Hitfix: Daniel Fienberg's Top 31 Movies of the Decade

Created by Leslie.Hamburger.

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For me, this list is a lark.

While I've been counting down the Top 31 TV Shows of the Decade, my movie-centric colleagues Gregory Ellwood and Drew McWeeny handled the big screen, with Greg offering his Top 25 of The Aughts and Drew doing an exhaustive Top 50. Let's just say that HitFix has already done an extra job of covering the best of the decade in movies, with or without me.

My only pause in my Top 31 (approaching No. 2 tomorrow!) was to count down the Top 20 TV Shows of 2009. At a certain point, listing has become as central to my December routine as caffeinating and showering and more essential than shaving and watering my struggling tree. And since I also have been known to write about movies on this blog, it only seemed natural that I whip out a Best of the Decade list for movies as well.

I started with 10, but that didn't work. I was leaving out too many. I got down to 20 comfortably, but I was still leaving out a few movies that I *really* wanted to mention. From there I pushed to 30 and, at the urging of a Twitter follower, went that extra step to 31, just for symmetry. I'm not going to do these as a one-per-day affair with entries approaching 2500 words as I get near the top. Been there, doing that. I'm breaking these out as three blog posts. Simple enough.

Unlike TV, where my list is The *Best* 31 Shows Of The Decade Which Aren't "The Shield," I'm not playing this out as having any sort of Best of the Decade definitiveness. It's not quite a "favorites" list, because I've given some thought to craft and importance beyond just pure rewatchability. Mostly, I'm sticking my blog's name in from of the list so you know that these are probably the 31 movies I liked the most from the past decade. Secretly, do I think they're the best? Probably. But this isn't like my TV list, where if you disagree with my No. 1, I'm going to surreptitiously sneak over to your house and cut the cable lines, because you're not worthy of television service. If you aren't happy here? This is my list, but feel very free to share your opinions
(Daniel Fienberg)