25 Best Movies of the Decade: 2

"I could die right now, Clem. I'm just... happy. I've never felt that before. I'm just exactly where I want to be."


2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind(2004)

A strange and fantastical journey through the mind of Joel Barrish, a man trying to erase the memory of his relationship with Clementine Kruczynski after finding out she erased her memory of the relationship, Eternal Sunshine is a wonderfully bizarre film from a wonderfully bizarre team: writer Charlie Kaufman and Lego music video auteur Michel Gondry.

As Joel's mind goes, we see the relationship from the breakup and backwards until they meet, telling a unique love story. It's a brilliant deconstruction on the classic love story and just one element of why Eternal Sunshine is so great.

Other things: the direction is fantastic, as is the writing, Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet are at the top of their game, etc. etc. etc.

Suffice it to say Eternal Sunshine is an unbelivable film and one of my favorites.

25 Best Movies of the Decade: 3

"Computer, define 'dancing'"


3. WALL-E(2008)

Let's just face it right now. If the second half of WALL-E was like the first half of WALL-E, it might be the greatest animated film ever made. Instead it just has to deal with being a film with breathtaking visuals and the most adorable first act of any film.

When the opening of a movie is a camera zooming through space set to music from "Hello, Dolly!," it's apparent that this is not like any other Pixar flick. And sure enough, we spend about 45 minutes seeing a relationship blossom between two characters who do not officially have real dialogue. It's hard not to find the growing love between the old, broken-down WALL-E and the sleek EVE an utterly precious love story.

It's debatable whether this is Pixar's best work or not, but you'd be hard pressed to actually hate it.

25 Best Movies of the Decade: 4

"I like to look for things no one else catches. I hate the way drivers never look at the road in old American movies."


4. Amélie(2001)


Girl is quirky; helps people. Rarely is there more a simplistic story to a film. Yet Jean-Pierre Jeunet's most well-known film is so wonderfully told that it charms its way into your heart.

And of course there's Audrey Tautou, the beautifully adorable face of Amélie Poulain, the whimsical Montmarte resident. It's hard not to fall in love with her goofy demeanor and friendly altruism.

Amélie is frankly the most endearing film on this list. C'est la vie.

25 Best Movies of the Decade: 5

"We're gonna see a brave new world where they run everybody a wire and hook us all up to a grid. Yes, sir, a veritable age of reason. Like the one they had in France. Not a moment too soon."


5. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

Ulysses Everett McGill and the two guys hooked to his legs are in a tight spot. On the run from the law, looking for treasure in Depression-era Mississippi and trapped in a modern day Odyssey on the run from the law, but along the way they meet everyone from a one-eyed con man to real life Depression personalities like Tommy Johnson.

It's not as widely regarded as The Big Lebowski or No Country For Old Men, but this is probably the Coen Brothers finest work. A delightfully original take on the classic "hero's journey" style of storytelling. Every character is genuinely likable(even bipolar crazy gangster George Nelson) and the music. Good lord, the music. Imagine if Now That's What I Call Music was around in the early 1900s and that's what you'd have. It's a who's who of old-timey folk songs. Man of Constant Sorrow is one of my favorite songs. And it's all because of this film.

25 Best Movies of the Decade: 6

"For 20 years, you've had this fuckin' thing hidden down here? This is, this is very illegal. I mean, this is... this is a fine — if they catch you with it"


6. District 9(2009)

It's rare to see a mockumentary taken out of its own style, but District 9 is one of the few to pull it off. What starts off as a somewhat goofy sci-fi doc about a mild-mannered manager in charge of alien affairs(with just a hand of not so subtle social commentary).

Very quickly, the film devolves into a chase film as Wikus van der Merwe, the former MNU manager, is slowly transformed into a "prawn"(the human-sized, bipedal shrimp-like residents of District 9). He's subjected to torturous experiments before making his way to the shantytown to search for a cure. Halfway through the film, it transforms from a chase film to an action film, and you never really question it. For the most part, it seems like a natural progression and it just fits. It's the writing.

