UPDATE: Notable omissions from the NYT’s Top 100 include “The 25th Hour,” “4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days,” “The New World,” “A.I.” “Talk to Her,” “Dogville,” “Margaret,” “Uncle Boonmee,” “Holy Motors,” “Son of Saul,” “La La Land,” “Dunkirk,” “Burning,” “Cache,” “The Power of the Dog,” and “A History of Violence.”
Do I think Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite” is the best film of the last 25 years? Not quite. It’s a great film — sharp, stylish, and timely — but let’s not pretend the last two decades didn’t give us plenty of other masterpieces.
There are certainly some films placed higher than they should, purely due to topical resonance, and you can guess which ones they are. Otherwise, it’s a good list, filled with worthy arthouse and mainstream titles.
ORIGINAL: The New York Times has decided to conduct a massive poll of “directors, actors, and notable Hollywood names” to come up with the 100 Best Films of the 21st Century. Today, they’ve announced the Top 20 films.
01. Parasite (Bong Joon Ho)
02. Mulholland Drive (David Lynch)
03. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson)
04. In the Mood For Love (Wong Kar Wai)
05. Moonlight (Barry Jenkins)
06. No Country For Old Men (Joel & Ethan Coen)
07. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry)
08. Get Out (Jordan Peele)
09. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki)
10. The Social Network (David Fincher)
11. Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller)
12. The Zone of Interest (Jonathan Glazer)
13. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron)
14. Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
15. City of God (Fernando Mereilles)
16. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee)
17. Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee)
18. Y Tu Mama Tambien (Alfonso Cuaron)
19. Zodiac (David Fincher)
20. The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese)
21. The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson)
22. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)
23. Boyhood (Richard Linklater)
24. Her (Spike Jonze)
25. Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson)
26. Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet)
27. Adaptation (Spike Jonze)
28. The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan)
29. Arrival (Denis Villeneuve)
30. Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola)
31. The Departed (Martin Scorsese)
32. Bridesmaids (Paul Feig)
33. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi)
34. WALL-E Andrew Stanton)
35. A Prophet (Jacques Audiard)
36. A Serious Man (Joel & Ethan Coen)
37. Call Me By Your Name (Luca Guadagnino)
38. Portrait of A Lady on Fire (Celine Sciamma)
39. Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig)
40. Yi Yi (Edward Yang)
41. Amelie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
42. The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson)
43. Oldboy (Park Chan Wook)
44. Once Upon A Time in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino)
45. Moneyball (Bennett Miller)
46. ROMA (Alfonso Cuaron)
47. Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe)
48. The Lives of Others (Florian Donnersmarck)
49. Before Sunset (Richard Linklater)
50. Up! (Pete Docter)
51. 12 Years A Slave (Steve McQueen)
52. The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos)
53. Borat (Larry Charles)
54. Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo Del Toro)
55. Inception (Christopher Nolan)
56. Punch-Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Anderson)
57. Best in Show (Christopher Guest)
58. Uncut Gems (Josh and Benny Safdie)
59. Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade)
60. Whiplash (Damien Chazelle)
61. Kill Bill Vol. 1 (Quentin Tarantino)
62. Memento (Christopher Nolan)
63. Little Miss Sunshine (Dayton & Faris)
64. Gone Girl (David Fincher)
65. Oppenheimer (Christopher Nolan)
66. Spotlight (Tom McCarthy)
67. TAR (Todd Field)
68. The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow)
69. Under The Skin (Jonathan Glazer)
70. Let The Right One In (Tomas Alfredson)
71. Ocean’s Eleven (Steven Soderbergh)
72. Carol (Todd Haynes)
73. Ratatouille (Brad Bird)
74. The Florida Project (Sean Baker)
75. Amour (Michael Haneke)
76. O Brother Where Art Thou (Joel & Ethan Coen)
77. Everything Everywhere All At Once (The Daniels)
78. Aftersun (Charlotte Wells)
79. Tree of Life (Terrence Malick)
80. Volver (Pedro Almodovar)
81. Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky)
82. The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer)
83. Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel & Ethan Coen)
84. Melancholia (Lars Von Trier)
85. Anchorman (Adam McKay)
86. Past Lives (Celine Song)
87. The Fellowship of the Ring (Peter Jackson)
88. The Gleaners and I (Agnes Varda)
89. Interstellar (Christopher Nolan)
90. Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach)
91. Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold)
92. Gladiator (Ridley Scott)
93. Michael Clayton (Tony Gilroy)
94. Minority Report (Steven Spielberg)
95. The Worst Person in the World (Joachim Trier)
96. Black Panther (Ryan Coogler)
97. Gravity (Alfonso Cuaron)
98. Grizzly Man (Werner Herzog)
99. Memories of A Murder (Bong Joon-ho)
100. Superbad (Greg Motolla)
Nolan leads the pack with 5 films in the top 100, follow by Cuarón (4), Coen (4), PTA (4), Tarantino (3), and Fincher (3).
Some of the submitted lists published include Edgar Wright, Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie, Pedro Almodovar, Bong Joon Ho, Sofia Coppola, Robert Eggers, Luca Guadagnino, Barry Jenkins, Sean Baker, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Lee Chang-dong, Cristian Mungiu, and Joachim Trier.
Still no distributor for "Bucking Fastard," "Alpha Gang," "The Last Photograph," "Closing Night," and "The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd." The issue seems to be quality more than a lack of willingness to buy.