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  The 21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films Ranking (151-200)  
  21st Century Home  Summary:  The 250 Films  The Top 50 Directors  Browse by Ranking:  1-50  51-100  101-150  151-200  201-250  Previous Titles  
     
     
 
 151    152    153  
Shaun of the Dead
Edgar Wright  (246)
2004, 99m, Col, UK-USA-France, Action-Comedy-Horror
Simon Pegg, Kate Ashfield, Lucy Davis, Nick Frost, Dylan Moran, Bill Nighy, Penelope Wilton, Jessica Stevenson, Peter Serafinowicz, Rafe Spall
"A gleefully gory, pitch-perfect parody of George Romero's zombie films. But this isn't a movie about other movies. Shaun of the Dead stands on its own." - Robert K. Elder, Chicago Trubune
Selected by Quentin Tarantino, Peter Bradshaw, Nick James, Richard Corliss, Shawn Levy.
Amazon  metacritic
 
La Commune (Paris, 1871)
Peter Watkins  (177)
2000, 345m, BW, France, Drama-Historical
Elaine Annie Adalto, Pierre Barbieux, Bernard Bombeau, Maylis Bouffartigue, Genevieve Capy, Anne Carlier, Veronique Couzon, Piotr Daskiewicz, Nicole Defer, Caroline Esnard-Benoit
"Taped in stark black-and-white and clocking in 15 minutes shy of six hours, this invigorating pic is big, passionate and brimming with compelling human details and broad sociopolitical idealism." - Eddie Cockrell, Variety
Selected by David Ehrenstein, J. Hoberman, Michael Atkinson, James Quandt, Amy Taubin.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Eureka
Shinji Aoyama  (112)
• Yurîka (original title)
2000, 217m, Col-BW, Japan-France, Drama
Koji Yakusho, Aoi Miyazaki, Masaru Miyazaki, Sayuri Kokusho, Yohichiroh Saitoh, Go Riju, Yutaka Matsuhige, Sansei Shiomi, Kimie Shingyoji, Ken Mitsuishi
"Builds steadily through a series of masterfully orchestrated modulations to a final act without shattering revelations or lofty dramatic peaks but with a quiet, formidable power." - David Rooney, Variety
Selected by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Dave Kehr, David Sterritt, David Ansen, Jay Carr.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 154    155    156  
Kill Bill Vol. 2
Quentin Tarantino  (129)
2004, 136m, Col-BW, USA-China, Thriller-Drama-Action
Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Daryl Hannah, Michael Madsen, Chia Hui Liu, Michael Parks, Larry Bishop, Sid Haig, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeannie Epper
"This installment delivers more of the pleasures that made Tarantino the wunderkind of 90s cinema: offbeat scumbag characters, narrative sleight of hand, an extraordinary visual sense, and affectionate genre pillaging." - J.R. Jones, Chicago Reader
Selected by Arnaud Desplechin, Ty Burr, Roger Ebert, Manohla Dargis, Scott Foundas.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Three Times
Hou Hsiao-Hsien  (199)
• Zui hao de shi guang (original title)
2005, 135m, Col, France-Taiwan, Romance-Drama
Qi Shu, Chen Chang, Fang Mei, Mei Di, Su-jen Liao, Chen Shi-Zheng, Lee Pei-hsuan, Huang Ruo-shi, Liao Ling-tzu, Ko Yu-Lun
"Three varieties of love: unfulfilled, mercenary, meaningless. All photographed with such visual beauty that watching the movie is like holding your breath so the butterfly won’t stir." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Selected by Kent Jones, Thom Andersen, Richard Combs, Piers Handling, Martin Scorsese.
Amazon  metacritic
 
