Given that it's 2025, only a quarter of the way into the 21st century, this list is surely premature but that doesn't mean that it isn't valuable. The New York Times has created a fascinating list of the best movies from this first quarter of a century.
| # |
Title |
Year |
Director |
IMDb |
| 1 |
Parasite |
2019 |
Bong Joon Ho |
IMDb |
| 2 |
Mulholland Drive |
2001 |
David Lynch |
IMDb |
| 3 |
There Will Be Blood |
2007 |
Paul Thomas Anderson |
IMDb |
| 4 |
In the Mood for Love |
2000 |
Wong Kar Wai |
IMDb |
| 5 |
Moonlight |
2016 |
Barry Jenkins |
IMDb |
| 6 |
No Country for Old Men |
2007 |
Ethan & Joel Coen |
IMDb |
| 7 |
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind |
2004 |
Michel Gondry |
IMDb |
| 8 |
Get Out |
2017 |
Jordan Peele |
IMDb |
| 9 |
Spirited Away |
2001 |
Hayao Miyazaki |
IMDb |
| 10 |
The Social Network |
2010 |
David Fincher |
IMDb |
| 11 |
Mad Max: Fury Road |
2015 |
George Miller |
IMDb |
| 12 |
The Zone of Interest |
2023 |
Jonathan Glazer |
IMDb |
| 13 |
Children of Men |
2006 |
Alfonso Cuarón |
IMDb |
| 14 |
Inglourious Basterds |
2009 |
Quentin Tarantino |
IMDb |
| 15 |
City of God |
2002 |
Fernando Meirelles & Kátia Lund |
IMDb |
| 16 |
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon |
2000 |
Ang Lee |
IMDb |
| 17 |
Brokeback Mountain |
2005 |
Ang Lee |
IMDb |
| 18 |
Y tu mamá también |
2002 |
Alfonso Cuarón |
IMDb |
| 19 |
Zodiac |
2007 |
David Fincher |
IMDb |
| 20 |
The Wolf of Wall Street |
2013 |
Martin Scorsese |
IMDb |
| 21 |
The Royal Tenenbaums |
2001 |
Wes Anderson |
IMDb |
| 22 |
The Grand Budapest Hotel |
2014 |
Wes Anderson |
IMDb |
| 23 |
Boyhood |
2014 |
Richard Linklater |
IMDb |
| 24 |
Her |
2013 |
Spike Jonze |
IMDb |
| 25 |
Phantom Thread |
2017 |
Paul Thomas Anderson |
IMDb |
| 26 |
Anatomy of a Fall |
2023 |
Justine Triet |
IMDb |
| 27 |
Adaptation |
2002 |
Spike Jonze |
IMDb |
| 28 |
The Dark Knight |
2008 |
Christopher Nolan |
IMDb |
| 29 |
Arrival |
2016 |
Denis Villeneuve |
IMDb |
| 30 |
Lost in Translation |
2003 |
Sofia Coppola |
IMDb |
| 31 |
The Departed |
2006 |
Martin Scorsese |
IMDb |
| 32 |
Bridesmaids |
2011 |
Paul Feig |
IMDb |
| 33 |
A Separation |
2011 |
Asghar Farhadi |
IMDb |
| 34 |
WALL-E |
2008 |
Andrew Stanton |
IMDb |
| 35 |
A Prophet |
2009 |
Jacques Audiard |
IMDb |
| 36 |
A Serious Man |
2009 |
Ethan & Joel Coen |
IMDb |
| 37 |
Call Me by Your Name |
2017 |
Luca Guadagnino |
IMDb |
| 38 |
Portrait of a Lady on Fire |
2019 |
Céline Sciamma |
IMDb |
| 39 |
Lady Bird |
2017 |
Greta Gerwig |
IMDb |
| 40 |
Yi Yi |
2000 |
Edward Yang |
IMDb |
| 41 |
Amélie |
2001 |
Jean-Pierre Jeunet |
IMDb |
| 42 |
The Master |
2012 |
Paul Thomas Anderson |
IMDb |
| 43 |
Oldboy |
2005 |
Chan-wook Park |
IMDb |
| 44 |
Once upon a Time... in Hollywood |
2019 |
Quentin Tarantino |
IMDb |
| 45 |
Moneyball |
2011 |
Bennett Miller |
IMDb |
| 46 |
Roma |
2018 |
Alfonso Cuarón |
IMDb |
| 47 |
Almost Famous |
2000 |
Cameron Crowe |
IMDb |
| 48 |
The Lives of Others |
2006 |
