General Discussion : The Best American Movies of '00-'09

[b4con]

I'm curious to see what people here (Americans or not) have to say on this subject. Of course there's a respect for films from any country, but the ones from home always carry an inherent interest. Your appraisal may be necessary on whether or not to include some that list USA under country (here/imdb).. for example Children of Men, Control, Brand Upon the Brain!, City of God, The Motorcycle Diaries, Pan's Labyrinth. I'm not including those ones, and feel free not to post as many as I am .

T10:
Inland Empire
Lost in Translation
Mulholland Dr.
Synecdoche, New York
The New World
Requiem for a Dream
There Will Be Blood
Adaptation.
Collateral
Memento
Waking Life

T9:
Che: Part One
Che: Part Two
Donnie Darko
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The Fountain
Paranoid Park
The Prestige
A Scanner Darkly
Solaris
Southland Tales
Assassination of a High School President
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Gosford Park
Half Nelson
I'm Not There
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
The Man Who Wasn't There
No Country for Old Men
Primer
Punch-Drunk-Love
The Royal Tenenbaums
Stay
Tideland (essentially an American movie with an American director.. listed as Canada/UK though)

Chris Nolan (Memento, The Prestige), Andrew Dominik (Jesse James) and Marc Forster (Stay) aren't American but their movies are for the most part.

[djross]

My list of the tier 10 and tier 9 American movies from the United States contains 17 movies. Including movies from all countries would take it to 44 movies. Here's the list:

Tier 10 Films

There Will Be Blood (93)
Mulholland Drive (92)
The New World (91)
Ballets Russes (90)

Tier 9 Films

The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford (85)
Bright Leaves (85)
The Company (85)
Gangs of New York (85)
9/11 (80)
Capturing the Friedmans (80)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (80)
Every Little Step (80)
Grizzly Man (80)
Hairspray (80)
The Man Who Wasn’t There (80)
No Country for Old Men (80)
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (80)

I do not give scores above 90 unless I consider the movie a masterpiece. Thus, of American movies released in the last ten years which I have seen, only three count as masterpieces (and in the case of The New World, I refer to the "extended cut").

The one movie that I have excluded from this list even though according to Criticker it belongs is the Abbas Kiarostami movie, Ten, which Criticker lists as French, Iranian, and American, even though it is quite clearly Iranian and quite clearly not American. I gave it a 93.

[FitFortDanga]

Gee, I have a lot more than you guys. Taking out some oddballs (shorts, stuff that clearly isn't American):

Tier 10:
Harry Potter and the Prison… (2004) 96
The Lord of the Rings: The … (2001) 94
The Lord of the Rings: The … (2003) 94
Capturing the Friedmans (2003) 93
Inland Empire (2006) 93
Grizzly Man (2005) 92
The New World (2005) 92
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) 92
Eternal Sunshine of the Spo… (2004) 91
Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003) 91
Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004) 91
Murderball (2005) 91
Serenity (2005) 91
Solaris (2002) 91
The Departed (2006) 90
WALL·E (2008) 90
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) 89
Heaven (2002) 89
The Lord of the Rings: The … (2002) 89
Lost In La Mancha (2002) 89
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (2005) 89
A Very Long Engagement (2004) 89

Tier 9:
Chocolat (2000) 88
Dark Days (2000) 88
Gerry (2002) 88
An Inconvenient Truth (2006) 88
Little Miss Sunshine (2006) 88
Down with Love (2003) 87
Monster (2003) 87
Murder on a Sunday Morning (2001) 87
The Others (2001) 87
War of the Worlds (2005) 87
The Aviator (2004) 86
Munich (2005) 86
Pirates of the Caribbean: T… (2003) 86
Small Time Crooks (2000) 86
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) 86
Adaptation. (2002) 85
Bubble (2005) 85
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dra… (2000) 85
Elf (2003) 85
Encounters at the End of th… (2008) 85
Invincible (2001) 85
Lost in Translation (2003) 85
Minority Report (2002) 85
Spider-Man 2 (2004) 85
Super Size Me (2004) 85
Bowling for Columbine (2002) 84
Brand Upon the Brain! (2006) 84
Match Point (2005)
Mulholland Drive (2001) 84
There Will Be Blood (2007) 84
X2: X-Men United (2003) 84
Z Channel: A Magnificent Ob… (2004) 84
Zoolander (2001)


Some of these would probably go down to tier 8 on a fresh viewing, like Monster and POTC. Also I suspect Mulholland Drive score would go up, but I keep waiting for a Blu-Ray before watching it again.

