Everyone knows it’s ridiculous to try to quantitatively rank unquantifiables like movies. And though I tried to do my research for this, there are probably a plenty deserving flicks I’m forgetting or never saw. Therefore if you disagree with anything on this list, it’s probably because you’re an idiot and no one likes you and your mom has cancer. Internet readers are suckers for lists, so let’s earn papa some money, huh? Be sure to argue in the comments section as much as possible. Ready? KNIVES OUT!
1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Jim Carrey’s zaniest performance since Yes Man! Seriously though, I don’t think anyone’s ever figured out such a perfect way to say that relationships are the stupidest things in the world that you just want to forget, and that given half a chance, you’d still do over again in the exact same way as before. Charlie Kaufman is a genius, and Michel Gondry painted me a tranny. Game over, man.
2. City of God (2002)
Brazilians and Brazilian chicks and little kids shooting each other! What can I say, it’s a white knuckler, it looks amazing, and though I don’t usually go in for all that “based on a true story crap”, that scene at the end where they show all the real people from the story is kind of mind blowing.
3. The Wrestler (2008)
I hated gimmicky-ass Reqiuem for a Dream, so loving an Aronofsky flick this much surprised the hell out of me. It was funny, almost comically gritty, and it had a stripper who actually looked like a stripper. It made me want to drink whiskey with Mickey Rourke and pet his three-legged dog on a dead-end road while we sang Springsteen songs. Now, who wants to fireman party?
4. Wall E (2008)
I had to put a Pixar flick on here, but to be honest, it’s pretty much a wash between this, Up, and Finding Nemo. In the end I’ll take Wall E over Up, only because Up seemed to be trying way too hard to make me cry. Didn’t you get the memo? THESE EYEBALLS DON’T RUN, MOTHERF$##!3R! USA! USA! USA!
5. Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
As much as I hate how much hipsters love it and Wes Anderson’s stupid ascots, I can rewatch this over and over. Every time I watch it, I start thinking it drags in the middle and what was I thinking for liking it so much? And then by the time the funeral scene at the end comes around, I’m an emotional mess and cursing myself for ever doubting it. Remember those paintings? I would tattoo that on my dick.
6. O Brother Where Art Thou (2000)
Clooney. Coen Brothers. John Turturro. I watch this over and over and it always makes me smile. Damn! We’re in a tight spot!
7. There Will Be Blood (2007)
Daniel Day-Lewis as a Bill the Butcher was perfect. Give him an equally psychotic character in a coherent movie and of course it’s going to be that much better. How hard I laughed at the bowling pin scene confirms: I might be a sociopath.
8. Borat (2006)
I know there are plenty of you Sacha Cohen haters out there, but The Running of the Jew? Crush the Jew egg before it hatches? Throwing money at the cockroaches (they’ve shapeshifted!)? I can’t remember another time I’ve laughed so hard at the theater.
9. No Country For Old Men (2007)
I’d still rather see it end on the car accident scene than on Tommy Lee Jones talking about his dream, but whatever. It’s easy to forget how good every single performance in this was. Not to mention, I might even consider watching Nine if it had someone getting his brains blown out with compressed air.
10. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
That scene where the guy with eyeballs on his palms starts ripping fairies apart with his teeth almost made my head explode. I also love that when they kill the bad guy, there’s no big buildup or symbolic death scene, they just shoot him in the face like a dog. It made me so happy that I started giggling uncontrollably, and once again, oh right, I’m the weird guy in the theater. Haha, a guy got murdered in the face!
11. The Hurt Locker (2008/2009)
Like No Country, I so wish they’d have ended it on the scene in the cereal aisle. But this is just straightforward filmmaking at its finest. It’s the attention to detail and spatial awareness that make it a masterpiece and put it so far ahead of the quick-cut, shakey cam crap that’s out nowadays.
12. The Lives of Others (2007)
To sum up, Germans are weird. Every time I see it, it makes me think of that quote about how you can see the mind set that produced the Third Reich just by studying a German toilet*.
13. Gone Baby Gone (2007)
I once called this the best movie of 2007. Does that mean I think less of it now? I don’t know. Maybe I subconsciously couldn’t handle the thought of a Ben Affleck movie rating so high. Mystic River and The Departed probably could’ve gone on here too, but I find The Departed‘s ending sort of nonsensical and Nicholson’s acting way over the top. Mystic River is good but it also kind of made me want to kill myself.
14. Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001)
Another awesome movie where I have to quibble with the ending. I hate when you see a good movie and then at the very end they’re like, “Oh, and you know what else? Yahtzee, someone has cancer!” What? That was totally unnecessary to the story. You make a you momma cry.
15. Knocked Up (2007)
The one scene I don’t like is in the delivery room where Leslie Mann suddenly decides she likes Seth Rogen because he yelled at her. But other than that and the mistake of casting Katherine Heigl in the first place, it was so funny while also being such a real story that it forever killed the old Farrelly Brothers throw-10-jokes-at-the-wall-and-hope-one-of-them-sticks style of comedy. Sorry, I liked it waay better than 40-Year-Old Virgin.
16. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
I realize it depends largely on whether you took it 100% seriously or saw it as slightly satirical (as I did), but it’s still my favorite superhero movie. It was funny, tongue in cheek, and Doctor Octopus could put on sunglasses, light a cigarette, and molest three Japanese schoolgirls at the same time. How awesome is that?
17. Zoolander (2001)
Be honest, how many people do you know who can recite this movie by heart? Obey my dog!
18. Kill Bill 1 (2003)
My favorite Tarantino movie of this decade. I think he was doing less coke when he wrote this one, because the dialog isn’t nearly excessive as it is in Inglourious Basterds or as up its own ass as it was in Kill Bill 2. (Not that I don’t love both of those also, just sayin).
Other crap that easily could have made the list: Adaptation (again, I love Charlie Kaufman, and Spike Jonze), Bad Lieutenant (one of my top few movies this year, but I don’t have enough perspective on it yet), Memento, Punch-Drunk Love, Hot Fuzz (I always liked it better than Shaun of the Dead, but I admit it could be because I hate zombies so much), Old Boy (kept it off the list because everyone else has it on theirs), Grizzly Man, Anvil, Amores Perros, Team America, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Bad Santa, Wedding Crashers, Old School (shut up, you know they were funny), In Bruges (crap, that totally should’ve been on the list), and whatever your favorite is, sweetheart. I kept Dark Knight off because I wanted to hear everyone complain about it. Also, I haven’t seen Leap Year yet, and it’d be dumb not to assume that’ll be number one. Did you know a woman can propose on leap year in Ireland? It’s true.
*takes breath* Okay, ready? FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!
*The Quote:
In a traditional German toilet, the hole into which sh-t disappears after we flush is right at the front, so that sh-t is first laid out for us to sniff and inspect for traces of illness. In the typical French toilet, on the contrary, the hole is at the back, i.e. sh-t is supposed to disappear as quickly as possible. Finally, the American (Anglo-Saxon) toilet presents a synthesis, a mediation between these opposites: the toilet basin is full of water, so that the sh-t floats in it, visible, but not to be inspected. No wonder that in the famous discussion of European toilets at the beginning of her half-forgotten Fear of Flying, Erica Jong mockingly claims that ‘German toilets are really the key to the horrors of the Third Reich. People who can build toilets like this are capable of anything.’ It is clear that none of these versions can be accounted for in purely utilitarian terms: each involves a certain ideological perception of how the subject should relate to excrement. Hegel was among the first to see in the geographical triad of Germany, France and England an expression of three different existential attitudes: reflective thoroughness (German), revolutionary hastiness (French), utilitarian pragmatism (English). In political terms, this triad can be read as German conservatism, French revolutionary radicalism and English liberalism.
(got it from here)
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‘The Dark Knight’ was better than ‘Spider Man 2′. They both featured the idea of how difficult it is to actually be a superhero, but The Dark Knight never made me consider that I wouldn’t want to be Batman. Other than that, we’ve got no beef, dickface.
I’m just gonna put this out there. If you don’t like it, you can send it right back.
I wanna be on you.
Good list, but Zoolander, Old School, Wedding Crashers, Knocked Up AND Bad Santa over Anchorman?!?
I must fight you.
Did you not see Mulholland Drive?
No Up! ?
Exactly, Rex. Exactly. Other than Anchorman, I’d add: Children of Men, Shaun of the Dead, The Aviator, Catch Me If You Can (because it was the decade of Leo), Stranger Than Fiction, Hustle & Flow, Thank You For Smoking, and for my comic book movie: V For Vendetta.
