The New York Times this week released its list of the 100 best movies of the 21st century and invited readers to vote for their top 10. The movie buff and former film critic in me couldn’t resist.
I’ve seen 81 of the films on the Times’ list. Many of the remaining 19 have been sitting on my watchlist for years. Now I’m motivated to finally check them off.
Meanwhile, here’s the top 10 ballot I submitted to the Times. Well, my top 10 list as of this moment. Ask me tomorrow and a few titles probably swap places with others that didn’t make the top cut.
But why stop at 10?
Here is a longer list of favorites, films that, for one reason or another, stand out to me among the hundreds of movies I’ve seen over the past 25 years. They’re listed chronologically, without commentary. Maybe I’ll write more about some of them one day. Maybe not. We’ll see.
2001
Ghost World
Shrek
Monsters, Inc.
Mulholland Drive
Y Tu Mamá También
2003
Dogville
Finding Nemo
School of Rock
2004
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Napoleon Dynamite
2005
Grizzly Man
Match Point
The New World
2006
Borat
Children of Men
The Departed
The Lives of Others
2007
Hannah Takes the Stairs
Juno
Lars and the Real Girl
No Country for Old Men
Ratatouille
There Will Be Blood
2008
The Dark Knight
In Bruges
2009
District 9
Dogtooth
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Fish Tank
Inglourious Basterds
A Serious Man
Up in the Air
2010
The Social Network
Winter’s Bone
2011
The Cabin in the Woods
Melancholia
Midnight in Paris
Oslo, August 31st
The Tree of Life
2012
Moonrise Kingdom
Starlet
2013
American Hustle
Blue Is the Warmest Color
Gravity
Her
Ida
2014
Boyhood
Force Majeure
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
The Grand Budapest Hotel
A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
Under the Skin
2015
The Big Short
Brooklyn
Crimson Peak
Ex Machina
The Lure
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Witch
2016
Arrival
Hell or High Water
Lady Macbeth
2017
The Florida Project
Get Out
A Ghost Story
I, Tonya
The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Phantom Thread
Twin Peaks: The Return
2018
Cold War
Damsel
Hereditary
Leave No Trace
2019
About Endlessness
Beanpole
JoJo Rabbit
The Lighthouse
Midsommar
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Uncut Gems
Us
2021
Pig
The Worst Person in the World
2022
Aftersun
The Menu
Tár
You Won’t Be Alone
X
2023
May December
Oppenheimer
The Zone of Interest
One final note: The New York Times’ list should really be titled “The 100 Best Movies of the 2000s,” since it includes a handful of films that were released in 2000. I hate to be that guy, but the 21st century began on Jan. 1, 2001, not 2000. (Look it up if you don’t know why.) It bugs me when people — and worse, publications of record — don’t or refuse to get that right.
If we are counting 2000 as the start of the century, then I’m adding Lars von Trier’s Dancer in the Dark and Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Amores Perros to my big list. Dancer in the Dark might even crack my top 10. Definitely top 20.
And do you consider Twin Peaks: The Return a film? I’m on board with those critics and publications that do. A few even named it the best film of 2017 and the best film of the 2010s.