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  The 21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films Ranking (201-250)  
  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  
     
     
 
 201    202    203  
Persepolis
Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi  (195)
2007, 95m, Col-BW, France-USA, Animated-Comedy-Drama
Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Danielle Darrieux, Simon Abkarian, Gabrielle Lopes, Francois Jerosme, Sophie Arthuys, Jean-Francois Gallotte, Arie Elmaleh, Mathias Mlekuz
"Cinematic poetry in black and white. It also is a deeply affecting tale of the power of resilience and an unflagging sense of humor through the worst of situations." - Claudia Puig, USA Today
Selected by Tom Charity, Jim Emerson, Sam Adams, Melissa Anderson, David D'Arcy.
Amazon  metacritic
 
High Fidelity
Stephen Frears  (163)
2000, 113m, Col, USA-UK, Comedy
John Cusack, Iben Hjelje, Todd Louiso, Jack Black, Lisa Bonet, Joan Cusack, Tim Robbins, Lili Taylor, Natasha Gregson Wagner, Catherine Zeta-Jones
"With its knowing take on men, messed-up romance and music, it's like one long, hook-filled pop song for the eyes." - Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer
Selected by Roger Ebert, Desson Howe, Jay Carr, Keith Phipps, David Chute.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Femme Fatale
Brian De Palma   new  
2002, 110m, Col, France, Thriller-Crime
Antonio Banderas, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Peter Coyote, Eriq Ebouaney, Edouard Montoute, Rie Rasmussen, Thierry Fremont, Gregg Henry, Eva Darlan, Sandrine Bonnaire
"Here, the message is the moviemaking and the unparalleled joy you get from a film that can carry you off so completely, making you forget about everything save for the beautiful lies in front of you." - Manohla Dargis, Los Angeles Times
Selected by Armond White, Bill Krohn, Gavin Smith, Adrian Martin, Manohla Dargis.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 204    205    206  
Chicken Run
Peter Lord & Nick Park  (169)
2000, 84m, Col, USA-UK, Animated-Family-Comedy
Phil Daniels, Lynn Ferguson, Mel Gibson, Tony Haygarth, Jane Horrocks, Miranda Richardson, Julia Sawalha, Timothy Spall, Imelda Staunton, Benjamin Whitrow
"Never loses its priceless stamp of individuality. Reduced to its essence, this is a joke told by a person, not a corporation--and that makes all the difference." - Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
Selected by Kenneth Turan, Desson Howe, A.O. Scott, Lisa Schwarzbaum, David Chute.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Monsoon Wedding
Mira Nair  (170)
2001, 114m, Col, USA-Italy-Germany-France, Romance-Drama
Naseeruddin Shah, Lillete Dubey, Shefali Shetty, Vijay Raaz, Tilatama Shome, Vasundhara Das, Parvin Dabas, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Kamini Khanna, Roshan Seth
"Has an engaging warmth and an effortless sense of life. It also has an instinct for the humanity and universality of situations that are comic, romantic and quite seriously dramatic by turns." - Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
Selected by Nick Broomfield, Carrie Rickey, David Ansen, Stuart Klawans, Karen Durbin.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Collateral
Michael Mann  (191)
2004, 120m, Col, USA, Thriller-Crime-Action
Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett, Mark Ruffalo, Peter Berg, Bruce McGill, Irma P. Hall, Barry Shabaka Henley, Richard T. Jones, Javier Bardem
"As a result of Mann's craftsmanship and concern, Collateral crackles with energy and purpose, a propulsive film with character on its mind and confident men and women on both sides of the camera." - Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
Selected by Arnaud Desplechin, Richard Schickel, Manohla Dargis, Mike Clark, Ella Taylor.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 207    208    209  
Morvern Callar
Lynne Ramsay  (192)
2002, 97m, Col, UK-Canada, Drama
Samantha Morton, Kathleen McDermott, Jim Wilson, Raife Patrick Burchell, Dan Cadan, Carolyn Calder, Steven Cardwell, Bryan Dick, Andrew Flannigan, Dolly Wells
"A work of astonishing delicacy and force, a tone poem about the Frankenstein jolts that all of us, at one time or another, have to live through." - Stephanie Zacharek, Salon
Selected by David Thomson, Elvis Mitchell, Ella Taylor, Mark Olsen, Charles Taylor.
Amazon  metacritic
 
I Heart Huckabees
David O. Russell  (203)
• I Love Huckabees (alternative title)
2004, 106m, Col, Germany-USA-UK, Comedy
Dustin Hoffman, Isabelle Huppert, Jude Law, Jason Schwartzman, Lily Tomlin, Mark Wahlberg, Naomi Watts, Angela Grillo, Kevin Dunn, Tippi Hedren
"A fresh, buoyant, mischievous and rather jolly meditation - if that's the word for a movie as divinely nuts as this one is - on the meaning of life in an unhappy world." - Ella Taylor, LA Weekly
Selected by Gavin Smith, David Ehrenstein, Glenn Kenny, Carina Chocano, Saul Austerlitz.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Casino Royale
Martin Campbell   new  
2006, 144m, Col-BW, UK-USA-Czech Republic-Germany, Action-Adventure-Thriller
Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Judi Dench, Jeffrey Wright, Giancarlo Giannini, Caterina Murino, Simon Abkarian, Isaach De Bankole, Jesper Christensen
"Relaunches the series by doing something I wouldn't have thought possible: It turns Bond into a human being again -- a gruffly charming yet volatile chap who may be the swank king stud of the Western world, but who still has room for rage, fear, vulnerability, love." - Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekley
Selected by Michael Wilmington, Owen Gleiberman, Molly Haskell, Michael Phillips, William Arnold.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 210    211    212  
Howl's Moving Castle
Hayao Miyazaki  (172)
• Hauru no ugoku shiro (original title)
2004, 119m, Col, Japan, Animated-Adventure-Fantasy
Chieko Baisho, Takuya Kimura, Akihiro Miwa, Tatsuya Gashuin, Ryunosuke Kamiki, Mitsunori Isaki, Yo Oizumi, Akio Otsuka, Daijiro Harada, Haruko Kato
"Howl's Moving Castle is one animated epic that has it all: poetic intensity, potent storytelling, vivid and surprising characters, and intoxicating powers of visual imagination." - Michael Sragow, Baltimore Sun
Selected by Sukhdev Sandhu, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Kenneth Turan, Michael Wilmington, Tom Charity.
Amazon  metacritic
 
12:08 East of Bucharest
Corneliu Porumboiu  (171)
• A fost sau n-a fost? (original title)
2006, 89m, Col, Romania-France, Comedy-Drama
Mircea Andreescu, Teodor Corban, Ion Sapdaru, Mirela Cioaba, Luminata Gheorghiu, Cristina Ciofu, Lucian Iftime, Annemarie Chertic, Petrika Sapdaru, Catalin Paraschiv
"This brilliantly caustic movie - easily the best in a burgeoning and fertile effort to come to grips with post-Soviet malaise in Central and Eastern Europe - offers living proof that when it comes to politics, comedy is the sincerest form of dissidence." - Ella Taylor, LA Weekly
Selected by Laurence Kardish, Michael Atkinson, Jeffrey M. Anderson, V.A. Musetto, Sam Adams.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Nick Park & Steve Box  (161)
• Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (alternative title)
2005, 85m, Col, UK-USA, Animated-Adventure-Comedy
Peter Sallis, Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, Peter Kay, Nicholas Smith, Liz Smith, John Thomson, Mark Gatiss, Vincent Ebrahim, Geraldine McEwan
"This latest and biggest installment is a whimsical success of a very high order: The pace never lags, the invention is incessant, and it makes you want to have a bite of cheese afterward." - Ed Park, Village Voice
Selected by Kenneth Turan, A.O. Scott, David Edelstein, Tom Charity, Donna Bowman.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 213    214    215  
The Duchess of Langeais
Jacques Rivette  (176)
• Ne touchez pas la hache (original title); Don't Touch the Axe (alternative title)
2007, 137m, Col, France-Italy, Drama-Romance
Jeanne Balibar, Guillaume Depardieu, Bulle Ogier, Michel Piccoli, Anne Cantineau, Marc Barbe, Thomas Durand, Nicholas Bouchaud, Mathias Jung, Julie Judd
"Jacques Rivette has brought the Balzac short story to screen as a superb chamber drama. His is a graceful work of austerity and formality that perfectly captures the chaos of repressed emotions that see beneath the rigid conventions of aristocratic society." - Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
Selected by Jonathan Romney, Graham Fuller, Melissa Anderson, Mike D'Angelo, Glenn Kenny.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Before Night Falls
Julian Schnabel  (189)
2000, 133m, Col, USA, Drama
Javier Bardem, Johnny Depp, Sean Penn, John Ortiz, Santiago Magill, Michael Wincott, Najwa Nimri, Alfredo Villa, Hector Babenco, Jerzy Skolimowski
"It's an horrific and tragic story, but somehow made beautiful through the care and attention of Schnabel's direction and Bardem's tender, unforgettable performance." - Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle
Selected by B. Ruby Rich, Peter Keough, Owen Gleiberman, A.O. Scott, Elvis Mitchell.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Match Point
Woody Allen  (201)
2005, 124m, Col, UK, Crime-Drama-Thriller
Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Brian Cox, Matthew Goode,  Emily Mortimer, Penelope Wilton, Ewen Bremner, James Nesbitt, Rupert Penry Jones, Alexander Armstrong
"The gloom of random, meaningless existence has rarely been so much fun, and Mr. Allen's bite has never been so sharp, or so deep. A movie this good is no laughing matter." - A.O. Scott, New York Times
Selected by Owen Gleiberman, Kent Jones, Molly Haskell, A.O. Scott, Phillip Lopate.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 216    217    218  
Keane
Lodge Kerrigan  (241)
2004, 100m, Col, USA, Thriller-Drama
Damian Lewis, Abigail Breslin, Liza Colon-Zayas, Amy Ryan, John Tormey, Brenda Denmark, Christopher Evan Welch, Lev Gorn, Tina Holmes, Mellini Kantayya
"Lodge Kerrigan is one of the great, though largely unheralded, filmmakers of our time, and with Keane, his third feature, he finally shows himself to be in full command of his uncompromising talent." - Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle
Selected by Michael Atkinson, Jonathan Romney, Kevin Thomas, Leslie Camhi, Anthony Kaufman.
Amazon  metacritic
 
The Man Who Wasn't There
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen  (221)
2001, 116m, BW, USA-UK, Drama-Crime-Comedy
Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand, Michael Badalucco, James Gandolfini, Katherine Borowitz, Jon Polito, Scarlett Johansson, Richard Jenkins, Tony Shalhoub, Christopher Kriesa
"Most of the way this ranks with the Coens' most immaculately crafted work. Cain would have loved its dreamlike chills, and so will audiences nostalgic for the movies of half a century ago." - David Sterritt, Christian Science Monitor
Selected by David Sterritt, Kent Jones, A.O. Scott, Scott Tobias, Keith Phipps.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Unknown Pleasures
Jia Zhangke  (205)
• Ren xiao yao (original title)
2002, 112m, Col, Japan-France-Korea-China, Drama-Comedy
Wei Wei Zhao, Qiong Wu, Qing Feng Zhou, Hong Wei Wang, Ru Bai, Xi An Liu, Shou Lin Xu, Ren Ai Jun, Dao Xiao, Zi Ying
"Unknown Pleasures suggests a coolly formalist reinvention of neorealism. The film is both distanced and immediate -- a fiction with the force of documentary." - J. Hoberman, Village Voice
Selected by Dennis Lim, Berenice Reynaud, Chris Fujiwara, Gavin Smith, Kent Jones.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 219    220    221  
Crimson Gold
Jafar Panahi  (208)
• Talaye sorkh (original title)
2003, 96m, Col, Iran, Drama
Hossain Emadeddin, Kamyar Sheisi, Azita Rayeji, Shahram Vaziri, Pourang Nakhaei, Kaveh Najmabadi, Saber Safaei, Yadollah Samadian, Ramin Rastad, Ehsan Amani
"Iranian director Jafar Panahi's Crimson Gold is an anti-blockbuster--a deceptively modest undertaking that brilliantly combines unpretentious humanism and impeccable formal values." - J. Hoberman, Village Voice
Selected by John Anderson, Chris Chang, Robert Koehler, Wesley Morris, Godfrey Cheshire.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Bright Star
