Sergio Leone’s operatic Western elevates the genre to high art.

Perhaps the most invigorating film ever made about the passion and drive of being an artist.

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s film finds empathy in the complex life of a cartoon-of-a-man.

For Pixar’s role in Hollywood, it all started here.

This tense, three-person thriller on a boat is a blueprint for its director’s career-long obsessions.

A perfect distillation of the Coen brothers’ career-long interest in the futile search for meaning.

Hayao Miyazaki meditates on Nature and the hero’s journey in his blockbuster anime.

Hayao Miyazaki’s blend of humanism and wonder is a testament to family and imagination.

Preston Sturges popularized this template for countless romantic comedies to come.