Underrated Gems of the Decade (25 movies not making top 10 lists that should be considered)

Everyone is making their decade lists of great films and I thought about making my own. The only problem is this; my list would be virtually the same as most critics. I would put Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in the top 3, along with there Will Be Blood. Pan's Labyrinth, The Lives of Others, Memento, Dark Night, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Royal Tennenbaums, Children of Men, City of God, each Pixar flick besides Cars and Traffic would be in contention with a few others for inclusion. I would even make a case for The Departed, 40 year Old Virgin, High Fidelity, Sideways and The Bourne Trilogy.

So, let's forget about the obvious choices. What are the other gems that should be included (nothing from 2009, since I just reported on them). If I were talking about 09, I would add Moon for consideration.

By no means are these the best flicks of the decade (Eternal Sunshine is #1 for me. It affected me deeply). By no means are these an exhaustive list of things you have never heard of, as I try to establish credit as the arbiter of all things cool and underground (if you like movies, you have seen most of them). But, they are great movies of the decade you may have missed or forgotten about, films that should be part of the discussion of any serious film hound when looking back at the Aughts. Just think of this as my own personal Netflix queue for you.

Honorable mentions: Rabbit-Proof Prince, The Quiet American, Amores Perros, L'enfant, The Lookout, Billy Elliot, Inside Man, Junebug, Layer Cake, Undertow, Sunshine State, You Can Count on Me, Once, Osama, 21 Grams and Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.

25. No Man's land

24. The Station Agent

23. Persopolis

22. Cache

21. Inside Man

20. Half Nelson

19. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

18. I (Heart) Huckabees

17. Murderball

16. In The Bedroom

15. Devil's Backbone

14. American Splendor

13. The Proposition

12. Dirty Pretty Things

11. Gosford Park

10. Millions

9. Shaun of the Dead

8. Whale Rider

7. Waltz With Bashir- officially a documentary, but not really

6. 25^th Hour

5. Sexy Beast

4. Squid and the Whale

3. Lars and the Real Girl

2. With a Friend Like Harry

1. Bloody Sunday

If we consider documentaries (and I think this was the decade for docs, consider these- some are as good as anything on the "real movie" list), I would put these into my noggin and try to come up with a top 10.

Into the Arms of Strangers, Murderball, Born Into Brothels, Taxi To the Dark Side, Devil's Playground, God Grew Tired of Us, Capturing The Friedmans, The Fog of War, Grizzley Man, The King of Kong, Sicko, The Kid Stays in the Picture, Man on Wire, The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, Touching The Void, Riding Giants, Spellbound, Bowling for Columbine, Supersize Me, Control Room, the Aristocrats, Hell House, and The Devil and Daniel Johnston (no , I would not add Jesus Camp- it kinda sucked)

 

My list of under-appreciated films from early 2008 (if you want more of these gems)