I’d bet a good 50% of people - maybe more - have at one point in their life made a resolution to watch every film on IMDb’s top 250. It’s not necessarily the definitive list of the Greatest Films Ever Made, but it offers up a pretty good guide. If you want to tick all the classics off your list, it’s definitely the place to start.
But sometimes you’re really not in the mood for an old movie - you want something modern with HD quality and good sound and special effects that don’t look like they were made on Microsoft Paint.
So what we’ve done is whittled down their list, to create a top 20, consisting solely of movies made during or after the year 2000.
This means the majority of the best films ever, according to IMDb, are immediately excluded, including top-ranked The Shawshank Redemption and second-placed The Godfather.
While many of the films left are predictable - you’ve got your Dark Knights and your Gladiators - there are also a lot of shocks. Two anime films make the list, as well as two lesser-known movies from India. 2017 also has one entry - you can probably guess what that is if you’ve been to the cinema lately.
So here it is, the best 20 films of the 21st Century, according to IMDb science:
1.'The Dark Knight' (2008)
IMDb rating: 9.0
“When the menace known as the Joker emerges from his mysterious past, he wreaks havoc and chaos on the people of Gotham, the Dark Knight must accept one of the greatest psychological and physical tests of his ability to fight injustice.”
Yep, a superhero film is the best movie of the last 17 years. On the face of it, that seems impossible, but damn if most of us didn’t come away from the cinema calling this one of our favourite ever movies nine years ago.
2.'The Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King' (2003)
IMDb rating: 8.9
“Gandalf and Aragorn lead the World of Men against Sauron’s army to draw his gaze from Frodo and Sam as they approach Mount Doom with the One Ring.”
3.'Inception' (2010)
IMDb rating: 8.8
“A thief, who steals corporate secrets through use of dream-sharing technology, is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a CEO.”
Does the little spinning top fall over at the end, though?
4.'The Lord of the Rings': The Fellowship of the Ring' (2001)
IMDb rating: 8.8
“A meek Hobbit from the Shire and eight companions set out on a journey to destroy the powerful One Ring and save Middle Earth from the Dark Lord Sauron.”
5.'City of God' (2002)
IMDb rating: 8.7
“Two boys growing up in a violent neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro take different paths: one becomes a photographer, the other a drug dealer.”
6.'The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers' (2002)
IMDb rating: 8.7
“While Frodo and Sam edge closer to Mordor with the help of the shifty Gollum, the divided fellowship makes a stand against Sauron’s new ally, Saruman, and his hordes of Isengard.”
Yes, three of the best six movies of the 21st Century are Lord of the Rings films, which is outrageous, really. Interestingly, none of the Harry Potter films made the list.
7.'Blade Runner 2049' (2017)
IMDb rating: 8.6
“A young blade runner’s discovery of a long-buried secret leads him to track down former blade runner Rick Deckard, who’s been missing for 30 years.”
It might be doing worse than expected at the box office, but the people who are actually going to see this movie are coming away with rave reviews.
8.'Interstellar' (2014)
IMDb rating: 8.6
“A team of explorers travel through a wormhole in space in an attempt to ensure humanity’s survival.”
9.'Spirited Away' (2001)
IMDb rating: 8.6
“During her family’s move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches, and spirits, and where humans are changed into beasts.”
This movie pops up on so many lists it’s about time we all bit the bullet and watched it.
10.'Untouchable' (2011)
IMDb rating: 8.6
“After he becomes a quadriplegic from a paragliding accident, an aristocrat hires a young man from the projects to be his caregiver.”
11.'Dangal' (2016)
IMDb rating: 8.6
“Former wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat and his two wrestler daughters struggle towards glory at the Commonwealth Games in the face of societal oppression.”
12.'Your Name' (2016)
IMDb rating: 8.5
“Two strangers find themselves linked in a bizarre way. When a connection forms, will distance be the only thing to keep them apart?”
13.'The Departed' (2006)
IMDb rating: 8.5
“An undercover cop and a mole in the police attempt to identify each other while infiltrating an Irish gang in South Boston.”
Good showing for Leo in the top 20 - shame he’s never won an Os… oh no wait that one doesn’t work anymore.
14.'The Prestige' (2006)
IMDb rating: 8.5
“After a tragic accident two stage magicians engage in a battle to create the ultimate illusion whilst sacrificing everything they have to outwit the other.”
15.'Whiplash' (2014)
IMDb rating: 8.5
“A promising young drummer enrolls at a cut-throat music conservatory where his dreams of greatness are mentored by an instructor who will stop at nothing to realize a student’s potential.”
Glad this made it on - if you’ve not seen Whiplash yet, I have one piece of advice for you: watch Whiplash.
16.'Gladiator' (2000)
IMDb rating: 8.5
“When a Roman General is betrayed, and his family murdered by an emperor’s corrupt son, he comes to Rome as a gladiator to seek revenge.”
AND I WILL HAVE MY VENGEANCE, IN THIS LIFE OR THE NEXT.
17.'Memento' (2000)
IMDb rating: 8.5
“A man juggles searching for his wife’s murderer and keeping his short-term memory loss from being an obstacle.”
18.'The Pianist' (2002)
IMDb rating: 8.5
“A Polish Jewish musician struggles to survive the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto of World War II.”
Bit quiet, this one. Also it’s Polanski, so we’d rather not count it tbh.
19.'The Lives of Others' (2006)
IMDb rating: 8.5
“In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police, conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover, finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.”
Watched this in my German GCSE class and it’s absolutely outstanding. Get streaming.
20.'Like Stars on Earth' (2007)
IMDb rating: 8.5
“An eight-year-old boy is thought to be a lazy trouble-maker, until the new art teacher has the patience and compassion to discover the real problem behind his struggles in school.”
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