Movie Central's Best Films of the 21st Century

I’ve been a fan of this movie for as long as I can remember. What’s not appealing about a family of superheroes fighting a maniacal genius with awesome hair? But, digging into it, this movie addresses deeper topics such as marriage, family, true identity, letting go of the past, and being a good role model. Brad Bird does a great job blending these ideas in with the over-arcing theme of the movie. It’s not just the writing, but also the characters, the locations and action scenes that truly make this movie timeless. And the soundtrack for this movie is amazing; one of Michael Giacchino’s best works. His compositions always elevate the scenes, adding more drama and tension. If you haven’t listened to “The Incredits” yet, it’s time that changed. It is one of only two jazz compositions I listen to regularly, so you better believe it’s good.

There is a lot I love about this movie; it’s a great watch from beginning to end and is bound to keep you on the edge of your seat.

I do not recommend The Incredibles 2.

Guillermo del Toro really created a masterpiece of all time with this one. A dark fairytale for the ages!!!!!!!!!!!! What has stuck with me all of these years and has influenced my respect for other movies because of this one is the attention to detail made with the character design. The Pale Man truly scared me the first time I watched this movie. Overall the imagination and creativity that flows from this film is astounding and if you don’t like this movie just know you’re wrong. :)

This is the movie that got me through high school. Lady Bird herself is such a unique and special character to me. Going to a religious high school in a small-ish city and wanting nothing more than to leave it all behind and start over is such a niche experience — and this film portrays it perfectly. Not having a stable friend group in high school really sucked, and this film made me feel so normal about it. It also made me feel so seen about my anxiety, my need for validation, my relationship with my mom, and all the highs and lows I felt in my last couple years of high school. It made me feel okay about being a floater friend, and it made me feel okay about people sometimes thinking I was “too much.” The amount I saw myself in this movie almost felt TOO specific the first time I watched it. There were even things that happened later to me after my first watch that aligned with scenes in this. Trippy stuff, like getting rejected from the majority of universities I applied to, and the quote I’m not going to a university that’s famous for its fucking agricultural school (I did in fact end up at a university that’s famous for its agricultural school). So yeah, to sum it all up, thank you Greta Gerwig for this movie <3 And an honorable mention to the fact that Merrily We Roll Along appears in this too — I always forget it’s in there, and every time I rewatch it, it’s like a nice little surprise.

Some people aren’t built happy.

The first time you watch Aftersun, you view it through the eyes of a child. There is no grand narrative to piece together from the fractured recollections and grainy recordings of that vacation; just hazy memories of sunny days and an occasionally distant father whose sadness is hidden beneath his charming smile and loose, expressive demeanour. There are glimpses of this melancholy perceptible even to the child — contemplative silences, clipped responses, shadows crossing the father’s features — but his struggles and inner turmoil belong to the realm of the adults, locked away within a black box of his hangups and insecurities that remains inaccessible and incomprehensible to the innocence of the child yet unblemished by the weight of accumulated time and experience.

The second time you watch Aftersun, you view it through the eyes of an adult. Like the adult Sophie, you attempt to parse meaning from the presented fragments, searching for the piece of the puzzle you may have missed the first time around, the key that will bring to light the inner shadows of Calum’s soul. Perhaps the genius of the film lies in how it presents the audience with no such thing — there is no obscure detail to give you closure regarding the precise fate of the father, just the weight and wisdom of retrospection, a greater sense of attunement with and understanding of the immeasurable burden of growing older. Whereas before we were free to dream alongside the sleeping child, we are now called to join the father on the balcony for a late night smoke, swaying in the night, momentarily freed from the weight of living, yet all too aware of the sorrows tomorrow may bring.

Gladiator is an epic in every sense of the word. The score by Hans Zimmer is really good. Also if you have thought about the Roman Empire on the regular or are just fascinated by the subject this is the movie for you.

Sophie Hatter is resigned to her fate as an eldest daughter…nothing special will ever happen to her. That is until she accidentally crosses the Witch of the Waste and her life is turned upside down.

