Best Movies Since 2000

Brandon Thompson
Aug 28, 2016
4 min read

Earlier this week the BBC released the results from a critics poll surveying the best movies released since 2000. Mulholland Dr reigned supreme clinching #1 spot. Other high scoring movies were There Will be Blood (#3), Spirited Away (#4), No Country for Old Men (#10) and Wall-E (#29). There were 177 critics to be exact.

But as for my favorites? Well below I assembled my top 10 along with 10 honorable mentions. (also I kept it to one film per director and the number on the side will be where the film ranked in the BBC poll and how many votes it received).

10 Honorable Mentions

It was hard to narrow down all the movies on IMDb that I've given 10/10 (79 to be exact) but here are the ones that almost made it.

20. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003, Dir. Peter Jackson) {did not place, 1 vote}

19. Holy Motors (2012, Dir. Leos Carax) {#16, 16 votes}

18. Inside Out (2015, Dir. Pete Docter & Co-Dir. Ronnie Del Carmen) {#41, 8 votes}

17. Memories of Murder (2003, Dir. Bong Joon-Ho) {did not place, 3 votes}

16. Tehran Taxi (2015, Dir Jafar Pahani) {did not place, 1 vote)

15. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015, Dir. George Miller) {#19, 14 votes}

14. Blue is the Warmest Colour (2013, Dir. Abdellatif Kechiche) {#45, 7 votes}

13. 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days (2007, Dir. Cristian Mungiu) {#15, 17 votes}

12. Adaption (2002, Dir. Spike Jonze) {did not place, 3 votes}

11. Moonrise Kingdom (2012, Dir. Wes Anderson) {#95, 5 votes}

The Top 10

10. The Social Network (2010, Dir. David Fincher) {#27, 13 votes}

Before this movie was made no one would've guessed a movie about Facebook would be this good. While there have been other great scripts written by Aaron Sorkin that have been turned into movies none of them are on the same level. Moneyball and Steve Jobs are two of the other scripts Sorkin has written and while they are backed by 'A level' directing, The Social Network is the only one with an 'A+ level' direction.

9. The Master (2012, Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson) {#24, 10 votes}

Three of the four movies directed by PTA made the BBC top 100 list and for a good reason. With every new movie Anderson avoids conforming to a style of story telling that can sum up his body of work. While if you've never seen The Master, you may know that it's about a cult but the cult setting is only there as a way to bring together two men who represent opposite sides of the evolutionary scale.

8. Dogtooth (2009, Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos) {did not place, 2 votes}

While this movie may make you feel uncomfortable like few movies can you'll want to revisit just for it's comments on how to raise a kid, society and propaganda. If you have seen The Lobster (Lanthimos's latest film) you're gonna want to see the film that made him big.

7. Requiem for a Dream (2000, Dir Darren Aronofsky) {#=100, 3 votes}

If you think a movie about taking drugs can't scare you out of doing them, just watch this film.

6. Enter the Void (2009, Dir. Gaspar Noe) {did not place, 3 votes}

The other film that will make you stop taking drugs. Both this film and Requiem for a Dream have been presented like few directors could and it makes for a more interesting time watching the both of them.

5. Boyhood (2014, Dir. Richard Linklater) {#5, 30 votes}

What's the story of your life between the ages of six and 18? Well you probably don't have one that fits inside a movie and Boyhood doesn't have one either. Every year this film was shot fits together so that it feels like a memory of you childhood rather than an over dramatic story.

4. The Tree of Life (2011, Dir. Terrence Malick) {#7, 23 votes}

If Boyhood is like a memory, The Tree of Life is that sensation, whether it be a smell, a touch or a sound that brings back those memories. If 2001 raised it's questions of life through its imagery, The Tree of Life does it through emotion and it's first act showing the creation of the universe.

3. Cache (2005, Dir. Michael Haneke) {#23, 13 votes}

Do you ever feel like you're being watched? Well Cache takes to the extreme as the family in question are being watched but by who? and why? If Fight Club is one of the best post 9/11 movies made before 9/11 then Cache is the best post Snowden movie before Snowden.

2. Children of Men (2006, Dir. Alfonso Curaon) {#13, 18 votes}

Most dystopian movies tells us the world has no hope but Children of Men doesn't do that. It's obvious when you single out Clive Owen's character as at the beginning he's given up but by the end... well you'll have to watch it.

1. Mulholland Dr (2001, Dir. David Lynch) {#1, 47 votes)

This isn't also my #1 just to be pretensions but because it deserves to be. Filled with great scene after another, Mulholland Drive is a movie that is made to be re-watched or should I say experience.