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Top Ten Films of the Decade


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Here's my list for top ten films of the decade, in ascending order.

 

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#10 - Der Untergang (2004) - Oliver Hirschbiegel

 

An intimate, unvarnished observation of what happens when a nightmarish dream collapses around a man. Bruno Ganz's performance as Hitler is among the best of the decade.

 

 

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#9 - Spirited Away (2001) - Hayao Miyazaki

 

I stumbled into this film in 2001 after reading a very positive review by Roger Ebert. It was my introduction not only to famed director Hayao Miyazaki, but also to anime as a serious artform. The film won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature, but it should have won Best Picture.

 

Spirited Away is pure magic.

 

 

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#8 - Cidade de Deus (2002) - Fernando Meirelles & Kátia Lund

 

I don't think filmmaking gets more pure than "City of God." Wow. The cameras are on the ground, in the mix, with essentially all amateur actors, in the slums of Rio. This is one of those films, like Goodfellas, that sucks you in immediately and spits you out at the end, sort of exhausted, but feeling like you have glimpsed a time and a place you would never have been aware of otherwise.

 

 

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#7 - Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004) - Mamoru Oshii

 

Visually glorious, philosophically meditative, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence is the type of "action" movie Hollywood neither has the balls nor imagination to make. If you've never seen the film, watch this short HD clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Qdc_Cfi1-k (and have a spatula ready to scrape your jaw off the floor).

 

 

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#6 - Avatar (2009) - James Cameron

 

Looking back decades from now, I believe that Avatar will be considered among the great event films that changed motion-picture history - King Kong, Wizard of Oz, and Star Wars. Visually, Avatar makes The Lord of the Rings look like a badly staged high school play. Philosophically, spiritually, and politically, under what appears to be a glossy surface, deep waters run. Can a film like this change the way humans think about war and our relationships with technology and nature? Amazingly, I think the answer is Yes.

 

 

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Yi Yi (2000) - Edward Yang

 

I almost feel this film should be higher on my list, because in many ways, Yi Yi is a perfect film. It is a masterpiece in every way that it is possible to be a masterpiece. I have never seen any film that more perfectly, beautifully, poignantly and humorously portrays the human condition. The word I keep coming back to is "master," because every stroke, every beat, every pause, every cue, every cut is clearly the work of a great cinematic master. The film packs a massive emotional wallop, but none of it is earned through plot devices or trickery. It begins to build from the first frame of the picture, steadily throughout, and by the end, you feel almost floored. Every ounce of the film's impact is earned, not fabricated.

 

 

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#4 - Mulholland Drive (2001) - David Lynch

 

Muholland Drive is about as close as you can get to making a film that is a dream. It boasts easily the finest female performance of the decade by Naomi Watts, and showcases the best visual metaphor I've ever seen on film - Rebekah Del Rio's Llorando.

 

 

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#3 - The Fountain (2006) - Darren Aronofsky

 

There are several things at work simultaneously in Darren Aronovsky's masterpiece The Fountain that will make it last forever among my favorite all-time films. Visually, the movie is stunning, thanks to DP Matthew Libatique, the art department, and a vfx team that used organic and microscopic photography to break the stale grip CGI had on science-fiction at the time. Clint Mansell contributed an original score for the film on an artistic level not seen since Hans Zimmer's work on The Thin Red Line, culminating with a tour-de-force piece called Death is the Road to Awe, which fueled a jaw-dropping, eye-melting, goosebump-inducing, breathless finale for Aronofsky's film. But the unsung hero in The Fountain is Hugh Jackman, who turned in one of the ballsiest performances this side of Brando. Devastating stuff. The level of trust between Aronofsky and Jackman is sort of unprecedented, from what I can see. Obviously, Aronofsky has the golden touch with actors, as his next film, The Wrestler, confirmed.

 

The Fountain is visual and spiritual poetry. I hope I meet Aronofsky some day, so I can thank him for having the guts to make this film, and to tell him how **(obscenity removed)**in' awesome it is.

