Top Ranked Films of the Decade (Post 2000)

The top ranked films of the decade (2000-2009) based on our compendium of internet surveys.
AA = Academy Awards for best picture
(winners missing are Chicago, A Beautiful Mind, and Crash, with 2009's winner yet to be awarded)

The # shown is rank in the entire 1000.

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring [#84 - 2001] AA
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King [#97 - 2003]
3. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers [#144 - 2002]
4. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon [#152 - 2000]
5. Pan's Labyrinth [#154 - 2006]
6. The Lives of Others [#163 - 2006]
7. No Country for Old Men [#166 - 2007] AA
8. There Will Be Blood [#181 - 2007]
9. Wall-E [#182 - 2008]
10. City of God [#192 - 2002]
11. Pianist, The [#200 - 2002]
12. Yi yi [#223 - 2000]
13. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind [#227 - 2004]
14. Donnie Darko [#228 - 2001]
15. Slumdog Millionaire [#234 - 2008] AA
16. Ratatouille [#241 - 2007]
17. Spirited Away [#259 - 2001]
18. Million Dollar Baby [#265 - 2004] AA
19. In the Mood for Love [#272 - 2001]
20. Departed, The [#292 - 2007] AA
21. Finding Nemo [#298 - 2003]
22. Incredibles, The [#300 - 2004]
23. Letters from Iwo Jima [#339 - 2006]
24. Amélie [#345 - 2001]
25. Sideways [#358 - 2004]
26. Memento [#361 - 2000]
27. Bourne Ultimatum, The [#370 - 2007]
28. Oldboy [#378 - 2003]
29. Gladiator [#394 - 2000] AA
30. Lost in Translation [#395 - 2003]
31. Dark Knight, The [#397 - 2008]
32. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days [#429 - 2007]
33. Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The [#442 - 2008]
34. Brokeback Mountain [#453 - 2005]
35. Children of Men [#457 - 2006]


36. Requiem for a Dream [#461 - 2000]
37. Y Tu Mamá También [#469 - 2001]
38. Gran Torino [#473 - 2008]
39. Mulholland Dr. [#476 - 2001]
40. Queen, The [#480 - 2006]
41. Downfall [#483 - 2004]
42. The Prestige [#485 - 2006]
43. Amores perros [#488 - 2000]
44. Talk to Her [#499 - 2002]
45. Sin City [#502 - 2005]
46. Wrestler, The [#506 - 2008]
47. Hotel Rwanda [#512 - 2004]
48. Batman Begins [#516 - 2005]
49. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 [#578 - 2003]
50. Into the Wild [#587 - 2007]
51. Class, The [#596 - 2008]
52. Snatch [#605 - 2000]
53. Mystic River [#611 - 2003]
54. Werckmeister Harmonies [#612 - 2000]
55. Moolaadé [#615 - 2004]
56. The Fast Runner [#618 - 2001]
57. Triplets of Belleville, The [#623 - 2003]
58. Waltz with Bashir [#632 - 2008]

59. V for Vendetta [#642 - 2005] 60. Bloody Sunday [#657 - 2002]
61. Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The [#666 - 2008]
62. Before Sunset [#667 - 2004]
63. Almost Famous [#675 - 2000]
64. Let the Right One In [#679 - 2008]
65. American Splendor [#680 - 2003]
66. Gosford Park [#683 - 2001]
67. United 93 [#686 - 2006]
68. Capturing the Friedmans [#690 - 2003]
69. Persepolis [#694 - 2007]
70. Best of Youth, The [#700 - 2003]
71. In Bruges [#708 - 2008]
72. House of Flying Daggers [#710 - 2004]
73. Man on Wire [#712 - 2008]
74. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan [#713 - 2006]
75. Goodbye Solo [#716 - 2008]
76. Hurt Locker, The [#723 - 2008] AA
77. No End in Sight [#730 - 2007]
78. Changeling [#738 - 2008]
79. Once [#744 - 2006]
80. Crash [#750 - 2004]
81. Ghost World [#753 - 2001]
82. Tulpan [#758 - 2008]
83. Capote [#760 - 2005]
84. Kill Bill: Vol. 2 [#764 - 2004]
85. Time Out [#769 - 2001]


