It is 2025. Which means it has now been 25 years since Y2K failed to come down and destroy us…which is a good thing because the last two-and-a-half decades have provided us with some excellent cinema…which brings us to Reel Speak’s Top 25 Best Films of the Millennium.
The age of movies we are in now can be traced back to James Cameron’s TITANIC in 1997; a big-budget spectacle that could be taken seriously in the snootiest of awards voters while earning big bucks at the box office. Since then, studios started taking big gambles on big franchises that would define the last 25 years…such as HARRY POTTER, STAR WARS, and not to mention the mighty Marvel Cinematic Universe. Despite this, we still get the smaller, character-driven films which the awards circuits heavily favor. We’ve had some great films, but we’ve also had turbulent times. A mishandled pandemic nearly destroyed theatres and marked a cultural shift in the way we watch movies. It seems like cinema is always on the verge of a major change, and since it’s impossible to predict what’s next, the best thing to do is to look back at the films that have endured the all-important test of time.
Here now is Reel Speak’s Top 25 Films of the Millennium, 2000 – 2024.
25. INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS (2013)
The Coen Brothers had a great run in this millennium, winning Oscars with their NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN in 2007 and a masterful re-do of TRUE GRIT in 2010. But it was this intimate, week-in-the-life fable of a 1960’s struggling folk singer that hits all the right notes.
24. MUHOLLAND DRIVE (2001)
The late great David Lynch’s best film. A neo-noir mystery that unfolds like a dream and strikes our nerves before we know it. In later years, filmmakers Christopher Nolan would play with time, and JJ Abrams would embrace the mystery box; two storytelling devices that can be traced back to MUHOLLAND DRIVE.
23. AVENGERS: ENDGAME (2019)
Superhero films dominated theatres in the last 25 years, and this mega-opus from Marvel Studios that wrapped up a nearly ten-year storyline was not only epic, but delivered tons of emotional weight along with rousing, satisfying, this-is-for-the-fans spectacle.
22. THE SOCIAL NETWORK (2010)
When David Fincher announced he was doing a movie about Facebook, most of us couldn’t stop laughing. But it was Fincher who got the last chuckle, as his drama, with unique storytelling and excellent acting, made all the right clicks.
21. THE DARK KNIGHT (2008)
Christopher Nolan’s second Batman film that elevated the superhero genre from popcorn-flick to true cinema. The late great Heath Ledger rightfully won an Oscar for his chilling and fascinating performance as The Joker, and the film set a grounded and gritty standard for cinematic Batman that is still being honored today.
20. GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK (2005)
George Clooney directed this old-school film that explored the responsibility of the media and the abuse of power of government. Based on a true story of 1950’s American turmoil and manufactured paranoia, it is more relevant today than it was 20 years ago.
19. THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS (2002)
Big-budget fantasy and franchises launched big-time with Peter Jackson’s adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, giving Hollywood a shiny new toy that it is still playing with. Jackson’s second film faithfully adapted the middle book while finding an excellent balance of spectacle and emotion.
18. SICARIO (2015)
Denis Villeneuve has had a remarkable run in the 2000’s, including his two-part epic adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune. But it was this twisting and turning drama about Mexican drug lords and revenge that ramped up the tension in some of the most intense scenes of the last 25 years.
17. OPPENHEIMER (2023)
Christopher Nolan gave us a lot of options in the 2000’s to praise, including his mind-bending INCEPTION (2010), and his magic-trick THE PRESTIGE (2006). With OPPENHEIMER, the story of the father of the atomic bomb, he pulled off that rare trifecta; winning with box office, critics, and audiences…and capped off with an awards season sweep.
16. ARGO (2012)
Ben Affleck directed and starred in this Best Picture winner about an obscure moment in history; the rescue of six Americans out of Iran in 1979-80 under the cover of a Hollywood production. The humor is great (John Goodman and Alan Arkin are electric), the story important, and the tension subtlety gets the heart rates going.
15. THE BRUTALIST (2024)
Adrien Brody plays a Hungarian immigrant in a post-WWII world who struggles with a country that doesn’t know what to do with his genius, architectural designs. Time will be the true test of this film that is being hailed as a new American classic (this Blogger agrees), but for now it’s earned its place here.
14. NOSFERATU (2024)
This 2024 film may also still have the new-car smell on it, but for now it deserves a high spot. Robert Eggers helmed this remake of the 1922 vampire tale that puts audiences into a trance, and gives us a towering new cinematic villain with Bill Skarsgard’s Count Orlok.
