Looking back

THE TOP 25 MOVIES

25. Sideways: Paul Giamatti's gut-wrenching performance carried this otherwise breezy tale of mid-life crisis in California wine country. — Thomas Floyd

24. District 9: Neill Blomkamp's allegory for South African apartheid smoothly blended social commentary and science fiction. — T.F.

23. Oldboy: Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung Hui immortalized it but understood the wrong message: Revenge, as beautiful as it may be, is never justified. — Vaman Muppala

22. The 25th Hour: Maybe the first Spike Lee movie without an explicit plot, it channeled post-9/11 New York to perfection, resulting in Lee's final, grim letter to his city. — V.M.

21. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou: It's debatable as to what 2000s quirk-fest is Wes Anderson's best, but Bill Murray's dry deadpan in the leading role of The Life Aquatic showed a great actor in his (second) prime. — Jon Wolper

20. Lost in Translation: Pairing Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson is strange enough and setting them against Tokyo's neon nightscapes is even stranger. Somehow, the disparate parts came together to form a  beautiful little story. — J.W.

19. Juno: Jason Reitman, Diablo Cody and Ellen Page broke through with a witty and heartwarming chronicle of teenage pregnancy, popularized by Cody's idiosyncratic one-liners. — T.F.

18. Almost Famous:  A rock ‘n' roll ode to the formative years of Cameron Crowe and, by extension, anyone who ever lived their life next to a record player. — V.M.

17. WALL-E: When a film can so superbly mock its audience and still captivate and inspire them, you know it's one for the ages. — V.M.

16. Adaptation: Charlie Kaufman spun a heady, satirical yarn about the difficulties of a screenwriter — named Charlie Kaufman — adapting Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief. And Adaptation itself is an adaptation of The Orchid Thief. What? — J.W.

15. Superbad: Jonah Hill and Michael Cera's contrasting personas, along with non-stop laughs, highlighted the Apatow clan's cleverly crafted account of horny teenage anxiety. — T.F.

14. Little Miss Sunshine: Dysfunctional families are not exactly an original topic. The combination of dark comedy and sophistication, however, made this road trip a winner. — Sharad Thaper

13. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: Michel Gondry's surreal yet tender comedy was a thought-provoking film that broke new ground with its innovation. — S.T.

12. The Fountain: The Fountain is the type of movie that may be too ahead of its time to be widely appreciated right now. The cult status will grow, though, and the film could become a classic. — J.W.

11. Children of Men: Clive Owen starred in the bleak tale of a not-too-distant future where humans have lost their reproductive powers. For all its depression, the movie succeeded by leaning on a faint ray of hope. — J.W.

10. The Departed: After years of failing to win an Academy Award, Martin Scorsese finally succeeded with his neo-noir picture of violence and bloodshed. — S.T.

9. Kill Bill: Spaghetti western and Kung Fu action collided in Quentin Tarantino's two-part, genre-splicing saga of love and revenge. But don't underestimate Tarantino's always-brilliant dialogue. — T.F.

8. Requiem for a Dream: Darren Aronofsky's effective and harrowing tale of drug abuse on Coney Island is a forceful must-see that remains very difficult to watch. — J.W.

7. Memento: Before The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan had already established his originality with this non-linear narrative of a man suffering from anterograde amnesia. — S.T.

6. Synecdoche, New York: With his metafiction done on a transcendent scale, Charlie Kaufman finally conjured up the heart to match his talent. — V.M.

5. The Prestige: Featuring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale's engrossing duel, this film took Christopher Nolan's narrative techniques into another mind-bending and tragic plane. — V.M.

4. There Will Be Blood: An astounding synthesis of sound and vision perfectly complemented the biggest and most brilliant exploration of American greed theology this decade. — V.M.

3. The Lord of the Rings: Only time will tell if Peter Jackson's artful meld of groundbreaking spectacle and engaging character will have a lasting cinematic impact, but all signs point to his trilogy doing just that. — T.F.

2. No Country for Old Men: This bloody adaptation of a Cormac McCarthy novel featured an impressive technical display by the Coen Brothers and defining performances from Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones and Javier Bardem. — V.M.

1. The Dark Knight: A smartly stylized and effortlessly paced take on social paranoia, The Dark Knight is Christopher Nolan's masterpiece. And Heath Ledger's haunting, maniacal transformation into the Joker will never be forgotten. — T.F.