Hello all, I hope everyone had a great holiday. On a personal note, I now reside in Cincinnati once again, and am hoping 2010 kicks the shit out of 2009. That, however, is another post for another day. So here we are, at the end of things. On the final day of the decade, I bring you the last list you'll need for the decade. (?)
First, let's recap the list thus far and give some honorary mention awards out:
25. V for Vendetta
24. The Wrestler
23. Kill Bill Vol. 2
22. Collateral
21. Pan's Labyrinth
20. In Bruges
19. The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
18. Mystic River
17. Munich
16. Gangs of New York
15. Minority Report
14. Gladiator
13. The Prestige
12. The Pianist
11.(a). There Will Be Blood
11.(b). Slumdog Millionaire
10. Requiem for a Dream
9. The Hurt Locker
8. No Country for Old Men
7. Memento
6. Road to Perdition
Honorable mentions: (just missed the cut - in no particular order)
• The Dark Knight (2008) - A great film from one of the greatest directors working today. Despite the strong performances (particularly the late Heath Ledger), I don't feel the film is as strong as Nolan's other Batman film and has a bit too many plot holes to propel it to true greatness.
• Batman Begins (2004) - One of the greatest comic book films of all time. The first half of this film, where Bruce Wayne learns the skills that will enable him to become Batman, is one of the great sequences of the decade. This one JUST missed the cut.
• 40 Year Old Virgin (2005) - If I had to pick an Apatow (who re-invented comedy in the decade) film, this would be it. Just not strong enough to achieve elite status.
• Infernal Affairs (2002) - The Hong Kong crime classic that gave us the Departed. It really is a great film, more tense than the American update/edition, but without the heavy hitters both in front of and behind the camera. One of the great scripts/stories of the decade, that gave us two great films.
• Wall-E (2008) - this was probably #26, truly. I was skeptical of this one, to say the least, not watching it until it was released on DVD, but it's a truly wonderful film. Who would have thought that a love story between two small robots could bring me to tears?
• The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) - My 2nd favorite Wes Anderson film. I just like the Life Aquatic better, and find Ben Stiller to be obnoxious. Gene Hackman is amazing. No one else could have pulled off an ornery bastard like Royal Tenenbaum and kept him likable.
• The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) - a truly beautiful film, just not strong enough to make the final cut. Gael Garcia Bernal is a true talent, and I'm excited to see him grow as an actor.
• The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) - The Bourne series was one of the best series of the decade, and this is the best of the three, and one of the great action films of all time.
• Sin City (2005) - A great adaptation of an ultra-violent, ultra-stylized classic graphic novel work. This one just missed the cut.
• The Constant Gardener (2005) - A beautiful love story and yet an expose on the way things are done in certain parts of the world. I tried long and hard to put this one in the list.. but I just couldn't make it fit. I wanted to though.
• Snatch (2000) - Guy Ritchie's best work of the decade, and the moment when I first stopped to think - "shit, what if Brad Pitt actually is a good actor?"
• Inglorious Basterds (2009) - Maybe, in a few years when I revisit this list, this one will make the cut. I honestly just haven't watched it enough. One of Tarantino's best.
• The Last King of Scotland (2006) - Forrest Whittacker gives one of the great performances of the decade in a terrifying film that puts a human face on one of the most infamous despots of the past 40 years.
Now, with no further ado, let's close this one out already.
5 The Departed (2006)
I've probably watched this film 100 times, I've read the script, I quote it incessantly, and I still can't get enough. Probably the 3rd best film I've ever seen in the theater, and I saw it three times. Marty Scorsese is at the top of his formidable game in this one. Released on my birthday (thank you Marty), and a true hard-boiled pleasure. It's funny, it's tense, it's disturbing, it's violent in parts, it's (dare I say?) perfect. Leo gives the performance of his career as a kid from the rough part of Boston with mob connections who is placed undercover with local crime boss Frank Costello. Nicholson is a mad man in this one, and he's lovably loath-able as said crime boss. The cast is unbelievable, every shot is terrific, and this is one you just don't want to end. I've started it over as soon as it's ended before. Despite it's 2 1/2 hour runtime, it feels like it's 45 minutes long. It's the small things you notice when you've got a legendary director and an outstanding cast all at the top of their games. The dialogue is perfect. The music, lighting, and camera angles are perfect. Every character has depth and nuance, little quirks that make them more than just stereotypical cops and bad guys. More than deserving of all the Oscar glory showered upon it, this is a film that has more than earned its place in the pantheon of great crime films. In 25 years, this will be one that is still talked about and loved, like the Godfather is today. 4 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Truly, all three films of the series belong in the top 25, and would all be top 15, so I thought it'd be less boring to jerk them all off collectively and save my praise for the series for just one installment. To say that the Lord of the Rings series was "great" is quite the understatement. They took one of the most involved and beloved book series of all time, and completely adapted these works to celluloid, making needed adjustments and improvements along the way. The final film is probably the strongest, with the most amazing battle sequence ever put on film. Unbelievably epic, the body count is through the roof, and all the characters get their proper farewells. This series was made by someone with a slavish devotion and passion for the source material in Peter Jackson, someone who brought a whole new generation of fans to Tolkien's beloved epic literary works. Every shot is beautiful, and Jackson transforms New Zealand's plains, mountains and rocky outcrops into Tolkien's middle earth. The heart of these films, and this one in particular, rests in a handful of performances however, particularly the amazing Sir Ian McKlellan as Gandolf and Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn. My only complaint about the third installment is the denouement goes on just a LITTLE too long. I understand the need to pay homage to the books and send out a 12 hour film series properly, but after the action-packed battle sequences and scene in mount doom, it all just feels needlessly long. That being said, this film, and the series, deserves all the accolades heaped upon it, and it remains a testament to what film can be. Easily the greatest film trilogy of all time, and something that will go down with Star Wars and Indiana Jones as something all kids grow up watching. Thanks, Peter, for not cutting corners and doing these films right.
