The 100 Greatest Films Of The 21st Century According To The BBC

BBC Culture has just released a list of the 100 must-see movies from this century —supposedly. The “big 100” is based on a poll distributed to 177 film critics and journalists from 36 countries and all continents, apart from Antarctica.

With such a wide voting panel, the list is not only filled with recent blockbusters, but also features a number of less obvious films. We were particularly excited to see a wide geographical spread, with 57 films being English-speaking, and the rest covering a number of countries and languages. Now, on to the list, starting from #30:
30. Oldboy (Park Chan-wook, 2003)

29. WALL-E (Andrew Stanton, 2008)

28. Talk to Her (Pedro Almodóvar, 2002)

27. The Social Network (David Fincher, 2010)

26. 25th Hour (Spike Lee, 2002)

25. Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000)

24. The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2012)

23. Caché (Michael Haneke, 2005)

22. Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003)

21. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)

20. Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman, 2008)

19. Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller, 2015)

18. The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke, 2009)

17. Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo Del Toro, 2006)

16. Holy Motors (Leos Carax, 2012)

15. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu, 2007)

14. The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer, 2012)

13. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón, 2006)

12. Zodiac (David Fincher, 2007)

11. Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2013)

10. No Country for Old Men (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2007)

9. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi, 2011)

8. Yi Yi: A One and a Two (Edward Yang, 2000)

7. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)

6. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)

5. Boyhood (Richard Linklater, 2014)

4. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)

3. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)

2. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, 2000)

1. Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch, 2001)

What’s fascinating about the BBC critics list is how it compares to the IMDB user chart of the top films of the century, taken from the definitive Top 250 on the movie database site. Here is their selection of the 30 greatest films made since 2000:

30. Up (Pete Docter and Bob Peterson, 2009)

29. Batman Begins (Christopher Nolan, 2005)

28. The Hunt (Thomas Vinterberg, 2012)

27. 3 Idiots (Rajkumar Hirani, 2009)

26. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi, 2011)

25. Inglorious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009)

24. Snatch (Guy Ritchie, 2000)

23. Toy Story 3 ( Lee Unkrich, 2010)

22. Requiem For a Dream (Darren Aronofsky, 2000)

21. Amélie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001)

20. Oldboy (Chan-wook Park, 2003)

19. The Dark Knight Rises (Christopher Nolan, 2012)

18. Wall-E (Andrew Stanton, 2008)

17. Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino, 2012)

16. The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006)

15. The Prestige (Christopher Nolan, 2006)

14. Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000)

13. Gladiator (Ridley Scott, 2000)

12. Whiplash (Damien Chapelle, 2014)

11. The Pianist (Roman Polanski, 2002)

10. The Departed (Martin Scorsese, 2006)

9. The Intouchables (Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledo, 2011)

8. Interstellar( Christopher Nolan, 2014)

7. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)

6. City of God (Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, 2002)

5. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Peter Jackson, 2002)

4. Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010)

3. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings (Peter Jackson, 2001)

2. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Peter Jackson, 2003)

1. The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008)

Do you agree with the critics or the fans? Let us know in the comments below!

About the author

Ewa Zubek

VP Social

Ewa [ey-va] was born into a newly democratic Poland, but raised in England, where she studied French and German at the University of Oxford. An insatiable explorer, she’s lived in Florence, Berlin, Brussels, London, Warsaw and Singapore, worked at diplomatic institutions and has written for international publications, including The Huffington Post. A regular contributor to Culture Trip since its very beginning, Ewa quickly fell in love with the pace and creativity of the start-up world and, soon after, became the company’s first Managing Editor and then Director of Operations. Now, as the platform’s Social Media Director, Ewa oversees social strategy across the hubs and the rest of the world. Outside of The Culture Trip, you can find her writing (unabashedly), reading (critically) or country-hopping (methodically).