I figure it’s going to be a slow Monday, so let’s dig into this list.
As far as a good blueprint for the best films of 2000s goes, I should point you towards the massive critics poll I conducted in the summer of 2020. You had a top 10 consisting of seminal films, including David Lynch’s “Mulholland Drive,” Paul Thomas Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood,” David Fincher’s “Zodiac,” Joel & Ethan Coen’s “No Country For Old Men,” Alonso Cuaron’s “Children of Men,” and Hayao Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away.”
IndieWire has decided to shake things up, piss many people off, and publish their own Best Movies of the 2000s. The list was chosen by the outlet’s editorial staff. They’ve named Steven Spielberg’s “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” as the best film of the decade. Fair enough. I love that film, it would probably crack my own top 20.
You also have initially panned films that have since been reappraised in cultish circles: Gina Prince-Bythewood’s “Love & Basketball” (#28), Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette” (#38), Spike Lee’s “Bamboozled” (#67), Michael Mann’s “Miami Vice” (#96), Jane Campion’s “In the Cut” (#98).
No clickbait list would exist without its fair share of oddly unfitting choices. The most puzzling inclusions are Steven Soderbergh’s “Ocean’s Twelve” (#82), Judd Apatow’s “Funny People” (#60), and Nicholas Stoller’s “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” (#30).
Key titles missing from IndieWire’s top 100: “The Dark Knight,” “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “The Departed,” “Oldboy,” “Caché,” “Birth,” “A History of Violence,” “The Assassination of Jesse James,” “Memento,” “City of God,” “Dogville,” “Elephant.”
FULL TOP 20
1. “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” (Steven Spielberg)
2. “Yi Yi” (Edward Yang)
3. “Mulholland Dr.” (David Lynch)
4. “2046” (Wong Kar Wai)
5. “35 Shots of Rum” (Claire Denis)
6. “There Will Be Blood” (Paul Thomas Anderson)
7. “The Beaches of Agnès” (Agnès Varda)
8. “Lost in Translation” (Sofia Coppola)
9. “The Time that Remains” (Elia Suleiman)
10. “Spirited Away” (Hayao Miyazaki)
11. “25th Hour” (Spike Lee)
12. “Offside” (Jafar Panahi)
13. “In the Mood for Love” (Wong Kar Wai)
14. “Children of Men” (Alfonso Cuarón)
15. “Waltz with Bashir” (Ari Folman)
16. “The Lord of the Rings” (Peter Jackson)
17. “A Serious Man” (Ethan & Joel Coen)
18. “Goodbye, Dragon Inn” (Tsai Ming-liang)
19. “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (Ang Lee)
20. “La Ciénaga” (Lucrecia Martel)