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  The 21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films Ranking (51-100)  
  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  
     
     
 
 51    52    53  
Elephant
Gus Van Sant  (90)
2003, 81m, Col, USA, Drama
Alex Frost, Eric Deulen, John (1) Robinson, Elias McConnell, Jordan Taylor, Carrie Finklea, Nicole George, Timothy Bottoms, Matt Malloy, Larry Laverty
"Calmly, almost serenely, Mr. Van Sant and his superb cinematographer, Harris Savides, reveal a vision of contemporary American youth quite unlike any other." - Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal
Selected by Tom Hanks, David Ehrenstein, Stig Bjorkman, Raymond Bellour, Michael Atkinson.
See also: 1,000 Greatest Films
Amazon  metacritic
 
Finding Nemo
Andrew Stanton & Lee Unkrich  (36)
2003, 100m, Col, USA, Family-Animated-Adventure
Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould, Willem Dafoe, Brad Garrett, Allison Janney, Austin Pendleton, Geoffrey Rush, Andrew Stanton, Elizabeth Perkins
"On a purely visual level, Finding Nemo is as gorgeous a film as Disney's ever put out, with astonishing qualities of light, movement, surface and color at the service of the best professional imaginations money can buy." - Hazel-Dawn Dumpert, LA Weekly
Selected by George Kuchar, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Frank Darabont, Michael Wilmington, A.O. Scott.
Amazon  metacritic
 
You Can Count on Me
Kenneth Lonergan  (27)
2000, 110m, Col, USA, Drama-Comedy
Laura Linney, Mark Ruffalo, Matthew Broderick, Jon Tenney, Rory Culkin, J. Smith Cameron, Josh Lucas, Gaby Hoffmann, Adam Lefevre, Kenneth Lonergan
"The best American movie of the year. Has a subtext so powerful that it reaches out and pulls you under. Even when the surface is tranquil, you know in your guts what's at stake." - David Edelstein, Slate
Selected by Gerald Peary, Robert Sklar, Roger Ebert, Andrew O'Hehir, David Edelstein.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 54    55    56  
Capturing the Friedmans
Andrew Jarecki  (42)
2003, 107m, Col, USA, Documentary-Crime
Arnold Friedman, Elaine Friedman, David Friedman, Seth Friedman, Jesse Friedman, Howard Friedman, John McDermott, Frances Galasso, Joseph Onorato, Anthony Sgueglia
"A compulsively watchable movie that's also a provocative inquiry into the ability of the criminal-justice system to determine culpability and truth." - David Sterritt, Christian Science Monitor
Selected by David Denby, Michael Atkinson, David Sterritt, Berenice Reynaud, Michael Sragow.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Tropical Malady
Apichatpong Weerasethakul  (57)
• Sud pralad (original title)
2004, 118m, Col, France-Thailand-Germany-Italy-Switzerland, Romance-Drama-Fantasy
Banlop Lomnoi, Sakda Kaewbuadee, Huai Dessom, Sirivech Jareonchon, Udom Promma
"Like Blissfully Yours and Apichatpong's first feature, the exquisite-corpse road movie Mysterious Object at Noon (2000), Tropical Malady promotes new ways of seeing." - Dennis Lim, Village Voice
Selected by Jean-Michel Frodon, Dudley Andrew, Tony Rayns, Mark Cousins, Piers Handling.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Dancer  in the Dark
Lars von Trier  (39)
2000, 140m, Col, Denmark-France-Sweden, Musical-Drama
Bjork, Catherine Deneuve, David Morse, Peter Stormare, Joel Grey, Vincent Paterson, Cara Seymour, Jean-Marc Barr, Vladica Kostic, Udo Kier
"I was astonished to find myself weeping copiously over von Trier's latest, which is another parable of monomaniacal sainthood." - Ella Taylor, LA Weekly
Selected by John Waters, Lizzie Francke, David Sterritt, Manohla Dargis, John Anderson.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 57    58    59  
L'Enfant
Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne  (80)
• The Child (English title)
2005, 95m, Col, Belgium-France, Drama
Jeremie Renier, Deborah Francois, Jeremie Segard, Fabrizio Rongione, Olivier Gourmet, Anne Gerard, Bernard Marbaix, Jean-Claude Boniverd, Stephane Bissot, Mireille Bailly
"For all its seeming simplicity, this is an emotionally and intellectually complex film that holds the viewer in a grip as tight as any classic thriller you can name." - Glenn Kenny, Premiere
Selected by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Sukhdev Sandhu, Tom Charity, Richard Brody, Ian Christie.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Russian Ark
Aleksandr Sokurov  (59)
• Russkiy kovcheg (original title)
2002, 96m, Col, Russia-Germany-Japan-Canada-Finland-Denmark, Fantasy-Drama
Sergei Dontsov, Mariya Kuznetsova, Leonid Mozgovoy, David Giorgobiani, Aleksandr Chaban, Maxim Sergeyev, Anna Aleksakhina, Natalia Nikulenko, Vladimir Baranov, Boris Smolkin
"High art, low comedy, hard labor and royal prerogative are here thrown together in an elegant unity, a breathtaking demonstration of Russian cinematic -- hence artistic -- brilliance." - Henry Sheehan, LA Weekly
Selected by Mark Cousins, Gilbert Adair, Lizzie Francke, Stuart Klawans, Vivian Sobchack.
Amazon  metacritic
 