 

 

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#2 - In the Mood for Love (2000) - Wong Kar-Wai

 

In the Mood For Love is about as flawless a film as you will ever find. Visually, it is nearly unmatched. The cinematography is on a level with Days of Heaven and Barry Lyndon, while the subtlety of the storytelling puts it in a league entirely its own. With this film, we find director Wong Kar-Wai at the height of his powers, at the same time Chris Doyle, Tony Leung, and Maggie Cheung are at the height of their own. The soundtrack and use of overcranking are mesmerizing. The film is ultimately about love, and dignity. The restraint of the characters is matched only by the restraint of the filmmaker. The result, pure perfection.

 

 

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#1 - The New World (2005) - Terrence Malick

 

 

It is often discussed and pondered when "The Great American Novel" will finally be written. Decades and centuries have passed. And yet, in early 2006, very quietly, I believe that "The Great American Film" graced the screens of select multiplexes around the world, almost unnoticed. The New World is the story of America, of our founding. It is also the oldest story ever told, about man's relationship with nature. It is about the consequences of living a "false life" versus a real life.

 

In the late Sixties, Malick quit his job as a philosophy professor at MIT in order to join the first AFI Masters program for film. Why? It seemed an awful gamble, especially for someone as famously quiet, private and introverted as Malick (he has not granted an interview in decades and has been photographed less often than Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster). I think Malick recognized and was motivated by the fact that the next advances in philosophy and art would not be written nor painted, they would be filmed. Imagine a once-in-a-century philosophical mind, attempting to reconcile Tao Buddhism with Heideggerian ontology (as Heidegger himself was essentially attempting). Combine that with an ability to write poetry like Walt Whitman, create images like Monet, and edit them all together using a new cinematic language set to music at the level of Beethoven, Mozart and Wagner. This is what Malick represents, and it is extremely powerful.

 

Not only do I find The New World to be the best movie of this decade, I think it is the best movie ever made. Here we have Malick, working at the height of his powers, surrounded by collaborators like Lubezki, Horner, and Fisk, with a leading female who seems to have been fallen from the heavens just to play this role...

 

I could go on about this film for 10 pages. Suffice it to say, for those who've not paid close attention to The New World, or not seen the Extended Edition on Bluray.... what are you waiting for? Cinematic bliss and enlightenment await. :)

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That's a pretty good list, the only one I haven't seen is "Ghost in the Shell".

 

My only beef with "The New World", which I do think is in the Top Ten of the decade, is that Malick has a tendency to romanticize the native tribes in "Thin Red Line" and "The New World" -- it borders on a Hollywood cliche, the whole "people living in harmony with nature" sort of thing. It's not unique to Malick. I imagine life for Native Americans could be a lot more brutal at times, even pre-Columbus. What saves these movies is the attention to detail, the evocation of nature, and the lack of photographic manipulation. And the lack of didactic dialogue.

 

Of course, if you don't look at these movies as history so much as myth, then this tribal life is more of a Biblical symbol of Man in Eden, before the complications that arose from eating the Apple from the Tree of Knowledge. But I'm not sure to what end. I guess I tend to fall into the philosophy of William Blake, in his "Songs of Innocence and Experience" in that Experience (knowledge) is ultimately to be embraced, not avoided. From Wikipedia:

 

Songs of Innocence mainly consists of poems describing the innocence and joy of the natural world, advocating free love and a closer relationship with God, and most famously including Blake's poem The Lamb. Its poems have a generally light, upbeat and pastoral feel and are typically written from the perspective of children or written about them.

Directly contrasting this, Songs of Experience instead deals with the loss of innocence after exposure to the material world and all of its mortal sin during adult life, including works such as The Tyger. Poems here are darker, concentrating on more political and serious themes. Throughout both books, many poems fall into pairs, so that a similar situation or theme can be seen in both Innocence and Experience.

Many of the poems appearing in Songs of Innocence have a counterpart in Songs of Experience with opposing perspectives of the world. This has been understood to be a result of Blake losing faith in the goodness of mankind at the chaotic end of the French Revolution. This analysis seeks to explain much of the volume's sense of despair. Blake gave signs through his work that demonstrate his belief that children lose their innocence through exploitation, education, and religion, all of which put dogma before mercy. He did not, however, seem to believe that children should be kept from gaining experience. His poems reflect his belief that every child should be free to gain experience through their own discoveries, unfettered by the dictums of previous generations. In this work as in later works, Blake demonstrates his belief that innocence and experience were "the two contrary states of the human soul", and that innocence is complemented, not lessened, by experience.

 

So I'm not sure with Malick whether he is romanticizing innocence, mourning its loss, etc.

 

The trouble I have with "Avatar" is that, compared to Malick, it's even more on the nose, and more literal-minded (the roots of the trees are a neural net that the Navi tap into, etc.) I can't shake the feeling that its spirituality is a bit simple-minded, which is the problem I have with a lot of New Agers too. I guess its hard to talk about embracing spirituality and innocence without sounding like you've knocked a few points off of your IQ.

 

As to whether "Avatar" belongs in the Top Ten of the decade, I have a personal philosophy that I won't make grand proclamations about any movie without the distance of time to properly see its true place in the scheme of things. So even if I felt I just saw the best movie ever made yesterday, I try to not place it on any all-time-ever lists for a year or so. I've been impressed by too many movies that five years later I have little interest in seeing again.

 

I also remember a public poll last decade where "Dances with Wolves" was voted one of the greatest movies ever made. I'm sure "Avatar" would score high today in such a public poll.

 

But it's a great list, I'm glad you remembered "Yi Yi" and put "Spirited Away" there, not to mention "In the Mood for Love".

 

When I look back at 2009, I almost would say that Jan Troll's "Everlasting Moments" (Sweden) was the best movie I saw.

 

As runner-up in your list, I might toss in:

 

"Memento", "The Others", "Minority Report", "A.I.", "The Man Who Wasn't There", "Lord of the Rings", "Amelie", "Zodiac", "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", "Letters from Iwo Jima", "Fog of War" (doc), "The Barbarian Invasions", "Shawn of the Dead", "Bad Santa", "The Incredibles", "Munich", "Cache", "Children of Men", "The Assassination of Jesse James", "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly", "Songs from the Second Floor", "Twilight Samurai", "Wall-E", "Everlasting Moments"

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So I'm not sure with Malick whether he is romanticizing innocence, mourning its loss, etc.

 

He's clearly romanticizing it, extrapolating it. And I agree, it's a valid point for criticism, if perhaps the only one!

 

The idea, obviously, is to drive the point home about nature.

Edited by Tom Lowe
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I LIKED Shawn of the Dead, but if you're gonna talk a Simon Pegg movie, it's GOT to be Hot Fuzz!! I laugh just thinking about that film. One of the best comedies made in a long time, easily the best comedy of the last decade with the exception of O Brother Where Art Thou? which is a close second, everything else is a ways behind.

Edited by James Steven Beverly
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10. The Prestige

Yes Nolan's best of the decade. First you think that Christian bale is a bit of his game, before you realize that this is one hell of a performance.

 

9.Amelie from Montmartre

One of those uplifting life affirming films, that just makes you happy.

 

8.The Incredibles

Well this is how entertainment is done. Contrary to everybody else I'm not on the PIXAR fanboy wagon, but Brad Bird once more shows that he is the king of animation, also one of the best edited movies ever.

 

7.The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Worst title of the decade, but what a beauty. Hats off to Deakins and Andrew Dominik for bringing us this slow burning picture card of an era long gone.

 

6.Dark water (Japanese original)

A haunting beautifully and extremely creepy j-horror. They don't make them like this anymore.

 

5.Million Dollar Baby

Yes I'm a sucker for old school simple storytelling and no one does it better then Clint. The cinematography is also very gutsy and dark.

 

4.There Will Be Blood

This film is far from perfect there are couple of story beats that's just feels tacked on and not true to the story at all, but the share power of Daniel Plainview will hold generations to come clued to there tv sets.

 

3.Bridge to Terabithia

A very mis marketed movie, and some of the CGI is so so I wished they had made it the old school with practical effects. But this film did something very few films can do today, it actually moved me and in a big way, thumbs up way up.

