Saturday, January 2, 2010

Best Films of the Decade (Top 30)

Well, 2010 is here and it's time to review another decade of cinema. The following are a combination of my personal favorites as well as most respected films of 2000-2009. Please feel free to leave your list in the comments or any agree/disagreements with mine.



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30. Collateral
Director: Michael Mann
Year: 2004
Quote: Max: You killed him?
 Vincent: No, I shot him. Bullets and the fall killed him. 
 
"cab driver finds himself the hostage of an engaging contract killer as he makes his rounds from hit to hit during one night in LA. He must find a way to save both himself and one last victim." (imdb)


I loved everything about Collateral. The acting, the music, the cinematography, the story. The film is one of the few that can maintain an intense situation yet have a mellow tone and give the viewer something to really think about. With one of my all time favorite endings, Collateral is number 30 on my list of best films of the decade.


29. Wall-E

Director: Andrew Stanton
Year: 2008

"In the distant future, a small waste collecting robot inadvertently embarks on a space journey that will ultimately decide the fate of mankind." (imdb)


It's not the easiest feat to get people emotionally attached to CGI characters. Tack on that they're robots. Add to the mix that they don't speak. Wall-E had me crying like a baby for little mute bots flying through space and for that, I commend them. Additionally, Wall-E was beautifully made. To this day, one of my (visually) favorite CGI films landing them the spot of number 29.


28. The Painted Veil

Director: John Curran
Year: 2006
Quote: As if a woman ever loved a man for his virtue.

"A British medical doctor fights a cholera outbreak in a small Chinese village, while also being trapped at home in a loveless marriage to an unfaithful wife." (imdb)


This film was so emotionally compelling I had to include it on my list. The acting was quite good, visually the film was great, but the story just drove me to tears. I think the film's tagline is all I can really say to sum of this film, "Sometimes the greatest journey is the distance between two people." It's a must see for anyone who needs a brilliant tear jerker.


27. Almost Famous

Director: Cameron Crowe
Year: 2000
Quote: William Miller: I have to go home.
  Penny Lane: You are home. 

 
"A high-school boy is given the chance to write a story for Rolling Stone Magazine about an up-and-coming rock band as he accompanies it on their concert tour." (imdb)


Coming of age has never been so glamorous.


26. Two Lovers

Director: James Gray
Year: 2006

"A Brooklyn-set romantic drama about a bachelor torn between the family friend his parents wish he would marry and his beautiful but volatile new neighbor." (imdb)


What I love about Two Lovers is how accurately it portrays love, lust, and heartbreak. Awkward sex, pining emotions, yearning for those who don't love of back. It's always nice to see honesty in cinema and it's number 26 on my list.


25. Ocean's Eleven

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Year: 2001
Quote: They might as well call it whitejack!
 
"Danny Ocean and his ten accomplices plan to rob three Las Vegas casinos simultaneously." (imdb)


Yes, it's a remake. Sure, it's a bit 'pretentious' but I found Ocean's Eleven to be a fantastically well made movie. Great soundtrack, decent acting, good cinematography, fun characters, good story. Anyway, it makes my list at number 25 and closer to number one for funnest movies of the decade.


24. Donnie Darko

Director: Richard Kelly
Year: 2001
Quote: Every living creature on earth dies alone.


"A troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a series of crimes, after narrowly escaping a bizarre accident." (imdb)


Will add comments soon.


23. The Squid and the Whale

Director: Noah Baumbach
Year: 2005
Quote: Bernard: Ivan is fine but he's not a serious guy, he's a philistine.
Frank: What's a philistine?



"Based on the true childhood experiences of Noah Baumbach and his brother, The Squid and the Whale tells the touching story of two young boys dealing with their parents divorce in Brooklyn in the 1980's." (imdb)

 
22. Closer

Director: Mike Nichols
Year: 2004
Quote: Lying's the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off - but it's better if you do.

"The relationships of two couples become complicated and deceitful when the man from one couple meets the woman of the other." (imdb)


Closer is a film that deals with love realistically which can be quite unique especially in Hollywood. The tagline, "if you believe in love at first sight, you never stop looking" suggests that love is not just about those fuzzy feelings but really it's a two partner struggle that requires maintainence and comprimise. With such a smart screenplay, good acting, excellent direction, and brilliant sountrack, Closer hits my list at number 22.


21. Paris, je t'aime

Director: Many
Year: 2006
Quote: I ache... for who we were. 
 
"Through the neighborhoods of Paris, love is veiled, revealed, imitated, sucked dry, reinvented and awakened." (imdb)


If I could sum this film up in one word it would be optimistic. And that's exactly how you feel after watching it. There's something magical about Paris, je t'aime that makes you feel like life is still full of mysteries as it points out all the beauty of not only Paris, but in life itself and in people. Beautifully made, I enjoyed every single short. The stories range from tear jerkers to laugh out loud comedies to surreal fantasies. Paris, je t'aime is a must see and number 21 on my list.


20. Stay

Director: Marc Forster
Year: 2005
Quote: Bad art is more tragically beautiful than good art 'cause it documents human failure.
 
"This movie focuses on the attempts of a psychiatrist to prevent one of his patients from committing suicide while trying to maintain his own grip on reality." (imdb)


Will add comments soon.


19. Adaptation

Director: Spike Jonze
Year: 2002
Quote: You are what you love, not what loves you.
 
"A lovelorn screenwriter turns to his less talented twin brother for help when his efforts to adapt a non-fiction book go nowhere." (imdb)


Two words: brilliant screenplay.



 18. Little Children

Director: Tom Field
Year: 2006
Quote: We're all miracles. Know why? Because as humans, every day we go about our business, and all that time we know... we all know... that the things we love... the people we love, at any time now can all be taken away. We live knowing that and we keep going anyway. Animals don't do that.


"The lives of two lovelorn spouses from separate marriages, a registered sex offender, and a disgraced ex-police officer intersect as they struggle to resist their vulnerabilities and temptations." (imdb)


Will add comments soon.



17. Changeling

Director: Clint Eastwood
Year: 2008
Quote: Because once you give people the freedom to do whatever they want, as the Lord found in the Garden of Eden, they will do exactly that.


"A grief-stricken mother takes on the LAPD to her own detriment when it stubbornly tries to pass off an obvious impostor as her missing child, while also refusing to give up hope that she will find him one day." (imdb)


Will add comments soon.


16. The Fall

Director: Tarsem Singh
Year: 2006
Quote: What a mystery this world, one day you love them and the next day you want to kill them a thousand times over.


"In a hospital on the outskirts of 1920s Los Angeles, an injured stuntman begins to tell a fellow patient, a little girl with a broken arm, a fantastical story about 5 mythical heroes. Thanks to his fractured state of mind and her vivid imagination, the line between fiction and reality starts to blur as the tale advances." (imdb)


Will add comments soon.


15. The Dark Knight

Director: Christopher Nolan
Year: 2008
Quote: You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.


"Batman, Gordon and Harvey Dent are forced to deal with the chaos unleashed by an anarchist mastermind known only as the Joker, as it drives each of them to their limits." (imdb)


Because after nipples on the bat suit and Mr. Freeze anything would be impressive.


 14. Requiem for a Dream

Director: Darren Aronofsky
Year: 2000
Quote: I love you, Harry. You make me feel like a person. Like I'm me... and I'm beautiful.


"The hopes and dreams of four ambitious people are shattered when their drug addictions begin spiraling out of control. " (imdb)


A waking nightmare, Will add comments soon.


13. Children of Men

Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Year: 2006
Quote: As the sound of the playgrounds faded, the despair set in. Very odd, what happens in a world without children's voices.


"In 2027, in a chaotic world in which humans can no longer procreate, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea, where her child's birth may help scientists save the future of humankind." (imdb)


Will add comments soon.


10. I'm Not There

Director: Todd Haynes
Year: 2007
Quote: Silence, experience shows, is what terrifies people most.


