Today’s Question was almost – ALMOST!!! – “What the bleepity-bleeping-bleep was that bleeping bleep?!?!?” but I decided against it. YOU KNOW WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!!!!
Anyway, I thought I’d stick to less contentious stuff, like what your favorite movie of this century is. For the purposes of this Question, the “21st century” began on 1 January 2000, so any movies released after that date count. I’m not getting into whether 2000 is part of the 21st century or not, because I’m not getting into the minutiae of dating things from the birth year of a possibly mythical person who, if they were born, was probably born anywhere from 4-6 years before “year zero” and the numbering system was made up centuries later anyway! The year 2000 is part of the 21st century, consarnit!
Phew, I’m feeling feisty today! Anyway, I haven’t seen as many movies in the 21st century as I saw in the 20th, mainly because kids get in the way, and life itself gets in the way. But I’ve seen my fair share! I thought maybe my favorite came out in the very first year of the century, as Unbreakable is so very good, but I decided against it. Ocean’s Eleven remains excellent, The Cell is wildly underrated, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero are superb, Memento and Inception are wonderful, Sexy Beast rules, all three Lord of the Rings movies are great, Pan’s Labyrinth is creepy as fuck, No Country for Old Men and True Grit are terrific, I love District 9, Inglourious Basterds is fun as all heck … man, that’s just some of the few great movies I’ve seen in this century. I might be a prisoner of the moment, but Everything Everywhere All At Once is absolutely brilliant and is definitely in contention. I think, though, I have to go with Mad Max: Fury Road. I just love it so much, and it’s as close to a perfect action movie this side of Die Hard, and the performances are wonderful, and the effects are amazing, and it’s just a lean, mean, action machine. Miller’s world is so fully realized, even though it’s a wasteland, and it’s just beautiful to look at even if you’re not swept away by the action. It’s just excellent.
So, yeah. There you have it. I like a lot of movies, of course, but dang, Fury Road is my favorite of this century. Hit me with yours!
BURGAS: You forgot:
Memento, Session 9, Mulholland Drive, The Devil’s Backbone, and 300.
I had to stop at 2012, since most of my favorite movies came out before 2001.
I’m pathetic, I know!!
Didn’t forget Memento, and still haven’t seen the others, because I suck!
Favorite is hard to say, because I like different movies, for different reasons. I’m nowhere near as passionate for more modern movies as I am past ones, just because of the way Hollywood has evolved. If I had to narrow it to one, it would probably be The Incredibles. That was about as perfect a movie for me than anything else. It was filled with things I have loved, since childhood, while offering a story of its own, which was pretty compelling. it still stands above all other superhero movies that followed and most that preceded it.
That said, Space Cowboys just features actors I love, playing the types of people who were heroes to me, from childhood into adult life, getting one more go at things and showing what talent and years of experience can bring to a great story, when Hollywood stops trying to only court the youth audience.
Best in Show is just plain hysterical and the best of the improv movies, from Christopher Guest, which just blow past other attempts at humor, in modern film.
Amelie is such a charming movie that it makes me smile, throughout and it was one that I turned my late wife onto and she fell in love with it.
Shaolin Soccer is just goofy kung fu fun, which also serves as a satire of what I really hate about modern professional sports.
My other suggestion would be the French film OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies, with Jean Dujardin. It captures the era of Bond and the Eurospy imitators, while also poking fun at them, but with more style and wit than most of the attempts at spy spoofs, of the era. I especially love when he gets into an argument with a muzzerain, when he broadcast the morning call to prayer, which is carried out over the loudspeaker, to the city beyond. That and him having to bluff his way through a song and discovering that he can actually play.
I like The Incredibles, but dang, it’s sooooo elitist!
I still like Waiting for Guffman more than Best in Show, but yes, it’s a great movie.
I actually disagree!
The “If everyone’s special, nobody is” thesis comes from a preteen boy, and a man with the emotional maturity of a preteen boy.
The critique of the anti-super laws is that the insecurity of non-super folks has prevented super folks from contributing to society, not that it’s prevented them from self-actualization via wealth and power and prestige.
It’s Nietzsche, not Rand – Syndrome is quite literally a John Galt figure!
We’ll have to disagree, then. Pistols at dawn, sir!
Yeah, I’m basically with Jeff on this one; I always have trouble with “what’s your favorite?” questions, whether it be movie, book, song, etc. I like lots, for various reasons, and sometimes my opinions change from week to week. In the case of movies, I have a hard time just deciding what my favorite movie of any given year is. A pretty good one I watched recently is Pig, starring Nicolas Cage. Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs is pretty good, too. Don’t know if I consider either of those best of the century so far, though.
Otherwise, though, I definitely don’t agree about the LotR movies; I liked them all well enough when I first watched them, but they didn’t hold up for me when viewed again (in fact, a big problem is their excessive length – I rarely have the patience to sit through any one of them in their entirety).
Inglorious Basterds certainly had some fun bits but it never quite held together for me as a whole. If we’re talking about Tarantino’s 21st century films, I think Django Unchained rules the roost.
It wouldn’t be a good question if it were easy to answer, sir!!!! 🙂
I haven’t seen Django Unchained yet, so I can’t say it’s better than Basterds. I should get around to it.
