Back in April, The Hollywood Reporter published a list of this very same name and while I consider there were some atrocious misses, I understand rating a movie, reviewing it and listing it is something quite subjective and that was a product of an "ensemble" of writers - Jon Frosch, David Rooney, Sheri Linden, Lovia Gyarkye, Leslie Felperin and Jon Mintzer. So I decided to list my "Top 50" of the 21st century so far back in the day on my Twitter account. The final result was a personal list that left me unsatisfied with my own choices because I considered there are a big couple of movies I adored that I didn't incluide in the list... so, it took me some time to "re-do" that my personal list. Today I feel confident about my picks.
Here are my 50 Best Movies of the 21st Century So Far (Ranked):
A movie about being out of place. A movie about loneliness. A tale about two lost souls that found each other. Sofia Coppola hands the beautiful screenplay with sensitivity and directs every frame with a sweet melancholic tone that make Lost In Translation such a unique cinematic gem. From the crowded Tokyo streets to the loneliness with a hotel room, Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson embrace the muchness of everything around them and the sadness inside them. Their role in the narrative is JUST fall in love with other, but they also take the audience to fall in love with them. The movie has an extraordinary ability to bound with the audience and that's what makes it so special.
Highly original and extremely romantic. Funny, yet tragic. It's sci-fi but also plays like a rom-com at times. Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet are at peak form here and their storyline simply outshines the supporting one that features an all-star cast composed by Tom Wilkinson, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo and Elijah Wood. It takes place both on Earth and on Joel's mind and it offers a commentary about the humanity that takes to deal with heartbreak... and the humanity to be able to love. An amazing cinematic journey.
It puts a spell on the audience. Decision To Leave is thrilling, sexy, romantic and sometimes funny, but it always delivers the drama and the suspense of this murder investigation movie. Some say it plays in a very Hitchcockian vein, but it offers way more character development pulling great acting from Hae il Park and Tang Wei, whose chemistry is intoxicating. The visual storytelling is amazing to look at and Park Chan-wook assures the audience is never bored even in the quieter moments. And the last act will leave a mark on you.
A psychological thriller about craft and obsession. Darren Aronofsky smartly builds the movie around Natalie Portman, who delivers the performance of a lifetime as an ambitious (yet innocent) baillerina who experiences paranoia and gets to know herself while preparing for her big performance. The sound, the cinematography, the editing... everything is perfect in Black Swan. A note about Mila Kunis and Barbara Hershey who are both excellent in their respective parts.
A fantasy epic like no other only to be suprassed by its following installment, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is handed with titanic precision and it offers the audiences a true cinematic feast. It features some of the best emotional beats of the whole trilogy and it stands from the others thanks to the nail biting motion capture performance of Andy Serkis as Smeagol/Gollum. The Helm's Deep battle scene still is one of the trilogy's highlights!
The narrative might feel a bit adrift in the beginning, but then you understand that's just the way the life of Frances is - adrift! But Noah Baumbach never loses the balance between the sense of the main character being lost and the precise approach to the screenplay. Visually, Frances Ha black & white photography is beautiful. Acting-wise, Greta Gerwig is perfect! As a movie? It is a statement about female power, Millenials' existential crisis and a tale about friendship and the pursuit of dreams. A movie of its time to be forever remembered.
It plays like a memory in polaroid and while the narrative it presents might not be for everyone's taste it is impossible not to feel attached to the father-daughter dynamic and to the way they explore their own world. Led by a mesmerizing performance from child actress Frankie Corio and Paul Mescal, Aftersun feels like a miracle of a movie because of the ability to translate such a personal tale to the big screen. Charlotte Wells handles her own screenplay beautifully and you can feel her personal signature in every frame.
Full of energy, full of respect for the culture, full of respect for the source material and with a lot of heart, West Side Story is Steven Spielberg like we have never seen him before. Electrifying musical sequences and heart-wrenching moments take the audiences in a trip of senses to 1957's Upper West Side. The central romance of Tony and Maria is beautifully brought to life by Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler (in a terrific acting debut), while Ariana DeBose, Mike Faist and David Alvarez also deliver titanic acting turns that elevate the movie above the bar set by the 1961's adaptation. The new redemption of "America" and "Tonight" will stay with a new generation of audiences forever. It felt great having Spielberg pushing himself to such thrilling territory.
The colorful sets and clothes contrast with the characters' inner feelings. It's a melancholic deadpan comedy about past bounds and hurting, but it's also about re-starting again. The complex palette of characters make The Royal Tenenbaums one of the most magnetic Wes Anderson's film to date, with great turns all around, specially from Gene Hackman and Gwyneth Paltrow. The tent scene will forever be remembered as a lullaby to childhood love being destroyed by adult social conventions. Funny and sad, all at same time.
Chilly, creepy, moody and truly terrifying, Ari Aster's Hereditary was an instant cult classic and it might have been responsible for a horror genre "rebirth" in the following years. Toni Collette delivers the performance of her career as a grieving matriarch of a family haunted by supernatural forces after her mother died. Hers are some of the most iconic scenes in recent cinema history and she delivers a tour de force acting turn that locks the audiences' attentions. Aster's directorial debut is an impressive cinematic achievement.
Filled with tense action sequences, eye-popping visuals and an incredible ensemble performance, The Dark Knight is a genre-defyning film that entertains while it makes social commentary at the same time. Christopher Nolan is in full command of his craft here and Heath Ledger (RIP) is stellar as the maniac criminal The Joker. High-quality blockbuster cinema!
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