The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century

The Daily

The New York Times

Daily News, News

4.4 • 102.8K Ratings

🗓️ 14 August 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Warning: This episode contains strong language. This summer, The New York Times put out a list of the top 100 movies of the past 25 years. It prompted furious debate about what movies stand the test of time, why they matter and what those movies tell us about ourselves. Kyle Buchanan, a pop culture reporter for The Times, discusses how the list came to be, and actors and directors including Celine Song, Molly Ringwald and Ebon Moss-Bachrach speak about their votes.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From The New York Times, I'm Natalie Kittrow-F.
0:09.6	This is The Daily.
0:14.6	This summer, the New York Times put out a list of the top 100 movies of the 21st century.
0:24.8	It prompted furious debate about what movies stand the test of time,
0:34.8	you shall not pass.
0:39.3	Why they matter and what those movies tell us about ourselves.
0:44.3	Does he make you laugh?
0:46.1	He doesn't make me cry.
0:48.4	My colleague, Kyle Buchanan, explains.
0:52.1	Are you not entertained?
0:54.1	Are you not entertained?
0:55.5	Are you not entertained? Kyle,
0:56.3	Kyle, Welcome to the show.
1:15.3	It is really wonderful to be talking to you about movies at this time when the news has just been coming at us like a fire hose every single day.
1:23.6	Thank you for this.
1:24.5	I'm happy to provide that relief.
1:26.8	You've been covering this industry for what?
1:28.5	Two decades or something like that?
1:30.0	Yes, I started as a child prodigy, if that's what you're getting at.
1:33.5	Exactly, yeah.
1:34.9	Here you are, 25 years old, talking us here at the Daily.
1:40.1	Okay, we are here to discuss something really ambitious that you and your colleagues at the
	...

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