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The 21st Century's 100 Greatest Films (BBC Poll, 177 worldwide critics)

inm8num2

Member
www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160819-the-21st-centurys-100-greatest-films

100. Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade, 2016)
100. Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronofsky, 2000)
100. Carlos (Olivier Assayas, 2010)
99. The Gleaners and I (Agnès Varda, 2000)
98. Ten (Abbas Kiarostami, 2002)
97. White Material (Claire Denis, 2009)
96. Finding Nemo (Andrew Stanton, 2003)
95. Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson, 2012)
94. Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson, 2008)
93. Ratatouille (Brad Bird, 2007)
92. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik, 2007)
91. The Secret in Their Eyes (Juan José Campanella, 2009)
90. The Pianist (Roman Polanski, 2002)
89. The Headless Woman (Lucrecia Martel, 2008)
88. Spotlight (Tom McCarthy, 2015)
87. Amélie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001)
86. Far From Heaven (Todd Haynes, 2002)
85. A Prophet (Jacques Audiard, 2009)
84. Her (Spike Jonze, 2013)
83. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg, 2001)
82. A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2009)
81. Shame (Steve McQueen, 2011)
80. The Return (Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2003)
79. Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe, 2000)
78. The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese, 2013)
77. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Julian Schnabel, 2007)
76. Dogville (Lars von Trier, 2003)
75. Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2014)
74. Spring Breakers (Harmony Korine, 2012)
73. Before Sunset (Richard Linklater, 2004)
72. Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch, 2013)
71. Tabu (Miguel Gomes, 2012)
70. Stories We Tell (Sarah Polley, 2012)
69. Carol (Todd Haynes, 2015)
68. The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, 2001)
67. The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow, 2008)
66. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring (Kim Ki-duk, 2003)
65. Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold, 2009)
64. The Great Beauty (Paolo Sorrentino, 2013)
63. The Turin Horse (Béla Tarr and Ágnes Hranitzky, 2011)
62. Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009)
61. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, 2013)
60. Syndromes and a Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2006)
59. A History of Violence (David Cronenberg, 2005)
58. Moolaadé (Ousmane Sembène, 2004)
57. Zero Dark Thirty (Kathryn Bigelow, 2012)
56. Werckmeister Harmonies (Béla Tarr, director; Ágnes Hranitzky, co-director, 2000)
55. Ida (Paweł Pawlikowski, 2013)
54. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2011)
53. Moulin Rouge! (Baz Luhrmann, 2001)
52. Tropical Malady (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2004)
51. Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010)
50. The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 2015)
49. Goodbye to Language (Jean-Luc Godard, 2014)
48. Brooklyn (John Crowley, 2015)
47. Leviathan (Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2014)
46. Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami, 2010)
45. Blue Is the Warmest Color (Abdellatif Kechiche, 2013)
44. 12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen, 2013)
43. Melancholia (Lars von Trier, 2011)
42. Amour (Michael Haneke, 2012)
41. Inside Out (Pete Docter, 2015)
40. Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, 2005)
39. The New World (Terrence Malick, 2005)
38. City of God (Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, 2002)
37. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2010)
36. Timbuktu (Abderrahmane Sissako, 2014)
35. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2000)
34. Son of Saul (László Nemes, 2015)
33. The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008)
32. The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006)
31. Margaret (Kenneth Lonergan, 2011)
30. Oldboy (Park Chan-wook, 2003)
29. WALL-E (Andrew Stanton, 2008)
28. Talk to Her (Pedro Almodóvar, 2002)
27. The Social Network (David Fincher, 2010)
26. 25th Hour (Spike Lee, 2002)
25. ​Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000)
24. The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2012)
23. Caché (Michael Haneke, 2005)
22. Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003)
21. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)
20. Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman, 2008)
19. Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller, 2015)
18. The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke, 2009)
17. Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo Del Toro, 2006)
16. Holy Motors (Leos Carax, 2012)
15. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu, 2007)
14. The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer, 2012)
13. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón, 2006)
12. Zodiac (David Fincher, 2007)
11. Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2013)
10. No Country for Old Men (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2007)
9. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi, 2011)
8. Yi Yi: A One and a Two (Edward Yang, 2000)
7. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)
6. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)
5. Boyhood (Richard Linklater, 2014)
4. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)
3. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)
2. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, 2000)
1. Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001)

