Seeking out Redemption in the Beautiful World of Film. or My Excuse to Write About Movies

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Top 60 Films of the Decade

Why 60? Well, I don't really know. And yes, it has been so long since I have written here I wonder if anyone will read this. Nonetheless, I like lists way too much to resist this post.

I have been pondering my list of the best films of the decade for a while now, and it may just be complete. I still have a few '09 films yet to see, but am not too excited about any of them. I have seen so many lists pop up on the internet that I have to throw my hat in and pretend like people care about mine. I would love to hear anyone else's opinions of the best of the decade as well. It's funny how opinions change over time. One year a film could be your favorite, and 3 years later you are not that impressed by it (which happened a lot for me). Other films have grown better with time. Movies change as we change. I also wanted to make sure to include all types of films, especially the ones I usually leave out of "best of" lists like comedies. Why can't a movie like The Hangover get on a list like this?

So, anyway, here we are, the films that changed me:

60. Pan's Labyrinth
59. 25th Hour
58. Match Point
57. Monsters, Inc.
56. Brokeback Mountain
55. Borat
54. Memento
53. The King of Kong
52. Man on Wire
51. The Incredibles
50. Batman Begins
49. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
48. The Constant Gardener
47. Lost in Translation
46. Hero
45. Knocked Up
44. The Darjeeling Limited
43. Syriana
42. Hotel Rwanda
41. Spirited Away
40. Finding Forrester
39. The Fountain
38. Almost Famous
37. Shaun of the Dead
36. Inglourious Basterds
35. Gran Torino
34. Kingdom of Heaven: Director's Cut
33. Sunshine
32. The New World
31. The Motorcycle Diaries
30. District 9
29. Zodiac
28. Road to Perdition
27. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
26. Lady in the Water
25. Lars and the Real Girl
24. Gone Baby Gone
23. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
22. Synechdoche, New York
21. Grizzly Man
20. The Hurt Locker
19. The Village
18. Flags of our Fathers/Letters From Iwo Jima
17. Ocean's 11
16. City of God
15. The Hangover
14. Mystic River
13. Unbreakable
12. Anchorman
11. Black Hawk Down

and the top ten.................

10. Ratatouille

9. The Departed

8. Traffic

7. The Dark Knight

6. Munich

5. About Schmidt

4. The Bourne Identity/Supremacy/Ultimatum

3. No Country for Old Men

2. There Will Be Blood

1. Children of Men





And a few other awards I would like to add for the heck of it. The directorial achievement goes to Clint Eastwood, the acting award go to Philip Seymour Hoffman.

7 comments:

Dusty said...

I haven't seen all the movies on your list but I would have to move the documentaries into the top 10; The King of Kong and Man on Wire were awesome! Also, Mystic River was so disturbing for me. I can't decide if it would be in the top 10 or not show up on the list. I think the surprise of the list is Anchorman. Not only is it on there but up so high!

Dalton said...

My list would surely look different in some places. Some movies I just didn't really like that much such as Lost in Translation. I liked Broken Flowers much more... but I don't know if either would make my top of the decade list. And instead of Hero, I would probably put House of Flying Daggers. Actually, I would put both. I really love Asian films. A lot.

Anyways, to do the whole decade is quite the task to undertake, especially since I haven't really thought about it, so I can only say so much.

Tyler said...

this must have taken awhile to do, so gotta give you props for that. Also its good to see you still post stuff on this blog. However, like most people might say, mine would look a lot different. children of men was an amazing movie. top 15-20 for sure, not #1 in my book. but that is the beauty of films, they can mean different things to different people and are always open to interpretation.

chris wilke said...

Why isn't City of God in the top ten?! Haha. Nice list, though I would like to have seen The Prestige and Training Day on there. And have you seen the documentary Facing Ali? I thought that was a good one that used a really cool camera for interviewing the boxers that faced Mohammed Ali.

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