Watching The Godfather on More4, and thinking have there been any films this century that come anywhere near to being this good? I can’t think of any. I am prepared to be proved wrong, so what films of this millenium do you think may be a classic, and which actors/actresses of the current crop may go down as legends in the future?

No country for old men
There will be blood

I think maybe ideas were better back in the day, films were maybe more individual. My grumpy old man head says lots of modern films follow a succesful formula and are more driven by a stylistic content and effects and are quite boring cos there’s nothing new or inventive
. I am more interested in quirky films that deal with ideas or a personal point of view rather than just making money. Woody Allen used to do that, Always look forward to a Coen Brothers film or Mike Leigh or ken Loach. Modern big budget movies leave me cold.

Yes and by a large margin

For innovative and intersting cinema you need to look away from the major studios and also look for foreign language films, so much more intersting. “Hollywood” stuff is so bland and formulaic. I’m looking forward to Skyfall for fun and action but its comic book entertainment not a film.

By the same logic, have you seen any films from this millennium which sucked as much as 2001: A Space Odyssey?

NCFOM. The Fountain. Watchmen. 21 Grams. City of God. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Requiem for a Dream. Lost in Translation. Wristcutters: A Love Story. 28 Days Later.

Cheer up, there’s loads of fantastic films that have come out recently, and loads more to follow.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1959490/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1853728/

2001 is a fabulous Work of Art IMO. Just full of ideas and beautifully filmed. Yeah, of course there’s stuff popping up all the time that’s interesting. But you’re going to have to try harder than that, than some of those films to beat 2001 mate. maybe you just don’t get it 😛 some of those films u mention are quality though..

Intouchables – utterly brilliant.

The bit you forget is that you don’t remember the crap films. There have been some amazing films recently. Drive new batman Prometheus etc. There is a lot of crap but then again we used to have loads of straight to video rubbish.

think how many films are released each year, how many can you remember from 10-20-30… years ago?

You only remember the really extreme films, the crap and the excellent. Most films are average and quickly forgotten.

One change that has happened in the reliance on green screen, rather than have the audience fill in gaps, special effects mean the director shows what they want you to see, not always as effective IMHO.

I know there is a lot of dross out there. There always has been. I just feel the best films from the last century are far and away above the best produced in the last 12 years. I appreciate that we have not yet had the volume of films to compare yet, but it just seems that extensive use of CGI has produced sloppily written, directed and acted films. Some of the films mentioned such as No Country For Old Men are good but they are so few and far between. Nobody has talked about actors yet. The only one I can think that consistently acts well in a range of films is Russell Crowe.

Humphery says yes

There have always been bad films and good films and today is no different. I don’t believe that todays bad films are any worse than bad films of yesteryear or that todays good films are better than those of decades gone by.

I do think that many of todays young up and coming directors and writers are coming up with some very original ideas and styles and means to tell challenging and provoking stories.

Greater volume of dross these days.

NCFOM was utter bobbins, sorry. There are good films now but the 1970s was a golden age where auteur film makers had real clout. Read Easy Riders, Raging Bulls.

isn’t the problem that we are not ‘exposed’ to many good films, mainstream cinema is just that, otherwise unless you live in a big metropolis its difficult to see ‘alternative’ films.

Ken Loach is one of the greatest directors alive, he is celebrated in other parts of the world, yet in the UK he is marginalised, his work is sidelined, ……maybe its to do with his politics ?

DVDs and Amazon has made it easier than ever to watch ‘alternative’ films. I used to go to a film club in the hope of seeing something that would make me think, and not have an ending I could predict in the first five minutes. Now I can browse reviews, make my own choices and the film drops through the letter box a few days later.