Top 10 of the Decade: The 2000's

[Lancemc]

Holiday's over. Let's get to it.

 

[purpleoscar]

1. The Lord of the Rings – Jackson (I look at the trilogy as one story) If I have to pick one then The Return of the King
2. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World – Weir
3. Kill Bill – Tarantino (I view 1 and 2 as one movie) If I have to pick one then part 2
4. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – Lee
5. The Pianist – Polanski
6. The Lives of Others - von Donnersmarck
7. City of God – Meirelles
8. No Country for old men – Coen bros.
9. Children of Men - Cuaron
10. United 93 – Greengrass

Tough to choose again.

 

[LMP]

1. There Will Be Blood (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)
2. Mulholland Drive (dir. David Lynch, 2001)
3. The New World (dir. Terrence Malick, 2005)
4. Synecdoche, New York (dir. Charlie Kaufman, 2008)
5. Spirited Away (dir. Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)
6. The Royal Tenenbaums (dir. Wes Anderson, 2001)
7. A Serious Man (dir. Joel & Ethan Coen, 2009)
8. Inglourious Basterds (dir. Quentin Tarantino, 2009)
9. Adaptation. (dir. Spike Jonze, 2002)
10. Zodiac (dir. David Fincher, 2007)

 

[Lancemc]

1. In The Mood For Love (Wong, 00)
2. The New World (Malick, 05)
3. Ponyo (Miyazaki, 09)
4. L'Intrus (Denis, 05)
5. Mulholland Drive (Lynch, 01)
6. Tropical Malady (Weerasethakul, 05)
7. Still Life (Jia, 06)
8. The Limits of Control (Jarmusch, 09)
9. Collateral (Mann, 04)
10. Flight of the Red Balloon (Hou, 07)

Really difficult. Well the limits made it difficult. Probably the first of these lists I've made since I've been making lists like this that hasn't included 2046, but on an unfiltered list it's a certain and close #2 below Mood (both here and on my all-time list). Also including difficult to select a Denis between L'Intrus and the equally brilliant (though in a different way) Friday Night. Same for my Weerasethakul pick and his equally strong Syndromes and a Century.

Hou also had three other excellent films this decade, and my Mann preference here is also a new change. I think what puts my #9 on here over Miami Vice and Public Enemies is the purity and leanness of its filmmaking, as well as the use of digital video to a more ambitious and artistically rich end. Probably the single most essential achievement of digital video filmmaking to date.

What else... some painful near-misses include Punch-Drunk Love, Bright Star, I'm Not There, and selections from Tsai-Ming Liang, the Coens, Tarantino, Johnnie To, Assayas and Desplechin among others.

 

[gump]

1. In the Mood for Love (Wong, 2000)
2. The New World (Malick, 2005)
3. Mulholland Drive (Lynch, 2001)
4. Kings and Queen (Desplechin, 2004)
5. 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days (Mungiu, 2007)
6. Flight of the Red Baloon (Hou, 2007)
7. Yi Yi (Yang, 2000)
8. Tropical Malady (Weerasethakul, 2004)
10. Cache (Haneke, 2005)

Way too much good stuff missed, so I won't bother listing.

 

[gump]

Thanks, Lance. Now my list doesn't look creative at all!

 

[bono_212]

Need to se Mulholland Dr. so bad

 

[deep]

a lot of the films mentioned I would include in, 'the best of the decade'
a few I would not, vive la différence!


I don't if anyone else saw this film

Chaos

one of the best I have seen in the last 10 years.

 

[Lancemc]

Thanks, Lance. Now my list doesn't look creative at all!

Haha! Wow, have any two lists so far in these threads been so similar? Well, actually I think maybe in earlier threads. But still, all the ones on your list not on mine were in strong consideration! I forgot to mention Cache in my post, but that was just below the cut as well. Kings and Queen would have been my pick for Desplechin as well.

 

[Lancemc]

Need to se Mulholland Dr. so bad

Heh, you really do.

 

[bono_212]

I kind of love and hate David Lynch at the same time. I've seen...three of his films and I only like one of them. But that one, I love so much, and I actually count him as one of my favorite directors as well. I started to watch Mulholland once, but it was about 3 am and I fell asleep in the middle, and since then, it's just something I've never had time to get back around to.

 

[deep]

Is the one you like Blue Velvet?

 

[bono_212]

Why, yes. Yes it is.

 

[deep]

good movie

 

[bono_212]

I love that movie a whole heck of a lot.

 

[Fernando-]

I kind of love and hate David Lynch at the same time. I've seen...three of his films and I only like one of them. But that one, I love so much, and I actually count him as one of my favorite directors as well. I started to watch Mulholland once, but it was about 3 am and I fell asleep in the middle, and since then, it's just something I've never had time to get back around to.

Have you seen The Elephant Man?

 

[bono_212]

Not yet. Some time soon I'm going to go through all of his movies. Or most of them at any rate. What I really want to see more than anything else is Twin Peaks.

 

[bono_212]

And now I'm going to watch Mulholland Dr. so I can make my list.

