50. The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

Maybe a little too obvious rather than mystical, but I found the story to be profoundly vibrant, especially the unexpected second half which is the emotional core of the film. The bi-polar swings of the characters and even the story left my jaw on the ground of the theater. Director Wes Anderson pushed himself with this film and while not as quirky as his previous efforts, it's just an enchanting and his most enlightening to date.

49. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000)

Ang Lee's romantically stunning and elegant film that shifts between never-seen-before action sequences and a genuine love story that is as impressive as it is majestic.

48. Erin Brockovich (2000)

Based on the real life story, director Steven Soderbergh delivered a film that has engaging characters and rolls by you in record time. Julia Roberts is brilliant in the lead role, but Albert Finney and Aaron Eckhart help balance the film and provide the Brockovich character a emotional center.

47. Moulin Rouge (2001)

After years of interesting choices by top name directors (Woody Allen, Kenneth Branagh) we finally were given a musical that stands head and shoulders above the rest. Unlike Branagh and Allen, instead of doing an old fashioned musical; Baz Luhrman recreated it by completing reinventing it. He updated it to modern standards with an array of pop songs and top-notch performers. I only wish the musicals that followed it were as daring and ostentatious.

46. Persepolis (2007)

This is a brisk, biting and animated film that permeates with heavy themes through the eyes of a young girl/woman. The film, done in the same style as the graphic novel, simultaneously shows the loneliness and confusion of growing up in hand with growing up in the 1980's during the war between Iran and Iraq. It delicately balances the heavy themes with a light hearted feel that makes the film all that more digestible. This is among the most haunting of the last decade and will stay in your heart and mind forever.

45. Little Children (2006)

This film is a wildly involving emotional tale of two lost souls seeking solace and meaning in their lives who find it in the comfort of one another. Both are married and seeking a less complicated life away from their demanding and emotionally distant spouses. Director Todd Field (‘In The Bedroom') carefully wrote and directed this film and while it's not a fast moving film, it is completely engrossing. Kate Winslet is brilliant in the lead role, this is her most complicated and challenging role to date and yet she handles it with ease. Truly great acting is when it appears to be effortless. Another film that is full of astounding performances by Patrick Wilson, Jennifer Connelly and Jackie Earle Haley.

44. Innocence (2001)

People would constantly ask me about this film and I would tell them it is maybe one of the best films to ever have been made about being in love. In fact, the only other film that demonstrates it as well is ‘Say Anything' (Thanks for pointing that out George). Instead of having 2 young and good looking people in the lead, this film had two sixty something's who have lived life and rediscover love and passion. A beautiful film about 2 people in their 60's who reconnect after no having seen each over in over 45 years; a truly rare and beautiful film that everyone should see.

43. Better Luck Tomorrow (2003)

Every few years there is a young filmmaker who rocks the cinema world with proclamation of "Here I am!" In the early 90's Tarantino did it with ‘Reservoir Dogs' and ‘Pulp Fiction'. In 1997 Paul Thomas Anderson did it with ‘Hard Eight' and ‘Boogie Nights'. In 2003 Justin Lin did it with his film, ‘Better Luck Tomorrow', about Asian teens and the stereotypes they play to their advantages to form a crime ring out of their high school. Not only is the story mesmerizing but also the look of the film is stunning. I never knew a film that cost merely $250,000 could look this good. Like Anderson's voyage through the world of porn, Lin takes the viewer through the hardships and trials of extraordinary young lives as they face simple challenges with great consequences. As great as the rise in power is documented, equally powerful is the fall from grace these teens exhibit. One can only imagine what Justin Lin will do when he is given a budget.

42. The 25th Hour (2002)

Spike Lee's masterpiece...a surreal and evocative day in post 9/11 New York. While I believe Spike Lee is an extraordinarily talented filmmaker, I consider many of his films are off base and ill conceived. Yet, each and every film of his has something in it that I fall in love with. He has taken all of his best qualities and crafted his masterpiece. People will look back twenty-five years from now and see this as an unheralded work of genius. Ed Norton delivers a truly amazing performance of a drug dealer who spends one last day with his friends and family and ponders the decisions he has made in his life. Along with Norton the cast is a tour de force with superb supporting performances by Brian Cox, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Barry Pepper and Rosario Dawson. The film ends on a subdued note with the haunting, but fitting, Bruce Springsteen track, "The Fuse" playing over the ending credits.

