Paste Magazine: The 50 Best Movies of the Decade (2000-2009)

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If comparing music from Gillian Welch and Outkast in our 50 Best Albums of the Decade is like apples and oranges, ranking films like Amélie, The Dark Knight and Mulholland Drive is more like apples, ice cream and foie gras. But despite the wild variety among our 50 Best Movies from 2000-2009, each is an exquisitely made, exceptionally satisfying piece of cinema that we believe will endure well after the decade has ended. There are masters like Martin Scorcese and Lars Von Trier, and relative newcomers like Fernando Meirelles and Anna Boden. There are documentaries, comedies and dramas, as well as animated films and even a super-hero flick. Mirroring a decade of globalism, the filmmakers are from the United States, New Zealand, Taiwan, Germany, Ireland, France, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Denmark, Romania, Thailand, Brazil, and nearly every part of the U.K. Let these be our recommendations for your Netflix queue. Personally, after reading the loving descriptions in these pages, I’ve already got films I missed the first time around—like Syndromes and a Century and Beau Travail—on the way. —Josh Jackson, Paste editor-in-chief

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  1. 13 -

    The Dark Knight

    2008, in 27 top lists Check
  2. 4 -

    The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

    2001, in 31 top lists Check
  3. 6 -

    The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

    2003, in 29 top lists Check
  4. 5 -

    The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

    2002, in 26 top lists Check
  5. 35 -

    Kill Bill: Vol. 1

    2003, in 18 top lists Check
  6. 36 -

    Kill Bill: Vol. 2

    2004, in 9 top lists Check
  7. 19 -

    Memento

    2000, in 27 top lists Check
  8. 7 -

    Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

    2004, in 28 top lists Check
  9. 41 -

    Donnie Darko

    2001, in 21 top lists Check
  10. 43 -

    The Departed

    2006, in 20 top lists Check
  11. 11 -

    No Country for Old Men

    2007, in 23 top lists Check
  12. 27 -

    El laberinto del fauno

    2006 — a.k.a. Pan's Labyrinth, in 33 top lists Check
  13. 2 -

    Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain

    2001 — a.k.a. Amélie, in 27 top lists Check
  14. 42 -

    Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi

    2001 — a.k.a. Spirited Away, in 39 top lists Check
  15. 14 -

    There Will Be Blood

    2007, in 20 top lists Check
  16. 15 -

    Mulholland Dr.

    2001 — a.k.a. Mulholland Drive, in 26 top lists Check
  17. 16 -

    Up

    2009, in 16 top lists Check
  18. 9 -

    Lost in Translation

    2003, in 19 top lists Check
  19. 1 -

    Cidade de Deus

    2002 — a.k.a. City of God, in 22 top lists Check
  20. 17 -

    Juno

    2007, in 12 top lists Check
  21. 37 -

    Little Miss Sunshine

    2006, in 7 top lists Check
  22. 26 -

    O Brother, Where Art Thou?

    2000, in 6 top lists Check
  23. 12 -

    The Royal Tenenbaums

    2001, in 8 top lists Check
  24. 34 -

    Ratatouille

    2007, in 14 top lists Check
  25. 3 -

    Almost Famous

    2000, in 9 top lists Check
  26. 30 -

    A History of Violence

    2005, in 11 top lists Check
  27. 25 -

    Traffic

    2000, in 7 top lists Check
  28. 24 -

    Dogville

    2003, in 14 top lists Check
  29. 47 -

    Hotel Rwanda

    2004, in 10 top lists Check
  30. 29 -

    Caché

    2005, in 15 top lists Check
  31. 52 -

    High Fidelity

    2000, in 3 top lists Check
  32. 50 -

    Grizzly Man

    2005, in 9 top lists Check
  33. 22 -

    Elephant

    2003, in 10 top lists Check
  34. 33 -

    Gosford Park

    2001, in 6 top lists Check
  35. 45 -

    The Last King of Scotland

    2006, in 1 top list Check
  36. 32 -

    Once

    2007, in 4 top lists Check
  37. 21 -

    4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile

    2007 — a.k.a. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, in 13 top lists Check
  38. 53 -

    The Squid and the Whale

    2005, in 5 top lists Check
  39. 40 -

    Billy Elliot

    2000, in 7 top lists Check
  40. 28 -

    Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

    1999, in 7 top lists Check
  41. 31 -

    Man on Wire

    2008, in 6 top lists Check
  42. 23 -

    In the Loop

    2009, in 2 top lists Check
  43. 18 -

    Half Nelson

    2006, in 2 top lists Check
  44. 44 -

    L'enfant

    2005 — a.k.a. The Child, in 8 top lists Check
  45. 8 -

    Beau travail

    1999, in 15 top lists Check
  46. 46 -

    In America

    2002, in 1 top list Check
  47. 10 -

    Le fils

    2002 — a.k.a. The Son, in 5 top lists Check
  48. 48 -

    Whale Rider

    2002, in 5 top lists Check
  49. 39 -

    Millions

    2004, in 1 top list Check
  50. 20 -

    Sang sattawat

    2006 — a.k.a. Syndromes and a Century, in 6 top lists Check
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Last updated on Mar 26, 2012; source