Killin' Time Before Time Kills Me

Films Seen In 2012

2012-01-02T01:47:00.012-05:00

Another Earth (2011) - Mike Cahill
Young Adult (2011) - Jason Reitman
Beautiful Boy (2011) - Shawn Ku
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) - Tomas Alfredson
Contagion (2011) - Steven Soderbergh
Attack The Block (2011) - Joe Cornish
Moneyball (2011) - Bennett Miller
Hot Coffee (2011) - Susan Saladoff
The Debt (2011) - John Madden
Paris, Texas (1984) - Wim Wenders
Dirty Girl (2011) - Abe Sylvia
50/50 (2011) - Jonathan Levine
Submarine (2011) - Richard Ayoade
Higher Ground (2011) - Vera Farmiga
Hell And Back Again (2011) - Danfung Dennis

2011 Films Seen

2011-01-02T08:07:00.149-05:00

13 Assassins
30 Minutes Or Less
50/50
The Adjustment Bureau
Another Earth
The Artist
Attack The Block
Bad Teacher
Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels Of A Tribe Called Quest
Beautiful Boy
Beginners
Bellflower
A Better Life
Bill Cunningham New York
Bridesmaids
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Cedar Rapids
Colombiana
Conan O'Brien Can't Stop
Contagion
Crazy, Stupid, Love
Curling
A Dangerous Method
The Debt
Dirty Girl
Drive
Everything Must Go
Fright Night
Hanna
Hell And Back Again
The Help
Higher Ground
Horrible Bosses
Hot Coffee
In A Better World
Incendies
Insidious
Jane Eyre
Kill The Irishman
The Last Rites of Joe May
Le Havre
The Lincoln Lawyer
Margin Call
Martha Marcy May Marlene
Melancholia
Meet Monica Velour
Midnight In Paris
Miral
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
Moneyball
Monogamy
Of Gods And Men
Oranges And Sunshine
Our Idiot Brother
Over The Hill Band
Page One: Inside The New York Times
Paul
Point Blank
Potiche
Red State
Sarah's Key
Shit Year
The Skin I Live In
Source Code
Submarine
Super 8
The Swell Season
Tabloid
Tales From The Golden Age
Terri
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
The Tree Of Life
The Trip
Tuesday, After Christmas
Warrior
Water For Elephants
Weekend
We Need To Talk About Kevin
Win Win
Young Adult

Films Seen in 2011

2011-01-02T08:07:00.138-05:00

The Oath (2010) - Laura Poitras
Soul Kitchen (2010) - Fatih Akin
Wild Grass (2010) - Alain Resnais
Catfish (2010) - Ariel Schuman & Henry Joost
Machete (2010) - Robert Rodriguez & Ethan Manquis
The Damned United (2009) - Tom Hooper
The Last Seduction (1994) - John Dahl
Missing (1982) - Costa-Gavras
Dinner For Schmucks (2010) - Jay Roach
The Wild And Wonderful Whites of West Virginia (2010) - Julien Nitzberg
Piranha (2010) - Alexandre Aja
Cyrus (2010) - Jay and Mark Duplass
Alamar (2010) - Pedro Gonzalez-Rubio
The City of Lost Children (1995) - Jean-Pierre Jeunet
The American (2010) - Anton Corbijn
Salt (2010) - Phillip Noyce
The Fighter (2010) - David O. Russell
Vampyr (1932) - Carl Theodor Dreyer
Animal Kingdom (2010) - David Michod
Buried (2010) - Rodrigo Cortes
Jack Goes Boating (2010) - Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Army of Crime (2010) - Robert Guediguian
Knight And Day (2010) - James Mangold
Despicable Me (2010) - Pierre Coffin & Chris Renaud
The King's Speech (2010) - Tom Hooper
Enter The Void (2010) - Gaspar Noe
Dogtooth (2010) - Yorgos Lanthimos
Let Me In (2010) - Matt Reeves
The Tillman Story (2010) - Amir Bar-Lev
Nowhere Boy (2010) - Sam Taylor-Wood
Monsters (2010) - Gareth Edwards
RED (2010) - Robert Schwentke
The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Next (2010) - Daniel Alfredson
Tamara Drewe (2010) - Stephen Frears
Inhale (2010) - Baltasar Kormakur
Night Catches Us (2010) - Tanya Hamilton
Gasland (2010) - Josh Fox
It's Kind Of A Funny Story (2010) - Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck
Wild Target (2010) - Jonathan Lynn
Lebanon (2010) - Samuel Maoz
Vincere (2010) - Marco Bellocchio
Waiting For "Superman" (2010) - Davis Guggenheim
You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger (2010) - Woody Allen
Blue Valentine (2010) - Derek Cianfrance
Last Train Home (2010) - Lixin Fan
Kings of Pastry (2010) Chris Hegedus & D.A. Pennebaker
Fish Tank (2010) - Andrea Arnold
The Life And Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
Client 9: The Rise And Fall Of Eliot Spitzer (2010) - Alex Gibney
Mesrine Part I: Killer Instinct (2010) - Jean-Francois Richet
Racing Dreams (2010) - Marshall Curry
Get Low (2010) - Aaron Schneider
Carlos (2010) - Olivier Assayas
Inside Job (2010) - Charles Ferguson
Four Lions (2010) - Christopher Morris
A Film Unfinished (2010) - Yael Hersonski
The Bridges of Madison County (1995) - Clint Eastwood
No One Knows About Persian Cats (2010) - Bahman Ghobadi
The Horde (2010) - Yannick Dahan & Benjamin Rocher
Mrs. Brown (1997) - John Madden
Viridiana (1961) - Luis Bunuel
Brief Encounter (1945) - David Lean
All Good Things (2010) - Andrew Jarecki
Fair Game (2010) - Doug Liman
Made In Dagenham (2010) - Nigel Cole
Hopscotch (1980) - Ronald Neame
Hanna (2011) - Joe Wright
Burlesque (2010) - Steve Antin
Death Of A Cyclist (1955) - Juan Antonio Bardem
The Music Lovers (1970) - Ken Russell
White Material (2010) - Clair Denis
Bridesmaids (2011) - Paul Feig
Smiles Of A Summer Night (1955) - Ingmar Bergman
Somewhere (2010) - Sofia Coppola
Bluebeard (2010) - Catherine Breillat
24 City (2008) - Zhang Ke Jia
Biutiful (2010) - Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Violent Summer (1959) - Valerio Zurlini
Horrible Bosses (2011) - Seth Gordon
Barney's Version (2010) - Richard J Lewis
Insidious (2011) - James Wan
Another Year (2010) - Mike Leigh
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) - John Ford
Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011) - Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
Source Code (2011) - Duncan Jones
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) - Ronald Neame
Cedar Rapids (2011) - Miguel Arteta
The Trial (1962) - Orson Welles
Colombiana (2011)- Olivier Megaton
The Adjustment Bureau (2011) - George Nolfi
In A Better World (2011) - Susanna Bier
Of Gods And Men (2011) - Xavier Beauvois
Everything Must Go (2011) - Dan Rush
Drive (2011) - Nicolas Winding Refn
Paul (2011) - Greg Mottola
The Lincoln Lawyer (2011) - Brad Furman
Win Win (2011) - Thomas McCarthy
Jane Eyre (2011) - Cary Fukunaga
Incendies (2011) - Denis Villeneuve
Conan O'Brien Can't Stop (2011) - Rodman Flender
Topsy Turvy (1999) - Mike Leigh
Potiche (2011) - Francois Ozon
Meet Monica Velour (2011) - Keith Bearden
Miral (2011) - Julian Schnabel
Melancholia (2011) - Lars Von Trier
The Circus (1928) - Charlie Chaplin
Weekend (2011)- Andrew Haigh
Kill The Irishman (2011) - Jonathan Hensleigh
Tabloid (2011) - Errol Morris
Red State (2011) - Kevin Smith
Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels Of A Tribe Called Quest (2011) - Michael Rapaport
Bad Teacher (2011) - Jake Kasdan
The Tree Of Life (2011) - Terrence Malick
A Dangerous Method (2011) - David Cronenberg
Shit Year (2011) - Cam Archer
Terri (2011) - Azazel Jacobs
We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011) - Lynne Ramsay
Oranges And Sunshine (2011) - Jim Loach
Tales From The Golden Age (2011) - Cristian Mungiu
Curling (2011) - Denis Cote
Le Havre (2011) - Aki Kaurismaki
A Better Life (2011) - Chris Weitz
Bellflower (2011) - Evan Glodell
In A Lonely Place (1950) - Nicholas Ray
Page One: Inside The New York Times (2011) - Andrew Rossi
The Last Rites of Joe May (2011) - Joe Maggio
The Swell Season (2011) - Nick August-Perna, Chris Dapkins, Carlo Mirabella-Davis
The Artist (2011) - Michel Hazanavicius
Super 8 (2011) - J.J. Abrams
Sarah's Key (2011) - Gilles Paquet-Brenner
The Trip (2011) - Michael Winterbottom
Bill Cunningham New York (2011) - Richard Press
Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) - T. Sean Durkin
Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2011) - Werner Herzog
Our Idiot Brother (2011) - Jesse Peretz
The Skin I Live In (2011) - Pedro Almodovar
30 Minutes Or Less (2011) - Ruben Fleischer
The Help (2011) - Tate Taylor
Beginners (2011) - Mike Mills
Point Blank (2011) - Fred Cavaye
Fright Night (2011) - Craig Gillespie
Water For Elephants (2011) - Francis Lawrence
Shoeshine (1946) - Vittorio De Sica
13 Assassins (2011) - Takashi Miike
Midnight In Paris (2011) - Woody Allen
Warrior (2011) - Gavin O'Connor
Margin Call (2011) - J.C. Chandor
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011) - Brad Bird
Tuesday, After Christmas (2011) - Radu Muntean

2007 Foreign Film Submissions

2010-04-19T00:28:00.002-04:00

Awhile back, I decided it might be interesting to try catching all of the foreign films that were submitted in a given year, if for no other reason that to have an education opinion on the matter. I chose 2007 since that was a year they just got colossally wrong based on what little I had seen.

So, I went and caught everything I could, and as it turns out, there's just not a whole lot of the films that are available. I did manage to catch 32 of the 63 films, so just over half, and I think I've finally exhausted every avenue and just have to resign myself to the fact that I caught everything I could get my hands on.

So, if I were to have been on the nomination committee, here is how I would have ranked at least those 32 films:

1. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days - Romania
2. Persepolis - France
3. XXY - Argentina
4. Secret Sunshine - South Korea
5. Takva: A Man's Fear of God - Turkey
6. Katyn - Poland
7. Eklavya: The Royal Guard - India
8. The Edge of Heaven - Germany
9. Shadows - Macedonia
10. Satanas - Colombia
11. The Unknown Woman - Italy
12. 12 - Russia
13. The Counterfeiters - Austria
14. The Trap - Serbia
15. Exiled - Hong Kong
16. Island Etude - Taiwan
17. Beaufort - Israel
18. Jar City - Iceland
19. Ben X - Belgium
20. Taxidermia - Hungary
21. Silent Light - Mexico
22. The Pope's Toilet - Uruguay
23. I Served The King of England - Czech Republic
24. The Year My Parents Went On Vacation - Brazil
25. The Silly Age - Cuba
26. Caramel - Lebanon
27. Love Sickness (aka Maldeamores) - Puerto Rico
28. You, The Living - Sweden
29. The Orphanage - Spain
30. Belle Toujours - Portugal
31. Kings - Ireland
32. Mongol - Kazakhstan

Films Watched in 2010

2010-04-12T01:19:00.105-04:00

I'm just going to keep a running count of every film I watch during the 2010 calendar year, just out of my own personal curiosity...

