Your Top 10 Movies of the Decade

[Pyser]

Thought it'd be fun if we all list our top 10 movies of the decade (2000-2009). It can start off nice, but soon I think we can all yell at someone for liking Spider-Man 3. Go!

I'll start:

1-lord of the rings: 2 towers
2-eternal sunshine of the spotless mind
3-almost famous
4-no country for old men
5-let the right one in
6-the royal tenenbaums
7-shaun of the dead
8-finding nemo
9-requiem for a dream
10-high fidelity

[DanGarion]

Thought it'd be fun if we all list our top 10 movies of the decade (2000-2009). It can start off nice, but soon I think we can all yell at someone for liking Spider-Man 3. Go!

I'll start:

1-lord of the rings: 2 towers
2-eternal sunshine of the spotless mind
3-almost famous
4-no country for old men
5-let the right one in
6-the royal tenenbaums
7-shaun of the dead
8-finding nemo
9-requiem for a dream
10-high fidelity

I will need to check out 4, 5, and 9, since you basically have the others I would choose in a top 10.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I will need to check out 4, 5, and 9, since you basically have the others I would choose in a top 10.

A warning on "9". It will likely be one of the best movies you will never want to watch again.

[Subby]

1. Almost Famous
2. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
3. The Departed
4. Traffic
5. Lost in Translation
6. Kill Bill: Vol 2
7. No Country for Old Men
8. Spirited Away
9. The Incredibles
10. Snatch

BONUS: Borat
BONUS II: Gangs of New York

[Scarecrow]

In no particular order...

1. A Beautiful Mind
2. The Dark Knight
3. Shrek
4. Best in Show
5. Spider Man
6. Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings
7. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
8. Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
9. Finding Nemo
10. Oceans 11 (although I hate that they call this movie that, since the original is so much better and nothing like this one)

[Swaggs]

Cool topic -- I'll have to give this some thought and add one tonight.

[Subby]

There so many movies that I absolutely love from this decade - maybe not cinema verite, but I could watch them over and over and over. Among those:

Pineapple Express, Superbad, 40 Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Anchorman, 300, Jackass, Chicken Run, Finding Nemo, Ocean's Eleven, Emperor's New Groove, Minority Report, Black Hawk Down, Goldmember and about a billion others.

[Matthean]

A warning on "9". It will likely be one of the best movies you will never want to watch again.

Yep. "Hey, kids. Don't do drugs. Here's why."

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[Pyser]

A warning on "9". It will likely be one of the best movies you will never want to watch again.

i agree. i debated a long time about requiem since i never want to see it again, but the fact that its almost a decade later and i still remember EVERYTHING from it means it was one helluva movie, at least in my book.

[DanGarion]

I'm not putting any order on these, but these are basically my favorites from the past 10 years.

Elizabethtown
Sernity
High Fidelity
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Girl Next Door
Royal Tenenbaums
Gladiator
Garden State
The Incredibles
Almost Famous
Star Trek
Hot Fuzz
Lord of the Rings (whole set)
Shaun of the Dead
School of Rock
Black Hawk Down

Also I highly suggest anyone that wants to rate movies check out Flickchart - The Better Way To Rank The Best Movies Of All Time (http://www.flickchart.com/) really helps you categorize stuff and you can then filter out your searches. Some of the match ups you get are tough to decide when you are going through them.

http://www.flickchart.com/DanGarion

[DanGarion]

There so many movies that I absolutely love from this decade - maybe not cinema verite, but I could watch them over and over and over. Among those:

Pineapple Express, Superbad, 40 Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Anchorman, 300, Jackass, Chicken Run, Finding Nemo, Ocean's Eleven, Emperor's New Groove, Minority Report, Black Hawk Down, Goldmember and about a billion others.

Agree with a number of those, 'cept for Jackass and PE.

[sabotai]

Gonna have to give this some thought. Just signed up for the Flickchart site and it looks pretty cool.

[DanGarion]

Gonna have to give this some thought. Just signed up for the Flickchart site and it looks pretty cool.
It's a pain in the ass when it wants you to rate two movies you like against another. :)

[whomario]

1)Lord of the Rings (1 big movie for me ...)
2)Hotel Rwanda
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Rwanda)3)City of God
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_God_%28film%29)4)Lost in Translation
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_in_Translation_%28film%29)5)The Dark Knight
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Knight_%28film%29)6)Let the right one in
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_the_Right_One_In_%28film%29)7)Spirited Away
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirited_Away)8)Pirates of the caribean (just the first one here)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates_of_the_Caribbean:_The_Curse_of_the_Black_Pearl)9)Last King of Scotland
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_King_of_Scotland_%28film%29)10a)Finding Nemo
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_nemo)10b) Almost Famous (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almost_Famous)
10c) Letters from Iwo Jima (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letters_from_Iwo_Jima)
10d) School of rock (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_Rock)
10e) In the bedroom (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Bedroom)
10f) Ice Age (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Age_%28film%29)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Bedroom)
order would be fluent really though, although i really think LOTR is the great movie of the decade.

Best Sports Movie :

1a)Friday Night Lights (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_Night_Lights_%28film%29)
1b)Cinderella Man (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinderella_Man)

Best documentary :

Planet Earth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_Earth_%28TV_series%29) (The Series, not the weirdly cut summary that was shown on the big screen which was still awesome but nor nearly as awesome as the series)

best german film : Das Leben der Anderen / The Lives Of Others (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lives_of_Others)

that was shown in the US as well, right ? At least rated by a lot of papers and critics.


haven´t seen many movies this year at all, so i´m not biased against those but just haven´t seen them yet ...

@ DanGarion : "Let The Right One In" is incredible, genious story really. It´s filmed after a book of the same title (if you need a good book ;) ), really well adapted from there.

[ISiddiqui]

1) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2) There Will Be Blood
3) Royal Tenenbaums
4) The Dark Knight
5) O'Brother Where Are Thou
6) Children of Men
7) (500) Days of Summer
8) Inglorious Basterds
9) Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
10) Thank You for Smoking

Honorable Mention: Pan's LabyrinthAlmost Famous, Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World, The Hangover, Tropic Thunder, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (ie, the 1st one), Shaun of the Dead, Wall-E, Almost Famous, Letters From Iwo Jima...

Yes, a lot from the last year, but I think the last year was a great year for movies, FWIW.

[Crapshoot]

A warning on "9". It will likely be one of the best movies you will never want to watch again.

Echo this. Watching it once is enough - but never, ever again.

[Honolulu_Blue]

best german film : Das Leben der Anderen / The Lives Of Others (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lives_of_Others)

that was shown in the US as well, right ? At least rated by a lot of papers and critics.

Yes. It's an excellent movie.

[ISiddiqui]

It won the Foreign Language Academy Award that year (and IIRC, that was the same year that Pan's Labyrinth was nominated for that award... talk about a stacked category!)