 

2.In the mood for love

This movie so simple and so complex at the same time, if anybody has missed it there is no excuses absolutely fantastic.

 

1.Mulholland Dr.

It's hard to tell why this so god but somehow Lynch manage to make simple conversation between to men at Winkie's ominous and haunting, and Naomi Watts should have had an Oscar for her performance. So David please stop painting and go back to work.

 

 

A special mention to Charlie Kaufman who is the screenwriter of the decade, none of his films are on this list but they where all close. The industry needs more individual voices like him.

Edited by Alex Lindblom
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Don't limit me to 10!

 

Films I loved; 2000-2009:

 

Spirited Away

Breaking the Waves

Eastern Promises

2046

About Schmidt

Superbad

Three Burials of Melquides Estrada

Old School

Amores Perros

Lost in Translation

Amelie

Sideways

There Will Be Blood

Old Boy

Secretary

The Good Girl

Memento

Hero

No Country for Old Men

The Hangover

The Wrestler

City of God

Children of Men

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Don't limit me to 10!

 

Films I loved; 2000-2009:

 

Spirited Away

Breaking the Waves

Eastern Promises

2046

About Schmidt

Superbad

Three Burials of Melquides Estrada

Old School

Amores Perros

Lost in Translation

Amelie

Sideways

There Will Be Blood

Old Boy

Secretary

The Good Girl

Memento

Hero

No Country for Old Men

The Hangover

The Wrestler

City of God

Children of Men

 

Great list Bill. Many of these are in my top 20 for sure.

Edited by Tom Lowe
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My only beef with "The New World", which I do think is in the Top Ten of the decade, is that Malick has a tendency to romanticize the native tribes in "Thin Red Line" and "The New World" -- it borders on a Hollywood cliche, the whole "people living in harmony with nature" sort of thing.

 

But people do live in harmony with nature.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/12/...a/finkel-text/1

The cliche is perpetuating the notion that indigenous peoples who live without exploiting their resources are less civilized, even savage, brutal, and devoid of morality. Malick shows an evolved understanding of humanity.

 

Tom,

I liked many of the films in your list, but for me 'The New World' has had such a lasting impact on me that I don't think it should be put in a list with any other films of the decade. I believe Malick is making an evolutionary step in filmmaking.

As far as 'Avatar' is concerned, I agree with David that it's too soon to judge in the context of film history.

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I wont come up with my own list (hard work) but have soft spots for the following already mentioned:

 

City of God

Mulholland Drive

The Fountain - watched this again last night, visual effects bravo, but The Wrestler a better scripted rounded out bit of cinema

The New World

Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind

The Barbarian Invasions - thoroughly agree with you David !

Memento

Dark Water (original) - when she is climbing up the water tower ladder and it - WHAM - crumples, jumped clear outta my seat

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Well here's my list of my personal top-ten, not all are perfect but all have something brilliant or unique about them, well to me at least.

 

10. O'Brother Where Art Thou, - US 2000

 

For me the Coen Brother's most fun film, great entertainment beautifully made.

 

9. AI:Artificial Intelligence - US 2001

 

I know this film drives some people crazy, but for myself its a flawed masterpiece and perhaps contains some of the most amazing cinematography of the decade.

 

8. Hable con Ella (Talk to Her) - Spain 2002

 

It seems like that this decade Almodovar has been unable to make a bad movie, and with this he's struck just the right note, with one of the unpredictable plots ever.

 

7. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - US/UK 2004

 

Okay some may disapprove of such a choice, but you can't deny this film is a guide to excellent camera movement 101, not just technically but using camera movement in a correct emotional and psychological way. It also successfully depicts something unusual, that difficult time when transitioning from a child to a teenager.

 

6. Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) - Germany 2006

 

An intriguing story well photographed with excellent performances.

 

5. Wall.e - US 2008

 

Proof that Hollywood can still make big-budget entertaining yet intelligent movies, just like The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, Monstors Inc which I wish I could fit in this list too!

 

4. La Stanza del Figlio (The Son's Room) - Italy 2001

 

A very simple but beautifully made emotional film.