Also, lightning guns? Never get old.

25 Best Movies of the Decade: 7

"I'm just not the hero type, clearly. What with this laundry list of character defects and all the mistakes I've made, largely publicly."

Iron Man(2008)

As previously stated, Dark Knight is a trash toilet movie for trash toilet people and fuck everything. Iron Man is the worthwhile contender for best superhero movie.

It feels almost unfair to give credit to only Robert Downey Jr. with his performance of Tony Stark but god damn. The man exudes personality in every performance and he TURNS IT UP in this film, making an easily unlikable character like Tony Stark(alcoholic womanizing millionaire) into a rakish charmer that just seems like this cool guy.

Sure, the writing might have had something to do with it. But c'mon, could anyone do it like RDJ?

25 Best Movies of the Decade: 8

"I think their undisputed masterpiece is "Hip to be Square", a song so catchy, most people probably don't listen to the lyrics. But they should, because it's not just about the pleasures of conformity, and the importance of trends, it's also a personal statement about the band itself. Hey Paul!"

8. American Psycho(2000)

Patrick Bateman is trash and he knows it. A man who can barely come to grips with his own Yuppie reality that he escapes into a fantasy world of murder to even feel anything. Or does he? In a world like Patrick Bateman's, who knows what can be real or not. It could simply be Bateman's own escape from banality mixed with his unstable emotions.

Nevertheless, Mary Harron's adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' landmark 1991 novel is at times simultaneously hilarious and horrifying. Able to take us on a ride through the eyes of madman Bateman, it's Christian Bale's performance that truly makes it, as he is capable of keeping Bateman from going over the edge(or too much over the edge) and making it look like he's not completely crazy.

Every fucking person talks about great American Psycho is. It's like Clerks. It became tired at this point so don't listen to me or whatever.

25 Best Movies of the Decade: 9

"In extreme circumstances, the assailants can be stopped by removing the head or destroying the brain. I will repeat that: by removing the head or destroying the brain."

9. Shaun of the Dead(2004)

Shaun has no direction in his life. He's 29 and still working as a clerk at an electronics store, he has terrible relationships with his stepfather and flatmate(well, one flatmate) and his girlfriend, tired of their social life(specifically that he brings her to the same bar every night), breaks up with him. Despondent, Shaun finally resolves to sort his life out the morning after a binge. Only problem is, the next morning happens to be the dawn of a zombie apocalypse.

Shaun of the Dead could have easily been another Scary Movie. Just make a comedy with some horror background and then make stupid jokes. But Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright and crew have a deeper appreciation for cinema and made a zom-com(technically a rom-zom-com) that doesn't mock or parody, but lovingly references. While the whole cast is fantastic, but the real stand-outs are obviously Simon Pegg and Nick Frost who have perfect chemistry as Shaun and his crude pal Ed.

To quote a review, "Shaun of the Dead isn’t just the best horror-comedy of the decade – it’s quite possibly the best horror-comedy ever made"

25 Best Movies of the Decade: 10

"What I say is true; anyone can cook, but only the fearless can be great."

10. Ratatouille(2007)

Remy, gifted with a keen sense of smell and taste and the innate ability to cook, has the aspiration to become a great French chef. There's only one problem: Remy, for all his gifts, is the greatest enemy of any kitchen: a rat.

I think what makes Ratatouille so great is that it's not a WALL-E or an Up. It's a film that's on a smaller scale. It's just a rat who wants to be a great cook, inspired by the words of a deceased chef. But it's hard not to enjoy it and to see the obvious fun director Brad Bird had in making the movie. And the mix of fun animation and storytelling is able to make this film into some form of artwork.

25 Best Movies of the Decade: 11

"What we saw was impossible. You know that, don't you? What do we say? How do we convince them? Ollie, what the hell were those tentacles even attached to?"

