I've been reading all sorts of end of the decade lists and thinking a lot about my choices for best films of the decade. This list tries to balance personal opinion with what I consider to be quality filmmaking. I was coming of age in the 2000s and therefore lucky enough to experience most of these films when they first came out, as opposed to hindsight on a lot of other films, so they're much more near and dear to my heart.
I know you were eagerly anticipating my humble opinion, so without further ado -
20. Knocked Up - 2007, Judd Apatow
Say what you will about Judd Apatow and company, but there are few films I can watch over and over again. Especially comedies, so the fact that I can watch this on repeat and still laugh as well as say "aww" is impressive. I like The 40-Year Old Virgin just as much, but this premise feels more real to me.
19. Adaptation - 2002, Spike Jonze
Here's where my professional opinion outweighs the personal. I can definitely do without Nicholas Cage, but he gives a solid performance here. And from a writer's standpoint, I think this even more so than Charlie Kaufman's other entry on my list is the most clever, best written screenplay maybe ever in terms of plot structures.
18. Inglourious Basterds - 2009, Quentin Tarantino
Too soon? Maybe, but this almost made me forgive Quentin for Kill Bill. Almost. Hans Landa is a villain for the ages, and the last thirty or so minutes of this film made me sit straight up and get all nervous, which is hard to do at this point. I'll be interested to see how well this holds up on subsequent viewings.
17. In the Mood for Love - 2000, Wong Kar-Wai
We had the mood vs. plot argument in class last week, and this film is one of the few examples where I can say the mood surpasses a fairly standard plot in such a way to create a heartbreaking film. One of the most visually stunning films I've ever seen. This is how you do forbidden love, Edward and Bella.
16. Head-On - 2004, Fatih Akin
Please find this film and watch it. On the surface it's a romance about two sets of damaged goods who use each other out of convenience, but on a deeper level it deals with German/Turkish politics, the role of women in society, and what exactly love entails. Beautifully brutal.
15. Punch-Drunk Love - 2002, Paul Thomas Anderson
Paul Thomas Anderson is my favorite working filmmaker today. Everything about this film works, but getting Adam Sandler to give a serious performance and the lush, colorful cinematography really stand out. Call it quirk, but any film that can pull off "I'm looking at your face and I just want to smash it" as a romantic line and then make it resonant is just fine with me.
14. Children of Men - 2006, Alfonso Cuaron
Good sci-fi is hard to come by these days, especially good sci-fi with something to say. Alfonso Cuaron is an interesting filmmaker, and here he combines some absolute technical marvels (those long, long tracking shots, the whole birth scene) with a bleak but beautiful scenario. Clive Owen's best role, without a doubt.
13. Wall-E - 2008, Andrew Stanton
There are Pixar films I enjoy more, yes. But in terms of plot resonance and visual storytelling - I'll never know how little ones sat through the first thirty minutes - this takes the cake. Plus Wall-E and EVA are about the cutest robots in love ever. It's the little details - when EVA gets wrapped in Christmas lights, the cricket, the way Wall-E's eyes shift when he's watching Hello Dolly! that make even the coldest hearts melt.
12. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - 2002, Peter Jackson
The LOTR trilogy is a perfect set of films, and an amazing technical achievement. The Two Towers is my favorite for one reason and one reason only: Helm's Deep. If it's on TV and I know it's Helm's Deep time, I'm pretty sure I'd let the house get robbed, lest I be interrupted in my nerdgasm.
11. Amelie - 2001, Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Maybe the sweetest film on this list. Wouldn't we all love an Amelie from Montemarte in our lives? My favorite thing about it though is the side characters - like the man with class bones, Nino, the couple Amelie plays matchmaker for - and the magical realism in the production design, from the color palettes to the scrapbooks she makes.
10. Y Tu Mama Tambien - 2001, Alfonso Cuaron
Naughty, naughty, naughty. I watched this far too young, but more than the sex in it, the ahem, relationship between Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna as two young men whose sexuality threatens their lifelong friendship is what stuck most. The erotic factor may be what initially gets you to watch, but this is a gorgeous, tragic film. Alfonso Cuaron, please make another movie.
