Is it time for best movies of the decade already?

Am I the only one cranky enough to observe that the first decade of this millennium doesn't end until December 31, 2010?

Granted, you can call the 2000-2009 period the decade of the 'aughts if you want to but point is, we're still only (almost) 9 years into this millennium/century, not 10. And I will note that you do refer to it as the '00s and not the first decade of the millennium/century.

Sorry, I'm still bitter that the entire world pretended that Jan 1, 2000 was the start of a new millennium and that nobody would listen when I told them it wasn't.

What I hate even worse is that I'm so addicted to list-making I'm going to wind up wanting to join in the party with everyone else who doesn't understand how calendars function. Damn it, I'm already making up my list.

That Top 20 is better than many will be despite a few howlers. They even put a documentary on there (even if it's a middling doc by Herzog's standards). But really how can you take it seriously if "Dark Knight" isn't at the top? :)

JE: First, Grumpy is Good, according to psychological authorities ( http://j.mp/2JAOIj ), and I assume the same goes for cranky. The problem here is that people want to party like it's 1999. Again. But as for "TDK" -- don't even joke about it!

Well, I was looking at this a few days ago, and they lost me starting with no. 100, but gained back some cred with no. 1. I haven't pondered it enough to name a no. 1 (and who knows what will come out in the next couple months?), but I will say that Caché was my favorite film of 2005. ( http://www.saltshakermagazine.com/issues/06/0203/cache.html )

Anyhow, I'd definitely say that 90% of these films are at least worth seeing to get a sense of the decade in cinema, even if I wouldn't necessarily have included them all on my list (and would rank some much higher and others much lower, etc.). It's also nice to see some lower-profile documentaries included, Columbine notwithstanding.

I'd like to revisit some of these films that for whatever reason don't resonate in my memory all that well. Hope I have the time.

While I often share Christopher's annoyance on the "when does the decade switch?" question (my song "Too Many Millenniums" opens with the line "They celebrated one year early"), people just prefer the visual, monumental indicators to reality, so it's best not to bust a blood vessel over it.

Any list that includes Hunger and Grizzly Man is on the right track, at least.

Ah, yes, another excuse for cinephiles to go at each other like rabid dogs. If I may contribute to the melee, my top five are...

5--Boat Trip (Cuba Gooding Jr. puts a stink on himself that is never coming off.)

4--Bloodrayne (Ben Kingsley proves he has a costly addiction that must be fed.)

3--Jeepers Creepers 2 (Because I don't believe that the first Jeepers Creepers said all it wanted to say, in a socio-political sense.)

2--Tomb Raider (The perfect movie to watch if you're immediately going to watch porn afterward.)

1--Glitter. 'Nuff said.

Aaaaaaaaaand...FIGHT!

Is that shot from "Donnie Darko" a vision of your future list? Or, is it merely an illusion?

JE: It's a rabbit in a ridiculous man suit, it's #20 on the Times' list, and they're sitting in a movie theater. So I figured that made for a good image...

I did mine recently. I forget the order but the top ten was The Royal Tenenbaums, Old Joy (that's JOY, not BOY), Punch-Drunk Love, The Two Towers, Synedoche New York, Still Walking, There Will Be Blood, Anchorman, Last Days, and Unbreakable.

If anything, thinking about this stuff makes you realize that it was actually a VERY good decade for cinema, even if nobody talks about it in that context.

I don't know about Team America and Slumdog Millionaire checking in at #5 and #6 on that Times list, with James Bond right behind them. Yuck.

I can't understand the adoration given to the Bourne films and Casino Royale. Both of which are just stupid, generic Hollywood pieces of nonsense. Hardly worthy of being on the same list as No Country For Old Men.

Why does anyone take James Bond seriously? Casino Royale was nearly 3 hours long. That sort of film should be no longer than 90 minutes. It was just the same laughable parade of cliches from any other Bond film, but for some reason given critical acclaim.

The Bourne films just wear me out with the relentless shaky-cam aesthetic. After a while it just gives me a headache.

These lists always seem completely arbitrary and pointless.

I think you are very misguided about the reputation for Crash. I think it has remained at the very top of Netflix's Top 100 for several years running. Just checked it and its still #1. It may have lost reputation with critics, but its still being severely watched. Like Shawshank, I don't think you can ignore the prols on this one.

"But really how can you take it seriously if "Dark Knight" isn't at the top?"

You can't, Christopher, you can't. It is the omission of the almighty "The Dark Knight!" from the top 2 movies of the decade that is the main reason this entire list is a sham. The Times of London omits "The Dark Knight!" from the #1 spot at their own peril....perilous peril!

Christopher, Dark Knight's not being in the top 20 is IMO one of its greatest strengths. I don't think that TDK is one of the top 20 films of the 000's, or one of the absolute best films of 2008, let alone the top film of any period. That said, it's not a great list. IMO none of the Bourne films should be in the top 20; I don't think that Cache was the number 1 film; Slumdog Millionare is ranked too high; The Last King of Scotland doesn't belong there (although Whitaker's performance does belong on a performance list); Casino Royale doesn't belong there especially since IMO it's not even a great Bond film, let alone one of the best 20 films of the past decade; United 93 is a good film but I don't think it's a top 20 film (what's with this love for Paul Greengrass?); I don't think that Borat has passed the test of time and I think that Downfall, save for Ganz's performance, was extremely overrated.

A few films which I would have considered in the top 20 are Wonderboys, Mystic River, Gran Torino, Memento, Pan’s Labyrinth, Waltz with Bashir, Kill Bill.Vol 1, Letters From Iwe Jima, Talk to Her The Lives of Others.

The entire list is quite problematic, although fsacinating. I will simply note one thing; Being John Malkovich was 1999, not 2000. I know why it was listed as 2000; it came out in the UK in 2000, and in Australia we do the same thing, but I think that one should stick to the original release date, regardless of where it was originally realeased.

Christopher,

A decade is defined as a ten year period. It can start on any date, so long as it ends exactly 10 years later. Your point about "this millennium" not starting on Jan 1, 2000 is well taken, but I think your crankiness is misplaced.

Sure, when we changed from the Roman Calendar (which counted years from the founding of the city of Rome) to the Christian Calendar (which counts from the birth of Christ) we did away with "year zero" so that 1 AD immediately followed 1 BC. This means that you are correct in saying that 2000 AD was actually the 1999th year of the Christian epoch.

But consider: in ancient Judea there were no birth records kept among the working class (e.g. carpenters), and there was some confusion among ancient scholars as to whether the Christian epoch should begin at Jesus' conception or birth. In light of the available evidence (including reliable dates for the reigns of Herod the Great, Caesar Augustus, etc.) modern historians and Biblical scholars now place the Nativity sometime around 5-2 BC. So even if we wanted to count time from the appearance of Christ on Earth, the current system doesn't do so.

The point is, all systems for numbering years are completely arbitrary. If Dionysius Exiguus could invent his own system in 525 AD, what's to stop us from doing the same? By my reckoning, this is the year 115 MP (the 115th year of the motion picture era, counting from the first commercial exhibition of Edison's kinetoscopes), or equivalently 68 AK (after Kane).

We have every right to count decades as beginning on January 1st of years ending in zero, just so long as we let them run for a full 10 years before we declare that they have ended. This has the added benefit of allowing us to conveniently refer to decades as "The '80s", "The '90s", or "The aughts." It's not really a question of "how calendars work" but of how we choose to divide up the time that has passed.

All that being said, I do agree that it is too soon to reveal best of the '00s lists, because there's still some '09 left to go. The London Times definitely jumped the gun, and they will wish they had left room on their list for some of the films yet to be released. Case in point: "Inglourious Basterds", which definitely belongs in the top 20.

That is, unless they defined "the decade" as ending in July of 2009, in which case, how could they leave off "Fight Club"!? (October '99).

I've been having fun watching Michael Phillips and A.O. Scott unveil theirs.

"Last week, Tony picked the overrated Clint Eastwood movie..."
"Tony, I'm glad to see your taste improving as me move down the list!"
Their #8 choices are the best so far, especially "Mulholland Drive."

What's interesting is Scott's pick of "The 25th Hour", which I saw picked as the best film of the decade here: http://www.moviecitynews.com/columnists/forrest/2009/091109.html
When Scott and Forrest talk about it, as New Yorkers, they spend a good deal of time talking about how the films talk about 9/11...

Thought experiment: If 9/11 hadn't happened and this film came out (as it was originally written, without the 9/11 talk layered over), is it still the best of the decade? Even one of the best? Statements like this confuse me: "I think almost everybody can appreciate the context of the film and how much it tells us about the world we live in today. It’s a film of its time, but it’s also timeless. It’s about how life has forever changed for us after 9/11." Well, yeah, but maybe it's changed more for him in New York than me here in Toronto...

I don't mean to be insensitive, it was one of the great tragedies of the decade to be sure, but 9/11 isa blip on the human time scale... and an even smaller blip in the history of the universe... I know these lists are personal. I know there are other aspects of "The 25th Hour" that are universal (and the high praise of course makes me want to consider it in new ways). And I know that it's always extra special when a terrific movie also has immediate political relevance. (For me, that movie this decade is "Half Nelson".) But are these lists the best *about* the decade or best *of* the decade?

