The first 20 years of this century were an era of auteurs.
Paul Thomas Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, Richard Linklater, Spike Jonze, and the Coen Brothers are sui generis filmmakers, writer-directors who hand-made multiple masterpieces, with 17 Academy Award screenplay nominations and nine directing nominations between them this century. All of them, except for the Coen Brothers, emerged from the independent film movement of the 1990s.
Judd Apatow cemented himself as the King of Comedy. Apatow wrote and directed The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Funny People, This Is 40, and Trainwreck. He produced Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Superbad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Pineapple Express, Bridesmaids, and many more. He left no doubt: The cast of the canceled Freaks and Geeks, particularly protégé Seth Rogen, was going to be successful.
Then a worldwide pandemic hit and wiped out the movies.
— Kevin Brewer
1. WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE (Spike Jonze, 2009) The imagination and loss of childhood, starring Max Records as Max, King of the Wild Things.
2. ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (Quentin Tarantino, 2019) Tarantino re-creates Los Angeles in 1969 and re-imagines the events surrounding Sharon Tate’s murder, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as aging actor Rick Dalton, Brad Pitt as his stunt double, and Margot Robbie as Tate.
3. THE COUNSELOR (Ridley Scott, 2013) Cameron Diaz as the baddest bitch in movie history, a cold, calculating drug lord-consort with two pet cheetahs and a cheetah-print tattoo that strides from her shoulder down her back. Also starring Michael Fassbender, Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem, and Brad Pitt.
4. DRIVE (Nicolas Winding Refn, 2011) Ryan Gosling as a mechanic, stuntman, and wheelman. He drives. Also starring Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, and Albert Brooks.
5. TROPIC THUNDER (written, directed, and starring Ben Stiller, 2008) Hollywood satire, from trailers to Oscars, starring Robert Downey Jr. as a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude, with Jack Black, Brandon T. Jackson, Jay Baruchel, Steve Coogan, Danny McBride, Bill Hader, Nick Nolte, and Tom Cruise.
6. INSIDE OUT (Pete Docter, 2015) Heartbreaking, starring Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger.
7. THE SOCIAL NETWORK (David Fincher, 2010) An evisceration of our relationship status with Facebook: It’s complicated. Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg, with Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, and Armie Hammer. Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin.
8. THIS IS THE END (Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, 2013) The apocalypse strikes at James Franco’s house party, starring Rogen, Franco, Jay Baruchel, Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill, Danny McBride, Michael Cera, and Rihanna as themselves.
9. ZOMBIELAND (Ruben Fleischer, 2009) Zombie-killing by Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin — and spoiler alert — Bill Murray. Rule 32: Enjoy the little things.
10. GRAN TORINO (produced, directed, and starring Clint Eastwood, 2008) Life, death, and redemption in suburban Detroit.
20 more, in chronological order
High Fidelity (Stephen Frears, John Cusack, 2000)
Bamboozled (Spike Lee, 2000)
Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, Bill Murray, 2003)
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (Adam McKay, Will Ferrell, 2004)
Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood, 2004)
Junebug (Phil Morrison, 2005)
The 40-Year-Old Virgin (Judd Apatow, Steve Carell, 2005)
Hot Fuzz (Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, 2007)
Planet Terror (Robert Rodriguez, 2007)
Adventureland (Greg Mottola, 2009)
Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009)
Up (Pete Docter, 2009)
The Hangover Part II (Todd Phillips, 2011)
Bad Teacher (Jake Kasdan, 2011)
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (Alejandro G. Inarritu, 2014)
The Nice Guys (Shane Black, 2016)
Deadpool (Tim Miller, Ryan Reynolds, 2016)
Sing Street (John Carney, 2016)
Borg vs. McEnroe (Janus Metz Pedersen, 2017)
Summer of 84 (RKSS, 2018)
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