The Gleaners & I
Agnès Varda  (66)
• Les Glaneurs et la glaneuse (original title)
2000, 82m, Col, France, Documentary
Bodan Litnanski, Peter Rnic, Agnès Varda, Francois Wertheimer
"A fascinating nonfiction voyage into rural and urban France, focusing on idiosyncratic individuals who live off things the rest of us throw away, from food to furniture." - David Sterritt, Christian Science Monitor
Selected by Todd McCarthy, Laurence Kardish, Peter Keough, Manohla Dargis, John Anderson.
See also: 1,000 Greatest Films
Amazon  metacritic
         
 60    61    62  
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Peter Jackson  (53)
2002, 179m, Col, USA-New Zealand-Germany, Fantasy-Adventure
Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, John Rhys-Davies, Christopher Lee, Cate Blanchett, Bernard Hill, Brad Dourif
"Moviegoers should be almost as entranced by the teeming, glorious landscapes and dark, bloody battlegrounds of Two Towers: astonishing midpoint of an epic movie fantasy journey for the ages." - Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
Selected by Ty Burr, Frank Darabont, Michael Wilmington, Peter Travers, A.O. Scott.
See also: 1,000 Greatest Films
Amazon  metacritic
 
Letters from Iwo Jima
Clint Eastwood  (63)
2006, 141m, Col, USA, Drama-Historical-War
Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryo Kase, Shido Nakamura, Hiroshi Watanabe, Takumi Bando, Yuki Matsuzaki, Takashi Yamaguchi, Eijiro Ozaki
"Eastwood's direction here is a thing of beauty, blending the ferocity of the classic films of Akira Kurosawa (Seven Samurai) with the delicacy and unblinking gaze of Yasujiro Ozu (Tokyo Story)." - Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Selected by Joseph McBride, Stig Bjorkman, David Ansen, Richard Schickel, Pierre Rissient.
Amazon  metacritic
 
