Ant Timpson { Filmhead }

FAVE 50 MOVIES OF THE DECADE

I hate making 'best of' lists about movies. The minute you do one, you're committed to stand behind it. You can tell I'm committed by the time and effort taken to photoshop my name on the graphic to the left!

I think when I read some peoples "Best Of" lists they always appear to include a few films that the compiler obviously thinks are necessary but probably weren't their favourites by a long shot. This is the pressure of making and standing behind lists. It reveals all your inadequacies but most of all, it highlights your extremely shitty taste.

The list below comes with a personal guarantee that all the movies impressed and stayed with me after I left the cinema. It's a pretty populist list. If I was more of a snob I'd have searched back through film festival websites to find obscure Iranian films that all the critics got woodies over and including them to make me appear smarter than I am.. but who am I kidding? No one would buy that bullshit from me.

There are a few filmmakers I have left off the list which is a shame but they didn't make great films in this decade.. I'm talking to you Scorsese and Cronenberg! Both made films that could easily appear on the list below but I'm keeping them off on principle and to be honest their films this decade just didn't stay with me.

In my youth I used to revisit films are lot. It wasn't uncommon to watch a film like 'The Wanderers' twenty times or more. These days with family life taking a precedence and having to watch films as a job, the days of multiple viewings are a thing of the past. Well exceptions to this rule are the sublime shitlficks that transcend their shittiness to become highly watchable works.. ie see Demon Cop. So films have to make an impact on first viewing. You can keep all those "Oh you have to see it three times to get it" comments to yourself.

I think it's been a pretty great decade for film. I'd say its probably the best since 1970-79. Some might find that sacrilegious as they're in love with the films of the 80s but to me there's no comparison between the two. The eighties represented excess and superficiality, its a fun cinema decade but by no means a great one. And the 90s simply sucked donkey dick in cinematic terms. So many one trick ponies regurgitating over each others styles. There were of course brilliant films made in both those decades but none would match my top ten of the 2000s.

I can say that because it's my list and my opinion.

Now I've shown you mine, now show me yours!

1. Irreversible (2001) Gasper Noe
2. Keane (2003) Lodge Kerrigan
3. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) Andrew Dominik
4. Cache (2005) Michael Haneke
5. Gerry (2002) Gus Van Sant
6. Battle Royale (Kinji Fukasaku, 2000)
7. Love Exposure (2008) Sion Sono
8. Wet Hot American Summer (2002) David Wain
9. Lantana (2001) & Jindabyne (2006)
Ray Lawrence
10. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) Michel Gondry
11. 25th Hour (2002) Spike Lee
12. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) Park Chan Woon
13. Dragonfly (2001) Marius Holst
14. Capturing the Friedmans (2004) Andrew Jarecki
15. No Country for Old Men (2007) Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
16. In My Skin (2002) Marina De Van
17. The Piano Teacher (2001) Michael Haneke
18. Mind Game (2004) Masaaki Yuasa
19. Inglourious Basterds (2009) Quentin Tarantino
20. Primer (2004) Shane Carruth
21. Raw Deal (2001) Billy Corben
22. Mulholland Drive (2001) David Lynch
23. City of God (Fernando Meirelles, Katia Lund, 2002)
24. The Room (2003) Tommy Wiseau
25. Audition (2001) Takashi Miike
26. Zodiac (2006) David Fincher
27. Chopper (2000) Andrew Dominik
28. AI (2001) Steven Spielberg
29. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter .. And Spring (2003) Ki-duk Kim
30. L.I.E (2001) Michael Cuesta
31. There Will Be Blood (2007) Paul Thomas Anderson
32. Bad Santa (2003) Terry Zwigoff
33. Amores Perros (2000) Alejandro González Iñárritu
34. United 93 (2006) Paul Greengrass
35. Open Range (2003) Kevin Costner
36. Half Nelson (2006) Ryan Fleck
37. Donnie Darko (2001) Richard Kelly
38. The Low Down (2000) Jamie Thraves
39. The Host (2006) Joon-ho Bong
40. Children of Men (2006) Alfonso Cuarón
41. C.R.A.Z.Y (2005) Jean-Marc Vallée
42. L’Enfant (2005) Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne
43. Ken Park (2003) Larry Clarke
44. Man On Wire (2008) James Marsh
45. The Prestige (2006) Christopher Nolan
46. American Psycho (2000) Mary Harmon
47. The Hurt Locker (2008) Kathryn Bigelow
48. 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu, 2007)
49. Old Joy (2006) Kelly Reichardt
50. Antichrist (2009) Lars Von Trier

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