As I always like to say, "Everybody Loves Lieblingsfilme." I know I do, which is why I made this list of my 22 favorite films of the '00s. No, that is not entirely true. I made the list because the estimable Milan Pavlovic, editor of the German Filmzeitschrift Steadycam (and for whom I wrote this profile of Barbara Baxley's Lady Pearl in Robert Altman's "Nashville") asked me to.
He asked others, too, and the aggregate findings will be published in a future issue of Steadycam. The important thing to remember here is that these are favorite films. Sure, everything on my list is also an accomplished work of art, but these are the movies I love, that have had the most personal impact on me, that I have found most moving and exhilarating, that have permanently ingrained themselves into my psyche -- whether they're anybody else's idea of the "best of the decade" or not:
Now updated with links to my previous noodlings, where available:
1) "No Country for Old Men" (Coens, 2007)
2) "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" (Jones, 2005)
3) "Caché" (Haneke, 2005) [Opening Shot]
4) "Zodiac" (Fincher, 2007) [Opening Shot] See also: Hurdy Gurdys and Aqua Velvas, The "Dirty Harry" Scene, Three Kinds of Violence.
5) "A Serious Man" (Coens, 2009)
6) "Mulholland Dr." (Lynch, 2001)
7) "Brokeback Mountain" (Lee, 2005)
8) "Pan's Labyrinth" (Del Toro, 2006)
9) "Birth" (Glazer, 2004)
10) "24 Hour Party People" (Winterbottom, 2002)
(continued...)
11) "Time Out" (Cantet, 2001)
12) "In Bruges" (McDonaugh, 2008)
13) "The Descent" (Marshall, 2005)
14) "The Son" / "Le fils" (Dardennes, 2002)
15) "A History of Violence" (Cronenberg, 2007)
16) "Donnie Darko" (Kelly, 2001)
17) "I'm Not There" (Haynes, 2007)
18) "Man Push Cart" (Bahrani, 2005)
19) "INLAND EMPIRE" (Lynch, 2006)
20) "Grizzly Man" (Herzog, 2005)
21) "The New World" (Malick, 2005)
22) "Code Unknown" (Haneke, 2000)
And "Pineapple Express," too. And "Brick." And "A Prairie Home Companion." And "Munich"... Oh, jeez, I'm starting to re-think this whole endeavor...
ADDENDUM: I can think of only three good reasons for anybody to make these silly lists: 1) to recommend films the list-maker really loves and hopes to share; 2) to convey some information about the list-maker's cinematic values, taste, personality; 3) to provide links (or capsules) that offer further information about what the list-maker finds so valuable about these particular selections. As a reader, I use them to help me get recommendations for movies I really must see (or re-visit) and... well, to get some idea of what the person making the list cares about in movies, and these movies in particular. That's about it.
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25. "4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days" Cristian Mungiu (2007)
24. "Bon Voyage" Jean-Paul Rappeneau (2003)
23. "24 Hour Party People" Michael Winterbottom (2002)
22. "Caché" Michael Haneke (2005)
21. "Primer" Shane Carruth (2004)
20. "The Terminal" Steven Spielberg (2004)
19. "Persepolis" Vincent Paronnaud (2007)
18. "The Royal Tenenbaums" Wes Anderson (2001)
17. "Shaun of the Dead" Edgar Wright (2004)
16. "Wonder Boys" Curtis Hanson (2000)
15. "Twilight Samurai" Yôji Yamada (2004)
14. "Letters From Iwo Jima" Clint Eastwood (2006)
13. "All the Real Girls" David Gordon Green (2003)
12. "No Country for Old Men" The Coen Brothers (2007)
11. "Let the Right One In" Tomas Alfredson (2008)
10. "Zodiac" David Fincher (2007)
9. "The Incredibles" Brad Bird (2004)
8. "In Bruges" Martin McDonagh (2008)
7. "Almost Famous" Cameron Crowe (2000)
6. "Pride and Prejudice" Joe Wright (2005)
5. "Lost in Translation" Sofia Coppola (2003)
4. "Up" Pete Docter (2009)
3. "Widow of St. Pierre" Patrice Leconte (2001)
2. "Pan’s Labyrinth" Guillermo del Toro (2006)
1. "Spirited Away" Hayao Miyazaki (2002)
"Donnie Darko" "I'm Not There" and "Three Burials" are in my 30's... it's hard to designate places at this level as they're all pretty great films and the numbers are pretty meaningless when you come down to it (but I ordered them anyway). I also could probably make a pretty good list of films that I simply temporarily forgot about.
I am glad to see Zodiac is getting this much attention. It's been on a lot of top ten lists. I saw it three times in the theater and it's definitely in my top five. When it came out it didn't get enough attention and it looked like it would be forgotten. But now I think it's finally getting it's due.
