Those two movies were the ones I thought were the most inflated, overrated movies of the decade, so I was a bit disappointed to see them rated so highly, especially No Point for that Old Film.
Other than that, and the woeful underrating of Dark Knight and omission of Let the Right One In and Amelie, it’s a good list.
They have really good taste, I’m probably going to check out the ones I haven’t seen.
The Departed? Little Miss Sunshine??? Are you fucking kidding me?
–Cliffy
Me too, though they seem to like some pretty dark fare, which I’m not good at watching, even if I know it’s objectively good. I could take me a while, too, as I don’t watch a lot of movies. The ones on their list that I had seen definitely packed a punch, though. (I also agree with their #1, even though I haven’t seen it since it came out, and I don’t if I can watch it again.)
Of those 50 movies I’ve only seen 12 and only ‘The Dark Knight’ at a theater. I haven’t seen any of the top 3. Surprised me a bit, I still don’t have any interest in seeing the one’s I’ve missed.
Agreed, particularly when the token Swedish movie is ‘Together’, which is a good movie, but pretty much like an extended episode of a good TV show.
*Decent list, the only list better than that iss one that I would put together :).
My #1 would be There Will Be Blood.
I liked the list. American Psycho and Waking Life were the only two that I thought didn’t belong.
FWIW, Amilie was included in the Almost the best films of the decade list
Let the Right One In was a good movie, but I wouldn’t have counted it in the top 50 either. Course no ones going to agree on the top 50 list any way.
And of course, the list was probably compiled a few weeks ago, so we can forgive the omission of Ninja Assassin since they probably didn’t have a chance to see it when the wrote the article.
Haven’t even finished scrolling the list, but I was so pleasantly surprised to see The Prestige that I came here. I thought I was the only person who had seen it, much less liked it.
My thoughts exactly.
I thought Brick should have been on that list too. I did not see Dogville, Requiem for a Dream, or In Bruges either. Oh well.
Doubtful. My favorite movie this year, (500) Days of Summer, would have been beloved by the people who created the list (IMO).
Yeah, that’s a good list. 25th Hour being number 2 is a great choice. Though after seeing that I have to say Bamboozled is conspicuously absent. Like any such list we could kvetch about what belongs and what doesn’t, and about the order, but it’s a really great list with some surprises on it.
Scott Tobias, one of the contributors to the list, gave it a B-.
I really like the AV Club. The writers are enthusiastic about what they like and they aren’t afraid to go against what’s considered cool. The fact that they included A.I. is a pretty good example of that.
I’ve seen 31 of the 50.
Why Is It In There??:
A.I.
Punch Drunk Love
Why Is Is Not In There??:
Juno
In Bruges
Up
In America
The Bridge
Glaring Omissions:
Once
Lars and the Real Girl
For a long time I couldn’t stand Nathan Rabin. Mostly early-mid 2000s. At this time he seemed to ONLY review rap and hip-hop, and like every second review he’d say “THIS is the MOST IMPORTANT album of the DECADE. NO, WAIT. THE CENTURY. Hell, I’ll say it’s better than any rock album. EVER RELEASED.”
He did get better, and he’s a good writer, so I mostly enjoy his pieces now.
I’m surprised that Monster isn’t on the list. I don’t want to see it ever again, but it was a stunningly good movie.
I also think at least one Clint Eastwood directed movie should be on the list. Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, or Mystic River would be good candidates.
**Unforgiven came out in the early 90’s.
Not sure why, but I expected more from them. A few things I like, balanced out with an awful lot I dislike or to which I’m indifferent. Apichatpong Weeraseethakul, at least one of his films from this decade, belongs on any such list (instead we get two titles by the vapid Christopher Nolan). The omission of Pedro Costa, Jia Zhang Ke, Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Aleksandr Sokurov, Hong Sang-Soo, Bruno Dumont, and Claire Denis (in favor of things like United 93) is a sin. What Time Is It There? seems to be a favorite on a lot of these lists, but I like Goodbye Dragon Inn and The Wayward Cloud better.
At least they chose Gerry over Milk, though Elephant was probably Van Sant’s best this decade. As the comments acknowledge, no Guy Maddin or Inland Empire? Ridiculous. They went for the wrong Lukas Moodysson film (they call his recent work “didactic,” but A Hole in My Heart has to be his most powerful). And no list like this is complete without In Praise of Love.
Hopefully, I will be forgiven for this faux pas.
I feel like the only person on earth who didn’t like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It had great acting and an interesting idea, but the wandering around Jim Carrey’s head part was just WAY too much of the movie. It was like a visual representation of someone telling you about their dream. “Yeah, you were there, but you weren’t YOU, you know? You were this guy I knew in fourth grade and then we were all chased around by giant pinecones and then we went to the beach my cousin Fred was there…” BORING. If more of the film had been about the actual storyline, I would have liked it approximately eight thousand times more.