Why Not Check Out Some Old Movies?

2026 edition

Author

Riley Haas
February 07, 2026

This has become an annual post where I share my reviews of what I think are good movies celebrating 10-year, 20-year, 30-year (and so on) anniversaries. I have seen 5,000 or so films so you can generally trust me. I have pretty high standards though my tastes have obviously changed over the years (sometimes drastically, depending on genre).

So here are a whole bunch of classic movies celebrating anniversaries in 2026 that you should watch instead of whatever garbage Netflix has created for you to put on while you’re cooking and on your phone.

Riley’s Best Movies of 2016:

  1. Sour Grapes: Among the most fun documentaries I can remember seeing in theatres, this film about wine fraud - yes, wine fraud - gives you a lot of schadenfreude.

  2. Command and Control: Essential viewing about a nuclear missile accident in the early 1980s.

  3. ABACUS: Small Enough to Jail: An incredible story about the one and only bank to be indicted during The Great Recession. This is a film that will make you mad.

  4. Hell of High Water: An excellent modern western.

  5. Arrival: I mostly liked this. it’s is a fascinating and compelling science fiction drama/mystery that is occasionally undercut by Hollywood military cliches.

  6. Christine: An excellent film about one of the most infamous moments in US TV history.

  7. The City of Tiny Lights: Jenn and really disagreed about this one at TIFF. I loved it and rated higher than this in my head but Jenn talked me down. It’s a noir - basically Out of the Past - but it’s set in an immigrant community in London.

  8. Chasing Asylum: A frightening and compelling expose on what Australia does [did?] to its boat people.

  9. Southwest of Salem: This is the story of four lesbian women who were accused of gang raping two female children and performing “Satanic” rituals as part of that rape. The only evidence of their guilt were victim statements and the testimony of a medical examiner who claimed there was evidence of abuse when there wasn’t.

  10. Deadpool: The most fun I’ve had at a comic book movie, possibly ever.

Riley’s Best Movies of 2006:

  1. Lake of Fire: An abortion documentary I watched in my 20s.

  2. Little Children: One of my favourite trailers of all time. I also liked the movie.

  3. The Lives of Others: An excellent drama about the East German secret police.

  4. Pan’s Labyrinth: A really gorgeous fantasy film.

  5. A Scanner Darkly: The rare film where a technological innovation pairs well with the source material.

  6. Reprise: A great coming-of-age drama.

  7. The Departed: Scorsese can make a movie.

  8. Blindsight: Blind people climbing mountains.

  9. Children of Men: Honestly this should probably be higher. I have now seen it twice and I think it’s probably better than some of the movies above it. By the way, I read the book finally and this is so different.

  10. The Bridge: A devastating and deeply moving film about the people who jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge during 2004, when the film crew filmed the bridge 24 hours a day for the entire year. (Yes, that means you will see people die if you watch this movie.)

Riley’s Best Movies of 1996:

  1. Fargo: In my opinion, the Coens have made a couple of films that are very close to perfect. This is one of them. Also, watch the show if you haven’t. Seriously.

  2. Paradise Lost: The first West Memphis Three movie.

  3. Waiting for Guffman: I really need to watch this again because I fear I underrated it when I was young.

  4. Secrets & Lies: We just watched this!

  5. Citizen Ruth: The earliest Alexander Payne is a little rough but it’s very funny.

  6. Hamlet: I have a soft spot for this version, the only version I’ve seen in theatres.

  7. Hard Core Logo: A classic Canadian film but I lost my review.

  8. When We Were Kings: Though I have no interest in boxing, I found this engrossing.

  9. Trainspotting: I haven’t seen this since I was young and I always wonder if I would like it more now.

  10. Scream: I severely underrated this movie when I was younger - I am hype averse! - but we watched it again a number of years ago and I fixed my rating.

Riley’s Best Movies of 1986:

Something about this year, I haven’t seen most of these in decades.

  1. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer: Though I haven’t seen this movie in decades now, I’ve always insisted it was the scariest serial killer film due to its premise.

  2. Blue Velvet: This is one I definitely need to rewatch.

  3. Platoon: When I was younger, this was one of the great war movies in my eyes.

  4. The Mosquito Coast: I loved this movie when I saw it in my teens or 20s. I later read the book and wondered what I would think now.

  5. The Fly: I saw this many years (a decade?) before I watched the original film. I haven’t watched it since.

  6. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off: I cannot be objective about this movie.

  7. Salvador: Not knowing anything about what happened in El Salvador when I saw this, this had a big affect on me when I was in my 20s.

  8. Hannah and Her Sisters: A Woody Allen movie I saw in my late teens or early 20s.

  9. April Fool’s Day: Probably my favourite ‘80s horror movie, though hardly the best. You should watch it this April Fool’s Day if you’ve never seen it.

