So I’ll give you my criteria. It’s
simple really. If the movie’s playing on television as I flip past and can’t
stop watching even though I had no plans to do so, it’s making my list. Pretty
much. (Stricken with swine flu earlier this fall, I watched The Godfather Parts One and Two three times in a row. And a couple of the entries included below.)
A small caveat: This is a movie-lover's list, not a movie critic's list. If you want to know pretty much everything about me, careful study of
this list should cover everything you need. Except: Gerard Depardieu and Johnny Depp
are mysteriously missing from this list, rendering the decade and my list disappointing
in the extreme. (Several of my top contenders turned out to have been released in late
1999 which seems hardly fair. Magnolia and Topsy Turvy, say for instance, missed the proverbial boat.) Here goes
nothing.
10. Good Night and Good Luck (2005)
Smart. About stuff that matters.
9. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Romantic, evocative and thought-provoking. (Wait. Jim Carrey made my list. No Depardieu? No Depp? No justice. But that's how good this movie is.)
8. L'iceberg (2005)
Absolutely original and unforgettable.
7. Adaptation (2002)
Apparently, traditional narrative is lost on me.
6. Sideways (2004)
Human and remarkably well observed. Deserves a second look. And a third. (And if you watch it on DVD, listen to the Thomas Haden Church/Paul Giamatti commentary.)
5. Almost Famous (2000)
The perfect coming of age film. (And the best film about music this decade.)
4. Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Sweet and funny and gruesome. An exceedingly rare combo platter.
3. In The Loop (2009)
Incisive and hilarious. Political satire that works like a charm.
2. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert
Ford (2007)
Elegiac, a prose poem on celebrity. For my money, the best western in decades.
1. Amélie (2001)
A perfectly gorgeous little truffle of a film. Inspired and inspiring.
Honorable Mentions:
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Lost In Translation
The Station Agent
The Class
Happy-Go-Lucky
State and Main
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Incredibles
Little Miss Sunshine
Where The Wild Things Are
Up In The Air
Love Actually
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