I sorta didn’t like The Wrestler. At all.
Uh … I just read #4. Please don’t whip me, massah!
And Hotel Rwanda if you’re looking for one of those “based on a true story” movies. I guess Talk To Me, too, if you’re looking for “based on a true story starring Don Cheadle” movies.
I really enjoyed the acting of Cherrie Sunday in ‘Fatty Fucks Five Fearsome Fourteen Inchers’.
Plot was good too. The ending was a little messy, but you said that about a few movies on your list.
This almost makes me want to watch movies I don’t want to watch.
Wow, I am shocked at how many of these movies I’ve actually seen.
I’d rather watch a David Lynch reality show than a David Lynch movie.
No Clint Eastwood flicks?
I like that you couldn’t think of two more to make it a nice, round number.
I don’t know about you assholes, but I loved 2003′s Big Fish.
I also liked Big Fish a lot. And Hotel Rwanda and Talk to Me.
*steps up to podium*
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
That will be all.
*Leaves Drunkatorium*
Are you saying you haven’t seen Mulholland Drive, V-Man?
If so, you need to remedy this RIGHT. NOW.
Or is the prospect of watching Naomi Watts fist herself distasteful to your sensibilities?
If any of you watched Vampire Dentist, then you’d know why I agree with the decision to keep it off this list.
If Pauly was here, I’m sure he’d be disappointed with the lack of robot fucking.
I’ve seen it. I like scenes in David Lynch movies, but I don’t get a lot out of his movies as a whole. Kinda self indulgent for my tastes.
Fairy nuff.
Schindler had a better list than this.
This is the dumbest fucking thing I’ve ever seen. No Meet the Spartans?
I don’t even remember 10 movies I liked this decade, so to at least see Gone Baby Gone on this makes me not want to kill you like a fag Pajiba blogger. Whatever, I’m going to get drunk now.
I don’t say it often enough, but I love you guys.
By the way, Doug Jones (who plays Pale Man) is my best friend.
Unleashed. Hella good.
Get. OUT.
Need proof …. ABE SAPIEN’S TITS OR GTFO!
Nice list, now I’m going to see Y Tu Mama Tambien.
I’d agree with all the comments too, I immediately thought of Big Fish and Anchorman. Adaptation and Donnie Darko are two of my favourite movies. Some I liked are Lost in Translation, Life Aquatic, Snatch, High Fidelity and Man on Fire.
Oh yeah and Ghost Rider, for Jacktion.
Oh and if you don’t want to put Old Boy on your list, try The Chaser (추격자) just as good.
Also Snatch, LOTR Return of the King, & Little Miss Sunshine.
And Across The Universe. Fuck you, I’m a Beatles nerd, OK?
Snatch could have been great, wivvout da fokkin’ Staf.
*hides under desk*
In Bruges might be my favorite drama. Or dark comedy. Or dramedy. I don’t know; I just know it’s awesome.
But my favorite comedy is easily Anchorman. I don’t think I can go a full 24 hours without referencing it somehow.
And I’m so glad that someone else likes Bad Santa.
Thurman Merman is kind of the best thing ever.
I gotta throw in The Aviator. COME IN WITH THE MILK, COME IN WITH THE MILK, COME IN WITH THE MILK. I’ve watched it 2,000 times.
Finally, one of these lists where I’ve actually seen practically all of the movies on it. Even though you hate lists, I’m glad you still cave in due to your lack of conviction and follow through and make them anyways.
Wha?? No Twilight?
No Dark Knight or Gran Torino?
Some I would throw on my list (in no particular order):
Gladiator, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Snatch, and The Count of Monte Cristo (because movies about getting rich and seeking revenge kick ass).
Other points of interest:
-Anchorman should be the top comedy on the list
-I watched Mulholland Drive, and I HATED it.
-I never saw City of God even though everyone told me how good it is, and now seeing it again on this list makes me feel like an even worse person.
I mainly left Dark Knight off because I knew it’d make everyone yell at me. Gran Torino was on the cusp. I did love it and giggled like a little twat the whole time, but some of that kid’s acting was fuckin painful. Ol’ Clint could’ve let them rehearse for like two more days and it wouldn’t have killed anyone. As for Anchorman, I like parts of Anchorman a LOT and quote it all the time, but if you watch it all the way through I don’t think it hangs together as a complete movie. At all (please don’t yell at me). That’s not to say I don’t adore a ton of the lines in it. I FUCKIN LOVE LINES! YAHTZEE!
