The Auteurs

all-time favorite
heartbreaking; mindblowing
great
very good
good

not so good

n.b. auteur theory makes sense to me kinda', but I don't think it should stop at directors - i.e. the singular velocity of a film isn't necessarily forged by its director - ergo the strange lists under Mamet, Herzog, Keaton, &c.

also: I don't necessarily love, or even like, all of these creators; inclusion here simply means that they are recognized as having a vision of sorts, as having amassed a body of work that means something.

in alphabetical, then preferential, order:

Woody Allen

01. Manhattan (1979)
02. Annie Hall (1977)
03. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
04. Stardust Memories (1980)
05. Love and Death (1975)
06. Sleeper (1973)
07. Zelig (1983)
08. Bananas (1971)

09. Melinda and Melinda (2004)
10. Sweet and Lowdown (1999)

Robert Altman

01. Nashville (1975)
02. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
03. Short Cuts (1993)
04. The Long Goodbye (1973)
05. M*A*S*H (1970)
06. Secret Honor (1984)
07. 3 Women (1977)
08. Tanner '88 (1988)
09. Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976)
10. Gosford Park (2001)

11. The Company (2003)

Paul Thomas Anderson

01. There Will Be Blood (2007)
02. Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
03. Magnolia (1999)
04. Boogie Nights (1997)

Wes Anderson

01. Rushmore (1998)
02. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
03. The Darjeeling Limited (2007)
04. Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
05. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
06. Bottle Rocket (1996)
07. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
08. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
09. Hotel Chevalier (2007)

Michelangelo Antonioni

01. L'Avventura (1960)
02. L'Eclisse (1962)
03. The Passenger (1975)
04. La Notte (1961)
05. The Red Desert (1964)

The Archer(s): Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger

01. Peeping Tom (1960)
02. A Canterbury Tale (1944)
03. Black Narcissus (1947)

Darren Aronofsky

01. The Wrestler (2008)
02. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
03. Pi (1998)
04. The Fountain (2006)

Hal Ashby

01. Harold and Maude (1971)
02. Being There (1979)
03. The Landlord (1970)

Ingmar Bergman

01. The Silence (1963)
02. The Seventh Seal (1957)
03. Winter Light (1962)
04. Fanny and Alexander (1982)
05. Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)
06. Through a Glass Darkly (1961)
07. Persona (1966)
08. Wild Strawberries (1957)
09. Scenes From A Marriage (1974)
10. Summer with Monika (1953)

11. Cries & Whispers (1972)

Bernardo Bertolucci

01. The Conformist (1970)
02. La commare secca (1962)
03. The Dreamers (2003)

Peter Bogdanovich

01. The Last Picture Show (1971)
02. Paper Moon (1973)

Frank Borzage

01. History Is Made at Night (1937)
02. Desire (1936)
03. Three Comrades (1938)
04. Moonrise (1948)
05. The River (1929)

Robert Bresson

01. Pickpocket (1959)
02. A Man Escaped (1956)
03. L'argent (1983)
04. Au hasard Balthazar (1966)
05. Diary of a Country Priest (1950)
06. Mouchette (1967)
07. Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne (1945)

Andrew Bujalski

01. Mutual Appreciation (2005)
02. Funny Ha Ha (2002)
03. Beeswax (2009)
04. Computer Chess (2013)

Luis Bunuel

01. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)
02. Un Chien Andalou (1928)
03. That Obscure Object of Desire (1977)
04. Los Olvidados (1950)
05. Belle de jour (1967)

John Cassavetes

01. A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
02. Faces (1968)
03. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
04. Shadows (1959)
05. Opening Night (1977)

Charlie Chaplin

01. Modern Times (1936)
02. City Lights (1931)
03. The Gold Rush (1925)
04. The Kid (1921)
05. The Pilgrim (1923)
06. Sunnyside (1919)
07. A Day's Pleasure (1919)
08. The Great Dictator (1940)
09. Pay Day (1922)

Henri-Georges Clouzot

01. Le Corbeau (1943)
02. Quai des Orfevres (1947)
03. Wages of Fear (1952)
04. Les diaboliques (1955)

Coen Brothers

01. The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001)
02. Fargo (1996)
03. Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

