Here it is, my top 10 movies from the years 2000 to 2009, in the order of the year they were released:
1. “Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003)
2. "Kill Bill, Vol. 1", "Kill Bill, Vol. 2" (2003/2004)
3. "The Lizard (Marmoulak)" (2004)
4. "Star Wars: Episode 3 - Revenge of the Sith" (2005)
5. "Grizzly Man" (2005)
6. "United 93" (2006)
7. "Persepolis" (2007)
8. "WALL-E" (2008)
9. "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (2008)
10. "Avatar" (2009)
Agree? Disagree? Waiting for your top 10s ... or for your attacks!
(PS: Sorry Marty! Sorry Clint!)
I have not seen some of the movies in your list but my top 10 movies of the decade, in no particular order are-
ReplyDelete1. Gladiator
2. Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the ring (After seeing this movie, you can pretty much guess the sequels)
3. Crash
4. No Country for Old Men- had me scared for a few days- the only other movie that had such an effect on me was Friday the 13th- I was 14 then!
5. Elizabeth- I love history
6. The Majestic
7. 27 dresses ( don't know why but I watched it every time I saw it on cable)
8. Finding Nemo- Watching this movie on Father's day with my kids is an unforgettable moment of my life!
9. Wall- E
10. A beautiful mind
I am sure, I am missing some really good movies but I tried to come up with the ones that impacted me in some way.
Hi Kaleem! Welcome back!
ReplyDeleteWow ... "27 Dresses". I haven't seen it yet, worried that it might be a chick-flick. Now you've made it mandatory for me.
BTW, I like Jim Carrey's drama movies ("Truman Show", "Man on the Moon", "The Majestic") much more than his comedies. I don't know why they're so cruel to him when he dares to think out of the box (although "23" was terrible).
Thanks for dropping by! Do so more often! ;-)
hi! It was such a difficult job to select just 10, my list was about 30 items but here is final top10:
ReplyDelete1-Memento (2000)
2-The Cell(2000)
3-Pianist(2002)
4-Irreversible(2002)->horrifying camera/subject
5-Dogville(2003)-> I've seen 4 times!!
6-The butterfly effect(2004)
7-Hard Candy(2005)-> I will never forget the face of her!
8-Goya's Ghosts (2006)
9-Premonition(2007)
10-The curious case of Benjamin Button(2008)
Avatar? In the top ten of the decade????? Mo, you have obviously overdosed on repeats of "Hannah Montana". However, not even my twelve year old thinks Avatar is a great movie. Good, but not great. In fact, it is not one of the ten best movies of the MONTH. You have confused technical expertise with good film making. One would think that if you were going to spend 300 million on a movie it would at least have an original plot. O.K. if not original, how about decent? The plot of that movie is stock, Hollywood crap. There is not one unique or interesting character and NOTHING unexpected happens. Our six-year-old neighbor made a movie about Max the turtle in her backyard. I'll send you a print. It is more interesting than Avatar...
ReplyDeleteDear Niloofar,
ReplyDeleteCan you believe in the crazy difficult task of excluding my favorite movies, "Irreversible" was in my top 15? It got dropped off in the last minute. Rarely has a movie troubled me to this extent.
Dear Heatshock,
ReplyDeleteBoy ... I sure have touched a nerve here.
Well, of course a Bush-lover would be an Avatar-hater. With all its anti-war message, all its "shock and awe" ridicule, all its "We'll answer terror with terror", of course some would be fidgeting in their seats.
I used to give long lectures to Persian friends, to not hate the movie "300" for its stance against ancient Persia - to not mix the fun of movies with the negativity of politics. Does this mean I have to give the same lecture here again?
;-)
If I were to name the top movie of decade, "Avatar" would definitely be in the top 3. If you put aside the confounding factors that are blurring your view, it's not very difficult to see why it's a revolutionary milestone in filmmaking.
It's so hard for me to pick only 10 from among so many good movies -- and by good I mean movies that, regardless of their cinematic value, I've enjoyed and/or have made me think -- in the past 10 years. In any case, in order of year of release, my list would include (besides some of the movies in your list):
ReplyDeleteHannibal (2001)
Ocean's Eleven (2001)
Crash (2004)
Ushpizin (2004)
Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
Munich (2005)
Syriana (2005)
Borat (2006)
The Departed (2006)
The Dark Knight (2008)
Star Trek (2009)
So I guess that would make Ridley Scott my favorite director?