I actually forgot Gladiator was in the 00s. I love that first scene with the flaming arrows and shit. Like the movie, though I’m not a huge fan of the way they edit out the violence in the fight scenes. They’ll do that shit where he has a sword in his hand and then just cut straight to a guy with a sword in his belly. SHOW ME THE STABBING, MOTHERFUCKERS! Good movie, but I like Braveheart 10 times better. Rome on HBO is also the same thing but better. Fuck that show is fucking awesome.
I remember liking Kiss Kiss Bang Bang a lot but I only saw it once and I was kind of drunk (really really drunk). I like Snatch, but certain things bug me. A few of the minor characters are insanely terrible actors. Brad Pitt awesomeness notwithstanding, Lock Stock is way better. Maybe it should be on the list, I dunno. And I do enjoy the shit out of Count of Monte Cristo. Mainly because Luis Guzman is unstoppable. I even read the book because of it. Did you know it’s like a million pages long? And half of it is about people making themselves immune to poison by giving themselves a little bit a day, and then poisoning everyone? True story.
I ate a big, red candle.
Best line ever.
Okay, I’ll agree that Anchorman is less like a movie and more like a bunch of SNL recurring character skits. But, goddamn, do I love it.
And Rome. They need to hurry up with that movie. I miss Pullo.
so….I’m assuming you haven’t seen Sharks in Venice…
I’ll be the douche who lists a bunch of foreign movies:
The Orphanage
Antibodies
Let the Right One in
Night Watch
King Of Kong? Sexy Beast? The Departed? What the hell is wrong with you?
‘There Will Be Blood’ is the most mundane, drawn out, overrated piece of shit I have seen in a long, long time.
Aside from that, all I want to add to the discussion is ‘Primer’.
Ya, just because a movie is quote-able doesn’t make it the greatest film ever…. wait, what the hell am I saying!?!?! Seriously though, I’d say add the Deh-pah-ted and Gran Torino and make it an even 20.
I can’t argue that Anchorman is less of a movie than just a bunch of hilarious scenes thrown together. This is further proven by the release of Wake Up Ron Burgundy, which was nothing more than an even clumsier collection of all the scenes they cut out. Anchorman is still a great comedy, just not put together well.
Also, I’d like to add I didn’t like There Will Be Blood either, which is too bad because I like Daniel Day-Lewis. This movie just bored the shit out of me. It was beyond disappointing. I would have rather watched a documentary on oil drilling and then beat someone to death with a bowling pin at the end.
Step Brothers was a better movie than Anchorman.
There, I said it.
Where is all the love for Casper Van Dien? Just because most of his movies sell for $1 at the checkout line in Wal-Mart doesn’t mean they aren’t some of the best movies of the decade.
no mega shark vs giant octopus? it was on the sci fi channel the other week. It’s not been out that long, how did they manage such a massive coup?
My personal top 18 from the 00s:
1. Anchorman
2. V For Vendetta
3. The Dark Knight
4. Gran Torino
5. Minority Report
6. Knocked Up
7. Training Day
8. The Prestige
9. The Bourne Identity
10. Team America: World Police
11. The Departed
12. The Hangover
13. Borat
14. Gone Baby Gone
15. Iron Man
16. Zoolander
17. Inside Man
18. Zodiac
Now that I’m hammered, here are just a few Go-Fuck-Yourself choices that I have: Casino Royale, Training Day, Ratatouille… and Vinnie’s life is spared because I just went back and read the whole thing again and saw that he has Team America on there. But Borat over Team America? Wrong.
And Hermekerkkjekjr is right with Minority Report.
Jack, Step Brothers was a movie that will stand the test of time. But Anchorman gives me a chance every week to get stupid girls to have sex with me.
Also, we’re all doing a disservice to Lisa Kudrow and Damon Wayans by ignoring Marci X.
Glitter.
The End.
where is troll 2?
and yes i realize that it wasnt this decade but troll 2 transcends time
District 9 was so uniquely complete I think it rated a spot somewhere. Also, as a comic book fan, I think it should be noted that Watchmen really accomplished something by getting that story coherently shoved into less than 10 hours. Good list, though, I’ll check out the ones I haven’t seen.
