Film Junk’s Top 20 Movies of the ’00s

Posted by on December 2nd, 2009   Filed under: Featured, Features, Lists

top20decade

With 2010 now less than a month away, your friends here at Film Junk have decided to look back over the past decade in film, to separate the wheat from the chaff, and consider how it has all tied in with the rest of our cultural experience. To deduce our Top 20 Films of the Decade, Greg, Jay, Goon and I each came up with our own personal lists of favourite films, and then found as many as we could in common. From here, we re-ranked this new list to arrive at a final tally.

Over the next month, we will be revealing a new pick from this list every weekday, ending with #1 sometime just after Christmas. At that point we will also post our individual lists, and possibly also record a special podcast discussing the decade in review. The list below will be updated as each entry appears on the site, and will serve as the master list when all is said and done. Keep checking back daily to follow the countdown!

20. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
19. Anvil! The Story of Anvil (2009)
18. Little Children (2006)
17. Let The Right One In (2008)
16. Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (2004)
15. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
14. Zodiac (2007)
13. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
12. District 9 (2009)
11. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
10. The Dark Knight (2008)
09. The Departed (2006)
08. Grizzly Man (2005)
07. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
06. There Will Be Blood (2007)
05. Inglourious Basterds (2009)
04. Lost in Translation (2003)
03. No Country for Old Men (2007)
02. Children of Men (2006)
01. The Wrestler (2008)

Honourable Mentions: The Incredibles (2004) / Ratatouille (2007), City of God (2002), United 93 (2006), Borat (2006), The Staircase (2004)

Check out our individual Top 50 lists, which were roughly used to create the Top 20.



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  • @EricWest: Good thing Sean didn’t specify which Christmas. (I know, bad joke.)

  • We fell behind on one or two picks, but hey, it’s the holidays. #1 will be revealed tomorrow along with our honourable mentions and personal lists.

  • Rolf

    gotta be THE WRESTLER… good choice, though!

    And that gives Mickey the award for the comeback-of-the-decade, right?!

  • Rolf

    oh… I was referring to #1-pick of course…

  • EricWest

    @Reed: I was planning on making that joke myself but better jdugement swept over me. ;)

  • RaphNL

    Assuming The Wrestler will be number 1 I’m surprised that Eternal Sunshine is not on the list :O.

  • EricWest

    Memento? Snatch? Sideways?

  • 7 of the 20 films from the last 2 years…you would think with that much short term memory you guys would have included Memento…wait, that means it would be the other way around… but Memento is from 2000 so that is a long term memory…I’m so confused I need to go see my tattooist…

  • Goon

    Memento was just outside my top 50. I didn’t forget it, I have a poster of it even. The thing about early 00s movies is on one hand some of them have the benefit of nostalgia and being seen as modern classics, whereas at the same time some may be taken for granted or have been seen enough times that the passion for them has faded. Could be the case for Memento, I can say I don’t have the passion for it that I used to. You could blame it on time, repeat viewings or believing that the director has gone on to make better work.

    At a quick glance around 20-23 or so of my top 50 is from the first half of the decade. I’ll definitely say that most of my favorite film years of the decade were the last couple years. I also saw more films in the last couple years, and had by that time been more educated in film that I would seek out better/more challenging films.

    When the decade started I was 20 years old. Anyone will have a different taste 10 years later, some of the early decade favorites will actually probably fall by the wayside.

  • There are 30 movies here. I trimmed it down from 40+ but it’s hard for me to cut any more. I tried to make the list using the following criteria:

    a. I have to think the movie is still great.
    b. I had to remember how I felt and what I though when I first watched it.
    c. Must have potential to hold up to repeat viewings. For example, I loved “Brokeback Mountain” but I don’t think I could watch it again.
    d. It had to influence me artistically or personally in some way.

    1. Children of Men (2006)
    2. Amélie (2001)
    3. Finding Neverland (2004)
    4. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
    5. Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-03)
    6. Dark Knight (2008)
    7. Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind (2004)
    8. Kill Bill 1 and 2 (2003-04)
    9. Up (2009)
    10. Shaun of the Dead (2004)
    11. Casino Royale (2006)
    12. Memento (2000)
    13. No Country for Old Men (2007)
    14. The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
    15. 3:10 to Yuma (2007)
    16. United 93 (2006)
    17. Hot Fuzz (2007)
    18. 28 Days Later (2002)
    19. Once (2006)
    20. Half Nelson (2006)
    21. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
    22. About a Boy (2002)
    23. Incredibles (2004)
    24. Hamlet 2 (2008)
    25. The Hours (2002)
    27. Almost Famous (2000)
    28. Road to Perdition (2002)
    29. Minority Report (2002)
    30. King Kong (2005) – I’ll explain this one. Knock it if you want but this was a pretty darn good movie. It pushes a few others off the list (Spiderman 2, Garden State, Napoleon Dynamite) because it was the first movie I saw with my wife.

    For details on why I picked my other choices, you can visit my website.

  • ottobud

    I just asked Flickchart to show my favourite films of the decade and this is what it shows:

    1. Amélie (2001)
    2. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
    3. Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003)
    4. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
    5. Once (2007)
    6. Inglourious Basterds (2009)
    7. Up (2009)
    8. Gladiator (2000)
    9. The Dark Knight (2008)
    10. The Wrestler (2008)
    11. Almost Famous (2000)
    12. Memento (2001)
    13. Children of Men (2007)
    14. Grindhouse (2007)
    15. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
    16. Hot Fuzz (2007)
    17. Eastern Promises (2007)
    18. Star Trek (2009)
    19. V For Vendetta (2006)
    20. Oldboy (2003)

    The following just missed the list:
    Kill Bill Vol. 2, Requiem For A Dream, Cloverfield, Unbreakable, The Machinist, The Hurt Locker, Sin City, The Departed, United 93, Shaun of the Dead, Wall-E, Matchstick Men

  • The only true phail on this list is ANCHORMAN. SHAUN OF THE DEAD should have replaced that easily.

  • Goon

    I prefer Hot Fuzz myself, and both pale in comparison to the awesomeness of their Spaced TV series.

  • Tommy

    Hot Fuzz was ace too! Ha ha! I laughed when he got posted to the sleepy town. It reminded me of my reaction when I first got to Pet. :D

  • Soop

    Overall…pretty disappointed with your list. You had some that I agree with, but in my opinion, much better films have been left out.

  • 1. Rambo 2. Hostel 3. Born to fight 4. Mulholland Drive 5. Observe and Report 6. 28 Weeks Later 7. Mulberry St. 8. Inglourious Basterds 9. Bring It On 10. Hot Rod 11. Apocalypto 12. American Psycho 13. Zodiac 14. Punch Drunk Love 15. Not Quite Hollywood 16. Shaun of the Dead 17. Children of Men 18. Bourne Supremacy 19. Unbreakable 20. Zoolander

    Honourable Mentions – Amelie, Step Brothers, Devil’s Rejects, Ong Bak 2, Kill Bill, Final Destination 2, Dead Snow, The Children, Black Dynamite, Crank 2, 300

  • I don’t agree with your list but I agree your place would be the best place to party!

  • EricWest

    Here is my list, and I got news for ya, my list is FAR different from most of yours from what I can tell. I’ve been working on this one for a while on flickchart and it seems to be pretty accurate:

    20. V for Vendetta (2006)
    19. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
    18. Children of Men (2007)
    17. Almost Famous (2000)
    16. Lost in Translation (2003)
    15. Let the Right One In (2008)
    14. Kill Bill (2003)
    13. Clerks II (2006)
    12. Oldboy (2003)
    11. Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
    10. Amélie (2001)
    9. Big Fish (2004)
    8. The Darjeeling Limited (2007)
    7. Broken Flowers (2005)
    6. Juno (2007)
    5. Into the Wild (2007)
    4. Wristcutters (2007)
    3. Elizabethtown (2005)
    2. Sideways (2005)
    1. Garden State (2004)

  • those are two very different lists, above. opposite ends of the spectrum. you go to EricWest’s place and watch as much as you can take, then run over to Wintle’s for an escape! good job, need to see Wristcutters and Not Quite Hollywood.

  • Wintle you have pretty much the best list EVER.

  • EricWest

    rus in chicago is hilarius. Me and Wintle have literally the total opposite taste in films.

  • Wintle, your pick of “Born to Fight” is one of the action flics like “Ong Bak 2″ that I don’t quite understand why has a fan following. Jay accuses me of being a 10-year-old, but I think you have to be somewhat mentally inferior to enjoy those films. (Insult intended. Ha ha.) I will admit that having the stunt guy falling between the two semis and almost getting run over was awesome though.

    EricWest, your inclusion of “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” is surprising. I love Woody Allen films, even the “bad” ones. I admit VCB was entertaining, but I’m wondering what made that film so great for you.

  • Henrik

    Wintles list leaves me disappointed and without beliefs. I did not think you would buy into bullshit like Mulholland Drive. Plus, no Anchorman.

  • Henrik

    I have of course not made a list, but here are some movies not on the Filmjunk list that I thought were great and should be mentioned:

    Sideways.