86. Big Fish [#771 - 2003]
87. Away from Her [#773 - 2006]
88. Chicken Run [#781 - 2000]
89. Little Miss Sunshine [#783 - 2006]
90. Nobody Knows [#791 - 2004]
91. L'Enfant (The Child) [#793 - 2005]
92. Traffic [#798 - 2000] 93. Gomorra [#805 - 2008]
94. Fog of War, The [#808 - 2003]
95. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit [#815 - 2005]
96. Maria Full of Grace [#820 - 2004]
97. Fateless [#824 - 2005]
98. Tarnation [#834 - 2003]
99. Murderball [#837 - 2005]
100. Grizzly Man [#839 - 2005]
101. Marooned in Iraq [#847 - 2002]
102. To Be and to Have [#872 - 2002]
103. I'm Going Home [#883 - 2001]
104. In the Bedroom [#887 - 2001]
105. Ten [#891 - 2002]
106. Seraphine [#895 - 2008]
107. Russian Ark [#900 - 2002]
108. Deliver Us from Evil [#903 - 2006]
109. Under the Sand [#913 - 2000]
110. This Is England [#922 - 2006]
111. Son, The (Le Fils) [#926 - 2002]
112. Sweet Sixteen [#928 - 2002]
113. Flight of the Red Balloon, The [#944 - 2007]
114. Before Night Falls [#948 - 2000]
115. You Can Count On Me [#954 - 2000]
116. Children Underground [#961 - 2001]
117. Edge of Heaven, The [#964 - 2007]
118. Savages, The [#967 - 2007]
119. Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition, The [#970 - 2000]
120. Offside [#973 - 2006]
121. Los Angeles Plays Itself [#976 - 2003]
122. Knocked Up [#979 - 2007]
123. Turtles Can Fly [#982 - 2004]
124. Festival Express [#987 - 2003]
125. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring [#991 - 2003]
126. Half Nelson [#996 - 2006]
127. Street Fight [#1000 - 2005]
128. About Schmidt [#1002 - 2002]
129. Last Letter, The [#1005 - 2004]
130. Love & Diane [#1008 - 2002]
131. Domestic Violence [#1009 - 2001]
132. Neil Young: Heart of Gold [#1012 - 2006]
133. Hedwig and the Angry Inch [#1022 - 2001]
134. Forbidden Lie$ [#1030 - 2007]
135. Atonement [#1038 - 2007]
136. Alexander [#1040 - 2004]
137. Host, The [#1045 - 2006]
138. 24 Hour Party People [#1062 - 2002]
139. Paragraph 175 [#1065 - 2000]
140. Circle, The (Dayereh) [#1069 - 2000]
141. Sound and Fury [#1072 - 2000]
142. Since Otar Left [#1074 - 2003]
143. Calle 54 [#1086 - 2000]
144. Christmas Tale, A [#1090 - 2008]
145. In the Shadow of the Moon [#1093 - 2007]
146. My Winnipeg [#1098 - 2007]
147. Man Without a Past, The [#1105 - 2002]
148. Royal Tenenbaums, The [#1134 - 2001]
149. Moulin Rouge! [#1186 - 2001]
150. Punch-Drunk Love [#1200 - 2002]

The Rings Trilogy is hard to argue with, certainly of the cinema events of our lifetime.

Interesting that another romantic fantasy of mythic proportions follows that up in rank, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

There are many other foreign films here, but notably missing is Zhang Yimou's Hero (2002) - that's an all-time top 10 for me, and highest grossing film all-time in China . His House of Flying Daggers did make it (#72), an inferior but still enjoyable follow-up in the same style. The script of Hero is a rarity, a surprising and original story with unforeseen twists.

All the recent animated films are here: Wall-E, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Chicken Run - all are terrific, along with the overlooked Cars.

The terrific German intelligence espionage film The Lives of Others is one of just five to win both the U.S. Academy Award and the BAFTA one for best foreign language film. It's similar to the Cannes Palm D'Or winner from Coppola, The Conversation, one of his and Gene Hackman's best ever. I constantly find There Will Be Blood ranked amazingly high for me, which is good but just not that great (to be top 10); also Yi Yi, which I found artistic but so overlong that it became boring.

The excellent Italian mini-series The Best of Youth is here, so since those were eligible the riveting British bio-epic Longitude, with Michael Gambon, in perhaps his best role, and Jeremy Irons, is sorely missing. That's easily a top 20 candidate, notable for an intriguing script making seemingly boring history become an engrossing mystery of science.

Other notable omissions:
Zodiac (#12 on critics poll below from Film Comment), Milk, The Visitor, The Fountain (another Aronofsky's gem, the only one of his missing here), Mr. and Mrs. Iyer (India), A Wednesday (India), Chicago (AA winner), A Beautiful Mind (AA winner, Cinderella Man (much better than Rocky), and if you're gonna include Punch Drunk Love, I thought 50 First Dates was even better, far more touching than you'd expect from any Adam Sandler film.

Film Comment's Top 150 Films of the Decade

From Film Comment magazine, critics poll for top 150 films of the decade (The Naughts or Naughties?)

Top 150 of the decade - my picks and comments (ignore at your own risk!) - Films highlighted in blue are "must see"

2- In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-Wai), incredible color and cinematography as usual

10 - The New World (Malick), underrated Malick film, terrific music

12 - Zodiac (David Fincher), very good film, was amazed not a best pic nominee

18 - Elephant (Van Sant), eerie, haunting Columbine type high school story

25 - Talk to Her (Almodovar), good one, but where are Volver and All About My Mother?

30 - A.I.:Artificial Intelligence (Spielberg), was to be Kubrick's last but he died so Steven worked from his storyboards; perhaps a little too high

32 - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Gondry), love this story from Oscar winner Charles Kaufman (Being John Malkovich)

33 - No Country for Old Men (Coen Bros), an understated masterpiece of a violent world

41 - 2046 (Wong Kar-Wai), sequel to In the Mood for Love is a futuristic SF romance, totally out of character for Wong

47 - Million Dollar Baby (Eastwood), probably his best film, the most haunting

73 - Lost in Translation (S. Coppola), Murray and Johanson's best, a tender romance

78 - The Departed (Scorsese), made Infernal Affairs (Hong Kong) in to a near Shakespearean crime tale

81 - Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly), this dark 'cult hit' fantasy takes inspiration from Harvey

91 - Gran Torino (Eastwood), another gem from Clint, attacking bigotry

96 - The Best of Youth (Giordana), actually an Italian mini-series, ambitious and unforgettable

106 - Wall-E (Stanton), an animated classic, should be far higher, like 6th

113 - Mystic River (Eastwood), murder mystery won Oscars for Penn and Robbins both; should be higher

123 - Black Book (Verhoeven), another ww2 resistance film from Paul, great story

124 - The Lives of Others (von Donnersmarck), terrific espionage film should be ranked far higher, like top 10; similar to Coppola's The Conversation

126 - Oldboy (Park Chan-wook), very innovative S. Korean crime classic, updates the genre

129 - The Incredibles (Bird), lotta fun, glad it made it

133 - Ghost World (Zwigoff) - interesting and bizarre tale, very unique coming-of-age story of alienation

139 - Memento (Nolan), incredible crime mystery is usually ranked far higher on polls, like top 30 all-time! this is genius level stuff..

Some entries are good films but ranked too high:

Mulholland Drive (at #1? c'mon)

Yi Yi (good but too long, too high at #3)

There Will Be Blood (ruthless, too high at #5)

The House of Mirth (good but not the best Wharton adaptation)

Why are these even listed at all?

