21st Century Best Picture Winners Ranked
We are a quarter of the way through this century. So, let’s rank all 25 Best Picture winners of the 21st Century.
25. Crash (2005)
One of the biggest blunders in Oscar history. Before the ranked choice voting, it was the film to received the most votes.
Now we get a better consensus, which is why the BP winners are of better quality as of late (usually).
The Academy was not ready to award a gay film, plain and simple. They went with the film that preaches (stupidly) that everyone is racist. Sandra Bullock was so racist that she fell down the stairs.
Years later a poll was done, if voters could redo their BP vote would they change their vote to Brokeback Mountain, it was overwhelmingly yes, even they admit they screwed up.
24. Greenbook (2018)
2018 became the year the industry took up a fight against streaming. Greenbook vs. Roma. Roma is a superior film, but the Academy clearly sent a message that streamers, Netflix in particular, will not win Best Picture.
Greenbook is bad, Crash and Driving Miss Daisy meshed into one film. A film about race where Viggo Mortensen eats pizza like a cartoon character.
It’s a baffling winner considering the Best Picture winners surrounding it in the era of ranked choice voting.
23. A Beautiful Mind (2001)
What we’ve come to think of as “Oscar Bait” was thanks in large part to Harvey Weinstein. His aggressive campaigning won him several Oscars throughout the 90s and 2000s.
This and Shakespeare in Love, and the next film on this list are the biggest indicators of his power.
A truly boring film, beating some great movies this year, ones nominated and not nominated. Harvey left a blackspot not just on the industry but its awards too.
Unfortunately, films like A Beautiful Mind are a reminder of the power he held and the heinous things he did with that power.
22. The Artist (2011)
Everything stated above stands here. I will say I enjoyed this movie for what it was. But to win Best Picture is egregious. This is a famous, terrible Oscar year, especially when looking at the 2011 movie year. These nominations are not indicative of the great year it was.
21. The King’s Speech (2010)
Another Weinstein company doing. They acquired the United States distribution rights. Just two years into the ranked choice voting system implementation.
It was shocking, to say the least, when this took home the top prize of Fincher’s The Social Network.
The King’s Speech is a good movie and I enjoy it, but The Social Network is one of the defining movies of the 21st century, for better and for worse.
20. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)
I watched this the day after it won Best Picture. Already annoyed the Boyhood lost, I wanted to give this a fair shake, but watching under the guise of an Academy Award winner for Best Picture is a big title to live up to.
Birdman is an ok movie, on the right day, you might get me to say good. However, it is not Best Picture good.
Especially against Linklater’s crowning achievement of Boyhood. I do kind of wish Michael Keaton had won Best Actor, though.
19. CODA (2021)
Just three years after the Netflix vs. theaters race of Green Book vs. Roma came a battle of streaming services. Apple TV+’s CODA and Netflix’s The Power of the Dog were the frontrunners going into these Oscars.
CODA is a wonderful little movie. It’s a feel-good story, which is probably why it beat The Power of the Dog, which is cold, complex, and intellectual. People would rather vote for the movie that makes them feel good.
Since CODA still doesn’t have a physical media release, I think this will be the most forgotten Best Picture winner.
18. Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Good performances from Hilary Swank, Clint Eastwood, and Morgan Freeman keep this film on track. Because Clint has been so prolific as a filmmaker, I haven’t seen everything he has directed, but of the films I’ve seen, this would land somewhere in the upper middle tier.
Another Oscar year that is not indicative of the movie year. Several great films came out this year, but the Oscars, unsurprisingly, nominated the lesser films.
Million Dollar Baby isn’t a bad film, but it’s not great, so it falls in the bottom half of the 21st Century Best Picture winners.
17. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
2008 was a true movie year slump. Both in terms of the Oscars and in the year in general. As watchable as Slumdog Millionaire is, some of its components have not aged well. Mainly, this story, about a poor Indian man told by a white British man.
