The Ten Most Influential Movies of the Past Ten Years

Brendon Connelly presents his list over at slashfilm.  Feel free to leave yours in the comments.
 
I've never seen four of the movies on the list (Polar Express, Coraline, Children of Men, and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow) but based on what I've heard of them, I'm inclined to cut them.  In their stead I'd push for: The Blair Witch Project, Fight Club, something from Pixar, and Lord of the Rings.  I'm also sympathetic to including a comic/superhero movie of sorts (the first X-Men movie? Spiderman?) for reviving that genre.
 
Hat tip: Marginal Revolution

Comments

[LarryK]

Generally a good list, but I'm going to cheat too and substitute "There's Something About Mary" (1998) for "The 40 Year Old Virgin", for two reasons. One is that the Apatow juggernaut would have never happened without the Farrelly Bros., especially "Mary." Second, it's the movie that put Ben Stiller on the map. Not only has he been there even since, but his bemused and bewildered acting style has been copied by many others.

I'd love to be able to say that something from the Coen Bros should be on the list, but sadly they don't seem to have influenced that many other filmmakers....

[KTS]

Rushmore is on the list, so it is perfect as far as I'm concerned

[Lestyr]

LarryK, I think the "40 Year Old Virgin" is way more influential, for the simple reason that the Apatow school of comedy has been way more directly influential than that the Farrelly Brothers, and I think that the style will last longer too. The problem with "There's Something About Mary" was that it was a one-off; while it made a lot of money and was a bit of a cultural milestone, there weren't really that many successful films directly in its vein. "The 40-Year Old Virgin" spawned several more films that were critical, commercial, and pop-cultural successes (as well as introduce a whole stable of actors who otherwise wouldn't have made it, not just one :)) and they don't look yet to be out of gas.

Only other comments about this: The Bourne Ultimatum post is spot-on; I'd have put "Sin City" in the Sky Captain place because it was Sin City that proved that this style was also commercially viable; and while I think the writer is trying too hard to get his "animation influence" list in, I would also have placed "Batman Begins" in instead of "Polar Express". Why? Because the films that get everybody buzzing now are reboots of existing franchises (e.g. Batman, Star Trek, Bond), and this was the one that showed it could work on a critical and commercial level.