The 10 Best Films of the Decade

Icesickle · Post by **Icesickle** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 11:10 am

2009's halfway done, so unless there's a groundswell of classic movies that come out in the next six months everyone's list should at least be 80% to 90% complete. We can do this now and revisit in in January 2010.

RE: Samdoom's question. I meant this thread to be people's "best of" list, not a favorites list, but do what you want because no one's truly subjective, bleh bleh bleh.

My list is something like this, but will probably change after people list films that slipped my mind. 1 & 2 for me are pretty much fixed, but the rest are interchangable.

1. No Country for Old Men
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Punch Drunk Love
The New World
Ratatoille
A History of Violence
The Dreamers
The Proposition
Zodiac

10. Rachel Getting Married / Catch Me If You Can / Munich / City of God (Haven't decided yet)

Tweak Da Leak · Post by **Tweak Da Leak** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 11:47 am

The Proposition
Burn After Reading
Dear Zachary
Zodiac
Paris Je'taime or Science of Sleep(no homo) for 5

come back with another 5

Gregg Popabitch1 · Post by **Gregg Popabitch1** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 12:51 pm

DARK KNIGHT
DARK KNIGHT
DARK KNIGHT
DARK KNIGHT
DARK KNIGHT
DARK KNIGHT
DARK KNIGHT
DARK KNIGHT
DARK KNIGHT
DARK KNIGHT

wizeguy · Post by **wizeguy** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 1:12 pm

the departed
the assassination of jesse james by the coward robert ford
oldboy
kill bill vol. 1
kill bill vol. 2
the aviator
collateral
adaptation
the dark knight
batman begins

Tommy Bunz · Post by **Tommy Bunz** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 1:22 pm

I hate doing lists like these, because I know I'm forgetting a bunch of shit and will want to make changes later.

No Country For Old Men
City of God
Anchorman
Pan's Labyrinth
History of Violence
Almost Famous
Up
The Wrestler
Brotherhood of the Wolf
The Dark Knight

Just missed:

American Psycho
Spirited Away
Wall-E
Ratatouille
The Proposition
Ice Age

samdoom · Post by **samdoom** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 1:42 pm

so this is just our ten favorites of the decade right, not what we think are the best? i know that sounds redundant, but i have some guilty pleasure picks that i realize aren't of the highest caliber

Icesickle · Post by **Icesickle** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 1:45 pm

samdoom wrote:so this is just our ten favorites of the decade right, not what we think are the best? i know that sounds redundant, but i have some guilty pleasure picks that i realize aren't of the highest caliber

Nah, this is best films of this decade.

If it wasn't Ice Harvest would have been all up in my list.

Icesickle · Post by **Icesickle** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 1:53 pm

Justify your list if you have some time:

All the films on my list there either because they blazed new ground in teh cinema, they're just superbly made films, or they tackle important subjects in a new way. For example Eternal Sunshine and PDL are unique additions to the romantic dramedy genre, there's nothing like them; Ratatoille and The Proposition are superb examples of storytelling and character development; A History of Violence dealt with America's reaction to 9/11 in a unique way.

Films like NCFOM and Zodiac might have accomplished all three criteria.

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 1:59 pm

Icesickle wrote:A History of Violence dealt with America's reaction to 9/11 in a unique way.

you were doing so good until this point

Spartan · Post by **Spartan** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 1:59 pm

City Of God
Pan's Labyrinth
The Dark Knight
Watchmen
The Descent
Gangs of New York
[REC]
V For Vendetta
Brotherhood of the Wolf
From Hell

Icesickle · Post by **Icesickle** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:01 pm

drizzle wrote:
Icesickle wrote:A History of Violence dealt with America's reaction to 9/11 in a unique way.
you were doing so good until this point

You know Cronenberg said the film addressed this point himself right?

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:04 pm

Icesickle wrote:
drizzle wrote:
Icesickle wrote:A History of Violence dealt with America's reaction to 9/11 in a unique way.
you were doing so good until this point
You know Cronenberg said the film addressed this point himself right?

not that i don't believe you, but pretty much every movie you support ends up somehow being either about 9/11 or the iraq war. you're the boy that cried wolf in arabic

Icesickle · Post by **Icesickle** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:04 pm

Spartan wrote: The Descent
From Hell

I've been meaning to check these both out for a while, especially The Descent.