Get Him To The Greek (2010) - Nicholas Stoller
True Grit (2010) - Joel and Ethan Coen
Map Of The Sounds Of Tokyo (2010) - Isabel Coixet
I Love You Phillip Morris (2010) - John Requa & Glenn Ficarra
The Art of The Steal (2010) - Don Argott
Prodigal Sons (2010) - Kimberly Reed
Mother And Child (2010) - Rodrigo Garcia
Mugabe and The White African (2010) - Lucy Baily and Andrew Thompson
Micmacs (2010) - Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Joan Rivers: A Piece of work (2010) - Ricki Stern & Annie Sundberg
Exit Through The Gift Shop (2010) - Banksy
2:37 (2006) - Murali K. Tharulli
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (2010) - Edgar Wright
Restrepo (2010) - Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington
Head-On (2005) - Fatih Akin
Cairo Time (2010) - Ruba Nadda
Fox And His Friends (1975) - Rainer Werner Fassbender
The Expendables (2010) - Sylvester Stallone
Everyone Else (2010) - Maren Ade
Branded To Kill (1967) - Seijun Suzuki
Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (1966) - Mike Nichols
Pierrot le Fou (1965) - Jean-Luc Godard
Best Worst Movie (2010) - Michael Stephenson
Kick-Ass (2010) - Matthew Vaughn
Black Swan (2010) - Darren Aronofsky
Sons of Perdition (2010) - Tyler Meason and Jennilyn Merten
Toy Story 3 (2010) - Lee Unkrich
Waste Land (2010) - Lucy Walker
Over The Hill Band (2011) - Geoffrey Enthoven
Samson and Delilah (2010) - Warwick Thorton
127 Hours (2010) - Danny Boyle
Rabbit Hole - (2010) - John Cameron Mitchell
Marwencol (2010) - Jeff Malmberg
Monogamy (2011) - Dana Adam Shapiro
Double Take (2010) - Double Take
Due Date (2010) - Todd Phillips
Toy Story 2 (1999) - John Lasseter
Winter's Bone (2010) - Debra Granik
Splice (2010) - Vincenzo Natali
Agora (2010) - Alejandro Amenabar
Holy Rollers (2010) - Kevin Asch
Please Give (2010) - Nicole Holofcener
The Dinner Game (1998) - Francis Veber
Dark Days (2000) - Marc Singer
The Last House On The Left (1972) - Wes Craven
Doghouse (2009) - Jake West
Passing Strange (2009) - Spike Lee
Easy A (2010) - Will Gluck
The Night of the Hunter (1955) - Charles Laughton
The Secret of Kells (2010) - Tomm Moore
The Human Centipede (2010) - Tom Six
Never Let Me Go (2010) - Mark Romanek
Ajami (2010) - Scandar Copti & Yaron Shani
The Social Network (2010) - David Fincher
The Greatest (2010) - Shana Feste
The Killer Inside Me (2010) - Michael Winterbottom
Chungking Express (1994) - Wong Kar Wai
Days of Being Wild (1990) - Wong Kar Wai
Ashes of Time Redux (2008) - Wong Kar Wai
Ondine (2010) - Neil Jordan
Strangers On A Train (1951) - Alfred Hitchcock
The Town (2010) - Ben Affleck
Notorious (1946) - Alfred Hitchcock
North By Northwest (1959) - Alfred Hitchcock
The Iron Giant (1999) - Brad Bird
Vertigo (1958) - Alfred Hitchcock
Friday Night (2002) - Claire Denis
Solitary Man (2010) - Brian Koppelman
Chocolat (1988) - Claire Denis
Red Riding Trilogy: 1983 (2010) - Anand Tucker
Red Riding Trilogy: 1980 (2010) - James Marsh
Red Riding Trilogy: 1974 (2010) - Julian Jerrold
Survival of the Dead (2010) - George Romero
The Square (2010) - Nash Edgerton
Mosieur Verdoux (1947) - Charlie Chaplin
Le Corbeau (1943) - Henri-Georges Clouzot
Diabolique (1954) - Henri-Georges Clouzot
The Wages of Fear (1953) - Henri-Georges Clouzot
8: The Mormon Proposition (2010) - Reed Cowan
I Am Love (2010) - Luca Guadagnino
The Ghost Writer (2010) - Roman Polanski
Sunrise (1927) - F.W. Murnau
The Most Dangerous Man In America: Daniel Ellsburg and the Pentagon Papers (2010) - Judith Ehrlich & Rick Goldsmith
Nosferatu (1922) - F.W. Murnau
The Girl Who Played With Fire (2010) - Daniel Alfredson
The Kids Are All Right (2010) - Lisa Cholodenko
Man With A Movie Camera (1929) - Dziga Vertov
Green Zone (2010) - Paul Greengrass
The Runaways (2010) - Floria Sigismondi
Ballad of a Soldier (1959) - Grigori Chukhrai
Inception (2010) - Christopher Nolan
The River (1951) - Jean Renoir
Chloe (2010) - Atom Egoyan
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2010) - Niels Arden Oplev
Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) - Alain Resnais
Querelle (1982) - Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Bad Timing (1980) - Nicholas Roeg
Europa (1992) - Lars Von Trier)
Barton Fink (1991) - Joel & Ethan Coen
Mrs. Parker And The Vicious Circle (1994) Alan Rudolph
Mala Noche (1985) - Gus Van Sant
Swoon (1992) - Tom Kalin
The Maid (2009) - Sebastian Silva
Close-Up (1990) - Abbas Kiarostami
Babette's Feast (1987) - Gabriel Axel
Burma VJ (2009) - Anders Ostergaard
The Celebration (1998) - Thomas Vinterberg
Shutter Island (2010) - Martin Scorsese
Crimson Gold (2004) - Jafar Panahi
Hukkle (2003) - Gyorgy Palfi
Damnation (1988) Bela Tarr
Kontroll (2005) - Nimrod Antal
Primo Amore (2005) - Matteo Garrone
Howard's End (1992) - James Ivory (REVISIT)
In The Name Of The Father (1993) - Jim Sheridan (REVISIT)
California Dreamin' (Endless) (2009) - Cristian Nemescu
Orlando (1992) - Sally Potter (REVISIT)
Tetro (2009) - Francis Ford Coppola
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) - Terry Gilliam
The Horse Boy (2009) - Rupert & Kristin Isaacson
35 Shots of Rum (2009) - Claire Denis
Uncertainty (2009) - Scott McGehee
Shadows (2009) - Milcho Manchevski
Date Night (2010) - Shawn Levy
The Piano (1993) - Jane Campion (REVISIT)
Brothers (2005) - Susanna Bier
Brothers(2009) - Jim Sheridan
The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros (2006) - Auraeus Solito
A Single Man (2009) - Tom Ford
Summer Hours (2009) - Oliver Assayas
The Secret of The Grain (2008) - Abdel Kechiche
Antibodies (2007) - Christian Alvart
Hunger (2008) - Steve McQueen
The Portrait of a Lady (1996) - Jane Campion
The Messenger (2009) - Oren Moverman
Crazy Heart (2009) - Scott Cooper
A Serious Man (2009) - Joel and Ethan Coen
Where The Wild Things Are (2009) - Spike Jonze
Noi The Albino (2003) - Dagur Kari
Cop Out (2010) - Kevin Smith
The Crazies (2010) - Breck Eisner
The Milk of Sorrow (2010) - Claudia Llosa
The Secret In Their Eyes (2010) - Juan Jose Campanella
Mother (2010) - Joon-ho Bong
Police, Adjective (2009) - Corneliu Porumboiu
Seraphine (2009) - Martin Provost
Broken Embraces (2009) - Pedro Almodovar
A Prophet (2010) - Jacques Audillard
The Book of Eli (2010) - Albert & Allen Hughes
Edge of Darkness (2010) - Jochen Richter
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) - Steve Pink
Of Time And City (2009) - Terence Davies
Revanche (2009) - Gotz Spielmann
Brief Interviews With Hideous Men (2009) - John Krasinski
The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) - William A. Wellman
The White Ribbon (2009) - Michael Haneke
Secret Sunshine (2007) - Chang-dong Lee
Yojimbo (1961) - Akira Kurasowa
Taxidermia (2009) - Gyorgy Palfi
The Men Who Stare At Goats (2009) - Grant Heslov
Kwaidan (1964) - Masaki Kobayashi
Last Year At Marienbad (1961) - Alain Resnais
The Beaches of Agnes (2009) - Agnes Varda
The Stoning of Soraya M. (2009) - Cyrus Nowrasteh
Capitalism: A Love Story (2009) - Michael Moore
La Pointe Courte (1954) - Agnes Varda
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009) - Rebecca Miller
Vagabond (1985) - Agnes Varda
Ponyo (2009) - Hayao Miyazaki
The Gleaners and I (2000) - Agnes Varda
The House of Mirth (2000) - Terence Davies
Bronson (2009) - Nicholas Refn
The September Issue (2009) - R.J. Cutler
The Invention of Lying (2009) - Ricky Gervais
Coco Before Chanel (2009) - Anne Fontaine
Good Hair (2009) - Jeff Stilson
The Best of Youth (2003) - Marco Tullio Giordana
The New World (2005) - Terrence Malick
An Angel At My Table (1990) - Jane Campion
Sweetie (1989) - Jane Campion
Bright Star (2009) - Jane Campion
Whip It! (2009) - Drew Barrymore
My Winnipeg (2008) - Guy Maddin
The Weight of Water (2002) - Kathryn Bigelow
Everlasting Moments (2009) - Jan Troell
The Juniper Tree (1990) - Nietzchka Keene
Top Hat (1935) - Marck Sandrich
101 Reykjavik (2000) - Baltasar Kormakur
The Headless Woman (2009) - Lucretia Martel
Outrage (2009) - Kirby Dick
Moon (2009) - Duncan Jones
Departures (2009) - Yojiro Takita
You, The Living (2009) - Roy Andersson
Funny People (2009) - Judd Apatow
Lorna's Silence (2009) - Jean-Pierre Dardenne
Paranormal Activity (2009) - Oren Peli
Anvil: The Story of Anvil (2009) - Sacha Gervasi

Top 100 Films Of The Decade: Intro and 100-91

2010-03-22T23:40:00.022-04:00

I originally thought I would start in on this whole list upon seeing 1,000 movies from 2000 through 2009, but I've found that my viewing habits have become focused a bit more on watching older films as well as catching up on films from the current year, so I figured now would be as good a time as any. Besides, since I'm just about 20 films shy of 1,000, it seems unlikely that I'd find something that would crack the top 100 anyway. Especially when I had to leave so many films I really like off this list.

Since I'm linking in friends and family from Facebook who might not be quite as familiar with my tastes in film, I figure I might try to give you a little idea of what to expect here. I've been a bit of a movie dork all of my life, and as a kid, would ride my bike down to the local movie theater at Seminole Mall and see pretty much everything that was playing (those of you who worked at the movie theaters in high school can probably attest to this!)

But with so much time spent watching movies in my teens, I just saw a lot of trends come and go, and every time an interesting film came along, the studios tripped all over themselves to remake that same movie over and over again to see if lightning struck twice (...or more often, three, four, or ten times). For example, remember all the "Tarantino-esque" movies that came along in the wake of Pulp Fiction? Or how about all of the teen horror flicks that came along in the wake of the first Scream revitalizing that genre?. I guess, one part of developing my tastes was born out of that, and I stopped going for the obvious cash-grabbing ploys. And sort of going hand-in-hand with that, I've stopped listening to a lot of the mainstream hype. It seems like each summer, one big special effects extravaganza comes along after the next, and roughly 80% of the time, the people I know who saw that weekend's "event" film would tell me how much it sucked later that night at the bar or at work on Monday. Mostly, it seems like the hype exists to get as many people into the theater opening weekend before word of mouth spreads. This isn't to say all of these films suck, but think about it... for every Dark Knight that comes along, there are a lot more Transformers 2.

While I've learned to avoid a lot of films, I've also learned to seek out the sorts of films that I never had access to growing up... foreign films, documentaries, micro-budget indies and such that simply weren't available at our little AMC or at Blockbuster. This isn't to say that any of those genres are necessarily better. I've seen a lot of terrible foreign films and documentaries too. And while there will be quite a strong number of foreign films on this list, you have to consider just how many different countries there are around the world putting out film, and the U.S. is merely one of them. But don't fret... American filmmaking is more than amply represented here.

So, the 100 films I picked here are all films that made me think, struck a personal connection, lingered in the brain, entertained me in a way that I found smart, felt innovative, or even appalled me to the core in some cases... but all of have managed to stick with me in one way or another. Where available, I've linked to trailers, so you can watch the trailer for most of these films by clicking on the film's title.

100. Fat Girl
(2001) Catherine Breillat - France

This one is one I went back and forth on including honestly. When I first saw it, I found it ballsy, unnerving, and completely unflinching in it's look at sexuality and it's willingness to go to places I never imagined. Yet, with subsequent films by Breillat, I'm starting to think of her as someone whose main purpose is crass shock value, and it has somewhat diminished my appreciation for this film to a certain extent. I know people who love this one to pieces, and I know others who find this film absolutely abhorrent. I understand both sides of the argument. But, I decided to include this one because I think to retroactively dismiss it would be to deny the impact I felt.

This one is about a couple of sisters vacationing with their family and discovering their sexuality as well. The elder sister is young, thin, and conventionally attractive. The younger sister is chubby and plain and doesn't attract the boys. But beyond their physical differences, the sisters also have very different views about romance and sex as well. The ending here is shockingly abrupt, graphic, and disturbing, and I think it's probably the reason most people either love it or hate it. At the time, I loved it for it's boldness. I'm not quite sure where I fall on it now.

99. Sangre de mi Sangre
(2008) Christopher Zalla - USA/Argentina

There've been a few films as of late that have delved into illegal immigration and the immigrant experience, some successful, others less so, but I this is the one that I found to be the most interesting of the bunch, and interestingly enough, one I caught entirely by accident.

This two young men sneaking into the country - one is meet up with the father he never knew when his mother dies, the other a criminal who is fleeing to escape some hoodlums who want him killed. The two become friendly, but their friendship is short lived as the criminal steals the other guy's backpack with everything he had and shows up on the father's doorstep assuming the other's identity. The real son is left to wander New York City alone with no resources. The film follows what becomes of these two boys and both halves of the story are equally compelling.

98. Best In Show
(2000) Christopher Guest - USA

One thing I've come to discover is that my taste in comedy doesn't seem to match up with the majority. There always seems to be one big breakout comedy that comes along each year that breaks box office records and people endlessly quote or become sort of cult classics. But I've watched them, and I simply don't understand. The Hangover, Wedding Crashers, Borat, Napoleon Dynamite... all these films seem to make people laugh, and well, I wish I was in on the joke. I just never found myself laughing or even amused. But Christopher Guest's mockumentaries... THESE make me laugh.

This one follows a bunch of pet-obsessed eccentrics who compete in the dog show circuit and it really sort of spoofs and mocks the whole culture of these little stage parent-like kooks that obsess about their dogs and these contests. And I crack up every time.

