Criteria: These Greatest Movies of the 2000s are ranked according to their initial and lasting acclaim, influence as well as initial and lasting popularity.
Edited By: Tim, pauldrach, Bruno, Luuk
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Peter Jackson (2003)
- Spirited Away - Hayao Miyazaki (2001)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Peter Jackson (2001)
- The Dark Knight - Christopher Nolan (2008)
- Mulholland Dr. - David Lynch (2001)
- There Will Be Blood - Paul Thomas Anderson (2007)
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Michel Gondry (2004)
- City of God - Fernando Meirelles & Kátia Lund (2002)
- No Country for Old Men - Joel & Ethan Coen (2007)
- WALL·E - Andrew Stanton (2008)
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - Ang Lee (2000)
- Finding Nemo - Andrew Stanton & Lee Unkrich (2003)
- Pan's Labyrinth - Guillermo del Toro (2006)
- Brokeback Mountain - Ang Lee (2005)
- Gladiator - Ridley Scott (2000)
- Avatar - James Cameron (2009)
- Memento - Christopher Nolan (2000)
- Oldboy - Park Chan-Wook (2003)
- Inglourious Basterds - Quentin Tarantino (2009)
- In the Mood for Love - Wong Kar-Wai (2000)
- The Lives of Others - Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (2006)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - Peter Jackson (2002)
- Up - Pete Docter & Bob Peterson (2009)
- The Pianist - Roman Polański (2002)
- Million Dollar Baby - Clint Eastwood (2004)
- Lost in Translation - Sofia Coppola (2003)
- The Incredibles - Brad Bird (2004)
- Caché - Michael Haneke (2005)
- Talk to Her - Pedro Almodóvar (2002)
- Amélie - Jean-Pierre Jeunet (2001)
- The Hurt Locker - Kathryn Bigelow (2009)
- The Departed - Martin Scorsese (2006)
- Requiem for a Dream - Darren Aronofsky (2000)
- Slumdog Millionaire - Danny Boyle (2008)
- Amores perros - Alejandro González Iñárritu (2000)
- Yi yi - Edward Yang (2000)
- 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days - Cristian Mungiu (2007)
- The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Julian Schnabel (2007)
- Children of Men - Alfonso Cuarón (2006)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl - Gore Verbinski (2003)
- Kill Bill: Volume 1 - Quentin Tarantino (2003)
- Y tu mamá también - Alfonso Cuarón (2001)
- Far from Heaven - Todd Haynes (2002)
- A Beautiful Mind - Ron Howard (2001)
- The Royal Tenenbaums - Wes Anderson (2001)
- Adaptation. - Spike Jonze (2002)
- Sideways - Alexander Payne (2004)
- Dogville - Lars von Trier (2003)
- Let the Right One In - Tomas Alfredson (2008)
- A History of Violence - David Cronenberg (2005)
- Ratatouille - Brad Bird (2007)
- District 9 - Neill Blomkamp (2009)
- Mystic River - Clint Eastwood (2003)
- The Wrestler - Darren Aronofsky (2008)
- A Prophet - Jacques Audiard (2009)
- The White Ribbon - Michael Haneke (2009)
- Little Miss Sunshine - Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris (2006)
- Waltz with Bashir - Ari Folman (2008)
- Iron Man - Jon Favreau (2008)
- Almost Famous - Cameron Crowe (2000)
- Werckmeister Harmonies - Béla Tarr (2000)
- The Death of Mr. Lazarescu - Cristi Puiu (2005)
- Casino Royale - Martin Campbell (2006)
- 28 Days Later - Danny Boyle (2002)
- Hero - Zhang Yimou (2002)
- Memories of Murder - Bong Joon-Ho (2003)
- Shrek - Andrew Adamson & Vicky Jenson (2001)
- Fantastic Mr. Fox - Wes Anderson (2009)
- Milk - Gus Van Sant (2008)
- Gran Torino - Clint Eastwood (2008)
- The Aviator - Martin Scorsese (2004)
- Downfall - Oliver Hirschbiegel (2004)
- Shaun of the Dead - Edgar Wright (2004)
- Howl's Moving Castle - Hayao Miyazaki (2004)
- Spider-Man 2 - Sam Raimi (2004)
- Kill Bill: Volume 2 - Quentin Tarantino (2004)
- Before Sunset - Richard Linklater (2004)