The Triplets of Belleville
Sylvain Chomet  (114)
• Les Triplettes de Belleville (original title)
2003, 80m, Col, France-Canada-Belgium-UK, Comedy-Animated-Adventure
Jean-Claude Donda, Dirk Denoyelle, Monica Viegas, Michele Caucheteaux, Michel Robin, Graziela de Vila, Noel Baye, Suzy Falk, Nicole Shirer, Germaine Charest
"A madcap milestone. Not since Disney's 75-minute Alice In Wonderland (1951) has an animator filled the screen with dazzling flights of random invention that manage to hook up into a swift, brief narrative." - Michael Sragow, Baltimore Sun
Selected by Michael Atkinson, David Sterritt, Gerald Peary, Peter Rainer, A.O. Scott.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 157    158    159  
In the City of Sylvia
José Luis Guerín  (123)
• En la ciudad de Sylvia (original title)
2007, 84m, Col, Spain, Drama
Pilar Lopez de Ayala, Xavier Lafitte, Michael Balerdi, Laurence Cordier, Tanja Czichy, Gladys Deussner, Eric Dietrich, Charlotte Dupont, Philippe Ohrel
"The film is built on sensuous interplays between people and objects, reality and representation, implying something profound is at risk here, and the simultaneous thrill and danger of every scene nearly stops the heart." - Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
Selected by John Anderson, Gerald Peary, Tom Charity, David Sterritt, Ed Gonzalez.
Amazon  Slant Magazine
 
In America
Jim Sheridan  (132)
2003, 105m, Col, USA-Ireland-UK, Drama
Samantha Morton, Paddy Considine, Djimon Hounsou, Sarah Bolger, Emma Bolger, Neal Jones, Randall Carlton, Ciaran Cronin, Juan Hernandez, Nye Heron
"In America is not unsentimental about its new arrivals (the movie has a warm heart and frankly wants to move us), but it is perceptive about the countless ways in which it is hard to be poor and a stranger in a new land." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Selected by Michael Sragow, J. Hoberman, Michael Wilmington, Roger Ebert, David Ansen.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Songs from the Second Floor
Roy Andersson  (156)
• Sånger från andra våningen (original title)
2000, 98m, Col, Sweden-France-Denmark-Norway-Germany, Drama
Lars Nordh, Stefan Larsson, Hanna Eriksson, Bengt C.W. Carlsson, Torbjorn Fahlstrom, Sten Andersson, Rolando Nunez, Lucio Vucina, Peter Roth, Klas-Gosta Olsson
"A brilliant, absurd collection of vignettes that, in their own idiosyncratic way, sum up the strange horror of life in the new millennium." - Marc Caro, Chicago Tribune
Selected by Michael Atkinson, Paolo Cherchi Usai, Mike D'Angelo, Gillies MacKinnon, Mike Leigh.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 160    161    162  
Eastern Promises
David Cronenberg  (125)
2007, 100m, Col, UK-Canada-USA, Crime-Drama-Thriller
Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel, Josef Altin, Mina E. Mina, Aleksandar Mikic, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Sinead Cusack, Donald Sumpter, Jerzy Skolimowski
"A rhapsodic movie directed with considerable formal intelligence and brooding power from an original screenplay by Steve Knight, Eastern Promises is very much a companion to A History of Violence." - J. Hoberman, Village Voice
Selected by Peter Keough, Berenice Reynaud, Stephen Garrett, Robert Horton, Kristin M. Jones.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Last Days
Gus Van Sant  (120)
2004, 96m, Col, USA, Drama
Michael Pitt, Lukas Haas, Asia Argento, Scott Green, Nicole Vicius, Ricky Jay, Ryan Orion, Harmony Korine, Kim Gordon, Rodrigo Lopresti
"What Last Days offers is a blank and narrative-free, but pitch-perfect, dreamscape on which to project your own personal ruminations on Kurt, fame, whatever, nevermind. If you have none, you're on your own." - Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times
Selected by Arnaud Desplechin, Dennis Lim, Ed Halter, Phillip Lopate, Ed Park.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Milk
Gus Van Sant  (153)
2008, 128m, Col, USA, Biography-Drama
Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna, James Franco, Alison Pill, Victor Garber, Denis O'Hare, Joseph Cross, Stephen Spinella
"What makes Milk extraordinary isn't just that it's a nuanced, stirring portrait of one of the 20th century's most pivotal figures, but that it's also a nuanced, stirring portrait of the thousands of people he energized." - Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
Selected by Frank Darabont, Amy Taubin, Gerald Peary, David Sterritt, Matt Singer.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 163    164    165  
Erin Brockovich
Steven Soderbergh  (128)
2000, 130m, Col, USA, Drama
Julia Roberts, Albert Finney, Aaron Eckhart, Marg Helgenberger, Cherry Jones, Peter Coyote, Veanne Cox, Conchata Ferrell, Scotty Leavenworth, Tracey Walter
"The kind of stand-up-and-cheer movie Hollywood is supposed to have forgotten how to make." - Lou Lumenick, New York Post
Selected by Frank Darabont, Kenneth Turan, Gavin Smith, David Ansen, Mike Clark.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Ten
Abbas Kiarostami  (160)
• 10 (alternative spelling)
2002, 92m, Col, France-Iran, Drama
Mania Akbari, Amin Maher, Roya Arabshahi, Katayoun Taleidzadeh, Mandana Sharbaf, Armene Moradi
"The film offers a fascinating glimpse of the Iranian urban middle class, and though it eschews most of the pleasures of composition and landscape found in other Kiarostami films, it's never less than riveting." - Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Selected by Catherine Breillat, Stig Bjorkman, Geoff Andrew, Peter von Bagh, Michael Atkinson.
Amazon  metacritic
 
