Movie Central's Best Films of the 21st Century

Frequency is a tug at my heart – having lost my father in an accident in my late teens, to have the opportunity to speak to him again, to change the course of time, to make a different outcome – the dream (to counter the nightmare).

This process prompted a re-watch and it’s actually aged ok. There are the unrealistic moments since it is Fantasy that are a bit predictable and the CGI is cringe-worthy but the feels remain. The cameo by a very young Michael Cera was unexpected. Glad to have brought a bit of a fringe piece to the fore.

Annihilation is a film that sticks with you; a movie I want to watch again and again. There's something about how the film builds its sense of dread, drawing you in with its hauntingly beautiful landscapes, tension-filled characters, and unsettling imagery. The “weirdness” of it all is something I loved, and it’s a story that doesn’t answer all the questions. It’s refreshing in a way (not over-explaining or spoon-feeding) but rather leaving you to experience the confusion and wonder right alongside the characters. I don’t know if I ever truly grasped what exactly was going on or what the ending means, but I actually think that’s not only okay, but also necessary.

I saw this in a Calgary theatre when it came out in 2004 and I have never stopped thinking about it. Paul Giamatti’s Miles and Thomas Haden Church’s Jack feel like archetypes. Every guy I know is one or the other, and on certain days, both. I wonder if the same is true for Maya and Stephanie for the women watching. The way Miles talks about wine is really just sociology in a bottle. “Pinot needs constant care and attention. You know? It can only grow in these really specific little tucked-away corners of the world.” That line is about wine, sure, but it is also about people. I do feel for what this movie did to merlot, though. It deserved better.

Who knew that syrup went on spaghetti! A go-to Christmas movie that always makes me laugh! A family favorite. Will Ferrell’s buy-in to the character is incredible. “I’m in a store and I’m singing!” I have sung more times than I can remember. Zooey Deschanel’s dulcet tones are a bonus.

Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite finds Olivia Colman’s Queen Anne at the center of a war fought in whispers, bedchambers, and elaborate wigs. What makes this film so electrifying is its queerness–presented not as subtext, but as the driving force of the narrative. The relationships between Anne, Sarah (Rachel Weisz), and Abigail (Emma Stone) are messy, erotic, and deeply powerful, blurring the line between intimacy and political strategy. Whether or not Queen Anne’s real relationships were romantic (many historians have long hypothesized her queerness), Lanthimos uses this speculation to show how desire has always shaped power. By queering the royal court, The Favourite doesn’t just retell history: it reframes it. The Favourite is a period piece that feels subversively modern, filthy, and utterly hysterical.

Hidden Figures is the untold story about the bravery, intelligence, and determination of the black women who helped NASA get Man into space.

"Here at NASA, we all pee the same color."

Radiator Springs: the town you never knew you wanted to visit, but after watching Cars, you’d happily trade your left lug nut to drive “low ‘n’ slow” down Route 66. I don’t know what it is about this particular Disney movie, but it’s just so good. It might be the scenery, the soundtrack, the animation, or the lovable and charming characters… no matter what it is, I love it.

Brokeback Mountain was and still is a groundbreaking piece of cinema. It's a film that's beautiful in every respect, as beautiful as it is so deeply sad. One of the first to tackle a LGBT romance with the gravity and tenderness that it rightly deserves. It has overcome the limitations of the "gay cowboy movie" label, as its merits are rightfully being appreciated with each passing year as a well-crafted, emotionally resonant drama. This is essential viewing for film lovers, and especially for film lovers who consider themselves allies of the LGBT+ community.

Only the Coens could so deftly blend Greek mythology and Americana. Loosely based on Homer’s The Odyssey, O Brother, Where Art Thou? uses the framework of the epic poem to create this wonderful great depression era road movie wherein three jailbirds (George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson) on the lam try to return home in order to find buried treasure. On the way, they encounter blind record producers, Robert Johnson, a cyclops, some ‘sy-reens’ (sic), and the KKK, all while being chased by the devil himself.

The backbone of the film (and its greatest strength) is the soundtrack produced by T-Bone Burnett, which, much like the film, perfectly blends the modern with the historical in its choice of folk, bluegrass, gospel, and country music, leading it to winning the Album of the Year Grammy that year. It may not be a perfect film, but much like the rest of the Coens catalogue, when you and the film are on the same wavelength, there is no other experience like it.

