For film critics, the end of the year means only one thing: “best of” lists. It’s probably one of my favorite parts about the job, so when Bullz-Eye decided to do a decade-end feature in place of our annual retrospective, I didn’t let that deter me from putting one together anyway. This year’s crop of films was just as uneven as in past years, but while you might have had to dig a little deeper to find some real gems, there’s no denying that 2009 still delivered some truly great movies. Here’s a look at my ten favorite films, along with a few honorable mentions and a list of the year’s worst.

1. "Inglourious Basterds"

Quentin Tarantino’s WWII revenge fantasy is every fan’s dream movie. Not only does it feature the director’s trademark dialogue (and plenty of it), but it also boasts a stellar ensemble cast, award-worthy performances from Christoph Waltz and Michael Fassbender, and some of the most thrilling sequences of the year. The German bar scene may feature QT at his nostalgic best, but the opening chapter is his magnum opus. That “Inglourious Basterds” can run for an additional 120 minutes and still be just as engaging is a testament to the film’s supreme quality.

2. "The Hurt Locker"

This Iraq war thriller is one of the most suspenseful movies I’ve ever seen, piling on the tension so high that you’ll literally spend the entire film on the edge of your seat. Jeremy Renner is a marvel to watch as the bomb squad thrill junkie at the center of the story, but the real star is director Kathryn Bigelow, who takes an otherwise barebones script and transforms it into a series of memorable set pieces that continually upstage the one before it. But best of all, “The Hurt Locker” proves that female directors don’t have to make movies for women to be taken seriously in Hollywood.

3. "Up in the Air"

There’s a pretty good chance that “Up in the Air” would have moved up a spot on my list had I found the time to see it a second time, but as it stands, the Jason Reitman-directed seriocomedy is still one of the year’s best movies. Reitman may not get a lot of credit as a director, but between his funny and timely adaptation of the Walter Kirn novel and keen use of his actors, it’s pretty clear that he has a promising future in the business. George Clooney continues to charm the hell out of moviegoers in a role tailor-made for the veteran actor, while Anna Kendrick steals the show yet again in a performance that deserves to be rewarded come awards time.

4. “Fantastic Mr. Fox”

I’m surely in the minority on this one, but “Fantastic Mr. Fox” is the best animated movie of the year. I love Pixar just as much as the next person, but while “Up” proved to be yet another excellent addition to the studio’s still-flawless portfolio, director Wes Anderson’s adaptation of the popular Roald Dahl children’s story is even better. From the spot-on voice cast and witty script to the incredible sets and wonderful costume design, “Fantastic Mr. Fox” has so many layers that you have to watch it several times just to soak up all of the rich detail that went into making the movie.

5. “(500) Days of Summer”

Hipster indie comedies like “(500) Days of Summer” always look too good to be true, but despite my high expectations, Marc Webb’s directorial debut not only matched my expectations, but actually exceeded them. This fresh take on an old tale is funny, charming and features some of the most memorable sequences of the year (including the much talked about Hall & Oates-driven musical number), but while Webb’s music video background certainly helped in attaining the right look of the movie, it wouldn’t operate on such a high level without its two stars. Both Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel are extremely underrated performers, but it’s their onscreen chemistry that propels this movie into the upper echelon of the romantic comedy genre.

6. “District 9”

The folks over at Universal and Fox are surely banging their heads for dropping the ball with that long-proposed “Halo” film, because director Neill Blomkamp more than proved his ability behind the camera with “District 9,” one of the coolest and most original sci-fi films in the history of the genre. There’s so much to admire about this movie (from the great story to the incredible special effects) that it’s really no surprise Peter Jackson had a hand in making it, but for my money, “District 9” doesn’t work without Sharlto Copley in the lead role. The fact that it was Copley’s first professional acting gig only makes his performance even more impressive, because his star-making role is the heart and soul of this instant classic.

7. “Away We Go”

I was a bit surprised to see “Away We Go” on Entertainment Weekly critic Lisa Schwarzbaum’s worst-of list, because Sam Mendes’ indie rom-com is filled with several great performances and some of the year’s biggest laughs. The film’s charm may have been lost on Schwarzbaum, but I loved every minute. Maya Rudolph is a welcome surprise in her first semi-serious role of her career, while John Krasinski continues to entertain as yet another variation of the Jim Halpert persona.

8. “A Serious Man”

The Coen brothers have been putting out some of their most impressive work during these last few years, and though “No Country for Old Men” will undoubtedly go down as their best film of that era, “A Serious Man” is a pretty close second. A low-key black comedy filmed with a cast of mostly unknowns, the movie modernizes the Book of Job with a surprisingly funny look at one man’s desperate attempt to find the answers to life in religion. This is one of those movies that you really need to see more than once, so before you discount its abrupt ending, you might want to give it another chance.

9. “Zombieland”

Another film that probably won’t end up on many other critics’ lists, “Zombieland” is pure fun from the word “go.” Woody Harrelson has never been funnier than he is here, and between the whip-smart script from Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, stylish directing from Ruben Fleischer, and a cameo-to-end-all-cameos by Bill Murray, and you can understand why Sony was so quick to greenlight a sequel. Better yet, the film was originally conceived as a TV pilot, so Reese and Wernick probably won’t be too hard up for ideas when it comes to topping the original.

10. “Taken”

This is surely going to be the most controversial of all my picks, but the minute I finished watching Pierre Morel’s “Taken,” I wanted to watch it again. It’s a no-nonsense action-thriller that doesn’t waste any time in racing to its kick-ass finale, and though we’ve already seen this movie several times before, Liam Neeson’s commanding performance easily makes it the best of its kind. Think Jason Bourne meets “24” and you’ve got one of the most exciting moviegoing experiences of the year.

“Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince”
“Drag Me to Hell”
“Avatar”
“The Informant!”
“Up”

1. “Paul Blart: Mall Cop”
2. “Year One”
3. “Shorts”
4. “The Pink Panther 2”
5. “The Fourth Kind”
6. “Race to Witch Mountain”
7. “The Uninvited”
8. “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel”
9. “All About Steve”
10. “Old Dogs”

Let's not mince words, because our very lives depend only upon truth: 2009 was not a great year for movies. It was the most profitable, but how much of that was driven by quality versus 3D and IMAX surcharges? And at the risk of sounding like one of those cranky critics who's never satisfied, let me state that I did indeed find several movies that I enjoyed at the theater this year; I'm just not sure how many of them will stand the test of time.

This was very much a disposable entertainment kind of year, where movies were built to serve like a meal (consumed once), rather than a piece of furniture (stays with you for decades). Having said that, there were some damn good meals served up this year. Here are my ten favorites.

10. Zombieland
The single best time I've ever had at the movies. It was at a theater that served beer, and the crowd was eager to have some fun. Needless to say, we did. I still think the death of the actor who turned in a brilliant cameo performance was cheap and illogical, but based on the woooooot! that it received when it happened, I am clearly in the minority.

9. Avatar
It's not great storytelling - we'd actually pony up the dough for someone to punch up James Cameron's dialogue if he'd allow it - but "Avatar" is extraordinary filmmaking. The landscapes of Pandora are so rich and unique that it's easy to forget that none of it is real. To put in perspective just how huge "Avatar" is, the RoboCop-type battle weapon was the big showstopper in "District 9." Here, there are dozens of them, and they're just part of the scenery. People dog Cameron for his admittedly monstrous ego, but for God's sake, look at this movie. Who else could make this? Nobody, that's who. Love him or hate him, James Cameron makes sure every one of his movies gives you something you've never seen before, and holy cow, does he do that here.

8. District 9
That slapping sound you heard is Paul Verhoeven hitting his forehead for not thinking of this first. Neill Blomkamp's aliens-as-Apartheid-victims story is the kind of art-imitates-life metaphor that makes Verhoeven involuntarily drool (and, sometimes, demand that an all-nude shower scene be written in somewhere), and Blomkamp works CGI miracles on a relatively miniscule $30 million budget.

7. Inglourious Basterds
It is such a treat watching Quentin Tarantino grow up. His stories are infinitely simpler, but they're better because of it. "Basterds" is his simplest one yet, and while the movie is mostly dialogue, it's not overly chatty. The scene in the sub-level German bar is worth the price of admission below, but Tarantino goes one better by delivering an over-the-top finale that is revisionist history at its most sublime.

