What follows is the first part of the hideously overdue rundown of my Top 100 favourite films of the last decade. Not a Top 20, not a Top 50 but a Top 100. You can see why I’m doing this in installments.
Most lists like this are published in late-December or early-January, but most lists like this don’t contain lovingly hand-crafted haiku summaries. You get what you wait for. This delay has also given me the chance to catch up with films released in 2009 that I didn’t manage to catch last year. That helps to explain why some films included in this list didn’t appear in my Top 10 Films of 2009. That, and the fact I’m pathologically fickle.
Of course, strictly speaking, the first decade of the twenty-first century started in January 2001 and ends later this year. In that sense, then, this list has actually come early. The only problem with following that line of thought, however, is that I’d have to reconfigure the chart to include films that haven’t been made yet. That’s too much hassle.
The dates I use are UK theatrical release dates, which are often later than US release dates. As a result, this list contains films you may think belong to the previous decade.
I sympathise with these films. I’m often accused of belonging to a previous decade, too.
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100. 3:10 to Yuma (dir. James Mangold, 2007)
Cowboys Crowe and Bale
Evoke a simpler era
(Train arrives on time)
99. Moebius Redux: A Life in Pictures (dir. Hasko Baumann, 2007)
French comix legend’s
Influence is everywhere
We live in his world
98. Watchmen (dir. Zack Snyder, 2009)
Caped Citizen Kane?
Not quite, but it sure does try
Heroic attempt
(more…)