To quote “that little round-headed boy”:
This list means nothing, except to me. It’s a list of 50 movies that gave me pleasure over the past decade. I can say without reservation that I would watch any of these again. Would I say that all of them are great films, however great films are supposed to be defined? Probably not. But that’s nothing you need to worry about. Because it’s my list.
1. Mulholland Drive
2. Zodiac
3. Offside
4. Mean Girls
5. The Hoax
6. The Darjeeling Limited
7. Shopgirl
8. Death Proof
9. Ghost Town
10. Punch-Drunk Love
11. The Rookie
12. Secretary
13. The Royal Tenenbaums
14. School of Rock
15. The Aviator
16. The Great Debaters
17. Rocky Balboa
18. Fireworks Wednesday
19. Stranger Than Fiction
20. About a Boy
21. (500) Days of Summer
22. Half Moon
23. 8 Mile
24. No Country For Old Men
25. Master and Commander
26. Gosford Park
27. Sin City
28. Zack and Miri Make a Porno
29. There Will Be Blood
30. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
31. Lost in Translation
32. Public Enemies
33. The Door in the Floor
34. Something’s Gotta Give
35. The Day I Became a Woman
36. A Prairie Home Companion
37. The Lives of Others
38. Bend It Like Beckham
39. The Wrestler
40. Moulin Rouge
41. Erin Brockovich
42. Kwik Stop
43. Shattered Glass
44. Match Point
45. Miracle
46. Adaptation
47. Where the Wild Things Are
48. Thirst
49. Bring It On
50. Blue Crush
Has an informal meme begun? Some titles I am not familiar with, and some that I may have to look into as time, and my Netflix queue permit.
I am so with you on so many of these. I think we’ve discussed our shared love of Punch-Drunk Love a few times.
I’ll tell you which movie I really wish I liked more – The Darjeeling Limited. I love everything Wes Anderson does. I spent the entire movie in anticipation. Just waiting for the moment that it hit me how much I was enjoying it. By the end, I finally realized that I didn’t. Oh well.
But Ghost Town! Death Proof! Sin City! Oh yeah!
Peter – Informal memes are the best kind, right?? Interested to see your list – which ones here haven’t you seen?
Cullen – Ghost Town – just so WONDERFUL. I’m sure I’m forgetting some.
Really looking forward to Fantastic Mr. Fox – For me, Darjeeling Limited was an emotional roller coaster. I was devastated by it, and found it transcendent. The whole sibling thing … it just got me right where it hurts!
You know, I’ve never seen “8 Mile”. Chrisanne saw it and really loved it. I need to see this thing.
Alex – Thank God Curtis Hanson directed – he got into the style and grit of that world, and kept the cliches to a minimum. Ultimately, it’s a sports-formula movie – like Rocky or something – with rap as the sport.
He’s terrific in it. And his group of friends are just awesome. Michael Shannon’s in it too!
Shit, I should have put Grizzly Man on here.
Also The Piano Teacher.
Oh well. Moving on!!
I’ve only seen 23 of these movies! But I’ve seen School of Rock about twenty times, so I feel like that should be factored into my average ;) This list is like a fun new “suggestions to add to my netflix que” list. Oh, but it makes me want to rent Punch-Drunk Love first — such a fantastic movie.
Also, it’s so strange to realize that all of these movies are from the last ten years! It feels like some of them are so much older than that…like, I was a whole other person when I saw that movie, that was an entirely different life, how could it not have been DECADES AGO???
I refuse to accept the legitimacy of this list until I hear that you have seen ‘Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny’ which now is rivaling ‘Citizen Kane’ on most Greatest Film of All Time Lists.
Erik – I know, some of these feel way older to me – Bring It on? Really?? It feels like, uhm, I have always known that movie by heart
Erik – I’d love to hear your list!
And I’ve seen School of Rock about 25 times too! Many of these are in almost constant rotation in my life. Mulholland Drive and Zodiac definitely. Stranger Than Fiction, Eternal Sunshine, Offside – I usually pop those in and watch at least PART of them, on average, once a month
I am incapable of watching School of Rock without being reduced to a bubbling mess of tears. It’s the moment when the parents are in the crowd watching their kids realizing how talented they are. That gets the tears going every time.
Okay, I’m going to make my own list! Fun.
I think my favorite moment is when he realizes the fat girl in the class can sing like Aretha Franklin. His FACE as he watches her!!
YES. He is SO GOOD in that movie. And I love how he uses Stevie Nicks to loosen up Joan Cusack. (WHY DOESN’T SHE HAVE A HUGE JULIA ROBERTS TYPE CAREER?)
My favorite moment in ‘School of Rock’ is when he zeroes in on the guitar player and asks him what he would say to a bully, having just witnessed his father giving him a hard time in the parking lot.