  10. Stand By Me: I cannot be objective about this movie.

Read all of my reviews of movies from 1986, all 44 of them. I promise I’ve seen at least a few of them within the last 20+ years. (I’ve seen April Foo'l’s Day multiple times.)

Riley’s Best Movies of 1976:

  1. The Battle of Chile Part 2: Part 2 of one of the greatest documentaries of the 20th century.

  2. The Missouri Breaks: When I was young, this was my ultimate revisionist western.

  3. Network: Feels so incredibly prescient.

  4. All the President’s Men: Remember when scandals were scandals? Anyway, this is the best of the American conspiracy thrillers of the ‘70s in part because it is the only one that is not made up.

  5. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie: I think this is Cassavetes’ best film.

  6. Taxi Driver: I haven’t seen this since I was a teen.

  7. Face to Face: One of Liv Ullmann’s greatest performances and one of the better films about mental illness from the 1970s.

  8. Murder by Death: One of my favourite films, a movie I have seen so many times I cannot be objective about it. It, um, hasn’t dated well.

  9. The Shootist: A calmer, safer Wild Bunch.

  10. Marathon Man: I haven’t seen this since I was a teen.

Riley’s Best Movies of 1966:

  1. Blow Up: I once called this “As perfect an adaption of the story as I can imagine.”

  2. The Battle of Algiers: This got a lot of attention 20 years ago for the tactics of the Algerians. But I think it’s more notable as the first film of its kind (that I am aware of) to portray the anti-colonial struggle from the perspective of the colonized.

  3. Closely Watched Trains: A classic Czech new wave/war film.

  4. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: This has the reputation as the greatest spaghetti western ever and the greatest revisionist western ever. It’s probably more like Top 3 of the latter and Top 2 of the former (depending on my mood). But, despite the dubbing, it is among the very best.

  5. Seconds: Unfortunately I haven’t seen this since my teams. At the time, I absolutely loved it. Rock Hudson is in it. It’s sort of a horror movie.

  6. The War Game: I went through a phase in my 20s when I absolutely loved the movies of Peter Watkins, they are usually faux documentaries. (Not mockumentaries but fake documentaries.) I haven’t watched anything he’s made in a long time.

  7. Andrei Rublev: I wrote: “Writing a brief review of Tarkovsky’s immense, uncompromising, willfully difficult Andrei Rublev seems inherently unfair. This is one of the most ambitious and difficult films I have ever seen, also among the longest. When I say it’s immense, I mean it: 9 chapters over nearly 3 ½ hours.”

  8. Au hasard Balthazar: An extremely bleak film about suffering.

  9. The Shooting: A pretty classic revisionist western.

  10. Le douxieme souffle: Not one of Melville’s absolute best but still one of the great crime films of the decade.

Riley’s Best Movies of 1956:

  1. Bob le flambeur: Speaking of Melville. Perhaps the best film by the best French director of crime moves.

  2. Invasion of the Body Snatchers: Used to be one of my favourite movies. Now I’d likely say the remake (the ‘70s remake, not one of the later ones) is the better movie. I still think it’s a classic.

  3. The Searchers: The last great traditional western?

  4. Aparjito: Unfortunately I lost my review of this classic Indian neo realist film.

  5. A Man Escaped: This is a classic prison film that I didn’t quite love as much as I thought I would.

  6. The Killing: Formerly one of my absolute favourite films, I watched it with Jenn a few years ago for the first time in a decade or so and I finally was able to see its flaws.

  7. The Man Who Knew Too Much: I think I saw this before I saw the original (if I’ve ever seen the original). Not the best Hitchcock film.

  8. The Man Who Never Was: I found this interesting enough but I watched it forever ago.

  9. Anastasia: Typical ‘50s Hollywood.

  10. Written on the Wind: When I watched this, I didn’t love Sirk. I have no idea how I would feel now.

Riley’s Best Movies of 1946:

  1. My Darling Clementine: This is extremely iconic. There are just so many shots in this film that are part of the western lexicon. And so much of it has been copied and parodied. This is one of those films that is so tied to the genre it helped define it’s hard to think of the genre without it.

  2. Beauty and the Beast: If you’ve never seen this, you should. One of the wackiest live action productions of the era.

  3. Shoeshine: A remarkable and bleak Italian neo-realist film.

  4. The Killers: When I saw this I believed it was the definitive version of the Ernest Hemingway story. (There’s a remake and Tarkovsky made one.) But that was a long time ago.

  5. Lady in the Lake: A really unique POV noir.

  6. The Best Years of Our Lives: Seen as a teen when I was, perhaps, a little more willing to handle something like this.

  7. The Blue Dahlia: A good noir.

  8. Gilda: For years I heard about how charismatic Rita Hayworth was in this noir. I was skeptical. Then I saw it.

  9. Great Expectations: I saw this before I really got into Dickens but really liked it anyway.

  10. The Postman Always Rings Twice: Hot take: the remake is better. (Shock! Horror!)

Riley’s Best Movies of 1936:

  1. Modern Times: I have long considered this Chaplin’s greatest accomplishment, however I haven’t seen in it well over a decade (perhaps two), so I cannot say for sure. I feel like I should buy all his features and re-watch them so I can tell you definitively which is greatest.

