During the last week of every month through this November, I’ll be listing my 25 favorite movies of the last 25 years (five per month, listed in chronological order).
August’s titles are distinguished from the other groups because it’s the only set without at least one Best Picture Oscar winner. What’s more telling are the titles during this four-year stretch that eventually won the industry’s top prize.
“The King’s Speech” (2010) and the other three winners—“Slumdog Millionaire” (2008), “The Hurt Locker” (2009), and “The Artist” (2011)—regularly land on the top half of “Most Undeserving Best Picture Winners” aggregate lists.
All industry awards (and best of critic lists, for that matter) are subjective. It’s when many people pick the same subpar titles year end and year out, it’s fair to come to the conclusion that these weren’t the “best” movies of those respective years.
Please be sure to check back towards the end of September for the third of five great 21st-century titles.
‘Gran Torino’ (2008)
One of only a handful of director Clint Eastwood’s truly excellent efforts, “Gran Torino” is also the movie which includes his deepest, most resonant performance as an actor.
Eastwood stars as Walt, a Michigan-based Korean War widower. After thwarting the theft of his prized Gran Torino car by Korean American gang member Thao (Bee Vang), Walt develops a cordial friendship with him.
As the story progresses, Walt and Thao begin to change their respective opinions regarding race which, sad to say, don’t spill over to Thao’s vengeful clique, which is hell-bent on neutralizing Walt.
The movie ends in a way only a few of Eastwood’s movies ever do, yet if you watch carefully at what Walt does in the lead up, it not only makes sense, but also offers a highly poetic and fitting conclusion.
‘Inglourious Basterds’ (2009)
The first of four period films from Quentin Tarantino, this revisionist history World War II action thriller is arguably the best of the bunch.
Brad Pitt stars as Lt. Aldo Raine, a Special Forces op leader charged with assembling an all-Jewish band of covert soldiers to land in France and systematically wipe out Nazi ground troops.
Parallel stories feature Michael Fassbender as a former British officer and movie critic teaming up with a German actress-turned-spy (Diane Kruger) and Mélanie Laurent as a theater owner. They are all looking to assassinate Adolf Hitler at a film premiere.
Christoph Waltz won the first of two Oscars (both under Tarantino’s direction) as Hans Landa, a ruthless and opportunistic SS officer.
‘Up in the Air’ (2009)
After the amazing one-two punch of his first two efforts (“Juno,” “Thank You for Smoking”), everyone wondered if director Jason Reitman (son of Ivan Reitman) could do it a third time. As it turns out, he could and did.
George Clooney stars as Ryan, a subcontractor who fires people in person for a living. He lives out of a suitcase and his sole personal goal is to amass over a million travel miles which will gain him entre into an ultra-exclusive club.
Ryan’s employer asks him to mentor a new recruit (Anna Kendrick) while also testing an impersonal, Zoom-like business model. While all of this is going on, Ryan becomes romantically involved with Alex (Vera Farmiga), an equally materialistic, no-nonsense business traveler.
The third act delivers one amazing jaw-dropping twist after another and, somewhat unfortunately, marked the younger Reitman’s peak as a filmmaker.
‘Inception’ (2010)
One of the three Christopher Nolan-directed titles on this list, “Inception” is easily the most intricate and challenging-to-watch movies of his illustrious career.
While some would define the movie as “complex and engaging,” others might describe it as “complicated and convoluted.”
Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a con man who specializes in “extraction.” He enters people’s dreams to steal their subconscious secrets. Because of his unique talents, he’s a coveted asset in the world of corporate espionage, but this skill has also cost him everything he loves.
The stellar supporting cast includes Joseph-Gordon Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Tom Hardy, and Cillian Murphy.
‘Hugo’ (2011)
“Hugo” has the distinction of being director Martin Scorsese’s sole PG-rated feature and the only one shot in 3D. The recipient of 11 Oscar nominations (and winner of five), it’s based on the 2007 Brian Selznick novel, “The Invention of Hugo Cabret.”
Set in 1931, the film stars Asa Butterfield as the title character, an orphaned waif living in a clock tower at the Gare Montparnasse train station in Paris. Constantly in danger of being captured by the station security chief (Sacha Baron Cohen), Hugo slowly develops a “puppy love” sort of bond with Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz).
Ben Kingsley co-stars as Isabelle’s grandfather Georges Méliès, the non-fictional, despondent pioneer filmmaker who now sells toys and magician supplies at a station shop.
Scorsese and screenwriter John Logan adroitly thread the needle between fantastical preteen fiction and loving homage to the origins of the film medium.
Never too complicated for inquisitive children nor too simple for discerning adults, the movie celebrates life, love, and the history of movies with painstaking care and unbridled joy.
Check out Part 1 here. All titles are available on home video. For streaming options, visit www.justwatch.com.
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