14. CHILDREN
OF MEN (2006)
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón
It probably wasn't Universal's best decision, releasing Children of Men on Christmas Day 2006. How many people want to spend their holiday watching a dystopian nightmare, even if it is a work of art? That's sort of like showing A Clockwork Orange to your grandma on her birthday. Set in 2027, Men is a dark, ripping road movie that follows Clive Owen as he tries to lead the world's first pregnant woman in 18 years to safety. Some naysayers called it too bleak, but — more than any movie in recent memory — we believe this sci-fi thriller will be rediscovered as a true classic down the line.
POP CULTURE LEGACY What stands out is the way Y Tu Mamá También director Cuarón uses his futuristic setting to evoke today's world, with scary allusions sprinkled throughout to the Iraq war, Abu Ghraib, the Holocaust, and more.
THE BEST BIT Aided by a little CG trickery, Cuarón and his cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki, deliver some of the coolest tracking shots in the history of cinema — the best being a jaw-dropping, four-minute action sequence built around a carjacking attempt on a remote forest road. —Gregory Kirschling