Ps. Jim, I recently re-read your in depth "Donnie Darko" examination, the article that, upon stumbling across it, got me into Scanners to begin with. Things have come full circle... Will be re-watching it soon to consider my favorites from those strange days known as The Noughties.

It is a little premature as those of us who don't go to film festivals cannot account for this year, but I would welcome one from those who do. Here's mine sans 2009:

1. Mulholland Drive(2001)
2. Werckmeister Harmonies(2000)
3. Synecdoche, New York (2008)
4. No Country for Old Men (2007)
5. Gosford Park (2001)
6. Inland Empire (2006)
7. Lost in Translation (2003)
8. In the Mood for Love (2000)
9. Goodbye Solo (2008)
10.Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

We all know that there was technically no year zero but since during the middle ages we lost 4 years or something it doesn't really matter. It's 2010; it starts the teens.

I don't have time to read this article right now, but I want to say...

RUSSIAN ARK (2002) - Alexander Sokurov

and

THE NEW WORLD (2005) - Terrence Malick

Best movies of the decade.

That looks more like a list of movies that people raved about for two months then got tired of talking about. And "Team America"!? I really like that movie but wow...top ten of the decade? I know some critics that won't be happy about that.

I love how they make sure to cover their bases by demonstrating their superior intellect by selecting Caché as #1, then appealing to the masses with their the Bourne sequels in the #2 slot. If the first two picks weren't enough to discredit this list's validity (apologies to you Caché supporters because they tend to be people who's opinions I otherwise enjoy and respect), the exclusion of Pan's Labyrinth is. I appreciate the love given to United 93 and Eternal Sunshine, two great films that have been undervalued, but the exclusion of Pan's Labyrinth is just shameful. Okay, so my rantings are a bunch of hubris, but that's what "best of" lists bring out in people. =)

Wow, I actually said to myself, 'Cache' should be at the top. *And it was*.

I've also seen 18/20 of these, not bad.

But it skews far too British. There's only one French movie there (Caché), so that's preposterous, and he's Austrian anyway. And no Japanese films?

François Ozon, Claire Denis, André Téchiné, etc.

Hirokazu Kore-Eda. Etc.

Now that I'm noticing what else didn't even make their list of 100, I think my head is about to explode. Not that I love all of these, but here is a list of notable films that are missing from their list of 100:

Adaptation
Almost Famous
The Aviator
Best In Show
Catch Me If You Can
Chop Shop
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
anything by David Gordon Green
The Departed
The Descent
The Devil's Backbone
The Fall
A History of Violence
Infernal Affairs
Inglourious Basterds
Kill Bill
Man Push Cart
Master and Commander
Million Dollar Baby
Munich
Princess Mononoke
Requiem for a Dream
Spider-Man 2
Superbad
WALL-E
The Wrestler
Zodiac

I get far too invested in lists...

Well, there seems to be some love out there for each of my top 10 picks, so I won’t be too critical of the top 100 list posted by the London Times. But no love for David Gordon Green? Both of his first two films George Washington and All The Real Girls would make my top 25. Bad Santa, Gladiator, Anchorman? Really? They also got the wrong Judd Apatow movie. 40 Year Old Virgin seemed to start a revolution for comedies, imo. Finally, there seems to have been a major oversight. A very good film was made by arguably the greatest living director. Where was The Departed on that list?! Not even in the top 100?

1 Sideways
2 Talk To Her
3 Y Tu Mama Tambien
4 No Country For Old Men
5 Casino Royale
6 There Will Be Blood
7 Borat
8 City of God
9 Sin Nombre
10 Mulholland Drive

geez, haggie... you're right. nothing by ramin bahrani, no darren aronofsky, no kill bill, no zodiac. this list stinks. the brits ocassionally do have odd affection for certain films, songs, etc..

The best films in this decade for me, when it comes to multiple viewings:

1) City of God

The rest would probably be:

2) Pan's Labyrinth
3) The Aviator
4) The Lord of the Ring Trilogy
5) Minority Report
6) The Dark Knight
7) In America
8) Munich
9) The Grey Zone
10) Oldboy
11) Almost Famous
12) No Country for Old Men
13) The Departed
14) Million Dollar Baby
15) Adaptation
16) Lost in Translation
17) Sideways

(Have any of the decades' movies plummeted in reputation more dramatically than "Columbine" and "Crash"?)

Don't tell Roger Ebert.

@ Miles, I remember reading somewhere that out of all the Netflix movies that are rented, people keep Crash and Hotel Rwanda the longest (as in, they order it and never watch it but feel guilty about sending it back unwatched) so Netflix has to order more copies.

If this were my own personal list, I'd probably include the following films to start:

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
All the Real Girls
Match Point
13 Tzameti
Amelie
Adaptation
The Proposition
Chop Shop
After the Wedding
A History of Violence
The 25th Hour
In America
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and/or Oldboy (in place of Lady Vengeance)
In the Bedroom
Monster
O Brother, Where Art Thou?

...and several more, I'm sure. Those are the ones right off the top of my head. This list is interesting nevertheless.

Does Army of Shadows count, despite being made decades ago? Because that'd be in there too. At the top.

I wonder what their criteria was. It seems like it may have been something similar to the one AFI tries to use (how else do you explain stuff like Borat up there). I am glad to see Let The Right One In on their top 20. Really an excellent movie that unfortunately they're remaking in the U.S.

Minder, that's very funny, because we kept Hotel Rwanda for about nine months out of guilt before sending it back unwatched!

Since nobody asked, here's my 10 for the decade:

Zodiac
Mulholland Drive
No Country For Old Men
Inglourious Basterds
The Lord of the Rings trilogy
The Wind That Shakes the Barley
Children of Men
A History of Violence
Shaun of the Dead
Up

Nick Z – I suppose that comedies are the most subjective genre in all of cinema. However, to those who did find it funny (and it scored 91% on the tomato meter,) Borat is (and remains so even after multiple viewings) ridiculously funny, endlessly quotable, and somewhat of a cultural phenomenon. Considering the demographic, it may not be a surprise, but on both of the sports radio shows that are on during afternoon rush hour here in Chicago, the hosts are constantly quoting or using sound bytes from Borat. “What?” “Very Nice.” “I’m so excite!” just never cease to be funny.

Nick, you just have to recognize that Borat was “great success.” It is a bit like the Macarena (although I certainly am not suggesting that the Macarena is as artistically important as Borat.) The Macarena is dumb. I don’t like it. But you know what?? It’s brilliant. I mean… they did it at the Democratic National Convention for God’s sake! Okay… that may be apples vs. oranges, but in a semi-abstract way perhaps you know what I’m getting at.

I've been thinking about this for a while, to the point where i had a preliminary list of over 50 films that i considered the best of the decade, without beign able to pick just one as the very best. Fortunately once i saw my pick for #1 I stopped adding titles, and now there are only about 20.

How's it looking so far:

#1: Up

The rest in no particular order (except alfabetically):

25th Hour
Almost Famous
Before Sunset
Big Fish
El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan's Labyrinth)
Finding Nemo
In Bruges
Inglourious Basterds
Matchstick Men
Mulholland Drive
The New World
No Country for Old Men
No Direction Home
Persepolis
Punch-Drunk Love
Ratatouille
Sweeney Todd
Wall-E
Y tu Mama Tambien

The only acceptable list is this. It is not debatable.

1. No Country for Old men
2. Mulholand Drive
3. The three burials of Melquides Estrada
4. Donnie Darko
5. Cache
6. Le fils
7. Chopshop
8. Lost in Translation
9. Brokeback Mountain
10. The squid and the whale

JE: Good god, that's it!

These publications are certainly jumping the gun, what if the best movie of the decade comes out of nowhere in late December. Of course I'm perfectly guilty of excited list making myself, I've been putting my list together for the last three years, and it changes weekly. That said, my preliminary top ten is something like:

1. City Of God
2. Munich
3. There Will Be Blood
4. United 93
5. No Country For Old Men
6. Letters from Iwo Jima
7. Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The
8. Children of Men
9. History of Violence, A
10. Minority Report

If this list teaches us anything, it's that this decade was not exactly warm and fuzzy.

When I see people's lists here, I feel... at home? Like I'm not from another planet after all?

Also, you gotta admit, Cmilne has a point.

I love Donnie Darko! and "No Country for Old Men". Phoenix art museum is hosting a viewing of "No Country" this sunday as part of its museum events... I'm so there!

Cmilne's list is not bad. The Times list is pretty awful for multiple reasons. Although Cache is good, it's not the best Haneke film I've seen. Even his new film, The White Ribbon, is better. I think people allow the cleverness of the last shot in that movie to convince them that the rest of the movie was better than it was.

Also, the Bourne movies? Seriously? First of all, by choosing these movies, the Times is throwing their lot in with one of the most wrongheaded trends of the decade (shakey-cam + quick cutting = Best Editing Oscar + bad movie). And secondly, those movies were just above average Hollywood fare.

And for a list that makes plenty of room for British(-ish) films (The Queen, Casino Royale, Slumdog, Hunger, This is England) where is Children of Men?

