Cinemuse | Best films of the last 25 years

Inspired by Josh Tatter.

Photo by Samuel Regan-Asante on Unsplash

A bit of a departure from my usual format here on Cinemuse, I couldn’t resist the idea of creating my own list of best films released from the past 25 years à la

Josh Tatter

. Here’s his post along with his personal 100 best list:

Suck on This, NYT

I tried not to cheat and look up exhaustive lists on the internet. So, here’s 100 off the top of my head, mostly, in no particular order. (I know they’re numbered but that’s just so I make sure to hit 100, no more and no less.)

These films made me cry, laugh, question everything and everyone, and sometimes they left a scar. “I was never the same” is hyperbolic but apt here, methinks.

1. Interstellar

2. Inception

3. Tenet

4. Memento

5. The Dark Knight

6. My Big Fat Greek Wedding

7. The Avengers

8. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

9. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

10. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

11. Up

12. WALL-E

13. The Incredibles

14. Moana

15. The Emperor’s New Groove

16. Finding Nemo

17. Minority Report

18. Borat

19. The Village

20. Finding Neverland

21. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

22. City of God

23. The Piano Teacher

24. Y tu mamá también

25. Kill Bill Vol. 1

26. Kill Bill Vol. 2

27. Inglorious Basterds

28. Django Unchained

29. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

30. Avatar

31. Chicago

32. Pride and Prejudice

33. Billy Elliot

34. A.I. Artificial Intelligence

35. Million Dollar Baby

36. Hacksaw Ridge

37. Mystic River

38. The Devil Wears Prada

39. Spotlight

40. Analyze That

41. Meet the Parents

42. Silver Linings Playbook

43. Joker

44. Gangs of New York

45. The Aviator

46. Shutter Island

47. The Departed

48. There Will Be Blood

49. Before Sunset

50. Before Midnight

51. 3:10 to Yuma

52. Shrek

53. The Road to El Dorado

54. Spirited Away

55. Howl’s Moving Castle

56. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

57. Pan’s Labyrinth

58. The Shape of Water

59. The Help

60. The Artist

61. La La Land

62. Walk the Line

63. American Psycho

64. Gladiator

65. Her

66. Lost in Translation

67. Nebraska

68. Ocean’s Eleven

69. Ocean’s Twelve

70. A Serious Man

71. True Grit

72. The Ladykillers

73. Argo

74. 12 Years a Slave

75. Slumdog Millionaire

76. Birdman

77. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

78. Black Swan

79. The Social Network

80. Midnight in Paris

81. Room

82. Mad Max: Fury Road

83. Arrival

84. Parasite

85. Beginners

86. 127 Hours

87. The King’s Speech

88. The Others

89. Whale Rider

90. Being the Ricardos

91. The Northman

92. Call Me by Your Name

93. V for Vendetta

94. Requiem for a Dream

95. Frida

96. The Simpsons Movie

97. Amelie

98. Once

99. Hedwig and the Angry Inch

100. Whiplash

Whew! (This was tougher than I thought it would be.) Welp, there it is. At least as of today. I could be persuaded otherwise.

I highly recommend this super fun exercise for any and all movie-lovers. Alright everyone, do your worst — I mean, best! Let’s see your list. I think you might have already done this

Kevin Pettit

and

Beth Lisogorsky

??

Thanks for the inspiration, Josh!

- M

P.S. You can find me logging these films and others over at Letterboxd.

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