I found it somewhat difficult to finish Grizzly Man. Watching that delusional fucktard was frustrating as hell – I wanted to reach through the screen and punch him in the throat (I tend to feel that way about most activists). It’s a great movie, though.
This list is weighted toward the end of the decade– what about You Can Count on Me (best drama of the decade), Snatch (best heist), Almost Famous (best comedy) — seriously?
cant get on board with knocked up, i’ve seen better episodes of americas funniest pets. The one where the donkey…well y’know. I also think pineapple express deserves a shout
Pretty Persuasion was excellent. So was the rest of the list except Kaufman(meta is lazy creatively). Y tu mama tambien’s cancer makes perfect sense, explains her, if you have or, met anyone with PTSD. Jarhead was suck that didn’t suck so long as you had a priori of suck, otherwise points for honesty. It’s 3am here, still drunk after night of challenge pissing(vertical freestyle)in a goddamn empty lot. Vince I want to have your ass babies, no homo…but conceived in a totally homo fashion(insertion of penis in ass), but minds somewhere else i.e. stuck out the windows of the car commenting on the weather. No Homo, homo, No Homo Quincys. No double stamps.
Pardon me. Trying to make gay fashionable so that hipsters steal it and stop breeding.
Why the fuck else would a man buy prosthetic vagina/underwear?
Synecdoche, NY is my favorite of the decade
but man do my friends give me shit for that choice!I have no friends :(Also I assume you haven’t seen Up In The Air yet because otherwise it would probably be #1 with an accompanying picture of a shirtless George Clooney
And Wall-E over Ratatouille?
I still haven’t scene Synecdoche, NY or District 9. ;-( Forgetting Training Day was actually a straight up oversight. That movie scared the shit out of me.
Knocked Up is one of those movies where the more I see it, the less I seem to like it. Napoleon Dynamite is kind of similar but different. I remember laughing my ass off in the theater(possibly because I was watching with a couple of guys who might have been high and were laughing uncontrollably nearly the whole movie) but now I can’t sit through it.
Others films I don’t think have been mentioned yet: American Psycho, The Machinest, X2, and Iron Man.
WTF Bro?! You’re missing xXx, Fast and Furious, and Knockaround Guys! Fuck this site and list, I’m gonna go shoot some HGH in to my pecs and do a Jagerbomb. Mancini is a traitor to his roots. “Slaps tatoo of Italy with Italian Flag coloring on his shoulder*
Speaking of lists, I was watching the Mr. Skin top nude scenes of 09 thing and HOLY SHIT I didn’t know Patrick Swayze was in Powder Blue. You have to see this, I was hooked based on the way he says “raging boner.”
[www.youtube.com]
Fucking cancer can go fuck itself
You may want to tag this thread, Vince, so it can be returned to as people remember forgotten faves.
Most of the biggies have been mentioned already (Snatch, The Dark Knight, No Country for Old Men, Hurt Locker; District 9 is my favourite movie of the year) but i’m gonna throw in:
Kung Fu Hustle – Anchorman may have the most quotable gags but for sight gags this was just brilliant.
The Bourne movies. Supremacy probably the best because of Karl Urban’s supercool hitman.
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai: imdb says 1999 but it wasn’t released in the UK until 2000 so i’m gonna sneak it in. Very cool and strangely heartwarming too.It’s probably the most glaring omission on the fanatical imfdb.
For a guilty pleasure i’m gonna throw in The Matrix Reloaded. The cockles were warmed everytime Trinity flipped off that bike and landed like a cat as the security office explodes.
Oh that reminds me about There Will Be Blood…my theory is that the final scene didn’t really happen (as in Plainview is dreaming) because we see him and his son visibly aged yet Eli is still played by Paul Dano plus the scene starts with him sleeping on the floor
What about After Last Season? I seem to remember you calling Mark Region the modern day Ed Wood. Seriously though, Training Day and In Bruges both rocked my ass off and possibly maybe shoulda made it.
Vinnie hates the Bourne movies because they’re shaky. I think it’s because he’s a French liberal poof apologist.
Also, I agree with the naysayer whom naysayed the exclusion of Almost Famous. That’s pretty much my favorite movie of all-time and if you can’t get on board with Tiny Dancer, you can suck my golden god.
I’ve only seen three of the movies that were in the top 18. Does that mean I can’t be the pivot for y’all’s circle jerks anymore?