9. The Dark Knight - 2008, Christopher Nolan
Best comic book film ever, hands down. The most excited I've ever been to see a movie as well. I don't know what to say that hasn't been said already. I've loved Batman since I was a little one, and this is by far the most interesting cinematic rendering of its mythology. When is chapter three coming, Mr. Nolan?
8. Pan's Labyrinth - 2006, Guermillo del Toro
I like to call this "most unexpected outpouring of tears ever to happen in a movie theatre." I knew it would be sad, but this dark, gothic fairy tale is also one of the best films I've seen about what it means to be a child, and be on that brink where fantasy and reality merge just enough. Beautifully shot, beautifully written. That final shot haunts me to this day.
7. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - 2004, Michel Gondry
The second Kaufman scripted entry on the list, this film would have failed without the touch of Michel Gondry. I love Jim Carrey in serious roles, and Kate Winslet is perfect as always as Clementine. I had to watch this twice to figure it out, which was a rare treat. Every time I watch it, I enjoy it more. The best take on modern romance of the decade? Probably, but at the very least it's the most thought-provoking.
6. Memento - 2000, Christopher Nolan
5. Lost in Translation - 2003, Sofia Coppola
I really just need to be Sofia Coppola's BFF. Here's another example of when mood overwhelms plot, as does perfect music choice. This is Bill Murray's best role, and I love the unconsummated passion, the "above love" relationship of Charlotte and Bob. I could live inside of this film.
4. No Country for Old Men - 2007, The Coen Brothers
How do I love the Coen Brothers, let me count the ways...the violence that always lies somewhat dormant in their films finally comes to fruition in this Cormac McCarthy adaptation. Chigurh is so terrifying as a villain, and the setting of 1980s Texas shows through every dirty, dusty frame of the film. People complained about the ending, but I thought it was perfect, the way Tommy Lee Jones' sad bulldog face knew his time had finally passed.
3. A History of Violence - 2005, David Cronenberg
This is David Cronenberg's most accessible film, and one that explores the notions of family, trust, and small-town life. The bursts of extreme violence are beautifully done, as the performances by Viggo Mortensen and Maria Bello. The whole William Hurt segment is some of my favorite character interplay ever put to film. It raises the eternal question of how well we really know those closest to us, and if we did, what would we do with it. I love the ending, the subversion of the American family dinner for good.
2. There Will Be Blood - 2007, Paul Thomas Anderson
This is what an epic should be. I had visions of old Hollywood when I saw this the day it opened. Daniel-Day Lewis as Daniel Plainview gives one of the best performances I've ever seen. There is so much that is perfect about this film - Johnny Greenwood's score, Robert Elswit's cinematography, Paul Dano as Planview's foil, the oil derrick scene. Some people I know (*cough* ChemGuy) thought the ending was anti-climatic, but I didn't move for the entire last twenty minutes out of fear. Yes Daniel Plainview, you do drink my milkshake.
1. Almost Famous - 2000, Cameron Crowe
I can say with certainty there are better films on this list, but I've never seen anything I enjoy as much as this film. I just want to crawl inside of it and live there forever - it makes me nostalgic for a time I never lived through. I aspire to be Penny Lane, or at least be half as cool as she is. I remember the cold chills I got the first time watching this and "Tiny Dancer"came on, and I still get them. There's so many perfect moments of music and laughter and love in this film. Crowe really gets what it is, as band-aid Sapphire states "to truly love some silly little piece of music or band so much that it hurts." One list I saw named this as the rom-com of the decade, but it's that and a road movie, and a rock movie, and a coming of age film. I know the dialogue verbatim at this point. There is no doubt when watching the love for this life that Cameron Crowe has for this era - he was William after all. And if you haven't seen the vastly superior but out of print bootleg cut, please find it. The additional scenes add so, so much. It's my favorite film ever, and that's all there really is to say.
While every frame is perfect to me, I especially enjoy watching William's reactions, and how "River" comes in as Penny starts to cry when she sees Russell. I want a tackle box like hers.
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