6. Coraline
We love "The Nightmare Before Christmas" as much as the next Goth kid, but "Coraline" is Henry Selick's best stop-motion feature yet, by a country mile. It has all of the spooky/funny elements of "Nightmare," but the story, courtesy of Neil Gaiman, is ten times better. Most importantly, this movie is actually scary, as in 'pay attention to that PG rating before deciding whether to show it to your kids' scary. Unless you want to be awaken by your six-year-old's night terrors for the next nine months, in which case we say go nuts.

5. The Hurt Locker
This has to be the front runner for Best Picture at this point, and it's a most worthy candidate. Kathryn Bigelow's been playing with the big boys for a while now, but even when she had big names (Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze) or big budgets ("Strange Days") behind her, she never had a story as gripping as "The Hurt Locker" at her disposal.

4. Fantastic Mr. Fox
So delightfully odd that it's almost impossible to describe. The animals, while incredibly well spoken, are still animals at heart - stay away from Mr. Fox when he's eating - but Wes Anderson makes sure they're also as human as can be. Bonus points for recruiting Jarvis Cocker to write the movie's campfire song.

3. Up
It took repeat plays with my son to see just how bold and nontraditional this movie was. If the directors at Pixar are parts of the body, Pete Docter is unquestionably the heart, and his tale of a lonely widower and the little boy unfortunate enough to be on his porch when he sails his house for South America tugs the heartstrings like no other movie in Pixar's catalog. When I interviewed Docter earlier this year, I told him that the "Married Life" montage brought me to tears...but not before I called him a bastard for making me cry. (He thought that was hilarious.) I've now seen the movie another five or six times, and damned if I don't cry at that scene every single time. Fuck you, Pete Docter. You're awesome, but fuck you.

2. (500) Days of Summer
The story of a guy who's prone to fugue states, likes sad British pop music and singing karaoke, and spends years in the work force doing a job he has no business doing, and then he falls for the girl that is both the end-all-be-all and bane of his existence? Let's just say that this movie spoke to me. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel are too cute for words as Tom and Summer, and director Marc Webb stages one of the simplest but most brilliant scenes of the year with Tom's expectations of Summer's party playing out side by side with the reality. Also had the best musical number of the year.

1. Up in the Air
Director Jason Reitman taps into into George Clooney's effortless, endless reservoir of cool and uses it to make his protagonist, the terminally single, travel-happy hatchet man Ryan Bingham, a likable guy. Clooney has never been better, and Anna Kendrick (props to EW's Owen Gleiberman for his pitch-perfect description of her character as a 'bottom-line chipmunk') goes toe to toe with Clooney from start to finish. Just when I thought I knew where Reitman would go next, he veers off in a different, much better direction. He's only made three full-length movies, and he's already a better director than his father.

Honorable Mentions
Moon
Anvil: The Story of Anvil
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Star Trek
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

For better or worse, every decade has a couple of unique characteristics that serve as a convenient description for the period as a whole. The '70s had disaster movies and the explosion of auteurs like Scorsese and Coppola. The '80s had Spielberg, John Hughes, and the rise of the cheap slasher film. The '90s were all about the indie explosion (and more disaster movies). What will history remember about the 2000s? If I had to guess, I'd sum it up in four words: Attack of the Fanboys.

Take a quick look at the top ten grossing movies of the decade (using worldwide box office numbers): There are four "Harry Potter" movies, two "Lord of the Rings" movies, two "Pirates of the Carribean" movies, "The Dark Knight," and "Shrek 2." And don't forget the three "Spider-Man" movies, the two "Transformers" movies, the last two "Star Wars" movies, "300," or "Iron Man." Put them all together, and you have one mondo pile o' fanboydom, right there. The first movie on the list to feature an original screenplay is Pixar's "Finding Nemo" at #15, which brings us to the unofficial subtitle for the 2000s: The Decade When Everyone Ran Out of Ideas.

Ah, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. There were some original ideas out there, and on the flip side, some of those fanboy movies made as much money as they did because they were phenomenal pieces of work. As we continue our series of reflections on the decade that was, I submit to you for your snarky dismissal approval, my top ten movies of the 2000s.

10. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
I've still only seen this movie once, but so much of it is still imprinted in my mind. The final fight between Frodo and Gollum. Samwise kicking orc ass while carrying Frodo at the same time. That hellacious battle of Minas Tirith. And then, just when you think that Peter Jackson will let you take a breath, he unleashes another horrific shriek from those damn Fell Beasts. Yes, I admit that when Sam and Frodo had their tearful goodbye at the movie's end, I wanted to scream, "For God's sake, just kiss him already!" But there is a reason this movie won every single Academy Award it was nominated for. It's an extraordinary piece of work.

9. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)
What began as an innocent look at the classic video game circuit slowly morphed into a tale of David vs. Goliath proportions, as unknown Donkey Kong wizard Steve Wiebe encountered a political shitstorm that would give Machiavelli pause. Billy Mitchell is my pick for movie villain of the decade, and worse: he's real.

8. WALL·E (2008)
Only Pixar could turn a story about a lonely robot into the most heartfelt movie Hollywood's made in years. The fact that this didn't win a single Academy Award for its sound work is disgraceful.

7. Hot Fuzz (2007)
There's no other way to say it: this movie makes me giddy. Self-aware without being self-congratulatory, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost deliver a smart and sincere love letter to American action movies while getting their Michael Bay swerve on at the same time. And you'll never hear the words "for the greater good" the same way again.

6. The Prestige (2006)
Not to be confused with "The Illusionist" - which, for my money, was vastly inferior - Christopher Nolan's tale of dueling magicians is an embarrassment of riches, from the characters to the scenery to the dangerous game of 'top this' that Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale perform up until the bitter (and I mean bitter) end.

5. Kill Bill, Vol. II (2004)
"Kill Bill Vol. I" was an orgy of blood, and enjoyable though it was, I'll take the level-headed back half of the story any day of the week, which shows the Bride fighting to give her daughter the childhood she deserves - a normal one. This also contains one of the biggest 'holy shit' moments of the decade when the Bride squares off with Elle Driver

4. Children of Men (2006)
Forever redefining the possibilities of a tracking shot - twice. How this movie failed to find an audience or the love of its peers is positively lost on me.

3. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
If there is a more devastating movie about addiction than this, I haven't seen it. Darren Aronofsky perfects that quirky blend of hyper-editing and sound - I love when he shows the sun before cutting to Ellen Burstyn and friends tanning, and all you hear is the sound of eggs frying - while coaxing four unforgettable performances from his leads. If this doesn't scare the loved one in your life off of drugs, nothing will.

2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
The heart wants what it wants. There is no arguing or reasoning with it, and even if you could erase someone from your memory, odds are you're going to fall for them all over again, so don't bother fighting it. What a perfect backdrop for Michel Gondry to work his bizarro magic.

1. The Dark Knight (2008)
Fanboy wet dream or not, "The Dark Knight" is the superhero movie to end all superhero movies. Whip-smart, ruthless (he killed Rachel Dawes!), and relentless, "Knight" is literally a breathtaking experience. And God help Christopher Nolan when it's time to hash out a follow-up; from here, I'm not sure it's even possible.

With all the different ways that studios can market a movie these days, it’s nice to see that movie posters haven’t completely fallen by the wayside. Sometimes, a single image can make or break my interest in a film, and though trailers speak louder than posters, it certainly helps when you’ve got a kick-ass one to display in movie theaters. As part of our look back at the movies of the 2000s, here are some of my favorite posters from the last decade. You’ll probably notice that a good percentage of them come from the last two years, and while that may be representative of studios having to be more creative than ever, I think it’s more just a result of my constantly evolving taste.

“Antichrist” (2009)

Lars von Trier’s latest film has been stirring up controversy ever since its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. I still haven’t seen it myself (and I’m guessing I’ll probably hate it when I do), but this poster is great nonetheless. It’s both beautiful and ugly in its marriage of eroticism and nature, and the chaotic lettering crudely written across the image gives you a pretty good idea that you're not about to see just any ordinary film.

“Cold Souls” (2009)

Paul Giamatti has a great face, so it only makes this Matryoshka doll concept that much more interesting. When viewed in context of the movie's plot – about a suffering artist (Giamatti playing a fictional version of himself à la “Being John Malkovich”) who stores his soul for safe keeping – it also says everything without really saying anything at all.