Fuck you! I have a life outside of watching movies and commenting on internet blogs!
*calls in sick, grabs x-box controller, plops down on couch*
You people need to get a life…
I think we can all agree that Vinnie wrote this while waiting for his IROC’s oil change.
Just an insanely good character study.
This is the douchiest thing I’ve ever read on this site. And I read my own comments.
In fuckin’ Bruges is a top 3 for me. Anyone seen Frailty? That would make my top 18. I agree with The Prestige mention too.
Not to bring up tv again, but as awesome as Rome was, Carnival was ever more awesomer (yes, awesomer).
Also the utter lack of Japanese tentacle rape here makes me think you didn’t do your homework.
Frailty’s premise was interesting but it was horribly executed (no pun intended). I wasn’t scared for a single second by Bill “Game Over, Man!” Paxton. It definitely needed more gore and possibly some Japanese tentacle rape.
True story on Frailty: I hated Bill Paxton in every movie I saw him in for some reason that I couldn’t pinpoint, until Frailty. I was reasonably impressed with his performance and thought it was a good effort for a directorial debut. So I decided I would give him a chance going forward. Then later I saw Weird Science again for the first time in a long time, and I realized I hated him because of Chet.
Fuck the 2000s! Usual Suspects was on Encore last night until 1 in the damned morning. Hell yeah I’m tired today.
1995 uber alles.
If we had to do a “best movies of the 90s” list we’d never see daylight
If we had to do a “best movies of the 90s” list we’d never see Daylight.
The Mighty Feklahr will assume that the omission of Rob Zombie movies was just a simple oversight.
Hot Fuzz is better than Shaun (though both are excellent) & I have no problems with zombies. Facist!
If we had to do a “best movies of the 90s” list
we’d never see daylightFUCK ALL THE HATERS! USUAL SUSPECTS UBER ALLES!!
No love for Donnie Darko? The Pianist?
Or Crash? *Gets hit by a flying bottle*
Okay, I’m racist for liking that movie.
Hey man, you forgot pracha pinkaew´s movies, maybe chocolate, or ong bak, or tom yung goon (that continuous shot fight scene is film making at its best)
spirited away, nine queens (argentinian movie that you must see) crank blew my fucking mind
Gran Torino! What’s worse than it not being on this list is that only one other person is up in arms about it not being on this list.
I give it five out of five gooks piled high
Throw-10-jokes-at-the-wall-and-hope-one-of-them-sticks? Sounds like the Filmdrunk commenters. Hey-o!
I’m just kidding. Please don’t find me. You people scare me. :(
Oh man I forgot Alex de la Iglesia´s Crimen Ferpecto. That movie is ferpect.
I’m just kidding. Please don’t find me. You people scare me. :(
*The Mighty Feklahr uses the ship’s navi-computer to triangulate the geocoordinates of this subspace transmission…strokes chin thoughtfully…beats dicks violently*
I loved the first Bourne film because it was just shakey enough, like Michael J. Fox a little while after he got sick.
I need to second You Can Count on Me. That’s one of my favorite movies ever. Yeah, I’m a huge pussy, but it even made my dad cry. I agree with a lot of the other stuff in the main list and in the comments. But, did anyone mention 28 Days Later? That movie changed zombie movies forever. Dickhead nerd, “They’re not technically zombies.”
In all seriousness, Tropic Thunder should’ve been on there instead of Knocked Up. RDJ as Kirk Lazurus as Lincoln Osiris is one of the greatest characters ever. Knocked Up was good in that it gave Katherine Heigl the chance to become a mega-bitch because of it’s success and bad in the the fact that it gave Katherine Heigl the chance to be a mega bitch because of it’s success. I would still pee in her butt, but I’d pretend she was Reese Witherspoon.
Great list, couple thoughts: I think you gave UP and WALL-E the perfect rating. For me, my favorite of the two is whichever one I happen to be watching, I really connect with the WALL-E story, but UP was just so freaking creative, it really blew my mind. I don’t think Finding Nemo is on the same level of those two, but still a great movie.
