Best Movies Of The 21st Century (So Far)

Mulholland Drive. Image courtesy of Universal Pictures.

So, I'm a little late to this one. Last year, a number of critics put out lists of their favorite films of the 21st century so far. I missed the boat.

Below, find my list of 100 movies that I believe to be the best that the century has to offer so far. The films are listed in order of the year in which they were released. Feel free to weigh in in the comment section.

* If Twin Peaks: The Return (2017, David Lynch) were considered a movie, it would most surely make this list. Some critics placed it on their 2017 best of the year lists. Technically, it's a TV show, but it deserves some sort of mention here.

Almost Famous (2000, Cameron Crowe)
Beau Travail (2000, Claire Denis)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, Ang Lee)
Requiem for a Dream (2000, Darren Aronofsky)
Traffic (2000, Steven Soderbergh)
You Can Count On Me (2000, Kenneth Lonergan)
Amelie (2001, Jean Pierre Jeunet)
In the Mood for Love (2001, Wong Kar Wai)
Memento (2001, Christopher Nolan)
Mulholland Drive (2001, David Lynch)
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001, Wes Anderson)
Werckmeister Harmonies (2001, Bela Tarr)
Adaptation (2002, Spike Jonze)
Far From Heaven (2002, Todd Haynes)
Gangs of New York (2002, Martin Scorsese)
The Pianist (2002, Roman Polanski)
Talk To Her (2002, Pedro Almodovar)
City of God (2003, Fernando Meiralles)
Elephant (2003, Gus Van Sant)
Kill Bill vols. I & II (2003-2004, Quentin Tarantino)
Lost In Translation (2003, Sofia Coppola)
Mystic River (2003, Clint Eastwood)
Bad Education (2004, Pedro Almodovar)
Dogville (2004, Lars Von Trier)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004, Michel Gondry)
Million Dollar Baby (2004, Clint Eastwood)
Sideways (2004, Alexander Payne)
Brokeback Mountain (2005, Ang Lee)
Cache (2005, Michael Haneke)
Grizzly Man (2005, Werner Herzog)
A History of Violence (2005, David Cronenberg)
Munich (2005, Steven Spielberg)
Mysterious Skin (2005, Gregg Araki)
The Squid and the Whale (2005, Noah Baumbach)
Children of Men (2006, Alfonso Cuaron)
The Departed (2006, Martin Scorsese)
Inland Empire (2006, David Lynch)
Pan's Labyrinth (2006, Guillermo del Toro)
Three Times (2006, Hou Hsiao Hsien)
United 93 (2006, Paul Greengrass)
Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007, Andrew Dominik)
Eastern Promises (2007, David Cronenberg)
I'm Not There (2007, Todd Haynes)
No Country for Old Men (2007, Joel and Ethan Coen)
There Will Be Blood (2007, Paul Thomas Anderson)
Zodiac (2007, David Fincher)
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2008, Cristian Mungiu)
Happy Go Lucky (2008, Mike Leigh)
Milk (2008, Gus Van Sant)
Wall-E (2008, Andrew Stanton)
The Wrestler (2008, Darren Aronofsky)
The Hurt Locker (2009, Kathryn Bigelow)
Inglourious Basterds (2009, Quentin Tarantino)
A Serious Man (2009, Joel and Ethan Coen)
Silent Light (2009, Carlos Reygadas)
The White Ribbon (2009, Michael Haneke)
Another Year (2010, Mike Leigh)
Black Swan (2010, Darren Aronofsky)
Carlos (2010, Olivier Assayas)
The Social Network (2010, David Fincher)
Winter's Bone (2010, Debra Granik)
A Dangerous Method (2001, David Cronenberg)
Drive (2011, Nicolas Winding Refn)
Le Havre (2011, Aki Kaurismaki)
Melancholia (2011, Lars Von Trier)
A Separation (2011, Asghar Farhadi)
Take Shelter (2011, Jeff Nichols)
The Tree of Life (2011, Terrence Malick)
Amour (2012, Michael Haneke)
Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012, Benh Zeitlin)
Django Unchained (2012, Quentin Tarantino)
Holy Motors! (2012, Leos Carax)
The Master (2012, Paul Thomas Anderson)
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2012, Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
Zero Dark Thirty (2012, Kathryn Bigelow)
Blue is the Warmest Color (2013, Abdellatif Kechiche)
Her (2013, Spike Jonze)
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013, Joel and Ethan Coen)
12 Years a Slave (2013, Steve McQueen)
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013, Martin Scorsese)
Birdman (2014, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)
Boyhood (2014, Richard Linklater)
Inherent Vice (2014, Paul Thomas Anderson)
Selma (2014, Ava DuVernay)
Under the Skin (2014, Jonathan Glazer)
Brooklyn (2015, John Crowley)
Carol (2015, Todd Haynes)
Clouds of Sils Maria (2015, Olivier Assayas)
Son of Saul (2015, Laszlo Nemes)
Spotlight (2015, Thomas McCarthy)
Manchester by the Sea (2016, Kenneth Lonergan)
Moonlight (2016, Barry Jenkins)
Paterson (2016, Jim Jarmusch)
O.J.: Made in America (2016, Ezra Edelman)
Toni Erdmann (2016, Maren Ade)
Call Me By Your Name (2017, Luca Guadagnino)
The Florida Project (2017, Sean Baker)
Lady Bird (2017, Greta Gerwig)
Personal Shopper (2017, Olivier Assayas)
Phantom Thread (2017, Paul Thomas Anderson)