We can say that from 2000 to today cinema has undergone and experienced a real revolution. The continuous and unstoppable evolution of technology has opened up unexplored paths, giving life to films with special effects never seen before, stimulating directors and screenwriters to develop increasingly twisted and cumbersome stories. However, more linear stories also stand out and resist, in which everyday life becomes something extraordinary and to be celebrated.
Ours is not meant to be the ranking of the best films released in these twenty years, but that of the films that have changed the idea of cinema and that have marked, even slightly, the lives of those who have lived this twenty years from beginning to end.
2000: Gladiator
Twenty years have passed and yet no one has forgotten the famous phrase recited by Russel Crowe: My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.
Besides the story, the performance of Crowe and a very young Joaquin Phoenix, the music of this film by Hans Zimmer is unforgettable.
2001: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
I always wondered if before 2001 children believed in magic. They certainly did afterward. It is precisely in this year that the most famous pond in history makes its cinematic debut, collecting aspiring Gryffindor from all over the world.
2002: The Pianist
I believe that the face of Adrien Brody as Władysław Szpilman is imprinted in all of our minds. Polanski’s story of the Second World War is composed of both images and music and he manages to get into it.
The Pianist is one of those films that you absolutely have to watch.
2003: The Lord of the Rings – The Return of the King
In 2003, one of the most famous fantasy sagas of all time comes to a close and does it with a bang, taking home 11 statuettes at the Oscars of that year, thus reaching films like Titanic and Ben Hur.
The Lord of the Rings – The Return of the King is a true masterpiece, a little treasure!
2004: Howl’s Moving Castle
We can’t talk about the films of the last twenty years without mentioning Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. The Japanese director has managed to bring his animated films to all the cinemas around the world, representing a real revolution in cinema.
For those who have never seen a Studio Ghibli film, the advice is not to stop at the appearance: they are not cartoons like the ones we are used to, they are illustrated poems.
2005: Batman Begins
Nolan’s is the Batman that the 2000s deserved, and also what they needed. I guess that’s all there is to it.
2006: The Queen
Almost 10 years after the death of Lady D, English director Peter Morgan decides to tell the story of the disappearance of the People’s Princess in a new way, which is seen through the eyes of Queen Elizabeth, played masterfully by Helen Mirren.
Turning a news story of this caliber into an Oscar-winning film was no easy task.
2007: No Country for Old Men
What a cinema it would be without the Coen brothers. It’s hard to choose a single film signed by Joel and Ethan, but in the end, we all know that it always wins No Country for Old Men, acclaimed by world critics (and also by us).
2008: The Millionaire
Winner of 8 Oscars, The Millionaire made us cry, laugh and dream. The famous TV quiz becomes the pretext to tell a much wider story than Jamal Malik, a role that has the pride of having launched Dev Patel internationally.
2009: Avatar
Avatar is one of those films that has divided the audience, between those who consider it a masterpiece and those who continue to argue that “if it hadn’t been the first 3D film it wouldn’t have had the same success”.
The fact is that it will remain forever in the history of cinema and that we have all seen it and “only” for this reason it deserves a place of honor among the films of the last twenty years.
2010: Inception
After Batman Begins, we’re back to talking about Nolan with THE movie par excellence. The director plays with the cinematic medium, with the conception of time and space, and does so with an exceptional cast.
Inception is one of those films that everyone has seen at least three times, also because it is impossible to understand it all at first one.
2011: The Artist
In 2011 making a silent and black and white film can be a total failure or a masterpiece. The Artist undoubtedly falls into the latter category, marking a change of direction, but also a stance against the growing number of action films.
2012: Silver Linings Playbook
The couple Bradley Cooper-Jennifer Lawrence makes their big-screen debut in a bittersweet film. We are catapulted into a surreal situation characterized by a mix of different emotions and personalities.
The storytelling of director and screenwriter David O. Russell, true, raw and unfiltered, leaves us literally speechless.
2013: The Great Beauty
It’s time to be a little patriotic and what better way than with the Italian film that won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film. Sorrentino has always managed to divide the audience, but the perfection of La grande bellezza is unquestionable and perhaps it has helped to rehabilitate the image of Italian cinema abroad.
2014: Birdman
If you’ve never seen him, get it back. If you’ve seen him, then you already know why he’s on this list. Birdman embodies the talent of a director like Iñárritu, the ability of a cast in which Michael Keaton, Emma Stone and Edward Norton shine, and the use of a perfect technique.
2015: Inside Out
In the field of animation, thanks to the technical improvements that have characterized the last twenty years, giant steps have been taken, transforming a genre dedicated to children into a genre suitable for everyone, giving life to the increasingly talked about animated films for adults, of which Inside Out is the founder.
2016: Arrival
In 2016 we could have mentioned other films, but we chose Arrival for two reasons. First, because it tackles the theme of the alien invasion in a new and original way, light years away from the science fiction films we are used to. Secondly, because it is a small masterpiece as far as the screenplay is concerned: the narrative does not follow a linear development, but the past overlaps with the present and the future, revealing itself in its entirety only at the end.
2017: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
2017 saw the release of several notable films, but a choice had to be made. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri has the merit of having managed, unlike many others, to satisfy both critics and the general public, soon becoming the most talked-about film of the year.
2018: Green Book
Two men with all their contradictions and weaknesses and racial America. Green Book is the story of an unlikely friendship and the victory of humanity over prejudice, of justice over inequality. It is a story that seems to belong to another century, but it is not.
2019: Avengers: Endgame
In a year in which films like The Irishman, The Joker, Marriage Story and many others have come out, we go against the tide, trying to give a cue for a broader reflection, quoting Avengers: Endgame, not because we think it’s the best film of the year, the most beautiful or the best made, but simply because we think it reflects the year we’re about to say goodbye to.
A film in which we don’t see good triumph over evil, but in which the plot and the main hero sacrifice themselves to allow other secondary heroes, increasingly advanced technology and an entire film industry to go on living.
