THE IRON LIST
The Best Movies of the Decade, 2000-2009
Today, we begin our crusade to determine the greatest 100 films of the last ten years.
"The list," says Umberto Eco, "is the origin of culture. What does culture want? To make infinity comprehensible." This and nothing less is indeed our project. Amid the infinity of Beverly Hills Chihuahuas, American Dreamz, and Captain Corelli's Mandolins, we must rummage, bringing order to chaos, redeeming a decade of sprawling insanity with the very purposefulness of our quest. For we go beyond Eco, and Joyce, and Homer, and the Bible: we do not only list, but we rank.
We will ignore the sickly murmurings that the 2000s were a golden age of television, not film; and likewise all autumnal lamentations over the decline of popular cinema. Our duty lies elsewhere. The journey will take us from Elizabethtown to Annapolis, with a stop in Freedomland in between. We will learn from Coach Carter, perhaps Win A Date With Tad Hamilton, and pay tribute to The Life of David Gale.
Certainly, we will always be in motion: Chasing Liberty, Raising Helen, Stealing Harvard, Surviving Christmas, Bringing Down the House, Riding in Cars With Boys, and, of course, Know1ng.
Let us begin.
We will ignore the sickly murmurings that the 2000s were a golden age of television, not film; and likewise all autumnal lamentations over the decline of popular cinema. Our duty lies elsewhere. The journey will take us from Elizabethtown to Annapolis, with a stop in Freedomland in between. We will learn from Coach Carter, perhaps Win A Date With Tad Hamilton, and pay tribute to The Life of David Gale.
Certainly, we will always be in motion: Chasing Liberty, Raising Helen, Stealing Harvard, Surviving Christmas, Bringing Down the House, Riding in Cars With Boys, and, of course, Know1ng.
Let us begin.