“Grace” (2009)

In terms of sheer grotesqueness, the indie horror film, “Grace,” takes the cake for its simplistic blood-in-a-baby-bottle. The fly perched on top is also a nice touch. Still, there’s something quite alluring about the image in that it doesn’t so much make you sick (like the posters for Eli Roth’s “Hostel: Part II”) as it does curious about the movie.

“Moon” (2009)

There’s certainly not a lot going on in the official poster to Duncan Jones’ directorial debut, but it mimics the quiet tone of the film perfectly. That trippy stereoscopic sphere stationed behind Sam Rockwell steals my attention every time, and that’s all you can really ask for from a poster.

“Burn After Reading” (2008)

This is a fun homage to Saul Bass posters like “The Man With the Golden Arm” and “Anatomy of a Murder.” There’s nothing else much to say, but if you’re a fan of the man’s classic title sequences, then chances are you’ll love this nostalgic poster.

“Choke” (2008)

If you’ve read the Chuck Palahniuk book or seen the movie, then you’ll probably understand the comedy behind this poster. Not only is it a literal interpretation of the lead character’s proclivity of choking on food for money, but it’s also a fun play on his addiction to sex. After all, if anything’s going to kill you, it will probably be a woman.

“Hell Ride” (2008)

The movie may not have been as good as the poster suggests (not to mention Quentin Tarantino’s name proudly paraded above the title), but whoever created it did a wonderful job carrying over the grindhouse aesthetics of the film. It might not be a Tarantino picture, but this is what every one of his posters should look like.

“The Strangers” (2008)

For a movie that features very little gore, the poster for Bryan Bertino’s “The Strangers” makes it look brutally violent. Again, the grindhouse look (from the mustard yellow backdrop to the scratches and ring stain) works in favor of the film’s 70s-inspired tone.

“The Wackness” (2008)

This wasn’t the official poster for the film, but it’s more effective than the generic one that was eventually released. Simple in theory, the oversized mix tape is probably one of the more unique posters I’ve seen in a while.

“Good Luck Chuck” (2007)

I know, I know – the movie was complete garbage, but you’d be lying if you didn’t say this poster made you want to see the film. Jessica Alba is quite possibly one of the hottest women in Hollywood and that melting ice cream only helps her case.

“Brick” (2006)

One of my favorite movies of the decade, this variant poster for “Brick” takes an essential scene from the movie and transforms it into a hauntingly beautiful piece of art. For some reason, the color of the bracelet has been changed, but it still works.

“Hard Candy” (2006)

If I was forced to choose, the poster to David Slade’s “Hard Candy” would probably be my absolute favorite. I love the Little Red Riding imagery and the giant bear trap surrounding her. Of course, when you’ve seen the movie, it only makes the concept that much more entertaining.

“Sideways” (2004)

As you’ve probably noticed with many of my selections, I’m a big believer that less is more. The bright green background and cartoony pencil sketch that makes up the poster for “Sideways” might not look like much, but it definitely sticks in your head long after you’ve seen it. It's also a far better book cover for Rex Pickett's novel.

“The Rules of Attraction” (2002)

There’s not much to say about this one. If you’re not laughing, then you don’t have the same sense of humor as me. Bret Easton Ellis would be proud.

A funny thing happened this decade -- the once dying genre of live-action movie musicals seems to have returned to the movie repertoire. As the decade closes, I can think of exactly two major westerns, but I keep remembering musicals that I should consider for this piece (including the mostly well-regarded French musical "Love Songs," which I forgot to see before writing this, je suis désolé).

As a lifelong fan and a nearly lifelong tough critic of musicals, I love most of these films. However, this list is not so much a traditional "best of" and I've included one choice I definitely don't like. (It won't be hard to guess which.) These are musicals that I think contributed to the development of this polarizing and hard to pull off genre. They don't hark back to times gone by or try to recapture a past glory that will never return, but actually take us into the future. That's important now that musicals seem to have a future.

"Dancer in the Dark" (2000)

Earlier this year, the brilliant but often irritating Danish director Lars von Trier shocked hard-to-shock European festival audiences with graphic sexual violence in "Antichrist." Back in 2000, all he needed to divide audiences was some really intense melodrama and an approach to making dark musicals partially borrowed from TV creator Dennis Potter ("Pennies from Heaven," "The Singing Detective").

Featuring a literally once-in-a-lifetime lead performance by singer-songwriter Björk as a young mother ready to sacrifice everything to save her son's failing eyesight, "Dancer in the Dark" is maybe the most emotionally potent story of parental love I've ever seen. As a musical, it's strange and arresting.

Like the Potter television shows and movies and "Chicago," further down the list, the musical numbers take place in the mind of the lead character. In this case, however, it is particularly poignant as our heroine is a fan of musicals who, though she is gradually going blind, is attempting to appear in a community theater production of "The Sound of Music." Below, she musically confesses her situation to a smitten Peter Stormare (yes, the guy from "Fargo"). Lumberjacks or not, "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" sure seems like a long time ago.

Moulin Rouge" (2001)
As the non-musical Pixar films became the dominant template for animation and the musical form lost its last apparent movie bastion, big studios began to experiment with musicals starring humans. Unfortunately for me, the first and still one of the most popular of this decade's high profile film musicals was Baz Luhrmann's beautifully shot, amazingly designed, dull-witted, and over-edited "Moulin Rouge."

Yes, this musical fan is not a fan of the musical that's been credited with resurrecting the genre. Why? A couple of sequences work, but on the whole I expect the funny parts of a movie to make me laugh and, even more important, I like to see the movies I'm seeing. As far as I can tell, Luhrmann simply doesn't have the confidence in this film to allow us time to view the arresting images he's worked so hard to craft, nor does he permit time to actually see the hard work his dancers and actors put in. Editor Jil Bilcock is expected to do all the performing instead.

As for what Luhrmann and his arrangers did with the various classic songs they threw into a musical Cuisinart, the less I say about it the better. At the risk of sounding like a fogey (or a member of an 18th century Austrian court), too many notes. Way, way, way, too many notes. See if you disagree.

"Hedwig and the Angry Inch" (2001)

John Cameron Mitchell pulled off a tremendous coup in adapting his stage hit, "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" into a film that, though something of a cult success, is still vastly under-recognized. The live "Hedwig" was essentially a rock concert combined with a one-person show, so turning it into a relatively conventional dramatic movie meant adding a great deal of new material. Working on a very modest budget and studying his Fosse, he crafted a new kind of music film that blended wondrous David Bowie/T-Rex-style glam rock composed by Stephen Trask, outrageous comedy, and some fairly searing drama with imaginative performance sequences and elements of more traditional musical theater. That same year, Todd Haynes' historical musical, "Velvet Goldmine," explicitly tried the same thing on a much larger, vastly less humorous, scale with a fictionalized story of the glitter rock era. It's actually a terrific movie in many respects, but it didn't have the needed emotional resonance or connect with an audience in the same way as "Hedwig."

Here, Hedwig, the lonely but unflaggingly flamboyant East German not-quite-transsexual victim of a badly botched sex change operation, experiences a wondrous musical rebirth just as the Berlin Wall falls. This, my friends, is one way to shoot a musical number on a budget. It starts a bit downbeat and slow, but it rewards a little patience.

Hedwig & the Angry Inch - Wig in a Box

| MySpace Video

"Chicago" (2002)

After "Moulin Rouge" became a surprise hit on DVD, it was decreed somewhere that most musicals should be over-edited ADHD extravaganzas. Largely because he had a brilliant adaptation by Bill Condon to work with, director Rob Marshall actually could have done a lot worse with "Chicago." It's a movie I like very much, even though it was so over-cut that I wondered if Marshall was trying to hide the fact that, as dancers go, Renee Zellweger and Richard Gere can't really be expected to be Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. Since he shot his next film, the non-musical melodrama, "Memoirs of a Geisha," in almost the same way, I'm still not sure.

Bob Fosse, easily one of my four or five favorite directors, basically invented the highly edited musical comedy sequence with his first film, 1969's "Sweet Charity." However, first and foremost a dancer and choreographer himself, he never lost site of the action even as he jazzed up the presentation in brilliant new ways. In adapting the choreography Fosse created in the seventies for the original stage show of "Chicago," Marshall loses something. Even with a group of first rate dancers, including Catherine Zeta-Jones, he can't hold a shot for more than a second. The miracle is the following signature sequence from the film still works, but I'm convinced it would be even better if only he'd laid off the cine-caffeine a little. ("Cell Block Tango" starts at 2:07.)

