100 greatest films of the 21st Century

[trog]

Plenty of scope for discussion.

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

[Lisa O`Brien]

Meh. I know we are only 16 years into this century but I doubt the 20th century will ever be surpassed in terms of cinematic genius. You just have to look at the 20th century's film stars compared to todays. Marlon Brando, Laurence Olivier, John Hurt, John Wayne, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Rita Hayworth, Ginger Rogers, Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe,James Cagney,Humphrey Bogart. And on and on the list goes. Who in this century comes even close? [And i've just listed a few stars off the top of my head, not really sat down and thought about it very deeply]. Films? Gone With The Wind,Citizen Kane, Olivier's rendition of Richard lll, Angels With Dirty Faces, True Grit, Psycho, To Kill A Mockingbird, Jaws, Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? Again, this list is just off the top of my head and my own personal preferences. But they are some of the greatest actors and some of the greatest films ever made. If I were to live to the end of this century [and considering I was born in 1967 that notion is highly unlikely] I would be astonished if more than a two dozen films at the most match the calibre of great films from the previous century. And as for actors? Well for me the greatest actor who is still alive is Jack Nicholson,but most of his greatest films and his greatest performances were for me, in the last century too.

Edited August 23, 2016 by Lisa O`Brien

[Quintus]

Sticking with the 21st century parameter, it's an interesting list.  I've seen almost half of those on the list - and of those, some were outstanding and some I just gave up on.  There are notable omissions for me too - off the top of my head I'd add Volver, Games of Love and Chance, Wild Tales, Ex Machina, Antichrist, Rust and Bone...

 

Taking the films on the original list of 100 that I've seen, and stripping out the big blockbusters that people here are most likely to have seen, I'd recommend the following as well worth looking up:

 

15. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu, 2007)

17. Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo Del Toro, 2006)

32. The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006)

43. Melancholia (Lars von Trier, 2011)

45. Blue Is the Warmest Color (Abdellatif Kechiche, 2013)

64. The Great Beauty (Paolo Sorrentino, 2013)

65. Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold, 2009)

36. Timbuktu (Abderrahmane Sissako, 2014)

7. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)

9. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi, 2011)

91. The Secret in Their Eyes (Juan José Campanella, 2009)

94. Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson, 2008)

 

I'd caveat that those of genteel sensibilities should probably avoid 45, and certainly not watch it with the vicar.

Edited August 23, 2016 by Quintus

[taxi4ballet]

Heavens above - out of all those, I've only seen one

 

I haven't even heard of a lot of them. What have I been doing for the last 16 years? Not going to the cinema, obviously!

[Jacqueline]

I have seen some on the list and enjoyed, some I hated, some bored me to death and some I've never heard of. My list would include the Coen's A Serious Man and No Country For Old Men. I love their ear for dialogue and eye for detail. Although I loathed Burn After Reading. It should have been good but was woefully miscast in my opinion. 

I liked The Others, a good ghost story with a real jump out of your skin moment. I also liked The Lives Of Others, although I recall being mystified at the end, when the leading man seemed surprised to discover that, in a story about the secret police bugging apartments and everyone busily spying and reporting on everyone else, he too was being observed. Why wouldn't he be? Perhaps I am misremembering after all this time, or just wasn't paying attention at the time.

I am not a fan of blockbusters. I dislike join the dots plots,'Oh my god' dialogue - other expressions of shock,horror,disbelief are available, manipulative scores and special effects. I also dislike the way history can be tweaked or completely altered. I go to be entertained and I realise there will be some artistic licence but not complete fabrication. There is an assumption that the punters won't know what really happened or care.  

Having said that, I did love Gladiator, fabulous score, exciting, made up but involving story and Russell Crow looking well fit in a toga. For me though, Joaquin Phoenix was the star of that film. 

By the same token, I don't care for films that are so far up themselves with their perceived intellectualism, they are largely incomprehensible and probably meaningless anyway. The interval chat is good though, with people pretending they understand what is going on.

[MAB]

I noticed Talk To Her was on the list, but Volver was not, both films are impressive, but I think Volver has the edge.  Of course Talk To Her has Pina Bausch playing herself, so of massive interest to dance fans.  Pedro Almodovar is by far my favourite film director.  Of the others The Pianist was impressive as was Adrian Brody's performance, one that sticks in the mind.

 

If I were to nominate one film as best it would be Wadjda directed by Haifaa al-Mansour, a film I didn't want to end.  Usually I can't stand child actors but the two in this were amazing, writing this I still wonder what happened next to Wajda and her mother.  Another film concerned with the Muslim world was The Kite Runner, sexual violence against children makes uncomfortable viewing but the film as a whole was incredibly moving and at least it ended with some sort of hopeful closure.

 

Have to make a confession here about tastes in films, I usually go to a movie with the same pal I go to ballet, opera and recitals with, I like comedy and he likes disaster movies, we compromise a lot.  If I fancy an art house film I'm afraid I'm on my own.

[Anna C]

Did I miss it, or was Disney Pixar's The Incredibles omitted from that list, while Finding Nemo and Wall-E were there? I have to disagree with that.

 

Amélie is a gorgeous film; a feast for the eyes and for the heart. I've only ever watched A.I. once and have been forbidden to watch it ever again, given that I wept inconsolably for 45 minutes at the end, crying "poor little boy, he just wanted a Mum". I think Mr Spanner was alarmed at how upset I was. Ditto "Saving Private Ryan" which I've never watched since.

 

Edited to add that I've just noticed another omission - The Help.

[Quintus]

I noticed Talk To Her was on the list, but Volver was not, both films are impressive, but I think Volver has the edge.  Of course Talk To Her has Pina Bausch playing herself, so of massive interest to dance fans.  Pedro Almodovar is by far my favourite film director.  Of the others The Pianist was impressive as was Adrian Brody's performance, one that sticks in the mind.

 

If I were to nominate one film as best it would be Wadjda directed by Haifaa al-Mansour, a film I didn't want to end.  Usually I can't stand child actors but the two in this were amazing, writing this I still wonder what happened next to Wajda and her mother.  Another film concerned with the Muslim world was The Kite Runner, sexual violence against children makes uncomfortable viewing but the film as a whole was incredibly moving and at least it ended with some sort of hopeful closure.

 

 

 

I'll second Wadjda - wonderful film.  Apparently as the director was a woman, and could not be seen giving instructions to men, she had to direct scenes from inside a van.

[JulieW]

I was the same with AI - heartbreaking!

[Jan McNulty]

I have seen very few of the films listed as cinema viewing has dropped off my list of must-do, frequent activities.

 

Of the few I had seen I loved Brokeback Mountain and No Country for Old Men.

 

My "taste", if you can call it that, has changed a lot since the heady days of the Merseyside Film Institute and I now tend to go and watch films that would never get on any best of list but which entertain me without giving me much cause for thought.

[alison]

I haven't actually seen most of the films listed, I must admit.  My trouble - and particularly with anything non-mainstream - is that (assuming that I've heard about it at time of release anyway, which isn't always a given) it will either have been in and out of the cinema in a week before I've even realised, or I *will* have realised, but it will be in a week where my diary is already so full that I can't possibly fit it in, or it's still on, just not at any convenient time (I had options the other week, if I wanted to see The BFG, of midday or 9 pm.  Who on earth schedules a children's film for that late?  We're not in Spain!), or, most likely, it will bypass my local cinemas anyway

[Quintus]

Surprised by several members associating seeing films strictly with visiting the cinema  - I'd have thought most people watch at home these days, either DVDs or subscription streaming services like Netflix, BFI, Amazon - Lovefilm etc.  As I tend to like art-house / world cinema, which doesn't make it to many cinemas, I'm a regular trawler of online secondhand sites, where it is often possible to pick up obscure gems for a few pennies plus postage!

[alison]

Hae you come across cinemaparadiso (assuming it's still going)?  I dumped LoveFilm, sadly, once Amazon took it over.  I think they're hoping it will die of neglect

[Jan McNulty]

Cinema Paradiso is a wonderful gem of a film.

 

Overall, I prefer watching films in the cinema as I like the atmosphere. I always remember seeing John Carpenter's Hallowe'en. At one point a girl is trying to escape from the house and gets to a locked French window as the killer is chasing her. The entire audience started yelling "Break the glass"!

[alison]

I meant the rental website rather than the film, Janet

[Quintus]

If you liked Cinema Paradiso then try Malèna by the same director; blend of coming-of-age charm and nostalgia with the less palatable reality of what it took to survive in Italy under the Occupation

Edited August 26, 2016 by Quintus

[Huddsballetmum]

My top films would be 

Children of Men ( Alfonso Cuaron 2006)

12 years a slave (2015)

The Hurt Locker  (can't remember the year)

 

However with a teenager in the house the majority of my film viewing has been Harry Potter, Divergent, Series, and other teenage films, 1950's movies (breaking the criteria but Hitchcock was an amazing director) or musicals.

[Quintus]

Mab, as you liked Wadjda, I'd highly recommend Mustang, which is now out on DVD. Some similar themes but set in rural Turkey and a delightful young tomboy lead. We watched it last night and found it both funny and moving.

[MAB]

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll give it a go.

 

Film going has always been a part of my life, my parents loved the movies and took me from a very early age, no strong memories apart from falling asleep on their laps.  The first film I remember clearly was The African Queen and I found the scene of Humphrey Bogart pulling the boat through the swamp whilst being attacked by leeches, really scary.  In my corner of south London we had no fewer than five cinemas, two large, one medium and two small.  My parents designated the two small ones 'flea pits', but we went regularly to the other three.  

 

As a pre-teen a neighbour got a job in the box office at the local Odeon and let me in free in return for a spot of 'baby-sitting' so I had several years of free cinema going, often with her young son and sometimes of my own.  She would act as an unofficial censor telling me which X films I could watch and which films I most certainly couldn't.  This means I have until recently always regarded cinema going as a shared experience, but the increasingly bad behaviour of fellow audience members has become a bit of a deterrent, as have west end prices.

 

my biggest passion is for really old films made long before I was born, I can watch them over and over again and still enjoy them. 

Edited August 27, 2016 by MAB

[LinMM]

I don't know about "greatest" films as there are so many over the years I'd never be able to list in any particular order etc but certain films just stick in my mind more however I hardly ever go to the cinema these days so am not up on current films.

 

I love Almodovar ...".the Skin I live in " stuck with me haven't seen "Julietta" yet.

But of course films you see at an impressionable age stay with you a long time " Ashes and Diamonds" " Hiroshima mon Amour" all ancient now!

Loads of French ones like "le Boucher"

But am no cinema buff so have missed loads I'm sure.