When New York Times film critics Manohla Dargis and A.O. Scott recently published their list of The 25 Best Films of the 21st Century So Far, it not only served as fodder for many a debate among movie lovers of all ages, but it inspired other critics to follow suit and put together their own lists. Who am I to break ranks.
Here are the movies that I think have been the best since 2000. Caveat: to qualify for my list, a movie must have been released in the United States between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2016 and be a movie that I have or plan to watch again. Let the debates begin!
1. The Social Network
2. Brokeback Mountain
3. Mad Max: Fury Road
4. The Departed
5. Inglourious Basterds
6. Ocean’s Eleven
7. 3:10 to Yuma
8. WALL-E
9. Bridesmaids
10. Kill Bill: Volume 2
11. Gladiator
12. Carol
13. The Grand Budapest Hotel
14. Almost Famous
15. Kill Bill: Volume 1
16. 40-Year Old Virgin
17. No Country For Old Men
18. Best in Show
19. La La Land
20. The Tree of Life
21. Mean Girls
22. Birdman
23. Lost in Translation
24. The Dark Knight
25. Gravity
A couple of other lists to round it out:
FILMS I RESPECT BUT WILL NEVER WATCH AGAIN:
Gangs of New York
A Beautiful Mind
The Hours
Mystic River
Million Dollar Baby
United 93
Babel
The Cove
Traffic
There Will Be Blood
Slumdog Millionaire
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Precious
Lincoln
Life of Pi
12 Years a Slave
Room
Moonlight
BOTTOM 14: MOVIES I HATED, aka THE WORST MOVIES OF THE DECADE SO FAR
1. Requiem For a Dream
2. I Heart Huckabees
3. American Sniper
4. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
5. By the Sea
6. The Counselor
7. Adaptation
8. Atonement
9. Vanilla Sky
10. Avatar
11. Open Water
12. Australia
13. AI: Artificial Intelligence
14. Pearl Harbor