Lists of this nature rarely serve any meaningful purpose.  To include a film means that many more will be excluded.  And in a decade’s worth of cinema, to make a list of the “best” at the expense of so many deserving films just seems wrong.  Especially considering that there is no definitive canon of objectively great movies.  My personal list is a fluid, ever-changing one that will probably be different tomorrow.  And to narrow it down to 25 is like choosing between children.  But alas, the internet demands it.  So, here is my wholly subjective list of the very best films of the decade (2000-2009):

25. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007, Julian Schnabel)
The true story of French magazine editor, Jean-Dominique Bauby, who, while paralyzed, wrote an entire book literally with the blinks of his eye.  Its dazzling, innovative camerawork breaks new ground on the creative cinema front.

24. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001, Steven Spielberg)
Spielberg’s tribute and farewell to the great master, Stanley Kubrick, who languished on the project for decades. A visually stunning and emotionally mature imitation of Kubrick’s sensibilities that runs on all cylinders.

23. Vera Drake (2004, Mike Leigh)
Imelda Staunton’s powerhouse performance drives this delicately and expertly told examination of the polarizing subject of abortion.

22. Grizzly Man (2005, Werner Herzog)
Herzog finds yet another fascinating subject in this complex, twisted odyssey into the dark recesses of the mind of a madman.  At once an incredible document of nature’s beauty and a cautionary tale of its dangers.

21. Mystic River (2003, Clint Eastwood)
Clint Eastwood’s directorial masterwork. A thrilling police procedural/murder mystery driven by fantastic performances and punctuated by a heartbreaking examination of the nature of friendship.

20. Elephant (2003, Gus Van Sant)
A highly nuanced and meditative look at the Columbine shootings.  Unflinching and fearless storytelling by a virtuoso storyteller.

19. Hunger (2008, Steve McQueen)
A disturbing, unflinching work of art about the horrific prison conditions suffered by Bobby Sands and his fellow IRA members in 1981 Britain. One of the most assured directorial debuts in recent memory.

18. Kill Bill Vols. 1 & 2 (2003-2004, Quentin Tarantino)
Pure style. Pure thrill. Pure fun. It doesn’t get any better than this for hyper-exaggerated, pulpy entertainment.

17. Adaptation (2002, Spike Jonze)
A surreal and truly funny look into the nightmarish world of a writer.  How hard is it to write a screenplay? Charlie Kaufman should know.  Nicolas Cage’s best performance since “Raising Arizona.”

16. Memento (2000, Christopher Nolan)
Dark. Original. Hilarious. Nolan’s most unique and innovative work.  It redefines what we thought cinema could be.

15. Che (2008, Steven Soderbergh)
A lot of people skipped this one thanks to its 4½ hour run-time.   Too bad, considering it’s the best work from both Soderbergh and Benicio Del Toro to date.

14. City of God (2003, Fernando Meirelles, Katia Lund)
Stylized portrait of life in the slums that manages to be both unbearably grim and rivetingly beautiful.

13. Into the Wild (2007, Sean Penn)
An elegiac ode to the importance of both community and self-exploration.  Penn proves he can be as adept behind the camera as he is in front of it.

12. The Dark Knight (2008, Christopher Nolan)
Not only the best Batman film ever made, but the greatest superhero movie of all-time.  Nolan manages to seamlessly insert the exaggerated characters of a comic book into the gritty world of a realistic crime drama.

11. Inglourious Basterds (2009, Quentin Tarantino)
Tarantino pulls off the unthinkable — he makes a Tarantino movie out of the Holocaust…and it’s brilliant.

10. The New World (2005, Terrence Malick)
As stirringly evocative, contemplative and astonishing as any of Malick’s previous work.

9. There Will Be Blood (2007, Paul Thomas Anderson)
Two modern masters, P.T. Anderson and Daniel Day-Lewis, unite to create a gripping, visceral meditation on the true foundations of America — not freedom and tolerance, but (for better or worse) unfettered capitalism and puritanical religion.

8. Amélie (2001, Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
Whimsical, sweet, hilarious and utterly dazzling.  Aided by the adorable Audrey Tautou, Jeunet taps into a rich well of creativity, humanity and new-wave charm to create one indelible image after another.

7. Synecdoche, New York (2008, Charlie Kaufman)
Sometimes maligned because people unfortunately “just don’t get it,” Kaufman’s grand opus is a fully realized, heartbreaking, inspiring, nuanced, intricate work of genius. Though not fully appreciated yet, this brilliant piece of art will someday take its rightful place in the pantheon of great cinema.

6. Yi Yi: A One and a Two (2000, Edward Yang)
Perhaps the most human film on the list. Yang adeptly and deliberately composes a sonata of realistic family relationships that breathes an air of sympathy, understanding and love into the often contentious atmosphere of the family unit.

5. Goodbye Solo (2008, Ramin Bahrani)
It’s beyond neo-realism.  Bahrani’s work feels more real than, well… reality.  It’s that good.  Roger Ebert was right on the mark when anointed Bahrani, “the new great American director.”

4. No Country for Old Men (2007, Coen Brothers)
A stunning, uncompromising study of the nature of fate, violence and evil… friendo.

3. Mulholland Drive (2001, David Lynch)
A neo-noir thriller in true Lynchian fashion.  Bizarre, frightening, tragic and full of mind-bending mystery.   A masterpiece of mood and tone.  Pay close attention to Lynch’s unique command of film grammar.  Movie-making at its best.

2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004, Michel Gondry)
An emotional epic. An odyssey of the mind and soul that’s full of poignancy, heartache, and jubilation. Gondry redefines visual storytelling without losing sight of the humanity at its core.

1. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001, Wes Anderson)
Anderson’s greatest achievement.  At once hilarious and tragic, “Tenenbaums” explores the dysfunction and artificiality in us all through the unique vision of a unique auteur.  It is Orson Welles’ “The Magnificent Ambersons” completed, but better.  Not to mention it features Gene Hackman’s greatest performance.