We are now into the 21st century, and numbers of movies have already release so far. That means it’s time for the sorting to start.
Some of our favorites may be left off, we couldn’t include them all but we’re confident every movies listed on this list will be remember 10, 20, 50, 100 years from now.
List of the Best Films of the century so far :
Mulholland Drive
YEAR : 2001
It’s a David Lynch movie.
Naomi Watts stars as a wanna-be actress who helps an amnesiac woman recover from a car crash, but soon finds herself caught up in a mystery that involves killers, doppelgangers, and some blue box.
Many directors have tried to replicate what David Lynch does here (the dream logic, the back-light, the twist) though no one has come close.
Wall-E
YEAR 2008
Wall-E is an all-time great romance.
A relationship blossoms between Wall-E and Eve like a plant in a landfill, the world has shipped off to space, but these two still find a connection on Earth.
You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll run to your kitchen for more tissues.
In the Mood For Love
YEAR 2000
This is the movie that establishe Wong Kar-Wai as a filmmaker to watch.
The whole thing is basically a trigger warning for blue balls, two neighbors spend a winter flirting with each other, but nothing ever happens.
Mad Max: Fury Road
YEAR 2015
Mad Max: Fury Road is effectively the opposite of In the Mood For Love.
It has a huge budget and lots of action.
The movie is full of stars, and the camera lingers on massive, fire-ball explosions.
George Miller’s first attempt at Mad Max was solid, but this time he shifts into high gear.
He makes Fast 9 look like Driving Miss Daisy.
Old Boy
YEAR 2004
A man taking revenge on the gang that kidnapped his daughter?
This ain’t your dad’s revenge flick, no sirree. This is the kind of revenge flick in which someone bashes another person’s face in with a hammer.
Roma
YEAR 2018
The masterpiece his entire career seem to have building towards, Alfonso Cuaron’s sumptuous reminisce of childhood and the housekeeper who care for him takes elements of everything he had ever made, the scale of Gravity, the humanity of Children of Men, the intimacy of Y tu mama tambien and wraps them into one majestic package.
The Turin Horse
YEAR 2011
The plot of The Turin Horse isn’t all that different.
Where that film was a waltz with death, The Turin Horse is a long, endless walk into the winds of fate.
There’s a bit of Chekhov, a bit of Beckett, and a whole lot of Revelation in this parable about a father and daughter waiting out a storm.
The result is a masterpiece in existentialism.
Step Brothers
YEAR 2008
On the comedic front, we have Will Ferrell’s greatest achievement.
It’s maybe the most “Will Ferrell” movie ever made.
We know that means you are either super excited (and probably have already seen it 10 times) or you are steering clear.
Beasts of the Southern Wild
YEAR 2012
Beasts of the Southern Wild lives up to its full potential.
Show me a movie that packs more tears, laughs, smiles, and energy into its runtime, and I’ll show you a liar.
The Act of Killing
YEAR 2013
The Act of Killing can also be as complex and chilling as any doc of its era. It tracks down the men who took part in the Indonesian mass killings of the mid-1960s and asks them to recreate and relive their crimes on camera.
Flattered by the attention, these mass-murders dig into their roles like children at a talent show they’re just happy to show us what they can do.
Hereditary
YEAR 2018
This is the scariest movie of the 21st century.
In terms of just pure dread, this breakout hit from Ari Aster takes the cake…and stabs it to pieces.
A blood-soaked, tear-stained update on Rosemary’s Baby, Aster’s modern classic mines screams not just via jump scares, but something several degrees more terrifying: a mother (Toni Collette) on the verge of a breakdown.
Uncle Boonme Who Can Recall His Past Lives
YEAR 2010
Uncle Boonmee: a three-minute static shot of a cow in a forest. Don’t worry, the movie picks up…sort of.
This dreamlike evocation of life and death features a man dying of cancer, plenty of ghosts, forests, lakes, and trees, and a princess getting it on with a catfish.
The Green Knight
YEAR 2021
It’s not every day you see someone level-up like David Lowery with The Green Knight.
The director somehow jumped from nobody to somebody, 6th man to all-star, rookie-of-the-year to MVP.
The man gave us one of the all-time great Fantasies last year, in which a knight travels through a mystical forest to face a wooded demon.
The journey is lush, adventurous, and exotic, a breakout for all involved.
The Dark Knight
YEAR 2008
Christopher Nolan’s take on the caped crusader is quite possibly the most cinematic movie of the 21st century: big, bold, and Holy Batman, have you seen the performances?
Lady Bird
YEAR 2017
This is one of those indies that feels 100% authentic.
The plot is simple, a teenage girl goes through her final year of high school, but there’s something wonderful about watching someone you can relate to.
Even if the heroine is nothing like you, her character is written so deftly that you laugh when she laughs, cry when she cries, and say “amen!” every time she raises her voice.
Yi Yi
YEAR 2000
Edward Yang’s final film is a kind of miracle: a movie set 8,000 miles away that feels as personal as a family photo.
You recognize everyone in it, the dad, the mom, the kids, the friends to the point where it doesn’t feel like you’re watching a movie. It feels like you’re living it.
Tropic Thunder
YEAR 2008
Tropic Thunder may not be well made, but I can’t think of another movie that made me split sides, roll on the floor and wipe-the-tears-out-of-my-eyes more than Ben Stiller’s satire.
Boyhood
YEAR 2014
This is a smaller film, one that was more of a festival mainstay in 2014.
So, it had a huge impact.
Richard Linklater won Best Director and the film took home Best Picture.
Also, many filmmakers have tried to replicate Linklater’s 12-years-in-the-making concept, to diminishing returns.
A Hidden Life
YEAR 2019
Terrence Malick is more focuse on the battle within.
The crisis of faith is much more interesting than the Battle of Midway, at least in Malick’s hands, and there’s no shortage of poetic imagery to keep things chugging along.
Waterfalls rain from the heavens; children frolic in the meadows.
Even the torture scenes seem to have been grace by God.
A Separation
YEAR 2011
Asghar Farhadi has honed his persona to a fine point.
You are in, or you’re not.
A Separation is another one of his dramas in which two people tread water while an entire nation tries to drown them.
Nothing good ever happens to a Farhadi protagonist, and yet, it’s impossible to take your eyes off a sinking ship.
There Will Be Blood
YEAR 2007
Paul Thomas Anderson’s magnum opus is also the 21st century’s magnum opus, a hypnotic, poetic, downright prophetic deep-dive into the pipelines of American capitalism and corporate greed.
Anderson struck oil by casting Daniel Day-Lewis in the role of Daniel Plainview, a man so evil you can smell his rot from across the room.
There are more enjoyable films on our list, but none are better.
