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  The 21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films Ranking (151-200)  
  21st Century Home  Summary:  The 250 Films  The Top 50 Directors  Browse by Ranking:  1-50  51-100  101-150  151-200  201-250  Previous Titles  
     
     
 
151 152 153
Black Book
Paul Verhoeven  (140)
• Zwartboek (original title)
2006, 146m, Col, Germany-Netherlands-UK-Belgium, War-Thriller
Carice van Houten, Sebastian Koch, Thom Hoffman, Halina Reijn, Waldemar Kobus, Derek de Lint, Christian Berkel, Dolf De Vries, Peter Blok, Michiel Huisman
"Like much of Verhoeven's best work, it's shamelessly melodramatic, but in its dark moral complexities it puts Schindler's List to shame." - Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Selected by Leonardo Garcia-Tsao, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Kent Jones, Dennis Lim, Tom Charity.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
Distant
Nuri Bilge Ceylan  (176)
• Uzak (original title)
2002, 110m, Col, Turkey-Netherlands, Drama
Muzaffer Ozdemir, Emin Toprak, Zuhal Gencer, Nazan Kirilmis, Feridun Koc, Fatma Ceylan, Arif Asci, Nazli Aydin, Ahmet Bugay, Ebru Ceylan
"The compositions are masterful, especially the snow-covered scenes in Istanbul and, most memorably, the spectacle of an overturned ship in the wintry harbor." - Desson Thomson, Washington Post
Selected by Jonathan Romney, Leonardo Garcia-Tsao, Michel Ciment, Jia Zhangke, Nick James.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
Volver
Pedro Almodóvar  (144)
2006, 121m, Col, Spain, Comedy-Drama
Penelope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Duenas, Yohana Cobo, Chus Lampreave, Antonio de La Torre, Carlos Blanco, Maria Isabel Diaz, Neus Sanz, Blanca Portillo
"Almodóvar is still one of the few directors worth watching just for how he uses color on the screen. But the pleasures have always run much deeper, and now they run deeper still." - Keith Phipps, The Onion A.V. Club
Selected by David Ansen, Molly Haskell, Stephen Holden, A.O. Scott, Peter Travers.
Amazon  Metacritic
         

         
154 155 156
Half Nelson
Ryan Fleck  (145)
2006, 106m, Col, USA, Drama
Ryan Gosling, Shareeka Epps, Anthony Mackie, Jeff Lima, Nathan Corbett, Tyra Kwao-Vovo, Rosemary Ledee, Tristan Wilds, Bryce Silver, Monique Gabriela Curnen
"It's a complex and defiant fable of American life run just slightly off the rails, delivering all the impact of Crash without the phony-baloney paradoxes or brick-in-the-face message delivery." - Andrew O'Hehir, Salon
Selected by David Ansen, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Scott Tobias, Andrew O'Hehir, Robert Horton.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
What Time is it There?
Tsai Ming-liang  (146)
• Ni na bian ji dian (original title)
2001, 116m, Col, France-Taiwan-Italy, Drama
Kang-Sheng Lee, Shiang-chyi Chen, Yi-Chung Lu, Tien Miao, Cecilia Yip, Chao-Jung Chen, Guei Tsai, Arthur Nauzyciel, David Ganansia, Jean-Pierre Leaud
"This wonderful, one-of-a-kind movie hops from Taiwan to France, from tragedy to deadpan comedy and, in its mysterious conclusion, from the worldly to the otherworldly." - David Ansen, Newsweek
Selected by David Sterritt, Chris Fujiwara, Michael Atkinson, J. Hoberman, Elvis Mitchell.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
Once
John Carney (152)
2007, 87m, Col, Ireland-USA, Drama-Musical-Romance
Glen Hansard, Marketa Irglova, Hugh Walsh, Gerry Hendrick, Alastair Foley, Geoff Minogue, Bill Hodnett, Danuse Ktrestova, Darren Healy, Mal Whyte
"The music is so rich and completely satisfying and the characters so appealing Once makes us believe that this is all happening right in front of our eyes." - Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
Selected by Tom Charity, Michael Atkinson, Aaron Hillis, Thomas Doherty, Stephen Garrett.
Amazon  Metacritic
         
