Because “lists for people to argue about on social media” are more financially dependable than “journalism,” The New York Times recently published their list of the “Top 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century” — or, at least they published numbers 100 through 81. They’re going to drag this thing out for as long as humanly possible, à la Adrien Brody’s Oscar speech.
The paper reached out to “more than 500 influential directors, actors and other notable names in Hollywood” to vote on “the best films released since Jan. 1, 2000.” That means that 2000’s Dude Where’s My Car is 100 percent eligible and could still crack the top 80.
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They’re also letting readers create their own ballots, which obviously won’t be counted towards the same list, but it’s nice to feel included, isn’t it?
The roster of notable filmmakers that contributed to the list includes big names like Bong Joon Ho, Pedro Almodóvar and Sofia Coppola. The Times also sought out the contributions of more comedic voices, including the legendary Mel Brooks. So what was on Brooks’ list of the best movies of the last quarter century?
Well, for starters, Brooks praised A Beautiful Mind, the movie in which Russell Crowe engages with an imaginary friend who isn’t a googly-eyed tugboat. He also singled out Hidden Figures starring Octavia Spencer and Taraji P. Henson, the Oscar-winning royal drama The King’s Speech and the Matt Damon action vehicle The Bourne Identity.
The latter may hold special significance for Brooks; he reportedly watched the first installment of the Bourne franchise with his late pal Carl Reiner “over and over and over again.” When asked by comedian David Steinberg why they watch The Bourne Identity so frequently, he replied, “We’re old we can’t remember. We say, ‘Did he kill someone? Was he here? He was here yesterday? Is he back today?’”
On the comedy front, Brooks recommended Midnight in Paris by Woody Allen — the Oscar-winning Jewish comedian-turned-filmmaker who isn’t so widely beloved today — and also praised the more obscure 2008 indie dramedy Bottle Shock, starring Alan Rickman as a sommelier who stages a blind wine taste-test.
Fittingly, the man who directed The Producers picked a lot of movies about fighting the Nazis, including The Pianist and Inglorious Basterds, plus The Grand Budapest Hotel, which featured a Wes Anderson-ized fascist army. And one of Brooks’ favorite recent movies is Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit, a film Brooks was a big supporter of when it came out in 2019.
He even went out of his way to praise Jojo Rabbit during a 2020 AFI speech honoring his late wife Anne Bancroft. Brooks joked that Waititi “did not ask my permission to use Hitler in a motion picture,” adding that “it’s really a beautiful picture.”
Waititi later said in an interview that “to have that kind of acknowledgement from someone like Mel Brooks was kind of better than any of the (Oscar) nominations,” adding, “I remember turning to my producer and telling him: ‘You know what? This awards season can turn to shit, and this is good enough for us!’”
Had this list been compiled in 2027, it’s entirely possible that Brooks would have found a slot for Spaceballs 2.
