Some of these books are written simply to present and discuss the author's favorite films. Others are about other topics but also contain a top film list. Occasionally, the lists below are also in editions of the books other than the one cited below.
[No Author] (2002) Encyclopædia Britannica Almanac 2003 150 Greatest Films--The almanac includes a highbrow/mainstream blend list of 150 (really 154) top films.
[No Author] (2003) Encyclopædia Britannica Almanac 2004 Encyclopædia Britannica's 100 Funniest Films--In the next year, the almanac presented its list of the best comedies.
[No Author] (2005) Encyclopædia Britannica Almanac 2006 Best Love Stories in Cinema--The almanac presents its mainstream leaning list of the best 176 romantic films.
[No author] (1994) The Entertainment Weekly Guide to the Greatest Movies Ever Made--The magazine combines several previously published lists and creates some new ones to form a list of almost 1,000 films with a short description of each film.
[No Author] (2001) 2002 People Almanac--The almanac includes critic Leah Rozen's 100 best films of all time in a mainstream list.
[No Author] (2005) TV Guide Film & Video Companion 2006--This video guide contains an index of all reviewed films sorted by the star rating. The films with 4-star and 3.5-star ratings form a highbrow/mainstream list.
Geoff Andrew, David Boardwell, David Thomson, Philip French, Amy Taubin, Kent Jones, Gilbert Adair, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Jonathan Romney, Peter Wollen, Tony Rayns, & Paul Wells (2001). Film: The Critics' Choice: 150 Masterpieces of World Cinema Selected and Defended by the Experts--The authors divided filmdom into ten categories, usually by era and/or continent. For each category, one or two critics pick 15 top films. The picks are combined to form a list with a curious love of vampire films.
Richard Armstrong, Tom Charity, Lloyd Hughes, & Jessica Winter (2007) The Rough Guide to Film Essential Classics and Lesser-Known Films--For each of 38 different categories (genres and national/regional cinemas), the book's authors selected five "essential classics" and five lesser-known films, which make up a highbrow list.
Alexander Ballinger & Danny Greydon (2007) The Rough Guide to Film Noir The Canon: 50 Essential Film Noirs--The series of film guidebooks took on noir films. It presented a list of cannonical films in the genre that curiously ignores Sunset Boulevard (1950).
Ronald Bergan (2006) Film Top 100 Movies--The book provides a highbrow list of the best films of all time. In addition, it provides "What to Watch" recommendations in a variety of genres and for a variety of nations and regions.
Jami Bernard (Ed.) (2005) The X List: The National Society of Film Critics Guide to the Movies That Turn Us on--The National Society of Film Critics invited various critics to write about the films that arouse them the most.
Kathryn Bernheimer (1999) 50 Funniest Movies of All Time--A list of 50 top comedies.
David Bleiler (Ed.) (2003) TLA Video & DVD Guide: The Discerning Film Lover's Guide 2004 TLA Favorites--The video guide presents a list of favorites. Most, but not all of these films are reviewed in the book.
Peter Bogdanovich (1999) Movie of the Week--The noted director suggests one film to watch for each week of a year.
Jay Boyer (2007) Films to Go: 100 Memorable Movies for Travelers & Others--The author selected a mainstream leaning series of films relating to various means of transportation and destinations for tourists.
Peter M. Bracke (2004) Ultimate DVD: The Essential Guide to Building Your DVD Collection--The book presents a popular list of the 100 DVDs (including collections) that everyone should own. There are additional recommendations for lovers of some of the recommended DVDs.
Douglas Brode (2003) Edge of Your Seat: The 100 Greatest Movie Thrillers--The author presents a list of 100 thrilling films. It should be no surprise that the list is very heavy with Alfred Hitchcock films.
Ty Burr (2007) The Best Old Movies for Families: A Guide to Watching Together--The film critic for the Boston Globe selected a mainsteam leaning list of (mostly) classic Hollywood films that would appeal to children.
Jay Carr (Ed.) (2002) The A list: The National Society of Film Critics's 100 essential films--This book contains a series of essays by various National Society of Fom Critics members on one of their "essential" films. Overall, this collection is a highbrow list that leans mainstream.
Samantha Cook (2006) The Rough Guide to Chick Flicks The Cannon: 50 Essential Chick Flicks--The Rough Guide series examines chick flicks and presents its list of the 50 most important films in this category.