97. Werckmeister Harmonies
(2001) Béla Tarr - Hungary

Curiously intriguing would probably be the best way I could describe this one. It's one of those films that's rather ambiguous in nature, but manages to evoke a mood and a feeling like few others I've seen, and it's managed to linger ever. I recall watching this one, and experiencing such a feeling of dread, even though I had no idea what lied ahead or if I was even supposed to be feeling that way. There's just such an odd and ominous air about the film the builds and grows, and mostly through Tarr's use of music and uncomfortably long takes (I recall reading that there were only 33 takes or something like that in the entire two-and-a-half hours). If a largely dialogue-free, black-and-white Hungarian film sounds like it would be a chore to you, than it quite likely will be. But for the few who think that the above sounds interesting, I would encourage you to check it out. Although I couldn't find a trailer with English subtitles, I think this clip does a pretty good job of succinctly giving you a feel for the film.

96. Morvern Callar

(2002) Lynne Ramsay - Scotland

Lynne Ramsay was one of my favorite directors to emerge at the turn of the decade, so it's been disappointing to me that she hasn't made another film since this one, though I recently read that she is teaming up with Tilda Swinton to adapt the novel We Need To Talk About Kevin into a film, which makes me very happy. I find this one a little more difficult to discuss regarding the whole plot, but I find this one fascinating mostly because of the character and the actress who plays her. Samantha Morton stars as the title character, and I believe her to be among the best actresses of her generation (she'll be in quite a few of these films, including another in this segment). I don't think many actresses could have played such a damaged character like Morvern quite so effectively, especially since much of the performance (and the film, by extension) is so internal, and I think that her performance fuses beautifully with Ramsay's style of filmmaking.

95. The Gleaners And I

(2000) Agnès Varda - France

While Varda is probably best known for her films from the French new Wave, such as Cleo From 5 to 7, she's one of those directors whose documentary work I find infinitely more fascinating. In part because I find Varda herself so fascinating. One of the biggest lessons I learned in college was that a fascinating professor could make even the dullest of subjects interesting, and I think that sort of applies here as well. Inspired by a painting of a woman gleaning (or, scavenging) wheat, she set off to make a documentary about people who live off the land scavenging to survive, both in rural and in urban settings. But Varda is very much a part of this film, as she mingles with the subjects she speaks with and scavenges along side of them. And while in her 70's at the time the film was made, she's a complete free spirit and her childlike enthusiasm for what she's doing makes this such an enjoyable watch.

94. The Weather Underground
(2003) Sam Green & Bill Siegel - USA

While this group drew more attention later in the decade, I'd not been familiar with them at the time this film came out, and I found this to be an interesting and well-researched look at the group who despite lofty ideals, imploded in on itself by adopting the wrong tactics to convey their message.

93. Minority Report
(2002) Steven Spielberg - USA

See, I like mainstream stuff too! It's not all artsy-fartsy existential documentaries about Bolivian ox herders and stuff :)

But seriously, I've always appreciated this one quite a bit and find it a bit underrated among the decade's science fiction films, and I find the moral implications of the story interesting. Though I'm no Tom Cruise fan and I think the supporting cast (Max Von Sydow, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton) is much better, he didn't annoy me, so there's that. This one might have come in just outside of the top 100, but I actually happened to catch this one again not too long ago, and found it held up rather well and I found myself reconsidering it for this list.

92. The Devil And Daniel Johnston

(2006) Jeff Feuerzeig - USA

I wouldn't necessarily consider myself a fan of Johnston's music, but I did find this documentary about this man and his career to be a rather amazing look at mental illness. I can't say I knew much about the man beforehand, though I'd heard of him and was aware that he had a small but devoted cult following, I was unaware of the man's battle with severe bipolar disorder that has both shaped his work and undermined any hopes for success he would ever have.

91. The Virgin Suicides
(2000) Sofia Coppola - USA

Back when this came out, I saw the trailer, and I didn't recall thinking too much of it (I think it had somewhat of a teeny bopper chick-literature appeal), but I caught it later on DVD and was interested to find it had more depth than I imagined it to have. The story focuses more on the group of young boys in the film who now, 25 years later, are recalling the events that occurred one summer when the Lisbon sisters - the object of all the boys affections - offed themselves, and the memory that lingers for them all these years later. Coppola gives the film a very moody, mysterious aura and manages to imbue the whole film with a very distinct feeling of time and place that makes this film work so well. I was happy that my preconceived notions were wrong.

90-81 will be up soon...

Top 100 Films Of The Decade: 90-81

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90. Burn After Reading
(2008) Joel and Ethan Coen - USA

In conversation, I've discovered that this falls into that "love it or hate it" category that so many Coen Brothers films seem to fall into. Quite obviously, I'm on the "loved it" side of that debate. I don't think Brad Pitt or Frances McDormand have ever been funnier or more endearing, and while it may be a screwball comedy that doesn't add up to much, it's one hell of an entertaining ride.

89. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
(2006) Cristi Puiu - Romania

This one's a bit more difficult to pigeonhole... a darkly comedic tragedy, perhaps? Anyway, this tale of a dying man being shuffled from hospital to hospital all over Bucharest is among the best of a great crop of films coming out of Romania these days.

88. Zombieland

(2009) Ruben Fleischer - USA

For whatever reason, I have a strange affection for zombie films, and seeing this in a crowded theater certainly added to that experience (it doesn't fare quite as well at home for me). It provided me with one of the most flat out entertaining theater-going experiences of the past year. And although Woody Harrellson earned an Oscar nomination for his performance in The Messenger I actually prefer his performance in this one, as the wisecracking Tallahassee, who gave the movie some of it's best laughs, along with the surprise celebrity cameo (which I won't ruin for you).

87. Gomorrah

(2008) Matteo Garrone - Italy

Five different stories interweave in this film with one common bond: The Camorra, a Naples-based crime syndicate that controls the city and whose tentacles extend far beyond just the seedy criminal underworld. The stories are based on an exposé done by Roberto Saviano, who now lives under 24-hour government protection because of what he managed to expose about the Camorra's operations. If you're fond of films like The Godfather series or Scarface (which serves as the inspiration for the two young wanna-be gangsters at the center of one story), you may want to give this one a go.

86. The Magdalene Sisters

(2003) Peter Mullan - Ireland

The Magdalene Laundries in Ireland were a place where "wayward" girls were sent for punishment, forced to work mercilessly while enduring cruel abuse at the hands of the nuns that headed the laundries. This is the story of one group of girls sent to live there back in the 1960's, many of whom found themselves there for wrongs that would even be considered slight by 60's standards. I don't much care for the trailer (Miramax went through a period where they had to make all of their films look like "triumphs of the human spirit," and this is one example). It's a lot grittier than the trailer suggests.

85. Half Nelson

(2006) Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden - USA

As a devoted educator and teen basketball coach by day and a crack addict by night, Ryan Gosling deservingly garnered an Oscar nomination for his performance in this one. Matching him every step of the way was young Shareeka Epps, as a street smart young girl finding herself at a crossroads - she's clearly capable of so much more than what her surroundings offer her, yet in danger of becoming another statistic of those surroundings. An incredibly smart and insightful character study.

84. Together

(2001) Lukas Moodysson - Sweden

Set in the mid-70's, the story starts off with a young mother of two leaves her alcoholic abusive husband and takes her two kids with her to go and live with her brother, who lives in a hippie commune with a group of friends. And what follows is a film about a lot of things, really.

But, what I most took away from this film was how human each character is made to feel. The group of hippies might constantly espouse ideals that they don't always live up to; the concept of "free love" isn't without unintended consequences; the characters who might seem unfathomable aren't portrayed as saints, but aren't beyond redemption either. And what I think most impressed me about Moodysson's first two films (1998's Show Me Love being the other) was that he has a remarkable knack for depicting children. While I felt that there were a lot of great storylines here, the one that strikes the most resonant chord was that of the little girl forced to move in with this commune of people she doesn't understand and her blossoming friendship with the chubby kid from across the street whose ultra-conservative parents despise everything the commune represents.

83. Cocaine Cowboys

(2006) Billy Corben - USA

I've found that some of my favorite documentaries from the past decade aren't necessarily the most well-made films in the world in terms of filmmaking gifts, but the stories they tell are so compelling that I'm more than willing to overlook some of their shortcomings, and this would certainly be one of them. Cocaine Cowboys takes an uncompromising look at the cocaine trade that exploded in Miami in the 70s and 80s and the gruesome violence that came along with it. Some of the reenactments they use are kind of corny, but the stories presented were compelling enough to inspire a number of films and television shows, like Scarface and Miami Vice. Cocaine Cowboys takes a long hard look at the true stories of what went on, and it's horrifying but completely compelling.

82. Sideways

(2004) Alexander Payne - USA

I have to admit that my reaction to this one wasn't one of immediate adoration. Upon first viewing, it was one of those cases where the hype that built during limited release elevated my expectations to unrealistic levels, so I left a little disappointed. Thankfully, I gave it a second chance down the road, and I think it helped me revel in the nuances that I was unable to when burdened with lofty expectations. I found so many relatable characteristics in each of the four main characters, and I found Virginia Madsen's dialogue with Paul Giamatti in the scene paralleling wine with life to be one of the more sly and fascinating insights on life articulated on screen during the past decade.

81. The Aura

(2006) Fabián Belinsky - Argentina

Belinsky only got a chance to make two films before his untimely death, and both of them are worth the watch. While Nine Queens got a little more ink upon its release, I prefer his later film. The story centers on an epileptic whose otherwise a relatively simple, normal man, but he often fantasizes about pulling off heists. He has no intention of actually carrying them out, but simply enjoys thinking about the various angles and formulating the plans. However, an ill-fated camping trip sets off a chain of events that lands him right in the middle of a heist in the works. While there are a lot of coincidences you need to suspend belief for, somehow Belinsky makes it all work.

80-71 coming this weekend...

Top 100 Films Of The Decade: 80-71

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80. Katyn
(2009) Andrzej Wajda - Poland

Andrzej Wajda’s epic tale surrounding the massacre of 20,000 Poles in the Katyn Forest was one of the nominations they got right in the 2007 foreign film race at the Oscars. While it seems to have come and gone on these shores during 2009 with little notice, it’s an incredible tale, looking at the everything that led to the massacre and what was left in its wake. Wajda makes some smart moves in letting the tale unfold and I found it to be one of the more interesting epics of the past few years by focusing less on the war itself and more on it’s aftermath.

79. Jesus' Son
(2000) Alison Maclean - USA

This is a strange little film, but one that managed to stick with me over the course of the decade. It's based on a compilation of short stories written by Denis Johnson that follows a character referred to only as Fuckhead (or "FH" for polite company) as he hits the ups and downs of heroin addiction and recovery. It has sort of a strange beatnik quality about the whole thing, and it's a bit rough around the edges. But somehow, it managed to get lodged in the brain and hasn't left since.

78. Ratatouille
(2007) Brad Bird & Jan Pinkava - USA

While many folks I know love the crap out of the Pixar movies, I don't really have the same enthusiasm (I thought Wall-E and The Incredibles were also really good. Up and Finding Nemo, not so much). Even though it might just be the foodie in me saying this, I did really like this one a lot. The animation was perfect (not to mention how difficult it would be to make Paris look bad), and I just found myself wrapped up in this one just like I was a kid again.

77. Battle Royale

(2001) Kinji Fukasaku - Japan

This is probably better described as a guilty pleasure than a "great" film, but damn if it isn't a lot of fun. Set in the not-too-distant future, a class of Japanese students take a class trip where they discover that they've been selected for a special competition. One where they have three days to kill off the rest of their classmates until there is one student left standing.

76. Brokeback Mountain

(2005) Ang Lee - USA

I don't think I need to give you much of a synopsis with this one since it was a pretty big touchstone of pop culture, and I think it will always be looked upon as such. Although I may not hold it in quite the same esteem as many do, I still think it's a damn fine movie with great performances from Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Michelle Williams (who'd have thunk the girl from "Dawson's Creek" would emerge as one of the most interesting actresses of the latter half of the decade?), beautiful cinematography, and a really solid story.

75. The Strangers

(2008) Bryan Bertino - USA

While this decade saw the birth of "torture porn" where anything and everything went, I much prefer a film like this, which is a lot more like a throwback to the horror films I grew up with. A pretty simple story really, but one executed quite well and with surprisingly good performances (and a pretty great one from Liv Tyler of all people... go figure!) I think as far as this genre is concerned, less is usually more.

74. Offside

(2007) Jafar Panahi - Iran

Since women are forbidden from attending sporting events in Iran, a group of young girls who want to see the game dress up like boys and sneak in. While it's implied that many did get through, this one focuses on the girls who didn't, detained and held within a tiny area within the stadium. It's a small film that makes as big of a political statement as one could possibly hope to make under such a strict regime. Sadly, Jafar Panahi, who has been a pretty outspoken detractor of the Iranian government and their policies, was arrested along with his family and houseguests earlier this month amid a sweeping crackdown of the opposition, and few details have emerged since. I hope he is still alive and will someday be able to make some additional contributions to world cinema.

73. The New World

(2005) Terrence Malick - USA

I put this one off for a few years... I think it was because of Malick's dreadfully dull previous film, The Thin Red Line. It's a shame that I waited as long as I did to finally sit down and watch it, but I'm glad I did. It's a great retelling of the tale of John Smith and Pocahontas and hands down one of the most beautifully shot films of the decade. The pacing may be a bit slow, but it never bothered me and it's a shame that Q'orianka Kilcher hasn't graced the screen since. She was quite a find and carried the film on her shoulders admirably for her first film.

