Roger Ebert's Top Ten Films of the Decade

Roger Ebert wastes no time telling you about his pick for the greatest movie of the past ten years. Synecdoche, New York is the best film of the decade, Ebert says matter-of-factly. "It intends no less than to evoke the strategies we use to live our lives." Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut from 2008 is a bold choice, although I think quite a few critics have at least considered it for a place on their top ten. The rest of Ebert's list is no less unexpected. Perhaps only two of the films - Almost Famous and The Hurt Locker - have been thrown into other best-of-the-decade lists that I've seen, and even as great as The Hurt Locker is, that pick may only seem justifiable a few years from now, after Kathryn Bigelow's film has a chance to live in our memories a while. In addition to his top ten, which get a considerable amount of his attention, Ebert lists ten other movies from the past decade that deserve special recognition, and some of those even seem to come out of the blue. "In choosing the list," he writes, "I decided to bypass films that may have qualified for their historical, artistic, popular or 'objective' importance. No lists have deep significance, but even less lists composed to satisfy an imaginary jury of fellow critics." "My jury resides within. I know how I feel." Good enough. Here's Ebert's top ten, and you can read his feelings about each on his award-winning blog: 1 - Synecdoche, New York (2008)
2 - The Hurt Locker (2009)
3 - Monster (2004)
4 - Juno (2007)
5 - Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005)
6 - Chop Shop (2008)
7 - The Son (2002)
8 - The 25th Hour (2003)
9 - Almost Famous (2000)
10- My Winnipeg (2008)

Comments

[SEAN]

Wow okay...didnt expect a lot of these...but hey he does give us a disclaimer "My jury resides within. I know how I feel"

I really need to see The 25th Hour - I hear good things about this film from everyone consistently but I still haven't seen it, maybe a New Years Resolution lol

[SEAN]

OHH & HAPPY NEW YEAR & I'LL SEE GETTHEBIGPICTURE & YOU COLIN IN 2010...!!!!!!!

[Lengthy Johnson]

I'm not too keen on critics doing subjective lists. That's what everyone else is doing. Critics should be teaching the public what is objectively good and, more importantly, why.

But I guess a man of Ebert's stature can do as he pleases.

[J.Bradley]

At least he has many from accross the decade, not just the last few years. I think it's interesting how "The 25th Hour" has come back on a few of these "best of" lists. Still not my favorite "Spike Lee joint" but it describes it's era well.

[Joe Somebody]

I like this list alright. Obviously it's personal so who can argue with that. Anyway, whenever i read these best of i like to throw out my top lists of the decade and year, so here they are. I know no one cares, but I'm still posting them:

BEST 20 OF THE DECADE(I couldn't come up with a shorter list)

1. There Will Be Blood - '07
2. Michael Clayton - '07
3. Gladiator - '00
4. Almost Famous - '00
5. Requiem for a dream ' 00
6. The Royal Tennenbaums - '01
7. Gosford park - '01
8. Hero - '04
9. The Proposition - '05
10. The Dark Knight - '08
11. The Departed - '06
12. The Lives of Others - '07
13. Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind - '04
14. Traffic - '00
15. The New World - '05
16. The Assassination of Jesse James - '07
17. The Hurt Locker - '09
18. No Country For Old Men - '07
19. Match Point - '05
20. Last Days - '05

As you can see i feel that 2000 and 2007 were the best years for movies and that '02 and '03 stunk as no movies made my cut. Though lost in Translation - '03, 25th Hour - '02, and The Bourne identity - '02 were close misses. Here's now my best of this year.

1. The Hurt Locker
2. Up in the Air
3. Gommorah
4. The Limits of Control
5. The Fantastic Mr. Fox
6. Tetro
7. Inglorious Basterds
8. An Education
9. Adventureland
10. Moon
11. A Serious Man
12. 500 Days of Summer
13. Where the Wild Things Are
14. The Hangover
15. The Informant

I at least got this years list down to 15. I think it was a great year for GOOD movies, though not any GREAT movies, as I almost had to force myself to put The Hurt Locker even on my 20 decade list.

[selfloathingreview]

http://selfloathingreview.wordpress.com/2009/12/28/top-10-films-of-the-noughties-1700s/

[Tim]

1. There Will Be Blood
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
3. Kill Bill
4. Spirited Away
4. Almost Famous
5. The Departed
7. Little Miss Sunshine
8. No Country for Old Men
9. The Dark Knight
10. Lord of The Rings
11. The 40 Year Old Virgin
12. Finding Nemo
13. City of God
14. Shaun of The Dead
15. Inglourious Basterds
16. Juno
17. Pan’s Labyrinth
18. Superbad
19. Shrek
20. Adaptation
21. A Serious Man
22. The Man Who Wasn’t There
23. WALL-E
24. Synecdoche, New York
25. In Bruges
26. Punch-Drunk Love
27. Brokeback Mountain
28. Mean Girls
29. Million Dollar Baby
30. Pirates of the Caribbean, The Curse of the Black Pearl

[TJ]

My list

1. Minority Report (2002) Steven Spielberg
2. There Will Be Blood (2007) Paul Thomas Anderson
3. The Dark Knight (2008) Christopher Nolan
4. No Country For Old Men (2007) Coen Brothers
5. Avatar (2009) Jim Cameron
6. Kill Bill (2003-2004) Quentin Tarantino
7. LOTR (2001-2003) Peter Jackson
8. Catch Me If You Can (2002) Steven Spielberg
9. Casino Royale (2006) Martin Campbell
10. The Departed (2006) Martin Scorsese

My List of 1990s (match more with Ebert's pick tahn in our 2000's picks)

1. Goodfellas (1990) Martin Scorsese
2. Pulp Fiction (1994) Quentin Tarantino
3. Good Will Hunting (1997) Gus Van Sant
4. Titanic (1997) Jim Cameron
5. Fargo (1996) Joel Coen
6. Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) Anthony Minghella
7. Fight Club (1999) David Fincher
8. Schindler's Lists (1993) Steven Spielberg
9. Scent of a woman (1992) Martin Brest
10. You've Got Mail (1998) Nora Ephron