Finally, Jim, maybe you're just joking around, but now seems like the right time for this best of the decade stuff. First of all, I don't see the need to quibble about whether the decade is from 2001-2010 or 2000-2009. It's all arbitrary anyway. Ebert named Raging Bull as the best 80s movie 20 years ago, so let's just keep on keeping on, I say.

And most critics have seen the likely standouts of the next month at festivals and whatnot, so I feel like November 2009 is as good a place to start as any.

I have an addiction to list-making. I get this uncontrollable urge to list everything I see fit. I mainly list films, for that’s where my obsession lies, but I’ve already done my Best of the Decade list.

1 . The Limits of Control (2009)
2 . Closer (2004)
3 . The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003)
4 . Zodiac (2007)
5 . Yi yi (2000)
6 . Northfork (2003
7 . Werckmeister harmóniák (2000)
8 . The Lives of Others (2006)
9 . Before Sunset (2004)
10 . 2046 (2004)
11 . Revanche (2008)
12 . The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
13 . Dogville (2003)
14 . Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
15 . Brand Upon the Brain! (2006
16 . In the City of Sylvia (2007)
17 . Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007)
18 . Mulholland Dr. (2001)
19 . Waitress (2007)
20 . Children of Men (2006)
21 . Broken Flowers (2005)
22 . Lorna’s Silence (2008)
23 . The Brown Bunny (2003)
24 . Blissfully Yours (2002)
25 . La fidélité (2000)
26 . The New World (2005)
27 . 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (2007)
28 . Of Time and the City (2008)
29 . The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
30 . Bitter & Twisted (2008)

Oh my good lord. Do we have to go through this whole millennium thing again? I don't know if you're cranky, Mister Long. I do know you are wrong.

00 to 01 is one year. 01 to 02 makes two. Use your fingers and keep counting. This decade ends in about six weeks.

Unless something awesome comes out in December, it's time to make the lists.

yeah, Munich would definitely have to be very, very high on my list.

@Brad W- I probably enjoyed Borat as much as anyone. 11th best film of the decade though? I think that might be giving it a little too much credit. Unless they're using an AFI type criteria which takes into account things like cultural impact. So I mostly agree with you and would somewhat agree with its placement on their list depending on how they are doing the ranking.

A top 10 list off the top of my head. Would likely be different if you asked me tomorrow:
1-No Country For Old Men
2-Lost in Translation
3-In Bruges
4-Kill Bill
5-The Royal Tenenbaums
6-Munich
7-The Descent
8-A Serious Man
9-Synecdoche, New York
10-Let The Right One In

God Almighty: No "There Will Be Blood" on the Times' Top 20? Arghhh ...

Although mine will doubtless pale in comparison to cmilne's definitive answer, here's a quick stab at a top ten, in no particular order (except the first)

Werckmeister Harmonies
There Will Be Blood
No Country for Old Men
Pan's Labyrinth
Talk to Her
In the Mood for Love
4 months, 3 weeks & 3 Days
Gosford Park
Still Life
City of God.

Of course, these will change tomorrow. Actually, they've already changed.

Jim, I tend to remember you writing an absolutely brilliant essay on Team America at the time, decrying its creators for their political posturing. I laughed at the film and don't totally hate it, but that film's inclusion offends me far more than Crash's (which, in my mind, is no more offensive than something like Gentlemen's Agreement).

And, since everyone else is doing it, here's my (fairly arbitrary, alphabetical) top 10 list:

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominick, 2007)
Brick (Rian Johnson, 2005)
Code Unknown: Incomplete Tales of Several Journeys (Michael Haneke, 2000)
Elephant (Gus Van Sant, 2003)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (John Cameron Mitchell, 2001)
Hero (Zhang Yimou, 2002)
Last Life in the Universe (Pan-Ek Ratanaruang, 2003)
Sideways (Alexander Payne, 2004)
The Son (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, 2002)
WALL-E (Andrew Stanton, 2008)

JE: Thanks for reminding me of that -- and the kind words. I added the link from the title. I don't hate the movie, either -- I think it's really funny. But Parker & Stone have as coherent a political/moral point of view as Glenn Beck, and sometimes they admit they just make things up to make things up (like the dumb "Matt Damon" gag, which makes no sense because Damon is known for being really smart). I remember feeling that they seemed to find Hollywood celebrities more villainous, and a bigger existential threat, than Kim Jong Il, which seemed a little out-of-whack. (On the other hand, in "Bigger, Longer and Uncut," when everyone seemed more freaked out about Saddam Hussein than the devil, I thought that was hilarious. And then, in 2002-2003, it all came true.)

I've read a few of these lists and I'm disappointed to see that there has been no love for one of my favorite movies of the decade, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

Lists are fun.

TheMutt,

You are incorrect. The 1st century ran from 1 A.D. to 100 A.D. because there is no 0 A.D. Likewise, the 1st millennium ran from 1 A.D. to 1000 A.D. You can probably guess what years the second millennium covered. Your mistake is in counting from zero on those fingers of yours. You have to start counting from one.

As for lists:

Can I make my Top 100 list entirely out of Guy Maddin films? I'm sure the math will add up somehow.

Instead of films, how about a list of directors who have made the last year of the previous millennium and the first 9 years of this one so much fun at the movies? The ones who really "emerged" (use the term anyway you want) in the past 10 years, not the vets who keep making great movies like Herzog, Resnais, Jarmusch, etc.

Guy Maddin (he was making good movies in the 90s too but he's owned the last 10 years), Jia Zhang-ke, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Albert Serra, Ramin Bahrani, Corneliu Porumboui, Pedro Costa, Kelly Reichardt, Sofia Coppola, Christian Petzold, Nina Davenport, Azazel Jacobs.

For starters.

JE: Yes you may. Just don't leave out Shawn Levy.

I agree with chris long, the dark knight deserves it spot. But I find this an awful list. The Assassination of Jesse James should be in the top ten while slum dog millionaire remains an absymal failure. You're critical of the dark knight but slumdog had far more inept directing.

1. The Lives of Others
2. No Country for Old Men
3. Hotel Rwanda
4. Flags of Our Fathers
5. City of God
6. Children of Men
7. Downfall
8. About Schmidt
9. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (the series as a whole would not rank in my top-10, but the opening installment is an all-time great fantasy)
10. Finding Nemo (with reservations, but a nod must be given to the extraordinary work of Pixar)

I know I'm one of the few Eastwood fans here, but while he's always been great, he's arguably enjoyed among his finest periods this decade; Mystic River, Flags of our Fathers, Letters from Iwe Jima, Changeling, Gran Torino, and Million Dollar Baby for the performances.

My short list of the best films of the 2000's

There Will Be Blood
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Inglorious Basterds
Gran Torino
Sin City

I enjoyed these movies alot but I do feel that most of them (at least artistically speaking) are at best competent,interesting or worthy when I think films should explosive,amazing or unforgettable.I don't think Hollywood put any films in this that I will remember strongly years in to come.We can blame Jaws and Star Wars all we want for making American movies more commercial but at least they were movies that took people over and that we still talk about.However,Im not going to complain too much about the drop of quality in current movies because its better to have a decade full of very good films than no good films.

(Bonus:My top 5 offenses of the decade:The Terminal,Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,Mystic River,Casino Royale and Crash)

My short list of the best films of the 2000's

There Will Be Blood
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Inglorious Basterds
Gran Torino
Sin City

I enjoyed these movies alot but I do feel that most of them (at least artistically speaking) are at best competent,interesting or worthy when I think films should explosive,amazing or unforgettable.I don't think Hollywood put any films in this that I will remember strongly years in to come.We can blame Jaws and Star Wars all we want for making American movies more commercial but at least they were movies that took people over and that we still talk about.However,Im not going to complain too much about the drop of quality in current movies because its better to have a decade full of very good films than no good films.

(Bonus:My top 5 offenses of the decade:The Terminal,Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,Mystic River,Casino Royale and Crash)

The 'millenials,' eh? Sure...

I. "There Will Be Blood" - 2007 -

P.T. Anderson's most terrific acheivement yet is, for me, the greatest film of the 21st century. It's a bloated, ostensibly (and thus tantalizingly) epic, masterpiece about the parallels of greed and fundamental religious fervor (think of the shot introducing the town of 'Little Boston,' which is lost to the rest of the world save for its railroad connection: it's an image of railroad tracks, which we know to be perfectly paralell and yet from this prototypical vantage point (staring right down the middle of the tracks) we see how, yonder, the lines intersect---for me, metonymically analogous to the theme of capitalism and religious fanaticism converging). But, even more, 'Blood' is about how those two forces seem to alienate (and, even, bastardize) our children.

The performances by Day Lewis and Dano are spectacular, but their's is not the primary reason for this film's success. No, for me, it is the writing---Anderson molds Sinclair's "Oil!" into another analogue-laden family crisis tale---, the production design---another terrific job by Jack Fisk, who also did the production/art design for other great looking films: "Carrie," "Days of Heaven," and "Mulholland Drive"---, the cinematography---I think Robert Elswitt, though awarded an oscar for this film's camerawork and lighting, is the most underappreciated cinematographer working today---, the score---Radiohead's Johnny Greenwood's especially unique period/outer-space music---, and the direction---Anderson, the "director's director," who has, with "Sydney," crafted his Melville/Mamet, with "Boogie Nights," crafted his Scorsese/Altman, and with "Punch Drunk Love," his Godard/Demme/80's Scorsese... with 'TWBB,' I think he has personalized a Stanley Kubrick film.