    The Squid and the Whale.

    Signs.

    Babel.

    4 months, 3 weeks & 2 days.

    Funny Games US.

    Road to Perdition.

    Plus others I’m sure.

  • Henrik

    And documentaries:

    Forever.

    Helvetica.

    Spellbound.

    De fem benspænd.

    Plus others I’m sure.

  • everything on there is good but Road to Perdition, that left me wanting more…I think this reflects it coming from a graphic novel, felt like they didn’t take the ideas as far as they could.

  • Thanks, Drew.

    I’m happy to hear that my actions have resulted in your having even less beliefs, Henrik. Why does Mulholland Drive enrage you so?

    I wasn’t aware that Born To Fight even had a following, Reed. Do you feel that way about most stunt movies, or just those ones in particular? And can you articulate what it is about those movies that makes you feel that way? Just curious.

  • Henrik

    Mulholland Drive doesn’t enrage me more than a number of bullshit movies. I was just very surprised to see that on the list, I didn’t think you would succumb to Lynchs pseudo-intellectual magic tricks. Though you also have American Psycho, which is just as bad.

    I give you props for having Shyamalan on there and most of others, Zodiac, Not Quite Hollywood. Just a few odd ones caught me off guard. I thought you were an immovable object

  • Henrik

    Another movie that I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere and just remembered is Inside Man. I watched that 3 times in a week earlier this year, showing it to people etc., and I think it’s the perfect Hollywood mainstream movie. It is elegant, smooth, snappy, paced properly, has high-paid charismatic actors delivering fast dialogue, an intriguing storyline and characterization beyond what the plot calls for. It is the film Steven Spielberg wishes he could make. It deserves mention.

  • Goon

    I realized today when making my list I did forget some movies from the decade I loved, like 24 Hour Party People.

  • EricWest

    Reed: As you can see, I def have a type of films that I like the most. There are a lot (a ton) of the same type of film. You ask about VCB, and quite frankly, I don’t really know. The film is entertaining as you said and very odd, in a good way. I don’t put much thought into all the sexual and erotic kind of “vibes” that are in the film.

    Obviusly this is not my favorit Woody Allen film, but it is better than Match Point in my opinion which allso was from this decade. I love that type off “laid back” style, in a way “hippie”-feeling I get from it, which is something that I love and as you can see, I don’t really know how to answer your question. =)

    The movie simply spoke to me.

  • Michael

    20. The Hurt Locker (2009)
    19. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
    18. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
    17. The Wrestler (2008)
    16. Inglourious Bastards (2009)
    15. Children of Men (2005)
    14. Batman Begins & The Dark Knight
    13. Superbad (2007)
    12. Sideways (2004)
    11. A History of Violence (2005)
    10. American Psycho (2000)
    9. Traffic (2000)
    8. There Will Be Blood (2007)
    7. The Departed (2006)
    6. Almost Famous (2000)
    5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
    4. High Fidelity (2000)
    3. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
    2. No Country for Old Men (2007)
    1. City of God (2002)

  • Wintle, I’m glad that you took my uncalled-for gibe at your intellect with such equanimity. Film critics will marvel at Jackie Chan in his stunt films, but I don’t think many would dare to include his films in a “best of” list of all films. Pretentious film critics would tend to categorize stunt films in with science fiction and horror films that they see as appealing more to the juvenile film crowd.

    As for “Born to Fight,” I had heard some good things about it and I was ultimately disappointed. I like to see stuff that I haven’t seen before that boggles my mind. “Born to Fight” offered little of that for me, and I didn’t find anything else in the film compelling enough.

    I’ll tell you a film that I liked better for its stunts and fighting (although “Born to Fight” had more stunts): “Invisible Target.” (Seems a sampling of people rate these films about the same since IMDb gives “Born to Fight” a 6.3/10 and “Invisible Target” a 6.7/10.) And I wouldn’t dare put “Invisible Target” on my “best of” list. :-)

  • “Someone like Jean-Luc Godard is for me intellectual counterfeit money when compared to a good kung fu film.” – Werner Herzog

    Actually, I quite like Godard, too.

    Hey, Reed. Normally I might take such an insult personally, but considering your various idiosyncrasies I can’t attach much weight to anything you have to say about me or my viewing habits. No insult intended.

    I own Invisible Target, and it’s excessive glass-breaking pleases me, but I wouldn’t even place it in my top ten for martial arts movies this decade. Perhaps we can meet in the middle with Dog Bite Dog.

    It should be obvious by now that my criteria for what makes a great film differs slightly from that of most critics. I would probably place a Jackie Chan movie high on my best-of list, though I think Sammo Hung might edge him out.

