Movie Central's Best Films of the 21st Century

Oh man, I loved this movie so much when I first saw it, and every viewing since then has only deepened my appreciation. It’s based on a manga series written by Taiyo Matsumoto, and it was developed into a film by Studio 4°C - an animation studio with a distinct visual style. This film features a fantastic blend of CGI and hand-drawn animation, and the soundtrack, from electronic duo Plaid, is incredible. Overall, Tekkonkinkreet feels like nothing else I’ve seen. The two main characters, Shiro and Kuro (Japanese for “White” and “Black”), defend “their city” from all comers, and their never-explained powers aid them in surviving the harrowing life they live on the fringes of society. A coming-of-age story like no other, I strongly recommend you check out Tekkonkinkreet. I can lend you my Blu-Ray copy if you promise to return it.

Speed Racer is the best movie you probably haven’t seen yet.

Released in 2008, Speed Racer was met with immense criticism. Claimed to be a mess of chaotic CGI. As a kid, I didn’t get it either. I walked out of the theatre unsure what I actually just watched. The movie is fast and interlaced with characters and plot points all visually meshing together through fades and cuts in some kind of VFX tapestry. There’s colours flying every which way that makes for a visually overwhelming movie. It’s for these reasons most didn’t like this movie, which is too bad because the Wachowski sisters created a visual language years ahead of its time with this mastercraft in visual storytelling. We just didn’t get it yet.

To understand Speed Racer, know that it is more of an animated movie despite being a live action film. Which makes sense since it is an adaptation of the anime and takes inspiration from Japanese storytelling. The Wachowskis created a movie that leans into the emotions of the characters by emphasising colour, dynamic camera moves, and fast moving cuts. It plays with time and space to tell an emotional story. There’s moments that will switch between the present time, fade into a character’s childhood, and then transition to another character’s backstory all interlaced within the same high intensity race scene. What many considered to be a weak point of the film turned out to be a feature of its unique visual language.

The Wachowskis set out to make an artful movie about following your passions in the face of crushing capitalist regimes. A theme that continues to remain timely. This movie reminds us to stay true to yourself and follow your dreams. Despite the negativity and criticism, Speed Racer remained true to itself and its source material, even down to the goofiness of the character interactions. Through the filmmaking expertise on display, the Wachowskis were driven to create one of the most unique and underrated films that you are doing yourself a disservice by not watching.

This movie captures the cultural zeitgeist of Venice Beach, California in the 1970’s like lightning in a bottle. A thirteen year old me bought a PlayStation Portable from a friend that came with a copy of this movie and it blew my little mind wide open. I told my parents I wanted a skateboard the very next day. The casting is perfect, with an underrated performance by Heath Ledger and a once in a lifetime showing from Emile Hirsch as the legendary Jay Adams. This movie feels like one big skate video at times but there is some beautiful cinematography to be had; in particular Tony Alva bombing the street at night in the opening, Jay skating off the Venice beach pier at sunset, and all the shots of the boys hitting the “Dogtown Override” in the empty pools. Soundtracked with an immaculate selection of music from the era by Mark Mothersbaugh. Distill this movie into liquid form so I can unzip my head and pour it directly in my brain forever.

A beautiful story about family love and accepting yourself for who you are.

"The cold never bothered me anyway."

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.

Coco is one of the most beautiful looking Pixar movies. The songs are really good as well as the message of family and remembering people.

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.

As a lifelong baseball fan, I was ecstatic when I heard they were making a movie about the Moneyball A’s. Baseball movies are already a genre that lends itself to stories about the Underdog after all, and the 2002 A’s definitely fit that archetype.

It’s worth mentioning that I was a lanky math nerd in high school who got more enjoyment out of watching sports than playing - and here was a movie not only about my favourite sport, but about math nerds who make the decisions behind then scenes? Count me all the goddamn way in.

Seeing Moneyball in theaters for the first time, I had my expectations exceeded. I knew the storytelling would be great, but I didn’t expect it to be as funny as it was. The amazing chemistry that was discovered between Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill was pure gold.

Experiencing the Hatteberg home run in the theater is one of the most goosebumps-inducting moments I can remember. The way the score cuts out and swells up again in the most triumphant moment of the movie is seared into my memory.

The craft that went into Moneyball is apparent to anyone who watches it - it’s easily my favourite sports movie, and one I’m happy to revisit every Opening Day, or just whenever I need to be reminded that David can go toe-to-toe with Goliath with a little bit of ingenuity.

Ah, Todd Phillips before he decided to try to be edgy. The sequels are atrocious, but this is an all-time comedy.