  2. My Man Godfrey: Jenn is wearing me down when it comes to screwballs. I actually enjoyed this. I used to hate screwball comedies but it was much more of a “I hate the fans more than the band” thing. Older movie critics used to tell me these movies were way funnier than the comedies I grew up with (Mel Brooks, Monty Python, etc.) and I just thought that was rubbish.

  3. Fury: I thought this movie about a wrongfully accused man, which has a pretty good reputation, was kind of weird. And it didn’t really work for me. It does make me wonder about how I would feel about other Fritz Lang movies I loved when I was younger.

  4. Mayerling: Nice to look at.

  5. Dodworth: I didn’t love this drama.

  6. After the Thin Man: Much weaker than the first film.

  7. Satan Met a Lady: Actually an adaptation of The Maltese Falcon. But, a comedy! The more famous one is much better.

  8. Juggernaut: A Karloff mystery film.

  9. Camille: I did not enjoy this mind you I watched it a long time ago and my tolerance for this kind of thing has increased with age (and Jenn).

  10. Reefer Madness: Yes, I’ve seen this. Like, actually watched it. Yes, it’s placement here means that I’ve only seen 10 movies. from 1936.

Riley’s Best Movies of 1926:

I’ve only seen three features from 1926, but all three are among the best films of the 1920s:

  1. The General: The first time I saw this, I thought it might be the best movie of the 1920s. I have seen it all the way through at least twice and part of it a third time. I’m a little less convinced about my original reaction but I still believe it is Keaton’s best film and it is one of the great silent comedies.

  2. Faust: A German expressionist classic.

  3. The Adventures of Prince Achmed: This extremely unique animated film is told using silhouette. It is, I believe, one of the earliest ever animated features and the oldest extant one.

Riley’s Best Movies of 1916:

  1. Intolerance: Probably the greatest movie ever made at this point. (Features were very new.) Watching it over 100 years later, the only reason to watch it is the absolutely insane production design. The sets in this film are perhaps the largest in the history of film. (I have no idea if that’s true but it feels like it.) Otherwise, it is a director yelling at your about hypocrisy because he was mad that people (rightly) criticized Birth of a Nation.

  2. “The Rink”: Probably Chaplin’s most inventive short of the 1910s.

  3. “The Floorwalker”: Entertaining

  4. “The Pawnshop”: This Chaplin short made less of an impression than the two above.

  5. “One A.M.”: Same with this one.

  6. “Police”: And this one.

  7. “Diana the Huntress”: Unfortunately I watched this as part of a compilation of early film and I don’t remember it.

Riley’s Best Movies from 1906:

  1. “Dream of a Rarebit Fiend”: This convinced me to make Welsh rarebit. It’s just glorified French toast with much more effort.

  2. “The Merry Frolics of Satan”: Unfortunately the print of this has aged rather horribly and has gone full Black and Yellow (and colorized Black and Yellow). A way more elaborate version of Melies’ classic “haunted room” gag with some of the ideas from his longer films mixed in.

  3. “A Crazy Composer”: This is the second Melies movie I’ve seen where the music attempted to match the action on screen (of performers). Of course, there’s no way of really knowing whether that’s true or not, but anyway. This guy is out there, which is cool. But the dream sequence thing we have seen before. (Well, those of use who have watched Melies’ films have seen it before.)

  4. “A Mix-Up at the Gallery”: A new spin on Melies’ slapstick with a second set on a different level, which is new for him.

  5. “The Hilarious Posters”: This is a more elaborate spin on Melies’ oft-used ‘picture comes alive’ gag. There’s a lot more going on in this one than usual.

  6. “A Roadside Inn”: Melies takes his two-floors-in-one-shot concept and changes it to two rooms in one shot.

  7. “A Desperate Crime”: This is one of Melies’ longer pieces but unfortunately not all of it has survived. It’s supposedly a docudrama. It’s clearly more serious than usual. Also, his first location sets, which is neat. Not as inventive as usual, but still inventive relative to the era.

  8. “The Witch”: A longer film, using some of Melies’ usual tricks to the purpose of story. Not his best but worth watching.

  9. “The Impossible Convicts”: Unfortunately I watched this as part of a (non-Melies) compilation and didn’t write a review.

  10. The Tramp and the Mattress Makers”: This pretty typical Melies slapstick but there is a switch of scenes which, as has been pointed out elsewhere, is unusual for one of Melies’ shorter works.

And it seems as though I haven’t seen anything from 1896. Alas.

Anyway, I hope you find something here to watch and enjoy.