My homie Nick Kohout is the rare 24-year-old barista who has taught Italian at both the high school and university level. If I asked him, he could prolly write us a Top Ten Coffees of the Decade in 2 languages. We'll settle for movies though.
10. The Bourne Supremacy/The Bourne Ultimatum dir. Paul Greengrass (2004, 2007)
Identity was good, but with Greengrass at the helm the two sequels were much better.
9. American Psycho dir. Mary Harron (2000)
Christian Bale, naked, for extended periods of time.
8. Crank dir. Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (2006)
"If you stop, you die." I still can't tell if this movie is inadvertently self-parody, or if it's intentional, or if it's parody at all. The ambiguity is what makes it work so well, unlike Shoot 'em Up, which was an obvious send-up (and not very good). The scene where Statham forces himself on Amy Smart in the square makes the feminist klaxons in my head go off every time; again, is it a critique of the genre or an embrace of it? I love this movie and everything it makes me think about.
7. The Incredibles dir. Brad Bird (2005)
The best overall out of the Pixar movies, and the one I think everyone else is picking, too.
6. The Hurt Locker dir. Kathryn Bigelow (2009)
I like this movie for the opposite reason I enjoy Crank. This movie knows exactly where it's going and how to get there, and executes those moves perfectly. I don't really think of it as an action movie; I'd call it a "war slasher". Instead of an unseen villain with a knife, the killer is hidden in plain view, and instead of getting a blade in your back, that innocuous sack by the side of the road is going to put fifty yards between your spleen and your femur. Absolutely terrifying.
5. The Royal Tenenbaums dir. Wes Anderson (2001)
It's good.
4. Shaun of the Dead dir. Edgar Wright (2004)
I was going to put Love Actually on this list at #10, thinking I was short a romantic comedy, and that it was the romantic comedy I associate most strongly with the aughts. Then I remembered this movie. Zombies > Christmas, apparently. Seeing this in a theater was the beginning of my love of zombie movies.
3. Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi) dir. Hayao Miyazaki (2002)
Twenty percent of this lists consists of animated films.
2. Children of Men dir. Alfonso Cuarón (2006)
What other movie tells the story (effectively) of a dystopia with the newspapers used to black out the windows in an interrogation room? And I'm a softie for long takes.
1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind dir. Michel Gondry (2004)
I have seen this movie exactly twice, so it's strange that it would end up at the top of my favorite list, but if I could only watch one movie from this decade Eternal Sunshine would be my pick. It could easily get by with just smacking you in the face with its brilliant concept, but all the little details are there, too, including protagonists that have their share of unlikability.
That's probably it for today. We have four more to go through, which we'll prolly get out of the way tomorrow. If you want to send in a list, this would be your last night to do so.
No comments:
Post a Comment