Jane Campion   new  
2009, 119m, Col, UK-Australia, Biography-Drama-Romance
Ben Whishaw, Abbie Cornish, Kerry Fox, Paul Schneider, Edie Martin, Thomas Sangster, Gerard Monaco, Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Samuel Roukin, Amanda Hale
"Ms. Campion, with her restless camera movements and off-center close-ups, films history in the present tense, and her wild vitality makes this movie romantic in every possible sense of the word." - A.O. Scott, The New York Times
Selected by Pierre Rissient, Lizzie Francke, Michel Ciment, Tom Charity, Kenneth Turan.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Slumdog Millionaire
Danny Boyle   new  
2008, 120m, Col, UK, Crime-Drama-Romance
Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla, Rajendranath Zutshi, Jeneva Talwar, Freida Pinto, Irfan Khan, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, Sunil Kumar Agrawal
"Slumdog Millionaire dives headfirst into something greater than a subculture - the enormous unchronicled culture of India's mega-slums - and achieves even more sweeping impact." - Michael Sragow, Baltimore Sun
Selected by Kevin B. Lee, Travis Crawford, Peter Brunette, Kim Voynar, David Poland.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 222    223    224  
The Beaches of Agnès
Agnès Varda   new  
• Les Plages d'Agnès (original title)
2008, 110m, Col, France, Documentary-Biography
Agnès Varda, Andre Lubrano, Blaise Fournier, Vincent Fournier, Andree Vilar, Stephane Vilar, Christophe Vilar, Rosalie Varda, Mathieu Demy, Christophe Vallaux
"A captivating cine-memoir, impressionistic and surrealistic, surveying Varda's formidable career as a still photographer, filmmaker, documentarian, and life force." - Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer
Selected by Raymond Bellour, David Ansen, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Carrie Rickey, Berenice Reynaud.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Gerry
Gus Van Sant   new  
2001, 102m, Col, USA, Drama
Casey Affleck, Matt Damon
"The movie is on some level a stunt, but it has the fervent, sun-dazed pull of an authentic experience unfolding in real time, with glints of drama, comedy, and terror mixed into the almost-but-not-quite tedium." - Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
Selected by Berenice Reynaud, Michael Atkinson, Keith Uhlich, Scott Tobias, Keith Phipps.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Gomorrah
Matteo Garrone   new  
• Gomorra (original title)
2008, 137m, Col, Italy, Crime-Drama
Toni Servillo, Gianfelice Imparato, Maria Nazionale, Salvatore Cantalupo, Gigio Morra, Salvatore Abruzzese, Marco Macor, Ciro Petrone, Carmine Paternoster, Antonio Aiello
"Part of what's bracing about Gomorrah, and makes it feel different from so many American crime movies, is both its deadly serious take on violence and its global understanding of how far and wide the mob's tentacles reach, from high fashion to the very dirt." - Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
Selected by Piers Handling, Graham Fuller, Chuck Stephens, Robert Koehler, Jeannette Catsoulis.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 225    226    227  
Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story
Michael Winterbottom  (194)
http://www.tristramshandymovie.com/
• A Cock and Bull Story (alternative title)
2005, 94m, Col, UK, Comedy
Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Keeley Hawes, Shirley Henderson, Dylan Moran, David Walliams, Jeremy Northam, Benedict Wong, Naomie Harris, Kelly Macdonald
"This is not just a movie-within-a-movie, but a movie-within-a-movie-within-a-movie, something that sounds unbearably arch but that is swift, funny and surprisingly unpretentious." - Dana Stevens, The New York Times
Selected by Leonard Maltin, Peter Keough, Molly Haskell, Sam Adams, Carina Chocano.
