McRib

I've never been a big fan of McDonald's, so it took me 35 years before I had my first McRib sandwich. Can't say it was worth the wait, but it was fun getting together with Brandon and Matt to commemorate the moment.

Brandon, Matt, and I McRibbing

Yes, I suffer from beard envy.

Top 50 Films of the Decade

I don't take these lists lightly. I probably do more homework than the folks at Entertainment Weekly, AFI, and Variety combined. I've been at this for a week now, and I think I'm happy with the list I put together. I took into consideration every film I viewed and rated as an A- or better from 2000 to the present. There were many B+ movies that felt deserving, but just missed the mark. In fact, I had a list of over 100 to whittle down that were A- or better.

Putting them in order was a challenge. The top 25 are pretty solid, 26-50 are more or less in order. Many of my selections will be on most people's lists, but I have plenty of films that are likely unique to mine. I've rounded up posters from all the films to help jog your memory. 10 years is a long time. I also have included statistical data at the bottom, for those interested in that kind of thing.

Obviously, I haven't seen every film released in the last decade. As I continue to see great films, I will have to drop some movies from this list and add others. I'd love to see others top films from this decade, so if you have a list posted somewhere, please post a link in the comments. Feel free to bash or praise my picks. I love a good movie debate.

I'm starting my list at number 50 and working my way to #1 to add more suspense. The order of information is as follows: Rank, US Title, Foreign Title (if applicable), Rating, Year Released, Production Country/Countries

TOP 50 MOVIES OF THE DECADE

#50 Nurse Betty (R) (2000) US

#49 Hard Candy (R) (2005) US

#48 Red Dragon (R) (2002) US

#47 Rabbit Proof Fence (PG) (2002) Australia

#46 Oceans 11 (PG-13) (2001) US

#45 The Descent (R) (2006) UK

#44 Amores Perros (R) (2000) Mexico

#43 Sexy Beast (R) (2001) UK, Spain

#42 In Good Company (PG-13) US

#41 Memento (R) (2000) US

#40 Across The Universe (PG-13) (2007) US

#39 High Fidelity (R) (2000) US

#38 Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior (Ong-bak) (R) (2003) Thailand

#37 Amelie (Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulain) (R) (2001) France, Germany

#36 Once (R) (2006) Ireland

#35 Lars and the Real Girl (PG-13) (2007) US

#34 Snatch (R) (2000) UK

#33 Ghost World (R) (2001) US

#32 Raising Victor Vargas (R) (2002) US

#31 The Notebook (PG-13) (2004) US

#30 The Dark Knight (PG-13) (2008) US

#29 Whale Rider (PG-13) (2003) New Zealand

#28 Dan in Real Life (PG-13) (2007) US

#27 Black Hawk Down (R) (2001) US

#26 About A Boy (PG-13) (2002) UK, US

#25 X-Men 1 & 2 (PG-13) (2000, 2003) US

#24 Stranger Than Fiction (PG-13) (2006) US

#23 Wall-E (G) (2008) US

#22 Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (Le Parfum: Histoire d'un Meurtrier) (R) (2006) Germany, Spain, US, France

#21 The Station Agent (R) (2003) US

#20 Heaven (R) (2002) Germany, Italy, US, France, UK

#19 Garden State (R) (2004) US

#18 28 Days Later (R) (2002) UK

#17 Holy Smoke (R) (2000) Australia

#16 Kill Bill (R) (2003, 2004) US

#15 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (R) (2004) US

#14 Sin City (R) (2005) US

#13 Girlfight (R) (2000) US

#12 Life as a House (R) (2001) US

#11 Dancer in the Dark (R) (2000) Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, US, UK, France, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Norway

#10 Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (R) (2000 -- this film is cited in different places as 1999 and 2000. I'm going with the 2000 citations) US

#9 Punch-Drunk Love (R) (2002) US

#8 Unleashed (Danny The Dog) (R) (2005) UK, France

#7 Gangs of New York (R) (2002) US

#6 Gladiator (R) (2000) US, UK

#5 The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (PG-13) (2001, 2002, 2003) US, New Zealand

