How is Oldboy > Lost in Translation when LiT wins both acclaim and popularity? Other than that this is fine with me.

Agreed. Good list.

Why Elephant + American Splendor + Good Bye, Lenin! > Love Actually + The Fog of War?

Since paul accused Tim and me of over-emphasizing on critical acclaim, I expected to see Love Actually on his list. It grossed almost 250 million dollars at the worldwide box office, is quite possibly the most popular and beloved Christmas movie of the 21st century, was parodied and copied countless times and inspired a lot of similar movies, and even has decent critical acclaim.

The Fog of War is, together with The Thin Blue Line, Morris' most acclaimed and important movie. It finally got him an Oscar for Best Documentary, and since Morris is one of the most important and influential documentary filmmakers of all time, I think at least these two should end up in the Top 20 of their respective years.

Yes, but It's not like Oldboy is lacking in these at all. It's the most notable Korean movie internationally, at least till Parasite came along but even that is arguable. It undeniably increased Korean cinema's visibility in the West while I am not aware of specific LiT influence.

OK, that's true. Keep them in that order.

I guess this is mainly a question of how we measure acclaim against popularity. If there's no objective way to handle this problem (and I don't see any), I like to go for a well-balanced list. I don't have any problem with adding "The Fog of War" and "Love Actually" at the expense of "Good Bye, Lenin" and "The Last Samurai" for instance.

I don't want the lists to over-emphasize critical acclaim, nor to over-emphasize popularity. My comment was mainly aimed at your inclusion of "Moolaadé", a movie that made your lists solely because of critical acclaim while you excluded "Spider-Man 2" at the same time, a movie with huge popularity and notable acclaim. Imo "Love Actually" and "The Fog of War" are worthy inclusions. "Moolaadé" wasn't, whereas "Spider-Man 2" was a mandatory inclusion imo, so your lists seemed to blow the balance between acclaim and popularity out of proportion.

I don't think we should drop Last Samurai, though. Ridiculously popular, considering its #6 spot on the worldwide box office list: a notable feat for a historical drama (yes, it featured a number of action sequences and starred Tom Cruise, but still). Also, it featured arguably one of Cruise's best performances of his career and the movie has reasonable acclaim, with four Oscar noms and three Golden Globe noms under its belt. I think Good Bye, Lenin! and American Splendor are the ones to drop here.

The Last Samurai is kinda controversial pick though, and it's not like it's so historically significant we have to include it, i.e. The Birth of a Nation. Pretty poor RT and metacritic numbers as well. I vote for dropping it.

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Peter Jackson
2. Finding Nemo - Andrew Stanton & Lee Unkrich
3. Oldboy - Park Chan-wook
4. Lost in Translation - Sofia Coppola
5. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl - Gore Verbinski
6. Kill Bill: Volume 1 - Quentin Tarantino
7. Dogville - Lars von Trier
8. Mystic River - Clint Eastwood
9. Memories of Murder - Bong Joon-ho
10. The Triplets of Belleville - Sylvain Chomet

11. The Return - Andrey Zvyagintsev
12. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World - Peter Weir
13. Big Fish - Tim Burton
14. Elephant - Gus Van Sant
15. 21 Grams - Alejandro González Iñárritu
16. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring - Kim Ki-duk
17. The Barbarian Invasions - Denys Arcand
18. Love Actually - Richard Curtis
19. Good Bye, Lenin! - Wolfgang Becker
20. The Fog of War - Errol Morris

I would have rather kept American Splendor than Good Bye, Lenin! but I'm ok with this.

Put the last list but with American Splendor on it on the first page. To the 2002 then.

Spirited Away for #1.

Spirited Away gonna be on 2001 list. It v Mulholland Dr. v Fellowship will be a fun decision to make.

