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The Best Films of the 2020s so far…
- I’m Thinking of Ending Things – C. Kaufman
- Decision to Leave – Park Chan-wook
- The Card Counter – Schrader
- Dune – Villeneuve
- The French Dispatch – W. Anderson
- Mank – Fincher
- Nomadland – Zhao
- The Green Knight – Lowery
- Spencer – Larraín
- John Wick: Chapter 4 – Stahelski
- The Underground Railroad – Jenkins
- The Northman – Eggers
- Pieces of a Woman – Mundruczó
- The Batman – Reeves
- Red, White, and Blue – McQueen
- Copenhagen Cowboy – Refn
- Lovers Rock – McQueen
- Promising Young Woman – Fennell
- Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths – Iñárritu
- Everything Everywhere All at Once – Kwan, Scheinert
- A Hero – Farhadi
- White Noise – Baumbach
- Babylon – Chazelle
- Men – Garland
- Nightmare Alley – del Toro
- Antebellum – Bush, Renz
- Tár – Fields
- Belfast – Branagh
- Blonde – Dominik
- R.M.N – Mungiu
- The Banshees of Inisherin – M. McDonagh
- The Hand of God – Sorrentino
- The Tragedy of Macbeth – Coen
- All Quiet on the Western Front – Berger
- Red Rocket – Baker
- Licorice Pizza – P.T. Anderson
- The Worst Person in the World – Trier
- C’mon C’mon – Mills
- The Power of the Dog – Campion
- Passing – Hall
- Parallel Mothers – Almodóvar
- Happening – Diwan
- Emma. – de Wilde
- Shiva Baby – Seligman
- The Father – Zeller
- Elvis – Luhrmann
- Triangle of Sadness – Östlund
- Top Gun: Maverick – Kosinski
- Mangrove – McQueen
- No Time to Die – Fukunaga
Drake2023-06-09T02:09:19-04:00
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So, has anyone here got a good list for 2025 films? I want to know what films yall thought were some of the best of the year, I’m currently redoing my list especially since i’m finally watching One Battle After Another later this week, plus i got done rewatching a bunch of films i seen like Frankenstein from del Toro, Marty Supreme from J. Safdie, Sinners from Coogler, Weapons from Cregger, etc etc.
@dom – here’s my list, only including archivable films
https://boxd.it/O9kYu
Declan and RujK also have 2025 pages up on their sites
Went over it earlier and I love the list, plus I’m giving you a follow on there
@dom- thanks I followed you back. Good to see Edgerunners in your top 4. I watched that a few months ago and thought the visuals and blocking were very stunning.
@harry- btw I saw your top 4 and The Servant caught my eye, currently watching it as of writing
@dom – that’s awesome. Dirk Bogarde and Joseph Losey have so much great stuff to explore.
@Drake: If you had to put together a top 10/15 for the 2020s today, what would your picks be?
@AP- great question but I haven’t dedicated the time yet to give this a good answer- what does your list look like?
My 2024 list:
1. Ripley
2. Dune: Part Two
3. Nosferatu
4. The Girl With The Needle
5. The Brutalist
6. The Substance
7. Nickel Boys
8. Disclaimer
9. Queer
10. Conclave
11. Flow
12. Joker: Folie a Deux
13. Love Lies Bleeding
14. Parthenope
15. Civil War
16. Anora
17. Challengers
18. Maria
19. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
20. The Apprentice
Has anyone seen any standouts from 2025 yet? For me so far The Phoenician Scheme and Sinners have been very strong, but nothing else on that level so far.
For 2025 I only have 4 films graded at HR or above so far: Sinners, The Phonecian Scheme, 28 Years Later and Weapons. Hoping the list greatly expands starting this month.