13. TINKER, TAILOR, SOLIDER, SPY (2011)
Gary Oldman leads the way in this dense and tense adaptation of the John le Carre spy novel set in 1974. Navigating this is like navigating a maze on top of a maze…and repeat viewings only reveal more and more.
12. THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (2001)
Peter Jackson started to shift Hollywood forever with this first film in his THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, and this was only the warmup. For his trilogy to succeed, the first steps had to work, and FELLOWSHIP introduced Middle-Earth to the world so successfully that it instantly became a permanent fixture in our culture.
11. HELL OR HIGH WATER (2016)
Chris Pine and Ben Foster play brothers robbing banks in this modern-Western that goes beyond the cops-and-robbers trope and takes a hard look at big banks and the power they wield. A satisfying, stick-it-to-the-man film with excellent direction and acting.
10. THE KING’S SPEECH (2010)
Tom Hooper directed this elegant Oscar-winner about an overlooked, yet vital moment in world history. Colin Firth plays the stammering new king who must lead his country during the threat of war, and Geoffrey Rush plays the speech therapist tasked with helping him. A rare character study with world-wide stakes.
9. THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (2014)
Stylistic and quirky filmmaker Wes Anderson has been one of the most prolific of the millennium, consistently putting out one feature every three or four years. His best arrived in 2014 with this award-winner with unique storytelling devices that explored friendship, nostalgia, fascism, and the art of storytelling itself.
8. GLADIATOR (2000)
His name was Maximus Decimus Meridius, and with one chilling monologue, Russell Crowe became an overnight international star. Ridley Scott helmed this sweeping epic that became an instant icon; loaded with fantastic spectacle and old-school, golden-age-of-Hollywood sensibilities.
7. THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD (2007)
Brad Pitt stars as the outlaw Jesse James and Casey Affleck plays his wanna-be sidekick and eventual murderer in this thoughtful, brooding, and artful Western epic. Andrew Dominik directed with famed cinematographer Roger Deakins at his side…resulting in a stunningly gorgeous film that doesn’t waste a single frame.
6. WARRIOR (2011)
Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton play feuding brothers who face each other in a big-money MMA tournament. On the surface it looks like a standard sports film, but underneath the fighting there’s a serious family drama at work, and the unexpected emotional wallop at the end can break the hardest of fists.
5. ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (2019)
Quentin Tarantino directed his best film in this alternate-history fairy tale set in 1960’s Hollywood which gave real-life actress Sharon Tate the happy ending that she deserved. Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio are perfectly matched in this love-letter to classic Hollywood.
4. TOP GUN: MAVERICK (2022)
Legacy sequels were another shiny new toy for Hollywood in the last 10 years, and they got their biggest and best with MAVERICK. Tom Cruise reprised his 1986 role in this incredibly shot film that brings stunning visuals and a surprising blast of emotion.
3. THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING (2003)
The final film in Peter Jackson’s epic trilogy that swept the Oscars and elevated the fantasy genre. Grand spectacle and emotion circle together as beautifully as a golden ring.
2. BLACK SWAN (2010)
Darren Aronofsky helmed this multi-layered psychological drama about a ballerina (Natalie Portman), who just wants to be perfect. Cleverly set during a production of Swan Lake, BLACK SWAN takes elements from the ballet and expands upon them, giving us an often-shocking film that has us questioning our own minds.
1. THERE WILL BE BLOOD (2007)
Daniel-Day Lewis won two of his three Oscars in the 2000’s, including this portrayal of an oilman battling for possession of the souls of a small town who just happens to be in his way. Paul Thomas Anderson wrote and directed this loose adaptation of Upton Sinclair’s novel Oil, and recaptured an America that was on the verge of discovering industry. A dark character study that serves as a tale of faith, power, and greed, THERE WILL BE BLOOD is intimate but has a towering feeling in acting and directing. And as any great film should do, feels timeless.
REEL SPEAK'S TOP 25 FILMS OF THE MILLENNIUM
1. THERE WILL BE BLOOD
2. BLACK SWAN
3. THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING
4. TOP GUN: MAVERICK
5. ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD
6. WARRIOR
7. THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD
8. GLADIATOR
9. THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
10. THE KING'S SPEECH
11. HELL OR HIGH WATER
12. THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
13. TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY
14. NOSFERATU
15. THE BRUTALIST
16. ARGO
17. OPPENHEIMER
18. SICARIO
19. THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS
20. GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK
21. THE DARK KNIGHT
22. THE SOCIAL NETWORK
23. AVENGERS: ENDGAME
24. MUHOLLAND DRIVE
25. INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS
