Now that we’re through the Aughts, here are my picks for best movies of the decade. The ones that make the initial list are movies that I rated a 10/10. The runners up are 9/10s, and the honourable mentions are 8/10s. Many of these movies I have seen only once, and remember that in 2000 I was 18-19 and not really the “man” I am today. Disagree heartily. Oh yeah, it’s alphabetical so don’t get your knickers in a knot.
The Short-List:
- Best of Youth
- Capturing the Friedmans
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
- Grindhouse
- Grizzly Man
- Hunger
- In Praise of Love
- Kill Bill
- Memento
- Million Dollar Baby
- Mountain Patrol: Kekexili
- Mystic River
- No Country for Old Men
- Punch-Drunk Love
- Sin City
- Syriana
- Team America: World Police
- The White Ribbon
- Zodiac
The Runners Up:
- Adaptation
- American Splendor
- Blindsight
- Bloody Sunday
- Brick
- Burn After Reading
- Cache
- City of God
- Code Unknown
- Cowards Bend the Knee
- The Dark Knight
- The Dark Side of the Moon
- The Day God Walked Away
- The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
- Dogville
- Downfall
- Elephant
- The Fog of War
- The Heart of the World
- Incident at Loch Ness
- In the Bedroom
- In the Loop
- The Italian
- Jarhead
- Little Children
- The Lives of Others
- Lost in Translation
- The Man Who Wasn’t There
- Mulholland Dr.
- Murderball
- Nine Lives
- No Direction Home
- No End in Sight
- O Brother, Where Art Thou?
- Palindromes
- Pan’s Labyrinth
- Paradise Now
- Sauna
- Shooting Dogs
- Spellbound
- The Squid and the Whale
- There Will Be Blood
- The Wrestler
A Whole Bunch of Honourable Mentions:
- About Schmidt
- The Agronomist
- All the Real Girls
- The American Astronaut
- Amores Perros
- The Aristocrats
- Atanajuat: the Fast Runner
- Auto-Focus
- Bad Santa
- The Beat My Heart Has Skipped
- The Believer
- Borat
- The Bourne Identity
- Broken Flowers
- Bubba Ho-Tep
- Casino Royale
- Cheech
- Children of Men
- Closer
- Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
- Conspiracy
- The Constant Gardener
- The Corporation
- Crimson Gold
- Cronicas
- Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
- Deliver Us from Evil
- The Devil and Daniel Johnston
- The Devil’s Miner
- DiG!
- Dirty Pretty Things
- The Disappearance of Alice Creed
- Distant
- Donnie Darko
- The Door in the Floor
- Eight Legged Freaks
- Enron: the Smartest Guys in the Room
- Good Night and Good Luck
- The Grey Zone
- Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
- Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
- Hatchet
- The Heart of the Game
- Hero
- A History of Violence
- The Hoax
- The Holy Land
- The Host
- Hotel Rwanda
- Hot Fuzz
- Human Nature
- I’m Going Home
- In Bruges
- Inglorious Basterds
- Inside Man
- In the Mirror of Maya Deren
- In the Shadow of the Moon
- Intimate Stories
- Jeepers Creepers
- The Journals of Knud Rasmussen
- Journey from the Fall
- Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
- Letters from Iwo Jima
- The Life Acquatic with Steve Zissou
- Look Both Ways
- The Lord of the Rings
- Lost in La Mancha
- The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra
- The Manchurian Candidate
- Manda Bala
- The Man without a Past
- Margot at the Wedding
- Match Point
- Me and You and Everyone We Know
- Memory for Max, Claire, Ida and Company
- Michael Clayton
- A Mighty Wind
- Monkey Warfare
- Murder Party
- Murder on a Sunday Morning
- My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?
- Neil Young: Heart of Gold
- Not Another Teen Movie
- Oldboy
- Ong-Bak
- Open Water
- A Prairie Home Companion
- Primer
- The Protocols of Zion
- The Queen
- The Quiet American
- Rabbit-Proof Fence
- Radiant City
- Religulous
- Requiem for a Dream
- Ripley’s Game
- The Royal Tenenbaums
- The Saddest Music in the World
- The Salton Sea
- Serenity
- Series 7: the Contenders
- Session 9
- Shattered Glass
- Shaun of the Dead
- Sideways
- Silver City
- Sir! No Sir!
- Slither
- State and Main
- Super Troopers
- Tales of the Rat Fink
- Thirteen Conversations About One Thing
- Thirteen Days
- This is England
- Touching the Void
- The Trials of Henry Kissinger
- Tristram Shandy: a Cock and Bull Story
- 28 Days Later
- 24 Hour Party People
- Unwanted Witness
- With a Friend Like Harry