Best of the Decade: Round 1: 35 Films, Unranked

** Note: This list was formed based on the newly released films I have seen from the years 2000 to 2209. To qualify, a film must be released in the U.S. during that period. Re-releases of past films do not qualify. The year attributed to each film refers to the year in which it was given a release in the United States. These are the films that I believe reached the decade's highlights in terms of artistry and personal appeal.**

2000

Almost Famous

High Fidelity

Wonder Boys

2001

Gosford Park

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring*

The Royal Tennenbaums

2002

Adaptation

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers*

Punch-Drunk Love

Spirited Away

2003

Big Fish

Capturing the Friedmans

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King*

Lost in Translation

2004

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Million Dollar Baby

2005

Grizzly Man

The New World

Munich

2006

Children of Men

The Departed

Letters from Iwo Jima

Pan’s Labyrinth

A Prairie Home Companion

United 93

2007

Juno

No Country for Old Men

Ratatouille

There Will Be Blood

Zodiac

2008

The Dark Knight

Synecdoche, New York

WALL-E

2009

Inglorious Basterds

Up

Up in the Air

Where the Wild Things Are

*= These films will be grouped collectively as "The Lord of the Rings Trilogy"

Interesting Facts About My List:

There are five directors with two films a piece on the list: Robert Altman (Gosford Park and A Prairie Home Companion), P.T. Anderson (Punch Drunk Love and There Will Be Blood), Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby and Letters from Iwo Jima), Spike Jonze (Adaptation and Where the Wild Things Are) and Jason Reitman (Juno and Up in the Air). No director has three films on the list.

There are four animated films on the list, along with two documentaries and three foreign language films.

The oldest film on the list is Curtis Hanson's Wonder Boys (released on 2/25/2000), the newest is Jason Reitman's Up in the Air (released 12/25/09).

The most represented year is 2006 with six films, the least represented is 2004 with two films listed.