Recently, Paste Magazine posed the question “What are your top 10 favorite movies of the past decade?” At first this questions seems simple. I instantly rattled off the top three (in my opinion, of course) movies that I always think of when I’m asked about my favorite films. But as soon as I got to number 4, 5, 6 I began to realize that it’s harder to narrow it down than I thought! That and having to remember when exactly the movies were released, and thanks to IMDB I didn’t have to strain my memory to hard.

But seriously, how do you even begin to compare movie like Wall-E and Children of Men. Why does The Life Aquatic make the list but City of God gets the boot? All of these films would definitely have a place on my honorable mentions list, but why? All of my favorite movies are great for different reasons. One may have an intense, eerie realism that reminds me of social issues that are easier to forget about or never even know at all than to realize and try to understand. Others are playful and intriguing because they teach me a kind of humor I have never been exposed to before.

After I a while I reminded myself that it’s not the list itself that matters, but the process of putting it together. It could be that not a single person who reads my list actually agrees with my taste, nor does it matter. But Paste Magazine’s query and my eager interest in answering led me down a path of rediscovery. I guess that’s why I love those sort of open-ended questions – they lead me to finding something that gets me excited, whether it be new or old.

Today Paste Magazine posted the results of the poll. Click here to see what people had to say.

My Top 10 Movies of the Decade:

  1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
  2. Amelie
  3. Memento
  4. The Life Aquatic
  5. A Scanner Darkly
  6. Pan’s Labyrinth
  7. The Lord of The Rings Series
  8. Stranger Than Fiction
  9. Children of Men
  10. Thank You For Smoking