Melinda Corey & George Ochoa (Eds.) (2002) The American Film Institute Desk Reference--This book lists significant films by year, by nation of origin, and by genre in addition to presenting the results of some of its "100 Years..." polls. The list of significant films by nation contains an unusually large number of Bollywood films (i.e., more than 0), and the mainstream leaning list of significant films by genre contains an unusual number of films starring Marion Davies, George 'Spanky' McFarland, and Rin Tin Tin.
Jim Craddock (Ed.) (2006) VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever 4 Bones--The video guide includes a mainstream/highbrow list of all films that received a "4 bones" rating.
Simon Cropper (Ed.) (2006) Time Out 1,000 Films to Change Your Life--Rather than divide film into genres, this book divided films into nine moods (joy, anger, desire, fear, saddness, exhilaration, regret, contempt, and wonder) as well as a tenth category of thought-provoking films. For each category except desire, there is a list of 20 films fitting that category, and all ten categories have ten-film lists in each of two subcategories. The most important of these films are included in a "100 to Watch" list. All these lists can be combined into a highbrow leaning list.
Robert Crouse (2003) The 100 Best Movies You've Never Seen--A list of 100 great films, many of which are obscure. The book includes a disproportionate number of documentaries and Canadian films, and 40% of the films were released between 1999 and 2002.
Alonso Duralde (2005) 101 Must See Movies for Gay Men--The author identifies the films that are essential for approximately 2% of the audience.
Chris Durke, Ann Lloyd, Cara and Paul Frost-Shurrat, Rob Hill, and Donald Bergen (2004) 501 Must-See Movies--The authors split film into ten genres and pick 50 top films in each genre, adding and extra western The result is a list that leans mainstream and popular.
Roger Ebert (2002) The Great Movies--A collection of 100 of the critic's essays from his great movies series. A 2005 edition contains an additional 100 essays.
The Film Critics of The New York Times (2004) The New York Times Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made--The newspaper's critics pick their top 1,000 (approximately) films of the sound era in a mainstream leaning list. The original New York Times review is included, even if it was negative. This is an update of a previous edition.
Afton Fraser (Ed.) (2004) Hollywood Picks the Classics: A Guide for the Beginner & the Aficionado--The wife of actor Brendan Fraser chooses some of the best classic Hollywood films in a mainstream list. This book also contains lists of favorite films from various actors and other filmmakers, which also forms a mainstream list.
Chris Fujiwara (2007) Defining Moments in Movies: The Greatest Films, Stars, Scenes and Events that Made Movie Magic Key Films--The book gave short descriptions of what it deemed to be key films along with key scenes, speeches, events, and persons.
Curt Gathje (Ed.) (2006) Zagat Survey 2007 Movie Guide--A pocket sized video guide that compiles the ratings of over 12,000 film fans in a mainstream list. The guide also includes a top 100 favorite movie list that is a popular/mainstream list.
Robert Glatzer (2001) Beyond Popcorn: A Critic's Guide to Looking at Films--One chapter includes the critic's "list of all the films you have to see before you die."
Yasin Goreja (2000) Pakistan's Top 100 Films--A Pakistani film journalist chose 100 of the best Pakistani films. The webmaster of this site confesses that he has heard of exactly zero of these films.
Leslie Halliwell (1977) The Filmgoer's Companion (6th ed.) My Hundred Favorite Films--The film writer includes a list of his favorite films in what he terms a "middlebrow" list.
Leslie Halliwell (1982) Halliwell's Hundred: A Nostalgic Choice of Films from the Golden Age--Another list from the writer, along with essays for each film.
Leslie Halliwell (1995) Halliwell's Filmgoers & Video Viewer's Companion John Walker (Ed.)--Contains a list from The Guardian of the best films from 1980-1993.
Leslie Halpern (2004) Reel Romance: The Lover's Guide to the 100 Best Date Movies--This book includes ten films in each of ten sub-genres of date movies. Readers will have to skip to the end to find the author's first and second favorites in each subgenre as well as her favorite date movie.
Leslie Hamilton (1996) 365 Four Star Videos You (Probably) Haven't Seen--A list of somewhat obscure films, enough to watch one a day for a year.