 

[Lancemc]

Not a big fan of any Lynch pre-Blue Velvet, though I've eaten up just about everything since. Twin Peaks is still on deck, however.

 

[lazarus]

Ponyo that high, Lance? Hmm. It would definitely be in the bottom tier of Miyazaki/Ghibli for me. I love the animation style but the story just wasn't up to par.

And I don't need to restate how I feel about Flight of the Red Balloon. I am seriously out of step with popular cinephile opinion on that one.


1. Spirited Away (Miyazaki, 01)
2. Gangs of New York (THE SCOR!, 02)
3. 2046 (Wong, 04)
4. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Lee, 00)
5. The New World (Malick, 05)
6. I'm Not There (Haynes, 07)
7. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Gondry, 03)
8. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Fincher, 08)
9. A Serious Man (Coens, 09)
10. The Story of Marie and Julien (Rivette, 03)

Surprised I'm the only one who has mentioned the Gondry, thought it had a big following. I could have easily included Synecdoche, but I still haven't seen it again since the theatre. The Blu-Ray is sitting here on my shelf.

 

[gump]

Haha! Wow, have any two lists so far in these threads been so similar? Well, actually I think maybe in earlier threads. But still, all the ones on your list not on mine were in strong consideration! I forgot to mention Cache in my post, but that was just below the cut as well. Kings and Queen would have been my pick for Desplechin as well.

Haha. I laughed when I clicked on submit and read yours. I mean, at least those weren't the obscure films!

Surprised I'm the only one who has mentioned the Gondry, thought it had a big following.

I had it on my list until I realized I had left Yi Yi out. Eternal Sunshine... was a huge favorite of mine when it came out and I still love it just as much. Probably Winslet's best performance of the 00s.

 

[Lancemc]

I talked enough about Ponyo when I first saw it to get too in depth again. But in short, it's certainly among the sparsest of Miyazaki films in terms of structure and narrative, but I think it's doing different things with the form. I find it to be his most purely in tune with particular emotions and the sensations animation can invoke. Still, a work in movements and small moments, I find it incredibly revealing of certain relationships between children and their parents, their elders, with each other and with the world at large. I can only think of a handful of films that resonated with me on such a core wavelength... I found it remarkably powerful. It kind of unravels itself from a child's perspective as well, and a child's sense of logic and progression which gives it an admittedly haphazard sort of plot that doesn't gel in the conventional sense. I found it interesting how the film is almost entirely scored from beginning to end, one of my favorite film scores of all time incidentally, one that's rather operatic on its own accord and probably more tightly structured than the film itself. As such it often plays like a visual representation of what's happening musically more than the other way around, so I feel like it's Miyazaki's most lyrical film as a result. Doesn't hurt it's the most beautifully animated thing I've ever laid eyes on. Howl's Moving Castle is nearly its equal in that regard though. But I much prefer the purely hand-drawn aesthetic of Ponyo.

 

[Lancemc]

Also, in the past year or so, having rewatched Gangs a few times, I think I've soured on it a bit. Or maybe it's just harder to ignore the flaws of the film that I never had much trouble overlooking for the film's (still considerable) accomplishments. It still might be my favorite Scorsese film, but Shutter Island is certainly right up there with it.

 

[Screwtape2]

I am glad there was a wait between the 90’s and this list because this was by far the hardest as most of the films were pretty even. American films were pretty weak this decade. Even though three appear on the list none would have been included in #11-20 if this list were expanded. Japan and South Korea would have dominated that expanded list.

1. Old Boy (Park Chan-wook, 2003)
2. Return of The King (Peter Jackson, 2003)
3. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2000)
4. Amelie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001)
5. Talk To Her (Pedro Almodovar, 2002)
6. Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001)
7. Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly, 2001)
8. Little Miss Sunshine (Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris, 2006)
9. Sex Is Comedy (Catherine Breillat, 2002)
10. Devil’s Backbone (Guillermo del Toro, 2001)

 

[Screwtape2]

6. The Lives of Others - von Donnersmarck

Fantastic film. The lead actor, who's name escapes me, was in another great film from this decade called Black Book which I highly recommend if you haven't seen it.

1. Spirited Away (Miyazaki, 01)

Another great film. This just missed my list. I have never been a fan of animated films but I adore this one, Howl's Moving Castle (which Lance mentioned) and Akira, my top film from the 80's.

 

[lazarus]

Also, in the past year or so, having rewatched Gangs a few times, I think I've soured on it a bit. Or maybe it's just harder to ignore the flaws of the film that I never had much trouble overlooking for the film's (still considerable) accomplishments. It still might be my favorite Scorsese film, but Shutter Island is certainly right up there with it.

Fuck, the server was stalled and I just lost a long response to this.

Anyway, I'll try to regurgitate. Shutter Island is a tighter film, no doubt about it. And it certainly has the emotional edge, perhaps the most moving of Marty's career, though I think that is mainly s due to DiCaprio's commitment and talent.

