Favorite/Best Films of the 21st Century So Far

After looking over the NY Times’s list of the 25 Best Films of the 21^st Century to date, I starting think about what films would be on my list. It is tough. On one hand you have all your favorite movies, some are more objectively good and some are certainly not; and on the other hand, you have films that are great but not necessarily films you seek out to watch. I decided on a compromise. These are the films that I think are the best – but with my biases/loves built in, let run wild. I also included my favorite documentaries at the end. Ranking all these films is impossible (I narrowed it down to 103; 13 documentaries and 90 features). So, this list is organized by year for the features, followed by documentaries and finally my personal 25 favorites.

2000

American Psycho, directed by Mary Harron

2001

Amelie, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Black Hawk Down, directed by Ridley Scott

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, directed by Peter Jackson

No Man’s Land, directed by Danis Tanovic

The Royal Tenenbaums, directed by Wes Anderson

2002

The Hours, directed by Stephen Daldry

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, directed by Peter Jackson

The Pianist, directed by Roman Polanski

2003

The Barbarian Invasions, directed by Denys Arcand

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, directed by Peter Jackson

Lost in Translation, directed by Sofia Coppola

Open Range, directed by Kevin Costner

2004

2046, directed by Kar Wai Wong

A Very Long Engagement, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Downfall, directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, directed by Alfonso Cuaron

Hotel Rwanda, directed by Terry George

House of Flying Daggers, directed by Yimou Zhang

The Life of Aquatic with Steve Zissou, directed by Wes Anderson

Million Dollar Baby, directed by Clint Eastwood

Sideways, directed by Alexander Payne

Spider-Man 2, directed by Sam Raimi

Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War, directed by Je-gyu Kang

2005

Batman Begins, directed by Christopher Nolan

The Beat that My Heart Skipped, directed by Jacques Audiard

Munich, directed by Steven Spielberg

Pride & Prejudice, directed by Joe Wright

Serenity, directed by Joss Whedon

The Squid and the Whale, directed by Noah Baumbach

Sophie Scholl: The Final Days, directed by Marc Rothemund

2006

Black Book, directed by Paul Verhoeven

Children of Men, directed by Alfonso Cuaron

Mission: Impossible III, directed by J.J. Abrams

Once, directed by John Carney

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, directed by Gore Verbinski

The Prestige, directed by Christopher Nolan

The Road to Guantanamo, directed by Michael Winterbottom

2007

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, directed by Andrew Dominik

