10. City of God
A wildly imaginative and violent trip through the Rio de Janeiro slums with multiple characters trying to survive. Director Fernando Meirelles uses creative camera angles, amazing natural lighting, and quick cutting to infuse the film with incredible energy and force. The moment that amazed me most was the "History of the room" scene, a truly inspired scene that helps universalize the story and strangely makes the characters more real. Perhaps the most ingenious and innovative film of the decade.
9. Minority Report
Steven Spielberg uses classical filmmaking techniques and flawlessly merges them with state of the art CGI. Janusz Kaminski's strong use of bright white and blue lights gives the workplace a sterile and cold feel. He then changes his lighting scheme (more browns, golds, and greens) for the more personal and emotional moments. Samantha Morton gives one of the best female performances of the decade. Predestination and fate are effectively explored. The best-looking film of the decade and the best science-fiction film in two.
8. Adaptation
Charlie Kaufman's difficulty adapting Susan Orlean's novel The Orchid Thief is profoundly documented with Kaufman collaborating with director Spike Jonze. Kaufman breaks every screenwriting rule - it's like he's using flash-forward and flash-back techniques on the page. He tells you exactly what he is going to do and you're still surprised when he does it. But this would only be a stimulating cerebral exercise if he didn't stick the landing. Toward the end, when Donald tells Charlie that the unrequited love he had for a girl in high school made him happy because it belonged to him and not the girl is an original idea and gives the broken-hearted everywhere comfort.
7. Memento
Christopher Nolan's breakout film is a neat trick on the page - the story of a man with short-term memory problems trying to solve his wife's murder is told both chronologically (the black and white phone call) and in reverse (the one in color with all the action). The film has a surprisingly great sense of humor while remaining a terrific mystery. What actually happened is left up to the viewer. What isn't in doubt is Nolan's ability to apply big concepts to an entertaining film. Here, memory (what we choose to remember and why, and what memories we alter to make ourselves feel better) is the central focus. The fact that the 2 storylines merge at the moment where Leonard loses his way is just icing on the cake.
6. The Departed
Martin Scorsese's return to the crime genre was rightfully celebrated by the public, critics, and Oscar. William Monahan's tough-guy dialogue is the best of the decade - hilarious, memorable, and quotable. Alec Baldwin and Mark Wahlberg seem to get the best lines. Jack Nicholson's crazy, improvised performance sometimes veers off course, but adds another dimension to the film. Matt Damon gives his best performance since Good Will Hunting, but it's Leonardo DiCaprio that runs off with the film. DiCaprio's performance is a knockout - desperate and heartfelt, tormented and intense. Scorsese directs with his typical expertise and there are important themes about identity, morality, and trust.
11. Children of Men
12. The Lives of Others
13. The Incredibles
14. Traffic
15. Master and Commander
16. A History of Violence
17. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
18. I'm Not There
19. Almost Famous
20. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
21. Finding Nemo
22. The Dark Knight
23. Sideways
24. Once
25. The Hurt Locker
26. Let the Right One In
27. Cinderella Man
28. Synecdoche, New York
29. Miami Vice
30. Punch-Drunk Love
31. Up
32. Lord of the Rings
33. Erin Brockovich
34. Michael Clayton
35. Lost in Translation
36. Inglourious Basterds
37. About a Boy
38. Public Enemies
39. Amelie
40. Collateral
41. Munich
42. Black Hawk Down & The Constant Gardner
43. Mystic River
44. The Aviator
45. Cast Away
46. The Wrestler
47. Gosford Park
48. Kill Bill
49. You Can Count On Me
50. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
51. 21 Grams
52. Ratatouille & WALL-E
53. Road to Perdition
54. Billy Elliot
55. The Royal Tenenbaums
56. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
57. Downfall
58. Hot Fuzz
59. The New World
60. Knocked Up
61. Inland Empire
62. United 93
63. Babel
64. Pan's Labyrinth
65. In the Bedroom
66. Monsters, Inc.
67. The Pianist
68. Batman Begins
69. 3:10 to Yuma
70. King Kong
71. In Bruges
72. No Direction Home
73. Intolerable Cruelty
74. Little Children
75. Gangs of New York
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Best Films of the Decade 10-6
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8 comments:
Mine:
10. Lives of Others - Echo your comments. A profound pro-Western film.
9. Memento - Echo your comments.
8. Brokeback Mountain - Director Ang Lee tells the heartbreaking story of love and sacrifice with some of the prettiest pictures of the decade. Heath Ledger's Ennis Del Mar is one of my favorite characters of all time, and this is Ledger's best performance. The height of emotion felt when Ennis visits Jake's parents is the keystone.
7. 21 Grams - Echo your (much earlier) comments. I can't get enough of the Innaritu/Arriaga gritty drama. This one challenges religion, mortality, relationships and existence. Great every time.
6. Children of Men - Director Alfonso Cuaron proves that context is everything with this film. Theo's intelligence/apathy are a tragic pairing that is rarely depicted so well.
Yours:
CoG - Coming right up.
MR - SS+Scifi= fine movie, but not one I like very much.
Adaptation - The Cage stuff is good, but not great, which keeps it at 21 for me.
Mem - ditto
Departed - mega ditto.
Brokeback remains a "B" for me. Take away the performances of Ledger and Michelle Williams (which are admittedly great) and you have a routine homosexual update of Brief Encounter with Anne Hathaway's spectacular rack and beautiful Rocky Mountains that are hard "not" to take a good picture of. The music has become cliched because of all those youtube "tributes".
21 Grams is a great film, just really depressing. I usually have to follow it with Raising Arizona.
Nice intelligence/apathy combination - it is what I was looking for to describe Theo/Owen on the post, but couldn't come up with.
I though Cage did a good job playing 2 distinct characters. There are others that could have done the role just as well though.
I knew the bullets would be flying for Brokeback. I view it as a film about sacrificing for your family and a story about an emotionally deprived man (Ennis). The music may be a cliche now, but it works to devastating effect during the film. Obviously mountains are beautiful no matter what, but I also love the windswept town and the July 4th fight where Ennis' inner turmoil is portrayed by the fireworks behind him (see here: http://www.doctorlawyerpriest.com/2008/07/happy-fourth-of-july.html). I also like the portrayal of the Del Mar's lower middle class existence and its juxtaposition with the Twist's affluent living and family tension. It is weird that I am the most socially conservative member of the DLP team, yet I love this movie so much. Priest - you need to weigh in on this to break the split.
Not so sure Ennis sacrificed a whole lot - at least for very long. They still divorced and he always seemed to be too emotionally distant to actually be in the moment when he was with them.
The fireworks scene is pretty great. And I didn't fully appreciate the socioeconomic differences until you just pointed it out. It's a good film, much better than Crash, Capote, and Good Night and Good Luck.
They divorced, but he still worked nearly every day to provide for the kids - one of the best scenes is when Jack surprises him with a visit but Ennis explains that its his weekend with the kids (the first in a month) and he can't get away - you can see him splintering apart inside.
you're calling me to break in because you know where i come down. I'm still trying to rank mine, but Brokeback is in my top twenty for sure, maybe top fifteen. Everything about the film works for me. Beautiful photography (especially at night) of the wilderness juxtaposed against the ugliness of the urban settings makes a surprisingly effective silent argument. I think Gyllenhaal's performance is often overlooked. The predatorial side of his character is under-commented on for PC reasons, but it's there, and he nails it. The film sticks with me more than almost any film of the decade. At this point, it's career high-point for all the leads except Hathaway, which I'll give to Rachel Getting Married instead.
Sounds like the Priest might have a confession of his own to make.
too ez, eurotrash.
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