I read the book first – which is a big deal for me. I’m not much of a reader but when I do, I read every word. Katheryn Stockett’s story came to life with some of my favorite actors. Viola Davis, Emma Stone and Octavia Spencer (who won the Oscar for Best Supporting in 2012) lead the charge of a stellar cast. Filled with racial tension and injustice (and at times humor) in a domestic setting, it brought emotion and frustration and at times, outright anger – and a challenge to do better. Accept and honor all. Even though set in the south in another era – it was only the ‘60’s, just the decade before I was born. It’s not so long ago. Take away quotation: “You is smart. You is kind. You is important.” Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise.

The temporality of people in our lives, no matter if they’re a stranger on the train or someone we’ve known throughout crucial stages of our development, is one of the most difficult things to grasp. Given the contrasts in everyone’s journeys, we never truly get to know those we consider special, and a crucial driving force for what makes life so valuable. What Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke, and Julie Delpy were able to accomplish in three films developed nine years apart from each other gives viewers closure on the concept of the transience of interpersonal connections, and almost provides a blueprint for how valuable conversations and relationships are formed. Before Sunrise may be most people’s favourite due to its idealistic yet thorough depiction of romance, while Before Midnight may be the preference of some due to its realism, albeit uncomfortably tragic.

For me, the second film in the trilogy, Before Sunset, stands as the best in the trilogy and Linklater’s crowning achievement, as it seemingly strikes a balance between optimism and realism in romantic connection. Jesse and Celine, meeting up after nine years, promised to pick up where they left off in Vienna after a much shorter amount of time. However, they have undergone career changes, failed relationships, and other significant life events in between that period. It almost seems to them that, after all they’ve gone through over the years, the mere fact of them being present with one another again seems unbelievable and undeserved. The nature of the conversations between Jesse and Celine throughout the movie ranges from painful and pessimistic to youthful, playful and optimistic, continuously breaking the idealistic façade in Before Sunrise, and presenting a love for one another that may be unpredictable and distressing, yet ultimately, cathartic and deserved.

Coming from someone who has struggled with opening up to people as I grew up, Before Sunset, in particular, sets a framework for how special connections are formed, and continuously returning to it teaches me the value of honesty, authenticity, and vulnerability in relationships.

There’s not much I can say about this movie that anyone doesn’t get when watching it for themselves, which is why it’s so amazing. That says a lot about a movie with some relatively high concept fantasy plot points and set in a foreign language for most audiences. It’s a universal love story that everyone should experience with an outstanding soundtrack from RADWIMPS that accentuates each and every moment. The ending makes me tear up every time.

There is absolutely no better way to kick off your Christmas cheer in November (or October if you’re like me) than with How the Grinch Stole Christmas. It is Jim Carrey at his finest with so many quotes that can be used the whole year through. This movie can be summed up in my top three quotes from Mr. Grinch (and the narrator):
“Those yuletide-loving, sickly-sweet, nog-sucking cheer mongers! I really don’t like ‘em. No, I don’t.”

“Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”

And finally: “Cheer up, dude. It’s Christmas.”

Little Miss Sunshine hits so many of the right notes for me. Chef’s kiss for the soundtrack, casting, writing, and cinematography. Chef’s kiss for that one scene where the brother runs out of the moving van and is comforted by his sister. Chef’s kiss for the commentary on beauty standards. This is the movie we watched in film school for ‘nearly the perfect movie’ with its storyline and characters. And for good reason

This is the Prototype Nolan, and it's the Best Nolan. Long before the $100 million explosions, the high-concept sci-fi, the Dicaprios and Bales as his leading men, it was just two brothers with a Möbius strip of a screenplay, carried by the strengths of their assembly of character actors.

The greatest rom-com of all time. For me, Fincher is at his best when he leans into the melodrama with a touch of horror, and Rosamund Pike’s Amy is all that in one. I’ve noticed a lot of people have left this movie feeling sorry for Ben Affleck’s character, but the real ones know he’s far from trapped. Those two crazy kids deserve each other. Isn’t that romantic?

One of Miyazaki's most fantastical films also strangely ends up being one of his most autobiographical. To quote Toshio Suzuki, Miyazaki made this film as a message to his grandson, his way of saying: "Grandpa is moving on to the next world, but he's leaving behind this film". What he is leaving behind is a beautiful exploration of the legacy of one of the greatest artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. And at the same time, it is a profound grappling with the anger inside of us all in the face of a world teetering on a delicate balance between beauty and destruction.

It is one of the great honours of my life to be alive at the same time as Hayao Miyazaki, but if this is his last film, it's one hell of a sendoff.

Paddington is an absolute joy to watch. Watching it makes me wish I had known this bear when I was a child, but at the same time, I’m happy that I have him in my life as an adult. From the sad moments with his family in Peru, to finding his way in London, to learning what it means to live with the Browns (all while always having a marmalade sandwich under his hat), Paddington stole my heart and made me laugh. I found myself feeling lighter, inspired, and grateful to have found Paddington Bear. And come on, how adorable is he in his blue coat and red hat?

