Was it the blonde Afro, the overbite, the charmless way he answered the phone? Whatever it was about Jon Heder's portrayal of the uncoolest kid in school, it brought serious new competition to the canon of nerd cinema. Napolean's gang were just as memorable: Pedro, his Mexican best mate who ran for school president, Deb, advocate of soft-focus photography, Kip the unlikely lothario whose girlfriend is twice his size. Just add day-glo setting, cringe-worthy pacing and memorable quotes for comedy gold. Flippin' sweet! -Rebecca Barry

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Was this is the finest concluding movie in a trilogy ever? Rather than over-egging the pudding or looking like it had run out of steam, 2007's Ultimatum was the culmination and crescendo of all that had gone before. Having already completed Supremacy, director Paul Greengrass's documentary approach to the action-movie was more honed this time around, while Tony Gilroy's screenplay gave loyal fans what they'd been waiting for, Bourne's chance for revenge on his masters. Breathless, unrelenting and utterly engrossing. - James Croot

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Before Keisha Castle-Hughes took her clothes off for that angel movie she was cute enough to eat as a heartbroken Maori girl who just wants granddad to love her. Niki Caro's spiritual and moving adaptation of the Witi Ihimaera novel – essentially a tale of female empowerment – brought out the sensitive soul in anyone who watched it. When you weren't blubbering at Paikea's rejection, you were taking in the beauty of her coastal village and rooting for her ultimate triumph. An emotional whale of a film. -Rebecca Barry

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Danny Boyle's criminally overlooked 2007 sci-fi thriller took a plot that in synopsis sounds like something from the bombastic likes of Michael Bay or Roland Emmerich - a team of scientists encounter problems while on a space-bound mission to restart the sun with a nuclear bomb – and injected it with levels of thoughtfulness most examples of the genre sorely lack. An unlikely ensemble (including Kiwi Cliff Curtis, in fine form) sustains the drama in a very human manner, but the film more than delivers on the epic grandeur, helped along by pristinely beautiful special effects. -Dominic Corry

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The word 'powerful' is used to describe films far too often, but truly deserving of it was this masterpiece from filmmaker Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler). This was a very moving, intense and at times horrific examination of addiction and how it destroys love. For me, this was filmmaking at its finest. If I ruled Hollywood, Requiem for a Dream would have been showered in Oscars in 2001: Best Film, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing and Best Lead Actress for Ellen Burstyn's amazing performance. -Dan Rutledge

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This hilarious action-comedy from the Apatow factory is an unashamed pothead movie filled with dope jokes and side-splitting dialogue. It marked Kiwi audiences' first exposure to the great Danny McBride and James Franco's triumphant return to comedy. Judd Apatow had a hand in many of the 00's biggest comedies, but Pineapple Express took the hash cake for its heady mix of violent action scenes, performances and homoerotic buddy story combined with the more subtle, deft hand of director David Gordon Green. -Dan Rutledge

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Caving is already a freaky past-time, what with all that darkness, claustrophobia and eye-level spiders. It was bad enough when a team of female spelunkers decided to explore a stretch of uncharted Appalachian tunnels. So when director Neill Marshall added ugly, sightless cave monsters to the mix, he upped the terror quotient and created a highly original horror flick that played literally on our deepest fears. -Rebecca Barry

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From the the stop-frame animated underwater creatures, to the wonderful deadpan gags, to the Seu Jorge/David Bowie soundtrack, there were plenty of stylistic strokes of genius to enjoy here. But it was Bill Murray, staring out glumly into the abyss with a red cap and Papa Smurf beard, who was at the heart of The Life Aquatic. It was a tour-de-force of Murray's talents – only he could be a juvenile, ignorant, shallow, disenchanted sad-sack and still be a movie's hilarious hero, let alone top your imaginary dinner guest wish-list. On top of all the attention to detail and charm writer/director Wes Anderson poured into the film, it was also a crack up and remains his funniest film yet. -Paul Scantlebury

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Part one of a two part, 247 minute homage to kung fu and samurai movies, Kill Bill was the story of one woman's bloody quest for revenge told, like most Tarantino films, in titled chapters and non-chronological order. While it didn't quite meet his high standards in the dialogue department, it made up for it with the fight scenes (especially the climactic Showdown at House of Blue Leaves). Kill Bill was a very fun action epic, filled with some of the most kick-ass sequences of the decade. -Dan Rutledge

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Although he had already written and directed three movies when The Squid and the Whale was released in 2005, Noah Baumbach was perhaps best known as Wes Anderson's co-writer on The Life Aquatic. But with this hilarious and discomforting semi-autobiographical coming-of-age tale, Baumbach marked himself as an auteur with something fresh to offer in a genre crowded with clichés. Jeff Daniels plays the fallible patriarch of a fractured New York family including Jesse Eisenberg and Laura Linney, and all three put in amazing performances. Their characters' actions are often ugly, but they're never less than absolutely empathetic. -Dominic Corry

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