The Top 50 Films Since 2000
The very best of the past 12 years.
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- DirectorDavid LynchStarsNaomi WattsLaura HarringJustin TherouxAfter a car wreck on Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesiac, she and a Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.David Lynch's magnum opus is a cinematic puzzle that is constantly missing pieces. It is a marvelous watch, full of allusions to films of years past and typical Lynchan absurdism. Mulholland Dr. is the kind of film one can watch over and over again and get nowhere in understanding it. But that is the beauty of it. It is a tightly wound Hitchcockian thriller cum Wilder noir masterpiece with a signature Lynch darkness. Beautiful in every way and fine in every aspect.
- DirectorJean-Pierre JeunetStarsAudrey TautouMathieu KassovitzRufusDespite being caught in her imaginative world, Amelie, a young waitress, decides to help people find happiness. Her quest to spread joy leads her on a journey where she finds true love.Following 9/11, Amélie was just the film that the US needed. Amélie is a 122-minute pick-me-up--a lovely little exercise in positivity. Bruce Delbonnel's gorgeous cinematography gives the film a wonderful green hue, while Audrey Tautou colors her character with her seductive smirk. Jean-Pierre Jeunet's deliberately overstated work here is light and friendly. And when a film includes quotes such as, "Without you, today's emotions would be the scurf of yesterday's," it's hard not to fall in love.
- DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsUma ThurmanDavid CarradineDaryl HannahAfter awakening from a four-year coma, a former assassin wreaks vengeance on the team of assassins who betrayed her.I would go so far as to say the Kill Bill films (I count them as one) are better than Pulp Fiction. Quentin Tarantino's poured himself into this one, and it certainly shows. There's a 100-second unbroken shot, there's a massacre that ends with 100 or so dead bodies, and there's not a single boring moment here. Tarantino's dialogue, as it always does, snaps and crackles perfectly in this one. But is really the action in Vol. 1 that does this film justice.
- DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsUma ThurmanDavid CarradineMichael MadsenThe Bride continues her quest of vengeance against her former boss and lover Bill, the reclusive bouncer Budd, and the treacherous, one-eyed Elle.For Vol. 2, Tarantino slowed the Bride's epic narrative down a lot, and probably for the better. Vol. 2 feels the perfect counterpart to its predecessor--it's stylish and yet still intelligent and competent as a standalone feature. Tarantino's screenplay and Uma Thurman's stunning performance carry would could have easily been a commonplace revenge flick to a new level.
- DirectorBaz LuhrmannStarsNicole KidmanEwan McGregorJohn LeguizamoA poor Bohemian poet in 1890s Paris falls for a beautiful courtesan and nightclub star coveted by a jealous duke.Moulin Rouge! is stunning. There's simply no other way to describe it. It's sensory overload from the very first second. The music numbers are dazzling (How could you forget "El Tango de Roxanne?"), and visual aspects of the film are too beautiful for words. It's never easy to tear your eyes away from a Luhrmann film, but he really has outdone himself here. It's gorgeous and entertaining, and yet still very moving and emotionally potent. I'm not one for movie musicals, but this never fails to entertain.
- DirectorTerrence MalickStarsBrad PittSean PennJessica ChastainThe story of a family in Waco, Texas in 1956. The eldest son witnesses the loss of innocence and struggles with his parents' conflicting teachings.I'm a believer in the idea that the flaws of a film only make a film better. I suppose that is especially true here with The Tree of Life. This is simply the most beautiful film in creation, and certainly one of the most ambitious movies ever made. The Tree of Life takes us from the beginning of time to the end of time and asks some important theological questions about life in the process, all in 139 minutes. To write about this film in a paragraph is an injustice. This is a film that has to be seen to be believed. Films like this almost never get made.
- DirectorChristopher NolanStarsChristian BaleHeath LedgerAaron EckhartWhen the menace known as the Joker wreaks havoc and chaos on the people of Gotham, Batman must accept one of the greatest psychological and physical tests of his ability to fight injustice.Unless you were living under a rock in 2008, you probably saw The Dark Knight. You probably fell in love with it just the way I did upon the first viewing. That said, what I never expected when I finished it was that this is a film that resonates far beyond a first viewing. Christopher Nolan has written and directed a compelling action, though it is not that which makes The Dark Knight a phenomenal film. It is actually the morality tale aspect of the film that makes it a modern classic. The Dark Knight revolutionized the superhero film in every way possible.