#4 Mongol (R) (2007) Germany, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia

#3 The Pianist (R) (2002) France, Poland, Germany, UK

#2 Requiem for a Dream (R) (2000) US

#1 City of God (Cidade de Deus) (R) (2002) Brazil

Directors with two films in my Top 50:

Ridley Scott: Gladiator & Black Hawk Down

Tom Tykwer: Heaven & Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Paul Weitz: About a Boy (co-director) & In Good Company

Christopher Nolan: The Dark Knight & Memento


Actors in multiple Top 50 films:

Elijah Wood: Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Sin City, & Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Morgan Freeman: Unleashed, Nurse Betty, & The Dark Knight


Emily Watson: Punch-Drunk Love & Red Dragon


Brendan Gleeson: Gangs of New York & 28 Days Later


James Marsden: The Notebook & X-Men


Dustin Hoffman: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer & Stranger Than Fiction


Cate Blanchett: Lord of the Rings Trilogy & Heaven

Harvey Keitel: Holy Smoke & Red Dragon

Aaron Eckhart: The Dark Knight & Nurse Betty

Benicio Del Toro: Sin City & Snatch

Kate Winslet: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind & Holy Smoke

Orlando Bloom: Lord of the Rings Trilogy & Black Hawk Down

Sam Shepard: Black Hawk Down & The Notebook

Ian Holm: Lord of the Rings Trilogy & Garden State

Patricia Clarkson: The Station Agent & Lars and the Real Girl

Michael Madsen: Sin City & Kill Bill

Ewan Bremner: Black Hawk Down & Snatch

Ian Mckellen: Lord of the Rings Trilogy & X-Men 1 & 2

Maggie Gyllenhaal: Stranger Than Fiction & The Dark Knight


Josh Hartnett: Sin City & Black Hawk Down


David Cross: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind & Ghost World


William Fichtner: Black Hawk Down & The Dark Knight


Scarlett Johansson: Ghost World & In Good Company


Cillian Murphy: The Dark Knight & 28 Days Later


Ryan Gosling: The Notebook & Lars and the Real Girl


Brad Pitt: Snatch & Oceans 11


Ty Burrell: In Good Company & Black Hawk Down


Frankie Faison: In Good Company & Red Dragon

Countries that produced the most Top 50 films outside the US (or at least co produced)

UK: 10
France: 6
Germany: 6
Australia: 2
New Zealand: 2
Spain: 2

However, the best film of the decade came from BRAZIL!

Which years featured the best films?

2000: 12
2002: 11
2001: 7
2003: 6
2004: 5
2006: 4
2007: 4
2005: 3
2008: 2
2009: 0

Not a single film I've seen so far from this year has been Top 50 worthy. That could change with all the Oscar contending films being released this month.



Trivia:

• The only animated film to make the list: Wall-E
• The only zombie movie to make the list: 28 Days Later
• The only true horror movie to make the list: The Descent
• Two musicals made the list: Once and Across The Universe
• 36 of the Top 50 films are rated R
• Rabbit Proof Fence is the only PG rated film
• Wall-E is the only one rated G
• Only 2 of my films won the Oscar for Best Picture for the year they were released: Gladiator in 2000, Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2003,

If the Academy had any sense whatsoever, they would have awarded best picture as follows:

2000: Gladiator (won)
2001: Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (instead of A Beautiful Mind)
2002: City of God (instead of that horrific Chicago. IDIOTS!!) It wasn't even nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.
2003: Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (won)
2004: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Not even nominated!!!! The complete downer Million Dollar Baby won.)
2005: Unleashed (Again, not nominated. The very average Crash walked away with the trophy.)
2006: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (Not nominated. They decided to reward Martin Scorsese this year for The Departed instead of his much better Gangs of New York in 2002. )
2007: Mongol (No Country For Old Men won the big prize. Mongol was nominated for Best Foreign Film, but lost to The Counterfeiters, which was very good, but not as good.
2008: Wall-E (Not nominated for Best Picture, which is just stupid. Neither was The Dark Knight for that matter. The academy is retarded. Slumdog Millionaire won, which is at least a good film.)
2009: ????

See you next decade.