         
 
         
         
157 158 159
Certified Copy
Abbas Kiarostami  new  
Copie conforme (original title)
2009, 106m, Col, France-Italy-Belgium, Drama
Juliette Binoche, William Shimell, Jean-Claude Carriere, Agathe Natanson, Gianna Giachetti, Adrian Moore, Angelo Barbagallo, Andrea Laurenzi, Filippo Troiano, Manuela Balsimelli
"The Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami's delicious brain tickler, Certified Copy, is an endless hall of mirrors whose reflections multiply as its story of a middle-aged couple driving through Tuscany carries them into a metaphysical labyrinth." - Stephen Holden, The New York Times
Selected by David Denby, Richard Brody, Noel Murray, Scott Tobias, Michael Phillips.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
Carlos
Olivier Assayas  (155)
2010, 333m, Col, France-Germany-Belgium, Biography-Crime-Drama
Edgar Ramirez, Alexander Scheer, Alejandro Arroyo, Ahmad Kaabour, Talal El-Jordi, Juana Acosta, Nora von Waldstatten, Christoph Bach, Rodney El Haddad, Julia Hummer
"Part of the accomplishment of Carlos is the sheer accumulation of detail the movie amasses, and the longer running time gives you a deeper sense of the terrorist lifestyle, and when and why Ilich gradually succumbed to ego and self-glorification without realizing it." - Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald
Selected by David Ansen, Glenn Kenny, J. Hoberman, Todd McCarthy, Andrew O'Hehir.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
Capote
Bennett Miller  (149)
2005, 98m, Col, USA, Drama-Biography
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Clifton Collins Jr., Chris Cooper, Bruce Greenwood, Bob Balaban, Amy Ryan, Mark Pellegrino, Marshall Bell, Bess Meyer
"The genius of the film, besides Hoffman's stunning performance, is that it knows exactly how much is enough. It never overplays, lingers or punches up." - Stephen Hunter, Washington Post
Selected by Peter Keough, Carrie Rickey, Molly Haskell, David Ansen, Tom Charity.
Amazon  Metacritic
         

         
160 161 162
Café Lumičre
Hou Hsiao-hsien  (150)
• Kôhî jikô (original title)
2003, 108m, Col, Japan-Taiwan, Drama
Yo Hitoto, Tadanobu Asano, Masato Hagiwara, Kimiko Yo, Nenji Kobayashi
"Hou's best film since The Puppetmaster (1993). It's also his most minimalist effort to date, slow to reveal its depths and beauties, and it marks a rejuvenation of his art." - Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Selected by Raymond Bellour, Tony Rayns, Piers Handling, Gavin Smith, John Anderson.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
Fahrenheit 9/11
Michael Moore  (167)
2004, 122m, Col, USA, Documentary-War
Michael Moore, George W. Bush, Craig Unger, Jack Cloonan, James Moore, Dan Briody, Rosemary Dillard, Martha Brill Olcott, Jim McDermott, Roy Gladding
"Michael Moore in Fahrenheit 9/11 has launched an unapologetic attack, both savage and savvy, on an administration he feels has betrayed the best of America and done extensive damage in the world." - Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
Selected by Joseph McBride, David Ehrenstein, David Sterritt, Kenneth Turan, A.O. Scott.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
The Host
Bong Joon-ho  (151)
• Gwoemul (original title)
2006, 119m, Col, South Korea-Japan, Action-Comedy-Horror
Kang-ho Song, Byeon Hie-bong, Hae-il Park, Du-na Bae, Ah-sung Ko, Dal-su Oh, Jae-eung Lee, Dong-ho Lee, Je-moon Yoon, Pil-Sung Yim
"The mix of dark humor, creeping suspense, and a sort of apocalyptic tenderness makes this the best horror flick in years." - J.R. Jones, Chicago Reader
Selected by Quentin Tarantino, Charles Tesson, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Aaron Hillis, Dana Stevens.
Amazon  Metacritic
         

