New York Times 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century.

We're a quarter of a way into the 21st century and it's been...mostly a complete nightmare! 9/11, War in Iraq, Trump, COVID, the return of low-riding jeans. A nightmare!!

But at least we've had some darn good movies, right?

The failing New York Times has crafted a list of the best films of the 21st century. Below is the list, with the movies I've seen bolded. Then, I'll rank the ones I've seen in order of MY favorite, with commentary. 

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100: Superbad

99: Memories of Murder

98: Grizzly Man

97: Gravity

96: Black Panther

95: The Worst Person in the World

94: Minority Report

93: Michael Clayton

92: Gladiator

91: Fish Tank

90: Frances Ha

89: Interstellar

88: The Gleaners & I

87: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

86: Past Lives

85: Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

84: Melancholia

83: Inside Llewyn Davis

82: The Act of Killing

81: Black Swan

80: Volver

79: The Tree of Life

78: Aftersun

77: Everything Everywhere All at Once

76: O Brother, Where Art Thou?

75: Amour

74: The Florida Project

73: Ratatouille

72: Carol

71: Ocean's Eleven

70: Let the Right One In

69: Under the Skin

68: The Hurt Locker

67: Tar

66: Spotlight

65: Oppenheimer

64: Gone Girl

63: Little Miss Sunshine

62: Memento

61: Kill Bill vol. 1

60: Whiplash

59: Toni Erdmann

58: Uncut Gems

57: Best in Show 

56: Punch-Drunk Love

55: Inception

54: Pan's Labyrinth

53: Borat

52: The Favourite

51: 12 Years a Slave

50: Up

49: Before Sunset

48: The Lives of Others

47: Almost Famous

46: Roma

45: Moneyball

44: Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood

43: Oldboy

42: The Master

41: Amelie

40: Yi-Yi

39: Lady Bird

38: Portrait of a Lady on Fire

37: Call Me By Your Name

36: A Serious Man

35: A Prophet

34: Wall-E

33: A Separation

32: Bridesmaids

31: The Departed

30: Lost in Translation

29: Arrival

28: The Dark Knight

27: Adaptation

26: Anatomy of a Fall

25: The Phantom Thread

24: Her

23: Boyhood

22: The Grand Budapest Hotel

21: The Royal Tenenbaums

20: The Wolf of Wall Street

19: Zodiac

18: Y Tu Mama Tambien

17: Brokeback Mountain

16: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

15: City of God

14: Inglourious Basterds

13: Children of Men

12: The Zone of Interest

11: Mad Max: Fury Road

10: The Social Network

9: Spirited Away

8: Get Out

7: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

6: No Country for Old Men

5: Moonlight

4: In the Mood for Love

3: There Will Be Blood

2: Mulholland Drive

1: Parasite

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I've seen 84 on the list! But, of course, I'd rank them differently. Here is *my* ranking of the ones I've seen (with commentary):

These are the ones that I am actively mad are on the list. I don't like them (at least not enough to be on a "top 100" list) and could replace them with other films I do like:

84: Ocean's Eleven

83: Minority Report

82: Under the Skin

81. Gladiator

80: Interstellar 

79: Gravity

78: The Tree of Life

Now we get to the ones that I'm not crazy about, but I "get" why they are on the list. Many of these are films I've seen once and really need to watch again. I haven't watch Spirited Away and City of God in 20 years and I know I'm doing them dirty by ranking them so low, but I can't remember them.

77: The Hurt Locker

76: Arrival

75: Inside Llewyn Davis

74: Little Miss Sunshine

73: Up

72: City of God

71: Spirited Away

70: Lost in Translation

69: Black Panther

68: Superbad

67: Melancholia

66: Frances Ha

65: Best in Show

64: Pan's Labyrinth

63: Oppenheimer

62: Anatomy of a Fall

At this point, we enter the "meh" zone. These are good movies and I enjoyed them, but I don't really think about them much. They don't excite me the way others on the list do.

61: Memento

60: Let the Right One In

59: Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship the Ring

58: The Florida Project

57: Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

56: A Separation

55: A Serious Man

54: Y Tu Mama Tambien

53: Borat

52: Oldboy

51: In the Mood for Love

50: The Zone of Interest

49: The Favourite

48: The Phantom Thread

47: Almost Famous

Here, we enter into the "yes, this is actually good and I also do like them zone". These are all good movies, most of which I've watched multiple times...although some I do need to revisit.

46: Portrait of a Lady on Fire

45: Moonlight

44: Everything Everywhere All at Once

43: Uncut Gems

42: Mulholland Drive

41: Punch-Drunk Love

40: Children of Men

39: Volver

38: Her

37: Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood

36: Adaptation

35: Fish Tank

34: Grizzly Man

33: The Dark Knight

32: Bridesmaids

31: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

30: Tar

29: Spotlight

28: Inception

27: The Grand Budapest Hotel

26: Before Sunset

25: Whiplash

24: Mad Max: Fury Road

23: Amelie

22: Kill Bill vol. 1

21: The Wolf of Wall Street

20: There Will Be Blood

19: The Master

18: Carol

17: 12 Years a Slave

Finally, we come to the pure pleasure zone. These are all movies I LOVE, have seen multiple times, would easily watch again, and would recommend to others without hesitation. 