"Colma: The Musical" (2006)

Things were pretty slow in the way of half-way decent musicals during the middle of the decade. Christopher Columbus's take on "Rent" was about as uninspired as you would expect and had me wondering why anyone liked the original show. The freakishly candy-colored direction of Joel Schumacher, which we all remember so well from his Batman movies, was combined with Andrew Lloyd Weber's mock-classical dirges to make for a completely unwatchable "Phantom of the Opera" (I know this is true because I was completely unable to make myself watch more than a half hour of it.) Bill Condon's attempt at duplicating Rob Marshall's directing style on "Dreamgirls" was a lot better, but still just okay except for truly first-rate performances by Eddie Murphy and some great singing by Jennifer Hudson. I had an excuse to skip "High School Musical" because it was only a TV movie at the time.

And then, from a San Francisco suburb this lifelong Californian had never heard of, came one of those rare surprises that makes this whole cinephile/film critic thing worthwhile. A collaboration between first-time director Richard Wong and singer-songwriter-actor-screenwriter H.P. Mendoza, "Colma: The Musical" builds on the low-budget inventions of "Hedwig" by adopting the traditional singing-for-no-reason musical to the zero-budget aesthetic.

Brazenly getting around all the traditional problems with film musicals by taking a fresh, eye level approach to musical numbers and simply refusing to apologize for the fact that its characters have a weird habit of singing with an invisible power-pop band, "Colma" was also a musical version of maybe half the zero-budget indies ever filmed. A story of three eighteen year-old friends adjusting to adulthood and fraught relationships with lovers, family, and each other, it tends to drag a bit whenever the music stops. Fortunately, there's lots of very smart pop music by Mendoza, whose style recalls They Might Be Giants and Amy Mann. After a good-but-not-great opening, the film explodes with a true single-take wonder: an eight minute, two-song "oner" that is eight of most fun minutes of any movie of the decade as far as I'm concerned.

Unfortunately, I can't show you even part of that here, or any of Wong and Mendoza's other fine music sequences. However, some unembeddable clips can be found on YouTube. You can also read what I wrote about "Colma: The Musical" a couple of years back here. But first, check out the trailer. It's pretty cool.

"Once" (2007)

Of course, if you find making an old-school break-into-song musical a bit too much, you can always find a story about people who would actually perform music in real life and then simply not cut-away during the songs. You could call it the coward's way out, but if it was good enough for Bob Fosse in "Cabaret," it's good enough for anyone else. And no film in recent years has used this approach more effectively than this gentle semi-romantic drama about a pair of street musicians, both with strong attachments to absent lovers, who meet and find happiness together -- musically, that is. With a dash of "Brief Encounter" and little bit of "The Commitments," "Once" cast quite a spell. Well, on me and a lot of people, but not everyone.

Still, even though the music by stars Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová is often haunting but not entirely my personal cup of ultra-laid-back modern folk, writer-director John Carney's warmly matter of fact approach to the simple pleasure of musical perfomance made this cozy, joyful, and poignant little hang-out movie impossible to forget. Sorry, I couldn't find any decent clips -- or even a trailer I liked -- online. Here, have a photo instead.

"Sweeney Todd" (2007)

The risky but logical choice of having Tim Burton, a past master of non-musical stylization, adapt Stephen Sondheim's dark musical masterpiece, "Sweeney Todd," paid off in into a movie musical that was both unprecedented and old-fashioned, blending classical horror techniques going back to the 1930s with a straightforward approach to the musical drama and an awful lot of blood for a musical. Though I had concerns about casting two actors not especially known for their musical theater abilities in the lead roles, Johnny Depp proved to be a strong enough singer and a great enough actor that it wasn't a problem; Helena Bonham Carter, if no Angela Lansbury, held her own rather and the supporting cast was first-rate. As for Burton, for once his genius with the design elements of the film was matched with some geniuinely great material.

The best part was that Burton had no problem keeping things simple and letting the drama and suspense just play itself out, as in this brilliant duet of would-be murder between Depp and Alan Rickman (a better singer than you'd expect) as the vile Judge Turpin. Here, Sweeney learns that revenge may be a dish best served warm after all.

"Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" (2009)

Purists might scream, I suppose, that since it's primarily been viewed on the Internet, this effort by Joss Whedon and various friends and family members doesn't qualify as a movie. All I can say is that it has screened at the American Cinematheque and it's never been on TV, and I say that makes it a movie, damnit. What, you interject, I already included this in my "TV in the 2000s" entry on Joss Whedon? To that, I can only say, "posh!" and "balderdash!" and "who cares what you think little accuracy person?" Just be grateful I couldn't figure out how to shoehorn the musical "Buffy" episode in here, too -- 'cause I was thinking about it!

Okay, before I get any more carried away over-channeling Joss Whedon's sense of humor, I'll tell you that the real reason I'm including this is because I really do believe that, as much as any film here, the combination of DIY financing and highly professional talent makes "Dr. Horrible" one intriguing pathway to the future of musicals and, because of how it was presented, the future of entertainment in general. Moreover, the Whedon clan understands an awful lot about entertainment and, without resorting to fancy tricks they sell a very silly musical tragicomedy about a lovesick aspiring supervillain (played by musical theater pro and comedy genius Neil Patrick Harris) and fill it with social satire, shticky jokes, and sadness. In others words, if you simply commit you can tell just about any story.

There'll be a sequel to "Dr. Horrible," but perhaps its example is just as important. The future of musicals is wide open and anyone can make one. Sure, not everyone can make a good one, but anyone can try and more people should. It's a brand new day.

Foreign films made a big splash at the turn of the century, with many moviegoers finally realizing that subtitles weren’t so bad after all. Though a language barrier was never the reason the British film scene failed to take off, it really came into its own in the aughts with the introduction of new talent like Guy Ritchie, Edgar Wright, and Danny Boyle. As part of our look back at the movies of the 2000s, here’s a list of the best British imports of the decade. You’ll probably notice some similarities among many of the entries, but that’s just because when it came to delivering great genre films, the U.K. was king.

10. "Son of Rambow"

Movies like “Son of Rambow” don’t get nearly as big of an audience as they deserve, which is a shame, since it’s one of the most wildy inventive family films I’ve seen in a long time. And who better to make a movie that incorporates animated doodles into its character’s imagination than the director-producer duo that created the wacky, stop-motion music video for Blur’s “Coffee and TV”? It’s a match made in heaven, though much of the film’s success is thanks to newcomers Bill Milner and Will Poulter, who give child actors a good name.

9. "Billy Elliot"

Jamie Bell may be all grown up, but “Billy Elliot” remains the best thing he’s done. A classic feel-good movie featuring a great soundtrack, a funny and heartfelt script, and a memorable performance from Julie Walters as the title character’s chain-smoking ballet teacher, “Billy Elliot” was nominated for three Oscars and was eventually adapted for the stage (with music by Elton John, no less) where it went on to win ten Tony Awards. Still, for as much love as the Broadway musical has received during its five-year run, the movie version is still one of the most entertaining British films I've ever had the pleasure to see.

8. “Sexy Beast”

Though it’s best remembered for Ben Kingsley’s riveting turn as Don Logan, a venomous, high-strung gangster who doesn’t take “no” for an answer, “Sexy Beast” is a smart and energetic crime drama that also happens to be pretty damn funny. Of course, most of that humor comes from Kingsley’s expletive-laced performance, and it’s a crime that he wasn’t rewarded with a nice, shiny Oscar. Still, even though the movie is essentially the Ben Kingsley Show, “Sexy Beast” served as a nice introduction to Ray Winstone and Ian McShane, and will likely go down as one of the better crime dramas of the decade.

7. “RocknRolla”

Say what you will about Guy Ritchie, but his movies are an absolute blast to watch, and “RocknRolla” is easily his most mature film to date. Though he still seems to favor style over substance, the movie still succeeds thanks to an amusing story and lively ensemble cast led by Gerard Butler and Tom Wilkinson. Plus, that bizarre dance scene between Butler and Thandie Newton is one of the funniest WTF moments of the decade (not to mention their subsequent sex scene). Ritchie’s films may never receive the credit they deserve (he’ll forever be remembered as a Tarantino wannabe, even though QT himself has been accused of stealing several times over), but “RocknRolla” is what going to the movies is all about.

