The Best Movies of the 21st Century

74. Hit Man (2023)
©Netflix
A professor moonlighting as a hit man of sorts for his city police department, descends into dangerous, dubious territory when he finds himself attracted to a woman who enlists his services.

73. Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
©Mirage Enterprises
After a stint in a mental institution, former teacher Pat Solitano moves back in with his parents and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife. Things get more challenging when Pat meets Tiffany, a mysterious girl with problems of her own.

72. The Big Sick
©FilmNation Entertainment
Pakistan-born comedian Kumail Nanjiani and grad student Emily Gardner fall in love but struggle as their cultures clash. When Emily contracts a mysterious illness, Kumail finds himself forced to face her feisty parents, his family’s expectations, and his true feelings.

71. Call Me by Your Name
©RT Features
In 1980s Italy, romance blossoms between a seventeen-year-old student and the older man hired as his father’s research assistant.

70. Civil War
©A24
In the near future, a team of journalists travel across the United States during a rapidly escalating civil war that has engulfed the entire nation.

69. Suzume
©Aniplex
A modern action adventure road story where a 17-year-old girl named Suzume helps a mysterious young man close doors from the other side that are releasing disasters all over in Japan.

68. TÁR
©Focus Features
Set in the international world of Western classical music, the film centers on Lydia Tár, widely considered one of the greatest living composer-conductors and the very first female director of a major German orchestra.

67. Challengers
©MGM
Follows three players who knew each other when they were teenagers as they compete in a tennis tournament to be the world-famous grand slam winner, and reignite old rivalries on and off the court.

66. No Country for Old Men
©Paramount
Violence and mayhem ensue after a hunter stumbles upon a drug deal gone wrong and more than two million dollars in cash near the Rio Grande.

64. Memories of Murder
©CJ
In a small Korean province in 1986, two detectives struggle with the case of multiple young women being found raped and murdered by an unknown culprit.

63. Nope ©Universal The residents of a lonely gulch in inland California bear witness to an uncanny and chilling discovery.

62. Joker
©Warner Bros
The rise of Arthur Fleck, from aspiring stand-up comedian and pariah to Gotham’s clown prince and leader of the revolution.

61. The Worst Person in the World
©Oslo Pictures
The chronicles of four years in the life of Julie, a young woman who navigates the troubled waters of her love life and struggles to find her career path, leading her to take a realistic look at who she really is.

60. Punch-Drunk Love
©New Line Cinema
Socially frustrated Barry Egan calls a phone-sex line to curb his loneliness. Little does he know it will land him in deep trouble and will jeopardize his burgeoning romance with the mysterious Lena.

59. When Evil Lurks
©Aramos Cine
In a remote village, two brothers find a demon-infected man just about to “give birth” to evil itself. They decide to get rid of the body, only to end up unintentionally spreading chaos.

58. The Power of the Dog
©BBC Films
Charismatic rancher Phil Burbank inspires fear and awe in those around him. When his brother brings home a new wife and her son, Phil torments them until he finds himself exposed to the possibility of love.

57. Licorice Pizza
©MGM
The story of Alana Kane and Gary Valentine growing up, running around and going through the treacherous navigation of first love in the San Fernando Valley, 1973.

51. Django Unchained
©Columbia Pictures
With the help of a German bounty-hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal plantation owner in Mississippi.

50. Wall-E
©Pixar
In the distant future, a small waste-collecting robot inadvertently embarks on a space journey that will ultimately decide the fate of mankind.

48. Spotlight
©Open Road
The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core.

47. Roma
©Netflix
A year in the life of a middle-class family’s maid in Mexico City in the early 1970s.

45. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
©Arte France Cinéma
On an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman.

44. The Lives of Others
©ARTE
In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police, conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover, finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.

43. 3 idiots
©Vinod Chopra Productions
Two friends are searching for their long lost companion. They revisit their college days and recall the memories of their friend who inspired them to think differently, even as the rest of the world called them “idiots”.

42. Memento
©Summit
A man with short-term memory loss attempts to track down his wife’s murderer.

41. The Invisible Guest
©Atresmedia Cine
A successful entrepreneur accused of murder and a witness preparation expert have less than three hours to come up with an impregnable defense.

40. Avengers: Infinity War
©Disney
The Avengers and their allies must be willing to sacrifice all in an attempt to defeat the powerful Thanos before his blitz of devastation and ruin puts an end to the universe.

39. Get Out
©Universal
A young African-American visits his White girlfriend’s parents for the weekend, where his simmering uneasiness about their reception of him eventually reaches a boiling point.

38. Inception
©WB
A thief who steals corporate secrets through the use of dream-sharing technology is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a C.E.O., but his tragic past may doom the project and his team to disaster.

36. Argo
©WB
Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1979.

35. Oppenheimer
©Universal Pictures
The story of American scientist, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and his role in the development of the atomic bomb.

34. RRR
©DVV Entertainmen
A fictitious story about two legendary revolutionaries and their journey away from home before they started fighting for their country in the 1920s.