         
163 164 165
The Triplets of Belleville
Sylvain Chomet  (159)
• Les Triplettes de Belleville (original title)
2003, 80m, Col, France-Canada-Belgium-UK, Comedy-Animated-Adventure
Jean-Claude Donda, Dirk Denoyelle, Monica Viegas, Michele Caucheteaux, Michel Robin, Graziela de Vila, Noel Baye, Suzy Falk, Nicole Shirer, Germaine Charest
"A madcap milestone. Not since Disney's 75-minute Alice In Wonderland (1951) has an animator filled the screen with dazzling flights of random invention that manage to hook up into a swift, brief narrative." - Michael Sragow, Baltimore Sun
Selected by Michael Atkinson, David Sterritt, Gerald Peary, Peter Rainer, A.O. Scott.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
In the City of Sylvia
José Luis Guerín  (153)
• En la ciudad de Sylvia (original title)
2007, 84m, Col, Spain, Drama
Pilar Lopez de Ayala, Xavier Lafitte, Michael Balerdi, Laurence Cordier, Tanja Czichy, Gladys Deussner, Eric Dietrich, Charlotte Dupont, Philippe Ohrel
"The film is built on sensuous interplays between people and objects, reality and representation, implying something profound is at risk here, and the simultaneous thrill and danger of every scene nearly stops the heart." - Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
Selected by John Anderson, Gerald Peary, Tom Charity, David Sterritt, Ed Gonzalez.
Amazon  Slant Magazine
 
24 Hour Party People
Michael Winterbottom  (210)
2001, 115m, Col, UK, Drama-Comedy
Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Ron Cook, Keith Allen, Chris Coghill, Paddy Considine, Dave Gorman, Sean Harris, Shirley Henderson, Andy Serkis
"The film is a whirlwind blur, a kinetic thrill ride through the industrial backwater that was one of punk and post-punk's most fertile Promised Lands: Manchester." - Robert Wilonsky, New Times L.A.
Selected by Gerald Peary, David Sterritt, Ella Taylor, Elvis Mitchell, Steven Rea.
Amazon  Metacritic
         

         
166 167 168
Take Shelter
Jeff Nichols  new  
2011, 120m, Col, USA, Drama-Thriller
Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, Tova Stewart, Shea Wigham, Katy Mixon, Natasha Randall, Ron Kennard, Scott Knisley, Robert Longstreet, Heather Caldwell
"Nichols has said that the idea for the film emerged from a free-floating anxiety that he sensed in the world at large, the feeling that everything we treasure in life could be lost in an instant. That sensation permeates this strikingly original movie - especially its enigmatic mind-fuck of a finale, which will haunt you for several lifetimes." - Keith Uhlich, Time Out New York
Selected by Anne Thompson, Roger Ebert, Ann Hornaday, Steven Rea, Andrew O'Hehir.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
Gangs of New York
Martin Scorsese  (154)
2002, 166m, Col, USA, Drama-Crime-Action
Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, Cameron Diaz, Jim Broadbent, John C. Reilly, Henry Thomas, Brendan Gleeson, Gary [2] Lewis, Alec McCowen, David Hemmings
"A grand achievement in history and anthropology, supporting its ambition and scope with a sumptuous re-creation of the period and an immediacy that allows a forgotten past to barrel into the present." - Scott Tobias, The Onion
Selected by Jonathan Romney, Carrie Rickey, Kent Jones, Stephen Holden, F.X. Feeney.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
A Prophet
Jacques Audiard  (164)
• Un Prophčte (original title)
2009, 155m, Col, France-Italy, Drama-Crime
Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup, Adel Bencherif, Hichem Yacoubi, Reda Kateb, Jean-Philippe Ricci, Gilles Cohen, Antoine Basler, Leila Bekhti, Pierre Leccia
"There's also no romanticizing on the part of the director, who proceeds with calm, unshowy attentiveness (even in the midst of scenes of violence), creating a stunning portrait of an innately smart survivor for whom prison turns out to be a twisted opportunity for self-definition." - Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
Selected by Anthony Lane, David Ansen, Michael Atkinson, Philip French, Todd McCarthy.
Amazon  Metacritic
         