Collateral (Mann), Kill Bill 1-2 (Tarantino, silly pastiches of real samurai films), Dogville (cold, way too high), Werckmeister Harmonies (slow, puzzling film in which the viewer has to provide any meaning), Punch-Drunk Love (I liked 50 First Dates a lot more for Adam Sandler, this didn't touch me at all), Assassination of Jesse James (cold film, not that memorable), Time Out (like watching paint dry)

Where the heck is ATONEMENT? winner of 7 BAFTA awards (and around 40 others), the Film Comment cover pictures the amazing teen actress Siorse Ronan, who was nominated for 13 international awards for Atonement, winner of 3, all for supporting actress. This should be in the top 10-20 for sure.. also one of Vanessa Redgrave's performances, onscreen about 7 minutes..

Where is Alexander Payne's comedy Sideways?

Chris Nolan's Batman Begins and The Prestige?

Other Omissions:

Almodovar's Volver and All About My Mother, Susanne Bier's After the Wedding and Brothers, War Photographer, God Grew Tired of Us (Quinn), Turtles Can Fly (Ghobadi), Mr and Mrs Iyer (Sen), Longitude (Sturridge), In Bruges (McDonagh), 13 Tzameti (Babluani)

A CHRISTMAS STORY Trivia Quiz

I thought on Christmas Eve that this would be a fun trivia quiz for fans of the Bob Clark comedy A CHRISTMAS STORY, based on (and narrated by) humorist Jean Shepherd's first book of his collected stories, "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash".. [The book is told from the point of view of Shepherd, now an adult, visiting his old home town again, sitting alone in a bar and reminiscencing about his childhood there - the title is a sign on the bar's wall]

(1) what is Ralph's family name, and the street and town where they lived?

(2) name at least 3 items in the teacher's drawer where she puts the fake teeth, and her name?

(3) why does Flick lick the flagpole?

(4) who had yellow eyes and what was his toadie's name?

(5) why did Ralph's dad say he won the leg lamp prize and what country did he first think it was from?

(6) who was named Victor?

(7) what's the first present that Ralph opens?

Answers will follow in a comment, on Christmas...

OK - here are the answers, it's now 12/27..
1-The Parkers, of Cleveland St, Holman, Indiana
2- Miss Shields puts the fake teeth in a drawer which has chattering teeth, a slingshot, a yoyo, Slinky, rubber frog, fake mouse, Groucho glasses, and book called "Ace of Test Pilots"(with a rocket ship on the cover)
3-Flick has to lick the pole cuz he was "Triple dog dared"
4-Scut Farcus had yellow teeth and Grover Dill was his toadie
5-Ralph's dad won the lamp due to "mind power"
6-Victor was the Lone Rangers nephew's horse (newspaper quiz his dad was doing, "on American literary characters" - too funny - his mom replies "The Lone Ranger is literary?")
7-Ralph's first present was a pair of socks, then the pink bunny outfit from Aunt Clara The only 'religion' I could spot, other than mom's forgiveness for his fight (and constant tolerance of 'men'), was the Salvation Army band playing carols in the beginning..

The most unusual thing was the constant intrusion of Wizard of Oz characters.. that seems more like a Halloween film, that was shown on Thanksgiving when I grew up..

The Parkers had their Christmas duck dinner at the Chop Suey Palace at the bowling alley! Our favorite Thai restaurant in CA was also at a bowling alley! of course, not the food inside the bowling alley (yikes!), but in a restaurant adjoining said alley..

The house exterior they used was in Cleveland (passing for Indiana, in the stories the house was on "Cleveland St", so there is a literary connection), the interiors were shot in a studio in L.A... the house in Cleveland was bought by a fan, on E-Bay (!), and he restored it like the film, including interiors. Film fans now make pilgrimages there, usually around Christmas time! There's a museum film across the street, with many of the original film props, plus you can buy the 'electric sex' leg lamps there!

