30 Most Important Movies Made Since 2000

With 12 Years A Slave, Steve McQueen became the first black man to direct a Best Picture Academy Award, and he was surely a better choice for Best Director than Alfonso Cuaron whose Gravity was rather limp and boring.

The first great movie about slavery, McQueen's unflinching aesthetic is perfected here, especially during the impossible to watch whipping scene. A sobering, if provocative masterpiece.