Top Films of the Decade

This was one of the harder lists I've ever had to make.  Besides the late 90's, this constituted the majority of my 'mature' film-watching.  And I consumed a LOT of movies.

I am not the type of person who derides studio movies.  In fact, for the most part, I like studio movies.  But I found it really interesting how there were a lot of foreign films in my list.  My top three films of the decade are actually imports and Ping Pong came in at #9.

There are so many that could slip in and out of the top ten, or jump ten spots up or down, depending on what mood I'm in. Films like Cache, Old Boy and Zodiac still sit with me, and I think over time I might look back and slide them into the top ten or closer to it.  Bourne Supremacy, in my opinion, blew away the first one in every aspect and reinvigorated serious action movies, and might be my favorite action movie of the 2000's and yet I still put it behind Gladiator... a film I feel is slightly flawed... mostly because I have sat and watched Gladiator a hundred times and every time it is on I find myself watching it.  In compiling this list, I went through my top tens of each year... and was amazed how some films either didn't hold up or were much better over time.  I had Gran Turino as my top film of 2008 and it didn't even crack this list of my top forty films of the 2000's.

I did not write a little bit about each one, as I save this for my year end lists.  If you want to know why I liked one of these, or had one higher than another... I'm more than willing to share.

1.            Infernal Affairs

2.            City of God

3.            Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

4.            Friday Night Lights

5.            Anchorman

6.            There Will Be Blood

7.            Zoolander

8.            Memento

9.            Ping Pong

10.          Requiem for a Dream

11.            Avatar (3D)

12.            Gladiator

13.            Ocean’s Eleven

14.            Bourne Supremacy

15.            Casino Royale

16.            Across the Universe

17.            Million Dollar Baby

18.            8 Mile

19.            The New World

20.            Battle Royale

21.            Black Hawk Down 

22.            Old School

23.            Batman Begins

24.            Old Boy

25.            X2: X-Men United

26.            Incredible Hulk

27.            Wedding Crashers

28.            Kill Bill (combined volumes)

29.            Cache

30.            Lord of the Rings (combined)

31.            Tell No One

32.            Napolean Dynamite

33.            Zodiac

34.            District 13

35.            Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (3D)

36.            Once

37.            Pan's Labyrinth

38.            Evil

39.            Borat

40.            Battle for Terra - you didn't think I'd leave this off,
                 did you?

Special Mention:

The Room – the single worst movie, but greatest movie going experience of my life. Hands down.