6. “28 Days Later”

Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire” may have netted the director an Oscar, but it’s his 2002 horror thriller, “28 Days Later,” that proved to be the more influential of the two. Not only did it feature the very first instance of fast-moving zombies, but it completely revitalized the genre to the point that Hollywood became positively obsessed with the brain-chomping monsters. Though Boyle’s modern take on the zombie genre quickly earned its own legion of fans, what made the film so great was that it delivered on the kind of biting social commentary we’ve all come to expect. Plus, without “28 Days Later,” there probably wouldn’t be movies like “Shaun of the Dead” or comic books like Robert Kirkman’s “The Walking Dead.”

5. “Love, Actually”

There aren’t very many romantic comedies that I enjoy enough to own. Christmas movies, on the other hand, I don’t usually like at all. How peculiar, then, that Richard Curtis’ “Love, Actually” has become such a personal favorite of mine, because it’s both a romantic comedy and a Christmas movie. Though it isn’t the first film to use the gimmick of interconnecting storylines, the ensemble cast is so good that it definitely feels like it. After all, where else can you find the likes of Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Laura Linney, Hugh Grant and Keira Knightley sharing the screen? And that's not all. There's there’s also an amusing cameo by Rowan Atkinson, a comically sweet relationship between a couple of porn stand-ins (including "The Office" star Martin Freeman), and Bill Nighy and Gregor Fischer as the funniest couple of all.

4. “Bend It Like Beckham”

This may just be the soccer fan in me, but I went into “Bend It Like Beckham” with pretty high expectations. Thankfully, even though soccer doesn’t play as big of a role as you might expect, the movie managed to win me over with its charming story and lively cast. Parminder Nagra is excellent in the lead role, while both Keira Knightley and Jonathan Rhys Meyers round out the main trio nicely. Though Knightley had yet to blossom into the Oscar caliber actress she’s become today, you can definitely see that star quality in her the minute she arrives on screen. Fizzy, fuzzy and lots of fun, “Bend It Like Beckham” may be little more than a formulaic underdog film, but it’s the kind of guilty pleasure that no one should feel guilty about watching.

3. “Snatch”

Some critics may put down "Snatch" as a polished remake of "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels," but Guy Ritchie’s sophomore effort accents everything its former had to offer. It's slicker, snappier, more confident and better acted. It also features a career-topping performance by Brad Pitt and some of the wackiest characters (from Vinnie Jones’ Bullet Tooth Tony to Rade Serbedzija’s Boris the Blade) to ever appear on film. “Snatch” is the epitome of what Ritchie does best, and though he does inhabit the same filthy underworld as some of Tarantino’s earlier films, what “Snatch” may lack in originality, it makes up for with an intoxicatingly manic energy.

2. “Hot Fuzz”

“Hot Fuzz” was one of the best-reviewed movies of 2007, and yet somehow, most people have probably already forgotten about it. It’s too bad, really, since Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are one of the funniest trios working today. Their second feature isn’t as good as the 2004 cult hit, “Shaun of the Dead,” but it comes pretty damn close thanks to a witty script (co-written by Wright and Pegg) that playfully honors buddy cop flicks like “Point Break” and “Bad Boys 2.” Of course, the film is more setup than payoff, but when the payoff finally arrives in the form of a lengthy “Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid”-style shootout, it’s well worth the wait. The only thing funnier than a gun-toting reverend is watching a mean old lady get kicked in the face. Cheers to the boys of “Hot Fuzz” for finding room for both.

1. “Shaun of the Dead”

Wright’s feature film debut is arguably one of the best movies of the decade, but it’s also one of my favorite movies of all time. It might not look like much on the surface, but “Shaun of the Dead” has something for everyone – comedy, action, horror and even a little romance. The writing is dead on and never misses a comedic beat, like in the deftly funny tributes to “Night of the Living Dead” and “Evil Dead,” or when Bill Nighy shows up unconcerned about his bite mark because he “ran it under a cold tap.” What ultimately makes “Shaun of the Dead” such an instant classic, however, is Simon Pegg, who took an otherwise generic role and turned him into a movie icon.

When it comes to making movies, it may be the actors who rake in the big bucks, but anyone who knows anything about the business will tell you that it’s the director who truly makes the film what it is. With the exception of the annual barrage of award shows, directors are never really given the attention that they deserve, so as part of our ongoing look back at the movies of the 2000s, here is a list of the best directors of the decade. Though I had originally intended to keep the list to just five names, it quickly became obvious that it would be impossible to do, especially when you consider just how many great movies each one delivered over the course of the last ten years.

7. Wes Anderson

Love him or hate him, Wes Anderson knows how to make great movies. Though he’s remembered more for his quirky screenplays than his ability behind the camera, Anderson seems to have a hand in every single detail of his movies, and that’s a telltale sign of someone in love with their craft. He also boasts one of the best stables of actors in town (Bill Murray, Angelica Huston, the Wilson brothers, etc.), and more recently, nabbed such in-demand actors as George Clooney and Meryl Streep to voice a couple of talking foxes in a stop-motion animated film that’s actually better than Pixar’s latest. Add to that one of the best comedies of the decade in “The Royal Tenenbaums,” the cult favorite “The Life Aquatic,” and the criminally underrated “The Darjeeling Limited,” and his place on this list suddenly doesn’t seem so unwarranted.

6. Clint Eastwood

Sometimes working too much can have a counteracting effect, because while Clint Eastwood was able to bang out nine films over the course of the last decade, it’s his hit-and-miss track record that ultimately prevents him from finishing higher on the list. For every “Letters from Iwo Jima,” there’s a “Flags of Our Fathers,” and while films like “Million Dollar Baby,” “Mystic River” and “Gran Torino” are easily some of the best movies of their respective years, “Space Cowboys” and “Changeling” are some of the worst. His latest film, “Invictus,” falls somewhere in between, and that's only because he makes the subject material better than it is. Still, if there’s anything we can learn from a guy like Eastwood, it’s that sometimes less is more.

5. Peter Jackson

Apart from making three of the biggest movies of the decade, Peter Jackson also tackled a remake of one of the most iconic movie monsters of all time and a best-selling novel where the main character spends a majority of the story in heaven. If “The Fellowship of the Ring” hadn’t become a worldwide sensation, though, Jackson’s career could have gone down a very different path. After having been entrusted by New Line Cinema to shoot all three “Lord of the Rings” films back-to-back, Jackson returned the favor by delivering a worldwide sensation that kept the studio in business for a few more years (before merging with Warner Bros.), while making a name for himself as a visual maestro. That led to another pet project, “King Kong,” and eventually to a big screen adaptation of “The Lovely Bones.” Neither one is quite as good as the “LOTR” trilogy, but then again, neither are most movies.

4. Joel and Ethan Coen

The Brothers Coen got off to a great start in 2000 with the musical comedy “O Brother, Where Art Thou?,” only to follow it up with duds like “Intolerable Cruelty” and “The Ladykillers.” Of course, I’ve resisted from even mentioning “The Man Who Wasn’t There” because, although not exactly a failure, it had absolutely no impact on me. They eventually turned things around with the 2007 Oscar winner, “No Country for Old Man,” which was not only one of the best films of their career, but of the decade as well. “Burn After Reading” saw them revisit their quirkier side, while “A Serious Man,” although much different from their other films in that it doesn’t feature a single big-name actor, is the kind of movie that you need to watch more than once to fully appreciate. That could be considered a negative in this day and age, but it’s exactly that disregard for mainstream audiences that makes their work so memorable.

3. Jason Reitman

As the child of a big-time movie director, I’m not sure if it’s easier to succeed in Hollywood or fail, but Jason Reitman has quickly outshined his father’s legacy with three of the best films of the decade. Granted, it’s not a lot to judge by compared to some of the other directors on this list, but Reitman has proven himself more than adept at making movies – especially when he’s the one writing them. His 2005 debut, “Thank You for Smoking,” was a great adaptation of an already funny Christopher Buckley novel, while 2007’s “Juno” continued a trend of getting great performances from every one of his actors. Though he’s yet to be rewarded for his work behind the camera, “Up in the Air” shows an incredible maturity to his filmmaking that might finally net him a golden statue. Even if it doesn’t, though, that doesn’t change the fact that he makes the kind of movies that just about everyone can enjoy.

2. Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino is the kind of director that other filmmakers must secretly hate, because his movies are unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. What’s so great about a Tarantino flick is that he takes a genre that most people might not usually be interested in and revamps them for a mainstream crowd. He also writes some of the most quotable dialogue in the business and has a knack for using actors whose careers have long been dead. David Carradine delivered his greatest performance as the titular character in the two-part revenge film, “Kill Bill,” while Kurt Russell was all sorts of vintage cool in the “Death Proof” portion of “Grindhouse.” Of course, Tarantino’s greatest achievement of this year came with the release of his World War II epic “Inglourious Basterds,” a decidedly more mature feature from the director that proved even Tarantino could grow up when the time came.

1. Christopher Nolan

When your weakest film is the 2002 thriller “Insomnia,” you know you’ve had a great career, and Christopher Nolan’s only gets better with each passing year. Before directing big stars like Al Pacino and Robin Williams, however, Nolan made a name for himself with the mind-bending reverse narrative, “Memento.” Both movies were pretty big achievements for a young filmmaker, but they pale in comparison to what he accomplished with the Batman films. After successfully rebooting the franchise with 2005’s “Batman Begins,” Nolan struck gold again with the 2008 follow-up, “The Dark Knight,” when his highly-debated decision to cast Heath Ledger as the Joker paid off in spades. It’s actually quite surprising that Nolan has yet to receive an Oscar nomination for his work – especially with underrated gems like “The Prestige” to his name – because he’s easily one of the best directors working today.

John Donne once said that death be not proud, but history appears to have misplaced his opinion on whether it can be funny. Fortunately, Hollywood has given us an answer on his behalf: hell, yes. Yes, we're positive that's exactly how the religious poet Donne would feel about it if he had seen the movies we've seen this decade. Even the dogs get in on the action at the movies this year: in "Up," Dug's favorite joke is, "A squirrel says, 'I forgot to store acorns for the winter and now I am dead.' The joke is funny because the squirrel is dead."

One word of caution before proceeding: as you might imagine, there are SPOILERS galore here. Heck, some of these movies haven't even been released on DVD yet. Ready to laugh at man's last, most undignified act? Read on, fellow sickos, and of course give us your suggestions for the list in the comments section.

10. Shaft (2000): Back alley view to a kill

Yes, it seems like an inauspicious way to begin the list, but hey, it was a free screening, and I love Samuel L. Jackson. There is a reason that there was no sequel to John Singleton's blacksploitation remake - what was up with Edgar Wright taking a shit in the middle of a meeting? - but Singleton did set up one fantastic death of a bad guy, and better yet, it's clean enough for network television. John Shaft is being chased by baddies, so he jumps through the window of a New York apartment building onto the fire escape. Bad guy is a few steps behind him, so he peeks his head out of the window to see how much of a lead Shaft has. Ha ha, muthafucka. Shaft is right there outside the window, gun in bad guy's face. Boom, dead.

9. Friday the 13th (2009): Shoot that poison arrow through my heeeeeeead

Easily the best scene in the wholly unnecessary 2009 remake of the legendary (though itself not very good) 1980 slasher movie. Nolan is driving a ski boat, his topless cheesecake girlfriend behind on a wakeboard. From out of nowhere, THWACK! Nolan gets an arrow straight through his head, killing him instantly. This scene is awesome for two reasons: the obvious one is the sheer surprise of it all, the instant death in a movie series built on slow, creeping deaths and boo! noises. The really awesome part about it is that for this to happen, it means that Jason Voorhees, a mentally impaired, hockey mask-wearing lunatic (you can't say that the mask doesn't affect his depth perception), had to shoot an arrow at a fast-moving boat while standing on the shore, from a distance of at least 50 yards. Anyone who's done archery on "Wii Sports Resort" knows that that, friends, is fucking ridonculous.

8. Saw IV (2007): Ice ice, baby

For a series that started out with such promise - before that whole 'torture porn' phrase was bandied about, everyone just thought of "Saw" as a grisly thriller, which it was - the "Saw" movies became self-parody by the third installment, trying to have their cake and eat it too with traps that the victims had absolutely no chance of surviving, then wagging a finger at the misguided Amanda (and by extension, the American public) for setting them up, thinking they could have it both ways. When the fourth one came along, I was understandably jaded, especially after they revealed that Detective Eric Matthews is not only alive but stuck in a noose and slipping on an ice block while two gigantic blocks sit suspended in the rafters on both sides of his melon in the event an electrode is triggered. One of Matthews' friends on the force has been looking for him since he disappeared, and since the police chief is working with Jigsaw, the chief knows just how to manipulate him. He even warns the guy earlier not to go through an unsecured door, and it is that impulsive move later that causes Matthews' awesome, awesome death, where those 100-pound blocks of ice create a brain smoothie that the residents of Zombieland would kill for. Speaking of which...

7. Zombieland (2009): Fatty on the windscreen

One of the most beautifully grotesque pieces of photography I've seen in years. The scene just before this was funny enough, with the little princess zombies going after the suburban hausfrau, but when she takes her eye off the road, hits the back of the flat bed truck, crashes through the windshield and skids 30 feet across the street, well, that's just comedy gold, right there. Those of you who have seen the movie are probably wondering why I included this over the much-ballyhooed cameo death scene by Bill Murray. Well, I'll tell you: because that was as cheap a laugh as there is in "Zombieland." Come on, do you really think Tallahassee and Wichita never thought, "Wait, don't jump Columbus; he's a jumpy little bitch and shoots everything twice"? That scene required a massive lapse of logic on the part of all concerned. Except Columbus, of course; he was totally within his rights to take Zombie Murray out.

6. Final Destination 2 (2003): Keep off the glass

Considered by many to be the best of the franchise (though I'll confess that I prefer the third one, and you'll soon see why), there are some spectacular deaths in "Final Destination 2," but only one had me reaching for the rewind wheel, and that is when young Tim (James Kirk) foolishly chases after some pigeons outside of the hospital, and runs underneath a giant plate of glass, which doesn't just kill him but turns him into vapor. Later, for an added laugh, they show the body bag that carries his "remains" into an ambulance, but it has no form, since there was only blood left behind.

5. Kill Bill Vol. I (2003): Cutthroat business meeting

The next time you're thinking of calling out your new boss' Chinese or American heritage as a symbol of weakness or corruption, make sure your new boss isn't barefoot and carrying a samurai sword. You won't hear her coming, and the last thing you'll see is up her kimono after your severed head lies motionless at her feet. Bad call, Boss Tanaka.

4. Final Destination 3 (2006): Sorry, I really lost my head

I laughed so hard at this one that three women from a couple rows in front of me turned and looked at me like I was a ghoul. Apparently, they didn't know that these movies are supposed to be funny. After the initial crash takes place, smarty pants Wendy tries to warn Lewis the gym rat that Death is after them. Instead, he mocks her, even after he was nearly decapitated by two swords on the wall. (Hands up: anyone been to a gym that has swords on the wall? Didn't think so.) He then does one more rep on his triceps machine, unaware that the free weights behind him are really, really free. On the plus side for him, he literally had no idea what hit him, because whatever brains that would have formed that idea were in pieces on the floor. And Wendy. Mostly Wendy.

3. Law Abiding Citizen (2009): I just called to say...you're dead

It doubled its budget at the box office, but "Law Abiding Citizen" is a pretty silly movie. Man loses wife and daughter in home robbery, man feels wronged by system, Man extracts brutal revenge on everyone, and we mean everyone, he feels is responsible. There is one scene, however, that makes the entire film worth watching, and it is when attorney Nick Rice is in the judge's chambers, and the judge, who is one of the 'everyone' supposedly responsible for this miscarriage of justice, answers her cell phone. "Hello?" BAM! Dead. Man somehow wired her phone to deliver the equivalent to a bullet in the head. The whole thing takes less than a second, and it's one of the funniest less-than-a-seconds of the you will ever see.

