Scott builds up the central operation over the course of the movie's first act before throwing the audience into the chaos. Most of the movie feels like one extended battle sequence which makes Black Hawk Down one of the most visceral war movies of the 21st century. It is an indictment of the leadership of the military as well as the bravery of the fighting men who refused to leave anyone behind.

22 2022

Adaptation.

While meta-commentary in movies is not uncommon, it has never been used as brilliantly as in Charlie Kaufman's script for Adaptation. The story behind the movie is that Kaufman was hired to write an adaptation of the movie The Orchid Thief but struggled with writer's block. Adaptation is the story of a screenwriter named Charlie Kaufman attempting to adapt the book The Orchid Thief only to write a story about himself adapting it.

While it is a funny Hollywood satire, Adaptation is also mind-bending to consider where the movie ends and the true story begins. Nicolas Cage gives a terrific performance as both Charlie and his fictitious twin brother Donald who is the more easy-going and successful brother. Director Spike Jonze creates a funny, touching, and mesmerizing story of the writing process and the kinds of minds it takes to be a screenwriter.

21 2003

The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King

Every movie in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy is packed with emotion and action, but The Return of the King is the best installment by far. The high-stakes finale to Frodo Baggins’ story, The Return of the King follows the Hobbit into the depths of Mount Doom, where he nearly fails to finish his quest. The Return of the King features some of the bleakest moments of the entire trilogy, but its ending delivers a poignant message about the power of hope and friendship in the face of adversity.

It's not easy to wrap up an epic story like The Lord of the Rings, but J.R.R. Tolkien does an impressive job of it in his books. By remaining true to the source material, The Return of the King manages the same feat, bringing every member of the Fellowship’s story to a heartfelt and satisfying conclusion.

From Aragorn’s epic speech outside the gates of Mordor to Sam and Frodo’s difficult climb up Mount Doom, many scenes from The Return of the King have left a lasting impact. The fantasy film is a masterclass in storytelling, and its visuals, performances, and action sequences are equally impressive.

20 2004

Before Sunset

Romance movies rarely return with a sequel that not only matches the original’s charm and sentiment but exceeds it, and Richard Linklater’s Before Sunset is perhaps the greatest example of this achievement. While Before Sunrise (1995) was about hope, youth, and what could be, Before Sunset (2004) brings back Jesse and Céline nine years after their first encounter to explore what could have been.

Revealing that the pair never met up as intended those nine years ago, Jesse and Céline meet again in Europe and reveal what became of their lives over the near-decade since seeing one another, with the spark still remaining all these years later. Will Jesse and Céline actually make it work this time? Will the people that they have become over the past nine years change their love for one another? Or, will love slip away again just as it did nine years ago?

Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke, and Julie Delpy’s screenplay, Hawke and Delpy’s chemistry, and Lee Daniel’s cinematography combine to form a flawless romantic drama with even higher stakes than the original. More than the other two in Linklater’s trilogy, Before Sunset offers one of the most enticing, perhaps tormenting endings in romance movie history.

19 2005

Brokeback Mountain

Ang Lee, fresh off his divisive but ambitious Hulk adaptation, returned with another soulful take on a beloved piece of literature. Brokeback Mountain is based on a short story by Annie Proulx and though it is underscored by tragedy, the film is much more than a tale of two ill-fated cowboys who fall in love against the backdrop of the American West. Sporting a stellar cast, including Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger at the height of their powers, Brokeback Mountain is, in part, responsible for bringing queer American cinema to the mainstream.

Remarkably, the film made $178 million against its $14 million budget. It also sparked a wave of LGBTQ+-centric movies and television shows in the years to follow. Even without this lasting impact, though, Brokeback Mountain is a stirring film, punctuated by Lee’s tenderly observant lens and aching performances from Gyllenhaal and Ledger. The film cuts deep, incisive in its depiction of repression and longing, and, eventually, heartbreaking in its depiction of the forbidden desire being realized.

18 2006

Little Miss Sunshine

Critics and movie audiences don’t tend to agree very often, but they did just that when it came to the stellar reception surrounding 2006’s Little Miss Sunshine. Following a dysfunctional family road-tripping from New Mexico to California in a VW van, Little Miss Sunshine certainly brought the laughs. The film also hit on some very tragic elements. The Hoover family, of course, came together after young Olive qualified for a beauty pageant. During their journey to get her to the competition, they were all forced to face personal issues they had all been bottling up.

After a limited release, Little Miss Sunshine became a box office hit, making over $100 million off of the $8 million budget. More impressive was the fact that the movie was the directorial debut of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Paris. Granted, the quirky comedy worked well due to the notable ensemble cast highlighted by veterans and actors gaining momentum in their careers. Aside from the late great Alan Arkin, the cast included Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, and Steve Carell in key roles.

The performances from Abigail Breslin as Olive and Paul Dano as Olive’s older brother Dwayne were emotionally brilliant. Though they were very different, they each learned the importance of family as they overcame life's challenges. With family being the central theme of Little Miss Sunshine, it was extremely fitting that the ending brought the Hoovers together for a wacky performance of Rick James' “Super Freak.” Not only did it serve as Little Miss Sunshine’s most hilarious sequence, but it also embraced the notion that even the most dysfunctional of families can come together during hard times.

17 2007

There Will Be Blood

In the last 20 years, Paul Thomas Anderson has made at least two films worthy of the “masterpiece” label. One of them, 2007’s There Will Be Blood, marked a significant departure for the writer-director, and it’s one of his boldest works to date. A dark anti-Western loosely based on the novel Oil!, by Upton Sinclair, Daniel Day-Lewis stars as Daniel Plainview opposite Paul Dano’s Eli Sunday.

Like the black gold that erupts from the California desert, Daniel Plainview is a man on the edge of rage, and when it bubbles to the surface, his outbursts are as captivating as they are terrifying. Dano’s Eli Sunday is often on the receiving end and, though his character serves as a ive foil to Plainview, Dano is just as powerful here. With an all-timer of a final scene that brings together the film’s meditations on greed, faith, and family, there is nothing else like There Will Be Blood in Anderson’s filmography.

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16 2008

The Dark Knight

Building on the success of Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan’s highly-anticipated sequel was everything comic fans could have hoped for and then some. The Dark Knight flies so high thanks in large part to the performance of Heath Ledger as Joker. It is a true tour-de-force performance that rightfully secured him a posthumous Oscar and set a new bar for what a comic book movie villain could be. Of course, The Dark Knight would not work nearly as well if Ledger’s Joker was not the perfect counterpart to Christian Bale’s Batman and how the movie props up Harvey Dent’s Two-Face turn in the process.

There are also several standout action sequences done on the size and scale viewers have come to expect from Nolan, which helps the movie deliver on its superhero spectacle. The difference here is that The Dark Knight manages to remain grounded in its story and characters through it all. Nolan’s second Batman movie revolutionized Hollywood in of shepherding in the superhero boom and forcing the Oscars to make rule and category changes, giving it an impact that is still felt today. It’s no wonder DC has been chasing this level of success ever since.