First they give us “1. Hidden”, but then they throw us “2. The Bourne Supremacy/The Bourne Ultimatum” and “6. Slumdog Millionaire”. I lose my faith in the list and true enough, the rest is pretty bad.
Then again, lists are mostly useless, with their main use getting people to see the #1 film.
Personally I can’t begin to take the list seriously without Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain
not a good list.
I’m not saying those films are bad; I can enjoy a lot of them, but I would never put most of them on a top 100 list…
@Law: But those kinds of lists (agree or disagree with them) serve the goal of creating an understanding of what most of the world thinks the best 100 films of the decade to be.
I can’t read beyond Team America: World Police. #5?
A ridiculous list, but the ranking makes it even worse. Sunday Times is wasting our time.
If a movie like No Country For Old Men is comparable to stuff like Team America: World Police, it’s like comparing Schindler’s List with Norbit. Meaning: the comparison is outright ridiculous.
This begs the question: how was this worthless list made up? Who were involved in it’s final outcome? Were any serious film critics involved? I knew lists were meaningless (because some movies can’t be properly compared with one another. Like the star rating, comparisons are only relative, not absolute even-though the list makes them appear absolute) but this sets the bar to how worthless lists can be.
remake at # 8
Nothing by Martel
how was this worthless list made up?
The list is made to capture eyeballs for advertisers
ridiculous.
The worst list ever. Period.
This might help Times to sell few copies though.
Robert, I know this worthless list was made with a reason but I’m wondering about who was involved in it’s construction? Did it involve critics who are knowledgeable in film? Were there celebrity personalities involved?
Insult to the intelligence. But then, that’s the Times generally.
^ ‘Were there celebrity personalities involved?’ —best oxymoron used as ironic condemnation this week on the TA boards.
Mulholland Drive, In the Mood For Love, There Will Be Blood, Spirited Away, and City of God should be in the Top 10 at least. Crash shouldn’t even be on here. Oh well, what are you going to do?
@John it is listed on the site under editor’s choice so probably by 20-something interns.If you look at the site you see they are asking for feedback – alternative lists & etc.
This is just a device to get eyeballs
For as bad as ya’ll are saying this list is, there are some real Auteurs sacred cows on it. Yi Yi, Mulholland Dr., In the Mood for Love…
These titles are included on a list that was made for blatantly commercial purposes. So, it’s not all bad. And, since the purpose of a list (if it’s makers know it or not) is to inspire debate and discussion, it appears that the list is doing it’s job. By including such insanities as Team America: World Police, they are forcing all of us to reconsider what we might have thought to be canonical masterpieces of the last ten years.
My big beef with this list? That Jason Bourne is on it at all.
I would rather say that they´re forcing all of us to reconsider their sanity, Nathan. And Yi Yi as well as In the Mood for Lov are included because those films have been released by Criterion, and not because the editors of Sunday Times have any clue about the artistic purpose of those films. The list has been compiled by filmic illiterates, and should be ignored as such and not be discussed at all.
How do you know that the editors don’t value those films? This is a British paper, right? Criterion is a North American company, right? Was The Lives of Others released on Criterion? How about Talk to Her? What about Touching the Void? Downfall? Irreversible? While there are a few Criterions on this list, it could hardly be called a Criterion orgy.
I admit that there are some pretty dubious choices on this list, but I highly doubt that it was comprised by “filmic illiterates”, even if they may not be as literate in film as you or me.
The films you´ve mentioned have either been nominated for an Academy Award or been widely released in Western Europe/USA. Don´t you think it´s striking that there are only 5 (!) Asian films on the whole list out of which 3 have been released by Criterion and the other 2 have been nominated for an Academy Award. The list couldn´t be any more superficial and there´s not a single positive word one can say about it.
There are way too many popular-with-English-speaking-countries non-English films here. Where are the truly great films of Weerasethakul, Jia Zhangke, Hong Sang-soo and various other contemporary directors?
Nathan: The list could have been compiled by a web-bot with an algorithm looking for several programmed criteria.
This is the way commercial sites are building content.
The list comes from Britain! Of course they’ll have non-English language films that were popular in English speaking countries. That only makes sense.
Look, I know it’s not the best list ever, and I’m not trying to defend every last selection, because there are some real doozies here. But, more than anything it just seems that people are upset because movies and directors that they like aren’t included.
