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The TONY top 50 movies of the decade
10. FRIDAY NIGHT (2002)
At decade’s end, French director Claire Denis stands tall as the respected purveyor of a signature sensibility: gauzy, intimate, suspended in time. (Her most recent stateside release, 35 Shots of Rum, might be too fresh for this poll, but you can expect it on several year-end lists.) Could it be that her sexy 2002 hotel-room romance, at the time considered minor, is actually her most profound and expressive work? Friday Night takes only the merest steps toward plot—in a cacophonous Parisian traffic jam, a young woman picks up a handsome stranger. Together, they are cocooned in a private spell that enraptures them; the evening is young. Lush imagery by Denis’s cinematographer, Agnès Godard, brings tears to any movie lover’s eyes as the amorous duo slips between the sheets, into each other’s consciousness and then, as these things go, apart. There’s not a false note here.—Joshua Rothkopf
9. A CHRISTMAS TALE (2008)
Anybody can make a movie about how miserable holiday family get-togethers are; it takes a filmmaker like Arnaud Desplechin (Kings and Queen; see also No. 26), however, to turn this premise into a sprawling, free-form meditation on morality, mortality and unresolved matters of the heart. The Vuillard clan’s matriarch (vive Catherine Deneuve!) has been diagnosed with leukemia, which killed her firstborn ages ago. The resident black-sheep son (Mathieu Amalric) is an eligible donor, though not even his good bone marrow can cure the bad blood between them. That’s only one of several stories in Desplechin’s novelistic take on the ties that bind and gag, which follows various siblings, grandchildren and cousins as they trade barbs and deal with age-old baggage. This French drama’s subversion of the usual seasons-gratings conventions is enough to make it unique, but it’s the graceful, organic way that the director lets these characters interact—and his refusal to pander with easy emotional resolutions—that make this movie such a rich, rewarding gift.—David Fear
8. ZODIAC (2007)
Has a director ever grown up so well in the limelight as David Fincher? Starting with platinum-tinted Madonna videos, he matured by millennium’s end into a Hollywood subversive with style to burn. And still, no one—not his critics nor his fans—expected the shockingly intelligent exploration of obsession that Zodiac appeared to be. On its surface, Fincher’s subject was California’s notorious late-’60s serial killer, a vague memory from the filmmaker’s own Marin County youth. But the movie’s real power came in its latter scenes, the police leads running dry, our heroes unable to drop their quest even as it ruins them. Directorially, Fincher was transformed. Gone was the gruesome prankster who made 1995’s Seven. Instead, here was a cynical heir to Billy Wilder and Fritz Lang. Zodiac presents a city haunted by a ghost: We float high above nighttime San Francisco as voices whisper. It was way too close for comfort.—Joshua Rothkopf
7. DOGVILLE (2003)
Call it Our Town’s evil twin: Lars von Trier’s Brechtian takedown of hypocrisy, Amerikkkan-style, turns chalk outlines on a sparsely furnished stage into a full-fledged version of a typically quaint burg. It also allows the Danish enfant terrible to engage in his two favorite pastimes—bashing the USA’s penchant for pious facades and dragging his hapless heroines through hell and back. For once, the stars perversely align, and Von Trier delivers what may be his funniest, most savage satire. The odd coupling of minimalist theatrical techniques and high-melodramatic grandstanding is the perfect pomo combination. A once-in-a-lifetime cast—Lauren Bacall, Ben Gazzara, Harriet Andersson, James Caan, Udo Kier—complement the material, but it’s Nicole Kidman as the avenging angel who wins the MVP award, proving that she doesn’t need a prosthetic nose to give a great performance. Those end credits also qualify as the best parting flipped bird to an audience ever conceived. Check and mate.—David Fear
6. YI YI (A ONE AND A TWO…) (2000)
Too often, we critics will celebrate a movie’s foreignness, forgetting that even curious viewers need a passport. So let’s go the opposite way with Yi Yi, a masterful Taiwanese family drama that was certain to place in this poll. The movie, set in a present-day city, is about every extended family you know. It’s Rachel Getting Married and the Cosbys and Hannah and Her Sisters. The Jiangs, a middle-class clan of Taipei urbanites, are pivoting in transition: There’s the long-foreseen death of their elder; a teenage love triangle preoccupying Sis; and a naughty younger brother who should study more. (These people are your neighbors.) Soulfully at the center of the whirlwind is the Jiang patriarch, played by the magnificent Nien-jen Wu, straining under the weight of his business. (He’s your dad.) Director Edward Yang—lost to cancer in 2007—struck a note of such universal clarity, his movie became instantly recognizable. To explore his legacy is to come home.—Joshua Rothkopf
5. IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE (2000)
The consummate unconsummated love story of the new millennium, Wong Kar-wai’s masterpiece fetishizes early-’60s fashion more thoroughly than several seasons of Mad Men (how many cheongsam dresses can one person own?) and turns Nat King Cole’s Spanish balladry into the official soundtrack of lonely hearts. Yet it isn’t the nostalgia factor, pop-culture appropriation or even Wong’s color-drunk visuals, courtesy of cinematographer Christopher Doyle, that makes the movie such a metaphysical aphrodisiac. His tale of two neighbors—the stately Mrs. Chan (Maggie Cheung) and would-be pulp writer Mr. Chow (Tony Leung)—who obsess over their spouses’ affair in lieu of their own attraction works its spell by perpetually keeping passion at bay. Glances are exchanged, bodies brush against each other in hallways, hands are tentatively held…and then their buildup simply fades away before our very eyes. Thanks to Wong and his leads, both of whom give career-best performances, such small gestures turn unfulfilled longing into hothouse eroticism. The director himself would spend the rest of the decade burning out, and not even a sequel—the sci-fi-inflected 2046—could help him find his mojo again. This peerless ode to snuffed desire, however, still makes our hearts pitter-patter.—David Fear