         
169 170 171
To Be and to Have
Nicolas Philibert  (171)
• Ętre et avoir (original title)
2002, 104m, Col, France, Documentary
Georges Lopez, Alize, Axel, Guillaume, Jessie, Johann, JoJo, Julien, Laura, Letitia
"A deceptively simple French film about teaching that keeps enlarging as you watch it, becoming beautiful and inspiring in a way most films never touch." - Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
Selected by Chris Fujiwara, Peter Rainer, Alice Lovejoy, Wesley Morris, Stephanie Zacharek.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
George Washington
David Gordon Green  (156)
2000, 89m, Col, USA, Drama
Candice Evanofski, Donald Holden, Damian Jewan Lee, Curtis Cotton III, Rachael Handy, Paul Schneider, Eddie Rouse, Janet Taylor, Derricka Rolle, Ebony Jones
"Like Malick's Days of Heaven, it is not about plot, but about memory and regret. It remembers a summer that was not a happy summer, but there will never again be a summer so intensely felt, so alive, so valuable." - Roger Ebert, Chicago-Sun-Times
Selected by Jeanine Basinger, Armond White, Roger Ebert, Jonathan Rosenbaum, David Sterritt.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
Kill Bill Vol. 2
Quentin Tarantino  (158)
2004, 136m, Col-BW, USA-China, Thriller-Drama-Action
Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Daryl Hannah, Michael Madsen, Chia Hui Liu, Michael Parks, Larry Bishop, Sid Haig, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeannie Epper
"This installment delivers more of the pleasures that made Tarantino the wunderkind of 90s cinema: offbeat scumbag characters, narrative sleight of hand, an extraordinary visual sense, and affectionate genre pillaging." - J.R. Jones, Chicago Reader
Selected by Arnaud Desplechin, Ty Burr, Roger Ebert, Manohla Dargis, Scott Foundas.
Amazon  Metacritic
         

         
172 173 174
25th Hour
Spike Lee  (157)
2002, 134m, Col, USA, Drama-Crime
Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Barry Pepper, Rosario Dawson, Anna Paquin, Brian Cox, Tony Siragusa, Levani, Misha Kuznetsov, Isiah Whitlock Jr.
"The film persuades us to think long and hard about what prison means, and Lee has shaped it like a poem that builds into an epic lament, especially in a beautiful and tragic closing that risks absurdity to achieve the sublime." - Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Selected by A.O. Scott, David Sterritt, Roger Ebert, Ty Burr, F.X. Feeney.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
Inception
Christopher Nolan  (161)
2010, 148m, Col, USA-UK, Action-Mystery-Science Fiction
Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Michael Caine, Dileep Rao
"A tremendously exciting science-fiction thriller that's as disturbing as it sounds. This is a popular entertainment with a knockout punch so intense and unnerving it'll have you worrying if it's safe to close your eyes at night." - Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
Selected by Philip French, Ann Hornaday, Claudia Puig, James Berardinelli, Keith Phipps.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
Drive
Nicolas Winding Refn  new  
2011, 100m, Col, USA, Crime-Drama-Thriller
Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, Oscar Isaac, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman, Kaden Leos, Jeff Wolfe, James Biberi
"Few actors working today could make emotional sense of such a protean character, but Ryan Gosling does so with calm authority. He's a formidable presence in a film that grabs your gaze and won't let go except for moments when you can't help but look away." - Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal
Selected by Marshall Fine, Stephanie Zacharek, Scott Tobias, Wesley Morris, Richard Roeper.
Amazon  Metacritic
         