- Good Night, and Good Luck. - George Clooney (2005)
- Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud (2007)
- Atonement - Joe Wright (2007)
- Borat - Larry Charles (2006)
- Kung Fu Hustle - Stephen Chow (2004)
- Moulin Rouge! - Baz Luhrmann (2001)
- Dancer in the Dark - Lars von Trier (2000)
- O Brother, Where Art Thou? - Joel & Ethan Coen (2000)
- Bowling for Columbine - Michael Moore (2002)
- Russian Ark - Alexander Sokurov (2002)
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Alfonso Cuarón (2004)
- A.I. Artificial Intelligence - Steven Spielberg (2001)
- Donnie Darko - Richard Kelly (2001)
- Zodiac - David Fincher (2007)
- Letters from Iwo Jima - Clint Eastwood (2006)
- Juno - Jason Reitman (2007)
- The Triplets of Belleville - Sylvain Chomet (2003)
- House of Flying Daggers - Zhang Yimou (2004)
- Tropical Malady - Apichatpong Weerasethakul (2004)
- Traffic - Steven Soderbergh (2000)
- The Return - Andrey Zvyagintsev (2003)
- Capote - Bennett Miller (2005)
- Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World - Peter Weir (2003)
- Up in the Air - Jason Reitman (2009)
- Collateral - Michael Mann (2004)
- Big Fish - Tim Burton (2003)
- Punch-Drunk Love - Paul Thomas Anderson (2002)
- Grizzly Man - Werner Herzog (2005)
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - David Fincher (2008)
- The Secret in Their Eyes - Juan José Campanella (2009)
- Coraline - Henry Selick (2009)
- Into the Wild - Sean Penn (2007)
- The Host - Bong Joon-Ho (2006)
- The Queen - Stephen Frears (2006)
- A Serious Man - Joel & Ethan Coen (2009)
- Munich - Steven Spielberg (2005)
- The Bourne Ultimatum - Paul Greengrass (2007)
- The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - Andrew Dominik (2007)
- Batman Begins - Christopher Nolan (2005)
- 2046 - Wong Kar-Wai (2004)
- Ghost World - Terry Zwigoff (2001)
- The Piano Teacher - Michael Haneke (2001)
- The Bourne Supremacy - Paul Greengrass (2004)
- Volver - Pedro Almodóvar (2006)
- Sin City - Robert Rodríguez & Frank Miller (2005)
- The Hangover - Todd Phillips (2009)
- Departures - Yōjirō Takita (2008)
- In Bruges - Martin McDonagh (2008)
- United 93 - Paul Greengrass (2006)
- Synecdoche, New York - Charlie Kaufman (2008)
- Star Trek - J. J. Abrams (2009)
- Battle Royale - Kinji Fukasaku (2000)
- Eastern Promises - David Cronenberg (2007)
- Elephant - Gus Van Sant (2003)
- Walk the Line - James Mangold (2005)
- Infernal Affairs - Andrew Lau & Alan Mak (2002)
- Hot Fuzz - Edgar Wright (2007)
- The Hours - Stephen Daldry (2002)
- Chicago - Rob Marshall (2002)
- The Class - Laurent Cantet (2008)
- Moon - Duncan Jones (2009)
- Babel - Alejandro González Iñárritu (2006)
- Gomorrah - Matteo Garrone (2008)
- The Prestige - Christopher Nolan (2006)
- Billy Elliot - Stephen Daldry (2000)
- Erin Brockovich - Steven Soderbergh (2000)
- American Psycho - Mary Harron (2000)
- Saw - James Wan (2004)
- The Man Without a Past - Aki Kaurismäki (2002)
- Once - John Carney (2007)
- Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit - Nick Park & Steve Box (2005)
- In the Bedroom - Todd Field (2001)
- Monsters, Inc. - Pete Docter (2001)
- Catch Me if You Can - Steven Spielberg (2002)
- The Son - Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne (2002)
- L'enfant - Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne (2005)
- Gangs of New York - Martin Scorsese (2002)
- The Others - Alejandro Amenábar (2001)
- The Squid and the Whale - Noah Baumbach (2005)
- 21 Grams - Alejandro González Iñárritu (2003)
- Gosford Park - Robert Altman (2001)
- Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter …and Spring - Kim Ki-Duk (2003)
- Precious - Lee Daniels (2009)
- (500) Days of Summer - Marc Webb (2009)