It probably wouldn’t be as revered if it came out today. But in 2008, America ate it up as did the Academy, giving it eight Oscars. It’s definitely not the worst Best Picture winner of the 21st century, but there are many better ones.
16. Chicago (2002)
What an absolute blast! A movie musical that is not afraid of being a musical. Too often, movie musicals are afraid to embrace the latter part for fear of alienating a quadrant of moviegoers. However, that’s the ceiling on this film: a fun time at the movies.
Though it’s not the case, the Academy Award for Best Picture should be the best film of the year. A truly great movie, not just a fun time at the movies.
Since the Academy is made up of people in the industry, oftentimes we get their favorite movie, not the best film.
15. Argo (2012)
A lot of people believed Ben Affleck’s snub in Best Director led to a Best Picture win. However, in rewatching this, the ending leaves you with that warm, fuzzy feeling, a feeling Zero Dark Thirty doesn’t leave you with.
Zero Dark Thirty is a much better and complex film. However, its controversies and ending that leaves you empty are a big reason voters likely flocked to Argo.
A good throwback to 70s thrillers about a true story of American resilience. A good, not great movie, but still holds up 13 years later.
14. Gladiator (2000)
Since the first time I watched it, this movie has grown in my estimation. Every subsequent viewing has made me like it more and realize it is a good movie. It’s not flawless, but it’s easy to see why this won Best Picture.
Russell Crowe gives one of the all-time great movie star performances. Oliver Reed chews the scenery of every moment he is in.
The battle sequences are incredible. As far as sword and sandal epics go, this is one of the best.
13. The Shape of Water (2017)
Watching everyone call this Oscar bait was so weird in the moment. Only one other fantasy/Science Fiction film had won Best Picture before this. The Academy never goes for genre fare.
The story is a bit more conventional, but the film itself is not. It’s beautiful, story, visually, in every way. Sally Hawkins is fantastic.
This movie got condensed down to “The fish fucking movie”, but it is so much more than that, and if you haven’t seen it, give it a watch.
12. Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
Honestly, I don’t love this movie. There are better movies that I ranked below this one in terms of “Best Picture Winner”. This is the type of film that changed the idea of what “Oscar Bait” means.
It’s unlike any winner before or after. Came out back in March, and never lost steam. Somehow even gained it to win eight Oscars.
I just wish I liked the movie more. I’d give it some of the Awards it won, but TAR should’ve swept this year.
11. The Departed (2006)
Now, I get that this being my all-time favorite movie is being biased. And maybe in the scheme of this lesser Oscar year compared to other winners, this shouldn’t rank this high. However, this is Martin Scorsese at his most fun.
I think people look at this film under the Academy Award Winner distinction, and it doesn’t live up to the hype. Yet, either way, I believe this is top-tier Scorsese, filled with a ton of brilliant performances. For a two-and-a-half-hour movie, it flies thanks to the great Thelma Schoonmaker.
10. The Hurt Locker (2009)
Kathryn Bigelow became the first female director to win Best Director at the Oscars. It’s still insane to think it took that long. It was well deserved as Kathryn made one of the tensest films ever made.
Though it’s not the film I would’ve chosen this year, and I would’ve given Kathryn’s Directing award for Zero Dark Thirty, this film is still great.
Don’t come to this film for commentary. It’s a tense look into the Iraq War with a star-making performance by Jeremy Renner.
09. 12 Years a Slave (2013)
On its face, this sounds like an “Oscar Baity” slog that you’d watch in school. It avoids all of this for something more honest and brutal.
Not to mention watching this story, in this time, is truly upsetting. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Steve McQueen is one of our great working directors today. Not sure if this is his crowning achievement, but if this movie couldn’t earn him the Best Director Oscar, nothing will.
08. Nomadland (2020)
The COVID-19 Oscar year was a weird one. A time that feels like it somehow didn’t exist. I think this oddness helped Nomadland keep its steam until the very end.