TSPDT

1. City of God - Fernando Meirelles & Kátia Lund
2. Russian Ark - Alexander Sokurov
3. Talk to Her - Pedro Almodóvar
4. Punch-Drunk Love - Paul Thomas Anderson
5. Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks - Wang Bing
6. Far from Heaven - Todd Haynes
7. Blissfully Yours - Apichatpong Weerasethakul
8. The Son - Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
9. Distant - Nuri Bilge Ceylan
10. Adaptation. - Spike Jonze
11. Irréversible - Gaspar Noé
12. The Pianist - Roman Polanski
13. Ten - Abbas Kiarostami
14. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - Peter Jackson
15. Hero - Zhang Yimou
16. The Man Without a Past - Aki Kaurismäki
17. To Be and to Have - Nicolas Philibert
18. Bowling for Columbine - Michael Moore
19. About Schmidt - Alexander Payne
20. 25th Hour - Spike Lee
21. Gerry - Gus Van Sant
22. Oasis - Lee Chang-Dong
23. Morvern Callar - Lynne Ramsay
24. The Hours - Stephen Daldry
25. Minority Report - Steven Spielberg
26. Infernal Affairs - Andrew Lau & Alan Mak
27. Gangs of New York - Martin Scorsese
28. Unknown Pleasures - Jia Zhangke
29. 24 Hour Party People - Michael Winterbottom
30. 28 Days Later - Danny Boyle
31. Femme Fatale - Brian De Palma
32. Spider - David Cronenberg
33. Bus 174 - José Padilha & Felipe Lacerda
34. Spellbound - Jeffrey Blitz
35. Waiting for Happiness - Abderrahmane Sissako
36. Divine Intervention - Elia Suleiman
37. Solaris - Steven Soderbergh
38. Whale Rider - Niki Caro
39. Lilya 4-Ever - Lukas Moodysson
40. In America - Jim Sheridan
41. Rabbit-Proof Fence - Phillip Noyce
42. Demonlover - Olivier Assayas
43. Chicago - Rob Marshall
44. Sweet Sixteen - Ken Loach
45. Dirty Pretty Things - Stephen Frears
46. Bloody Sunday - Paul Greengrass
47. Vendredi soir - Claire Denis
48. In This World - Michael Winterbottom
49. My Mother's Smile - Marco Bellocchio
50. About a Boy - Chris & Paul Weitz
51. Bend It Like Beckham - Gurinder Chadha
52. The Kid Stays in the Picture - Nanette Burstein & Brett Morgen
53. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance - Park Chan-Wook
54. The Century of the Self - Adam Curtis
55. Catch Me if You Can - Steven Spielberg
56. Spider-Man - Sam Raimi
57. The Quiet American - Phillip Noyce
58. All or Nothing - Mike Leigh
59. Road to Perdition - Sam Mendes
60. Mondays in the Sun - Fernando Léon de Aranoa
61. Springtime in a Small Town - Tian Zhuangzhuang
62. The Ring - Gore Verbinski
63. Corpus Callosum - Michael Snow
64. Signs - M. Night Shyamalan
65. The Magdalene Sisters - Peter Mullan
66. Raising Victor Vargas - Peter Sollett
67. Stevie - Steve James
68. Japón - Carlos Reygadas
69. Funny Ha Ha - Andrew Bujalski
70. Secretary - Steven Shainberg
71. Decasia - Bill Morrison
72. 8 Mile - Curtis Hanson
73. Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary - Guy Maddin
74. Jackass: The Movie - Jeff Tremaine
75. On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate - Hong Sang-Soo
76. The Man on the Train - Patrice Leconte
77. Ararat - Atom Egoyan
78. Lilo & Stitch - Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders
79. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress - Dai Sijie
80. Back Against the Wall - James Fotopoulos
81. Gambling, Gods and LSD - Peter Mettler
82. Blue Gate Crossing - Yee Chih-Yen
83. Dolls - Takeshi Kitano
84. Igby Goes Down - Burr Steers
85. Sex Is Comedy - Catherine Breillat
86. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind - George Clooney
87. Standing in the Shadows of Motown - Paul Justman
88. Blade II - Guillermo del Toro
89. Sunshine State - John Sayles
90. Auto Focus - Paul Schrader
91. Devdas - Sanjay Leela Bhansali
92. Unfaithful - Adrian Lyne
93. The Bourne Identity - Doug Liman
94. The Good Girl - Miguel Arteta
95. Chihwaseon - Im Kwon-Taek