[cartman]

1. LotR trilogy
2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
3. Memento
4. No Country For Old Men
5. A Beautiful Mind
6. Casino Royale
7. Borat
8. O Brother, Where Art Thou
9. A History of Violence
10. Y Tu Mama Tambien

[Schmidty]

Movies I like the best, or movies that I think are technically the best?

[whomario]

It won the Foreign Language Academy Award that year (and IIRC, that was the same year that Pan's Labyrinth was nominated for that award... talk about a stacked category!)

yeah, just wasn´t sure if it had been really shown stateside. German Cinema really produced some great, great movies this decade in many genres.
2009 Oscar Nominee "Der Baader Meinhof Komplex" is brilliant as well, topic are the terrorist of the "RAF" back in the 70s here in germany.

[cartman]

Movies I like the best, or movies that I think are technically the best?

Well, the title is YOUR Top 10 Movies of the Decade, so it is up to you

[Groundhog]

In no particular order:

Pan's Labyrinth
Donnie Darko
Kill Bill: Vol 1
Twilight Samurai
Gangs of New York
Children of Men
Big Fish
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Sideways
Lost in Translation

[Dodgerchick]

The Notebook

Nah I'm just playing. Great topic, I'll have to give it some thought.

[AENeuman]

I think this was a better decade than the last 2 for movies.

Some themes I noticed this decade:

Trilogies.
Globe hopping. Seems to be the thing to jet around, especially European cities
Super hero. Spiderman to Batman, with a lot of crap in the middle
Hipster indie. Lots of forlorn guys, anthropology girls
Sociopaths: move over Hannibal...
Dead children. Have a kid die, win an oscar
Zombies.

Thought there would have been more of:
Musicals
Something about Mary/American Pie's
Dogma 95-style movies (thank god)

My list:

1. Babel
2. Lost in Translation
3. Zodiac
4. No Country for Old Men
5. City of God
6. Traffic
7. The Hours
8. Amelie
9. Bourne's
10. Downfall

[PurdueBrad]

Hmmm, trying to do this w/o too much thought because I'll get bogged down trying to figure out the 10'th! So, here we go:

Dark Knight
LOTR: Fellowship
Watchmen
Love Actually
25'th Hour
A Beautiful Mind
Garden State
We Were Soldiers/Black Hawk Down
Bad Santa
No Country for Old Men

[Abe Sargent]

Hmm, lemme see...

in order

1) Donnie Darko
2) Saved!
3) L'Auberge Espagnole
4) The Lord of the Rings
5) The Dark Knight
6) Amelie
7) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
8) Bend it like Beckham
9) Serenity
10) Hero

Hon Mention: Casa de los Babys, The Replacements, The Incredibles, and the Woodsman.

[Groundhog]

10) Hero


Forgot this one, nice choice.

[Pyser]

itd be cool at the end of everyones list to count em all up and see what fofc ranks as the top 10 of the decade. since not everyone numbered theirs, everything might just have to count for 1 vote...but could be a fun project.

[stevew]

A lot of lists here that would mirror my own.

My list in no order
Little Miss sunshine
Incredibles
Kill Bill Vol 2
Hustle and Flow
Requiem For a Dream
There will be Blood
No country For old Men
The wrestler
Rambo
The departed
SuperBad

[stevew]

Eh. That may be 11

[Glengoyne]

1) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2) There Will Be Blood
3) Royal Tenenbaums
4) The Dark Knight
5) O'Brother Where Are Thou
6) Children of Men
7) (500) Days of Summer
8) Inglorious Basterds
9) Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
10) Thank You for Smoking

Honorable Mention: Pan's LabyrinthAlmost Famous, Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World, The Hangover, Tropic Thunder, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (ie, the 1st one), Shaun of the Dead, Wall-E, Almost Famous, Letters From Iwo Jima...

Yes, a lot from the last year, but I think the last year was a great year for movies, FWIW.

Best list by my tastes so far. I'd have to promote Pirates of the Caribbean though.

[Johnny93g]

I got to get in on this. Off the top of my head, probably leaving something out

1. The Departed
2. There Will Be Blood
3. Gangs of New York
4. The Prestige
5. The Aviator
6. Gone Baby Gone
7. Man on Fire
8. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
9. Blood Diamond
10.The Assasanation of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Bad Santa, The Wrestler, Castaway, The Terminal, Knocked Up, Jay and Silent Bob, 3:10 to Yuma, In Bruges, Men of Honor are all very close.

[Groundhog]

7. Man on Fire


This movie had a ton of potential, but I was really let down by the ending. 95% of it was very solid though.


10.The Assasanation of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford


I was watching this on cable the other day but didn't realise how freaking long the movie was. I had to go out and missed the last 30 minutes, which is a real shame because I don't know if I'd hire it again just to catch the ending.

[Glengoyne]

I must be missing something about No country for old men.

I really did enjoy Little Miss Sunshine.

Someone mentioned Snatch...I have to admit. I don't think of it as a great movie...but I really did love it. I guess I could see it on this list.

I was glad to see City of God get a little love here. It came out the same year as Gangs of New York, I remember seeing a review that stated.."In a year with two movies about big city gangs, this is the better movie....Hands Down." I saw it, and I gotta agree.

I also think We Were Soldiers belongs here. I guess While I'm on a Mel Gibson train of thought I would add Payback...Darn it that was 99.

[QuikSand]

my first draft with daughter wrapped around one arm so no punctuation or caps...

adaptation
lotr trilogy
requiem for a dream
lost in translation
the departed
ghost dog
memento
best in show
shrek 2
hot fuzz

[Dodgerchick]

I must be missing something about No country for old men.

No, you're not. To each their own, really. It's one of those movies you either love or hate. I was one of the people that didn't like it.

[QuikSand]

dang, lots of high profile flix on other lists here that i havent seen...

[larrymcg421]

1. Almost Famous
2. Brokeback Mountain
3. AI: Artificial Intelligence
4. Inglourious Basterds
5. Lord of the Rings Trilogy
6. The Dark Knight
7. Wall-E
8. No Country For Old Men
9. Pan's Labyrinth
10. 25th Hour

[Dodgerchick]

In no particular order:


Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Kill Bill
Lord of the Rings
Requiem for a Dream
Being John Malkovich
Big Fish
Donnie Darko
Hotel Rwanda
Let the Right One In
Pan's Labyrinth

[QuikSand]

bjm = 90s

[Dodgerchick]

bjm = 90s

Oh yes, you're right. Then in that case:

In no particular order:

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Kill Bill
Lord of the Rings
Requiem for a Dream
Gladiator
Big Fish
Donnie Darko
Hotel Rwanda
Let the Right One In
Pan's Labyrinth

[stevew]

I forgot the 40 Year Old Virgin. After working selling electronics for 3+ years it is even better than the first time I watched it.

