"The New Classics" Returns
Exciting news! Michael Cusamano's engaging series "The New Classics," which focuses on top-notch 21st century films by dissecting a single scene, begins its second season April 28th --weekly editions Tuesdays at 1 PM! Here's what's been covered previously if you'd like to catch up. Any suggestions for season two?
Season 1 of The New Classics
- Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
- Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001)
- Sexy Beast (2001)
- Master and Commander (2003)
- Shattered Glass (2003)
- Before Sunset (2004)
- Collateral (2004)
- Eastern Promises (2007)
- Michael Clayton (2007)
- No Country For Old Men (2007)
- Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)
- The Hurt Locker (2009)
- Inglourious Basterds (2009)
- In the Loop (2009)
- I Am Love (2010)
- Meek's Cutoff (2010)
- A Separation (2011)
- Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)
- It's Such a Beautiful Day (2012)
- Blue Ruin (2013)
- 20th Century Women (2016)
- The Florida Project (2017)
Reader Comments (27)
Love it. I think what's funny is that Shattered Glass was produced by Tom Cruise who got on board bc he was sick of all the scientology claims and claims of him being gay or having fake wives or spreading scientology on his costars and he wanted to promote responsible journalism. I wonder what it would have been like if he starred in it.
Of these i have and haven't seen:
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)-No but I think I saw it referenced on the Netflix show Sex Education (?) (characters dress up in drag and watch the film)
Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001)-No
Sexy Beast (2001)-No
Master and Commander (2003)-Hellz yes. Loved the movie in the same way that I loved Lost in Translation, I realized films could be effective at a slower pace
Shattered Glass (2003)-Yes
Before Sunset (2004)-No
Collateral (2004)-No, I really should
Eastern Promises (2007)-Yes
Michael Clayton (2007)-Yes
No Country For Old Men (2007)-Yes
Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)-No, but to be fair Sally Hawkins wasn't as appealling as she is now post-Shape of Water
The Hurt Locker (2009)-One of two BPs in the entire 21st Century I haven't seen
Inglourious Basterds (2009)-Yep
In the Loop (2009)-Yep, one of my favorites of that year too, but I think he topped himself in Death of Stalin whicih is among the best of the decade
I Am Love (2010)-Ashamed to say I haven't heard of it
Meek's Cutoff (2010)-Nope
A Separation (2011)-No
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)-Seen about 2/3 of it.
It's Such a Beautiful Day (2012)-never heard of it
Blue Ruin (2013)-Never heard of it
20th Century Women (2016)-Yep
The Florida Project (2017)-Yep
How about Andrew Haigh's Weekend?
Second on Weekend.
Other thoughts:
— Eternal Sunshine
— Transit (2018)
— The VVitch
— In Bruges
— Dunkirk
— Cold War
Birth
Blue Valentine
Atonement
Moulin Rouge
Carol
Love this series! Here are a bunch of ideas:
Spirited Away (2001)
City of God (2002)
Talk to Her (2002)
Minority Report (2002)
Memories of Murder (2003)
Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
Children of Men (2006)
Once (2007)
Wall-E (2008)
The Social Network (2010)
The Tree of Life (2011)
A Separation (2011)
Margaret (2011)
The Master (2012)
Before Midnight (2013)
Ida (2014)
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Ex Machina (2015)
Moonlight (2016)
Arrival (2016)
Get Out (2017)
Lady Bird (2017)
Honestly, if we're putting 20thCW in the "new classics" catagory (which it COMPLETELY deserves, bee tee dubs), then we totally need to put Mike Mill's other film from this past decade, Beginners, in there. Like, quite frankly it's Christopher Plummer's best performance and one of the best Original Screenplay nominees PERIODT.
Other suggestions:
Moulin Rouge!
BRIGHT STAR (you wanna talk about something that's become a classic, gurl)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (yes I'm being completely serious)
I have to suggest mexican films. Here are some options wich i consider new classics.
2004 Temporada de Patos (Duck Season)
2007 La Zona (The Zone)
2012 Después de Lucia (After Lucia)
2013 Los Insólitos Peces Gato (The Amazing Catfish)
2016 Maquinaria Panamericana
2017 Oso Polar (Polar Bear)
2017 Sueño en Otro Idioma (I Dream in Another Language)
I second these mentioned above:
Birth
Bright Star
Moonlight
Wall-E
The Tree of Life
Margaret
Arrival
Eternal Sunshine
and would love to see focus on:
Her
Cloud Atlas
Roma
Frances Ha
Under the Skin
Call Me By Your Name
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Midnight in Paris (the last great Woody Allen film we'll get)
LIncoln
Zero Dark Thirty
Phantom Thread
Hereditary
Shoplifters
Dancer in the Dark
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Bright Star
Wendy and Lucy
Ida
Baby Driver
Missing years: 2000, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2014, 2015 and, now, 2018. People have already suggested movies for four of those missing years. So I'm going to suggest 3 films each from 2000, 2005 and 2006.