Films101

1. City of God - Fernando Meirelles & Kátia Lund
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - Peter Jackson
3. The Pianist - Roman Polanski
4. Talk to Her - Pedro Almodóvar
5. Far from Heaven - Todd Haynes
6. Adaptation. - Spike Jonze
7. Gangs of New York - Martin Scorsese
8. The Hours - Stephen Daldry
9. Ten - Abbas Kiarostami
10. Chicago - Rob Marshall
11. About Schmidt - Alexander Payne
12. Hero - Zhang Yimou
13. Russian Ark - Alexander Sokurov
14. Rabbit-Proof Fence - Phillip Noyce
15. The Man Without a Past - Aki Kaurismäki
16. Infernal Affairs - Andrew Lau & Alan Mak
17. Devdas - Sanjay Leela Bhansali
18. Irréversible - Gaspar Noé
19. Road to Perdition - Sam Mendes
20. The Quiet American - Phillip Noyce
21. Bowling for Columbine - Michael Moore
22. The Magdalene Sisters - Peter Mullan
23. Minority Report - Steven Spielberg
24. The Son - Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
25. Whale Rider - Niki Caro
26. In America - Jim Sheridan
27. 25th Hour - Spike Lee
28. Distant - Nuri Bilge Ceylan
29. Morvern Callar - Lynne Ramsay
30. Sunshine State - John Sayles
31. 24 Hour Party People - Michael Winterbottom
32. Spider-Man - Sam Raimi
33. The Man on the Train - Patrice Leconte
34. To Be and to Have - Nicolas Philibert
35. Insomnia - Christopher Nolan
36. Spellbound - Jeffrey Blitz
37. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones - George Lucas
38. Spider - David Cronenberg
39. Bend It Like Beckham - Gurinder Chadha
40. Dirty Pretty Things - Stephen Frears
41. Bloody Sunday - Paul Greengrass
42. Punch-Drunk Love - Paul Thomas Anderson
43. Frida - Julie Taymor
44. One Hour Photo - Mark Romanek
45. The Good Girl - Miguel Arteta
46. The Bourne Identity - Paul Greengrass
47. Nicholas Nickleby - Douglas McGrath
48. The Crime of Padre Amaro - Carlos Carrera
49. Cavale - Lucas Belvaux
49. Un couple épatant - Lucas Belvaux
49. Après la vie - Lucas Belvaux

RYM

1. City of God - Fernando Meirelles & Kátia Lund
2. Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks - Wang Bing
3. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - Peter Jackson
4. The Pianist - Roman Polanski
5. Day of the Wacko - Marek Koterski
6. Adaptation. - Spike Jonze
7. Punch-Drunk Love - Paul Thomas Anderson
8. Talk to Her - Pedro Almodóvar
9. The Son - Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
10. Oasis - Lee Chang-Dong
11. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance - Park Chan-Wook
12. Blissfully Yours - Apichatpong Weerasethakul
13. The Twilight Samurai - Yôji Yamada
14. The Man Without a Past - Aki Kaurismäki
15. Lilya 4-Ever - Lukas Moodysson
16. Decasia - Bill Morrison
17. Dolls - Takeshi Kitano
18. At the First Breath of Wind - Franco Piavoli
19. Infernal Affairs - Andrew Lau & Alan Mak
20. Bloody Sunday - Paul Greengrass
21. Edifício Master - Eduardo Coutinho
22. 25th Hour - Spike Lee
23. 28 Days Later - Danny Boyle
24. Russian Ark - Alexander Sokurov
25. Distant - Nuri Bilge Ceylan
26. Far from Heaven - Todd Haynes
27. Catch Me if You Can - Steven Spielberg
28. An Evening with Kevin Smith - J. M. Kenny
29. All or Nothing - Mike Leigh
30. Stevie - Steve James
31. Hero - Zhang Yimou
32. On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate - Hong Sang-Soo
33. 24 Hour Party People - Michael Winterbottom
34. Bus 174 - José Padilha & Felipe Lacerda
35. Ten - Abbas Kiarostami
36. To Be and to Have - Nicolas Philibert
37. Irréversible - Gaspar Noé
38. Sweet Sixteen - Ken Loach
39. A Snake of June - Shinya Tsukamoto
40. The Weather Underground - Sam Green & Bill Siegel
41. The Magdalene Sisters - Peter Mullan
42. I Am Trying to Break Your Heart - Sam Jones
43. My Mother's Smile - Marco Bellocchio
44. Is It College Yet? - Karen Disher
45. The Bourne Identity - Doug Liman
46. Road to Perdition - Sam Mendes
47. Year of the Devil - Petr Zelenka
48. Unknown Pleasures - Jia Zhangke
49. Rabbits - David Lynch
50. Samurai Jack: The Premiere Movie - Genndy Tartakovsky

