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BBC, AP

BBC Ranks the Top 100 Films of the 21st Century — With More Than a Few Surprises

Aug 24, 2016  •  Post A Comment

The biggest surprise on a new ranking of the 100 greatest films of the 21st century may be the movie at No. 1. The list just released by the BBC puts David Lynch’s “Mulholland Drive,” released in 2001, at the top of the rankings.

No. 2 is Wong Kar-wai’s “In the Mood for Love” (2000), followed by Paul Thomas Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood” (2007) at No. 3, “Spirited Away” by Hayao Miyazaki (2001) at No. 4 and Richard Linklater’s “Boyhood” (2014) at No. 5.

The list was released despite the century being still in its youth, and movies released in the year 2000 were included even though technically that year is not part of the 21st century. (You may recall the fuss about math when the world marked the new “millennium” a year early, at the end of 1999.)

The BBC surveyed 177 film critics from around the world in putting together the list. The idea, according to the BBC, was to prove that great movies are still being made, despite the so-called “death of cinema.”

“Film-making today, whether massively expensive or made with tiny budgets, shot on celluloid or video, is thriving artistically as much as it ever has,” the BBC says in an article accompanying the list.

“No films directed by Woody Allen, nor any by Alejandro G. Inarritu, who won back-to-back directing Oscars for ‘Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)’ and ‘The Revenant,’ made the list,” the AP observed, adding: “The highest ranked film directed by a woman was Sofia Coppola’s ‘Lost in Translation’ at No. 22. Spike Lee’s ’25th Hour’ is the only movie by an African-American to make the list.”

The AP also notes: “Two Ang Lee films — ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ and ‘Brokeback Mountain’ — made the list, as did three by Christopher Nolan — ‘The Dark Knight,’ ”Memento’ and ‘Inception.’ There were also three films by Joel and Ethan Coen — ‘A Serious Man,’ ”Inside Llewyn Davis’ and ‘No Country for Old Men’ — and three by Wes Anderson: ‘The Royal Tenenbaums,’ ”The Grand Budapest Hotel’ and ‘Moonrise Kingdom.'”

Click on the link to BBC near the top of this story to see the full list.

mulholland drive movie poster

One Comment

  1. The BBC should know better, the year 2000 was the last year of the 20th century. For those of you who still believe that the year 2000 started the 21st century, remember that the first century were the years 1 through 100. Everyone keeps forgetting that there was no year 0. The concept of 0 as a number was not conceived until many years later.

    Beside that, we are only 16 years (and only partially at that) into the 21st Century and already they are ranking movies?

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