Decade Review: Top 20 Films 00-09

This list was incredibly hard to make. These last ten years have had some amazing films, but how do you put them into some kind of sensible order? I could just list them without ranking but what’s the fun in that. I also cheated a little and put some sequels together in one slot to make room for others. What I was looking for when picking the films is looking at movies that I could watch over and over again. No matter how many times I watch them, they don’t get boring. I’ve seen these films multiple times, I own them all and I invite you to watch them either for the first time or the twenty-seventh. Here’s the list:

1. LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY

Epic story. Large, talented cast. Gollum talking to himself.

Memorable line: “You shall not pass!”

2. BATMAN BEGINS/THE DARK NIGHT

Darker than Burton. Dynamic villains. Rejuvenized franchise.

Memorable line: “Why so serious?”

3. ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND

Mind-bending cinematography and editing. Jim Carrey serious.

Memorable line: “Sand is overrated. It’s just tiny, little rocks”

4. SPIDERMAN/SPIDERMAN 2

Perfect origin story. Visually captivating. Maguire does well.

Memorable line: “Go web! Fly! Up, up and away web! Shazaam!”

5. GARDEN STATE

Beautifully shot. Awesome soundtrack. Natalie Portman crush.

Memorable line: “If there was a retarded Oscar you would win"

6. FINDING NEMO

Touching story. Amazing animation. Colourful characters. Dory.

Memorable line: “Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine.”

7. STAR TREK

Fast paced action. Spock and Kirk chemistry. Funny and fun.

Memorable line: “Going back in time . . . that’s cheating"

8. THANK YOU FOR SMOKING

Eckhart rocks. Convincing arguments. Pitch black comedy.

Memorable line: “When do you sleep? “ “Sunday.”

9. OCEAN’S ELEVEN

Perfectly executed heist. Slick in style and dialogue. Brad eating.

Memorable line: “You’re either in or you’re out. Right now.”

10. SIN CITY

Richly noir in style and tone. Perfect blend of graphic stories.

Memorable line: “She makes a Pez dispenser out of him.” 

  11. ACROSS THE UNIVERSE

Beatle music videos on crack. Great colourful renditions.

Memorable line: “So learn French. Learn French or die.”

12. MOULIN ROUGE!

High-energy cinematography and editing. Deep love. Red.

Memorable line: “He was followed by a dwarf dressed as a nun”

13. WALL-E

Cute robot love. Holding hands. Chaplin-esque. Great message.

Memorable line: “Try blue, it’s the new red!”

14. STRANGER THAN FICTION

Will Ferrell serious. Text on screen. Brilliant concept. Flours.

Memorable line: “I had only figured it out up to, ‘I want you.’”

15. ANCHORMAN

Comedy gold. Sex Panther. Brick. Newscaster fight.

Memorable line: “It’s so hot . . . milk was a bad choice.”

16. (500) DAYS OF SUMMER

Non-linear storytelling. Cute couple. Musical sequence.

Memorable line: “It’s love, it’s not Santa Claus.”

17. JUNO

Quirky dialogue and cast. Fun soundtrack. Michael Cera.

Memorable line: “It’s probably just a food baby.”

18. ZOOLANDER

Supermodel stupidity. Walk-off. Awesome cameos. Blue Steel.

Memorable line: “What is this? A center for ants?”

19. SUPER SIZE ME

Eye-opening doc. Spurlock uses himself as a guinea pig.

Memorable line: “I feel like I’ve got some McSweats goin’”

20. ROAD TO PERDITION

Beautifully shot. Tom Hanks is the man. Father-son bonding.

Memorable line: “None of us will see heaven.” “Michael could.”

PREVIOUS TOP 10 FILM LISTS

2009: 1.Star Trek 2.Up in the Air 3.The Hangover 4.500 Days of Summer 5.Avatar 6.Where the Wild Things Are 7.I Love You, Man 8.Fantastic Mr. Fox 9.Inglorious Basterds 10.Up

2008: 1.The Dark Knight 2.Wall-E 3.Slumdog Millionaire 4.Benjamin Button 5.Cloverfield 6.Forgetting Sarah Marshall 7.Iron Man 8.Frost/Nixon 9.Horton Hears a Who 10.Yes Man

2007: 1.Juno 2.No Country for Old Men 3.300 4.The Darjeeling Limited 5.Across the Universe 6.American Gangster 7.Charlie Wilson’s War 8.Knocked Up 9.1408 10.Live Free or Die Hard

2006: 1.Thank You for Smoking 2.Stranger Than Fiction 3.The Departed 4.United 93 5.Borat 6.Little Miss Sunshine 7.Apocalypto 8.Mission Impossible III 9.V for Vendetta 10.Lucky Number Slevin

2005: 1.Batman Begins 2.Sin City 3.Serenity 4.Jarhead 5.Crash 6.King Kong 7.Munich 8.Good Night & Good Luck 9.Murderball 10.40 Year Old Virgin

2004: 1.Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 2.Garden State 3.The Incredibles 4.The Life Aquatic 5.Finding Neverland 6.The Aviator 7.Kill Bill: Volume 2 8.Super Size Me 9.Spiderman 2 10.Dodgeball

2003: 1.Return of the King 2.Finding Nemo 3.28 Days Later 4.Big Fish 5.Lost in Translation 6.Kill Bill: Volume 1 7.Bruce Almighty 8.Elf 9.The Italian Job 10.Matchstick Men

2002: 1.The Two Towers 2.Spiderman 3.Signs 4.Road to Perdition 5.Insomnia 6.Minority Report 7.Ice Age 8.Catch Me If You Can 9.The Ring 10.Star Wars: Episode II

2001: 1.Fellowship of the Ring 2.Ocean’s 11 3.Memento 4.Moulin Rouge! 5.The Man Who Wasn’t There 6.Zoolander 7. The Royal Tennenbaums 8.Spy Game 9.The Majestic 10.A Beautiful Mind

2000: 1.What Lies Beneath 2.Gladiator 3.American Psycho 4.Almost Famous 5.Requiem for a Dream 6.Gone in 60 Seconds 7.Chicken Run 8.Cast Away 9.Snatch 10.Charlie’s Angels

So, what were your favourite films of the past decade?