It was a relatively bad decade for the movie business in terms of quality. The diametric opposite to television's quality, film in the 2000s will probably rank with the 50s and 80s in terms of its place in the history of all time great decades for filmmaking (with the 60s, 70s and 40s being the zenith). It's not that good films didn't come out. And it's not like the studios didn't make money. What troubled me about this decade was the sheer volume of absolutely idiodic shit fims that came out between 2000 and today. Considering the third highest grossing comedy of the first year of the decade was Scary Movie, it's alarming we made it through the decade at all. Just look at the sheer volume of STUPID films that came out in the 2000s: All four Scary Movies, White Chicks, The Animal, The Hot Chick, Deuce Bigalo anything, 6 out of the 7 American Pie films, Battlefield: Earth, From Justin to Kelly, Epic Movie - Date Movie - Disaster Movie - Meet the Spartans, both Transformers movies, the remakes of House of Wax, Friday the 13th and Halloween, Van Helsing, The Love Guru, any of the Fast/Furious flims, and of course Beverly Hills Chihuahua. And these are just off the top of my head. Look at the list again and think about how stupid they are. I'll wait.
I want you all to know, I'm not being a snob here. Objectively, these films are god awfully stupid. Almost to the point of making YOU the viewer more of an idiot by watching them. If I really did my research (as opposed to just naming the stupidest films of the last decade I could think of off the top of my head), I could probably come up with a list of up to 150 stupid films. Of these, I'd say at least 35-40% would make the all-time stupid films list. There is a silver lining here, though. All of these repugnant pieces of filth that Hollywood shat out this decade make the good films released seem better than they actually are by comparison. And there were excellent films made in this decade. All-time greats, really. Here's the list:
10.) Pan's Labyrinth (2006) - Directed by Guillermo del Toro
At its core, (literally) a fairy tale about a little girl wanting to become a princess. In reality, it is a parable about the horrors of war, loss of innocence, darkness and temptation. Really, no words can do this film justice, as it is one of the most visually spectacular films I've ever seen. Del Toro uses computer generated images in a way that few other filmmakers can, as a means to advance the story, instead of the effects being the story itself. It won an Oscar for Cinemetography, but that it didn't win for Best Foreign Film is an absolute travesty. Thankfully, the only other film that was better in 2006 won for Best Picture, and I'll be getting to that shortly.
9.) Mystic River (2003) - Directed by Clint Eastwood
Of all major directors, it can be argued that Clint Eastwood's been having the best decade. Starting with Mystic River, he's had a nearly unprecedented run of acclaimed films to his credit: Million Dollar Baby (which won the Oscar for Best Picture), Flags of Our Fathers/Letters from Iwo Jima (extremely underrated), Changeling (a good but not great film), Gran Torino (hands down brilliant), and this year Invictus (which will surely be in the best picture discussion). That's a solid legacy that no other major director I can think of can match in this decade. Essentially, the film tells the story of three misspent youths who are reunited by a terrible tragedy. Much of its greatness has to do with the performances of the three leads. It won both Sean Penn and Tim Robbins acting Oscars and, as always, Kevin Bacon's performance is underappreciated. A moody masterpiece, this film affected me greatly.
8.) Munich (2005) - Directed by Steven Spielberg
Spielberg did not have a good decade artistically. Picking up the broken mess of A.I., then having an unbroken love affair with Cruise and Hanks, he really seemed off of his game in the 2000s. His best film by a large margin for me is the extremely underrated Munich (did you think I was going to say Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which is also underrated, by the way?). The film tells the story of a group of Israeli assassins who hunt down and murder the perpetrators of the 1972 Olympic tragedy. First of all, I'm a sucker for revenge movies. Secondly, I'm a sucker for films that ask questions of its audience. Third, I love movies about bad-ass Jews (Ben Hur, anyone? And Inglorious Basterds ALMOST made the top 10). At the very least, Munich is an important discourse on terrorism and the nature of terrorism in an age where terrorism is kind of a big deal.
7.) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) - Directed by Michael Gondry
Not a very good decade for Jim Carrey, either (Fun with Dick and Jane? The Number 23?). It also saddens me that I could only squeeze in one film by this generation's finest actress. God, Kate Winslet is amazing. And to think that she made The Reader and Revolutionary Road IN THE SAME YEAR. In any case, these kinds of films really have an effect on me. I could include Being John Malkovitch and Gondry's own The Science of Sleep in this category of kind of a neo-surrealist post-modern romantic dramedy. Think of it as a less bad-ass version of Total Recall. This film is beautiful and touching and sad and happy and weird and all the wonderful things you want out of a film. This is an interesting one for me biographically, because I saw it at a time in my life when was trying to forget and come to terms with a seven year relationship with a girl (that had ended 4 years earlier) and her attempt to reconnect with me. Kind of weird actually. In any case, I actually need to revisit this one.
6.) City of God (2002) - Directed by Fernando Meirelles/Katia Lund
This is the film that Slumdog Millionaire (as good as it was) was trying to be. If you haven't seen this picture, netflix, download or rent it as soon as possible. You've probably seen my top 5. Essentially following a similar narrative thread as a film like Goodfellas or the Godfather, City of God focuses on the lives of three young men in a shanty town suburb of Rio de Janiero and their descent into crime. It's based on the true story of Paulo Lins, who wrote the book upon which the film is based. It's a true wonder that the directors had never done a feature film before and that only ONE of the cast of several hundred was a professional actor. It's an absolute travesty that this picture wasn't even NOMINATED for best Foreign Language Film. This is a remarkable film that DEMANDS viewing.