 

3. El Espinazo del Diablo (The Devil's Backbone) - Spain 2001

 

One of the best ghost stories in decades full of twists and turns, and brave cinematic imagery and symbolism.

 

2. Children of Men - US/UK 2006

 

A simple story depicting a journey of redemption in a changing world, excellently conceived and told. Again with perhaps some of the most striking cinematography of the decade.

 

1. La Meglio Gioventu (The Best of Youth) - Italy 2003

 

If you haven't seen this, and there is a good chance you haven't, buy yourself a pirate from China and clear the evening (its six hours long!). Its a bit soap-opera at times, its obviously been shot on super 16 and posted on something inadequate like DigiBeta, yet it still remains extraordinarily epic and cinematic, moving and touching as it depicts the efforts of two brothers to try to change their world, and the highs and lows they encounter over 30 years.

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9. AI:Artificial Intelligence - US 2001

I know this film drives some people crazy, but for myself its a flawed masterpiece and perhaps contains some of the most amazing cinematography of the decade.

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks that. I totally agree with you ... it's one of my favorite films as well ...

 

Here's my list:

 

Mary and Max (2009) Adam Elliot

Transsiberian - Brad Anderson (2008)

Funny Games - Michael Haneke (2007)

No Country for Old Men - Coen Brothers (2007)

Brand Upon the Brain! - Guy Maddin (2006)

The Lives of Others - Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (2006)

Broken Flowers - Jim Jarmusch (2005)

Paradise Now - Hany Abu-Assad (2005)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Michael Gondry (2004)

Lost in Translation - Sofia Coppola (2003)

Road to Perdition - Sam Mendes (2002)

Artificial Intelligence - Steven Spielberg (2001)

Mulholland Dr. - David Lynch (2001)

Requiem for a Dream - Darren Aronofsky (2000)

Memento - Christopher Nolan (2000)

Songs from the Second Floor - Roy Andersson (2000)

Werckmeister Harmonies - Bela Tarr (2000)

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#10 - Der Untergang (2004) - Oliver Hirschbiegel

 

An intimate, unvarnished observation of what happens when a nightmarish dream collapses around a man. Bruno Ganz's performance as Hitler is among the best of the decade.

 

Is that the source of the footage in all those YouTube videos where people have written their own imaginative subtitles?

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There have been a lot of good films from Europe and Asia...but the trend towards Bad american films is why I started writing treatments and screenplays, which got me back into Film making.

 

Far too many 'Son of Mask" "Scary Movie" "Date Movie" "I know who killed me" etc,etc.

These films cost a fortune, and for what? I think even Jim Carrey has realized the futility.

 

I will name 10 Non-english films that were original in their writing and cinematography.

 

Think Paris, the Mexican countryside,Stockholm in the early 80's in winter, East Berlin etc.

 

Let The Right One In

City Of God

Amelie

Y tu Mama tambien

The Host

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Pan's Labyrinth

The lives of others

The Diving bell and the butterfly.

Amores Perros

 

I'm not opposed to North American films, as there have been some really good ones.

But the Hitchcock remakes, remakes of 'The Ring', and now

"Let me in" (a remake of a film less than 2 years old)

and the endless sequels are a sign that domestic studios are being run not by innovators and visionaries, but imitators and copycats.

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many great films mentioned. i agree with the nominations for:

 

There Will Be Blood

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

The Lives of Others

Downfall

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Y tu mamá también

amores perros

Lost in Translation

No Country for Old Men

 

 

 

 

in addition to those amazing films, here's my list (more then 10, but my brain started to hurt too much trying to narrow it down to just 10).

 

excluding ALL docs and comedies and these are the English titles:

 

the proposition

crazy heart

dot the i

into the wild

the motorcycle diaries

before night falls

capote

garden state

igby goes down

little children

maria full of grace

monster

monster's ball

sexy beast

sherrybaby

the anniversary party

The Assassination of Richard Nixon

the matador

The United States of Leland

The Baader Meinhof Complex

entre nos

troubled water

the squid and the whale

the woodsman

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