# NY Times Readers' 100 Top Movies of the 21st Century **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [July 3, 2025, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-readers-100-top-movies-of-the-21st-century/1020441 "2025-07-03T12:46:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2025, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-readers-100-top-movies-of-the-21st-century/1020441/1 "2025-07-03T12:46:16Z")
What isn’t on here that should be? What is on here that should NOT be? What is way too high, way too low, or just right? Here is the list. [![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/VWen9py.png "NY Times Readers") ](https://imgur.com/gallery/ny-times-readers-list-top-100-of-21st-century-2025-KuFUTev) Thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2025, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-readers-100-top-movies-of-the-21st-century/1020441/2 "2025-07-03T12:48:37Z")
Children of Men should be higher. I haven’t seen all the ones on the list, but it’s better than all the ones I have seen. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2025, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-readers-100-top-movies-of-the-21st-century/1020441/3 "2025-07-03T12:51:15Z")
A bit early to be listing the top 100 of the century, isn’t it? I’ve heard of most of those, but only seen two of them (#44 and #96). ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2025, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-readers-100-top-movies-of-the-21st-century/1020441/4 "2025-07-03T12:57:30Z")
Almost Famous and Amelie should be much higher on the list.Top Gun Maverick shouldn’t be on it at all. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2025, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-readers-100-top-movies-of-the-21st-century/1020441/5 "2025-07-03T13:01:08Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > A bit early to be listing the top 100 of the century, isn’t it? I mean, we are 25% through, so time for reflection seems fine. I’m sure they could have added “…so far” to the list, but I think it is pretty obvious. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2025, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-readers-100-top-movies-of-the-21st-century/1020441/6 "2025-07-03T13:04:31Z")
I would have these at the top, in no order as: **Lord of the Rings** (combined is cheating, but all 3 would be top 10 for me individually) **Inception** **Mad Max Fury Road** **RRR** - not on the list at all??? **The Handmaiden** **Oldboy** **Men** - also not on the list! This is the Alex Garland movie. **Hereditary** ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2025, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-readers-100-top-movies-of-the-21st-century/1020441/7 "2025-07-03T13:06:35Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > we are 25% through Well, _almost_ 25%, 😃 I did also see part of #66, but gave up on it because it was so boring. ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2025, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-readers-100-top-movies-of-the-21st-century/1020441/8 "2025-07-03T13:07:42Z")
Well, I was much more “meh” about _Parasite_ than most other people I know, so right off the bat this list doesn’t work for me 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2025, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-readers-100-top-movies-of-the-21st-century/1020441/9 "2025-07-03T13:11:16Z")
The highest movie on the list I’ve seen was Interstellar. The visuals were fantastic, and they got the best physicist in the world as science advisor and listened to him… but it was still a pretty bad movie. No way it deserves to be on the top 100 list, certainly not at #5. They list Mean Girls at #82, but don’t specify whether they mean the 2004 version or the 2024 version. I think the 2024 version was probably better, but I don’t know if that’s the consensus. Unless I missed it, Avengers: Endgame at #100 is the only MCU movie they have on the list. But that wasn’t even in the top half of the MCU movies. If they were going to only have one, it should have been Avengers, but there were a number of others that probably merited a place on the list. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2025, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-readers-100-top-movies-of-the-21st-century/1020441/10 "2025-07-03T13:12:12Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > They list Mean Girls at #82, but don’t specify whether they mean the 2004 version or the 2024 version. I think the 2024 version was probably better, but I don’t know if that’s the consensus. I’d presume they mean the original. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2025, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-readers-100-top-movies-of-the-21st-century/1020441/11 "2025-07-03T13:16:11Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > **RRR** - not on the list at all??? Yes, despite (or due to) being so over the top it escaped Earth’s gravitational well and floated off into space, **RRR** is such a striking action film it deserves inclusion here. Certainly more than **Fury Road**. There are other films I liked better than some films included on the list - **The Menu** , **Good Luck To You, Leo Grande** , **Baby Driver** etc - but art is so subjective that none of them are hills I care to die on. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2025, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-readers-100-top-movies-of-the-21st-century/1020441/12 "2025-07-03T13:37:21Z")
On taking another look, Inception is also on the list (#24). That’s another one that just wasn’t a very good movie at all. It’s just a brainless action movie that came up with a gimmick for why all of the rampant destruction of an action movie doesn’t matter. None of the Big Ideas were actually fresh, new, or innovative. There are also some foreign-language movies on the list, but they’re underrepresented. But that’s to be expected, being chosen by readers of an English-language publication. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2025, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-readers-100-top-movies-of-the-21st-century/1020441/13 "2025-07-03T13:41:54Z")
Pretty good list IMO showing a very wide variety of types of films. Only 8 films on there out of 100 I haven’t seen. Can’t really argue about any of the top 20. Though I might have them in a different order, they are all uniformly excellent films. The only film on there out of 100 I thought was actually bad was **Tree of Life**. That was crap I could not even sit through. ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2025, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-readers-100-top-movies-of-the-21st-century/1020441/14 "2025-07-03T13:51:16Z")
_Zodiac_ and _The Incredibles_ too low, _Fury Road_ wayyyyy too high (sorry Mahaloth!), and _Lion_ and _The Father_, both of which made me weep at the end, nowhere to be seen, when they are right up there for me. Can’t see _Casino Royale_ either, and as a massive Bond fan, that is criminal because it is top notch Bondage. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2025, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-readers-100-top-movies-of-the-21st-century/1020441/15 "2025-07-03T13:59:42Z")
I’d have included **Moonrise Kingdom** somewhere between **Grand Budapest Hotel** and **The Royal Tenenbaums**. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2025, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-readers-100-top-movies-of-the-21st-century/1020441/16 "2025-07-03T14:10:59Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > The only film on there out of 100 I thought was actually bad was **Tree of Life**. That was crap I could not even sit through. I haven’t seen Tree of Life so I can’t comment on that film itself, but I just want to make sure you’re not getting it mixed up with The Fountain, which was horrible and is deservedly not on the list, and could be mistaken as having that title. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2025, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-readers-100-top-movies-of-the-21st-century/1020441/17 "2025-07-03T15:20:28Z")
Never saw **The Fountain**. **The Tree of Life** is a Terrence Malick film that I just found so self-indulgently boring and dull. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2025, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-readers-100-top-movies-of-the-21st-century/1020441/18 "2025-07-03T15:21:36Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I haven’t seen Tree of Life so I can’t comment on that film itself, but I just want to make sure you’re not getting it mixed up with The Fountain, which was horrible and is deservedly not on the list, and could be mistaken as having that title. Hey, I liked _the Fountain_! It wasn’t a great movie by any definition, but it had a cool New Wave SF vibe to it. It was an ambitious failure, which to me can be better than a mundane success. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2025, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-readers-100-top-movies-of-the-21st-century/1020441/19 "2025-07-03T15:25:59Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > **The Tree of Life** is a Terrence Malick film that I just found so self-indulgently boring and dull. Personally, I think **Mulholland Drive** is overrated (and self-indulgent). ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2025, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-readers-100-top-movies-of-the-21st-century/1020441/20 "2025-07-03T16:00:02Z")
I’ll probably get voted down for this, but I thought Cloud Atlas was amazing and belongs on the list. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-readers-100-top-movies-of-the-21st-century/1020441.md?page=2)