The 10 Best Films Of The Aughts. - Page 2

I'm surprised at myself and others that Once hasn't appeared more often. GodDAMN 2007 was good to us.

well... 2007 ALSO brought us transformers adn lions for lambs...

Good to see "About Schmidt" getting a mention. On some days I may even like it more than "Sideways". It definitely has one my all time favourite movie endings and Jack Nicholson performances, and I love all the observational humour in it. I think Nicholson's performance in that deserved an Academy Award way more than the one in "As Good As It Gets", but 2002 was one of the greatest years ever for the "best actor" category. I'd like to see Alexander Payne return to directing. I haven't seen all of his movies, but I think they've all been excellent and progressively better since "Election".

It played the New York Film Festival in '99. It was distributed nationally in 2000. I'm considering it a 2000 film.

Works for me.

"Thanks for the party..."

Just did that list for the QT thread, so some of these are fresh in my mind. Here it goes:

Ong-Bak
Hot Fuzz
The Fountain
Punch-Drunk Love
Visitor Q
Bamboozled
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Dead or Alive 2
Zodiac
Fat Girl

'07 is the shit for movies, though. Best year for movies in the aughts. Plus, and I say this as someone who just doesn't care for Cars or Bug's Life, but you gotta give it up for Pixar as the best studio out there. And one last thing... no love for John Cameron Mitchell? He's only made two movies in the last decade, but they were two of my favorites. As a closer to this decade (or beginning of the next, depending on who's arguing it) his 2010 film Rabbit Hole is definitely one of my most anticipated films coming up.

This is going to be tough (i.e. not having a comprehensive list to look at), but off the top of my head (and in no particular order):

The Lord of the Rings trilogy
The Royal Tenenbaums
The Dark Knight
The Fountain
There Will Be Blood
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Children of Men
No Country for Old Men
Mulholland Dr.
Lake of Fire

1. Narc
2. City of God
3. There Will Be Blood
4. Crank
5. 25th Hour
6. The Wrestler
7. Brick
8. About Schmidt
9. The Propostion
10. Downfall

My earlier Nic Cage list is the real deal,
but here's my fake list just for shits and giggles:


The Proposition
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
The New World
There Will Be Blood
Casino Royale
Gerry
Rescue Dawn
Hot Rod
Grindhouse
Lord of the Rings

I said Norlding's top 5 echos mine, and I wasn't kidding, I even have room for the Incredibles!

1. There Will Be Blood
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
3. The Lord of the Rings (I'll cheat and just say the trilogy)
4. Oldboy
5. No Country For Old Men
6. Children of Men
7. The Aviator
8. The Fountain
9. Shaun of the Dead
10. The Incredibles

This is rough, and I'm missing a lot of stuff I loved. Runner-ups: Every other Pixar film, Solaris, The Dark Knight, Requiem for a Dream, Pan's Labyrinth, Spider-Man 2, Grindhouse(the theatrical of course), Memento, A History of Violence, Kung Fu Hustle, Inglourious Basterds, The Royal Tenenbaums, Master and Commander, High Fidelity.

It's possible that some of you Stateside will witness the new films from Malick and Weir before the end of the year as Tree of Life (possibly 25/12) and The Way Back (Link,scroll halfway) could well be getting limited Releases in time for the Oscars.

You lucky blighters. I'd keep two positions open.

After requests from some friends, I posted my list as sort of an ongoing thing on Facebook this past week. As a challenge of sorts I had to semi-justify each pick within the alloted character amount for a Facebook wall post. The list ended up as follows.

#10. Kingdom of Heaven-DIRECTORS CUT, dir. by Ridley Scott. The directors cut, released in theaters a year after the very average theatrical cut in 05 is the perfect mix of modern filmmaking and classical epic structure. If Scott had released this version in the first place this film would be considered a classic by everyone.

#9. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. dir. by Wes Anderson. I expect to be in the minority on this one but I think this is Anderson's best film. Everyone loves Rushmore...but I think the world Anderson creates in this one, combined with Murray's performance, makes it one of the best comedies of the decade. Also see Fantastic Mr. Fox. Possibly just as good.

#8. Zodiac dir. by David Fincher. Benjamin Button could easily have made this list, but I think Zodiac was the stronger effort. It's an amazing film that barely anyone has seen. For that reason it misses out on recognition. Once you watch it though you realize that Fincher is the modern directorial equivalent of Orson Welles.

#7. Layer Cake-dir. by Matthew Vaughn. Many will decry the lack of foreign films on this list, but the fact remains I have two British films and two films that might as well be foreign. Layer Cake is some of the very best cinema to come across the Atlantic in recent memory. Daniel Craig really is a talented actor and it shows in films like this and Munich. This movie is addictive.

