Top 10 films of the 21st century according to Quentin Tarantino

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from Quentin Tarantino, it’s that you should never apologize for your taste in film. Whether he’s championing controversial titles from the seventies or small independent gems, Tarantino’s stance is always firm. As 2025 was closing in, the Oscar winner used his appearance on The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast to share his favorite films from the first half of the twenty-first century. And no, not the ones with his own signature, but works by cult directors like Ridley Scott, Sofia Coppola, Woody Allen and many others. The rule was simple: one director, one film. Some of his picks will likely surprise you, maybe even the first one on the list, Black Hawk Down, or the last, the romantic Midnight in Paris. Below is Tarantino’s selection of the best films of the century so far, in case you need a little must-watch inspiration, especially if holiday movies aren’t really your thing this season.

Black Hawk Down, Ridley Scott

“I liked it when I first saw it, but I think it was so intense that it stopped working for me and I didn’t understand it the way I should have […] Since then I’ve watched it several times, and now I think it’s a masterpiece. One of the things I love about it is that it’s the only film that truly reaches for the sense and visual impact of Apocalypse Now and actually gets there. It’s powerful for the full two hours and forty-five minutes, and when I rewatched it recently, my heart was with the film the whole time; it held me and never let go. As a piece of directing, it’s extraordinary.”

Toy Story 3, Lee Unkrich

“The last five minutes quite literally ripped my heart out, and if I even tried to describe the ending, I’d start crying on the spot […] It’s simply remarkable. Almost a perfect film. And that’s without even getting into the brilliant comedic moments, which are endless. I think it’s rare for anyone to make the third part of a trilogy truly outstanding. For me, this is The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of animated films. The best final chapter of a trilogy.”

Lost in Translation, Sofia Coppola

“I fell so hard for Lost in Translation that I fell for Sofia Coppola and basically made her my girlfriend [laughs]. I wooed her and courted her, all in public; it felt like something out of a Jane Austen novel. I didn’t know her well enough to connect with her privately, but I kept showing up at events […] I talked about it with Pedro Almodóvar too, and we both agreed it’s such a girly film, in the most wonderful way.”

Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan

“Another film I didn’t like at first […] What I adore about it now is the sense of pure mastery, and I grew to love it by watching it again and again. The first time, it’s not that I felt nothing, but it was so overwhelming that I didn’t really know what I was looking at, almost too much for my brain. The second time, my mind could process it a bit better, and by the third and fourth viewing, it was just… wow, it blew me away.”

There Will Be Blood, Paul Thomas Anderson

“Daniel Day-Lewis. Old-school craftsmanship. It had a classic Hollywood approach without ever trying to imitate one. It’s the only film he’s made that doesn’t have a set piece. The fire scene comes closest. The movie is about narration, about storytelling, and he did it beautifully. There Will Be Blood would have a real shot at being #1 or #2 if it didn’t have one major flaw… and that flaw is Paul Dano. Obviously, it’s supposed to be a two-lead film, but it’s also obvious that it isn’t. [Dano] is weak. He’s the weak link. Austin Butler would have been wonderful in that role. He’s just such a weak, uninteresting guy. The weakest actor in SAG [laughs].” It’s clear this comment has already sparked plenty of debate

Zodiac, David Fincher

“When I first watched Zodiac, I wasn’t that impressed, and then it started airing on movie channels. The first thing I noticed, watching twenty minutes, then forty, was that it was far more gripping than I remembered. Different scenes kept pulling me in, so I finally decided to rewatch the damn thing, and from that point on, the experience completely changed. Every six or seven years I come back to it, and it’s a luxurious experience I give myself over to completely […] a hypnotic masterpiece.”

Unstoppable, Tony Scott

“One of my favorite final films by a director. I’ve seen it four times, and I like it more each time. If you’d asked me a few years ago, I would have put Man on Fire on the list, but Unstoppable is one of the purest expressions of Tony’s action style. The two leads are fantastic together. One of the greatest movie monsters of the twenty-first century. The train is the monster. The train becomes the monster. And it becomes one of the biggest monsters of our time. Stronger than Godzilla, stronger than the King Kong films.”

Mad Max: Fury Road, George Miller

“At first I honestly wasn’t planning to see it for one simple reason: in a world where Mel Gibson exists, he’s not playing Max? I want Mad Mel! Weeks went by and people kept talking about how incredible the film was, and Fred, my editor, kept saying, ‘I’m serious, you have to watch it.’ So I finally did. The best scenes are truly top-tier, and you can tell you’re watching a real filmmaker at the height of his powers; he had all the money in the world and all the time in the world to make it exactly the way he wanted.”

Shaun of the Dead, Edgar Wright

“My favorite directorial debut, even though he made a cheap little debut film he doesn’t like to talk about […] I loved how devoted he was to the Romero universe he reinvented. The screenplay is genuinely great, and it’s one of the most quotable films on the list. I still often use the line ‘dogs can’t look up.’ This isn’t a parody of zombie films, it’s a real zombie movie, and I appreciate that distinction.”

Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen

“I really can’t stand Owen Wilson. The first time I watched the film, I loved it and hated it at the same time. The second time, I thought, ‘Alright, don’t be such a jerk, he’s not that bad.’ The third time, I realized I was actually just watching him.”