TSPDT - The 21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films


	The 21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films Home
	21st Century Home Summary: The 250 Films The Top 50 Directors Browse by Ranking: 1-50 51-100 101-150 151-200 201-250




	January 2009 Update

	° The 21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films section has undergone its annual renovation, and now incorporates 2008's end-of-year critics' lists.

	° The 21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films section serves as an ongoing companion to our listing of the 1,000 Greatest Films of all time. The 1,000 Greatest Films list, by nature of the sources used and formulas applied - and we believe quite rightly so - leans towards films that have so far stood the so-called ‘test of time'. Unsurprisingly, it currently only houses 14 films from this century: In the Mood for Love, Yi Yi, Mulholland Dr., Spirited Away, City of God, Oldboy, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Royal Tenenbaums, Donnie Darko, Punch-Drunk Love, Talk to Her, Lost in Translation and Memento. The 21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films listing therefore attempts to highlight and honour this century's most critically revered films and act as a sort of 'resting bay' for many great films that will, no doubt, eventually find a spot within the 1,000 Greatest Films part of our website.

	° Based on our numbers, Hou Hsiao-Hsien's Flight of the Red Balloon was 2008's most critically acclaimed film, followed by Arnaud Desplechin's A Christmas Tale and Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy. Park Chan-Wook's Oldboy (2003) was the biggest mover within the list, jumping 170 places from ranking position 245 to 75. A total of 27 films came and went which equates, approximately, to an 11% change in the list.

	° Close, but no cigar... Some 2008 films that just missed the cut include Gomorrah (Matteo Garrone), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (David Fincher), The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan), Trouble the Water (Carl Deal & Tia Lessin), and Slumdog Millionaire (Danny Boyle).





	° This is our fourth 21st Century listing, and it once again encompasses 250 films. It is primarily based on critics' year-end lists (from 2000 to 2008), plus it also takes into account mentions given to any films from 2000 onwards that show up in critics' all-time-best-of lists (that are also used for the compilation of our 1,000 Greatest Films list).

	° Please note that 21st Century films that appear in all-time lists as opposed to end-of-year-lists are weighted much higher within our formulas. Good current examples of this are Oldboy and The Royal Tenenbaums whose rankings have been considerably boosted by good showings in some recent all-time lists that we have collated.

	° We will continue to update this 21st Century listing on an annual basis. The next update will be in January 2010 and will, of course, incorporate 2009's most acclaimed films, and so on and so forth. That's about it, in a nutshell.

	° The following films, made prior to 2000, garnered enough points to make our 21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films listing (mainly thanks to many of the 2000 end-of-year lists). However, they have been excluded due to the fact they weren't made this century. They are: Beau travail (Claire Denis; 1998), The Wind Wll Carry Us (Abbas Kiarostami; 1999), Ratcatcher (Lynne Ramsay; 1999), Army in the Shadows (Jean-Pierre Melville; 1969), L'Humanite (Bruno Dumont; 1999), Killer of Sheep (Charles Burnett; 1977), Jesus' Son (Alison Maclean; 1999), Gohatto (Nagisa Oshima; 1999), Croupier (Mike Hodges; 1997), Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (Jim Jarmusch; 1999), The Virgin Suicides (Sofia Coppola; 1999), Apocalypse Now: Redux (Francis Ford Coppola; 1979) and Pola X (Lèos Carax; 1999).

	° TSPDT's own recommendations for this century can be found here.

	° Note ► Strictly speaking, the 21st Century began on January 1, 2001. Our list, however, also includes films from 2000, and always will!

	Lists of Bests
	You can now simply check-off what movies you've seen on either the 1,000 Greatest Films listing, the 21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films listing, or the 250 Quintessential Noir Films listing and this handy website will do the rest for you.
	1,000 Greatest Films Checklist
	21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films Checklist
	250 Quintessential Noir Films Checklist





	21st Century Home Summary: The 250 Films The Top 50 Directors Browse by Ranking: 1-50 51-100 101-150 151-200 201-250