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Julian Schnabel  (184)
• Le Scaphandre et le papillon (original title)
2007, 112m, Col, France-USA, Biography-Drama
Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josee Croze, Anne Consigny, Patrick Chesnais, Niels Arestrup, Olatz Lopez Garmendia, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Marina Hands, Max von Sydow
"It is wonderful: a rhapsodic adaptation of a memoir, a visual marvel that wraps its subject in screen romanticism without romanticizing his affliction. It left me feeling euphoric." - Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
Selected by David Denby, Peter Keough, Stephen Garrett, Sam Adams, Peter Debruge.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 166    167    168  
À ma soeur!
Catherine Breillat  (134)
• Fat Girl (English title)
2001, 86m, Col, France-Italy, Drama
Anais Reboux, Roxane Mesquida, Libero De Rienzo, Arsinee Khanjian, Romain Goupil, Laura Betti, Albert Goldberg, Odette Barriere, Anne Matthijsse, Pierre Renverseau
"As fascinating as it is discomfiting and as intelligent as it is primal. From first shot to last, France's foremost bad girl has made an extremely good movie -- and maybe even a great one." - J. Hoberman, Village Voice
Selected by Amy Taubin, B. Ruby Rich, J. Hoberman, Michael Atkinson, David Ansen.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Spider
David Cronenberg  (146)
2002, 98m, Col, Canada-UK-Japan-France, Thriller-Drama
Ralph Fiennes, Miranda Richardson, Gabriel Byrne, John Neville, Bradley Hall, Lynn Redgrave, Gary Reineke, Philip Craig, Cliff Saunders, Tara Ellis
"Deliciously wicked, strangely poetic portrait (adapted by Patrick McGrath from his own novel) of a schizophrenic man at once tyrannized and elevated by oedipal terrors." - Ella Taylor, LA Weekly
Selected by Nick James, Jason Anderson, Glenn Kenny, Graham Fuller, Chris Fujiwara.
Amazon  metacritic
 