5.) A History of Violence (2005) - Directed by David Cronenberg
David Cronenberg is one of those rare directors (Alfred Hitchcock, Darren Aronofsky, David Fincher, David Lynch) that actually make you want to squirm in your chair out of the sheer uncomfortableness that their pictures exude. This film is really the most accessible of Cronenberg's who uses most of his films to look at the theme of transformation, whether it be physical or psychological. That is the case here. Viggo Mortensen plays Tom Stall, a quiet, unassuming restauranteuer who hides a secret that will change his life and the life of his family. The film is a mastercraft in slow burning mood that doesn't let up until the surprising climax (which earned William Hurt an Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actor). The film also features Ed Harris as an exceedingly scary mob hitman. The scene with him and Viggo's daughter at the mall still gives me the creeps. Bonus points for this film being based on a comic book (which leads us nicely into . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . )
4.) The Dark Knight (2008) - Directed by Christopher Nolan
Comic book movies aren't supposed to make you think! Comic book movies aren't supposed to be nominated for (and win) Academy Awards! Comic book movies aren't supposed to be mentioned in the same breath as being works of art like Heat and the Godfather films! That's exactly what Christopher Nolan did with the Dark Knight (Nolan made two other films that almost made my top 10, by the way: Memento and The Prestige, which are both absolutely brilliant). Being a comic book guy, I could literally talk about this film for hours, but I'll limit it. You've certainly seen it, and I'm sure, liked it. It's an objectively great film. For me, what it did more than anything else, is give validity to both the comic book movie as art (see the Watchmen, V for Vendetta or Road to Perdition, for example), it also, reflexively lends credence to the idea of COMIC BOOKS as art. I'm a crusader for this cause, and it is a passion of mine. Obviously, the film doesn't work without the note perfect performance of the late Heath Ledger as the Joker (I especially love the nod to the comic books, owing to the fact that he has no specific origin).
3.) The Departed (2006) - Martin Scorsese
Like Eastwood, Scorsese's had a pretty good decade, too. Gangs of New York, The Aviator, and No Direction home are all exceptionally good, if not great films. I'm a deep love for Irish mafia pictures, and this is the best Irish mafia film since 1990's Miller's Crossing, and my pick for best crime film of the decade. It's also the first of only two pictures on my top ten that actually WON the Academy Award for Best Picture. A lot of criticism has been levied against this film as being "not Scorsese's best work" and "a bunch of guys talking on cell phones for two hours," and those two points are valid. To counter, though, I don't even think that Scorsese could top Goodfellas, Raging Bull or Taxi Driver, and yes, while the guys in this movie talk on cell phones it's extraordinarily COMPELLING what's being said. To me, this movie makes the top three based on its strong cast and whip-smart script. This film features top notch performances by Leo, Nicholson, Damon, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, and an icredibly authentic southie turn by Mark Wahlberg. This film, like Eternal Sunshine and History of Violence is also about identity. I guess in some ways, this theme is critical to me, as it comes up in the top two films as well.
2.) The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001, 2002, 2003) - Directed by Peter Jackson
Uh, wow. This series of films makes the top of the list based on sheer size alone. A masterpiece of casting, adaptation, visual effects, mood, cinematography, and design. Whatever criticism you might find of this film (and I do consider it one epic film split into three parts, just as I do the books) is based solely on your dislike of the story. You cannot objectively fault this film for pacing, acting, screenplay or design. You simply can't. And while the nerds of the world (looking at myself) will debate the merits of the great film trilogies and where each will be placed historically, the importance of this trilogy to the decade cannot be understated. To think that Peter Jackson will be producing the Guellermo del Toro-directed Hobbit movies gives me hope for the future as well. Return of the King won a well-deserved Oscar for best Picture, and the other two films of the trilogy were in contention in each of the other two years. I'll never forget the feeling I had when the first film ended. I wanted SO desperately to travel through time to see the other films in the trilogy. In any case, Jackson's next film, King Kong, was a huge disappointment to me, and I'm hoping The Lovely Bones will improve my thought of him. Either way, these three films represent the best that we have in ourselves, and I think they are wonderful.
1.) There Will Be Blood (2007) - Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
Daniel Day-Lewis is the finest actor that has made Hollywood films since Marlon Brando. He ostensibly has no equal. If he and Kate Winslet were to make a feature together, I think the world would end. In this film, Daniel Day-Lewis is simply astonishing. The film would not be what it is without him. It is, essentially, the only "great" picture of the decade, insofar as I think it will be listed in 30 years with the all-time greats like "The Godfather" and "Citizen Kane" and "2001." It deserves to be listed in tandem with those films. Here's why: no other film of the 2000s works on so many different levels as There Will be Blood does. The film can be viewed as a revenge picture, a greed movie, a treatise on organized religion, a father and son picture (which one could argue The Departed was, too), a movie about identity, a criticism of Bush 43, and above all, a meditation on the American dream. Chief critic for "The Times," James Christopher, has called There Will be Blood the second greatest film OF ALL TIME. I wouldn't go that far, but it's definitely in my top 5 (most likely at #5). Simply a masterpiece.
Honorable Mention: American Psycho, Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, High Fidelity, The Prestige, Donnie Darko, 25th Hour, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Inglorious Basterds, Spirited Away, Best in Show, Memento, Requiem for a Dream, The Incredibles, Children of Men, Iron Man, Talk to Her and Wall-E
Well, I hope you've enjoyed this week's installment of the top ten top ten of the last ten. Coming up: Music and Video Games.
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