3 Children of Men (2006)
Sometimes fiction can say more about us than truth ever could. The best fiction does this, whether it's a Doestoevsky novel, a Shakespeare play, or this masterpiece by Alfonso Cuarón. The best sci-fi manages to say so much about who and where we are, and as the high ranking attests, this is some of the best sci-fi there is. This film dares to ask the question - what if, humanity, as a whole, stopped having children? And depicts the believable, and at times devastating effects this simple fact of demographics would have upon a future UK. Despite this huge, macro event that's shaping humanity, the film wisely puts a very human face on this event - Clive Owen is inspired in this one. As the reluctant hero who will ultimately do what's right. Michael Caine has never been better. Julianne Moore is great. But this film offers so much more than stellar, grounded, human performances. It offers a picture of what is bleak and opportunistic in people, and yet what is redeeming and worth saving. There are truly breathtaking shots in this one - including the whole sequence around that photograph - it honestly brings tears to my eyes. Artful cinematography and direction makes this film at once beautiful and disturbing. Utterly believable, disturbing and beautiful. I know that seems like an odd combination - but it works, in spades. This is one that grows with every viewing - and you notice little details every time. Truly timeless, and if I revisted this list again in another decade, it might just take the top spot.
2 Avatar (2009)
Undoubtedly one of the most important films ever made, and maybe, just maybe, the film that saves movies, James Cameron's first feature-length film since Titanic (which won a few Oscars and did pretty well at the Box-office) is one of the most beautiful, painstakingly-done films I've ever seen. Rare is the film that causes one to lose his or her postmodern cynicism and pessimism and just enjoy a film with childlike wonder and abandon. This film truly is a cinematic event on the level of Star Wars or Jurassic Park. Yes, the plot may seem simplistic on the surface, being part Dances With Wolves, part Pocahontas, part Last of the Mohicans, part Last Samurai (it actually MOST reminds of the Last Samurai), part Braveheart, part Aliens, part Star Trek, but once you're in the film, you'll appreciate that synthesis of diverse and varying influences becomes an original story. Particularly when it's so artfully done. In a day and age when every film of any discernible budget is either a sequel, a remake, or an adaption of some work in comic books, "tween" books, only someone like James Cameron, whose writing and directing chops are unquestioned in Hollywood, could create an achievement like this from scrap. There hasn't been a wholly fictional universe like this created from scratch since Star Wars. Wrap your mind around that. It truly is undeniably beautiful in 3D and/or IMAX. It's like a nature documentary at times, of a "nature" that does not exist. The fictional moon of Pandora's landscapes are more beautiful than any rain forest I've ever seen on earth. This is a film about love. About love between peoples, between individuals, between nature and people, and between who a person is and what a person does. The meaninglessness of our society is a common theme in media, and it has an undeniable ring of truth to it. What do we live and labor for? For money? So we can one day use this money to buy things for ourselves and our posterity? Who gives a shit? There's no denying that simpler ways of life where meaning is defined by what you do and who you are have a certain appeal. If you would have told me I'd be touched by a love story between two 10 foot blue aliens with fangs, cat eyes and tails, I'd have called you batshit crazy, but the love story truly is beautiful, and as good (better - by being more believable) as anything in the romantic comedy genre. Cameron wrote the script to Avatar while he was making Titanic, and said that would be his next film, but he wouldn't make it until the technology existed to make it properly. So he spent the next decade inventing cameras and techniques to bring his vision to life, and boy did it pay off. I've seen it 5 times in the theaters, and it doesn't get any worse on repeat viewings. I've never encountered a film more conducive to repeat viewings - the film is so dense and so detailed, that you'll miss a lot the first time through. Hell, I can barely quote it, and I've seen it 5 times. Yes, movies are expensive, and yes, 3D/IMAX movies are MORE expensive, but if there's ever been a film worth the price of admission, it's this one. I feel like I should write Cameron a thank you letter for creating a truly timeless piece of art. Do yourself a favor, see it in 3D, the way it was meant to be seen. So many people complain about how the FX look cheesy, yes, they do look cheesy on your standard def 2D TV. See the thing how it was meant to be seen, on the big screen, in 3D, and prepare to be blown away by the undeniable beauty of what you're seeing. This isn't just great for the decade, it's great for all time, and will proudly take its place among the great pieces of cinema.
1 City of God (2002)
There are movies, there are films, and then there is art. This is certainly the latter. A work of art that can proudly show itself off against art in any other medium. If someone wanted to know what is best about film - they should take this as example one. I love films that show a common humanity - despite where we may be, what language we speak, and what we do for fun. Assembled as a series of vignettes each involving figures in the "City of God", Rio's roughest slum, it feels more like a TV miniseries than a film. And this just speaks to the strength of the talent involved, the cast, the director, the writers. It feels like "the wire" and what's best about Guy Ritchie and Quentin Tarantino, creating something that feels so visceral and authentic, and yet stylized and cool. A handful of young boys who grew up on Rio's tough streets wind up intertwined in a massive gang war in Rio's criminal underworld, and take different paths as they move from children to adulthood. It's not romanticized or rosy, it's authentic and true. Like much of the best media and commentary, it shows without preaching. Displays without offering editorial remarks and suggested problems and solutions. This is the way things are, deal with it. This is one of the best films of all time, in any language. If you haven't seen it - do so, immediately, and prepare to have your world be all the better for it.
Happy new year all, I hope you enjoyed the list.
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