A story of how the way you view yourself can shape your life, featuring magic, love, whimsy, and stereotypical Miyazaki anti-war motifs. And who isn’t in love with the wizard Howl?

(You should also read the book)

If this movie has anything, it's density. The sheer amount of non-stop humour, references, music, and effects is staggering. And what makes it special (at least to me) is that all of it is done at such high quality! It feels like a fever dream watching it for the first time and realizing how much you must have missed at the end. Guess you'll just have to watch it again!

”We are Sex Bob-Omb and we're here to make you think about death and get sad and stuff!”

Witnessing one of Miyazaki’s many masterpieces in the 8th grade sparked a turning point in how art has affected my life. Through the symbolism shown in the visual narrative and the development of Chihiro and Haku’s story and dynamic, my first viewing of Spirited Away was one of the first times a character journey in a fictional story almost directly resonated with me, and provided me with life-affirming messages.

Studio Ghibli’s stories almost have a common theme surrounding them, including self-discovery through internal and communal growth, as well as a deeply emotional analysis of transitioning from childhood to adulthood (watch Takahata’s Only Yesterday if you want a more narrow-focused perspective on these ideas). The people we see and grow with on a day-to-day basis, the shifting nature of our physical environment, as well as succumbing to the damning realization that the family that raised us will no longer consistently provide for us are experiences inevitable to this transition.

Spirited Away, through its magical realism and compelling discovery of our main characters, provides us with an uncomfortable yet hopeful depiction of the evolution from youthful innocence to the burdens and responsibilities carried throughout adulthood. It also shows the importance of self-expression, caring for others close to us, and breaking out of the bubble preventing us from truly seeing the world has on rigorously adapting to this growth.

I have watched this movie more than 100 times and still laugh harder each time. It is the only film where I know the entire script by heart, including Mr. Fox’s perfect self-aware confession: “I have this thing where I need everybody to think I’m the greatest, the quote-unquote fantastic Mr. Fox. And if they aren’t completely knocked out and dazzled and kind of intimidated by me, then I don’t feel good about myself.” That one sneaks up on me every time. I have fully adopted what the cuss as my go-to life phrase and drink from the mug to prove it. Wes Anderson’s stop-motion masterpiece is clever, existential, and unapologetically orange. I am probably overdue for a bandit hat tattoo and a quick game of Whack-Bat. They say foxes are allergic to linoleum, but it is cool to the paw.

I chose Whiplash as my #1 pick because every time I watch it I feel like I notice something different!! The first time I watched it was when I was JUST starting to appreciate film, and honestly I do think it’s the movie that made me want to pursue film in some way (shoutout Damien Chazelle you’re why I’m doing a minor in film). I’d never been so enraptured and caught up in a film before, and it honestly shook me so hard. I hyper-fixated on it for MONTHS. I also thought it was really really sick that something I loved (jazz !!) could be so prominent in a film, I hadn’t seen that before and I just thought it was so cool. I’ve now seen Whiplash probably 6 times at this point but each time I watch it feels like the first time. As a musician it fills me with so much passion, empathy, and just every feeling under the sun. And as a film appreciator, I think it’s just fantastic and so well done. It’s just really freaking epic.

Into the Spider-Verse is a pinnacle movie that shook up the animation industry in the West so significantly that you can mark before and after Spider-Verse in animation history.

In the early 2010s, 3D animation really found its stride. Around the time of Toy Story 3, Pixar solidified its style and animation prowess creating visually striking 3D images. Likewise the other Western 3D animation studios each kept making movies that locked down their style and technique: How to Train your Dragon, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Despicable Me, etc. The years go on and the movies start to become more of the same. The style starts to meld together and the studios’ work starts to look similar. The advancements in art plateau with movies like Despicable Me 3, The Boss Baby, and Incredibles 2. All the studios built a pipeline for animation and couldn’t change. There was no experimentation in the industry because it is risky and expensive. Then Spider-Verse swings onto the scene.

Early art direction was led by Alberto Mielgo who is an accomplished director, art director, animator, and painter. To quote Mielgo: “My main goal at first was to explore the world, the comics, the past of Spider-Man, the cinematography, the language, the style, the possibilities. To set the most amazing thing ever, basically.” He was allowed to hire a team of his favourite artists, was given trips to New York to explore locations, and his own Spider-Man suit for reference. Mielgo’s intent was to shake things up and break the normal well-polished animation pipeline that has been held as a standard. He combined 2D dimension drawings with 3D animation assets, which became the signature style of the movie. On top of that, the team consistently made visual references to the comics using things like the speed lines, the Ben-Day dots, and the many stylized comic book elements highlighting actions or internal thoughts. Unfortunately, Mielgo was let go from Sony Pictures Animation due to an unknown disagreement. But much of his work was carried forward and the legacy of Mielgo’s work continues.

Into the Spider-Verse proved that experimental 3D animation was worthwhile. Viewers loved this movie and continue to flock to this refreshing style of animation. Largely, because the visuals were so unique to anything else coming out of western animation. Because of Spider-Verse we got to see The Mitchells vs. the Machines and K-Pop Demon Hunters both from Sony. Or movies like: Klaus, The Wild Robot, Entergalactic, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, and Arcane (though, this is a TV show. Still felt important to include). For the impact alone, Into the Spider-Verse is an incredible movie. Not to mention its beautiful story about identity and belonging and its kick-ass soundtrack.

Arrival stands out not just as a science fiction film, but as a profound meditation on language, time, and the human condition. Its brilliance lies in how it reframes first contact with aliens—not as a battle, but as a deeply emotional, intellectual challenge centered around communication and empathy. The film’s nonlinear storytelling mirrors its core theme: that understanding a how someone or something else communicates and expresses themselves can fundamentally alter how we perceive reality. With a haunting score, elegant direction, and Amy Adams’ quietly powerful performance, Arrival invites viewers to reflect on love, loss, and the beauty of embracing the unknown. Visually, it’s breathtaking—Bradford Young’s soft, muted cinematography and Denis Villeneuve’s patient framing create an atmosphere that feels both vast and intimate, perfectly matching the film’s emotional depth.

It’s easy to get caught up in the absurdity of Everything Everywhere All at Once—the hot dog fingers, the dildo weaponry, the everything bagel of despair—but the film is anchored by its raw emotional core. Beneath the action are complex, nuanced themes of mental health and intergenerational trauma: the complexities of first-generation immigrant families, the weight of unspoken expectations or “what-ifs”, and the task of unlearning generations of inherited pain. Daniel Kwan and Scheinert force us to stare directly into the void, showing us how easy it is to have a nihilistic view of the world and how powerful it is to choose to keep living. Backed by a cast unafraid to embody the chaos, this film is a masterclass in refusing to be contained within a genre-box.

The list of directors who can write a 25-minute scene of a conversation over drinks in a basement pub and have it not only be tolerable, but one of the highlights of an already exceptional movie is maybe only one person long. Then again, saying there is nobody like Quentin Tarantino isn’t exactly groundbreaking.

This film did a lot of things for me as a young film fan when it came out, but more than anything it drew my attention to the way dialogue is crafted. Prior to Inglourious Basterds, I viewed dialogue as a means to an end; the mode of transport to get from one action scene to the next; a necessary evil to act as a bridge between the exciting parts.

Inglourious Basterds changed all that for me. By the time Hans Landa says “you are sheltering enemies of the state, are you not?” it occurred to me that I didn’t know when the last time I had taken a breath was. I wasn’t waiting for the action. This was the action.

There’s about 5 scenes in this movie that are among my favourites of all time - what unites them is dialogue that ratchets up the tension to eleven.

Add to that one of the great movie villains of all time in Christoph Waltz’ Colonel Hans Landa, and what you get is my favourite movie of all time.