"Ruminations on the life of Bob Dylan, where six characters embody a different aspect of the musician's life and work." (imdb)


Will add comments soon.



11. Waking Life

Director: Richard Linklater
Year: 2001
Quote: And they haven't given us any other options outside the occasional, purely symbolic, participatory act of voting. You want the puppet on the right or the puppet on the left?


"A man shuffles through a dream meeting various people and discussing the meanings and purposes of the universe." (imdb)


By far my favorite animated film. Ever. Will add comments soon.


10. The Royal Tenenbaums

Director: Wes Anderson
Year: 2001
Quote: Why would a reviewer make the point of saying someone's *not* a genius? Do you especially think I'm *not* a genius? You didn't even have to think about it, did you?


"An estranged family of former child prodigies reunites when one of their member announces he has a terminal illness." (imdb)


Will add comments soon.


9.  Artificial Intelligence: AI
 
Director: Steven Spielberg
Year: 2001
Quote: It occurs to me with all this animus existing against Mechas today it isn't just a question of creating a robot that can love. Isn't the real conundrum, can you get a human to love them back?


"A highly advanced robotic boy longs to become "real" so that he can regain the love of his human mother." (imdb)


Will add comments soon.


8.  Memento
 
Director: Christopher Nolan
Year: 2000
Quote: Memory can change the shape of a room; it can change the color of a car. And memories can be distorted. They're just an interpretation, they're not a record, and they're irrelevant if you have the facts.


"A man, suffering from short-term memory loss, uses notes and tattoos to hunt for the man he thinks killed his wife." (imdb)


Will add comments soon.



7.  Mulholland Dr.
 
Director: David Lynch
Year: 2001
Quote: Hey, pretty girl, time to wake up.


"After a car wreck on the winding Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesic, she and a perky Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality." (imdb)


Will add comments soon.


6. Y tu mamá también
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Year: 2001
Quote: Life is like the surf, so give yourself away like the sea.


"In Mexico, two teenage boys and an attractive older woman embark on a road trip and learn a thing or two about life, friendship, sex, and each other." (imdb)


Will add comments soon.



5. Road to Perdition
Director: Sam Mendes
Year: 2002
Quote: I'm glad it's you.


"Bonds of loyalty are put to the test when a hitman's son witnesses what his father does for a living." (imdb)


This film is like poetry. It's so seemless. Will add comments soon.


4. The Fountain
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Year: 2006
Quote: Death is a disease, it's like any other. And there's a cure. A cure - and I will find it.


"Spanning over one thousand years, and three parallel stories, The Fountain is a story of love, death, spirituality, and the fragility of our existence in this world." (imdb)


Will add comments soon.


3. Lost in Translation
Director: Sofia Coppola
Year: 2003
Quote: You're probably just having a mid-life crisis. Did you buy a Porsche yet?


"A movie star with a sense of emptiness, and a neglected newlywed meet up as strangers in Tokyo, Japan and form an unlikely bond." (imdb)


Will add comments soon.



2. Amélie
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Year: 2001
Quote: So, my little Amélie, you don't have bones of glass. You can take life's knocks. If you let this chance pass, eventually, your heart will become as dry and brittle as my skeleton.


"Amelie, an innocent and naive girl in Paris, with her own sense of justice, decides to help those around her and along the way, discovers love." (imdb)


Will add comments soon.




1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Director: Michel Gondry
Year: 2004
Quote: Clementine: This is it, Joel. It's going to be gone soon.
Joel: I know.
Clementine: What do we do?
Joel: Enjoy it.



"A couple undergo a procedure to erase each other from their memories when their relationship turns sour, but it is only through the process of loss that they discover what they had to begin with." (imdb)


Words cannot describe my feelings for this film. All I can say is PERFECTION. Perfect screenplay, perfect characters, perfect acting, perfect soundtrack, perfect cinematography, perfect excution of a perfect story, perfect messages, perfect perfect perfect.

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