Your Top 10 Movies of the Decade

[Calis]

I could debate over what to put on my list and change it back and forth every day so I'm just going to wing it. I'm sure I am forgetting lots, but for now in no real order.(I'm omitting documentaries, I think those should be in separate lists as I have a hard time comparing quality/enjoyment of the two because it is so vastly different.)

Requiem for a Dream- This one would be my number 1. Just one of those that hits you right in the gut. Great performances all around, but especially Ellen Burstyn puts on an amazing performance. The score is also my favorite and is amazing, and now you hear it on everything from Lord of the Rings to the NBA finals and anything in between.

Adaptation- This one gets the nod over Eternal Sunshine for me. I won't argue it is a better film than that but it hit a little closer to home for me. Cage who I generally hate was fantastic, and Cooper's character was great to watch.

Let the Right One In- This one has the benefit of me going in completely blind. I hadn't seen a trailer or read absolutely anything about it beyond it was foreign and "good". Excellent movie. The kids were both great and it was a truly unique and interesting take on the Vampire mythology unlike some other series that will go unnamed.

In Bruges- I love the dialog in this. The two leads were great and what little time Fiennes had on screen he capitalized on. Beautifully shot as well, this is one I can watch over and over again.

No Country for Old Men- Not a lot to say on this one. I love the Coens, and Cormac McCarthy is my favorite living author, if not favorite in general. Probably his weakest book, but the easiest to adapt, and the Coens did it almost perfectly. Love the choice to forgo a soundtrack also.

There Will be Blood- This one has extreme highs(The opening) and extreme lows(the ending) but throughout the whole thing Daniel Day-Lewis is captivating. Best performance of the decade easily imo. The one movie on my list that is there based on an individual performance.

Spirited Away- I'm not one for anime, and while I enjoy Pixar films they never hit me as classics. Miyazaki has this ability to transport us back to the mind set of a child. While Pixar goes the route of throwing in jokes for adults, he actually manages to bring out the same emotions in both groups. Spirited Away was the first movie of his I'd seen, and while not my favorite of his, its the obvious choice for this decade.

The Royal Tenenbaums- I have a thing for dark comedies, and Wes Anderson.Comments were made earlier about unlikeable characters in comedies but I don't personally see how you can dislike Royal. Sure he has a horrible human being, but in such a charming way and played so perfectly by Hackman you can't help but root for him.

City of God- Another movie like In Bruges where the location is a main character. Beautifully shot and just a very stirring and draining epic of kids on the streets of Rio. Brutal.

The Dark Knight- Not much to add on this one. It had issues and I think it could definitely have used some editing, but still head and shoulders above the other superhero movies.

My honorable mentions would include Pan's Labyrinth, The Fountain, Eternal Sunshine, Synecdoche NY, and more than likely Inglourious Basterds which I have just watched and might even make the list if I had more time to think on it.

I like the Zoolander pick above, and thinking back that might deserve to be on mine. Sure it is dumb and poor in general quality, but it is one of those guilty pleasure that I laugh at every time I see it or am reminded of it. I just can't bring myself to put it in there.

I'd love to have room for either The Station Agent, The Visitor, or both in my list also because I think they're excellent on many levels, and contain some of the most fleshed out and just plain likeable characters in film.

As to the Brokeback Mountain discussion I don't get the reasoning behind the argument about it being two gay guys. Its been said already, but yeah that's the major source of the conflict so take it away and you have an extremely boring movie. Heath Ledger was absolutely fantastic in it. In fact so much so that he made Gyllenhall look absolutely out of place. He couldn't keep up and that brought the movie down some. Wonderfully shot though and another great score. This one is not overrated at all imo

Crash on the other hand is the most overrated movie of the decade and could be argued the worst movie to win best picture ever.

[Carman Bulldog]

Very tough finalizing this. What I did was try to base this list off of how I felt after the first viewing, which is why something like Memento made the list. Because I have not seen all of these movies multiple times, I don't think it's fair to fault Memento for not holding up on subsequent viewings. As it is, based on replay value, there are probably some on my bottom list that could make the jump up.

1. City of God
2. The Departed
3. The Prestige
4. There Will Be Blood
5. Pan's Labyrinth
6. Almost Famous
7. Eastern Promises
8. Memento
9. Inside Man
10. The Wrestler

Honorable Mentions (to round out the top 25)
25th Hour
A History of Violence
Bourne Ultimatum
Casino Royale
Children of Men
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Gone Baby Gone
Juno
Mystic River
No Country for Old Men
Requiem for a Dream
Royal Tenenbaums
The Dark Knight
Traffic
V For Vendetta

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by whomario

yeah, just wasn´t sure if it had been really shown stateside. German Cinema really produced some great, great movies this decade in many genres.
2009 Oscar Nominee "Der Baader Meinhof Komplex" is brilliant as well, topic are the terrorist of the "RAF" back in the 70s here in germany.

FYI for all interested - Showtime has been showing a subtitled version of this film lately - and whomario is right...it's brilliant