English Language Films

Foreign Language Films

The Lord of the Rings (Jackson)
[The Fellowship of the Ring (01); The Two Towers (02); The Return of the King (03)]
There Will Be Blood (Anderson) 07
A Serious Man (E. and J. Coen) 09
Brokeback Mountain (Lee) 05
Sunshine (Szabo) 00
The Pianist (Polanski) 02
No Country For Old Men (E. and J. Coen) 07
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (Lumet) 07

Pan's Labyrinth (Del Toro) 06
Werckmeister Harmonies (Tarr) 00*
The Lives of Others (von Donnersmarck) 07
City of God (Meirelles) 03
Russian Ark (Sokurov) 03
Saraband (Bergman) 05
The Best of Youth (Giordana) 05
Lust, Caution (Lee) 07
Faithless (Ullmann) 01
Chunhyang (Im Kwon-Taek) 01
Y Tu Mama Tambien (Cuarón) 02
Twilight Samurai ( Yamada) 04
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ...and Spring (Kim Ki-duk) 04
Letters From Iwo Jima (Eastwood) 06
Water (Mehta) 06
Summer Hours (Assayas) 09

Best

Film of the Decade - The Lord of the Rings

Directors - Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings); Guillermo Del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth); Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood); Alexander Sokurov (Russian Ark); Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain; Lust, Caution); Ethan and Joel Coen (A Serious Man; No Country for Old Men); Bela Tarr (Werckmeister Harmonies); Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker).

Original Screenplays - Ethan and Joel Coen (A Serious Man); Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (The Lives of Others); Guillermo Del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth); Sandro Petraglia and Stefano Rulli (The Best of Youth); Ingmar Bergman (Saraband; Faithless); Lars von Trier (Dogville); Istvan Szabo (Sunshine).

Screenplay Adaptations - Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings); Bela Tarr and Laszlo Krasznahorkai (Werckmeister Harmonies); Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana (Brokeback Mountain); Yoji Yamada and Yoshitaka Asama (The Twilight Samurai); Christopher Nolan (Memento).

Cinematography - Andreas Sinanos (The Weeping Meadow); Andrew Lesnie (The Lord of the Rings); Emmanuel Lubezki (Children of Men, The New World); John Mathieson (Gladiator); Tilman Büttner (Russian Ark) .

Film Editing - Lord of the Rings; Pan's Labyrinth; Brokeback Mountain.

Original Music Scores - Howard Shore (The Lord of the Rings); Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard (Gladiator); A.R. Rahman (Lagaan).

Actors - Daniel Day Lewis (There Will Be Blood); Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon); Sean Penn (Milk); Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart); Ed Harris (Pollock); Jack Nicholson (About Schmidt); Ben Kingsley (House of Sand and Fog).

Actresses - Lena Endre (Faithless); Charlize Theron (Monster); Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose); Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake); Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada; Doubt; Julie & Julia); Tang Wei (Lust, Caution); Joan Allen (Yes); Julia Roberts (Erin Brockovich).

*Not viewed by R.B. until 2009.