4. THE NEW WORLD (2005)
All of Terrence Malick’s characters—from the romantic couple on the run in Badlands to the ruminating soldiers in The Thin Red Line—seem to spring from some Edenic source, only to be trumped by the indifference of the cosmos. So it was inevitable that the writer-director’s lyrical eye would find its way to America’s origin myth. Captain John Smith (Colin Farrell) and the Indian princess Pocahontas (Q’Orianka Kilcher) frolic through Malick’s trademark fields of wheat, their intimate snatches of voiceover as deeply rooted in the landscape as the trees. It’s always clear that history is not on the side of their love affair, yet while tears are shed, melodrama is never indulged. The particular power of this tone poem comes from how quietly resigned both characters are to their fates, as if they sense a guiding hand in their every action. The final passages of Malick’s idyll, after Pocahontas takes a fateful ocean journey, are the finest work of his career, most notably in his portrayal of the princess’s death and transfiguration—a shattering five-minute sequence that never fails to move.—Keith Uhlich
3. ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND (2004)
If you’d had your heart broken, would you erase part of your consciousness? For Joel (Jim Carrey), the question’s a no-brainer: He’s so devastated over being dumped by his darling Clementine (Kate Winslet) that he’ll have his remembrances of her wiped clean. Until, of course, Joel decides that a mind full of memories really is a terrible thing to waste. In the past, both director Michel Gondry’s kindergarten arts-and-crafts aesthetic and Charlie Kaufman’s Möbius-striptease scripts have come off as insufferably twee and gimmicky. So why does this existential meta-rom-com always leave us teary-eyed and genuinely moved? That fact that it isn’t simply McSweeney’s: The Movie is faint praise. Rather, the duo finally finds the right combination of high-concept and humanity here, taking the what-if idea of a company that lobotomizes the lovelorn into territory that’s funny, painful, poetic and unsettlingly weird. (That midnight parade of elephants marching through midtown Manhattan!) Sunshine is the rare mind-fuck that never takes its eyes off that aching, wounded organ beating away in your chest. It’s a work whose oddball, off-kilter romanticism and bruised ideas about beginning again make it feel both of its moment, and somehow, eternal.—David Fear
2. THERE WILL BE BLOOD (2007)
A man strikes a pickax against a stone wall. Later, after this same enterprising individual has found black gold, taken over a small town, gained the world and lost his soul (assuming he had such a thing to begin with), we watch him do the exact same gesture—only this time he’s grasping a bowling pin, and that isn’t rock he’s bashing. Paul Thomas Anderson’s revision of Upton Sinclair’s Oil! jettisons the source material’s muckraking in favor of something far more ambitious: mapping the moment that our nation’s bootstrap mentality curdled into a cutthroat corporate culture. Credit goes to Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis, who transforms the movie’s inscrutable gargoyle, Daniel Plainview, into the very embodiment of American rot; he even makes a ridiculous non sequitur (“I drink your milk shake!”) sound terrifying. But this is Anderson’s film, and his black-hearted epic proves that the New Hollywood acolyte deserves a seat in the pantheon. As an oblique critique of Bush II’s self-made power brokers and winner-take-all capitalism, There Will Be Blood cuts to the bone. As the work of a visionary artist, it’s truly sui generis.—David Fear
1. MULHOLLAND DRIVE (2001)
At the top of our poll is a film split in half: a glamorous romance that suddenly morphs into bitter rejection, a Hollywood mystery that plunges into doom. Can there be another movie that speaks as resonantly—if unwittingly—to the awful moment that marked our decade? Viewers grappled over the meaning of the movie’s “blue box,” finding little purchase. But in the troubled autumn of this psychodrama’s 2001 NYC release, we might have understood it all too well. Mulholland Drive is the monster behind the diner; it’s the self-delusional dream turned into nightmare. The triumph belongs to David Lynch, who could have rested on the laurels of his three landmarks, Eraserhead, Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks. Creatively, though, he saved this project (originally a misunderstood TV pilot) from dismissal, retooling it and extending his story into complexity. Along the way, a star was born: the extraordinary Naomi Watts, whose fearless double performance wrecked all who submitted to its spell. Is the movie too dangerous and surreal to be our champion? Hardly. It was, after all, a dangerous and surreal decade.—Joshua Rothkopf
Time Out New York / Issue 739 : Nov 26–Dec 2, 2009
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Miami vice is a damn good movie, good thing a michael mann movie is on that list
Miami vice is a great movie, one of the most criminally underrated movies of all time, it deserves to be there
This list is a joke, right? I mean, you all just went to your local video stores, closed your eyes, and picked movies at random, right? Seriously, Miami Vice as one of the best of the decade? If you like that, then you might want to contact me about this loaf of moldy bread I was going to throw out of my refrigerator. You just might like it.