More importantly, I think my tiers are a little too generous because I try avoid bad/mediocre movies.

[Pickpocket]

Is the best movie you've seen since 2000 really Harry Potter?

Tier 10 Films
Adaptation. (2002) 100
City of God (2003) 100
Eternal Sunshine of the Spo… (2004) 100
Lost in Translation (2003) 100
Before Sunset (2004) 98
Punch-Drunk Love (2002) 98
There Will Be Blood (2007) 98
Up (2009) 96
Apocalypse Now Redux (2001) 95
The Departed (2006) 95
Match Point (2005) 95
American Splendor (2003) 94
Inglourious Basterds (2009) 94
Wet Hot American Summer (2001) 94
3:10 to Yuma (2007) 93
Blossoms & Blood (2003) 93
The Diving Bell and the But… (2007) 93
Ghost World (2001) 93
High Fidelity (2000) 93
Love Actually (2003) 93
The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) 93
Murderball (2005) 93
Paranoid Park (2008) 93
The Savages (2007) 93
American Psycho (2000) 92
Collateral (2004) 92
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) 92
Into the Wild (2007) 92
Lake of Fire (2006) 92
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) 92
Sideways (2004) 92
WALL·E (2008) 92
About Schmidt (2002) 91
Babel (2006) 91
Gangs of New York (2002) 91
Mysterious Skin (2004) 91
Ratatouille (2007) 91
Tier 9 Films
Before the Devil Knows You'… (2007) 90
Best in Show (2000) 90
Broken Flowers (2005) 90
Children of Men (2006) 90
Donnie Darko (2001) 90
Enemy at the Gates (2001) 90
The Fog of War (2003) 90
Grindhouse (2007) 90
Half Nelson (2006) 90
Hotel Rwanda (2004) 90
Louis C.K.: Shameless (2007) 90
Memento (2001) 90
Old School (2003) 90
Sicko (2007) 90
Synecdoche, New York (2008) 90
The Work of Director Spike … (2003) 90
About a Boy (2002) 88
All the Real Girls (2003) 88
Almost Famous (2000) 88
Bukowski: Born into This (2003) 88
A History of Violence (2005) 88
Rescue Dawn (2006) 88
Snatch (2000) 88
What's Up, Fatlip? (2003) 88
Brick (2005) 87
Brokeback Mountain (2005) 87
Dave Chappelle: Killin' The… (2000) 87
I Love You, Man (2009) 87
Lifted (2006) 87
Little Children (2006) 87
Mystic River (2003) 87
No Country for Old Men (2007) 87
Pavement: Slow Century (2002) 87
Unbreakable (2000) 87
Yeah Right! (2003) 87
25th Hour (2002) 86
Big Fish (2003) 86
Bowling for Columbine (2002) 86
Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004) 86
The Lord of the Rings: The … (2002) 86
Man on Fire (2004) 86
Mattress Man Commercial (2003) 86
Street Fight (2005) 86
Two Lovers (2009) 86
Zodiac (2007) 86
The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) 85
Black Snake Moan (2006) 85
Blow (2001) 85
The Bourne Identity (2002) 85
Casino Royale (2006) 85
The Comedians of Comedy (2005) 85
Everything Is Illuminated (2005) 85
Funny People (2009) 85
Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) 85
The Good Shepherd (2006) 85
Green Street Hooligans (2005) 85
The Lookout (2007) 85
Me and You and Everyone We … (2005) 85
Mulholland Drive (2001) 85
Ocean's Eleven (2001) 85
Pan's Labyrinth (2006) 85
Shortbus (2006) 85
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) 84
The Brothers Bloom (2009) 84
The Dark Knight (2008) 84
Death at a Funeral (2007) 84
F*ck (2005) 84
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (2005) 84
The Last Samurai (2003) 84
The Prestige (2006) 84
Stranger Than Fiction (2006) 84
Thank You for Smoking (2006) 84
A Very Long Engagement (2004) 84
Waking Life (2001) 84
The Year of the Yao (2004) 84

[FitFortDanga]

Is the best movie you've seen since 2000 really Harry Potter?

