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New York Times: The 25 Best Films of the 21st Century So Far

shira

shira

Member
lightskintwin said:
1. There Will Be Blood (Nominated for 8 Academy Awards, won 2 for Best Actor and Best Cinematography)
2. Spirited Away (Won for Best Animated Feature)
3. Million Dollar Baby (Nominated for 7 Academy Awards, won 4 including Best Picture)
4. A Touch of Sin (According to Asia Society, China refused to show the film therefore it could not be submitted even for the Best Foreign Language Film prize, and instead China submitted populist director Feng Xiaogang's famine epic Back to 1942.)
5. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Snubbed. This film was Romania's submission in the best foreign-language film Oscar race but didn't get nominated.)
6. Yi Yi (from an excerpt from Inside Oscar 2,"...though the warmly humanistic Yi Yi, did have real Academy-type virtues and Edward Yang might have been a dark horse possibility for a Best Director nomination. Unfortunately, even though Yi Yi had a successful run in Los Angeles, it was not included on the Academy's reminder list of eligible pictures and, thus, would not be in the competition. Apparently, the films distributor, Winstar, didn't do the paperwork required to get it on the list...")
7. Inside Out (Nominated for 2 Academy Awards, won for Best Animated Feature)
8. Boyhood (Nominated for 6 Academy Awards, won for Best Supporting Actress)
9. Summer Hours (Snubbed. Excerpt from Variety, "Or what about ”Summer Hours," which earned top 2009 foreign-language honors from both the Los Angeles and New York film critics (coming in second only to ”The Hurt Locker" in the Village Voice's annual pundit poll)?... It's easy to explain the snubs by saying that these films didn't have enough exposure, but it's harder to know what to do about it (assuming the Academy has the will to take on the chore)... But the real reason probably has more to do with the challenging market for foreign films in this country. ... and IFC's summer run for ”Summer Hours" did a mere fraction of the business that propelled Miramax's ”Il postino" into the best picture conversation back in 1996.")
10. The Hurt Locker (Nominated for 9 Academy Awards, won 6 including Best Picture)
11. Inside Llewyn Davis (Nominated for 2 Academy Awards)
12. Timbuktu (Nominated for 1 Academy Award [Best Foreign Language Film])
13. In Jackson Heights (Snubbed for Best Documentary Feature)
14. L'Enfant (Snubbed. It was chosen as Belgium's official entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 78th Academy Awards, but did not secure a nomination.)
15. White Material (Instead of submitting "White Material", France submitted "Of Gods and Men" as their Foreign Language film submission which didn't get nominated )
16. Munich (Nominated for 5 Academy Awards)
17. Three Times ???
18. The Gleaners and I (excerpt from The New York Times article, "..."The Gleaners and I," was cited as one of the best films of 2000 by many of the major American critics' groups, but it was ineligible for an Oscar because it had been broadcast in Italy and France before opening in the United States.)
19. Mad Max: Fury Road (Nominated for 10 Academy Awards, won 6)
20. Moonlight (Nominated for 8 Academy Awards, won 3 including Best Picture)
21. Wendy and Lucy (Snubbed)
22. I'm Not There (Nominated for 1 Academy Award [Best Supporting Actress])
23. Silent Light (Snubbed. Submitted by Mexico as their Foreign Language film submission but didn't get nominated)
24. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Nominated for 2 Academy Awards, won 1 for Best Original Screenplay)
25. The 40 Year Old Virgin (Really?)
Click to expand...

Best Picture win or bust.
It's a Best Picture List
 
B

Budi

Member
FTF said:
Ok here's the real top 25, in no particular order:

The Fellowship of the Ring
Memento
Mulholland Drive
Holy Motors
City of God
Lost in Translation
Before Sunset
The Departed
Children of Men
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Zodiac
The Dark Knight
Wall-E
The Wrestler
Let the Right One In
Inglourious Basterds
Black Swan
The Social Network
The Master
Her
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Whiplash
Mad Max: Fury Road
Moonlight
La La Land

And that's leaving off like 50 other amazing movies.
Click to expand...
Hah, this is much closer to what my own list would look like. Many great picks! But as I already said, I've only seen half of the list in the OP so can't know if those would be on my list. From this list I've seen everything but 3
 