I also wanted to say that I think, like most critics, lists are absurd and almost pointless. Yet at the same time, I love seeing what my favorite critics choose for their top ten. I love my top ten lists. It's a strange feeling.
Of those that I've seen (only nine, alas), I'm mostly with you (maybe not INLAND, and not particularly GRIZZLY MAN). I'm especially chuffed to see TIME OUT make the cut. But I'd put THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE over PAN's LABYRINTH. Have you seen it?
Have you written anything about THREE BURIALS? I like that movie but I didn't know you (or anyone) rated it quite that highly, so I'd be curious to get your thoughts on it.
And I'm thrilled to see BIRTH in your top ten. Maybe the most underappreciated American movie of the decade.
My own top ten:
1) GERRY (2002, Gus Van Sant)
2) THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS (2001, Wes Anderson)
3) 25TH HOUR (2002, Spike Lee)
4) I 5) DOGVILLE (2003, Lars von Trier)
6) MULHOLLAND DRIVE (2001, David Lynch)
7) THE SQUID AND THE WHALE (2005, Noah Baumbach)
8) BEFORE SUNSET (2004, Richard Linklater)
9) THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD (2007, Andrew Dominik)
10) GEORGE WASHINGTON (2000, David Gordon Green)
No Munich? Based on how much you wrote about it before....(trailing off)
Let's be honest. Compiling a list of the top ten best films of the decade is both silly and fruitless of an endeavor. First, I have not seen (and probably never will) every movie made between the beginning of 2000 and the end of 2009. Second, of the many I have seen, whittling my favorites down to a mere ten is simply impossible. How does one compare Lynch’s "Mulholland Drive" to Cronenberg’s "A History Of Violence?" Anderson’s "The Royal Tenenbaums" to Payne’s "Sideways?" The Coen brothers’ "No Country For Old Men" to… well, the Coen brothers’ "A Serious Man?"
But, looking back over the still young millenium, I have observed an interesting trend running throughout many of the best films, and am reminded of why the noughties felt so fresh and exciting to a cineast such as myself. Not since the 1970s has American cinema exploded with such cultural and political fervor. Of course, it does make sense: with the indie new wave of the 1990s, filmmakers were dared to tell more controversial and less escapist stories. Add to that the post-9/11 climate, and we have a number of very important and even influential films.
With that theme in mind, here is my list of the top ten films of the decade, to be remembered as a chronicle of the times in which we live…
10) Requiem For A Dream - Aronofsky, 2000
9) Zodiac - Fincher, 2007
8) Babel - Inarritu, 2006
7) Dogville - Von Trier, 2003
6) Good Night, And Good Luck - Clooney, 2005
5) Elephant - Van Sant, 2003
4) United 93 - Greengrass, 2006
3) Munich - Spielberg, 2005
2) There Will Be Blood - Anderson, 2007
1) Children Of Men - Cuaron, 2006
I've been posting my top 10 on facebook one film a day through Jan. 1st. Here is a final list.
10) O Brother Where Art Thou? (2000 Coens)
9) Ratatouille (2007 Bird)
8) Thank You For Smoking (2006 Reitman)
7) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004 Gondry)
6) Minority Report (2002 Spielberg)
5) There Will Be Blood (2007 PTA)
4) Wall:e (2008 Stanton)
3) The Dark Knight (2008 Nolan)
2) Children of Men (2006 Cuaron)
1) No Country For Old Men (2007 Coens)
I started with a list of 50 films back in October and have been working my way down ever since.
Here are a few that just missed the cut:
A Serious Man (Yes Jim that ending was brilliant)
High Fidelity (Cusack at his best)
Punch Drunk Love (Sandler is a revelation)
Road to Perdition (My favorite Sam Mendes film)
Munich (Spielberg's most daring film)
1. No Country For Old Men
2. Mulholland Dr.
3. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
4. Cache
5. The New World
6. Le fils
7. Chopshop
8. Donnie Darko
9. I'm Not There
10.Zodiac
11.Lost in Translation
12.Brokeback Mountain
13.The Squid and the Whale
14.American Psycho
15.The Royal Tenenbaums
16.Songs From the Second Floor
17.Werkmeister Harmonies
18.Super Bad
19.Borat
20.Yi Yi
21.Kill BIll 2
22.Che
23.Waking Life
24.Inglorious Basterds
25.Pineapple Express
I regret that I do not have enough room for Capturing the Friedmans and 51 Birch Street,and that I have yet to be able to see the Coen Brothers A Serious Man. It should also be mentioned that Mad Man,The Sopranos,Deadwood, The Wire, Freaks and Geeks,and Generation Kill had as strong as an impact as any of the movies on my list.
I really wished you divulged more on Zodiac. Pretty please!
Jim,
Could you please explain or link to something that is reflective of your view, as to why Zodiac is on your top 22 list? Even on the picks for which I might disagree, I have some sense as to why they are well liked. The movie may have accurately portrayed what it is like to pursue a cold, yet important, criminal case, but a movie about something tedious can by its nature be somewhat tedious, which is what I found. Of course given its popularity, I may just have missed the essence of it.
