Sunflowers

9. Bloom Bat, Odd Friends

10. Albin de la Simone, Les cent prochaines annees

11. Joe Yorke, Dreaming

12. Wolfgang Valbrun, Keep Your Head Up

13. Tank and The Bangas, The Ton3s, Communion in my Cup

14. Benjamin Schoos, Dent May, All Night Every Night

15. CAKE, Mahna, Mahna

16. Portishead, Only You

17. Edwyn Collins, A Girl Like You

18. Gipsy Kings, Hotel California

19. The Cure, Close To Me

20. Sade, The Sweetest Taboo

21. David Bowie, Ashes To Ashes

22. Hugh Mundell, Run Revolution A Come

23. Ellen McIlwaine, Can't Find My Way Home

24. Stevie Wonder, You Are The Sunshine Of My Life

25. The Doobie Brothers, Listen to the Music

26. Bobby Short, Katie Went To Haiti

27. Janis Joplin, Cry Baby

28. Roberta Flack, Do What You Gotta Do

29. Allman Brothers Band, In Memory of Elizabeth Reed

30. Mahalia Jackson, A Satisfied Mind
    

Nick Davis's 100 Favorite Films

Again I am re-formatting this list so that it’s readable … looks like 109 titles in total:

1930 Min and Bill

1932 Blonde Venus

1935 Alice Adams

1947 Possessed

1949 Adam's Rib

1951 A Streetcar Named Desire

1954 Executive Suite

1959 Pickpocket

1959 Suddenly, Last Summer

1962 Walk on the Wild Side

1963 Hud

1966 Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

1967 Cool Hand Luke

1968 Night of the Living Dead

1968 The Lion in Winter

1972 Solaris

1973 The Way We Were

1974 Claudine

1975 Chronicle of the Smoldering Years

1975 Dog Day Afternoon

1977 3 Women

1977 Eraserhead

1977 Opening Night

1978 Les Rendez-vous d'Anna

1979 The Brood

1979 The China Syndrome

1981 Pennies from Heaven

1982 Frances

1982 Illusions

1982 Peel: An Exercise in Discipline

1985 Kiss of the Spider Woman

1985 Mask

1985 The Purple Rose of Cairo

1986 Sherman's March

1986 The Fly

1987 Fatal Attraction

1987 Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story

1987 Where Is the Friend's Home?

1988 Another Woman

1990 Postcards from the Edge

1990 Without You I'm Nothing

1991 Boyz N the Hood

1991 Cape Fear

1991 Frankie & Johnny

1991 JFK

1991 Naked Lunch

1992 Bram Stoker's Dracula

1992 Dream of Light (aka The Quince Tree Sun)

1992 Howards End

1992 Husbands and Wives

1992 Hyenas

1992 Orlando

1992 The Crying Game

1992 These Hands

1993 Dottie Gets Spanked

1993 The Baby of Mâcon

1993 The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom

1994 Bullets over Broadway

1994 Cemetery Man

1994 Vanya on 42nd Street

1995 Babe

1995 Georgia

1995 Home for the Holidays

1995 Nixon

1995 Strange Days

1995 The Bridges of Madison County

1996 Crash

1996 Female Perversions

1996 Irma Vep

1996 The English Patient

1996 The Pillow Book

1996 The Portrait of a Lady

1996 Walking and Talking

1997 Jackie Brown

1997 Titanic

1998 Hands on a Hardbody

1998 High Art

1998 Psycho

1998 Velvet Goldmine

1999 Beau travail

1999 Boys Don't Cry

1999 Eyes Wide Shut

1999 Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

1999 Magnolia

1999 Pola X

1999 The Talented Mr. Ripley

2000 Best in Show

2000 Blackboards

2000 Bring It On

2000 Erin Brockovich

2000 I'm the One that I Want

2000 The Cell

2000 You Can Count on Me

2001 Late Marriage

2001 Ocean's Eleven

2001 The Piano Teacher

2002 Eleven Minutes, Nine Seconds, One Image: September 11

2002 demonlover

2002 Solaris

2002 The Cremaster Cycle

2002 The Hours

2003 Monster

2003 The Corporation

2004 Birth

2004 I ♥ Huckabees

2005 Dave Chappelle's Block Party

2005 Grizzly Man

2005 Junebug

2005 The Death of Mr. Lazarescu

Nick Davis's Top 100 Movies

I discovered this gentleman’s top movies list today, but found it so unreadable that I will re-format it here … the numbers reflect his ranking:

