QT2's 10 Best Movies of the Decade

10. Wall-E, 2008

If anyone doubted that Pixar is the most creative outfit in modern motion pictures, this movie convinced them. It is a genuine masterpiece, a word I don't use often. ...flat-out thrilling in its uniqueness...

9. The Royal Tenenbaums, 2001

A filmmaker's great conjunction picture, where every element, from casting to cinematography, found perfect alignment, bringing about the decade's most emotionally pulling, visually arresting feature.

8. The Departed, 2006

A wholly remarkable work - one that is considerably deeper and certainly more complex than its crime thriller status might imply. ...riveting and fearless in its intriguing scope.

7. Mulholland Drive, 2001

Offers us a chance to experience a true auteurial voice. Lynch has singular vision. See Hollywood through his eyes. Lynch has never before married his subconscious impulses to an accessible storytelling style in such a satisfying, beguiling way.

6. Traffic, 2000

A truly entertaining polemic filled with world-class performances. Gritty, tense, distinctive and realistic, Traffic is one of the most technically well-crafted of its time.

5. City of God, 2003

Rises so far above the conventions of genre and of most ordinary filmmaking that it's a transcendent experience - an exhilarating, two-feet-off-the-ground fireball of a movie.

4. The Dark Knight, 2008

I say this with a smile from ear to ear, there is too much of a good thing...a movie that fulfills the promise of the best Hollywood movies in that it offers us transport to an alternate yet recognizable reality.

3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 2004

Undeniably ambitious filmmaking and a feather in the decade's cap... one of those films that dares to be about something.

2. Children of Men, 2006

Hypnotizing. Spellbinding. Enthralling. The final quarter of the film is nothing short of an evolutionary leap forward in filmmaking. The perfect movie.

1. There Will Be Blood, 2007

An intellectualized epic to make lovers of pure cinema swoon. A towering, tour-de-force display in cinematic virtuosity; and an incredibly ambitious, deliberate stab at greatness by the director. Only time will tell if he's pulled it off. Whether you believe There Will Be Blood is a transcendentally powerful movie or merely damn good, there's no debate that Day-Lewis' performance as Plainview is something to behold.

Honorable Mention:
A.I.
Chicago
Crash
Memento
Minority Report
Moulin Rouge!
Pan's Labyrinth
Slumdog Millionaire
The Constant Gardener
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Overrated:
Donnie Darko
Juno
Little Miss Sunshine
Million Dollar Baby
Sideways

Underrated:
Brick
Half Nelson
The Prestige
Shaun of the Dead