#6. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. dir. by Andrew Dominik. Barely any of you saw this in theaters, and the reason is that Warner Brothers didn't market this or really give it a decent release in theaters. It's a shame because it has fantastic performances by Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck. Roger Deakins' cinematography is also worth the price of admission.

#5. Hot Fuzz dir. by Edgar Wright. Comedies can be great films as well, especially when they show multi genre mastery. The film is hilarious and the action sequences are perfectly executed. Seriously this is top notch work on all counts. It puts American comedies to shame. Just a shade above Wright, Pegg, and Frost's efforts in Shaun of the Dead.

#4. Wall-E dir. by Andrew Stanton. Pixar had a heck of a decade, even when they were off (Cars) they were damn good. They've shattered the notion that animated films are for "kids" and not part of the overall film discussion. Wall-E spends much of its run time being surrealistically sublime. It's probably the best movie of 2008...and 2008 was a decent year.

#3. Inglourious Basterds dir. by Quentin Tarantino. I feel like this movie could easily be farther down on the list or even off of it, but right now it's here. This is Tarantino's masterpiece and is probably the best film of 2009. The fact that it's violent, or a bit of a revenge fantasy is neither here nor there...because both of those components are executed so well.

#2. The Departed dir. by Martin Scorsese. There is something ridiculously watchable and engaging about this one. It won Best Picture but is still underrated. I think we've come to take Mr. Scorsese a bit for granted. We shouldn't. This film is a master class in almost every aspect of filmmaking.

#1. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King dir. by Peter Jackson. This is representative of all three films. Say what you will, but the fact remains that these films were towering achievements. There was a lot more to these than just special effects and large battles. The level of craft brought to all facets of production was unmatched. This was an easy choice.

Honorable Mentions: (OR FILMS THAT EASILY COULD HAVE SNAKED ONTO THIS LIST OR MIGHT STILL) Children of Men
Prisoner of Azkaban, Aviator, Pans Labyrinth, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Shaun of the Dead, Black Hawk Down, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Master and Commander, Moulin Rouge, Munich, Catch Me If You Can,
District 9, Up, Finding Nemo, Spirited Away, Dark Knight, Sideways,
There Will Be Blood, No Country for Old Men, Match Point, Grizzly Man,
Amores Perros, American Psycho

Top Ten:

10. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004, Michel Gondry)
9. Up (2009, Pete Docter and Bob Peterson)
8. The New World (2005, Terrence Malick)
7. There Will Be Blood (2007, Paul Thomas Anderson)
6. No Country for Old Men (2007, The Coen Brothers)
5. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001, Wes Anderson)
4. Mullholland Drive (2001, David Lynch)
3. In The Mood For Love (2000, Wong Kar-wai
2. Synecdoche, NY (2008, Charlie Kaufman)
1. Memento (2000, Christopher Nolan)

And if anyone cares, my top 50:

Rules: I limited myself to one director each unless they were also in the top 10. I figured if they were good enough to make what i think is one of the best movies of the decade, they deserve repeats.

Here we go! Enjoy!

50.Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008, Nicholas Stoller)
49. Dolls (2002, Takeshi Kitano
48. Brick (2005, Rian Johnson)
47. The Squid and the Whale (2005, Noah Baumbach)
46. Redbelt (David Mamet, 2008)
45. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005, Shane Black)
44. Gerry (2002, Gus Van Sant)
43. Bad Santa (2003, Terry Zwigoff)
42. Hunger (2008/2009, Steve McQueen)
41. The Prestige (2006, Christopher Nolan)

40. The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005, Judd Apatow)
39. The Hurt Locker (2009, Kathryn Bigelow)
38. Audition (2001, Takashi Miike)
37. The Wrestler (2008, Darren Aronofsky)
36. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007, Seth Gordon)
35. Zodiac (2007, David Fincher)
34. Primer (2004, Shane Carruth)
33. Grizzly Man (2005, Werner Herzog)
32. Julia (2009, Erick Zonca)
31. The Incredibles (2004, Brad Bird)

30. Brokeback Mountain (2005, Ang Lee)
29. American Psycho (2000, Mary Harron)
28. City of God (2002, Fernando Meirelles and Kaita Lund)
27. A History of Violence (2005, David Cronenberg)
26. The Dark Knight (2008, Christopher Nolan)
25. Shaun of the Dead (2004, Edgar Wright)
24. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007, Cristian Mungiu)
23. Before Sunset (2004, Richard Linklater)
22. Inglorious Basterds (2009, Quentin Tarantino)
21. Dogville (2003, Lars von Trier)


20. The Lord of the Rings (2001, 2002, 2003, Peter Jackson)
19. Punch Drunk Love (2002, Paul Thomas Anderson)
18. Inland Empire (2006, David Lynch)
17. Rachel Getting Married (2008, Jonathan Demme)
16. Cache (2005, Michael Haneke)
15. Anchorman (2004, Adam McKay)
14. Children of Men (2006, Alfonso Cuaron)
13. Spirited Away (2001, Hayao Miyazaki)
12. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001, Steven Spielberg)
11. The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (2007, Andrew Dominiik)

10. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004, Michel Gondry)
9. Up (2009, Pete Docter and Bob Peterson)
8. The New World (2005, Terrence Malick)
7. There Will Be Blood (2007, Paul Thomas Anderson)
6. No Country for Old Men (2007, The Coen Brothers)
5. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001, Wes Anderson)
4. Mullholland Drive (2001, David Lynch)
3. In The Mood For Love (2000, Wong Kar-wai
2. Synecdoche, NY (2008, Charlie Kaufman)
1. Memento (2000, Christopher Nolan)

^ That there is a wonderful list... I really want to try and draw up a top 20 but the fact that I was struggling to just do that for my beloved Horror genre means a list like this is not gonna come easy.

Just when I think you have covered all my bases there in that list, CHOPPER, THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY, OLDBOY, THE FOUNTAIN and MASTER & COMMANDER come crashing into my brain pan.

List is still sort of in flux and probably will be for awhile, but here goes:

1. The Lord of the Rings
2. No Country for Old Men
3. Inglourious Basterds
4. Zodiac
5. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
6. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
7. Children of Men
8. Wall-E
9. Memento
10. Hot Fuzz

A Top 50 is still coming, but the Top 10 is locked. Now's as good a time as any.

1. The Fountain
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
3. Once
4. The Lord of the Rings
5. A.I.
6. Untitled: Almost Famous "Bootleg" Cut
7. Synecdoche, New York
8. Children Of Men
9. Oldboy
10. Dancer In the Dark

My top 10 looks something like this:

There Will Be Blood
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
When the Levees Broke
Gone Baby Gone
Amelie
The Fellowship of the Ring
Downfall
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
The Incredibles
Irreversible

Next 10:

The Lives of Others
Capturing the Friedmans
Zodiac
Mulholland Drive
Inglourious Basterds
In Bruges
The Bourne Ultimatum
Kingdom of Heaven: The Director's Cut
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Munich

Ebert's picks:

http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009...he_decade.html

Wow... I'm glad Ebert gave some love to Synecdoche, New York and Almost Famous but overall that's a pretty weak list. I'll be back with a top 10 in a bit...

In no particular order:
The Dark Knight
Up
Gladiator
The Departed
Lord of the Rings
Memento
Inglorious Bastards
Casino Royale
Ratatouille
Ocean's Twelve


Honerable mentions: Wall-E, Slumdog Millionaire, Snatch, Iron Man, Sherlock Holmes (it might make it to the list, but needs a rewatching at home), Kill Bill

I tried to stick to "Bests" over some of those "Favorites" like Anchorman which I can watch a million times in a row but isn't exactly great cinema.

1. There Will Be Blood
2. The Royal Tenenbaums
3. The Assassination of Jesse James...
4. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
5. Zodiac
5. Synecdoche, New York
7. Catch Me If You Can
8. The Wrestler
9. Collateral
10. Vanilla Sky

The Aviator should be on this list too... somewhere.

EDIT: I forgot Almost Famous. I really can't handle this kind of responsibility.

Right on, Ebert, for keeping an eye on Monster and Me and You and Everyone We Know!

1) Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World
2) Hot Fuzz
3) Zodiac
4) LOTR: Fellowship
5) 25th Hour
6) Brotherhood of the Wolf: Le pacte des loups
7) Gangs of New York
8) Memento
9) Eternal Sunshine
10) Almost Famous

Ebert thinks Crash is one of the best films of the last ten years. That's sort of depressing.

My top 10 of the decade:

10. Shaun of the Dead
9. Black Book
8. No Country For Old Men
7. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
6. Memento
5. Knocked Up
4. Oldboy
3. Pan's Labyrinth
2. There Will Be Blood
1. Children of Men

Love this list.

I really should probably watch Me And You And Everyone We Know again. I almost feel guilty despising a movie that's trying so hard to be sweet.

Shit, I love Me and You and Everyone We Know. I need to edit my list to get it on there somehow...

))<>(( forever!

Wow. I love this sentiment and I love that he championed films that he truly loved, even if no one else did. Kudos.