@Drake – I’ve noticed a bit of a recent trend (this decade) where a lot of films have these really bold, detached, formally experiential endings or epilogues that recontextualize the entire film in a big way. I’m thinking of: The Brutalist, Killers of the Flower Moon, The Zone of Interest, Tar, Babylon, and there may be more I’m forgetting
@Matthew- Great share- very interesting
@Maththew-The penultimate scene in Saltburn. But it recovers in the ending. I don’t think Babylon belongs here. It goes on too long with unnecessary film footage especially after the time period the film is covering (Avatar-lol). But it doesn’t explain the film.
@Matthew – I don’t think Tar fits in
I considered that. I’ve heard interpretations where it makes such a mocking of the how self-serious the film is up to that point (like the opening where they sit there for several minutes and name off all of Tar’s accomplishments (like PSH in The Master, but to even greater extent) that I think it warrants discussion. When I eventually rewatch it, I’m sure I’ll watch it through a much different lense because of how ironic the conclusion is
@Drake-What are the Coralie Fargeat films in the archives?
@Lionel- two: The Substance, Revenge
I just caught The Girl with The Needle (2024) and it was brilliant. It was just recently nominated for best internation film. it really feels like the Tarr or Pawlikowski we were owed for the 2020s but haven’t had yet in terms of photography. It certainly belongs near the tier of Roma, Ripley, Ida, Cold War, Turin Horse for beautifully photographed, bleak, black & white cinema in recent years.
Has anyone else caught it or other films from Magnus von Horn yet?
@Harry- very exciting- thanks for the heads up. Would be my first Magnus von Horn I believe
@Drake-What are the Sean Baker films in the archives? Is Anora his best film?
@Lionel – should be getting to Anora right on its hulu date there – March 17th- or very close to that
2015- Tangerine
2017- The Florida Project
2021- Red Rocket
@Lionel – Anora wasn’t as good as Florida Project, both suffer from weak endings but are very strong otherwise,
Anthony Hopkins (The Father), Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction), Sandra Huller (Anatomy of a Fall), Mads Mikkelsen (Another Round)?
@Palmer-I like the Anthony Hopkins mention. Wild that Margot Robbie got in for Babylon over Hopkins. Make no sense. Haha.
Here was the results from our community poll. Top 30 best acting performances of the decade so far…
1. Cillian Murphy – Oppenhimer 221
2. Cate Blanchett – Tar 184
3. Emma Stone – Poor Things 169
4. Robert Downey Jr. – Oppenheimer 137
5. Timothee Chalamet – Dune: Part 2 122
6. Tang Wei – Decision to Leave 111
7. Oscar Isaac – The Card Counter 88
8. Jessie Buckley – I’m Thinking of Ending Things 74
9. Demi Moore – The Substance 74
10. Kristen Stewart – Spencer 71
11. Frances McDormand – Nomadland. 57
12. Adrien Brody – The Brutalist. 56
13. Lily Rose Depp – Nosferatu 55
14. Gary Oldman – Mank 53
15. Paul Giamitti – The Holdovers 52
16. Timothee Chalamet – Dune 51
17. Daniel Craig – Queer 49
18. Ralph Fiennes – Conclave 47
19. Lily Gladstone – Killers of the Flower Moon 43
20. Margot Robbie – Babylon 41
21. Michael Fassbender – The Killer 40
22. Alexander Skarsgard – The Northman 36
23. Barry Keoghan – Saltburn 34
24. Dev Patel – The Green Knight 33
25. Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman. 32
26. Rebecca Ferguson – Dune 28
27. Sandra Huller – The Zone of Interest. 27
28. Denzel Washington – The Tragedy of Macbeth 22
29. Margaret Qualley – The Substance 20
30. Joaquin Phoenix – Beau is Afraid
Once again, if any other members of this site would like to participate in this stuff in the future: https://discord.gg/YgpCTVQj here is the link to our Cinema Archives Community server
@Matthew- this is great – look forward to pouring over this today
@Michael- thanks again for sharing this. I’ll pick one I love and one I don’t. I’m fresh off Nosferatu so will say I love Lily Rose Depp’s inclusion on the list. I’m not so bullish on Margot Robbie on this list for her gonzo performance in Babylon
@Drake-Maybe a low bar, but I thought Pitt gave the best performance in Babylon. It’s a wavering script but he has strong scenes near the end. Robbie is just all theatrical. But I’m OK with her performance given the tone of the film.
