The CS! AFI Top 100 Movies of the 21st Century - So Far

Two lighthouse keepers try to maintain their sanity whilst living on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s.

CS! Voice: This is really something. The Black and White looks beautiful, the acting was great, and Robert Eggers seems to have no desire to follow any typical narrative structure, which is refreshing to say the least. I liked his previous flick, The Witch, but I didn't love it. This makes me want to revisit that movie.

Healthcare professionals, government officials and everyday people find themselves in the midst of a pandemic as the CDC works to find a cure.

CS! Voice: Back in 2011 when Contagion was released, it was more plainly a medical drama/thriller, but also a cautionary tale that’s proven to be eerily prophetic; here in 2020, it’s become a horror movie in its own right -- a real-life horror movie, which makes it fairly scary right now. Now, obviously, MEV-1 (the virus in the movie) is a much more deadly disease as depicted than COVID-19, but it’s hard not to look at this movie in the current climate and not be uncomfortable with the similarities that are there because it’s an enhanced version of what we’re currently living through. Steven Soderbergh is really able to tap into the fear and panic that results from this type of situation, and he bounces back and forth nicely between the medical procedural aspects of the plot and the more human element that really drives most of the drama inherent in the plot. A lot of the movie’s effectiveness also comes from how Soderbergh chooses not to sensationalize everything. Again, this is a more heightened portrait of the current world situation, but the frankness with which it’s all presented makes it scary. Steven Soderbergh and co. may not have intended to make a real-life horror film with Contagion, but that’s what it is now, one in which the monster is a cough. - PhantomKnight

A young programmer is selected to participate in a ground-breaking experiment in synthetic intelligence by evaluating the human qualities of a highly advanced humanoid A.I.

CS! Voice: I was a bit dismissive of Ex Machina in 2014 as yet another sci-fi story about the humanity of robots, but a rewatch gave me a renewed appreciation for just how well written, acted, and directed the film is. This is really more of a chamber piece than a science-fiction film as we watch three characters all trying to win things from each other over a series of conversations. It's not especially hard to predict where things are going, but the dialogue is great and the performances are very strong, particularly Oscar Isaac, whose work here stands worlds apart from the rest of his performances. The film also has a more interestingly stark visual style than I have it credit for, a great score, and some really provocative and disturbing scenes. Happy to say I got this one wrong the first time around. Ex Machina is pretty great. - PG Cooper

Barely 21 yet, Frank is a skilled forger who has passed as a doctor, lawyer and pilot. FBI agent Carl, becomes obsessed with tracking down the con man. But Frank not only eludes capture, he revels in the pursuit.

CS! Voice: The movie's reputation has it as a fun, breezy caper, but not much more. Well, I think that might be a bit too dismissive. This time, I found the characters and story more involving than I have before. I particularly noticed how the theme of fatherhood runs throughout this movie. The need for a stable father figure is essentially Frank's motivation for his con game. Or, rather, a stable and happy family. When his father is revealed as less-than-honest, Frank runs and is desperate to reclaim that stability. And then, of course, he finds a surrogate father figure in Carl Hanratty, and that relationship is very interesting and even complex, as well as being the beating heart of the movie. I was captivated by this relationship, as it eventually becomes a lot more engaging than you'd expect. Despite knowing he has to keep running and changing identities to avoid getting caught, Frank always seems to leave a thread for Hanratty to find and tug on, because it's a way of Frank keeping Hanratty close/in his life. And I just found that fascinating. Plus, it helps that both Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks play these characters beautifully, and it's easy to pick up on an undercurrent of genuine care between the two of them, which bolsters the relationship and the film all the more.

Then, on top of that, Steven Spielberg throws in the breezy caper tone, 60's style and aesthetics (this movie is bright and colorful to look at, reflective of the tone and in stark contrast to Minority Report's aesthetic the same year -- proof of Spielberg's versatility as a director), and a severely underrated John Williams score. - PhantomKnight

In early 18th century England, a frail Queen Anne occupies the throne and her close friend, Lady Sarah, governs the country in her stead. When a new servant, Abigail, arrives, her charm endears her to Sarah.

CS! Voice: Much as The Favourite is meticulously well-made and sharply written, the high point is undoubtedly the cast. Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, and Emma Stone all do fantastic work here, creating distinct, fiercely intelligent characters who are endlessly fascinating to observe. Colman has the showiest performance, not only playing royalty, but also a woman struggling with physical and mental health, to the point of pushing her to some very intense emotional extremes. It’s a critic cliché to describe a performance as “fearless”, but I’d argue Colman is worthy of the usually hyperbolic claim, given her willingness to push Anne to some really unpleasant territories. This is not to suggest Weisz and Stone’s work is somehow lesser because it really isn’t the case at all. Most of Stone’s characters are generally likable and charming and while she does bring an element of that to Abigail, this charm masks a much more sinister and self-serving character. It’s especially rewarding to see this character slowly find success and indulge in her selfishness. And finally, there’s Rachel Weisz, who might just be my favourite part of the film. In many ways, Weisz has the least showy role of her peers, but she really sinks into her role as a cunning and in some ways devious person, but there’s also a sense of honesty to her that the other characters lack. Weisz is also able to change to the tone of a scene from calm to threatening on a dime. Kudos as well to Nicholas Hoult, who has a very smaller role in this, but does great work as a ruthless yet buffoonish politician who is a lot of fun to watch. - PG Cooper

The relationship of a contemporary married couple, charting their evolution over a span of years by cross-cutting between time periods.

CS! Voice: Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine is a stern rebuke to all the “20-something pining after a manic pixie dream girl” dramas that have taken over the American independent film scene in the last decade. Unlike those immature fantasies, this film is a raw portrayal of people falling in love and out of love and facing all the problems of the real world along the way. The film’s non-linear structure might seem a little gimmicky at first, but it pays off in big ways at key moments and at the heart of it all are two extremely strong performances by Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. This is the film that Sam Mendes’ Revolutionary Road wished it could be. - Dracula

A biologist signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition into a mysterious zone where the laws of nature don't apply.

CS! Voices: Awesome. Only thing I'd have changed was the weird strings music they had in some scenes. Ending music was great but those strings man... Brought me out of it. - frankyt

The lives of three men who were childhood friends are shattered when one of them has a family tragedy.

CS! Voice: Mystic River is a pretty decent police procedural on its surface, not really a mystery, but a pretty good murder investigation all the same. But that’s not really what’s important. The bigger story is that of three childhood friends, who’s troubled past comes back to influence current events. Tensions started in their youth bubble up during the current crisis. It’s high drama set in a Boston neighborhood, and that location adds a lot to the movie as well. I think what’s so special about Eastwood’s current output is simply that he’s been bringing an old Hollywood style into a new age. I’m all for CGI and jump cuts and stuff, but sometimes it’s nice to see a movie where they just let the material take front and center and stay out of the way. - Dracula

A Jewish-Hungarian concentration camp prisoner sets out to give a child he mistook for his son a proper burial.

CS! Voice: The Holocaust is never an easy subject to make movies about, though there is a long history of attempts and in many ways it had felt like it had explored in every way it could have been, then came Son of Saul. Where most movies about the Holocaust focus on stories on the genocide’s periphery, this one goes right into Auschwitz in on order to stare right into the abyss. The film focuses on a member of the Sonderkommando: a group of Holocaust victims who would be separated from the rest of the victims and forced at gunpoint to act as trustees at the death camps and shepherd other Jews to their deaths. They are a controversial element of Shoah Studies and they had been explored previously in Tim Blake Nelson’s film The Grey Zone, and as grim as that movie was it wasn’t visceral, Son of Saul by contrast is extremely visceral. The film is not a million miles removed from the sort of “experience” movies from this decade like Gravity and 1917, but in my view it is using this technique to a much more profound end, namely creating empathy for the people who went through what is likely the most horrifying experience of the 20th century. Throughout the film the camera almost always follows the film’s protagonist; a man who has a “break” at some point in the film and comes to believe on of the victims is his son whom he must try to bury. It’s not a single take stunt, there are cuts in the movie, but it sticks with the one character over the course of what is a more or less real time span and because the camera is basically over the guy’s shoulder a lot of the most grisly aspects are tastefully out of focus in a way that almost makes them more disturbing. This is one of only six movies on this list that is a feature film debut of its director and the fact that László Nemes chose such a project to tackle on his first go as a filmmaker is astonishing. This is not a “fun” movie to watch, in fact it’s an experience that will leave you rather shell-shocked, but it’s a film that leaves you feeling like you’ve had at least a slight glimpse at the human experience at its worst and that is something that puts a lot of things into perspective. - Dracula

A young African-American man grapples with his identity and sexuality while experiencing the everyday struggles of childhood, adolescence, and burgeoning adulthood.

CS! Voice: Moonlight is a poignant and truthful film that never succumbs to cliched sentimentalism or politics that pays careful attention to crafting a personal character study that is easy to sink into. While the film misses opportunities to be a great film by not tapping more into potential plot points or a more interesting aesthetic from a cinematography standpoint, it's undoubtedly one of the strongest films of the year that tackles its themes with maturity and care. It's not the cinematic game changer I had hoped it to be, but there's a lot of great things that Moonlight accomplishes worthy of celebrating. - SnoBorderZero