No Wrestler, no LOTR, no Wall-E, but Zodiac and Miami Vice? Ah well. I guess lists like this are always going to piss someone off.
Fantastic list. I only doesn't agree 100% because I haven't seen all of these movies.
Re: Critics top 50 movies. No wonder so many people have doubts about the movie industry in general and film critics in particular. You critics are "so out of touch" with the rest of America, it's become laughable. You've become a farce, a punchline, etc. You're always good for a few laughs. Thanks!
This list is soooo gay. No cares about any of these movies. A.I. is maybe the only decent movie on the entire list. Man, I hope these people never invite "normal people" over to watch movies. These kind of lists purposely find the most boring movies with actors that no one has ever heard of, plus, it's like mandatory that the movie had to cost under a thousand to make.
Dude, this list sucks. Anyone who likes films that weren't huge at the box office is just pretentious. Did you just, like, stick films that aren't in English on your lists just so you can get off with foreign chicks? Hey, this list is, like, so artyfarty that you prolly just wanna git off with guyz anyways. Why do they even make films in other languages? No-one watches them. Don't you know that films that don't have guns or wizards and that are about emotions and ugly old people just suck.
what happened here? no mention of the rings triology heck there's the top three right there. also, where is traffic, 21 grams, kill bill, crash or no country. and if you all are so obessed with foreign film how bout city of god.
Hell yes. Mulholland Drive is one of the best movies I've ever seen and Naomi Watt's performance also one of the most jaw-dropping. And contrary to what I've heard from others, the movie does make sense, and it really is necessary to see how it does in order to appreciate its magnificence.
14.Inglourious Basterds (2009) 13.Chopper (2000) 12.Snatch. (2000) 11.There Will Be Blood (2007) 10.The Wrestler (2008) 9.The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005) 8.Wonderland (2003) 7.Requiem for a Dream (2000) 6.28 Days Later (2002) 5.The Devil's Rejects (2005) 4.Grindhouse (2007) 3.American Psycho (2000) 2.Bronson (2008) 1.The Departed (2006) -best film of the decade- Blow (2001)
31.The Passion of the Christ (2004) 30.The Others (2001) 29.Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) 28.Revolver (2005) 27.Donnie Darko (2001) 26.Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007) 25.The Football Factory (2004) 24.Team America: World Police (2004) 23.Almost Famous (2000) 22.Cidade de Deus (2002) 21.25th Hour (2002) 20.High Fidelity (2000) 19.Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) 18.Ray (2004) 17.The Foot Fist Way (2006) 16.Lords of Dogtown (2005) 15.Sin City (2005)
50.Kung Pow: Enter the Fist (2002) 49.The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) 48.Traffic (2000) 47.Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny (2006) 46.Gerry (2002) 45.Wolf Creek (2005) 44.Kontroll (2003) 43.Frailty (2001) 42.Apocalypto (2006) 41.Old School (2003) 40.No Country for Old Men (2007) 39.Unbreakable (2000) 38.The Good Shepherd (2006) 37.Extract (2009) 36.Paranormal Activity (2007) 35.Collateral (2004) 34.Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007) 33.Kill Bill: Vol. 1 & 2 32.Mystic River (2003)
Miami Vice... seriously?
Finally!! Someone who agrees that Mulholland Dr. was the masterpiece of the decade. It all DOES make sense after you are able to piece together the puzzle. Once that blue key opened that box late in the film, Naomi Watts' character awoke from her dream and we realize that things are not quite as she had imagined. Thanks to filmmakers as daring as David Lynch, we are able to be treated with some modicum of intelligence. Thank you T.O.N.Y. for heralding this remarkable film.
NO LORD OF THE RINGS???? Those films changed cinema history!!! Sir Peter Jackson just recived a knighthood!
One of the worst list I ever saw, where the hell is The Wrestler? The greatest movie ever made and you think Miami Vice is better!!!! Miami Vice is the worst film of 2006!!!
Wow, .. I just realized that I am so very happy Im not "Educated " in the "Art" of movie making. No Dark night, No Lotr, no Iron man, no Gladiator, no Troy, No avatar, no saving private Ryan, My gawd I could go on and on. This list is for a VERY small minority of people that are trying to hold onto some ideal of ...I dont know what.. All those movies blow donkey ass.
I realize that this list is full of suicide-inducing artsy, fartsy junk. Half of these movies are unwatchable. Even if you want deep, art house films only, the failure to include The Lives of Others (which won the Oscar over Pan's Labyrinth) renders the entire exercise meaningless. Thanks for the laughs - you just made my day.
what kinda list is this nonesense what happen to gladiator , dark knight, pursuit of happiness
Definitly a cinephile's list. Seriously Miami vice? Femme Fatale? Both of those films were picked above masterpieces like Let the right one in,adaptation and City of God. (Sigh) Well at least Brokeback Mountain was high.
worst list of all time..the departed was left off..no country for old men..old school..i could go on forever. i hate pretentious people. lets put as many foreign films on here as possible..retards
Half Nelson?
You could do a Top 50 list entirely composed of 50 films from the 2000s that are better than your selections... and the running order... wow. Talk To Her in the 40s? Really?
