The 100 Best Films from 2000-2009

In the last ten years Hollywood, many argue, sold out. They gave up with trying to say something besides providing people with eye candy (explosions, nudity, swearing) but I have to disagree.

Filmmakers like Boyle and Fincher still managed to make films that evoke the films of Hollywood's zenith: the Seventies. Middling budgets and wonderful scripts with real performances and meaning.

Documentaries became a mainstream cinematic art form. Michael Moore, Morgan Spurlock and James Marsh have all made films that broke through the art house crowd to give us something important albeit sometimes done for laughs before ever trying to give us a message.

Foreign cinema finally started to get a real market in the English speaking world. Pan's Labyrinth, City of God, Amelie, The Lives of Others all started to be seen by people who normally would never begin to consider a film in another language. Such is the brilliance of the decade.

So actually maybe Hollywood did sell out when the filmmakers and countries I have mentioned are not really associated with Hollywood. But then again filmmakers like Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, Kathryn Bigelow all operate within the studio system and make wonderful films. Here now though are my 100 best films of the decade just gone.


1. The Fellowship of the Ring (Jackson, 2001)
2. Wall.E (Stanton, 2008)
3. Serenity (Whedon, 2005)
4. A History of Violence (Cronenberg, 2005)
5. Pan’s Labyrinth (Del Toro, 2006)
6. Old Boy (Chan-Wook, 2004)
7. Shaun of the Dead (Wright, 2005)
8. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Gondry, 2004)
9. Almost Famous (Crowe, 2000)
10. Zodiac (Fincher, 2006)
11. The Return of the King (Jackson, 2003)
12. Little Miss Sunshine (Valeris and Dayton, 2005)
13. Collateral (Mann, 2004)
14. No Country for Old Men (Coen, 2007)
15. Gran Torino (Eastwood, 2008)
16. The Departed (Scorsese, 2006)
17. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Black, 2005)
18. The Dark Knight (Nolan, 2008)
19. The Two Towers (Jackson, 2002)
20. Knocked Up (Apatow, 2007)
21. In Bruges (McDonagh, 2008)
22. Minority Report (Spielberg, 2002)
23. Anchorman: The Ron Burgundy Story (McKay, 2004)
24. Spirited Away (Miyazaki, 2001)
25. Kingdom of Heaven: Director’s Cut (Scott, 2005)
26. Sin City (Rodriguez, 2005)
27. Sunshine (Boyle, 2007)
28. There Will Be Blood (Anderson, 2007)
29. Shrek (Adamson, 2001)
30. Juno (Reitman, 2007)
31. Coraline (Selick, 2009)
32. The Mist (Darabont, 2007)
33. Slither (Gunn, 2005)
34. Man on Fire (Scott, 2004)
35. Road to Perdition (Mendes, 2002)
36. Crash (Haggis, 2005)
37. Layer Cake (Vaughn, 2004)
38. Batman Begins (Nolan, 2005)
39. Amelie (Jeunet, 2001)
40. Hot Fuzz (Wright, 2006)
41. The Incredibles (Bird, 2004)
42. City of God (Meirelles, 2003)
43. The Prestige (Nolan, 2006)
44. Gone Baby Gone (Affleck, 2007)
45. Let The Right One In (Alfredson, 2009)
46. Lost in Translation (Coppola, 2003)
47. Team America (Parker, 2004)
48. Slumdog Millionaire (Boyle, 2009)
49. Changeling (Eastwood, 2008)
50. Children of Men (Cuaron, 2006)
51. Superbad (Mottola, 2007)
52. Infernal Affairs II (Lau/Mak, 2003)
53. Downfall (Hirschbiegel, 2004)
54. Sideways (Payne, 2005)
55. Black Hawk Down (Scott, 2001)
56. Chicken Run (Park, 2000)
57. Clerks II (Smith, 2005)
58. 30 Days of Night (Slade, 2007)
59. Bowling for Columbine (Moore, 2002)
60. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Dominik, 2007)
61. Munich (Spielberg, 2005)
62. Training Day (Fuqua, 2001)
63. Orange County (Kasdan, 2002)
64. Battle Royale (2000)
65. Ratatouille (Bird, 2007)
66. Phone Booth (Schumacher, 2003)
67. The Last Samurai (Zwick, 2003)
68. School of Rock (Linklater, 2003)
69. High Fidelity (Frears, 2000)
70. Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004)
71. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (Clooney, 2002)
72. Traffic (Soderbergh, 2000)
73. Wedding Crashers (Dobkin ,2005)
74. Thank You for Smoking (Reitman, 2005)
75. Unbreakable (Shyamalan, 2000)
76. Ocean’s Eleven (Soderbergh, 2001)
77. Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Park, 2005)
78. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (Smith, 2001)
79. Iron Man (Favreau, 2008)
80. The Lives of Others (von Donnersmarck, 2006)
81. From Hell (Hughes, 2001)
82. 8 Mile (Hanson, 2002)
83. Bad Santa (Zwigoff, 2003)
84. Panic Room (Fincher, 2002)
85. Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World (Weir, 2003)
86. Insomnia (Nolan, 2002)
87. Miami Vice (Mann, 2006)
88. The 40 Year Old Virgin (Apatow, 2005)
89. Constantine (Lawrence, 2005)
90. V For Vendetta (McTeigue, 2006)
91. Open Range (Costner, 2003)
92. Blood Diamond (Zwick, 2006)
93. The Wrestler (Aronofsky, 2008)
94. Good Night, and Good Luck (Clooney, 2005)
95. Signs (Shyamalan, 2002)
96. The Good Shepherd (DeNiro, 2006)
97. Spy Kids (Rodriguez, 2001)
98. In the Bedroom (Field, 2001)
99. Garden State (Braff, 2004)
100. Eden Lake (Watkins, 2008)