S

SolidusDave

Member
- taken from top250 IMDb
- years 2000-2015 (2016 and 2017 are too new to be valid for such a list)
- only one film per director (this was super hard for Nolan as his movies were like the half of the list, my pick would have been The Prestige but Inception is more relevant).
- no sequels, no remakes


  1. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 2001 Peter Jackson
  2. Inception 2010 Christopher Nolan
  3. City of God 2002 Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund
  4. Spirited Away 2001 Hayao Miyazaki
  5. The Intouchables 2011 Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano
  6. The Pianist 2002 Roman Polanski
  7. Whiplash 2014 Damien Chazelle
  8. Gladiator 2000 Ridley Scott
  9. The Lives of Others 2006 Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
  10. Django Unchained 2012 Quentin Tarantino
  11. WALL·E 2008 Andrew Stanton
  12. Oldboy 2003 Chan-wook Park
  13. Requiem for a Dream 2000 Darren Aronofsky
  14. Amélie 2001 Jean-Pierre Jeunet
  15. Like Stars on Earth 2007 Aamir Khan
  16. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 2004 Michel Gondry
  17. 3 Idiots 2009 Rajkumar Hirani
  18. Snatch 2000 Guy Ritchie
  19. The Hunt 2012 Thomas Vinterberg
  20. A Separation 2011 Asghar Farhadi
  21. Up 2009 Pete Docter, Bob Peterson
  22. Downfall 2004 Oliver Hirschbiegel
  23. Pan's Labyrinth 2006 Guillermo del Toro
  24. The Secret in Their Eyes 2009 Juan José Campanella
  25. Room 2015 Lenny Abrahamson


and while this is technically more objective, many high ranked movies are in that position because they go "ok" with everyone (i.e. less controversy) but they are not actually that exceptional.

In this list I included some of the movies that were not in the top25 but I feel have more impact than the ones I replaced.
  1. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 2001 Peter Jackson
  2. Inception 2010 Christopher Nolan
  3. City of God 2002 Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund
  4. Spirited Away 2001 Hayao Miyazaki
  5. The Intouchables 2011 Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano
  6. The Wolf of Wall Street 2013 Martin Scorsese
  7. Donnie Darko 2001 Richard Kelly
  8. The Grand Budapest Hotel 2014 Wes Anderson
  9. The Lives of Others 2006 Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
  10. Django Unchained 2012 Quentin Tarantino
  11. WALL·E 2008 Andrew Stanton
  12. Oldboy 2003 Chan-wook Park
  13. Requiem for a Dream 2000 Darren Aronofsky
  14. There Will Be Blood 2007 Paul Thomas Anderson
  15. Like Stars on Earth 2007 Aamir Khan
  16. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 2004 Michel Gondry
  17. No Country for Old Men 2007 Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
  18. Snatch 2000 Guy Ritchie
  19. The Hunt 2012 Thomas Vinterberg
  20. A Separation 2011 Asghar Farhadi
  21. Up 2009 Pete Docter, Bob Peterson
  22. Infernal Affairs 2002 Wai-Keung Lau, Alan Mak
  23. Pan's Labyrinth 2006 Guillermo del Toro
  24. The Secret in Their Eyes 2009 Juan José Campanella
  25. Mad Max: Fury Road 2015 George Miller
 
H

HotHamBoy

Member
SolidusDave said:
- taken from top250 IMDb
- years 2000-2015 (2016 and 2017 are too new to be valid for such a list)
- only one film per director (this was super hard for Nolan as his movies were like the half of the list, my pick would have been The Prestige but Inception is more relevant).
- no sequels, no remakes


  1. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 2001 Peter Jackson
  2. Inception 2010 Christopher Nolan
  3. City of God 2002 Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund
  4. Spirited Away 2001 Hayao Miyazaki
  5. The Intouchables 2011 Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano
  6. The Pianist 2002 Roman Polanski
  7. Whiplash 2014 Damien Chazelle
  8. Gladiator 2000 Ridley Scott
  9. The Lives of Others 2006 Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
  10. Django Unchained 2012 Quentin Tarantino
  11. WALL·E 2008 Andrew Stanton
  12. Oldboy 2003 Chan-wook Park
  13. Requiem for a Dream 2000 Darren Aronofsky
  14. Amélie 2001 Jean-Pierre Jeunet
  15. Like Stars on Earth 2007 Aamir Khan
  16. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 2004 Michel Gondry
  17. 3 Idiots 2009 Rajkumar Hirani
  18. Snatch 2000 Guy Ritchie
  19. The Hunt 2012 Thomas Vinterberg
  20. A Separation 2011 Asghar Farhadi
  21. Up 2009 Pete Docter, Bob Peterson
  22. Downfall 2004 Oliver Hirschbiegel
  23. Pan's Labyrinth 2006 Guillermo del Toro
  24. The Secret in Their Eyes 2009 Juan José Campanella
  25. Room 2015 Lenny Abrahamson