04. A Serious Man (2009)

05. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
06. The Big Lebowski (1998)
07. No Country for Old Men (2007)
08. Miller’s Crossing (1990)
09. Barton Fink (1991)
10. Raising Arizona (1987)
11. Burn After Reading (2008)
12. Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
13. The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
14. True Grit (2010)
15. Blood Simple (1984)

Francis Ford Coppola

01. The Godfather Pt. II (1974)
02. The Godfather (1972)
03. Apocalypse Now (1979)
04. The Conversation (1974)
05. One from the Heart (1982)
06. Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988)

07. The Godfather Pt. III (1990)
08. The Rainmaker (1997)

David Cronenberg

01. A History of Violence (2005)
02. Videodrome (1983)
03. Naked Lunch (1991)
04. Eastern Promises (2007)

Jules Dassin

01. Night and the City (1950)
02. Thieves' Highway (1949)
03. The Naked City (1948)
04. Brute Force (1947)
05. Rififi (1955)

Vittorio De Sica

01. The Bicycle Thief (1947)
02. Umberto D. (1952)
03. The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1970)

Jonathan Demme

01. Rachel Getting Married (2008)
02. Stop Making Sense (1984)
03. Something Wild (1986)
04. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

05. The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

Sergei Eisentstein

01. Battleship Potemkin (1925)
02. Alexander Nevsky (1938)

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

01. The Marriage of Maria Braun (1978)
02. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974)
03. Veronika Voss (1982)
04. Lola (1981)

05. The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972)
06. A Little Chaos (1966)
07. The City Tramp (1965)

Federico Fellini

01. 8 1/2 (1963)
02. I Vitelloni (1953)
03. La Strada (1954)
04. Nights of Cabiria (1957)
05. Amarcord (1974)
06. The White Sheik (1952)

David Fincher

01. Se7en (1995)
02. The Game (1997)
03. Fight Club (1999)
04. Gone Girl (2014)
05. The Social Network (2010)
06. Zodiac (2007)
07. Panic Room (2002)

John Ford

01. The Searchers (1956)
02. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
03. My Darling Clementine (1946)
04. Stagecoach (1939)

Samuel Fuller

01. Shock Corridor (1963)
02. Pickup on South Street (1953)
03. The Naked Kiss (1964)

Terry Gilliam

01. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
02. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
03. Brazil (1985)
04. 12 Monkeys (1995)
05. Time Bandits (1981)

Jean-Luc Godard

01. Band of Outsiders (1964)
02. Breathless (1959)
03. A Woman is a Woman (1961)
04. Alphaville (1965)

Michael Haneke

01. Code Unknown (2000)
02. Cache (Hidden) (2005)
03. The Piano Teacher (2001)

Werner Herzog

01. Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980)*
02. Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972)
03. Fitzcarraldo (1982)
04. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009)
05. Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010)
06. The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner (1974)
07. Encounters at the End of the World (2007)
08. Grizzly Man (2005)
09. Burden of Dreams (1982)*
10. My Best Fiend: Klaus Kinski (1999)

*Not directed by Herzog, I know, but he is clearly the velocity of these films. Burden of Dreams, while pretty great, is sullied by Les Blank's socializing and navel gazing, but Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe is a brilliant film in spite of both its slight subject matter/slim runtime and Blank's overly jocular demeanor and socially heavy hand. Herzog shines through with one of the great manifestos - kin with Deleuze and Bergson - on the image; Herzog here is pure affect - he's not a man, he's a force.

Alfred Hitchcock

01. Rear Window (1954)
02. Vertigo (1958)
03. Dial M for Murder (1954)
04. Psycho (1960)
05. North by Northwest (1959)
06. Strangers on a Train (1951)
07. Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
08. The 39 Steps (1935)
09. Notorious (1946)
10. The Birds (1963)
11. Rope (1948)
12. The Trouble with Harry (1955)

13. To Catch a Thief (1955)

John Huston

01. Fat City (1972)
02. Under the Volcano (1984)
03. The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
04. Key Largo (1948)
05. Wise Blood (1979)
06. The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Jim Jarmusch

