I’ve got to say that it is extremely difficult to really come up with a greatest film of the 21st century. I think it speaks to a few things in particular. Foremost being the sheer glut of genre content, and, on the other end of the spectrum, the beer constant plethora of pretentious tripe that are so caught up in themselves as to capture attention in the short term, but utterly fail to sustainably capture an audience’s attention. I don’t understand if I’m just looking at it wrong or what, but, truthfully, I don’t think we’ve seen this generation’s Casablanca. I don’t think there’s been a film in the 21st century that can enthrall you like The Godfather, and I don’t know if that speaks more to the quality of the films or just our perception; as though, perhaps, enough time hasn’t passed to validate them as truly great films.
It’s just weird being in the milennium, I guess, and I think sometimes we overlook the fact that the Casablancas and The Godfathers or, even, films like Raiders of the Lost Ark didn’t come until near or even during the second half of the century, so, I guess, when you contextualize it that way, comparatively, everything we’ve seen to this point is the 21st century would be the equivalent of asking “what the greatest film of the 20th century is” between Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat, Birth of a Nation, and A Trip to the Moon. I just can’t determine if we just haven’t seen the films that will define this century, yet, because the artists who will create them haven’t been born, yet, or if film as a medium has become so commodified that we’re becoming increasingly incapable of creating art that truly resonates with people.
I’m struggling to think of a film that I would say could qualify as the “best of the 21st century,” thus far, and, the truth is: I have no idea. I have a few favorite movies, like Hell or High Water and The Fighter. As far as superhero movies go, I’d probably say that Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Winter Soldier, and Spider-Man:Homecoming are probably my favorites, but, again, it feels like you’re grading on a different scale when it comes to genre stuff. A 95% for the latest MCU film doesn’t feel like the 100% for a movie like Cool Hand Luke. It’s like we’re grading on a curve; like Daytime Emmys vs. Regular Emmys. There’s no such thing as objectively “good” art because all art is inherently subjective, but these are just some of my feelings on this seemingly endless debate over “the best movies of the 21st century.”