The reason that Gangs still weighs so heavily with me is because it's a much more personal project from Marty, and that despite the screenplay-by-committee and whatever edits Harvey may or may not have insisted upon, he still managed to realize his goal--to make a historical film that feels like a post-apocalyptic Leone epic. The attention to detail, and the sense that the world continues outside the edges of the frame, is pretty unique in this day and age; the film is teeming with life, and that's because of what I feel is the best art direction/production design/costumes of the decade (yes, over any WKW film or, umm, the LOTR trilogy), and of course the passion that Marty brings to it.

So for me the film's peaks are way higher than those of Marty's other formidable works this decade, as well as most other films by anyone. The crane shot of the draft process into the coffins off the ship, the opening battle, the thieves glossary montage, the candle dance, the knife-throwing show and beatdown, the flag speech, and even the frenzied juxtaposition of the final showdown with the draft riots; these are scenes that most of the working directors couldn't hope to amass in a career's worth of filmmaking, let alone all in one feature.

It's a mess, but a glorious one.

I am glad there was a wait between the 90’s and this list because this was by far the hardest as most of the films were pretty even. American films were pretty weak this decade. Even though three appear on the list none would have been included in #11-20 if this list were expanded. Japan and South Korea would have dominated that expanded list.

1. Old Boy (Park Chan-wook, 2003)
2. Return of The King (Peter Jackson, 2003)
3. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2000)
4. Amelie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001)
5. Talk To Her (Pedro Almodovar, 2002)
6. Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001)
7. Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly, 2001)
8. Little Miss Sunshine (Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris, 2006)
9. Sex Is Comedy (Catherine Breillat, 2002)
10. Devil’s Backbone (Guillermo del Toro, 2001)

Love the Del Toro, easily better than Pan's Labyrinth for me.

And don't even try to praise or include more Asian cinema than Lance.

 

[bono_212]

Well, I don't think any explanation I'm going to read about Mulholland will leave me quite satisfied. I loved the film. Don't think it's making the top ten after one viewing. I'm going to have to spend a good chunk of today and tomorrow reading more about it, that's for sure. For now, I still prefer Blue Velvet, but Lynch has solidified himself as one of my favorite directors.

 

[LemonMelon]

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (dir. Michael Gondry, 2004)
2. There Will Be Blood (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)
3. Donnie Darko (dir. Richard Kelly, 2001)
4. Almost Famous (dir. Cameron Crowe, 2000)
5. Wall-E (dir. Andrew Stanton, 2008)
6. Gran Torino (dir. Clint Eastwood, 2008)
7. The Prestige (dir. Christopher Nolan, 2006)
8. No Country For Old Men (dir. Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, 2007)
9. Spirited Away (dir. Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)
10. Sin City (dir. Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez, 2005)

If I've ever made a list of badass things, this probably comes the closest.

 

[bono_212]

I don't feel quite as strongly about this list only because there were ten more films that just as easily could have comprised my list on any other day. Not to say it's a bad list, it just hurts leaving off those ten other movies.

1.) The Prestige ('06, Nolan)
2.) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ('04, Gondry)
3.) Love Actually ('03, Curtis)
4.) Spirited Away ('01, Miyazaki)
5.) Anchorman ('04, McKay)
6.) The Royal Tenenbaums ('01, Anderson)
7.) Battle Royale ('00, Fukasaku)
8.) The New World ('05, Malick)
9.) Donnie Darko ('01, Kelly)
10.) In Bruges ('08, McDonagh)

A few films I have a thing or two to say about:

Anchorman: Maybe in hindsight it's easy to write this movie off, especially with the plethora of kind of shitty comedies that followed it. There was just something about this one. Maybe it was the fact that it was a movie that really kind of was underground for as big as it got, and my friends and I chose to see it having never even heard of it until we got to the theater. Maybe it's all of the times after it that I watched it with friends, the memories I have attached to it that have placed it so highly on this list. But, I really do find it to be a great film. Maybe not the best film, but it's something I enjoy every time I come back to it. (And oh God, have I been forced at many a party to come back to it).

Battle Royale - I didn't always think of this as a good movie, just an interesting one. Then I rented the film from Netflix about a month ago and had quite the experience with it. The ripped version of the film that made the rounds amongst my friends while I was in high school is missing a rather (I believe) pivotal continuous scene that completely changes the way one views the film. Suddenly the film became so much more emotionally charged, and far more of a great film. So, it definitely shot up the list of my favorite movies at that point.

The New World - I decided to give a spot to this film, not necessarily because I love it as much as the others I could have used. It's because I've never really had a film change the way I watch movies before, to the extent that this film did. As I posted in the review thread after I watched it, it just really opened my eyes to the fact that emotion is not only conveyed through dialogue, but by action as well. It's led to far more enjoyable film viewing from me in the months since.

 

[gump]

This reminds me - I haven't seen any Miyazaki, like ever. I need to correct that.

I wish I could watch Mulholland Drive for the first time again. That was one of the most incredible film experiences I have ever had; I left the theater completely mesmerized and couldn't stop talking about it for days. Much like The Thin Red Line a few years before, it was one of those experiences that showed me that the boundaries of cinema were farther away than I thought.