72. Volver

(2006) Pedro Almodóvar - Spain

Almodóvar's films are always somewhat of an event for me, especially with his last five films. He's become a master at jumping from one genre to the next and even blending multiple genres into a great experience, and Volver is certainly no exception. There is a very fine line between saying too much or too little about this one, so I'll err on the side of vagueness, but it's a partly tragic/partly comic tale about two sisters who are revisited by their long dead mother who returns to fix the things she couldn't necessarily do the first time around.

71. Inglourious Basterds

(2009) Quentin Tarantino - USA

Leave it to old Quentin to make WWII exciting to watch on screen again. Not to sound callous about such a hugely tragic event, but I don't think any historical event has generated more films than WWII and the Holocaust, and I'm progressively finding that it's getting more and more difficult to find something new to say about it. So, in that regard alone I found Tarantino's revisionist take on the war pretty refreshing. But even beyond that, Tarantino brings his usual verve to the film, making a nearly two and a half hour film go by in a flash, and I loved that he used he was able to bring a little more exposure to some consistently reliable foreign actors like Daniel Brühl while introducing me to a few like Christoph Waltz and Mélanie Laurent. And if I'm being totally honest, I kind of love the fact that he was able to lure a lot of people into the theater who wouldn't ordinarily give a subtitled film a chance.

Top 100 Films Of The Decade: 70-61

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70. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
(2005) Shane Black - USA

One of the decade's most overlooked comedies. This one tanked hard when it opened and it was in and out of theaters very quickly, so it never quite found an audience. A shame, because it's quite a bit funnier than what passes as comedy these days. Written and directed by the same guy who wrote Lethal Weapon, Black kind of toys with all of the cliches he created 20 years earlier. Robert Downey, Jr.'s bumbling idiot con man and Val Kilmer's wisecracking gay detective made for one of the best comedic teams this decade.

69. Dogville
(2003) Lars Von Trier - Denmark

For the uninitiated, I would have to say that Von Trier's works are not the easiest to get into but they're certainly ones that you won't walk away from with a feeling of indifference. He's very much a provocateur in every sense and his films can be nihilistic (as an aside, if you've not seen The Onion spoofing his works, it's an absolute must see) but I find them pretty fascinating, at least in most cases. In Dogville, he assembles a stellar cast including Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, Patricia Clarkson and this one plays unlike any other film I'd seen before. The best way to describe it is that it looks like watching the dress rehearsal to a stage production, with chalk outlines on the floor taking the place of structures. It's an absolutely uncompromising film, and while I think I think he's made his points a little more effectively in the past, his condemnation on xenophobia here is quite compelling.

68. Memento
(2001) Christopher Nolan - USA

Earlier this decade, I might've told you that this one would go down as one of the decade's classics. While I still think it's a well made and inventive thriller, it hasn't held up quite as well as I thought it might. But, I think that once you move past the timeplay gimmick, there is a pretty interesting revenge thriller underneath it all.

67. You Can Count On Me
(2000) Kenneth Lonergan - USA

At the outset, we learn that two siblings are orphaned at an early age, but we get to know them as adults. The brother, played by Mark Ruffalo in his breakthrough performance, comes home to stay with the sister, Laura Linney in the role that singlehandedly reversed my opinion of her as an actress. They're both screwups in their own ways... he's been in and out of trouble his whole life while she's a single mother who puts on the facade of having things figured out, but isn't any better. It's a fascinating take on sibling relationships that has some interesting insights.

66. Juno
(2007) Jason Reitman - USA

While I'm aware that this one elicited just as many groans from people over the too-snappy dialogue and it's annoying soundtrack (on that point, I'll agree), I still think this movie happens to be funny as hell and filled with a lot of great moments. Sure, it may have a "trying-too-hard" feel about it for the first 20 minutes or so, but I think once it finds its groove, it's pretty great and has just the right amount of heart.

65. Tell No One
(2008) Guillaume Canet - France

A couple are attacked at their isolated vacation home, leaving him severely injured and her dead. Though he cleared his name in the matter, the police have their suspicions, especially when eight years later, two more bodies are discovered on the property. Meanwhile, he begins to receive e-mails from an unknown sender showing clips of what appears to be his wife... still alive. It's a pretty great thriller filled with twists and turns and it's one of those films that hooks you in pretty easily and never gets dull.

64. The White Ribbon
(2009) Michael Haneke - Germany

Along with Von Trier, who I discussed earlier, Haneke is another of modern cinema's great provocateurs, but I think his films manage to provoke in a different way. He's a little less "in your face" and takes a bit more of a cerebral approach. He seems to love nothing more than to toy with his audience and not give you the easy answers that you've come to expect from most films. Instead of hand delivering you quick resolutions, he's much more content to let you come up with those on your own and allow you to walk away interpreting the film in your own way and that might be entirely different from what the person next to you thought. And while that seems to be maddening to many, it's precisely what I love about Haneke.

This one takes place in a small German village just before the first world war, and strange things are afoot. Misdeeds committed against neighbors and we don't know who and we don't know why. A lot of carrots get dangled in your face, but just far enough out of reach to not grasp them immediately. For my fellow Tampa residents, this one is playing over at the Tampa Theater as we speak, so if you want a break from the norm and want a film that you could sit down and discuss with an intelligent friend afterward, this should be a priority.

63. Oasis

(2004) Chang-dong Lee - South Korea

Probably the most unconventional romantic relationship of the decade plays out here between a complete social misfit and a woman stricken with cerebral palsy. He's a complete mess, but takes a shine to her... maybe it's because she's a fellow outcast or his only option, but it seems horrifying at first and then in time becomes completely endearing. And mostly because of the high-wire act that Moon So-ri pulls off here. Until the fantasy sequences begin, you would have no idea that the actress in the role is not afflicted with the condition. She plays it so authentically it's almost scary.

62. The Descent
(2006) Neil Marshall - UK

Horror is a genre I totally grew up on and love, but it just seems to be a genre that nowadays doesn't really get it right for me, outside of a few instances, and this would be one of those instances that did get it right. It's about a group of women who are adventure sport enthusiasts who decide to take a spelunking trip. And right off the bat, I should tell you that if you have even the slightest claustrophobia, it's only going to heighten the terror for you. They get caved in and are desperate to find a way out. Soon enough though, they realize that their fear isn't so much that they are trapped in, but what they are trapped in with.

61. Elegy
(2008) Isabel Coixet - USA/Spain

There's so much I love about this film. First off, to take a novel from an author (Phillip Roth) who is most often associated with misogyny and make it seem like a more balanced take takes a special gift, but she could never pull it off without coaxing some great performances out of her main characters. Under Coixet's direction, Penélope Cruz, Ben Kingsley, and Patricia Clarkson all gave their finest performances of the decade here in a tale about a womanizing college professor who goes after his young female students for a quick bang until he meets Consuela, a Cuban grad student who invokes feelings he never bothered to feel before. It's a very smart film about commitment and accepting it or running away from it.

Top 100 Films Of The Decade: 60-51

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60. Lorna's Silence
(2009) Jean-Luc and Pierre Dardenne - Belgium

This is one of those films that I wish had actually been longer. Not because I thought it was missing anything, per se. It's just that I could have easily spent another hour with this story. It's about an Armenian immigrant who marries a junkie for Belgian citizenship, with everyone suspecting that he'll probably just overdose and the marriage will simply be a quick formality. But when Lorna begins to find herself caring enough to try and help her husband get off heroin, it throws the carefully laid plans, and Lorna's well-being, in jeopardy.

59. Shortbus
(2006) John Cameron Mitchell - USA

I wouldn't hesitate to call this the most sexually explicit film to get any sort of release this past decade, with pretty much everything you could imagine depicted on screen, I found this one took an interesting approach; it pretty much inundates you with sex right off the bat in a way to address the taboo and move past it so that it can address the entanglements of sex and relationships without it overwhelming the stories that unfold. May be a bit extreme for most tastes, but I found it to be a bittersweet look at sex, love, and relationships.

58. Il Divo
(2009) Paolo Sorrentino - Italy

It’s rare, but every so often, I’ll sit down and watch a movie and just know instantly that I’m in for a treat of a film. This is how I felt when I popped Il Divo in and those opening credits rolled with such energy to a kickass soundtrack, and I just knew I was going to adore the film. Toni Servillo is excellent as Giullio Andreotti and along with 2008’s Gomorrah (also starring Servillo), they make excellent companion pieces showing a darker side of Italy’s past and present.

57. XXY
(2008) Lucia Puenzo - Argentina

Alex was born as a hermaphrodite, and while her parents opted to raise her as a girl, they never surgically altered her, as they felt it would be better to let Alex make that decision when she gets old enough to make that decision. As a young teenager now, she is grappling with those decisions, while going through all of the identity crises and growing pains that most kids endure during that tumultuous time in their lives. I thought this was a pretty interesting, mature, and sincere story about a topic that is typically played for laughs and just one of many interesting films to come out of Argentina over the past decade.

56. Brick

(2006) Rian Johnson - USA

This one feels like watching an old 50's film noir but places it into modern day among a group of high school students, and makes it all feel fresh again. The characters speak their own vernacular and the tale twists and turns in a fun and involving way. In the private eye role, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (probably best known as the little kid from Third Rock From The Sun) is fantastic and it's one of several movies he's chosen that shows that he has great promise as an actor.

55. The Son

(2003) Jean-Luc & Pierre Dardenne - Belgium

I found this to be a rather intriguing film and mostly because you don't know exactly what's going on for most of the film, and for that reason, you're not going to get a word out of me concerning the plot. But the way the film unfolds makes it one of the most tense films I can recall seeing in ages and keeps you completely glued to the screen.

54. Time of the Wolf

(2004) Michael Haneke - France

While Haneke's films often provoke discussion, this one seems to have gone under the radar for the most part. Not sure whether it's just been underseen or not as well regarded, but I think his post-apocalyptic tale is an exceptional film that should be considered among his better works. Starring the always reliable Isabelle Huppert, this one focuses on a family thrust into survival mode after the world around them suddenly goes to hell.

53 Ghost World

(2001) Terry Zwigoff - USA

I love a good smartass, and Enid and Rebecca (Thora Birch and Scarlett Johansson) are two of the decade's best, whether ridiculing their oblivious classmates or the odd assortment of goofballs that they see at their local diner. It's smart, snarky and snarly, and I love the hell out of it.

52. Almost Famous

(2000) Cameron Crowe - USA

It's kind of fitting that this semiautobiographical tale about the young protagonist's adventures on the road and the first love that ensues was the first film that I loved out of the decade. Not perfect, but I enjoyed the ride immensely and the entire ensemble is aces here, especially Frances McDormand as the neurotic mother. And man oh man, how I wish Kate Hudson would have followed up the promise of this role with something interesting instead of becoming the queen of dipshit romantic comedies.

51. A Very Long Engagement
(2004) Jean-Pierre Jeunet - France

A young couple set to be married are interrupted when he gets sent off to the trenches of World War I and doesn't return. Although he is believed to have perished in the war, she sets off to find him, or at least to find out what happened to him, tracking down the men who served on the front lines with him. She learns that he became trapped in the no man's land between the French and German trenches, but from there, the accounts of what became of him vary. However, her quest to learn the truth runs into problems when it turns out that she isn't the only one seeing out his fellow soldiers. Someone else is also seeking them out, but with very different intentions in mind. Jeunet's films always have a distinct look to them, but his look has never seemed quite as stunning as it appears here.

Coming soon... the top 50!

Top 100 Films of The Decade: 50-41

2010-03-22T23:37:00.012-04:00

50. The Saddest Music In The World
(2004) Guy Maddin -Canada

When one of your major characters has prosthetic legs filled with beer, there's not much to dislike, as far as I'm concerned. Absurdly funny story about a beer baroness who starts a contest in Winnipeg to find out which country's music is truly the saddest in the world. Weirdly surreal and while Maddin is somewhat of a taste I've yet to totally acquire, I had a lot of fun with this. And did I mention beer legs?

49. The Dark Knight

(2008) Christopher Nolan - USA

I've never been too fond of comic book movies, even as a kid. I don't know why, but it was just never really my thing. Even with months of hype leading into this, I just really didn't have any sense of excitement about it and the only reason I ended up seeing it was because I attended a critics' screening. So, I was pleasantly caught off guard by how much I liked this, how well it was made. While a film like this is certainly prone to fanboyism and hyperbolic statements, if anyone were to call this the greatest comic book movie ever made, I certainly wouldn't onject to such a claim.

48. Milk
(2008) Gus Van Sant - USA

I thought this one did a great job of telling Milk's story, or at least the story I knew of based on the '84 documentary The Times of Harvey Milk. While Anita Bryant's crusade to ban gay teachers was sweeping America, it was heartening to see a leader like Harvey Milk stand up and get people to action against ballot initiatives like that, even his stands ultimately cost him his life. The film is problematic at times, but even those problems were easily overlooked when compared to how much it got right.