The Pianist
Roman Polanski  (60)
2002, 148m, Col, France-Poland-Germany-UK-Netherlands, War-Drama
Adrien Brody, Emilia Fox, Michael Zebrowski, Ed Stoppard, Maureen Lipman, Frank Finlay, Jessica Kate Meyer, Julia Rayner, Wanja Mues, Richard Ridings
"A great movie on a powerful, essential subject -- the Holocaust years in Poland -- directed with such artistry and skill that, as we watch, the barriers of the screen seem to melt away." - Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
Selected by Jeanine Basinger, Michael Sragow, Peter Keough, Chris Fujiwara, Richard Schickel.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 63    64    65  
American Splendor
Robert Pulcini & Shari Springer Berman  (32)
2003, 101m, Col, USA, Drama
Paul Giamatti, Harry Davis, James Urbaniak, Chris Ambrose, Joey Krajcar, Josh Hutcherson, Harvey Pekar, Judah Friedlander, Joyce Brabner, Toby Radloff
"Sad, tender, wise and beautiful film... It's a profound tribute to lives lived on the fringes of society -- to the introspective loners who are the most observant chroniclers of our times." - Scott Foundas, Variety
Selected by Roger Ebert, John Anderson, J. Hoberman, Gerald Peary, Owen Gleiberman.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Kings & Queen
Arnaud Desplechin  (48)
• Rois et reine (original title)
2004, 152m, Col, France, Drama-Comedy
Emmanuelle Devos, Mathieu Amalric, Catherine Deneuve, Maurice Garrel, Natalie Boutefu, Jean-Paul Roussillon, Magali Woch, Hippolyte Girardot, Noemie Lvovsky, Elsa Wolliaston
"The film is a tower of literary and cinematic references, tangential yet somehow essential characters, and one fantastic performance after another. It's a simple movie yet is anything but." - Wesley Morris, Boston Globe
Selected by Stuart Klawans, Chris Chang, Gavin Smith, Chris Fujiwara, Dennis Lim.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Inglourious Basterds
Quentin Tarantino  new  
2009, 153m, Col, USA-Germany, Action-Drama-War
Brad Pitt, Melanie Laurent, Christoph Waltz, Eli Roth, Michael Fassbender, Diane Kruger, Daniel Bruhl, Til Schweiger, Gedeon Burkhard, Jacky Ido
"It's just possible that Tarantino, having played a trick on history, is also fooling his fans. They think they're in for a Hollywood-style war movie starring Brad Pitt. What they're really getting is the cagiest, craziest, grandest European film of the year." - Richard Corliss, Time
Selected by Michael Atkinson, Tom Charity, Glenn Kenny, Owen Gleiberman, Peter Keough.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 66    67    68  
The Lives of Others
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck  (127)
• Das Leben der Anderen (original title)
2006, 138m, Col, Germany, Drama
Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Muhe, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur, Thomas Thieme, Hans-Uwe Bauer, Volkmar Kleinert, Matthias Brenner, Charly Hubner, Herbert Knaup
"The easy, complacent distance that informs much historical filmmaking is almost entirely absent from this supremely intelligent, unfailingly honest movie." - A.O. Scott, The New York Times
Selected by Julian Fellowes, Andrew Sarris, Molly Haskell, Richard Schickel, David Denby.
See also: 1,000 Greatest Films
Amazon  metacritic
 
A Serious Man
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen   new  
2009, 105m, Col, USA-UK-France, Comedy-Drama
Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Fred Melamed, Sari Lennick, Aaron Wolff, Jessica McManus, Peter Breitmayer, Brent Braunschweig, David Kang, Benjy Portnoe
"A tart, brilliantly acted fable of life’s little cosmic difficulties, a Coen brothers comedy with a darker philosophical outlook than No Country for Old Men but with a script rich in verbal wit." - Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
Selected by Joseph McBride, Ty Burr, Gilberto Perez, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Glenn Kenny.
Amazon  metacritic
 
I'm Not There
Todd Haynes  (56)
2007, 135m, Col-BW, USA-Germany, Biography-Drama-Musical
Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Ben Whishaw, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Charlotte Gainsbourg, David Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Julianne Moore
"Haynes's picture may not be perfect -- hell, I'm not even sure that perfection is a state it even aspires to -- but it's bold and individualistic and accomplished." - Glenn Kenny, Premiere
Selected by David Ehrenstein, J. Hoberman, Kent Jones, David Fear, Steve Erickson.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 69    70    71  
Oldboy
Park Chan-wook  (75)
• Old Boy (alternative title)
2003, 120m, Col, Korea, Action-Mystery-Thriller
Min-Sik Choi, Ji-tae Yu, Hye-jeong Kang, Byeong-ok Kim, Dae-han Ji, Dal-su Oh, Seung-Shin Lee, Jin-seo Yun, Tae-kyung Oh, Yeon-suk Ahn
"The result is a powerfully visceral experience that justifies itself almost entirely on surface chops, with striking color composition and a complex sound design that elevates the story to an operatic scale." - Scott Tobias, The A.V. Club
Selected by Cameron Crowe, Louis Leterrier, Maitland McDonagh, Tom Gunning, Dave Kehr.
See also: 1,000 Greatest Films
Amazon  metacritic
 