I find it funny that there isn't one best picture winner on here. It is not necessarily a bad thing, just interesting. The closest the list comes to that is Brokeback Mountain.
i have only one thing to say about this list: ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
Really a pathetic list ...worst that have come up till now ! Mullholland no.1 ? Never...there is no mention of Memento , LOTR & even Drak Knight . Cmon , dude...sit back n think again !
Wow, this list goes up as the worst top 50 I have ever seen. I'm not usually prone to even posting my opinion.. but this list is horrible. Where is LOTR?
In my opinion your list of the top fifty leaves alot to be desired, like talent and script writing for another. It look s to me like the raters would rather be thought of as cool and modern instead of smart and with common sense. Where is "Fireproof, Evelyn, and Facing the Giants". In other words where are the films worth the price of admission. Get rid of the garbage.
Amused to see 'I Heart Huckabees' on the list. It has become shorthand with my movie buddies as the standard for judging how poor a film is. Some , in my opinion, ommissions : Downfall , Memento , Lives of Others, The White Ribbon and Sideways.
Great list, with several wonderful and deserving choices (Synecdoche, New York: yay!). The main omission beefs from the comments section seem to be for Lord of the Rings and Dark Knight—good work, but neither a fatal absence—and the overrated No Country for Old Men (a film that purports to be about the Horrible Way Life Really Is while simultaneously feeding us a totally fantastically supervillain serial killer out of a Roger Moore-era James Bond flick).
No Memento, no No Country For Old Men, no Requiem for a Dream. This list is pretentious trash. I love foreign films, but it's obvious they throw one in every three movies to make it look artsy
Mulholland Drive is overrated trash. "Ooooh it's so symbolic and surreal and deep". It's a pretentious piece of shit. If not for the hot lesbians, it'd be totally worthless.
Pretencious? Really, Paul?
this list is a joke so ha ha ah.
A.I. will be on many "worst of the decade lists" and deservedly so
You must have a crush on Colin Farrell
This list is pretencious. Just cause a movie was enjoyed by the masses doesn't mean it wasn't great, or didn't matter.
This is a brilliant list that has inspired me to seek out some titles I would never have heard of. A few mild nitpicks however: there are a few to many doubles on the list. If you're going to limit yourself to 50 of the decade do you really need two by Denis, Lynch, Kaufman, (yeah I know he only wrote Eternal Sunshine, but still) Desplechin, Anderson etc. And seriosuly the lack of No Country for Old Men is troubling. But like I said overall stellar list with many, many inspired picks.
Congratulation for this great original list!!! It's really great that you put so many foreign movies! Especially Claire Denis movies like Trouble Every Day And FRIDAY NIGHT!!! Or Arnaud Desplechin! Only Olivier Assayas is missing ;) And thanks you for not putting Dark Night, Slumdog Millionaire or Lord of the ring! Hope this will motivate American movie theaters to show more foreign movies!!!
I really like how foreign films are included on this list and I agree with most of your choices. However, this list is incomplete without Lord of the Rings being on a list for top movies of the past decade. Seriously, Miami Vice trumped it? Really?!
I am rather surprised that neither "Batman Begins" and/or "Dark Knight" (I know they are products from a major studio to stimulate the masses) were overlooked. I guess the shocker is Miami Vice?...really?...the only reason I didn't leave the air-conditioned theater was due to damn heat and I paid good money for a bad movie.
You guys are not very good in the movie department.
How did you miss "The Lives of Others"--one of the very best of the decade!!!
Interesting list. Happy to see TM's THE NEW WORLD. But where on earth is TF's IN THE BEDROOM? It is unquestionably the first masterpiece of the decade.
I can only imagine that the folks commenting "Where is The Dark Night?" and complaining about obvious (read political) titles not being included have no education in film. Yet, strangely, they feel compelled to shoot their mouths off about it. Understand a subject before you criticize those that have an expansive knowledge of it.
Commercial flops? Since when did box office success constitute the greatness of a film? Some people think of film as a disposable weekend entertainment, others think of it as an art and don't mind actually having to think about they are watching. Most of the films on this list are far superior to the greater portion of what Hollywood produces today, which is mostly recycled garbage.
A fine list of films-ignore the ignorants who decry all of the "foreign garbage" on the list. Idiots with not an ounce of film knowledge or a sense of curiosity about the world in which we all live. One of the reasons we encountered so many problems over the last ten years. Films such as these helped up make sense of those very problems attitudes like this played a factor in. More commercial films? Ha-just because a film makes a killing at the box office does not a great film make. A good read.
..and the Station Agent!
how about Sorry, haters?
(Oops, "Taste of Tea" isn't on here. Got this list confused with someone else's for a moment. Oh, well, the recommendation stands. Shutting up now.)
Also: the claim that all the "foreign garbage" in the list is pretentious intellectual broccoli leaves me puzzled. For example, "A Taste of Tea" and "Spirited Away" are hilarious, touching, gorgeous family fantasies. "Cache" is a throat-clutching suspense story wrapped in a Euro-art film. "Oldboy" is a tear-'em-up action-thriller-black comedy. Etc., etc. It's weird to be reminded of how narrow some people's tastes are and how little interest they have in engaging with those of others.
I find it weird when supposed film fans scream and howl and vent their bladders all over the list because it isn't composed of mainstream successes. What's the point of a list telling you to go see a bunch of movies everyone's already seen and lots of people already know they like? The best thing critics can do is point you towards things you might have overlooked.