I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone
Tsai Ming-Liang  (175)
http://www.flagsofourfathers.com/
• Hei yan quan (original title)
2006, 115m, Col, Taiwan-France-Austria, Drama
Kang-Sheng Lee, Shiang-chyi Chen, Norman Atun, Pearlly Chua, Qu Xin, Soo-Suan Tan, Liew Lee-Lin, Leonard Tee, Samantha Tuh Su-Yee, Chiew Kok-Fai
"The movie is a block of paper that, when Tsai's finished with it, becomes a chain of snowflakes. Loneliness doesn't often get such a gorgeously ornate tribute." - Wesley Morris, The Boston Globe
Selected by Dennis Lim, Stig Bjorkman, Jia Zhangke, Piers Handling, Berenice Reynaud.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 169    170    171  
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen  (213)
2000, 107m, Col, USA-France, Crime-Adventure-Comedy
George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, Charles Durning, John Goodman, Michael Badalucco, Holly Hunter, Stephen Root, Chris Thomas King, Wayne Duvall
"It is, all in all, a rambunctious and inspired ride in which the Coen brothers' voracious fascination with the arcana of American popular culture and their whiz-kid inventiveness reach new heights of whimsy." - A.O. Scott, New York Times
Selected by Joseph McBride, Cameron Crowe, Scott Tobias, Charles Taylor, Gregory Solman.
Amazon  metacritic
 
The Hours
Stephen Daldry  (113)
2002, 114m, Col, USA, Drama
Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep, Stephen Dillane, Miranda Richardson, George Loftus, John C. Reilly, Ed Harris, Jack Rovello, Allison Janney
"Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore bring dignity and Oscar-worthy performances to The Hours, a lovingly crafted meditation on death, loss and literature." - Andrew O'Hehir, Salon
Selected by David Sterritt, Kenneth Turan, Mick LaSalle, Stephen Holden, Andrew O'Hehir.
Amazon  metacritic
 