The World
Jia Zhangke  (85)
• Shijie (original title)
2004, 140m, Col, China-Japan-France, Drama
Tao Zhao, Taisheng Chen, Jue Jing, Zhong-wei Jiang, Yi-qun Wang, Hong Wei Wang, Jing Dong Liang, Shuai Ji, Wan Xiang, Alla Shcherbakova
"The title of Jia Zhang-ke's 2004 masterpiece, The World -- a film that's hilarious and upsetting, epic and dystopian -- is an ironic pun and a metaphor." - Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Selected by Daryl Chin, A.O. Scott, Richard Brody, Michael Atkinson, Dudley Andrew.
Amazon  metacritic
 
A Christmas Tale
Arnaud Desplechin  (54)
• Un conte de Noël (original title)
2008, 150m, Col, France, Comedy-Drama
Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Paul Roussillon, Anne Consigny, Mathieu Amalric, Melvil Poupaud, Hippolyte Girardot, Emmanuelle Devos, Chiara Mastroianni, Laurent Capelluto, Emile Berling
"With at least nine primary characters and running two and a half hours, it's a big, fat novel of a movie - a domestic epic that fuses bitterness and forgiveness in completely satisfying ways." - Ty Burr, Boston Globe
Selected by Stig Bjorkman, Kent Jones, Graham Fuller, Berenice Reynaud, Tom Charity.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 72    73    74  
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Wes Anderson   new  
2009, 87m, Col, USA, Animated-Adventure-Comedy
George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Wallace Wolodarsky, Eric Chase Anderson, Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson, Jarvis Cocker
"Anderson has pulled off the most elusive of goals: He's made a nonchalant masterpiece, a movie that feels dog-eared and loved before it's even reached our hands." - Stephanie Zacharek, Salon
Selected by David Denby, Todd McCarthy, Carrie Rickey, Kent Jones, Owen Gleiberman.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Waking Life
Richard Linklater  (52)
2001, 100m, Col, USA, Fantasy-Animated
Trevor Jack Brooks, Lorelei Linklater, Wiley Wiggins, Glover Gill, Lara Hicks, Ames Asbell, Leigh Mahoney, Sara Nelson, Jeanine Attaway, Erik Grostic
"I have seen Waking Life three times now. I want to see it again -- not to master it, or even to remember it better, -- but simply to experience all of these ideas, all of this passion, the very act of trying to figure things out." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Selected by Roger Ebert, Gavin Smith, Dave Kehr, Gerald Peary, B. Ruby Rich.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Platform
Jia Zhangke  (122)
• Zhantai (original title)
2000, 154m, Col, Hong Kong-Japan-France-Netherlands-Switzerland, Drama
Hong Wei Wang, Tao Zhao, Jing Dong Liang, Tian Yi Yang, Bo Wang
"One of the richest films of the past decade... Platform looks like a documentary, but it's Pop Art as history." - J. Hoberman, Village Voice
Selected by Dennis Lim, Ying Liang, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Piers Handling, Phillip Lopate.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 75    76    77  
Almost Famous
Cameron Crowe  (62)
2000, 122m, Col, USA, Comedy-Drama-Romance
Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, Kate Hudson, Jason Lee, Patrick Fugit, Zooey Deschanel, Michael Angarano, Anna Paquin, Fairuza Balk, Philip Seymour Hoffman
"What Mr. Crowe has done is nonetheless remarkable. He has made a movie about sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll that you would be happy to take your mother to see." - A.O. Scott, New York Times
Selected by Frank Darabont, Michael Wilmington, Kenneth Turan, Roger Ebert, Owen Gleiberman.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Amores perros
Alejandro González Iñárritu  (61)
2000, 153m, Col, Mexico, Drama
Emilio Echeverria, Gael Garcia Bernal, Goya Toledo, Alvaro Guerrero, Vanessa Bauche, Jorge Salinas, Marco Perez, Rodrigo Murray, Humberto Busto, Gerardo Campbell
"An overpowering and original piece of bravura filmmaking that constitutes one of the most breathtaking and impressive directing debuts in years." - Desmond Ryan, Philadelphia Inquirer
Selected by Paul Julian Smith, Klaus Lemke, A.O. Scott, Elliott Stein, Michael Wilmington.
Amazon  metacritic
 
