RICHARD CORLISS

Top Ten lists taken from "National Review" (1969), "Film Comment" (1980-97) and "Time" (2001-05, 2007-14). All lists preferential unless otherwise noted.

Richard Corliss died on April 23, 2015.

1969

1. Midnight Cowboy
2. Ma Nuit Chez Maud
3. The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom
4. The Immortal Story
5. They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
6. Topaz
7. The Devil by the Tail
8. The Wild Bunch
9. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
10. Hot Spur

1980

1. Mon Oncle d'Amerique
2. The Elephant Man
3. Altered States
4. Heart Beat
5. Raging Bull
6. Return of the Secaucus Seven
7. Best Boy
8. Coal Miner's Daughter
9. Roadie
10. Mad Max

1981

1. The Mystery of Oberwald
2. Thief
3. Reds
4. Napoleon
5. Body Heat
6. Excalibur
7. Raiders of the Lost Ark
8. Let There Be Light
9. Taxi Zum Klo
10. Alligator

1982

1. E.T.
2. Moonlighting
3. Mad Max 2 / The Road Warrior
4. Brideshead Revisited (TV)
5. Diner
6. Poltergeist
7. Blade Runner
8. Veronika Voss
9. Tootsie
10. Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip

1983

1. Berlin Alexanderplatz
2. The Night of the Shooting Stars
3. The Big Chill
4. The Right Stuff
5. Terms of Endearment
6. Heart Like a Wheel
7. Boat People
8. Christine
9. Yentl

1984 (abc)

• After the Rehearsal
• L'Argent
• Crimes of Passion
• An Englishman Abroad
• Entre Nous
• Gremlins
• Once Upon a Time in America
• Places in the Heart
• A Sunday in the Country
• The Terminator

1985 (abc)

• Back to the Future
• Blood Simple
• Book of Mary / Hail, Mary!
• Brazil
• Dim Sum
• Into the Night
• Out of Africa
• The Purple Rose of Cairo
• Ran
• Wetherby

1986

1. The Fly
2. The Sacrifice
3. Kaos
4. Shadowlands (BBC TV)
5. The Color of Money
6. Peggy Sue Got Married
7. Bliss
8. True Stories
9. No Surrender
10. Dancing in the Dark AND Heartburn

1987 (abc)

• Broadcast News
• Empire of the Sun
• Innerspace
• The Last Emperor
• The Princess Bride
• Project X
• Raising Arizona
• Sammy and Rosie Get Laid
• The Storyteller: Hans, my Hedgehog
• The Witches of Eastwick

1988

1. The Singing Detective
2. Wings of Desire
3. The Last Temptation of Christ
4. Pelle the Conqueror
5. Tucker
6. Beetlejuice
7. Monkey Shines
8. Dangerous Liaisons
9. Biloxi Blues
10. Oliver and Company

1989

1. Distant Voices, Still Lives
2. The Little Mermaid
3. sex, lies and videotape
4. Fight For Us (original version)
5. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
6. How to get Ahead in Advertising
7. Story of Women
8. Earth Girls are Easy
9. When Harry met Sally...
10. Heathers

1990

1. L'Atalante
2. Internal Affairs
3. Twin Peaks (11/10, 11/17, 12/1)
4. Dick Tracy
5. Goodfellas & Miller's Crossing
6. The Nasty Girl
7. Edward Scissorhands
8. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
9. The Sheltering Sky
10. Miami Blues

1991

1. My Father's Glory & My Mother's Castle
2. The Simpsons (Dustin Hoffman episode)
3. JFK
4. Paris is Burning
5. Water and Power
6. Beauty and the Beast
7. Cape Fear
8. Ju Dou
9. Begotten
10. The Commitments

1992

1. The Simpsons: Black Widower (but really the whole year)
2. Aladdin
3. Howards End
4. Toto le Heros
5. Raise the Red Lantern
6. Batman Returns
7. The Player
8. The Hairdresser's Husband
9. Prelude to a Kiss
10. Simple Men

1993

1. The Age of Innocence
2. The Simpsons: Mr. Burns' Casino (but really the whole year)
3. Leolo
4. Farewell my Concubine
5. The Wonderful Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl
6. The Long Day Closes
7. The Nightmare Before Christmas
8. The Piano
9. Groundhog Day
10. The Secret Garden