33. Up
©Disney
78-year-old Carl Fredricksen travels to Paradise Falls in his house equipped with balloons, inadvertently taking a young stowaway.

32. Top Gun: Maverick
©Paramount
After thirty years, Maverick is still pushing the envelope as a top naval aviator, but must confront ghosts of his past when he leads TOP GUN’s elite graduates on a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those chosen to fly it.

31. Inglourious Btrds
©Universal Pictures
In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a plan to assassinate Nazi leaders by a group of Jewish U.S. soldiers coincides with a theatre owner’s vengeful plans for the same.

30. Birdman
©Fox
A washed-up superhero actor attempts to revive his fading career by writing, directing, and starring in a Broadway production.

29. Inside Out
©Disney
After young Riley is uprooted from her Midwest life and moved to San Francisco, her emotions – Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness – conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house, and school.

28. The Raid 2
©Sony
Only a short time after the first raid, Rama goes undercover with the thugs of Jakarta and plans to bring down the syndicate and uncover the corruption within his police force.

27. The Prestige
©WB
After a tragic accident, two stage magicians in 1890s London engage in a battle to create the ultimate illusion while sacrificing everything they have to outwit each other.

26. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
©Anonymus Content
When their relationship turns sour, a couple undergoes a medical procedure to have each other erased from their memories for ever.

25. Coco
©Disney
Aspiring musician Miguel, confronted with his family’s ancestral ban on music, enters the Land of the Dead to find his great-great-grandfather, a legendary singer.

24. The Grand Budapest Hotel
©Fox
A writer encounters the owner of an aging high-class hotel, who tells him of his early years serving as a lobby boy in the hotel’s glorious years under an exceptional concierge.

23. Children of Men
©Universal
In 2027, in a chaotic world in which women have somehow become infertile, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea.

22. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
©Sony
Teen Miles Morales becomes the Spider-Man of his universe and must join with five spider-powered individuals from other dimensions to stop a threat for all realities.

21. Whiplash
©Sony
A promising young drummer enrolls at a cut-throat music conservatory where his dreams of greatness are mentored by an instructor who will stop at nothing to realize a student’s potential.

20. The Social Network
©Columbia
As Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg creates the social networking site that would become known as Facebook, he is sued by the twins who claimed he stole their idea and by the co-founder who was later squeezed out of the business.

19. Gone Girl
©Fox
With his wife’s disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it’s suspected that he may not be innocent.

18. Mad Max: Fury Road
©WB
In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, a woman rebels against a tyrannical ruler in search for her homeland with the aid of a group of female prisoners, a psychotic worshiper and a drifter named Max.

17. Pan’s Labyrinth
©New Line
In the Falangist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.

16. Killers of the Flower Moon
©Apple TV+
Members of the Osage tribe in the United States are murdered under mysterious circumstances in the 1920s sparking a major FBI investigation involving J. Edgar Hoover.

15. Kill Bill
©Miramax
After awakening from a four-year coma, a former assassin wreaks vengeance on the team of assassins who betrayed her.

14. Spirited Away
©Studio Ghibli
During her family’s move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches and spirits, a world where humans are changed into beasts.

13. Before Sunset
©WB
Nine years after Jesse and Celine first met, they encounter each other again on the French leg of Jesse’s book tour.

12. There Will Be Blood
©Paramount
A story of family, religion, hatred, oil and madness, focusing on a turn-of-the-century prospector in the early days of the business.

11. La La Land
©Summit
While navigating their careers in Los Angeles, a pianist and an actress fall in love while attempting to reconcile their aspirations for the future.

10. The Wolf of Wall Street
©Paramount
Based on the true story of Jordan Belfort, from his rise to a wealthy stock-broker living the high life to his fall involving crime, corruption and the federal government.

09. Your Name
©Amuse
Two teenagers share a profound, magical connection upon discovering they are swapping bodies. Things manage to become even more complicated when the boy and girl decide to meet in person.

08. The Departed
©WB
An undercover cop and a mole in the police attempt to identify each other while infiltrating an Irish gang in South Boston.

07. Oldboy
©Tartan
After being kidnapped and imprisoned for fifteen years, Oh Dae-Su is released, only to find that he must find his captor in five days.

06. Mulholland Drive
©Universal Pictures
After a car wreck on the winding Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesiac, she and a perky Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.

05. The Dark Knight
©WB
When the menace known as the Joker wreaks havoc and chaos on the people of Gotham, Batman must accept one of the greatest psychological and physical tests of his ability to fight injustice.

04. Dune – Part Two
©WB
Paul Atreides unites with Chani and the Fremen while seeking revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family.

03. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
©New Line
Gandalf and Aragorn lead the World of Men against Sauron’s army to draw his gaze from Frodo and Sam as they approach Mount Doom with the One Ring.

02. City of God
©Miramax
In the slums of Rio, two kids’ paths diverge as one struggles to become a photographer and the other a kingpin.

01. Parasite
©TMS
Greed and class discrimination threaten the newly formed symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan.