Cosplaying As a Film Bro By Reviewing the New York Times 100 Best Movies List
A very important post that definitely needed my time.
Last week, the New York Times released a meticulously peer-reviewed 100 Best Movies list, along with the celebrity ballots that helped to create it. In response, MaxRead did their own version of this ballot, and it got me thinking that this could be a good exercise. And then, a few days later, the New York Times herself released a reader-chosen bracket! Great times.
This post is as usual edited by my good friend Cricket Bradford. But let’s start with a review of the original New York Times bracket. Follow along with me and let me know what you agreed with and disagreed with in each bracket of ten! Of the films listed on the 100 Best Ranking, I’ve seen and agree with the listing of:
In 1 to 10, Parasite (2019) dir. Bong Joon Ho, Moonlight (2016) dir. Barry Jenkins (my all-time favorite movie), No Country for Old Men (2007) dir. Ethan and Joel Coen, Get Out (2017) dir. Jordan Peele, The Social Network (2010) dir. David Fincher
In 11 to 20, Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) dir. George Miller, Inglourious Basterds (2009) dir. Quentin Tarantino (easily my favorite Tarantino), Children of Men (2006) dir. Alfonso Cuarón, Brokeback Mountain (2005) dir. Ang Lee, The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) dir. Martin Scorsese (potentially my least-in-character favorite movie)
In 21 to 30, Her (2013) dir. Spike Jonze (controversial, but I adore this movie!), Arrival (2016) dir. Denis Villeneuve
In 31 to 40, Wall-E (2008) dir. Andrew Stanton, Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) dir. Céline Sciamma, Lady Bird (2017) dir. Greta Gerwig
In 41 to 50, absolutely nothing, somehow.
In 51 to 60, Up (2009) dir. Pete Docter (my all-time favorite animated movie), The Favourite (2018) dir. Yorgos Lanthimos (one of my top ten movies of all time!), Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) dir. Guillermo del Toro, Best In Show (2000) dir. Christopher Guest (which I was surprised and pleased to see on the list!)
In 61 to 70, Memento (2001) dir. Christopher Nolan, Gone Girl (2014) dir. David Fincher, Oppenheimer (2023) dir. Christopher Nolan, Spotlight (2015) dir. Tom McCarthy
In 71 to 80, Ocean’s Eleven (2001) dir. Steven Soderbergh, Carol (2015) dir. Todd Haynes, Ratatouille (2007) dir. Brad Bird, The Florida Project (2017) dir. Sean Baker, and Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) dir. Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
In 81 to 90, The Act of Killing (2013) dir. Joshua Oppenheimer, The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship (2001) dir. Peter Jackson, Interstellar (2014) dir. Christopher Nolan
In 91 to 100, Black Panther (2018) dir. Ryan Coogler and Gravity (2013) dir. Alfonso Cuarón
I’ve seen and disagree with the inclusion of Minority Report (2002) dir. Steven Spielberg, which I do not care for, and Zodiac (2007) dir. David Fincher, which I simply don’t understand the hype around — and think pales in comparison to both Gone Girl and The Social Network.
I’ve seen and don’t disagree with the inclusion of, but don’t personally care much for/would not include on my own top 100, Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003) dir. Quentin Tarantino, Roma (2018) dir. Alfonso Cuarón, and Inception (2010) dir. Christopher Nolan. I know Inception is considered a classic, but among Nolan’s filmography, it’s not one of my personal favorites.
Here are a few movies I would have put on the list: May December (2023) dir. Todd Haynes, Little Women (2020) dir. Greta Gerwig, Love Lies Bleeding (2024) dir. Rose Glass, Conclave (2024) dir. Edward Beger, I, Tonya (2017) dir. Craig Gillespie, Ex Machina (2015) dir. Alex Garland, The Shape of Water (2017) dir. Guillermo del Toro, What We Do in the Shadows (2014) dir. Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi, Catch Me If You Can (2002) dir. Steven Spielberg (by far my favorite post-1990s Spielberg movie), and Us (2019) dir. Jordan Peele (my personal favorite Peele movie).
