Countdown to 2010: My Movies of the Decade

I'm a fan of great cinema, and this decade (let call it the 00s) did not disappoint. The 00s provided some fantastic movies. The list may be a little chalk (a few Best Picture winners on the list), but hey, who am I to argue with Oscar?

1. Gladiator (2000) – This became my favorite movie immediately after I saw it. Back in Russell Crowe’s glory days, his performance is remarkable, as was current crazy man / wannabe rapper Joaquin Phoenix. Spaniard! Spaniard!


2. Slumdog Millionaire (2008) – The most recent Best Picture, I loved the flashbacks, the music, the way the Indian Regis Philbin pronounced Millionaire (millon-AIR!), everything.

3. Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003) – This trilogy was about as epic as movies can get. A little long for my taste, but as far as book adaptations go, these were superb.

4. The Departed (2006) – It’s hard to come up with a better cast than this film. I love Scorsese, Goodfellas is my favorite movie ever, and this 21st century mob versus cops depiction was very cool.

5. A Beautiful Mind (2001) – In a swift departure from his Gladiator role, Russell Crowe is just as good. This movie is smart and affecting, and Jennifer Connolly is hot.

6. Dark Knight (2008) – Featuring perhaps the decade’s finest performance, the late Heath Ledger’s Joker, the only downside to this movie is Christian Bale’s super deep Batman voice. So obnoxious.

7. Inglourious Basterds (2009) – Maybe a little overrated, but the acting and writing is fantastic, and the uber-violence of the gang of Jews was over the top enough to be sort of funny. I love how Tarantino weaves story lines together.

8. City of God (2002) – I didn’t see this Brazilian picture until fairly recently, but it is fantastic. The subtitles can be distracting, but some movies are good enough that you can know what’s happening anyway, and this is one of them.

9. Atonement (2007) – I love period pieces, and flashbacks, and betrayal, and long-awaited reconciliation mixed with a little tragedy, and this combines all of those extremely well.

10. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) – For the sweet technology alone, this movie scores highly. The novelty of the story, along with great actors, made it great.

Honorable Mention -
Gran Torino (2008) – Directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, I thought this was robbed during last year’s award season. You can’t help but like Clint, despite his gruff exterior.

District 9 (2009) – An underrated movie which unfortunately has not been receiving much Oscar buzz so far this year, this film blew me away. Ostensibly about aliens, derogatorily labeled ‘prawns’ by their human tormentors, who sequester them in South African slums, its’ themes struck me much deeper than that. An allegory reminding us to look beyond just skin deep, I genuinely enjoyed this movie. And South African accents make me laugh.

In Bruges (2008) – A dark, dark comedy of sorts set in Belgium, I saw this movie out of the blue, without having read much about it, and ended up loving it.

Old School (2003) – Come on, I had to include a screwball comedy on this list. Featuring Will Ferrell at his finest and funniest, ‘Old School’ came out during the prime years of frat comedies, and narrowly beat out Zoolander and Wedding Crashers for a coveted spot on the list.