The Curse of the Black Pearl is highly regarded by the general public, and rightly so. But not enough attention is paid to the absolute masterpiece of blockbuster filmmaking that is At World’s End. 

It is, in many ways, the perfect antidote to the current slate of bland-tasting superhero blockbuster slop that tends to top the box office. It has characters you care about, heart-wrenching moments that actually have real impact, an all-time score from Hans Zimmer, and probably the best ship battle ever put to film. Watching it, you can almost feel the sweat and the dirt on the pirates’ faces, and Davy Jones is potentially the best CGI has ever looked.

What I love most about the film, though, is that it is a true fantasy epic put to screen. Pirates aren’t a class of criminals; they're a mystical community of otherworldly creatures as magical as elves or dwarves. Characters change allegiances, relationships are complicated webs of history, and when the music soars, your heart can't help but be pulled along. This is what blockbusters should be.

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.

It’s got mystery, suspense, psychological thrill, and Leo DiCaprio. Scorsese doing his thing with a great story that keeps you thinking long after the movie is done due to its jaw-dropping ending sequence! I haven’t seen it in a while, but whenever it comes up in conversation, my first thought is: “such a good movie.”

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.

Few filmmakers are able to unnerve their audience like Michael Haneke, and Caché stands tall as quite possibly his most frustrating and unsettling film to date. The beauty of Caché is its open-endedness, holding back on providing answers to the question it poses — is it a story about class, about colonialism, about guilt, about envy, about god? It forces the viewer to search inward to find a resolution. Maybe it is simply a story about a paranoid man, forced to choose if he should address his destructive past, or continue living his privileged life. The decisions made lead to one of the most emotionally nauseating climaxes ever put to film, a moment which everyone who has seen this movie surely has tattooed inside their brain, regardless of their own preference to forget the film or not.

The Big Short is one of my all-time favourite airplane movies – which is to say, if it’s on an airplane and I’ve got time to watch it, I’m watching it. And it’s perfect for a flight: hyperkinetic, great acting, superb writing, and still resonating as much as it did in the 2010s.

“…Ricky Baker, Ricky Baker, Happy Birthday! Once rejected, now accepted. By me and Hector, a trifecta….”

Family is not always blood!

We love cinema gang. This movie is so fantastic (perhaps a little recency bias on my part but fuck it). I love music and when music is so intricately woven into the dna of a film I can’t help but love it too. I love the time this film takes and the sudden genre change (I wish I had seen 0 ads before seeing this one damn). As a white woman, I can’t possibly speak to everything this holds but I will say I’m so glad it has been made and well received by audiences at large. Shoutout to Wunmi Mosaku aka the love of my life. also

Everyone is crazy hot in this movie
Jesus Christ.

“Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion”

Donnie Darko checks all of the boxes! A killer soundtrack, a cast to end all casts, Frank ♡, and no shortage of spooky and ambiguous elements. As a teenager I made it part of my personality to love this movie despite not really understanding any of it.

Hell is other people, and their adorable dogs. Mostly improvised with a stacked cast of comedy legends, Best In Show crafts a showcase of weird dog people that you’d hate to be trapped in a conversation with but also can’t help but stare at.

Discussing the idea of the banality of evil as it pertains to The Zone of Interest has become, well... banal. The film makes no secret of its central thesis; from the onset we are inundated with the mundanity of the Höss family’s daily lives while an entirely different story plays out in the periphery, in the perpetual dread hum of the crematorium incinerator, the plumes of smoke staining the skies above them, and the faint cries and sporadic gunfire buried beneath their asinine conversations. Their apathy toward the atrocities they are surrounded by and complicit in is borne not from any coherent ideological principles, but from a disturbingly quotidian thoughtlessness that facilitates the normalization of such horrors — they are the very image of banal evil as written about by Hannah Arendt in her formulation of the concept.

The film's most impactful moments are those wherein the veil of mundanity is ruptured and the façade of banality can no longer be sustained, when reality violently enters the dream and the unheimlich infiltrates the home. The illusion of normalcy is necessary in order for the Höss family to avoid confronting the overwhelming and incomprehensible nature of the evils they are implicated in. Their awareness of this evil is something they must swallow and bury deep within the recesses of their minds or else heave up like a wretched mass of bile, yet it is ever-present, like the ashes of the dead that suffocate their lungs, fertilize the flowers in their garden, and drift downstream to disturb their idyllic afternoon swim. Awareness flickers at the surface of their solipsistic existence in several instances, most notably in a few scenes where it threatens to overwhelm the film entirely with a gradual fade to a white/red/black screen accompanied by the haunting drones of Mica Levi's score, as if even the camera's ostensibly dispassionate gaze has been forced to look away. These moments are perhaps director Jonathan Glazer's most prudent refutations for detractors who accuse the film of having nothing to say beyond its initial premise, or for being too one-note in its delivery.