The House of Mirth
Terence Davies  (65)
2000, 140m, Col, UK-USA, Romance-Drama
Gillian Anderson, Eric Stoltz, Dan Aykroyd, Eleanor Bron, Terry Kinney, Anthony LaPaglia, Laura Linney, Jodhi May, Elizabeth McGovern, Penny Downie
"The House of Mirth is not one of those teacup and doily movies; it's harsh and disturbing. Davies does superlatively right by Wharton. There's blood on the walls." - Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Selected by Philip Kemp, Geoff Andrew, Jonathan Romney, Cameron Crowe, J. Hoberman.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 78    79    80  
In the Bedroom
Todd Field  (44)
2001, 130m, Col, USA, Drama
Sissy Spacek, Tom Wilkinson, Nick Stahl, Marisa Tomei, William Mapother, William Wise, Celia Weston, Karen Allen, Frank T. Wells, W. Clapham Murray
"The compositions, the editing, the lighting, the sound, the music: everything seems meticulously considered, conjuring up a hushed intimacy that instantly sucks you in." - David Ansen, Newsweek
Selected by Richard Schickel, Kenneth Turan, Owen Gleiberman, Roger Ebert, Carrie Rickey.
Amazon  metacritic
 
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Andrew Dominik  (67)
2007, 160m, Col, USA-Canada, Western-Biography-Drama
Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Sam Shepard, Mary-Louise Parker, Brooklyn Proulx, Sam Rockwell, Jeremy Renner, Paul Schneider, Zooey Deschanel, Michael Parks
"Though there is plenty of gunplay, this is a wondrously contemplative and poetic saga that offers a fresh and bewitching take on a timeworn genre." - Claudia Puig, USA Today
Selected by Michael Atkinson, Todd McCarthy, Guy Maddin, Phillip Lopate, Tom Charity.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Synecdoche, New York
Charlie Kaufman  (117)
2008, 124m, Col, USA, Comedy-Drama
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Sadie Goldstein, Tom Noonan, Peter Friedman, Charles Techman, Josh Pais, Daniel London, Robert Seay, Michelle Williams
"To say that Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York is one of the best films of the year or even one closest to my heart is such a pathetic response to its soaring ambition that I might as well pack it in right now." - Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
Selected by Gus Van Sant, Joseph McBride, David Sterritt, Glenn Kenny, Peter Brunette.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 81    82    83  
The New World
Terrence Malick  (178)
2005, 150m, Col, USA, Drama-Adventure
Colin Farrell, Christopher Plummer, Christian Bale, Wes Studi, David Thewlis, Yorick van Wageningen, Q'Orianka Kilcher, Ben Mendelsohn, Raoul Trujillo, John Savage
"Not since Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and Malick's own Days of Heaven has a movie been both so breathtakingly beautiful and so narratively abstract." - Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer
Selected by Joseph McBride, Chris Chang, Richard Combs, Mark Cousins, Tom Gunning.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Wendy and Lucy
Kelly Reichardt  (55)
2008, 80m, Col, USA, Drama
Michelle Williams, Walter Dalton, Larry Fessenden, Will Oldham, John Robinson, Will Patton, Lucy the Dog, David Koppell, Max Clement, Sid Shanley
"Improbably, it's one of the most affecting films of the year, which once again demonstrates that all you need to make a good movie is talent." - Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor
Selected by Michael Atkinson, J. Hoberman, Amy Taubin, Dennis Lim, Phillip Lopate.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Moolaadé
Ousmane Sembene  (94)
2004, 120m, Col, Senegal-Burkina Faso, Drama
Fatoumata Coulibaly, Maimouna Helene Diarra, Salimata Traore, Dominique Zeida, Mah Compaore, Aminata Dao, Rasmane Ouedraogo, Ousmane Konate, Bakaramoko Sanogo, Modibo Sangare
"To skip Moolaadé would be to miss an opportunity to experience the embracing, affirming, world-changing potential of humanist cinema at its finest." - A.O. Scott, New York Times
Selected by A.O. Scott, Philip Kemp, Richard Brody, Charles Tesson, Berenice Reynaud.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 84    85    86  
About Schmidt
Alexander Payne  (51)
2002, 125m, Col, USA, Drama-Comedy
Jack Nicholson, Hope Davis, Dermot Mulroney, Kathy Bates, June Squibb, Howard Hesseman, Len Cariou, Harry Groener, Connie Ray, Mark Venhuizen
"What gives About Schmidt its ultimate boost, what pushes it into the stirring heavens is Nicholson, who produces the most understated -– and one of the most powerful –- performances of his career." - Desson Thomson, Washington Post
Selected by John Powers, Kenneth Turan, Richard Schickel, Gerald Peary, David Ansen.
Amazon  metacritic
 
