Continuing with my end-of-the-decade list making. Add your suggestions in the comments.
10. Gladiator
This is one of those movies that if it's airing on a Saturday afternoon, everything else must end in order to watch it. Nearly a perfect movie.
9. Adaptation
Easily one of my favorite Kaufman/Jonze movie. Chris Cooper likes turtles. Cage's best movie.
8. O Brother Where Art Thou?
If I could go back in time and somehow help to make any movie, this would be on the short list. I love movies that play with language and historical quirkery. This movie never stops being supremely entertaining in every way. John Goodman IS Rick Warren.
7. No Country for Old Men
Cormac McCarthy + Coens = Genius.
6. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
One of the most underrated Wes Anderson movies, but probably my favorite one. Defoe's Klaus Daimler is one of my all time favorite supporting characters. Mark Mothersbaugh's score is spot on, and somehow it works alongside the Bowie tracks (both the actual songs and the Portuguese versions).
5. Gangs of New York
Speaking of underrated. Not much has changed downtown.
4. Into the Wild
McCandless went to my high school so I might be biased. Nevertheless, there are sequences in this movie that are so absorbing and moving -- the Hal Holbrooke scenes actually reach a level beyond the rest of the movie.
3. There Will Be Blood
Like the Coens, Paul Thomas Anderson was able to dump us into an era in American history and reveal its gritty details in ways we've never seen before. And Daniel Day Lewis easily topped Bill the Butcher, which I didn't think could be done.
2. Kill Bill
I seriously had a hard time deciding whether this should be number one.
1. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
The masterpiece movie trilogy of our generation. Sorry, George Lucas.
Also: Master and Commander, Cinderella Man, Million Dollar Baby, Lost in Translation, The Royal Tenenbaums, Gran Torino