Robert: You’re right, these lists are usually just a gimmick tool that editors can use to boost sales or content. I won’t deny that. But, it’s still a list, and there are still some interesting choices. Would my own list look anything like it? Nope. But that’s the fun of it, isnt’ it?
wow,another Europa-America list (the Asian choices – talking about East Asian ones of course- are Western-centric once more),what did you all think?objectivity has died a long time ago…
i see worthless shit (Devil Wears Prada,Knocked Up),mediocrities ( Bad Santa,The Queen) simplicities (Slumdog Millionaire,Dirty Pretty Things),oh,i also see some masterpieces (Yi Yi,Irreversible,4 Months…) but those don’t say much amidst a 3/4 of “curiosities” that would have never been part in a free-spirited list…
Nathan: “movies and directors that they like aren’t included.”
honestly,do you really think that Casino Royale or Memento represent modern cinema?
Dimitris – I’ll quote myself here to give you an answer.
“…and I’m not trying to defend every last selection, because there are some real doozies here.”
Clearly, I don’t believe that every movie on this list deserves inclusion. I’ve already said that the Bourne films could go. I’ll list a few more just so that you’ll see I have some cinephile street cred. I’d never make a list with Gladiator, Little Miss Sunshine, Me, You, and Everyone We Know, Wedding Crashers, and Irreversible. There are a few others that I can do without, but I can still understand why they were included.
Hard to get through this list with the Bournes at #2.
Many good films on the list but the order is a joke and the real lack of foreign films out side of Haneke makes the list null in void. Lucrecia Martel ? Briellat? Bela Tarr?
“Hard to get through this list with the Bournes at #2.”
No Country for Stiffed Men is pretty dull as well…
No Country for Old Men – without question, one of the best of the decade
This list is completely littered with crap, there is no way you take it seriously.
My real grievance is that Zodiac, my favorite film of the decade, is not on the list at all. Fucking redcoats!
Neil McCauley's Cooler Brother
Take a look at the list The Sunday Times just published…
1. Hidden
2. The Bourne Supremacy/The Bourne Ultimatum
3. No Country for Old Men
4. Grizzly Man
5. Team America: World Police
6. Slumdog Millionaire
7. The Last King of Scotland
8. Casino Royale
9. The Queen
10. Hunger
11. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
12. The Lives of Others
13. This Is England
14. 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days
15. Downfall
16. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
17. Brokeback Mountain
18. Let the Right One In
19. United 93
20. Donnie Darko
21. Good Night, and Good Luck
22. Far From Heaven
23. Man On Wire
24. 28 Days Later
25. Dancer in the Dark
26. Minority Report
27. Sideways
28. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
29. Being John Malkovich
30. Irreversible
31. Iraq in Fragments
32. Gladiator
33. Monsoon Wedding
34. Finding Nemo
35. Y Tu Mama Tambien
36. Capturing the Friedmans
37. In the Mood For Love
38. Mulholland Drive
39. Lost in Translation
40. Syriana
41. Children of Men
42. The Incredibles
43. The Dark Knight
44. Under the Sand
45. Touching the Void
46. Traffic
47. My Summer of Love
48. Little Miss Sunshine
49. Knocked Up
50. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
51. The Son’s Room
52. The Constant Gardener
53. Milk
54. Bad Santa
55. Chopper
56. Volver
57. The Consequences of Love
58. Shaun of the Dead
59. Etre et Avoir
60. The Squid and the Whale
61. Spirited Away
62. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
63. There Will Be Blood
64. L’enfant
65. Waltz with Bashir
66. City of God
67. Gomorrah
68. Memento
69. Persepolis
70. The Class
71. Monsters, Inc.
72. The Hurt Locker
73. The Beat that My Heart Skipped
74. Pan’s Labyrinth
75. Talk to Her
76. Control
77. Bowling for Columbine
78. About Schmidt
79. Le Grand Voyage
80. Me, You and Everyone We Know
81. In the Loop
82. Yi Yi
83. The Wind that Shakes the Barley
84. Hotel Rwanda
85. The Piano Teacher
86. The Orphanage
87. Time and Winds
88. The Royal Tenenbaums
89. School of Rock
90. Wedding Crashers
91. Lantana
92. Dirty Pretty Things
93. House of Flying Daggers
94. An Inconvenient Truth
95. Amores Perros
96. Morvern Callar
97. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
98. Crash
99. Battle Royale
100. The Devil Wears Prada
It reminds me of that Colin Welland clarion call – “The British are coming!” – after he won an Oscar for Chariots of Fire. A bit top-heavy with British “talent”, methinks.