"Two of the best films of the last 30 years."
De gustibus non disputandum est. We'll see if they stand the test of time. Personally, I don't see how they could. There's no "there" there.
"The statement about everything produced by lefitsts being suspect"
You're applying a statement made about a non-fiction essay to fiction.
"Dickens, Stienbeck, Shelley, Faulkner... The list goes on and on."
Shelley managed to write some decent poetry, and I read Steinbeck and Faulkner (their comlete works) as a college student. Thirty-some years later, it doesn't look like genius to me. In contrast, my appreciation for Shakespeare just continues to grow.
If you were to make a list of the 30 or so best writers to use the English language for fiction, Faulkner would have to be on there. Astonishing body of work.