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Best Films Of The Decade (2001-2010)

I think we can safely suggest that this decade has been incredible for films. Think about how far in these past ten years filmmaking has been pushed forward to reach the pinnacle of technical perfection. The further we get away from it, the more I think this will be known as the technical transformation of film. We've seen digital film burst forward due to the dawn of the internet and cheapness of materials to both amateur and professional filmmakers. From Danny Boyle & David Lynch's embracing of the DV format to the superb quality of the RED, mastered by the likes of David Fincher. The rise in 3D came in the latter half of the decade and the push towards photo realism in visual effects has become huge. Look for example at the rise in performance capture from Gollum to the Na'vi, from The Polar Express to Avatar, the leaps filmmakers have taken have been extraordinary. Also we should take a look at some of the influential characters from overseas. Mexican cinema was well and truly here by the middle of the decade with Alfonso Cuaron, Guillermo del Toro and Alejandro Gonzales Innaritu bringing over a new exciting cinema style to a western audience and seguing that sensibility into more mainstream work. We have the return of Eastern European austerity in the form of Michael Haneke, who has put arthouse audiences through the pain of watching films which are the true definition of uncomfortable viewing.

3. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001/2002/2003, Peter Jackson)

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Peter Jackson’s modern epic raised the bar for fantasy filmmaking this decade with his trilogy adapted from JRR Tolkien’s widely praised novels. It’s certainly up there with the David Lean epics like Lawrence of Arabia in terms of scope and overall power on screen. The series of films took full potential of the cinematic medium and created a viewing experience par excellence in the cinema.

I am one of a very few who prefer the films to the novels, for the simple reason that Tolkien is a fairly dull writer. Jackson on the other hand manages to take that vast plot and provide a better structure and leaner story that makes sense for the cinema.

It’s a profoundly good adaptation of the material. Jackson changed the face of filmmaking by developing the motion capture technique as well as the world of visual effects at WETA, outgrowing the work done by ILM or Digital Domain.

The Lord of the Rings is a beautiful film that shines on the cinema screen and changed the face of modern filmmaking in ways Avatar wished it had done.

2. The Social Network (2010, David Fincher)

My top two films are ‘zeitgeisty’ films. They are films very much of their time, commenting fiercely on a modern society and tearing it to pieces with a harsh critical eye.

Fincher’s film is a very perceptive insight into the dark, lonely world of social networking and how the creation of Facebook was born out of jealousy and nothing but rotten intentions.

Filling itself with a cast of wholly repulsive characters, neither Sorkin nor Fincher care that their audience will find no point of emotional identification with these people. They expect us to be following the fascinating story of this rise to power from nothing, and to be as excited as possible in watching a film about a bunch of people arguing in rooms and occasionally writing code.

What is most surprising about that is they manage to pull it off. And the reason Fincher deserves to raise that golden gentleman above his head is down to his technical, directorial skill in making that cinematic and making it look effortless. It’s pure genius.

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