11. The Mist(2007)

Fear is what drives us. Everything we're afraid of, we can recognize and thusly have some kind of coping mechanism. But what if we didn't know what we feared? What if there was something out there, in the darkness, waiting to kill you? Would you try to cope under extreme circumstances or would you fight to survive?

David Drayton is soon forced to face this question as he and a choice number of fellow citizens find themselves trapped in a local grocery store trying to survive a mysterious fog filled with murderous creatures. Locked inside with a number of people trying to make sense of what has happened, the survivors slowly break down from stress and fear and eventually become devoted followers of unstable religious fanatic Mrs. Carmody, who soon tries to commit sacrifices to drive away the monsters.

By the end of the film, though, Drayton can't seem to leave the mist and, faced under immense pressure, has to make one of the most daunting choices any human being could make. One that he almost immediately regrets.

25 Best Movies of the Decade: 12

"All the time you spend trying to get back what's been took from you, more is going out the door."

12. No Country For Old Men(2007)

In Texas, 1980, Llwelyn Moss is hunting pronghorn when he comes upon a satchel full of money(roughly two million dollars). Naturally he takes it and soon, very soon, regrets his decision. The men who the satchel belongs to hires cold hitman Anton Chigurh to recover the money by any means necessary. Soon after, another hired operative, Carson Wells also comes tracking down Moss, but to offer protection in return for money.

Eventually and by the time the final chapter of the film comes along we are answered the question we've been wondering: "Does Moss get away with it?" Once the answer is revealed we slowly come to realize this was never about Moss. This was never even about Chigurh(although Javier Bardem's portrayal of the killer is a terrifying three-dimensional slasher movie villain who thrives on the decision of a coin). It's actually about Sheriff Ed Bell and it may as well be. The middle-aged(going on elderly) Bell's search for an answer to the stolen money and escaped criminal is almost a representation of his own culture shock. His uneasy look towards the future that's changing the country from the one he knew as a child, from when he was growing up.

To realize that, near the end of a film, your supposed protagonist doesn't succeed in his task and to have your view shift to the perspective of a completely different character is something that film rarely makes you do: think.

25 Best Movies of the Decade: 13

"Even though I'm no more than a monster - don't I, too, have the right to live?"

13. Oldboy(2003)

Oh Dae-Su has been locked in a hotel room for 15 years, severely tortured by his captors, with no knowledge of why. Released and bitter, he seeks revenge on the men who destroyed him, only to get caught up in a web of violence and fear and falling in love with an attractive sushi chef.

The way all of Oldboy presents itself is not what you would normally see in your traditional film. It strips down the bare essence of humanity and presents an almost animalistic quality to it. Everything within, the extreme violence and gore, the fearless approach of the subject matter and especially the plot as a whole once the ending is revealed, is raw and brilliant against all the other films that it could be put up against.

It's not often a film can make me feel so unnerved and so detatched from humanity. Oldboy can and does, almost as if it know it's just because it can.

25 Best Movies of the Decade: 14

"Once you've met someone, you won't really forget them. It just takes a while for your memory to return."

14. Spirited Away(2001)

Ten-year-old Chihiro is moving with her parents to a new home only for the family to get sidetracked in the countryside. Soon Chihiro finds herself lost in a world of spirits, dragons, witches and other monsters.

If there was anyone we could owe animation to, it's Walt Disney. If there's anyone we could owe a return to the fantastic in animation to, it's Hayao Miyazaki. The reason Pixar exists, the reason it's able to make such beautiful, fantastical films is more or less because of Miyazaki. Much of his work is greatly influenced by great Japanese art which lends it an incredibly natural look to whole film.

It's fascinating to watch Chihiro's metaphoric, "Alice In Wonderland"-like maturation on her adventure in this traditionalist Japanese fantasy world.

Also No-Face is an awesome character.

Also also Hayao Miyazaki looks like a Japanese Colonel Sanders.

25 Best Movies of the Decade: 15

"All these years, all these memories, there was you. You pulled me through time."