If the question is “favorite” and not “most well-made,” I have to go with Spider-Man 2. Just a great encapsulation of the fun as well as the occasional depth of one of my favorite characters of all time. It has flaws, but it just got so much right; it will always be close to the top of my list.
For “best” – that’s a much trickier story. Mulholland Dr. sticks with me like nothing else, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is apex Charlie Kaufman, Memento is so unique and well-executed, The Social Network kind of catches the 21st century to date in a bottle…
Pan’s Labyrinth is also a big favorite. Hot Fuzz is hysterical but also makes me care about the characters. The Incredibles is also close to perfecting the superhero genre I love. A Separation and Shoplifters are gut-wrenchingly good films that translate across cultures well. There are a lot of contenders.
Spidey 2 is terrific, I agree. But does it have Evil Dancing Peter?!?!?!? 🙂
The best? That’s a tough one.
I liked Burn After Reading, the Planet Of The Apes trilogy, the Nolan Batman trilogy, Wreck-It Ralph.
Also Jeff’s suggestions Shaolin Soccer and The Incredibled are fun movies too.
Totally agree on No Country For Old Man, Memento, Inception and Unbreakable.
I didn’t like Mad Max. It felt kindoff pointless to me. Driving from A to B and than back. But that’s just me 😉
Yes, that is what happens in Mad Max Fury Road, but it’s also the point. There is no Green Place, no oasis we can flee to. We have to stay and fight, and make our home better by smashing the tyranny/patriarchy/etc. A prescient message for our current era.
I have a lot of favorites from this century. If we’re talking favorite, it has to be a five-star, super-rewatchable movie that is supremely entertaining, but also smart and well-structured. Not necessarily “important” or literary, etc. But I do like a mix of tones and a movie with something to say.
I like a lot of movies you mentioned. Ocean’s Eleven is a perfect film, an amazing feat of clockwork. Inception is brilliant, a sci-fi heist movie that’s secretly about filmmaking. Inglourious Basterds is the tensest movie I’ve ever seen, even though it’s comprised almost entirely of long dialogue scenes. Mad Max Fury Road is awesome.
As far as other films, Parasite lived up to the hype. La La Land was, in my opinion, sublime. Speaking of movies that make me cry, Toy Story 3 is a masterpiece (and so is WALL-E). The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is my favorite Wes Anderson, filled with whimsy and melancholy. Get Out was brilliant, but I think Us is even better. Sorry to Bother You was, for me, an instant classic. As far as superhero movies go, The Dark Knight is tremendous but I secretly prefer the messier Dark Knight Rises. Spider-Man 2 is the best movie Raimi has made this century.
I’m sure I’m forgetting like 100 movies. There are plenty that I love but which don’t quite measure up, like Casino Royale and Skyfall, Across the Universe, Nomadland, The Adventures of Tintin, X, Killer Joe, the Velocipastor (yes), The Northman, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, Bubba Ho-Tep, The Invisible Man, Upgrade, Jack Reacher, Mission Impossible 4-6, Knives Out, The Mitchells vs. The Machines, The Raid. I could go on for hours.
After all that it’s still probably a coin flip between Ocean’s Eleven and Inception. Today I guess I’m in an Ocean’s mood.
I’m not sure what my favorite 21st Century movie is, but I haven’t been able to get Hereditary out of my head since I saw it a couple years ago. Disturbing, inventive, and featuring an excellent lead performance by Toni Colette, I highly recommend Hereditary to anyone who likes horror.
I agree, it’s difficult to name the best movie becaus there are so many films that made me laugh, made me cry or just entertained me like hell. But the favorite? For me it’s Arrival by Denis Villeneuve. It is beautiful, wonderful structured, brilliantly played by Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner, thougt provocing. I can’t imagine watching it at home on a TV-Screen, the whole movie is very dark relatively quiet. I watched it at our local open-air theatre on a warm summer night and everyone was fascinated. The 200 people watching it were so quiet the whole movie, concentrated on the story on screen. And i left feeling warm, almost happy an humane. I still don’t understand how Villeneuve could make such a hopeful an human film and still completely miss the humane aspect of Blade Runner.
Sorry als always for any mistakes in the above, as a german my english isn’t the best.
Well I’m stubbornly sticking to my view that as pretty much everyone considered the 20th century to have started in 1901, the end should have been in 2000 so I’m excluding that year (though I admit I wasn’t around in 1901 and don’t feel I should need to explain the difference between measuring and counting)
so my favourite of the 21st century (of the films I have seen so far) is probably Spirited Away
though, Everything, Everywhere, All at Once is wonderfully bonkers and comes close
What the fucking fuck was that fucking game????
I was so mopey that I forgot to play Wordle, haha.
Anyway, the single movie from this century that I’ve seen the most is probably School of Rock or The Incredibles…but I’ll go to bat for Before Sunrise.
(Ratatouille is up there, too!)
That’s two Linklater movies and two Bird movies…which tracks, haha!
I’m more annoyed than mad – I think the win in 2018 has really mellowed me out. I think if they play 100 times, they each win 50. They just made a few more mistakes and paid for every single one of them, which is just … annoying. Oh well.
Honestly, it’s the same for me – I think my abiding love of Andy helped soften the blow, as well.
And then there’s Jalen’s mentality: “You either win or you learn.”
Just a special young man.
EEAaO is tempting but I’ll leave it aside for now in case of recency bias and go with Crows Zero.