The 10 Best Movies of the 21st Century
The Editorial Staff of Grey Fiction Weighs In
Last week, The New York Times, a newspaper based in New York City, published a list of the “100 Best Movies of the 21st Century,” based on ballots submitted by a number of famous people. The paper has also been running a poll of its general readership, many members of which have recently opted to publicly share their lists of the 10 best movies of said century. I tend to enjoy these ranking exercises, but since I’ve started publishing my own newsletter, I’ve unavoidably come to see The New York Times as a competitor, so I’ve chosen to provide my personal ranking here instead. Here’s which movies made the list for the Grey Fiction desk:
Paranoid Jake Gyllenhaal in Cutout 2000 (2007): Paranoid Jake plays Nervous Pete, the nicest guy ever to infiltrate the CIA, or so he thinks, until he finds out he’s actually the dumbest.
Indie Bummer 2000 (2012): The guy from Liars plays a neanderthal inexplicably transported to present-day Boise, Idaho, where he falls in with a gang of crust punks. Then he gets overwhelmed by technology and has a meltdown and all the punks get just fucking wrecked. Co-directed by Rick Alverson, Joel Potrykus, and Jeremy Saulnier.
Coen 2000 (2004): Ethan and Joel are back and archer than ever in this madcap western about two screenwriters who get so little pussy they end up fighting to the death (accidentally?) in their roadside motel room. Loosely based on the play Shepard ‘75, by Sam Shepard.
La Chimera (2023): So fucking good dude.
Daniel Day Lewis in The Magnificent Andersons (2008): Wes and PTA join forces in this neo-Golden Age picaresque about a band of AWOL fighter pilots lamming it in Glendale, in which the only thing more confusing than the script is the set design.
Scorsese 2000 (2000): Pick one. Whatever. DiCaprio is the younger guy, De Niro is the older guy. Nominated for every Oscar, wins for editing (it’s Thelma bitch).
Tom Hanks as at least one of the leads in A Biopic About Like James Carville or Some MF (2016): A movie set in a world in which Donald Trump does not exist and neither do poor people.
MCU 2020 (2022): America declares war on Iran and wins. That’s it. No superheros.
Infinite Jest (Year of Spotify): After bouncing in development hell from David O. Russell to Richard Linklater to Alexander Payne to Ang Lee to Ari Aster this finally lands with Judd Apatow and it fucking rules. Rogen slays as Gately. Alex Ross Perry wins adapted screenplay and never directs a movie again.
FFF: Forever Fast and Furious (3000): AI-“assisted” editing allows Vin to travel back to the original The Fast and the Furious to actually save Paul Walker’s life in real life literally. PW wins best actor and Vin wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
Honorable mention: Uncut Gems (2019)