16: The Royal Tenenbaums

15: Lady Bird

14: Brokeback Mountain

13: The Social Network

12: The Departed

11: Parasite

10: Black Swan

9: O Brother, Where Art Thou?

8: The Lives of Others

7: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

6: Gone Girl

5: No Country for Old Men

4: Get Out

3: Zodiac

2: Call Me By Your Name

1: Inglourious Basterds 

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What's missing? Some of my favorite movies from the 21st century which didn't make the list at all include:

The Duke of Burgundy

The Prestige

Magic Mike

Moonrise Kingdom

Green Room

Midsommar

The Ring

Quills 

Secretary

Bernie

Wonder Boys

American Splendor

Kinsey

Challengers

Ghost World

The Love Witch

The Lobster

Dogville

Donnie Darko

The Forty Year Old Virgin

The Wrestler

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

The Lighthouse

Bring Her Back

In 2022, brothers Danny and Michael Philippou released their first feature film, Talk to Me. I saw it in the theatre and it was one of the best theatre-going experiences I've had. The movie is terrifying and uses body horror in a way that makes people genuinely flip out. The audience reactions--screaming, groaning, whimpering--just added to the experience of the film. I gave Talk to Me an "A" rating.

Now the Philippou brothers are back with another horror film titled Bring Her Back. The teaser-trailer was terrifying and the hype just grew and grew. 

Bring Her Back is one of the most grueling and punishing horror movies I've seen. On every level, this film is viscerally upsetting. It's a deeply unpleasant watch and it absolutely succeeds as horror. But it's so intense and so relentless that I just couldn't vibe with it. Not the way I wanted to and not the way I vibed with Talk to Me, which is a similarly bleak film. 

Bring Her Back is a movie that is more horrifying than terrifying. I consider a movie "terrifying" when it scares me--my pulse is pounding, I'm curled into a ball on the seat, and I have trouble sleeping that night. Movies that have terrified me in the past include The Ring, It Follows, The Descent, and the Philippou's last movie Talk to Me. Bring Her Back, however, didn't "scare" me. Instead, I watched a film with grotesque body horror (which was impossible to watch, but not "scary") and relentless child abuse and gaslighting. And to be clear: the movie is not shocking for the sake of shocking. It has a very clear and strong message and the emotional and physical torture are for a reason (I'll get to the plot in a minute). But that kind of thing doesn't "scare" me...it horrifies me. It plunges me into rage and despair.

I'm really selling this movie, right? Haha.

Ok, so the plot: teenage siblings Andy (Billy Barratt) and Piper (Sora Wong) are recently orphaned. Their dad dies of a heart attack while in the shower and mom is out of the picture. They are put in foster care with a woman named Laura (Sally Hawkins in a powerhouse performance), who also has a strange, mute son named Ollie (Jonah Wren Phillips).

Right from word go, we know something is very wrong with Laura. She mentions that she had a daughter who died. The daughter was blind. Piper is also blind and Laura is immediately smitten with her. Laura is not so thrilled that Andy and Piper come as a pair, and she's especially annoyed that Andy is three months away from turning 18 and plans to apply for guardianship of Piper when he's old enough.

Laura also locks Ollie in his room everyday, so that's not cool.

Bring Her Back is not a mystery: we know exactly what Laura's plan is. She has somehow discovered weird videotapes of an occult ritual where people are able to bring back a dead person. It involves using a demon inside someone to eat the corpse of the dead person and then purge the soul into a new body. Laura sees Piper as that new body, and she's using Ollie as the vessel to transfer Cathy's soul into Piper. Meanwhile, Laura embarks on an epic gaslightling campaign to convince social workers, Piper, and Andy himself that Andy is not suited to be Piper's guardian, despite the very clear love and care he has for Piper. To me, a grown woman torturing a 17 year old boy and driving him insane when all he wants to do is protect his baby sis is the most disturbing aspect of the movie. Moreso than horrific scenes of possessed Ollie chewing on a sharp knife and breaking his teeth on the edge of a table.

Sally Hawkins as Laura, a mother struggling with complicated grief that drives her to destroy other people's lives, is astounding. Laura is a rare villain who is completely three-dimensional, yet I could not empathize with her one bit. In fact, I'd go so far as to say she's not even "evil" despite committing evil acts. She's desperate. Absolutely desperate. But what she does to Ollie, Andy, and Piper is unforgivable. 

This is also a random connection, but I'm in the middle of reading Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, which is about a lot of things, but especially about how children--especially children in the foster system--are taken advantage of by adults charged with protecting them. Those same exact themes came up in Bring Her Back. Laura doesn't see Piper as a person--she sees her as a means to an end: bring Cathy back. And she sees Andy as an obstacle to get out of the way. 

Bring Her Back is a good movie and very effective as horror. But it is too bleak for me. The movie is suffering heaped on suffering. For ALL the characters. And though some people may empathize with Laura's mindless, desperate drive to bring her daughter back, I did not. I hated Laura. Loving your child is not an excuse to torture other children. Parenthood is not, in fact, sacred in this way. And the movie reminded me of one of the best quotes in horror media of all time: "Sometimes, dead is better."

Grade: B+