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

A faded television actor and his stunt double strive to achieve fame and success in the final years of Hollywood's Golden Age in 1969 Los Angeles.

CS! Voice: Visually Tarantino's best film. I understand people's complaints, just as much as I do the people who are falling in love with it. While there were times (especially the first viewing) that I started to find issues, the movie mesmerizes me so much that I could care less about those issues and cruise with it. The dialogue is less Tarantino than anything else he's written, with these characters feeling like people and not some otherworldly cool guy or gal his other characters are. Maybe not his best (INGLORIOUS still holds that title,) but it's a film that I feel time will be very kind to, of which I may need some more of with the 9th Tarantino Picture. Do not go in with preconceived notions or be swayed by anyone's take on this. - Pbar

In the distant future, a small waste-collecting robot inadvertently embarks on a space journey that will ultimately decide the fate of mankind.

CS! Voice: I could get lost in the plot for pages, so let’s just take a look at the story through the perspective of WALL•E himself. The driving force of the film is to get the complacent race of humans back to their roots, and to care again. The humans represent a humorous satire of American consumerism and capitalism at this point, being secluded to the workings of “Buy and Large,” a multi-planetary corporation. (Perhaps a parody of Wal-Mart). But as soon as WALL•E enters their lives, he changes them for the better. Everyone is wearing blue suits until WALL•E bumps into one, turning her red, but also opening her eyes to the world around her. (It didn’t take much because there is a force within us to be creatures of nature). So while the plot of returning the plant and ship to Earth (representing the main sci-fi plot/theme of the film: environmentalism), simultaneously the human race is beginning to open up to the idea of returning to Earth. This includes the captain, who begins to Google all he can on the subject. WALL•E is clearly the hero of the film in more ways than one. - Jibbs

The eccentric members of a dysfunctional family reluctantly gather under the same roof for various reasons.

CS! Voice: This seems to be one of the moments where director Wes Anderson takes a pretty big leap in filmmaking. This is Anderson's third feature film, and while the quirkiness we have come to expect for his entire career is on display with Tenenbaums, it is also darker than Bottle Rocket and Rushmore, his prior works. Anderson has always struck me as someone who could get the best work from Owen Wilson, whom he co-wrote Tenenbaums with, and while Eli Cash is not the lead, Wilson turns in a memorable performance along with his brother Luke Wilson and Ben Stiller. This is a star studded cast, as we come to expect with Anderson's movies, and to be honest everyone pretty much turns in a great performance. Family is a mess, and at times traumatic. Anderson tackles this idea, among others, in a way that feels sincere and real. - donny

A former Roman General sets out to exact vengeance against the corrupt emperor who murdered his family and sent him into slavery.

CS! Voice: Yes, it is a traditional revenge story, but I find the story and all the themes it touches upon to be handled in a very riveting fashion and as a result, the film is utterly engrossing right from its opening moments. Everything this movie is saying may not be anything particularly new, strictly speaking, but it’s the way the film says it all that makes it so good. Every scene nearly oozes conviction, whether it be the performances by the actors, the impeccable production design or the brutally invigorating violence. In every sense of the word, Gladiator is a true-and-blue Hollywood epic, and I consider it to be one of the best in the genre. - PhantomKnight

An old man recalls his time painting houses for his friend, Jimmy Hoffa, through the 1950-70s.

CS! Voice: Martin Scorsese's name is synonymous with gangster pictures, so it should be no surprise that he would eventually return to them with 2019's The Irishman. What's different this time around though, from not only Scorsese, but the cast as well, is perspective. Goodfellas and Casino were made in the '90s, when both Scorsese and his stars, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci were much younger. Al Pacino, who also stars in this made Scarface in the '80s. While The Irishman may share some of the same themes as Scorsese's previous works, this looks at them through a different lens. There is a deeper feeling of regret and sorrow in this than Goodfellas, even though Frank Sheeran may never fully admit it. Because of this, The Irishman feels much more rewarding than I had anticipated it to be. Sure, the long run time or the at times sloppy CGI may turn people off, but to me, in a weird way, makes The Irishman all the more endearing. It's one of the few films in recent years that I watched beginning to end in a theater without taking my eyes away from the screen. That means something to me. It features fabulous performances both leading and supporting. Pacino is unbelievable and Pesci plays against type to perfection. Time will tell how The Irishman holds up, but nearly a year later, I still can't get over it. - donny

A frontiersman on a fur trading expedition in the 1820s fights for survival after being mauled by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team.

CS! Voice: The Revenant is a beautiful movie with a captivating, edge-of-your-seat narrative. It's full of authentic performances in an authentic landscape, with lots of depth to everything. Those with weak stomachs may have a problem, especially with a couple of scenes that pop into mind immediately, but they only add to the authenticity. One of the greatest frontier films ever made. - IanTheCool

A real-time account of the events on United Flight 93, one of the planes hijacked on September 11th, 2001 that crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania when passengers foiled the terrorist plot.

CS! Voice: Were it dealing with different subject matter this probably would have been like one of those Gus Van Sant movies where nothing really happens for two hours, but that’s not what this is. In fact when you consider just how real they’ve made anything it’s surprising just how engrossing this movie is as some warped kind of thriller. There is an undeniable visceral quality to how Greengrass has made this movie, the tension builds throughout the movie and when those passengers finally start to charge the cockpit you really just want to jump out of your seat and let out a cathartic scream. There have been better movies made this decade but I know of no movie in this or any other decade that so viscerally grabs the attention of its audience. - Dracula

The life of Mason, from early childhood to his arrival at college.

CS! Voice: I've always loved Boyhood, but this viewing was something of a revelation of how special this movie is to me. The film is seemingly so simple, yet it's rich in the details of growing up, and specifically to be a kid growing up in the early 2000s. It's also effortlessly absorbing. Seriously, my partner and I threw this on somewhat casually before bed one night and ended up being completely transfixed. Watching these people grow is just endlessly fascinating to me and Linklater has a knack for picking out seemingly mundane moments that somehow become poignant. The film also has some of the best editing in recent memory. The transitions from year to year being so seamless is certainly a part of that, but even just the shot to shot cutting in dialogue scenes is really strong. Linklater and editor Sandra Adair are able to articulate a lot simply through their shot selection.

Easily one of the best films of the decade. I could honestly watch the whole thing again right now. - PG Cooper

A man with short-term memory loss attempts to track down his wife's murderer.

CS! Voice: This might be my favourite Christopher Nolan film. In addition to it's unique high concept and storytelling (which alone really elevate the work), Memento also sports a ton of thematic depth that proves more layered on every re-watch. The fact that it's never entirely sure who is and isn't trustworthy only adds to this. The performances are quiet good, the film has a good balance of drama and a hint of humour, the score is surprisingly solid, and Wally Pfister's cinematography is great even with the low budget. Nolan's authorial voice comes through strong and he adds a lot to the film. He brings the best out of everyone he's working with and makes Memento an insidious film that can't be shaken. Ironic that a film about memory loss is so unforgettable.

This is a film which is extremely well-made, constantly entertaining, thought-provoking, and with high rewatch value. It's a film which I feel comfortable calling a masterpiece and will likely continue to revisit for the rest of my life. If for some reason you haven't seen this film, please do so. You won't regret it. - PG Cooper

A washed-up superhero actor attempts to revive his fading career by writing, directing, and starring in a Broadway production.

CS! Voice: This is such a tour-de-force experience of a movie, both exhilarating and entertaining at the same time. From the moment the camera starts following the characters around (and doesn't stop), Birdman is difficult to look away from in the best way possible. If I had to describe it with one of those "combination comparisons", I'd say it's sort of like Noises Off! meets Black Swan, and the tone is SO well-captured. In fact, and I mean this as a compliment, watching Birdman is almost like watching a stage play, especially since there's no typical movie editing and the film has the appearance of one long, continuous shot. This style is also effective in that it simultaneously serves to put us in the headspace of Riggan Thompson, brilliantly portrayed by Michael Keaton. The performances are all stellar across the board, but Michael Keaton...damn. This really is THE leading performance of 2014. Watching Michael Keaton in this movie is incredible. He makes his way through a wide variety of emotions throughout the film, and not once does he strike a false note. Obviously, a lot of the performance's power - not to mention irony - comes from Keaton's time playing Batman so many years ago, but that fact is never a distraction, because the performance is still strong enough to stand on its own as a tremendous piece of acting. The rest of the cast, which includes the likes of Edward Norton, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts and Zach Galifinakis, are all up to Keaton's high standard, and I'd go so far as to say that Birdman may just be the best-acted film of 2014. It's also one I most can't wait to see again, because ever since I saw it in theaters, Birdman has stayed with me and grown on me in a way that makes its sheer effectiveness crystal-clear. Very few movies ever feel this alive, nor are they often made quite like this, but Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu and his cast and crew have truly pulled off something pretty incredible, and there's no other film from 2014 quite like Birdman. - PhantomKnight

In the Falangist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.

CS! Voice: Guillermo del Toro sure likes monsters doesn’t he? Though his dark 2006 fantasy film, Pan’s Labyrinth, didn’t have the budget of the Hellboy films he made for Hollywood it still manages to bring some freaky fucking monsters lurking throughout. The faun itself is a really cool creation, as is the giant frog, and the pale man is a scary motherfucker. And yet the true villain of the film is an all too human character, the main character’s stepfather, who’s a brutal fascist in the Spanish Civil war.