- Superbad - Greg Mottola (2007)
- Syndromes and a Century - Apichatpong Weerasethakul (2006)
- The Constant Gardener - Fernando Meirelles (2005)
- Black Book - Paul Verhoeven (2006)
- Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - Tim Burton (2007)
- About Schmidt - Alexander Payne (2002)
- Minority Report - Steven Spielberg (2002)
- Snatch - Guy Ritchie (2000)
- X-Men - Bryan Singer (2000)
- Pride & Prejudice - Joe Wright (2005)
- An Education - Lone Scherfig (2009)
- The Barbarian Invasions - Denys Arcand (2003)
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - Chris Columbus (2001)
- Man on Wire - James Marsh (2008)
- Ocean's Eleven - Steven Soderbergh (2001)
- Match Point - Woody Allen (2005)
- The 40-Year-Old Virgin - Judd Apatow (2005)
- Mother - Bong Joon-Ho (2009)
- Michael Clayton - Tony Gilroy (2007)
- This Is England - Shane Meadows (2006)
- Love Actually - Richard Curtis (2003)
- Cast Away - Robert Zemeckis (2000)
- The Orphanage - J. A. Bayona (2007)
- American Gangster - Ridley Scott (2007)
- King Kong - Peter Jackson (2005)
- Black Hawk Down - Ridley Scott (2001)
- Lagaan: Once upon a Time in India - Ashutosh Gowariker (2001)
- My Winnipeg - Guy Maddin (2007)
- Ponyo - Hayao Miyazaki (2008)
- 25th Hour - Spike Lee (2002)
- Blissfully Yours - Apichatpong Weerasethakul (2002)
- Hunger - Steve McQueen (2008)
- Cloverfield - Matt Reeves (2008)
- In the Loop - Armando Iannucci (2009)
- Dogtooth - Yorgos Lanthimos (2009)
- American Splendor - Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini (2003)
- The Fog of War - Errol Morris (2003)
- Road to Perdition - Sam Mendes (2002)
- Vera Drake - Mike Leigh (2004)
- Inland Empire - David Lynch (2006)
- High Fidelity - Stephen Frears (2000)
- Platform - Jia Zhangke (2000)
- You Can Count on Me - Kenneth Lonergan (2000)
- A Single Man - Tom Ford (2009)
- Frost/Nixon - Ron Howard (2008)
- Spider-Man - Sam Raimi (2002)
- The Bourne Identity - Doug Liman (2002)
- The Last Samurai - Edward Zwick (2003)
- Training Day - Antoine Fuqua (2001)
- Ray - Taylor Hackford (2004)
- Paradise Now - Hany Abu-Assad (2005)
- Distant - Nuri Bilge Ceylan (2002)
- Irréversible - Gaspar Noé (2002)
- Still Life - Jia Zhangke (2006)
- Hotel Rwanda - Terry George (2004)
- Apocalypto - Mel Gibson (2006)
- Chicken Run - Peter Lord & Nick Park (2000)
- Waking Life - Richard Linklater (2001)
- Wonder Boys - Curtis Hanson (2000)
- Cinderella Man - Ron Howard (2005)
- Sexy Beast - Jonathan Glazer (2000)
- X2 - Bryan Singer (2003)
- Moolaadé - Ousmane Sembène (2004)
- No Man's Land - Danis Tanović (2001)
- The Devil's Backbone - Guillermo del Toro (2001)
- Good Bye, Lenin! - Wolfgang Becker (2003)
- Fahrenheit 9/11 - Michael Moore (2004)
- The Last King of Scotland - Kevin Macdonald (2006)
- Crash - Paul Haggis (2004)
- I'm Not There - Todd Haynes (2007)
- Finding Neverland - Marc Forster (2004)
- Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner - Zacharias Kunuk (2001)
- Ten - Abbas Kiarostami (2002)
- The Motorcycle Diaries - Walter Salles (2004)
- The Sea Inside - Alejandro Amenábar (2004)
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - Mike Newell (2005)
- School of Rock - Richard Linklater (2003)
- Songs from the Second Floor - Roy Andersson (2000)
- Little Children - Todd Field (2006)
- The Beat That My Heart Skipped - Jacques Audiard (2005)
- Blood Diamond - Edward Zwick (2006)
- Doubt - John Patrick Shanley (2008)
- Shrek 2 - Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury & Conrad Vernon (2004)
- Meet the Parents - Jay Roach (2000)
- Fish Tank - Andrea Arnold (2009)
- Changeling - Clint Eastwood (2008)
- The Reader - Stephen Daldry (2008)
- The Devil Wears Prada - David Frankel (2006)
- 300 - Zack Snyder (2007)