Amazon  metacritic
 
The Edge of Heaven
Fatih Akin  (186)
• Auf der anderen Seite (original title)
2007, 121m, Col, Germany-Turkey-Italy, Drama
Nurgul Yesilcay, Baki Davrak, Tuncel Kurtiz, Hanna Schygulla, Patrycia Ziolkowska, Nursel Kose, Ali Akdeniz, Aliye Alioglu, Asuman Altinay, Onder Cakar
"With impeccable skill, Akin has made a film roiling with cruelty but guided by tough political optimism. No, we can't all get along, but some us of are trying." - Wesley Morris, Boston Globe
Selected by Dudley Andrew, Graham Fuller, Saul Austerlitz, Daryl Chin, J.R. Jones, Charles Taylor.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Into the Wild
Sean Penn  (188)
2007, 140m, Col, USA, Adventure-Biography-Drama
Emile Hirsch, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, Jena Malone, Brian Dierker, Catherine Keener, Vince Vaughn, Kristen Stewart, Hal Holbrook, Thure Lindhardt
"The beauty of Into the Wild, which Penn has written and directed with magnificent precision and imaginative grace, is that what Christopher is running from is never as important as what he's running TO." - Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
Selected by David Ehrenstein, Gerald Peary, Roger Ebert, Tom Charity, Thomas Doherty.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 228    229    230  
King Kong
Peter Jackson  (179)
2005, 187m, Col, New Zealand-USA, Action-Adventure-Fantasy
Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Colin Hanks, Andy Serkis, Evan Parke, Jamie Bell, Lobo Chan, John Sumner
"Break out the popcorn and prepare to be blown away. King Kong is the most pulse-pounding and heart-stirring romantic adventure since Titanic." - Lou Lumenick, New York Post
Selected by Frank Darabont, Michael Wilmington, Roger Ebert, Keith Phipps, Lisa Schwarzbaum.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Woman on the Beach
Hong Sang-soo  (219)
• Haebyonui yoin (original title)
2006, 100m, Col, South Korea, Drama-Comedy
Ban-ya Choi, Hyun-jung Go, Chan Jung, Seung-woo Kim, Tae-woo Kim, Hyeon-gang Ko, Ki-woo Lee, Seong-kun Mun, Tae-kyung Oh, Seon-mi Song
"Woman On The Beach is a stripped-down, witty explication of how we all get stymied by the impulses and options inherent in the simple act of living." - Noel Murray, The A.V. Club
Selected by Phillip Lopate, Richard Brody, Kent Jones, Berenice Reynaud, Kevin B. Lee.
Amazon  metacritic
 
28 Days Later...
Danny Boyle   new  
2002, 113m, Col, UK, Thriller-Science Fiction-Horror
Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Megan Burns, Brendan Gleeson, Christopher Eccleston, Alex Palmer, Bindu de Stoppani, Jukka Hitunen, David Schneider, Toby Sedgwick
"At once an old-fashioned freakout and an environmental cautionary tale (mess with Mother Nature and she'll mess with you right back), the film combines two genre standbys -- lethal contagion and the undead -- and gives them a wicked, contemporary spin." - Manohla Dargis, Los Angeles Times
Selected by Manohla Dargis, Wesley Morris, Shawn Levy, Thomas Caldwell, Cynthia Fuchs.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 231    232    233  
Monsters, Inc.