The Host
Bong Joon-ho  (173)
• Gwoemul (original title)
2006, 119m, Col, South Korea-Japan, Action-Comedy-Horror
Kang-ho Song, Byeon Hie-bong, Hae-il Park, Du-na Bae, Ah-sung Ko, Dal-su Oh, Jae-eung Lee, Dong-ho Lee, Je-moon Yoon, Pil-Sung Yim
"The mix of dark humor, creeping suspense, and a sort of apocalyptic tenderness makes this the best horror flick in years." - J.R. Jones, Chicago Reader
Selected by Quentin Tarantino, Charles Tesson, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Aaron Hillis, Dana Stevens.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 172    173    174  
Man on Wire
James Marsh  (196)
2007, 94m, Col, UK, Documentary
Philippe Petit, Jean-Francois Heckel, Jean-Louis Blondeau, Annie Allix, David 'Donald' Foreman, Alan Welner, Mark Lewis, N. Barry Greenhouse, Jim Moore, Guy Tozzoli
"An engrossing study in abnormal psychology, an inspirational drama that tells us a determined man really can do anything his mind can envision." - William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Selected by Ty Burr, Phillip Lopate, David Fear, Jason Anderson, Chuck Wilson.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Spellbound
Jeffrey Blitz  (130)
2002, 96m, Col, USA, Documentary
Angela Arenivar, Nupur Lala, Ted Brigham, Emily Stagg, Ashley White, Neil Kadakia, April DeGideo, Harry Altman, Paige Kimble, Dr. Alex J. Cameron
"At its most unsettling level, Spellbound asks us to consider what words are for and what childhood should be. It's as profound as anything you'll see this year, and, yes, it should have won the Oscar." - Ty Burr, Boston Globe
Selected by Ty Burr, A.O. Scott, Wesley Morris, Stephanie Zacharek, Charles Taylor.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Bloody Sunday
Paul Greengrass  (126)
2001, 110m, Col, UK-Ireland, Historical-Drama
James Nesbitt, Tim Pigott-Smith, Nicholas Farrell, Gerard McSorley, Kathy Kiera Clarke, Allan Gildea, Gerard Crossan, Mary Moulds, Carmel McCallion, Christopher Villiers
"For the viewer, the miracle of Bloody Sunday is that firm moral judgment can exist side by side with a wild and bitter exhilaration in the sheer physicality of violence." - David Denby, The New Yorker
Selected by Michael Atkinson, Peter Keough, Gavin Smith, Kenneth Turan, Scott Foundas.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 175    176    177  
Distant
Nuri Bilge Ceylan  (217)
• Uzak (original title)
2002, 110m, Col, Turkey-Netherlands, Drama
Muzaffer Ozdemir, Emin Toprak, Zuhal Gencer, Nazan Kirilmis, Feridun Koc, Fatma Ceylan, Arif Asci, Nazli Aydin, Ahmet Bugay, Ebru Ceylan
"The compositions are masterful, especially the snow-covered scenes in Istanbul and, most memorably, the spectacle of an overturned ship in the wintry harbor." - Desson Thomson, Washington Post
Selected by Jonathan Romney, Leonardo Garcia-Tsao, Michel Ciment, Jia Zhangke, Nick James.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Kinsey
Bill Condon  (124)
2004, 118m, Col, Germany-USA-UK, Drama-Biography
Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, Chris O'Donnell, Peter Sarsgaard, Timothy Hutton, John Lithgow, Tim Curry, Oliver Platt, Dylan Baker, Julianne Nicholson
"A stupendously moving film. Neeson nails Kinsey's rock-hard decency and fragile ego, and Linney abets him beautifully: There isn't an actress in movies right now who's more simply alive." - David Edelstein, Slate
Selected by Owen Gleiberman, David Ehrenstein, Richard Schickel, A.O. Scott, Stephen Holden.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Ratatouille
Brad Bird  (193)
2007, 111m, Col, USA, Animated-Comedy-Family
Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, Lou Romano, Brian Dennehy, Peter Sohn, Peter O'Toole, Brad Garrett, Janeane Garofalo, Will Arnett, Julius Callahan
"If there is a genius working in Hollywood today, it's animation director Brad Bird, who tops the delightful The Incredibles with arguably the finest 'toon in the Pixar canon, Ratatouille." - Lou Lumenick, New York Post
Selected by Frank Darabont, Philip French, David Denby, Peter Keough, Matt Zoller Seitz.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 178    179    180  
George Washington
David Gordon Green  (167)
2000, 89m, Col, USA, Drama
Candice Evanofski, Donald Holden, Damian Jewan Lee, Curtis Cotton III, Rachael Handy, Paul Schneider, Eddie Rouse, Janet Taylor, Derricka Rolle, Ebony Jones
"Like Malick's Days of Heaven, it is not about plot, but about memory and regret. It remembers a summer that was not a happy summer, but there will never again be a summer so intensely felt, so alive, so valuable." - Roger Ebert, Chicago-Sun-Times
Selected by Jeanine Basinger, Armond White, Roger Ebert, Jonathan Rosenbaum, David Sterritt.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Irréversible
Gaspar Noé  (202)
2002, 97m, Col, France, Crime-Drama-Horror
Monica Bellucci, Vincent Cassel, Albert Dupontel, Jo Prestia, Philippe Nahon, Stephane Drouot, Jean-Louis Costes, Michel Gondoin, Mourad Khima, Gaspar Noe
"It would be easy and convenient to dismiss Irreversible as blatant sensationalism. But Noe's bruising film is too artfully crafted to write off as exploitation." - Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Selected by Stuart Gordon, John Waters, Ian Christie, Ty Burr, Gerald Peary.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Hotel Rwanda
Terry George  (151)
2004, 121m, Col, UK-USA-South Africa-Italy, War-Drama
Don Cheadle, Sophie Okonedo, Joaquin Phoenix, Desmond Dube, David O'Hara, Cara Seymour, Fana Mokoena, Hakeem Kae-Kazim, Tony Kgoroge, Mosa Kaiser
"It is a powerful portrait of a slightly befuddled man who, when inhuman demands were placed on him, found within himself an unexpected response." - Richard Schickel, Time
Selected by Roger Ebert, Richard Roeper, Mick LaSalle, Charles Taylor, Desson Thomson.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 181    182    183  
Two Lovers
James Gray   new  
2008, 110m, Col, USA-France, Drama-Romance
Joaquin Phoenix, Gwyneth Paltrow, Vinessa Shaw, Moni Moshonov, Isabella Rossellini, John Ortiz, Bob Ari, Julie Budd, Elias Koteas, Shiran Nicholson
"As in a good European film, shots are allowed to breathe. The focus is on character and human emotion. At the same time, the movie shows an American concern for pace and story development. The result is the best of both worlds." - Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
Selected by Tom Charity, F.X. Feeney, Karina Longworth, Charles Taylor, Keith Uhlich.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Up in the Air
Jason Reitman   new  
2009, 109m, Col, USA, Comedy-Drama-Romance
George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Amy Morton, Melanie Lynskey, J.K. Simmons, Sam Elliott, Danny McBride, Zach Galifianakis
"Up in the Air is light and dark, hilarious and tragic, romantic and real. It's everything that Hollywood has forgotten how to do; we're blessed that Jason Reitman has remembered." - Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
Selected by Kenneth Turan, Owen Gleiberman, David Denby, David Ansen, John Powers.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Minority Report
Steven Spielberg  (227)
2002, 144m, Col, USA, Thriller-Science Fiction-Action
Tom Cruise, Max von Sydow, Steve Harris, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Lois Smith, Tim Blake Nelson, Neal McDonough, Patrick Kilpatrick, Jessica Capshaw
"This film is such a virtuoso high-wire act, daring so much, achieving it with such grace and skill. Minority Report reminds us why we go to the movies in the first place." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Selected by Peter Keough, James Berardinelli, Mike Clark, Chris Chang, William Arnold.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 184    185    186  
21 Grams
Alejandro González Iñárritu  (164)
2003, 125m, Col, Germany-USA, Drama
Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Naomi Watts, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Melissa Leo, Clea Duvall, Danny Huston, Eddie Marsan, Paul Calderon, Annie Corley
"What gives the film a formalist kick is that the story unfolds piecemeal as a series of nonlinear moments. What gives it soul are the three lead actors who pull the pieces together with devastating power." - Manohla Dargis, Los Angeles Times
Selected by Jonathan Romney, Gerald Peary, Manohla Dargis, Mick LaSalle, Elvis Mitchell.
Amazon  metacritic
 
