Confessions of a Movie Snob

I began watching movies as art around 2002 when I realized that the movies that were playing in the big multiplex were all pretty much the same: love conquers all, horror movies, smash 'em up "thrillers," more horror movies, and crappy teen comedies. It was refreshing to realize that the Almodvars, Inarritus, Andersons (Paul T. and Wes), and Gondrys existed and that the Schumakers of the world were not the visionaries you once thought them to be. Of course those that embrace independent films and go to small, cramped theaters that are falling apart to see movies with subtitles ("You mean I have to read while I watch the movie?") run the risk of being a labeled a movie snob. Well, call me snob. I began keeping annual lists of best films in 2003, so in honor of this life-altering awakening, here are my favorite films from the past five years...

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1. City of God (2003)-directed by Fernando Meirelles
2. Bad Education (2004)-directed by Pedro Almodvar
3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)-directed by Michel Gondry
4. Old Boy (2003)-directed by Chan-wook Park
5. Goodbye Lenin (2003)-directed by Wolfgang Becker
6. Babel (2006)-directed by Alejandro Inarritu
7. Pan's Labryinth (2006)-directed by Guillermo del Toro
8. There Will Be Blood (2007)-directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
9. The Darjeeling Limited (2007)-directed by Wes Anderson
10. Tsotsi (2005)-directed by Gavin Hood