The idea of children in tough domestic situations using fantasy as a means of escape is hardly a new idea in this genre, but I think Del Toro does something pretty special with the theme here because he’s really willing to “go there.” This is a kid with some real problems, not some brat whining about having to do some chores and the fantasies she delves into are similarly “out there.” The film manages to use fantasy to dark means without resorting to vulgar Todd McFarlane extremes. - Dracula

After awakening from a four-year coma, a former assassin wreaks vengeance on the team of assassins who betrayed her.

CS! Voice: Vol 1 was an amazing action film filled with great set pieces and audacious moments, but it was easy to under-rate… at least until Vol 2 came out and revealed that this was a much more clever story than it initially appeared.

It didn’t seem like it at first but The Bride turned out to be a really interesting character and Bill turned out to be more than he appeared. Even the film’s central revenge theme turned out to be a whole lot more intelligent than it first appeared.

Overall, this movie is the ultimate, if maybe not the best, Quentin Tarentino experience. The film is a kaleidoscope of pop culture and a celebration of cinema. - Dracula

Based on the true story of the Black September aftermath, about the five men chosen to eliminate the ones responsible for that fateful day.

CS! Voice: Munich. Is. Amazing. The movie questions the very nature of terrorism, asking whether retaliation is truly effective if it only leads to an endless loop of reprisals. Such questions are courageous ones to ask, and Spielberg asks them in the middle of a fascinating and involving political thriller. Eric Bana is powerfully effective as the leader of a covert international team of assassins assembled in the wake of the 1972 Munich massacre to seek retribution against the perpetrators. The violence in this film is gritty, graphic and completely un-Hollywoodized. It’s effective as a thriller, as a commentary on terrorism and as a human drama. There’s a moment late in the film where Spielberg intercuts Eric Bana having sex with his wife with his imagining of how the massacre went down; it’s a brilliant sequence and perfectly shows how Bana’s character will forever be haunted by what he did, and how it will affect his family. No other film this decade left me feeling as moved and different by the final scene. Forget Crash…Munich IS the Best Picture of 2005 and the Best Film of the 2000-2009 Decade. - PhantomKnight

Greed and class discrimination threaten the newly formed symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan.

CS! Voice: What few qualms I had on first viewing faded away completely on a rewatch. Parasite is amazing. A deeply original piece of storytelling told with slick precision and an excellent cast. The major twist is not only a complete surprise which enriches the themes and fundamentally shifts the narrative, but is also a marvelous example of filmmaking craft. This sequence is essentially a series of set-pieces strung together, each of which thrilling while also advancing the story and developing the central thesis. Even viewed in a vacuum, these scenes tell a poignant story of wealth disparity in modern society which is both very clear and never heavy handed. It's a perfect microcosm of Parasite as a whole, and indeed, within the film acts as the heart of the story.

I realize I'm speaking in frustratingly vague terms, but given the film's historic Best Picture win, I imagine many eyes will be coming to Parasite in the months to come and I want to avoid writing any spoilers. So if you've somehow come across this review and haven't seen Parasite, please do so, and don't read anything about the film until you do. It's pleasures are best enjoyed going in blind. - PG Cooper

A married couple are faced with a difficult decision - to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.

CS! Voice: For those who don’t know the film is about a man and a woman living in Tehran who are going through a divorce and who also find themselves enmeshed in a separate lawsuit and throughout the movie Farhadi employs a brilliant humanist eye for seeing everyone’s perspective in this complicated situation and building each character in a richly detailed way. The film is set in a faraway place that’s frequently opposed to my own country and differs from my own culture on any number of political, religious, and legal dimensions and yet this film in many ways doesn’t feel “foreign” at all outside of the language barrier. It also isn’t an inaccessible and challenging “art” movie that I can’t easily recommend to most people, on the contrary there’s a simplicity and directness to its storytelling and style that makes it truly universal for anyone who watches it. In the years since making the film Farhadi has made a number of films, many quite good but few that reach the level of mastery he achieved in this breakout film. Perhaps he captured lightning in a bottle with A Separation, a film with nary a single element I’d want changed and which I have basically no reservations about endorsing. I rarely throw around the word “masterpiece” anymore as that’s a label I’m increasingly only comfortable attaching to movies decades down the line, but if any movie from this decade has been a masterpiece it’s probably this one. - Dracula

The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.

