The 20 most underrated movies from the 21st century

The greatest animated director ever, Hayao Miyazaki, specializes in lyrical hand-drawn imagery and mystical stories, like this fish-out-of-water tale about a fish becoming human. Swimming with poetry, overflowing with gorgeous visuals and breathtaking romance, the story of Ponyo is going to have you audibly saying "aww" while simultaneously blurting "wow!"

Not the Phoenix with unbearable heat and insufferable tech bros. We're talking about the movie Phoenix by Christian Petzold, about a Holocaust survivor who turns up with an unrecognizable face. Aching with trauma, the film haunts you with the grace of a Schubert piano composition, lingering with you long after the credits roll.

All the lives they wanted to be gangsters, but unlike in Scorsese's mafia, these are children living in what looks like a war-torn country. A stark contrast to the Italy most of us have seen, the Italy we see here is overrun by gangs that are at war with each other. Directed with gritty realism, the film unfolds like a documentary, viscerally placing you in this inescapable maze of corruption.

The worst stuntman in the world makes for some of comedy's greatest laughs. In Andy Samberg's Hot Rod, the comedian brings heart, humor, and hilarity to his quest to jump the cars, get the girl, and "not make a fool of himself in front of Denise."

There's a good chance you didn't realize one of the five greatest documentaries ever made was released this century. The Act of Killing follows the people who committed mass genocides in Indonesia in the present day, reenacting their atrocities the way a kid giddily shows off their skills at a talent show. Horrific, haunting, and interspersed with folklore poetry, the movie is a grim knockout.

Not underrated in how many people know it, but underrated in how many people perceive it--Tropic Thunder is one of the greatest comedies ever made. Satirizing movie-making while simultaneously making a great film, this is meta-genius from Ben Stiller, who follows a bunch of stuffy actors into a war movie that turns into a literal war. 

Don't cancel me, but Four Lions is hilarious! While it might seem distasteful to recommend a comedy about terrorists during terrorist attacks around the world, Four Lions explodes with laughs from its four stooges trying to enact a suicide mission.

Forget the tissues, bring a towel for this gutting divorce flick. While most people point to Marriage Story and Kramer vs. Kramer for heart-wrenching divorce flicks, none can match the overwhelming emotions in Asghar Farhadi's realistic drama.

Agnes Varda had the giddy energy of a child in her 80s, making perpetually interesting experiments with the warmth of a child's imagination. In Faces Places, she takes to the road to document someone plastering murals of everyday people on banal everyday buildings. It's full of life, empathy, and comedy, a snapshot of Agnes Varda's incredible filmmaking in her later years.

Scarlet Johansson pulls up next to you in a car with a flirtatious smile. You getting in? That's the strange genius of this film, in which Johansson actually pulled up on strangers in another country, with hidden cameras, and took them to be killed (in the movie, of course) as an alien who feasts on human flesh. It's terrible stuff, getting under your skin as the movie title explains. 

A road movie unlike any other, unless you are familiar with Wim Wenders' road movies of yore. Nebraska might at first seem as plain as the great plains, but it unfolds in beautiful ways while a son takes care of his cranky dad on his way to collect a nonexistent heap of cash.

I've rarely cried in a film more than A Hidden Life, not because of the story of a family refusing to conform to the Nazi regime, but because of Terrence Malick's ethereal filmmaking. Waterfalls rain from the heavens, the hills are alive as they haven't been since The Sound of Music, the camera soars like a bird and sprints like a dog through fields so majestic they couldn't possibly be real, but there they are in Malick's spiritual reverie.

Speaking of movies making me cry, there aren't many movies that can graffiti themselves on your heart like I, Daniel Blake. The neo-realist tale of a man in need of a job, being screwed over by the powers that be, the film is simple in looks yet profound in execution. By the end of the movie, you feel like you know Daniel Blake like you know your own grandpa.

I've noticed something with critics lately, that they ask where all the feel-good movies went, and then criticize a great feel-good movie for being schmaltzy or shallow. That was the case with Rental Family, one of last year's best films, which follows a man who is rented out to help families in need. What critics missed in this tender, moving drama about helping others is just how immaculately assembled it is, using Yasujiro Ozu's template for family dramas (and montages of Japan's simplicity) to poetic effect.

Somehow, this Groundhog Day alien invasion movie didn't get the traction you would think with Tom Cruise headlining, especially being one of the great action movies of this century. I guess that means we're just going to have to rewatch Cruise kick alien butt, over and over again, until people catch up on Edge of Tomorrow.

Hear me out: I know this movie made a gazillion dollars, not to mention billions in merch. What's underrated about Barbie is how great a film it is. It's the best movie of its year, crafted with cinema passion by Greta Gerwig, incredible set design, costumes, cinematography, and some of the best comedy...ever? This Barbie is made of anything but plastic.

Before directing Barbie, Greta Gerwig was one of the most luminous actresses. Overflowing with energy, her character in Frances Ha is trying to find herself in a new place, and the film is directed in a style that mixes Woody Allen with the French New Wave.

A hilarious movie about hitmen. In Bruges , a couple of assassins kill a couple of days while waiting for their next assignment, drinking beers, cracking jokes, and bickering until someone eventually dies. 

When a father and daughter are found living in the woods, they are forced to conform to everyday life. In this gorgeous, heartwrenching drama, the family goes through countless rough patches, but remains steadfast in their embrace of themselves. 

I can't think of a more quotable movie this century than Step Brothers. While many people see it as an immature R-rated comedy, those who get it realize that comedy is an art of making the immature mature, landing stupid jokes with intelligent execution. There are few movies more wonderful than this film.