         
175 176 177
I'm Going Home
Manoel de Oliveira  (160)
• Je rentre ŕ la maison (original title)
2000, 89m, Col, Portugal-France, Drama-Comedy
Michel Piccoli, Catherine Deneuve, John Malkovich, Antoine Chappey, Leonor Baldaque, Leonor Silveira, Ricardo Trepa, Jean-Michel Arnold, Adrian de Van, Sylvie Testud
"Piccoli gives one of the most nuanced performances of his distinguished career, but the primary star of the movie is de Oliveira, who unfolds the story with unfailing skill and sensitivity." - David Sterritt, Christian Science Monitor
Selected by Suzanne Liandrat-Guigues, Manohla Dargis, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Peter Keough, Kent Jones.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
Notre musique
Jean-Luc Godard  (163)
2004, 80m, Col, France-Switzerland, Drama
Sarah Adler, Nade Dieu, Rony Kramer, Simon Eine, Jean-Christophe Bouvet, George Aguilar, Ferlyn Brass, Leticia Gutierrez, Jean-Luc Godard, Elma Dzanic
"Visually sublime and intellectually dense, this is one of the extremely rare movies that prove cinema can be as complex and profound as the very greatest art works in any form." - David Sterritt, Christian Science Monitor
Selected by Peter von Bagh, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Tom Gunning, Gerald Peary, Chris Fujiwara
Amazon  Metacritic
 
Wonder Boys
Curtis Hanson  (165)
2000, 112m, Col, USA-Germany-UK-Japan, Drama-Comedy
Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Frances McDormand, Robert Downey Jr., Katie Holmes, Rip Torn, Richard Knox, Jane Adams, Michael Cavadias, Philip Bosco
"Michael Douglas digs deep and delivers one of his best performances in Wonder Boys -- a comic dazzler of roguish wit and touching gravity that is driven by characters, not jokes." - Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Selected by Dave Kehr, Roger Ebert, David Ansen, Amy Taubin, Michael Atkinson.
Amazon  Metacritic
         

         
178 179 180
Ten
Abbas Kiarostami  (166)
• 10 (alternative spelling)
2002, 92m, Col, France-Iran, Drama
Mania Akbari, Amin Maher, Roya Arabshahi, Katayoun Taleidzadeh, Mandana Sharbaf, Armene Moradi
"The film offers a fascinating glimpse of the Iranian urban middle class, and though it eschews most of the pleasures of composition and landscape found in other Kiarostami films, it's never less than riveting." - Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Selected by Catherine Breillat, Stig Bjorkman, Geoff Andrew, Peter von Bagh, Michael Atkinson.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Julian Schnabel  (175)
• Le Scaphandre et le papillon (original title)
2007, 112m, Col, France-USA, Biography-Drama
Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josee Croze, Anne Consigny, Patrick Chesnais, Niels Arestrup, Olatz Lopez Garmendia, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Marina Hands, Max von Sydow
"It is wonderful: a rhapsodic adaptation of a memoir, a visual marvel that wraps its subject in screen romanticism without romanticizing his affliction. It left me feeling euphoric." - Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
Selected by David Denby, Peter Keough, Stephen Garrett, Sam Adams, Peter Debruge.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
Moneyball
Bennett Miller  new  
2011, 133m, Col, USA, Biography-Drama-Sports
Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright, Chris Pratt, Stephen Bishop, Brent Jennings, Ken Medlock, Tammy Blanchard, Jack McGee
"The movie is an absolute triumph of culturally relevant filmmaking – a film that will thrill and fascinate sport junkies and non-fans alike. If you like baseball, you will love this movie. If you hate baseball, you will still love this movie." - Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald
Selected by Ty Burr, Marshall Fine, Ann Hornaday, Lisa Schwarzbaum, Lou Lumenick.
Amazon  Metacritic
         

         
181 182 183
Man on Wire
James Marsh  (192)
2007, 94m, Col, UK, Documentary
Philippe Petit, Jean-Francois Heckel, Jean-Louis Blondeau, Annie Allix, David 'Donald' Foreman, Alan Welner, Mark Lewis, N. Barry Greenhouse, Jim Moore, Guy Tozzoli
"An engrossing study in abnormal psychology, an inspirational drama that tells us a determined man really can do anything his mind can envision." - William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Selected by Ty Burr, Phillip Lopate, David Fear, Jason Anderson, Chuck Wilson.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
Spider
David Cronenberg  (168)
2002, 98m, Col, Canada-UK-Japan-France, Thriller-Drama
Ralph Fiennes, Miranda Richardson, Gabriel Byrne, John Neville, Bradley Hall, Lynn Redgrave, Gary Reineke, Philip Craig, Cliff Saunders, Tara Ellis
"Deliciously wicked, strangely poetic portrait (adapted by Patrick McGrath from his own novel) of a schizophrenic man at once tyrannized and elevated by oedipal terrors." - Ella Taylor, LA Weekly
Selected by Nick James, Jason Anderson, Glenn Kenny, Graham Fuller, Chris Fujiwara.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
In the Loop
Armando Iannucci  (204)
2009, 106m, Col, UK-Cayman Islands, Comedy
Peter Capaldi, Tom Hollander, Gina McKee, James Gandolfini, Chris Addison, Anna Chlumsky, Paul Higgins, Mimi Kennedy, Alex Macqueen, Olivia Poulet
"Zooming back and forth between London and D.C., In the Loop hasn't any real plot -- it plays like a rather brilliant Brit-com stretched over 100 minutes, a collection of anecdotes and incidents." - Robert Wilonsky, LA Weekly
Selected by Phillip Lopate, David Ansen, Michael Phillips, Keith Phipps, Nathan Rabin.
Amazon  Metacritic
         

         
184 185 186
Ŕ ma soeur!
Catherine Breillat  (169)
• Fat Girl (English title)
2001, 86m, Col, France-Italy, Drama
Anais Reboux, Roxane Mesquida, Libero De Rienzo, Arsinee Khanjian, Romain Goupil, Laura Betti, Albert Goldberg, Odette Barriere, Anne Matthijsse, Pierre Renverseau
"As fascinating as it is discomfiting and as intelligent as it is primal. From first shot to last, France's foremost bad girl has made an extremely good movie -- and maybe even a great one." - J. Hoberman, Village Voice
Selected by Amy Taubin, B. Ruby Rich, J. Hoberman, Michael Atkinson, David Ansen.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
Spellbound
Jeffrey Blitz  (183)
2002, 96m, Col, USA, Documentary
Angela Arenivar, Nupur Lala, Ted Brigham, Emily Stagg, Ashley White, Neil Kadakia, April DeGideo, Harry Altman, Paige Kimble, Dr. Alex J. Cameron
"At its most unsettling level, Spellbound asks us to consider what words are for and what childhood should be. It's as profound as anything you'll see this year, and, yes, it should have won the Oscar." - Ty Burr, Boston Globe
Selected by Ty Burr, A.O. Scott, Wesley Morris, Stephanie Zacharek, Charles Taylor.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
Demonlover
Olivier Assayas  (170)
2002, 129m, Col, France-Japan-Mexico-USA, Thriller-Drama-Mystery
Connie Nielsen, Charles Berling, Chloe Sevigny, Gina Gershon, Jean-Baptiste Malartre, Dominique Reymond, Edwin Gerard, Thomas M. Pollard, Abi Sakamoto, Naoko Yamazaki
"It's an exasperating, irresistible, must-see mess of a movie about life in the modern world and so very good that even when its story finally crashes and burns the filmmaking remains unscathed." - Manohla Dargis, Los Angeles Times
Selected by Jean-Michel Frodon, Sukhdev Sandhu, Jonathan Romney, Maitland McDonagh, Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
Amazon  Metacritic
         