2. Spider-Man (2002): Death scene, interrupted

Leave it to Sam Raimi to assemble a vicious, bloody fight to the death between hero and villain, and end it with the funniest scene in the movie. After beating Peter Parker nearly senseless in the tried and true standard that is the abandoned building, Peter comes roaring back with a vengeance until the Green Goblin surrenders and reveals himself to be Norman Osborn, Peter's best friend Harry's father. Norman then attempts to literally and figuratively stab Peter in the back with his hoverboard, but Peter's spider sense tingles just in time for him to backflip out of the way while the hoverboard impales Norman to a brick wall. That alone would make for a pretty cool scene, but it's not enough for Raimi; in a trick straight out of the "Evil Dead" series, he includes a score-free, quick-shot close-up of Norman saying "Oh," and then jumping back into the action of Norman getting killed by his own weapon. He may have made his bones in horror, but that scene is a textbook lesson in comic timing.

1. Star Wars, Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002): The face of death is near, and so, I flail!

She had nearly 25 years of acting experience under her belt when the Sweden-born Pernilla August signed on to play Anakin Skywalker's mother Shmi, and somewhere along the way, you would think that she would have learned how to die on screen. But then again, after 30 years of making movies, you'd think that George Lucas would know a thing or two about directing, so there you go. The "Star Wars" movies were never shining beacons of thespian genius, but Shmi Skywalker-Lars' death is the kind of work that you'd expect from the understudies to the group in "Waiting for Guffman." Shmi's last words aren't even tear-filled confessions or reluctant farewell; they're the acts of someone with Alzheimer's, someone so forgetful that she doesn't realize she's about to die. And for the piece de resistance, the open-mouth head flop. Even Hayden Christensen could do a better death scene than that. And he's a robot, fer crissakes.

Honorable Mentions
The Dark Knight (2008): The disappearing pencil trick
Van Helsing (2004): Werewolf Helsing howls over lover's death
District 9 (2009): The bullet grenade
Ninja Assassin (2009): Just a little off the top...half of your head

There are a lot of variables that go into making a successful movie – actors, writers, directors, producers, and all of the other overlooked crew members – but even if everything is done exactly right, it doesn’t mean anything without a good character. And at the end of the day, that’s what people remember the most when they leave the cineplex. As part of our look back at the movies of the 2000s, I present you with a list of the best characters of the decade. Obviously, some cuts had to be made (notable omissions include The Joker, Batman and Derek Zoolander), so feel free to comment on which of your favorite characters didn’t make the cut.

10. Spider-Man

The web-slinger would probably make a list of best characters in any decade-end review of comic books, but this is the first time he can even be considered for a movie list. Thank Bryan Singer’s “X-Men” for that, because without its success, there’s a good chance we may have never seen Spider-Man jump to the big screen. Sam Raimi definitely deserves credit for adapting the character without all the cheese of the 60s TV series, but it’s Tobey Maguire’s strong performance that really brings the character to life. Although many claim the second film to be the best in the series, we think that all three have their own strengths and weaknesses. Sure, Peter Parker may lose some of his appeal when he goes all emo in “Spider-Man 3,” but seeing Spidey rock the black symbiote suit was just as cool as anything he did in the first two films.

Memorable Quote: “You know who I am. Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.”

9. Jigsaw

Say what you will about the deteriorating quality of the “Saw” films: Jigsaw is right up there with Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers and Freddy Kruger as one of the ultimate horror icons. What makes him so different from the others, though, is that he’s a fairly regular guy (when he dies, he really dies) who isn’t so much a villain as he is someone who goes to radical extremes to get his point across. Though his argument that he doesn’t ever kill anyone could be debated for eternity, Jigsaw is still a pretty badass dude. Not only is he one of the most inventive baddies to ever grace the silver screen, but the fact that he’s doing all of this while dying from cancer is beyond impressive. Tobin Bell may never be remembered for anything other than his work in these films, but his limited appearances are so memorable that we wouldn’t really mind.

Memorable Quote: “I want to play a game.”

8. Wolverine

Though it’s difficult to think of anyone other than Hugh Jackman playing Wolverine, it certainly could have ended up that way. You can go ahead and thank the comic book gods for interfering, because if Dougray Scott hadn’t gotten hurt while shooting “Mission: Impossible 2,” “X-Men” fans might have seen a decidedly different take on their beloved adamantium-laced berserker. And since Wolverine has since become the mascot for those films (even earning a mediocre spin-off of his own) that also would have affected the movie as a whole, which might have stopped the whole comic book movie revolution before it even began. Just think about that the next time you see Jackman in his role as the wise-cracking, cigar-chomping mutant, because without his charismatic, star-making performance, this list would look a lot different.

Memorable Quote: “I'm gonna cut your goddamned head off. See if that works.”

7. Napoleon Dynamite

Undoubtedly the most controversial of my choices, I still stand by it for the simple fact that when “Napoleon Dynamite” fever caught in the summer of 2004, there wasn’t a single person who didn’t know about this curly-haired social reject from Idaho. That alone earns him a spot as one of the greatest characters of the decade, but it’s ultimately Jon Heder’s fantastically awkward performance that makes it official. Heder certainly made the most of his 15 minutes of fame by booking as many gigs as possible, but he never even came close to replicating the success he found as Napoleon Dynamite. Love him or hate him, Napoleon helped lead a geek chic film movement that has continued to grow to this day. Plus, you have to admit: even if you didn’t like the movie, you probably still laughed at Heder in that ridiculous getup.

Memorable Quote: “You know, like nunchuku skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills... Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills.”

6. Capt. Jack Sparrow

They made three “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies for a reason, and while money was certainly a big factor, Disney never would have made a dime if they hadn’t trusted Johnny Depp’s risky portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow. Though you can understand why a studio would be hesitant about their lead actor parading around like a gay pirate doing a Keith Richards impression, it turned out to be the right call. Depp’s hilarious performance as the boozy Capt. Jack not only earned him his very first Oscar nomination, but it convinced Disney execs to completely redesign the classic “Pirates of the Caribbean” theme park attraction around the character. Many people in the industry thought it meant a pirate renaissance was just around the corner, but thankfully, no one followed through. And wisely so, because there’s no way you can top Jack Sparrow.

Memorable Quote: “Me? I'm dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly. It's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly... stupid.”

5. Frodo Baggins

UK movie magazine Empire recently ran a similar feature on the best characters of the decade, and while I agree that Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” deserves to be represented in some form, I was surprised to see Aragorn selected instead of Frodo Baggins. Not only is Frodo the heart of the story, but he’s the reason there’s even a story to begin with. Anyone that accepted the role had to know they would forever be associated with the famous hobbit no matter what they did before or after, but Elijah Wood embraced the situation completely, and in doing so embodied everything that Frodo is supposed to stand for. He may not have any of the great lines or partake in many battle sequences, but Frodo will always be the face of “LOTR.”

Memorable Quote: “I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.”

4. Jason Bourne

You could probably swap Jason Bourne for James Bond with little argument, but while Bond is certainly the more iconic of the two characters, Bourne had a much bigger influence on the decade, including Bond himself. Plus, it’s not like we don’t know what to expect with Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig, but Matt Damon surprised moviegoers everywhere with his performance as Robert Ludlum’s title character. The actor had never even thrown a punch in a movie, much less carried an entire action film, and yet Bourne quickly rose to popularity as this generation’s action hero of choice. That’s not to discount the appeal of 007 (Bourne is neither charming nor has any of the fancy gadgets), but when you’re constantly on the run from trained assassins, there’s really no need for the former. As for the latter? Well, everyday household items seem to work just fine.

Memorable Quote: “Who has a safety deposit box full of money and six passports and a gun? Who has a bank account number in their hip? I come in here, and the first thing I'm doing is I'm catching the sightlines and looking for an exit.”

3. Harry Potter

The Boy Who Lived was already a pop culture icon by the time the first movie was released, but in these past nine years, Harry Potter has become one of the most popular movie characters of all time. One of the reasons the character has continued to thrive is because J.K. Rowling did such a great job of giving the character room to develop throughout the course of all seven novels. That same approach has been taken with the movies as well, and while it certainly helps to have different directors offering their varied interpretations of the character, Harry Potter’s success has always hinged on the performance of the actor playing him. Though director Christopher Columbus could have never known that Daniel Radcliffe would grow into such a promising young actor, it certainly helps that he’s been able to handle the material. The same can be said of Harry’s partners in crime, but although Ron and Hermoine are just as deserving to be on this list, leaving off Harry would be like choosing Han Solo over Luke Skywalker. It might make sense, but it just wouldn’t feel right.

