1. 25th Hour
I knew that I'd have a Spike Lee joint on this list, but I had a hard time deciding whether it would be Inside Man or 25th Hour that claimed the honor. Ultimately I decided on 25th Hour because it has more going for it than Inside Man. Any film that stars Edward Norton needs to be seen, but sadly people didn't seem to get the memo with this one. 25th Hour received good reviews upon release, but was pretty much forgotten until a few critics put it on their top ten movies of the decade lists. Edward Norton does the best performance of his career playing a drug dealer on his final day of freedom before imprisonment. The entire film is somber and heartbreaking, with an ending that completely ruins me. The
scene where Edward Norton goes off on the entire city of New York (Very NSFW) is one of my favorite scenes of any film, ever. How that scene and this film don't get mentioned on a regular basis baffle me. If you haven't seen it, you can buy it off
Amazon,
Walmart, or
Best Buy, or rent it off
Netflix. Just find a way to (legally!!) watch this film. I wish I would have thought of this last time, because this would have been number one. This is one of the best films of the last decade, and I hate more people haven't seen it.