American Cinematographer has conducted a poll asking participants to choose the 50 best photographed films of the decade (defined from 1998-2008). Here is the list, starting at #1, each with the accredited Director of Photography (i.e. cinematographer):

Amélie: Bruno Delbonnel, ASC, AFC (2001)
Children of Men: Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC, AMC (2006)
Saving Private Ryan: Janusz Kaminski (1998)
There Will Be Blood: Robert Elswit, ASC (2007)
No Country for Old Men: Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC (2007)
Fight Club: Jeff Cronenweth, ASC (1999)
Dark Knight: Wally Pfister, ASC (2008)
Road to Perdition: Conrad L. Hall, ASC (2002)
Cidade de Deus (City of God): César Charlone, ABC (2002)
American Beauty: Conrad L. Hall, ASC (1999)
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Deakins)
Tie: In the Mood for Love (Christopher Doyle, HKSC, and Mark Li Ping-bin) and Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo Navarro, ASC)
The Lord of the Rings trilogy (Andrew Lesnie, ASC, ACS)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Ellen Kuras, ASC)
Gladiator (John Mathieson, BSC)
The Matrix (Bill Pope, ASC)
The Thin Red Line (John Toll, ASC)
The Diving Bell and The Butterfly (Kaminski)
Slumdog Millionaire (Anthony Dod Mantle, BSC, DFF)
Tie: Eyes Wide Shut (Larry Smith, BSC) and Requiem for a Dream (Matthew Libatique, ASC)
Kill Bill (Robert Richardson, ASC)
Moulin Rouge (Donald M. McAlpine, ASC, ACS)
The Pianist (Pawel Edelman, PSC)
Hero (Doyle)
Black Hawk Down (Slawomir Idziak, PSC)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Deakins)
Babel (Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC)
Lost In Translation (Lance Acord, ASC)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Peter Pau, HKSC)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Claudio Miranda, ASC)
The Man Who Wasn’t There (Deakins)
The New World (Lubezki)
Sin City (Robert Rodriguez)
Atonement (Seamus McGarvey, ASC, BSC)
Munich (Kaminski)
The Prestige (Pfister)
Memoirs of a Geisha (Dion Beebe, ASC, ACS)
The Aviator (Richardson)
Zodiac (Harris Savides, ASC)
The Insider (Dante Spinotti, ASC, AIC)
Gangs of New York (Michael Ballhaus, ASC)
Tie: Brokeback Mountain (Prieto) and The Fountain (Libatique)
The Fall (Colin Watkinson)
The Passion of the Christ (Caleb Deschanel, ASC)
Snow Falling on Cedars (Richardson)
House of Flying Daggers (Xiaoding Zhao)
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (Eric Adkins)

http://www.awardsdaily.com/?p=23581#more-23581


Thoughts Capo, gang?

No "Curse of the Golden Flower"?

Well, I think 15 of the the listed films are visually exceptional:

Amélie
Children of Men
No Country for Old Men
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
In the Mood for Love
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Thin Red Line
Hero
Lost In Translation
The Man Who Wasn’t There
The New World
Sin City
Zodiac
The Fall
House of Flying Daggers

(I haven't seen Snow Falling on Cedars.)

It's a pretty terrible list. Where are Werkmeister Harmonies, Songs From the Second Floor, You the Living, Uzak, Three Monkeys, The Return, I Don't Want to Sleep Alone, Far From Heaven, 35 Shots of Rum...?

I've stopped there. Enough said, really. I could list films I haven't even seen in full that'd be worth fifty Christopher Nolan films.

Capo, reading about that "voting," it was apparently an Internet poll.

Which might (no wait it does) explain why alot of those movies you cited, obscure compared to alot of those more mainstream known (and seen quite frankly) which got the nod ahead of them.

I posted this list at another website, and alot of folks keep bringing up FAR FROM HEAVEN getting snubbed.

"Internet poll" is quite vague.

Ah, wait: "American Cinematographer asked its international audience of subscribers to nominate 10 films released between 1998 and 2008 that they believed had the best cinematography..."

Democracy wins!

"Lost in Translation" was a beautifully shot film. Those Coppolas sure do make the most of filming abroad .