Atonement, directed by Joe Wright

The Darjeeling Limited, directed by Wes Anderson

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, directed by David Yates

No Country for Old Men, directed by the Coen Brothers

There Will Be Blood, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

The Visitor, directed by Tom McCarthy

2008

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, directed by David Fincher

The Dark Knight, directed by Christopher Nolan

Forgetting Sarah Marshall, directed by Nicholas Stoller

Hunger, directed by Steve McQueen

Revolutionary Road, directed by Sam Mendes

Vicky Cristina Barcelona, directed by Woody Allen

WALL-E, directed by Andrew Stanton

2009

Inglourious Basterds, directed by Quentin Tarantino

Up, directed by Pete Docter

2010

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, directed by David Yates

Inception, directed by Christopher Nolan

Never Let Me Go, directed by Mark Romanek

The Social Network, directed by David Fincher

True Grit, directed by the Coen Brothers

2011

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, directed by David Fincher

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, directed by David Yates

Incendies, directed by Denis Villeneuve

Jane Eyre, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga

Super 8, directed by J.J. Abrams

2012

The Avengers, directed by Joss Whedon

The Dark Knight Rises, directed by Christopher Nolan

Life of Pi, directed by Ang Lee

The Master, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

Zero Dark Thirty, directed by Kathryn Bigelow

2013

12 Years a Slave, directed by Steve McQueen

Her, directed by Spike Jonze

Short Term 12, directed by Destin Cretton

The Wolf of Wall Street, directed by Martin Scorcese

2014

The Babadook, directed by Jennifer Kent

Gone Girl, directed by David Fincher

The Grand Budapest Hotel, directed by Wes Anderson

The Imitation Game, directed by Morten Tyldum

Interstellar, directed by Christopher Nolan

2015

Avengers: Age of Ultron, directed by Joss Whedon

Bridge of Spies, directed by Steven Spielberg

Brooklyn, directed by John Crowley

Carol, directed by Todd Haynes

Inside Out, directed by Peter Docter & Ronaldo Del Carmen

The Revenant, directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

Sicario, directed by Denis Villeneuve

2016

Arrival, directed by Denis Villeneuve

Hacksaw Ridge, directed by Mel Gibson

Hunt for the Wilderpeople, directed by Taika Waititi

Manchester by the Sea, directed by Kenneth Lonergan

Silence, directed by Martin Scorsese

Documentaries

The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons front the Life of Robert S. McNamara, directed by Errol Morris

Super Size Me, directed by Morgan Spurlock

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, directed by Alex Gibney

Why We Fight, directed by Eugene Jarecki

Man on Wire, directed by James Marsh

Inside Job, directed by Charles Ferguson

Magic & BirdL A Courtship of Rivals, directed by Ezra Edelman

The House I Live In, directed by Eugene Jarecki

The Imposter, directed by Bart Layton

Citizenfour, directed by Laura Poitras

13^th, directed by Ava DuVernay

O.J.: Made in America, directed by Ezra Edelman

Five Came Back, directed by Laurent Bouzereau

My Personal Favorite 25

The Dark Knight Trilogy

Lost in Translation

Inception

Inglourious Basterds

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (the whole saga really)

Pride & Prejudice

Amelie

Spider-Man 2

Interstellar

The Prestige

Serenity

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

No Country for Old Men

The Lord of the Rings

Hunger

Zero Dark Thirty

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

The Darjeeling Limited

Atonement

The Royal Tenenbaums

There Will Be Blood

American Psycho

Gone Girl

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

My Personal Favorite 25 (Redux)

Within the NY Times rules of One Film per Director

The Dark Knight

Lost in Translation

Inglourious Basterds

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Pride & Prejudice

Amelie

Spider-Man 2

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Serenity

No Country for Old Men

Hunger

Zero Dark Thirty

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

The Darjeeling Limited

There Will Be Blood

American Psycho

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Life of Pi

The Hunt for the Wilderpeople

Arrival

Downfall

Her

Movies Spotlight – Ranking the Films of My Favorite Directors – September 2015

These lists have been endlessly done by film fans and critics since the beginning of cinema. But, they are fun and interesting for those who like lists (which seems to be a lot of us). So, I am going to rank the films of ten of my favorite current directors and five of my favorite classic directors. I am only using directors that have made at least five films. (Further rankings: Elite, Good, Weak)

Christopher Nolan

1)      The Dark Knight

2)      Inception

3)      The Dark Knight Rises

4)      Interstellar

5)      The Prestige

6)      Batman Begins

7)      Insomnia

8)      Memento

9)      Following

Wes Anderson

1)      Rushmore

2)      The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

3)      The Darjeeling Limited

4)      The Royal Tenenbaums

5)      The Grand Budapest Hotel

6)      Moonrise Kingdom

7)      Fantastic Mr. Fox

8)      Bottle Rocket

Coen Brothers

1)      The Big Lebowski

2)      No Country for Old Men

3)      True Grit

4)      Fargo

5)      The Hudsucker Proxy

6)      Miller’s Crossing

7)      The Man Who Wasn’t There

8)      Inside Llewyn Davis

9)      Burn After Reading

10)   Blood Simple.

11)   A Serious Man

12)   O Brother, Where Art Thou?

13)   Barton Fink

14)   Raising Arizona

15)   Intolerable Cruelty

16)   The Ladykillers

David Fincher

1)      The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

2)      The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

3)      The Social Network

4)      Gone Girl

5)      Se7en

6)      The Game

7)      Fight Club

8)      Zodiac

9)      Panic Room

10)   Alien 3

Alfonso Cuaron

1)      Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

2)      Children of Men

3)      Y Tu Mama Tambien

4)      Gravity

5)      Love in the Time of Hysteria (Solo con tu pareja)

6)      Great Expecations

I have not seen A Little Princess.

Michael Mann

1)      Heat

2)      The Last of the Mohicans

3)      Blackhat

4)      Miami Vice

5)      Public Enemies

6)      Thief

7)      Collateral

8)      The Insider

9)      Ali

10)   Manhunter

I have not seen The Keep

Steven Spielberg

1)      Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

2)      Raiders of the Lost Ark

3)      Saving Private Ryan

4)      Schindler’s List

5)      Munich

6)      Minority Report

7)      Catch Me If You Can

8)      Lincoln

9)      Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

10)   Jurassic Park

11)   Empire of the Sun

12)   E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

13)   Jaws

14)   Close Encounters of the Third Kind

15)   War Horse

16)   1941

17)   A.I. Artificial Intelligence

18)   Amistad

19)   War of the Worlds

20)   The Adventures of Tintin

21)   The Lost World: Jurassic Park

22)   The Terminal

23)   Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

24)   Hook

I have not seen The Sugarland Express, The Color Purple, and Always.

Quentin Tarantino

1)      Inglourious Basterds

2)      Django Unchained

3)      Pulp Fiction

4)      Reservoir Dogs

5)      Jackie Brown

6)      Kill Bill: Vol. 2

7)      Kill Bill: Vol. 1

Paul Thomas Anderson

1)      There Will Be Blood

2)      The Master

3)      Magnolia

4)      Punch-Drunk Love

5)      Boogie Nights

6)      Hard Eight

7)      Inherent Vice

Terrence Malick

1)      The Thin Red Line

2)      The New World

3)      Badlands

4)      Days of Heaven

5)      The Tree of Life

6)      To the Wonder

I have not yet seen Knight of Cups.

Alfred Hitchcock

1)      Rebecca

2)      Notorious

3)      Rear Window

4)      Vertigo

5)      Shadow of a Doubt

6)      North by Northwest

7)      Frenzy

8)      Suspicion

9)      The Lady Vanishes

10)   Dial M for Murder

11)   Marnie

12)   Psycho

13)   The Birds

14)   To Catch a Thief

15)   The 39 Steps

16)   The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

17)   Torn Curtain

18)   Strangers on a Train

19)   The Trouble with Harry

20)   Spellbound

21)   Foreign Correspondent

22)   Lifeboat

23)   Rope

24)   The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)

25)   Saboteur

26)   The Wrong Man

27)   The Paradine Case

28)   Family Plot

Whatever is not on this list, I have not seen.

Michael Powell &Emeric Pressburger (The Archers)

1)      The Red Shoes

2)      The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

3)      Black Narcissus

4)      A Matter of Life and Death

5)      The Small Black Room

6)      ‘I Know Where I’m Going!’

7)      A Canterbury Tale

8)      49^th Parallel

9)      The Tales of Hoffmann

10)   Pursuit of the Graf Spee

Whatever is not on this list, I have not seen.

David Lean

1)      Lawrence of Arabia

2)      The Bridge on the River Kwai

3)      Doctor Zhivago

4)      Great Expectations

5)      Brief Encounter

6)      Hobson’s Choice

7)      Oliver Twist

8)      The Passionate Friends

9)      Ryan’s Daughter

Whatever is not on this list, I have not seen.

William Wyler

1)      The Best Years of Our Lives

2)      Ben-Hur

3)      Mrs. Miniver

4)      The Little Foxes

5)      The Big Country

6)      Roman Holiday

7)      The Children’s Hour

8)      How to Steal a Million

9)      The Letter

10)   The Heiress

11)   Wuthering Heights

Whatever is not on this list, I have not seen.

Stanley Kubrick

1)      Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

2)      2001: A Space Odyssey

3)      Paths of Glory

4)      The Killing

5)      Lolita

6)      A Clockwork Orange

7)      The Shining

8)      Spartacus

9)      Barry Lyndon

10)   Full Metal Jacket

11)   Eyes Wide Shut

Let me know if there are any additional directors you want to see.