         
187 188 189
Eureka
Shinji Aoyama  (172)
• Yurîka (original title)
2000, 217m, Col-BW, Japan-France, Drama
Koji Yakusho, Aoi Miyazaki, Masaru Miyazaki, Sayuri Kokusho, Yohichiroh Saitoh, Go Riju, Yutaka Matsuhige, Sansei Shiomi, Kimie Shingyoji, Ken Mitsuishi
"Builds steadily through a series of masterfully orchestrated modulations to a final act without shattering revelations or lofty dramatic peaks but with a quiet, formidable power." - David Rooney, Variety
Selected by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Dave Kehr, David Sterritt, David Ansen, Jay Carr.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
Eastern Promises
David Cronenberg  (174)
2007, 100m, Col, UK-Canada-USA, Crime-Drama-Thriller
Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel, Josef Altin, Mina E. Mina, Aleksandar Mikic, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Sinead Cusack, Donald Sumpter, Jerzy Skolimowski
"A rhapsodic movie directed with considerable formal intelligence and brooding power from an original screenplay by Steve Knight, Eastern Promises is very much a companion to A History of Violence." - J. Hoberman, Village Voice
Selected by Peter Keough, Berenice Reynaud, Stephen Garrett, Robert Horton, Kristin M. Jones.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
Last Days
Gus Van Sant  (173)
2004, 96m, Col, USA, Drama
Michael Pitt, Lukas Haas, Asia Argento, Scott Green, Nicole Vicius, Ricky Jay, Ryan Orion, Harmony Korine, Kim Gordon, Rodrigo Lopresti
"What Last Days offers is a blank and narrative-free, but pitch-perfect, dreamscape on which to project your own personal ruminations on Kurt, fame, whatever, nevermind. If you have none, you're on your own." - Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times
Selected by Arnaud Desplechin, Dennis Lim, Ed Halter, Phillip Lopate, Ed Park.
Amazon  Metacritic
         

         
190 191 192
Milk
Gus Van Sant  (182)
2008, 128m, Col, USA, Biography-Drama
Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna, James Franco, Alison Pill, Victor Garber, Denis O'Hare, Joseph Cross, Stephen Spinella
"What makes Milk extraordinary isn't just that it's a nuanced, stirring portrait of one of the 20th century's most pivotal figures, but that it's also a nuanced, stirring portrait of the thousands of people he energized." - Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
Selected by Frank Darabont, Amy Taubin, Gerald Peary, David Sterritt, Matt Singer.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
True Grit
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen  (187)
2010, 110m, Col, USA, Adventure-Drama-Western
Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Barry Pepper, Dakin Matthews, Jarlath Conroy, Paul Rae, Domhnall Gleeson, Elizabeth Marvel
"In some ways, much like Charles Laughton's Night of the Hunter, which the Coens quote both musically and visually, True Grit is a parable about good and evil. Only here, the lines between the two are so blurred as to be indistinguishable, making this a true picture of how the West was won, or - depending on your view - lost." - Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
Selected by Michael Sragow, Ty Burr, Anne Thompson, Keith Phipps, Kirk Honeycutt.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
Ratatouille
Brad Bird  (178)
2007, 111m, Col, USA, Animated-Comedy-Family
Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, Lou Romano, Brian Dennehy, Peter Sohn, Peter O'Toole, Brad Garrett, Janeane Garofalo, Will Arnett, Julius Callahan
"If there is a genius working in Hollywood today, it's animation director Brad Bird, who tops the delightful The Incredibles with arguably the finest 'toon in the Pixar canon, Ratatouille." - Lou Lumenick, New York Post
Selected by Frank Darabont, Philip French, David Denby, Peter Keough, Matt Zoller Seitz.
Amazon  Metacritic
         
         
 
         
         
193 194 195
In America
Jim Sheridan  (179)
2003, 105m, Col, USA-Ireland-UK, Drama
Samantha Morton, Paddy Considine, Djimon Hounsou, Sarah Bolger, Emma Bolger, Neal Jones, Randall Carlton, Ciaran Cronin, Juan Hernandez, Nye Heron
"In America is not unsentimental about its new arrivals (the movie has a warm heart and frankly wants to move us), but it is perceptive about the countless ways in which it is hard to be poor and a stranger in a new land." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Selected by Michael Sragow, J. Hoberman, Michael Wilmington, Roger Ebert, David Ansen.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
Up in the Air
Jason Reitman  (189)
2009, 109m, Col, USA, Comedy-Drama-Romance
George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Amy Morton, Melanie Lynskey, J.K. Simmons, Sam Elliott, Danny McBride, Zach Galifianakis
"Up in the Air is light and dark, hilarious and tragic, romantic and real. It's everything that Hollywood has forgotten how to do; we're blessed that Jason Reitman has remembered." - Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
Selected by Kenneth Turan, Owen Gleiberman, David Denby, David Ansen, John Powers.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
Songs from the Second Floor
Roy Andersson  (177)
• Sĺnger frĺn andra vĺningen (original title)
2000, 98m, Col, Sweden-France-Denmark-Norway-Germany, Drama
Lars Nordh, Stefan Larsson, Hanna Eriksson, Bengt C.W. Carlsson, Torbjorn Fahlstrom, Sten Andersson, Rolando Nunez, Lucio Vucina, Peter Roth, Klas-Gosta Olsson
"A brilliant, absurd collection of vignettes that, in their own idiosyncratic way, sum up the strange horror of life in the new millennium." - Marc Caro, Chicago Tribune
Selected by Michael Atkinson, Paolo Cherchi Usai, Mike D'Angelo, Gillies MacKinnon, Mike Leigh.
Amazon  Metacritic
         