CS! Voice: A decade ago Clint Eastwood released back to back war films set during the battle of Iwo Jima; one from the American perspective, one from the Japanese. The 'American' story, Flags of Our Fathers, was released first and is now rightfully considered to be an average, cliched war film. Unfortunately it also in a way eclipsed Letters from Iwo Jima, a far superior film in almost every way. It might be because it's one of the few war films that tells the story of a group of men destined to die but it really goes against the grain of the overly sentimental and patriotic films that some filmmakers, including Eastwood himself, sometimes use as a crutch. Eastwood's career is as long as it is diverse but Letters from Iwo Jima stands near the peak alongside his other great films and stands on its own as one of the best war films since Platoon. - Doomsday

Nine years after Jesse and Celine first met, they encounter each other again on the French leg of Jesse's book tour.

CS! Voice: I loved Before Sunrise, and found myself quickly desperate to see the much loved sequel. Before Sunset does not disappoint. The film picks up nine years after the fateful meeting in Vienna and sees Jesse and Celine meeting again. Once again, the two walk around a European city and there's a romantic air to it all, but it isn't as sentimental this time around. The characters are much older now and have matured in the last nine years. They're both weighed down with more responsibilities. But in spite of this their romantic night has not lost meaning nor have their feelings for each other. Like the first film, I didn't want Before Sunset to end. It's touching, heartfelt, honest, romantic, and dramatic. How one reacts to these movies will depend entirely on their emotional attachment, but there is a subtle greatness to these films that can't be denied. - PG Cooper

In a future where a special police unit is able to arrest murderers before they commit their crimes, an officer from that unit is himself accused of a future murder.

CS! Voice: The real core of this is a fascinating meditation on the importance of civil liberties, one that has all the more resonance in a post 9/11 era in which we are pondering how to punish people before they commit the crimes they’re being punished for.

Additionally, this is the very model of how intelligent filmmaking and creative science fiction can co-exist with populist entertainment in the same movie. This is my exhibit A whenever people tell me I should judge a movie less harshly simply because it’s a summer action film. If Spielberg can entertain people with a smart movie this effectively, Michael Bay has no excuse. - Dracula

In the late 1960s/early 1970s, a San Francisco cartoonist becomes an amateur detective obsessed with tracking down the Zodiac Killer, an unidentified individual who terrorizes Northern California with a killing spree.

CS! Voices: I'm not sure what keeps bringing me back to a 160 minute mystery with no strong closure, but it never fails to enthrall me in that time. I've always been impressed with Fincher's ability to take average or difficult scripts and turn them into great movies, and this is a good example. This movie jumps by months and years at a time with little notice, it changes characters (Gylenhaal doesn't lead the movie for some time), and like I said, it doesn't end with someone getting shot in the face. But the characters are real, the photography is great and surreal at times, and it's just an expertly put together film. - Jibbs

For whatever reason, up until now, I've always considered Zodiac just shy of true greatness. But having re-watched it again, for the first time on Blu Ray, I don't know why; this is yet another masterpiece from one of today's greatest living directors. This is a meticulously crafted and ultimately very rewarding film that never falters and is never boring at all throughout its considerably lengthy running time. The Zodiac case is arguably one of the most fascinating murder investigations of the last couple of decades, and Fincher and screenwriter James Vanderbilt truly emphasize that. The way the story jumps from year to year is just so seamless. The film is also full of fantastic performances all around. Just like Se7en and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Zodiac has a palpable and involving atmosphere that permeates every scene and pulls us in more and more. - PhantomKnight

In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a plan to assassinate Nazi leaders by a group of Jewish U.S. soldiers coincides with a theatre owner's vengeful plans for the same.

CS! Voice: There was a lot of speculation as to why Quentin Tarentino chose to use such eccentric spelling in the title of his 2009 film Inglourious Basterds. Some thought it was to get around censors, some thought it was a homage to poorly translated Italian war movies, others thought it was simply a reflection of the ignorant antihero played by Brad Pitt. But I don’t think any of those are the true reason. I think he spelled the title that way in order to make it clear right from the start that this wasn’t a movie that was going to play by the rules. It isn’t going to follow the rules of grammar, it certainly isn’t going to follow the rules of history accuracy, but most importantly it isn’t going to follow the rules Hollywood set out which have made most mainstream films so damn formulaic in the last twenty years… the only rule he was going to follow were his own.

The result is a film that’s completely unconventional for a project of this size. This is a movie with a seventy million dollar budget which features twenty minute dialogue scenes, a significant amount of material that’s in foreign languages, and an ending that will be a complete head-scratcher for those unwilling to go along with Tarentino’s unconventional vision. Those who took its unconventional view of history too seriously miss the point completely, this isn’t a movie about WW2, this is a movie about the power (literal and figuratively) of the cinema and by extension art. - Dracula