Daytripper

Just wanted everyone's thoughts on films they consider are a "masterpiece" from the past two decades only. And please, serious responses only. No "Good Burger" or "Gigli". Thanks.....

Rypro 525

there will be blood
city of god
pulp fiction

MrSmearkase

Goodfellas
Magnolia
Boogie Nights

Boba Fett

Unforgiven
Goodfellas
Howards End
Schindler's List
Jackie Brown
The Thin Red Line
Fight Club
Fellowship of the Ring
The Proposition
Oldboy
Zodiac
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
The Dark Knight

Fist of Doom

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The Double Life of Veronique
In the Mood for Love
The Usual Suspects
The Matrix
Memento
Se7en
LA Confidential
Fargo
Toy Story
The Incredibles
Children of Men

The Valeyard

Pulp Fiction
Boogie Nights
Casino
Goodfellas
Life is Beautiful

The Bus

Of the last few years...

Animal Kingdom
Ballast
Che
Children of Men
The Departed
The Hurt Locker
Inside Man
The Lives of Others
No Country for Old Men
The Social Network
Syriana
There Will Be Blood
Up in the Air
V for Vendetta
Y Tu Mamá También

Bold ones if I were to pick favorites.

Ash Ketchum

GoodFellas (1990, U.S.) Martin Scorsese
JFK (1991, U.S.) Oliver Stone
Only Yesterday (1991, Japan) Isao Takahata
Swordsman III: The East is Red (1993, Hong Kong) Ching Siu Tung
Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995, Japan) Shusuke Kaneko
Ghost in the Shell (1995, Japan) Mamoru Oshii
Whisper of the Heart (1995, Japan) Yoshifumi Kondo
Princess Mononoke (1997, Japan) Hayao Miyazaki
Kill Bill, Vol. 1 (2003, U.S.) Quentin Tarantino
Tokyo Godfathers (2004, Japan) Satoshi Kon

conscience

Off the top of my head:

Boogie Nights
Capote
Chungking Express
Lost in Translation
Rushmore
Serial Mom
Sling Blade
Talk to Her
Titus
True Lies

RichC2

Mulholland Drive

Fight Club
There Will Be Blood
No Country for Old men
Fargo
Zodiac
Children of Men
Pan's Labyrinth
Titus
Inglourious Basterds
City of God
Black Hawk Down
Shawshank Redemption
Raise the Red Lantern
Pulp Fiction
Groundhog Day
Out of Sight
Election
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Memento
The Prestige
Ghost World
Twilight Samurai
Lost in Translation
The Station Agent

Mostly though, Mulholland Drive.

Blu Man

Off the top of my head...

There Will Be Blood
Pulp Fiction
Fight Club
Se7en
The Dark Knight
The Shawshank Redemption
Saving Private Ryan
LA Confidential
Memento
The Departed

inri222

Werckmeister Harmonies
Breaking the Waves
Eyes Wide Shut
Humanite
Naked
Crash (1996)
Cache
Mulholland Drive
Fireworks
Lone Star
L’enfant
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
Cure
Taste of Cherry
All About My Mother
The Sweet Hereafter

MLBFan24

Terminator 2

FRwL

Predator 2
Total Recall
Naked Gun 2
Army of Darkness
MSt3k: The movie

toddly6666

Heat
The New World
Nightmare Before Christmas
Schindler's List
All of Emir Kusturica and Hayao Miyazaki films post-1990.

Dr Mabuse

Some great ones mentioned.

I can't think of a more perfect movie in the last 20 years than 'Hero' by Zhang Yimou.

A true masterpiece in every sense of the word.

PopcornTreeCt

This and a very few others.

Quake1028

Munich

UAIOE

"The Professional" is the only one I can think of right now.

MrSmearkase

I neglected to mention Adaptation. I really need to watch that one again soon.

Travis McClain

For me, a "masterpiece" has to be both interesting and entertaining; it should reveal new things on each viewing. Most importantly, those are the movies that get under your skin. They're the ones you find yourself wanting to talk about whenever the opportunity arises (or you see the chance to create such an opportunity). And those conversations don't just consist of throwing quotes back and forth or saying something so useless as "That movie was awesome! I love it!" Here are five that meet that criteria for me.

Eyes Wide Shut (1999) - You shouldn't have any trouble finding my thoughts about this film posted in any number of threads on this forum. I hated it when I saw it in 1999 when it opened in theaters, but came back to it. It wasn't love at first sight, but there is a part of me that is almost obsessed with this film. I find new things each time I see it, and have learned some stuff about myself in the process.

Ghost World (2001) - As a guy, I can't relate to all of this, but some parts of it are practically plagiarized from my own youth. If I'd been a girl I probably would have fantasized the rest of it. Thora Birch is pitch perfect as the bored young woman standing at that critical juncture between youth and adulthood. If movies are supposed to take the ordinary and present it in a more interesting way, then it doesn't get much better than Ghost World. Plus, I love Steve Buscemi and his performance as the socially awkward Seymour is at the top of his impressive heap of roles.