Didn't know From Hell was that good. Always thought it looked interesting just because Hughes Bros. + Johnny Depp + 19th Century England is a funny combination, but I didn't know it THAT good.

Tommy Bunz · Post by **Tommy Bunz** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:04 pm

God damn Ice Edits

I did my list before you clarified you wanted a best of list and not a favorites list. Regardless I still would probably put The Wrestler ahead The Proposition. Its the Raging Bull of this decade.

Spartan · Post by **Spartan** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:05 pm

For fux sake, i forgot Kill Bill

Trademark · Post by **Trademark** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:10 pm

in no order...Leaving room for two movies....

Dark Knight
Assassination of Jesse James
No Country for Old Men
Wall E
City of God
The Aviator
The Proposition
Zodiac

Icesickle · Post by **Icesickle** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:15 pm

Drizzle:

The only films that I've said that about were Munich (obvious connection), War of the Worlds (I cited about 30 reviews that said the same thing when someone called me crazy for thinking that), NCFOM (this is the biggest stretch, but I think shades of it are there just because it deals with salt of the earth red staters addressing unknown, overtly malicious foreign threats), and History of Violence.

http://www.villagevoice.com/2005-09-13/ ... -the-gun/1

It sounds modest, but "just looking" carries moral import in a time when the bodily costs of a faraway war often go conveniently unseen. Cronenberg says the Iraq connection was never far from his mind: "Seeing all that footage without seeing any bodiesגone day you do see the bodies and it's shocking, what happens to the burned corpses. You have to see those things. Otherwise it's all theoretical."

An inquiry into territorial aggression that questions what it means to live with blood on our hands, Violence has an unmistakable political subtext. "It's the idea of a man with a gun standing up to protect his family against bad guys," Cronenberg says. "If you're attacked that way, is any response justified, no matter how violent or how all encompassing?" On set during the 2004 presidential campaign, the cast and crew, at Mortensen's urging, staged a mock election (which will appear on the DVD). "Viggo decorated his trailer like a voting stationגwe had a U.N. observer and a bomb-sniffing dog," Cronenberg says. "I should add that Kerry won our election."

Given the film's purposeful ambiguities, the Toronto-born and -based Cronenberg concedes that Violence "could be seen as a red-state movie in a red state and a blue-state movie in a blue state." At the Cannes premiere, "People wanted to take it as a critique of America, and perhaps perversely, I'd say, well, let's not just jump on the U.S., because there's no country in the world that doesn't have a history of violence. Every country was founded on the suppression of other peoples whether by invasion or war or annexing. Even Canada. The focus is on the U.S., of course, because it's the superpower. It's a legitimate discussion, but it's not the only discussion."

Icesickle · Post by **Icesickle** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:18 pm

Assassination of Jesse James is top 20 at least on my list. I need to watch it again; I can see it being top 10.

2008 was such a great year. Into the Wild would make my top 20. Bourne Ultimatum and Michael Clayton would make my top 30.

Gregg Popabitch1 · Post by **Gregg Popabitch1** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:23 pm

In no Order:

The Dark Knight
No Country for Old Men
Borat
Zoolander
Let the Right One In
City of God
Wall-E
The Wrestler
History of Violence
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Mystic River

hustler · Post by **hustler** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:24 pm

in no particular order

iron man
star trek
transformers
transformers 2 revenge of the fallen
batman begins
the dark knight
the Saw series (i count them all as one)
tokyo gore police
let the right one in
kill bill 1 and 2 (i consider this one 2 disk movie)

Trademark · Post by **Trademark** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:30 pm

hustler get the fuck out of this thread>

Icesickle · Post by **Icesickle** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:33 pm

Gregg Popabitch wrote: Borat

The thing about Borat is that it was one of the funniest movies I've ever seen, but it has very little replay value to me. That's not a diss to the film though because it's greatness is predicated on the audience being shocked by how far Baron Cohen goes and what he does in the film and once you already know what happens that angle is gone.