[thesloppy]

1. Dead Man's Shoes
2. Donnie Darko
3. City of God
4. The Twilight Samurai
5. The Freshest Kids
6. This is England
7. Adaptation
8. Memento
9. Spirited Away
10. The Fall

[Swaggs]

Here is my list, in no particular order. I went with 10 movies that I enjoyed the first time I watched them, still enjoyed them the next time (and subsequent times) I saw them, and tried to diversify a little bit (ie: I might enjoy watching the 40-Year Old Virgin more than Brokeback Mountain, but I like Superbad and Zombieland a lot more than the 40-Year Old Virgin and would want some serious, well-acted dramas in my collection if I could only watch these movies):

Love Actually
Superbad
Dan in Real Life
Zombieland
High Fidelity
No Country For Old Men
Brokeback Mountain
Gone Baby Gone
Taken
Casino Royale

I think Dan in Real Life is one of the more underrated movies of the decade. I never saw it in a theatre, but really liked it the first time I saw it and have rewatched it on cable a half dozen or more times and I always seem to watch it again to the end.

Agreed w/ the previous posters about how good a decade it was for movies. All of the Frat Pack comedies, the major trilogies that were mentioned (Spiderman, LOTR, X-Men, etc.), some great little indies that blew up (Juno and Little Miss Sunshine), and lots, lots more.

[sabotai]

I actually didn't think about this much. I could have a very different list tomorrow.

1) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2) There Will Be Blood
3) The Lives of Others
4) Oldboy
5) LOTR Trilogy
6) Children of Men
7) Downfall
8) House of Flying Daggers
9) Kill Bill
10) Snatch

Honorable Mentions: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, City of God, Lost in Translation, Battle Royale, Memento, The Orphanage, The Dark Knight....I'll stop there.

Still tons of movies I want to see from this decade.

Edit: No, I did not copy Isiddiqui's list and forget to change 1, 2 and 6. :)

[ISiddiqui]

Thought there would have been more of:
Musicals

SHIT! I knew I forgot something! But where exactly to put "Moulin Rouge!" ("Chicago" is definitely honorable mention)?!

[ISiddiqui]

Oh, and while I'm thinking about it, "Eternal Sunshine" NOT being on Blu-Ray yet is utterly criminal.

[Groundhog]

I haven't seen There Will Be Blood (something I'll remedy soon) or The Lives of Others, but Sabotai's list sits the best with me out of all the ones listed here I think.

[sabotai]

I also have "Der Baader Meinhof Komplex" sitting here (mentioned earlier). I'll probably watch it tomorrow and might be editing my list. Another German movie I have is "Die Welle", which I heard great things about as well.

[Mustang]

In no particular order

Gladiator
Pitch Black
LOTR - 2 Towers
Spiderman 2
We Were Soldiers
Finding Nemo
Pirates of the Caribbean Curse of the Black Pearl
National Treasure
300
Sahara (I'm probably the only idiot with a Matthew Mcconaughey movie on their list)

Honorable Mention to Knight's Tale just because I've watched this movie more than any other 2000-2009 release for whatever reason (probably bad movie taste, but oh well...)

[Dodgerchick]

Run Lola Run came out in the 90's.

[Nwobhm]

1. Eternal Sunshine
2. No Country For Old Men
3. Lord Of The Rings : Fellowship
4. Enemy At The Gates
5. Seabiscuit
6. Lord Of The Rings: Two Towers
7. Borat
8. There Will Be Blood
9. Casino Royale
10. Gladiator

[Karlifornia]

In no particular order

Gladiator
Pitch Black
LOTR - 2 Towers
Spiderman 2
We Were Soldiers
Finding Nemo
Pirates of the Caribbean Curse of the Black Pearl
National Treasure
300
Sahara (I'm probably the only idiot with a Matthew Mcconaughey movie on their list)

Honorable Mention to Knight's Tale just because I've watched this movie more than any other 2000-2009 release for whatever reason (probably bad movie taste, but oh well...)


Mustang, I like you. You seem like a good person. If we ever hang out, I'm picking the fucking movies on movie night.

[Mustang]

Mustang, I like you. You seem like a good person. If we ever hang out, I'm picking the fucking movies on movie night.

Sahara was the final straw wasn't it? :D

[Kodos]

What? No Transformers?!?







(By the way, I never watched the show or the movies)

[Kodos]

Don't have a top 10 list just yet, but Juno and Eternal Sunshine are in there. Once might make it too.

[sabotai]

Run Lola Run came out in the 90's.

Oops. I thought I looked it up too.

[ntndeacon]

This like most of my lists are subject to change at a whim, but currently it looks something like this. and because I can not follow directions I will give 20 flicks.
1. The Pianist
2. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
3. Memento
4. The Station Agent
5. No Country for Old Men
6. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
7. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings
8. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
9. Adaptation
10. Children of Men
11. Artificial Intelligence:A.I.
12. United 93
13. Best in Show
14. Wall-E
15. The Aviator
16. Zodiac
17. Stranger than Fiction
18. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
19. Good Night, and Good Luck
20. A Prarie Home Companion

[Sgran]

1. Momento
2a. The Dark Knight
2b. The Pianist
3. There Will Be Blood
4. The Incredibles
5. Thank You for Smoking
6. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
7. Hukkle
8. The Wrestler
9. The Prestige
10. Brokeback Mountain

Edit: Dang it! forgot the Pianist

[Pyser]

ill add these up sooner or later, for fun. only peoples first 10 will count, i think. should be mildly interesting

[Dodgerchick]

I might even include Dodgeball, Best in Show and Undercover Brother as well. They're not great as in Oscar winners or different but they make me laugh so hard even though I've seen each of these movies at least 20 times.

[MIJB#19]

Glancing at the top50 at IMDB of the 2000-2009 era, I notice I've seen only 1/5th of those movies, including all three The Lord of the Rings movies. So in theory, I think there have to be movies out there that might eventually make my top10 if I ever come around to seeing them. For now, a no-show disqualifies them. To find the movies I liked, I went to my own votes at IMDB, ordered movies by grade and then lumped together trilogies and sequals. As a final re-ordering and tie-breaking move I decided to go with "replayability factor", which isn't always fair, but I had to break ties somehow between all the 8 out of 10 movies.

MIJ 2000's top10 as of today
1. Pirates of the Caribbean
2. The Lord of the Rings
3. Imaginationland
4. Kill Bill
5. Troy
6. Gangs of New York
7. National Treasure
8. Catch Me If You Can
9. Ocean's Eleven
10. Serendipity

[bionicgrov]

guess While I'm on a Mel Gibson train of thought I would add Payback...Darn it that was 99.

I think that is one of the more under-appreciated movies of the last 20 years. It is just great all the way around.

[DaddyTorgo]

2009 Oscar Nominee "Der Baader Meinhof Komplex" is brilliant as well, topic are the terrorist of the "RAF" back in the 70s here in germany.

sounds interesting - one of my favorite topics...do you know if there's a subtitled or translated-to-english version by any chance?

edit: doesn't seem like there is.

but it's based on Aust's book, and I've read that (IIRC).

[Malificent]

Sahara was the final straw wasn't it? :D

Sahara is a highly underrated film.

[sabotai]

sounds interesting - one of my favorite topics...do you know if there's a subtitled or translated-to-english version by any chance?

It's on Netflix. They have on "Watch It Now" as well. It's subtitled.

[DrAFTjunkie]

Top 14

My Life Without Me (wow...see this movie!!!!)
Sideways
Juno (shut up)
Best in Show
LoudQuietLoud (Pixies doc.)
Steve Zissou!!!!
Eternal Sunshine
Garden State
American Psycho
Lost in Translation
Shaun of the Dead
Ghost World
Across the Universe
Bad Santa

*edit* It didn't come out in the 2000's, but House of Yes ('97), is fucking amazing. It's sick, and both Tori Spelling and Freddie Prinze Jr. play major roles, but it works. Parker Posey as "Jackie O" is on par with Mila Jovovich as Leeloo as far as perfect casting goes. It's fairly obscure, but find it.

[GoldenEagle]

I am very surprised that the Bourne movies only made one person's list. To me, that was the best trilogy of the decade, but I did not watch LOR.

[DaddyTorgo]

I am very surprised that the Bourne movies only made one person's list. To me, that was the best trilogy of the decade, but I did not watch LOR.

you need to watch LOTR trilogy before you start talking about "best movie series of the decade."

i'll admit that i'm surprised bourne only made one person's list. great action-movie franchise.

[revrew]

Does top 10 mean favorite? Or best? Those are very different for me, but trying to kind of combine the two concepts... I'd draft the following list:

1. LOTR (trilogy)
2. Dark Knight
3. Beautiful Mind
4. Finding Nemo
5. Passion of the Christ
6. Shrek
7. The Incredibles
8. Remember the Titans
9. O Brother Where Art Thou
10. Pirates of the Caribbean (1 only)

Honorable mentions: National Treasure, Bourne trilogy, Stranger than Fiction

I'm surprised to see how many "family" films are on that list for me. Perhaps it's because we've rented several of the films for the kids that they're fresher in my mind. At the same time, any decade that produces Nemo, Shrek and Incredibles is pretty solid decade for animated film.

[Subby]

Thought for sure I would see Fireproof on rev's list ;)

[Groundhog]

I've seen all the Bourne movies, but I really don't see what the big deal is about them. Enjoyable, but nothing Earth-shattering.

[Pumpy Tudors]

The first 10 minutes of Cleavagefield.

[revrew]

Thought for sure I would see Fireproof on rev's list ;)

Um, no. Liked it, glad it was made, but not top 10.

I considered putting "Facing the Giants" on the list, simply because it broke through several barriers and blazed the trail for overtly Christian movies to have a place in the theater ... but then I considered my "quality" criteria, and ... no.

The "Narnia" series was a step in the right direction, and decent films, but the only overtly religious film I thought merited a spot on the top 10 was "Passion."

[DaddyTorgo]

I've seen all the Bourne movies, but I really don't see what the big deal is about them. Enjoyable, but nothing Earth-shattering.

i don't think they were earth-shattering, i just think they were a great example of the genre, and fairly perfectly executed for the genre for that matter

[Pyser]

rolling stones top 10 of the decade:

1. There Will Be Blood
2. Children of Men
3. Mulholland Drive
4. A History of Violence
5. No Country for Old Men
6. The Incredibles
7. Brokeback Mountain
8. The Departed
9. Mystic River
10. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

[stevew]

Number 4 was amazing. I forgot about that movie.

[3ric]

1 The Royal Tenenbaums

2 Amélie

3 Memento

4 Ocean's Eleven

5 X-Men

6 Man on Fire

7 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

8 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

9 Lost in Translation

10 Casino Royale

Honorable mention:
Walk the line, Monsters Inc, The Others, Stranger than fiction, Love actually, Gladiator, Bourne Ultimatum, Finding Neverland, King Kong, Mulholland Drive, Iron Man, O Brother Where Art Thou, Pirate of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Collateral, Inside Man, Mystic River, Gangs of New York, Almost Famous

Probably will end up with a completely different top 10 if I'd do it over tomorrow.

Edit: these lists remind me I need to see "Dark Knight"

[Karlifornia]

No Country For Old Men
The Departed
The Royal Tenenbaums
Brokeback Mountain
Amores Perros
Kill Bill (parts 1 & 2)
Traffic
Almost Famous
City Of God
Borat

[timmynausea]

I'll try to give a little info on the slightly lesser known ones on my list, in case anyone might want to check them out.

10. The King of Kong - Documentary about the competition to set the all time record in the arcade version of King Kong that starts fairly light and gets more dramatic.

9. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

8. Brick - High school noir with some good twists and turns, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

7. Royal Tenenbaums

6. Let the Right One In

5. Shotgun Stories - This one stars Michael Shannon, whom was nominated for an Oscar for his other movie last year, Revolutionary Road. It's about two feuding sets of brothers in a small town that share the same father (basically from his first and second marriage.) An outburst at his funeral amps things way up, and it all devolves into vengeance and violence from there.

4. The Station Agent - Written and directed by the guy that played the lying reporter in the 5th season of the Wire. It's the story of a 30-something dwarf loner moving to a new town. It manages to be equally funny and sad without venturing anywhere near sappy romantic comedy territory.

3. Grizzly Man - Werner Herzog documentary about Timothy Treadwell's life (and, eventually, death) among the grizzlies in Alaska.

2. LotR: Return of the King

1. Best of Youth - 6+ hour movie (mini-series?) made for Italian TV that covers several decades in the lives of a pair of Italian brothers with a lot of (fairly recent) Italian historical events thrown in apparently. It's a simple "coming of age" story, but I guess it's still hard to sum up - there's plenty of dark material, but there's light as well. The entire scope of emotions is covered without it ever feeling manipulative or soap opera-ish.

Honorable Mention-ish: If I made the list a different day, I likely would've included Adaptation instead of one of the bottom 2, and I strongly considered putting Inglorious Basterds, but I watched it so recently that I'm not sure where it ranks just yet.

[Groundhog]

Nice pick with King of Kong, loved that movie.

[DataKing]

My top 10 of the decade:

1. Memento: Absolutely mind-blowing.
2. The Lord of the Rings: I'm a Tolkien geek...can't help it.
3. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
4. Serenity: I still haven't forgiven FOX for screwing up Firefly.
5. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: A fairy tale, come to life. Amazing.
6. World Trade Center: Oliver Stone is an amazing film-maker when he leaves his wack-job conspiracy theories at home.
7. Downfall: See this movie.
8. Lost in Translation: The Coppola apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
9. Million Dollar Baby: Is there a single human being on earth who is a better actor/director combo than Clint Eastwood?
10. Cast Away: Had a hard time deciding between this and my honorable mentions for #10, but Hanks' performance, with no one to play off of on-screen, puts it over the top.