15. Spirited Away
14. Yi-Yi
13. Primer
12. Quentin Tarantino (Kill Bill Vol.1 / Kill Bill Vol. 2 / Death Proof / Inglourious Basterds)
11. There Will Be Blood
10. Anchorman
9. The films I made people watch the most: Shaun of the Dead / Old Boy / Hedwig and the Angry Inch / Memories of Murder
8. The Pianist
7. The New World
6. The Coens (No Country For Old Men / The Man Who Wasn't There / O Brother, Where Art Thou? / Burn After Reading)
5. The Royal Tenenbaums
4. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
3. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
2. Christopher Nolan (Memento / The Prestige)
1. In the Mood for Love

It's fair to say any of my top five could be my #1 at the right moment.

I don't know how I would dice it, but I would probably put Grizzly Man in any list I attempted to compile. That's one fucked up movie.

Not "Best". "Favorites". Whatever, synonyms.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Casino Royale
Inglourious Basterds
Munich
There Will Be Blood
Gladiator (yeah, that's right, fucking Gladiator. what?)
City of God
Children of Men
Shaun of the Dead
The Lord of the Rings (just one? fine, Two Towers)

And, I think we're done here.

1. The Fountain
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
3. Once
4. The Lord of the Rings
5. A.I.
6. Almost Famous
7. Synecdoche, New York
8. Children Of Men
9. Oldboy
10. Dancer In the Dark
11. Munich
12. Mulholland Dr
13. United 93
14. Requiem For A Dream
15. City of God
16. The Departed
17. There Will Be Blood
18. Let The Right One In
19. No Country For Old Men
20. Up
21. Before Sunset
22. Brokeback Mountain
23. Dear Zachary
24. Pan's Labyrinth
25. The Squid And The Whale
26. Spirited Away
27. The Matrix Reloaded
28. Audition
29. Millenium Actress
30. The Dark Knight
31. Master and Commander
32. Little Children
33. Waking Life
34. Amelie
35. Watchmen
36. V For Vendetta
37. Collateral
38. Hero
39. Punch Drunk Love
40. Spider-Man 2
41. Wall*E
42. Persepolis
43. Speed Racer
44. The Mist
45. Hot Fuzz
46. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
47. Ghost In The Shell: Innocence
48. Unbreakable
49. Memento
50. The Triplets of Belleville

Special shout outs to: Ghost World, Zodiac, Hannibal, Snatch, Brotherhood of the Wolf, Session 9, Star Wars Episode III, Anchorman, Beowulf, The Devil's Rejects, X2, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Constantine, Hulk, Superman Returns, Silent Hill

1. Up
2. There Will Be Blood
3. Minority Report
4. Away From Her
5. Synecdoche, New York
6. Oldboy
7. The Mist
8. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
9. No Country for Old Men
10. Master and Commander

Honorable Mentions: A.I., Punch Drunk Love, Wall*E, Hot Fuzz, Munich, The Dark Knight, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Once, and Two Lovers.

1. LOTR

2. Sideways

3. Memento

4. There Will Be Blood

5. Master and Commander

6. Road To Perdition

7. Inglorious Basterds

8. Eternal Sunshine

9. Mystic River

10. Gladiator

Shit, if Dre gets to use directors, so do I!

1.Coen Bros (NCFOM being tops of the decade overall/O' Brother/Man Who Wasn't There/Burn After Reading/Serious Man/Intolerable Cruelty)
2.Quentin Tarantino (IB being his best, and my second favorite film of the decade)
3. There Will Be Blood
4.Darren Arrenofsky (The Fountain/The Wrestler)
5.Children of Men
6.Hedwig and the Angry Inch
7.Brick
8.Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
9.Old Boy
10.Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
11. Memories of Murder/Zodiac (I really can't decide which of these I like more)
12.Master and Commander
13.Synechdoce, New York
14. Mulhuland Drive/Inland Empire
15.Adventureland

10. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
9. Moulin Rouge
8. Where The Wild Things Are
7. Avatar
6. The Wrestler
5. Children of Men
4. Lost in Translation
3. The Dark Knight
2. Zodiac
1. There Will Be Blood

1. The Fountain
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
3. Mulholland Dr.
4. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
5. There will be Blood
6. Let the Right One In
7. Pan's Labyrinth
8. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
9. Zodiac
10. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe, 2000)
Collateral (Michael Mann, 2004)
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)
Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009)
Kill Bill (Quentin Tarantino, 2003-2004)
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Shane Black, 2005)
Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000)
Requiem For A Dream (Darren Aronofsky, 2000)
Shaun Of The Dead (Edgar Wright, 2004)
There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)