15. The Fountain(2006)

It's really hard for me to vocalize what is so amazing about The Fountain. It could just be the beautiful visuals or the sweeping mesmerizing score. It could be the fantastic performances of Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz as lovers in three different time periods. But I think what really gets me is the themes.

The whole thing is about living longer whether it be Captain Tomas Verde's search for the tree of life or Dr. Tommy Creo's desperate search for the cure to his wife's brain tumor. It's a matter that we're all afraid of death and we all try to extend our life before the fear destroys us or death takes us.

And it's all told in one of the most beautiful ways possible. Seriously it's hard to explain this, so just watch it.

25 Best Movies Of The Decade: 16

"Just because she has on a funny dress doesn't mean she's a princess"

16. Enchanted(2007)

Disney has such a long long line of princesses and animated fairy tales, that it would only seem fitting that they end up mocking them, but Enchanted isn't just that. The story of Princess Giselle, your standard girly Disney princess, being forced from the storybook cartoon world of Andalasia(full of bright colors and talking animals) into the very real New York City, is both a mockery of the Disney princesses of yore and a sweet-natured tribute to all things Disney(Seriously).

Enchanted is a great film because, despite of its own tongue-in-cheek quality, is that it's also incredibly innocent in all of it. Princess Giselle's naivete, making the best of where she is, like cleaning up a house by singing a song and summoning a number of animals, all NY vermin(roaches, rats, pigeons).

Okay, bias time. I love Amy Adams. Seriously. I totally crush on her and it's partly because of Enchanted since she is unbelivably adorable in this movie. Reacting with wide-eyed innocent fascination to all her new surroundings and I just wanna go "AWWWWWWWW" in the whole thing.

If it wasn't for a film that will appear much later, Enchanted would be the cutest film on this list,

25 Best Movies Of The Decade: 17

"And Nicolas Cage...as...Fu Manchu!"

17. Grindhouse (2007)

I fucking miss old grindhouse movies(note: I am only 19). Like seriously, blaxploitation movies, women in prison films, the shockumentary mondo cinema flicks. It seems the only genres of exploitation cinema that made it out of the grindhouse cinemas of old are the Spaghetti Westerns(thanks to actors like Clint Eastwood) and the Slasher films.

That's why when Grindhouse came out, I wanted to pass out in excitement. An old-time gritty film double feature. It seemed totally authentic as if these films were fished out of some old dusty abandoned movie theater. The film was grainy and the plot was gory. The majority of the actors were character actors or people you never remember(Freddy Rodriguez, Danny Trejo, Rose McGowan, I'm looking in the direction of you guys). This was Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's giant love letter to the films that raised them.

The absolute best moments, though, come from the trailers before and between the films. Done by director friends(save for Robert Rodriguez's great "Machete"), the trailers are sneak peeks for quick faux-films and are the most uproarious bits of the entire double feature. Edgar Wright's Hammer-style "Don't," Eli Roth's '70s slasher "Thanksgiving" and Rob Zombie's horror/Nazi "Werewolf Women of tht SS" are all genuinely, hilariously enticing and are all films I would seriously want to watch.

And because I love that line about Nic Cage as Fu Manchu:

25 Best Movies Of The Decade: 18

"The sixties are an important and exciting time!"

18. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story(2007)

2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000. Every year this decade, a big name biopic has netted at least one Oscar for performance(Seriously, look that shit up).

I don't mind biopics. Some can be really, really good(see: Gandhi), but lately there has been an absolute glut of biopics. So I suppose it's good to see the shit shot out of them.

Walk Hard is brilliant in that instance. Everything you could possibly think that they would do in a biopic, they do in this movie. The terribly tragedy(slicing his brother in half with a machete), the choice to see how young an actor can play(in this instance, John C. Reilly starts playing Dewey at the age of 14), even the way the main character encounters important figures from that age.

That's one of the thing that really shines about Walk Hard. As Dewey Cox ages, he consistenly runs into the famous people of the era. The most chuckle-worthy being his encounter with an unintelligible, karate-chopping Elvis Presley(played by musician Jack White) and Dewey taking his band on a meditation trip to India with The Beatles(portrayed absurdly by Jack Black, Paul Rudd, Jason Schwartzman and Justin Long).