47. Everlasting Moments

(2009) Jan Troell - Sweden

I can’t help but to feel Ingmar Bergman’s presence lingering over this story of the Larsson family, a struggling family at the turn of the century in Malmo, Sweden. While the Larssons are often faced with grim circumstances, usually resulting from the boorish, abusive alcoholic father’s actions, the film still manages to charm, mostly due to a pitch-perfect performance by Maria Heiskanen, as the matriarch who finds an outlet for expression through photography.

46. Riding Giants
(2004) Stace Peralta - USA

I really enjoyed this one a lot when it came out, and purchased it on DVD not long after, but it mostly sat on my shelf and collected dust. It was only when I went looking for age-appropriate movies for my friends kids to watch that I rediscovered this one and how immensely watchable and rewatchable it was, and how much all of us, adults and kids alike enjoyed it. It's a documentary about the history of surfing: it's beginnings, it's culture, and it's evolution as a sport elevated with fantastic visuals and a pretty killer soundtrack.

45. Waltz With Bashir
(2008) Ari Folman - Israel

Probably the most interesting foreign-language animated documentary you're likely to see. The story concerns a group of soldier's recollections about the Palestine War in the early 80's and their various recollections. But the film's focus is just as much on the very elusive nature of memory as it is about the war itself. Fascinatingly told and wonderfully animated, it's one of those films where I needed a second viewing because I was so entranced by the visuals that I'd occasionally ignore the subtitles at the bottom of the screen.

44. C.R.A.Z.Y.
(2005) Jean-Marc Vallée - Canada

It's too bad that this epic family saga about five brothers and their parents, which spans the late sixties through the eighties never got theatrical distribution in the United States. While it swept Canada's equivalent of the Oscars, my understanding is that acquiring the licensing rights to the film's amazing soundtrack (The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, among others) was going to cost far more than a French-Canadian release would likely ever gross in the U.S., making it cost prohibitive to distribute. Luckily, it is available on DVD and it's one definitely one worth seeing if you have the chance.

43. In America

(2003) Jim Sheridan - UK

Great little film about a family of Irish immigrants who move to America following the death of their little boy. While the two young daughters revel in everything new and different America has to offer, the parents find that changing their surroundings won't necessarily help them fix what's broken in their family. Both sweetly charming and heartbreaking at the same time, this is one of the few films that left me sitting in my seat at the in the theater while the credits rolled trying to not let a tear come out. It may just be a guy thing to not want to shed a tear in a movie, but I'll be man enough to admit that this one nearly did me in.

42. Children of Men
(2006) Alfonso Cuarón - UK

Another post-apocalyptic tale here, this time in a world where women are no longer able to conceive and with grim prospects of survival, the world has become increasingly violent and militaristic. But when a young girl is discovered to be pregnant, it becomes a race to get her out of the country in order to ensure the species' survival. Easily Cuarón's best film to date (and he's got several good ones).

41. Traffic

(2000) Steven Soderbergh - USA

As has often been the case, we've attempted to solve complex problems with simple solutions, and Traffic kind of depicts just some of the reasons why the war on drugs was destined to be a battle we'd lose. It only really hits the tip of the iceberg, but makes an effective case all the same. Great ensemble cast and well written look at the challenges we face in a war without a clearly visible enemy.

Top 100 Films Of The Decade: 40-31

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40. About A Boy
(2002) Chris and Paul Weitz - UK

When this one came out, like many people I know, I thought "great, another lame ass romantic comedy with Hugh Grant" and decided to dismiss it as something I had no interest in seeing. A few months later though, I found myself on a transatlantic flight, it was the movie option, so I figured what the hell.... I have nothing better to do for the next 8 hours. And I was shocked out how much I liked it. Hugh Grant was much better in the film than he's been in most everything else I've seen him in, Toni Collette is always a welcome presence, and the film is quite entertaining. If you dislike Hugh Grant (and I know many who do), don't let that dissuade you.

39. Shaun Of The Dead
(2004) Edgar Wright - UK

In the realm of zombie movies, this decade brought two new developments, one of which was the intentionally funny zombie comedy film (or at least bringing that subgenre to the forefront... I'm not an expert on all the straight-to-video B-movies). And this one is still the funniest. Mixing deadpan British humor with the old school zombies made for a great mix, with these two dolts who don't even seem to notice that the people around them are turning into the flesh eating undead ("Oh my god, she's so.... drunk!"). Great fun!

38. The Devil Came On Horseback
(2007) Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg - USA

While I think most people are aware of the genocide taking place in Darfur, I think this documentary does an excellent job of explaining its roots and what's really happening over there. The film doesn't spare you images that will shock and appall you, but there's no way to sit through this one unaffected. Essential viewing for those who care about what's going on in the world around you.

37. Mister Lonely
(2008) Harmony Korine - USA

This story about celebrity impersonators is likely to inspire as much loathing in some and admiration by others. I'm not typically a fan of Korine's work, but found myself fascinated by the characters and what it says about celebrity obsession. Between the main story of the impersonators and the side story involving Werner Herzog as a missionary priest and a group of nuns who discover that miracles can happen in the strangest of ways, you'll either buy into the absurdity or dismiss it, but it's one that certainly seems to inspire strong feelings one way or another.

36. Closer

(2004) Mike Nichols - UK

Sexual politics have rarely been depicted so brutally on screen. Two couples, meet, fall in love, cheat and spend much of the movie tearing each other to shreds with barbs so foul they'd make a sailor blush. It may have been jarring for many to see two of America's sweethearts (Julia Roberts and Natalie Portman) so foul mouthed and cruel, yet I admired the risk. And since I think it's Roberts' finest work to date, I wish she'd take more risks like this one.

35. The Woodsman

(2004) Nicole Kassell - USA

It's not easy to humanize a monster, but I think Kassell did a fine job here depicting the life of a pedophile following his release from prison. The film doesn't excuse his past deeds or make you feel sorry for him. It depicts a man who wants to change and fights very hard to do so, but is persistently beaten down from being able to get on with his life. We often say that if you do the crime, you should pay the time, but at what point do you stop paying? I don't think there is anyone on Earth more demonized than someone who molests a child, and justifiably so. And while it's absolutely a concern to make sure a pedophile doesn't strike again, the film made me put knee-jerk emotional responses aside for a moment and try to think a little more rational way to handling the situation.

34. A MightyWind

(2003) Christopher Guest - USA

With his earlier films, Waiting For Guffman and Best In Show, Guest's previous mockumentaries lampoon their subjects in a fairly mean spirited manner. Not that I'm complaining about that - they make me laugh my ass off. But I think what distinguishes A Mighty Wind from the others is that it has more of a sweetly nostalgic approach in mind. This one follows a group of folk musicians being reunited for a benefit concert following the death of the man who long ago discovered and signed all of these groups. While it gently pokes fun, it also has a kinder tone to the jokes. And Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy getting to perform "A Kiss At The End Of The Rainbow" at the Oscars was one of my favorite moments of this decade's ceremonies.

33. Once

(2007) John Carney - Ireland

Speaking of great musical performances at the Oscars, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova are outstanding in this small film about two musicians who meet and feel a connection that isn't meant to be. But the music they play throughout the film suggests what could have been. A little film that left a big impression and one of the best soundtracks of the decade. The win for "Falling Slowly" is among my favorites.

32. (tie)

Infernal Affairs (2004) Wai-keung Lau and Alan Mak - Hong Kong

The Departed (2006) Martin Scorsese - USA

It's rare, but every so often a remake works. And in this case, I like both the original and Scorsese's remake on about equal footing, so I felt it appropriate to lump them together for the purposes of this list. I'll credit the original with the story and coming up with a thrilling tale about the police and the mafia, their informants and rampant double crossings. But I have to give Scorsese some credit as well, even for as simple a task as "not screwing it up." (while that hardly seems a reason for praise, it's just so incredibly rare for the remake to get it right). But, I also like the way he incorporated in and made it feel like an authentically Bostonian tale. I can't honestly say that I have a preference between the two films.

31. Adaptation
(2002) Spike Jonze - USA

When tasked with adapting The Orchid Thief into a screenplay, Charlie Kaufmann (one of the most interesting screenwriters going) was stuck. His solution? Turn the film into a story about the impossible task of adapting this novel about a lunatic (brilliantly played by Chris Cooper) who poaches orchids from the Everglades. And in doing so, he crafted yet another brilliant tale that ends in him playing fast and loose with the story and inventing a completely different story that ends up being pretty much everything he didn't want the film to be. But thank god for it... there's such a perverse joy in watching Meryl Streep (playing the book's author) transforming from a straight laced and dignified Manhattanite into a drug sniffing criminal, in what would easily go down as my favorite comedic performance she's ever done.

Top 100 Films of The Decade 30-21

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30. 28 Days Later
(2003) Danny Boyle - UK

This one revitalized an entire genre of horror. Instead of the lethargic, slow moving zombies we've come to know, the "infected" are much more like ferocious animals. But beyond that, I liked the way the story starts out with Cillian Murphy's character having awoken to a vastly changed world and having no idea about what's going on until he meets other survivors. Unquestionably my favorite horror film of the past 10 years.

29. Ratcatcher
(2000) Lynne Ramsay - Scotland

Set in Glasgow during the garbage strike in the early 70's, Ratcatcher is a very quiet film about a young boy both coming of age in seemingly hopeless surroundings and coping with the grief of having lost a young playmate. While it has a dingy squalid look to the film, there are moments of strange beauty to be found. There isn't a tremendous amount of dialogue, so it's often left up to the young actor at he center of the film to convey feelings through subtlety, and it's rare to see a child actor pull that off like William Eadie does here.

28. The Hurt Locker
(2009) Kathryn Bigelow - USA

With so many war films, it seems like the attitude is "we've got a $150 million budget, and damn it, we're gonna show you $150 million worth of crap blowing up," I think The Hurt Locker was smart to instead opt for keeping your attention by escalating tension. In showing the complexities of diffusing the IEDs hidden in the ground and amongst the rubble, the explosive experts at the heart of this story have to carefully watch their every movement while also keeping a keen eye peeled on every little thing happening around them. While I can't say how realistically it depicts taking on these tasks in war torn Iraq, it felt authentic every step of the way.

27. Moolaadé
(2004) Ousmane Sembene - Senegal

This was the final film from Ousmane Sembene, Africa's most noted filmmaker, and I think it might have been his best. Moolaadé, or "Sanctuary," is a damning look at the African practice of female circumcision and woman's fight to prevent it. When a group of girls runs away from the ceremony, a woman named Collé, who has had to live with the devastating effects of her own circumcision, places a spell of protection over the girls, and instigating a huge rift amongst her clan. I found it a really fascinating film and one that gave me some insights into a world I'm not likely to ever see and a great call to stop a barbaric practice that still goes on in Africa.

26. City of God
(2003) Fernando Meirelles - Brazil

A brutal look at the crime and turf wars taking place in the slums of Rio de Janeiro. Told over the course of three decades (man, I feel like I've used that phrase a lot over the course of this little project) this one follows a group of kids into adulthood and their descent into a violent life of crime. Lil' Dice may be the youngest villain on this list, but in no way does his lack of size equate to a lack of ruthlessness.

25. The Pianist
(2002) Roman Polanski - France/Poland/Germany

While I may have lamented earlier about WWII films and how they rarely feel unique anymore, this is just one of those times where a traditionally told story about the era works because it's made so exceedingly well. I think part of why it worked so well is Polanski had his own experiences to draw from and incorporate into the story and it shows that it's a deeply personal one he's telling. And while I can't say that I've been particularly impressed with him since this film, I love that Adrien Brody picked up the Oscar (along with Polanski) for his turn here. Two well deserved Oscars.

24. United 93
(2006) Paul Greengrass - USA

I think this among the most memorable experiences I've had in a movie theater over the past decade. I recall playing hookie from work and catching a daytime screening in a mostly empty there in those rows of cheap movie theater seats, nestled amongst strangers, it enhanced the fly-on-the-wall feeling Greengrass creates. And even though you know how it's all going to end before you walk in, the entire theater sat in stunned silence long after the plane has gone down and the credits were rolling. 9/11 obviously taps into some deep emotions for everyone, even if we merely sat glued to their television that day, and I think Greengrass was the right director to helm the first film about it: it's not manipulative or exploitational in any way, but instead shows a realistic hypothetical for what those passengers endured in their final moments.

23 No Country For Old Men
(2007) Joel and Ethan Coen - USA

While the Coens be hit or miss for me, I think a lot of what I love about this is because of the chances it took. It's hard to articulate exactly what I mean by that since citing examples would reveal some crucial plot points. But suffice it to say that I like that things don't play out as you've come to expect with a lot of films. I really loved Tommy Lee Jones in this film, and as evil incarnate, Javier Bardem made for an unbelievably creepy villain, and not just because of his Dorothy Hamill haircut.

22. Yi Yi
(2000) Edward Yang - Taiwan

I couldn't find a trailer for this one, but I was able to find a clip of Ebert & Roeper reviewing it, which may be better anyhow. An epic tale about a Taiwanese family, I loved the way the stories of the parents connected with the stories of the children. It kind of reminded me of all the advice my parents tried to give me as a kid that I just wouldn't take and in retrospect, wished I had. And little Yang-Yang was the heart and soul of this movie, and I want to adopt about 10 of him.

