“Are you not entertained?” bawled Australian beefcake Russell Crowe at the baying masses in Rome’s intimidating Colosseum as he defied everyone’s best attempts to kill him.

The crowds in the auditorium might have remained eerily silent, but the answer from cinema audiences was a resounding “yes”.

Gladiator, Ridley Scott’s magnificent sword-and-sandals adventure, kicked off the 21st century’s cinema offerings in Oscar-winning style, and few movies have reached such heights since.

So far, since the dawn of the new millennium, more than 1,200 new films have been screened at Shropshire cinemas, including Telford and Shrewsbury multiplexes, the Bridgnorth Majestic, Shrewsbury’s Old Market Hall and the increasingly successful Flicks in the Sticks village hall programme.

Picking the best 10, therefore, is a tough task.

But when Slumdog Millionaire got its media preview earlier this year I went on record as saying: “The best film of the year? Definitely. The best film of the decade? Probably.” And by a gnat’s whisker, I stand by that declaration.

Danny Boyle’s tale of a nobody from the Mumbai slums who triumphs against the odds on the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? is an irresistible mix of enchanting storytelling, magical cinematography, perfectly-paced editing and a terrific soundtrack melding Bollywood with the best sounds from the contemporary west.

It’s that rare film which manages to bridge the gap between critical acclaim and box office success. And that’s been my general yardstick for compiling a decade’s top 10.

Gladiator proved the day of the sword and sandals epic wasn’t dead. It remains Russell Crowe’s finest performance and manages to blend epic scale with intimate personal emotion.

And then there’s Jason Bourne. For decades, spy films have lived in the shadow of James Bond, but the Bourne trilogy has turned the tables, delivering such a mouth-wateringly gritty, exciting cat-and-mouse adventure that Daniel Craig’s two 007 adventures found themselves playing catch-up, and ultimately falling short.

The Bourne Ultimatum was the climax of a gripping saga which raised the bar in terms of tension, suspense, hand-to-hand combat scenes, and edge-of-the-seat action.

It’s impossible to discuss the 21st century¹s cinematic offerings without mentioning Peter Jackson. His Lord of the Rings trilogy changed many people¹s perception of what was possible in movie making, having filmed the entire eight-hour epic in one mammoth session in New Zealand and shown a vision beyond most people¹s comprehension.

The 21st century has unquestionably been the decade of animation. Barely a month has passed without the likes of Pixar, Dreamworks or Disney releasing a new family-friendly adventure to cash in on the new-found fascination with 3D technology.

While Toy Story remains “the daddy” of the genre (and we’re looking forward to the third instalment next summer), the pick of the last decade is Finding Nemo, which captured that same blend of amazing visuals and fairy-story screenplay for the youngsters, with a biting, witty, undertone of pop culture dialogue alongside for the adults. Two quirky, offbeat dramas fill slots eight and nine.

Sideways, the story of two middle aged men who set off on a wine-tasting tour in the hope of rediscovering themselves ­ and women ­ is as dry and satisfying as a well oaked Chardonnay, while Juno, the offbeat comedy starring the excellent Ellen Page as a young girl wrestling with an unwanted pregnancy, was for me the best movie of 2007.

Completing the top 10 is another Paul Greengrass project, United 93, which brought home the courage in the face of total hopelessness as one of the planes in the September 11 terrorist attacks headed to its doom.

The 21st century has witnessed many rebirths.

Batman has come powering back under the stewardship of director Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese has a new lease of life after finally pocketing his overdue first Oscar for mafia drama The Departed, Spider-Man is flying high in the hands of Tobey Maguire, and Daniel Craig has introduced James Bond to a whole new generation . . . thanks in no small part to a skin-tight pair of blue Speedo trunks and a torso to die for, emerging from the Caribbean sea.

Then there’s the amazing transformation in the career of down-and-out Mickey Rourke, whose resurgence began with a powerful cameo in Sin City, and reached its summit with his career-defining role in The Wrestler.

Shropshire has found itself on the silver screen several times in the past decade too.

Stokesay Court, near Craven Arms, starred alongside Keira Knightley in Oscar-winning drama Atonement in 2007, Gillian Anderson and Danny Dyer were at Mawley Hall, near Cleobury, for revenge thriller Straightheads just a few months earlier, and Ludlow Castle was one of the key locations in battle re-enactment comedy Faintheart last year.

Even Bollywood paid the county a visit, setting up shop at Walcot Hall, near Bishop¹s Castle, for the 2006 musical Aap Ki Khati, where former Miss World Aishwarya Rai was among the cast.

Worst film of the decade? That’s a toughie, but merely on the basis that it’s the only one I felt compelled to walk out of before the climax, I’m going with the naff Harry Enfield timewaster Kevin & Perry Go Large. Even Pokemon: The Movie, managed to keep me there until the end.

But John Travolta’s unintentionally hilarious Battlefield Earth runs it a close second, while Mike Myers’ ego overload The Love Guru had the smack of a movie which producers just didn’t have the nerve to say no to, after his Austin Powers success.

Aside from being Oscar nominated in Dreamgirls, Eddie Murphy producers some stinkers, the worst being his multi-charactered turn in gross-out saga Norbit. I can’t bring myself to describe it as a comedy.

Mariah Carey should stick to what she knows best rather than acting in films such as Glitter, Halle Berry was sold a pup when she signed up to star as Catwoman, and as for 2001′s sickly sweet Pearl Harbor . . . was it ever going to finish?