The music is equally amazing. Dewey's musical evolution from goofy pop singer(the sugary "Take My Hand" which incites a riot and people claiming it's the "devil's music") to bitter country superstar(the Johnny Cash-like "Guilty As Charged" underscoring a dark period in his life) to political folk singer(the offensive song of the people "Dear Mr. President" and the nonsensical Dylanesque "Royal Jelly"). The music perfectly reflects every musical biopic where all the music really means is "HERE IS THE YEAR."

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention John C. Reilly. Reilly is one of my favorite actors and the kind of actor I aspire to be. His ability to balance being an excellent comedic actor and an excellent dramatic actor is only enhanced by his incredible singing voice and great use as a go-to character actor. I don't even have to describe why I loved his performance of Dewey Cox. I've talked enough about Reilly himself to have you know why I liked the role.

25 Best Movies Of The Decade: 19

"Now, I don't know about y'all, but I sure as hell didn't come down from the goddamn Smoky Mountains, cross five thousand miles of water, fight my way through half of Sicily and then jump out of a fuckin' air-o-plane to teach the Nazis lessons in humanity. Nazi ain't got no humanity. They're the foot soldiers of a Jew-hatin', mass murderin' maniac and they need to be destroyed."

19. Inglourious Basterds(2009)

After the dismal performance of the Grindhouse double feature(which is a shame because I fucking loved Grindhouse. Both films and all the trailers), it easily could have been thought that Quentin Tarantino was bound for another long dry spell between movies. Then all of a sudden, came the Basterds.

A World War II fantasy piece, Basterds explores a Spaghetti Western in the middle of Nazi-occupied France. In 1941, Col. Hans Landa, "The Jew Hunter" kills a family of refugee French Jews, leaving only Shoshanna Dreyfuss to run free. Flash-forward three years to American's involvement of the war and we meet the titular squad: a fierce Jewish fighting force led by Lt. Aldo Raine and including former Nazi Hugo Stiglitz and Donny Donowitz, whose vicious attacks with a baseball bat has led the Germans to dub him "The Bear Jew."

While most Tarantino works rely on more modern styles of cinematography, his direction in this one keeps it more related to the old war films of yesteryear. Scenes are held for absurdly long times to escalate moments to amazing tenseness. The writing as well shows a difference in style for Tarantino, as the characters are less verbose(especially Brad Pitt's Lt. Raine, who keeps things to a minimum, vocabulary-wise).

The acting especially shines. Both Pitt's portrayal of Aldo "The Apache" and Eli Roth's Sgt. Donowitz are hilariously over-the-top as every other word out of their mouths either instill fear or laughter. But for all the brilliance of the Basterds, the non-Americans seem to shine the most.

Shosanna, played by Mélanie Laurent, is absolutely amazing as she lives under an alias in Paris as a cinema operator, slowly working out her plan for revenge on the Nazis that killed her family. Laurent's performance masterfully blends the fear and anger that many Jews in hiding possibly could have felt. Then, there's Hans Landa. Cristoph Waltz exudes intensity as the slimy over-the-top Colonel and when he finally comes face-to-face with Aldo Raine in his captivity, he's able to balance the drama of the scene and Tarantino's ever-present use of comedy.

Inglourious Basterds is the greatest film with a misspelled film title I've ever seen.

25 Greatest Movies Of The Decade: 20

"I like the way I feel. I like thinking about the red dress and the television and you and your father. Now when I get the sun, I smile."

20. Requiem for a Dream(2000)

Legitimately one of the most disturbing, depressing films I have ever seen in my lifetime. Requiem for a Dream revolves around the lives of four individuals and how addiction ruins them. One by one, being toppled by the reality that shatters their illusions of life.

