Best Films of the "Decade:" (1 Viewer)

Everybody is talking about "best film of the year," but I want to know if it is the "best film of the decade!" You think "The Wrestler" is the best film of 2008? How about, is it the best film of the 2000's?

Let's see if we can break down a Top 5 List of the Best films of the 2000's (so far).............

We can try and take it a step further and see if this year's 5 Best Picture nominations fall into this category.

Well, the decade has another year to go, but regardless and in no order”

•In the Mood for Love
•Spirited Away
•Lord of the Rings
•Yi Yi
•Hable con ella

And five more:

•Mystic River
•Far From Heaven
•City of God
•Y tu mamá también
•Dancer in the Dark

Since you mentioned a couple of foreign films, my favorite has been Amores Perros - the dog fights were amazing, and who'd have thought their lovable pooch was such a killer? Not me - I thought, once the dog escaped the house, it was going to be dog food to those other dogs.

Which raises an interesting question. Are you following the same eligibility rules as the Academy? If so, it's unlikely that this year's 5 BP nominees will make the cut. The BP nominees aren't chosen from the entire world of film.

So far this year's BP noms would not make my top 50 list.

No, no rules. Just personal preferences. And I'll have to wait til I get home to have time to concentrate on my list.

The key words for me are "so far". I have to see a film more than once to have any real sense of its true weight.

Exactly Michael. Just like music. I used to dislike Wagner—now I’ll get tickets for the Ring.

Of those Lew mentioned, I might agree with:
In the Mood for Love
Yi Yi
LOTR
Talk to Her
City of God
Far From Heaven

I will add Mulholland Dr and The New World.

~T

Here's mine top 5
1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2. There Will Be Blood
3. Pan's Labrynth
4. Wonder Boys
5. Lost in Translation

Close Calls
Wall-E
O Brother Where Art Thou
No Country For Old Men
The Incredibles
LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring
Good Night & Good Luck
Children of Men

I will be watching "City of God" & "Talk to Her" probably this week and with all of the talk that I've heard about them, I wouldn't doubt if either or both make a showing.

I also agree with the multiple viewings aspect for rating movies. I have seen everything that I've mentioned here at least twice except for "Children of Men" which I really need to re-watch soon.

Top 3 for now:
1. Traffic
2. Pride and Prejudice
3. Open Range

I need to work on my #2 - #5.

#1 is easy: The New World

I sort of forgot about The New World when I made my list. Also I had Mulholland Dr. on my list and decided to substitute Dancer in the Dark because (1) I really thought it was outstanding, (2)I noticed an absence of European filmmakers without Lars von Trier and (3) it is always nice to have a musical.

This is such a difficult excercise but I'll give it a shot. My top films of the decade thus far are (in alphabetical order):

Cinderella Man (2005)
Dark Knight, The (2008)
Finding Nemo (2003)
Gladiator (2000)
King Kong (2005)
Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001 - 2003)
Passion of the Christ, The (2004)
Pianist, The (2002)
Pursuit of Happyness, The (2006)
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
War of the Worlds (2005)

