1. Charlie Kaufman – Favs: “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (2004), “Adaptation.” (2002), “Being John Malkovich” (1999), “Synecdoche, New York” (2008)
2. Miranda July – Favs: “Me and You and Everyone We Know” (2005) and “Kajillionaire” (2020)
3. Paul Thomas Anderson – Favs: “Magnolia” (1999), “Punch Drunk Love” (2002), “Boogie Nights” (1997), “There Will Be Blood” (2007)
4. Sofia Coppola – Favs: “The Virgin Suicides” (1999), “Lost in Translation” (2003), “Priscilla” (2023)
5. Wes Anderson – Favs: “The Royal Tenenbaums” (2001), “Rushmore” (1998), “Moonrise Kingdom” (2012)
6. Wong Kar-Wai – Favs: “Chungking Express” (1994), “Fallen Angels” (1995), “Happy Together” (1997)
7. Michel Gondry – Favs: “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (2004) and “Science of Sleep” (2006)
8. Todd Solondz – Favs: “Welcome to the Dollhouse” (1995), “Happiness”(1998), “Storytelling” (2001)
9. Yorgos Lanthimos – Favs: “The Favorite” (2018), “Poor Things” (2023), The Lobster” (2015)
10. Richard Linklater – Favs: “Before”-Trilogy (1995, 2004, 2013), “Waking Life” (2001), “Dazed and Confused” (1993)

Honorable Mentions: Park chan wook – Favs: “Oldboy” (2003), “Lady Vengeance” (2005), “I’m a Cyborg, But That’s ok” (2006)

Mike Mills – Favs: “20th Century Women” (2016) and “C’mon C’mon” (2021)

Greta Gerwig – Favs: “Ladybird”(2017), “Frances Ha” (2012), “Mistress America” (2015)

Jim Jarmusch – Favs: “Night on Earth” (1990) and “Only Lovers Left Alive” (2013)

Gregg Araki – Favs: The Teen Apocalypse Trilogy (1993, 1995, 1997), “Mysterious Skin” (2004), “Smiley Face” (2007)

Terry Zwigoff – Favs: “Ghost World” (2001), “Crumb” (1994), “Art School Confidential” (2006)

Jordan Peele – Favs: “Get Out” (2017) and “Us” (2019)

Coen Brothers- Favs: “The Big Lebowski” (1998), “Fargo” (1996), “Blood Simple” (1984)

Satoshi Kon – Favs: “Tokyo Godfathers” (2003), “Perfect Blue” (1997), “Paranoia Agent” (Miniseries, 2004)

Diablo Cody – Favs: “Juno” (2007), “Young Adult” (2011), “Tully” (2018)

I got a request from a friend for a “Top 10 horror franchises” list, but unfortunately, despite having seen a lot of horror movies, the only franchise I have really strong positive feelings for/feel dedicated to, beyond watching 1-2 movies is “Scream” (I’ve seen every single one). So that would’ve been a very short list.
I thought instead I could just do horror movies in general. I hope that’s fine, too. 🥺

1. Silence of the Lambs (1990)
2. Get Out (2017)
3. May (2002)
4. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014)
5. The Wicker Man (1973)
6. Funny Games (1997)
7. The People Under the Stairs (1991)
8. Us (2019)
9. Scream (1996)
10. Midsommar (2019)

Honorable Mentions: Carrie (1976), Jennifer’s Body (2009), Audition (1999), House (1977), The Addiction (1995), The Shining (1980), Black Swan (2010), Repulsion (1965),

Also there are some movies that are labeled “Horror” but for some reason just don’t feel like horror movies to me, which is why I omitted them from this list, despite loving them a lot.
-> Freaks (1932), Perfect Blue (1997), American Psycho (2000), Sinners (2025),

Fun ones only. So no “Thirteen” (2003) or Speak (2004), even though I really love both.

1. Ghost World (2001)
2. Juno (2007)
3. Mean Girls (2004)
4. Freaky Friday (2003)
5. Twilight (2008)
6. Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004)
7. High School Musical 2 (2007)
8. The Princess Diaries (2001)
9. Superbad (2007)
10. The Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003)

Honorable Mentions: Whip It (2009), St. Trinians (2007), She’s the Man (2006), New York Minute (2004), A Cinderella Story (2004),

movie scenes only.

1. Margot in “The Royal Tenenbaums” (2001)

2. Pauline and Juliette in “Heavenly Creatures” (1994)

3. Justine in “Melancholia” (2011)

4. Susanna in “Girl, Interrupted” (1999)

5. Suzy in “Moonrise Kingdom” (2012)

6. Charlotte in “Lost in Translation” (2003)

7. Cecilia in “The Virgin Suicides” (1999)

no picture because the scene is very graphic and might be triggering to some.

8. Mima in “Perfect Blue” (1997) and Marion in “Requiem for a Dream” (2000)

9. Layla in “Buffalo 66” (1998)

10. Amy in “Gone Girl” (2014)

Honorable Mentions: “Priscilla” (2023), “Fatal Attraction” (1987), “American Beauty” (1999), “The Dreamers” (2003)

1. The Shining (1980)
2. Carrie (1976)
3. Misery (1990)
4. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
5. Stand by Me (1986)
6. It (2017)
7. Cat’s Eyes (1985)
8. Christine (1983)

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
2. Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005)
3. Magnolia (1999)
4. Kajillionaire (2020)
5. Adaptation. (2002)
6. Science of Sleep (2006)
7. American Beauty (1999)
8. Good Will Hunting (1998)
9. Ghost World (2001)
10. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
    
    Honorable Mentions: Harvey (1950), Past Lives (2023), Survive Style 5+ (2004), Chungking Express (1994)
    
    The unranked longer version of this list is on my Letterboxd profile: https://letterboxd.com/treelanguage/list/my-favorite-movies/

1. Fight Club
2. Psycho
3. A Beautiful Mind
4. The Sixth Sense
5. Orphan

The only ones I really cared about though were Fight Club and Psycho. Those probably would have been so much better without knowing how it ends.

1. Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting
2. Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
3. Adam Sandler in Punch Drunk Love
4. Steve Carrell in Little Miss Sunshine
5. Jim Carrey in Man on the Moon
6. Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig in The Skeleton Twins
7. Ben Stiller in Greenberg
8. Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems
9. Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society
10. Jim Carrey in The Truman Show