Best Movies of the 2020s So Far

The decade has barely started and the films are already worth fighting over. Our picks through mid-2026.

The 2020s opened with a Korean black comedy winning Best Picture and the global film industry collapsing within a month of each other. The decade that followed has been an argument with itself: streaming and theatrical, the franchise and the auteur, the four-quadrant blockbuster and the slow-burn international release.

We're updating this list as the decade goes on. As of mid-2026, this is the running ranking — six films we've already given full reviews to, in the order we'd rewatch them.

The picks (so far)

  • Oppenheimer (2023) — Christopher Nolan's three-hour biopic somehow became the year's other billion-dollar film. Won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Cillian Murphy).
  • Dune: Part Two (2024) — Denis Villeneuve completed Frank Herbert's first novel. The most visually controlled blockbuster of the decade.
  • Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) — Daniels' multiverse maximalism. Seven Oscars including Best Picture. Michelle Yeoh's career-defining lead.
  • Barbie (2023) — Greta Gerwig's $1.45bn comedy about femininity, capitalism, and what it costs to become real. Half of Barbenheimer.
  • Parasite (2019/2020) — Bong Joon-ho's class allegory. First non-English-language film to win Best Picture. Released globally throughout 2020.
  • Drive My Car (2021) — Ryusuke Hamaguchi's three-hour adaptation of Murakami. Won Best International Feature. The driving-and-talking sequences are the year's quietest masterpiece.

What the decade has been about

Three patterns have defined the 2020s so far. First: the international film breaks through. Parasite, Drive My Car, RRR, The Zone of Interest. The Academy's expanded membership has changed what wins.

Second: the theatrical event film returns, but only at the extremes. The 2020s have had record-breaking opening weekends (Avengers: Endgame's lingering hold, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Barbie, Oppenheimer) and a long mid-tier collapse. The middle-budget adult drama has all but disappeared from cinemas.

Third: streaming films exist in a parallel universe with limited theatrical runs. The Power of the Dog, The Banshees of Inisherin, Mank, Pinocchio — significant films, watched mostly at home.