Poor Things is like if you took a jammy soft-boiled duck egg, wrapped it in capicola and seaweed, dredged it in cornstarch and a malt liquor batter, fried it in the liquified fat of an oligarch, and served it on a plate carved from Mary Shelley's pelvis garnished with parsley, paprika, and Benadryl. What more do you want from me?

A foot-popping, heartfelt, and all-around pleasant movie that is (mostly) relatable, as “you know, most kids hope for a car on their 16th birthday, not a country!” It makes me want to be friends with Mia and long for a reality where Clarisse Renaldi is my grandmother. “Princess, look out the window... and welcome to Genovia.” I could watch this movie any day, any time, and for any occasion.

I don’t have a super deep or profound reason for loving Moonrise Kingdom — I just do. It was the first Wes Anderson film I ever watched, and that makes it really special to me. I love the aesthetic, the story, and the entire vibe of the film. It’s just really nice.

Spoilers? Maybe? This movie is so incredibly beautiful in its visuals and soundtrack and yet so profoundly heartbreaking. This is the most I’ve wept due to a film in years. To find myself identifying with someone who refuses to see themselves and to move forward is terrifying and jarring. I am queer and the lengths it took me to own that identity with the mentality I carried from being raised in the church was so incredibly difficult but I’m so glad for where and who I am. To watch someone so scared and lonely and stuck and yearning for love and acceptance and belonging is such a vivid mirror to anyone who has felt Othered in search for community. To feel so distressed and stuck is so horrifying but don’t worry…

There is still time

Spielberg’s direction of this true story is beyond entertaining and features two of this century’s best actors: Leo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks. The film tells the story of Frank Abagnale Jr., who is arguably the modern world’s most popular con artist. It’s an FBI agent vs. con artist criminal chase portrayed as a Tom and Jerry cat and mouse game with a very interesting ending that leaves you wanting to learn more about the current dealings of the main character. The movie is funny, sad, thrilling, and thought-provoking and I always enjoy watching it (I’ve probably seen it over ten times!).

Baby Driver is a chewy, sugary, loveletter to fast cars, bank heists, and old iPods. The movie itself dances to the groovy soundtrack while the cinematography has that eye-popping, almost animated quality you can always count on Edgar Wright to deliver. The story isn't anything groundbreaking, but it's self aware enough to wear its tropes on its rolled up white tee sleeves; this allows the audience to lean into the corniness of the quips and the quiffs without rolling one's eyes (too often). It's like Grease meets GTA. With a devilish rogue's gallery, a charming little romance, and enough diner scenes to make David Lynch blush, Baby Driver truly deserves to be taken for a spin around the block. A few times. At least.

It's incredible how BIG this movie looked and felt with 2003 animation. Pixar was really cooking! Unbelievably iconic.

This movie is sharp, hilarious, and unexpectedly moving, all while doubling as the best tourism ad Bruges never asked for. I love traveling to Bruges, and every time I rewatch this film, I feel like I am already back there, wandering the cobblestone streets and ducking into every museum Colin Farrell would have hated. It is great when a movie can place you back in a place you love, all from the confines of your couch. I can taste the fries and waffles. The writing is flawless. “You are in a dream. You are in a dream in a place like this.” Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson are magic together, and Ralph Fiennes is chaos in a tie. The ending sticks, the pacing is perfect, and the whole thing leaves me wanting one more bite and one more night in Belgium.

This is actually what The Beatles did when they went to India.

We had a movie poster in our rec room that Will had brought home from the theatre of this one – I hadn’t seen it in the theatre but when it came up on streaming, decided to check it out – and watched it multiple times. If you’ve read my review of Frequency, you’ll know I’m a sucker for crossing the line from the living to the lost. The fantasy of opportunity to connect with those taken from us too soon is hard to resist. To say what you always wanted to say… Domhnall Gleeson and Bill Nighy as the Son/Father combo give just the right mix of tragic awkwardness and crude complacency. Add in the beauty and grace of Rachel McAdams and the mix is complete. A classic for me.

The Handmaiden really took me for a ride the first time I watched it. What you first think is a typical period piece lesbian romance turns out to be so much more. The twists and turns and multi-perspective story telling really keeps you on your toes, while providing an insightful commentary on the fetishization of young “innocent” women. It’s a disturbing but loveable pyschological thriller that you can’t take your eyes off once you start watching.