41. The Matador (2005)

I saw this film as an afterthought, what I did not expect was for it to be one of the ten best films of the year let alone one of the decade's best. Pierce Brosnan is a hit man who crosses paths with Greg Kinnear, a salesman, in Mexico. What no one has realized is that this film is the perfect blend of action, comedy and plot to make this probably the most engaging and entertaining film of the year. Brosnan's performance is genius as he teeters on the line of hot-shot killer and manic psycho. Surprisingly, this film is one of the decades funniest as well.

40. Traffic (2000)

Steven Soderbergh directed thirteen films this decade, but ‘Traffic' was his tour de force. Making a political statement about drug trafficking and the laws we have in place, he gently guides the story through a series of interconnecting characters and stories. In the hands of a lesser director, this could have gone horribly awry, but instead it impressive and sprawling in every way.

39. Twilight Samurai (2004)

This is 2004's greatest love story of a widow samurai (Hiroyuki Sanada) in the 19th Century who struggles with everyday life as he tries to raise his family. He is an honorable man thrown into turbulent situations. The fight scenes in the film are intense, not for their over the top choreography, but for the truthfulness behind how each fight is fought. If Akira Kurosawa were alive he was be envious of this film, it's every bit as compelling as any of Kurosawa's samurai films. Brewing beneath the surface is a secret love that slowly inches into the samurai's life and heart and influences it in ways he never thought imaginable. The end of the film is so profoundly moving that it had my girlfriend near tears. Sometimes love can conquer all.

38. Kill Bill: Volume One & Two (2003-2004)

An homage to martial art films, oodles of blood, Uma and that razor-sharp Tarantino dialogue proves that six years between movies was worth the wait. No one could pull off a film like this except Tarantino. Only someone who can merge his countless influences into a blender and make it his own could make a film like this work. This may have ranked higher if it was released in its full 3-hour version and not two parts. David Carradine gives the performance of a lifetime in this underrated masterpiece.

37. The Wrestler (2008)

Poetically brutal, brilliant and beautiful is how I would sum up ‘The Wrestler'. What may appear to be an all too familiar story on paper, it's anything but. Full of vivid and characters so real that it almost makes it difficult for the viewer to watch. Mickey Rourke's performance is thunderous and stays with you long after the film is over. This is a man who if he could do life over, he would. However, would the end result be any different? This is a human so broken and beaten that the only place he feels alive in inside the wrestling ring. He reaches out for something to hold on to, but is it too late? Marissa Tomei (delivering her third harrowing performance of the decade) is revealing and her eyes speak volumes. When the film fades to black and the film's coda, sung by Bruce Springsteen, leaves you shaken from a world we all know far too well.

36. Gangs of New York (2002)

Martin Scorsese took a chance when he decided to create a film about the tribal warfare among the immigrants during the late Nineteenth Century in New York. Nobody tells New York stories better than Scorsese. Like Springsteen who uses New Jersey ideals and lifestyles to encompass his music, Scorsese's muse is New York. The film is more than just a history of New York, it's a reflection of ideals that helped shape, form and continue to be issues today in America. Politicians and dangerous gangs fight over control of the corners and Burroughs of New York. What is most stunning is that while the event in this film took place well over one hundred and twenty years ago, many of these same issues still haunt the American landscape today. Daniel Day Lewis steals the movie with his over-the-top portrayal of "Bill the Butcher", one of the truly evil characters to ever grace us with their presence on the screen. From the opening battle scene of the natives and immigrants fighting to the final image of the pre-9/11 New York City skyline with U2's "The Hands That Built America" playing over it, this film is a feast on the eyes and mind.