Thanks.
Eric
I share JamesMcG's sentiment: I was hoping you'd find room for "Munich" on here! You and Matt Zoller Seitz wrote so many tremendous articles way back when that seriously enhanced my appreciation for that film.
Now, just curious- how do you prefer both "Brokeback Mountain" and "A History of Violence"? Sure, Ang Lee and David Cronenberg made excellent movies out of those *decent" screenplays... yet their accomplishments do feel significantly small compared to the fiery, passionate risks that Spielberg and Kushner took with their immortal film.
Have you fallen out of favor with "Munich", I wonder? I recall back in 2005 that it had the #2 spot on your Best of the Year list, behind "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada".
I'm almost done with my list (just finishing p the lede and the blurbs), but it looks very, very similar, sir.
Many of these films I've only watched once, but they are some of my favourites from how I remember them (roughly chronological order):
Memento
Requiem for a Dream
The Royal Tanenbaums
Spirited Away
Ghost World
Talk to Her
Lost in Translation
Oldboy
The Fog of War
Kill Bill, vol. 1
Kill Bill, vol. 2
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Sideways
Munich
Cache
Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Serenity
A Prairie Home Companion
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
King of Kong
I'm Not There
Sweeney Todd
No Country for Old Men
In Bruges
Rachel Getting Married
Inglourious Basterds
That's a pretty macho list. (And I mean that simply as an observation.) One and two are neo-westerns--both with Tommy Lee Jones--and number four is a serial killer movie by the ever-technologically obsessed David Fincher. Probably the girliest movie on your list is about two cowboys humping.
Speaking of which, I continue to believe that "Lust, Caution" is Ang Lee's greatest film: gripping as storytelling, telling a narrative that spans more than a decade, at times shockingly violent, and it has perhaps the most attractive mise en scène of all Lee's films (the only other contender being "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"). But I guess that's another topic.
Hell of a list L Marcus. If I were to keep it to the idiosyncratic 22 and disregard notions of what may be "best" and simply announce the films I cherish most deeply it would look something like:
1.) Children of Men (Cuaron, 2006)
2.) High Fidelity (Frears, 2000)
3.) There Will Be Blood (Anderson, 2007)
4.) Gomorrah (Garrone, 2008)
5.) No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (2005, Scorsese)
6.) Che (Soderbergh, 2008)
7.) Up in The Air (2009, Reitman)
8.) George Washington (Green, 2000)
9.) No End in Sight (Ferguson, 2007)
10.) Gangs of New York (Scorsese, 2002)
11.) Waking Life (Linklater, 2001)
12.) Brick (Johnson, 2006)
13.) Mulholland Drive (Lynch, 2001)
14.) Lost in Translation (Coppola, 2003)
15.) Le Fils (Dardennes, 2002)
16.) Almost Famous (Cameron, 2000)
17.) Russian Ark (Sokurov, 2002)
18.) The Garden (Kennedy, 2009)
19.) Before The Devil Knows You're Dead (Lumet, 2007)
20.) The Princess and The Warrior (Tykwer, 2001)
21.) Wonder Boys (Hanson, 2000)
22.) Igby Goes Down (Steers, 2002)
Feels strange to leave out so many deserving titles, but arbitrarily had to stop somewhere.
If you only read one list made by a 20 year-old with only two years of serious film viewership under his belt, make it this one!
1. Yi Yi (Edward Yang)
2. No Country for Old Men (Coen bros)
3. Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman)
4. Werckmeister Harmonies (Béla Tarr)
5. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg)
6. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michael Gondry)
7. Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch)
8. The Pianist (Roman Polanski)
9. Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo Del Toro)
10. Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
11. Talk to Her (Pedro Almodóvar)
12. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai)
13. Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe)
14. Moolaadé (Ousmane Sembene)
15. Kings and Queen (Arnaud Desplechin)
16. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki)
17. 25th Hour (Spike Lee)
18. Half Nelson (Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden)
19. Caché (Michael Haneke)
20. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson)
21. Collateral (Michael Mann)
22. Let the Right One In (Thomas Alfredson)
23. The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow)
24. Zodiac (David Fincher)
25. Syndromes and a Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
When making my own list I found it a real pain, but I cannot say I didn't enjoy it.
10: Battle Royale (2000 - Kinji Fukasaku)
09: The Dark Knight (2008 - Christopher Nolan)
08: Where the Wild Things Are (2009 - Spike Jonze)
07: Brokeback Mountain (2005 - Ang Lee)
06: Inglourious Basterds (2009 - Quentin Tarantino)
05: Suicide Club (2002 - Sion Sono)
04: Babel (2006 - Alejandro González Iñárritu)
03: The Departed (2006 - Martin Scorsese)
02: Lost in Translation (2003 - Sofia Coppola)
01: The Lord of the Rings (2001 - 2003 - Peter Jackson)
And the runners up, in alphabetical order.