On the Hurt Locker, yes it could have ended on the cereal aisle scene, but had they not shown him make the decision to go back, the whole “war is a drug” theme would have gone out the window, and I really liked that concept, it was a perspective I never had on war. You’re right about Y tu Mama Tambien, the cancer was out of left field and didn’t seem necessary to the story, the movie wasn’t about her, thus the plot gained nothing from her dying at the end. Pan’s Labyrinth was amazing, but Hellboy 2 also deserves an honorable mention. Both are very personal films for Del Toro, of course Hellboy 2 doesn’t have the creativity and “vision” of Pan’s Labyrinth, but it still surprised the hell out of me how much I liked it and could be my favorite comic book adaptation of the decade.
Speaking of Adaptations, Charlie Kauffman is the alpha and omega, he is why I love films, and Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind hit me on such a deep personal level and evokes so much emotion that I find it’s difficult to re-watch, nonetheless I truly love the film. On the other hand, Adaptation is the best script ever written, and for me, any movie can only be as good as this one, never better. It is number one on any list I put together. When I first saw this film, I remember my heart dropping during the opening internal monologue, I got goosebumps, I became so excited that it remains my favorite memory of a how a great movie can make you feel. I would never want to meet the real Charlie Kauffman, because I like the fictional one so much, and every time I watch that movie, the conversation with him continues. I always see something new every time I watch, a lesson or message that lack of experience or perspective caused me to miss before.
I wouldn’t have put Gone Baby Gone up there, but I can see why you chose it. It was a good film, but it didn’t really do it for me., I blame Casey Affleck. Same goes for No Country for Old men. I love the Coen Brothers, Big Lebowski and O Brother Where Art Thou are two of my favorites, but I think No Country fell short, the direction felt too gimmicky. But sill, a great movie. . Also, I would have put Life Aquatic up there instead of Royal Tenenbaums, but I love them both so it could have gone either way.
Again, great list, great taste, great website. Thanks.
Solid list. Glad to see The Lives of Others on the list, that movie was excellent. Would have liked to see Donnie Darko, American Psycho,Children of Men, and/or Atonement. Also a few indie-like films I would have liked to see on there would be Little Miss Sunshine, (500) Days of Summer, or Away We Go. Some people might even argue for District 9 or Paranormal Activity, not me, but just throwing that out there. Solid list though.
I haven’t read all the way through. Doesn’t Gladiator count for this decade?
Also, I think The New World was one of the best movies ever that like 1000 people saw. It was amazing.
Big Fish, American beauty, the departed, and dark knight over spider man. other than that i love the list
You kinda freaked me out making me think I snubbed American Beauty there. Luckily it came out in ’99.
Anyone like music? Anyone like lists? I just worked thei one up….Nice work by the Vlanceium.
[www.glidemagazine.com]
Apparently I am still drunk….God bless cheap rubbing alcohol.
Big Fish, Road to Perdition, and Children of Men, District 9
Great list–the first one I’ve seen that doesn’t make me want to punch someone in the cunt. I definitely agree with Adaptation and American Psycho. I would add A History of Violence and Crouching Tiger.
Knocked Up is the weak point here. You can argue what from this genre was the best (Anchorman, Hangover, 40 yo Virgin, Funny People even) but it was not Knocked Up.
Are you fucking joking about Knocked Up? Watch that movie now and try to make it through without wanting to take a goddamn scalpel to Seth Rogen’s throat to clear out whatever Jew phlegm gurgles up every time he gets excited and starts mouth-breathing.
The films I will most remember for this decade:
Memento – I’ve never been more affected by a film walking out of the theater
Super Troopers – one of the most rewatchable films ever made if nothing else
The Road to Perdition and the Minority Report – hyped movies that generally delivered
The Suicide Club (Jisatsu Saakuru) – Most disturbing film I’ve ever seen
Completely agree with City of God; I have never found someone who didn’t like that movie, subtitles or not
28 Days Later – I feel like it rejuvenated the zombie genre, for better or worse
Friday Night Lights – best sports movie I’ve ever seen
Children of Men – I agree should be there – very disciplined in the filming
Let the Right One In – if for nothing else that it blew Twilight out of the water
The Dark Knight – redefined comic books as serious drama. Spiderman 2 was great but Raimi’s tongue-in-check take was unremarkable though well-executed.
/douchington? Well, there’s no douchington here…wait, is this Xander Crewes?
Aside from “City of God”, “Pan’s Labyrinth”, “No Country For Old Men” and “Y Tu Mama Tambien”, this might be one of the worst ‘best of” lists I have ever seen.
