Summary
- Hollywood has changed so much in the past 25 years, becoming an industry centered on franchise-building and IP, with blockbusters dominating the box office and leading online conversations.
- The best movies of the past 25 years have gotten bigger and bigger, with larger-than-life films making a significant impact compared to those from earlier years.
- Looking back on the past two plus decades, several films have cemented themselves as the best of all time, such as The Return of the King, Up, and Arrival.
While 1999 may have seemed like just yesterday, taking a look back at the best movies of the past 25 years shows the wild journey within the movie industry. The end of the 20th century may not have been the seismic shift some were predicting, but looking just at the movies that have been made over the intervening years, it is clear that the business has gone through considerable changes. Franchises continued to be the main draw for studios with some sense of it stifling original ideas. However, there was no shortage of great movies in the last 25 years.
In the last two decades and more, have seen some exciting achievements in moviemaking. There have been movies that have defined generations with their storytelling. Some movies that were overlooked upon their release have had time to be reexamined as true classics. There have been breakthroughs in the art of filmmaking while new voices in the industry like Christopher Nolan, Greta Gerwig, and Denis Villeneuve have emerged. This collection of 25 movies over the past 25 years showcases the brilliance of the modern movie industry.
The Best Movies of the Decade
From superhero to horror, thriller to historical, here are the 25 greatest movies released in the 2010s decade (as voted for by SR editors).
25 1999
The Matrix
The Matrix
- Director
- Lilly Wachowski , Lana Wachowski
- Release Date
- March 30, 1999
- Cast
- Keanu Reeves , Laurence Fishburne , Carrie-Anne Moss , Hugo Weaving , Gloria Foster , Joe Pantoliano
- Runtime
- 136 minutes
The Matrix is a mind-bending sci-fi movie.
It is hard to describe the cultural flip that occurred when The Matrix was released. Arriving at the end of the 20th century, it is a rare movie that felt like it was the beginning of the new future, and given the number of films it influenced afterward, it was in many ways. The Matrix is a mind-bending sci-fi movie that follows Keanu Reeves' mild-mannered Neo who is opened up to the truth that the reality he and everyone else live in is a simulation created by machines to enslave humanity.
It is a wild idea that can make the audience question everything but The Matrix doesn't stop at big ideas as it delivers an incredible action movie with one iconic set piece after another. There are amazing hand-to-hand fight sequences like Neo and Morpheus facing off in a training session. There are visceral shootouts like the extended lobby sequence. The movie also uses camera work in action movies in a unique and mesmerizing way, creating the infamous "bullet time."
The Matrix franchise is sometimes criticized for never living up to the original and it is true that is the case. However, it is likely impossible any of the sequels would have ever been able to beat the freshness and exciting new reality presented by the original movie, from its ideas to its action. It is a touchstone movie that shows the wildness that can still exist in bold genre filmmaking.
24 2000
Memento
Memento
- Director
- Christopher Nolan
- Release Date
- May 25, 2001
- Cast
- Joe Pantoliano , Guy Pearce , Carrie-Anne Moss , Stephen Tobolowsky , Mark Boone Junior
- Runtime
- 113 minutes
Though not the first of Christopher Nolan's movies, Memento was the one that put him on the map as an exciting new storyteller. The film stars Guy Pearce as a man with short-term memory loss who keeps reminders to himself tattooed all over his body. As he deals with his condition, he sets out on a mission to find the man who killed his wife. It is a gripping noir detective story told in a completely unique way with Nolan playing the entire movie in reverse.
It is a daunting thing to approach a movie that starts with the end and goes all the way back to the beginning, but while Memento is a movie that demands its audience's attention, it is not hard with a genuinely gripping story. It is interesting seeing Nolan operate with such a small budget and still make the movie feel engrossing and bold in his decisions.
There is so much ambition on the screen with a relatively small movie that watching Memento feels like Nolan is announcing himself to the world and showing what he can do. It is a maze of an experience that all leads to a brilliant twist ending.