Movies: Best Movies of the Century by Year

[kihei]

Sounds simple, but it gets kind of tricky. Only one movie per year, please (that's where it gets tricky). Here's my list:

2000: In the Mood for Love, Kar-wai, Hong Kong
2001: Mulholland Drive, Lynch, US
2002: City of God, Meirelles, Brazil
2003: Old Boy, Park, South Korea
2004: Tropical Malady, Weerasethakul, Thailand
2005: L'enfant, Dardenne brothers, Belgium
2006: I Don't Want to Sleep Alone, Tsai, Taiwan; Still Life, Jia, China (tie--the two best films of the century in my book)
2007: 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days, Mungiu, Romania
2008: Alexandra, Sokurov, Russia
2009: Police, Adjective, Porumboiu, Romania
2010: Uncle Boonme Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Weerasethakul, Thailand
2011: Once upon a Time in Anatolia, Ceylan, Turkey
2012: Amour, Haneke, France/Austria
2013: Gravity, Cuaron, US
2014: Mommy, Dolan, Canada
2015: The Assassin, Hou, Taiwan
2016: Moonlight, Jenkins, US
2017: Loveless, Zvyagintsev, Russia
2018: Roma, Cuaron, Mexico
2019: Parasite, Bong, South Korean
2020: Nomadland, Zhao, US
2021: Memoria, Weerasethakul, Columbia
2022: The Banshees of Inisherin, McDonagh, Ireland
2023: Riceboy Sleeps, Shim, Canada

If you don't want to do all the years, do as many as you can.

Click to read more...

 

[Shareefruck]

I get most of my recommendations from you, so there's a lot of overlap.

2000 - In the Mood For Love
2001 - Mulholland Drive
2002 - Spirited Away
2003 - Triplets of Belleville
2004 - Tropical Malady
2005 - Kung Fu Hustle (hoping to replace this with something a bit stronger as well, but can't think of anything)
2006 - Still Life
---- Started keeping up with movies here, so the stuff below this line are more informed than the stuff above ----
2007 - No Country For Old Men
2008 - Love Exposure
2009 - Ponyo
2010 - Mother
2011 - Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
2012 - Amour
2013 - Upstream Color
2014 - Force Majeure
2015 - The Assassin
2016 - Things to Come (really unhappy with this pick-- think it was a really weak year with nothing all that great)
2017 - Loveless
2018 - N/A (haven't really seen anything yet)

I was pretty liberal with release dates, for the sake of having a stronger list.

 

[Pattysaurus]

2000: Memento
2001: Donnie Darko
2002: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2003: Old Boy
2004: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2005: Cinderella Man
2006: Children of Men
2007: No Country for Old Men
2008: The Dark Knight
2009: Up
2010: Inception
2011: Intouchables
2012: Silver Linings Playbook
2013: Gravity
2014: Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
2015: Sicario
2016: Arrival
2017: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Needless to say, some years were much easier than others.

 

[kihei]

I get most of my recommendations from you, so there's a lot of overlap.

2000 - In the Mood For Love
2001 - Mulholland Drive
2002 - Spirited Away
2003 - Triplets of Belleville
2004 - Tropical Malady
2005 - Kung Fu Hustle (hoping to replace this with something a bit stronger as well, but can't think of anything)
2006 - Still Life
---- Started keeping up with movies here, so the stuff below this line are more informed than the stuff above ----
2007 - No Country For Old Men
2008 - Love Exposure
2009 - Ponyo
2010 - Mother
2011 - Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
2012 - Amour
2013 - Upstream Color
2014 - Force Majeure
2015 - The Assassin
2016 - Things to Come (really unhappy with this pick-- think it was a really weak year with nothing all that great)
2017 - Loveless
2018 - N/A (haven't really seen anything yet)

I was pretty liberal with release dates, for the sake of having a stronger list.

I really like every single one of those a lot. I agree about the frustration of weak years and wanting to find something better, but sometimes strong years can be difficult, too, like having Police, Adjective; Love Exposure and Antichrist in the same year which made it a hard choice, for me anyway. Also my second favourite film of the century, Tsai Ming-liang"s I Don't Want to Sleep Alone, can't make the list at all because it came out in 2006, the same year as my favourite film of the century Still Life.