@Drake – how about performances you think were missed out on? I had Andrew Scott for Ripley quite high on my list but he didn’t make the final ballot.
@Harry- tough- I feel like we owe Willem Dafoe one on the list with that he’s doing right now, right? Maybe Poor Things
Kristen Dunst for Civil War.
@Drake-“this is a sequel and is disqualified”
I think this is apparent for both John Wick 4 and Across the Spider-Verse. The first films of these franchises is decently well regarded by Critics(both in the TSPDT 21st Century Top 1000).and Into the Spider-Verse is near the top 250. But because John Wick 4 and Across The Spider-Verse are sequels Critics wouldn’t dare touch them.
@Drake – I ranked Queer decently higher than Challengers (I thought Queer was his best film yet) but only a few of us had seen it whereas everyone had seen Challengers. A limitation of the system:
Nobody has seen Nickel Boys either but I recently caught that and it would rank high for 2024 as well I think.
Hey Drake! Me and 8 of the other members of this site decided to come together and make a community consensus list on the Top 50 films of the decade so far. Participants were me, @Harry, @Declan, @RujK, @Chase, @Ian, @Gareth, @Oliver, @Parmeet/Alex. Our methodology was for everyone to submit a top 40 list, ranked #1-40, with the scoring system as follows: #1 placement would result in 40 points, a #2 placement would result in 39 points, a #39 placement would result in 38 points, #40 placement would result in 1 point, etc. Add it all up to get the results. Not everyone has seen all of these films, so the results aren’t a perfect reflection of our opinions of the films, to give the most extreme example: only 3 of the 9 of us has seen Ripley, but all 3 of those people ranked it in their top 4, despite this it is ranked at #25 on this list. In upcoming week(s) I will do separate ranking with just the average placements of the films from people who have seen those films. We also have a top 30 best performance of the decade list coming alongside this, I just have not had the time to compile that data yet do to uni and work. I’ll post that here for you to see as well once we get that! If anyone else would like to participate in stuff like this in the future we have a discord server where we do this stuff: https://discord.gg/n8sM9Bxd
1 Oppenheimer 353
2 Dune: Part Two 263
3 John Wick: Chapter 4 263
4 Poor Things 252
5 The Zone of Interest 252
6 Decision to Leave 249
7 Dune 233
8 Asteroid City 231
9 Nosferatu 229
10 Tar 223
11 The French Dispatch 216
12 The Substance 182
13 Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse 175
14 The Green Knight 173
15 The Batman 169
16 BARDO, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths 167
17 Killers of the Flower Moon 167
18 Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga 150
19 The Card Counter 148
20 The Northman 137
21 I’m Thinking of Ending Things 135
22 Challengers 121
23 Saltburn 116
24 Babylon 115
25 Ripley 113
26 The Brutalist 104
27 The Killer 104
28 Spencer 101
29 Nomadland 99
30 Everything Everywhere All At Once 93
31 Mank 84
32 The Tragedy of Macbeth 81
33 Queer 74
34 The Underground Railroad 73
35 Tenet 70
36 Promising Young Women 69
37 The Boy and the Heron 63
38 Conclave 62
39 Avatar: The Way of the Water 62
40 El Conde 59
41 Blonde 58
42 Drive My Car 50
43 Nightmare Alley 48
44 The Banshees of Inisherin 58
45 Civil War 44
46 Pieces of a Woman 44
47 Anora 37
48 Top Gun: Maverick 37
49 Anatomy of a Fall 34
50 Aftersun 33
I won’t go into it but we did have tie breaker methods on the films that ended up with the same total points.
Beau is Afraid and Copenhagen Cowboy (an example of a film that over half of us have not seen) were the first 2 films left off
Here is our excel sheet extended data: https://1drv.ms/x/s!Agvu5hW4R–5ZgHAgUXnbBbofyQ?e=exMo56
@Matthew- Awesome share- thanks for doing all this everyone- I’m pouring over it now.
