20. LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA, Clint Eastwood (2006). The first entry of two on my list from my favorite director of this decade. Eastwood is criticized for being too simple and non-experimental with his direction, but notice how much more emotionally potent his films are as a result. Here, as a companion to "Flags of Our Fathers," Eastwood focuses on the Japanese soldiers and makes the Americans the faceless enemies instead. And it's the furthest thing from "un-American." Rather, it's a powerful anti-war film that reminds us that the enemy is the other side, no matter what side we're on. And we all think we're right. And we all defend our truth. And it sucks every time. A dingy, grey, fantastically acted Eastwood masterpiece.
19. MINORITY REPORT, Steven Spielberg (2002). Spielberg also shows up twice in my top 20, doing his strongest work in the first half of this decade. This isn't just a popcorn sci-fi flick. It is a philosophy film that explores free will vs. determinism, building on classic stories like Fahrenheit 451, 1984 and Brave New World. It's a rare film that not only looks the way the standard Hollywood action film should look, but has something important to say as well. Easily one of the best "mainstream" films of the decade.
18. LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING, Peter Jackson (2003). Just as with Star Wars, everyone has their favorite LOTR film. I lean toward the last one, not because it was the one that finally won all of the awards (likely on behalf of the whole trilogy), but because the relationship between Frodo and Sam was at its most emotionally powerful here. Jackson also perfected Gollum, introduced in "The Two Towers," and Andy Serkis should have been the first actor nominated for a motion capture performance. James Cameron said that seeing Gollum is what made him decide to move forward with "Avatar," so attention must be paid. Exciting on all levels, this one also moved me to tears.
17. MEMENTO, Christopher Nolan (2001). I'm not sure if many directors had a better decade than Nolan, but the projects handed to him (such as the recent Batman films), were based on this piece of mind candy, a product of genius editing and twisted storytelling. At it's core, it's a standard revenge film. But its delivery is anything but standard. If nothing else, it forced others to reconsider what the narrative structure of a film looks like. Nolan is not the first to mess with story structure like this, but this offering was one of the most memorable examples of the decade, focusing on a guy who's bad memory forces the film's ingenious backward and looped conceits.
16. INGLORIOUS BASTERDS, Quentin Tarantino (2009). Speaking of loopy, unconventional narrative structures. Time will tell, but I think this is Tarantino's masterwork. He actually ditches the sidebars and time warps and puts his demented spin on what would have been the ultimate revenge story in 20th Century world history by imagining that a powerful collective of renegade Jews could get to and take care of Hitler. Everything Tarantino is known for is in here, and perfected here. A 30-minute scene in a tavern is one of the most watchable single scenes of the decade, let alone this year. I am not a Tarantino-head, so I thought long and hard about where to put this one. I stand behind my choice. It's this good.
15. IN THE BEDROOM, Todd Field (2001). Field made two stunning suburban dramas this decade. The other was "Little Children." But this one felt like it almost started one of my favorite trends of the decade: the low-budget, acting-focused and writer-centric suburban stories that always ended up at the top of my year-end lists. Sissy Spacek, Tom Wilkinson and Marissa Tomei are stunners here, in an adaptation of an Andre Dubus story that is filled with realism and family terror. I couldn't get this one out of my head. Still can't. And there have been many films like it since.
14. CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, Ang Lee (2000). Talk about a movie that really changed the game. It broke box office records for a foreign film at the time and grabbed a Best Picture nomination, something that doesn't happen often for a non-English movie. Even more outrageous to me was how this film about ideas and locations that I'm rarely drawn to so completely captured my attention and imagination. I was never opposed to watching foreign language films, but after this one, I started running to them. Gorgeous art direction, magical action and strong acting. Worth another look.
13. MATCH POINT, Woody Allen (2005). As a Woody Allen fanatic, it's admittedly become increasingly difficult to look forward to the annual Allen offering because the results have been less consistent in the 2000s, and the critical favor has waned. But mid-decade, Allen made his first fresh choices in many years. He decided to leave New York City. He also decided to abandon self-referential comedy. Both choices worked, brilliantly. "Match Point" is not only his best film of the decade, it is worthy of a spot in the top tier of his films, period. A Hitchcockian tale with cinematic poetry and symbolism and sexy, magnetic performances by Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Allen's muse of the decade, Scarlett Johansson. Nothing felt better than knowing that the Woodman still had it.
12. CRASH, Paul Haggis (2005). It's become trendy to "Crash-bash." But I'm not having it. Everyone who now groans that the converging storylines are too coincidental and not plausible is missing the point. This film captured post-9/11 racial anxiety in a way that no other film has, and its admittedly too-tidy script is really meant to be a collection of character essays, not a believable narrative. Haggis, a darling in the film world in the 2000s, got the best acting to date from just about every actor in his cast, and it's time to stop hating it as the David that toppled the Brokeback Goliath at the Oscars. From a pure emotional standpoint, this film is loaded with poignant and teachable moments when most movies could only hope for one or two. As a father, the scene when Daniel's daughter runs out of the house to give her dad the "invisibility cloak" still causes me to projectile sob. As a film teacher, I rarely have conversations with students as meaningful as the ones I have after we watch this.
11. ROGER DODGER, Dylan Kidd (2002). The most obscure choice on my list, I actually had it as high as #5 before reconsidering. I love it that much. Playing with the guys-in-charge style of storytelling ushered in by Neil Labute's "In the Company of Men," "Roger Dodger" is an unforgivingly macho film that introduced the talent of Jesse Eisenberg and gave the underestimated Campbell Scott his best character, ever. The story is base, about a slick, smooth-talking ladies man who allows his nephew to tag along for a night out on the town to learn about sex from a master. But the dialogue is as crisp as anything Tarantino has written. And the film is deliciously re-watchable. A personal favorite of the decade, though admittedly the film is cruel, crude and decidedly anti-female (or maybe just pro-male).
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