So another decade has come and gone. How’s your January going? Mine is swell. Here’s a top 50 list for you to ingest like a toxic spore from a Star Trek episode. But seriously, let’s get serious about this list, ’cause you can’t deny these films are a true testament to the fact that films are still as good as they used to be.

50. Helvetica
This little documentary is a nice inside look into the world of graphic design, a field overlooked time and time again and a critical look at the typeface Helvetica.

49. Wallace and Grommet: Curse of the Wererabbit
Nick Park and co. deliver Wallace and Grommet to the big screen with the steady hand that made us love the original short films.

48. Drag Me To Hell
Sam Raimi goes back to his roots (thankfully!) with this classic example of horror comedy.

47. Kung Fu Panda
Panda is a surprisingly wonderful kung fu flick in a kids movie disguise and infinitely superior to Dreamworks’s green cash cow that starts with an “S”.

46. 28 Days Later
A brilliant “indie-style” modern British zombie flick without the tongue-in-cheek vibe of the classic Romero films and is ultimately scarier too.

45. Sin City
Almost a frame for frame transfer from the award winning graphic novel of the same name by Frank Miller with all the style and cool of the books. This film practically revitalized Mickey Rourke’s career singlehandedly.

44. Cloverfield
The Blair Witch Project technique done right. This film is everything Godzilla should have been, and then some.

43. The Last Samurai
A seldom seen piece of history is unveiled masterfully in this Dances with Wolves style tale in the land of of the rising sun.

42. 300
Super-stylized and super cool; 300 delivers the chops, action and look of a new age of digital cinematography.

41. Sicko
Bowling For Columbine did point out the problems of violence in America and Farenheit 9/11 scrutinized the Bush administration, but the far more important Sicko tells the sad story of America’s health care dilemma; something a lot of other countries don’t seem to have a problem solving. So what’s America’s problem?

40. Snatch
Guy Ritchie’s hilarious crime caper (before he was drowning in Madonna obscurity) is so razor sharp in it’s delivery that you’ll be quoting it for weeks after.

39. The Road to Perdition
I’ll take any excuse to see Paul Newman on screen and Hanks delivers quite possibly his darkest role ever in this 30s mobster film based on the graphic novel of the same name.

38. Bourne Identity
The Bourne Identity re-invented the secret agent film by throwing out all of the chauvinism of the James Bond films and just gets to the nitty-gritty, with brilliant action sequences and sleek intrigue throughout.

39. Casino Royal
Hold up, Jason Bourne…Mr. Bond is back. Obviously taking cues from the Bourne films, Bond is yet again re-invented for the 21st century as more of a “tough guy” than just a suave womanizer. The opening chase sequence jump starts the film and doesn’t let go.

37. American Psycho
The practically unknown Christian Bale’s perfect performance as delusional sociopath Patrick Bateman is so intense you will never look at business cards, Phil Collins, Huey Lewis and the News or cranapple juice the same again!

35. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
The Goblet of Fire solidified a skeptical critic’s heart by introducing the most fascinating villain since Darth Vader: Voldemort.

34. Eastern Promises
Viggo Mortensen continues to do wonders for Cronenberg for a second time in this dark crime drama about the Russian Mafia. The bathroom fight scene is well worth the price of rental.

33. Food, Inc.
This eye-opening documentary about the food industry is a must see for everyone in America. If you didn’t already suspect horrible atrocities from the fast food and food production industries, you certainly will once you’ve seen this.

32. Up
Pixar can’t lose, and Up certainly delivers on everything that they’re known for, especially originality. They even managed to turn an old man into an interesting cartoon character protagonist without sacrificing his realism. Squirrel!

31. Gladiator
Gladiator set the pace for period piece epics for the 21st century by introducing Russel Crowe as the likeable Roman General Maximus turned slave/gladiator.

30. Shaun of the Dead
This is the kind of humor that a generation has been waiting for. Tongue-in-cheek comedy delivered brilliantly from Simon Pegg and Nick Frost through Edgar Wright’s direction. You can’t miss this ode to zombie flicks mixed with romantic comedies.

29. Star Trek
The 21st century has been good to J.J. Abrams and in return, we get some great films outta him. Star Trek seamlessly takes the classic 60s TV series and modernizes it with a perfect cast that doesn’t insult the original show.

28. Minority Report
Sci-fi fans will be thanking Phillip K. Dick once again in Spielberg’s adaptation of the short story in which the police have the power to pre-visualize crimes before they’re committed. Cruise is great in the lead, but Minority Report was the first film that I started paying closer attention to Colin Ferrel.

27. The Incredibles
Take a little James Bond, add a big dash of superheroes and then drizzle family life drama over the top and you have the absolutely wonderful Pixar masterpiece: The Incredibles.

26. Spirited Away
For a lot of people, anime gets a raw deal because of Pokemon, Naruto and many other sub-par Japanese cartoon franchises. Gems like Miyazaki’s Spirited Away show that true cinema can be told through the same medium as DragonballZ.

I hope you enjoyed the first half of my list as much as I enjoyed getting to watch these films. You probably didn’t, but maybe…just maybe it’ll convince you to download one of these rentals on PS3 or get one from Redbox or something. Stay tuned for part 2!