2009 Golden Globe Nominations

Here are the Golden Globe nominations for film and television from the official Golden Globe website All the usual suspects are there - film: Avatar, Inglorious Basterds, Up in the Air, the musical Nine, the animated Pixar classic Up.. TV is hardly changed from last year: Mad Men, Big Love, Dexter, House, 30 Rock, Entourage.. missing this year is Weeds, admittedly falling in quality since the first seasons.. I'll have to admit to becoming an addict of Mad Men - it has this lyrical, dreamlike quality that seems non-energetic and lacking action, but it's like long slow hypnosis.. the best acting on the show to me comes from the women, namely January Jones as Don Draper's wife, who does a lot with body language and facial expressions, especially the way she can smoke a cigarette with emotions displayed through that act alone.. and Elisabeth Moss as a secretary turned copywriter Peggy, who is a totally independent though young woman in a nearly all-male industry, the creative side of advertising.. and who "takes no guff" or oversight from anyone, including Don as her boss.. I also like Big Love and Dexter a lot - Big Love shows religious persecution as a way of American life, as the U.S. itself is attacking Mormonism due to self-righteous puritanical right-wingers who are determined to force us all to abide by their conventional method of worship, or else face the law and prison.. meanwhile, Dexter has done the nearly impossible: made people care for and enjoy a serial killer's self-styled justice, as he's a forensic expert for Miami police who kills murderers who manage to escape the legal justice system due to lack of evidence or the lax legal system, often providing more breaks for criminals than victims.. As for tv comedy, 30 Rock is easily the best network comedy in about two decades.. Tina Fey appropriately skewers her own network owner, GE, television itself, right-wing politics, ultra-wealthy capitalists, pop feminism, black rap stars, the bigotry inherent in conformity, and even prejudice against African-Americans, gays, hippies, and southerners and how they can often take advantage by playing their own "prejudice cards" (Tracey Morgan refuses to rehearse).. and is there a more vapid woman on tv than "Girly Show" star Jane Krakowski? Sample 30 Rock quotes: (from Jane/'Jenna') - "my high school reunion! - I wonder if all my old friends will recognize me even though my face has changed naturally and not by anything I've paid to have done to myself?" (from Alec Baldwin, as a GE exec) - on being friends with the postmaster general, "Well, yes, we were friends but had a falling out over the Jerry Garcia stamp - I mean, if I want to lick a hippie I'll start returning Joan Baez' phone calls" She even had two episodes guest starring Mad Men's dashing Jon Hamm as her new beau, who was shown to live "inside the handsome bubble" (even with a bad hairstyle), and get preferential treatment everywhere they went due to his good looks.. when Alec Baldwin showed her a picture of his younger self as proof that he once "lived in the bubble", Fey exclaims "wow! - can I keep this picture for myself?" When the "Girly Show" added a high definition camera, Fey passed in front, and suddenly resembled the wicked witch in Oz, complete with warts and wrinkles, with everyone yelling "get off camera! move!"; gay page Kenny from Georgia became a bouncing, grinning Muppet; and Alec Baldwin suddenly resembled his 25 yr old, thin self, using old movie footage! Hilarious stuff.. Fey truly deserves all the awards she gets as 30 Rock's creator, head writer, and star.. Impeccable Irish actor Brendan Gleeson will hopefully add a GG award to his Emmy for his role as Churchill in "Into the Storm".. most of you saw Gleeson in the "killer comedy" about hit men stuck in a medieval city in last year's "In Bruges", with Colin Farrell - that film was carried by Gleeson, imo.. Some always terrific actresses are again nominated, any of these could easily win: Glenn Close, Helen Mirren, and Janet McTeer are always brilliant.. while overrated fan favorite Sandra Bullock is up for two film acting awards - what the heck were they thinking? Other than Bullock, the only negative note to me is calling "The United States of Tara" a comedy - I find it hard to buy that any show about a schizophrenic with multiple personalities can be called amusing, humorous, or comedic.. especially distasteful was when her male personality, a redneck guy, beats up a high school boy outside a school play, who appropriately refuses to hit the mother of his classmate.. they call this "comedy"? yikes.. I'm very surprised that the usually tasteful Steven Spielberg is producing this show.. I much more admire the fact that Tom Hanks is producing Big Love and attempting to show how the U.S. has grown totally intolerant of non-conforming religions and is basically trying to eradicate them with opressive laws reminiscent of the medieval Catholic church.. "worship our way or face trial as a heretic" - this is a very scary direction into which we seem to be sliding.. haven't we learned anything from the sordid history of Europe? Awards will be presented on January 17th, preceding the Oscar nomination deadline.