Top 25-ish Movies of the Decade 2000-2009

This may not entirely sync up with how these movies are ordered on the individual yearly lists that I've made but, hey, people's opinion's can change, right? Furthermore, some of these movies I haven't seen all that recently and I'm going by vague memories of them. To expedite this, I think I'm only going to write a blurb on the movies that I haven't already written separate reviews for on here.

1. Pan's Labyrinth
But captain, to obey - just like that - for obedience's sake... without questioning... That's something only people like you do.

Guillermo Del Toro's haunting, darkly beautiful epic about a girl living in Franco's Spain who meets a faun in an underground fantasy world telling her that she's actually a princess. Is it real, or just her overactive imagination? We're left to come to our own conclusions about it. In a movie where our heroine has to contend with a faceless "pale man" with eyes in the palms of his hands who devours children, the most frightening monster in the movie is human--her father; a Captain in Franco's army. He's one of the most terrifying characters put on screen, even moreso, I think, than Christopher Waltz's nazi in this year's Inglourious Basterds.

2. Michael Clayton
I'm Shiva, the God of death.

T-3. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
There's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it's worth fightin' for.

No, I don't really think all of them are equally as good--I think Fellowship is probably the best--but to keep this from being overly LotR heavy, I'll just nestle them all here. A lot of people who aren't into all the high fantasy of Tolkien's world mock the long run times and the suspension of disbelief required to get on board with the quest to destroy the ring ("Why don't they just ride one of those eagles and throw it in the volcano?"), but whatever, screw them. Peter Jackson and company did an amazing job with the titanic effort of putting together one a dense, complicated epic on screen such that it was beloved by newcomers and hardcore fans alike (the few people still bitching about Tom Bombadil being left out don't count).

4. Up In the Air
The stars will wheel forth from their daytime hiding places; and one of those lights, slightly brighter than the rest, will be my wingtip passing over.

5. Juno
Nah... I mean, I'm already pregnant, so what other kind of shenanigans could I get into?

6. No Country for Old Men
Don't put it in your pocket, sir. Don't put it in your pocket. It's your lucky quarter.

7. The Dark Knight
It's not about making money, it's about sending a message: Everything burns!

8. The Departed
I don't want to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me.

9. Doubt
"Did you ever prove it?"
"To whom?"
"Anyone but yourself?"

10. Million Dollar Baby
Boxing is an unnatural act. 'Cos everything in it is backwards. You wanna move to the left, you don't step left, you push on the right toe. To move right, you use your left toe. Instead of running from the pain - like a sane person would do, you step into it.

Clint Eastwood's somber tale about the rise and fall of a female boxer under the tutelage of an old trainer, played by Eastwood himself, who eventually becomes a father figure for her. The ethics and implications of the decision he makes at the end of the movie could be discussed endlessly.

11. Slumdog Millionaire
It is written.

12. Lost in Translation
For relaxing times, make it Suntory time.

Sophia Coppola's gorgeous movie about two people who randomly meet up in Japan at very different points in their lives. The perfect movie for someone like me who is fascinated by Japan but hasn't made it over there yet.

13. Good Night and Good Luck
We must not confuse dissent from disloyalty. We must remember always, that accusation is not proof, and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another, we will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason.

14. Downfall
You must be on stage when the curtain falls.

At times a brutal movie to watch, Downfall or Der Untergang follows the last day's of Nazi Germany, when Hitler was relegated to an underground bunker as the last remnants of the German army fought and died in Berlin. Actor Bruno Ganz's performance as Hitler is terrifyingly convincing, and the movie portrays him as a broken, pitiful creature, teetering on the edge of insanity as his Empire crumbles.

15. House of Flying Daggers
[...I guess I don't have a quote for this one. You've failed me, IMDB.]

Hero, also directed by Yimou Zhang, is two spaces down on the list, but Daggers is a better movie with a more intimate story, connecting a love triangle with a political intrigue story pitting a weak and corrupt Chinese government against a band of assassins. The visuals in Yimou's films are stunning. In this movie, the sequence in the bamboo forest is particularly beautiful.

16. There Will Be Blood
I am the Third Revelation!!

17. Hero
But the ultimate ideal is when the sword disappears altogether. The warrior embraces all around him. The desire to kill no longer exists. Only peace remains.

Not quite as good as Daggers, but another visually arresting film by Yimou Zhang. What's particularly interesting is how each of the movie's conflicting flashbacks--it's structured much like to Rashomon--seems to have it's own color scheme. It also has a lot of the heady Eastern philosophy that I'm a complete sucker for. A major plot point involves two main characters interpreting what a single character of calligraphy means.

18. Crash
[I don't have anything here either.]

Paul Haggis's confrontation of racism, interleaving a number of different stories of people from varying backgrounds whose lives "crash" together. Wish I had more to say, but this is one of the movies on the list that I haven't seen in some time.

19. The Aviator
Show me the blueprints, Show me the blueprints, Show me the blueprints...

Martin Scorsese's second appearance on the list for his biopic of Howard Hughes, simultaneously genius and insane. A great performance by Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role.

20. Inglourious Basterds
We're gonna be dropped into France, dressed as civilians. And once we're in enemy territory, as a bushwhackin' guerrilla army, we're gonna be doin' one thing and one thing only... killin' Nazis.

21. Spirited Away
Once you do something, you never forget. Even if you can't remember.

One of the most imaginative movies of all time, directed by legendary animator Hayao Miyasaki. There simply isn't any other hand-drawn animation that matches the detail of Miyasaki's work, and there are few people who can create anything more completely and utterly original in any sort of format.

22. Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2
I'm a killer. A murdering bastard, you know that. And there are consequences to breaking the heart of a murdering bastard.

Roughly four hours of Quintin Tarantino following no rules whatsoever, except take what's cool and run with it, Kill Bill is a hodge-podge of everything that's influenced Tarantino's career, from grindhouse kung-fu revenge movies, to spaghetti westerns, to random theme songs from old TV shows. It's impossible not to have fun with it.

23. The Royal Tenenbaums
Well, everyone knows Custer died at Little Bighorn. What this book presupposes is... maybe he didn't?

Wes Anderson's best movie is probably Rushmore, but that was '98, I think. Tenenbaums, however, similarly shows Anderson's ability to combine a story with absurd characters and absurdist humor with genuinely emotional human drama. Anderson is definitely an acquired taste, but I for one have acquired it.