and while this is technically more objective, many high ranked movies are in that position because they go "ok" with everyone (i.e. less controversy) but they are not actually that exceptional.

In this list I included some of the movies that were not in the top25 but I feel have more impact than the ones I replaced.
  1. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 2001 Peter Jackson
  2. Inception 2010 Christopher Nolan
  3. City of God 2002 Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund
  4. Spirited Away 2001 Hayao Miyazaki
  5. The Intouchables 2011 Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano
  6. The Wolf of Wall Street 2013 Martin Scorsese
  7. Donnie Darko 2001 Richard Kelly
  8. The Grand Budapest Hotel 2014 Wes Anderson
  9. The Lives of Others 2006 Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
  10. Django Unchained 2012 Quentin Tarantino
  11. WALL·E 2008 Andrew Stanton
  12. Oldboy 2003 Chan-wook Park
  13. Requiem for a Dream 2000 Darren Aronofsky
  14. There Will Be Blood 2007 Paul Thomas Anderson
  15. Like Stars on Earth 2007 Aamir Khan
  16. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 2004 Michel Gondry
  17. No Country for Old Men 2007 Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
  18. Snatch 2000 Guy Ritchie
  19. The Hunt 2012 Thomas Vinterberg
  20. A Separation 2011 Asghar Farhadi
  21. Up 2009 Pete Docter, Bob Peterson
  22. Infernal Affairs 2002 Wai-Keung Lau, Alan Mak
  23. Pan's Labyrinth 2006 Guillermo del Toro
  24. The Secret in Their Eyes 2009 Juan José Campanella
  25. Mad Max: Fury Road 2015 George Miller
Click to expand...


The year 2000 is the 20th Century.

When counting 1-10 you don't start at zero. 2000 is the 10th year of the last decade of the 20th century.
 
L

leroidys

Member
KenzinFive said:
There Will Be Blood is an obvious #1 and I wholeheartedly agree with it.

Spirited Away at #2 is a surprise, but a welcome one.

But putting Inside Out in the Top 10 over Wall-E? That I wlll not stand for. Even if you don't like Wall-E, you could make an argument for Ratatouille or The Incredibles (even though I feel last year's Zootopia and Moana were better than those two).
Click to expand...

Wall-E and Incredibles both throw away the great start with a dumbass chase/action scene for the second half of the movie (and Up for that matter). More egregious in Wall-E than the Incredibles, which at least had the excuse of being a superhero movie.


As to the actual list, love seeing There will be blood and Yi Yi so high. Haven't seen enough movies unfortunately to really have any great insight here, other than "40 year old virgin what in the fuck?".
 
J

J2 Cool

Member
Definitely would have excluded Million Dollar Baby, Inside Out, Boyhood, and possibly Hurt Locker.

Would have liked to include Lost in Translation, Before Sunset, Incredibles/Ratatouille(?), and possibly Fellowship. Either way, some better quality could have replaced those.
 
J

jetjevons

Bish loves my games!
Do people really not get the inclusion of The 40 Year Old Virgin? I'm not saying it's as good as any other movie on the list but it heralded the start of the Apatow era of dramedy and that influence cannot be denied.
 
D

DontBeThatGuy

Member
jetjevons said:
Do people really not get the inclusion of The 40 Year Old Virgin? I'm not saying it's as good as any other movie on the list but it heralded the start of the Apatow era of dramedy and that influence cannot be denied.
Click to expand...

It started an unfortunate trend. (I was definitely a big fan of that stuff at the time though)
 
P

pswii60

Member
No Whiplash but then shit like Boyhood and 40 Year Old Virgin? Oh well, I shouldn't be surprised at an internet list.
 
