From Morbius to Jurassic World Dominion to Disney’s creepy live-action remake of Pinocchio, critics have been very clear about which recent movies won’t become beloved classics in the future. But a few highlights from the past couple of years will still be widely revered and thoroughly discussed and regularly enjoyed by cinephiles for decades to come.
From the timely satire of Borat Subsequent Moviefilm to the ambitious franchise crossover experiment of Spider-Man: No Way Home to the multiversal antics of Everything Everywhere All at Once, many movies from the 2020s are destined to become classics.
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020)
Fans were wary when Sacha Baron Cohen announced that he was reprising his role as clueless Kazakh reporter Borat Sagdiyev in a sequel, because comedy movie sequels are almost always a disappointment. But Borat Subsequent Moviefilm ended up being a rare example of a comedy sequel that lives up to the original.
The satire of Borat proved to be even more relevant in 2020 than 2006. In decades to come, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm will hold up as a time capsule of the social and political climate surrounding the pandemic and the 2020 presidential election.
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Marvel movies are the hot ticket right now, but since most of them follow the same familiar formula, only a few will stand the test of time and hold up years from now. Spider-Man: No Way Home is the kind of truly special superhero movie that stands out from the rest.
It’s a hugely ambitious and wildly satisfying franchise crossover experiment wrapped around a deeply moving It’s a Wonderful Life-style parable about second chances. It delivered the live-action Spider-Verse fans hoped for, but it also told the ultimate Peter Parker story.
RRR (2022)
This year’s action-packed epic RRR is the most expensive Indian movie to date, and writer-director S.S. Rajamouli put every penny of that budget to good use. This movie has animal attacks and motorcycle jumps and crowd-sized fight scenes.
Quite possibly the wildest movie of the year, RRR is so big and bombastic that viewers don’t have a second to become bored. This three-hour thrill-ride will still blow audiences’ minds years from now.
Nightmare Alley (2021)
From The Devil’s Backbone to Pan’s Labyrinth, many Guillermo del Toro movies have proven to be timeless masterpieces. His 2021 Oscar contender, Nightmare Alley – his least supernatural film in years, but just as disturbing as anything else he’s directed – will be no different.
The movie’s shocking twist ending makes it easy to rewatch and dissect, while its chilling tale of the inherent monster lurking within every human being will hold up for as long as its 1946 source novel.
The Mitchells Vs. The Machines (2021)
Netflix received its third nomination for Best Animated Feature at this year’s Academy Awards for The Mitchells vs. the Machines, its delightful blend of a heartwarming comedy about a family road trip and an action-packed sci-fi epic about a robot uprising.
Like all animated movies destined to become classics, The Mitchells vs. the Machines is fun for the whole family. The movie touches on society’s current dependence on technology, but those themes will only become more and more relevant as time goes on.
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
In the past 36 years, Tony Scott’s original Top Gun film has become an action movie classic. But, 36 years from now, its sequel might be remembered even more fondly. The universally positive reviews for Joseph Kosinski’s Top Gun: Maverick have declared it to be a vast improvement of its cheesy, jingoistic predecessor.
The sequel has even more captivating aerial sequences, thanks to the action being captured for real in the cockpits of actual fighter jets, with an emotionally engaging father-son story to boot.
Dune (2021)
Frank Herbert’s seminal sci-fi opus Dune has enjoyed a decades-long legacy as one of the greatest and most influential novels ever written. Denis Villeneuve had his work cut out for him when he dared to bring Herbert’s vision – the first half of it, anyway – to the big screen.
Villeneuve tells the story succinctly (largely through visuals without relying on exposition), the actors humanize their characters, and Greig Fraser’s mesmerizing cinematography immerses audiences in the psychedelic worlds that Herbert conjured up. Audiences will be enjoying this movie for years – especially if Villeneuve can stick the landing with the second half.
Nope (2022)
Jordan Peele has been one of the most revered filmmakers working today since he made his universally acclaimed directorial debut with the game-changing social thriller Get Out. Just as Get Out will still be discussed for years to come, Peele’s new cinematic opus Nope is destined to become a celebrated classic.
With its satire of spectacle, terrific performances by Keke Palmer and Daniel Kaluuya, and a truly unique take on the flying saucer trope, Nope is a sci-fi horror movie like no other.
Petite Maman (2021)
Most time travel narratives are about the struggle to get back to the future or fix the time machine, but Céline Sciamma’s beautiful mother-daughter story Petite Maman uses time travel to explore the similarities and differences between a young girl and her mother following the death of her maternal grandmother.
While staying at her mother’s childhood home, this girl goes out into the woods and befriends another young girl who turns out to be the younger version of her mother. This timeless tale will be just as beautiful in 50 years.
Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)
When Marvel was struggling to juggle multiversal worldbuilding with emotional storytelling, the Daniels came along to show them how it’s done with Everything Everywhere All at Once. It’s both a massively entertaining sci-fi actioner and a deeply affecting family drama.
This is a perfect movie. It has slapstick comedy, bizarre alternate universes, and breathtaking martial arts fights in spades, and they all serve a moving portrait of a mother and daughter’s struggle to connect.