Ha, I thought that might get a reaction. First of all, best AMERICAN movie (although it might technically be a British movie). And second of all... well, no. I think The New World is better, and I really liked the sheer mindfuckery of Inland Empire, and The Royal Tenenbaums probably packs the most emotional punch. But I do enjoy Azkaban a hell of a lot. As much as I agonize over my scores, I ought to do some fine-tuning in my ratings, but fuck it.

[theficionado]

Adaptation. (2002)
Capturing the Friedmans (2003)
Children of Men (2006)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spo… (2004)
George Washington (2000)
Grizzly Man (2005)
The Incredibles (2004)
Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003)
Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004)
Mulholland Drive (2001)
The New World (2005)
No Country for Old Men (2007)
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Synecdoche, New York (2008)
There Will Be Blood (2007)

Of these, I'd have to say the ones that strike me as quintessentially American in subject matter and theme are The New World, George Washington and There Will Be Blood.

Looks as though there is a lot of consensus as to the worthy American movies of this decade, at least, with Mulholland Drive, The New World, There Will Be Blood, The Royal Tenenbaums and the entire 2000s output of Charlie Kaufman appearing the most often.

[Bojangles]

No Country
Punch-Drunk Love

Lots of others but those two stand out.

[miss jesus]

Tier 10 only:
I Heart Huckabees (2004)
Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
A History of Violence (2005)
In the Cut (2003)
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003)
American Psycho (2000)
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Munich (2005)
The Way of the Gun (2000)
Gosford Park (2001)
The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra (2001)
In Bruges (2008)
Zodiac (2007)
Zoolander (2001)
25th Hour (2002)
Closer (2004)
Wet Hot American Summer (2001)

[LordofDance]

I think these all apply:

CQ (2001) 96
The Life Aquatic with Steve… (2004) 96
No Country for Old Men (2007) 96
There Will Be Blood (2007) 96
Broken Flowers (2005) 78
The Dark Knight (2008) 78
Far from Heaven (2002) 78
The King of Kong: A Fistful… (2007) 78
The Notorious Bettie Page (2005) 78
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) 78
Viva (2007) 78

And, just for the hell of it:


Bandidas (2006) 76
Auto Focus (2002) 72
Grindhouse (2007) 72
Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003) 72
Marie Antoinette (2006) 72
Master and Commander: The F… (2003) 72
Mulholland Drive (2001) 72
Ocean's Eleven (2001) 72
Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) 72
Step Brothers (2008) 72
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) 72
Zodiac (2007) 72

[b4con]

I was meaning to make a post here sooner, but I'm only getting around to it now. As I'm sure most of us have felt in discussing these things, I want to say something about how I rank my films. Bear with me while I do that, in order to make a broader point. I chose to list only my tier 10 and 9 in this post, and I think that is both a good and bad thing. I rank based on what I think of as my personal taste first and foremost. So listing only tier 10 & 9 isn't really giving a good sampling. I'd consider almost anything in my tier 8 or 7 to be among the "best". I think this is probably true for most people, even if they're telling themselves otherwise. And of course that isn't a definitive rule, there are exceptions. Looking at some of djross' rankings and mini-reviews, he's interested in applying terms like "the best X type movie from decade Y." This isn't wrong by any means, and perhaps he disagrees with my statements about personal taste being strictly subjective.

The short of that: I feel like we could decide on more of "the best American movies of the decade" if we all dug into tier 8/7 movies as well, and see what overlaps into other people's tier 10/9.