(22) - Top 11 Movies of the Decade (non-comedy)

After a few weeks, I've completed my favorite movies of the Aughts list. Check out below, let me know what you think. These DO NOT include comedies.

Honorable Mentions: The Aviator, Children of Men, Donnie Darko, Finding Nemo, Gangs of New York, The Hurt Locker, The Incredibles, Slumdog Millionaire, Up, Up In the Air

11 - Inglorious Basterds

This movie has the legs to continually move up on any list I have. Right now it is my third favorite Tarantino movie (behind Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill), but I'm sure that will change in the coming years. This might be my favorite, but we'll have to let it sit for a bit. This has all the makings of a Tarantino classic -- smart dialogue, over the top characters (and I don't mean that in a bad way), good action scenes and great story.

10 - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

See my Top Movies of 2008 to get a sense as to how much I loved this movie. But in short: it is beautiful. Everything about this movie I loved. And I wished it was longer 

9 - Avatar

Simply put, no other movie has ever left me speechless after back to back viewings. Incredible and breathtaking visuals more than make up for the minuses from the movie. Coming closer and closer to overtaking Titanic (both foreign and domestic grosses), this movie probably single-handedly will shape the future of movies more than any other movie before or after it.

 

8 - No Country for Old Men

7 - There Will Be Blood

On most end of the 2000's lists both of these movies will sit in the Top 10. I put them hand in hand, they came out in the same month of the same year, but they are two totally different movies. Providing two of the more memorable movie villains from the past decade, these movies are very nearly perfect. NCFOM sits one spot behind There Will Be Blood just because I liked TWBB more. Which is a better movie? I'm not entirely sure. There are deeper themes in TWBB, and the more I watch Daniel Plainview the more I love him. Visually they are both breathtaking to watch in their own ways. And Anton Chigurh, you end up rooting for him just as much as you end up rooting against Daniel Plainview. Two great, great movies.

6 - Wall-E

Wall-E or Up? They sat back to back on my all-time list for a long time. But ultimately, I sided with Wall-E. I think it's a stronger movie. It says so much without saying anything at all. And while Up is an outstanding movie, I left it short of the Top 11. Wall-E, you love him from the start. You're with him on an abandoned earth. You're with him as you discover more and more of the personality he has acquired over the year. You're with him when he finds out what, or more specifically who, he's been missing all his life. Eve comes to earth, and Wall-E falls in love. And he needs her to survive. And off he goes into space to save her and spend his life with her. And off we went, for we fell in love with Wall-E just as he did with Eve.

5 - The Departed

Not Scorsese's best work, but one of his best. He finally got that Best Director award he deserved. Great acting from top to bottom along with a great story, Scorsese puts all his normal trademarks on this movie.

 

4 - Kill Bill
Will soon become my favorite Tarantino movie (currently behind PULP FICTION). I loved The Whole Bloody Affair. Part I, being much more about taking action, Part II, being much more about dealing with those actions. Uma Thurman was outstanding as The Bride, easily one of my favorite heroes ever, and my second favorite female hero ever (just behind Ripley).

3 - The Lord of the Rings
Peter Jackson did such a fantastic job converting this trilogy to film. Everyone thought it was near-impossible to do so, but PJ did just that. He created such a fantastic world, I believe the world Tolkein would have loved to see on the big screen. Even though they are three separate books and movies, I have combined them because they are all apart of the same story -- destroy the ring.

2 - The Dark Knight
Loved this movie. I had amazingly high expectations for this movie for more than 2 years, and then it finally came, and blew right past those expectations. Christopher Nolan may have created my favorite universe of all time with Gotham City (possibly be surpassed by Pandora in AVATAR). Obvious plot holes and grunting aside, this movie was fucking brilliant, with Heath Ledger delivering one helluva performance.

1 - Gladiator
I saw this movie now 10 years ago, and it still stands vividly in my mind. Walking out of that movie I was floored. What a tremendous movie. It stands at #3 on my all-time movie list with only SHAWSHANK and BRAVEHEART above it, so no doubt it would by my favorite movie of the Aughts.  Everything about this movie I love, and will continue to love for a long, long time.


There you have it, my Top 11 of the decade. Thoughts?!?!

(21) - Kick-ASS!

Wow. This new trailer for the movie KICK-ASS seriously kicks ass. Just check it out and trust me. The word of mouth this thing has been gathering, looks like we're gonna have a hit on our hands come April. Stay tuned.

(20) - TV in Images

So I created these four images recently. I've been super bored and been playing around with Photoshop. Not the greatest. Doesn't take a lot of talent, just a lot of patience. The first two are tributes to THE WIRE and the other two have to do with LOST. Let me know what you think!

Click on the images to enlarge them for better detail!