Your Top 10 Movies of the Decade

[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]

Originally Posted by 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...)

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]

Originally Posted by Karlifornia

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?

[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]

Originally Posted by Dodgerchick

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]

Originally Posted by Glengoyne

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]

Originally Posted by whomario

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]

Originally Posted by Mustang

Sahara was the final straw wasn't it?

Sahara is a highly underrated film.

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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]

Originally Posted by Subby

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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]

Originally Posted by Kodos

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.

Originally Posted by sterlingice

* 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]

Originally Posted by Karlifornia

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
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]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

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]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

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]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

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
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]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

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]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

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]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

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.