Honorable Mentions: The Dark Knight, The Departed, Pirates of the Caribbean, Slumdog Millionaire, Requiem for a Dream.

Assembling this list got me thinking...which was the better decade for good movies overall, the 2000's or the 1990's? At first glance, my instinct is to say the 1990's, because the heavyweights from that decade (American Beauty, American History X, Backdraft, Braveheart, The Crow, Fargo, Goodfellas, Groundhog Day, The Professional, The Matrix, Office Space, Reservoir Dogs, Schindler's List, Shawshank Redemption, Silence of the Lambs, Tombstone, Unforgiven, The Usual Suspects) really seems to outweigh what we've seen in the last 10 years. Does anyone care to put forth an opposing viewpoint?

Maybe that question belongs in its own thread.

[MikeVic]

Don't have a top 10 list just yet, but Juno and Eternal Sunshine are in there.

I like you.

[ISiddiqui]

which was the better decade for good movies overall, the 2000's or the 1990's

I'd argue 2000s, actually. I think there were more interesting and more willing to play with narrative structure "mainstream" movies during the 00s, such as Eternal Sunshine, Momento, O'Brother, Children of Men, (500) Days.

[revrew]

Aw, heck. I forgot about "Walk the Line." Now, I'll have to redo my list.

[sabotai]

Finally got around to giving this a lot of thought. Made it a top 20 because the movies 7-15 were too hard to order and eliminate. Some movies moved up, some down from my last list.

No movies from 2009. The ones I have seen weren't good enough, but since I hardly ever get to the movies, I'm usually at least a year behind the times. At the end of 2010, I might finally have seen the better movies of 2009. Still plenty of movies from 2000-2008 I still have to see.

Honorable Mention: Battle Royale. I really wanted this movie in my top 20, but the acting in it is so bad that I just couldn't. Still love the movie, though.

20 - Lost In Translation
19 - Pan's Labyrinth
18 - The Incredibles
17 - Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
16 - V for Vendetta
15 - The Orphanage
14 - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
13 - Memento
12 - House of Flying Daggers
11 - Inside Man
10 - Snatch
9 - Children of Men
8 - The Dark Knight
7 - Oldboy
6 - Kill Bill (Vol 1 and 2)
5 - Downfall
4 - Lord of the Rings trilogy
3 - There Will Be Blood
2 - The Lives of Others
1 - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

[sterlingice]

Well, I've already tread this ground quite a bit the last couple of days over in the Avatar thread but I wrote most of this a couple of weeks ago over Christmas. One simple premise I do think is overlooked is that if you cannot draw at least a minimum of attendance before you get your Oscar hype, you weren't targeting enough of an audience. No, this does not mean more audience > better movie. It just means there is a base line of popularity that you should be targeting and just playing indie theaters is not it. Also, odds are if you are relegated to just such a place, you aren't meeting the minimum criteria in some facet for a broader audience. This isn't always the case, but it often is.

So, anyways, here's the couple of lists I've been working on. There's a top movies, overrated movies that I've seen, and movies I should go see. Some of this I've been talking about lately in the Avatar thread, as I said, as it's been somewhat fresh in my mind.

Top 10 Movies
* 1. Lord of the Rings- pick one; the Academy picked Return of the King to lump all the accolades on. I think I'd give it to Two Towers or possibly Fellowship but you can't go wrong with any of the three
* 2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - Every few years, a movie comes along that pushes the effects envelope.
(Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, The Matrix, Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon, to a lesser extent Matrix:Reloaded, Lord of the Rings, and now probably Avatar)
* 3. Dark Knight - I'm not a huge Batman fan and really liked Sam Raimi's Spiderman take but this is easily the best comic book movie ever and one of the best action movies ever. It should have been nominated for Best Picture but no action movie ever will unless it's some sort of "period piece" (ala LotR).
* 4. Pirates of the Caribbean: tCotBP - Johnny Depp should have won the Oscar for Best Actor. Yes, he chewed the scenery some but it was in such an enjoyable way as to make it the most fun I had going into a theater in the decade.
* 5. The Incredibles - You could pretty much pick one of almost any Pixar Movie from this decade for this spot. This is my favorite so I went with it. Some are a little weaker than others (Cars, Ratatouille) but you really can't go wrong with any of them. Finding Nemo or Up might be the better critical choices as they're what I would consider the Pixar "tragedies".
* 6. O Brother, Where Art Thou- It's a fun, quirky, and well acted comedy epic(?)
* 7. Gladiator - It was the best picture to start out the decade and resurrected historical epics for a few years before everyone remembered that they were really expensive to make.
* 8. Spirited Away - The best of Miyazaki's many good movies.
* 9. Frost/Nixon - Maybe it's just because I watched this recently but I really liked this movie and it's excellent in plot, characters, and acting
* 10. Avatar - Hell, this is an off the cuff sort of thing as I couldn't figure out a 10th movie. But if it pushes movie making the way it looks like it could, then it belongs on the list much as The Matrix in the 90s.

Overrated 5 Movies
* Royal Tanenbaums/Life Aquatic/Little Miss Sunshine - I like my comedies with at least somewhat likable characters. It makes it hard to laugh when I hate everyone on-screen (flawed characters don't have to be unlikeable). Oh, and when the jokes aren't funny.
* The Departed/Gangs of New York - I liked the juxtaposition of the bad good guy and the good bad guy in The Departed and loved the epic scope of Gangs of New York. However, like Casino and other Scorsese epics, I found myself clock watching as they move so darn slowly.
* Brokeback Mountain - It was a chick flick only with guys. It tried to do a little Forest Gump with the time passing, but if you replaced one of the guys with a girl, this movie is on Lifetime, not going for an Oscar.
* Memento - The storytelling was interesting but the story and characters just didn't do it for me while I thought the acting was pedestrian. Just like my comments above about a minimum audience, you have to have a baseline of all elements and build up from there. Too many big deficiencies to overcome for me.
* Donnie Darko - Seriously? It's like a bad episode of The Outer Limits. I just don't get how some movies even get noticed and into the "in" group sometimes.