T

True Savior

Member
pswii60 said:
No Whiplash but then shit like Boyhood and 40 Year Old Virgin? Oh well, I shouldn't be surprised at an internet list.
Click to expand...

It's really not a "internet thing". Those three movies have all been represented in end of the year movie lists and critics mentions, with Boyhood being the most "acclaimed" of the three.
 
I

Icolin

Banned
No Malick? Hold this L, NYT.

Also missing Children of Men, Mulholland Drive, Drive, and Lost in Translation.
Munich is a really good choice though.
 
F

Frost_Ace

Member
Spirited Away at 2? Really surprised by that, glad Timbuktu is also there, amazing movie, never seen it being talked about here.
 
HarryKS

HarryKS

Member
Those 2 recent Malick movies were real shitshows to be honest.

Something you'd expect from a 20 something little bourgeois from New York who thinks it's a genius and mistakes style for substance and vice versa.
 
V

Vice

Member
JeffZero said:
What the fuck is The 40-Year-Old Virgin doing on this list?
Click to expand...
The movie is one of the most loved comedy of the decade it came out in. Massive critical.and commercial success. Ended up in many top 10/best picture lists for the year. It's also one of the best examples of the the comedy-drama genre.
 
J

JeffZero

Purple Drazi
Vice said:
The movie is one of the most loved comedy of the decade it came out in. Massive critical.and commercial success. Ended up in many top 10/best picture lists for the year. It's also one of the best examples of the the comedy-drama genre.
Click to expand...

Heh, well... fair enough, then. I'll tone it down. My bias is showing. (I'm not a big fan of the genre. I got dragged to the film back in '05 and... tolerated it.)
 
B

Bobby Roberts

Banned
Considering the methodology of the list, I still don't see how 40 Year Old Virgin makes the list when Knocked Up is arguably the better film, and Funny People is probably the artier/more risky pick of the Apatow filmography.
 
R

RoyaleDuke

Banned
This is just as bad and pretentious I thought it would be.

Then I saw the 40 year old virgin.

giphy.gif
 
M

mcw

Member
I was truly baffled by the inclusion of I'm Not There.

Then I realized that I was confusing it with I'm Still Here.
 
O

OricWindstar

Member
Bobby Roberts said:
How do you stick There Will be Blood at #1 and leave No Country for Old Men off the list entirely, while still managing to put THE FORTY YEAR OLD GODDAMNED VIRGIN ON THE FUCKING LIST AT ALL JESUS CHR
Click to expand...
Was going to say pretty much this. No Country for Old Men could've been put at #1 and I honestly would have been fine with it.
 
K

Kikujiro

Member
None of the films on the list are "pretentious".

Seeing Yi Yi is great, seeing The Hurt Locker makes the list invalid.
Where's Synecdoche, New York?
 
D

DontBeThatGuy

Member
Puck Beaverton said:
It's like getting mad at pulp fiction for bringing us boondocks saints
Click to expand...

Meh.

Pulp Fiction is still incredible. Virgin isn't (IMO). It's also become synonymous (along with The Hangover) with so much of what I've grown to dislike about modern film comedy, regardless of it being potentially the best of it's ilk.
 
L

Lil Marco

Banned
Boyhood does not need to be on that list.

Surprised at Mad Max, but the more I think about it the more it makes sense. They should have specificed the black and chrome version though, as that is the version of the film closest to the director's intention.

LOL at everybody crying about why their favorite comic book movies aren't there- those are movies, not films...low quality, mass produced, designed to cater to the lowest common denominator (geeks like you and the billions of moviegoers in developing asian markets). Very little artistic value or transcendent cultural importance, if any.

40 year old virgin was surprising, but it was actually a seminal comedy now that I think of it and the subject matter said a lot about certain aspects of post-internet americana. The Hangover could also be considered.
 
B

Bobby Roberts

Banned
How you gonna make an argument about the lack of transcendent effect on the culture and lowest common denominator lack of artistic value while making an argument for the Hangover in the next sentence

And Black & Chrome wasn't Miller's intended version of the film. He just saw how it looked in the edit and really liked it. His intended version of the film was the one we saw. He set out to film it in color and the palette of the film was chosen (and amped) precisely as he wanted.

Black & Chrome might be how he prefers to watch it, but it's not how he made it.
 
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