The last decade and a half of cinema has seen the medium radically change. Veteran directors have become more prolific and inventive, fads have come and gone, superheroes have claimed box office dominance and the mid-priced studio drama has all but disappeared.
Directors such as Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater and Lars Von Trier solidified themselves as all-time great talents whilst the likes of Martin Scorsese, Jean-Luc Godard, Terrence Malick and David Cronenberg have proved that age is just a number as all four have produced career best work in the last 15 years.
But how do you define importance? And how do you classify which movies released since 2000 deserve to be classified as such? Particularly with so many accusations of the death of the auteur. Fundamentally, a movie is 'important' because it has cultural significance, is innovative, has originality and is of an exceptional quality whilst offering a unique aesthetic or ideas.
For a movie to have great importance it should leave a mark on the cinematic landscape, influence further great movies or a genre or transcend the medium and become a staple of pop culture. And there have been some significant landmark releases since the turn of the Millennium.
30. The Tree Of Life
Terrence Malick's odyssey from the beginning of time to death is an all-encompassing masterpiece and more the work of a philosopher than a filmmaker, despite its raptuous visual style.
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It feels like a life's work and type of film you can only make after seeing, doing and feeling everything.