The Century's Best Movies

New York Times

a day ago

Ten years ago last May, I found myself so thunderstruck by a movie that I'm pretty sure my mouth hung open for nearly its entire two-hour running time. The film was George Miller's visceral vision 'Mad Max: Fury Road,' which I'd easily rank as the greatest action movie of the last quarter-century.
Turns out, so does Hollywood.
At 11th place, 'Mad Max: Fury Road' was the highest-ranking blockbuster on our exciting new list, The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century, compiled by polling more than 500 people in and around the film industry. Contributors included Oscar-winning directors like Pedro Almodóvar, Sofia Coppola, Guillermo del Toro and Barry Jenkins, and actors such as Tilda Swinton, Javier Bardem, Julianne Moore and Chiwetel Ejiofor. We even got a ballot from 98-year-old Mel Brooks.
We have made many of those ballots available for your perusal — you can find them here. I loved learning that the 'Call Me By Your Name' director Luca Guadagnino has expectedly arty tastes but also included the mostly forgotten John Carpenter sci-fi film 'Ghosts of Mars' on his list.
As for the top films, I had an early hunch that the biggest vote-getters would be David Lynch's 'Mulholland Drive' and Bong Joon Ho's best-picture winner 'Parasite,' though I confess I had them in the wrong order: In the end, 'Parasite' prevailed, while Lynch's film earned second place. The rest of the top 10 are:
3. 'There Will Be Blood'
4. 'In the Mood for Love'
5. 'Moonlight'
6. 'No Country For Old Men'
7. 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'
8. 'Get Out'
9. 'Spirited Away'
10. 'The Social Network'
Though the advent of streaming services has affected the way movies are made and watched over the last quarter-century, only one film from a streamer made the list: Netflix's 'Roma,' at No. 46. I think that's a testament to just how profound the big-screen experience still feels. Our greatest cinematic memories, like the time my jaw dropped while watching 'Fury Road,' are forged in the dark with a packed audience along for the ride.
A few other things stood out about the full list:
Around a quarter of the films on the list are in a language other than English, reflecting both the global scope of our voters and the international nature of the contemporary cinema scene.
Eleven of the films were directed by women.
Fewer best-picture winners made the list than you might expect. Though three are in the top 10 — 'Parasite,' 'No Country For Old Men' and 'Moonlight' — only seven others are scattered throughout the rest of the list. The likes of 'Crash' and 'Green Book' may have charmed Oscar voters when they debuted, but have they stood the test of time?
Check out the entire list here. Times readers can also submit your own ballots, which we will eventually compile into another list. I'm interested to see just how dramatically your choices may differ from the tastes of Hollywood insiders.
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