1994

1. Pulp Fiction
2. MST3K: The Creeping Terror
3. Heavenly Creatures
4. Crumb
5. The Shawshank Redemption
6. Hoop Dreams
7. Three Colors: White
8. Little Buddha
9. The Simpsons (entire year)
10. The Lion King

1995

1. Persuasion
2. Wild Reeds
3. The Simpsons: Bart Sells his Soul (but really the whole year)
4. MST3K: Racket Girls (but really the whole year)
5. Toy Story
6. Through the Olive Trees
7. Safe
8. Bandit Queen
9. Don Juan de Marco
10. Desperado

1996

(no list available)

1997

1. Ponette
2. Chasing Amy
3. Comrades: Almost a Love Story
4. Sick: the Life & Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist
5. Fast, Cheap & Out of Control
6. In the Company of Men
7. Kundun
8. Gabbeh
9. Eve's Bayou
10. Face / Off

(and, of course, The Simpsons and MST3K)

1998-2000

(no lists available)

2001

1. Kandahar
2. Moulin Rouge!
3. Black Hawk Down
4. In The Mood For Love
5. Mulholland Dr.
6. Monsters, Inc.
7. Fat Girl
8. The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring
9. Amélie
10. Ghost World

2002

1. Talk To Her
2. Gangs Of New York
3. Russian Ark
4. Devdas
5. Minority Report
6. Time Out
7. Bowling For Columbine
8. Spirited Away
9. The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers
10. The Quiet American

2003

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2. Les Triplettes de Belleville & Finding Nemo
3. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
4. City of God
5. Cold Mountain
6. All the Real Girls
7. Kill Bill, Vol. 1
8. The Fog of War
9. Divine Intervention
10. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

2004

1. Hero & House of Flying Daggers
2. Sideways
3. Bad Education
4. Closer
5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
6. Infernal Affairs
7. The Five Obstructions
8. Ray
9. Fahrenheit 9/11
10. The Passion of the Christ

2005

1. The White Diamond
2. Saraband
3. 2046
4. The Squid and the Whale
5. Caché (Hidden)
6. The New World
7. The Constant Gardener
8. Kung Fu Hustle
9. Memoirs of a Geisha
10. Chicken Little & Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit & Millions

2006

No list available.

2007

1. No Country for Old Men
2. The Lives of Others
3. Killer of Sheep
4. Atonement
5. Sweeney Todd
6. Persepolis
7. No End in Sight
8. In the Valley of Elah
9. Waitress
10. Beowulf

2008

1. WALL-E
2. Synecdoche, New York
3. My Winnipeg
4. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
5. Milk
6. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
7. Slumdog Millionaire
8. Iron Man
9. Speed Racer
10. Encounters at the End of the World

2009

1. The Princess and the Frog
2. Up
3. Fantastic Mr. Fox
4. The Hurt Locker
5. Up in the Air
6. The White Ribbon
7. A Single Man
8. Of Time and the City
9. District 9
10. Thirst

2010

1. Toy Story 3
2. Inside Job
3. Never Let Me Go
4. Life During Wartime
5. The Social Network
6. Rabbit Hole
7. Wild Grass
8. Green Zone
9. Waiting for 'Superman'
10. Four Lions

2011

1. The Artist
2. Hugo
3. Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame
4. The Tree of Life
5. War Horse
6. Super 8
7. Cave of Forgotten Dreams
8. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
9. Rango
10. Fast Five

[NB: Richard Corliss talks about his Top 10 and mentions this website - or its previous incarnation - here.]

2012

1. Amour
2. Beasts of the Southern Wild
3. Life of Pi
4. Anna Karenina
5. The Dark Knight Rises
6. Zero Dark Thirty
7. Dark Horse
8. Dragon
9. Frankenweenie
10. The Invisible War

2013

1. Gravity
2. The Great Beauty
3. American Hustle
4. Her
5. The Grandmaster
6. Fast & Furious 6
7. Frozen
8. The Act of Killing
9. 12 Years a Slave
10. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

2014

1. The Grand Budapest Hotel
2. Boyhood
3. The LEGO Movie
4. Lucy
5. Goodbye to Language
6. Jodorowsky's Dune
7. Nightcrawler
8. Citizenfour
9. Wild Tales
10. Birdman