Like many other recent winners, it’s a very different kind of winner. Small and intimate, bittersweet.
If Judas and the Black Messiah had come out a bit sooner in the race, I wonder if it could’ve gained the traction to win Best Picture. Nomadland is very good, but Judas is even better.
07. Oppenheimer (2023)
It makes a lot of sense that this was the movie that finally earned Christopher Nolan the coveted Best Director Oscar and his first Best Picture win.
A Three-hour biopic about J. Robert Oppenheimer and the building of the atomic bomb.
It’s an undeniable film, yet not without flaws. The testing sequence is one of the great scenes to watch in IMAX.
Yet, I think his perpetual issue of underwriting his female characters shines through here. Especially when he gives Emily Blunt a “winning” moment.
06. Anora (2024)
Most of the movies in this top six are films that defy what we came to know as “Oscar Bait”. A term came about in the 90s and early 2000s thanks to Harvey Weinstein.
Anora was the film that everyone agreed upon. If there was ever a film that exemplified the Ranked Choice voting, it is this film. If voters didn’t rank it first, it was two or three. Too many other contenders were too divisive.
Sean Baker pulled off a magic trick with this film, hyping us up for a Pretty Woman expectation and pulling the rug out from under us with something more honest.
Reminding us that most are not one moment away from a life-changing opportunity.
05. Spotlight (2015)
When I “most” above, I was excluding this film. The most traditional winner of the past 10 years, besides Green Book *shudders*.
The true story of the Boston Globe journalists who broke the story of the Catholic Church’s cover-up of child molestation.
It’s crazy how well this movie works. Watching the journalist work the story from the ground up. There have been other films like this that are not as compelling.
She Said is one that comes to mind. It’s the incredible performances that make this so compelling
04. No Country for Old Men (2007)
The Coens teeter between serious and goofy, and many times meld the two into a great film. They’re one of a few directors who can genre-meld in a way where the audience doesn’t get whiplash
This is one of their most serious films since maybe their first film, Blood Simple. An extremely taut thriller bolstered by great performances, including an iconic one by Javier Bardem.
It’s a great film that should’ve lost. There Will Be Blood should’ve won Best Picture. Not to mention, due to stupid Academy Rules, PTA lost in Adapted Screenplay to the Coens. PTA should’ve been in the Original.
Either way, No Country for Old Men is still a great movie and a cool win.
03. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
The most improbable winner of 11 Academy Awards: Ben-Hur, Titanic, and LOTR: Return of the King. Peter Jackson’s fantasy epic adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s expansive novels is incredible. Every one of the three films is truly great.
My favorite is Fellowship, but it makes a lot of sense why this is the one to reward for all three. What if Jackson didn’t land the plane, and they had already awarded his first movie 11 Oscars?
We’ll never have to know, because Jackson did nail it and was properly awarded. A tremendous film that has and will stand the test of time.
02. Moonlight (2016)
This will always, unfortunately, be remembered as the Oscar gaffe. It is an incredible moment, one I got to watch live, but it’s a shame because that moment was stolen from the Moonlight crew.
Moonlight is a special movie that announced Barry Jenkins to the world as a voice to watch. I was so impressed on a first watch the ability to get similar performances from three different actors who don’t look alike playing the same character at three different ages.
An all-black film about a man coming to terms with his sexuality is a movie I never thought or even could’ve guessed would win Best Picture. But we are lucky it did, and that we got the movie in the first place.
01. Parasite (2019)
Talk about a film I never thought would win Best Picture. The first foreign language film to win Best Picture. Have to be specific in that language because Hamlet was technically the first international film to win Best Picture. A British production.
Another director who can meld genres, I’d argue the best at it, is Bong Joon-ho. A film about class in Korea that translates worldwide, which is why this became such a phenomenon.
Bong melds 4 genres together and flips the movie on its head halfway through, and never loses sight of his vision. It’s one of the best films of the 21stcentury and will remain one of the best Best Picture winners ever.