I can't believe people are complaining that The Dark Knight isn't on this list. That film should only be on a "worst of" list.
This list is an abomination of film lists. It's totally from an indie snob. "We count the movies that mattered"??? No one sees these movies for a reason. The entire list is full of pompous commercial flops. I also love how some people are justifying the list by saying "oh, you just didn't get it". Riiiiiight. More like you're just trying to act smart. 90% of this list blows. Why don't you go work in the film business, and learn what makes a good film. Oh yeah, it's New York's Time Out!
Great, brave list. Props on including some great unsung movies: Zodiac, Miami Vice, The New World, etc...
I think it was a fair list. Obviously, no one's going to be happy with everything, but there's no way anyone could make a list of 50 great movies and please everyone. I personally think the Coen brothers are overrated, so I don't mind that they're not on the list. My two favorite movies on the list are Pan's Labyrinth and Inglorious Basterds, so I'm glad you included those. I really would have liked to see Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Slumdog Millionaire, but you can't pick them all.
this list is complete shit. full of pretentious art-house films. Its ok to throw a mainstream film in there from time to time...oh wait they did. Miami Vice? Any time Lars Von Trier pops up in a top list twice ...not a good sign.
It's hilarious how many criticisms of this list call it "pretentious". Translation: "You like movies I don't know much about or don't understand; I am insecure about my film knowledge; therefore you must be faking your appreciation of those films." Disagree with the list, but don't call it "pretentious". Maybe the authors just have different tastes. And/or maybe they actually understood something a film you didn't get.
This is the worst list of best of films I have ever seen. Most of these movies are crap.
Mulholland Drive is my favorite film of the decade. I loath people who bash it. Who cares if it started as a pilot. It is deeply emotional, riveting, stunningly acted and endlessly disturbing and suprising. Zodiac is a classic in the vain of All The Presidents Men. Cynical and a masterclass in suspense.
I love how upset people are! They're reacting as if it were actually possible to objectively rank films, but really, films can only ever be ranked subjectively. Perhaps the naysayer could actually go out and watch some of these films, and open thier minds to something they may never have had the opportunity to see! And since when did winning an oscar actually mean it was the best film of the year? Probably not since about Silence of the Lambs i reckon.
I really, really like this list. A lot of personal favorites are missing, but one serious caveat: Not a single Coen brothers film? The lack of No Country is the one list's one blind spot so glaring it's impossible to miss.
A brave, interesting list. I love the inclusion of The New World & Dogville in the Top 10. Both of these films absolutely blew me away, but received little critical love. I might have to give Miami Vice a go. Thanks.
by the way, this list is pretentious (except 40 year-old virgin) but No Country for Old Men still fits the list. Did it not make the list because it actually won an award?
The Uwe Boll of movie lists. Makes no sense. It was like one guy decided to make a list and had one rule: nothing commercially successful.
Miami Vice lolz
What a pathetic list. Most of these are unknown films and films widely regarded as masterpieces are left out. The people who made this list are just trying to be different I guess.
One of the more interesting "best of" lists I have read in a while. In short, Things I did like: Eternal Sunshine cracking the top 3, 25th Hour making the cut, ( one of my personal favs) and Zodiac making the top 10, ( I always thought that film was criminally underrated) Things I disliked: Miami Vice? don't quite know how that one made the cut? I can understand leaving out films liek the Dark Knight, and LOTR, but I feel there is no excuse for leaving out No Country, Momento, and City Of God.
Thank you SO MUCH for including "A.I." on this list! It is one of the greatest stories about love ever told, and most definitely one of the most honest, even more honest than the wonderful "Before Sunset" that appeared on this list. It gets to the core of love and imperfection in humans like us. I consider it the anti-Twilight. I would have liked to see "The Dark Knight" on here, amongst many other great films, but there's only room for 50 films, and everyone's biased, so I guess I understand. :)
A great list save for 3. A.I. could have been great had Spielberg either stuck to his style or went with Kubrick's, what results is a bastardization of bad melodrama and interesting Sci Fi. Miami Vice was empty. It's impossible to connect with the uncharacterized and chemistry-less zombies haunting that film, the "tragic love story" is moot. De Palma's penchant for ripping off other filmmakers worked against him, "It was all a dream" is just another way of saying, "I've wasted your time."
It's true that the lack of the likes of LoTR and The Dark Knight smacks strongly of 'trying a little too hard to be contrarian' but those deriding the list as garbage need a reality check. It's full of many of the best films of the decade and there can be little to complain about at the top.
I'm glad Mulholland Drive is on the list. Where is "Amores Perros" City of God" Traffic, and Memento??
That's hilarious. Two Colin Farrell films, and neither of them was In Bruges. And as everyone else said it's a crazy list; Miami Vice, The New World, Zodiac, AI, the 40-Year Old Virgin were there but not LOTR, Dark Knight, any Pixar, etc? Not well thought out at all.
This is a great list because it's exposed me to movies I've never seen. I'll give some of the obscure ones a chance. I bet Nolan or the Coens were probably influenced by some of them.
Typical message board, everyone is complaining. If you are really upset go write your own list.
This list is awful. Way too much foreign garbage and no Coen Brothers!?