@Drake – any big surprises or ommisions?
@Harry- Most of my immediate focus is on the 2024 films I guess- some I haven’t seen yet. Challengers is higher than I would’ve guessed.
Struggle a bit with John Wick and Across the Spiderverse as the 3rd and 13th best films in the entire world in the past 5 years. Should maybe be positioned as an English language list, with the few non-English entries largely being the Netflix released films (eg Bardo, El Conde, the Boy and the Heron). Seems to be missing out on a number of great foreign language films released in this decade.
@Palmer What foreign films would those be?
@Matthew-Not Palmer. But he has a point. I don’t see R.M.N. or Fallen Leaves here or others like Copenhagen Cowboy, Perfect Days etc. Granted, they maybe more inaccessible than the usual in your face Hollywood stuff.
@Anderson only a handful of us have seen those films, we’ll try to have them covered for when we update this list at the start of next year
@Malith – I put Copenhagen Cowboy high on my list but it only made position 52. I didn’t think Perfect Days or RMN were good enough for the list.
@Matthew Would consider some of these:
Japan: Monster, Evil Doesn’t Exist, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, Perfect Days (know it is Wenders)
Scandinavia: Godland, Worst Person in the World, The Promised Land, Compartment No. 6, Fallen Leaves, Triangle of Sadness, Another Round, The Girl with the Needle
Spain: Close Your Eyes, Parallel Mothers, Alcarras, the Beasts
France: The Beast, Titane, One Fine Morning
Italy: La Chimera, The Hand of God, Io Capitano
Germany: The Teachers Lounge, Afire
Latin America: Totem, The Settlers, Argentina 1985, The Delinquents
Romania: R.M.N, Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World
Turkey: About Dry Grasses
I’ve seen about half of these, and all were considered, but of those only The Worst Person in the World, Fallen Leaves, and The Hand of God are viable candidates. Nothing against films like Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy or Argentine 1985 which are rich in themes, but they don’t quite have the stylistic or formal merit to stand up against heavy hitters. Accessibility surely factors into it, but the fact that Netflix is fairly well-represented here speaks more to the quality of their films than anything else. I don’t think anyone on this site can be accused of having an anti-foreign film bias, but history is full of waves that alternate between Hollywood and world cinema dominance. It’s a matter of time before the landscape readjusts.
@Palmer- These would be on your own top 50 list? Is that a fair assumption?
@Drake No, not necessarily – they were just some examples of films I would have thought would at least be in the conversation if you look at best in the world. About Dry Grasses, The Beasts, Worst Person in the World, Another Round, Petite Maman would definitely be in my list, ahead of films like Tenet. Top Gun, Across the Spiderverse, Challengers, John Wick etc. Films like Godland, Pacifiction and the Settlers are right up there in terms of visual beauty and the Beast (Bonello) or Triangle of Sadness in terms of ambition. I’m a huge Wes Anderson fan, but Asteroid City was one of his lesser efforts.
@Declan Agreed that history is full of waves, but currently it is probably one of Hollywood’s weakest periods (at least for studio films), which is also evident in one of the weakest Oscar years this year. If something like Monster or the Promised Land was an American film, it would have been right up there in award contention last year.
@Palmer- Thank you for sharing – I’ve been through this conversation (or close variations on it) before. I know your comment isn’t about my list- but I wanted to chime in here. The only way to properly have the conversation, in my opinion, is for someone to get specific about which films should be removed and which should be added – and you did that here- so thank you. Speaking in generalities about “Hollywood” (when half the films in Hollywood are directed by foreign-born directors anyways) doesn’t get us anywhere. Quite often, the bias is actually stronger the other way around against the so-called “Hollywood” films (as an aside, is A24 Hollywood? – because that is a United States-based company working with big stars putting out brilliant work on a regular basis) or english-language films. I actually think JW4 and Spiderverse would show up on more critics’ top 10 lists it these were made on a smaller budget and/or made by a non English-speaking country. There’s this “this was made by the man/machine” or “this is a sequel and is disqualified” bias (not accusing you- just what I hear often from some cinephiles) as if it isn’t serious art.
With all due respect- if you have seen Across the Spiderverse, John Wick 4, and Asteroid City and would include films like Worst Person in the World, Another Round and Petite Maman ahead of them (and no worries if you have- you are not alone)- you are looking for very different things than I am when it comes to cinema art. We can simply agree to disagree. But at least in my case- there would be no need for a disclaimer about it being an english-language list…not at all… it has little to do with that
@Palmer-Imo, Across the Spider-Verse is much better than Into the Spider-Verse and the first film is extremely high up on critics lists. There is sequel phobia going on with Across the Spider-Verse. I don’t believe it is a left-field pick given how highly rated the first film is.
@Declan I don’t think there is any intentional anti-foreign film bias and some of it is of course due to accessibility and media coverage, but I do think there may be some inherent unconscious bias against non-English language films.
If you take Pablo Larrain as an example, some of this previous Chilean films are as accomplished, but would not have made these lists if made today in the absence of his English language films.
Same with Coraline Fargeat. Do you really think if she made the Substance as exactly the same film but in French with an unknown (in the US) French cast, that it would be as high on these lists? Not intended as a criticism, just don’t think that 90% of the best films in the world in the past 5 years are English. English would of course be over-represented, but 90% seems very high given the number of great films from other countries out there.
@Palmer – another thing worth pointing out is how many of the great non-English directors who were still crushing it in the 2010s have been quite inactive, releasing one project at most so far. Tarr, Pawilowski, Lee Chang Dong, Cuaron, Dolan, Kar Wai etc….
@Palmer Fargeat. “Do you really think if she made the Substance as exactly the same film but in French with an unknown (in the US) French cast, that it would be as high on these lists?“
100%
I don’t think it’s fair to call it an English language list, just based on the fact that there are non-English language films included in it. I would agree with you on the fact that many great foreign films have been unjustly left out. I don’t think it’s intentional in the least because I know people on this website really appreciate foreign films, it’s just a matter of exposure and accessibility. Some of these films are quite difficult to find and therefore they get wrongly but understandably overlooked. Films like The beast, About dry grasses, Do not expect too much from the end of the world, Pacifiction or Lúa vermella should definitely be considered and all of them would easily make my top 20 of the decade so far, but the truth is that most people simple have not had the chance to see them.
This is how our ‘average driven’ list I turned out, I’d say it’s a bit of an upgrade:
1 Oppenheimer
2 Ripley
3 Decision to Leave
4 Dune: Part Two
5 John Wick: Chapter 4
6 Poor Things
7 The Zone of Interest
8 Tar
9 Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
10 Dune
11 Asteroid City
12 Nosferatu
13 The Green Knight
14 The Card Counter
15 Queer
16 The French Dispatch
17 Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse
18 The Batman
19 The Tragedy of Macbeth
20 I’m Thinking of Ending Things
21 Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
22 Killers of the Flower Moon
23 The Underground Railroad
24 The Substance
25 The Brutalist
26 Challengers
27 The Northman
28 Spencer
29 Saltburn
30 Nomadland
31 Babylon
32 Avatar: The Way of the Water
33 Conclave
34 The Killer
35 Blonde
36 Mank
37 El Conde
38 Tenet
39 Pieces of a Woman
40 Eveerything Everywhere All At Once
41 Drive My Car
42 Promising Young Woman
43 Nightmare Alley
44 Civil War
45 The Banshees of Inisherin
46 Coppenhagen Cowboy
47 The Boy and the Heron
48 Anora
49 Aftersun
50 Beau is Afraid
This is a very cool initiative, actually. I would’ve loved to participate, although I don’t know if you guys would’ve kicked me out for not including Oppenheimer in my top 40 XD
@rxaxp – Anyone from cinema archives is welcome to participate. Read the end of @Matthew’s original post for the discord link. I think the plan is to renew this list yearly.
Have made a personal list of the 50 best films of the past 5 years (2020-2024) from the ones I’ve watched:
1. Decision to Leave (Park Chan Wook)
2. Anatomy of a Fall (J Triet)
3. Tar (T Field)
4. As Bestas [The Beasts] (R Sorogoyen)
5. Petite Maman (C Sciamma)
6. About Dry Grasses (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
7. Drive My Car (R Hamaguchi)
8. Zone of Interest (J Glazer)
9. The Banshees of Inisherin (M McDonagh)
10. Killers of a Flower Moon (M Scorsese)
11. Oppenheimer (C Nolan)
12. Evil Doesn’t Exist (R Hamaguchi)
13. Parallel Mothers (P Almodovar)
14. The Worst Person in the World (J Trier)
15. Perfect Days (W Wenders)
16. The Settlers (F G Haberle)
17. Another Round (T Vinterberg)
18. Afire (C Petzold)
19. Aftersun (C Wells)
20. Godland (H Palmason)
21. May December (T Haynes)
22. Totem (L Aviles)
23. The Substance (C Fargeat)
24. Boiling Point (P Barantini)
25. The Holdovers (A Payne)
26. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (R Hamaguchi)
27. Monster (H Koreeda)
28. Triangle of Sadness (R Ostlund)
29. The Quiet Girl (C Bairead)
30. Fallen Leaves (A Kaurismaki)
31. The Lost Daughter (M Gyllenhaal)
32. Licorice Pizza (PT Anderson)
33. The Father (F Zeller)
34. One Fine Morning (M Hansen-Love)
35. La Chimera (A Rohrwacher)
36. Bergman Island (M Hansen-Love)
37. The Beast (B Bonello)
38. Nomadland (C Zhao)
39. American Fiction (C Jefferson)
40. Past Lives (C Song)
41. Dune (D Villeneuve)
42. Alcarras (C Simon)
43. I’m Thinking of Ending Things (C Kaufman)
44. The French Dispatch (W Anderson)
45. Poor Things (Y Lanthimos)
46. The Hand of God (P Sorrentino)
47. The Power of the Dog (J Campion)
48. Riders of Justice (AT Jensen)
49. The Taste of Things (Tran Anh Hung)
50. Pacifiction (A Serra)
51. Promising Young Woman (E Fennell)
52. Babylon (D Chazelle)
53. The Card Counter (P Schrader)
54. Minari (Lee Isaac Chung)
55. All Quiet on the Western Front (E Berger)
56. Wife of a Spy (K Kurosawa)
57. Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniels)
58. The Batman (M Reeves)
59. Civil War (A Garland)
60. Pig (M Sarnoski)
61. Azor (A Fontana)
62. Vortex (G Noe)
63. Asteroid City (W Anderson)
64. Pearl (T West)
65. Passing (R Hall)
66. The Northman (R Eggers)
67. The Killer(D Fincher)
68. The Nest (S Durkin)
69. Shiva Baby (E Seligman)
70. The Souvenir Part II (J Hogg)
71. Belfast (K Branagh)
72. Mank (D Fincher)
73. Athena (R Gavras)
74. Barbie (G Gerwig)
75. Top Gun: Maverick (J Kosinski)
76. Hit Man (R Linklater)
77. The Menu (M Mylod)
78. Blonde (A Dominik)
79. Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (C McQuarrie)
80. Da 5 Bloods (S Lee)
Still to see: The Brutalist, Anora, Bardo, Close Your Eyes, R.M.N, Beginning, A Hero, Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World, Beau is Afraid, The Boy and the Heron
Having seen The Delinquents now, would add it to a top50:
1. Decision to Leave (Park Chan Wook)
2. Anatomy of a Fall (J Triet)
3. Tar (T Field)
4. As Bestas [The Beasts] (R Sorogoyen)
5. Petite Maman (C Sciamma)
6. About Dry Grasses (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
7. Drive My Car (R Hamaguchi)
8. Zone of Interest (J Glazer)
9. The Banshees of Inisherin (M McDonagh)
10. Killers of a Flower Moon (M Scorsese)
11. Oppenheimer (C Nolan)
12. Evil Doesn’t Exist (R Hamaguchi)
13. Parallel Mothers (P Almodovar)
14. The Worst Person in the World (J Trier)
15. Perfect Days (W Wenders)
16. The Settlers (F G Haberle)
17. Another Round (T Vinterberg)
18. Afire (C Petzold)
19. Aftersun (C Wells)
20. Godland (H Palmason)
21. May December (T Haynes)
22. Totem (L Aviles)
23. The Substance (C Fargeat)
24. Boiling Point (P Barantini)
25. The Holdovers (A Payne)
26. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (R Hamaguchi)
27. Monster (H Koreeda)
28. Triangle of Sadness (R Ostlund)
29. The Delinquents (R Moreno)
30. The Quiet Girl (C Bairead)
31. Fallen Leaves (A Kaurismaki)
32. The Lost Daughter (M Gyllenhaal)
33. Licorice Pizza (PT Anderson)
34. The Father (F Zeller)
35. One Fine Morning (M Hansen-Love)
36. La Chimera (A Rohrwacher)
37. Bergman Island (M Hansen-Love)
38. The Beast (B Bonello)
39. Nomadland (C Zhao)
40. American Fiction (C Jefferson)
41. Past Lives (C Song)
42. Dune (D Villeneuve)
43. Alcarras (C Simon)
44. I’m Thinking of Ending Things (C Kaufman)
45. The French Dispatch (W Anderson)
46. Poor Things (Y Lanthimos)
47. The Hand of God (P Sorrentino)
48. The Power of the Dog (J Campion)
49. Riders of Justice (AT Jensen)
50. Pacifiction (A Serra)
@LeRoi-Oppenheimer below movies like Anatomy of a Fall and Petite Maman bugs me.
Have you seen The Substance yet. I saw it and I wanted to wait because I came out of it exhilarated and I knew that the high adrenaline experience can have an impact on my judgement and I’d end up overrating the film. Now I’m ready to talk about it.
I absolutely enjoyed it. It’s very stylishly told. Very energetic high octane experience. Not a dull moment. Very good screenplay (Cannes win).
Takes from various other films- the color design, carpets , walls , symmetry is from The Shining, ending is De Palma’s Carrie and Demi Moore’s character is in conversation with Ellen Burstyn’s in Requiem for a Dream (Moore doesn’t even come close to Burstyn’s performance).
I don’t think it’s a masterpiece. Near like top 5 of the year quality on comparison with other films. It’s absolutely better than Anora, Disclaimer and Civil War.
@M*A*S*H- I have seen The Substance if you are asking me. I’ll let others chime in here of course- but this is very well said. We’re on the same page.
@Drake- this year is going kinda weak. I have to watch Ripley and Nosferatu. I have extremely high expectations from Nosferatu. Dune 2 appears to be the best film. Kinda sad and also a joke that there’s actually a possibility that Villeneuve will miss director nom at the Oscars- ugh!
I’ve heard great things about The Brutalist but I don’t have much faith in it. Also Nickel Boys. I was excited for Almodovar’s film with Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton (wow what a team). But I’ve heard it’s not high Almodovar.
One intresting film is Steve McQueen’s Blitz. I’ve heard it’s more of a mixed bag but I don’t believe it. The artistic sucess ratio of McQueen is as good as any director. He has never had a miss. People tend to underrate British period dramas. I don’t believe it’s a prestige world war oscar bait. I’m watching it the first chance I get.
I have formally completed my marathon. Materially it will upgrade probably until I’m dead (here: https://usualmovies.wordpress.com/movies-by-year/ – still need to write a few pages).
These are some rankings for the 2020s that I have done (as a sort of finale):
50 Best Movies (2020 – 2023 + Kinds of Kindness, because it is the only 2024 film I have seen)
1. Oppenheimer MP
2. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse MP
3. The French Dispatch MP
4. Poor Things MP
5. Decision to Leave MS/MP
6. John Wick: Chapter 4 MS/MP
7. I’m Thinking About Ending Things MS/MP
8. Asteroid City MS/MP
9. Tar MS
10. The Green Knight MS
11. BARDO MS
12. The Zone of Interest MS
13. The Card Counter MS
14. The Tragedy of Macbeth MS
15. Babylon MS
16. Dune MS
17. Nomadland MS
18. Mank MS
19. Killers of the Flower Moon MS
20. The Underground Railroad MS
21. Spencer MS
22. The Northman MS
23. Kinds of Kindness MS
24. Nightmare Alley MS
25. The Batman HR/MS
26. Everything Everywhere All at Once HR/MS
27. Saltburn HR/MS
28. Pieces of a Woman HR/MS
29. Copenhagen Cowboy HR/MS
30. El Conde HR/MS
31. Small Axe HR/MS
32. Promising Young Woman HR/MS
33. The Killer HR/MS
34. Avatar: The Way of Water HR/MS
35. Blonde HR/MS
36. Tenet HR/MS
37. Fallen Leaves HR
38. All Quiet on the Western Front HR
39. A Hero HR
40. White Noise HR
41. The Banshees of Inisherin HR
42. Belfast HR
43. Beau is Afraid HR
44. The Boy and the Heron HR
45. The Hand of God HR
46. R.M.N. HR
47. The Power of the Dog HR
48. Some Kind of Heaven HR
49. C’mon C’mon HR
50. The Father HR
25 Best Performances
1. Murphy- Oppenheimer
2. Blanchett- Tar
3. Stone- Poor Things
4. Hopkins- The Father
5. Cooper- Nightmare Alley
6. Cumberbatch- The Power of the Dog
7. Downey Jr.- Oppenheimer
8. Wei- Decision to Leave
9. Buckley- I’m Thinking of Ending Things
10. Stewart- Spencer
11. Farrell- The Banshees of Inisherin
12. Quan- Everything Everywhere All at Once
13. Lindo- Da 5 Bloods
14. Patel- The Green Knight
15. Washington- The Tragedy of Macbeth
16. Taylor-Joy- The Queen’s Gambit
17. Ruffalo- Poor Things
18. Park- Decision to Leave
19. Yeoh- Everything Everywhere All at Once
20. Yakusho- Perfect Days
21. Skarsgard- The Northman
22. Mikkelsen- Another Round
23. Nishijima- Drive My Car
24. Isaac- The Card Counter
25. Gladstone- Killers of the Flower Moon
More than 2500 films in three years, now a bit of rest.
@RujK- really well on- congratulations! Well earned rest.
@Drake- thank you. I will also soon post the top 100 (both films and performances).
@RujK – wow that is incredible dedication
Great list here. Hard to argue with the top 3 especially
1. Murphy- Oppenheimer
2. Blanchett- Tar
3. Stone- Poor Things
11. I was impressed by Brendan Gleeson’s performance but Colin Farrell is the more impressive performance in The Banshees of Inisherin. I think it may be Farrell’s finest performance
25. Too bad Gladstone did not get more screentime in the 2nd half of Killers of the Flower Moon
@James Trapp- thank you.
Gleeson is not that far away actually (31st), but it most definitely Farrell’s turn to impress (after Gleeson out-acted him in In Bruges) and it is my pick for his best performance.
Wow that’s a great list! Personally, Vanessa Kirby would be in my top 25 for Pieces of a Woman (over maybe someone like Nishijima for Drive My Car?) But truly love your selections!
@Rueben- thank you for the compliments. Kirby is pretty much transcendent and is most definitly not far away from these picks.
Emmanuelle doesn’t seem to be going very well for Happening director Audrey Diwan.
the batman with riddler is terrible.