If you only ever see one medieval fantasy movie, see LOTR (in fact don’t think about seeing any other, they all suck.) Wizards and elves are really just a side note. It’s actually a deftly multi-layered story where the main character is Humanity. The unifying theme is the inability of Man to resist the temptation of power and its inevitable corruption of the soul, and it’s a great story to support the old, oft-dismissed phrase, “The meek shall inherit the Earth.”

I’m tellin ya, there’s more than 11 reasons it won 11 oscars…

you might be the only person (including the Coens) who’d put Burn After Reading in a top 20 of the 2000s.

Oops, sorry for the confusion. If anything, i might be the only person who could never pick just 20 top movies for a whole decade (you are right though, it does make for some lively discussion!) Children of Men is an awesome, moving film and so is Monsters, Inc. – but they are two entirely different animals and to me they defy comparison.

I can say though that i did like BAR better than NCFOM… The great casting, the perfect mix of comedy and tragedy, and great one-liners e.g. the scene shared between Clooney and Swinton where George’s character says something to the effect of, ’sweetie, sometimes you hammer people too hard’ to which Tilda’s character replies, “I. DO. NOT. HAMMER!!” Great stuff.

NCFOM just seemed like another ‘where’s the loot’ movie with a particularly bland macho bullying murderous psycho. He wasn’t interesting like a Hannibal Lecter, or funny like Jules & Vincent, just blah… i didn’t get it (but then again the whole world was hyperventilating hosannas for that role, so what do i know?)

The only contention is that its a little long; but if you’ve got a couple hours, it is a wonderful character (instead of a regular shoot ‘em up…) study that is visually unparalleled. Stellar performances from both Casey Affleck and Brad Pitt – I think one Pitt’s best. Had to give it a shout!

**SOOO glad Children of Men is on this list. . . Great movie!**

If you’re a sci-fi guy, I would submit Sunshine and Moon for consideration as well.

Seeing the awfulness-on-stilts that was Bruno probably knocked Borat down a notch or two in my mind, which is unfair, I’ll admit.

I haven’t seen Half Nelson, though I’ve never heard anyone recommend it as a great movie – just as a great performance.

Haven’t seen This is England.

I like Before Sunrise a lot more than the sequel.

As I said to someone earlier today, if everything before Daniel Day Lewis puts the napkin on his head was as good as what went before it, There Will Be Blood would probably be my number one. Alas, it turns into a silly cartoon for the last third.

And as far as LOTR – fantasy just bores the daylights of me. I’m a sci-fi guy all the way. You can keep your wizards and elves and whatnot.

Ok, I’m getting my undies in a knot, so I’ll stop.

Andy, you might be the only person (including the Coens) who’d put Burn After Reading in a top 20 of the 2000s. But regarding that and Shortbus’s mention of O’Brother Where Art Thou, I lean much more towards the Coen thrillers and dramas (Fargo, No Country, Blood Simple, Miller’s Crossing) than their comedies. I even find them funnier overall.

I can guarantee you there’s no point system. You won’t a bigger skeptic of quantifying art than me. I just do it because it’s fun to look back on the decade, not to mention it’s a good conversation/argument starter. Plus, it makes you think about why you like certain things more than others and how to put that into words. It could have just as easily been labeled “My Personal Subjective Favorite Films In Order, Sort of”, but I assume that’s the case with any best of list and so I find such qualifiers redundant.

As far as the tentpoles, I feel kind of bad not putting more action movies like Dark Knight, Minority Report, Iron Man, or the Bourne sequels b/c I certainly enjoyed seeing them. I probably just had less to say about them.

As far as the decade being sorta lame, movie-wise, keep in mind that I started film school in 1999, which is now considered one of the greatest years for movies ever. And so is 1994. After that decade, it’s hard not to disappoint.