Worldwide box office

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - Peter Jackson
2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Chris Columbus
3. Spider-Man - Sam Raimi
4. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones - George Lucas
5. Men in Black II - Barry Sonnenfeld
6. Die Another Day - Lee Tamahori
7. Signs - M. Night Shyamalan
8. Ice Age - Chris Wedge & Carlos Saldanha
9. My Big Fat Greek Wedding - Joel Zwick
10. Minority Report - Steven Spielberg
11. Catch Me if You Can - Steven Spielberg
12. Chicago - Rob Marshall
13. Austin Powers in Goldmember - Jay Roach
14. xXx - Rob Cohen
15. Scooby-Doo - Raja Gosnell
16. Lilo & Stitch - Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders
17. The Ring - Gore Verbinski
18. 8 Mile - Curtis Hanson
19. The Bourne Identity - Doug Liman
20. Red Dragon - Brett Ratner
21. Two Weeks Notice - Marc Lawrence
22. Panic Room - David Fincher
23. The Sum of All Fears - Phil Alden Robinson
24. Gangs of New York - Martin Scorsese
25. Road to Perdition - Sam Mendes
26. Sweet Home Alabama - Andy Tennant
27. Hero - Zhang Yimou
28. The Santa Clause 2 - Michael Lembeck
29. Mr. Deeds - Steven Brill
30. Stuart Little 2 - Rob Minkoff
31. The Scorpion King - Chuck Russell
32. Maid in Manhattan - Wayne Wang
33. Blade II - Guillermo del Toro
34. About a Boy - Chris & Paul Weitz
35. Space Station 3D - Toni Myers
36. The Time Machine - Simon Wells
37. Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron - Kelly Asbury & Lorna Cook
38. The Pianist - Roman Polanski
39. Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams - Robert Rodriguez
40. Unfaithful - Adrian Lyne
41. Snow Dogs - Brian Levant
42. We Were Soldiers - Randall Wallace
43. Insomnia - Christopher Nolan
44. Return to Never Land - Robin Budd & Donovan Cook
45. Treasure Planet - John Clements & Ron Musker
46. The Hours - Stephen Daldry
47. About Schmidt - Alexander Payne
48. The Tuxedo - Kevin Donovan
49. Resident Evil - Paul W. S. Anderson
50. John Q. - Nick Cassavetes

IMDb (Number of ratings)

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - Peter Jackson
2. Catch Me if You Can - Steven Spielberg
3. The Pianist - Roman Polanski
4. City of God - Fernando Meirelles & Kátia Lund
5. Spider-Man - Sam Raimi
6. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones - George Lucas
7. Harry Potter and the Chamber of the Secrets - Chris Columbus
8. The Bourne Identity - Doug Liman
9. Minority Report - Steven Spielberg
10. Ice Age - Chris Wedge & Carlos Saldanha
11. Gangs of New York - Martin Scorsese
12. 28 Days Later - Danny Boyle
13. Men in Black II - Barry Sonnenfeld
14. Signs - M. Night Shyamalan
15. The Ring - Gore Verbinski
16. Equilibrium - Kurt Wimmer
17. The Transporter - Louis Leterrier & Corey Yuen
18. Insomnia - Christopher Nolan
19. Panic Room - David Fincher
20. Phone Booth - Joel Schumacher
21. Red Dragon - Brett Ratner
22. Resident Evil - Paul W. S. Anderson
23. 8 Mile - Curtis Hanson
24. Road to Perdition - Sam Mendes
25. Chicago - Rob Marshall
26. Die Another Day - Lee Tamahori
27. A Walk to Remember - Adam Shankman
28. Blade II - Guillermo del Toro
29. Austin Powers in Goldmember - Jay Roach
30. Hero - Zhang Yimou
31. xXx - Rob Cohen
32. Adaptation. - Spike Jonze
33. About a Boy - Chris & Paul Weitz
34. 25th Hour - Spike Lee
35. Lilo & Stitch - Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders
36. Punch-Drunk Love - Paul Thomas Anderson
37. Mr. Deeds - Steven Brill
38. The Scorpion King - Chuck Russell
39. We Were Soldiers - Randall Wallace
40. The Count of Monte Cristo - Kevin Reynolds
41. Reign of Fire - Rob Bowman
42. The Hours - Stephen Daldry
43. About Schmidt - Alexander Payne
44. John Q. - Nick Cassavetes
45. My Big Fat Greek Wedding - Joel Zwick
46. The Time Machine - Simon Wells
47. Infernal Affairs - Andrew Lau & Alan Mak
48. Irréversible - Gaspar Noé
49. One Hour Photo - Mark Romanek
50. Bend It Like Beckham - Gurinder Chadha