 

[silkyjohnson50]

Kihei, can you also add your best North American movie of each year where applicable?

 

[kihei]

Kihei, can you also add your best North American movie of each year where applicable?

2000: Memento
2001: Mulholland Drive
2002: Adaptation
2003: Lost in Translation
2004: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2005: Munich
2006: Away from Her (Canada)
2007: No Country for Old Men
2008: Wendy and Lucy
2009: The Hurt Locker
2010: Somewhere
2011: Drive
2012: Life of Pi
2013: Gravity
2014: Mommy (Canada)
2015: Sicario
2016: Moonlight
2017: Blade Runner 2049
2018: Leave No Trace
2019: A HIdden Life
2020: Nomadland
2021: The Power of the Dog
2022: Everything Everywhere All at Once
2023: Riceboy Sleeps (Canada)

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

This was a little tougher exercise than I anticipated particularly for 2007, 2010, 2012 and 2013, where my runner up choices are still among my favorites of the last 18 years and often better than other years.

2000: Memento
2001: Moulin Rouge
2002: The 25th Hour
2003: Lost in Translation
2004: Before Sunset
2005: A History of Violence
2006: The Good Shepherd
2007: Zodiac (my consistent choices for best movie of the century...)
2008: Wall-E
2009: Bad Lieutenant; Port of Call New Orleans
2010: Winter’s Bone
2011: Drive
2012: The Master
2013: Under the Skin
2014: Boyhood
2015: Mad Max: Fury Road
2016: The Handmaiden
2017: Baby Driver
2018: Annihilation (so far...)

 

[Mario Lemieux fan 66]

2000: Gladiator or Snatch
2001: The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
2002: City of God but the pianist and The Twilight Samurai are good choice too
2003: The Best of Youth or La grande séduction both very good
2004: the incredibles or kill bill vol.2
2005: Batman Begins very weak year
2006: Lives of others but Casino Royale, Pan's Labyrinth, The prestige, MI3 and Maurice Richard are all great too
2007: The Bourne Ultimatum but the man from earth and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly are good too
2008: Departures but The wrestler, Ip man and In Bruges are good too
2009: Inglourious Basterds but the hangover is great too
2010: Black swan or The Man from Nowhere
2011: The artist or Incendies
2012: The Intouchables but the raid and Kon-Tiki are good too
2013: Mandariinid but Omar and the hunt are good too
2014: Whiplash but wild tales is great too
2015: The revenant but son of saul and ex machina are good too
2016: Lion or The Handmaiden both are great
2017: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 but Coco, monsieur et madame adelman, Dunkirk and get out are good too
2018: deadpool 2 but i haven't watch yet Roma and the shoplifters

 

[Say Hey Kid]

2000: Memento
2001: Mulholland Drive
2002: Adaptation
2003: Lost in Translation
2004: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2005: Munich
2006: Away from Her (Canadian)
2007: No Country for Old Men
2008: In Bruges (Ireland)
2009: Antichrist
2010: Somewhere
2011: Drive
2012: Life of Pi
2013: Gravity
2014: Mr. Turner (Great Britain)
2015: 45 Years (Great Britain)
2016: Moonlight
2017: Blade Runner 2049
2018: The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (at the moment)

I agree with all of these except Blade Runner 2049, but the critics loved it. The ones on Netflix are 45 Years, The Ballad of Lester Scruggs, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, In Bruges, and No Country for Old Men.

