The 21st Century's 100 Greatest Films

The Saloon
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…As compiled by BBC Culture, having polled 177 critics from around the globe:

100 Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade, 2016)
100. Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronofsky, 2000)
100. Carlos (Olivier Assayas, 2010)
99. The Gleaners and I (Agnès Varda, 2000)
98. Ten (Abbas Kiarostami, 2002)
97. White Material (Claire Denis, 2009)
96. Finding Nemo (Andrew Stanton, 2003)
95. Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson, 2012)
94. Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson, 2008)
93. Ratatouille (Brad Bird, 2007)
92. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik, 2007)
91. The Secret in Their Eyes (Juan José Campanella, 2009)
90. The Pianist (Roman Polanski, 2002)
89. The Headless Woman (Lucrecia Martel, 2008)
88. Spotlight (Tom McCarthy, 2015)
87. Amélie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001)
86. Far From Heaven (Todd Haynes, 2002)
85. A Prophet (Jacques Audiard, 2009)
84. Her (Spike Jonze, 2013)
83. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg, 2001)
82. A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2009)
81. Shame (Steve McQueen, 2011)
80. The Return (Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2003)
79. Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe, 2000)
78. The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese, 2013)
77. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Julian Schnabel, 2007)
76. Dogville (Lars von Trier, 2003)
75. Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2014)
74. Spring Breakers (Harmony Korine, 2012)
73. Before Sunset (Richard Linklater, 2004)
72. Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch, 2013)
71. Tabu (Miguel Gomes, 2012)
70. Stories We Tell (Sarah Polley, 2012)
69. Carol (Todd Haynes, 2015)
68. The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, 2001)
67. The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow, 2008)
66. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring (Kim Ki-duk, 2003)
65. Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold, 2009)
64. The Great Beauty (Paolo Sorrentino, 2013)
63. The Turin Horse (Béla Tarr and Ágnes Hranitzky, 2011)
62. Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009)
61. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, 2013)
60. Syndromes and a Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2006)
59. A History of Violence (David Cronenberg, 2005)
58. Moolaadé (Ousmane Sembène, 2004)
57. Zero Dark Thirty (Kathryn Bigelow, 2012)
56. Werckmeister Harmonies (Béla Tarr, director; Ágnes Hranitzky, co-director, 2000)
55. Ida (Paweł Pawlikowski, 2013)
54. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2011)
53. Moulin Rouge! (Baz Luhrmann, 2001)
52. Tropical Malady (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2004)
51. Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010)
50. The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 2015)
49. Goodbye to Language (Jean-Luc Godard, 2014)
48. Brooklyn (John Crowley, 2015)
47. Leviathan (Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2014)
46. Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami, 2010)
45. Blue Is the Warmest Color (Abdellatif Kechiche, 2013)
44. 12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen, 2013)
43. Melancholia (Lars von Trier, 2011)
42. Amour (Michael Haneke, 2012)
41. Inside Out (Pete Docter, 2015)
40. Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, 2005)
39. The New World (Terrence Malick, 2005)
38. City of God (Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, 2002)
37. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2010)
36. Timbuktu (Abderrahmane Sissako, 2014)
35. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2000)
34. Son of Saul (László Nemes, 2015)
33. The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008)
32. The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006)
31. Margaret (Kenneth Lonergan, 2011)
30. Oldboy (Park Chan-wook, 2003)
29. WALL-E (Andrew Stanton, 2008)
28. Talk to Her (Pedro Almodóvar, 2002)
27. The Social Network (David Fincher, 2010)
26. 25th Hour (Spike Lee, 2002)
25. ​Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000)
24. The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2012)
23. Caché (Michael Haneke, 2005)
22. Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003)
21. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)
20. Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman, 2008)
19. Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller, 2015)
18. The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke, 2009)
17. Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo Del Toro, 2006)
16. Holy Motors (Leos Carax, 2012)
15. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu, 2007)
14. The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer, 2012)
13. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón, 2006)
12. Zodiac (David Fincher, 2007)
11. Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2013)
10. No Country for Old Men (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2007)
9. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi, 2011)
8. Yi Yi: A One and a Two (Edward Yang, 2000)
7. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)
6. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)
5. Boyhood (Richard Linklater, 2014)
4. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)
3. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)
2. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, 2000)

  1. Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001)

No The Proposition (Hillcoat, 2005), no Sin City (Miller/Rodriguez, 2005), no Moon (Jones, 2009), no Amores Perros (Iñárritu, 2000), no The Revenant (Iñárritu, 2015)… :confused: Even accounting for these things being subjective, there are some glaring omissions, I feel.

It was right about Mulholland Drive (Lynch, 2001) being the best of the century thus far, though. IMO, like.

Thoughts?

(Seen 64 of them
Own 29 of them
Thrown half a dozen of them in the bin)

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Of course, any list that doesn’t include my favorite of the new century - CQ - is immediately suspect. :laughing:

Some new names on that list for me, so it looks like I have investigating to do.

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I agree with the first two films, definitely best films from this century. Blue is the Warmest Color would be my third choice. Good list without the fan boy films of the imdb top lists.

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It’s quite a good list. Not a single mediocre on one it, nothing beneath 6/10. And there are a few I never heard of. I have watched about 2/3rd, some of my favourites are in the list, some are missing, but that is also like expected. Weakest films are The Dark Knight, 12 Years a Slave, A.I. (has a better reputation than I thought, maybe a rewatch is in need) and The Pianist.

Surprised that neither Gravity nor Birdman made it.

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Typical critics list, rather predictable, but a bit surprised to see Stanton listed
Also surprised that Mad Max: Fury Road scores so well (was also nominated for an Oscar if I’m not mistaken). Not too much wrong with that movie, but among the best of the 21st century (so far)?