5 Movies I Should See, Based on the Lists I keep seeing (+1 because I can't count)
* Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Kindof wanted to watch this but never got around to it. Sounds like a lot of good endorsements here.
* Juno - Don't even remember this coming out. Maybe I should give it a look
* Inglorious Basterds - I've been pretty vocal about my dislike of Tarantino and it's possible everyone is using this to give him his "lifetime achievement" awards. Then again, maybe this one will be his good movie.
* No Country for Old Men - I think the Coen brothers have an uneven track record for me. Maybe this will be one of theirs I like because when they're on, they're on.
* Shaun of the Dead - I don't have enough comedies from this decade and I've had this recommended by more than enough people to watch it
* Crash- Another Best Picture Oscar that I haven't seen and I've heard from enough people that it's pretty good

SI

[Karlifornia]

sterlingice, I find your overrated list to be displeasing to me, so I'm going to review it.




* Brokeback Mountain - It was a chick flick only with guys. It tried to do a little Forest Gump with the time passing, but if you replaced one of the guys with a girl, this movie is on Lifetime, not going for an Oscar.



I find this viewpoint on Brokeback Mountain....wrong, I guess? If you replace the women in Thelma and Louise with dudes then you have Easy Rider? Replace Jake Gyllenhaal with a girl? Then Heath Ledger and his wife get divorced, and he moves in with Maggie Gyllenhaal. End of movie. If you remove the most critical conflict of any movie, then of course you have a shitty movie.

* Royal Tanenbaums/Life Aquatic/Little Miss Sunshine - I like my comedies with at least somewhat likable characters. It makes it hard to laugh when I hate everyone on-screen (flawed characters don't have to be unlikeable). Oh, and when the jokes aren't funny.

Give me a paypal account number, and I'll ship you a copy of Old Dogs, because that's probably more up your alley. I mean, why laugh at people who are flawed (like all of us are), when you can have Seth Green serenading a guy in a gorilla suit?



* The Departed/Gangs of New York - I liked the juxtaposition of the bad good guy and the good bad guy in The Departed and loved the epic scope of Gangs of New York. However, like Casino and other Scorsese epics, I found myself clock watching as they move so darn slowly.

I never saw Gangs Of New York, but I agree that I'd probably be clock watching during that 3 hour behemoth. The Departed, though, is top of the range, and I can't imagine looking at my watch during the final act of that movie. I had no idea what the hell was going to happen. Yeah, it was a little ridiculous, but I'm not really sure how else you end that movie.


* Donnie Darko - Seriously? It's like a bad episode of The Outer Limits. I just don't get how some movies even get noticed and into the "in" group sometimes.

This is 75% an age thing, and 25%...okay it's pretty much all about how old you are. I'm sure there are some base people my age that can't stand Donnie Darko. I don't know them, and I don't want to know them. Their parents are probably still together and have family dinners every Sunday night followed by games of Scattergories. HOWEVA, as Stephen A. Smith would say, it's pretty much a guarantee that if you were over the age of..oh, I dunno, 25? when Donnie Darko came out, it's pretty much a guarantee that you're gonna hate it. I agree that it's a flawed movie. What the hell is Drew Barrymore even in it for? My response to the criticisms is "How exactly does one suck a fuck?"

[AgustusM]

By no means the "best" movies, but the ten I personally enjoyed the most


1. Remember the Titans
2. Almost Famous
3. Memento
4. Crash
5. Slumdog Millionaire
6. Elizabethtown
7. Seabiscuit
8. Ray
9. Little Miss Sunshine
10. The Wrestler

[sterlingice]

sterlingice, I find your overrated list to be displeasing to me, so I'm going to review it.

Hey, it's your prerogative, tho this did basically follow what I was talking about in my post over in the Avatar thread:

Also, I think there's an interesting footnote I was thinking about with regards to source of criticism. I remember a scene from The Critic in the episode with Siskel and Ebert where they are getting in a fight on screen and their fight about a completely unrelated movie breaks down into "And this, from the guy who liked Benji the Hunted" and "Hey, you liked Carnosaur". Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - Avatar (http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showpost.php?p=2195121&postcount=87)
Go after the points, not the reviewer.

I find this viewpoint on Brokeback Mountain....wrong, I guess? If you replace the women in Thelma and Louise with dudes then you have Easy Rider? Replace Jake Gyllenhaal with a girl? Then Heath Ledger and his wife get divorced, and he moves in with Maggie Gyllenhaal. End of movie. If you remove the most critical conflict of any movie, then of course you have a shitty movie.
I get that and I have tried to explain it as best I can. I'm not saying "have Casablanca end with Rick getting the girl". What my criticism boils down to is that really the only reason it got recognized is because it was 2 guys *despite* all of its other failings as a movie. That shouldn't excuse some of the really bad, cheesy dialogue and lame plot devices.

Give me a paypal account number, and I'll ship you a copy of Old Dogs, because that's probably more up your alley. I mean, why laugh at people who are flawed (like all of us are), when you can have Seth Green serenading a guy in a gorilla suit?
Really? That's your defense? "You must like sucky comedies". Anything a little more substantial than a personal attack? I don't see anything refuting my criticisms nor the key distinction that flawed doesn't have to be unlikeable. Defend the movies- I know I'm wrong on stuff on a daily basis but calling me a moron probably isn't the best way to get me to agree with you.

This is 75% an age thing, and 25%...okay it's pretty much all about how old you are. I'm sure there are some base people my age that can't stand Donnie Darko. I don't know them, and I don't want to know them. Their parents are probably still together and have family dinners every Sunday night followed by games of Scattergories. HOWEVA, as Stephen A. Smith would say, it's pretty much a guarantee that if you were over the age of..oh, I dunno, 25? when Donnie Darko came out, it's pretty much a guarantee that you're gonna hate it. I agree that it's a flawed movie. What the hell is Drew Barrymore even in it for? My response to the criticisms is "How exactly does one suck a fuck?"

I watched it in the dorms (or maybe we had moved out to apartments, I forget) when it came out. So I was, in theory, right up their alley age-wise, being a college student. But it does turn out my parents are still together. That said, my wife's parents are divorced and she thought it was a pretty bad movie.

Again, c'mon - personal attacks at the viewer? Scattergories? Really? One could drone on with comparisons about other late 90's angst fests like American Beauty and/or ask, really, how bad is your life compared to say, living in Somalia? But, I'll just leave it at this: striking an emotional chord, no matter how strong, with a limited subset of people, again, doesn't excuse something from ripping off a couple of decent Outer Limits episode plots and doing it poorly.