And here are a couple I was shocked didn’t make the list: The Handmaiden (2016) dir. Park Chan-wook, Challengers (2024) dir. Luca Guadagnino, and BlacKkKlansman (2018) dir. Spike Lee.
Finally, two movies I would’ve included on my own top 100 list, regardless of whether they objectively belong: Knives Out (2019) dir. Rian Johnson and How to Train Your Dragon (2010) dir. Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders. If I were to select the Disney/Pixar/Dreamworks animated films to make this list, I would have chosen the three that do — Wall-E, Up, and Ratatouille — and then added this one, so I suppose I’m pretty aligned with other voters here.
Luckily, we can compare these to other readers of the New York Times! The Reader Top 100 contained 28 films that did not make it onto the critical darlings list. Of these 28 new selections, I have seen 17.
In 1 to 50, I agree with the inclusion of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Pride and Prejudice, as well as the additions of both Return of the King and Two Towers.
In 51 to 75, I agree with the inclusion of Sinners, Little Women (which also made my personal top ten list), Hereditary, and The Handmaiden (also on my personal top ten list!)
In 76 to 100, I agree with the inclusion of Knives Out (I felt silly for saying this should be a top 100, but it genuinely is one of my favorite movies!), The Incredibles, and Howl’s Moving Castle.
I disagree with the inclusion of La La Land, which I really just think is fine; Django Unchained, which has some racial politics that are shall we say mixed; Mean Girls, which is iconic but not actually that good a movie; Barbie, which is a very funny movie but easily Greta Gerwig’s worst; Top Gun: Maverick, which is just… seriously?; and Avengers: Endgame, which genuinely pissed me off to see on the list.
I just have to say: If a Marvel movie is going to make a top 100 it should be Black Panther, and having it be fucking Endgame, which is not even a good movie, is genuinely embarassing. Don’t even get me started on the fact that when you look at the “next 400” list, Infinity War comes before Black Panther. Fucking Infinity War? Can’t even begin to tell you how much that pissed me off. Here is a list of several other Marvel movies that are easily better than Endgame: Thor: Ragnarok, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and both Guardians of the Galaxy films. I’m going to be vulnerable and say that the first Avengers movie is a better movie than Endgame. I ranked every Marvel movie I’ve seen and Endgame was at fifteen. I’m still angry about this I fear. Goodnight.
But, okay, I know everyone has been asking the real questions: What’s my top ten? Well, besties, here it is. Shockingly, seven or eight of these — depending on if you count the different Lord of the Rings movies as a symbolic inclusion or not — are also on the New York Times list. Without further ado:
Moonlight (2016) dir. Barry Jenkins
The Favourite (2018) dir. Yorgos Lanthimos
Parasite (2019) dir. Bong Joon Ho
Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) dir. Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) dir. George Miller
The Handmaiden (2016) dir. Park Chan-wook [not included on the NYT list]
The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (2002) dir. Peter Jackson [Fellowship is on the NYT list; I really don’t think it makes a difference which you pick, I just love movie two]
Little Women (2020) dir. Greta Gerwig [not included on the NYT list]
Gone Girl (2014) dir. David Fincher
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) dir. Martin Scorsese
For the curious, here is my personal Top 24 Films for My 24 Years of Life.
fantastic top 10
Ok coming back now that you’ve included the reader poll: I haven’t seen Endgame but did see Infinity War and tbh as someone who’s not a big superhero movie fan, I didn’t hate it but I also think it’s a big ask to make people watch 15 movies in order to understand 1 and I don’t think it deserves top 100. I like the Howl’s Moving Castle movie but as someone who read the book first I have a lot of thoughts and have been gearing up to write about them soon!
Also there wasn’t a ton of difference really, I think there were maybe 20 movies here that weren’t on the critics list? I did notice that a lot of the ones added by readers were “girly” movies (and that Bridesmaids, one of the girliest movies on the list, moved down several places) but that might be my own bias showing!