The Son
Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne  (108)
• Le Fils (original title)
2002, 103m, Col, Belgium-France, Drama
Olivier Gourmet, Morgan Marinne, Isabella Soupart, Nassim Hassaini, Kevin Leroy, Felicien Pitsaer, Remy Renaud, Annette Closset, Fabian Marnette, Pierre Nisse
"By the climax, we can hardly breathe -- The outcome is less important than our utter and complete empathy with this man. As we await what he does, we breathe with him, in and out. This is an astonishing movie." - David Edelstein, Slate
Selected by Roger Ebert, Nick James, Laurence Kardish, Piers Handling, Michael Atkinson.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Traffic
Steven Soderbergh  (69)
2000, 147m, Col, Germany-USA, Drama-Crime
Michael Douglas, Don Cheadle, Benicio Del Toro, Luis Guzman, Dennis Quaid, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Steven Bauer, Erika Christensen, Amy Irving, Tomas Milian
"It's a thriller that really thrills, a drama that really engages, a portrait of a world and system out of joint that is painfully convincing and totally engrossing from the first simmering minute to the last explosive second." - Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
Selected by Cameron Crowe, Owen Gleiberman, Michael Wilmington, David Sterritt, David Edelstein.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 87    88    89  
Waltz with Bashir
Ari Folman  (86)
• Vals Im Bashir (original title)
2008, 90m, Col, Israel-Germany-France-USA, Animated-Biography-Drama
Ori Sivan, Ronny Dayag, Shmuel Frenkel, Professor Zahava Solomon, Ron Ben-Yishai, Dror Harazi, Boaz Rein-Buskila, Carmi Cna'an, Miki Leon, Yehezkel Lazarov
"A bravura documentary which balances the personal and the political as it peers into the First Lebanon War, its animated approach never feeling like a novelty. Astonishing, unforgettable: you have to see it." - Dan Jolin, Empire
Selected by Peter Bradshaw, David Sterritt, Michael Atkinson, Gerald Peary, Peter Keough.
Amazon  metacritic
 