 

[Sakicfan]

2000 - Dancer in the Dark
2001 - Mulholland Drive
2002 - 8 Women
2003 - Dogville
2004 - Collateral
2005 - Pride & Prejudice
2006 - Syndromes and a Century
2007 - The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
2008 - Love Exposure
2009 - Inglourious Basterds
2010 - Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
2011 - The Tree of Life
2012 - Moonrise Kingdom
2013 - The Immigrant
2014 - The Grand Budapest Hotel
2015 - Mad Max: Fury Road
2016 - OJ: Made in America
2017 - Twin Peaks: The Return
2018 - The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Best films left: Margaret, PTU: Police Tactical Unit, Hot Fuzz, The Social Network, Femme Fatale

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

2000 - Snatch
2001 - Donnie Darko
2002 - Hero
2003 - Mystic River
2004 - The Incredibles
2005 - 40 Year Old Virgin
2006 - The Departed
2007 - No Country for Old Men
2008 - Dark Knight
2009 - Inglorious Basterds
2010 - True Grit
2011 - Drive
2012 - Zero Dark Thirty
2013 - Her
2014 - Guardians of the Galaxy
2015 - Star Wars: Force Awakens
2016 - Deadpool
2017 - Blade Runner 2049
2018 - Avengers: Infinity War

 

[sr edler]

2000 – The Beach, Boyle, GB/US (haha, I actually like this film, go figure. I know it's dumb though.)
2001 – A Knight's Tale, Helgeland, US (Paul Bettany is over-the-top brilliant, but yeah as a whole film Spirited Away is obviously better)
2002 – Ice Age, Wedge, US
2003 – Dogville, von Trier, Denmark
2004 – Howl's Moving Castle, Miyazaki, Japan (really f***ed up feeling in this film)
2005 – Grizzly Man, Herzog, US
2006 – Casino Royale, Campbell, GB
2007 – No Country for Old Men, Coen, US
2008 – Let the Right One In, Alfredson, SWE
2009 – Up, Docter & Peterson, US (also liked Fish Tank by Scottish filmmaker Andrea Arnold)
2010 – The Ghost Writer, Polanski, Euro
2011 – Shame, McQueen, England
2012 – Oh my god, so many bad films. ParaNorman I actually finished though.
2013 – These Final Hours, Hilditch, Australia
2014 – The Imitation Game, Tyldum, US
2015 – The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Heller, US
2016 – La La Land, Chazelle, US
2017 – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, McDonagh, US
2018 – None so far

 

[aufheben]

2000: High Fidelity
2001: Mulholland Drive
2002: City of God
2003: Lost in Translation
2004: Primer
2005: A History of Violence
2006: Casino Royale
2007: No Country For Old Men
2008: Cloverfield
2009: Enter the Void
2010: Incendies
2011: Drive
2012: Frances Ha
2013: Prisoners
2014: The Babadook
2015: Sicario
2016: The Neon Demon
2017: I, Tonya
2018: Hereditary

David Villeneuve could have very easily taken 6/19. Gaspar Noé was close to more as well.

2000 – The Beach, Boyle, GB/US (haha, I actually like this film, go figure. I know it's dumb though.)

I remember liking it too, probably because Danny Boyle directed it. Granted, I haven't seen it in a long time.

2001 – A Knight's Tale, Helgeland, US (Paul Bettany is over-the-top brilliant, but yeah as a whole film Spirited Away is obviously better)

I was very close to sneaking 24 Hour Party People into 2002 instead of City of God via the same reasoning.

 

[Puck]

I really like every single one of those a lot. I agree about the frustration of weak years and wanting to find something better, but sometimes strong years can be difficult, too, like having Police, Adjective; Love Exposure and Antichrist in the same year which made it a hard choice, for me anyway. Also my second favourite film of the century, Tsai Ming-liang"s I Don't Want to Sleep Alone, can't make the list at all because it came out in 2006, the same year as my favourite film of the century Still Life.

Yeah, I tried to do this and I can't. I have too many favorites each year. I went from 2000 to 2007 with several picks for each year and I figured I could do a triage later to pick one but I stopped. Can't do it.

I also realised that I did not watch movies in the same year as they were released. I could wind up watching some several years later in DVD or regular tv. To me it might be a 2007 movie, but it's really a 2003 original distribution. I think with Cable On Demand, streaming and other media, I'm more up to date in the last 4-5 years, but that wasn't always the case with older tech platforms (this applies more to foreign fare than Hollywood content that is more prevalent in theatres).