I think people who make lists automatically factor in replay value when making a Best Of list, especially of a decade, and this works against Borat. But should replay value automatically trump the experience you had when you first saw a film?

This question is also valid for movies like The New World and the IMAX version of Batman Returns (IMAX Batman Returns is top 30). Both of these films are made to be seen in theaters and lose something when you watch them at home. Even though a film loses something when it's viewed on a less-than-optimum medium I don't think you should hold it against it, yet I often have a knee-jerk reaction to do so.

Deep thoughtz yo.

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:41 pm

Icesickle wrote:
http://www.villagevoice.com/2005-09-13/ ... -the-gun/1

It sounds modest, but "just looking" carries moral import in a time when the bodily costs of a faraway war often go conveniently unseen. Cronenberg says the Iraq connection was never far from his mind: "Seeing all that footage without seeing any bodiesגone day you do see the bodies and it's shocking, what happens to the burned corpses. You have to see those things. Otherwise it's all theoretical."

An inquiry into territorial aggression that questions what it means to live with blood on our hands, Violence has an unmistakable political subtext. "It's the idea of a man with a gun standing up to protect his family against bad guys," Cronenberg says. "If you're attacked that way, is any response justified, no matter how violent or how all encompassing?" On set during the 2004 presidential campaign, the cast and crew, at Mortensen's urging, staged a mock election (which will appear on the DVD). "Viggo decorated his trailer like a voting stationגwe had a U.N. observer and a bomb-sniffing dog," Cronenberg says. "I should add that Kerry won our election."

Given the film's purposeful ambiguities, the Toronto-born and -based Cronenberg concedes that Violence "could be seen as a red-state movie in a red state and a blue-state movie in a blue state." At the Cannes premiere, "People wanted to take it as a critique of America, and perhaps perversely, I'd say, well, let's not just jump on the U.S., because there's no country in the world that doesn't have a history of violence. Every country was founded on the suppression of other peoples whether by invasion or war or annexing. Even Canada. The focus is on the U.S., of course, because it's the superpower. It's a legitimate discussion, but it's not the only discussion."

i see what you meant now, although the broader interpretation at the end of the quote makes more sense to me than 'it's all about 9/11'.

Comedy Quaddafi · Post by **Comedy Quaddafi** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:42 pm

Hmm I don't know enough about movies to validate my claims, and I only watch certain genres, but these would be my picks (in no order)

Dark Knight
[REC]
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
Taken
M

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:42 pm

fuck man 'best' is hard, favorite is much easier

judging by some of these lists the idea of 'best' isn't really working out well for some others either.

Icesickle · Post by **Icesickle** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:46 pm

I worded it wrong in my initial statement. I should have said one of the things History of Violence addressed was America's reaction to 9/11. What makes History of Violence great is that issue is wrapped up in larger, more encompassing issues of how we view violence, how we reconcile with the fact that "civilized society" is founded and supported by violence, etc.

It also has one of my favorite supporting performances by Ed Harris and Cronenberg's direction is virtually flawless. The way he shoots the scene where Viggo wrecks shop in the diner is

.

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:53 pm

the only thing that always bugs me about history of violence is william Hurt as teh mob boss. just wrong in every way.

Kelron · Post by **Kelron** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:53 pm

Drama
No country for old men
Sexy Beast
House of Sand and Fog
City of God
Gattaca

Action
Dark Knight
Batman Begins
Spider Man 2
Matrix trilogy (I count this as one movie)

Comedy
Grandma's Boy
Just Friends
40 yr old Virgin
Harold & Kumar go to White Castle

Documentary
What the bleep do we know?
Smartest Men in the Room
Bowling for Colombine
Crude Awakening

samdoom · Post by **samdoom** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:56 pm

ice, you really sweat eternal sunshine like that? i'm a huge kauffman fan and i think that movie is overrated as fuck. i'm also a little disappointed this is a "best" of list that has already become a favorites list.

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 3:02 pm

samdoom wrote: i'm also a little disappointed this is a "best" of list that has already become a favorites list.

well making an actual list could be a good start to correct matters