Subscribe to CommentsMy top ten films for each year of the 2000s. These are always up for revision as I watch more films, revisit ones I’ve seen before, and think about them over time. The films as listed in the “Best of Year” section are held fast at the end of the year (and include a listing of all films I saw that year as well as films released that year).
Oh, and I don’t really believe in top “ten” lists, despite using the common nomenclature for the title of this page. This is going to be the top several films of each year, down to whatever point I think the films stop being worthy of inclusion. Might be eight one year, might be twenty-three another.
2009
- Inglourious Basterds
- Fish Tank
- I Killed My Mother
- Up in the Air
- Black Dynamite
- The Secret in Their Eyes
- An Education
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
- (500) Days of Summer
- Tucker and Dale vs. Evil
- A Town Called Panic
- Mother
- Agora
- The Myth of the American Sleepover
- Broken Embraces
- A Serious Man
- Thirst
- The White Ribbon
- The Fantastic Mr. Fox
- The Loved Ones
- Antichrist
- Moon
- Splice
- It Might Get Loud
- Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench
- The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
- The Girlfriend Experience
- Kawasaki’s Rose
- Sin Nombre
- Up
- Bright Star
TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
A Prophet
Mary & Max
The Road
Ip Man
35 Shots of Rum
2008
- Wall-E
- Rachel Getting Married
- Vicky Cristina Barcelona
- Revolutionary Road
- Speed Racer
- Let the Right One In
- Revanche
- The Dark Knight
- The Good, the Bad, the Weird
- Terribly Happy
- Slumdog Millionaire
- Frozen River
- Burn After Reading
- Iron Man
- Tell No One
- Cloverfield
- The Square
- In Bruges
- Sleep Dealer
- Doubt
- Transsiberian
TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
The Wrestler
Man on Wire
Hunger
Bronson
Waltz with Bashir
2007
- No Country for Old Men
- 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days
- The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
- Hot Fuzz
- The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
- Planet Terror
- Black Snake Moan
- Away from Her
- My Winnipeg
- Ratatouille
- 28 Weeks Later
- Gone Baby Gone
- The Orphanage
- Eastern Promises
- Juno
- The Savages
- 3:10 to Yuma
- I’m Not There
- Zodiac
- Sunshine
- The Host
- [Rec]
- Across the Universe
- Atonement
- Waitress
- Enchanted
- The Lookout
TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
Death Proof
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
Control
Shotgun Stories
La Vie en Rose
2006
- Pan’s Labyrinth
- Once
- INLAND EMPIRE
- The Fountain
- Thank You for Smoking
- The Lives of Others
- Paris, je t’aime
- Volver
- Marie Antoinette
- Children of Men
- Notes on a Scandal
- Hard Candy
- Casino Royale
- Little Children
- The Departed
- The Fall
- The Prestige
- 49 Up
- Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story
- District B13
- Red Road
TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
Letters from Iwo Jima
United 93
12:08 East of Bucharest
Syndromes and a Century
Day Watch
2005
- Brick
- The New World
- The Squid and the Whale
- The Constant Gardener
- Good Night, and Good Luck.
- Batman Begins
- Serenity
- Pride & Prejudice
- Howl’s Moving Castle
- Sophie Scholl: The Final Days
- A History of Violence
- Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
- Transamerica
- Mr. and Mrs. Smith
- The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
- Look at Me
- Sin City
- Dear Frankie
- Breakfast on Pluto
- Match Point
TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
Lady Vengeance
Kung Fu Hustle
C.R.A.Z.Y.
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
No Direction Home
2004
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
- Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair
- Shaun of the Dead
- Before Sunset
- Downfall
- Kill Bill, Vol. 2
- The Incredibles
- Mean Girls
- Garden State
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Maria Full of Grace
- House of Flying Daggers
- Primer
- Collateral
- A Very Long Engagement
- Hero
- Layer Cake
TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
2046
Tropical Malady
The Motorcycle Diaries
Team America: World Police
3-Iron
2003
- Kill Bill, Vol. 1
- Lost in Translation
- A Tale of Two Sisters
- Dogville
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
- Whale Rider
- Love Actually
- Memories of Murder
- Goodbye, Lenin!
- City of God
- The Station Agent
- The Triplets of Belleville
- Oldboy
- The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
- The Animatrix
- 21 Grams
- The Cooler
- School of Rock
- I’m Not Scared
- Finding Nemo
- Spellbound
- Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring
- Once Upon a Time in Mexico
- American Splendor
Top Five Yet To See
The Fog of War
Bubba Ho-Tep
The Barbarian Invasions
To Be and To Have
Time of the Wolf
2002
- Adaptation.
- Catch Me if You Can
- Minority Report
- The Hours
- Talk to Her
- Road to Perdition
- Punch Drunk Love
- Resident Evil
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
- Secretary
- Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
- The Importance of Being Earnest
- Brotherhood of the Wolf
- Chicago
- 28 Days Later
- 24 Hour Party People
- The Bourne Identity
- Spider-Man
TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
Infernal Affairs
Solaris
The Pianist
Irreversible
The Twilight Samurai
2001
- Mulholland Drive
- The Royal Tenenbaums
- Amelie
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
- Moulin Rouge
- The Others
- The Devil’s Backbone
- Hedwig and the Angry Inch
- Waking Life
- Monsters Inc.
- Ocean’s Eleven
- The Princess and the Warrior
- Das Experiment
- Wit
- Gosford Park
- Spirited Away
- Lagaan
TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
A Beautiful Mind
Wet Hot American Summer
In the Bedroom
Ichi the Killer
Millennium Actress
2000
- O Brother Where Art Thou?
- In the Mood for Love
- Memento
- Almost Famous
- Snatch.
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
- Amores Perros
- Best in Show
- Bring It On
- Werckmeister Harmonies
- Pitch Black
- X-Men
- Charlie’s Angels
- Wonder Boys
- Traffic
- The Emperor’s New Groove
- Gladiator
- High Fidelity
- Dancer in the Dark
- The Claim
- Shadow of the Vampire
- Chicken Run
- Unbreakable
TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
Requiem for a Dream
American Psycho
Battle Royale
You Can Count on Me
Yi Yi: A One and a Two