My Winnipeg
Guy Maddin  (78)
2007, 80m, Col-BW, Canada-USA, Drama
Darcy Fehr, Ann Savage, Amy Stewart, Louis Negin, Brendan Cade, Wesley Cade, Lou Profeta, Fred Dunsmore, Kate Yacula, Jacelyn Lobay
"This haunting phantasmagoria of a film -- comic, singular, surreal -- is not only something no one but the Canadian director could have made, it's also a film no one else would have even wanted to make. Which is the heart of its appeal." - Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
Selected by Roger Ebert, Sukhdev Sandhu, Jonathan Romney, Piers Handling, Geoff Andrew.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Gosford Park
Robert Altman  (102)
2001, 137m, Col, UK-USA, Comedy-Mystery-Drama
Eileen Atkins, Bob Balaban, Alan Bates, Michael Gambon, Charles Dance, Tom Hollander, Stephen Fry, Richard E. Grant, Derek Jacobi, Kelly Macdonald
"It ranks among Robert Altman's best work ever, and that its many satisfactions derive in large part from a superbly written screenplay by Julian Fellowes that has no equal this year." - Jonathan Foreman, New York Post
Selected by Joseph McBride, A.O. Scott, Andrew Sarris, Molly Haskell, Martin Scorsese.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 90    91    92  
The Headless Woman
Lucrecia Martel   new  
• La Mujer sin cabeza (original title)
2008, 87m, Col, Argentina-France-Italy-Spain, Drama-Mystery-Thriller
Maria Onetto, Claudia Cantero, Cesar Bordon, Daniel Genoud, Guillermo Arengo, Ines Efron, Alicia Muxo, Pia Uribelarrea, Maria Vaner
"Martel's vision is so visually rich and complex it borders on the impressionistic, but The Headless Woman would be nowhere without the precise tour de force performance by Onetto." - G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle
Selected by Michael Atkinson, Kent Jones, James Quandt, Amy Taubin, Tom Charity.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Larry Charles  (72)
2006, 84m, Col, USA-UK, Comedy
Sacha Baron Cohen, Ken Davitian, Luenell, Pamela Anderson, Bob Barr, Chester, Charlie
"It's screamingly, hysterically, laugh-through-the-next-joke, laugh-for-the-next-week funny. It's so inventive…This is a film by an original and significant comic intelligence." - Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
Selected by Ty Burr, J. Hoberman, Manohla Dargis, Michael Sragow, David Ansen.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Kill Bill Vol. 1
Quentin Tarantino  (98)
2003, 111m, Col-BW, USA, Crime-Action
Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, David Carradine, Sonny Chiba, Chiaki Kuriyama, Chia Hui Liu, Michael Parks
"Reconfirms Tarantino's status as the master of pop cinema and puts a sense of excitement into the year. He has matched, if not eclipsed, the power and scope of 1994's Pulp Fiction, though not its human charm." - Desson Thomson, Washington Post
Selected by Tom Tykwer, Roger Ebert, Owen Gleiberman, Richard Corliss, Peter Travers.
See also: 1,000 Greatest Films
Amazon  metacritic
         
 93    94    95  
Atanarjuat
Zacahrias Kunuk  (70)
• The Fast Runner (alternative title); Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (alternative title)
2000, 172m, Col, Canada, Drama
Natar Ungalaaq, Sylvia Ivalu, Peter Henry Arnatsiaq, Lucy Tulugarjuk, Madeleine Ivalu, Pauloosie Quilitalik, Eugene Ipkarnak, Pakak Innuksuk, Neeve Irngaut, Abraham Ulayuruluk
"Nearly three hours long, and deliberately paced at that, this first feature ever in the Inuit language is a demanding experience. But the rewards for those who risk the journey are simply extraordinary." - Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
Selected by Kenneth Turan, Gerald Peary, Ty Burr, John Powers, A.O. Scott.
Amazon  metacritic
 
In Praise of Love
Jean-Luc Godard  (99)
• Éloge de l'amour (original title)
2001, 97m, Col-BW, France, Drama
Bruno Putzulu, Cecile Camp, Claude Baignieres, Jean Davy, Francoise Verny, Audrey Klebaner, Jeremie Lippman, Remo Forlani, Mark Hunter, Philippe Loyrette
"Like most Godard, it can be watched repeatedly, always yielding new secrets and beauties. Most profound of all, perhaps, are those incredible black-and-white images of Paris." - Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
Selected by Ann Hui, Amy Taubin, Richard Brody, Bill Krohn, James Quandt.
See also: 1,000 Greatest Films
Amazon  metacritic
 
