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IMDB, RottenTomatoes: Movies of the Decade

Published by Jeff Leins on: December 27th, 2009

At the end of the year, and especially the decade, you’re inundated with enough top lists that they themselves should be ranked.  Plenty of other websites and other media outlets have been counting down basically the same best movies, which is partially the reason I spared you the numbered trips down memory lane.  (But before I write myself into a hypocritical corner, I’ll still be doing my traditional top movies of the year list.  Hint: New Moon isn’t on it)

That being said, here are two definitive lists of note that highlight what was critically lauded this decade on RottenTomatoes.com and what the movie fans and voters on IMDB.com felt were the best the aughts had to offer.  Slashfilm compiled the top 20 from RT and they snatched up the top 25 off IMDB for your look at how the decade fared in movies.

There are a few surprises on both lists, especially that only 3 “Best Picture” movies show up on either one and how well Chicken Run did with critics. Here are the two lists:

Internet Movie Database Top 25 of the Decade:
dark-knight-small1. The Dark Knight (2008)    8.8 rating — 410,450 votes
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King(2003)    8.8 rating — 329,852 votes
3. City of God (2002)    8.7 rating — 148,073 votes
4. The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)    8.7 rating — 355,929 votes
5. Avatar (2009)    8.6 rating — 69,101 votes
6. Memento (2000)    8.6 rating — 245,089 votes
7. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)    8.6 rating — 298,750 votes
8. WALL·E (2008)    8.5 rating — 155,314 votes
9. Amélie (2001)    8. rating — 163,472 votes
10. The Departed (2006)    8.4 rating — 234,372 votes
11. The Pianist (2002)    8.4 rating — 118,831 votes
12. Spirited Away (2001)    8.4 rating — 89,403 votes
13. The Lives of Others (2006)    8.4 rating — 64,311 votes
14. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)    8.4 rating — 198,424 votes
15. Requiem for a Dream (2000)    8.4 rating — 166,343 votes
16. Inglourious Basterds (2009)    8.4 rating — 111,441 votes
17. Up (2009)    8.4 rating — 68,206 votes
18. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)    8.4 rating — 135,834 votes
19. The Prestige (2006)    8.3 rating — 178,413 votes
20. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)    8.3 rating — 149,605 votes
21. Downfall (2004)    8.3 rating — 73,214 votes
22. Gran Torino (2008)    8.3 rating — 101,124 votes
23. Sin City (2005)    8.3 rating — 233,043 votes
24. District 9 (2009)    8.3 rating — 101,868 votes
25. Batman Begins (2005)    8.3 rating — 246,001 votes

Rotten Tomatoes: Top 20 Best Reviewed Films of the Decade (minimum 100 reviews):
Man on Wire100% Man On Wire — 141 reviews
98% Up — 250 reviews
98% The Wrestler — 205 reviews
98% Finding Nemo – 191 reviews
98% The Hurt Locker — 171 reviews
98% Let the Right One In – 146 reviews
98% Spellbound – 134 reviews
98% Chicken Run — 134 reviews
98% Murderball — 133 reviews
98% The Fog of War — 133 reviews
98% Anvil! The Story of Anvil — 122 reviews
98% The Band’s Visit — 110 reviews
97% The Incredibles — 224 reviews
97% Sideways — 207 reviews
97% The Queen — 177 reviews
97% Spirited Away — 154 reviews
97% Once — 148 reviews
97% Capturing the Friedmans — 143 reviews
97% Maria Full of Grace – 131 reviews
97% Winged Migration — 125 reviews

  • while i wasn't in love with a film like 'up', the animation is strong enough to give it a 6, so it makes sense that with RT some films universally lauded as good could make the list rather than some films primarily lauded as great with a few people disliking bold narrative decisions and/or having too high of expectations going in. plus, documentaries lose their objectivity on a rating scale because it's the REAL people and/or issues, at least in my opinion. so obviously the scales are imperfect no matter what measures are taken, but i love seeing the dark knight top IMDB's list.
  • lists2day
    by the way, i have a blog of lists, http://lists2day.blogspot.com hope you check on the lists there as well.
  • lists2day
    i think what you have for IMDB are the average ratings from IMDB users and not the IMDB critics. You see, the more popular films are up there. i think they also released another version, this time from the IMDB critics.
  • Dan
    Wow, this shows how ineffective the rotten tomatoes rating system is. Appalling list.

    IMDB's however, is pretty accurate.

    Dan
  • jeffleins
    Well, the RottenTomatoes scoring system is more of a "see it" and "don't see it" rating and then averaged among all the critics, so it's a bit different than the 1-10 on IMDB. Metacritic is closer to the way IMDB ranks movies.

    I'm not surprised the professionals picked more arthouse films compared to the masses, really. In fact, it's unfortunate more people haven't seen and rated those films on the RT list. I know I'm missing a few on there.
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