24 Hour Party People
Michael Winterbottom  (158)
2001, 115m, Col, UK, Drama-Comedy
Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Ron Cook, Keith Allen, Chris Coghill, Paddy Considine, Dave Gorman, Sean Harris, Shirley Henderson, Andy Serkis
"The film is a whirlwind blur, a kinetic thrill ride through the industrial backwater that was one of punk and post-punk's most fertile Promised Lands: Manchester." - Robert Wilonsky, New Times L.A.
Selected by Gerald Peary, David Sterritt, Ella Taylor, Elvis Mitchell, Steven Rea.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Offside
Jafar Panahi  (131)
2006, 93m, Col, Iran, Comedy-Drama-Sports
Sima Mobarak-Shahi, Safdar Samandar, Shayesteh Irani, Ayda Sadeqi, Golnaz Farmani, Mahnaz Zabihi, Nazanin Sediq-zadeh, Mohammad Kheir-abadi, Masoud Kheymeh-kabood, Mohammed-Reza Gharebaghi
"The masterly Panahi concocts a spellbinding, often corrosively and/or warmly funny story in which love of both country and sport tries to, but doesn't quite, transcend dogmatic and ingrained difference." - Glenn Kenny, Premiere
Selected by J. Hoberman, Dennis Lim, David D'Arcy, Bilge Ebiri, Ed Gonzalez.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 187    188    189  
Hero
Zhang Yimou  (150)
• Ying xiong (original title)
2002, 99m, Col, Hong Kong-China, Drama-Action
Jet Li, Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Zhang Ziyi, Daoming Chen, Donnie Yen, Liu Zhong Yuan, Zheng Tia Yong, Yan Qin, Chang Xiao Yang
"Hero is a movie that lives up to all the nobility of its title, a gift to movie audiences who cherish the opportunity to be transported to a heretofore unimagined world and absorbed totally into what happens there." - Chris Kaltenbach, Baltimore Sun
Selected by Richard Corliss, David Edelstein, Charles Taylor, Chris Kaltenbach, Mark Jenkins.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Chicago
Rob Marshall  (137)
2002, 113m, Col, USA-Germany, Musical-Crime-Comedy
Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, John C. Reilly, Lucy Liu, Christine Baranski, Taye Diggs, Colm Feore, Dominic West
"Isn't just the most explosively entertaining movie musical in a couple of decades. It's going to be the most influential: the one that inspires the rebirth of the Hollywood musical." - David Edelstein, Slate
Selected by Frank Darabont, Michael Sragow, Mick LaSalle, Ernest Hardy, Stephen Holden.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks
Wang Bing   new  
2003, 551m, Col, China, Documentary
"Wang's monumental documentary is a poetic summation of the death throes of the heavy industries (copper smelting, sheet metal production, cable manufacture) in Shenyang, North-east China." - Tony Rayns, Time Out
Selected by Ying Liang, Berenice Reynaud, Dennis Lim, Jean-Michel Frodon, Thom Andersen.
Amazon  The New York Times
         
