Gore Vidal once wrote a piece — in 1973 — on “The Top 10 Best Sellers According to The Sunday New York Times as of January 7, 1973,” and in the March issue of The Believer magazine I do something similar with movies, but from an historical perspective: the top 10 box office hits according to Variety as of March 19, 1958.  What the movies we watched say about what we were; what they say about where we are. You can read an excerpt here. 

Also check out the interview between Werner Herzog and Errol Morris.