Tag: There Will Be Blood

Top 10 (well, 11) Movies Of The 21st Century

This past week, The New York Times published a list of what their critics consider the 100 best movies of the 21st Century, with Parasite topping the list. At a cursory glance, I’ve seen 97 of the 100 on the list, and probably agree with a number of them. I myself did not participate in the poll (which was open to readers) because (a) I no longer subscribe to The New York Times (they normalized the current occupant of the White House, which I find intolerable), and (b) more to the point, as per usual, I was unable to narrow my list to 10. However, I’m happy to play along, so here are my choices of the top 10 (well, 11) of the 21st century. If Claude and I talked about them, I will include a link to that podcast episode:

(1) The Tree of Life (2011) (Terrence Malick) (link to follow)

(2) Children of Men (2006) (Alfonso Cuaron)

(3) Almost Famous (2000) (Cameron Crowe)

(4) Zero Dark Thirty (2012) (Kathryn Bigelow)

(5) Drive My Car (2021) (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)

(6) There Will Be Blood (2007) (Paul Thomas Anderson)

(7) Roma (2018) (Alfonso Cuaron)

(8) (tie) Broker (2022) (Hirokazu Kore-eda), Parasite (2018) (Bong Joon-Ho)


(9) Brokeback Mountain (2005) (Ang Lee)

(10) La La Land (2016) (Damien Chazelle) (to be discussed in an upcoming episode, where we will also be talking about The Independent)

Reel 74: The Wages of Greed

Sure, Gordon Gekko told us all that greed, for lack of a better term, is good. And that film sometimes takes the blame for a bunch of unfortunate things that took place in the 1990s.

But there are films out there which note that there’s a darker side to greed (and, to be fair, Wall Street also carries that message; it’s just that people kind of overlooked that part). And in this episode, we look at a pair of films which are years apart from a production standpoint, but whose characters are more or less contemporaneous.

We start with The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), starring Humphrey Bogart, Tim Holt, and Walter Huston and directed by Walter Huston. Anjelica Huston isn’t in this one because she wasn’t born until 1951, I guess. The trio star as three down-and-out Americans who pursue gold in a remote mine in which others have given up hope. They face all kinds of hardships moving to and from the mine, and there are plenty of adventures in between.

From there we go to another film set at about the same time, but on this side of the US/Mexico border, in the American southwest. There Will Be Blood (2007), directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, stars Daniel Day-Lewis as a man who is determined to amass as much as he can, but it’s far too late when he realizes the price he pays for his success.

Both of these films also have the distinction of being source material for memes and pop culture gags. With Sierra Madre, of course, it’s assorted variations on whether or not any stinkin’ badges are necessary, and in Blood it’s the phrase “I drink your milkshake.” In both cases I’d be willing to bet all the money in my pockets (nearly 80 CENTS, friend) that most people don’t know the source material for either of them.

Finally, before I set you free to listen to the episode (because of course you’ve been riveted to this poetry I’ve been cranking out so far), I offer you this bit of music that we talked about during Part 2:


Yes, I will expect you to send me Thank You notes for bringing this music into your life.

COMING ATTRACTIONS: 

Next time, we stick with the Old West with a pair of films that use that genre as an allegory for anti-Capitalist messages. (What?) Don’t worry; it’ll make a lot of sense before we’re through. First we’ll see McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971), followed by The Claim (2000). Join us, won’t you?