Lost in Translation (2003) - I watched this for the first time on a lazy, rainy afternoon and it was perfect. I just got lost in the Tokyo of the film. The familiarity of Bill Murray's easy going Bob and the quiet burning of Scarlett Johansson's Charlotte are irresistible. I never really wanted to see them connect romantically; it was enough that they explore their world together and share it with me. In any other story they'd have had a predictable, run-of-the-mill affair but Sophia Coppola was intelligent and creative enough to go for something far more compelling.

Shaun of the Dead (2004) - Romantic comedies and zombie movies: two okay tastes that taste great together! The characters are recognizable as real people. We know Shaun. We know it's just as hard for Liz to continue justifying Shaun in her life as it is for Shaun to justify Ed in his, because we've all been a Liz, a Shaun and/or and Ed. We may not have had to contend with zombies, but we've all felt the rest of the world encroaching on us and threatening us in one way or another. Shaun of the Dead can be taken at face value, or as an allegory for post-9/11 anxiety, or any number of interpretations. It is, for my money, the perfect microcosm of 2000s cinema.

Sideways (2004) - Buddy movies and road trip movies are reliably fun. Where Sideways transcends the typical trappings of the sub-genres is in its intelligence. You may be morally repulsed by Jack and Miles, but it's easy to imagine wanting to converse with them. Miles takes things too far; Jack is too content to be shallow, but between them they have some fascinating conversations. Plus, the California wine country is gorgeous and photographed very well. Who wouldn't want to go directly into the movie they're watching?

bootsy

This is a real good list.

NIMH Rat

I'll just take the 1990s cuz it's too soon after the '00s to sort out wheat from chaff. And just English language films since I don't have total expertise in foreign film.

Six Degrees of Separation (1993) -- This is the American movie of the 90s. What it says about race, class, family, and celebrity in America can fill a bookshelf.

Others:
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991) -- In a lot of ways more interesting than Coppola's film.
The People Under the Stairs (1991) -- Craven himself probably doesn't realize how potent this is.
Batman Returns (1992) -- Burton still hasn't topped this.
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992) -- Rewards endless reviewings. And let's not forget Lost Highway (1997) either. Or The Straight Story (1999).
Bad Lieutenant (1992) / New Rose Hotel (1998) -- can't decide between these two Ferraras.
In the Name of the Father (1993) -- Intensity off the charts. I'm a wreck at the end of this one.
Schindler's List (1993) -- Despite its problems.
Vanya on 42nd Street (1994) -- Perfection.
Speed (1994) -- Total entertainment.
Casino (1995) -- Scorsese's greatest.
Dolores Claiborne (1995) -- Taylor Hackford in top form directing three women and two men in top form.
Hamlet (1996) -- Best filmed version of the play.
The Stendhal Syndrome (1996) -- This movie just gets to me, but I know why people hate it.
Fly Away Home (1996) -- Beautiful, sad, and sweet.
Hard Eight (1996) -- PTA's first is still the best.
Jackie Brown (1997) -- My favorite QT.
Starship Troopers (1997) -- Hamhanded but utterly brilliant.
Three Kings (1999) -- I'd put Flirting with Disaster (1996) on the list if O' Russell hadn't made this masterpiece right afterwards.
The Insider(1999) -- Just edges out Heat (1995).

Travis McClain

I saw this in the middle of the night on cable years ago and was captivated by it. I went out and told everyone who would listen they should see it. To date, the only person I know who actually did see it was my grandmother. Even if you just want to focus on Will Smith, it's fascinating because it's not just indicative of his potential: he hasn't topped this early performance, and it stands out even more because he hadn't settled into playing "Will Smith" yet.

I have to disagree; I consider Big Fish his greatest achievement outside of Batman.

It wasn't until DVD Talk that I encountered anyone who had a bad word to say about Schindler's List. I re-watched it for the Academy Awards Challenge this year and was just as captivated as ever. Having a background in history kind of immunizes me against being overwhelmed by the subject material, so I attribute any blindness I have to its flaws to how easily caught up I am in it as film.

All I can think to say is that I never expected to see this on anyone's "Masterpieces" list.

Haven't seen Flirting with Disaster but I enjoyed Three Kings quite a lot. Not sure I'd label it a "masterpiece," but then my five recommendations included Shaun of the Dead.

Ooh; I'd forgotten about The Insider. Great choice!

NIMH Rat

Seeing the movie now is really interesting because when he charms people he shows signs of future world-star "Will Smith" and it makes you strangely identify with his captive (dupe) audiences.

My criteria for labeling something a "masterpiece" is similar to yours---something that entertains and also has the complexity to hold up under repeated viewings. Weirdly, I think Three Kings and Shaun of the Dead have similar structures---they both start by dancing on the razor edge of comedy and horror, and in their respective climaxes sort of settle into an easily digestible "redemption" theme that would be corny and cliched if it weren't for the amazing originality of their setups.

I just noticed nothing from 1998 is on my list. Let's see:

American History X
Another Day in Paradise
Babe: Pig in the City
The Big Lebowski
Bulworth
Enemy of the State
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
High Art
Rushmore
A Simple Plan
There's Something About Mary
Wild Things

If I had to pick one, I guess it would be Fear and Loathing.