21. Lilya 4-Ever
(2003) Lukas Moodysson - Sweden

A pretty brutal film about a young Russian girl who is abandoned by her mother. Left to her own devices, Lilya goes out partying all night and when she's not hosting glue-sniffing parties, she's spending her days with the young neighbor boy, Volodya, who has his own set of problems at home and becomes sort of her adopted little brother. She gets the promise of a way out and to have a better life in Sweden, but her naivete blinds her to the fact that true hell is just beginning. A devastatingly bleak story, and sadly, not too far removed for many youngsters in poverty stricken areas of the world.

Coming soon... The Top 20!

Top 100 Films Of The Decade: 20-11

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20. An Education
(2009) Lone Sherfig - UK

This is one of those films where the beauty is in the details. The story itself isn't particularly new, but it's the way it's told that matters. It's about Jenny, a young British girl who, for the most part, is a model student and preparing to go on to Oxford. Along the way though, she meets a man who seduces her by showing her the world outside of what she's learned about in textbooks.

As Jenny, Carey Mulligan is absolutely charming and effortlessly believable in the role.She exudes such a natural charisma and likability, and in her hands, Jenny is an easy character to relate to. And as her suitor, Peter Sarsgaard nails a deceptively tricky role, and the rest of the ensemble cast is pretty damn terrific too. And much credit also goes to Nick Hornsby (who wrote About A Boy and High Fidelity) for taking a story that might have seemed run-of-the-mill and making it feel fresh through incredible wit (the film is unexpectedly quite funny at times). Though I though 2009 was a fairly disappointing year for film, this one was the one I kept thinking back to the most and was a pretty easy choice for my favorite film of the year.

19. Persepolis
(2007) Marjane Satrapi - France

Based on her graphic novels, Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical tale about her childhood in Iran during the fall of the Shah, her school years in Europe and subsequent return to Iran is funny and stylish while not shying away from the horrors of what took place during those years.

While you may see more impressive animation from a technical standpoint, the simple hand drawn black and white animation employed here is no less striking. The film is incredibly faithful to the novels, retelling key moments in her formative years, which can be awfully disturbing at times while proving remarkably relatable at others. It's animation that's aimed squarely at adults and it was probably the most fulfilling animated film of the decade. And of special note for the subtitle averse... on the DVD, you can watch it either in French with English subtitles or you can watch it with English dubbing. While I'm not typically a fan of dubbing, it works just fine for this film.

18. Dear Zachary: A Letter To A Son About His Father
(2008) Kurt Kuenne - USA

I mentioned earlier how some of the decade's best documentaries weren't exactly the most well-made films and that would certainly apply here. Kuenne is a novice filmmaker and it shows. It felt as though he didn't trust his audience enough to recall earlier details of the story, and he goes back time and time again as if to say "See! I used foreshadowing there!" and these amateurish tricks are the sole reason this one doesn't rank higher for me.

However, few films tell a story as genuinely affecting as Dear Zachary. Kuenne's childhood best friend, Andrew Bagby, is found dead in a county park as the result of multiple gunshot wounds and all fingers point to the woman he recently left, Dr. Shirley Turner. She flees to Canada but is eventually charged with the crime and it comes out that Shirley is pregnant with Andrew's child.

So, Kuenne begins the film as a tribute to his friend, interviewing Andrew's friends and family, so that when Zachary is older he has some way of getting to know the father he never met. The focus of the film changes though as circumstances with the case evolve. I hate to say much more than that, as I think you really need to see it for yourself. But by the time the credits rolled, I was so seething with rage I couldn't see straight. As far as I'm concerned, Mr. and Mrs. Bagby, Andrew's parents, are worthy of sainthood. As for Shirley Turner... think of all the horrible words you could use to describe a woman and finding that none of them adequately reflect the hatred you feel. It almost begs you to invent a new word. You might find that harsh, but once you see the film.... trust me, you'll understand.

17. Bloody Sunday

(2002) Paul Greengrass - UK

While I think many of us grew up seeing the violence in Northern Ireland on television and singing along with U2 ("broken bottles under children's feet, bodies strewn across the dead end streets"), I don't know how many of us were acquainted with the events of January 30, 1972, when the English military opened fire on a peaceful rights protest, leaving 14 unarmed protesters dead, and drastically changing the atmosphere in Northern Ireland for decades to come.

While the Irish Republican Army was certainly in existence beforehand, the event served as a catalyst for the bloodshed that would later occur, driving many to enlist since a peaceful resolution seemed impossible. Greengrass films the story in a way that almost makes it feel like it was a documentary, and his interest in depicting momentous historical turning points without a heavy hand has made him one of the more fascinating filmmakers of the decade.

16. Kill Bill

(2003-2004) Quentin Tarantino - USA

I think this one, for me, is hands down the coolest film of the decade )they might have been separated out into Volume 1 and Volume 2 for theatrical release, but I consider it all one movie). Tarantino's love of 70's schlock has never been incorporated into one of his films more effectively and his ability to pair music to images works perfectly here.

From the knife fight at Vernita's house to the showdown with O-Ren Ishii and the Crazy 88's in Japan all the way through to the Daryl Hannah beatdown in Budd's trailer, this one's three and a half hours of pure joy from beginning to end, complete with memorable villains and over-the-top violence. A very, very bloody good time.

15. A Lion In The House

(2006) Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert - USA

In a complete gear shift, A Lion In The House is likely to be among the most grueling experiences you can imagine, but so incredibly rewarding for those who seek it out. It's not easy material: it's a documentary that follows five families coping with pediatric cancer over a six-year period.

While I think we can all imagine how horrible of an experience this would be for a family, The Lion In The House is pretty remarkable for how detailed and expansive the stories are. You learn about the experience from every angle: the children themselves and the pain they endure, the parents who are forced to make incredibly difficult choices about their child's treatment plan, the siblings who are shuffled to the back burner while the parents' attention is devoted to their sick child, the medical providers who come to know these children, bond with them, watch them suffer, and sometimes lose them. It gives you tremendous insight into what these families live through, and while it wasn't be the easiest way to spend four hours, I feel like a much better and more empathic for having learned about these families and their struggles.

14. Lost In Transalation

(2003) Sofia Coppola - USA

What I think I love about this film and why I identify with it is that it really spoke to those situations in life where I've felt a little bit like the outsider. And in Coppola's film, Charlotte, who's left alone in her Tokyo hotel most of the time while her husband is working very much feels like an outsider. She's immersed in a city she doesn't know, a culture she doesn't belong to, a language she doesn't understand.

And then she meets Bill Murray's character, Bob, and things click. While I've heard some feel it's a romantic spark or about a deep friendship, I think it's more about the kinship you feel when you discover someone else stuck in the same boat. You may not have a lot of things in common, but in that fleeting instant, you finally have someone who can relate to you in some way. I got the sense that Bob and Charlotte wouldn't likely ever meet again or keep in touch after the part ways. But for that brief moment in time, it's just great to have someone. And I don't think I've seen that sort of relationship really portrayed on screen so well. It's not about love, lust, or deep friendship. Sometimes, it's just about the comfort of not being alone.

13. The Secret Life of Words

(2006) Isabel Coixet - Spain

Like the film itself, the main character, Hanna, is very guarded. We know right off the bat that there is a story there, but she's slow to reveal it. We know few details about her outside of the fact that she is an immigrant who wears a hearing aid and she selectively turns it off when she wants to ignore the world around her.

She takes a volunteer nursing job and is flown out to an offshore oil rig where we learn there has been a tragic accident that has essentially stopped the rig from functioning. One man perished and another man, Josef, is severely injured and he is the man Hanna is brought in to care for. The two could not be any more different: he's talkative and borderline obnoxious, while she's very sparing with her words and distrustful. But they both share a painful past and secrets they carry that they're ashamed of.

When we finally learn Hanna's story, it's one of the most devastating monologues I've seen delivered in any decade. And in delivering this 12-minute speech, Sarah Polley is tremendous. In most films when an actress is given a scene like this, it's fodder for screeching and wailing in hopes of getting their Oscar clip. Here though, Polley plays Hanna as a woman who is swearing she's going to keep it together and that she will not let her resolve crumble, and it was a remarkable scene, especially considering how absolutely horrific the details of her story are. And in that scene, Tim Robbins (an actor I've never much cared for) quietly reacts to her story perfectly.

It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but I thought it was incredibly moving and thought-provoking.

12. Time To Leave

(2006) François Ozon - France

It's interesting that I have a difficult time summing up all the reasons I like this film in just a few short paragraphs despite the fact that it's a fairly simple story with a running time of about 1:25. I think it's in part because it brings a fresh perspective to a film about terminal illness. The main character, Romain is a bit of an ass, and learning of his impending fate doesn't really change that. Instead of finding a heart of gold and finding redemption, he only further isolates himself from those around him, tells no one but his grandmother of his diagnosis, and opts to spend most of his remaining time alone.

It's also partly because I think it's impeccably acted by everyone involved. As Romain, Melvil Poupaud turns in one of my favorite performances of the decade. Jeanne Moreau has always been a treasure in French cinema, and she continues to prove why here. And Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi is one of those actresses who can say more with a quick shift of her eyes than most can say with two pages of script in front of them. The final scene at the beach is one of the most perfect endings of the decade for me. Like the film, it's rather simple, but I thought it was quite brilliant.

11. Mysterious Skin

(2005) Gregg Araki - USA

I've never been a fan of Araki's films. They've always come off as trashy, amateurish, and just sort of ridiculous to me. So, despite positive reviews, I went into this one expecting very little, and was shocked at how resonant and thoughtful it was.

It focuses on two young men, both severely damaged, but with a shared past: back when they were 8 years old, the two boys were molested by their baseball coach. Now on the brink of adulthood, one of the guys, Neil, can't forget what happened to him; the other, Brian, has blocked the memory but knows that something very, very wrong happened and in time convinces himself that all of these things are the result of an alien abduction. It's a fascinating look at how one horrific shared event can destroy two lives and yet send them on such wildly divergent paths. While Araki's Smiley Face left me with little hope that he'd continue to make great films, I'll take the fluke, since one great film is more than I'm ever likely to make.

Top 100 Films Of The Decade: 10-1

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10. The Wrestler
(2008) Darren Aronofsky - USA

When the film opens, director Darren Aronofsky opts an interesting approach to introducing you to his film’s protagonist, Randy “The Ram” Robinson. It begins in the ring, and follows him through the drab corridors of the third-rate arena in which the fight took place, all the while focused on the back of The Ram’s head and the mane of long, wavy, dyed blonde hair that cascades down his back. It’s a good five minutes before you see The Ram’s face. But, when you finally see The Ram’s face, it tells a story, and you see what the years of abusing his body has done to him.

And while the opening credit sequence suggests what The Ram once was, you see the man as he is now. Long gone are the days of superstardom, and now he lives out of a trailer park, or at least when he can afford to pay the rent. Other nights are spent sleeping in his van during the chilly New Jersey winters. And the man you see now, is a washed up shell of a man who has few real skills who has nothing left to offer the world. He toils away as a stocker at a grocery store (and endures the constant mockery from his boss) while spending his weekends on the wrestling circuit desperately trying to hold on to the only thing he knows. And rather than focusing on priorities like rent, much of his time and money is spent on keeping up appearances with tanning sessions, salon appointments, and a regimen of performance enhancing drugs.

The Ram is a fascinatingly flawed character, but at the same time, incredibly human. And once you see Mickey Rourke in this role, it’s hard to imagine anyone else playing the part (especially since Nicholas Cage was the rumored replacement). And while it may be tempting to think that Rourke is simply playing a variation of himself, it’s more that Rourke has a history where he can bring something to this character that someone lacking that life experience could never hope to bring. In my opinion, everything you’ve heard about Rourke is true, and then some. For me, I found this to be a perfect marriage between an actor and a role that I’ve not seen since Hillary Swank in Boys Don’t Cry or Emily Watson in Breaking The Waves.

I also found Marisa Tomei's character to be just as fascinating, and I think her stripper Cassidy is essential to the film's success. While she's resistant to be close, in her The Ram finds a kindred spirit who is also in the business of selling her body under a stage persona. The characters are both what society might describe as losers, but you can't help but to root for these two incredibly endearing losers the whole time.

9. Bad Education
(2004) Pedro Almodóvar - Spain

Kind of amusing, and probably only to me, but I've started writing about this movie a few times, deleted it, started over, and deleted it again. So, I figured I'd try to see what Roger Ebert wrote. I don't always agree with his opinions, but I like how he writes. And, here's how he opened his review:

I've just thrown out the first 500 words of my review and am starting again with a sense of joy and release. I was attempting to describe the plot of "Bad Education." It was quicksand, and I was sinking fast. You and I have less than 1,000 words to spend together discussing this fascinating film, and not only would the plot take up half of that, but if I were by some miracle to succeed in making it clear, that would only diminish your pleasure. (You can click on the title for Ebert's far more expertly written piece)

So, it seems I'm not alone in feeling that trying to explain the plot would be a largely fruitless endeavor. But I'll try to give you the vaguest of outlines, Almodóvar goes Hitchcock here in a story about two men who once had the beginnings of a young relationship as children, but were driven apart by a child-molesting priest. Years later, they're reunited in attempting to retell their childhood story. But there's some interesting secrets about what happened in the years between. There's a story within a story that causes a third one to unravel and all sorts of secrets come spewing out.

Trying to juggle dueling storylines in a thriller like this one seems to be more than some directors can manage (and hell, some can barely manage one), but to pull off three different stories in a labyrinth like this one turns out to be seems to come with ease for Almodóvar. And in pulling off three different roles, Gael García Bernal proves to be the real deal.