And I also guess I can't count! You can drop Ushpizin.
ReplyDeleteI like your bravery in calling "Hannibal" one of your favorites. Even though critics trashed it, I loved it too, as much as the other two Lecter episodes.
ReplyDelete"Ushpizin"? Not only I haven't seen it, I haven't even heard of it! What a huge sin. It's on instant viewing on Netflix. I should be seeing it soon. Thanx.
Dear Mohsen
ReplyDeletein irriversible there are too many thing to say,the contradiction of love and violence, what may happen in a sudden mistaken dicision,what does revenge mean and how useful it would be,who are these peopel in the world and what are they exactly looking for...... the film techniques were extremely good but it realy trouble me too
P.S: I just droped in to say that I've watched "Antichrist" right now and I'm completely confused :-(
The narrative creativity that impressed me the most in "Irreversible", was that at the end of the movie (or at the beginning of the story!), it shows what a lovely life this couple had before the shocking events of the night. Obviously if the movie had been narrated in its correct chronological order, the final scenes wouldn't have had such an impact. Very creative.
ReplyDeletePS: Hope to see "Antichrist" on DVD here soon. They showed it in the theaters here during a very short period, and I missed it. A friend of mine who watched it at the Cannes Film Festival last year, said he was so disgusted, he walked out in the middle.
Oh, my God ! I’m so behind…absent here for 2 weeks because of “Sopranos”! Still in the middle series , i need a break for updating in the movies! but : Viva Sopranos!
ReplyDeleteI loved second trilogy of Star wars same as first series and Avatar is a good choice .I couldn't find "Grizzly man" after months yet! Some movies strangely are scarce here.
So…after a glimpse to Oscar nominees I got my 9 movies and now after exclusion of "No country for old men" & "x-men" and cheating your list , finally I chose "Persepolis" .Really I’ve never experienced such as great feeling while watching our generation’s story on the screen , even as an animation.
Happy for being loyal to Marty! ,having strong feeling for "Irreversible" and one of the best scene I have ever seen was that conversation in the bus ,between 2 men & girl, very memorable!
After “Antichrist”, like Niloofar I became confused too,it irritated my nerves badly, waiting for your idea.
1.Gladiator (2000)
2. A beautiful mind (2001)
3. Mystic river ( 2003)
4.. Kill Bill vol (1) , (2) ( 2003/2004)
5.Finding Neverland(2004)
6.Crash (2005)
7. Departed ( 2006 )
8. Persepolis (2007)
9. Atonement (2007)
10.Slumdog millionaire(2008)
We'll definitely get someone to deliver the captivating "Grizzly Man" to Iran ...
ReplyDeleteHere's my list (I might have missed some movies but it's hard to remember all the movies you liked in the last 10 years):
ReplyDelete1. Lord of the Rings Trilogy
2. The Dark Knight
3. Star Wars Episode 3 - The Return of the Sith
4. Kill Bill (1/2)
5. Avatar
6. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
7. Gladiator
8. Wall-E
9. The Incredibles
10. Casino Royal
And some more that should have made the list if I could cheat:
Amelie
Good Night and Good Luck
Pan's Labyrinth
Juno
Sideways
Irreversible
Fahrenheit 9/11
Sicko
Footnote:
1. I gotta see Hidden (Cache). It's on top of many lists that I visited to refresh my memory of the movies of the last 10 years.
2. Lord of the Rings (all three) are my (almost) most favorite movie of all time (The first is Star Wars but just barely)
Dear Armin,
ReplyDeleteI have no question about your main top 10, but your second top 10 is almost a collection of movies I never figured out why they became so popular (I'm talking about "Amelie", "Good Night and Good Luck", "Pan's Labyrinth", and "Sideways").
Don't get me wrong; the superiority of "Juno", "Irreversible", and "Fahrenheit 9/11" are obvious to me. But I have to be honest with you: I hated "Sicko".
You must see "Cache"!!! Beautiful movie. But stay away from Haneke's other film, "Funny Games". Stay away at all costs.
Dear Mehdi,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the list, but I guess you posted your top 10 of all time. How about your top 10 of the past decade? (2000-2009)
Yes... the captivating "Grizzly Man" delivered to Iran by kind-hearted people's effort!
ReplyDeletelet's talk about this , more than 100 words!