01. Down by Law (1986)
02. Dead Man (1995)
03. Mystery Train (1989)
04. Stranger Than Paradise (1984)
05. Broken Flowers (2005)
06. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)
07. Coffee and Cigarettes (2003)

Charlie Kaufman

01. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
02. Synecdoche, New York (2008)
03. Being John Malkovich (1999)
04. Adaptation (2002)

Buster Keaton

01. The General (1927)
02. Sherlock Jr. (1924)
03. The Playhouse (1921)
04. Cops (1922)
05. Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)
06. Our Hospitality (1923)
07. The Haunted House (1921)

Krzysztof Kieslowski

01. Dekalog (1988)
02. Three Colors: Red (1994)
03. Three Colors: Blue (1993)
04. Three Colors: White (1994)
05. Refrain (1972)
06. Before the Rally (1971)
07. The Scar (1976)
08. First Love (1974)
09. Bricklayer (1973)
10. Factory (1970)
11. Workers 1971: Nothing About Us Without Us (1971)
12. X-Ray (1974)

Stanley Kubrick

01. Paths of Glory (1957)
02. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
03. Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
04. The Shining (1980)
05. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
06. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
07. The Killing (1956)
08. Lolita (1962)

Akira Kurosawa

01. Ikiru (1952)
02. Red Beard (1965)
03. Sanjuro (1962)
04. Yojimbo (1961)
05. Ran (1985)
06. Stray Dog (1949)
07. The Seven Samurai (1954)
08. Throne of Blood (1957)
09. The Hidden Fortress (1958)
10. Rashomon (1950)
11. The Bad Sleep Well (1960)

12. Dreams (1990)

David Lean

01. Brief Encounter (1945)
02. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
03. Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Spike Lee

01. 25th Hour (2002)
02. Do the Right Thing (1989)
03. He Got Game (1998)
04. The Original Kings of Comedy (2000)
05. Mo’ Better Blues (1990)
06. Summer of Sam (1999)
07. Girl 6 (1996)
08. Get on the Bus (1996)

Mike Leigh

01. Naked (1993)
02. Secrets & Lies (1996)
03. Life is Sweet (1991)

Richard Linklater

01. Before Sunrise (1995)
02. Before Sunset (2004)
03. Dazed & Confused (1993)
04. Boyhood (2014)
05. Before Midnight (2013)
06. A Scanner Darkly (2006)
07. School of Rock (2003)

Ernst Lubitsch

01. The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
02. Trouble in Paradise (1932)
03. One Hour with You (1932)
04. Monte Carlo (1930)
05. The Merry Widow (1934)

Sidney Lumet

01. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
02. Network (1976)
03. Equus (1977)
04. Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962)
05. Running on Empty (1988)

David Lynch

01. Mulholland Dr. (2001)
02. INLAND EMPIRE (2006)
03. Blue Velvet (1985)
04. Wild at Heart (1990)
05. Quinoa (2007)
06. Eraserhead (1977)

Guy Maddin

01. Heart of the World (2000)
02. Cowards Bend the Knee (2003)
03. The Saddest Music in the World (2003)
04. Odilon Redon or The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Toward Infinity (1995)
05. Zookeeper Workbook (from lost film: Love Chaunt of the Chimney) (????)
06. Sombra Dolorosa (2004)
07. It's a Wonderful Life (2001)
08. Sissy Boy Slap Party (1995)
09. A Trip to the Orphanage (2004)

Terrence Malick

01. Badlands (1973)
02. The Thin Red Line (1998)
03. The New World (2005)
04. Days of Heaven (1978)

Louis Malle

01. Murmur of the Heart (1971)
02. Elevator to the Gallows (1958)
03. Au revoir, les enfants (1987)

David Mamet

01. House of Games (1987)
02. The Spanish Prisoner (1997)
03. Glengarry Glen Ross (1992; d. James Foley)
04. State and Main (2000)
05. Spartan (2004)
06. Homicide (1991)
06. American Buffalo (1996; d. Michael Corrente)
07. Ronin (1998; d. John Frankenheimer)