         
196 197 198
127 Hours
Danny Boyle  (180)
2010, 94m, Col, USA-UK, Adventure-Biography-Drama
James Franco, Kate Mara, Amber Tamblyn, Sean Bott, Koleman Stinger, Treat Williams, John Lawrence, Kate Burton, Bailee Michelle Johnson, Rebecca C. Olson
"All of the key creative personnel contribute to the movie's nail-biting tension and unexpectedly moving finale. Jon Harris's editing is matchless, and Rahman's score effectively heightens the emotion. Ultimately, however, it is the talents of Boyle and Franco that sock this movie home." - Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
Selected by A.O. Scott, Owen Gleiberman, Ann Hornaday, Claudia Puig, F.X. Feeney.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
Chicago
Rob Marshall  (198)
2002, 113m, Col, USA-Germany, Musical-Crime-Comedy
Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, John C. Reilly, Lucy Liu, Christine Baranski, Taye Diggs, Colm Feore, Dominic West
"Isn't just the most explosively entertaining movie musical in a couple of decades. It's going to be the most influential: the one that inspires the rebirth of the Hollywood musical." - David Edelstein, Slate
Selected by Frank Darabont, Michael Sragow, Mick LaSalle, Ernest Hardy, Stephen Holden.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
Erin Brockovich
Steven Soderbergh  (181)
2000, 130m, Col, USA, Drama
Julia Roberts, Albert Finney, Aaron Eckhart, Marg Helgenberger, Cherry Jones, Peter Coyote, Veanne Cox, Conchata Ferrell, Scotty Leavenworth, Tracey Walter
"The kind of stand-up-and-cheer movie Hollywood is supposed to have forgotten how to make." - Lou Lumenick, New York Post
Selected by Frank Darabont, Kenneth Turan, Gavin Smith, David Ansen, Mike Clark.
Amazon  Metacritic
         

         
199 200   > 201-250
Inside Job
Charles Ferguson  (197)
2010, 120m, Col, USA, Documentary
Matt Damon (narrator), William Ackman, Daniel Alpert, Jonathan Alpert, Sigridur Benediktsdottir, Willem Buiter, John Campbell, Christine Lagarde, Dominique Strauss-Kahn
"Charles Ferguson's sophomore film Inside Job is the definitive screen investigation of the global economic crisis, providing hard evidence of flagrant amorality -- and of a new nonfiction master at work." - Rob Nelson, Variety
Selected by A.O. Scott, Carrie Rickey, David Denby, J. Hoberman, Michael Sragow.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone
Tsai Ming-liang  (184)
http://www.flagsofourfathers.com/
• Hei yan quan (original title)
2006, 115m, Col, Taiwan-France-Austria, Drama
Kang-Sheng Lee, Shiang-chyi Chen, Norman Atun, Pearlly Chua, Qu Xin, Soo-Suan Tan, Liew Lee-Lin, Leonard Tee, Samantha Tuh Su-Yee, Chiew Kok-Fai
"The movie is a block of paper that, when Tsai's finished with it, becomes a chain of snowflakes. Loneliness doesn't often get such a gorgeously ornate tribute." - Wesley Morris, The Boston Globe
Selected by Dennis Lim, Stig Bjorkman, Jia Zhangke, Piers Handling, Berenice Reynaud.
Amazon  Metacritic
 
 
     
     
     
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