Since , I’m not familiar enough with “documentary genre” and definitely was not fan of that, this movie was an unique experience for me . On the other hand, I was shattered!
I couldn’t believe at first what I saw through the film, is entirely true and there is no sign of actor and performance at all …what I saw was just a naked truth about a man who died simply because of his love, because of his belief.
The romantic aspect of story was totally fascinating .In spite of being a serious audience of any romantic concept in movies including any kind of presentation in any genre, the degree of devotion and faithfully in love presented by his girl was unbelievable and in the other words shocking for me. I can’t omit the face of Timothy Treadwell and his strange story from my mind ,ever. The movie deserves to be one of the best works of decade and perhaps ever been made . Honesty when you aware of existing such type of works in cinema, other movies based on play & action doesn’t seem artificial,somehow ?!
Looking forward to hearing your comment.
Dear Maryam,
ReplyDeleteYou may be interested to read the review I wrote on "Grizzly Man", in the old version of Mo-Blog, four years ago:
***
"Grizzly Man"
Director and Narrator: Werner Herzog. 103 minutes. 2005. Rated R.
I wish I had seen Grizzly Man just two weeks earlier, because I would have definitely placed it in my top 10 movies of 2005. I haven't been exposed to many of Werner Herzog's previous films, but whenever I have, I've been amazed at what a unique filmmaker he is.
As far as I know, a common theme in Herzog movies is the lone man who ignores the might of nature, and wants to overcome nature at the cost of his own life. In this case, consider an imaginary setting: suppose you know you're going to get killed in a few months, you know who or what will kill you, and you're not only indifferent towards your manner of death, you're enthusiastic about it too. You're equipped with a camcorder, and sent to a far off lonely place (where your killer awaites you), and you're given enough food and shelter to survive in this lonely place. You start recording your own daily activities, talking to the camera, waiting for the killer to show up sometime. What's the result? Grizzly Man.
That's the setting that the bear-lover Timothy Treadwell brought upon himself, whom after living for years among grizzly bears, was finally killed by one of them in 2003. He took up to 100 hours of footage of himself living in the Alaska wild among the bears, describing his day to day activities, and elaborating on his inner thoughts and most sincere feelings. The result is quite disturbing.
The documentary shows that Treadwell was an apparently "normal" person when he was living in an urban setting. But in the wild, he gives us hints why he ended up with such a lifestyle, and why he had no problem with the notion of getting ripped apart by a grizzly bear. Regardless of the fact that several times he mentions the possibility that he might get killed by the bears, when he sees humans sailing down the river towards his camp, he hides behind foliage, as though suffering from paranoia. Later he sees one of them had drawn a smiley face on a rock, and he interprets it as a sign that people are out to get him; clear signs of delusions of persecution. When he sees a dead animal, he starts weeping for its fate, in total denial of how life cycles in the wild are destined to be. We even see a few scenes of him crawling around like a bear, and friends say he would sometimes growl like bears too. If Treadwell wasn't overtly psychotic, he sure was getting there.
The film is narrated by Herzog's own gruff German accent. Ironically, last week I mentioned how March of the Penguins made use of Morgan Freeman's pleasant voice to make it more attractive. But in the case of Grizzly Man, by using his own voice, Herzog proves he hasn't the slightest intention of making his film more marketable to the public. That, and Treadwell's constant flow of words coming from the heart, is what makes the film exude with honesty, and that's what makes it much more attractive than a glamorized documentary such as March of the Penguins.
Interesting enough, when Treadwell was being torn apart by a grizzly bear, the sound of him screaming and moaning was accidentally recorded. That soundtrack is not included in the film. When Herzog was asked about the decision not to include those horrifying recordings in his film, he replied that the last thing he wanted to do was to make a snuff movie. When the death of the main character is the most crucial narrative point of a movie, rarely can I imagine a filmmaker resisting the unresistable temptation of including such soundtrack in his/her film.
But here, a much wiser filmmaker is calling the shots ...
Actually , I have a hard time to choose which Mo-Blog is better, comprehensive and entirely educational comments in Old or brief and useful notes in New! Is there possible to add an achieve here that you could include old Mo-Blog in there that whenever you refer us to specific movies or naming them, me and other friends could access to this valid collection at the same time? it would be wonderful!... BTW,Thanks for the comment.It was great.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good idea. I have to look if I can attach my old reviews as a "secondary" column to this blog. Thanks! I look into it.
ReplyDelete