No Country for Old Men has so many things I love about the movies: the Coen Brothers, wide-open spaces, an all-time great supporting character (unless you want to argue that Anton Chigurh’s a main character – I disagree, but I can see the argument), incredible writing, and one of the all-time great movie endings (I still have no idea what it means). One of the all-time deserving Best Picture winners.

Where to start? It’s a comedy, it’s a romance, it's a sci-fi, it's a tragedy, it's a horror, it's psychological, it's familiar; it's the human experience with an otherworldly twist. I first saw Michel Gondry’s work through a Björk music video, Hyperballad to be exact. He shot the entire music video on a single 400ft roll of film, using multiple exposures and precise backwinding of the film strip. Something about watching a series of secondary exposures of mountain landscapes floating across a three-dimensional shot of Björk made me feel emotions I didn’t know how else to express. His way of storytelling through visuals is beautiful and somehow watching that I realized that's how I felt. The visual he created, that's how I felt all the time. Then I watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind for the first time and I cried and cried and cried until I passed out and had the best sleep of my life. Gondry was able to piece together this story between two people that loved each other and irritated each other and were comfortable with each other but also wanted to move on as fast as possible, but somehow, through all the ways of the world, they kept meeting each other, over and over and over again. The relatability of the characters hooks you in right away, but the astounding visuals that Gondry gives us while we navigate Joel’s mind as it’s being erased is what makes me love this movie so much. It gives me the same feeling i felt when i saw that Björk music video. It makes me feel understood. While there is a beautiful main plotline, the b plot is also intriguing and hopeless, but something we’ve all experienced before. This movie encompasses everything from heartbreak to unrequited love to trying to impress your crush to imagining how well you and your partner would've gotten along if you knew each other as kids to falling for your boss to feeling nostalgic for a time that never existed. Did I mention that it's also just…funny? I think this movie is the best and it's really changed my life, like how I navigate a new relationship or process the heartbreak of an old one.

Each of the Lord of the Rings films is perfect in its own way. They are staggering achievements technically, musically, and artistically. I could write a book about everything amazing about The Two Towers, but arguably the highlight of the Lord of the Rings films as a whole comes down to two words: Helm's Deep

This is one of the greatest sequences ever filmed, and I struggle to think of anything that defines a stand-up and cheer moment like the ending of this movie.

"Look to my coming at first light on the fifth day. At dawn, look to the East."

“What do you mean, you don’t like jazz?”

La La Land holds up as one of the greatest films of the 21st century because of its technical mastery and powerful emotional storyline. The colours, choreography, and careful directing gives it so much life, and the original music effortlessly draws you into a world of hope and wonder.

The relationship between Mia and Sebastian is one of the purest ever put to screen. Few romances dare to confront the reality of relationships in such a bold, heartfelt way. It’s not about what they do together, it’s about what they bring out of each other. Love doesn’t always last forever, but the change that it brings might.

La La Land is a love letter to art itself, and those who make it. Where it shines, though, is how it transcends the context of Hollywood and film. It’s not just for actors and musicians. It’s for anyone who has ever been passionate about anyone, or anything.

Here’s to the fools who dream.

The Return of The King is such a perfect conclusion to what I consider to be the greatest trilogy of all time. It has some of the best action and best speeches in the entire trilogy. Aragorn's speech at the Black Gate is GOATED, and Theoden's speech on the fields of Minas Tirith is unbelievably awesome. But nothing beats Sam saying to Frodo that he can carry him to the finish, a true testament of friendship. All around, this movie is goated and in the sauce dare I say.

A movie that sat with me for months after first viewing and I promptly terrorized my uni friends by showing it to as many of them as possible. Such an incredible film in all aspects. The writing, performances, visuals, direction, and production design all lend to the story in such ways they are indescribable. I remember seeing this film in theatres and the drive back to the ferry being almost silent as we thought about the film. An incredible film with so much to say. Pretty cool rock too.

Peter Jackson and them Kiwis went out and produced three of the greatest films of all time. Any of the three are a worthy choice for #1, but Fellowship holds a special place in my heart.