Chokes me up EVERY TIME.
Love ‘School of Rock’. It’s one of those performances that gets taken for granted, “Oh, he’s just being Jack Black.”
Um, and?
One of those parts where you simply can’t imagine anyone else nailing it quite that way. So good.
Oh Bren! I love that moment too! And you KNOW that he started that exercise in class because he had seen that kid being basically bullied by his dad before school – so he honed right in on him in class …
TEARS!!!!
I also love when he hears that kid’s song that he wrote.
The camera movement even supports this…Linklater is amazing.
Here’s my (unranked) contribution:
1. Together
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
3. Donnie Darko
4. The Wrestler
5. The Station Agent
6. Rachel Getting Married
7. The Others
8. The Lord of the Rings:The Fellowship of the Ring
9. The Others
10. The Visitor
11. Breach
12. The Savages
13. I’m Not There
14. I Heart Huckabees
15. Y Tu Mama Tambien
16. Volver
17. Gosford Park
18. Far From Heaven
19. You Can Count On Me
20. Lost in Translation
21. In The Mood For Love
22. Moulin Rouge!
23. Dancer in the Dark
24. Mean Girls
25. Best in Show
26. The Emperor’s New Groove
27. Requiem for a Dream
28. Zodiac
29. There Will Be Blood
30. The Bourne Identity
31. Cache
32. The Hours
34. Pieces of April
35. A Prairie Home Companion
36. 13 Going on 30
37. Synecdoche, New York
38. (500) Days of Summer
39. Jindabyne
40. Time Code
41. The Squid and the Whale
42. Adaptation
43. Children of Men
44. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days
45. The Devil Wears Prada
46. Wall-E
47. Milk
48. Brick
49. Up
50. Monster House
I dashed off that list far too quickly, but it’s a fairly okay survey of my taste in the decade, I think. I’ll wake up tomorrow kicking myself I didn’t mention film XY or Z, but that’s the nature of the beast.
Catherine, I am so glad someone else loves ‘The Emperor’s New Groove’. What a fun movie!
Great list, Sheila. I forgot MIRACLE, and that was great!
Catherine – great list – I saw some on yours that I wish I had put on mind. The Others!! Volver!
Hi Sheila:
Here is what I haven’t seen:
Thirst
Where the Wild Things Are
Kwik Stop
Public Enemies
Zack and Miri make a Porno
Half Moon
500 Days of Summer
Fireworks Wednesday
Rocky Balboa
Great Debaters
The Rookie
Mean Girls
“Thirst” is on my rental queue, and a couple of others will be added when the DVDs are available. I was going to see “Thirst” theatrically, but it disappeared after only one week.
My own list would mostly be films starring Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and/or Maggie Cheung, starting the decade with “In the Mood for Love” and ending with my choice of best film for 2009, “Red Cliff” (the five hour version).
Peter – I managed to see Thirst in the one or two weeks it was out here in New York. I thought it was maybe 35 minutes too long – I actually had an internal stopwatch that went off at a certain moment – I could almost FEEL it happen – but other than that, I really enjoyed it. Especially the acting – which was just so my “type” of acting. Character-driven, humorous, passionate – and the transformation the lead girl goes through is just stunning. I really liked it.
Judging from my list, I think it’s obvious that I have a soft spot for “sports formula movies”. The Great Debaters is one of the most satisfying movies in that regard that I have seen in a long LONG time. To me, that whole film was a slam DUNK. I own it.
Haven’t seen Red Cliff – I will certainly rectify that.
Oh, and I also love Iranian films and see as much of them as I can. Half Moon KILLED ME.
Great list! Sometimes I wish I could that type of person who can see a movie once and remember it clearly. And it can even be a favorite they recall easily. But I can’t, when I love a movie I have to devour it. I’m nearly austistic in my movie watching, watching it over and over. Until I’m sick of it and let it rest for a while until the obsession comes back.
Brendan: Emperor’s New Groove! Eartha Kitt’s voice work in that is so good, so wicked, so funny. All of my friends who’ve never seen it are like “…really?” and I’m like “YES”.
Sheila: My apologies, I thought I’d actually written a previous comment about your own list but I think I accidentally deleted it. I wouldn’t want to come off as if I’m just barging in here with my own list without commenting on yours! There’s huge chunks of stuff there I haven’t seen, or didn’t like, or films where something seemed off to me about it – Ghost Town, for instance. I haven’t actually seen it, but the trailers did nothing for me and I dislike Ricky Gervais. You putting it on the list and others commenting on it has piqued my interest slightly more. What did you like about it so much? Love the slightly left-of-centre suggestions, too: Shattered Glass, The Aviator, About a Boy all nearly made my list too, and they’re not really the ‘obvious’ choices. (Actually, I notice I have The Others on there twice. Sub in any of those instead!)
