Monday, December 7, 2009

Just what civilization needs...


Another weigh-in on the best films of the decade.

Today: 20 runners-up and the 25th [superlative inflection of positive adjective] motion picture of the decade spanning 2000-2009.
Tomorrow through December 31st, daily: Countdown to #1.

***

Honorable mentions, listed alphabetically:
Adaptation (Spike Jonze); Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe); Amores Perros (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu); Before Sunset (Richard Linklater); Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron); The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Cristi Piui); Grizzly Man (Werner Herzog); A History of Violence (David Cronenberg); The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow); Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino); Little Children (Todd Field); Once (John Carney); Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro); Ratatouille (Brad Bird); Safe Conduct (Bertrand Tavernier); A Serious Man (Ethan Coen, Joel Coen); The Squid and the Whale (Noah Baumbach); 25th Hour (Spike Lee); United 93 (Paul Greengrass); Vera Drake (Mike Leigh)

25. Kings & Queen (Arnaud Desplechin)
24. You Can Count on Me (Kenneth Lonergan)
23. My Winnipeg (Guy Maddin)
22. Downfall (Oliver Hirschbiegel)
21. The Fog of War (Errol Morris)
20. No Country for Old Men (Ethan Coen, Joel Coen)
19. Y Tu Mama Tambien (Alfonso Cuaron)
18. Capturing the Friedmans (Andrew Jarecki)
17. The Barbarian Invasions (Denys Arcand)
16. City of God (Fernando Meirelles)
15. Junebug (Phil Morrison)
14. The Best of Youth (Marco Tullio Giordana)
13. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Julian Schnabel)
12. Sideways (Alexander Payne)
11. The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)
10. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu)
9. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki)
8. Zodiac (David Fincher)
7. Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee)
6. Far From Heaven (Todd Haynes)
5. Talk to Her (Pedro Almodovar)
4. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar Wai)
3. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson)
2. Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch)
1. Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola)


7 comments:

Mr. Allnut said...

Great list so far (only up to 15 at this point). Of course one's natural tendency with any list is to want to challenge the listmaker (Pan's Labyrinth only gets an honorable mention -- are you kidding me?!) but I'll reserve final judgement until you've finished. I'll say one thing -- I pledge to cue up all that I haven't seen yet. I know, I know...."Then do so, Mr. Allnut."

gwenivere said...

MORE!!!!!!!!!!!

harrylime said...

My thanks to you both. Didn't know anyone still checked this - it's been a long hiatus.

Poppy said...

This is one amazing list, 'tho I haven't seen many of them. One can tell that a lot of time and thought went into the composition of this list. I think that public schools should use this list as "required watching" for part of their curriculum.One can tell that the author is compassionate and loyal to his/her characters, whether they are considered "good" or "bad." Being able to be objective shows that some critics still have what it takes to be an excellent and reliable journalist. Keep up the good work and, whatever you do, please keep this blog going!

Poppy

Mr. Allnut said...

Ok, your list (now final) is fantastic. You certainly didn't take the safe, predictable route; instead there are some very nice surprises! I must get busy on the ones I missed! Your list does beg the question: What have some of these filmmakers done lately? (And will they again achieve such greatness?) For example, I sure hope Sophia Coppola finds her groove again... Anyway, thanks for this! I wonder: What percentage of these would have played at your neighborhood multiplex, versus those requiring a trip to a much less accessible theatre specializing in independent/foreign language/documentary fare...

Ron said...

Well Harry, I am not qualified to render an opinion on the list since I have not seen any of them except for Grizzly Man, which I dearly loved. At any rate, I can't seem to find an email address for you.
And as an aside, if there were a list of great one-liners of the decade, I would nominate "If it don't scare the cows, who cares".

Annie said...

hey! :)

i like your list, are you gonna pick your winners soon? i'd love to see that. i saw an education not to long ago, man i really fell in love that movie, one of my new favorites definitely. the other of your best picture ones i saw was up in the air, which i really loved too.
i love that you have melanie laurent, i was mad she didn't get much, when i first watched it i liked her better than diane kruger, who got more attention.. (prob bc she's more famous here but whatever. )
i didn't see where the wild things are, andy didn't like it so i never did go, but i certainly want to see it now :)
talk to you soon !

oh, and hey are you coming to kings mill over 4th of july? hope to see you there

kayti