# of films for each year:
2000 - 8
2001 - 6
2002 - 6
2003 - 6
2004 - 4
2005 - 4
2006 - 4
2007 - 7
2008 - 6
2009 - 7
2010 - 5
2011 - 7
2012 - 9
2013 - 9
2014 - 6
2015 - 7
2016 - 1
 

WaffleTaco

Wants to outlaw technological innovation.
Really need to re-watch Mulholland Drive. Saw it when I was taking a film class and it might have been the worse film I have ever seen.
It's not, I've seen a movie a tire that kills people
 

jett

D-Member
I've seen a surprising amount of these. Ranking aside, it's a good list.

Mulholland Drive though. Just one of those movies I'll never get.
 
I will never understand the critical fascination with David Lynch, but hopefully someone out there can enjoy it.

The fact that A.I. is on there pretty much invalidates the whole list.
 

jett

D-Member
I will never understand the critical fascination with David Lynch, but hopefully someone out there can enjoy it.

The fact that A.I. is on there pretty much invalidates the whole list.

I hadn't noticed AI was in it.

This list is now automatically twice as good as it was before. Thanks for bringing to my attention!
 

Kurdel

Banned
Reminded nme I never finished Mulholland Drive.

Got to the coffee scene, where the people are calm but all go ape shit over something stupid.

It was really amazing until that point, don't know why I forgot about finishing it.
 
23. Caché (Michael Haneke, 2005)

Fun fact: I hated this movie so much I drank more than I ever drank before after watching.

Not that i don't appreciate the French sensibility of "It's not what is said, it's what isn't said", but man, it just wasn't for me.

Just couldn't connect to it in any meaningful way.
Main characters is kind of a weirdo (who gets suspicious videos and decides "lets not call the police, but let's show it to the guests we have over for some reason"?") and I'll be honest, if that's all it took for what goes down in the movie, they're more crazy than part of some intricate plot.
 
Reminded nme I never finished Mulholland Drive.

Got to the coffee scene, where the people are calm but all go ape shit over something stupid.

It was really amazing until that point, don't know why I forgot about finishing it.

I was legitimately surprised that you aren't supposed to laugh out loud at Old Greg behind the dumpster. I broke the rules of seeing a serious David Lynch film at a midnight showing apparently.
 

Speely

Banned
Wow good list. I can't BELIEVE I am seeing Mulholland Drive at #1. One of my favorite films, but I didn't think it was super well-received.
 
I've seen probably 60% of the list, and the only films I didn't like were AI and Mulholland Drive.
AI has a mediocre second half and a rubbish ending, MD just has close to zero redeeming qualities as a narrative vehicle.
edit: And I guess the Master was just kinda ho hum. Edit 2: and Spring Breakers being on the list at all, and being ahead of Spotlight and Almost Famous is pretty baffling. So aside from a few questionable choices...

Pretty great list.
 

bomma_man

Member
The individual critics' lists are worth a look too. Most of the Anglo newspaper/web critics are pretty homogenous (except for a few weird choices - this is the end and Madagascar 3 lol wtf) but there are academic and foreign lists full of stuff I've never even heard of.

Also looks like the critical reassessment of Synecdoche is well underway.
 

Venture

Member
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy needs to be on there. One of the best movies I've seen in the last 10 years or so. Needs more Spike Jonze too. How could they leave off Adaptation? I'd also put Where The Wild Things Are on the list but I know that movie's pretty divisive.
 

Wensih

Member
Some of their choices.... nah.

Combed through the list. There's definitely some stuff on the list that I have in my queue to watch. I've seen 45 of the films so far, listed below, opinion varying wildly on them.

1. Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001)
10. No Country for Old Men (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2007)
100. Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronofsky, 2000)
11. Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2013)
12. Zodiac (David Fincher, 2007)
13. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón, 2006)
16. Holy Motors (Leos Carax, 2012)
17. Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo Del Toro, 2006)
18. The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke, 2009)
19. Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller, 2015)
21. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)
22. Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003)
24. The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2012)
25. ​Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000)
29. WALL-E (Andrew Stanton, 2008)
3. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)
30. Oldboy (Park Chan-wook, 2003)
33. The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008)
4. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)
41. Inside Out (Pete Docter, 2015)
43. Melancholia (Lars von Trier, 2011)
44. 12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen, 2013)
5. Boyhood (Richard Linklater, 2014)
50. The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 2015)
51. Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010)
53. Moulin Rouge! (Baz Luhrmann, 2001)
57. Zero Dark Thirty (Kathryn Bigelow, 2012)
6. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)
61. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, 2013)
62. Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009)
67. The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow, 2008)
68. The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, 2001)
74. Spring Breakers (Harmony Korine, 2012)
75. Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2014)
78. The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese, 2013)
81. Shame (Steve McQueen, 2011)
82. A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2009)
84. Her (Spike Jonze, 2013)
85. A Prophet (Jacques Audiard, 2009)
87. Amélie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001)
88. Spotlight (Tom McCarthy, 2015)
93. Ratatouille (Brad Bird, 2007)
94. Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson, 2008)
95. Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson, 2012)
96. Finding Nemo (Andrew Stanton, 2003)
 
I've seen probably 60% of the list, and the only films I didn't like we're AI and Mulholland Drive.
AI has a mediocre second half and a rubbish ending, MD just has close to zero redeeming qualities as a narrative vehicle.

Pretty great list.

Yeah, this and Spring Breakers made me give this list some serious side-eye.

I have added both of you to my best friends list. Your Christmas card is in the mail.
 

Mimosa97

Member
My personal top 5 :

1/ There will be blood
2/ Amélie
3/ Children of Men
4/ Oldboy
5/ Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
 

Ninjimbo

Member
Mulholland Drive at 1? Fuck that. It can't hang with the rest of that top ten. I demand a recount. Putting MD in the same class as In the Mood For Love or Spirited Away is crazy talk. I need somebody to justify it for me.
 

JTripper

Member
Inside Llewyn Davis and Boyhood making Top 11 is perfect. 2 of my favorite films of decade. Very cool to see In The Mood for Love at 2, it's a wonderful film.
 
Mulholland Drive at 1? Fuck that. It can't hang with the rest of that top ten. I demand a recount. Putting MD in the same class as In the Mood For Love or Spirited Away is crazy talk. I need somebody to justify it for me.

It's a phenomenal Lynchian gem...

Fucked up and yet incredibly engaging.
 
Mulholland Drive at 1? Fuck that. It can't hang with the rest of that top ten. I demand a recount. Putting MD in the same class as In the Mood For Love or Spirited Away is crazy talk. I need somebody to justify it for me.
It's a puzzle with an answer. Every scene is a clue. I love it.
 
Mulholland Drive at 1? Fuck that. It can't hang with the rest of that top ten. I demand a recount. Putting MD in the same class as In the Mood For Love or Spirited Away is crazy talk. I need somebody to justify it for me.

Its pretty clear the first two hours are a dream. The first thing we see is us falling down to sleep into a pillow on Diane's bed, and then the dream ends when she unlocks the blue box/Cowboy says "time to wake up pretty girl". She's a failed, possibly drug-addicted actress who's "girlfriend" ditches who for a big-shot movie director and another pretty blond woman. She hires an assassin to kill her, and through a combination of depression, shame, and personal demons she can't escape(personified in that thing in the back of winkies and all those smiling parents who thought she was gonna be a big star), she kills herself.

But in-between the hiring and the killing, she dreams. She dreams of a world where she's a great actress, where everything bad happens to the big-shot director, where her "girlfriend" is hot but kinda dumb and depends on her instead of the other way around, where SINISTER FORCES OF HOLLYWOOD are the reason that pretty talentless blond woman got her roles instead of her, where the assassin she hired is REALLY incompetent in a Coen Bros setpiece kinda way so he couldn't kill the woman she loves, and her entire life is kinda like a 1950s Billy Wilder noir.

Things like the blue key its uh...you seen Inception? Its kinda like a totem of her guilt, that guilt that she killed Camilla Rhodes. She hides it in a box and puts it away in the dream. The dream starts to break down partway through the movie, you got those agents like Inception, the mind fighting back telling her to wake up. You got her ugly dead body at her house. She calls "Diane Selwyn" in the dream("Its strange dialing yourself!") and its actually Naomi Watts' voice on the other side, but its kinda hard to here. It finally breaks down entirely when they go to Club Silencio and its revealed that they're living in a dream world they can't have, and they rush home to open the box.