Almost Famous (2000 – Cameron Crowe)
Avatar (2009 – James Cameron)
The Descent (2005 – Neil Marshall)
Elephant (2003 – Gus Van Sant)
Juno (2007 – Jason Reitman)
Let the Right One In (2008 – Tomas Alfredson)
Lust, Caution (2007 – Ang Lee)
No Country for Old Men (2007 – Joel Coen, Ethan Coen)
Marie Antoinette (2006 – Sofia Coppola)
Strange Circus (2005 – Sion Sono)
I. THERE WILL BE BLOOD
II. SILENT LIGHT
III. IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE
IV. BEFORE SUNSET or WAKING LIFE
V. WERCKMEISTER HARMONIES
VI. DOGVILLE
VII. CACHE
VIII. BIRTH
IX. OLDBOY
X. INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
XI. THE THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA
XII. I'M NOT THERE
XIII. THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD
XIV. A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION
XV. REMBRANT'S J'ACCUSE
XVI. ZODIAC
XVII. PAN'S LABYRINTH
XVIII. IN BRUGES
XIX. FRIDAY NIGHT
XX. PUNCH DRUNK LOVE
XXI. SPIDER
XXII. TROPICAL MALADY
Was surprised to see you leave off "Chop Shop," since you wrote so much about it, but I suppose your inclusion of "Man Push Cart" makes up for it.
22 Best:
22 Let the Right One In (2008)
21 Gone Baby Gone (2007)
20 In Bruges (2008)
19 Insomnia (2002)
18 Monster (2003)
17 Almost Famous (2000)
16 Finding Nemo (2003)
15 The Hurt Locker (2008)
14 Munich (2005)
13 Memento (2000)
12 Zodiac (2007)
11 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
10 Children of Men (2006)
9 Elephant (2003)
8 Silent Light (2007)
7 City of God (2002)
6 There Will Be Blood (2007)
5 Amélie (2001)
4 No Country for Old Men (2007)
3 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
2 Waltz With Bashir (2008)
1 The New World (2005)
Still need to see A Serious Man and plenty others.
And 10 Worst while I'm at it:
10 Epic Movie (2007)
9 Funny Games (2007)
8 The Golden Compass (2007)
7 Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008)
6 The Honeymooners (2005)
5 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
4 Leeches! (2003)
3 Martian Child (2007)
2 Skeleton Man (2004) (TV)
1 The Wicker Man (2006)
The 10 Worst is even more arbitrary than a typical decades list as I usually try to stay away from bad films, but still it's kind of fun to put together.
Interesting how some people will illustrate the silliness of making lists by making their own list.
Jim,
I don't always agree with you on things. I ardently disagree with you about The Dark Knight, for example, and not simply because I'm some fanboy who drank the kool aid. But I must say that your list here is one of the very best lists of this type that I've ever seen.
You don't condescend by saying "THESE ARE THE BEST FILMS OF THE DECADE. PERIOD." and you don't shove them down anyone's throat. I have not seen every movie on the list. I have seen most of them, and of those that I have seen, it is difficult if not impossible for me to argue that they deserve some kind of recognition and a place within our collective memory for the decade.
Perhaps that's because you just made a list of the films you love, without trying to meet some kind of standard. Trying to decide on what's "best" always gets you bogged down in defining what "best" means. Trying to decide what's your favorite means you just have to wrestle with that question on a personal level. Doesn't make the battle to decide any easier. But it does make it more honest, and real.
Thanks, Jim. I'll be looking out for the movies on your list I still haven't seen.
JE: Thank you, Nathan. My pleasure. It was sometimes hard to keep that in perspective during the initial "TDK" discussions, but please remember I never used the term "fanboy" myself (that's just trying to belittle somebody by stereotyping and has nothing to do with valid criticism), and was trying to show specific examples of what I didn't think worked in the movie and why -- not trying to persuade others to somehow retroactively not-enjoy it! As Renoir said: Everybody has his reasons. But, yeah, this "best" thing is out of control. I'll defend the cinematic worth of any of the movies on my list, but mostly they're there because they speak to me and I love 'em.
Out of respect for our host, I present only my Top 20 films + 1 other since he should be top dog with his Top 22.
