It probably would've been better if you didn't say anything, because... it happened. Criticize me all you want for it, I stand by my choice. My reasonings:

1. Cache is directed by a talented man with a talented cast and crew. It simply isn't a bad film and when I do see it, I'll appreciate it on that level alone.
2. I'm familiar with Michael Haneke's work. I saw Funny Games and found it to be very powerful. I've also seen part of The Piano Teacher. I dug what I saw. I'm very much looking forward to The White Ribbon.
2.5. Ed posted a list - that I criticized, mind you - in another topic that declared the aforementioned Thai film the best of the decade. It may very well be the best of the decade; I didn't put it on my list, nor did I see anyone else putting it on theirs. Why not? No one's familiar with Weerasethakul's work. Maybe it's a shame; I'll never know until I see it, and yet the topic called for a post now. Another list I saw declared Cache as the best of the decade. When I saw that, I went, "I get it." That's not something I could say about Syndromes.
3. Every list that I've seen from people I respect rate Cache very highly, so taking that into account, plus what I know about the story, there's no reason for me to think that my enjoyment of it won't be INCREDIBLY high.

If you're going to criticize anything, criticize my placement of it. Of all ten, for that matter. The placement of the ten in general is fairly arbitrary. However, these ten exemplify skill that deserve to be put in the best category. I purposefully excluded There Will Be Blood, WALL-E, 4 Months..., Requiem For a Dream, Lost in Translation, and others because I didn't find them worthy. Some of those I flat out enjoyed more than the ten I chose, but they didn't make the cut. I chose the ten I chose because that's where I am at this moment in time. I don't know why I have to explain this.

(For the record, I do see the difference between "best" and "favorite". However, it's pretty pointless given that I couldn't find a better film than my favorite.)

Look, I see where you're coming from, but I'll probably watch Cache later this month and go, "Yep, deserves to be mentioned as one of the best of the decade." I can make that judgment because I know what movies I like. Maybe in a year, it'll be nothing but foreign films that I uncovered plus Memento. Who knows? This is my snapshot, my subjective objectivity of the decade right this second, as that's what the topic called for. I have nothing more to say on the matter.

I'm not being confrontational or annoyed, just perplexed, when I say that I have no idea why people have such difficulty differentiating between "best" and "favorite" when it comes to movies (or books for that matter). Do you not like any movies you know are bad? Do you not have any 'guilty pleasures?' Both concepts imply that personal affection is different from a less-biased evaluation.

For example:

-I loved watching the movie Scarecrow Gone Wild with my friends at college. It was enjoyable and I've seen it three times. I've only seen The Seventh Seal once and found it much less enjoyable to sit through. But the latter is a FAR better film.
-V for Vendetta is one of my favorite films. Own it, saw it in theaters twice, etc. But I STILL wouldn't give it more than ***. Because it has major problems as a film. But I like it more than, say, Apocalypse Now, which is a flawless **** piece of moviemaking.
-My brothers and I can quote almost the entire screenplay of 15 Minutes, a forgotten Robert DeNiro vehicle. We love that film much more than, say, Taxi Driver, but all of us would find Scorsese's film to be much more meritorious.

I recognize that some people (like Evenflow, apparently) only like movies that are great, but most people I've met have favorite movies that they'll admit have major, major issues when viewed as films. I finished watching Citizen Kane and was awestruck at its greatness. I came out of Dark City thinking the ending was kinda weak. But Dark City is a favorite movie of mine and Citizen Kane is a great movie but not one I even own. Is that so hard to fathom?

Thanks for your list though

I'm not being confrontational or annoyed, just perplexed, when I say that I have no idea why people have such difficulty differentiating between "best" and "favorite" when it comes to movies (or books for that matter). Do you not like any movies you know are bad? Do you not have any 'guilty pleasures?' Both concepts imply that personal affection is different from a less-biased evaluation.

For example:

-I loved watching the movie Scarecrow Gone Wild with my friends at college. It was enjoyable and I've seen it three times. I've only seen The Seventh Seal once and found it much less enjoyable to sit through. But the latter is a FAR better film.
-V for Vendetta is one of my favorite films. Own it, saw it in theaters twice, etc. But I STILL wouldn't give it more than ***. Because it has major problems as a film. But I like it more than, say, Apocalypse Now, which is a flawless **** piece of moviemaking.
-My brothers and I can quote almost the entire screenplay of 15 Minutes, a forgotten Robert DeNiro vehicle. We love that film much more than, say, Taxi Driver, but all of us would find Scorsese's film to be much more meritorious.

I recognize that some people (like Evenflow, apparently) only like movies that are great, but most people I've met have favorite movies that they'll admit have major, major issues when viewed as films. I finished watching Citizen Kane and was awestruck at its greatness. I came out of Dark City thinking the ending was kinda weak. But Dark City is a favorite movie of mine and Citizen Kane is a great movie but not one I even own. Is that so hard to fathom?

Thanks for your list though

Grrr...2009 isn't over and the pedant in me doesn't want to make any list yet.

Well for the purposes of the post they needed to be in order, but whatevs

I think ranking movies is sort of inane (& I bet most critics do as well, they just do it because the public loves that stuff. I love it as well, but can't really comprehend what sort of thought process goes into deciding what the difference is between putting a film at #6 & putting it at #7. Presumably you like them both a lot, so what does it matter where there are placed?)

It looks like this thread is turning into a list of everyone's 'favorites,' hope you aren't too offended.

Plus making lists is fun. Watching movies is fun. Making lists about movies is really fun.