OPINION: Ten 21st century movies I thought were pretty good

The New York Times had a fun little list where readers could submit their ten best movies of the 21st century. I find these lists endlessly fascinating, both versions the New York Times released which included industry submissions and the readers ballots.

Six of my ten picks made it to the industry list and the readers list, although all ten of mine were in the extended top 500 of the readers list. I’ll still list all ten of mine, for fun!

I kept these unordered, and some of these picks aren’t going to be for everyone, but all of these movies I feel represent the zeitgeist of this century the best. Here goes.

I’ll begin with the one both lists put at the top spot, “Parasite.” I don’t know what else could be said about the first foreign film to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

It’s a darkly funny Korean thriller hellbent on highlighting the absurdities of class imbalance (which is more visible than ever, even away from Korea), and the uneasy catharsis and chills when those class lines cross. It’s sure to jolt regular moviegoers with some solid electricity.

“Whiplash,” used to be my favorite movie ever. A jazz drummer feeding off of the toxic energy of his loud, mad-as-hell instructor is the type of percussive energy movies of these days have been best at.

More uneasy catharsis, talented technique and an underlying level of rage keeps this musical thriller pushing toward its final moments which sucks the air out of any room it plays in. It’s the most technically impressive movie out of my bunch of ten.

Next, I present “The Wrestler.” I’ve always been a sucker for performance and what a routine mentally does to someone, so this look at an aging wrestler going through the final stages of his career, and really his life, is just brutal.

In the 21st century, we’ve become more used to celebrities as icons we’ll never truly meet. If Mickey Rourke’s performance of a wrestler who has to slowly, painfully pull glass out of his body after a performance isn’t enough to make you question that societal obsession, what will?

Next, the most unorthodox in my list for the average moviegoer, “Paprika.” Not only animated, not only foreign but also entirely strung together by its own logic, it’s nonetheless a magnificent work of science fiction.

Inspiring other movies which would also portray dreams, such as the more popular “Inception,” “Paprika” analyzes technological communication and the lack of human connection it promises, literally comparing the Internet to dreams. It’s the weirdest on this list, but a bonkers time all the same.

For another animated movie about technology, “WALL-E.” While its dystopian Earth of dying brands might not be as groundbreaking now as it was then, I can’t help but be reminded of it as technology grows.

The irony of WALL-E is that he’s a robot who finds fascination with everything that isn’t tech. When he watches perhaps the last movie on Earth, a Betamax copy of “Hello, Dolly!” there’s a recognition how the strongest things we leave behind could be box-office bombs, but they would still show love.

Love mostly seems missing from my list, perhaps I’m a cynic, but there’s plenty in my pick, “In the Mood for Love.” The Hong Kong movie is mostly long stares between two wildly attractive actors, but there’s a bitter melancholy and delicate brutality to how these moments are shown.

There’s an utter sympathy to unrequited love in this movie, and a devastatingly close “what if” which has never been replicated in quite the same way. Real dramatic romance seems to be dying in movies of today, and what a shame when this one was so good at it.

I’ve talked a bit in my columns before about my next two picks. First, “The Boy and the Heron.” I believe it’s animation legend Hayoao Miyazaki’s most personal movie, most likely the last he will make before his death.

The movie’s about the worst of one person’s actions, and yet also about the good in our world, even if it will one day be stamped out. Lives, time and our world will end, but there’s still beauty around us.

I wrote how “The Grand Budapest Hotel” was my favorite comfort movie. It certainly is gorgeous to look at, Wes Anderson’s symmetrical visual style and cozy colors aside, but I also would like to point something else out which fits our modern times.

Anderson has a style of excessive formality in his scripts, one which can come off elitist or even annoying. “The Grand Budapest Hotel” flips this, showing exasperation and clash with formality. The movie’s funniest moments come from swears and immaturity.

If there’s a movie which is closest to my job in my picks, it would be “Anatomy of a Fall.” Some knowledge of the French legal system might be required, but I can’t think of a better showcase of the complications of portraying truth and reality than this.

A woman’s husband dies after falling. Was it an accident, or was he pushed? As the legal drama goes to war, the people who are closest to the incident have to be pushed to analyze their own perspectives of the truth. It’s exceptional how ambiguity is put to the test this hard.

Finally, my favorite movie ever, “The Green Knight.” I must offer a warning to those expecting a fantasy adventure. The hero’s journey promised by a story of Sir Gawain of the Round Table isn’t exactly heroic.

Gawain, who travels to his certain doom, is no hero. There is no one to save except himself, and he fears his fate as he encounters events which emasculate him. The final moments where even at death’s door he fears his demise are heartbreaking. But, facing death could be the most heroic act of all.

Placements on readers and (industry) list

Parasite - 1 (1) | In the Mood for Love - 12 (4)

Whiplash - 19 (60) | The Grand Budapest Hotel - 22 (22)

WALL-E - 44 (34) | Anatomy of a Fall - 80 (26)

Paprika - 240 | The Boy and the Heron - 290

The Green Knight - 355 | The Wrestler - 393