This is more of a response to a challenge than anything else. One of my buddies posted his top 100 on facebook the other day, with the top ten being separated out. It took me a minute to realize the significance of this; It’s been a freaking DECADE since 2000?!?!! My mind is blown. So, Nick, I accept your challenge, and present to you my own. And for everyone else reading, hopefully you will feel just as challenged to rack your brain and come up with a list.
I feel like this should go without saying amongst fellow geeks, but just to clarify; My opinions are completely subjective. When compiling this list, I went first with my gut instinct. Which films have made me the happiest, essentially. Far From Heaven and Inglourious Basterds are masterpieces of technical virtuosity, but they leave me kind of cold. Hence, not on the list. Do I think you’re wrong for liking those movies? No! I like those movies too. They’re just not my favorites.
So, in keeping with the preset rules, I will do my top ten in order, then the other ninety in alphabetical. Mmmm-k? Here goes:
1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
2. Y Tu Mama Tambien
3. High Fidelity
4. Gangs Of New York
5. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
6. School Of Rock
7. Shaun Of The Dead
8. Dogville
9. Lilo & Stitch
10. The Departed
11. About a Boy
12. Adventureland
13. American Psycho
14. Apocalypto
15. Art School Confidential
16. Audition
17. Bad Boys II
18. Bad Santa
19. Battle Royale
20. Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead
21. Bloody Sunday
22. Brokeback Mountain
23. Broken Flowers
24. Cabin Fever
25. Children Of Men
26. Collateral
27. Dancer In The Dark
28. The Devil’s Backbone
29. Dirty Pretty Things
30. Drag Me To Hell
31. Dreamgirls
32.Edmond
33. Elephant
34. Fat Girl
35. Find Me Guilty
36. Gone Baby Gone
37. The Good Shepherd
38. The Good Thief
39. Grindhouse
40. Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle
41. Harry Potter and the Chamber Of Secrets
42. A HIstory Of Violence
43. Hulk
44. Hunger
45.Hustle & Flow
46. Idiocracy
47. In Bruges
48. In The Loop
49. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
50. Infernal Affairs
51. The King Of Kong: A Fistful Of Quarters
52. Kinsey
53. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
54. Let The Right One In
55. The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring
56. Lust, Caution
57. Man On Wire
58. Manderlay
59. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
60. Match Point
61. The Matrix Reloaded
62. May
63. Memento
64. Michael Clayton
65. Million Dollar Baby
66. Munich
67. Mystic River
68. The New World
69. No Country For Old Men
70. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
71. Oldboy
72. The Others
73. Pan’s Labyrinth
74. The Passion of the Christ
75. Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl
76. Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dean Man’s Chest
77. The Proposition
78. Pumpkin
79. Punch-Drunk Love
80. The Queen
81. Revolutionary Road
82. Russian Ark
83. Saw
84. A Serious Man
85. Sideways
86. The Simpsons Movie
87. Son Of Rambow
88. Spartan
89. Speed Racer
90. Spider-Man
91. Spirited Away
92. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
93. Taking Woodstock
94. There Will Be Blood
95. Tideland
96. Unbreakable
97. Unleashed
98. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
99. Where The Wild Things Are
100. X-Men
You might ask; why now? Why not wait until the decade is actually over? Well, Avatar might blow my balls off, it’s true. But, then again, maybe I’ll be amazed by some movie from 2003 that I’ve never got around to watching. And, like I said, the gauntlet was thrown.