People say if you're going to do something, do it well so you're remembered as the best or do it incredibly badly so people will remember you for that at least. You obviously chose option number two. Worst decade list ever.
This list fails for lack of Pixar.
Any list that doesn't have the Dark Knight on it is crap already. However, to have Femme Fatale on any list of best movies of the decade is assinine.
I love how these people who obviously can't use their eyes deride Miami Vice, Zodiac, New World, AI, and Mulholland Dr. This is a terrific list. Though it is missing some Coens, The Departed, and United 93.
A.I., 40 year old Virgin? Are you kidding me? Lets try the The Pianist, Slumdog Millionaire or No Country for Old Men. Do the creators of this list really think that Miami Vice was a better film than the Bourne Ultimatum, The Dark Knight or Collateral? I am not saying that any of the films I have just listed belong on this list, but they definitely blow Miami Vice out of the water in the action film genre. To say this list is "bold" is laughable. A better description would be ridiculous Grade: D
There is not one Scorsese film on here.... The Departed... Gangs of New York.... The Aviator.... no Peter Jackson... no Peter Weir.... no M.Night Shymalan... Capote isnt even on here...
Im glad that muholland dr, oldboy, eternal sunshine, there will be blood, dogville made the list....a lot dont make sense in the list... and i defently put WALL-E AND STAY in the top 20
Worst list of films I have seen in a long time thanks for wasting our time.
Sure, there are things I'd add (Coens and probably Scorsese among them) and things I'd omit, but this is a great list--a good blend of the obvious and less-obvious, with a nice sense of personality. That's what I look for in a list--if I'm going to agree with everything on the list, what's the point? Lists should introduce us to new films (there are several on here I'm going to prioritize or reprioritize) and reintroduce us to films we've already seen, but might see in a new light.
The list miss some of this: memento, Irréversible, Watchmen, The Science of Sleep, Cidade de Deus, Slumdog Millionaire. And ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE!!! WTF??
I stopped reading at Miami Vice.
Sure, there are things I'd add (Coens and probably Scorsese among them) and things I'd omit, but this is a great list--a good blend of the obvious and less-obvious, with a nice sense of personality. That's what I look for in a list--if I'm going to agree with everything on the list, what's the point? Lists should introduce us to new films (there are several on here I'm going to prioritize or reprioritize) and reintroduce us to films we've already seen, but might see in a new light.
I'm sorry, Mulholland Drive is a Joke. It introduces characters and ideas and drops them. It is a pilot for a series that was not picked up so David Lynch slapped on an ending.
Good grief. I need to build a website and post a list of "Random 50 Movies That I Think Are the Greatest Ever." I'll include such thought provoking classics like "Dumb and Dumberer", "The Box", and "Ecks vs Sever". That would have at least made it more entertaining than this meaningless drivel.
Oh lord... Miami Vice and A.I.? Really?? A.I. could easily be noted as one of this decade's most embarrassing cinematic debacles! And Zodiac in the top 10 while Royal Tennenbaums wallows at number 38? Yikes.
great list!! however u left out some really great movies Audition, Battle Royal, Scream & y tu mama tambien. and seriously u guys are gonna put the new world and Zodiac! Both directors did better work! Thin Red Line and The Game should of been on there!
I am so glad you put THE NEW WORLD in there. At one point it seemed to have been totally forgotten about. It's a great, great movie.
This must be an early april fools list. Having seen most of the films on this list, I find it a ridiculous top 50. I know there are already many negative comments regarding the list, but rightfully so. This list is so crazy that it has to be a joke of some kind. Not to take away from the 50 films mentioned, but it's the at least 50 films not mentioned that make this list just gross.
A few more that should have been given consideration over ones that did make it - Shrek, The Departed, Slumdog Millionaire, No Country, Memento, Spiderman, Munich, United 93, Gangs of New York, City of God, Chicago, Crouching tiger Hidden Dragon, Traffic, Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, Mystic River, Letters from Iwo Jima, Sideways, Juno, District 9, Black Hawk Down, Shaun of the Dead..........there another 22 movies that could have easily made this list ahead of others that did.
Whine, whine, whine...what a bunch of joyless morons in the comment section. THIS LIST IS USELESS WITHOUT (INSERT FIILM NAME) WAH, WAH WAH! How about just politely disagreeing with the list rather than acting as if there is some objective way of drawing up these films?
This list is far from being decent!!! I had very little faith when I saw that Miami Vice and AI rated higher than Pan's Labyrinth. But to then see that LOTR, Crash, The Dark Knight, Million Dollar Baby and anything made by Pixar did not make this list I realized that this list was poorly researched, and poorly chosen. Sorry, Mulholland Drive sucked ass. It is extremely over-rated and this list proves it. But I know I am in a minority on this one, but it's my opinion none the less
REQUIEM FOR A DREAM!?!?! WTF!?!? Miami Vice YES and Requiem for a Dream no!?!?!?!!?
Not having the Dark Knight or Lord of the Rings on this list is pretty ridiculous. Add that to not having No Country for Old Men, History of Violence and having some terrible choices like Miami Vice and A.I. Two Collin Farrel movies? That guys is crap.
No Dark Night, No Country or anything from Pixar. Yet Miami Vice and AI made the cut. The list is invalid.
How in the hell is Miami Vice in there. It invalidates the list all together sorry.
