It is often hard to determine if people are going to remember a movie as a masterpiece in the future. Many movies from the past were flops when they came out or were otherwise ignored by critics and most fans until years after their release. Films like Vertigo and Wizard of Oz remain beloved classics, but not until they resurfaced decades after their release.
That makes it hard to determine how people will remember new movies decades from now. Over the last decade, there have been some critically acclaimed movies, but how many will stand the test of time. Reddit users have an idea of which ones are most likely to remain relevant years into the future.
Get Out (2017)
Rent On Apple TV
Jordan Peele released his directorial debut Get Out in 2017 and it was a massive success. The movie attacked systematic racism in a creative and fresh way and captured audience’s attention. It ended up earning an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, a rarity for a horror movie, and it won Best Original Screenplay.
On Reddit, @Euphoric_Reaction399 wrote that Get Out will remain relevant 50 years into the future because it is “undeniably important in terms of their impact on cinema” yet has the danger of becoming “less identifiable once the boundary has been broken and other films begin to follow it’s example.”
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Stream On HBO Max & AMC+
When it comes to a movie that just blew fans’ minds when it came out, the long-awaited sequel to the Mad Max trilogy did just that. Mad Max: Fury Road took a long time to get to theaters, but when it did, the movie was a spectacle of entertainment and action.
Just because a movie is an action-packed thrill ride does not mean it is not significant enough to have fans decades into the future. @I_BUY_UNWANTED_GRAVY wrote that it will remain relevant because it is “an action masterclass that has the timeless quality of greedy men destroying the world.”
Spotlight (2015)
Rent On Vudu
There are some movies that stand the test of time because they show the importance of revealing the truth to the masses. From the 1970s, All The President’s Men remains relevant almost 40 years later, and there are still movies coming out that offer up similar tales of investigative journalism.
Spotlight is one of these movies. @AJerkForAllSeasons reasoned that the movie will remain relevant because of its timeliness, writing, “just because it’s still a big problem and the true story happened 20 years ago.” The Oscar winner was about allegations of abuse in the Catholic Church,
Prisoners (2013)
Stream On Hulu
Sometimes movies are just hard hitting, and that is enough for people to remember them years later. The 1970s is full of movies with broken people doing bad things, with Dog Day Afternoon a great example. Martin Scorsese is an icon now with several landmark movies and Denis Villeneuve is heading in that direction.
In 2013, he released Prisoners, about a man whose daughter was abducted who takes the law into his own hands. @mr_pineapples44 wrote that it was “genuinely one of the most uncomfortable movies I have ever watched” and a movie that will remain known for “testing boundaries.”
No Country For Old Men (2007)
Stream On HBO Max
The Coen Brothers won an Oscar for their 2007 movie No Country For Old Men, creating a film full of atmosphere that featured one of the greatest villains to ever grace the big screen. The movie stands tall with others that have remained relevant years later like Easy Rider.
When arguing its case, @bluesbrother319 wrote that it is a “relatable story for anyone that has ever daydreamed about finding money and the consequences of that.” The acting and setting alone will make it a classic that should last the rest of time.
Hereditary (2018)
Stream On Showtime & Kanopy
Every era has a horror movie that people remember long after its release. From the old Universal Horror movies and the films of Val Lewton to the terror-filled movies of the 1970s like The Exorcist, there are movies that still scare people as much today as they did so many years ago.
On Reddit, @mwmani wrote that Hereditary is that type of movie. “I think we will still be talking about Hereditary fifty years after its release,” they wrote. “I believe it has the staying power of similarly heralded genre movies from the 1970s.”
The Wolf Of Wall Street (2013)
Stream On Paramount+
There’s no doubt that Martin Scorsese is one of the best filmmakers of his time, and might go down as one of the greatest in cinema history. He already has masterpieces that stood the test of time, from Raging Bull to Goodfellas. In 2013, he added another to that list with The Wolf of Wall Street.
While arguing its case, @Nolofinwe_Curufinwe wrote that “Taxi Driver is almost 50 years now and its a classic, Wolf wont have the same status, but will still be sought out by cinephiles.”
Parasite (2019)
Stream On Hulu & Kanopy
When looking into the future, it is impossible to know when a movie will stand the test of time as a masterpiece. It is even harder to know if it will still be relevant because when times change, tastes change. Problems will not always remain the same. However, for cinephiles, there will always be movies that never falter because of their place in history.
Redditor @Rudi-G wrote that they couldn’t think of any, but they backtracked and pointed to Parasite. The reason for this is because “it was the first foreign language Best Picture winner. This of course if Oscars will still be relevant by then.”
Arrival (2016)
Stream On Hulu
If there is one genre that allows movies to remain relevant and stand the test of time, it is science fiction. While it is often funny to watch a movie that imagined a future in the year it was supposed to happen, that doesn’t change the brilliance of these movies. From Blade Runner and 2001: A Space Odyssey to Back to the Future, these movies just last.
@gewoonmoi wrote on Reddit that Arrival could be one of these movies. “Ex Machina and Arrival will always remain a thing, simply because they are rare mature, quality sci-fi,” they wrote.
The Social Network (2010)
Stream On Netflix
It is impossible to think there could be another Citizen Kane. However, that is looking at the movie for its technical breakthroughs. When examining that movie for the story, it was about one of the most powerful newspaper publishers of the era, and it wasn’t afraid to break him down.
In the last decade, there was a movie that did the same thing with the most powerful man in the social media world – Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook. @tacoman333 wrote that The Social Network could be one of those movies that last, writing, “the shared themes such as the power of greed and obsession, and the desire to make a mark on the world, will always be relevant no matter the year.”
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