I have a hard time picking favorites for one year, let alone 18. And I've looked everywhere for Police, Adjective in 2018 and can't find it (even at one of the last remaining DVD stores in town. I'll get it some day.)

 

[kihei]

Yeah, I tried to do this and I can't. I have too many favorites each year. I went from 2000 to 2007 with several picks for each year and I figured I could do a triage later to pick one but I stopped. Can't do it.

I also realised that I did not watch movies in the same year as they were released. I could wind up watching some several years later in DVD or regular tv. To me it might be a 2007 movie, but it's really a 2003 original distribution. I think with Cable On Demand, streaming and other media, I'm more up to date in the last 4-5 years, but that wasn't always the case with older tech platforms (this applies more to foreign fare than Hollywood content that is more prevalent in theatres).

I have a hard time picking favorites for one year, let alone 18. And I've looked everywhere for Police, Adjective in 2018 and can't find it (even at one of the last remaining DVD stores in town. I'll get it some day.)

Back when I was a kid, there always seemed to be midnight movies on some channel--lots of Lon Chaney, Jimmy Cagney, Edward G, Robinson, Joan Crawford, Katherine Hepburn, Bette Davis, and so on. You could get a film education just by staying up late--close to my idea of heaven at the time. As long as one could get his/her head around old movies, which I never had a problem with, there was something worth seeing almost every night. Unless it is the Ted Turner channel in the States, I'm not sure people even have an opportunity to see those classic films anymove. I guess there is just not a lot of interest either--too bad as it is as close as one can come to time travel.

 

[silkyjohnson50]

2000: Remember the Titans
2001: Training Day
2002: Adaptation
2003: Mystic River
2004: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2005: Wedding Crashers
2006: United 93
2007: No Country For Old Men
2008: The Hurt Locker (yeah, I'm cheating)
2009: Inglourious Basterds
2010: The Social Network
2011: 50/50
2012: Zero Dark Thirty
2013: The Way Way Back
2014: Whiplash
2015: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
2016: Arrival
2017: Get Out
2018: Annihilation (only 2018 I've seen so far)

There's years where I simply have very little viewing. I haven't seen a single Best Picture nominee from 2000, 2002, and 2005, for example. Thus some of my choices. Quite a few of the years, however, I've seen most of the nominated films. So I'm a mixed bag. I believe Annihilation is the only film I've seen so far this year, but I liked it so I included it.

Some years are clearly stronger than others like others have wisely stated. I could easily go 5+ movies deep during some years before some of the selections I've made in other years.

There's still quite a few movies I plan on catching up on so this list is likely different in a year or two.

 

[Xelebes]

2000:
2001: Donnie Darko
2002: Ice Age
2003:
2004:
2005:
2006: Pan's Labyrinth
2007:
2008: Wall-E
2009:
2010: Toy Story 3
2011:
2012:
2013:
2014: Interstellar
2015:
2016: 10 Cloverfield Lane
2017:
2018:

That's the list so far. It's not going to get much more populated than that. I don't watch a lot of movies.

 

[sr edler]

I remember liking it too, probably because Danny Boyle directed it. Granted, I haven't seen it in a long time.

Fellow Scot Tilda Swinton’s in it, and is pretty good. There’s even a (very short) sex scene between her and Leo. Regarding the film though, I like that the lines between the perceived protagonist/antagonist(s) are blurred, and that the main character has pretty unlikable character traits.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

2000: High Fidelity
2001: Mulholland Drive
2002: City of God
2003: Lost in Translation
2004: Primer
2005: A History of Violence
2006: Casino Royale
2007: No Country For Old Men
2008: Cloverfield
2009: Enter the Void
2010: Incendies
2011: Drive
2012: Frances Ha
2013: Prisoners
2014: The Babadook
2015: Sicario
2016: The Neon Demon
2017: I, Tonya
2018: Hereditary

There are five movies here that were my second choices. I have a big soft spot for High Fidelity in particular.

 

[kihei]

Fellow Scot Tilda Swinton’s in it, and is pretty good. There’s even a (very short) sex scene between her and Leo. Regarding the film though, I like that the lines between the perceived protagonist/antagonist(s) are blurred, and that the main character has pretty unlikable character traits.