SI

[AENeuman]

Top 10 Movies
* 1. Lord of the Rings- pick one; the Academy picked Return of the King to lump all the accolades on. I think I'd give it to Two Towers or possibly Fellowship but you can't go wrong with any of the three
* 2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - Every few years, a movie comes along that pushes the effects envelope.
(Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, The Matrix, Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon, to a lesser extent Matrix:Reloaded, Lord of the Rings, and now probably Avatar)
* 3. Dark Knight - I'm not a huge Batman fan and really liked Sam Raimi's Spiderman take but this is easily the best comic book movie ever and one of the best action movies ever. It should have been nominated for Best Picture but no action movie ever will unless it's some sort of "period piece" (ala LotR).
* 4. Pirates of the Caribbean: tCotBP - Johnny Depp should have won the Oscar for Best Actor. Yes, he chewed the scenery some but it was in such an enjoyable way as to make it the most fun I had going into a theater in the decade.
* 5. The Incredibles - You could pretty much pick one of almost any Pixar Movie from this decade for this spot. This is my favorite so I went with it. Some are a little weaker than others (Cars, Ratatouille) but you really can't go wrong with any of them. Finding Nemo or Up might be the better critical choices as they're what I would consider the Pixar "tragedies".
* 6. O Brother, Where Art Thou- It's a fun, quirky, and well acted comedy epic(?)
* 7. Gladiator - It was the best picture to start out the decade and resurrected historical epics for a few years before everyone remembered that they were really expensive to make.
* 8. Spirited Away - The best of Miyazaki's many good movies.
* 9. Frost/Nixon - Maybe it's just because I watched this recently but I really liked this movie and it's excellent in plot, characters, and acting
* 10. Avatar - Hell, this is an off the cuff sort of thing as I couldn't figure out a 10th movie. But if it pushes movie making the way it looks like it could, then it belongs on the list much as The Matrix in the 90s.

SI

Looking at this list you definitely like a certain type of movie: An epic one man vs. the world thing. There's no subtly in movies! Go big or go home :)

[larrymcg421]

I get that and I have tried to explain it as best I can. I'm not saying "have Casablanca end with Rick getting the girl". What my criticism boils down to is that really the only reason it got recognized is because it was 2 guys *despite* all of its other failings as a movie. That shouldn't excuse some of the really bad, cheesy dialogue and lame plot devices. SI

Sorry, but this baffles me. People just can't hate Brokeback Mountain. They have to invent reasons that it got praised. I mean, we have tons of gay movies every year, yet this whole decade has seen only three movies with gay themes get nominated for Best Picture (Brokeback Mountain, Capote, and Milk). Maybe you can throw in The Hours to make it 4. That's 4 out of 90 films that got nominated. And none of them even won.

I mean, there are many highly praised films that I don't like. I just assume that the Academy has bad taste, instead of making bizaare accusations like "Slumdog Millionaire only got attention because it was about poor people". And it's not like Ang Lee just came out of nowhere. He got alot of attention for Eat Drink Man Woman and The Ice Storm, and then major recognition for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. None of these films centered around gay themes. Wouldn't this logically lead one to conclude that they just like Ang Lee and maybe that has more to do with their love of Brokeback than the subject matter?

What if Brokeback Mountain wasn't about two dudes? Then I imagine it would be much like Martin Scorsese's The Age of Innocence, in which two people were in love but society kept them apart.

[WVUFAN]

My list:

Dark Knight
Spider-Man 2
300
The Incredibles
Night Watch
Gladiator
Wall-E
Constantine
Passion of the Christ
District 9

No Wes Anderson movies will ever be on my list. I just don't care for his "sense of humor" if that's what you call it, and I dislike all of his characters.

[Karlifornia]

Hey, it's your prerogative, tho this did basically follow what I was talking about in my post over in the Avatar thread:

Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - Avatar (http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showpost.php?p=2195121&postcount=87)
Go after the points, not the reviewer.


I get that and I have tried to explain it as best I can. I'm not saying "have Casablanca end with Rick getting the girl". What my criticism boils down to is that really the only reason it got recognized is because it was 2 guys *despite* all of its other failings as a movie. That shouldn't excuse some of the really bad, cheesy dialogue and lame plot devices.


Really? That's your defense? "You must like sucky comedies". Anything a little more substantial than a personal attack? I don't see anything refuting my criticisms nor the key distinction that flawed doesn't have to be unlikeable. Defend the movies- I know I'm wrong on stuff on a daily basis but calling me a moron probably isn't the best way to get me to agree with you.



I watched it in the dorms (or maybe we had moved out to apartments, I forget) when it came out. So I was, in theory, right up their alley age-wise, being a college student. But it does turn out my parents are still together. That said, my wife's parents are divorced and she thought it was a pretty bad movie.

Again, c'mon - personal attacks at the viewer? Scattergories? Really? One could drone on with comparisons about other late 90's angst fests like American Beauty and/or ask, really, how bad is your life compared to say, living in Somalia? But, I'll just leave it at this: striking an emotional chord, no matter how strong, with a limited subset of people, again, doesn't excuse something from ripping off a couple of decent Outer Limits episode plots and doing it poorly.

SI

Fair enough. Sorry if some of what I said seemed like personal attacks. Looking back I can see that some of what I said seemed ad hominem.

What cheesy dialogue are you referring to in regards to Brokeback Mountain? I know it's asking a lot to have someone remember specific lines from a movie they didn't even really care for, but I'm at a bit of a loss. "I wish I knew how to quit you.." is all I can come up with. It got bastardized for sure, but I didn't think it was out of tune. Do lovers really talk like that? I suppose that's purely rooted in personal experience. I've been guilty of saying hokey things like that, and believing every word of it.

The "Old Dogs" crack was a poor attempt at humor, and was unnecessary. I suppose I just find your inability to find humor in generally unlikeable people puzzling. These are movies we're talking about. If I was in Royal Tenenbaum's family in real life, yes, it would be difficult to find humor in his repeatedly deplorable actions. I can, however, sit back and enjoy how depraved he is, knowing that it's pure fiction. Maybe you can't enjoy that, and I shouldn't say that makes you less of an appreciator of the arts, rather just different.


Anyway, I agree with everything you said in the paragraph relating to Donnie Darko. I still consider it an enjoyable movie, but I can't really refute anything you said about it.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Shaun of the Dead - I don't have enough comedies from this decade and I've had this recommended by more than enough people to watch it

Make this the next movie thing you do. I actually enjoy this more now (several zombie video games later) than I did when I saw it the first couple of times.

Oddly enough, this was a movie that I missed completely until it hit cable, and now it's extremely high on my list of movies of the last five years.

[ISiddiqui]

Sorry, but this baffles me. People just can't hate Brokeback Mountain. They have to invent reasons that it got praised. I mean, we have tons of gay movies every year, yet this whole decade has seen only three movies with gay themes get nominated for Best Picture (Brokeback Mountain, Capote, and Milk). Maybe you can throw in The Hours to make it 4. That's 4 out of 90 films that got nominated. And none of them even won.

I mean, there are many highly praised films that I don't like. I just assume that the Academy has bad taste, instead of making bizaare accusations like "Slumdog Millionaire only got attention because it was about poor people". And it's not like Ang Lee just came out of nowhere. He got alot of attention for Eat Drink Man Woman and The Ice Storm, and then major recognition for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. None of these films centered around gay themes. Wouldn't this logically lead one to conclude that they just like Ang Lee and maybe that has more to do with their love of Brokeback than the subject matter?

