Part Thirteen: The Best Films of the 2000s

It took me a while to put this all together, and I went through two or three major reworkings before I settled on the list I have now. I'm sure that as time passes my list will change, but these are my choices as I immediately look back on the decade.

It's fairly easy to tell who my favorite movie people of the decade were through this list. As far as directors go, Christopher Nolan has four films on the list, Wes Anderson has three, Michel Gondry has three and Quentin Tarantino has two, plus he directed a segment of Sin City; Paul Thomas Anderson, Sofia Coppola, Todd Haynes, Cameron Crowe, Jason Reitman, George Clooney, Marc Forster, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Julian Schnabel, Lars von Trier, Joe Wright and Edgar Wright all have two films apiece. It's pretty easy to tell my favorites with the actors, too: George Clooney appeared in seven of the films (including the two he directed); Johnny Depp was in six; Jason Schwartzman, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Brad Pitt were each in five; Heath Ledger, Emma Thompson, Christian Bale, Matt Damon, Michael Caine, Bill Murray, Michelle Williams and Keira Knightley were each in four; Zooey Deschanel, Ben Whishaw, Gary Oldman, Cate Blanchett, Hugh Jackman, Sally Hawkins, Julianne Moore, Patricia Clarkson, Elijah Wood, Owen Wilson, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton and Rutger Hauer were each in three; and approximately 80 additional actors appeared in two films on the list.

Here are my top 100 films of the 2000s, barring a few I need to see from the last two months of 2009 (Nine, Sherlock Holmes, Broken Embraces and A Single Man are the likely contenders):

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
2. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
3. Amelie (2001)
4. Stranger Than Fiction (2006)

5. Once (2007)
6. I'm Not There (2007)
7. Kill Bill (2003-2004)
8. Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)
9. Away We Go (2009)
10. Man on Wire (2008)
11. High Fidelity (2000)
12. Almost Famous (2000)
13. Moulin Rouge (2001)
14. In the Mood for Love (2000)
15. This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006)
16. Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
17. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
18. Hot Fuzz (2007)
19. Synecdoche, New York (2008)

20. The Prestige (2006)
21. The Dark Knight (2008)
22. Sweeney Todd (2007)
23. Ocean's Eleven (2001)
24. Shrek (2001)
25. Wall-E (2008)
26. Lost in Translation (2003)
27. 500 Days of Summer (2009)
28. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
29. Bright Star (2009)

30. Juno (2007)
31. The Darjeeling Limited (2007)
32. The Fountain (2006)
33. Persepolis (2007)
34. There Will Be Blood (2007)
35. Inglourious Basterds (2009)
36. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

37. The Fall (2008)
38. Up in the Air (2009)

39. A Single Man (2009)
40. Memento (2000)
41. Garden State (2004)
42. Everything Is Illuminated (2005)
43. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
44. Children of Men (2006)
45. Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
46. The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)
47. The Beaches of Agnes (2009)
48. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

49. Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)
50. Batman Begins (2005)
51. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)
52. Dogville (2003)
53. Donnie Darko (2001)
54. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
55. Milk (2008)
56. Volver (2006)
57. Brideshead Revisited (2008)
58. In Bruges (2008)
59. Scoop (2006)
60. Brick (2005)

61. The Departed (2006)
62. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
63. The Twilight Samurai (2003)
64. Pride and Prejudice (2005)
65. Dancer in the Dark (2000)
66. The Sea Inside (2004)
67. The Science of Sleep (2006)
68. Far from Heaven (2002)
69. The Pianist (2002)

70. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
71. Vanilla Sky (2001)
72. 25th Hour (2002)
73. Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)
74. CQ (2001)
75. An Education (2009)
76. Mostly Martha (2002)
77. Bend It Like Beckham (2002)
78. The Triplets of Belleville (2003)
79. Chocolat (2000)

80. A Very Long Engagement (2004)
81. Me Without You (2001)
82. The Best of Youth (2003)
83. You Can Count on Me (2000)
84. Be Kind Rewind (2008)
85. Let the Right One In (2008)

86. Finding Neverland (2004)
87. Syriana (2005)
88. The Painted Veil (2006)
89. La Vie en Rose (2007)
90. Before Night Falls (2000)
91. Capote (2005)
92. Marie Antoinette (2006)
93. Sideways (2004)
94. Shaun of the Dead (2004)
95. The Man Who Copied (2003)
96. Michael Clayton (2007)
97. Up (2009)
98. Sin City (2005)

99. Chicago (2002)
100. Atonement (2007)

I'll be going into more detail on the top 10 films in upcoming posts.