 190    191    192  
Nobody Knows
Hirokazu Koreeda  (154)
• Dare mo shiranai (original title)
2003, 141m, Col, Japan, Drama
Yuya Yagira, Ayu Kitaura, Hiei Kimura, Momoko Shimizu, Hanae Kan, You, Kazumi Kushida, Yukiko Okamoto, Sei Hiraizumi, Susumu Terajima
"Unfolds with such leisurely, terrible beauty, it takes a while to realize that what we are witnessing is the children's long slide into beggary, exacerbated by the slow torture of faint hope." - Ella Taylor, LA Weekly
Selected by Jia Zhangke, David Edelstein, Daryl Chin, Michael Koresky, Ed Gonzalez.
Amazon  metacritic
 
In the Loop
Armando Iannucci   new   
2009, 106m, Col, UK-Cayman Islands, Comedy
Peter Capaldi, Tom Hollander, Gina McKee, James Gandolfini, Chris Addison, Anna Chlumsky, Paul Higgins, Mimi Kennedy, Alex Macqueen, Olivia Poulet
"Zooming back and forth between London and D.C., In the Loop hasn't any real plot -- it plays like a rather brilliant Brit-com stretched over 100 minutes, a collection of anecdotes and incidents." - Robert Wilonsky, LA Weekly
Selected by Phillip Lopate, David Ansen, Michael Phillips, Keith Phipps, Nathan Rabin.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Tarnation
Jonathan Caouette  (162)
2003, 88m, Col-BW, USA, Documentary
Renee Leblanc, Jonathan Caouette, Adolph Davis, Rosemary Davis, David Sanin Paz, Michael Cox, Dagon James, Joshua Williams, David LeBlanc, Stacey Mowery
"Harrowing, extremely disturbing at times, but brought to the screen in dazzling pop-art images that make the movie's grim content very much worth watching." - David Sterritt, Christian Science Monitor
Selected by Guy Maddin, Kenneth Turan, A.O. Scott, Ella Taylor, Lou Lumenick.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 193    194    195  
A Prairie Home Companion
Robert Altman  (168)
2006, 105m, Col, USA, Comedy-Drama-Musical
Woody Harrelson, L.Q. Jones, Tommy Lee Jones, Garrison Keillor, Kevin Kline, Lindsay Lohan, Virginia Madsen, John C. Reilly, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin
"Not since Woody Allen's Radio Days has anyone created such a cinematic Valentine to the wonderfully imaginative medium of radio as A Prairie Home Companion." - Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter
Selected by Joseph McBride, Richard Combs, Michael Wilmington, Molly Haskell, Kent Jones.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Downfall
Oliver Hirschbiegel   new  
• Der Untergang (original title)
2004, 156m, Col, Germany-Austria-Italy, War-Drama
Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Corinna Harfouch, Ulrich Matthes, Juliane Kohler, Heino Ferch, Christian Berkel, Matthias Habich, Thomas Kretschmann, Michael Mendl
"A riveting re-creation of three world-changing collapses: those of the Nazi party, of militarized Germany as a whole, and of the Führer who guided them into self-destructive ruin." - David Sterritt, Christian Science Monitor
Selected by Philip Kemp, Frank Darabont, Richard Schickel, Stephen Holden, Saul Austerlitz.
Amazon  metacritic
 