8. Requiem For A Dream
(2000) Darren Aronofsky - USA

While the title makes reference to dreams, what goes down in this one can only be equated to nightmares. But nightmares have never looked as stylish as they do here. A compelling look at addiction, the film follows four characters in their descent into hell. Harry, his best friend and his girlfriend slowly sink into the throes of heroin addiction until they're unable to escape its grasp.

Meanwhile, Harry's mother becomes addicted to diet pills, and her descent may be even more heartbreaking. While she has dreams of being on television, she disintegrates by subjecting herself to the extremes of what her body and her psyche can handle by ingesting a steady mix of uppers and downers.

The film is an assault on the senses - the visuals are hallucinogenic, the sound, thanks to a score by the Kronos Quartet is foreboding and crushing, and it's a completely devastating overload on the brain.

7. The Lives of Others
(2006) Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck - Germany

Appropriately set in 1984, the cultural elite of East Germany are, unbeknownst to them, subject to constant surveillance, with the government looking to seek out those who are deemed disloyal to the government.

And a playwright, Dreyman, and his girlfriend, Christa-Marie, are no different. Their home is bugged and their wires are tapped. The man listening in on them is a head investigator who is so well regarded at what he does that he's also an instructor on interrogation techniques. But there is a danger in getting too close to the subjects you're investigating.

Back in 2006, I saw this one down at the film festival I attend each year in Sarasota. Based on what was available, it looked like a pretty disappointing lineup, but not long before the tickets went on sale, the Oscars released the list of films that each country had submitted as their official selection for the foreign film Oscar, and I noticed there were quite a few playing at the festival, so I pretty much based my schedule around that, since there weren't a great number of films I was excited about in advance. I saw quite a few and they were okay, but it was shaping up to be a rather lackluster festival for me, and then this blew me away. I had no expectations going into it, and immediately after seeing it, I knew it would win the Oscar. It just felt like a film that had to (even though most prognostications were saying it would go to Pan's Labyrinth).

And while the foreign language branch of the Oscars lets me down time and time again and have proven to pretty much have their heads firmly implanted up their asses, this is the one time this decade that they got the absolute right choice.

6. Dancer In The Dark
(2000) Lars Von Trier - Denmark

I should start out by saying that I'm not particularly fond of musicals. I find them mostly corny and goofy, and utterly lacking in any sense of realism I tend to gravitate toward with my film preferences. So, even if the very notion of watching a musical makes you cringe, keep reading.

You're unlikely to see a musical that's so damn gritty. Icelandic singer Björk stars as Selma Jezkova, an immigrant (I want to say Czech, but I'm not 100% certain about that all these years later) who, because of a genetic disorder, is going blind. She realizes that there is little hope for saving her eyesight, but she's working to save up money to get her son a crucial operation to spare him from the same fate. Unlike me, Selma has a love for musicals, and in her blindness, her daydreams lead her to hear music in the mundane noises around her... the rhythmic noise of factory machinery, the bustling of a nearby train, etc. It's the fantasy world that she escapes to when things get difficult. As a side note, remember the infamous swan dress? That's when she showed up at the Oscars to perform the film's most memorable number, "I've Seen It All."

I don't think I'd be giving anything away here (since it's in the trailer I linked above), that she kills a cop out of mercy and is then put on trial for it. What follows is an absolutely damning condemnation on the justice system, that's absolutely heartwrenching.

One issue I'd also like to address here is about the perception of misogyny with Von Trier's films. His films often feature women as the protagonists who endure great hardship, abuse, and dire circumstances, often painting the women in his stories as victims. I can certainly understand the perception, but I also think that a case can be made for the fact that Von Trier identifies with these women and begs you too as well. I happen to fall on the latter side of that debate, but I think, as is the case with most great filmmaking, that the debate itself is half of what makes films like this so vital.

Even though it's been ten years, I remember everything about seeing this one. My friend Trevor and I saw it at the Tampa Theater, balcony seats,right in the center. We saw it, and sat in stunned silence a the credits rolled and in the car leaving the theater. We went to Bennigan's afterward and just endlessly discussed it. It's a draining film, but how many film experiences in a lifetime can you recall that vividly ten years afterward? That's the sort of film Dancer In the Dark was for me.

5. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
(2007) Cristian Mungiu - Romania

While most reviews or synopses you might read include the basic premise in the description, I'm going to follow the trailer's lead and not reveal what it is that the girls here are up to. I knew going into it, but I think that with the way the film plays out, there would have been an added level of mystery had I not been aware ahead of time. If you want to know ahead of time, a quick Google search on the title will satisfy that itch, but for what it's worth, I think it's a film that's best approached with as little foreknowledge as possible.

At the outset, we learn that in 1987, two Romanian college girls living under Ceauşescu's regime are about to do something dangerous and illegal. We don't know quite what that is, but we do know that it thrusts them into the world of shady characters and potential peril. What ensues is an enthrallingly tense film about these girls and their criminal act.

The tension really kicks off once the two girls have their hotel room with "Mr. Bebe," played with icy brilliance with Vlad Ivanov (Romania is one of the most fascinating outlets for film in the modern era, and he seems to be emerging as the best actor to come out of it). From there, the film is utterly genius in how intense it became and how it escalates with each frame. Even though I know what happens in the film, I've watched it a few times since, and that tension is still very much alive on subsequent viewings. And I've not seen many films be able to pull off that achievement. If you want to see why Romania is at the forefront of world cinema these days, watch this one. It's friggin' amazing.

4. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
(2004) Michel Gondry - USA

A fascinatingly original film. Joel and Clementine have broken up and it's bitter and nasty and then Joel learns that Clementine underwent a procedure to permanently erase Joel from her memory. Out of spite, Joel goes to the clinic to undergo the same procedure and to eliminate any trace of Clementine. And the film takes us backwards through their relationship (the procedure works best, we're told, if the freshest memories are erased first). We see the fighting and the pettiness eventually give way to the times when everything was perfect and Joel decides that he doesn't want to let go of those memories. Physically, he's unconscious and unable to stop the procedure, but subconsciously, Joel fights to keep his memories of Clementine alive.

I actually loved the casting here. Not only were Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet an interesting match, it was interesting to see Carrey cast as someone so serious, while Winslet, who at the time was mostly known for period pieces, playing the free-spirit wild child with blue hair. It was almost as though the traits we associated with each actor were switched for these parts.

The film finds a wildly inventive way to tell a universal story and I can't imagine anyone not adoring the crap out of this movie.

3. Capturing The Friedmans

(2003) Andrew Jarecki - USA

The best documentary of the decade, without question. And interestingly enough, it started out with the director having an innocuous documentary in mind, focusing on children's birthday clowns in New York City. That is, until he learned of one clown's backstory, and the sweet little film about clowns was out the window.

The Friedmans were a seemingly average Jewish family living in the suburbs of Long Island and they were a particularly tight-knit group. That is until the image of the perfect family got shattered to pieces when the father and the youngest son are arrested on allegations that they were molesting the children who attended the computer tutoring sessions Mr. Friedman gave in the family basement. And what ensues tears the family apart.

Once we learn of the allegations, we get varying accounts... former students describing what happened and other students contradicting those stories. Investigators who worked the case detailing the evidence they uncovered and accounts that the investigators badgered the students with leading questions and accusing the children of hiding things. And one part of what makes this film interesting is that it doesn't try to lead you in any particular direction. You've quite likely to have an opinion, but then again, apply the standard to which jurors are held.. can you say for certain that Arnold and Jesse Friedman are guilty without a shadow of a doubt? And even if you feel that the father is guilty, is the son guilty by association?

But what makes this film really compelling is that one of the family's hobbies was making home movies, and they recorded practically everything that happened during that time. And when the mother (who's more just hopelessly naive, than anything else) expresses a feeling that she doesn't quite know what to believe, the sons all turn on her for not sticking up for her husband and her son. And the bitter arguments you witness as you slowly watch this family self-implode are so unbearably uncomfortable to watch because they feel like private moments that you shouldn't be watching. Have you ever been at a couple's home and it's just you and them, and then they get into a huge argument, and it's just you standing there, not knowing what to say and wanting to slink away unnoticed? I felt that way when I watched these moments that I shouldn't be watching.

Now, I can understand why people would sit back and wonder why I'd find this to be a good thing. It's because I think cinema, at its most powerful, should provoke you. It should make you question. And it should make you react. I like films that engage me as a viewer, no matter how it manages to do it. And this one managed to provoke me like few others.

2. Caché

(2005) Michael Haneke - France

As I mentioned before, Haneke is an interesting director. I find his films challenging, interesting, and unconventional in the sense that he knows what you, as a moviegoer, have come to expect, and he withholds it. He's the master at taking audience expectations for clean resolutions and disregarding that. If you want your films wrapped up at the end with a pretty little bow, you're barking up the wrong tree with his films.

The story here involves a couple who begin to receive mysterious deliveries. Vieotapes of their house under surveillance. Primitive, cryptic drawings. Any way you slice it, it would just be unnerving to have stuff like this show up at our door without explanation. Paranoia soon sets in, and wreaks havoc. Haneke's films prove difficult to write about when you don't want to say too much, so I'll stop at the basic premise here.

As for why this particular film lands so far up the ladder, I'd say that it's because of all his films, it's the one that seems the most tightly focused, the one that delivers the amongst the biggest jolts I encountered over the past decade, and the one that delivers the most concentrated dread.

1. Talk To Her

(2002) Pedro Almodóvar - Spain

I'm not always the best at translating my gut feeling about why I like something so strongly into words (and trust me, taking on this project was kind of overwhelming in that regard). I just figured that it would be less interesting if I threw 100 titles out there that were arbitrarily ranked. So, I guess it comes time for me to articulate why this one, more than the other 977 films I saw from the past decade stood out for me the most. So, here is my best attempt.

I missed this one back when it opened in early 2003, so I caught it on DVD, and had you told me immediately after watching it that it end up being my favorite movie of the decade, I probably would have thought you were high. Not that I didn't like it, but it wasn't one that necessarily had an immediate impact. I thought it was an interesting story about two men who were both coping with the women in their lives being braindead. I appreciated the fact that the impressions I had of the characters at the beginning were turned on it's head by the end of the film. I was certainly impressed with it.

But, it lingered for me. So, I checked it back out from Netflix again, and I uncovered new layers. I started seeing Benigno and Marco as representing the spectrum of the way in which men cope with tragedy: one extremely emotional, the other putting on the brave face. I ended up buying the DVD, and reading into it in yet a different way: seeing how having faith in miracles and holding onto hope just might make a difference, and it made me think of it in a much more spiritual way. The next time, I focused on how that spectrum of emotion I saw earlier doesn't mean that the emotions men show or hide make them any stronger or weaker.

I've watched it at least a dozen times now, and some new perspective reveals itself each time I've tackled it. The reason why I want to call this the best film of the decade it because now I see all these things. With each time I watched the film, a new layer revealed itself, and with so many layers on display now, I see such a multifacted story that I just can't compare it to anything else I've seen this past decade. I honestly can't recall a film that has compelled me to revisit it so many times, or a film that allowed me to take something new away from it with so many viewings. I can only hope that the decade that lies ahead brings at least one film so fulfilling.

2000 Films Seen

2010-01-23T12:25:00.003-05:00

Almost Famous
American Psycho
Audition
Battle Royale
The Beach
Before Night Falls
Best In Show
The Big Kahuna
Billy Elliot
Book of Shadows: The Blair Witch Project 2
The Broken Hearts Club
Castaway
Cecil B. Demented
The Cell
Charlie’s Angels
Chocolat
The Claim
The Contender
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Croupier
Dancer In the Dark
Dark Days
Erin Brockovich
Frequency
George Washington
The Gift
Gladiator
The Gleaners And I
Gone In 60 Seconds
Gossip
High Fidelity
The House of Mirth
I’m The One That I Want
Jesus’ Son
Keeping The Faith
The Ladies Man
Me Myself and Irene
Meet The Parents
Miss Congeniality
My Dog Skip
The Next Best Thing
Nine Queens
Nurse Betty
The Patriot
Pay It Forward
The Perfect Storm
Pitch Black
Pollock
Quills
Ratcatcher
Remember The Titans
Requiem For A Dream
Return to Me
Road Trip
The Rules of Engagement
Saving Grace
Scary Movie
Scream 3
The Shadow of the Vampire
State and Main
Tigerland
Time Code
Traffic
28 days
U-571
Unbreakable
Urbania
The Virgin Suicides
The Way of the Gun
The Watcher
Werckmeister Harmonies
What Lies Beneath
What Women Want
The Wind Will Carry Us
Winter Sleepers
Wonder Boys
The Yards
Yi Yi
You Can Count On Me