Memorable Quote: “But I am the Chosen One.”

2. The Bride

After a six-year break from the film scene, Quentin Tarantino returned to the director’s chair in 2003 with a character so awesome and shrouded in mystery that she was simply referred to as The Bride. The brainchild of Tarantino and Uma Thurman during their time together making “Pulp Fiction,” The Bride was the kind of empowered female role that Joss Whedon only wishes he would’ve created. No offense to Buffy, but The Bride has better weapons (a Hatori Hanzo sword and a steeled determination) and better outfits (that “Game of Death”-inspired jumpsuit is practically an icon all its own) – not to mention Thurman’s unique blend of physical masculinity and sensual femininity that made her both a menacing threat and an alluring piece of eye candy.

Memorable Quote: “Those of you lucky enough to have your lives, take them with you. However, leave the limbs you've lost. They belong to me now.”

1. Shaun

Edgar Wright’s 2004 film, “Shaun of the Dead,” is a lot like Sam Raimi’s “Evil Dead” trilogy in that the movie doesn’t work without someone they can relate to cheer on. And although Shaun isn’t as big of a dimwit as Ash, he’s also not the brave leader that he tries so hard to become. Simon Pegg’s hilarious performance as the record-throwing, cricket bat-wielding hero might not compare to more mainstream icons like Harry Potter and Spider-Man, but it’s that Everyman quality that makes him so appealing. After all, who would have thought that hiding out at the local pub might actually work? And if he can take on an army of the undead with an unhelpful best friend at his side, then so can just about any slacker.

Memorable Quote: “Would anyone like a peanut?”

It takes a lot to make me laugh out loud at something a person says. Witty is one thing, but genuinely funny is another beast altogether. And when I say laugh out loud, I’m talking about involuntary spasms of laughter, the kind that take a couple of minutes to subside. There is no formula for it, and I have no criteria for what form it takes. I just know it when it see it. Unfortunately, I don't see it often enough. Sometimes they appear in otherwise unfunny movies, at which point I usually get angry, but that’s a subject for another day.

In the first of a long list of decade-oriented blog posts about the movies of the 2000s, here are the lines that made me laugh the hardest at the Googoplex. Be advised, potential SPOILERS abound here, so I don't want to hear that I ruined such and such movie for you. What are your favorite lines? Let's hear 'em in the comment section.

#10: Up - Somebody always loves you
This is more of a laughter-through-tears kind of thing, but it's my list, my rules, so it counts. Pete Docter goes straight for the heart in this movie, almost mercilessly so. The "married life" sequence makes me cry like a little girl every time I watch it, and this scene, where the loyal Dug comes to comfort Carl, is quite possibly the "Awwwwwww" moment of the decade.

#9. Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story - Peter La Fleur learns just how small his problems really are
Next time you think about quitting something, anything, remember this exchange between the defeated gym owner Peter La Fleur (Vince Vaughn) and cyclist Lance Armstrong:

Lance Armstrong: Could I get a bottle of water. (Looks to his left) Hey, aren't you Peter La Fleur?
Peter La Fleur: Lance Armstrong!
Lance Armstrong: Yeah, that's me. But I'm a big fan of yours.
Peter La Fleur: Really?
Lance Armstrong: Yeah, I've been watching the dodgeball tournament on the Ocho. ESPN 8. I just can't get enough of it. But, good luck in the tournament. I'm really pulling for you against those jerks from Globo Gym. I think you better hurry up or you're gonna be late.
Peter La Fleur: Uh, actually I decided to quit... Lance.
Lance Armstrong: Quit? You know, once I was thinking about quitting when I was diagnosed with brain, lung and testicular cancer, all at the same time. But with the love and support of my friends and family, I got back on the bike and I won the Tour de France five times in a row. But I'm sure you have a good reason to quit. So what are you dying from that's keeping you from the finals?
Peter La Fleur: Right now it feels a little bit like... shame.
Lance Armstrong: Well, I guess if a person never quit when the going got tough, they wouldn't have anything to regret for the rest of their life. But good luck to you, Peter. I'm sure this decision won't haunt you forever.

#8. The Simpsons Movie - Albert Brooks loses his mind
Albert Brooks is the fifth Beatle of the "Simpsons" writing staff. The writers love him, and he loves the show. No guest performer has played more characters - the RV salesman, Brad Goodman, Jaques the bowler, the megalomaniacal Hank Scorpio - but his role as the power-mad director of the EPA vaults "The Simpsons Movie" to another level. The scene where he tricks President Arnold Schwarzenegger into doing his evil bidding is the better overall scene, but as single lines go, my favorite is when he's confronted with his thirst for power. As Fat Tony once said, it's funny because it's true.

EPA Officer: Sir, I’m afraid you’ve gone mad with power
Russ Cargill: Well, of course I have. You ever tried going mad without power? It’s boring, no one listens to you.

#7. Zombieland - Woody Harrelson settles a debate the old fashioned way: by threatening an ass kicking
With apologies to when Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) tells Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) that he's "like a giant cock blocking robot, like developed in a secret fucking government lab," my favorite bit is this sly moment where Columbus tells Tallahassee that he's heard there's a place where there are no zombies, at which point Tallahassee assures him that such a place doesn't exist.

Tallahassee: You know, you’re like a penguin on the North Pole hears the South Pole’s really nice this time of year.
Columbus: There are no penguins on the North Pole.
Tallahasee: (pause) You wanna feel how hard I can punch?

#6. Burn After Reading - Tilda Swinton forcefully illustrates that thing she...doesn't do
She won the Oscar for "Michael Clayton" - which, in my mind, was a totally unwarranted example of the Hollywood welfare system at work - but this is bar none my favorite Tilda Swinton performance to date. As Katie Cox, Swinton is the coldest, most humorless succubus of a human being that you'll find. (Even better, she's a pediatrician.) Why George Clooney's character Harry would choose her for an ongoing affair over the other women he beds during the movie is a mystery, but their relationship does produce the movie's funniest moment, when Katie discusses destroying her husband while Harry suggests playing it cool and not hammering him while he's down. "Is that how you see me? Hammering him?" The rest speaks for itself.

#5. Get Smart: Driving range car crash
All hail Alan Arkin. No one else could have made this line as funny as he does.

#4. 1408 - John Cusack speaks a universal truth
Mike Enslin (Cusack), a man who writes about supposedly haunted locations, wants to check into room 1408 at New York's Dolphin Hotel. Hotel manager Gerald Olin (Samuel L. Jackson) tries to talk him out of it during a meeting in his office.

Gerald Olin: You do drink, don’t you?
Mike Enslin: Of course! I just said I was a writer.

Saw this at a critics-only screening. Big, big laughter followed that exchange.

#3. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters – Billy Mitchell equates himself with one of the most hotly contested issues in our nation’s history
Arguably the greatest movie villain the ‘00s had to offer – even more terrifying when you take into account that he’s real – video game wizard and restaurant magnate Billy Mitchell is awesome. Just ask him, and he'll tell you. Hell, you don't even have to ask him. He lays it all out on the table in this one line:

No matter what I say, it draws controversy. It's sort of like the abortion issue.

That's right, people, he compared himself, and his status within the video game community, to Roe vs. Wade. To be that fond of yourself, yet be completely lacking in self-awareness or tact, that is a gift. A gift wrapped in a denim shirt and a feathered mullet. Thank you, God.

#2. Finding Nemo – The seagulls
It’s one of those head-slappers of a commentary. But of course that’s what seagulls are saying when they crow. What else could it be? It’s not as if they’re picky about what they eat or anything. Even better is the line from the pelican Nigel (Geoffrey Rush), where he calls them “rats with wings.” Even the animal kingdom hates seagulls.

#1. Sex Drive – Andy and Randy hitting on the church girl
It made about a buck and change at the box office, but “Sex Drive” is without a doubt my favorite comedy of the decade. I could have made a list of nothing but quotes from this movie alone, but if I have to choose one, it’s unquestionably the scene where Lance (Clark Duke) has his shy friend Ian (Josh Zuckerman) observe the seduction technique of classmates Andy and Randy, in order to convey the message that confidence is a powerful aphrodisiac. That it doesn't work on our little donation-soliciting friend only makes the exchange funnier. Imagine what Andy and Randy will be able to accomplish once they learn how to close.