Top 25 Films of...the Decade!!

Peter Travers, a writer for Rolling Stone, recently released a list of his top 10 "best films of the decade". This was his list:

10. Lord of the Rings Trilogy
9. Mystic River
8. The Departed
7. Brokeback Mountain
6. The Incredibles
5. No Country for Old Men
4. A History of Violence
3. Mulholland Drive
2. Children of Men
1. There Will Be Blood

While a list like this is very much a subjective thing, this kind of strikes me as more of a potpourri than a list of the very best films: the best of each in a variety of categories organized into a top 10. You've got a Scorsese flick, an Eastwood joint, a Kronenberg and Lynch film to satisfy the arty types, his favorite Pixar movie (I mean, what's a decade list without at least ONE animated movie??), the "controversial" film of the decade, and the big budget blockbuster(s) that defined the early part of the 00's. Maybe these really are his top 10 best films, but I have a hard time believing he really puts the Incredibles on the same level as No Country for Old Men or There Will Be Blood. Good? Yeah. Entertaining? Sure. Great film? Ehhh...

But again, subjective, so it's hard for me to talk too much shit about this list. However, it got me thinking about MY favorite films of the decade. I started drafting a rough list of my top 10, but then I realized I can't contain all of the great films of this decade in a list that small...

Soooo..I made a list of 25!! With 15 days until the New Year, I will count down from 25, posting new films everyday until, on December 31st, I have reached my single favorite film of the decade. But first, a few distinctions:

-This list is comprised of my 25 FAVORITE films of the decade, not the 25 BEST films. It will always be a completely subjective list, and the word "best" just creates too many arguments. In theory though, these are in fact the movies I think comprise the "best" 25 films.
-Don't get too caught up in the rankings--it was VERY tough for me to come up with just 25 films and much tougher to give any kind of exact order to them. Let's call it a rough estimate.
-I won't list any specific criteria, but for the sake of universality, I will try to consider things like a movie's success, how groundbreaking a film is, and anything else not directly associated with a film's artistic scope but nonetheless relevant in some form.

That last distinction is the toughest for me and creates the biggest "blur". Should a movie's success be considered alongside artistic achievement even though a large part of that success is a film's marketing and general appeal? Well, after some deliberation, I decided to include that in my own internal criteria due to the fact that box-office return is a very important aspect of the film industry as a whole. While it may not have anything to do with any artistic aspect, it is still an integral cog in the machine that moves the industry forward and upward.

Check back tomorrow for my number 25 through 23 of...NATE'S TOP 25 FILMS OF THE DECADE!

*Note: Also please keep in mind I haven't seen EVERY film this decade, so there will probably be some notable absences. To name a few: Gosford Park, Gangs of New York, 2046, Million Dollar Baby, The Aviator, Match Point, A History of Violence, The Lives of Others, Into the Wild, Gone Baby Gone, Eastern Promises, Michael Clayton, Rachel Getting Married, The Reader, Antichrist. These films will not be in my top 25. Sorry, fans of any of these movies!