John W. Hesley & Jan G. Helsey (2001) Rent Two Films & Let's Talk in the Morning: Using Popular Movies in Psychotherapy (2nd ed.)--Discusses films that therapists might use in treating clients with various issues. It focuses on films from the previous 20 years.
Scott Hocking (Ed.) (2006) 100 Greatest Films of Australian Cinema--The book contains a discussion of the best that the Australian film world has to offer.
Lloyd Hughes (2005) The Rough Guide to Gangster Movies The Canon: 50 Essential Gangster Movies--The book, part of the Rough Guides series, analyzed crime films and discusses what it considers to be the 50 most important gangster films.
Bill Hunt and Todd Doogan (2004) The Digital Bits: Insider’s Guide to DVD--This book includes a large section in which the authors recommend DVDs to own. The films mentioned form a popular leaning list.
Allan Hunter (Ed.) (1996) The Wordsworth Book of Movie Classics--A highbrow/mainstream blend list of films to see with an essay for each film.
Alan Jones (2005) The Rough Guide to Horror Movies The Canon: 50 Horror Classics--The book, part of the Rough Guides series, analyzed horror films and discusses what it considers to be the 50 most important films in that genre.
Dennis Lim (Ed.) (2007) The Village Voice Film Guide: 50 years of Movies from Classics to Cult Hits--A collection of reviews of some of the newspaper's favorite films results in a highbrow leaning list.
Joe Leyden (2004) Joe Leyden's Guide to Essential Movies You Must See if You Read, Write about or Make Movies--The author picked 64 films that people must see to be film literate. For each film, the author recommended three realted films.
Leonard Maltin (2001) Leonard Maltin's 2002 Movie & Video Guide--The critic and video guide editor includes a list of recommended family films.
Leonard Maltin (Ed.) (2003) Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide (2004 ed.) Fifty Films that Got Away--The critic and video guide editor notes some of his favorite films that tend to have been forgotten. It is heavy on pre-code sound films and films from the last 20 years. Of all the lists examined by the site, this list, along with its sequels, resembles the master list the least.
Leonard Maltin (Ed.) (2004) Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide (2005 ed.) Fifty More Films Worth Seeing--The critic and video guide editor lists more of his favorite films that tend to have been forgotten. Half of the films came from the last ten years.
Leonard Maltin (Ed.) (2005) Leonard Maltin’s Classic Movie Guide Our Picks: The Best DVD’s of Classic Films--After watching his Movie & Video Guide grow very fat over the years, Leonard Maltin decided to release a secondary book filled with older films. As a bonus, he and his editors named some of their favorite DVDs of classic films in a mnainstream leaning list.
Leonard Maltin (Ed.) (2005) Leonard Maltin’s 2006 Movie Guide--The above list of favorite DVDs is continued in the 2006 version of Maltin's movie guide.
Leonard Maltin (Ed.) (2006) Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide (2007 ed.) 50 More Films You May Have Missed--Maltin returns to promoting obscure and overlooked films.
Leonard Maltin (Ed.) (2007) Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide (2008 ed.) 50 More Films You May Have Missed--Maltin returns to promoting obscure and overlooked films with the same list tile he used the previous year.
Bob McCabe (2005) The Rough Guide to Comedy Movies The Comedy Canon: 50 Seriously Funny Films--The book, part of the Rough Guides series, analyzed comedies films and discusses what it considers to be the 50 most important comedies.
Soren McCarthy (2003) Cult Movies in Sixty Seconds: The Best Films in the World in Less than a Minute--The author provides descriptions of various cult films.
David N. Meyer (1997) The 100 Best Films to Rent You've Never Heard of--The author chooses (mostly) obscure films that he recommends along with a short essay on each film.
Frank Miller (1996) Movies We Love: 100 Collectable Classics--The author presents his recommended films in a mainstream leaning list, with an essay on each film. There is a special emphasis on films by George Cukor, Michael Curtiz, and Vincente Minelli.
Mr. Skin (2007) Mr. Skin’s Skintastic Video Guide: The 501 Greatest Movies for Sex & Nudity on DVD Mr. Skin's Top 69--This book highlights some of the most impressive showings of female skin.