Peter Docter / David Silverman / Lee Unkrich  (228)
2001, 95m, Col, USA, Animated-Family-Comedy
John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Mary Gibbs, Steve Buscemi, James Coburn, Jennifer Tilly, Bob Peterson, John Ratzenberger, Frank Oz, Daniel gerson
"Shrek is a scintilla funnier, Toy Story 2 a hair's breadth more poignant, but MI is every bit as imaginative and lovable as these other contemporary animation classics." - Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer
Selected by Frank Darabont, Michael Wilmington, Carrie Rickey, Richard Corliss, Elvis Mitchell.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Los Angeles Plays Itself
Thom Andersen  (238)
2003, 169m, Col, USA, Documentary
Encke King
"Los Angeles may be the most photographed city in the world, but it has never have been captured with such complex layers of meaning and fascination as in Thom Andersen's remarkable Los Angeles Plays Itself." - Robert Koehler, Variety
Selected by Berenice Reynaud, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Daryl Chin, Ed Halter, Saul Austerlitz.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Old Joy
Kelly Reichardt  (174)
2005, 73m, Col, USA, Drama
Daniel London, Will Oldham, Tanya Smith, Robin Rosenberg, Keri Moran, Autumn Campbell, Steve Doughton, Lucy, Matt McCormick, Darren Prolsen
"It's in all the moments where little happens that Reichardt is most amazing, investing even a gas-station pit stop with perfect emotional pitch." - Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
Selected by Scott Tobias, Ed Halter, Brian Miller, Melissa Anderson, Godfrey Cheshire.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 234    235    236  
Late Marriage
Dover Kosashvili  (185)
• Hatuna Meuheret (original title)
2001, 102m, Col, Israel-France, Comedy-Drama-Romance
Lior Louie Ashkenazi, Ronit Elkabetz, Moni Moshonov, Lili Kosashvili, Aya Steinovits Laor, Rozina Cambos, Simon Chen, Sapir Kugman, Livia Chachmon Ayaliy, Maria Ovanov
"So intimate and sensual and funny and psychologically self-revealing that it makes most of what passes for sex in the movies look like cheap hysterics." - Peter Rainer, New York Magazine
Selected by J. Hoberman, Chris Chang, Lisa Schwarzbaum, Alice Lovejoy, Leslie Camhi.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Still Walking
Hirokazu Koreeda   new 
• Aruitemo aruitemo (original title)
2008, 114m, Col, Japan, Drama
Hiroshi Abe, Yui Natsukawa, You, Kazuya Takahashi, Shohei Tanaka, Kirin Kiki, Yoshio Harada, Ryoga Hayashi, Haruka Kato, Hotaru Nomoto
"Painful family issues are more likely to stay beneath the surface, known to everyone but not spoken of. Still Walking, a magnificent new film from Japan, is very wise about that, and very true." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Selected by Berenice Reynaud, Tom Charity, David Ansen, David Fear, Michael Koresky.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Blissfully Yours
Apichatpong Weerasethakul   new  
• Sud sanaeha (original title)
2002, 125m, Col, Thailand-France, Romance-Drama
Kanokporn Tongaram, Min Oo, Jenjira Jansuda, Sa-gnad Chaiyapan, Kanitpat Premkij, Jaruwan Techasatiern
"Marks the emergence of one of the more original and promising new voices to hit the international cinema scene in recent years." - Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
Selected by Phillip Lopate, Gilbert Adair, Paolo Cherchi Usai, Berenice Reynaud, Tom Charity.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 237    238    239  
Coraline
Henry Selick   new  
2009, 101m, Col, USA, Animated-Adventure-Fantasy
Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Keith David, John Hodgman, Robert Bailey Jr., Ian McShane, Aankha Neal, George Selick
"This is a marvelous family story, tapping into all sorts of childhood dreams and nightmares involving Mommy, monsters and heroic youngsters. Selick's imaginative sets and puppets are in perfect pitch with Gaiman's fantasy." - Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter
Selected by J. Hoberman, Jeannette Catsoulis, Todd McCarthy, Carrie Rickey, Michael Koresky.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Kung Fu Hustle
Stephen Chow   new  
• Kung fu (original title)
2004, 98m, Col, Hong Kong-China, Action-Comedy-Crime
Stephen Chow, Yuen Wah, Qiu Yuen, Leung Siu Lung, Dong Zhi Hua, Chiu Chi Ling, Xing Yu, Chan Kwok Kwan, Sheng Yi Huang, Xiaogang Feng
"Gut-Bustingly funny moves are pretty rare, so hustle over to Kung Fu Hustle, actor-director Ste phen Chow's exhilaratingly hilarious and affectionate send-up of Hong Kong action flicks." - Lou Lumenick, New York Post
Selected by Tom Charity, Adrian Martin, Dave Kehr, Nathan Rabin, Nathan Lee.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Code Unknown
Michael Haneke   new  
• Code inconnu: Récit incomplet de divers voyages (original title)
2000, 116m, Col, France-Germany-Romania, Drama
Juliette Binoche, Thierry Neuvic, Josef Bierbichler, Alexandre Hamidi, Maimouna Helene Diarra, Ona Lu Yenke, Djibril Kouyate, Luminita Gheorghiu, Crenguta Hariton, Bob Nicolaescu
"Haneke brings his usual dark sensibility to bear on the multifaceted story, expressing the fractured quality of modern city life through scenes that wander through a labyrinth of missing links and lost connections." - David Sterritt, Christian Science Monitor
Selected by Robin Wood, Tom Charity, Mike D'Angelo, Mark Holcomb, Melissa Anderson.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 240    241    242  
Paradise Now
Hany Abu-Assad  (182)
2005, 90m, Col, France-Germany-Netherlands-Israel, Drama-Crime
Kais Nashef, Ali Suliman, Lubna Azabal, Arner Hiehel, Hiam Abbass, Ashraf Barhoum, Hamza Abu-Aiiaash, Lotuf Neusser, Mohammad Bustami, Ahmad Fares
"A powerful, poignant, provocative drama, it gets its strength from its dispassion, from an uncompromising determination to explain rather than justify or condemn, to put a human face on incomprehensible acts." - Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
Selected by Leonard Maltin, Carrie Rickey, Kenneth Turan, Kent Jones, Daryl Chin.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Of Time and the City
Terence Davies   new  
2008, 72m, Col-BW, UK, Documentary
Terence Davies
"It is a deeply personal piece of art that never descends into the confessional or the therapeutic, and a work of social and literary criticism that never lectures or hectors, but rather, with melancholy, tenderness and wit, manages to sing." - A.O. Scott, The New York Times
Selected by Piers Handling, Geoff Andrew, Phillip Lopate, Jonathan Rosenbaum, David Ehrenstein.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Billy Elliot
Stephen Daldry  (206)
2000, 110m, Col, UK, Drama
Julie Walters, Gary Lewis, Jamie Draven, Jamie Bell, Jean Heywood, Stuart Wells, Mike Elliot, Janine Birkett, Adam Cooper, Patrick Malahide
"This delightful film, with its surprising depth charges of emotion, has the feel of a movie that's going to lodge itself in the public's affections for a long time to come." - David Ansen, Newsweek
Selected by David Ansen, Peter Travers, Mark Caro, Paul Clinton, Charles Cassady Jr.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 243    244    245  
A Time for Drunken Horses
Bahman Ghobadi  (180)
• Zamani barayé masti asbha (original title)
2000, 80m, Col, Iran, Drama
Nezhad Ekhtiar-Dini, Ameneh Ekhtiari, Mehdi Ekhtiar-Dini, Ayoub Ahmadi, Roujin Younesi, Kolssom Ekhtiar-Dini, Karim Ekhtiar-Dini, Rahman Salehi, Osman Karimi
"Presents us with characters of such humanity and dignity that it begins to seem obscene that until now we haven't exactly given all that much thought to the Kurds." - Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
Selected by Gillies MacKinnon, Michael Atkinson, Robert Sklar, Jay Carr, Sam Adams.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Ballast
Lance Hammer  (197)
2008, 96m, Col, USA, Drama
Michael J. Smith Sr., JimMyron Ross, Tarra Riggs, Johnny McPhail, Ventress Bonner, Jimez Alexander, Jean Paul Guillory, Marcus Alexander, Marquice Alexander, Lawrence Jackson.