2000: Battle Royale, Songs From the Second Floor, Almost Famous.
2005: Sin City, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, Cache
2006: Casino Royale, Pan's Labyrinth, The Prestige
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)-no
Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001)-yes
Sexy Beast (2001)-yes
Master and Commander (2003)-yes
Shattered Glass (2003) no
Before Sunset (2004) yes
Collateral (2004) yes
Eastern Promises (2007) yes
Michael Clayton (2007) yes
No Country For Old Men (2007) no
Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) yes
The Hurt Locker (2009) yes
Inglourious Basterds (2009) yes
In the Loop (2009) yes
I Am Love (2010).no
Meek's Cutoff (2010) no
A Separation (2011) yes
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011) yes
It's Such a Beautiful Day (2012) Haven’t seen
Blue Ruin (2013) haven’t seen
20th Century Women (2016) Haven’t seen
The Florida Project (2017)-haven’t seen
Beginners and both Paddington movies. Soulfulness and pure joy. All nearly perfect in what they set out to do.
Just saw Claudio mentioning Toni Erdmann, and I have to sat that it's the film of the decade
Drive (2011)
Mad Max!!!
Chris, I just did a YouTube video about films that Ihat wide releases that went under the radar. Be on the lookout for that on my youtube channel
Almost Famous (2000)
Moulin Rouge! (2001)
Spider-Man (2002)
Lost In Translation (2003)
The Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind (2004)
Match Point (2005)
Children of Men (2006)
The Departed (2006)
Into the Wild (2007)
Atonement (2007)
WALL-E (2008)
Bright Star (2009)
The Ghost Writer (2010)
Drive (2011)
Tabu (2012)
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)
Her (2013)
Under the Skin (2014)
Anomalisa (2015)
Hell or High Water (2016)
The Handmaiden (2016)
Wind River (2017)
Shoplifters (2018)
Cold War (2018)
Parasite (2019)
Marriage Story (2019)
While cinemas are closed and there's nothing much interesting and appropriately priced being released for home viewing (it seems a lot of distributors are still holding on to their product in case of conemas re-opening, and whilst I am curious to watch BIRDS OF PREY, ONWARD, ARTEMIS FOWL etc, I am not paying a full cinema price to do so), I have been rewatching,many of the DVDs/Blu_Rays in my collection. These may have already have been suggested (too many lists above to go through and check off), but my suggestions from my viewing over the past month are:
UNITED 93 (2006)
THE VISITOR (2007)
PRISONERS (2013)
SHAME (2011)
Is "Big Night" a modern classic? I rewatched it recently and loved it.
Rebecca - Big Night is one million percent certified classic. But I am using the turn of the century as the cutoff for "modern"
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I've spotted a few that I already plan to cover, so some of you will be pleased.
Ditto on “Weekend,” “Bright Star,” “Children of Men,” and “Wall-e.” Those last two especially lend themselves to the format of highlighting a single scene!
The Piano Teacher
Where the Wild Things Are
Cosmopolis
The Kids Are All Right
Precious: Based on the novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus
Only God Forgives
The Neon Demon
The Last Black Man of San Francisco
The Master
Ghost Protocol is awesome but if the screenplay would have envisioned agent Brandt as Hunt’s love interest (Forgive me, Rebecca!), now it would be one of the film of my Life. But it’s about Cruise, so that’s the real mission: impossible
Comedies and SciFi are almost always left out of modern Best Of lists, but I see that many of you suggested some good ones. My suggestions:
Moon (2009)
The Hunger Games (2012)
Attack the Block (2011)
Looper (2012)
Donnie Darko (2001)
Legally Blond (2001)
Wedding Crashers (2005)
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Best in Show (2000)
Royal Tennebaums (2001)
School of Rock (2003)
Bridesmaids (2011)
The Hours: The scene between Julianne and Toni Collette, which is my favorite 21st century scene thus far.
Pain and Glory: The scene in Antonio Banderas' home where he is reunited with his old lover.
Moonlight: The final scene. Perfection.
Leave No Trace: The concluding five minutes.
Almost Famous
Moulin Rouge!
The Hours
Lost in Translation
Brokeback Mountain
The Departed
There Will Be Blood
The Social Network
Midnight in Paris
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
The Grand Budapest Hotel
La La Land
Call Me by Your Name
The Favourite
CMBYN has been unfairly tarnished by it's most rabid fans which is too bad cuz it's an exceptional film and easily one of the best of the century.