Josh’s Response to Ethan Kreitzer’s List of his 50 Favorite Films of the Last Decade!

Yesterday I posted my buddy Ethan Kreitzer’s list of his 50 Favorite Films of the Last Decade.

Movies that Ethan & I totally agree on and that I was really glad to see on his list because they are (in some cases) sort of obscure and also (in all cases) super-awesome: Roger Dodger, Snatch, Capturing the Friedmans, High Fidelity, Man on Wire, The Squid and the Whale, The Matador, The Incredibles, State and Main, Vanilla Sky, Zodiac, The Royal Tenenbaums, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and the relentlessly phenomenal Adaptation.

Movies that I can’t believe he rated as high as he did: O Brother Where Art Thou (one of my least favorite Coen Brothers films, despite its terrific soundtrack), The Aviator (a very solid movie but nowhere near that high on my list of favorite films), No Country For Old Men (as I have written about on this site before, the ending really hurts the film in my eyes), Ocean’s Eleven (I am NOT a fan), School of Rock (amusing, but not a film I am in any rush to see a second time), Amelie (ditto), American Psycho (a decent film with a great performance by Christian Bale, but definitely not a standout of the decade for me), and Match Point (being one of the better Woody Allen films of the last decade does not, in my mind, make it a good film.  Go watch Crimes and Misdemeanors instead).

Movies on Ethan’s list that I haven’t seen: 24 Hour Party People, Shut Up and Sing (this has been on my to-watch list ever since it came out — it is on my Netflix queue, and I hope to get to see it soon), Monster (no interest), Chicago (no interest), Shattered Glass (minimal interest).

I thought about beginning to write a list of other great films from the past decade that Ethan left off his list, but that seems like an insurmountably great task.  I’m currently working on all of my end-of-the-year Best of 2009 lists, and that’s difficult enough!

Instead, as a counterpoint to Ethan’s list, let me direct you to another terrific Best-of-the-Decade list: regular Aintitcoolnews contributor Mr. Beaks’ list of his 100 Favorite Films of the Last Decade.  Here’s a link to numbers 100-76, 75-51, 50-26, and 25-1.

It’s a phenomenally well-written and comprehensive look back at the last decade of amazing films.  He has some insane selections (Bring it On, Observe and Report, Miami Vice, Jackass: The Movie, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence) but here are just a few of the great movies that I was thrilled to see him mention: Gone Baby Gone, Ratatouille, The 40 Year-Old Virgin, The Fountain, Where the Wild Things Are, The Constant Gardener, Grindhouse, Munich, Spider-Man 2, Inglourious Basterds, The Incredibles, Kingdom of Heaven: Director’s Cut, City of God, Pan’s Labyrinth, Up, Kill Bill, Kiss Kiss Band Bang, Shaun of the Dead, and The Lord of the Rings. Check it out, and let the debate continue…