"A rock-ribbed sense of committed, personal cinema and a core belief in people being able to pull themselves out of misery supports Ballast, an extraordinary debut by editor-writer-director Lance Hammer." - Robert Koehler, Variety
Selected by Michael Atkinson, Amy Taubin, Chuck Stephens, Adam Nayman, Rob Nelson.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Where the Wild Things Are
Spike Jonze   new  
2009, 101m, Col, USA, Adventure-Drama-Family
Max Records, Pepita Emmerichs, Max Pfeifer, Madeleine Greaves, Joshua Jay, Ryan Corr, Catherine Keener, Steve Mouzakis, Mark Ruffalo, James Gandolfini
"Not since Robert Altman took on Popeye a generation ago, and lost, has a major director addressed such a well-loved, all-ages title. This time everything works, from tip to tail." - Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
Selected by A.O. Scott, Ed Gonzalez, John Powers, Peter Keough, Lisa Schwarzbaum.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 246    247    248  
Under the Sand
François Ozon  (198)
• Sous le sable (original title)
2000, 96m, Col, France-Japan, Drama
Charlotte Rampling, Bruno Cremer, Jacques Nolot, Alexandra Stewart, Pierre Vernier, Andree Tainsy, Maya Gaugler, Damien Abbou, David Portugais, Pierre Soubestre
"A beautifully acted, carefully written meditation on one woman's grief, the enigma of imagination, the persistence of desire and -- let's face it -- the power of denial." - Bill Gallo, New Times L.A.
Selected by Dennis Lim, Chris Fujiwara, Desson Howe, Jessica Winter, Mike Rubin.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Iraq in Fragments
James Longley   new  
2006, 94m, Col, USA, Documentary
Mohammad Haithem, Suleiman Mahmoud
"Much as Emile de Antonio's neglected In the Year of the Pig (1968) may be the only major documentary about Vietnam that actually considers the Vietnamese, this film allows the people of Iraq to speak, and what they say is fascinating throughout." - Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Selected by Jeanine Basinger, A.O. Scott, Kenneth Turan, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Gary Crowdus.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Private Fears in Public Places
Alain Resnais   new  
• Coeurs (original title)
2006, 120m, Col, France-Italy, Drama
Sabine Azema, Lambert Wilson, Andre Dussollier, Pierre Arditi, Laura Morante, Isabelle Carre, Claude Rich, Francoise Gillard, Anne Kessler, Roger Mollien
"Resnais employs all the tools of studio-bound moviemaking, silent-era to post-modern, in a way that is not only is consistently dazzling in a purely visual sense, but contains an empathy that lifts the picture to tragic heights even at those points at which it seems practically weightless." - Glenn Kenny, Premiere
Selected by Gilbert Adair, Bill Krohn, Peter von Bagh, Arnaud Desplechin, Richard Combs.
Amazon  metacritic
         
 249    250      
Bamako
Abderrahmane Sissako  (200)
2006, 117m, Col, France-Mali-USA, Drama
Aissa Maiga, Tiecoura Traore, Maimouna Helene Diarra, Balla Habib Dembele, Djeneba Kone, Hamadoun Kassogue, Roland Rappaport, Danny Glover, Elia Suleiman, Zeka Laplaine
"As demonstrated in his previous film, a plangent snapshot of subsistence called Waiting for Happiness, Sissako is a poet, and the filmmaking in this new picture is stuff of a deserving laureate." - Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times
Selected by Philip French, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Berenice Reynaud, Michael Sicinski, James Quandt.
Amazon  metacritic
 
Climates
Nuri Bilge Ceylan  (187)
• Iklimler (original title)
2006, 101m, Col, Turkey-France, Drama
Ebru Ceylan, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Nazan Kirilmis, Mehmet Eryilmaz, Arif Asci, Can Ozbatur, Ufuk Bayraktar, Fatma Ceylan, M. Emin Ceylan, Semra Yilmaz
"This film paints a haunting portrait of existential solitude, one in which the images speak louder and often more forcefully than do any of the words." - Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
Selected by J. Hoberman, Peter Brunette, Scott Foundas, Michael Phillips, Graham Fuller.
Amazon  metacritic
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