8. Redbelt (2008)

Michael Mann

01. Miami Vice (2006)
02. Heat (1995)
03. Collateral (2004)
04. The Insider (1999)
05. The Last of the Mohicans (1992)

The Marx Brothers

01. Duck Soup (1933)
02. A Night at the Opera (1935)
03. Monkey Business (1931)
04. Horse Feathers (1932)

Jean-Pierre Melville

01. Le cercle rouge (1970)
02. Le samourai (1967)
03. Le deuxieme souffle (1966)
03. Le doulos (1962)
04. Bob le flambeur (1955)
05. Army of Shadows [L'Armee des ombres] (1969)
06. Un flic (1972)
07. Les enfants terribles (1950)

Kenji Mizoguchi

01. Ugetsu monogatari (1953)
02. The Life of Oharu [Saikaku ichidai onna] (1952)
03. Street of Shame [Akasen chitai] (1956)
04. Sansho the Bailiff [Sanho dayu] (1954)
05. Osaka Elegy [Naniwa ereji] (1936)
06. The Water Magician [Taki no shiraito] (1933)

Errol Morris

01. The Thin Blue Line (1988)
02. Gates of Heaven (1978)
03. Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter Jr. (1999)
04. Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (1997)
05. The Fog of War (2003)

Mikio Naruse

01. Repast (1951)
02. When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960)
03. Anzukko (1958)
04. Late Chrysanthemums (1954)
05. Mother (1952)
06. Sound of the Mountain (1954)
07. Older Brother, Younger Sister (1953)
08. Summer Clouds (1958)
09. Approach of Autumn (1960)
10. Lightning (1952)
11. Ginza Cosmetics (1951)
12. Daughters, Wives, and a Mother (1960)
13. Hideko the Bus Conductress (1941)

Mike Nichols

01. The Graduate (1967)
02. Closer (2004)
03. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
04. Angels in America (2003)
05. Primary Colors (1998)

Christopher Nolan

01. The Prestige (2006)
02. Memento (2000)
03. Dunkirk (2017)
04. The Dark Knight (2008)
05. Inception (2010)
06. Following (1998)
07. Batman Begins (2005)

Ermanno Olmi

01. Il Posto (1961)
02. I Fidanzanti (1962)
03. La Cotta (1967)

Max Ophüls

01. The Earrings of Madame de... (1953)

02. Le plaisir (1962)

03. Laughing Heirs (1933)
04. Caught (1949)
05. Lola Montés (1955)
06. The Reckless Moment (1949)
07. La signora di tutti (1934)
08. The Tender Enemy (1936)
09. The Exile (1947)

Yasujiro Ozu

01. Early Summer (1951)
02. Late Spring (1949)
03. An Autumn Afternoon (1962)
04. Tokyo Story (1953)
05. Floating Weeds (1959)
06. A Story of Floating Weeds (1934)

Sam Peckinpah

01. Straw Dogs (1971)
02. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)
03. The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)
04. The Wild Bunch (1969)
05. The Getaway (1972)
06. Ride the High Country (1962)
07. Major Dundee (1965)

Pixar Animation

01. Ratatouille (2007)
02. Up (2009)
03. Wall-E (2008)
04. The Incredibles (2004)
05. Toy Story (1995)
06. Monsters, Inc. (2001)
07. A Bug's Life (1998)
08. Finding Nemo (2003)

Roman Polanski

01. Chinatown (1974)
02. Macbeth (1971)
03. The Pianist (2002)
04. The Fearless Vampire Killers, or: Pardon Me, but Your Teeth Are in My Neck (1967)
05. Rosemary's Baby (1968)
06. The Ninth Gate (1999)

Nicholas Ray

01. In a Lonely Place (1950)
02. Bigger Than Life (1956)
03. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

Carol Reed

01. The Third Man (1949)
02. The Fallen Idol (1948)

Nicolas Winding Refn

01. Bronson (2008)
02. Drive (2011)
03. Valhalla Rising (2009)

Jean Renoir

01. Grand Illusion (1937)
02. Rules of the Game (1939)
03. The Lower Depths (1936)
04. The River (1951)

Martin Scorsese

01. Taxi Driver (1976)
02. Goodfellas (1990)
03. The King of Comedy (1983)
04. After Hours (1985)
05. The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
06. The Departed (2006)
07. Raging Bull (1980)
08. Boxcar Bertha (1972)
09. Shutter Island (2010)
10. Bringing Out the Dead (1999)
11. Gangs of New York (2002)

