Sunday, November 8, 2009

Other Decade Round-Ups: UK Times Online, Pitchfork

Organizing and ranking the work of the '00s is probably the main focus of a lot of publications right now, and so far I've only stumbled on two of them (one thanks to Adrian Curry). The UK Times Online made their 100 Best Films of the Noughties, as per UK release, with some surprising and frankly unfortunate choices. Any list that includes Paul Haggis' Crash is automatically tossed in the bin for me... even if Michael Haneke's Caché does top the list. Their list is predictably UK-biased, though the only British-helmed films whose placements I can get down with are the two Bourne films. You can read the entire list here, but below you'll find their top 20:

1. Caché, 2005, d. Michael Haneke
2. The Bourne Supremacy, 2004 / The Bourne Ultimatum, 2007, d. Paul Greengrass
3. No Country for Old Men, 2007, d. Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
4. Grizzly Man, 2005, d. Werner Herzog
5. Team America: World Police, 2004, d. Trey Parker
6. Slumdog Millionaire, 2008, d. Danny Boyle
7. The Last King of Scotland, 2006, d. Kevin Macdonald
8. Casino Royale, 2006, d. Martin Campbell
9. The Queen, 2006, d. Stephen Frears
10. Hunger, 2008, d. Steve McQueen
11. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, 2006, d. Larry Charles
12. The Lives of Others [Das Leben der Anderen], 2006, d. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
13. This Is England, 2007, d. Shane Meadows
14. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days [4 luni, 3 săptămâni şi 2 zile], 2007, d. Cristian Mungiu
15. Downfall [Der Untergang], 2004, d. Oliver Hirschbiegel
16. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 2004, d. Michel Gondry
17. Brokeback Mountain, 2005, d. Ang Lee
18. Let the Right One In [Låt den rätte komma in], 2008, d. Tomas Alfredson
19. United 93, 2006, d. Paul Greengrass
20. Donnie Darko, 2001, d. Richard Kelly


Pitchfork really jumped the gun, posting the 200 best albums of the 2000s in October, topping their list with Radiohead's Kid A (snooze). It's a mostly solid list, though I never bought into the hype surrounding bands like Arcade Fire, The White Stripes or Panda Bear (being a big Animal Collective fan, I tried). Usually they're sticklers for the actual first release of an album but included Sigur Rós' Ágætis Byrjun, which came out in '99 in Iceland. You can find #21-50 here, #51-100 here, #101-150 here, #151-200 here. The annotated Top 20 is here, but the list is below:

1. Radiohead - Kid A, 2000
2. Arcade Fire - Funeral, 2004
3. Daft Punk - Discovery, 2001
4. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, 2002
5. Jay-Z - The Blueprint, 2001
6. Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica, 2000
7. The Strokes - Is This It, 2001
8. Sigur Rós - Ágætis Byrjun, 2000/1999
9. Panda Bear - Person Pitch, 2007
10. The Avalanches - Since I Left You, 2000
11. Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele, 2000
12. The White Stripes - White Blood Cells, 2001
13. OutKast - Stankonia, 2000
14. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion, 2009
15. The Knife - Silent Shout, 2006
16. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois, 2005
17. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver, 2007
18. Kanye West - Late Registration, 2005
19. Spoon - Kill the Moonlight, 2002
20. Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights, 2002