The Best Movies of the Decade

With the first decade of the 2000s having passed us by, let's take some time to reflect back on the many movies that captured audience's attention during the first part of this century. The Voice's resident movie critics compiled a list of films that were notable for their amazing visuals, incredible acting, and captivating storytelling. Here's the very best of the early 2000s.

JAKE'S TOP 10 FOR THE DECADE

1. "The Royal Tenenbaums" – Wes Anderson's brilliantly sublime family comedy, to bastardize a famous anecdote, is best described as "Arrested Development shot like Goodfellas". With one of the most hilarious scripts of the decade, a cast as diverse as the characters on the page, and soundtrack cuts from "Hey Jude" to the Ramones, Wes takes an excellent story and turns it into one of the greatest films about family ever made. "Tenenbaums" aims high, but in the end, its charms are truly irresistible.

2. "Kill Bill" – What does one part spaghetti western, one part Asian revenge exploitation, and one part 60's action epic leave you with? Put Quentin Tarantino behind the camera, and what you get is one of the most incredible cinematic pastiches of all time, a blend of numerous influences into one singular, masterful work. Lt. Aldo Raine may call "Basterds" his "masterpiece", but the four and a half hours of "Kill Bill" (that feel like two) are the best work Tarantino produced in the 2000's.

3. "Donnie Darko" – Richard Kelly sure has faltered since this 2001 masterwork, a tale of tragic destiny set over late 80's suburbia. Jake Gyllenhaal was a revelation in this sci-fi gem, a film not afraid to let its characters overwhelm the mythology. "Darko" creates a stunning vision through its frame, using pop songs contrasted with surreal imagery to bring us into the alternate reality it creates. Darko is stunningly original, and perfectly somber. The best sci-fi work of the 2000's.

4. "Untitled" – also known as "Almost Famous". Director Cameron Crowe added an hour in his director's cut, re-titled, ironically, "Untitled". These scenes mature a great film into a classic one, giving each character far more depth and importance. Kate Hudson moves from an enigma to a fully grown character, one we can relate and feel emotion towards. Of all the biopics this decade brought us, Crowe's tall of love, sex, and rock-n-roll may be the most entertaining, a love letter to the music he adored and the people who moved him.

5. "There Will Be Blood" – Daniel Day-Lewis creates perhaps the most iconic character of the decade here, perfectly embodying the vision of American greed and solitude. Paul Thomas Anderson, in a film dedicated to mentor Robert Altman, directs him with grace and subtlety, abandoning the freeform "independent" style of his 90's classics "Boogie Nights" and "Magnolia". Almost a horror film in disguise, few works so perfectly capture a mood as Anderson's classically scored "Blood".

6. "Shaun of the Dead" – A film that is able to transcend the fact that it is a "spoof" and instead becomes one of the great zombie films they were celebrating. Director Edgar Wright and star Simon Pegg were two of the greatest discoveries of the decade, also delivering the excellent buddy cop satire "Hot Fuzz". "Shaun" wears its heart on its sleeve, with scenes dedicated to Queen, "Reservoir Dogs", and Cornetto Ice Cream, but the sum is far greater than the parts, delivering a truly classic "Rom Zom Com".

7. "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" – David Fincher has become one of this country's most interesting directors, almost seeming a modern day Kubrick considering his attention to detail and obsession with advancing cinema. "Zodiac" is often appreciated as a masterwork for this decade, but "Button" is his most haunting and poignant film yet, a meditation on time and the simple theme that "nothing lasts". Every single frame of "Button" is injected with a feeling of loss, of time passing by, and Fincher (along with an excellent and revolutionary performance by one of this decades best actors Brad Pitt) gives his audience a true portrait of one man's very unusual life.

8. "Battle Royale" – This Japanese action picture, directed by Kenji Fukasaku and released in 2000, is one of the most violent, depraved, and downright disturbing social commentaries you will ever see. But this picture, about a group of schoolchildren deserted on an island and forced to kill each other in the hope of being the last one standing, has big things to say, and big ways to say them. "Battle Royale" resulted in things as diverse as GoGo Yubari and Stone Cold Steve Austin's "The Condemned", and is a picture that will be sure to (subtly) infiltrate your culture and cinema for a long time. And even if you're only looking for a pulse pounding action film, you could do a whole lot worse. Hunt down "Battle Royale".

9. "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" – Charlie Kaufman is definitely one of the main voices of this decade, with each film being more abstract and confusing than the last. But "Eternal Sunshine", helmed by Michael Gondry and starring a motivated Jim Carrey, is his most interesting study of the human mind and our need for connection. This portrait of love travels (quite literally) through one man's memories, revealing the pain along with the happiness and forcing him to choose if it is worth keeping. Kaufman will be sure to confuse us for years to come, but the peak of his storytelling genius may lie with "Eternal Sunshine".

10. "500 Days of Summer" – 2009's lone entry onto the list is another film about the diverse reactions we have to "love", and also about the people who just can't believe in that four letter word. Joseph-Gordon Levitt and Zooey Deschanel display incredible chemistry in Marc Webb's debut film, a whimsical study of love infused with musical numbers, "Graduate" references, and one of the catchiest soundtracks of any decade. Surprisingly dark, but not afraid to confront everything with a cinematic lightness, "500 Days" is perhaps one the most open-ended "stories about love" ever told.