1 Persona

2 The Earrings of Madame de...

3 The Piano

4 Diary of a Country Priest

5 Citizen Kane

6 The Ballad of Narayama

7 Modern Times

8 Harlan County, U.S.A.

9 Sanshô the Bailiff

10 Andrei Rublev

11 Nashville

12 Singin' in the Rain

13 Vertigo

14 The Passion of Joan of Arc

15 Pinocchio

16 ??? [missing from list]

17 Meshes of the Afternoon

18 His Girl Friday

19 The Battle of Algiers

20 The Green Ray

21 The Thin Red Line

22 Aguirre, the Wrath of God

23 Taste of Cherry

24 Laura

25 Chinatown

26 Bicycle Thieves

27 A Woman Under the Influence

28 Apocalypse Now

29 Taxi Driver

30 Safe

31 The Lady Eve

32 Man with a Movie Camera

33 Holiday

34 Casablanca

35 Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

36 The Fall of the House of Usher

37 Nanook of the North

38 McCabe & Mrs. Miller

39 Hannah and Her Sisters

40 Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

41 Imitation of Life

42 Woman in the Dunes

43 The Conversation

44 Cries and Whispers

45 Shoah

46 The Travelling Players

47 Days of Heaven

48 Morvern Callar

49 Pickup on South Street

50 The Battleship Potemkin

51 Metropolis

52 The Scarlet Empress

53 The Gospel According to St. Matthew

54 Aliens

55 Pather Panchali

56 Tokyo Story

57 The Seventh Seal

58 Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror

59 Dead Ringers

60 Raging Bull

61 42nd Street

62 Psycho

63 All About Eve

64 Russian Ark

65 The 400 Blows

66 Xala

67 The Joyless Street

68 The Docks of New York

69 The Last of England

70 Letter from an Unknown Woman

71 The Wages of Fear

72 The Letter

73 New York, New York

74 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

75 Fanny and Alexander

76 L'Atalante

77 Dancer in the Dark

78 Smiles of a Summer Night

79 Black Rain

80 Viridiana

81 Shame

82 The Godfather

83 Under the Sun of Satan

84 Notorious

85 Mulholland Drive

86 The Third Man

87 Long Day's Journey into Night

88 Sunset Boulevard

89 Annie Hall

90 2001: A Space Odyssey

91 Velvet Goldmine

92 Riddles of the Sphinx

93 Close-Up

94 When Harry Met Sally...

95 Flesh

96 Nostalghia

97 Marat/Sade

98 Talk to Her

99 Daughters of the Dust

100 Mary Poppins

Maoxian's One a Day Playlist for May 2026

Here is the One a Day playlist for May 2026. Check out the One a Day playlists for April, March, February and January.

Mario Bros. and Eric B. & Rakim take me back to high school, and Tanita Tikaram and Jane’s Addiction take me back to college. You dat oldz, brah?

The songs are ordered chronologically from latest to earliest:

1. SAULT, God, Protect Me from My Enemies

2. Dominique Fils-Aime, Going Home

3. Kendra Morris, Dear Buddy

4. Mari Froes, Fogueira

5. Laura Anglade, A New Day, a New Life, a New Love

6. Isolde Lasoen, Oh Dear

7. Teddy Swims, Lose Control

8. Espen Horne, Selim Mutic, Bergen Sunrays

9. Skrillex, Missy Ellott, Mr. Oizo, RATATA

10. Baron Retif & Concepcion Perez, Italien chausettes lin

11. Courtney Marie Andrews, If I Told

12. Rema, Dumebi

13. Hannah Murray, Down and Dusky Blonde

14. Amy Winehouse, Wake Up Alone

15. Paolo Nutini, Last Request

16. Arctic Monkeys, Mardy Bum

17. The Roots, You Got Me

18. Thievery Corporation, Lebanese Blonde

19. Alain Marlin, Taksi marron

20. Tanita Tikaram, Twist in My Sobriety

21. Jane's Addiction, Standing in the Shower …  Thinking

22. Eric B. & Rakim, Paid In Full

23. Koji Kondo, Super Mario Bros. Main Theme

24. Dennis Bovell, Frea Stoil

25. Gerry Rafferty, Right Down the Line

26. Alessi Brothers, Seabird

27. Bob Marley & the Wailers, Who the Cap Fit

28. Labi Siffre, Cannock Chase

29. Robert Flack, Donny Hathaway, Where Is the Love

30. Jimi Hendrix, Fire

31. Gillian Hills, Zou bisou bisou