What if Brokeback Mountain wasn't about two dudes? Then I imagine it would be much like Martin Scorsese's The Age of Innocence, in which two people were in love but society kept them apart.

I'd have to agree with this. I didn't think Brokeback Mountain was the best movie of that year, but it was a very good movie and that's not simply because it was about 2 guys in love. There are tons of gay movies that don't get recognized for awards, but this movie you had Ang Lee directing and one of the leads was Heath Ledger. Coupled with a very good story (Hell, the short story collection was a finalist for the Pulitizer).

Was the homosexuality integral to the plot? Of course. The movie speaking to the pain and hardship of homosexual men to have open relationships is very poignant. But it didn't win just because it was about 2 gay dudes.

[JS19]

No particular order, and the more I have time to think about this, I'm sure it will change, but here are mine....


- Donnie Darko
- Requiem for a Dream
- Bourne Trilogy
- The Departed
- The Dark Knight
- Wedding Crashers
- Gladiator
- American Psycho
- 300
- Snatch

So many that I want to add... Training Day, Super Troopers, Curse of the Black Pearl, The Aviator, Best in Show, V for Vendetta, I can go on forever with this.

[Fidatelo]

I might be forgetting some, but these are the ones that come to mind. Zoolander is the clear #1 of the decade, the rest are not really in any order.

Zoolander
The Hangover
Anchorman
Dark Knight
Batman Begins
LotR Trilogy
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Spiderman 2
Dude, Where's My Car?
Gladiator

[Honolulu_Blue]

Make this the next movie thing you do. I actually enjoy this more now (several zombie video games later) than I did when I saw it the first couple of times.

Oddly enough, this was a movie that I missed completely until it hit cable, and now it's extremely high on my list of movies of the last five years.

Have you seen "Hot Fuzz" as well? If not, you should do so immediately. Same group of folks, but they take on the "buddy cop" type genre instead of the zombie film genre. It's great.

[Calis]

I could debate over what to put on my list and change it back and forth every day so I'm just going to wing it. I'm sure I am forgetting lots, but for now in no real order.(I'm omitting documentaries, I think those should be in separate lists as I have a hard time comparing quality/enjoyment of the two because it is so vastly different.)

Requiem for a Dream- This one would be my number 1. Just one of those that hits you right in the gut. Great performances all around, but especially Ellen Burstyn puts on an amazing performance. The score is also my favorite and is amazing, and now you hear it on everything from Lord of the Rings to the NBA finals and anything in between.

Adaptation- This one gets the nod over Eternal Sunshine for me. I won't argue it is a better film than that but it hit a little closer to home for me. Cage who I generally hate was fantastic, and Cooper's character was great to watch.

Let the Right One In- This one has the benefit of me going in completely blind. I hadn't seen a trailer or read absolutely anything about it beyond it was foreign and "good". Excellent movie. The kids were both great and it was a truly unique and interesting take on the Vampire mythology unlike some other series that will go unnamed.

In Bruges- I love the dialog in this. The two leads were great and what little time Fiennes had on screen he capitalized on. Beautifully shot as well, this is one I can watch over and over again.

No Country for Old Men- Not a lot to say on this one. I love the Coens, and Cormac McCarthy is my favorite living author, if not favorite in general. Probably his weakest book, but the easiest to adapt, and the Coens did it almost perfectly. Love the choice to forgo a soundtrack also.

There Will be Blood- This one has extreme highs(The opening) and extreme lows(the ending) but throughout the whole thing Daniel Day-Lewis is captivating. Best performance of the decade easily imo. The one movie on my list that is there based on an individual performance.

Spirited Away- I'm not one for anime, and while I enjoy Pixar films they never hit me as classics. Miyazaki has this ability to transport us back to the mind set of a child. While Pixar goes the route of throwing in jokes for adults, he actually manages to bring out the same emotions in both groups. Spirited Away was the first movie of his I'd seen, and while not my favorite of his, its the obvious choice for this decade.

The Royal Tenenbaums- I have a thing for dark comedies, and Wes Anderson.Comments were made earlier about unlikeable characters in comedies but I don't personally see how you can dislike Royal. Sure he has a horrible human being, but in such a charming way and played so perfectly by Hackman you can't help but root for him.

City of God- Another movie like In Bruges where the location is a main character. Beautifully shot and just a very stirring and draining epic of kids on the streets of Rio. Brutal.

The Dark Knight- Not much to add on this one. It had issues and I think it could definitely have used some editing, but still head and shoulders above the other superhero movies.

My honorable mentions would include Pan's Labyrinth, The Fountain, Eternal Sunshine, Synecdoche NY, and more than likely Inglourious Basterds which I have just watched and might even make the list if I had more time to think on it.

I like the Zoolander pick above, and thinking back that might deserve to be on mine. Sure it is dumb and poor in general quality, but it is one of those guilty pleasure that I laugh at every time I see it or am reminded of it. I just can't bring myself to put it in there.

I'd love to have room for either The Station Agent, The Visitor, or both in my list also because I think they're excellent on many levels, and contain some of the most fleshed out and just plain likeable characters in film.

As to the Brokeback Mountain discussion I don't get the reasoning behind the argument about it being two gay guys. Its been said already, but yeah that's the major source of the conflict so take it away and you have an extremely boring movie. Heath Ledger was absolutely fantastic in it. In fact so much so that he made Gyllenhall look absolutely out of place. He couldn't keep up and that brought the movie down some. Wonderfully shot though and another great score. This one is not overrated at all imo

Crash on the other hand is the most overrated movie of the decade and could be argued the worst movie to win best picture ever.

[Carman Bulldog]

Very tough finalizing this. What I did was try to base this list off of how I felt after the first viewing, which is why something like Memento made the list. Because I have not seen all of these movies multiple times, I don't think it's fair to fault Memento for not holding up on subsequent viewings. As it is, based on replay value, there are probably some on my bottom list that could make the jump up.

1. City of God
2. The Departed
3. The Prestige
4. There Will Be Blood
5. Pan's Labyrinth
6. Almost Famous
7. Eastern Promises
8. Memento
9. Inside Man
10. The Wrestler

Honorable Mentions (to round out the top 25)
25th Hour
A History of Violence
Bourne Ultimatum
Casino Royale
Children of Men
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Gone Baby Gone
Juno
Mystic River
No Country for Old Men
Requiem for a Dream
Royal Tenenbaums
The Dark Knight
Traffic
V For Vendetta

[DaddyTorgo]

yeah, just wasn´t sure if it had been really shown stateside. German Cinema really produced some great, great movies this decade in many genres.
2009 Oscar Nominee "Der Baader Meinhof Komplex" is brilliant as well, topic are the terrorist of the "RAF" back in the 70s here in germany.

FYI for all interested - Showtime has been showing a subtitled version of this film lately - and whomario is right...it's brilliant