Lynch uses the dream thing as a really cool method to actually get inside somebody's head and do an intimate character study of Naomi Watts' character of Diane Selwyn. We learn her wants, her dreams, her hopes, her fears, how she views the world and how she views the people in her life. Its also an indictment against all the happy magic bullshit Hollywood feeds you, but at the same time its also a celebration of the power of movies, how they affect our ultimately subjective view of reality, and how they impact our lives with the combination of sound design, editing, acting, lighting, etc. Every single aesthetic choice Lynch uses has been thoroughly picked over and works towards the film's beauty, complexity, and dream logic we look for in movies.

Its also just a really visceral fuckin' experience with dreamlike cinematography and amazing sound design and crazy direction so that if you didn't get it, you can just enjoy it on a sensory level.

Personally, I think its the absolute best film of the century so far.
 

kmfdmpig

Member
Surprised Zero Dark Thirty and Spring Breakers made it, although I have no problem with that. Disappointed that Whiplash did not make it.
 
Its pretty clear the first two hours are a dream. The first thing we see is us falling down to sleep into a pillow on Diane's bed, and then the dream ends when she unlocks the blue box/Cowboy says "time to wake up pretty girl". She's a failed, possibly drug-addicted actress who's "girlfriend" ditches who for a big-shot movie director and another pretty blond woman. She hires an assassin to kill her, and through a combination of depression, shame, and personal demons she can't escape(personified in that thing in the back of winkies and all those smiling parents who thought she was gonna be a big star), she kills herself.

But in-between the hiring and the killing, she dreams. She dreams of a world where she's a great actress, where everything bad happens to the big-shot director, where her "girlfriend" is hot but kinda dumb and depends on her instead of the other way around, where SINISTER FORCES OF HOLLYWOOD are the reason that pretty talentless blond woman got her roles instead of her, where the assassin she hired is REALLY incompetent in a Coen Bros setpiece kinda way so he couldn't kill the woman she loves, and her entire life is kinda like a 1950s Billy Wilder noir.

Things like the blue key its uh...you seen Inception? Its kinda like a totem of her guilt, that guilt that she killed Camilla Rhodes. She hides it in a box and puts it away in the dream. The dream starts to break down partway through the movie, you got those agents like Inception, the mind fighting back telling her to wake up. You got her ugly dead body at her house. She calls "Diane Selwyn" in the dream("Its strange dialing yourself!") and its actually Naomi Watts' voice on the other side, but its kinda hard to here. It finally breaks down entirely when they go to Club Silencio and its revealed that they're living in a dream world they can't have, and they rush home to open the box.

Lynch uses the dream thing as a really cool method to actually get inside somebody's head and do an intimate character study of Naomi Watts' character of Diane Selwyn. We learn her wants, her dreams, her hopes, her fears, how she views the world and how she views the people in her life. Its also an indictment against all the happy magic bullshit Hollywood feeds you, but at the same time its also a celebration of the power of movies, how they affect our ultimately subjective view of reality, and how they impact our lives with the combination of sound design, editing, acting, lighting, etc. Every single aesthetic choice Lynch uses has been thoroughly picked over and works towards the film's beauty, complexity, and dream logic we look for in movies.

Its also just a really visceral fuckin' experience with dreamlike cinematography and amazing sound design and crazy direction so that if you didn't get it, you can just enjoy it on a sensory level.

Personally, I think its the absolute best film of the century so far.

Interesting write up, but I disagree with the last part. I understood what was happening as I'm pretty familiar with Lynch's style but I did not have any visceral reaction to the film at all. I was mostly shifting between bemused and bored and like most Lynch films other than Eraserhead I didn't care about the characters at all. It doesn't help that Lynch can never seem to get good performances out of people or worse obviously doesn't care about acting at all (Lost Highway after the cast switch, I'm looking at you).

I'm really a performance first kind of guy and the only enthralling person in MD for me was the singer.
 

watershed

Banned
It's a decent list. In The Mood For Love at #2 is surprising. I didn't realize so many people appreciated that film as I do.
 
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