As Harry Goldfarb, his girlfriend Marion and his friend Tyrone all abuse and sell heroin for profit so they can fulfill their dreams, Harry's mother Sara slowly becomes addicted to diet pills in a desperate attempt to fit into an old red dress before an appearance on motivational speaker Tappy Tibbon's infomercial. All of them are splendidly performed by their actors(yes, including MARLON WAYANS as Tyrone). And as with this stuff, things seem to be fine at first, until moments slowly unravel and by the end it all falls down. Tyrone has been jailed and left alone, Marion is selling her body for drugs, Harry had to have an arm amputated and Sara is forced to undergo electroshock treatment after the diet pills and her own anxiety about her weight leaves her losing her sanity.

In Requiem for a Dream, there is no fairness, only truth. And Darren Aronofsky's direction shows it through a lens of fear and isolation.

25 Best Movies Of The Decades: 21

"Check it out. Dustin Hoffman, 'Rain Man,' look retarded, act retarded, not retarded. Counted toothpicks, cheated cards. Autistic, sho'. Not retarded. You know, Tom Hanks, 'Forrest Gump.' Slow, yes. Retarded, maybe. Braces on his legs. But he charmed the pants off Nixon and won a ping-pong competition. That ain't retarded. Peter Sellers, 'Being There.' Infantile, yes. Retarded, no. You went full retard, man. Never go full retard."

21. Tropic Thunder(2008)

Sometimes Ben Stiller can really be insanely funny(The Ben Stiller Show, for example). Since his minor role in Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun," Stiller has been writing this comedy. And it was only released two years ago.

The film is about the making of "Tropic Thunder," based on a book about the horrors of the Vietnam War and how its prima donna actors are dropped into the jungle, forcing them to play the roles without a comfy film set. Of course soon after the director gets killed and the actors(convinced it was a set up) try to continue acting until one of their own is captured by a Vietnamese drug gang.

While the plot and writing is pretty good, it's the characters that are actually the focus of the film, as each deals with their own deep-seated insecurites. Stiller's Tugg Speedman is a past-his-prime action star who's about to release the sixth film in his "Scorcher" franchise, looking to save his career and find a way to be taken seriously after his first dramatic role, "Simple Jack" about a magical and mentally disabled farmhand, fails miserably. Jack Black's Jeff Portnoy is an overweight and drug addicted comedy star, also looking to be taken seriously who feels people only love his films, like the flatulent sequel "The Fatties: Fart 2," for the crude jokes.

Lastly, there's Kirk Lazarus, who I've written extensively about previously. Robert Downey Jr's character is a multiple Academy Award-winning Australian method actor who gets so deep into his character's that he doesn't drop them until after DVD commentary. In this case, he performs African-American Sergeant Lincoln Osiris, a role for which he underwent a controversial "pigmentation alteration" surgery and speaks through most of the film in a stereotypical 70s black voice. While it seems at first that Lazarus is only in character, by the end of the film it's revealed that for all his knowledge of the roles he plays, he has no idea who he is.

The whole film is an excellent middle finger to the entirety of the film business, from the agents to the executives to award ceremonies.

25 Best Movies Of The Decade: 22

"What are you doing? We don't stop here."

22. Mulholland Drive(2001)

Do not ask me what this movie is about. I do not know what this movie is about. There's an amnesia plotline, Billy Ray Cyrus is in it, there's some kind of crazy burnt face lady that's really scary and Naomi Watts makes some sweet love to another woman for like the last half hour of the film. It's a mind fuck.

But like most of David Lynch's works, it's a beautiful mind fuck. It leads you down paths that make no sense and nothing is ever solved because life is weird sometimes or whatever. It's in this expression of surrealism that Lynch's oeuvre always manifests, creating dreamlike worlds out of realistic settings. Always deeply disturbing, always entrancing.

Don't...don't actually ask me to explain anything about David Lynch's films.

25 Best Movies Of The Decade: 23

"Sauron's wrath will be terrible, his retribution swift. The battle for Helm's Deep is over. The battle for Middle Earth is about to begin. All our hopes now lie with two little hobbits, somewhere in the wilderness."

23. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers(2002)

The middle film of a trilogy tends to be equal to the sum of its two other parts(see: Empire Strikes Back, Spider-Man 2. Although, Temple of Doom is an exception to the rule) and Two Towers exhibits the greater parts as a middle as opposed to the humble beginnings of Fellowship and the 18 different wrap-up endings of Return of the King.

The film exhibits a greater strength of story as Frodo and the rest of the Fellowship split apart after the death of Gandalf. As Aragorn(Man), Gimli(Dwarf) and Legolas(Legend of Zelda character) set out to save Merry and Pippin from a pack of Uruk-hai, Frodo and Samwise are still on the trail to Mt. Doom to destroy the ring of power with a strange, schizophrenic little creature named Gollum who has one personality that wants to help his new Hobbit friends and the other that simply wants to murder them and take his "precious"(the ring) back.

I've never been one to focus so much on CGI, but Peter Jackson knows how to wield it better than anyone. The centerpiece of the film, the battle for Helm's Deep is one of the most expansive, jaw-dropping scenes I have ever seen in my life and it's basically one of the first of its kind. As 10,000 Uruk-hai storm the Rohan stronghold of Helm's Deep, a massive fight ensues for what seems like forever. There is so much going on in that scene that it's absolutely amazing.

And of course, there's Gollum, who I've written about before. It seems odd that what could have been a shoddy, dead-eyed CGI character(Zemeckis), but look at that face up there. It's absolutely amazing the way Jackson and his team(including actor Andy Serkis who provided the motion-capture and voice of Gollum) were able to fully flesh out a character who exhibits the oldest conflict of man(well, former Hobbit) vs. self. Gollum is able to garner our simultaneous sympathy and hatred, especially in the scene where the innocent half, Sméagol makes a desperate attempt to banish the Gollum personality.

25 Best Movies Of The Decade: 24

"I'm sorry...was that like a secret pudding?"
24. Punch-Drunk Love(2002)

Adam Sandler plays Barry Egan, a man who owns a company that markets assorted novelty items including "fungers," which are humorously themed toilet plungers. Welcome to an Adam Sandler film!

As opposed to your standard Sandler fare, though, "Punch-Drunk Love" is all about more genuine emotion. Paul Thomas Anderson once again shows how he can get the best out of any actor(see: Burt Reynolds, Tom Cruise) and gives Adam Sandler the darkest performance of his lifetime. Barry is a repressed, violent man with a perverse way of showing love and affection and who may or may not be borderline insane. He's basically a standard Adam Sandler character if that character existed in the real world: a dangerously unbalanced man whose passiveness underlies a stewing rage.

"Punch-Drunk Love" is one of the most surreal love stories you'll ever see and it's more than excellent in that regard.

25 Best Movies Of The Decade: 25

"Remember Sammy Jankis..."

25. Memento(2000)

Getting this out of the way by saying I hate the new Batman films. Everything is too stupidly "gritty" for my tastes and Christian Bale is a boring Batman and there are plot holes everywhere all the time.

That being said, those movies still look pretty good and that's because of Christopher Nolan. Memento is still Nolan's best work and it's in part of his own direction and in part Jonathan Nolan's writing.

Leonard Shelby is looking for the man who murdered his wife. The only problem is he suffers from anterograde amnesia, a condition that means he cannot retain memory of recent events, leaving him to tattoo information all over his body and documenting things with a Polaroid camera.

Of course, at the beginning of the film we see Shelby actually killing the man who killed his wife and the rest of the film plays backwards, almost mirroring Leonard's own short-term memory loss as it makes you encounter the same things he does while entirely in the dark. Well...wait, okay. Only half of the film is backwards. The part in color is backwards and the part in black and white is told chronologically, the story only meets in the ending. An ending, I might add, that gives a great twist to the entirety of Leonard Shelby's existence and an ending that only leaves us with knowledge of the future of Shelby and his friend Teddy.