Sweet! Not one but TWO David Lynch films on this list: Mulholland Drive & Inland Empire (Although, personally, I would have liked to have seen Inland Empire as #1 instead of Mulholland Dr.) But where's Almost Famous?
Nice! 25th hour!!!!!!!!!!!
"GROW UP & rate movies objectively...Seems like you tried too hard to create a persona and not hard enough to rate the best films." In other words: "Change your mind until you agree with me." This is a perfectly valid list, and there's no reason to believe that they aren't being honest in their rankings of these films. It's got quite a few masterpieces on it, a few films I didn't really care for, but all around it's the best end-of-decade list I've seen so far (and I've seen some good ones.)
To be honest there is some utter crap on here. Miami Vice, A.I., Femme Fatale. Are you kidding me?
It's a Charlie the Tuna list. They want to show they have good taste. My question is where are the new Roger Ebert's coming from? We need them now instead of the guys that wrote this list. Roger rides the fine line of liking both high art and lowbrow art. He's not a Charlie the Tuna reviewer.
You've got to be kidding me. This is probably the worst Top 50 I've ever seen. Honestly, did you purposely avoid all the Oscar winners on purpose? Crash, LotR, Munich, etc....the list of omissions goes on and on and on and on. You could probably throw this whole list out and nobody would bat an eye at any of the movies you picked.
The New World is one of the finest cinematic achievements of the decade. It has topped a number of best decades list as well as being the highest rated American film on TIFF's best of decade list. You can't expect mainstream audiences that have been raised on garbage like Miami Vice and Zodiac to appreciate a film like this hence the negative comments.
Ummm so i would just like to say that I don't agree with parts of the list but for the people who complained...Why don't you make your own list and stop feeling so outraged or surprised by whats up there! There are hundreds of movies in a decade! You wannabe critics you! :)
A David Lynch film at number 1? Someone was feeling pretentious when they wrote this.
40 yr old virgin more important than a Requiem for a Dream? Memento? weird...
Million Dollar Baby? No Country for Old Men? LotR? the omissions go on and on. so no need for me to
Wow, as far as lists go, this ranks as by far the dumbest list I've ever seen. Mulholland Dr is David Lynch at his worst, like Twin Peaks season 2, the second half is total nonsense. City of God is a great movie, and would be my selection as best of the decade, Shaun of the Dead and 28 Days Later were better than every movie on this list except Pan's Labryinth
Loved The Thin Red Line when it came out in 1998, in my opinion it obliterates the joke that is Saving Private Ryan. That being said, I didn't really care for The New World...
American Beauty and The Talented Mr. Ripley came out in 1999. My favorites: City of God, Mullholland Drive, Diving Bell and the Butterfly, 25th Hour, Eternal Sunshine, Closer
Move on folks! Lists are retarded and a grand waste of time:)
I have to agree that No Country definitely deserves a spot, Also, City of God, American Beauty(not sure about the date), Lives of Others, Mystic River, Moon and The Hurt Locker. Overall, a solid list!
This entire list is completely invalidated by the lack of a single Coen Brothers film. The 40 Year Old Virgin is on this list and 'No Country For Old Men' isn't? Normally I try to be respectful of those who disagree with me, but in this case, you can take this list outside and play hide and go pho yourselves.
I dunno, I kind of loved Synecdoche New York. Still with me. Of course, so is Amelie, not on this list. But when you look at what IS there, props to TONY.
I think this is an exercise in people trying to prove themself. This list seems like someone yelling "hey guys! , I liked that film that was absurd". And I know a lot of "main stream" people didn't like THIS movie, but it is in our top 10! GROW UP & rate movies objectively. I get it, you guys are cool, but Synecdoche New York is CERTAINLY not one of the top 22 films of the decade, though I did like it. Seems like you tried too hard to create a persona and not hard enough to rate the best films
I'm not sure who I would consider the most influential filmmaker of the decade, but I know it ain't anyone from the mumblecore crew. I would definitely look more toward emerging cinemas in asia and europe and africa before I considered anything out of the US indie scene.
Amores Perros?
Great list. There Will Be Blood is a great number 2. I would have added In Bruges and the Diving Bell and the Butterfly. I will freely admit that Miami Vice was underrated. Maybe not top 50, but much better than I would have thought. Well done.
kudos for mulholland drive; it inhabitated my dreams for years. definitely the film of the decade. i would add the talented mr. ripley; it captured a time and place vividly, plus the darkness of it in the midst of alll that light!
Where is Kusturica on this list?
Where is Kusturica on this list?
I cannot believe Amelie isn't on this list
Apparently TONY is not fan of mumblecore. For better or worse though, Andrew Bujalski and Joe Swanberg are probably the most influential directors of the decade.
Mulholland Drive as #1 is definitely the right pick, but have big problems with many others. No Country for Old Men is biggest mistake for not making the list and Milk should be here too.
Just a few alternatives........Infernal affairs, City of god, Battle Royale, The Devils Backbone,Amelie,Let the right ones in?? Will be seeking out some of the movies on the list but will be leaving '40 year old virgin' on the shelf!!!!
Fantastic list. I'm loving that 'Zodiac' placed so high - greatest American film of the decade, IMHO. Can't argue with 'Mulholland Drive,' 'Yi Yi,' 'There Will Be Blood' or 'The New World' either...major kudos, TONY.
