The Best Movies of the 21st Century (So Far)

Rolling Stone asked a bunch of its contributors to work on a massive list of the best films of the 21st century. Remarkably, we're already 25 years into this new century, which means a lot of good movies. As always, I didn't have any say in the final rankings, but I did some of the write-ups, including Y Tu Mama Tambien, Inside Llewyn Davis, Dogville, Burning, Uncut Gems, I Am Not Your Negro, The Souvenir and others. Dive in. 

The Grierson & Leitch Podcast: Mailbag Show, 'The House That Jack Built' and 'The Player'

We answer your questions on this week's episode, which leads to conversations about Netflix and what makes for a great movie. Then, we review Lars von Trier's latest provocation. Finally, in our Reboot segment, we take a look back at The Player. Enjoy.

An Ode to 'Dogville'

Rolling Stone is launching a new series called Revisiting Hours: "Every Friday, we’re recommending an older movie that’s available to stream or download and worth seeing again through the lens of our current moment."

I was very honored to kick off the series. Not surprisingly, I went with Dogville, which I haven't seen in its entirety in 14 years. I had a lot to write about, which you can read here.

Cannes 2018: The Wrap-Up and the Rankings

Those who predicted that this year's Cannes Film Festival was going to be underwhelming can stuff it. If it wasn't my all-time favorite -- this is my fifth -- it was filled with highlights, including a pretty strong Competition slate.

Before I get into my rankings, here's a piece I wrote at the halfway point for MEL, in which I talk about the experience of seeing nothing but subtitled films for a week, and what I learned in the process. If nothing else, this year's Cannes reaffirmed my appreciation for the idea that cinema is actually a global phenomenon -- and I don't mean "global" in terms of how much Deadpool 2 earns in China.

With that said, here's how I'd evaluate the festival. Links lead to individual reviews/articles...

37. Knife + Heart
36. The Man Who Killed Don Quixote 
35. The Great Mystical Circus 
34. Treat Me Like Fire
33. Fahrenheit 451
32. Pope Francis - A Man of His Word
31. Ayka
30. The House That Jack Built
29. Rafiki 
28. The Trouble With You
27. Sorry Angel 
26. Whitney  
25. Birds of Passage
24. Climax
23. Yomeddine
22. Everybody Knows
21. Happy as Lazzaro
20. Dogman 
19. Wildlife
18. The Image Book
17. BlacKkKlansman
16. 3 Faces
15. The Spy Gone North 
14. The Wild Pear Tree
13. Solo: A Star Wars Story
12. Capernaum 
11. Summer
10. Donbass
9. Long Day's Journey Into Night
8. Mandy
7. Leave No Trace
6. Ash Is Purest White
5. Shoplifters 
4. Under the Silver Lake
3. At War 
2. Cold War
1. Burning 

I was sad Burning walked away with no awards, although it was the clear winner of Screen's critics jury. (It also won the Fipresci prize.) As for Hirokazu Kore-eda's Shoplifters, which took home the Palme d'Or, it's probably my favorite film of his since Nobody Knows, so I'm not going to complain too loudly.

I'm looking over my rankings right now; there's a lot of happy memories attached to those films, even the ones I didn't like that much. A Cannes with very little "Oscar buzz" is a perfectly good Cannes to me. 

Cannes 2018: 'The House That Jack Built' Review

Lars is back. Mr. von Trier returns to Cannes with The House That Jack Built, still consumed with the same dark thoughts as always. I found the film fascinating but ultimately unsuccessful. My review is live at Screen International.