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Our ‘Top 10 Films of the Decade’ column continues this week with each of our top 5 favorite movies of the decade (2000-2009). Without further or do, here is my Top 5 films of the decade

5. Batman Begins (2005)

Years after the Batman franchise was embarrassed with Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy, Chris Nolan, the magician behind Memento, brought back the franchise. Batman Begins was the first comic movie to feel real. No longer did Batman live in a fake comic book world with tacky one-liners and goofy gadgets. Nolan created a realistic world where we could honestly believe Batman could exist. Christian Bale was a perfect Bruce Wayne. Taking us back to the roots was the perfect way to bring Batman back. This is the best comic-book genre movie ever made. For those who think the Dark Knight was better than this, well you are wrong. Compared to the Dark Knight, Batman Begins is a step-ahead in a every category possible (except maybe hype).

4. The Departed (2006)

The Departed, or should I say “The De-paht-ed,” is one of the best gangster movies of all-time. The movie had an A+ cast (DiCaprio, Damon, Wahlberg, Nicholson, and Baldwin) and was directed by Martin Scorcese, who was finally given an overdue Academy Award for best director.  The film won Best Picture at the 2007 Oscars and whole-heartedly deserved it. This movie had it all.  The Departed was a true 10 out of 10. All I ask is when is Leonardo DiCaprio going to get an Oscar for himself?

3. Gran Torino (2008)

Believe it or not, this movie was not nominated for Best Picture. That was a bigger robbery than Bernie Madoff’s fraud scheme. Honestly, that was a joke. We put this on par with how did Mel Gibson not get nominated for Best Actor for Braveheart. Was the voting done in Florida? Gran Torino was a Clint Eastwood masterpiece, telling the story of a dying bigoted man (Eastwood) and his relationship with this new Asian neighbors.  I cannot recall a movie in which I felt more concerned for the characters. This movie also has some true relevancy to current America, as we have seen a sharp increase in Asian immigrants coming to the USA in the past 15 years.  I walked out of this movie ready to give it the Best Picture trophy.  This movie was as powerful a movie I have ever seen, and deserves to be on this list. 

2. Gladiator (2000)

Gladiator is the ultimate achievement in epic/war/period  film making. It is also the platform to which all other period-pieces are measured against; well Gladiator and Braveheart -  the 2 are in a class of their own.  Russell Crowe’s Maximus is one of the all-time great characters ever put on screen.  However, it wasn’t even his performance that made the movie what it was.  Jacquin Pheonix played Commodus, the dispicable, jealous, conniving, treachorous f*ck wad, that killed his father to become King.  Was there ever a character on screen you hated more than this guy? I once read that Pheonix was so good in this role that he did a disservice to his career as he will always be looked at as the bad guy in any role he does. Somehow he lost Best Supporting Actor at the 2001 Oscars to Benecio Del Toro in Traffic. Hahaha. Another joke.  I will watch Gladiator whenever it is on TV.  “The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an emperor.” – a truly incredible movie.

1. Lord of the Rings (2001-2003)

For those that know me, and not even that well, Lord of the Rings being number 1 is no suprise. FYI – I am treating this as one movie for sake of the list but my personal order for LOTR is 1) ROTK, 2) FOTR, 3) TTT  

I am going to say this, just for the record, The Lord of the Rings is the greatest movie that has ever been made; and specifically the Return of the King. That’s right, numero uno; better than the Godfather, better than Shawshank, better than One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, better than anything. What Peter Jackson accomplished is nothing short of historic. He had the cast in New Zealand for 12 months shooting all 3 movies simultaneously.  He brilliantly shot 2 of the most intense battle scenes (Helm’s Deep and Pelennor Fields) ever put on the big-screen. He managed a cast of hundreds and wrote (along with 2 others) the entire script. Lord of the Rings launched the career of Orlando Bloom, put Viggo Mortensen on the A-List, revitalized Elijah Wood’s dying career, and launched the design workship WETA, which is now responsible for the digital effects, make-up, and design of some of the biggest film’s in Hollywood.

It’s tough to single out any individual performances, other than Jackson, because the film was completley emsemble based. No one person stood out from the next.  Originally LOTR was supposed to be 1 movie, then Jackson consulted New Line and they said fine, lets do it in 2 movies, and then he went back saying they needed to do it 3. $300 million dollars in costs later, the actual life of New Line Cinema was on the line. $3 billion in box office success, not to mention DVD’s, video games etc, LOTR saved New Line.

At the 2004 Oscars, after 2 years of disappointing nights, the Academy finally got it right - 11 for 11, the single most successful night at the Oscars.

Lord of the Rings is best film of the decade, and yes, the greatest film of all-time.

Keep Bantering.