The Sun
Aleksandr Sokurov   new  
• Solntse (original title)
2005, 115m, Col, Russia-Italy-France-Switzerland, Drama-Historical
Issei Ogata, Robert Dawson, Kaori Momoi, Shiro Sano, Shinmei Tsuji, Taijiro Tamura, Georgi Pitskhelauri, Hiroya Morita, Toshiaki Nishizawa, Naomasa Musaka
"This 2005 masterpiece by Russian filmmaker Alexander Sokurov transforms the story of Emperor Hirohito at the close of World War II into a melancholy meditation on power and its loss." - Fred Camper, Chicago Reader
Selected by Amy Taubin, David Sterritt, Phillip Lopate, Kent Jones, J. Hoberman.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 196    197    198  
Black Hawk Down
Ridley Scott  (139)
2001, 144m, Col, USA, War-Drama-Action
Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Tom Sizemore, Jason Isaacs, William Fichtner, Eric Bana, Sam Shepard, Ewen Bremner, Gabriel Casseus, Ioan Gruffudd
"Rivets our interest for its entire lengthy running time. And it does this without any of the usual war movie clichés, false heroics, barracks-humor nonsense or grandstanding absurdities." - William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Selected by Bruce Beresford, Richard Schickel, Kenneth Turan, Roger Ebert, Richard Corliss.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Rachel Getting Married
Jonathan Demme  (141)
2008, 113m, Col, USA, Drama-Romance
Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Bill Irwin, Tunde Adebimpe, Mather Zickel, Anna Deavere Smith, Anisa George, Robyn Hitchcock, Roger Corman, Debra Winger
"A friend asked: "Wouldn't you love to attend a wedding like that?" In a way, I felt I had. Yes, I began to feel absorbed in the experience. A few movies can do that, can slip you out of your mind and into theirs." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Selected by Mike D'Angelo, Ed Gonzalez, Noel Murray, Matt Singer, Nathan Rabin.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Maria Full of Grace
Joshua Marston  (143)
2003, 100m, Col, USA-Colombia-Ecuador, Drama-Crime
Catalina Sandino Moreno, Yenny Paola Vega, Jhon Alex Toro, Guilied Lopez, Patricia Rae, Virginia Ariza, Rodrigo Sanchez Borhorquez, Charles Albert Patino, Wilson Guerrero, Johanna Andrea Mora
"Moreno, with her wide, watchful eyes, owns the camera - and the film. Her performance is perfectly natural and profoundly moving. Maria Full of Grace is a remarkable picture, full of suspense and discovery." - Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer
Selected by John Anderson, Owen Gleiberman, Richard Schickel, Stephen Holden, Kevin Thomas.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 199    200      
Crash
Paul Haggis  (214)
2004, 113m, Col, Germany-USA-Australia, Drama-Crime
Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, William Fichtner, Brendan Fraser, Terrence Howard, Ludacris, Thandie Newton, Ryan Phillippe
"Not just one of the best Hollywood movies about race, but, along with Collateral, one of the finest portrayals of contemporary Los Angeles life period." - Ella Taylor, LA Weekly
Selected by Richard Schickel, Roger Ebert, Kevin Thomas, Lisa Schwarzbaum, Howard Feinstein.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Flags of Our Fathers
Clint Eastwood  (157)
http://www.flagsofourfathers.com/
2006, 132m, Col, USA, War-Drama-Action
Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach, John Benjamin Hickey, John Slattery, Barry Pepper, Jamie Bell, Paul Walker, Robert Patrick, Neal McDonough
"To an extent, Flags of Our Fathers is to the WWII movie what Eastwood's Unforgiven was to the western -- a stripping-away of mythology until only a harsher, uncomfortable reality remains." - Scott Foundas, Village Voice
Selected by Richard Combs, Philip French, Kent Jones, Michael Wilmington, Kirk Honeycutt.
Amazon  metacritic
  > 201-250
 
     
     
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