All-time classic films of recent years

[sheridan]

Someone mentioned USUAL SUSPECTS.

It's a quarter of a century old - I think it's a stretch to call that recent!

[Jim_Campbell]

Someone mentioned USUAL SUSPECTS.

It's a quarter of a century old - I think it's a stretch to call that recent!

Also… I never got the adulation and plaudits for The Usual Suspects. It's a pretty run of the mill movie with a twist, and I really didn't think the twist was audacious enough to overturn the run-of-the-mill-ish-ness of the preceding two hours.

[M.I.K.]

I guessed the twist immediately, (and I mean immediately). "The disabled person is the murderer and not really disabled" isn't exactly the most original idea in crime fiction.

See also horror/supernatural drama stories in which "they were dead all along".

[Jim_Campbell]

See also horror/supernatural drama stories in which "they were dead all along".

I suspect I may have been spoiled by the first really-big-twist-movie I watched being Angel Heart, which, honestly, still takes the prize for selling the hard-boiled-noir tone so well that you never see the THIS FILM WAS REALLY A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT GENRE ALL ALONG twist coming.

[shaolin_monkey]

Bloody hell, loved that film. Watched it over and over. The clues are all there in front of your face. De Niro pouring salt on the egg still makes me shiver.

[Apestrife]

Quite a couple. Outside those already mentioned in the thread. Just to mention a few from 2000 and onwards:
Crouching tiger hidden dragon
Spirited away
Sin City
Kill Bill 1-2
Oh brother where art thou
Oldboy
No country for old men
Django unchained
Drive
Inception
Blade runner 2049
Once upon a time in Hollywood

I think all these had an impact in one way or another. Got good reviews, people loved them, influenced how/what movies are made and made waves culturaly. For example Oh brother where art thou making bluegrass cool again.

[repoman]

I was only thinking about this the other day, but in terms of horror films. To me, there’s nothing recent that even comes close to beating Carpenter’s ‘The Thing‘. Maybe ‘The Color from Outer Space’ at a push, as it deals in a similar type of body horror.

I was watching ‘Aliens’ while I worked the other day, and it occurred to me there has not been a film since that so successfully combines such a superb ensemble of characters with sci-fi action and horror. Unless someone can remind me of something I may have missed?

I've been saying something for ages now and this kind of speaks to it.  I reckon it is now impossible to make a good Alien, Predator or Terminator film.  It's not that films now are bad or that filmmakers are somehow incompetent.  It's more than that but I can't quite figure out what exactly is wrong.

I mean I know that Ghostbusters (2016) was panned by a lot of people but I reckon the next one will likely be just as bad.  That's just how it is now.  There are plenty of great films out there but beloved 80s favourites have become poisonous somehow.

[Link Prime]

beloved 80s favourites have become poisonous somehow.

* Cough * Cobra Kai * Cough *

[repoman]

beloved 80s favourites have become poisonous somehow.

* Cough * Cobra Kai * Cough *

Actually aside from you being right completely, I do believe we live in a bit of a golden age of TV.  I think you might be able to pull off a decent Alien or Predator TV show.

That Terminator series was a little too early and time travel can make for terrible storytelling if used badly but even that show had a couple of great episodes and some good characters.

[JOE SOAP]

The Dark Crystal show exceeded the original.

[Jim_Campbell]

The Dark Crystal show exceeded the original.

By some margin. I watched the movie in preparation for the show and, although it does look gorgeous, my God, it's turgid.

[Link Prime]

I think you might be able to pull off a decent Alien or Predator TV show.

That Terminator series was a little too early and time travel can make for terrible storytelling if used badly but even that show had a couple of great episodes and some good characters.

A Terminator, Predator or Alien series could work of course, once the production team leap the initial but oft insurmountable hurdle of "Don't suck".

Agree that the Sarah Conner Chronicles series was pretty decent, and definitely better than the last few box office attempts.

I haven't yet managed to stomach a viewing of Dark Fate, having read in disbelief about Arnie's T-800 "Carl".
I mean, what the f-ck were they thinking?

[repoman]

Link, Dark Fate is really terrible but Arnie playing Nappy Changer 3000 is the worst thing.  Well that and Sarah Connor looking like Katie Hopkins.

That said, the character Grace is sensational.  Really enjoyed her bits of the film.  Everything else was rubbish though.

[AlexF]

This thread is basically dead right now but I've only just found it and I can't resist a 'make if list of films to fit category X' challenge. Sorry!

I can't stress enough my experience that today's younger film fans agree that anything before 2000 is the olden days and might only be watched under duress. So the original question is proper valid - what are the new all-time classics?

Based on compulsive listening to the Empire podcast, there are clear examples out there, and indeed fimmakers who are just as loved as Scorsese, Spielberg, Coppola etc were in their day (and of course they do still make movies)
Any new film by C. Nolan or PT Anderson or  G. del Toro or the Coens is going to be greeted with reverence, and there's by now two generations of people raised on Pixar movies who will quote them forever (not to mention a hefty chunk of Disney - Frozen and Moana are cultural juggernauts, and decent films as well, as if that matters). And yes, Harry Potter and Marvel are inescapable touchstones of conversation...

Pretty sure there's a very healthy Horror canon right now, centred around Insidious/the Conjuring, but I think for decades teens at sleepovers will be daring each other to watch The Babadook, It Follows and Hereditary, and dare I say it, It. (and from the 2000s there's enduring love for: 28 Days later..., the Descent, Wolf Creek and Cabin in the Woods).
Hard to name a bigger cultural hit than Get Out, too (even if it's kinda like a very good episode of Black Mirror - as peple have said before, it's TV lately that seems to be the go-to for intelligence rather than spectacle)

Other films since 2000 that I believe people who haven't even watched them have heard of and can maybe quote from, or at least know what it's about (sorry if I'm repeating suggestions from upthread):
Eternal Sunshine; Lost in Translation; Brokeback Mountain; Before Sunset/Midnight; the Fast and bloody Furious franchise; Mamma Mia; The Greatest Showman; Whiplash; Moonlight; Call me by your Name

Most of those are even quite good! I guess they're less concerned with 'brooding exploration of masculinity' than the original exmaples listed in the thread?

Sure, there are more films (and TV) being made than ever, and more platforms to watch them on - but I still think there's as much shared cultural conversation going on about a relatively small number as there always was... 

[JayzusB.Christ]

This thread is basically dead right now but I've only just found it and I can't resist a 'make if list of films to fit category X' challenge. Sorry!

Don't apologise! I'm always interested in any input here.  Someone's mention of the LOTR movies was a bit of a penny-drop moment for me - I had completely forgotten about them when I started the thread.