1. Colossal Youth (Costa)
2. Birdsong (Serra)
3. Dancer in the Dark (Trier)
4. Still Life (Jia)
5. La Commune (Watkins)
6. My Winnipeg (Maddin)
7. Goodbye, Dragon Inn (Tsai)
8. The World (Jia)
9. Touching the Void (Macdonald)
10. Wendy and Lucy (Reichardt)
11. Mysterious Object at Noon (Weerasethakul)
12. Le genou d'Artemide (Straub)
13. Honor of the Knights (Serra)
14. Beaches of Agnes (Varda)
15. Notre musique (Godard)
16. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days (Mungiu)
17. The Heart of the World (Maddin)
18. The Same River Twice (Moss)
19. Los Angeles Plays Itself (Andersen)
20. Cowards Bend the Knee (Maddin)
One thing I noticed when I made my list for the decade was that in my top films there is nary a gunshot fired, at least not at somebody. Unless I'm forgetting something. And when I look at the rest of my Top 100 list, I think I go all the way down to "Elephant" (#27) before there are gunshots involved. I just don't like 'em. I say we make filmmakers worldwide go a whole year without using guns in any movie and see what happens. Would the world box office crumble? Would we get the even more horrific violence of more Kate Hudson romantic comedies in their stead?
JE: I'm with you. Unless the movie is working out something to do with death on a larger thematic level, the appearance of guns puts me right to sleep. It's so easy. (I imagine some development executive: "We need to raise the stakes for the characters. I know it's a story about a girl and her dog, but couldn't we have some drug dealers kidnap them and threaten to kill them?" You think I'm joking about this. But I've seen it happen in pitch meetings...)
A personal top 10. Maybe PTA's Punch-Drunk isn't everyone's pick for no. 2, but I argue that it's as good as any other film to come out, no?
10. Up (2009, Pixar)
9. No Country for Old Men (2007, Coen)
8. Superbad (2007, Mottola)
7. Adaptation (2002, Jonze)
6. Amelie (2001, Jeunet)
5. Batman Begins/The Dark Knight (2005/2008, Nolan)
4. Children of Men (2006, Cuaron)
3. Memento (2000, Nolan)
2. Punch-Drunk Love (2002, Anderson)
1. Inglourious Basterds (2009, Tarantino)
This list will probably change. But I'm more or less settled on the top 6. Lots of other films I have seen or have yet to see pop up. Thoughts, JE?
Only beginning to put any thought into this, but I know #1 is Grizzly Man, #2 is Best of Youth... not sure what to do with 49 Up, though that's important, Mulholland Drive, No Country, Pan's Labyrinth, Spirited Away... hmmm, should I put time into this?
Top 11 (why 11? As the Nostalgia Critic would say, because I like to go one step beyond):
11) Zodiac (2007, Fincher)
10) Saraband (2003, Bergman)
9) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004, Gondry)
8) Match Point (2005, Allen)
7) Gangs of New York (2002, Scorsese)
6) Pan's Labyrinth (2006, Del-Toro)
5) Inglourious Basterds (2009, Tarantino)
4) WALL-E (2008, Stanton)
3) No Country for Old Men (2007, Coens)
2) There Will Be Blood (2007, Anderson)
1) Mulholland Dr (2001, Lynch)
Considering the fact that at the beginning of this decade I was an innocent nine-year-old without a thought in the world for films, I feel somewhat left behind in terms of films in general. So I've spent the past few years watching movies over a broad spectrum, of many genres and from many different generations of filmmakers. Nevertheless, I've made a somewhat substantial list, in no particular order, of movies I can remember off the top of my head that I very, very much enjoyed:
Mulholland Dr. (Lynch, 2001)
No Country for Old Men (Coen brothers, 2007)
Let the Right One In (Alfredson, 2008)
A Serious Man (Coen bros., 2009)
Cache (Haneke, 2005)
Spirited Away (Miyazaki, 2001)
WALL·E (Stanton, 2008)
Up (Docter & Peterson, 2009)
Synecdoche, New York (Kaufman, 2008)
Adaptation. (Jonze, 2002)
Inglourious Basterds (Tarantino, 2009)
Kill Bill Vol. 1 (Tarantino, 2003)
Kill Bill Vol. 2 (Tarantino, 2004)
Brokeback Mountain (Lee, 2005)
Moon (Jones, 2009)
Fantastic Mr. Fox (Anderson, 2009)
The Royal Tenenbaums (Anderson, 2001)
The Darjeeling Limited (Anderson, 2007)
Spider-Man 2 (Raimi, 2004)
Shaun of the Dead (Wright, 2004)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Gondry, 2004)
Donnie Darko (Kelly, 2001)
Encounters at the End of the World (Herzog, 2007)
Pan's Labyrinth (del Toro, 2006)
Watchmen (Snyder, 2009)
The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans (Herzog, 2009)
I'd love to have seen more movies to round out this list a little, but I did what I could.
What the hell. Here's my (tentative) list:
1. Synecdoche, New York
2. Me and You and Everyone We Know
3. Dancer in the Dark
4. Kill Bill Vol. 1
5. Before Sunset
6. Far From Heaven
7. Punch-Drunk Love
8. Series 7: The Contenders
9. Memento
10. Antichrist
Lars von Trier = filmmaker of the decade (I also loved Dogville and Manderlay, though I kinda hated The Boss of it All)
Alright. I am making a list. For fun mostly.
