Top 50 Films of the Decade: Introduction (and the other 50)

In what I hope will be something that I can complete before I go back to school and work here is the first entry in my 'best of the decade' series. I'll unveil a new top ten with each entry. Here are my initial thoughts and 50 other films that make the back-end of a top 100. Remember, these exercises are entirely arbitrary, and I could probably find a good enough reason to reposition a lot of these choices. Feel free to discuss in the comments. Enjoy.


I don't feel like I can put some of my favorite films of the last ten years in here that were released during an entirely different decade. I'm speaking specifically here to Apocalypse Now Redux and Army of Shadows, both of which got theatrical releases the last ten years; also, I can't seem to find a place for Russian Ark or Grindhouse. Two very different films, sure, but they both qualify more as experiences than anything else, and they both have very distinct and different feels to them than all of the other 50 films on this list. Russian Ark with its single take is definitely more than a gimmick, and Grindhouse was one of the most surreal experiences for this fan of grindhouse cinema. Certainly the two films within Grndhouse – Planet Terror and Death Proof – can be separated and reviewed as singular films, but I think doing that is to miss the point of what Tarantino and Rodriguez were going for here, and the only way I can certainly review the film is as the experience in the theater – fake trailers and all – that it was meant to be. So, these four films (I'm sure there are others, but I wanted to single these out) deserve special mention as I unveil my list.


This list was a lot of fun to compile. I hope it sparks some debate. This was a good decade for American film, and you're going to see a lot of it on here, but I also have to admit that I was extremely out of the loop of world cinema for the early part of this decade. If you don't see a film on this list there's a good chance that I haven't seen it…or I just didn't like it. Discuss…


Here's the other 50 (100-51)


100 – Where the Wild Things Are (Spike Jonze)

99 – The Life Aquatic (Wes Anderson)

98 – All the Real Girls (David Gordon Green)

97 – Heist (David Mamet)

96 – Knocked Up (Judd Apatow)

95 – The Darjeeling Limited (Wes Anderson)

94 – Gone Baby Gone (Ben Affleck)

93 – The Limits of Control (Jim Jarmusch)

92 – Ocean's Twelve (Steven Soderbergh)

91 – Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy (Adam McKay)

90 – The Contender (Rod Lurie)

89 – Wet Hot American Summer (David Wain)

88 – Sexy Beast (Jonathan Glazer)

87 – Solaris (Steven Soderbergh)

86 – Syriana (Stephen Gaghan)

85 – The 40 Year-Old Virgin (Judd Apatow)

84 – I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (Mike Hodges)

83 – The Ice Harvest (Harold Ramis)

82 – The Proposition (John Hillcoat)

81 – Cache (Michael Haneke)



80 – The Man on the Train (Patrice Leconte)

79 – Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood)

78 – Lord of War (Andrew Niccol)

77 – High Fidelity (Stephen Frears)

76 – Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe)

75 – Black Hawk Down (Ridley Scott)

74 – Bubble (Steven Soderbergh)

73 – The Lookout (Scott Frank)

72 – The Orphanage (Juan Antonio Bayona)

71 – Redbelt (David Mamet)
 
70 – Inland Empire (David Lynch)

69 – Adventureland (Greg Motolla)

68 – Vanilla Sky (Cameron Crowe)

67 – Open Range (Kevin Costner)

66 – Volver (Pedro Almodovar)

65 – Breach (Billy Ray)

64 – The Aviator (Martin Scorsese)

63 – Ghost World (Terry Zwigoff)

62 – Femme Fatale (Brian De Palma)

61 – A Serious Man (Coen Brothers)

60 – Wendy and Lucy (Kelly Richardt)

59 – The Pledge (Sean Penn)

58 – Far From Heaven (Todd Haynes)

57 – The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow)

56 – Northfork (The Polish Brothers)

55 – I Heart Huckabees (David O. Russell)

54 – Disgrace (Steven Jacobs)

53 – Adaptation (Spike Jonze)

52 – No Man's Land (Danis Tanovic)

51 – Michael Clayton (Tony Gilroy)

Labels: End of the Decade Lists, Film Lists, Lists Are Fun, The Best Films of the 2000's, Top 50 Films of the Decade