Best Films of the Decade 35-31

35. Lost in Translation

Director Sofia Coppola has an interesting touch: cutting scenes earlier than expected with shots that don't necessarily match, but work in the film as a whole. Bill Murray has always been great: quick with the one-liners, peerless with the comic timing, and a terrific physical comedian with his face and body. But save for a couple of scenes in Groundhog Day, he's never really shown his heart and soul before. Looking at this, you could gather he would have had an equally successful career going that way.

34. Michael Clayton
Terrifically smart dialogue delivered by a great cast and themes about modern morality and loyalty make this the best lawyer film of the decade. George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, and Tilda Swinton give stellar performances and first-time director Tony Gilroy directs like an old-pro.

33. Erin Brockovich
One of the best crowd-pleasing films of the decade with great, quotable one-liners and many sympathetic characters. The editing is phenomenal and Steven Soderbergh assumes his audience is smart by advancing the story unconventionally. Albert Finney and Julia Roberts are perfect together and Aaron Eckhart is charming - playing slightly against type. Roberts catches a lot of fanboy internet crap for winning the Oscar over Requiem for a Dream's Ellen Burstyn. But I've seen this film half a dozen times already and will never watch Requiem again.

32. Lord of the Rings
The first is the best overall, the second has the best ending, and the third has the most spectacular sequences and cinematography. Why do I feel like I'm leaving the target demographic and will only watch these films through my children's eyes in the future? Still, it's an amazing accomplishment by Peter Jackson et al., bringing the well-read books to life and doing them justice.

31. Up

Energetic and colorful, touching and funny, Pixar's latest takes a surprising subject (a senior citizen with a short bucket list), adds a fat boy scout, and throws in some talking dogs for one of their most heartfelt films. It's shocking that it works as well as it does since most of it sounds silly on paper. Then, there's a great message sprung on the audience at the end that encourages everyone to engage in life and invest time in other people. But that would keep me from great movies like this.

36. Inglourious Basterds
37. About a Boy
38. Public Enemies
39. Amelie
40. Collateral
41. Munich
42. Black Hawk Down & The Constant Gardner
43. Mystic River
44. The Aviator
45. Cast Away
46. The Wrestler
47. Gosford Park
48. Kill Bill
49. You Can Count On Me
50. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
51. 21 Grams
52. Ratatouille & WALL-E
53. Road to Perdition
54. Billy Elliot
55. The Royal Tenenbaums
56. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
57. Downfall
58. Hot Fuzz
59. The New World
60. Knocked Up
61. Inland Empire
62. United 93
63. Babel
64. Pan's Labyrinth
65. In the Bedroom
66. Monsters, Inc.
67. The Pianist
68. Batman Begins
69. 3:10 to Yuma
70. King Kong
71. In Bruges
72. No Direction Home
73. Intolerable Cruelty
74. Little Children
75. Gangs of New York