I wish I could come up with a better list but it's hard to look back 10 years. I also apologize for them all being American. I do see foreign films but I can't recall the ones that where striking. But here ya go.
10. Requiem for Dream (2000)
9. Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
8. Kill Bill Vol. 2 (and only Vol. 2)(2004)
7. The Fountain (2006)
6. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
4. War of the Worlds (2005)
3. Zodiac (2007)
2. A Serious Man (2009)
and I believe my number 1 pick is nowhere to be found on anyone's list. But who says a documentary can't be on there.
1. Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures
It inspires me whenever I watch it. A treasure chest of information for any Kubrick fans. He sparked my passion for movies and anything that gets me closer into his mind is pure gold.
Here is my revised list. I just thought it over and I came up with a better and more personal list. Sorry about that Jim.
I apologize (again) for them all being American. I do see foreign films but I can't recall many of them. But here ya go.
11. Kill Bill Vol. 2 (and only Vol. 2)(2004)
10. Requiem for Dream (2000)
9. Into the Wild (2007)
8. Best in Show (it does not get old)(2000)
7. The Fountain (2006)
6. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
4. War of the Worlds (2005)
3. Zodiac (2007)
2. A Serious Man (2009)
and I believe my number 1 pick is nowhere to be found on anyone's list. But who says a documentary can't be on there.
1. Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures
It inspires me whenever I watch it. A treasure chest of information for any Kubrick fans. He sparked my passion for movies and anything that gets me closer into his mind is pure gold.
Any given film rhymes and reasons with its forebears, and the best films change the way we think about movies and their meanings. With that I mind, I've paired my top 22 with a selected companion film, a possible double feature that might gets at what the movies of the 21st century have to teach us about the movies of the 20th century, and vice versa.
1. Blissfully Yours (Apicahtpong Weerasathekul)/A Day in the Country (Jean Renoir)
2. Inland Empire (David Lynch)/Duck Amuck (Chuck Jones)
3.The Saddest Music in the World (Guy Maddin)/McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Robert Altman)
4.The Assassination of Jesse James (Andrew Dominik)/King of Comedy (Martin Scorsese)
5. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-Wai)/I Fidanzati (Ermanno Olmi)
6. Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch)/In a Lonely Place (Nicholas Ray)
7.Pulse (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)/Week End (Jean-Luc Godard)
8. Tokyo Sonata (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)/Two or Three Things I Know About Her (Jean-Luc Godard)
9.Inglorious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)/Man Hunt (Fritz Lang)
10.There Will Be Blood (P.T. Anderson)/All That Money Can Buy (William Dieterle)
11. The New World (Terrence Malick)/Solaris (Andrei Tarkovsky)
12. Hero (Zhang Yimou)/The Red Shoes (Michael Powell- Emeric Pressburger)
13. Nobody Knows (Hirokazu Kore-ada)/Los Olvidados (Luis Bunuel)
14. The Blind Swordsman:Zatoichi (Takeshi Kitano)/The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (John Ford)
15. Together (Lukas Moodaysoon)/The Cobweb (Vincente Minnelli)
16. Election (Johnnie To)/Ivan the Terrible Part II (Sergei Eisenstein)
17.The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson)/The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles)
18. 3-iron (Ki-duk Kim)/The More the Merrier (George Stevens)
19. Battle Royale (Kinji Fukasaku)/Full Metal Jacket (Stanley Kubrick)
20. Synecdoche, NY (Charlie Kaufman)/Wild Strawberries (Ingmar Bergman)
21. Offside (Jafar Panahi)/Celine and Julie Go Boating (Jacques Rivette)
22. Werckmeister Hamonies (Bela Tarr)/Suspiria (Dario Argento)
JE: Thank you -- that was FUN! (I think #6 and #21 are particularly ingenious.)
Great list - I especially love your placing of No Country for Old Men & Mulholland Dr. so high up. City of God would be my choice for the #1 spot and I can't agree with Brokeback Mountain placing, but I know I'm in the minority on both those. Zodiac seems to be popping up on quite a few of these lists too - I'm glad to see it's finally getting some of the praise it ought to have.
I look forward to more thoughtful comments from you in the new year.
Cheers.
Here's my top 100 (in order) for the 00s. The sole criteria is how big a place they have in my imagination.