Catherine – I’m a Gervais fan, so factor that in – I’m biased. But I just LOVED everyone in the film, and really feel like that film captured some of the energy and sweetness and mania of movies of the 1930s and 40s. It’s based loosely on the Topper movies (Cary Grant was in the first one) – and it was such a refreshing movie: moving, and yet HILARIOUS as well. Greg Kinnear was terrific – the scenes with him and Gervais are often laugh out loud funny – and Tea Leoni’s performance just makes me realize how under-utilized she really is, and if she had been acting in the 30s and 40s she would have been a giant star. I just loved it!
And about Shattered Glass: I thought Hayden Christensen was so unbelievably terrible in the Star Wars movies that I almost didn’t see the movie, despite my fascination for that story in general – and also my love of Peter Sarsgaard. Imagine my surprise – when Christensen was pretty damn brilliant in that movie, and brilliant is not a word I use often. I thought he was brilliant, capturing the easy charm of the sociopath, and how often people are fooled by such people. And his journey down, as his lies are discovered – when the mask that he had so carefully crafted was ripped off – I thought he played that panic so well. I thought it was a really good movie – with good performances all around (loved Sarsgaard, and Chloe Sevigny) – but I thought Christensen was unbelievable.
Thanks for posting your list, Sheila. It prompted me to put one up on my blog, too!
Larry – thanks for starting this fun “meme”. I loved Miracle and thought Kurt Russell gave one of his best performances (although who can really choose?) It was certainly one of the best acting jobs done by an actor that year. Strange, how it flew under the radar. It STILL is powerful to me, and I’m one of those geeks obsessed with the 1980 US Olympic hockey story. So I feel strangely proprietary about that story. I felt they did an awesome job. I loved all the young actors too.
Hey, I noticed the little bitchy comment some “Anonymous” person left on your site about Speed Racer.
#1. Isn’t it interesting and typical how people like that always remain Anonymous? It’s rather pathetic.
#2. Also: look at how they are trying to play “gotcha” with you, as in: You didn’t like THIS movie but you liked Speed Racer? “Strange”. As though personal taste needs to be consistent. Huh? I truly do not understand that viewpoint, although I come across it a lot. I loved Blue Crush and I also loved There Will Be Blood, and I see no reason to try to justify how BOTH of those movies are on the same list. It’s personal taste.
People are so weird!
Also, I think that Speed Racer will be one of those movies that just gains traction as the years go by. Enough intuitive people really liked it and stood up for it (you and Dennis C. come to mind) – that I think it will be one of those movies where its reputation slowly starts to grow.
Anyway, lots of fun.
I actually just saw Observe and Report yesterday and would like to add that to my list!
Jessica – I totally relate to that autistic thing you describe. It’s like a fever that needs to break, or a hunger that needs to be satisfied. There are a couple of movies out there that I still can’t go back to, not yet, because I went so over the top in my watching that I need to step back from it. Moulin Rouge is one.
I actually just saw Zack and Miri Make a Porno a couple weeks ago – and was so taken with it that I’ve seen it three or four times all the way through since. It SATISFIES something in me, and I’m not sure what it is – it’s funny, touching, raunchy, and intelligent. I haven’t gone QUITE as insane over it as I did over Moulin Rouge (or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) – but I’m getting there!
Hey Cullen – if you’re still out there, I’d love to see your list too.
This is fun!
Donnie Darko is one of the best movies I have ever seen! LOVE IT!!
Also, Toy Story and Shrek- classics, if you ask me… but you haven’t. Ah well-hahaha!!
It’s definitely like a fever that you’re trying to break for me. I had to try this, here’s mine http://ruby-stevens.livejournal.com/41438.html it was a stark reminder how little I go to the movies and how most of my rentals are at least 20 years old. Still in doing it it gave me a whole bunch of movies I really want to see again.
I love your lists Sheila. You have such un-snobby choices. And I totally agree with you on Hayden Christensen. My friends and I have often discussed how awful he was in Star Wars (we are dweebs of the Star Wars marathon variety) but he really was so wonderful in Shattered Glass. Can’t resist making my own list…
1.Almost Famous
2.Lost in Translation
3.The Brothers Bloom
4.Walk the Line
5.Pride and Prejudice
6.Million Dollar Baby
7.The Lord of the Rings (the trilogy as a whole)
8.Marie Antoinette
9.Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
10.The Hours
11.Volver
12.The Royal Tenenbaums
13.Juno
14.The Departed
15.Waitress
16.Babel
17.She’s the Man
18.Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
19.The Pianist
20.The Devil Wears Prada
21.Far from Heaven
22.Casino Royale
23.High Fidelity
24.Bridget Jones’s Diary
25.No Country for Old Men
26.Wedding Crashers
27.Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
28.Center Stage
29.The Others
30.Chicago
31.There Will be Blood
32.Moulin Rouge!
