Best movie of every year of the 21st century
Cinema is arguably the most culturally significant art form in modern American history. A quality film doesn't just straddle the full spectrum of sight and sound. Indeed, the best movies also serve as a reflection of and a catalyst for the cultural norms of their time, like 2024's "The Brutalist," which won three Academy Awards at the March 2025 ceremony, and has been lauded for its depictions of an immigrant's American Dream in the wake of World War II.
Films are constantly embarking on new terrain—April 2025's "Sinners," one of the biggest films of the year, earned accolades for its bold vision and the way it combines a vampire movie with powerful cultural commentary. Another horror film, August 2025's "Weapons," has been celebrated by critics and viewers alike for its nontraditional structure and deeply satisfying thrills. It's been a year with plenty of accomplished indie films, like June 2025's "Sorry Baby" and August's "Souleyman's Story," but fresh approaches to big crowd-pleasing entertainment continue to resonate. Paul Thomas Anderson's action-packed "One Battle After Another," which hit theaters on Sept. 26, 2025, has been hailed by many critics as the "movie of the year."
As these examples demonstrate, exceptional filmmaking works occur across all genres, with endless approaches to be found. The best of them feel like honest reflections of the current moment. A truly great work of cinema can be cherished for its writing, acting, directing, cinematography, and music, but also as a visual documentation of the era in which it was released. Hence, the best movie from the year you were born is both a great film in and of itself and an illuminating window into a history you don't remember.
Stacker compiled data on the top feature-length films from the current century and crowned a champion each year using the Stacker score—an equally weighted blend of IMDb and Metacritic ratings. Films had to have at least 2,500 votes and a Metascore to make the list. Ties were broken by Metascore and further by IMDb votes. Data is as of Jan. 3, 2025.
Let's find out the top movie from each year of the 21st century.