Jürgen Müller (Ed.) (2002-2006) Movies of the 30s, Movies of the 40s, Movies of the 50s, Movies of the 60s, Movies of the 70s, Movies of the 80s, and Movies of the 90s--In this series of books, the editor selects the most important films of each decade. Combined, they form a highbrow/mainstream leaning list.
National Film Review (1988) 500 Best British and Foreign Films--The organization lists 500 recommended films from nations other than the United States. About 43% are British with the rest from a variety of nations.
Peter M. Nichols (2003) The New York Times Essential Library Children's Movies: A Critic's Guide to the Best Films Available on Video and DVD--The New York Times film critic recomends films that families can watch together in a mainstream leaning list. The definition of "children's movies" is very broad and includes films like High Noon, The Longest Day, and North by Northwest.
Peter M. Nichols (Ed.) (2005) The Best DVDs You've Never Seen, Just Missed or Almost Forgotten: A Guide for the Curious Film Lover--Five New York Times writers pick approximately 500 films that they believe have been overlooked. Most are recent art films, but there are a number of classic noir films as well. The book does not indicate which writer selected which film, so we do not know who is to blame for the appearance of Freddy Got Fingered.
David Parkinson (2007) The Rough Guide to Film Musicals The Canon: 50 Essential Film Musicals--The series of film guidebooks presented its list of the most important musicals.
Otto Penzler (2000) 101 Greatest Films of Mystery & Suspense--The author chooses the top mystery and suspense films, broadly defined, and includes an essay for each film.
Richard D. Pepperman (2008) Film School: How to Watch DVDs and Learn Everything about Filmmaking--The author selected 50 films to use as examples to explain various aspects of how to make films.
Lee Pfeiffer (2006) The Complete Idiot's Guide to Classic Movies--Most books in the series are how-to books, but this one is a collection of trivia of what the author considers to be the best films of all time. It is limited to films made before 1970 hoping that there can be a Complete Idiot's Guide to Modern Movies. The films in the book form a mainstream leaning list.
Pascal Pinteau (2004) Special Effects: An Oral History (Laurel Hirsch, Trans.) DVDs – Required Viewing--The book, originally published in French, presented a list of films and television shows with impressive special effects and animation.
John Pym (Ed.) (2002) Time Out Film Guide (11th ed.)--The video guide includes the results of a small sample poll of film fans in a popular list with highbrow leanings.
John Pym (Ed.) (2003) Time Out Film Guide (12th ed.) The Ultimate DVD Collection--In addition to reprinting the above list, this edition of the film guide also contains recommendations for a DVD collection.
John Pym (Ed.) (2007) Time Out Film Guide (2008 ed.) Cinema’s Second Century – The 50 Top Titles and Centenary Top 100--The film guide reprinted the results of its 1996 Centenary poll (which leaned toward all three tastes) and presented the results of a fan poll of the best films produced since the original poll in a popular leaning list.
Mike Ramone and Tim Connelly (Eds.) (2005) The AVN Guide to the 500 Greatest Adult Films of All Time--This book describes the best films that do not need costume designers.
Andrew J. Rausch (2004) The Greatest War Films of All Time: A Quiz Book--The author selects and discusses his list of the 100 greatest war films. Each discussion includes a quiz about the film.
Graham Roberts and Heather Wallis (2002) Key Film Texts--The authors present a highbrow leaning list of recommended films.
Rosemary Rogers and Nell Rogers Michlin with Christine Ernst Bode (2004) Mother-Daughter Movies: 101 Films to See Together--The book presents 101 films designed to promote conversations between mothers and daughters. Films are rated on criteria such as the "Hunk Factor" and the extent to which the sex scenes will make mothers and daughters squirm when viewed in each other's company.
Jonathan Rosenbaum (2000) Movie Wars: How Hollywood and the Media Limit What Movies We Can See--The film critic from the Chicago Reader includes his top-100 American film list (excluding films on the AFI's list) as well as 25 films from the AFI's list that he also considers to be worthy.
Jonathan Rosenbaum (2004) Essential Cinema: On the Necessity of Film Canons--This book contains a collection of essays, mostly from the Chicago Reader. The appendix contains a highbrow leaning list of the author's 1,000 favorite films.
Cathleen Rountree (2006) The Movie Lovers Club: How to Start Your Own Film Group--This book selects 12 themes, one for each month of the year, and chooses one classic film, one current film, one independent film, and one foreign film for each theme. The book makes additional suggestions for each combination of theme and category.
Andrea Sarvady (2004) The Ultimate Girls' Movie Survival Guide : What to Rent, Who to Watch, How to Deal--A guide to the best films that could be described as "chick flicks." It focuses heavily on films of the last 10-15 years.
John Scalzi (2005) The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies The Canon: 50 Sci-Fi Classics--The book, part of the Rough Guides series, analyzed science-fiction films and discusses what it considers to be the 50 most important films in that genre in a popular leaning list.
Scarecrow Video (2004) The Scarecrow Video Movie Guide--The Seattle, Washington video store created its own video guide with a variety of lists. Those who believe that a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds will like this book. Bamboozled (2000) is listed as both a favorite film by a director they hate and a bad film by a director they usually love. Three films appear on both their list of best remakes and their list of worst remakes.
Paul Simpson (2006) The Rough Guide to Westerns The Cannon: 50 Classic Westerns--The Rough Guide series examines westerns and presents its list of what are supposedly the 50 most important westerns. However, the copy that the webmaster examined contained a misprint or the author cannot count as there were only 49 classic westerns.
Steven Jay Schneider (Ed.) (2005) 1001 Movies You Must See before You Die--A team of critics choose a large number of films that everyone should see to become film literate in a highbrow list. The current edition replaced 17 films from the previous edition's list. Apparently, the writers read my comment on the previous edition because they now concede that one can have a complete life after having seen only four versions of Dracula.
Ardis Sillick & Michael McCormick (1997) 400 Videos You've Got to Rent: Great movies you've probably missed--A video guide containing films that would not be familiar to the typical moviegoer along with a short description of each film. The list of films is the least like any of the other lists referenced on this site.
Christopher Tookey (1994) Critics' Film Guide--Contains the author's top 200 list and a top-200 list compiled from various video guide ratings. Most of the book contains excerpts from original reviews of these and other films.
Peter Travers (2005) 1,000 Best Movies on DVD--The Rolling Stone film critic presents his 1,000 favorite DVDs in a popular leaning list. DVDs were selected based on a balance between the quality of the film and the quality of the DVD.
Kenneth Turan (2004) Never Coming to a Theater Near You--The Los Angeles Times film critic presents essays on great films, mostly from the last 10-12 years, that many film fans may not have had the opportunity to see in theaters.
Kenneth Turan (2006) Now in Theaters Everywhere: A Celebration of a Certain Kind of Blockbuster--The Los Angeles Times film critic recognizes the fact that some Hollywood films are actually quite good. He presents essays on some of his favorites from the past 15 years.
Steve Uhler (2001) A Movie a Day: A Year's Worth of Fascinating Films and Facts--The author picks one film for each date of the year, with extra titles for holidays and other special days in a mainstream leaning list.
Willie Waffle (2002) Back Shelf Beauties: Movies You Should Rent When the New Stuff Is Gone--Another guide to (mostly) obscure but good films It covers an unusually large number of made-for-television films.
John Walker (Ed.) (2003) Halliwell's Film & Video Guide 2004 Four-Star Films--The video guide contains a highbrow list with mainstream leanings of the films that received a four-star and three-star ratings. This list was updated after the publication of Walker's book listed below, so it no longer shows a particular fondness for British World War II propaganda films.
John Walker (Ed.) (2005) Halliwell's Top 1000--The video guide editor presented a ranked list of his 1,000 favorite films in a highbrow list that leans mainstream.
Tom Wiener (2002) The Off-Hollywood Film Guide: The Definitive Guide to Independent and Foreign Films on Video and DVD--A video guide includes a list of "essential films" in a highbrow list that actually includes recent films. It is also one of the least mainstream lists referenced on this site.
Randy Williams (2006) Sports Cinema 100 Movies: The Best of Hollywood’s Athletic Heroes, Losers, Myths, and Misfits--A list of the best sports films.
Jessica Winter (2006) The Rough Guide to American Independent Film The Cannon: 50 Essential Indie Films--The Rough Guide series examines low-budget American films and presented its list of the 50 most important ones.
David Zinman (1992) 50 Classic Motion Pictures: The Stuff That Dreams Are Made of--A list of top Hollywood classic films.