This collection is meant to strike a balance between personal favourites (hence a few off-beat choices), and more influential classics. In my eyes, no film listed here deserves less than full marks across the board. Also, while I'm more of a filmography kind of guy, I tried hard to limit myself to just two or three picks per filmmaker (quite the feat considering the illustrious careers of some of my favourite directorial-duders).
Note: There are still a few things out there that I really ought to have seen by now, but haven't. It's safe to say that a few of those would've probably made it onto this list. Also, I apologize for the lack of pre-1960 films, and the under-representation of foreign cinema. I tried to use a "stream of consciousness" approach in order to make this list as honest and self-reflective as possible. These films were simply the first 160ish to come to mind.