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It’s a list by people interested in film, not by IMDB and co. And just like any other list it doesn’t represent a truth, but a possibility.

All more daring lists can be blamed as “critic’s list”, actually every list not made by the “ususal internet” user or by media who want to have broad success.
So it this the usual reproval against every more intellectual list. While the other kind of lists are blamed for being to light, commercial, superficial etc

And Mad Max, whatever one may think about it, got a lot of very positive feedback, by its audience (without being a bigger success) and by the critics.
And it won the Grand Prix of the international film critic association. Which is absolutely not an easy win.

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I haven’t seen the N°8 and 9, but imo the other movies from the Top 10 aren’t particularly daring or intellectual, with the possible exception of The Tree of life (I wasn’t too fond of that movie but at least it tried to do something very, very different). It’s a typical list made by critics, like the Imdb lists are typical lists made by large audiences. A possibility yes, not a truth, but to me a dissapointing list because there are no real surprises, the kind of title that makes you say to yourself: My God, that movie?? I should defenintely see it again. The real surprise to me is, as said, Mad Max: Fury Road. A good movie but I didn’t think it was that special. Might have been different in cinemas though, I saw it on DVD

There are good movies on the list (N° 6, 25, 32, 39 for example), as well as a few bad and overrated ones (N° 17, 33, 35, 51, 90, 94). Mulholland Dr is at least the best of Lynch’s more recent movies

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[quote=“scherpschutter, post:7, topic:4008, full:true”]
I haven’t seen the N°8 and 9, but imo the other movies from the Top 10 aren’t particularly daring or intellectual, with the possible exception of The Tree of life (I wasn’t too fond of that movie but at least it tried to do something very, very different).[/quote]
They are daring, believe me (those I have watched). They have ideas, they have beauty, they are very entertaining, they are intelligent, they are fun, they have style. Short, that’s what I want from art, or whateevr name it gets.

[quote]
It’s a typical list made by critics, [/quote]

Not a big surprise considering it is a critic’s list. Only that caling it so mopstly sounds like an accusation.

People always want surprises, but if there are surprises other people say it is too superficial, it lacks substance.

[quote]
The real surprise to me is, as said, Mad Max: Fury Road [/quote]

After all I read about it, it is absolutely no surprise for me. Wouldn’t amke my top 100, but I liked and enjoyed it more the 2nd time.

Ain’t that so with eevry list?

There are always films one likes and films one does not liek. And films for which one does not understand why they made the list, and films one does not understand why they did not made the list. Always some favourites on the list (even on superficial lists, the top 10 from IMDB has some nuggets too), some don’t.

That’s the game with lists. But complaining about lists doesn’t make much sense, ignoring does.

I always like lists, as long as I can see some substance in them. And this list has a lot of substance. But the genre-only fan might be disappointed.

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Interestingly I’m not that fond of the films you don’t like either. I view them also as overrated, but far away from bad.
(You “hate” them without really hating them? :wink: )

The Lives of Others is a good film, bit it lacks that last momentum which turns all its ideas into something special for me.

I couldn’t get into The New World, but want to rewatch it, and haven’t watched the DC (but have bought it).

Mulholland Drive is one of the 10 best films ever. An endless pleasure to watch, the total fascination. So my # 1 too, followed by OldBoy.

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Of these films I only hated 51 Inception, probably because I had expected a lot more from it (I had, for instance, loved the director’s Memento). Hate and love of course, and again, in a metaphorical sense.

A relatively small film that was a real surprise to me (and I’m therefore glad to see it on this list) was 65. Fish Tank

What surprises me, is that Ex Machina is not in the Top 20/30 (Did I overlook it or isn’t it listed at all?). I should see the movie again to know how much I really like or dislike it, but it was at least a challenging affair.

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21st century not a vintage century for me.

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For me the last 20 years were a great time for movies.

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What a delight to find a Godard film, Adieu au langage (2014), among this list. Two Malick flicks ranked better put a damper though on any kind of hope, maybe one should hope against hope. Or fight. And write.

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If I counted right, I’ve seen 37.

We had similar topic (my own baby); What are your favorite 21st century movies?

Looking at my choices on that topic, there are only 3 out of 20 movies from my list that made this Top 100 (5 if we counf WALL-E and Spirited away which were in my Top 5 animated). I guess that makes me kind of proud, always liked to be few steps away from any kind of herd :slight_smile:
(Although more of them would probably make my current top 20: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Fury Road, maybe Wolf of WS. Fish Tank was also good).

BIGGEST omission: No Memories of a Murder, but its copycat is at No.12 ?!?
Surprises: Not single Inarritu? No Downfall? No Eastwood either.
Weak movies that made the list: 25th Hour, Her.
And I’m not too fond of Haneke and I see critics still like their Coen brothers.

I wouldn’t be so dismissive of a IMDB. IMDB is The Voice of People and I respect that (and the taste in movies of mass audience tends to be better than mass taste in some other forms of art like music. I mean, they are still easily fooled into watching bad movies, but they will say they were bad afterwards :wink: )

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I don’t think so.

And IMDB is some kind of manipulated list by omitting all films with less than 50.000 votes. Makes sure that only films everyone has heard about are on the list. Otherwise even that list would be very different.

“Voice of people” lists have of course also interesting aspects, but such lists are made by too many people who only watch the usual mainstream films.

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Viewed one on the list, and that bored the hell out of me.

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Which one did you watch/see?

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Must be Mad Max: Fury Road. Well, if you don’t like people riding from left to ride in the first half of the movie, and from right to left - or the other way round - it must be a boring movie

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…you are on the wrong site! :wink:

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Haha! Right, sounds like a Fidani western :smiley: