Saturday, June 28, 2025

A Quarter-century of Films


The 
New York Times recently released a list of the 100 best films from the first quarter of the new century, as determined by a poll of eminent critics and filmmakers. Readers could scroll through the list, ogling the relevant posters and stills while trying to recall, if they happened to have seen a particular film, what it was actually like. They were given the opportunity to click a box after each of the films they’d seen and download a cumulative list at the end. 

This process reminds me of the one Hilary and I go through every time we peruse the DVDs at our local library or the Goodwill in Minnetonka. We’re pleased to spot films we liked, exclaiming “Oh, that was a good one,” but we rarely make an effort to see a new one. I don’t know why.

"I heard that was good ... I doubt it."

I scrolled down the NY Times list—a trip down memory lane. It turns out I’d seen 55 of the “top” 100. Some I liked, others not so much. I decided it might be worthwhile to divide the films into categories, in case anyone is looking for recommendations. (I doubt it.)

I added a category of films released in the last 25 years that I thought very highly of, though they didn’t make it to the NYT list at all.


 
Really Good

The Social Network

Phantom Thread

A Separation

A Serious Man

Almost Famous

12 Years a Slave

Pan’s Labyrinth

Memento

Little Miss Sunshine

Oppenheimer

Tár

The Tree of Life

Fellowship of the Ring

Interstellar

Gladiator

Mulholland Drive

 

Quite Good

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Arrival

Lady Bird

The Lives of Others

Spotlight

Volver

Black Swan

Brokeback Mountain

Inside Llewyn Davis

Past Lives

The Gleaners & I

Everything Everywhere All at Once

Gravity

Grizzly Man

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Boyhood

Michael Clayton

Adaptation

 

Good Enough to Watch

Parasite

No Country for Old Men

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Moneyball

Best in Show

The Hurt Locker

Minority Report

The Worst Person in the World

Frances Ha

 

Fair

Roma

Amélie

Ratatouille

Aftersun

Black Panther

The Royal Tenenbaums

Grand Budapest Hotel

Spirited Away

Anatomy of a Fall

 

Pretty Bad

Lost in Translation

Moonlight

The Florida Project



And here are a few films that didn’t make the NYT 100 at all, though they should have.

Motorcycle Diaries

Touching the Void

Sideways

Va Savoir

Twilight Samurai

Into the Wild

In America

Wonder Boys

Hell or High Water

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia


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