I had no idea Tilda Swinton was Scottish. Learn something new every day.

 

[Ralph Spoilsport]

Oh, let`s say...

2000 Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner
2001 Spirited Away
2002 City of God
2003 Lost in Translation
2004 Moolaadé
2005 A History of Violence
2006 Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
2007 The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
2008 Hunger
2009 Police, Adjective
2010 The Illusionist
2011 The Raid: Redemption
2012 Stories We Tell
2013 Before Midnight
2014 Goodbye To Language
2015 Victoria
2016 Paterson
2017 Dragonfly Eyes
2018 Jirga

 

[frisco]

1956 The Ten Commandments
1957 Bridge On The River Kwai
1958 Touch Of Evil
1959 Ben-Hur
1960 The Magnificent Seven
1961 Blue Hawaii
1962 Lawrence Of Arabia
1963 The Great Escape
1964 Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb
1965 The Cincinnati Kid
1966 The Sand Pebbles
1967 Bonnie And Clyde
1968 The Thomas Crown Affair
1969 Midnight Cowboy
1970 Love Story
1971 Clockwork Orange
1972 The Godfather
1973 Papillon
1974 Godfather Part II
1975 Dog Day Afternoon
1976 Network
1977 Saturday Night Fever
1978 The Deer Hunter
1979 Apocalypse Now
1980 The Shining
1981 Chariots Of Fire
1982 Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan
1983 Scarface
1984 Once Upon A Time In America
1985 St. Elmo's Fire
1986 Hannah And Her Sisters
1987 Full Metal Jacket
1988 Dangerous Liasons
1989 Born On The 4th Of July
1990 The Godfather Part III
1991 The Rapture
1992 Glengarry Glen Ross
1993 Kalifornia
1994 Muriel's Wedding
1995 Leaving Las Vegas
1996 Swingers
1997 Boogie Nights
1998 The Thin Red Line
1999 Eyes Wide Shut
2000 Requiem For A Dream
2001 Mulholland Drive
2002 Chicago
2003 Lost In Translation
2004 Sideways
2005 I Walk The Line
2006 United 93
2007 Zodiac
2008 Vicky Kristina Barcelona
2009 The Hangover
2010 The Social Network
2011 Moneyball
2012 Zero Dark Thirty
2013 American Hustle
2014 Nightcrawler
2015 The Big Short
2016 O.J. Made In America
2017 None
2018 Bohemian Rhapsody
2019 Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood

My Best-Carey

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Well... from the period that was covered in this old thread, what I got is this:

2000: Combat d'amour en songe
2001: What Time Is it There?
2002: Distant
2003: The Brown Bunny [?!]
2004: Notre musique
2005: Caché
2006: Windows On Monday
2007: Import Export [?!]
2008: Revanche [?!]
2009: Antichrist
2010: ...
2011: Once Upon A Time In Anatolia [?!]

The [?!] indicates great films that I know for a fact are certainly not the best of the year. And 2010 and anything above 2011, I really haven't seen much decent movies.

2010 is when I stopped teaching film. It really shows.

 

[Babe Ruth]

Because of my location, schedule, lifestyle etc in 2ooo, I went to the theaters a lot that year. And I recognize in a lot of respects it was a formulaic chick flick, but I think Bounce was the best movie I saw that year. It had a tragic irony that appealed to me.

I agree with some earlier posts, Mulholland Drive was probably the best movie of 2001.. also liked The Pledge which I think came out real early in '01.

 

[kihei]

Glad to see this thread bumped after all this time.

I've added these films to my original list. Hard to believe that it has been five years

2019: Parasite, Bong, South Korea
2020: Nomadland, Zhao, US
2021: Memoria, Weerasethakul, Columbia
2022: The Banshees of Inisherin, McDonagh, Ireland
2023: Riceboy Sleeps, Shim, Canada (so far)

And I've revised my list of NA films to comply with #silkyjohnson50's original request that I just list NA movies as I had a three English-language films not made in NA on my original list. I didn't notice the error at the time.