The buried treasures of cinema: Times film critics Kenneth Turan and Justin Chang focus in on overlooked films of the last 20 years

There's never been a better time to be a movie lover. The sheer volume of titles available, and the speed and ease with which consumers can access those titles no matter where they live, is unprecedented.

But all of those options can paradoxically make finding the very best films even more of a challenge. That's one reason why Times critics Kenneth Turan and Justin Chang resolved to collaborate on a list of 25 "buried treasures" from the last 20 years in cinema. (And took the additional step of adding five more personal favorites each on individual lists.)

Consider it a cheat sheet to help navigate an ocean of content. Many of their selections are available to stream or purchase online. This way you can spend less time searching, and more time watching.

KENNETH TURAN: All movies are not created equal, not only in terms of good and bad but also whether they are celebrated or obscure, embraced by a wider public or studiously ignored. If one of the pleasures of being a critic is having the mandate to explore and discover the hidden pleasures most people don't have the time to seek out, one of the frustrations is that these films are often in and out of theaters before audiences can discover them.

To remedy that, we came up with the notion of spotlighting 25 hidden gems from the last 20 years that deserve a second chance to prove how good they are.

JUSTIN CHANG: It should be noted that, if left to our own devices, we could have easily come up with 25, 50, even 100 more films (each!). Which is another way of saying that this is not a "best films" list; nor is it meant to be in any way definitive. Its purpose is simply to shed light on a group of films