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.