33.Gladiator
34.Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
35.Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
36.School of Rock
37.Finding Nemo
38.House of Sand and Fog
39.Requiem for a Dream
40.Amélie
41.Spirited Away
42.Shattered Glass
43.Girl with a Pearl Earring
44.The Aviator
45.House of Flying Daggers
46.Brokeback Mountain
47.King Kong
48.Little Miss Sunshine
49.Pan’s Labyrinth
50.The Savages
I really wanted to put Mammia Mia! on the list too. I really lost my mind with that one. I love it to an embarrassing degree. I often put it on as ‘background music’ and I never get tired of it.
I will say that even though I hold you personally responsible for ruining the film versions of “No Country for Old Men” and “There Will Be Blood” for me (because of reading the books based on your reviews…), I WILL be at the theater this Friday for the opening of “The Road”!
“Thank You” for Sheila!
Oooh I love this list…so many I haven’t seen. I concur with some of these seeming much older than 10 (or less) years. I never would have remembered that Moulin Rouge wasn’t from the ’90s. I would love to see you do a post on Mulholland Drive. What a great film!
I agree with SO many of these…I think the rest are just ones I haven’t seen that I need to add to my Netflix queue.
Also- saw this website today and totally thought of you. The Legends gallery is really cool. http://www.mptvimages.com
What I meant to say was… Thank You for “THAT” Sheila! (i.e. introducing me to Cormac McCarthy)
Mark – I am so thrilled to hear that my writing might have introduced you to Cormac McCarthy. This is awesome!!
Looking forward (with worried anticipation) to The Road, although I have to say – just judging from some of the shots I’ve seen – they’re on the right track, at least with the look and feel of it.
Fingers crossed!!
Hey Sheila, here’s just a little more McCarthy I thought you might enjoy…
Immediately after finishing “The Road” a couple years ago and talking to Alex, my 14 year old son (at the time) about it, he decided “he” wanted to read it as well. Now this may seem trivial to most but Alex really struggled academically and was only reading at about a 4th grade level at the time. He started reading and we started talking. Virtually everyday for over a month we would talk about what he had read that day. He would ask for definitions, give me his “professional opinion” and just generally share with me his thoughts about the unnamed father and son’s journey through a post apocalyptic world.
That book was much more than just the first book he ever read… it was the first book he ever “enjoyed”… and that is what made the difference!
The other day as he was preparing for school he asked if he could borrow a book for a new assignment. I told him to just go into my room and take whatever he wanted. As he walked out the door, I noticed a familiar looking paperback with a brown design on the cover… the book he had grabbed was “Suttree”.
I hope that some day Alex might look back and reflect on these things in a manner similar as you have with your father Sheila. For now though I get to just enjoy spending an afternoon at the movies with him, watching the premiere of a movie made from the very first book he ever read.
The things we do, write and say. The decisions we make today ARE tomorrow’s memories. All we can try and do is pass it along and attempt to make them “good” memories. You never know when something we do or say might make that difference. Yours did!
Great list…played this game at work one night a few months ago. Gonna have to take a minute to put my list to paper, too….
Here’s my list of the greatest films ev…um..naw, just some favs, that’s all.
We match a few, sheila. How about that. :)
Just one movie which has been omitted. As we all know Rourke did a great job in “The Wrestler”, and I love this guy. Still I think the movie itself is somehow underrated and I truly believe it deserves the highest prise. It’s hard to place “The Wrestler” on any top..something, because it’s unique. As someone said “it promises nothing but delivers everything”.
Resurrection of M.Rourke wouldn’t be possible without Aronofsky, Not just because of Aronofsky talent, it was,in many ways,a perfect match: youngish director who grew up admiring Rourke and wanted to make a movie with him and for him.
Sheila,I’d love to read your review of “The Wrestler” someday.
I like this site very much.
ciao
Piotr (Poland)
Piotr – As I stated from the get-go, this is my list, and I chose not to include The Wrestler. I did not “omit” it. You may have a different list – that’s fine. This is MY list.
Here’s a piece I wrote about Mickey Rourke:
http://www.thehousenextdooronline.com/2008/12/gone-away-come-back-mickey-rourke.html
You’ll have to rewrite your list in a year from now, since the final year of the first decade of the 21st century is 2010. Remember, since there was no year zero, the first century was the 100 years from 1 to 100. Likewise, the 21st century is the years 2001-2100, and the first decade of that century is the first 10 of those years, 2001-2010.