Runners-up include:
Assassination of Richard Nixon, The (2004)
Babel (2006)
Batman Begins (2005)
Before Sunset (2004)
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007)
Bourne Identity, The (2002)
Bourne Supremacy, The (2004)
Charlie Wilson's War (2007)
City of God "Cidade de Deus" (2002) [Foreign (Portuguese - Brazil)]
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Death Proof (2007)
Finding Neverland (2004)
Freedom Writers (2007)
Good Year, A (2006)
Hotel Rwanda (2004)
House of Sand and Fog (2003)
In Bruges (2008)
In the Bedroom (2001)
Inconvenient Truth, An (2006) [Documentary]
Into the Wild (2007)
Juno (2007)
Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003)
Kill Bill Vol. 2 (2004)
Little Children (2006)
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Man Who Wasn't There, The (2001)
Maria Full of Grace (2004) [Foreign - Spanish (USA/Colombia)]
Match Point (2005)
Mist, The (2007)
Monsters, Inc. (2001) [Animated CGI]
Mrs Henderson Presents (2005)
Mystic River (2003)
Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
No Country For Old Men (2007)
Notebook, The (2004)
Notes on a Scandal (2006)
O Brother, Where Are Thou? (2000)
Open Range (2003)
Others, The (2001)
Pan's Labrynth "El Laberinto di Faun" (2006) [Foreign - Spanish]
Ratatouille (2007) [Animated/CGI]
Reign Over Me (2007)
Ring, The (2002)
Seabiscuit (2003)
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Shrek (2001) [Animated CGI]
Sideways (2004)
Snatch. (2000)
Spider-Man (2002)
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
There Will Be Blood (2007)
Tokyo Godfathers (2003) [Animated] [Foreign - Japanese]
Twenty-Eight "28" Days Later (2003)
United 93 (2006)
Volver (2006) [Foreign - Spanish]
Wall-E (2008)

With any of the above films - you're in for a good show IMO.

So far (and I haven't seen the nominations yet for 2008), I'd say these are my Top 5 of the 2000's....

1: Cast Away - 2000 (starring Tom Hanks and Wilson)
2: Memento - 2000 (starring Guy Pearce and Joey Pants)
3: A History of Violence - 2005 (starring Viggo Mortenson and Ed Harris)
4: The Last King of Scotland - 2006 (starring Big Baluga aka Forest Whitaker)
5: Adaptation - 2002 (starring Nicolas Cage & Meryl Streep)

I know my choices weren't nominated for Best Picture, but these are my top 5 favorites (for what its worth)

Honorable Mentions:
01: Babel - 2006
02: Capote - 2005
03: Walk The Line - 2005
04: Kill Bill - 2003 and 2004
05: Stuck On You (this was both funny and sentimental - it touched me right here, man)
06: Little Miss Sunshine (same as above, with a great "subdued" performance by Steve Carell and a great job overall by Toni Collette)

Questions like these cause the head to explode. Remarkably, I find it hard to argue against most of the films named so far.

With that in mind, off the top of my head, I would go with something like LOTR, Mulholland Dr, Before Sunset, Traffic, Eternal Sunshine of the spotless Mind. Pretty boring (in the sense that all are highly regarded I think), but these are all films that have passed the test of repeat viewings with flying colors. There are many others, each of which could be on this list of course, like Unbreakable, The New World, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Spider-man 2, Knocked Up...

The one screening wonders I loved are waaayyy too many, from Slumdog Millionaire... all the way back to Requiem for a Dream back in 2000, thru stuff like Whale Rider, Downfall, The Brotherhood of War, The Bourne Supremacy/Ultimatum, The Departed, Match Point... *head explodes*


Of 2008, I think Slumdog Millionaire, Vicki Cristina Barcelona, Gran Torino will have staying power with me.

--
H

In no particular order, 10 of my favorites from this decade...

Last Life in the Universe
City of God
Mulholland Dr.
Pan's Labyrinth
Children of Men
Spirited Away
Ratatouille
In the Mood for Love
The New World
Amelie

- Walter.

Hmm, I know I'll leave some out, but off the top of my head:

A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
Dogville
Spirited Away
Cache
Yi Yi
25th Hour
Talk to Her (Habla con Ella)
Mulholland Dr.
Innocence
The Heart of the World

My top films of the decade thus far might include the below, but I have a hard time making definitive lists (and might have a different list on a different day).

Elsker dig for evigt (2002)
Babel (2006)
Joyeux Noël (2005)
Memento (2000)

These are my favorite films so far from this decade.

Once (by far my favorite film)

The rest in no particular order:

Battle Royale
Cashback
Cars
V For Vendetta
The Mist
A Scanner Darkly
Whale Rider
Lost In Translation
Y Tu Mama Tambien