The ‘Ten Greatest Films Of The 21st Century’ As Picked By Critics Are Actually Pretty Whack

Most lists picked by professional critics are always going to come to blows with members of the public, and it’s probably even more divisive when it’s a subject that involves art. There’s no subject more alienating than movies and as you might expect, this list of the top films of the 21st century has proven to be pretty controversial.

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The run down came about because the BBC noticed that there were very few entries from this century on a list that American critics had compiled of the greatest ever American movies. As such, they decided that this century needed its own list of top movies and asked 117 critics from all over the world for their choices before coming up with this list:

Mulholland Drive (2001)
In the Mood for Love (2000)
There Will Be Blood (2007)
Spirited Away (2001)
Boyhood (2014)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
The Tree of Life (2011)
Yi Yi: A One and a Two (2000)
A Separation (2011)
No Country for Old Men (2011)

Yeah, I’m not gonna lie, that list is fairly uninspiring and I imagine that most people reading it won’t even have heard of most of the movies. I mean I count myself as pretty clued up on films and I haven’t heard of a couple of them.

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Having said that, I do love ‘Mulholland Drive’ (and understood it pretty much instantly at the cinema, no worries), ‘Boyhood’ and ‘Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind’, but I’m not too keen on ‘No Country For Old Men’ or ‘There Will Be Blood’. I mean they’re both fine, I just don’t absolutely buzz off them like a lot of people, and I don’t think any of the ones that I’ve actually seen I would describe as the best movie of the 21st century. I mean where the hell is ‘Eurotrip’?

I suppose these lists are meant to drum up controversy though and it’s doing exactly that – what do you think should be included? There’s actually a full list of 100 out there on the internet, but if you didn’t know those movies then don’t even bother looking at that. Maybe check out 13 of the bleakest and most disturbing movies ever as a warm up instead.