Personal Favourties From the 'Noughties'

Ingloriuos Basterds; Quentin Tarantino (2009). What Tarantino film doesn't fit the bill of the perfect film? Inglorious has to be one of my favourite films of all time. And the acting... Impeccable, especially on the part of Christoph Waltz, who chills to the bone as the masochistic Colonel Hans Landa. Laugh, cry, grimace... do whatever you want, so long as you admire.

Into The Wild; Sean Penn (2007). One of the films that sparked my love for all things cinema, introduced me to Emile Hirsch, and made me want to burn all my money and run away... until the end. It is an imperative part of life that you see this film; if you're anything like me, it will change yours.

The Dark Knight; Christopher Nolan (2008). Epic in every sense of the word. Amazing in every sense of the word. and hats off to Maggie Gyllenhaal for making the only disappointing character in the preluding film, Batman Begins, a central and fascinating role. And, obviously, Heath Ledger wows and terrifies us with his penultimate and best performance, winning a posthumous Oscar, which was certainly not just out of pity.

The Prestige; Christopher Nolan (2006). Another of Nolan's masterpieces, the Prestige is amazingly clever and lots of fun, a good film all round, and it fails to surprise me that he features twice in my line-up...

O Brother Where Art Thou; Joel & Ethan Coen (2000). This could be any one of these incredible sibling's films, but O Brother... just so happens to be a favourite of mine. These two geniuses are figureheads of modern cinema.

Slumdog Millionaire; Danny Boyle (2008). Wiped the board at the awards and for good reason, Boyle's adaptation of the little known novel Q&A is a menagerie of visuals, audio and acting that leave your mouth open in wonder.

La Vie En Rose (Fr: La Mome); Olivier Dahan (2007). You can't go amiss with a good musician's biopic, and singer Edith Piaf's rubble-to-the-Ritz life is explored beautifully in this French wonder, for which Marion Cotillard won a much deserved Oscar.  

Sherlock Holmes; Guy Ritchie (2009). Perhaps because it is so fresh in my memory, but this film was resoundingly excellent, as is the pattern with Ritchie's films, I have loved Snatch, Lock, Stock... and Rock n' Rolla all as much as this. Reviewed below.

Public Enemies; Michael Mann (2009). For me, Johnny Depp never fails to impress; it's a wonder this is his only film I have chosen. Obviously dashingly handsome, mind-blowingly good at acting, in fact possibly one of the best actors in history. I do not exaggerate. Along with Christian Bale and Marion Cotillard, Depp stars in the incredible story of John Dillinger; definitely one to watch, if you haven;t already.