Top Ten

Best Movies of the 21st Century – So Far

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Patricia Arquette and Eller Coltrane in BOYHOOD
Patricia Arquette and Eller Coltrane in BOYHOOD

Okay – here’s a first class Argument Starter.  In the past week, The New York Times’ Manohla Dargis and A.O. Scott released their list of The 25 Best Films of the 21st Century So Far.  And it seems that everyone is weighing in with their own lists.  Me, too.

Of course I agreed with some of the NYT picks (Boyhood, The Hurt Locker, Million Dollar Baby, Spirited Away). But I thought they picked the wrong Coen brothers movie (the dreadful Inside Llewyn Davis instead of any other Coen brothers film) and the wrong Dardennes brothers movie (The Child instead of The Kid with a Bike or The Son). Moonlight and Mad Max: Fury Road are just too 2017-trendy.  I’m skeptical of their three Chinese and Taiwanese films that I haven’t seen (although I have some obscure picks on my list, too).

I found less fault with the accompanying article, Six Directors Pick Their Favorite Films of the 21st-Century.  I particularly dovetailed with Sophia Coppola’s choices of Ida, Grizzly Man, Force Majeure, Fish Tank and Ex Machina.

So, just for shits and giggles, here’s The Movie Gourmet’s Best 25 Movies of this Millennium (so far).

  1. Boyhood
  2. Million Dollar Baby
  3. Minority Report
  4. Winter’s Bone
  5. Ida
  6. Sideways
  7. Hell or High Water
  8. 25th Hour
  9. The Hurt Locker
  10. Ex Machina
  11. Best in Show
  12. The Kid on a Bike
  13. Gosford Park
  14. Memories of Murder
  15. Children of Men
  16. Spirited Away
  17. Monster’s Ball
  18. Toy Story 3
  19. Stories We Tell
  20. A Serious Man
  21. Grizzly Man
  22. Talk to Her
  23. I’ve Loved You So Long
  24. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
  25. Blue is the Warmest Color

Just missed:  Margaret, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, The Secrets in Their Eyes, Incendies, Monster, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Take Shelter, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Crash, Traffic, After the Wedding, Away from Her, Mystic River, Wild Tales and The Hunt.

Jennifer lawrence breaks through in WINTER'S BONE, featured at the Camera Cinema Club
Jennifer Lawrence breaks through in WINTER’S BONE, featured at the Camera Cinema Club

IDA
IDA

Michael Polley in STORIES WE TELL
Michael Polley in STORIES WE TELL

Best Movies of 2016 – So Far

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THE MEMORY OF WATER
THE MEMORY OF WATER

Instead of waiting for my year-end Top Ten list, I keep a running list throughout the year: Best Movies of 2016 – So Far. At year’s end, my list usually is comprised of 20-25 films with an Official Top Ten.  I’ll also be updating my list throughout the year as films become available to stream or to rent on DVD.  Right now, my list includes:

  • The Memory of Water
  • Eye in the Sky
  • Magallanes
  • Chevalier
  • Weiner
  • Frank & Lola
  • Take Me to the River
  • Lost Solace
  • Green Room

I usually start my list in April or May, and I don’t think that I’ve ever waited until July before.  I guess that’s because none of these early-in-the-year releases have popped out at me like Ex Machina from last year, Boyhood or Ida from 2014, Blue Is the Warmest Color or The Hunt (2013), Winter’s Bone (2010) and the like. But these are all really, really excellent films.

Eye in the Sky and Take Me to the River are available streaming or on DVD right now, (see Best Movies of 2016 – So Far for details) and Frank & Lola will be in theaters later this year.

I’m self-conscious about how many of these films can’t be seen right now (or maybe ever) because they don’t have US distribution. I really try NOT to be precious and list a bunch of super obscure films. I’m particularly wringing my hands over three gems from Cinequest – The Memory of Water from Chile, Magallanes from Peru and the Canadian indie Lost Solace. But I’m pretty sure that you’ll be able to find the rest of the movies on my list by year’s end.

I’m still waiting to see many, many contenders for my year-end list, including film festival favorites Loving, Manchester By the Sea, The Birth of a Nation and Toni Erdmann.  I also reserve the right to reshuffle the list.

Helen Mirren in EYE IN THE SKY
Helen Mirren in EYE IN THE SKY

2011 in Movies: the year’s best movies

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INCENDIES

Here’s my list of the best films of 2011: 1)  Incendies, 2) Take Shelter, 3) The Artist, 4) The Descendants, 5) Poetry, 6) Midnight in Paris, 7) Beginners, 8) Source Code, 9) Young Adult, and 10) (tie) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Drive.

Continuing with my list of 2011’s best films, here are my honorable mentions: The Guard,  Project Nim, Buck, Tabloid, The Adjustment Bureau, Carancho, and Potiche.

(Note:  I’m saving room for some films that I haven’t yet seen, especially Roman Polanski’s Carnage and Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus.)

You can watch the trailers and see my comments on all these films at Best Movies of 2011.

According to Metacritic, all of my picks (except The Adjustment Bureau) were highly rated by prominent critics.  I did disdain some art films, most notably The Tree of Life, which made lots of critics’ end-of-year lists.  See 2011 in Movies: biggest disappointments, which I’m posting on Tuesday.

(Further Note:  Incendies was nominated for the 2010 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, but was widely released in the US in 2011.  A Separation, which I and most folks won’t be able to see until after January 27, will contend on my 2012 list.)