35. Read My Lips (2002)

Every critic each year has one movie on their list that no one has ever heard of. ‘Read My Lips' is my movie. The film revolves around Carla, who is an office worker who is death, but can read lips. Due to the stress involved with her work, she hires a male assistant, who has a criminal past. Slowly a story evolves involving Carla, the former convict and his past. All of these circumstances come into play as the story unravels in front of us. Before we know it, a risky chain of events unfold in which the success of them depends on Carla's ability to read lips. Few films held my attention as well as this one did. Yes, it has subtitles, but you don't even realize it half of the time because of the actions that take place. It's one of the best noir thrillers I have ever seen and Hollywood should buy the rights to this movie and re-make like they did with Insomnia .

34. The 40-Year Old Virgin (2005)

No film made me laugh more than this one. Steve Carell is the shining star in Judd Apatow's hysterical comedy about a 40-year old loner whose friends continually try to hook him up. But the film has so many layers and laughs, you need multiple viewings to fully appreciate it.

33. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

This film took me by complete surprise. I'm not quite sure I have ever seen another film quite like this before. It is set around the fascist Spanish of 1944, but with an element of the mystical thrown in based around a young girls mystical adventures. Either film on itself would have been a great film but the fact that director Guillermo del Torro was able to blend these two stories seamlessly is an accomplishment upon itself. The thought and imagination that went into this film is extraordinary, eerie and romantic. This film will be a classic in years to come.

32. Hotel Rwanda (2004)

Every person living on God's green Earth should see this film. Is it easy to watch? No. However, it is easily the year's most important and profound film. Like Spielberg's ‘Schindler's List', this film documents the truly horrific events that occurred in Rwanda in 1994. Don Cheadle's performance is the best by any actor on celluloid in 2004. There is a moment in the third act where he simply breaks down and does not utter a word. Nothing needed to be uttered as his face and body have already told us everything.

31. There Will Be Blood (2007)

"I drink your milkshake!" While I enjoyed this film, Paul Thomas Anderson's period piece about a profoundly complicated oil man becomes more sprawling with each viewing. Daniel Day Lewis gives a performance for the ages of a man driven but who also manipulates his way into people's live for his own personal gain, but in the end, no matter what he does, he is so entrancing on the screen, you can't help but be disappointed when the film ends, because you wish there was more to revel in.

30. A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001)

One of the decade's most disturbing films that came from two brains (Spielberg and Kubrick) that pushed the boundaries of how we treat our children in society. Are they mere machines or toys that adults produce just for our enjoyment or loneliness? I think the reason for such extreme reactions to the films how comfortable one are with the actual message of the film: that we are already living in this society.

29. Syriana (2005)

Most people who may see this film will walk away confused. That's OK, because writer/director Steve Gaghan's film is so intricate and complex, you will not pick up everything you need to know in one viewing, which is why this film is damn brilliant. It puts the state of world politics upfront and I can't think of another film in recent memory that made me think more. You see how deals are made, plans are carried out and how those who want to change things are handled.

28. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

It's every bit as good as you have heard it is. A rare film that delivers not just intriguing characters, visually lush landscapes and a story that delivers on every level. It's filled with heartache, disappointment, struggle and ultimately hope. The film's ending stays true to itself and is by no means a sell-out. It's the rare film where you'll gleam with glee as you leave the theater wanting to experience it again, just to recapture the feelings that come over you when watching it. This is the type of film that renews your faith in the world where good things can happen to good people. Determination, love and faith will win out in the end.

27. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)

Trust me on this one…I guarantee you that once you pop this in the DVD player, you'll be transfixed and the second the film is over, you'll want to watch all of the extra scenes and materials because you'll want to know more and spend more time with these two men vying for the Donkey Kong World Record. This film is so engaging it's just like a video game where you throw in another quarter to watch it again.

26. WALL-E (2008)

This isn't just one of the best animated films of all time, but one of the best films of the decade. Pixar's brilliance is in the fact they take the simplest idea and turns it into a brilliant film(s). ‘WALL-E ‘is a film that everyone of every age can take from it. It's rare that a piece of art can have such a wide appeal across so many demographics. This is a wonderful story weaved with a moral tale that isn't just relevant but one that is equally terrifying. It makes you think twice about the world we live in and how we take it for granted. More importantly, the abuse we instill upon ourselves and our bodies in many ways is equally terrifying.