After a long hiatus from blogging, I’ve decided to return with probably the most ambitious (and totally pigheaded) thing you’re ever likely to see here at good ol’ Cinematic for the People: a 50-film list of my picks for the best of the past decade.

Had I planned way ahead of time to put one of these together? Honestly, nope. Heck, it wasn’t even until I saw the first “Best of the 00s” list appear on a film review site a couple of months back that it dawned on me this decade was ending at all (what can I say, I’ve been pretty busy). Ten years used to seem like a pretty long time, but man, it feels like just yesterday that I was contemplating Y2K and telling anybody who’d listen how good Fight Club was. And now here we are, ten years into the millennium that Stanley Kubrick predicted would begin with humanity’s first contact with an alien intelligence (I’m still pretty bummed that that didn’t happen), and all I can think is…

… Damn, I’ve seen a lot of movies since 2000.

So, since everyone else seems to be throwing together lists of their favorite films of the “oughts” – check out a few here and here – I thought maybe I should take a stab at it, as well. Not only does it give me a chance to recall the movie moments that have wowed me over the last ten years, but it’s also a great opportunity to show some love for a lot of films that probably didn’t appear on a lot of other folks’ lists.

Let that second thing serve as a bit of a disclaimer: some of my picks are surely going to piss you off. If you’ve stopped by this blog before, you know that my taste in film is all over the place – I’m equally enamored with well-made Hollywood blockbusters as I am with stately foreign films and audacious indie efforts, and while I like a lot of the same filmmakers as the majority of critics do, I tend to gravitate toward the “underdog” movies of their respective careers (I can feel the hate already for the Paul Thomas Anderson and Steven Spielberg films that land highest on my list).

But, as I’ve said before, the best part about making lists like this – and, really, the only reason why I’d ever do one – is that inevitably get people thinking about what films they’ve appreciated and why they loved them. My opinion is my opinion, it’s no more valid than anyone else’s, and the only reason I’m putting it out there is that I hope it inspires some argument, some agreement, maybe some anger, and – fingers crossed – at least a little bit of discussion. Feel free to leave a comment or e-mail me (nscalia@nhregister.com) with your picks, your thoughts, or whatever else you want to say.

Check back in a couple of days for picks #50 through #41; I’ll be rolling out the rest over the next couple of weeks.