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck |
IMDb |
| 49 |
Before Sunset |
2004 |
Richard Linklater |
IMDb |
| 50 |
Up |
2009 |
Pete Docter |
IMDb |
| 51 |
12 Years a Slave |
2013 |
Steve McQueen |
IMDb |
| 52 |
The Favourite |
2018 |
Yorgos Lanthimos |
IMDb |
| 53 |
Borat |
2006 |
Larry Charles |
IMDb |
| 54 |
Pan’s Labyrinth |
2006 |
Guillermo Del Toro |
IMDb |
| 55 |
Inception |
2010 |
Christopher Nolan |
IMDb |
| 56 |
Punch-Drunk Love |
2002 |
Paul Thomas Anderson |
IMDb |
| 57 |
Best in Show |
2000 |
Christopher Guest |
IMDb |
| 58 |
Uncut Gems |
2019 |
Benny & Josh Safdie |
IMDb |
| 59 |
Toni Erdman |
2016 |
Maren Ade |
IMDb |
| 60 |
Whiplash |
2014 |
Damien Chazelle |
IMDb |
| 61 |
Kill Bill: Vol 1 |
2003 |
Quentin Tarantino |
IMDb |
| 62 |
Memento |
2000 |
Christopher Nolan |
IMDb |
| 63 |
Little Miss Sunshine |
2006 |
Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris |
IMDb |
| 64 |
Gone Girl |
2014 |
David Fincher |
IMDb |
| 65 |
Oppenheimer |
2023 |
Christopher Nolan |
IMDb |
| 66 |
Spotlight |
2015 |
Tom McCarthy |
IMDb |
| 67 |
Tár |
2022 |
Todd Field |
IMDb |
| 68 |
The Hurt Locker |
2008 |
Kathryn Bigelow |
IMDb |
| 69 |
Under the Skin |
2013 |
Jonathan Glazer |
IMDb |
| 70 |
Let the Right One In |
2008 |
Tomas Alfredson |
IMDb |
| 71 |
Ocean’s Eleven |
2001 |
Steven Soderbergh |
IMDb |
| 72 |
Carol |
2015 |
Todd Haynes |
IMDb |
| 73 |
Ratatouille |
2007 |
Brad Bird |
IMDb |
| 74 |
The Florida Project |
2017 |
Sean Baker |
IMDb |
| 75 |
Amour |
2012 |
Michael Haneke |
IMDb |
| 76 |
O Brother, Where Art Thou? |
2000 |
Joel Coen |
IMDb |
| 77 |
Everything Everywhere All at Once |
2022 |
Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert |
IMDb |
| 78 |
Aftersun |
2022 |
Charlotte Wells |
IMDb |
| 79 |
The Tree of Life |
2011 |
Terrence Malick |
IMDb |
| 80 |
Volver |
2006 |
Pedro Almodóvar |
IMDb |
| 81 |
Black Swan |
2010 |
Darren Aronofsky |
IMDb |
| 82 |
The Act of Killing |
2012 |
Joshua Oppenheimer & Anonymous |
IMDb |
| 83 |
Inside Llewyn Davis |
2013 |
Ethan & Joel Coen |
IMDb |
| 84 |
Melancholia |
2011 |
Lars von Trier |
IMDb |
| 85 |
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy |
2004 |
Adam McKay |
IMDb |
| 86 |
Past Lives |
2023 |
Celine Song |
IMDb |
| 87 |
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring |
2001 |
Peter Jackson |
IMDb |
| 88 |
The Gleaners and I |
2000 |
Agnès Varda |
IMDb |
| 89 |
Interstellar |
2014 |
Christopher Nolan |
IMDb |
| 90 |
Frances Ha |
2012 |
Noah Baumbach |
IMDb |
| 91 |
Fish Tank |
2009 |
Andrea Arnold |
IMDb |
| 92 |
Gladiator |
2000 |
Ridley Scott |
IMDb |
| 93 |
Michael Clayton |
2007 |
Tony Gilroy |
IMDb |
| 94 |
Minority Report |
2002 |
Steven Spielberg |
IMDb |
| 95 |
The Worst Person in the World |
2021 |
Joachim Trier |
IMDb |
| 96 |
Black Panther |
2018 |
Ryan Coogler |
IMDb |
| 97 |
Gravity |
2013 |
Alfonso Cuarón |
IMDb |
| 98 |
Grizzly Man |
2005 |
Werner Herzog |
IMDb |
| 99 |
Memories of Murder |
2005 |
Bong Joon Ho |
IMDb |
| 100 |
Superbad |
2007 |
Greg Mottola |
IMDb |