This pretentious poseur twit thinks this is a pretty marvelous list. Yeah, I could do without "Miami Vice" and "The 40-Year Old Virgin". And the film that had a stronger effect on me than any other film this decade, "Le Fils", is missing. But it still includes "The New World" and Spirited Away" and "Mulholland Drive" and "Lilya 4-ever" and lots of other marvelous films, so it's okay in my book. I think I'm actually going to seek out the six or seven films from the list that I haven't seen.
Top 25 Films TONY failed to mention (in no particular order) The Lives of Others Tell no one A History of Violence Two Lovers The King of Kong Eastern Promises No Country for old men Werckmeister Harmonies Dirty Pretty Things Bad Education Swimming Pool Sin Nombre Battle Royale Martyrs Lost in Translation Far from Heaven Adaptation Best in Show Mystic River Pistol Opera Fat Girl The Wrestler Ghost Dog Way of the Samurai The Shadow of the Vampire With a friend like Harry
Eternal Sunshine! Love that it's on here so high.
Sweet list all around. I love how people are upset at omissions but probably haven't even given some of the films you mention a shot. I've never seen Friday Night and will watch this weekend.
To imagine that these people were paid for their opinions is absolutely mind-boggling. Either this list was very hastily put together or it was organized by some of the worst film critics imaginable. The New World was horribly received, and yet it is placed at number 4? And the lack of Best Picture nominees is completely absurd. It seems like this list is being different for the sake of being different. Time Out New York, you can do better, can't you?
Wow, what a shitty decade! Or were there only fifty films made during the nAughties?
This list is terrible. I'm not sure I could make a better one myself but it is missing so much. How about "The departed"?
You're making a list about the movies that most mattered but left out the powerful post 9/11 Reign Over Me and United 97. Way to leave out the most significant event of the past decade.
ummm... "Let the Right One In" is missing.
Mostly terrific list. I can't argue with Mulholland Dr. at No. 1, and I'm glad you have some love for Zodiac and A.I. But ... Where the hell is No Country for Old Men????
Which part of Dark Night should have made the top 50? The scene with Tiny Lister and the two ferries that took 20 minutes and all the air out of the movie? Of Cristian Bale's messed-up autotune growl—does that qualify? Jokes was best par. Joker got Oscar. Move on.
HAHA! This is the biggest geek movie list. What are these movies. The only one they picked right by putting on the list was 40 year old virgin. Why do geeks think foreign movies are so much better than American? Dark Night, Batman Begins, Superbad, Wedding Crashers, Old School, No Country for Old Men. These are the movie to watch geeks.
are you potato heads serious? miami vice #35, AI #31, and Femme Fatale #18? SERIOUSLY? thats why TONY is a joke. No Country For Old Men isn't on the list but Miami Vice is? say it again Miami Vice. this is supposed to be the 50 best of the 2000's not worst. how about Sexy Beast? that movie is probably in the top 10 of the last decade. you guys are a joke and dropped the ball big time.
Spot on list! One of the better 'best of the decade' ones on the web. Kudos to all the contributors. Now to see a few of these on my own!
Looks like a F@&ing Hipster list to me. The numerous missing films...shock me, shock me, shock me TIME OUT with this epic fail of selection. Leaving off Dark Knight but adding freaking Donnie Darko? What. The. F&%K.
"The Piano Teacher" is definitely superior to "Cache", but glad to see Hanake on the list all the same.
where is The Diving Bell and The Butterfly?
I love how tbone is confused that something like Punch Drunk Love is on the list then wonders why juno and superbad isn't? lol
These lists are always ridiculous - usually put together by pretentious poseur twits. At the end of years and decades we get more of them than usual. The only two films out of the list of 50 I agreed with were Donnie Darko and Mulholland Drive, and Mulholland Drive deserves to be #1.
this list was awesome until i saw 'femme fatale' on it. what?
Missing WALL-E = List fails.
great lists always spark debate. But...40 year old virgin? punchdrunk love? terrible. Superbad? Juno? Vicky Christina Barcelona?
Any list with Mullholland Drive as #1 is cool by me.
And where is No Country for Old Men?? You're putting the stupid 40 years old virign and not a single Coen Brothers film??
where is Lord of the Rings? No. 1 is definetly Mullholland Drive but No. 2 There Will Be Blood? Enough with this overrated, over-dramatic film...Yes, a good film indeed but for sure doesn't deserve no. 2. And I'm sure you forgot a lot of important films...
That said, I loved "I Hearth Huckabees" and it is nice to know that I am not alone in that thought.
The Triplets of Belleville??? This most definitely should have been on the list!!
I cannot believe that Little Miss Sunshine didn't make this list!!!
I Heart Huckabees is film fatale! How am I not myself?
I'm really surprised not to find Dark Knight on this list, even at the lower echelons. I'd put it up there with Donnie Darko anyday.
Oh my...'Miami Vice' and 'A.I.'?!?!?!?! And no Coen Brothers?? Computer says NO.
Bold choices but not too eggheady—Mulholland is actually underrated. Thanks TONY! (Do I really have to watch New World? I guess I do....)
4. THE NEW WORLD ??? seriously??? 8. ZODIAC ??? that movie was absolutely horrible. this list is like a D-