my favorite films of the decade (part one)

i made this list for elsewhere and it'd be silly not to validate my time ever-so-slightly by reposting it here. the first four posts will be my eleventh through fiftieth favorite films (ten in each post) alphabetically, the last will be my top ten, also alphabetically. if you have a sure single favorite film of the decade, that sucks for you, you did not see enough movies.

Adaptation through Dirty Pretty Things, YouTube clipped all to death, after the jump.

christopher nolan's THE DARK KNIGHT (2008)

more than enough has been said about The Dark Knight's across-the-board successes and more specifically Heath Ledger's game-changing performance, but what stood out to me just as much (especially on a second viewing) is how genuinely accomplished the Nolan/Nolan/Goyer script is, and i hope they're not hidden in Ledger's shadow come awards season. costumes aside, The Dark Knight is as much a crime novel as a summer blockbuster, and walks a fine line between density and accessibility; what's more, though, the script is completely saturated with its challenging themes, and for every moment where it spreads its complex good vs evil, order vs chaos ideas on a little thick there are three or four where they've been woven almost imperceptibly into the narrative. my immediate reaction to The Dark Knight was that "the Godfather II of comic book films" is a pretty fair comparison, and the more i think on it the fairer it gets. i'm reaching back to write this all the way from September (a busy late summer put me a bit behind) but this is still the best "movie" AND the best film i've seen in 2008.