Movies, right? Movies are cool. There are lots of movies. Particularly in the last 50 years, movies have been pretty great. They were great before then as well, because obviously Citizen Kane, Casablanca, Metropolis, and Sunset Boulevard are all more than half a century old, along with hundreds of other great movies that, yes, are all great, but they won’t be eligible here. Sorry.
For now, the last 50 years of cinema is what matters, so if something was released in 1975 or later, and it’s an absolute classic, then it might be below. There’s one movie here that was released in the summer of 1975, and at the time of writing, it’s almost the winter of 2025, so that’s technically just over 50 years ago, but eh, it’s right on the line. Also, there are so many amazing films from the last 50 years that aren’t here, but that’s inevitable, and would remain so even if this ranking contained 500 examples.
‘City of God’ (2002)
City of God is a lot of things at once, functioning as a coming-of-age film, a socially conscious drama, and a gangster movie (sort of). It’s about kids growing up in a crime-heavy area of Rio de Janeiro, contrasting how some people learn to thrive in such an environment while others set their sights on getting out any way they can once they’re of a certain age.
The way City of God shows its characters at different stages in life – childhood and then on the cusp of adulthood – makes it feel almost like an epic, but it’s like an epic crime film on fast-forward. It’s relentlessly paced, cramming a lot into a little over two hours, but it also never spirals out of control or becomes exhausting in a detrimental sort of way. Some of it’s hard to watch, but the honesty and intensity of it all is also part of the reason why the film’s as great as it is.
‘There Will Be Blood’ (2007)
If you make a milkshake and take a drink every time There Will Be Blood mentions milkshakes, then you probably won’t get through much of your milkshake, and you’ll also have to wait well over two hours before the sipping really starts. So, that would be the worst drinking game of all time. Don’t do that, with There Will Be Blood, but do watch There Will Be Blood, because it’s great.
There’s a level of hype surrounding it as one of those “quintessential best movies of the 21st century so far,” and that can make the whole thing intimidating, especially if you have an idea of what the film’s going to be like before realizing it might not be that. There Will Be Blood only explodes occasionally, and is very subdued and quietly uneasy for most of its runtime, but there’s a lot to chew on here with the sprawling and intimate exploration of greed provided. Also, Daniel Plainview is an endlessly fascinating character, and Daniel Day-Lewis’ portrayal of him… yeah, it’s Day-Lewis at his best, what else is there to say? Words of praise can only go so far.
‘The Dark Knight’ (2008)
If you’re tired of hearing about The Dark Knight, too bad, because it’s about as good as comic book movies get, and also, it feels like more than a comic book movie, in many ways. It’s got the feel of a crime/thriller, plus the action you’d associate with a superhero movie, though it’s a bit more grounded than what you might see in most other more fantastical or sci-fi-heavy superhero/comic book flicks.
It’s not that being a bit more realistic or downbeat is automatically better, and more just that The Dark Knight does the whole darker and grittier thing extremely well. Also, it’s hard to talk about the movie without mentioning how well it’s paced, and similarly hard to overlook or not mention is Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker, which really is – and always has been – as good as everyone says it is.
‘Amadeus’ (1984)
If Amadeus had been a more straightforward biographical film about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, it could’ve still been interesting, but it was thankfully quite a bit more than just that. Mozart’s a prominent character, but Amadeus is just as interested in shedding light on fellow composer Antonio Salieri, who was never as widely known as Mozart, and harbors intense feelings of jealousy toward him throughout the entire film.
So, these were real people, but it’s not exactly a straightforward biographical film about Salieri, either, since there’s a good deal of speculation involved and the events of the movie are seen – and recalled – from his potentially biased point of view. What Amadeus has to say about complicated emotions and the darker side of human nature is even more interesting than what it has to say about fame, celebrity, and music from this time in history, but for what it’s worth, it’s still fascinating and compelling on that front, too. It’s another classic that squeezes a lot into just one movie, and of all the Best Picture winners that are more than a few decades old, it’s one of the ones that holds up the best.
‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’ (2019)
Viewed a certain way, there’s not a ton that happens in Portrait of a Lady on Fire, but there is a lot that’s felt… or not felt. But not feeling, or resisting feelings, is another kind of emotion or feeling, so, there’s that. It’s hard to explain. It’s a movie about two people who have feelings for each other, but they have to keep things subdued, especially because they’re two women in love at a time when that was seen as taboo.
You might think you’ve seen that kind of tear-jerking historically set romance movie before, but Portrait of a Lady on Fire does a lot visually, stylistically, and pacing-wise to set it apart from otherwise comparable films. In that sense, it is original and striking, even with elements being familiar on paper, but also, love is one of those things that’s beyond broad and universal, but finding even small ways to explore it differently than most romance films is worthy of celebration. And that’s why Portrait of a Lady on Fire is worth celebrating/highlighting here.
‘All of Us Strangers’ (2023)
Yeah, it’s a whole lot more recent than most other movies here, and who knows how people will view it in another 30 or 40 years, but for now, All of Us Strangers really is one of the most essential films released in recent memory. If you say too much about its plot, things will be ruined, but it’s part romance and also part psychological drama, with something of a supernatural spin to things, too.
Hey, even listing the genres feels like saying too much. There are only a few characters in this, there’s something surprising or unexpected tied to every one of them, and All of Us Strangers burns slowly before hitting you hard – more than once, too – in its final act. The movie takes its time, and you might not have a good time if you’re hit particularly hard emotionally, but if you can find the time, All of Us Strangers is worth watching at least once (and maybe twice, because there’s a lot to be gained from a rewatch for a movie like this).