So, apparently everyone is doing their obligatory “best of the decade” lists and, it seems that I am no exception.
Though the Aughts (also known as the 2000’s) were horrible in a lot of ways for the world, especially the U.S. (war, September 11th, massive recession and economic meltdown) there were also some great things and going through my list of films that came out from 2000 – 2009…it was strong decade. In fact, it is so strong that I couldn't bear to whittle down the list to a mere top 10, so I have done a top 35.
There is to be no doubt that some films will have been forgotten, I am no genius and my memory is less than acceptable, so forgive my ineptitude at list making. Also, for this list, only the top 10 are in any kind of order.
Let it begin:
1. Lord of the Rings Trilogy:
Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings (Peter Jackson, 2001)
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Peter Jackson, 2002)
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Peter Jackson, 2003)
2. The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008)
3. The Royal Tenebaums (Wes Anderson, 2001)
4. Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003)
5. Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly, 2001)
6. The Departed (Martin Scorsese, 2006)
7. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)
8. No Country for Old Men (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, 2007)
9. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (Seth Gordon, 2007)
10. Moon (Duncan Jones, 2009)
10. Avatar (James Cameron, 2009)
11. Inglorious Bastards (Quentin Tarantino, 2009)
12. Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo Del Toro, 2006)
13. Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000)
15. The Wind that Shakes the Barley (Ken Loach, 2006)
16. Touching the Void (Kevin MacDonald, 2003)
17. Gladiator (Ridley Scott, 2000)
18. Man On Wire (James Marsh, 2008)
19. Oldboy (Chan-wook Park, 2003)
20. This Is England (Shane Meadows, 2007)
21. High Fidelity (Stephen Frears, 2000)
22. Grizzly Man (Werner Herzog, 2005)
23. Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2 (Quentin Tarantino, 2003, 2004)
24. Once (John Carney, 2007)
25. Juno (Jason Reitman, 2007)
26. Amélie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001)
27. City of God (Fernando Meirelles, 2003)
28. The Bourne Identity (Paul Greengrass, 2002)
29. I Heart Huckabees (David O. Russell, 2004)
30. Hunger (Steve McQueen, 2008)
31. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón, 2006)
32. District 9 (Neill Blomkamp, 2009)
33. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (George Lucas, 2005)
34. American Psycho (Mary Harron, 2000)
35. Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson, 2008)
Runners Up:
Slumdog Millionaire (Danny Boyle, 2008)
Syriana (Stephen Gaghan, 2005)
28 Days Later... (Danny Boyle, 2002)
O Brother Where Art Thou? (Coen Brothers, 2000)
Brick (Rian Johnson, 2005)
Battle Royale (Kinji Fukasaku, 2000)
Unbreakable (M. Night Shyamalan, 2000)
In America (Jim Sheridan, 2004)
Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe, 2000)
The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow ,2009)
Star Trek (J.J. Abrams, 2009)
The Prestige (Christopher Nolan, 2006)
A History Of Violence (David Cronenberg, 2005)
Punch-Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2002)
The Squid and The Whale (Noah Baumbach , 2005)
Son of Rambow (Seth Gordon, 2007)
Excellent list. I have actually seen most of these.
ReplyDeletethere are no Harry Potter movies on here. I object. Otherwise, I guess it's alright.
ReplyDeleteOn a semi-related note, if you haven't already, you need to see Air Guitar Nation. It's pretty great. Ben already has his name for when he competes:
Hell Toupee
(he will of course be wearing a toupee)
ReplyDelete"hell toupee" is perfect (tho straight out of Simpsons 'Treehouse of Horror'), and I am thinking about your claim to Potter, Annie. I'm wondering what criteria are at work with this list.
ReplyDeletei gotta say i'm surprised to not see Avatar on here. i don't know how it comes across in 2-D, but seeing it in IMAX 3D was the most captivating film experience I have had since seeing Return of the Jedi in the theater. I mocked the show prior to seeing it, rolling my eyes at each trailer, but it rocked my world. Thought it was a Darren pick for sure. Curious about this.
Nice list. I agree wid it...what else? Dancer in the Dark, the Hurt Locker, Sunshine?
Good call on Avatar...I must admit that this is the point I was making about being an idiot.
ReplyDeleteI loved it seen it twice. i think i thought it came out this year and so it didn't count, but I am wrong and realized it as soon as you mentioned it. Concider this amended. Hurt Locker should already be on there.
I haven't seen Dancer in the Dark I will check it out.
As for Sunshine, that was one of the best Sci-fi films I have seen, until about half way through and then it became, honestly mediocre. So I had to leave it off the list, but it is worthy of a runner up, perhaps.
I count myself lucky to have seen many of these in the theaters with you in Triumverate style. Always a treat. Going to the show with you guys is unlike going with anyone else. No one else I go with sits through all the credits (reads them) and discuss at length the films intricacies at great length. I love being the only guy in the office who can offer up insightful commentary about such movies, all of which I plagiarized from you or Dan. I look smart.
ReplyDelete