Top 100 Films of the 21st Century—Curated by SBVC Film Professor Lucas Cuny: Op-Ed
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Select films from Lucas Cuny’s list of the 100 best films of the 21st century include titles like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Poor Things, Up in the Air, Sin Nombre, There Will Be Blood, Sideways, The Man Who Wasn’t There, and Adaptation.
By Lucas Cuny, Chair of the Film, Television & Media Department at San Bernardino Valley College
After spending time compiling my Top 100 films of the 21st century, a clear pattern started to emerge.
In looking back at the past 24 years of cinema, I noticed how things have come full circle. The early 2000s marked the end of the independent film wave of the 1990s—when filmmakers were focused on character, realism, and story over scale. That was followed by a long stretch where high-concept and tentpole movies dominated theaters. But in the last four or five years, there’s been a clear return to independent, character-driven, low-concept films. You can see it reflected in the alignment between recent Oscar winners and Independent Spirit Award recipients. Anora and American Fiction are just two examples of this shift.
Here are 25 standout films from Cuny’s Top 100 list that define 21st-century cinema so far:
- No Country for Old Men (2007)
- Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
- Zodiac (2007)
- Children of Men (2006)
- The Social Network (2010)
- The Tree of Life (2011)
- In the Mood for Love (2000)
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
- Under the Skin (2013)
- Memories of Murder (2003)
- Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
- Anora (2024)
- There Will Be Blood (2007)
- Drive My Car (2021)
- Phantom Thread (2017)
- Get Out (2017)
- The Master (2012)
- The Power of the Dog (2021)
- The Zone of Interest (2023)
- Moonlight (2016)
- Yi Yi (2000)
- Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
- American Fiction (2023)
- Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
- Lady Bird (2017)
To see the complete Top 100 list, click here.