But the most powerful moment in the entire film is undoubtedly its final scene. Descending the empty stairwell of his Berlin office, we see Höss pause and retch repeatedly, struggling to rid himself of something within him that refuses to leave. Continuing further down, he stops again, staring into the yawning abyss of the void-like corridors, his attention apparently captured by something off-screen. He stares into the camera. Cut to black. Light spills into the darkness as a door is opened and we find ourselves transported to the present day Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum. For the next few minutes, we watch as the museum janitors silently set about their daily tasks, vacuuming the floors and wiping down various surfaces. The camera silently observes, panning across displays of the clothing and personal effects taken from the victims who were brought to the camp to be killed. The sheer number of items is sickening. We cut back to Höss, his gaze still turned upon the audience watching him from beyond the screen

In the established conventions of cinematic storytelling, this can be viewed as an extended shot/reverse shot — we see a shot of a character looking at something, and the subsequent shot reveals what it is they are looking at. Yet we know it is impossible for Höss to have seen into the future, to witness what we have in any logical sense. What is it then that gives him pause, forcing him to stop in his tracks and stare into the abyss? Is it guilt or shame? A disquieting premonition? An emergent sense of remorse or dawning awareness for the scope of the tragedy his actions will be responsible for, the bloody stain upon history that will be his only legacy? Neither he nor the film proffer an answer. Turning away from the audience, he continues his descent down the seemingly endless staircase into the umbral depths below.

Imagine being out at sea and noticing a body floating in the water. You hurry the boat to retrieve it but find that the man is still alive. But when he awakens, he has no memory of his past life. This is the story of Jason Bourne’s journey across Europe to find out who he is. And as he travels he discovers the impossible truth of who he was and who’s trying to kill him!

I love how this movie withholds information to the viewer. It allows the mystery of Bourne’s identity to go through several unexpected twists and setbacks without the audience sitting there and waiting for him to put the pieces together himself. We are along for the ride in every way with very few breaks from his perspective during the duration of the film. I also like the action sequences sprinkled thoughout, they are well done in the sense that they aren’t over the top or campy, but rather, elevate the tension of the scenes they’re placed in.

I also want to add that I love the way this movie fades to black into the credits with the song “Extreme Ways” by Moby (If you’ve never heard it you should check it out!). If I ever get the privilege of producing a film, this is how it would end! The song signifies a mood of unfinished business, or a wrong left un-righted. Just the way I want a suspenseful movie to end… to leave me in suspense for the sequel! (that’s The Bourne Supremacy, 2004)

If you are a fan of the action thriller drama, I can’t recommend this film enough! And if you like this movie, I would recommend a similar action thriller starring Matt Damon called “The Adjustment Bureau” (2011).

(Before talking about this movie, I recognize and strongly condemn how Sion Sono allegedly treated the actresses he's worked with. If you want to explore this movie and other works by him, consider second-hand sources so that money doesn't directly benefit him.)

Trying to recommend Love Exposure to the average movie watcher… is very difficult. Considering it is a near 4 hour long epic with a story line that tackles love, abuse, as well as religious trauma in a very non-sugar coated manner with the same level of chaos and zaniness as a shonen anime series from the 2000s, it is a film that requires viewers to pay attention to the content, symbolism and actions of the characters if they can stomach it.

Depicting perversion in the medium of film can be a risky move, often leading viewers to question whether this content is intended to discomfort and shock the audience. However, despite how explicitly the perversion is shown, Love Exposure manages to avoid the label of "shock-value for the sake of it", as with this sort of content comes a nuanced portrayal of what has led each figure in the story to inhabit their morally questionable mannerisms, a balance of sympathy and accountability throughout their development, as well as a thorough depiction of how they have managed to overcome their struggles and wrongdoings in the conclusion.

Yu and Yoko are both individuals who have deep-seated wounds from trauma coming from their religious and familial backgrounds. The result is ultimately an unhealthy viewpoint of love and relationships. With Yu, it comes from the death of his mother, and his father wanting him to find his "virgin Mary", a pure-blooded, innocent woman to fulfill his desires. Yoko faces an intense hatred of men due to the significant men in her life abusing and neglecting her. Their connection, or lack thereof, stems from the harmful idealizations they have placed on one another due to their respective traumas, and throughout the movie's long runtime, leaves the audience wondering whether both individuals will find a proper understanding and appreciation for each other.

Love Exposure is a work layered with symbolism that covers these grounds. From Yu treasuring the Virgin Mary statue as a way to depict his chauvinistic perspective toward Yoko to the passionate reiteration of 1 Corinthians 13 to project how religion altered and ruined the two protagonist's perspective on love, Sono creates a disturbing, unfiltered yet honest and allusive film that is rewarding as it is reformative of the concept of romance.