The NY Times' '100 BEST MOVIES OF THE 21ST CENTURY'

[Chris Knipp]

The NY Times' '100 Best Movies of the 21st Century'

It was published June 23, 2025. I have scraped it down to just the list without the names of the celebrities polled and their various comments. For those if you are a subscriber you may go to HERE.
What's here that you think shouldn't be? What are the glaring omissions? (The Times has a larger list that gives some of those.) These 100 are worth knowing about anyway, and worth reconsidering if it's been a while since you saw them.

THE 100 BEST MOVIES OF THE 21st CENTURY

100 Superbad. Greg Mottola, 2007
99 Memories of Murder. Bong Joon Ho, 2005
98 Grizzly Man. Werner Herzog, 2005
97 Gravity. Alfonso Cuarón, 2013
96 Black Panther. Ryan Coogler, 2018
95 The Worst Person in the World. Joachim Trier, 2021
94 Minority Report. Steven Spielberg, 2002
93 Michael Clayton. Tony Gilroy, 2007
92 Gladiator. Ridley Scott, 2000
91 Fish Tank. Andrea Arnold, 2010
90 Frances Ha. Noah Baumbach, 2013
89 Interstellar. Christopher Nolan, 2014
88 The Gleaners & I. Agnès Varda, 2001
87 The Lord of the[ Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Peter Jackson, 2001
86 Past Lives. Celine Song, 2023
85 Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Adam McKay, 2004
84 Melancholia. Lars von Trier, 2011
83. Inside Llewyn Davis. Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, 2013
82 The Act of Killing. Joshua Oppenheimer and Anonymous, 2013
81 Black Swan. Darren Aronofsky, 2010
80 Volver. Pedro Almodóvar, 2006
79 The Tree of Life. Terrence Malick, 2011
78 Aftersun. Charlotte Wells, 2022
77 Everything Everywhere All at Once. Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, 2022
76 O Brother, Where Art Thou? Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, 2000
75 Amour. Michael Haneke, 2012
74 The Florida Project. Sean Baker, 2017
73 Ratatouille. Brad Bird, 2007
72 Carol. Todd Haynes, 2015
71 Ocean’s Eleven. Steven Soderbergh, 2001
70 Let the Right One In. Tomas Alfredson, 2008
69 Under the Skin. Jonathan Glazer, 2014
68 The Hurt Locker. Kathryn
66 Spotlight.Tom McCarthy, 2015
65 Oppenheimer. Christopher Nolan, 2023
64 Gone Girl. David Fincher, 2014
63 Little Miss Sunshine Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, 2006
62 Memento. Christopher Nolan, 2001
61 Kill Bill: Vol. 1. Quentin Tarantino, 2003
60 Whiplash. Damien Chazelle, 2014
59 Toni Erdmann. Maren Ade, 2016
58 Uncut Gems. Benny Safdie and Josh Safdie, 2019
57 Best in Show. Christopher Guest, 2000
56 Punch-Drunk Love. Paul Thomas Anderson, 2002
55 Inception. Christopher Nolan, 2010
54 Pan’s Labyrinth. Guillermo del Toro, 2006
53 Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. Larry Charles, 2006
52 The Favourite. Yorgos Lanthimos, 2018
51 12 Years a Slave. Steve McQueen, 2013
50 Up. Pete Docter, 200949 Before Sunset. Richard Linklater, 2004
48 The Lives of Others. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2007
47 Almost Famous. Cameron Crowe, 2000
46 Roma.Alfonso Cuarón, 2018
45 Moneyball. Bennett Miller, 2011
44 Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood. Quentin Tarantino, 2019
43 Oldboy. Park Chan-wook, 2005
42 The Master. Paul Thomas Anderson, 2012
41 Amélie. Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001
40 Yi Yi. Edward Yang, 2000
39 Lady Bird . Greta Gerwig, 201
38 Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Céline Sciamma, 2019
37 Call Me by Your Name. Luca Guadagnino, 2017
36 A Serious Man. Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, 2009
35 A Prophet. Jacques Audiard, 2010
34 Wall-E. Andrew Stanton, 2008
33 A Separation. Asghar Farhadi, 2011
32 Bridesmaids. Paul Feig, 2011
31nThe Departed. Martin Scorsese, 2006
30 Lost in Translation. Sofia Coppola, 2003
29 Arrival. Denis Villeneuve, 2016
28 The Dark Knight. Christopher Nolan, 2008
27 Adaptation. Spike Jonze, 2002
26 Anatomy of a Fall. Justine Triet, 2023
35 Phantom Thread. Paul Thomas Anderson, 2017
24 Her. Spike Jonze, 2013
23 Boyhood. Richard Linklater, 2014
22 The Grand Budapest Hotel. Wes Anderson, 2014
21 The Royal Tenenbaums. Wes Anderson, 2001
20 The Wolf of Wall Street. Martin Scorsese, 2013
19 Zodiac. David Fincher, 2007
18 Y tu mamá también. Alfonso Cuarón, 2002
17 Brokeback Mountain. Ang Lee, 2005
16 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Ang Lee, 2000
15 City of God. Fernando Meirelles, 2003
14 Inglourious Basterds. Quentin Tarantino, 2009
13 Children of Men. Alfonso Cuarón, 2006
12 The Zone of Interest. Jonathan Glazer, 2023
11 Mad Max: Fury Road. George Miller, 2015
10 The Social Network. David Fincher, 2010
9 Spirited Away. Hayao Miyazaki, 2002
8 Get Out. Jordan Peele, 2017
7 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Michel Gondry, 2004
6 No Country for Old Men. Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, 2007
5 Moonlight. Barry Jenkins, 2016
4 In the Mood for Love. Wong Kar-Wai, 2001
3 There Will Be Blood.Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007
2 Mulholland Drive. David Lynch, 2001
1 Parasite. Bong Joon Ho, 2019

[Chris Knipp]

Some of the comments with list items above are too good to lose.
Such as:


35 A Prophet. Jacques Audiard, 2010

Sadly, the outlines of this story — a teenager is sent to prison and emerges a hardened criminal — aren’t surprising. But Jacques Audiard is all about specifics, even deploying iris shots to direct our attention as Malik, an illiterate French teenager of Arab descent, uses his smarts not just to get by but to get ahead. Malik (a terrifically subtle Tahar Rahim) is also a stand-in for young Muslims dealing with prejudice and a lack of opportunity in France’s banlieues. In the years since this drama’s release, it has only grown more relevant.

"The realism of it was so shocking to me. There was just nothing held back. It gave me a view into a world that I had no idea about, and I felt like it was telling me the truth. It felt dangerous, almost like, ‘How am I allowed to see this?’"

Benny Safdie, actor-director

28 The Dark Knight. Christopher Nolan, 2008

Indifference to superheroes isn’t a prerequisite for making a great film about them. But Christopher Nolan’s allergy to comic-book logic and his infatuation with the grown-up crime movie canon (especially “Heat” and “The Godfather”) revitalized a character still laboring to emerge from the miasma of “Batman & Robin.” The second entry and high-water mark of Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy poses fruitful questions about the naïveté of its protagonist’s moral code. But the film’s greatest asset is Heath Ledger, whose staggering performance as the Joker set the bar for subsequent supervillains forever.

17 Brokeback Mountain. Ang Lee, 2005

"The gay cowboy movie" did more than start water-cooler conversations and win several Oscars (its best picture loss to “Crash” remains a notorious bugaboo of Oscar lore). Ang Lee’s austere, gently paced western turned a clandestine romance between two Wyoming ranch hands (Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal) into one of cinema’s great tragic love stories, as aesthetically beautiful as it was emotionally shattering.

14 Inglourious Basterds. Quentin Tarantino, 2009 ]

Brad Pitt, dressed in a brown military uniform, looks at two soldiers in green jackets with guns.
Quentin Tarantino’s World War II revenge tale is epic but intimate: Life and death turn on a hand gesture, a dessert topping, a bad accent (not whatever Tennessee accent Brad Pitt is using — that one’s hilarious). Christoph Waltz stands out in a stacked ensemble cast, and won the best supporting actor Oscar. But after a conflagration of revisionist history has burned this movie to the ground, Pitt gets the last word, and it’s hard not to hear it in Tarantino’s voice: “I think this just might be my masterpiece."

10 The Social Network. David Fincher, 2010

Less a biography than an evisceration, David Fincher’s hypnotically unflattering, often brutally funny origin story about Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) and the creation of Facebook opens with a man and woman breaking up. By movie’s end, the man is the world’s loneliest billionaire, compulsively clicking refresh on his Facebook page. When “The Social Network” debuted, it seemed like a borderline cruel take on a classic American success story. Given how social media has radically reshaped the world, the film now seems almost quaint — and not nearly cruel enough.
“I’d say watch ‘The Social Network’ if you want to see what a perfect film looks like.”

Simu Liu, actor