- DirectorChristopher NolanStarsGuy PearceCarrie-Anne MossJoe PantolianoA man with short-term memory loss attempts to track down his wife's murderer.
- DirectorPaul Thomas AndersonStarsDaniel Day-LewisPaul DanoCiarán HindsA story of family, religion, hatred, oil and madness, focusing on a turn-of-the-century prospector in the early days of the business.Paul Thomas Anderson's magnum opus is certainly There Will Be Blood. In a Kubrickian meditation told through slow, lengthy, and magnificent cinematography, Anderson explores an oil baron and an ambitious priest's conflicting interests at the turn of the century. That sounds simplistic, but the film is a layered, intense, and eerily quiet work from a true auteur. Cue the Brahms.
- DirectorFernando MeirellesKátia LundStarsAlexandre RodriguesLeandro FirminoMatheus NachtergaeleIn the slums of Rio, two kids' paths diverge as one struggles to become a photographer and the other a kingpin.
- DirectorPeter JacksonStarsElijah WoodViggo MortensenIan McKellenGandalf and Aragorn lead the World of Men against Sauron's army to draw his gaze from Frodo and Sam as they approach Mount Doom with the One Ring.
- DirectorPark Chan-wookStarsChoi Min-sikYoo Ji-taeKang Hye-jeongAfter being kidnapped and imprisoned for fifteen years, Oh Dae-Su is released, only to find that he must track down his captor in five days.
- DirectorKar-Wai WongStarsTony Leung Chiu-waiMaggie CheungSiu Ping-LamTwo neighbors form a strong bond after both suspect extramarital activities of their spouses. However, they agree to keep their bond platonic so as not to commit similar wrongs.
- DirectorMichel GondryStarsJim CarreyKate WinsletTom WilkinsonWhen their relationship turns sour, a couple undergoes a medical procedure to have each other erased from their memories forever.
- DirectorDarren AronofskyStarsEllen BurstynJared LetoJennifer ConnellyThe drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island people are shattered when their addictions run deep..
- DirectorPete DocterBob PetersonStarsEdward AsnerJordan NagaiJohn Ratzenberger78-year-old Carl Fredricksen travels to Paradise Falls in his house equipped with balloons, inadvertently taking a young stowaway.
- DirectorChristopher NolanStarsLeonardo DiCaprioJoseph Gordon-LevittElliot PageA thief who steals corporate secrets through the use of dream-sharing technology is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a C.E.O., but his tragic past may doom the project and his team to disaster.
- DirectorNeil MarshallStarsShauna MacdonaldNatalie MendozaAlex ReidA caving expedition goes horribly wrong, as the explorers become trapped and ultimately pursued by a strange breed of predators.
- DirectorWes AndersonStarsGene HackmanGwyneth PaltrowAnjelica HustonThe eccentric members of a dysfunctional family reluctantly gather under the same roof for various reasons.
- DirectorRob MarshallStarsRenée ZellwegerCatherine Zeta-JonesRichard GereTwo death-row murderesses develop a fierce rivalry while competing for publicity, celebrity, and a sleazy lawyer's attention.
- DirectorDavid FincherStarsJesse EisenbergAndrew GarfieldJustin TimberlakeAs Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg creates the social networking site that would become known as Facebook, he is sued by the twins who claimed he stole their idea and by the co-founder who was later squeezed out of the business.
- DirectorRichard KellyStarsJake GyllenhaalJena MaloneMary McDonnellAfter narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a man in a large rabbit suit who manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.
- DirectorGuillermo del ToroStarsIvana BaqueroAriadna GilSergi LópezIn the Falangist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.
- DirectorDarren AronofskyStarsNatalie PortmanMila KunisVincent CasselNina is a talented but unstable ballerina on the verge of stardom. Pushed to the breaking point by her artistic director and a seductive rival, Nina's grip on reality slips, plunging her into a waking nightmare.
- DirectorLars von TrierStarsKirsten DunstCharlotte GainsbourgKiefer SutherlandTwo sisters find their already strained relationship challenged as a mysterious new planet threatens to collide with Earth.