The Absolute Best
These dozen or so are in order of importance. They are my picks for the best films released between 2000-2009.
1) There Will Be Blood
2) Enter The Void
3) Speed Racer
4) Oldboy
5) Taxidermia
6) Lord of the Rings
7) Caché
8) The Incredibles
9) Du Levande
10) George Washington
11) Kill Bill
12) No Country for Old Men
13) Happy Feet
14) Peter Pan
15) Unbreakable
Best Documentaries
Non fiction deserves its own category. I cannot approach these in the same way as fiction films, so neither can I rank them the same. Still, in many ways these films shaped me and changed my outlook on life just as much as any fictional work ever could.
Lake of Fire
Five Obstructions
Etre et Avoir
Gambling, Gods and LSD
Every Little Step
Encounters at The Ends of the World
Spellbound
Harvard Beats Yale, 29-29
Devil & Daniel Johnston
Why We Fight
Mondovino
Standing in the Shadows of Motown
2nd Tier
This next bunch are all just slightly out of the running for top status, but still represent some of my favourite film going experiences. They are in no particular order.
Pirates of the Carribean
Batman Begins
Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story
Finding Nemo
CQ
Gangster No. 1
The Man Who Wasn’t There
Sexy Beast
Primer
Bubble
Squid and the Whale
Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Penelope
Avatar
Where the Wild Things Are
A Serious Man
Valhalla Rising
Hunger
Pusher Trilogy
Irreversible
Divine Intervention
101 Reykjavik
La Pianiste
Mulholland Drive
The Devil’s Backbone
Lagaan
Chicken Rice War
State and Main
Redbelt
Shadow of the Vampire
Memento
Chopper
Amelie
Goodbye, Solo
The rest of the best
Here’s everything else I considered when making my list. Feel free to use all of these as a jumping off point for your own lists.
8 Women
School of Rock
A Mighty Wind
Dogville
A Dirty Shame
3-Iron
The Sea Inside
King Kong
Ratatouille
Synecdoche, New York
The Royal Tenenbaums
Gosford Park
About Schmidt
Far From Heaven
Mystic River
Anchorman
Sideways
Match Point
Inside Man
Children of Men
Notes on a Scandal
3:10 to Yuma
You can Count on Me
Lost in Translation
Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
The Savages
Star Trek
Inglorious Basterds
Howl’s Moving Castle
Disappearance of Alice Creed
Bunny & the Bull
Hipsters
Fish Tank
Deliver Us From Evil
C’est Pas Moi, Je Le Jure
Brothers Bloom
Flame and Citron
Boy A
The Visitor
The Substitute
Black Book
Princess
Sheitan
Dear Wendy
Ong Bak
Bad Education
The Alzheimer Case
Bend it Like Beckham
Aiki
Almost Famous