How about:
Tsotsi
American Psycho
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Amores Perros
Training Day
The Departed
Antichrist
Irreversible
Gladiator
Traffic
Sin City
Dancer in the Dark
Chopper
Almost Famous
Donnie Darko
The Incredibles
28 Days Later
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Napolean Dynamite
Best in Show
Ratatouille
Infamous
Sideways
Just Friends
Half Nelson
The Ring
White Oleander
In America
The Triplets of Belleville
Big Fish is fucking lame
Worst movie of the 00′s – Gladiator
Ryan Gosling was good in it, but Half Nelson is fucking garbage. That movie is everything I hate about indie films that don’t have shit to say.
Best in Show is pretty goddamn good, I admit that may have been an oversight.
besides you leaving off Brick and Sharks in Venice, I guess your list is pretty cool.
I’d love to stay and chat but Rookie of the Year is on.
Krotch’s point: Gladiator is the worst film of the 00s
Counterpoint: No, it wasn’t. Kill yourself.
p.s. Vince, your thumb is freakishly long if that is indeed your thumb.
Jesus X, you need to see more movies if the Suicide Club was the most disturbing you’ve seen. Although, I do love it.
Why wasn’t The Big Lebowski on your top 18?
( I realise that someone else has probably already pointed this out, but I just couldn’t be bothered reading through all of those comments!)
Because it came out in 98.
The Big Lebowski was a 90s movie, unkdi.
The Last Samurai was a movie i loved the first time i saw it. Watched it again recently and it’s still good.
Just remembered Zatôichi and there’s Battle Royale, also with Takeshi Kitano.
gimme Old School or anchorman over Zoolander
40 y.o. virgin over or tied with knocked up
UP! over Wall-E (supremely over-rated, but still an A)
Put Spirited Away in any sort of mention
And Clearly Dark Knight over Spiderman 2. I watched that shit and fell asleep and I’m a comic book geek.
You missed the best comic book/superhero movie of ALL TIME, in your best of the decade list… DARK KNIGHT!! I’d even include Batman Begins, because until Dark Knight, Begins was held the title.
And I’m sorry but what about Gladiator?? Wedding Crashers?? Both are arguably the best action/drama and comedy of All Time as well. Super Troopers deserved some honorable mention love.
vince, you gonna do a top 10 list for 2009, or did I miss that somewhere…
I’m planning to do a best of ’09, but there are a few key movies I still haven’t seen — District 9, A Serious Man, Big Fan, Up in the Air, Precious… Fuck, I got my work cut out for me.
28 Days Later = Best movie ever.
Excellent list !
I have only one addition to suggest:
Requiem for a Dream…
That movie fucked me up !
No Road to Perdition? There Will Be Blood is fucking incredible. I also really liked Capote (due mostly to PSH).
IMO: I would remove: Spider man 2, No Country (ending killed it for me), Gone Baby Gone (Mystic River > Gone baby Gone (100 times over)) & Zoolander (seriously??)
Additions: Lord of the Rings, Wedding Crashers, Little Miss Sunshine, Gladiator, Memento, Old School, Slumdog Millionare, The Dark Knight, Garden State, Snatch (Wish it could be Lock Stock, but it’s 98) & The Bourne Identity.
although i have endless respect for spiderman 2, and from time to time fight for its honor, the dark knight is simply the better movie. and no memento?
All great movies that have been talked about here. Much better than Stephen King who includes DISTRICT 9, 2012, LAST HOUSE OF THE LEFT and THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123 in his list for the year’s best. God knows what he would choose for the decade. This was a tough assignment. Quite a few children had to be left behind. I especially liked what the poster who loved ADAPTATION (one of those I had to leave behind) had to say about that movie. It was quite eloquent….I know, I know…I’m a fag…well, here you go – my list for the 18 best of the decade (in no particular order, btw):
1. The Station Agent
2. High Fidelity
3. Inside Man
4. The Lord of the Rings trilogy(in this order: Two Towers, Fellowship, Return of the King)
5. The Kingdom
6. The Mist
7. Black Hawk Down
8. Sexy Beast
9. Snatch
10. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
11. The Bourne Trilogy (in this order: Supremacy, Identity, Ultimatum)
12. Collateral
13. Dark Knight
14. The Departed
15. The Descent
16. Downfall
17. The Fountain
18. Gladiator
Why the fuck isn’t Lady in the Water on this list?