Smart, sexy, sweaty – Challengers is not just about tennis, it is tennis. With a techno club soundtrack that sets your heart racing and cinematography that draws you in from your seat, it’s a full sensory experience that takes you straight into the game of tennis – and the game of love.

I dare anyone not to think of Elle Woods as a feminist role model. She's intelligent but empathetic. Approachable but not easily pushed over. Hard-working but stops to appreciate the little victories in life. She's full of integrity. She gives voice to those who can't speak up for themselves. She knows her own worth. She finds personal and professional success in the balance between her stodgy, serious profession and her vibrant personality.

Elle, and Legally Blonde, has been there for every major milestone of my career as a litigator so far. I think this film should be essential viewing for every new lawyer.

Unfortunately shaped my view on love during very formative years but how I feel about this movie after each rewatch (25+ and counting) has been an effective assessment of how I'm feeling at any point in time and how much I've grown. Oh, and one of the best movie soundtracks ever.

This movie came out when I was 10 years old and it was the funniest shit I’d ever seen. I’m now 27 years old and it’s still probably the funniest shit I’ve ever seen.

Famously bookended by a wedding and a funeral, Edward Yang's final masterpiece is a sweeping and novelistic meditation on the cycle of life and the pathos of things, amalgamating the recurrent themes and motifs of the auteur's filmography into a vibrant tapestry of the sorrows and joys of a middle-class Taiwanese family navigating the complexities of a society at the intersection of modernity and tradition. Across three generations of this family we witness their shared dreams, struggles, and heartaches, and observe the ways in which a child is doomed to repeat their parents' mistakes, but also the ways in which they are inextricably and beautifully interlinked — the intergenerational experience is treated here not as a succession of events and experiences toppling into one another, but a handshake across time and space, a wistful recollection of a past that simultaneously reinvents itself in the present.

Still, there is an aching loneliness at the center of Yi Yi's patient narrative — characters are frequently framed in isolation, or separated by the mise en scène within a single shot; they have difficulty confronting their emotions before they reach a breaking point; they all have their own place in the world, yet that place seems to be nowhere at all. Yang artfully dangles these characters before his audience like loose threads yearning for a greater cohesion and reveals how they can be woven together, bonded not just by a familial fabric or a cultural DNA, but the shared condition known as humanity.

The original Transformers wasn't just a movie. It was a full blown adolescent fantasy brought to life. Forget Oscars. Forget plot. This film delivered everything a mid-pubescent boy could ever want: alien-robots, overly exaggerated slow motion explosions, cars turning into cannon wielding death machines... and Megan freaking Fox, glistening in the California sun, bent over a yellow Camaro like she was sent from the heavens. That scene alone was a spiritual experience.

Yes, Optimus Prime gave speeches with Linkin Park playing epic music in the background. And yes, there was technically a plot. But let's not lie to ourselves. We were there for the chaos, the explosions, the CGI transforming sequences, and the Goddess Megan Fox in cutoff jeans and a tank top tighter than my jeans after she leaned over that engine. Transformers didn't just stimulate. It awakened.

“It seems the whole country is eager to get rid of the old and make way for the new, but some of us aren’t so ready to let go of the past and sometimes the past isn’t ready to let go of us either.”

This film explores the way the past shapes our future whether we accept it or not. A super cute story of falling in love and preserving the legacy of people who came before you. Classic beautiful Ghibli visuals, plus a wonderful, boppy soundtrack.

Juno is a perfect little movie. The relationship between Juno and Paulie tugs at my heartstrings just as much as when it came out. Plus, an underrated killer soundtrack.

(SPOILER IN HERE) This movie sent me into an existential crisis, and honestly made me contemplate about becoming a misandrist. I HATED its dreadfully perfect ending and I HATED how Anora was treated. Mikey Madison played the part of Ani so beautifully and so authentically that I think she should receive an Oscar every year for the rest of her life. The movie’s demonstration of class disparity was something that I feel like isn’t really talked about enough, but was something so real and so important that the story represented. This movie is literally so good. I watched it for the first time in the movie theatre and I heard a man near me laughing in the scene where she was screaming and being tied up by Vanya’s staff and it both enraged and devastated me. I actually really hate this story, but it is genuinely the best movie I have ever watched.