Best of the century

Top 25 films of 2000-2025

Exclusive to MeierMovies, September 1, 2025

As we celebrate the quarter-century mark, film critics and historians are launching their lists of top feature films. Not one to eschew bandwagons, I too am offering my inventory of the finest cinematic achievements of the 21st century.

Though I didn’t attempt to construct a diverse list, it ended up rather varied, with four suspense/horror/thriller films, two animated movies, two documentaries and one musical. There are five war films and even a (mostly) silent flick. Foreign-language films are disappointingly underrepresented, with just three. Christopher Nolan alone has that many. Other great directors are represented, including Joe Wright, Martin Scorsese, David Fincher, Sam Mendes, Roman Polanski, Michael Moore, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Clint Eastwood, Ang Lee and the Coen Brothers. In fact, the list reads almost like a “greatest directors list.” (Sadly, only one woman made the list.)

Most surprisingly, perhaps, is the absence of arguably the greatest director of the last 50 years, Steven Spielberg, though he would have several on the list if it were expanded to 50 (mostly notable Bridge of Spies and A.I.). Foreign-language movies would also be more prevalent if the list grew to 50. (Roma, La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty) and Spirited Away just missed this list.)

Even more shocking than the underrepresentation of Spielberg, female directors and non-English-language movies is the fact that only four of these 25 films won the Oscar for best picture. It makes you doubt the purpose of the Academy Awards.

For more movie rankings, see my lists page.

1. Atonement (2007), directed by Joe Wright. British auteur Joe Wright’s Atonement, my pick for the best film of the 21st century, redefines the war genre more than any other movie of its era. With its book-within-a-film format, it challenges our notions of storytelling, continuity and old-fashioned romance. Written by Christopher Hampton from Ian McEwan’s novel, the film is set over a period of five years, or perhaps four, in a nod to the muddled nature of memory or perhaps the vascular dementia of the “author.” (Look for other incongruities.) Starring an ethereal but also occasionally earthy Keira Knightley and an almost angelic James McAvoy, Atonement is a tale of late 1930s England and the early days of World War II. But it’s also a metatheatrical morality tale for all ages, in which nothing is quite what it seems for the characters or the audience. And like the beaches of Dunkirk in early June 1940, it’s a spectacle not to be forgotten.
2. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), by David Fincher
3. Dunkirk (2017), by Christopher Nolan
4. Hugo (2011), by Martin Scorsese
5. The Prestige (2006), by Christopher Nolan
6. Chicago * (2002), by Rob Marshall
7. Unbreakable (2000), by M. Night Shyamalan
8. Anna Karenina (2012), by Joe Wright
9. The Others (2001), by Alejandro Amenabar
10. Loving Vincent (2017), by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman
11. 1917 (2019), by Sam Mendes
12. The Pianist (2002), by Roman Polanski
13. Toy Story 3 (2010), by Lee Unkrich
14. Bowling for Columbine (2002), by Michael Moore
15. The Artist SlWS * (2011), by Michel Hazanavicius
16. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) * (2014), by Alejandro González Iñárritu
17. The Act of Killing FL (2013), by Joshua Oppenheimer
18. Holy Motors FL (2012), by Leos Carax
19. Finding Neverland (2004), by Marc Forster
20. Letters from Iwo Jima FL (2006), by Clint Eastwood
21. The Banshees of Inisherin (2022), by Martin McDonagh
22. Gladiator * (2000), by Ridley Scott
23. Inception (2010), by Christopher Nolan
24. Life of Pi (2012), by Ang Lee
25. Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), by Joel and Ethan Coen

For the best short film of the century, let me commend Dissonance, by Till Nowak, from 2015.

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