# The best movies of the 21st century

The top 25 of The New York Times' 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century (June 2025), voted by more than 500 directors, actors and other film people around the world.

- 515 votes · 25 items
- Feb 15, 2026 · dunedincinephile
- https://even.best/en/l/287/the-best-movies-of-the-21st-century

## Top 25

1. **Parasite** (43 · ▲47 ▼4) — Bong Joon-ho, 2019. The Kims infiltrate the Parks' house; the first non-English-language Best Picture winner and the NYT's number one.
2. **Mulholland Drive** (35 · ▲37 ▼2) — David Lynch, 2001. An aspiring actress and an amnesiac woman in a dreamlike Los Angeles.
3. **There Will Be Blood** (25 · ▲28 ▼3) — Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007. Daniel Day-Lewis as oilman Daniel Plainview: 'I drink your milkshake!'
4. **Moonlight** (24 · ▲27 ▼3) — Barry Jenkins, 2016. Three chapters in the life of Chiron in Miami; Oscar for Best Picture.
5. **In the Mood for Love** (23 · ▲24 ▼1) — Wong Kar-wai, 2000. Two neighbours in 1962 Hong Kong discover their spouses are having an affair.
6. **No Country for Old Men** (23 · ▲24 ▼1) — Joel and Ethan Coen, 2007. Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh, from Cormac McCarthy's novel; four Oscars.
7. **Spirited Away** (20 · ▲21 ▼1) — Hayao Miyazaki, 2001. Chihiro in the bathhouse of the spirits; the highest-ranked animated film on the list.
8. **Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind** (17 · ▲20 ▼3) — Michel Gondry, 2004. Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet erase each other from memory.
9. **Inglourious Basterds** (15 · ▲16 ▼1) — Quentin Tarantino, 2009. Brad Pitt's Basterds and Christoph Waltz's Hans Landa in occupied France.
10. **Get Out** (15 · ▲15 ▼0) — Jordan Peele, 2017. A weekend with the girlfriend's parents turns into horror and satire.
11. **Brokeback Mountain** (14 · ▲16 ▼2) — Ang Lee, 2005. Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, two cowboys in love over two decades.
12. **Children of Men** (13 · ▲17 ▼4) — Alfonso Cuarón, 2006. A world without births and Clive Owen escorting the first pregnant woman in 18 years.
13. **Mad Max: Fury Road** (13 · ▲16 ▼3) — George Miller, 2015. Furiosa and Max in a two-hour chase across the wasteland.
14. **The Zone of Interest** (12 · ▲14 ▼2) — Jonathan Glazer, 2023. The domestic life of the Auschwitz commandant, next to the camp wall.
15. **The Wolf of Wall Street** (11 · ▲16 ▼5) — Martin Scorsese, 2013. Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort, stockbroker of excess.
16. **The Social Network** (11 · ▲13 ▼2) — David Fincher, 2010. The birth of Facebook, written by Aaron Sorkin.
17. **The Grand Budapest Hotel** (11 · ▲12 ▼1) — Wes Anderson, 2014. Monsieur Gustave and the lobby boy Zero in a fictional Central European republic.
18. **Y Tu Mamá También** (10 · ▲12 ▼2) — Alfonso Cuarón, 2001. Two teenage friends and an older woman on a road trip through Mexico.
19. **Zodiac** (10 · ▲11 ▼1) — David Fincher, 2007. The obsession of a cartoonist, a reporter and a detective with the Zodiac killer.
20. **Boyhood** (10 · ▲10 ▼0) — Richard Linklater, 2014. Shot over twelve years with the same actors.
21. **Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon** (7 · ▲14 ▼7) — Ang Lee, 2000. Wuxia among the bamboo treetops; the highest-grossing foreign-language film in US history.
22. **Her** (7 · ▲12 ▼5) — Spike Jonze, 2013. Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with an operating system voiced by Scarlett Johansson.
23. **City of God** (7 · ▲10 ▼3) — Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, 2002. Rocket grows up amid the drug wars of a Rio favela.
24. **The Royal Tenenbaums** (5 · ▲9 ▼4) — Wes Anderson, 2001. A family of fallen child prodigies and their scheming father, Gene Hackman.
25. **Phantom Thread** (4 · ▲9 ▼5) — Paul Thomas Anderson, 2017. Daniel Day-Lewis as a 1950s London couturier in his last role before retiring.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.