1. Songs from the second floor (Roy Andersson, 2000, Sweden)
2. United 93 (Paul Greengrass, 2006, USA)
3. Werckmeister harmonies (Bela Tarr, 2000, Hungry)
4. 4 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days (Cristian Mungiu, 2007, Romania)
5. Old joy (Kelly Reichardt, 2006, USA)
6. No country for old men (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2007, USA)
7. Sideways (Alexander Payne, 2004, USA)
8. Irreversible (Gaspar Noe, 2002, France)
9. There will be blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007, USA)
10. The edge of heaven (Fatih Akin, 2007, Germany)
11. Frownland (Ronald Bronstein, 2007, USA)
12. Mulholland drive (David Lynch, 2001 USA)
13. Wendy and Lucy (Kelly Reichardt, 2008, USA)
14. Silent light (Carlos Reygadas, 2007, Mexico)
15. Atanarjuat (Zachariar Kunuk, 2002, Canada)
16. Morvern Callar (Lynne Ramsey, 2002, UK)
17. Climates (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2006, Turkey)
18. The Proposition (John Hillcoat, 2005, Australia)
19. Kill Bill--Vol. 1 (Quentin Tarantino, 2003, USA)
20. Elephant (Gus Van Sant, 2003, USA)
21. Step brothers (Adam McKay, 2008, USA)
22. Sweet sixteen (Ken Loach, 2002, UK)
23. Spring, summer, fall, winter…spring (Ki-duk Kim, 2003, South Korea)
24. Inglourious basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009, USA)
25. The squid and the whale (Noah Baumbach, 2005, USA)
26. The taste of tea (Katsuhito Ishii, 2004, Japan)
27. Inland empire (David Lynch, 2006, USA)
28. All or nothing (Mike Leigh, 2002, UK)
29. Chop shop (Ramin Bahrani, 2007, USA)
30. Children of men (Alfonso Cuaron, 2006, USA)
31. Distant (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2002, Turkey)
32. Before the devil knows you're dead (Sidney Lumet, 2007, USA)
33. Brand upon the brain! (Guy Maddin, 2006, Canada)
34. Goodbye Solo (Ramin Bahrani, 2008, USA)
35. Code inconnu (Michael Haneke, 2000, France)
36. Junebug (Phil Morrison, 2005, USA)
37. Our daily bread (Nikolaus Geyrhalter, 2005, Germany)
38. Requiem for a dream (Darren Aronofsky, 2000, USA)
39. The new world (Terrence Malick, 2005, USA)
40. Saraband (Ingmar Bergman, 2003, Sweden)
41. Dawn of the dead (Zack Snyder, 2004, USA)
42. The road home (Yimou Zhang, 2001, China)
43. L'heure d'ete (Olivier Assayas, 2008, France)
44. About Schmidt (Alexander Payne, 2002, USA)
45. 21 Grams (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, 2003, USA)
46. Anchorman: The legend of Ron Burgundy (Adam McKay, 2004, USA)
47. Bubble (Steven Soderbergh, 2006, USA)
48. Into great silence (Philip Groning, 2005, France)
49. Lost in translation (Sophia Coppola, 2003, USA)
50. Cache (Michael Haneke, 2005, France)
51. Batman begins (Christopher Nolan, 2005, USA)
52. Last days (Gus Van Sant, 2005, USA)
53. Drag me to hell (Sam Raimi, 2009, USA)
54. Paradise Lost 2: Revelations (Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, 2000, USA)
55. Gerry (Gus Van Sant, 2002, USA)
56. Kill Bill--Vol. 2 (Quentin Tarantino, 2004, USA)
57. Frozen river (Courtney Hunt, 2008, USA)
58. Capturing the Friedmans (Andrew Jarecki, 2003, USA)
59. Traffic (Steven Soderbergh, 2000, USA)
60. Ghost world (Terry Zwigoff, 2001, USA)
61. Match point (Woody Allen, 2005, USA)
62. Bully (Larry Clark, 2001, USA)
63. Paranoid park (Gus Van Sant, 2007, USA)
64. Syriana (Stephen Gaghan, 2005, USA)
65. Miami vice (Michael Mann, 2006, USA)
66. Ballast (Lance Hammer, 2008, USA)
67. The dark knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008, USA)
68. Before sunset (Richard Linklater, 2004, USA)
69. The informant! (Steven Soderbergh, 2009, USA)
70. In the mood for love (Wong Kar-Wai, 2001, Hong Kong)
71.The saddest music in the world (Guy Maddin, 2003, Canada)
72. The pianist (Roman Polanski, 2002, France)
73. A.I. (Steven Spielberg, 2001, USA)
74. Taxi to the dark side (Alex Gibney, 2007, USA)
75. Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind (Michel Gondry, 2004, USA)
76. The departed (Martin Scorsese, 2006, USA)
77. No end in sight (Charles Ferguson, 2007, USA)
78. Gosford park (Robert Altman, 2001, UK)
79. Curse of the golden flower (Yimou Zhang, 2006, China)
80. The hurt locker (Kathryn Bigelow, 2009, USA)
81. Touching the void (Kevin Macdonald, 2003, UK)
82. Shattered glass (Billy Ray, 2003, USA)
83. Late Marriage (Dover Koshoshivili, 2001, Isreal)
84. Darwin's nightmare (Hurbert Sauper, 2004, Austria)
85. Le Fils (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, 2002, France)
86. Red road (Andrea Arnold, 2006, UK)
87. Syndromes and a century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2006, Thailand)
88. Knocked up (Judd Apatow, 2007, USA)
89. Master and commander: The far side of the world (Peter Weir, 2003, USA)
90. Blue car (Karen Moncrieff, 2002, USA)
91. Talladega nights: The ballad of Ricky Bobby (Adam McKay, 2006, USA)
92. My Winnipeg (Guy Maddin, 2008, Canada)
93. Treeless mountain (So Yong Kim, 2008, South Korea)
94. The Bothersome man (Jens Lien, 2006, Norway)
95. Bigger stronger faster (Chris Bell, 2008, USA)
96. Gomorra (Matteo Garrone, 2008, Italy)
97. Nobody knows (Hirokazu Koreeda, 2004, Japan)
98. Tape (Richard Linklater, 2001, USA)
99. The death of Mr. Lazarescu (Cristi Puiu, 2005, Romania)
100. A History of Violence (David Cronenberg, 2005, Canada)
Creating this list was actually fairly easy. When I was in my early teens I used the list making functionality of the great Microsoft Cinemania to create a list of every movie I'd seen. Through the years I've continued to maintain that list, migrating it to a spreadsheet after Cinemania's demise. I have columns in my spreadsheet for ten best of each year, so creating my top 100 list was just a matter of sorting the spreadsheet to get the ten best lists together and then ordering them.
Thanks for the list, Jim. You're one of the only real critics left. Most of the others have become sponges for sentimental crap and self-righteous "lesson" movies. Ebert's list made me gag. Juno and You and Me and Everyone We Know. What happened to him? And then Crash on the alternative list... And A.O. Scott picked Million Dollar Baby. Christ. It's not the lists themselves that matter to me. It's the decline in important voices in film criticism. I disliked a lot of Kael's ideas, but I bet a 10 best of the decade from her would give a reader much to think about.
The list by Patrick Carr is the best i have seen yet. A few movies on this list make me scratch my head but overall VERY solid. i wish i was friends with this guy.
Hey Jim,
Two questions:
I. Wasn't Cache made in 2005? (Your list quotes: "Cache 2007, Michael Hanke")
and II. Have you any remarks about Roger Ebert's recent find of the "smoking gun" that he found in one of the movie's shots (like 20 minutes into the film)?
Really curious about Q ii.
Cory
Right you are about the release date -- I fixed that. (Either a typo or I confused two of the great Toronto Film Festival years.) I'm not sure what Roger means by citing that shot. There are several in the movie, as Georges' childhood memories (this one recalled by the postcard Pierrot shows him in the previous scene) start leaking into his consciousness (and conscience). A later one (with the boy, the ax and the chicken) is followed by a shot of Georges' waking up in a sweat, clearly re-casting what we've seen as a nightmare, but also perhaps a memory. It's part of the film's strategy to pull these as-yet-unexplained images out of the past and into the present, like repressed memories resurfacing...
Roger is singling out the tooth, which may have been pulled. As the shot is though, people are so startled by it when they see it that they often overlook the tooth, thinking that Majid actually is drooling blood, like some sort of vampire. This may indeed be what child George thought he saw, the nail in the coffin in terms of George's decision to find a way to get this new would-be brother out of his life. This would build upon the movie's themes of seeing and what you thought saw, not having perfect understanding at the time of making a crucial decision, et cetera. But there's so much uncertainty surrounding this shot: is it a perfect recall of what happened? Did the tooth fall out as a result of TB, giving George's TB story some credibility? Was George really acting on the TB possibility after all? Then again, does any of that even matter when he deprived Majid of an opportunity for a better life after the tragedy of his parents?
I come back to the shot being a shocking one though. It flashes no longer than George might have seen it and ran away and in that time audiences are so spooked they often overlook some details, much like when people see a crime their fear shocks them into remembering what they thought they saw, not what was there. I have a hunch that Roger is alluding to something about fear and vision there when he says: "[the tooth] is the smoking gun (what set everything in motion) but was it shot? [what effect exactly did it have?]" There's some parallels that can be drawn here with that scene in "Brokeback Mountain" where Ennis Del Mar recalls what his father showed him and how. Is Ennis imagining/embellishing this to some degree? As "Atonement" taught us, young imaginations tend to do that. How do we know George didn't just want Majid sent away because he was flat out scared of Majid for no rational reason other than that, to young George, he coughed blood and looked monstrous? (The nightmare scene of Majid attacking George suggests this as another possibility...)
Do you even recall seeing a smoking gun??? Was it something hidden? I can't find my DVD but when I do I want to re-watch the film and try and find that little puzzle peice. Cache is probably one of the greatest films I've ever seen. I loved reading your review of it, it was great!
Cory
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