Now, that's not to say that the director isn't an original because I certainly believe he is. This film is a harrowing masterpiece and it is probably the most unique and challenging film I have seen of the 21st yet. Just as well, it is in sharp contrast with the contemporary fad of "grab and go" editing---the all-too prevalent hyperkinetic cutting. 'Blood,' is patient and deliberately paced and that should be appreciated because, in American films especially, that is something hard to come by.

II. "Stelle Licht" - or "Silent Light" - blame my sollipsistic nature but: 2009 - Carlos Reygadas

III. "Werckmeister Harmoniak" - 2000 - Bela Tarr

IV. "Dogville" - 2004 - Lars von Trier

V. "Waking Life" - 2001 - Richard Linklater

VI. "Before Sunset" - 2004 - Richard Linklater

VII. "Far From Heaven" - 2002 - Todd Haynes

VIII. "Inglourious Basterds" - 2009 - Quentin Tarantino

IX. "Old Boy" - 2003 - Park Chan-wook

X. "Russian Arc" - 2000 - Aleksandr Sokurov

I love best of lists, but can we just be honest first and admit that this was the worst decade for movies yet?

I mean, most of the movies on the Times of London list are not great movies at all. Some of highly effective entertainment, but put a list of the best of the 60's, 70's, or 1990's together and see how it compares. Heck, I think even the 80's were better than the past 10 years.

"Am I the only one cranky enough to observe that the first decade of this millennium doesn't end until December 31, 2010?"

These are the best films of the decade. It does not, however, specify WHICH decade. You could just as arbitrarily make a list of the best movies of 1997-2006.

But for purposes of simplicity, organization, and coherence, we tend to group decades according to the third numeral in the years. Nothing wrong with that.

All About Eve was released in January 1950. Is it one of the best films of the Fifties or of the Forties?

Since nobody asked, after a little deliberation...

1. No Country for Old Men
2. Mulholland Drive
3. Cache
4. Spider-Man 2
5. No Direction Home
6. Spirited Away
7. Pan's Labyrinth
8. Memories of Murder
9. The Pianist
10. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

and ten more also-rans...

Etre et Avoir
Ghost World
American Splendor
This is England
Let the Right One in
Ratatouille
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Munich
A History of Violence
Bad Santa

It's quite amusing to see that right-wing old Tory rag the Telegraph putting Fahrenheit 9/11 in its no. 1 spot. Must have caused a few of its readers to sputter out their tea. Actually, I doubt if many of their readers have even been to the cinema in the last decade.

And were all these 'we got the millenium wrong' pedants making the same point in 1989 or 1979 when critics were making their 'best of the decade' lists?

In answer to your last question Carl S., "all these" pedants is just me, and yes I was saying the same thing in 1999. Yes any 10 year period is a decade but you didn't see people posting lists in 1975 with their "best of the decade" picks going back to 1966. Which would have been a damned great 10 year period to choose from.

To Michael C. Wahlen,

I think this has been a fantastic 10 years for movies. I have found 2009 to be extremely disappointing so far, much worse than any year I can recall actually, but I hope that's because I've somehow managed to miss the really good films that are out there every year.

I don't know if it's been a great ten years for American independent cinema, and it's been another miserable period for the Oscars. But there are national cinemas thriving today that either were struggling before or at least weren't getting much international distribution. More independent Chinese films are being seen globally now and this alone makes it an exciting time.

I admit that I need the Toronto Film Festival every year to bolster my spirits just when I'm starting to think there aren't a lot of good movies around, but that's always done the trick (until this year.)

I'd put these past 10 years up against just about any other period. Maybe not anything in the 1960-1975 area, but that's just my preference.

JE: Yeah, but, Chris, what about "TDK"?!?!

24 Hour Party People anyone?

JE: "24HPP" absolutely! You, me and Ali, at least.

listomania! gee... I can't help myself:

Reprising the 21st (found in an earlier post with a description of WHY the first one is king) but cheating to make a spot for a recent discovery and a forgotten masterpiece; just as well--and why the hell not?--, filling in for every decade prior too: (question though---WHY DO WE DO THIS? What is the significance of canonizing films we like?)

I. There Will Be Blood - P.T. Anderson - 2007
II.(A) Stelle Licht - or, Silent Light - Carlos Reygadas - 2007 (saw it this year though)
II.(B) Das Weisse Band - or, The White Ribbon - Michael Haneke - 2009
III. Werkmeister Harmoniak - or, the Werkmeister Harmonies - Bela Tarr - 2000
IV. Dogville - Lars von Trier - 2003
V. (A) Waking Life - Richard Linklater - 2001
V. (B) Before Sunset - Richard Linklater - 2004
VI. Far From Heaven - Todd Haynes - 2002
VII. Inglourious Basterds - Quentin Tarantino - 2009
VIII. Old Boy - Chan-wook Park - 2003
IX. Unbreakable - M. Night Shamaylan - 2000
IX. Russian Ark - Aleksandr Sokurov - 2000

1990s

I. (A) Dead Man - Jim Jarmusch - 1995
I. (B) Miller's Crossing - brothers Coen - 1990
II. Satantango - Bela Tarr - 1994
III. Raise the Red Lantern - Zhang Yimou - 1991
IV. The Puppet Master - Hou Hsiao Hsien - 1993
V. (A) Boogie Nights - Paul Thomas Anderson - 1997
V. (B) Hard Eight - or, Sydney - Paul Thomas Anderson - 1996
VI. (A) Goodfellas - Martin Scorsese - 1990
VI. (B) Age of Innocence - Martin Scorsese - 1993
VII. Dazed and Confused - Richard Linklater - 1993
VIII. Days of Being Wild - Wong Kar-wai - 1990
IX. Breaking the Waves - Lars von Trier - 1996
X. Jackie Brown - Quentin Tarantino - 1998

1980s

I. (A) Raging Bull - Martin Scorsese - 1980
II. (B) Life Lessons - a short - Scorsese - 1989
III. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters - Paul Schrader - 1985
IV. Once Upon a Time in America - Sergio Leone - 1984
V. Mon Oncle D'Amerique - Alain Resnais - 1980
VI. Damnation - Bela Tarr - 1988
VII. Blow Out - Brian Depalma - 1981
VIII. Blood Simple - brothers Coen - 1984
IX. Blue Velvet - David Lynch - 1986
X. The Shining - Stanley Kubrick - 1980

1970s

I. (A) Days of Heaven - Terence Malick - 1978
I. (B) Barry Lyndon - Stanley Kubrick - 1975
I. (C) Spirit of the Beehive - Victor Erice - 1973
I. (D) Day for Night - Francois Truffaut - 1973
II. Killer of Sheep - Charles Burnett - 1977
III. Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai de Commerce 1080 Bruxelles - Chantal Akerman - 1975
IV. (A) Taxi Driver - Martin Scorsese - 1976
IV. (B) Mean Streets - Martin Scorsese - 1973
V. The Exorcist - William Friedkin - 1973
VI. Aguirre, the Wrath of God - Werner Herzog - 1973
VII. Cannibal Holocaust - Ruggero Deodato - 1979
VIII. Apocalypse Now - Francis Ford Coppola - 1979
IX. (A) Chinatown - Roman Polanski - 1975
IX. (B) The Tenant - Roman Polanksi - 1976
X. Deliverance - John Boorman - 1972

60s

I. L'Avventura - Michelangelo Antonioni - 1960
II. Last Year at Marienbad - Alain Resnais - 1961
III. (A) Peeping Tom - Michael Powell - 1960
III. (B) Contempt - Jean luc Godard - 1963
III. (C) 8 1/2 - Federico Fellini - 1963
IV. Play Time - Jacques Tati - 1967
V. Persona - Ingmar Bergman - 1967
VI. 2001: A Space Odyssey - Stanley Kubrick - 1968
VII. (A) The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - Sergio Leone - 1966
VII. (B) Once Upon a Time in the West - Sergio Leone - 1969
VIII. Repulsion - Roman Polanski - 1965
IX. Chimes at Midnight - Orson Welles - 1965
X. The Cow - Dariush Mehrjui - 1968

50s

I. Hiroshima mon Amor - Alain Resnais - 1959
II. Vertigo - Alfred Hitchcock - 1958
III. Night of the Hunter - Charles Laughton - 1955
IV. Ordet - Carl Th. Dreyer - 1955
V. Madame De... - Max Olphus - 1952
VI. (A) Pickpocket - Robert Bresson - 1959
VI. (B) Diary of a Country Priest - Robert Bresson - 1951
VII. The Seventh Seal - Ingmar Bergman - 1957
VIII. The Searchers - John Ford - 1956
IX. Rio Bravo - Howard Hawks - 1959
X. Gate of Hell - Teinosuke Kinugasa - 1953

1940s

I. Day of Wrath - Carl Th. Dreyer - 1943
II. The Red Shoes - Michael Powell - 1948
III. (A) The Magnificent Ambersons - Orson Welles - 1942
III. (B) Citizen Kane - Orson Welles - 1941
IV. The Third Man - Carol Reed - 1949
V. Double Indemnity - Billy Wilder - 1944
VI. The Lady Eve - Preston Sturges - 1941
VII. Red River - Howard Hawks - 1948
VIII. The Black Narcissus - Michael Powell - 1947
IX. Force of Evil - Abraham Polonsky - 1948
X. Pinocchio - Luske, Sharpsteen - Walt Disney produced - 1940

30s

I. (A) L'Atalante - Jean Vigo - 1934
II. (B) Zero for Conduct - Jean Vigo - 1933
II. M - Fritz Lang - 1931
III. The Rules of the Game - Jean Renoir - 1939
IV. Story of the Late Chrysanthemums - Kenji Mizoguchi - 1939
V. Shanghai Express - Josef von Sternberg - 1932
VI. Trouble in Paradise - Ernest Lubitsch - 1932
VII. Tabu - F.W. Murnau - 1931
VIII. Earth - Aleksandr Dovzhenko - 1930
IX. The Age of Gold - Luis Bunuel - 1930
X. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves - Disney - 1937

20s

I. The Passion of Joan of Arc - Carl Th. Dreyer - 1928
II. (A) Sunrise - F.W. Murnau - 1927
II. (B) The Last Laugh - F.W. Murnau - 1924
III. The Man with the Movie Camera - Dziga Vertov - 1929
IV. (A) The General - Buster Keaton - 1927
IV. (B) Steamboat Bill, Jr. - Schenck and Keaton - 1928
IV. (C) Cops - a short - Keaton - 1921
V. Nanook of the North - Robert Flaherty - 1922
VI. Greed - [of what I've seen (AMC) -- but I've heard that the original is beyond stellar] Erich von Stroheim - 1924
VII. Haxan - Ben Christensen - 1923 (terrific criterion dvd)
VIII. The Phantom Carriage - Victor Sjostrom - 1921
IX. An Andalusian Dog - Luis Bunuel - 1928
X. Blue Angel - Josef von Sternberg - 1929

10s

I. The President - Carl Th. Dreyer - 1919
II. Intolerance - D.W. Griffith - 1916
III. (A) Les Vampires - Louis Feuillade - 1915
III. (B) Fantomas - Feuillade - 1913
IV. The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari - Robert Wiene - 1919
V. Terj Vigen - Victor Sjostrom - 1916

Prior

The reproductive (or recording) fidelity of the Lumiere shorts (L'Arrivee d'un train en Gare de la Ciotat; the formal (and fantastical) experiments of the Melies shorts (La Lune a un metre); Griffith's "A Corner in Wheat" (1909)

Again: Why do we create canons? This search took me about two and a half hours but now that I've done it I want to go see more than half a dozen of those films again. The earliest films I've only seen once and they had an impression on me that was lukewarm---I guess all I can say about those films are that they deserve our respect being the "firsts." Nonetheless, the question remains: Why!?

Glenn Heath and I have both been progressively counting down our top ten of the decade for the past month and a half, once a week with compare-and-contrast discussions after every post on our respective film lists.

Though, I don't think you'll enjoy mine that much, Jim. "The Dark Knight" rests at number ten. Even so, thus far, in tandem with each other, we've covered -

The Dark Knight - Christopher Nolan
Bloody Sunday - Paul Greengrass
The Lord of the Rings - Peter Jackson
The Hurt Locker - Kathryn Bigelow
WALL-E - Andrew Stanton
In The Mood For Love - Wong Kar-Wai
A History of Violence - David Cronenberg
Oldboy - Park Chan-Wook
No Country For Old Men - The Brothers Coen
The Assassination of Jesse James - Dominick Dunne

- And, we're only just halfway through, with our respective fifth entries due sometime tomorrow evening.

JE -- Andrew Dominik, not D. Dunne (understandable slip -- I do that kind of thing all the time). Caught a bit of "TDK" on HD cable last night and... Chicago still looks fantastic (it's the REAL star of the movie, I think), but the tone still feels flat and clunky to me. But that's a REALLY good Paul Greengrass you've got there!

>>Andrew Dominik, not D.Dunne

I don't know if Glenn will ever forgive me for this one. ;)

*1990s

I. (A) Dead Man - Jim Jarmusch - 1995*

This is, of course, the correct and indisputable choice.

Not sure what I would pick for the last 10 years. No movie has ever had the emotional impact on me that Dancer in the Dark did, but I'm troubled by the fact that I respond so strongly to a movie about such a horribly persecuted woman.

Aesthetically, I can't think of a movie more amazing and "important" (loaded term, I know) than "Colossal Youth." The word "awestruck" gets overused. But this movie left me awestruck. Or gobsmacked. I like that word better.

And for sheer beauty (and subtle humor), nothing tops "Birdsong."

For thrills and literal chills, there's "Touching the Void."

And then there's "The World" and "Still Life" by Jia Zhang-ke. And for pure cinephilic pleasure, "My Winnipeg." And... a whole lot of choices.

But "Dead Man" is the one for the 90s. No questions asked. No competition.

Jeeem, I looked through all of these comments/lists and not one mention of the wonderful work of genius that was Jonathan Glazer's Birth from anyone? What gives, people!?

First, My Favorites (Who can say what's best?)
1 The Fog of War - Morris
2 A History of Violence - Cronenberg
3 The Departed - Scorsese
4 The New World - Malick
5 No Country for Old Men - THE Coen Brothers
6 Cache - Haneke
7 In the Mood for Love - Kar-Wai
8 High Fidelity - Frears
9 Million Dollar Baby - Eastwood
10 Little Children - Field
10b All the Real Girls - Green

Honorable Mentions: Gosford Park, The Quiet American, Heist, Sweet Sixteen, The Pianist, Letters from Iwo Jima, and Chop Shop

Second, The Directors: As always Cronenberg's, Scorsese's, Eastwood's (in the minority here, should I apologize that he's not the Kubrickian type. What would you expect from an actor that idolized John Huston?) and the all mighty Herzog. Then those who emerged recently but that I'd place in the 90's, such as The Mann's, Linklater's, Mamet's, Kar-Wai's, Fincher's (which I now think I was wrong about, but alas welcome me to the minority, again) and Mike Leigh's from the 90's.

Who emerged in 2000's?

Todd Field - I think he is one of the few directors out there who truly blossomed. Sorta from the Kubrickian school. Two shockingly insightful films.

Micheal Haneke - We knew him before, but I think he's on another level now with his precision and nuance particularly in The Piano Teacher and Cache (yet to see White Ribbon), though he still produces a Funny Game every now and then.

David Gordon Green - Just missed the top ten here and he has other notables as well. Scary talented. The three notables being Real Girls then Undertow then perhaps the best "joke-a-second" comedies in Pineapple Express.

Ramin Bahrani - He's already been discussed thoroughly on this site. By my count he is three for three this decade.

Each of these guys I gets me excited about what's to come.

I have a number of thoughts on the decade in general, including the extreme paucity of production from younger directors, the change of comedic timing with the rise of the "joke-a-second" comedies (aka "I'm silly therefore I'm funny" or "I'm a jerk and therefore I'm funny" comedies), the lost art of editing and framing and the loss of atmosphere in film among others topics. Hopefully all to be discussed later.

Okay, trivial things first. Christopher Long is correct about the decades. I had to blurt out "no" as soon as I read the title. (But it's a good thing, right? As in, "Don't worry, Jim; you've still got thirteen months to finish your list.") To those arguing that a decade is any period of ten years, that's true if you want, but then don't give me funny looks when I wish you a happy new year on December 1. To those claiming that 2000 was the 1999th year, um, no -- 2000 was the 2000th year; that's the whole point.

More importantly, wow, the Times has a weird list. I mean, top 100 lists are always a bit silly, but this one is bizarre. How many people have heard of Me and You and Everyone We Know but would list Borat at #11 for the decade? And I bet it would be fun to read a transcript of the committee meeting where it was decided that An Inconvenient Truth was slightly better than Amores Perros but not quite as good as House of Flying Daggers.

I don't know whether I should be proud or ashamed of having seen 56 of the 101 films on such a weird list.

So now, like everyone else, I'm trying to put together my own list, even though I can't make such lists. There are easily at least 100 films that clearly belong in the top 10, and probably 100 more that belong in the top 100. Most of the ones I'd list have been mentioned already, so maybe I'll try for an unordered tentative top 10 among those that haven't been mentioned...

Invincible (Werner Herzog)
The Triplets of Belleville (Sylvain Chomet)
The Saddest Music in the World (Guy Maddin)
Secondhand Lions (Tim McCanlies)
Junebug (Phil Morrison)
Babel (Alejandro González Iñárritu)
The Fountain (Darren Aronofsky)
The Fall (Tarsem Singh)
The Prestige (Christopher Nolan)
The Visitor (Tom McCarthy)
Encounters at the End of the World (Werner Herzog)

Okay, eleven's a good number. Of course I'll think of ten more as soon as I submit this.

A lurker's ten favorite (alphabetically):

Amelie
Before Sunset
Children of Men
City of God
Hero
Inland Empire
Lost in Translation
Mulholland Dr.
Oldboy
Roger Dodger

An extaordinary list Cory. You should be applauded. Lists such as yours should open up the world of cinema to the uninitiated.

I think you've left off quite a few works while emphasizing lessor films of great directors. Akira Kurosawa is nowhere to be found, and "Ikiru" (1952) and "Ran" (1985) must rank in the top-10 from their respective decades ("Ikiru" is better than any film from your 50s list, with the exception of "Vertigo" and "The Searchers," while "Ran" is superior to every film from the 80s with the exception of "Raging Bull"). Sam Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch" (1969) is arguably one of the greatest films ever made and certainly ranks higher than Leone's "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly."

Murnau's "Nosferatu" (1922) is superior to his own "The Last Laugh," and I would never rank "Haxan" above it either.

Malick's greatest film is his first one "Badlands" (1973), with each of his successive films decreasing in quality. It is superior to "Days of Heaven," "The Tenant" and most certainly "Cannibal Holocaust," an inclusion which substantially weakens your entire list as a whole.

"Sunset Boulevard" (1950) is one of the 10 greatest films ever made and should be at the top of your 50s list, though I see you mentioned Wilder's "Double Indemnity" from the 1940s. Sturges' greatest film was "Sullivan's Travels" (1941), though you did mention his second-best film "The Lady Eve."

I like your inclusions of "The Phantom Carriage," "Force of Evil," "Deliverance" (one of the 2-3 best films from the 70s) and "Blue Velvet." It's all opinion on your great work.

Mr. Long:
You completely missed Mutt's point. He wasn't talking about the Millennium, he was talking
about a decade, and a decade starts whenever the hell you want it to start. It's really easy to say "The 80s" or "The 90s" so we all collectively decided to refer to a decade as _0 to _9. Your complaining was right about the beginning of the millennium or the beginning of the century (because we mark these as "the 2nd millennium" or "the 20th Century") but your argument makes no sense with regards to the decade, unless you go around calling this the 200th decade, in which case you would be correct, we have a year to go before the 200th Decade is over. The 00s, however, has a couple months. I'm making my damn list!!

And I'll defend Team America to the death (although it made my initial great movies list
of about 90 Oughts films, it was quickly cut since I'm trying to pair it down to 50, and
Top 5 is pretty ridiculous). Especially the Matt Damon joke - Damon is actually a good friend of the two, and they made a puppet of him for fun, but it came out completely wrong (or as they so eloquently put it, "retarded") looking, so on set they would just have him say "Matt Damon" and they worked it into the movie. He thought it was funny, and so did I. How do you make it through any episodes of South Park with the mentality that they should only make fun of deserving celebrities anyway, I can only name about two or three people in showbusiness they've ever shown in a good light (er, Robert Smith?) - and that's including George Clooney, a good friend who gave them their big break (the brilliant "Smug" episode.)
Just had to clear that up. I'm going to spend the next couple months re-watching the
contenders before I attempt the list, though I know my No. 1 and No. 2 both involve Tommy
Lee Jones as a Texas lawman, and I'm pretty sure they're both high up on your list too, Jim.

JE: Thanks for the info about the "Matt Damon" joke. Didn't know that. Damon's been the inside man on a lot of inside pop culture jokes -- including getting bumped from Jimmy Kimmel (and going ballistic) and f**king Sarah Silverman.

electronichate, great to see that you list Eastwood! Yes, he's not as stylish as some, but he's a classicist, and arguably a great one at that.

Without a doubt, the best movie I've seen this decade has been Zodiac. Any list without that movie on it loses some credibility with me (just my opinion). And I don't think the Dark Knight belongs anywhere on one of those lists. It's weird, I respect everyone's opinion who thinks it was a great movie, but sometimes I feel like I was sitting in the same theatre watching a different movie.

Jim, your number 1 film of 2004 was Birth, correct? I always regretted that that film fell through the cracks. Kidman's best performance this decade.

JE: Honestly, I don't remember -- I'm not organized enough (or anal enough) to remember where my lists are anymore. They're interesting artifacts of their time, though. And "Birth" is certainly one of the '00s movies I think most highly of...

One thing this has made me do is go back and look at my Top 10 lists, and realized how much my opinion of those films has changed just in a few years. Or even less.

I picked Junebug as the #3 film of the year, but now there's no way I'd even consider it for a Top 100. I still like it, but now it seems to precious (not Lee Daniels precious, mind you) to me and what I like most about is Amy Adams. And also that enigmatic opening sequence.

I picked "Helevtica" as my #1 film of the year mostly because I had just watched it when I was making up my list and really loved it. I wouldn't have seen that one without Jim's recommendation either. Now... it's definitely on my Top 100 but it won't be in the top 10 or 20. Heck of a movie but #1? That was a bit excessive, but I think I wanted to make a documentary #1 for the sake of doing so.

Did I really put "The Queen" ahead of "Old Joy"? Not anymore, brah. And "Marie Antoinette" deserved better than an Honorable Mention. Who made up that list anyway? I put "Manderlay" in the Honorables? I thought I didn't even like that.

I could probably populate my top 10 with movies only from Pixar and the Coen brothers but it'd be a pretty ugly list. I think some movies that people loved when they first came out, have gotten bad raps by the movies they influence. Juno is one of these, and its sad not to see it on any of these lists in the comments. I love Slumdog as much as the next guy but where's the love for 28 days later, which history will prove to be the movie with more legs. Can zombie movies not make these lists? A personal favorite of mine, Memento is a no show on peoples lists as well, which is odd to me because this is the movie that led Nolan to get the Batman job. TDK rates ridiculously high on some lists. That's like saying Tim Burton's Batman is a better movie than Edward Scissorhands. Have people already forgotton how good The Wrestler was, and what about Requiem for a Dream? There were a lot of good movies this decade. I can't choose a top 10 so I won't try, at least not til the decade is over.

Dave: Juno didn't get a bad rap by the movies it influenced (which are what, exactly? The movie is less than two years old, so what could it have possibly influenced?), it did it all by itself.

And Tim Burton's Batman IS a better movie than Edward Scissorhands.

As for Aronofsky, I think his rep keeps diminishing, especially after The Fountain, and he has never really been esteemed by cinephiles. A lot of people think, correctly, that his movies are too one-note, even the good ones.

I can only hope that in the next ten years, people learn to begin the years with "twenty" instead of "two-thousand."

I must say that while you've seen a lot more movies in the last ten years than I have, some of the ones that impressed you did not impress me so much. I'll leave it at that.

The best ten new films I saw in the 2000s were:

2001: A Space Odyssey
Taxi Driver
Barry Lyndon
La Dolce Vita
High and Low
The Wages of Fear
Days of Heaven
No Country for Old Men
Once Upon a Time in the West
Come and See

Well, they were new to me.

Hmm, I think I'll give it a shot. I can't restrict myself to 10 though...

1. Mulholland Drive
2. No Country For Old Men
3. Chop Shop
4. Tarnation
5. The Lord of the Rings
6. My Winnipeg
7. The Orphanage/Pan's Labyrinth (tie)
8. Wendy and Lucy
9. Let the Right One In
10. The Dark Knight (Sorry Jim!)
11. The Lives of Others
12. Audition (cheating, I know!)
13. Old Joy
14. A History of Violence
15. George Washington
16. Synecdoche, New York
17. Grizzly Man
18. Spirited Away
19. WALL-E
20. Into the Wild

Honorable mentions: In the Mood For Love, Oldboy, Bubble, Spider-Man 2, Inglourious Basterds, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, Inland Empire, The Devil's Backbone, Waltz With Bashir, Rachel Getting Married, Brokeback Mountain, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Adaptation, Where the Wild Things Are,Shotgun Stories, A Prairie Home Companion, The Wrestler, The Assassination of Jesse James, Goodbye Solo

What is nice about these sort of exercises is that they require us to be nostalgic about all of the great film (and film-watching) moments of the last decade. There's some sort of enjoyment in reading through several lists and coming across a handful of titles that you've never heard of, titles that you had planned to see (but never got around to it), and titles that are instantly familiar because they were a personal favorite (too).

However, Top 10, let alone Top 100, lists are completely useless with respect to their order and content. I propose that we make this easy and randomly compile Ebert's year-end "top tens" and call it a day - he seems to have pretty good taste.

I should have known the readers of this blog would contribute a much more interesting "best movies of 00s" discussion than the standards lists-and-argument.

I agree that it's funny how movies change in our estimation over the years. One of the biggest films to do that was "The Royal Tenenbaums," which I think people dismiss now because of all the knockoffs that film and Rushmore inspired (plus, Wes himself has never been nearly as good again). I didn't care a lot for Tenenbaums at the time, but it's grown into my most re-watched film and nowadays it reads like the story of America over the last 10 years to me (it came out the month after 9/11, and was about a wounded, immature family that had no idea how to heal itself, and so on). Plus it looks great and is legitimately funny and moving.

I recently watched Ghost World for the first time since it first came out. People forget about that movie now but man, that film nails everything the 40-Year-Old-Virgin attempted and occupied a wonderful little world of its own.

My top movies of the decade would be:

1. The New World
2. There Will Be Blood
3. Inglourious Basterds
4. Unbreakable
5. Kill Bill
6. The Royal Tenenbaums
7. Ratatouille
9. No Country For Old Men
10. Up

I forgot to include Cowards Bend the Knee in my honorable mentions. It's a good 'un. Sometimes it seems like Guy Maddin exists on his own weird, wonderful planet and he just beams down his visions every couple of years for us to enjoy.

There are still a whole lot of movies from the decade that I need to see, but here's my current (somewhat randomly thrown together) top-ten (in alphabetical order):

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Dogville
Le Fils
Lilya 4-ever
The Return
The Royal Tenenbaums
Spirited Away
The Triplets of Belleville
Vera Drake
Waltz with Bashir

And some others:

The Boss of It All
Brokeback Mountain
Cache
Children of Men
L'enfant
Happy-Go-Lucky
Into the Wild
Marie Antoinette
Minority Report
Sweeney Todd
There Will Be Blood

Of course, there are about fifty others I loved just about as equally, but, well, you know...

I hate lists.

David Gordon Green had a pretty great decade: George Washington, All the Real Girls, and Pineapple Express?

What the hell:

1. There Will Be Blood

The rest: (No order)

Funny Games (US)
Northfork
Songs from the Second Floor
No Country For Old Men
In Bruges
Punch Drunk Love
The Big Lebowski
Into The Void
The Fog Of War
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

The worst: (no order)

Little Miss Sunshine (didn't finish)
Gran Torino (Didn't finish)
Mystic River

I give up. I combed over the last decade and came to the realization that I cannot do this anymore, it seems to me the silliest thing a person who respects movies could do. That we do at the end of a decade is arbitrary, the rankings compare apples to oranges... The jury is still out on many of the films... The writing is what gives the verdicts context, a list in itself is a dime a dozen. Why do we do this? Isn't it enough that we've weeded out the bad films? And why not talk about the bad films too right about now? Why not consider the greatest... whatever in cinema this decade. There were movies this decade that, overall, I didn't like, but one element of aspects of a film might have been a great moment in cinema this decade.

I dunno, there are obviously some people with good taste posting here but, really, why must we do this? Here is what I suggest: My experiences with noughties cinema. We each *write* (for reading) about how our tastes in film changed, were refined, et cetera... or not... over this decade. We talk about all the films, good or bad, that suck out in our mind as how we'll remember the decade. We can talk about what trends developed this decade that we do or don't like going forward...

Wouldn't that be of greater value than arguing what's #10 or #1? Cause when it gets to the top tens, I especially can't justify one over another. I can pretend to. But, deep down, I'm depressed by the idea of people not seeing both... and I really hope both they will see. In fact, even if I'm sure one movie is better than another... Why not see the other anyway? I've said before, in a number of words, that I feel some films are much important to society than... even my own life. But I also see films not as competitors of each other but all working together, for the betterment of the world (even if that just means cheap entertainment that made a day enjoyable). Anybody can make a list, anybody can even provide their reasons. I seek challenging perspective, the sort you can only get through in depth analysis, discussion and writing... Not numbers, titles and bullet points...

Now for the responses: But it's fun! For a while... and then it's maddening.

What the hell:

1. There Will Be Blood

The rest: (No order)

Funny Games (US)
Northfork
Songs from the Second Floor
No Country For Old Men
In Bruges
Punch Drunk Love
The Big Lebowski
Touching The Void
The Fog Of War
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

The worst: (no order)

Little Miss Sunshine (didn't finish)
Gran Torino (Didn't finish)
Mystic River

What the hell:

1. There Will Be Blood

The rest: (No order)

Funny Games (US)
Northfork
Songs from the Second Floor
No Country For Old Men
In Bruges
Punch Drunk Love
The Big Lebowski
Touching The Void
The Fog Of War
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

The worst: (no order)

Little Miss Sunshine (didn't finish)
Gran Torino (Didn't finish)
Mystic River

Maybe not "the best" of the decade, but some blend of what I believe to be the best and what I personally like the best (minus films I have yet to see, which there are plenty):
4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days
Amores Perros
Battlestar Galactica (cheating, I know)
City of God
Chop Shop
The Descent
The Devil's Backbone
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
A History of Violence
Let the Right One In
LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring
Minority Report
No Country For Old Men
Princess Mononoke
Pan's Labyrinth
Ratatouille
Requiem For a Dream
Superbad
United 93
The Wire (cheating, but I can't bring myself to leave it off my list; The Wire is the best film of the decade)
Y Tu Mama Tambien

Here's some that don't make a "best" list for me, but I still believe to be either undervalued or underexposed:
All the Real Girls
Bloody Sunday
Brick
Elephant
Ghost World
In America
Junebug
Matchstick Men
Munich
The Orphanage
You Can Count On Me

And the overrated pile (not necessarily bad, though some are downright awful):
Caché
Crash
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Flags of Our Fathers
Hotel Rwanda
The Lives of Others
Lost In Translation
Mystic River
Old Boy
The Queen
The Royal Tenenbaums
The Squid and the Whale

Personal atrocities - I have yet to see these films:
anything by John Madden
24 Hour Party People
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Brokeback Mountain
Dogville
Downfall
Far From Heaven
Gran Torino
Grizzly Man
Hurt Locker
In the Mood For Love
The New World
Precious
Revanche
Russian Ark
A Serious Man
Sin Nombre
Wendy and Lucy
Werckmeister Harmonies

To answer Karlos' call...

I love how this decade furthered the exposure of foreign films. When I talk to people about the cinema these days, it's far more likely that they've at least heard of some foreign films and have maybe even seen some of them. This leads to a greater willingness for said people to watch older foreign films as well.

I'm also glad to see the Indie film gushing of the 90s fall by the wayside. It used to be that if it was "Indie," it was automatically hailed by critics and film goers alike. That's great if the movie is actually good. But, it got to the point where films weren't being judged completely on their own merits--people forgot that lots of good films come out of Hollywood.

Spielberg - welcome back! Not that he ever completely left, but I feeling like the 2000s represent a reawakening in his career. Looking back on his early attempts at "serious film making"--A Color Purple, Empire of the Sun, Amastad (Schindler's List is an exception)--they all have a similar feel in the diegesis. Completely different stories but told in very similar ways because of the way Spielberg lit/shot/edited them. From Saving Private Ryan to now, Spielberg's films have a different feel. You can still see Spielberg the auteur in them, but there's something different about them (sorry, not time to explore in more detail). Only now do I realize that A.I. was made in 2001. I'd add that to my undervalued list as well.

Ramin Bahrani - neo-realism returns, but not without change. Bahrani combines the tenets of neo-realism (use of non-actors, shooting on location, long shots, no expressionistic montage) with a mobile camera that creates the effects of montage without (noticeable) cutting. Case in point - watch the scene where Ale discusses Isamar's missing money with her as he closes the shop. The camera and the actor's blocking goes from 1-shot to 2-shot to over-the-shoulder for each character and "cuts" to what Ale is doing to close the shop. Amazing reinvention of montage that allows it to be worked into a film grounded in realism.

Television emerged as a true rival to the cinema. There'd been hints of it in the past, but nothing like The Sporanos, Battlestar Galactica, and The Wire (and I still haven't even seen Deadwood, Oz, Six Feet Under, or Dexter).

Why are so many of you philosophical about making a top ten list?! For those who ask, “why do we do this?,” the answer to that is “we do it because it’s fun.” I’ve quickly read through every list posted on this board and when I felt like I had read through a respectable list with other films I enjoyed, I looked up the one out of the bunch that I had not heard of or didn’t know much about. This kind of list making, of course, sparks discussion. Not the kind of discussion that has me defending Slumdog Millionaire (probably a top 25 movie for me) and blasting The Dark Knight (I just don’t dig it, man,) but the kind of discussion that inspires us to return to films we really enjoyed (somebody mentioned Ghost World… saw it twice; loved it twice, but have forgotten it somewhat) or, like Ebert says, to draw attention to a film that may be worth seeing.

As for sifting through lists and lists of films in order to create a top 10, I say that if it didn’t stay with you or if you haven’t seen the title listed on this message board or on any of the several top 100 lists that are already posted on the web, then it probably doesn’t merit inclusion on a top 10 list.

The thing that annoys me most about that Times list isn't even the choices or the order, but the fact that Being John Malkovich is on it. I love the movie, but it was released in 1999, not 2000. Jeez!

(And by the way, H Man, The Big Lebowski was from 1998, but I'll forgive you because I assume you don't have a team of fact-checkers at your disposal who should have caught that)

Anyway, I'm not sure I'm finished with my list yet, especially with so many films left to be released, but here's what it's looking like so far:

1. Mulholland Dr.
2. No Country for Old Men
3. Grizzly Man
4. Adaptation
5. WALL*E
6. The Pianist
7. Punch-Drunk Love
8. Talk to Her
9. Kill Bill
10. A History of Violence

Instead of another top 10 list, how about a list of the decade's most accomplished filmmakers? You know, an MVP award for filmmaker of the decade?

I nominate:

The Coen Brothers for producing a body of post-Fargo work that can actually stand along side the amazing string of classics they produced in the 80's & 90's. Extra credit for No Country...which is, at this point, must take the prize for best post-9/11 American film.

David Simon for laying down 5 seasons of The Wire, each one a classic mega-movie that dwarfs (in entertainment value & ambition) any crime drama of the past 20 years.

David Chase for, if nothing else, the final scene of his series, which was perhaps the most unpretentiously profound, exciting and vital scene of this decade.

Spielberg for the one-two punch of Munich & War of the Worlds. In 20 years I suspect the film artistry on display here will tower over almost every other American film so far about 9/11 and the moral/cultural/political storm that followed.

haggie - I'm sure you meant to see Guy Maddin and not John Madden, but it's funny so I'll point it out anyway. BOOM! Brett Favre!

Sorry for the multiposts; I kept getting errors on the page.

Jake: re Lebowski: I had to include it as it's the film I have watched the most times this decade. Seemed like the honest thing to do.

At least that was my ethos...

Karlos,

I not only like lists, I think they're very useful. There are a lot of movies out there. There are a lot of things to talk about. Lists are a way to provide a system of categorization and to promote cinema.

Roger Ebert's Great Movies list was a HUGE part of my film education. It's what I used to get started as a die-hard cinephile exploring world cinema by way of my home theater. Through that list, I discovered the French New Wave, Werner Herzog and many other filmmakers.

My taste differs significantly from Ebert's. These days I think they may be diametrically opposed since on a yearly basis his "Top" list reads more like my "Worst of" list. But that's beside the point.

Likewise, I have used Jonathan Rosenbaum's 1000 film list from "Essential Cinema" as a guide to exploring more esoteric films, ones I would not have heard of if not for him.

When I submit a list, it's obviously not going to carry the weight or be anywhere near as useful as something Roger Ebert or Jonathan Rosenbaum offer because they have a vastly larger sphere of influence. But a list is still a way to say "Hey, this is what I valued the most. Maybe you will too. Or not, if you already know you don't agree with me."

We can wring our hands about the damaging effects of promoting a canon that, by definition, excludes other films but I think that's a bit ridiculous. And that's what other lists are for.

Now if you want to talk about the problems inherent in using _consensus_ lists as opposed to individual critic's lists then I think there's more room for complaint.

what the hey - 1 more top 10 list-
(in no particular order)

Amelie
Oldboy
No Country for Old Men
Children of Men
Up
City of God
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Kill Bill ( 1&2)
District 9
Snatch

top 10:

coffee and cigarettes, donnie darko, synecdoche, new york, the diving bell and the butterfly, adaptation, requiem for a dream, Kill Bill (1 and 2), paris je t'aime, (500) days of summer

honorable mention:
the life aquatic with steve zissou, the departed, the devil’s backbone, o brother where art thou, lord of the rings, superbad, 28 days later, the squid whale, jackass, borat, sexy beast, pan’s labrynth, vanilla sky, bowling for columbine, best in show, 25th hour, ocean’s 11

Brad W: LOL. Yup. Guy Maddin indeed. That's a classic slip, eh?

Christopher Long: Ebert's "Great Movies" list was huge for me as well. I'd always been vaguely aware of this "other cinema" out there but had only dabbled in major "old" Hollywood films (grew up watching a lot of those, especially Hitchcock) and the foreign films that hit the theatres and got enough press for me to be aware of them (Ran, 3 colors trilogy, etc.). For years I told myself that one day I was going to dive into the deep end and try to understand what I was missing in a lot of the films that critics considered "great" but had left me scratching me head. Ebert's list was perfect for that. I thought I knew a little something about the movies until I saw that list and realized I hadn't even heard of 75% of the films or many of the major directors. Of course, the DVD era (and commentary tracks), and the awesome selection at Netflix helped out too. I've since met a few others who express some interest in diving into the "other cinema" -- I've gently pushed them to Ebert's list as well. =)

haggie - I like your comments and your picks. I, too, use Ebert's list as a reference point. I have not delved very deep into the list as I occasionally find some of the films a bit unaccessible for my tastes. For example, Ebert has written that La Dolce Vita resonated with him because of where he was at the point of his life during which he first saw it. For me, (albeit I saw it close to 10 years ago and only one time) it was a long movie during which nothing really happens. A lot of the meaning is lost on me because I don't necessarily know or understand Italy in 1960. Maybe that isn't the best example, but perhaps you know what I'm getting at. L'avventura might be a better example. With that being said, can you recommend one (or a few) titles that are a bit more accessible? Ebert did introduce me to films like The Third Man, The Bicycle Thief, Rashomon, Pickpocket and a few that I had the pleasure of seeing at his annual film festival, as well.

I started watching 'good' film with Hitchock, too, and have seen most of the obvious titles on his list.

Well, L'avventura is a great example if you're referring to long movies where nothing happens. ;)

I do have an affinity for La Doce Vita, so be warned. =)

If you're looking for accessible (and great!), off the top of my head I'd recommend Yojimbo, Seven Samurai, The Seventh Seal, The Wages of Fear, Aguirre: the Wrath of God, Nights of Cabiria, and Amarcord. Fellini, Kurosawa, and Bergman were the three directors I fell in love with right away.

Anyone else want to give some suggestions? I'd love to hear them too! No need to limit our talk to just the great films of THIS decade, eh? =)

Chris Kent:
The canon I threw together is silly, incongruous, and downright contemptuous in so many respects—elitist, maybe, as well—but, one of the serious facets to the list is this: it exposes some of those films that have been disregarded (“The President,” “Dead Man,” and “Life Lessons”), forgotten (some of Disney’s pictures, for instance), misinterpreted (“Night of the Hunter,” “Cannibal Holocaust”), overlooked (“Chimes at Midnight,” “Playtime”), or never seen (“The Cow,” “Gate of Hell,” “Force of Evil”). I think the best thing these lists can do—and I do believe they serve a great purpose—is promote films. The criterion is always based on personal predilections, however, thus reason for films dominated by long, plan sequence takes and rich mise-en-scene... that's what I like!

Slumdog Millionaire no.6? Yikes

thanks, haggie, for the recommendations. I was familiar with these titles, but didn't know much about them. I briefly read about each on wikipedia... Wages of Fear and Nights of Cabiria have piqued my interest, so I'll check those out first.

Million Dollar Baby
O Brother Where Art Thou
Batman Begins
No Country For Old Men
Memento
The End of the Affair
The Departed
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Erin Brockovich
Pirates of the Carribean
Michael Clayton
Children of Men
Passion of the Christ
Star Wars III
The Bourne Identity
Shrek

I like that Battle Royale and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance are on the list, but most of the films are just, as others have said, more popular films that got more attention upon release. Some of my favorite films of the past ten years not mentioned on the list or by others were:

Dogville (Lars von Trier)
Fat Girl (Catherine Breillat)
The Piano Teacher (Michael Haneke)
Ken Park (Larry Clark)
Ichi the Killer (Takashi Miike)
Edmond (Stuart Gordon)
Broken Flowers (Jim Jarmusch)
Antichrist (Lars von Trier)
Irreversible (Gasper Noe)
Period Piece (Giuseppe Andrews)

(Most probably haven't heard of Period Piece. It's a little cult gem in the realm of John Water's Pink Flamingos, but it operates on a far deeper level)

I saw "Away We Go" this weekend and it made me think: is it time for worst movies of the decade already?

Chris Long,

I'm against ranking more than lists. I think comparisons between movies --- even films that seem to have nothing in common at first glance -- are valuable. But ranking those same movies against each other, if they're both great in their own way, is a problem. Look at the "which Bad Lieutenant is better?" debate. It misses the point, how the contrasts are interesting.

I'm also not big on lists with arbitrarily imposed endings Ebert's "Great Movies" list is held open for any entry he so choses in his lifetime. That's the only just way to do it.

I'm also not sure why we feel a compulsion to do this at the end of each year or decade, is if there is some meaningful divide there. It's superficially meaningful because we did it that way last time but, like I said, I'd rather read, like A.O. Scott recently wrote, one's personal take/ memories of the last decade of film...

On the other hand, I recently stumbled onto Jim's review of Richard Corliss' perverse list of the greatest horror movies. If you read lists like puzzles/codes, then I suppose you can tell something about the person's view/ logic...

I love these lists, and apparantly many others do too(100+ posts). I'm not sure why anyone would spend time arguing about their relevance. Either you like reading them or you don't.

For me it's pretty simple. If I see a list that appeals to me, I might be prompted to seek out titles on the list that I've missed. Here's mine. I had to go to 25 to get on everything I felt had to be on it.

1. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
2. Bully (2001)
3. The Rules of Attraction (2002)
4. Amores Perros (2000)
5. 25th Hour (2002)
6. The Departed (2006)
7. There Will Be Blood (2007)
8. Traffic (2000)
9. Syrianna (2005)
10. Zodiac (2007)
11. High Fidelity (2000)
12. Almost Famous (2000)
13. Burn After Reading (2008)
14. Black Book (2006)
15. In Bruges (2008)
16. Minority Report (2002)
17. No Man's Land (2001)
18. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
19. Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001)
20. Black Hawk Down (2001)
21. Man on Wire (2008)
22. No Country For Old Men (2007)
23. Wonder Boys (2000)
24. Better Luck Tomorrow (2002)
25. The Fog of War (2003)