Since the decade has ended and all, making lists about the decade has become the thing to do.
I love lists as much as anybody, so I decided to take him up on his offer, and try and make a list of my own.
I figured that this topic was too good to keep private, so I decided to write this note.
My approach to the topic was to peruse Metacritic's Best/Worst Movies of the Decade list:
http://
I tend to have a pretty weak memory, and can scarcely remember all of the movies that I have seen in the last ten or so years, so that list was sort of my jumping off point - as such, my list might fail to contain some of the better movies of this past decade that the critics weren't so keen on. If this is the case, by all means, remind me - it is certainly not intentional. I tried to do my best to remember some of the movies that weren't in metacritics top 100 and incorporate them.
Initially, I was aiming to make a top 20 list. I went through metacritic's top 100 (both wide and limited), and made a list of movies that I had seen and enjoyed from that list. I kept this list in order of their "metascores":
1.Pan’s Labyrinth 2006 98
2.Ratatouille 2007 96
3.Spirited Away 2002 94
4.Hurt Locker, The 2009 94
5.Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The 2003 94
6.WALL-E 2008 93
7.There Will Be Blood 2007 92
8.Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The 2001 92
9.No Country for Old Men 2007 91
10.Incredibles, The 2004 90
11.Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan 2006 89
12.Finding Nemo 2003 89
13.Once 2007 88
14.Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The 2002 88
15.Up 2009 88
16.Fog of War, The 2003 87
17.Brokeback Mountain 2005 87
18.Departed, The 2006 86
19.Knocked Up 2007 85
20.Children of Men 2006 84
21.Milk 2008 84
22.Fantastic Mr. Fox 2009 83
23.Kill Bill: Volume 2 2004 83
24.Dark Knight, The 2008 82
25.Juno 2007 81
26.Wrestler, The 2008 81
27.King Kong [2005] 2005 81
28.District 9 2009 81
29.Coraline 2009 80
30.Iron Man 2008 79
31.Monsters, Inc. 2001 78
32.Punch-Drunk Love 2002 78
This list of 32 lacked some of my favorite movies of the decade, so I tried to put together a separate list with my other favorite movies - and since I was close to 50, I also incorporated some of the movies that I had left out the first time through the top 100, which yielded this group:
Others (mostly not in Metacritic's top 100)
Sideways 2004 94
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2000 93
Waltz with Bashir 2008 91
United 93 2006 90
Almost Famous 2000 90
Waking Life (2001) 82
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 2004 81
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 2005 81
Little Miss Sunshine 2006 80
Howl's Moving Castle (2005) 80
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 2009 78
Royal Tenenbaums, The (2001) 75
Munich (2005) 74
Sicko (2007) 74
Wonder Boys (2000) 73
Gangs of New York (2002) 72
Bowling for Columbine (2002) 72
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) 71
Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The (2008) 70
Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003) 69
Inglourious Basterds (2009) 69
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) 69
Crash (2005) 69
Darjeeling Limited, The (2007) 67
Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) 67
Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The (2004) 62
Fountain, The (2006) 51
I then tried to go through these combined lists and make my own personal top 50 - roughly in order. The criteria is essentially non-existent. Basically, they are the movies that, as of this writing, I remember liking the most both in terms of personal impact, and my own artistic preferences and various other biases. I did not factor in the amount of times that I have seen these films - though I have seen all of the films on the above list at least once each.
It is also worth mention that this is also clearly not an exhaustive list. It is limited by any number of things, in particular, it is limited to movies that I have seen, and it is limited by the fallibility of my memory, as well as the various situations and places that I was in when I saw these films that effected my opinions of them. Nevertheless, here is my attempt at summing up my Top 50 films from 2000-2009. At the very least, it should be interesting to think about:
My Top 50:
1. Royal Tenenbaums, The 2001
2. Kill Bill: Volume 2 2004
3. Kill Bill: Volume 1 2003
4. Pan’s Labyrinth 2006
5. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The 2001
6. Spirited Away 2002
7. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The 2003
8. Once 2007
9. Incredibles, The 2004
10. Fantastic Mr. Fox 2009
11. There Will Be Blood 2007
12. Wrestler, The 2008
13. Dark Knight, The 2008
14. WALL-E 2008
15. Children of Men 2006
16. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan 2006
17. Departed, The 2006
18. Ratatouille 2007
19. Waking Life 2001
20. Wonder Boys 2000
21. Up 2009
22. Hurt Locker, The 2009
23. Fog of War, The 2003
24. District 9 2009
25. Inglourious Basterds 2009
26. King Kong 2005
27. Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The 2004
28. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The 2002
29. Brokeback Mountain 2005
30. Bowling for Columbine 2002
31. Monsters, Inc. 2001
32. Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The 2008
33. Punch-Drunk Love 2002
34. Gangs of New York 2002
35. No Country for Old Men 2007
36. Juno 2007
37. Knocked Up 2007
38. United 93 2006
39. Munich 2005
40. Milk 2008
41. Fountain, The 2006
42. Finding Nemo 2003
43. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 2004
44. Little Miss Sunshine 2006
45. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 2009
46. Waltz with Bashir 2008
47. Crash 2005
48. Sideways 2004
49. Iron Man 2008
50. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2000
A few notes:
First, it should be noted that I tried to put these movies in order, but as with any list of this nature, this order is far from a matter of absolutes. Some of them are fairly static - the top 15-20 films or so are some of my favorites of all time, and I was fairly determined to have The Royal Tenenbaums at no. 1. Further down the list, however, things become much more fluid.
Those familiar with directors will probably notice immediately that I am highly biased in this department - it might as well be a Quentin Tarantino/Wes Anderson/Peter Jackson party. So be it. Those were the movies that I saw. Those were the movies that I liked. It also happens that I don't think I saw a single Clint Eastwood movie. Oh well. That's just how it works out.
The lowest rated film on my list - by a fairly wide margin - is Darren Aronofsky's: The Fountain. It got a 51 out of 100 on metacritic. Nevertheless, I loved it.
Also, it is worth mentioning that despite my great love for the Academy Awards, my list is actually pretty thin as far as Best Picture nominees/winners are concerned - especially near the top of my list. I love to watch the Oscars, but I can't say that the Academy and I see eye to eye.
It might also be worth mention that there are a number of sequels on my list, or that this list could be condensed in any manner of fashions - I have both Kill Bill Volumes, all three Lord of the Rings movies, and two Harry Potters on this list. I did this on purpose, and tried my best to assess them as individual films. If it were condensed though, it would heavily favor a handful of directors and series'. That can be a topic for discussion.
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