12. Casino (1995)

Ousmane Sembene

01. Black Girl (1966)
02. Mandabi [The Money Order] (1968)
03. The Wagoner (1966)

Douglas Sirk

01. All That Heaven Allows (1955)
02. There's Always Tomorrow (1956)
03. All I Desire (1953)

Steven Soderbergh

01. Solaris (2002)
02. The Limey (1999)
03. Ocean's Thirteen (2007)
04. Traffic (2000)
05. Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
06. Schizopolis (1996)
07. The Informant (2009)
08. Out of Sight (1998)
09. Bubble (2006)
10. Erin Brockovich (2000)
11. Sex, Lies and Videotape (1989)

Oliver Stone

01. Natural Born Killers (1994)
02. Platoon (1986)
03. U-Turn (1997)
04. Any Given Sunday (1999)
05. The Doors (1991)

Preston Sturges

01. The Lady Eve (1941)
02. Unfaithfully Yours (1948)
03. Sullivan’s Travels (1942)

Quentin Tarantino

01. Pulp Fiction (1994)
02. Death Proof (2007)
03. Inglourious Basterds (2009)
04. Kill Bill (2003/2004)
05. Jackie Brown (1997)
06. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
07. Four Rooms (1995)

Andrei Tarkovsky

01. Andrei Rublev (1966)
02. Solaris (1972)
03. The Mirror (1975)
04. Ivan's Childhood (1962)
05. Stalker (1979)

Bela Tarr

01. Satantango (1994)
02. Werckmeister Harmonies (2001)
03. Damnation (1988)

Jacques Tati

01. Playtime (1967)
02. Mon Oncle (1958)
03. M. Hulot's Holiday (1953)
04. L'ecole des facteurs (1947)

Hiroshi Teshigahara

01. Woman in the Dunes (1964)
02. Antonio Gaudi (1984)

Francois Truffaut

01. The 400 Blows (1959)
02. Bed and Board (1970)
03. Stolen Kisses (1968)
04. Jules and Jim (1961)
05. Love on the Run (1979)
06. Antoine and Collette (1962)
07. Day for Night (1973)
08. Small Change (1976)
09. Les Mistons (1957)

Tsai Ming-liang

01. The Wayward Cloud (2005)
02. The Skywalk is Gone (2002)
03. Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2004)

Gus Van Sant

01. Good Will Hunting (1997)
02. Elephant (2003)
03. Gerry (2002)
04. Paranoid Park (2008)
05. Last Days (2005)
06. My Own Private Idaho (1992)
07. Finding Forrester (2000)
08. Psycho (1998)

Lars von Trier

01. Dogville (2003)
02. Dancer in the Dark (2000)
03. Breaking the Waves (1996)
04. The Five Obstructions (2003)
05. The Element of Crime (1984)

Orson Welles

01. F for Fake (1974)
02. Citizen Kane (1941)
03. Touch of Evil (1958)
04. The Stranger (1946)

Wim Wenders

01. Wings of Desire (1987)
02. The American Friend (1977)

Billy Wilder

01. Ace in the Hole (1951)
02. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
03. The Apartment (1960)
04. Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
05. Some Like It Hot (1959)
06. Double Indemnity (1944)
07. The Seven Year Itch (1955)

Michael Winterbottom

01. 24 Hour Party People (2002)
02. The Trip (2010)
03. Code 46 (2003)
04. 9 Songs (2005)

Wong Kar-Wai

01. In the Mood for Love (2001)
02. Happy Together (1997)
03. Chungking Express (1994)
04. Fallen Angels (1995)
06. My Blueberry Nights (2008)

John Woo

01. The Killer (1989)
02. A Better Tomorrow II (1988)
03. Hard Boiled (1992)
04. Last Hurrah for Chivalry (1979)
05. Hand of Death (1975)
06. A Better Tomorrow (1986)
07. A Bullet in the Head (1990)
08. Face/Off (1997)

09. Heroes Shed No Tears (1985)
10. Broken Arrow (1996)
11. Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)