Let the Right One In
Tomas Alfredson  (118)
• Låt den rätte komma in (original title)
2008, 114m, Col, Sweden, Drama-Horror-Romance
Kare Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar, Henrik Dahl, Karin Bergquist, Peter Carlberg, Ika Nord, Mikael Rahm, Kark-Robert Lindgren, Anders T. Peedu
"In the basest of terms, a horror flick. But it's also a spectacularly moving and elegant movie, and to dismiss it into genre-hood, to mentally stuff it into the horror pigeonhole, is to overlook a remarkable film." - John Anderson, Washington Post
Selected by Richard Curtis, Leonardo Garcia-Tsao, John Anderson, Tom Charity, David Sterritt.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 96    97    98  
Inland Empire
David Lynch  (103)
2006, 172m, Col-BW, USA-Poland-France, Drama-Mystery
Karolina Gruszka, Jan Hencz, Krzysztof Majchrzak, Grace Zabriskie, Laura Dern, Ian Abercrombie, Karen Baird, Bellina Logan, Amanda Foreman, Peter J. Lucas
"It is Lynch's most experimental endeavor in the 30 years since Eraserhead that it will do nothing to draw new fans to the director's work and that, after two viewings, I cannot wait to see it again." - Scott Foundas, LA Weekly
Selected by David Sterritt, Amy Taubin, Dennis Lim, Michael Atkinson, Peter von Bagh.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Amélie
Jean-Pierre Jeunet  (97)
• Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (original title)
2001, 122m, Col, France-Germany, Romance-Comedy
Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Rufus, Lorella Cravotta, Serge Merlin, Jamel Debbouze, Claire Maurier, Clotilde Mollet, Yolande Moreau, Flora Guiet
"A movie for aesthetically hungry moviegoers: wildly amusing, sometimes sardonic and always touching. There's so much here, and all of it delightful." - Desson Thomson, Washington Post
Selected by Michael Wilmington, Elvis Mitchell, Richard Corliss, Joe Morgenstern, Desson Howe.
See also: 1,000 Greatest Films
Amazon  metacritic
 
Shrek
Andrew Adamson & Vicky Jenson  (74)
2001, 90m, Col, USA-France, Animated-Fantasy-Comedy
Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, John Lithgow, Vincent Cassel, Peter Dennis, Clive Pearse, Jim Cummings, Bobby Block, Michael Galasso
"It is the hilarious business of Shrek, a delightful new animated feature based on the William Steig book, to subvert all the well-worn expectations of its genre." - Richard Schickel, Time
Selected by A.O. Scott, Carrie Rickey, Richard Schickel, Dave Kehr, Kenneth Turan.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 99    100      
The Aviator
Martin Scorsese  (64)
2004, 170m, Col-BW, Germany-USA, Drama-Biography
Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, John C. Reilly, Alec Baldwin, Alan Alda, Ian Holm, Danny Huston, Gwen Stefani, Jude Law
"If you didn't know that Martin Scorsese made The Aviator, the enthralling new adventure-biography of Howard Hughes, you might think it was the calling card of a neophyte visual genius." - Michael Sragow, Baltimore Sun
Selected by Jeanine Basinger, Richard Schickel, Kent Jones, Carrie Rickey, Roger Ebert.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Silent Light
Carlos Reygadas  (116)
• Stellet licht (original title)
2007, 136m, Col, Mexico-France-Netherlands, Drama
Cornelio Wall, Miriam Toews, Maria Pankratz, Peter Wall, Elisabeth Wall, Jacobo Klassen, Irma Thiessen, Alfredo Thiessen, Daniel Thiessen, Autghe Loewen
"This is a deeply considered, formally accomplished, beautiful-looking and unexpectedly gripping film from a director making a giant leap into the first rank of world cinema." - Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
Selected by Roger Ebert, Michael Atkinson, Laurence Kardish, Piers Handling, Steve Erickson.
Amazon  Reverse Shot
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