    Henrik, I’m not entirely sure what pseudo-intellectual magic tricks you’re referring to. I don’t doubt they exist, just that I tend to approach film on an emotional level (obviously) and must have tuned out whatever you’re talking about. Oh, well. If I can’t be the immovable object, can I still be an unstoppable force?

  • If Werner Herzog made a kung fu film, then I might start watching his films.

    When I pick favorite films, I too tend to approach film from an emotional level. Wintle, you picked a suitable middle ground film with “Dog Bite Dog.” I loved how that story was handled, even the sentimental ending, but I wish the rough and tumble fight scenes were more interesting.

  • EricWest

    After about 10k more ratings of films on flickchart a way more accurate list is here, to stay, probably. I’m still being a little bummed out that most of my favs seem to be pretty much the same type of films. But what the hell, I’m the same way in music so I guess I just have to accept it.

    1. Garden State
    2. Elizabethtown
    3. Sideways
    4. Wristcutters: A Love Story
    5. Broken Flowers
    6. Into the Wild
    7. Juno
    8. The Darjeeling Limited
    9. Big Fish
    10. Amélie
    11. Let the Right One In
    12. Punch-Drunk Love
    13. Oldboy
    14. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
    15. Children of Men
    16. Man on Fire
    17. Lost in Translation
    18. Remember the Titans
    19. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
    20. Napoleon Dynamite

  • Wow. Everyone seems to have this own opinion on the best films of the decade. Here are mine:

    http://film-book.com/the-top-films-of-the-decade-2000-2009/

    I should make my list twenty deep.

  • Minilith

    The decade does end at the end of 2010 and the next one begins with 2011. This is because there was no year “zero” way back when, 2009 years ago. The first year was 1. So decades, centuries and millenium all start with 1-years. 2001, 2011, 2101, etc.

  • Goon

    with that logic 1990 is part of the 80s, and 1980 is part of the 70s

    so, no.

  • Mason

    So I’m assuming no one here ha seen The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)? I finally got around to it- it’s been on my to-see list for a long time, and I saw it on some other best of the decade lists, so I moved it to the top. It is so moving and so well shot by cinematographer Janusz Kaminski. I wasn’t sure about it going in, since the plot made it sound like it might be boring. While it was a little slow at some points, it was so beautiful in every way and unnerving and gut-wrenching because of the first-person perspective that is often employed. Many props to the direcor Julian Schnabel (who looks much like Jeff Bridges as The Dude).

  • adam

    1. Stuck on You
    2. The Butterfly Effect
    3. Snatch
    4. Enemy at the Gates
    5. The Departed
    6. Shallow Hal
    7. The Man From Earth
    8. The Beach
    9. War of the Worlds
    10. Pitch Black
    11. The Shape of Things
    12. The Fellowship of the Ring
    13. 8 Mile
    14. I am Legend
    15. The Mist
    16. Crank
    17. Blood Diamond
    18. Men of Honor
    19. The Station Agent
    20. I, Robot

  • WORST LIST EVER!

  • just kidding mad props for including The Shape of Things

  • Goon

    Mason, I’ve seen Diving Bell, and in fact own it.

    To be honest on first viewing I was not impressed, was in fact bored. But I was also tired.

    But since then I saw some other Almaric films that I enjoyed and went back to it, and liked it a hell of a lot more. Maybe just the right mood. Still not enough for a best of the decade list though.

  • Goon

    ATTN: REED FARRINGTON

    adam, glad to find another person who caught The Man From Earth

    Reed, I sent out the Reed signal wondering if you had seen this, I would imagine you’ve heard of it since it was written by Jerome Bixby

  • Paul Andrews

    Are we only including feature films ? Otherwise, surely the Reed Farrington House Video Tour should be high on everyone’s list ?

  • I happened to see The Man from Earth DVD on the new release shelf at Zellers, but I didn’t notice it at any other retailer. It looked like a bad sci-fi cheapie from the DVD packaging. I never did bother looking into it. Who would have guessed it was any good? Based on adam and Goon’s recommendations, I’m hoping to find it in a bargain bin this year.

  • Goon

    man from Earth is stagey and cheaply made, but its script and ideas are what make it worth checking out. i think youd be good to find a copy.

  • adam

    It’s definitely a love it or hate it film.

  • VISE

    what the…freak’n everybody now put freak’n avatar on your list…do it..it was in the top 10 greatest movies of the decade..it had everything..story,moral,graphics,sci fi, action,romans,everything! it great…it freakn made me confussed after watching it which reality i was in..

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