Academy Awards

Chicago - Rob Marshall
Gangs of New York - Martin Scorsese
The Hours - Stephen Daldry
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - Peter Jackson
The Pianist - Roman Polanski

Animated

Ice Age - Chris Wedge & Carlos Saldanha
Lilo & Stitch - Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron - Kelly Asbury & Lorna Cook
Treasure Planet - Ron Clements & John Musker

Foreign

The Crime of Padre Amaro - Carlos Carrera
Hero - Zhang Yimou
The Man Without a Past - Aki Kaurismäki
The Twilight Samurai - Yôji Yamada
Twin Sisters - Ben Sombogaart

Golden Globes

Drama

The Hours - Stephen Daldry
About Schmidt - Alexander Payne
Gangs of New York - Martin Scorsese
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - Peter Jackson
The Pianist - Roman Polanski

Musical or Comedy

Chicago - Rob Marshall
About a Boy - Chris & Paul Weitz
Adaptation. - Spike Jonze
Bend It Like Beckham - Gurinder Chadha
My Big Fat Greek Wedding - Joel Zwick
Nicholas Nickleby - Douglas McGrath

Foreign

Talk to Her - Pedro Almodóvar
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress - Dai Sijie
City of God - Fernando Meirelles & Kátia Lund
The Crime of Padre Amaro - Carlos Carrera
Hero - Zhang Yimou

BAFTA Awards

The Pianist - Roman Polanski
Chicago - Rob Marshall
Gangs of New York - Martin Scorsese
The Hours - Stephen Daldry
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - Peter Jackson

British

Bend It Like Beckham - Gurinder Chadha
Dirty Pretty Things - Stephen Frears
The Hours - Stephen Daldry
In This World - Michael Winterbottom
The Magdalene Sisters - Peter Mullan

Foreign

In This World - Michael Winterbottom
Talk to Her - Pedro Almodóvar
City of God - Fernando Meirelles & Kátia Lund
Devdas - Sanjay Leela Bhansali
To Be and to Have - Nicolas Philibert

Cannes

The Pianist - Roman Polanski

Venice

The Magdalene Sisters - Peter Mullan

Berlin

Bloody Sunday - Paul Greengrass
In This World - Michael Winterbottom

Locarno

The Longing - Iain Dilthey

2002
1. City of God - Fernando Meirelles & Kátia Lund
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - Peter Jackson
3. The Pianist - Roman Polanski
4. Talk to Her - Pedro Almodóvar
5. Far from Heaven - Todd Haynes
6. 28 Days Later - Danny Boyle
7. Russian Ark - Alexander Sokurov
8. Adaptation. - Spike Jonze
9. Punch-Drunk Love - Paul Thomas Anderson
10. Bowling for Columbine - Michael Moore

11. Hero - Zhang Yimou
12. Spider-Man - Sam Raimi
13. Blissfully Yours - Apichatpong Weerasethakul
14. Chicago - Rob Marshall
15. 25th Hour - Spike Lee
16. The Son - Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
17. The Man Without a Past - Aki Kaurismäki
18. Gangs of New York - Martin Scorsese
19. Catch Me if You Can - Steven Spielberg
20. Infernal Affairs - Andrew Lau & Alan Mak