2001 Films Seen

2010-01-10T22:57:00.004-05:00

101 Reykjavik
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
Ali
Amelie
American Pie 2
Amores Perros
The Anniversary Party
A Beautiful Mind
The Believer
Black Hawk Down
Blow
Bridget Jones’ Diary
Bully
The Business of Strangers
Code Unknown
The Deep End
The Devil’s Backbone
Don’t Say A Word
Donnie Darko
Enemy At The Gates
Evolution
The Experiment
The Fluffer
From Hell
Ghost World
The Glass House
Gosford Park
The Grey Zone
Hannibal
Harry Potter And The Sorceror’s Stone
Hedwig and The Angry Inch
Heist
I am Sam
In The Bedroom
In The Mood For Love
Iris
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
Joyride
Jurassic Park III
Lantana
Legally Blonde
L.I.E.
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Man Who Wasn’t There
Memento
The Mexican
Monsoon Wedding
Monster’s Ball
Moulin Rouge
Mulholland Drive
Not Another Teen Movie
Novocaine
Ocean’s 11
The Others
Panic
Rat Race
The Royal Tenenbaums
Saving Silverman
The Score
Series 7: The Contenders
Sexy Beast
Shallow Hal
The Shipping News
Shrek
Snatch
Startup.com
The Tailor of Panama
Thirteen Ghosts
Together
Training Day
Under The Sand
Vanilla Sky
Waking Life
The Wedding Planner
The Widow of St. Pierre
With A Friend Like Harry
Zoolander

2002 Films Seen

2010-01-10T22:44:00.004-05:00

8 Women
24 Hour Party People
25th Hour
About A Boy
About Schmidt
Adaptation
Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner
Austin Powers in Goldmember
Auto Focus
The Banger Sisters
Bloody Sunday
Bowling For Columbine
The Bourne Identity
Brotherhood of the Wolf
Catch Me If You Can
Changing Lanes
Chicago
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
The Count of Monte Cristo
The Crime of Father Amaro
Dahmer
Far From Heaven
Fat Girl
Fear Dot Com
Frailty
Frida
Friday Night
Full Frontal
Gangs of New York
The Good Girl
The Hours
Igby Goes Down
Insomnia
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Minority Report
Morvern Callar
The Mothman Prophecies
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Narc
No Man’s Land
Notorious C.H.O.
One Hour Photo
Panic Room
Personal Velocity
The Pianist
The Piano Teacher
Punch Drunk Love
The Quiet American
Rabbit Proof Fence
Real Women Have Curves
Red Dragon
The Ring
Road To Perdition
Roger Dodger
The Rules of Attraction
Russian Ark
Secretary
Signs
The Son
Spiderman
Spirited Away
Super Troopers
Tadpole
Talk To Her
Thirteen Conversations About One Thing
To Be And To Have
Unfaithful
The Weight of Water
World Traveler
Y Tu Mama Tambien

2003 Films Seen

2010-01-10T22:24:00.005-05:00

21 Grams
28 Days Later
All The Real Girls
American Splendor
Bad Santa
The Barbarian Invasions
Bend It Like Beckham
The Best of Youth
Big Fish
Bringing Down The House
Bruce Almighty
Bus 174
Capturing The Friedmans
City of God
Cold Creek Manor
Cold Mountain
The Company
The Cooler
Dirty Pretty Things
Dogville
Elephant
Elf
Finding Nemo
The Fog of War
Girl With A Pearl Earring
Gothika
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not
House of Sand and Fog
Identity
In America
In The Cut
In This World
Intolerable Cruelty
Irreversible
It Runs In The Family
The Japanese Story
Kill Bill: Volume 1
L’Auberge Espagnole
The Last Samurai
Legally Blonde 2: Red, White, and Blonde
Lilya 4-Ever
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
Lost Boys of Sudan
Lost in Translation
Love Actually
The Magdalene Sisters
Matchstick Men
A Mighty Wind
My Architect
Mystic River
My Life Without Me
Noi The Albino
Oasis
Old School
Phone Booth
Pieces of April
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Raising Victor Vargas
Runaway Jury
The Rundown
S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine
School of Rock
Seabiscuit
Shattered Glass
Something’s Gotta Give
Spellbound
Spider
The Station Agent
Stevie
Sweet Sixteen
Swimming Pool
Sylvia
Time of the Wolf
Thirteen
Triplets of Belleville
Under The Tuscan Sun
Veronica Guerin
The Weather Underground
Whale Rider
Winged Migration
Wonderland
XX/XY

2004 Films Seen

2010-01-10T21:41:00.003-05:00

9 Songs
The Agronomist
Anatomy of Hell
The Assassination of Richard Nixon
The Aviator
Badasssss!
Bad Education
Before Sunset
Being Julia
Birth
Born Into Brothels
The Bourne Supremacy
The Brown Bunny
The Chronicles of Riddick
Closer
Code 46
Collateral
Connie and Carla
Control Room
Dawn of the Dead
The Day After Tomorrow
Dig!
The Door In The Floor
The Dreamers
Enduring Love
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Fahrenheit 9/11
Finding Neverland
The Five Obstructions
The Forgotten
Garden State
Goodbye Lenin
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Hellboy
Hero
A Home At The End of the World
Hotel Rwanda
House of Flying Daggers
I Heart Huckabees
I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead
I’m Not Scared
Imaginary Heroes
The Incredibles
Infernal Affairs
Ju-On: The Grudge
Kill Bill Volume 2
Kinsey
Les Choiristes
Lollilove
The Machinist
Maria Full of Grace
Mean Creek
Mean Girls
Million Dollar Baby
Moolaade
The Motorcycle Diaries
Napoleon Dynamite
Open Water
The Passion of the Christ
Purple Butterfly
Ray
The Return
Riding Giants
The Saddest Music In The World
Saved!
Saw
Schultze Gets The Blues
The Sea Inside
Secret Window
Shaun of the Dead
Sideways
Sky Captain And The World of Tomorrow
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… And Spring
Supersize Me
Taking Lives
A Talking Picture
Tarnation
Team America: World Police
Twilight Samurai
Undertow
Vera Drake
A Very Long Engagement
The Village
Whisky
The White Diamond
The Woodsman
Yesterday
Young Adam

2005 Films Seen

2010-01-10T21:40:00.007-05:00

5 x 2
The 40-Year Old Virgin
2046
The Aristocrats
The Ballad of Jack & Rose
Batman Begins
Breakfast On Pluto
Brokeback Mountain
Broken Flowers
Brothers
Cache
Capote
The Constant Gardener
Cote D'Azur
Crash
C.R.A.Z.Y.
Darwin's Nightmare
Downfall
The Dying Gaul
The Edukators
El Crimen Perfecto
Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
The Family Stone
Good Night, and Good Luck
Grizzly Man
Happy Endings
Head-On
Hellbent
High Tension
A History of Violence
A Hole In My Heart
Hustle & Flow
In Her Shoes
Inside Deep Throat
The Island
Jarhead
Junebug
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Kontroll
Land of the Dead
Layer Cake
Mad Hot Ballroom
Match Point
Me And You And Everyone We Know
Melinda & Melinda
Mr. Leather
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Mrs. Henderson Presents
Munich
Murderball
Mysterious Skin
The New World
North Country
Oldboy
Palindromes
Paradise Now
Pretty Persuasion
Pride & Prejudice
Primo Amore
The Producers
Red Eye
Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic
Saw II
Separate Lies
Sin City
The Squid And The Whale
Syriana
Three Dancing Slaves
Transamerica Tropical Malady
The Upside of Anger
Walk The Line
Wedding Crashers
Where The Truth Lies

2006 Films Seen

2010-01-10T20:24:00.008-05:00

2:37
3 Needles
4
20 Centimeters
49 Up
50 Ways of Saying Fabulous
Adam & Steve
American Dreamz
Amnesia: The James Brighton Enigma
Another Gay Movie
Apocalypto
Art School Confidential
The Aura
Babel
The Black Dahlia
Blood Diamond
The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros
Borat
Brick
Broken Sky
Candy
Casino Royale
Children of Men
Clean
Cocaine Cowboys
Come Early Morning
Confetti
Cruel & Unusual
Dave Chappelle's Block Party
Days of Glory
The Dead Girl
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
Death of a President
Deliver Us From Evil
The Departed
The Descent
The Devil and Daniel Johnston
The Devil Wears Prada
Edmond
Eighteen
E.K.G. Expositus
Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema
Family Law
Fateless
Flags of Our Fathers
Flirting With Anthony
For Your Consideration
Friends With Money
Fuck
Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus
Gay Sex In The 70's
The Good German
The Good Shepherd
The Gymnast
Gypo
Half Nelson
Hard Candy
Hard Pill
Harsh Beauty
The Heart of the Game
The History Boys
Hollywoodland
Hostel
Hotel Gondolin
An Inconvenient Truth
Inside Man
Jesus Camp
Keiller's Park
L'Enfant
The Last King of Scotland
Letters From Iwo Jima
A Lion In The House
Little Children
Little Fish
Little Miss Sunshine
The Lives of Others
Lonesome Jim
Manderlay
Marie Antoinette
Meth
Miami Vice
My Brother... Nikhil
My Name is Jackie Beat
The Night Listener
Notes on a Scandal
The Notorious Bettie Page
Old Joy
Open Cam
The Painted Veil
Pan's Labyrinth
Paper Dolls
Pick Up The Mic
A Prairie Home Companion
The Prestige
The Proposition
The Queen
Queens
Quinceañera
Rainbow's End
Red Doors
Requiem
The Road to Guantanamo
Running With Scissors
A Scanner Darkly
The Science of Sleep
Screaming Queens
The Secret Life of Words
Sherrybaby
Shortbus
Shut Up and Sing
The Ski Trip
Slither
Soap
Somersault
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days
Stranger Than Fiction
Strangers With Candy
Summer Palace
Take My Eyes
Thank You For Smoking
This Film Is Not Yet Rated
Three Times
Time To Leave
Tristram Shandy: A Cock & Bull Story
Tsotsi
Two Drifters
Uncut
United 93
Unknown White Male
The U.S. vs. John Lennon
V For Vendetta
Vacationland
A Very Serious Person
Vice & Consent
Volver
Water
Whispering Moon
Why We Fight
Wordplay
A Year Without Love

2007 Films Seen

2010-01-10T18:42:00.005-05:00

2 Days In Paris
3:10 To Yuma
4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
12:08 East of Bucharest
28 Weeks Later
30 Days of Night
300
1408
Across The Universe
After The Wedding
Antibodies
The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
Atonement
Avenue Montaigne
Away From Her
The Band's Visit
Before The Devil Knows You're Dead
Belle Toujours
The Betrayal
Black Book
Black Sheep
Black Snake Moan
The Brave One
The Boss Of It All
The Bourne Ultimatum
Boy Culture
Breach
Broken English
The Bubble
Bug
Charlie Wilson's War
Chronicle of an Escape
Control
Crazy Love
Dan In Real Life
Dark Blue Almost Black
Day Night Day Night
Death At A Funeral
Deep Water
The Devil Came On Horseback
The Diving Bell And The Butterfly
Eastern Promises
Eklavya: The Royal Guard
Exiled
Fido
For The Bible Tells Me So
Fracture
Ghosts of Cité Soleil
Golden Door
Gone Baby Gone
Grindhouse
The Hoax
The Host
Hostel Part 2
Hot Fuzz
The Hunting Party
I Don't Want To Sleep Alone
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry
I'm Not There
In The Shadow of The Moon
In The Valley of Elah
Interview
Into The Wild
The Invasion
Island Etude
Jindabyne
Juno
King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
The Kingdom
Knocked Up
Lady Chatterley
Ladron Que Roba A Ladron
Lake of Fire
The Lookout
Love Sickness
Lust, Caution
A Mighty Heart
Manufactured Landscapes
Margot At The Wedding
Michael Clayton
The Mist
My Best Friend
My Kid Could Paint That
The Namesake
The Nines
No Country For Old Men
No End In Sight
Offside
Once
The Orphanage
Paprika
Paris Je T'Aime
Persepolis
Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman
Poison Friends Private Fears in Public Places
The Rape of Europa
Ratatouille
Red Road
Rendition
Reno 911: Miami
Rescue Dawn
Right At Your Door
Rocket Science
Satan
The Savages
Severance
Sicko
The Silly Age
The Simpsons Movie
Smiley Face
Starting Out In The Evening
Stephanie Daley
Sunshine
Superbad
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Takva: A Man's Fear Of God
Talk To Me
The Ten
Ten Canoes
Terror's Advocate
Them
There Will Be Blood
The Wind That Shakes The Barley
They Turned Our Desert Into Fire
Things We Lost In The Fire
This Is England
The Valet
La Vie En Rose
Waitress
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
We Own The Night
Wristcutters: A Love Story
Year of the Dog
You Kill Me
Zodiac
Zoo

2008 Films Seen

2010-01-10T17:41:00.008-05:00

24 City
Alexandra
American Teen
Ashes of Time Redux
August Evening
Baby Mama
Ballast
The Bank Job
Battle For Haditha
Be Kind Rewind
Beaufort
Beauty in Trouble
Before I Forget
Ben X
Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
Blindness
Boy A
Brideshead Revisited
Burn After Reading
Caramel
Cassandra’s Dream
Changeling
Che
Chicago 10
Choke
Chop Shop
Chris & Don: A Love Story
A Christmas Tale
The Class
Cloverfield
The Counterfeiters
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
Diary of the Dead
Doubt
The Duchess
Eden
The Edge of Heaven
Elegy
Encounters At The End Of The World
The Fall
Fighting For Life
Flawless
Flight Of The Red Balloon
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Frost/Nixon
Frozen River
Funny Games
Gomorra
Hamlet 2
Happy-Go-Lucky
Hunger
I Served The King of England
In Bruges
I’ve Loved You So Long
Jar City
JCVD
Kabluey
Kings
Let The Right One In
Mamma Mia!
Man On Wire
Married Life
Martyrs
Milk
Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day
Mister Foe
Mister Lonely
Momma’s Man
Mongol
My Blueberry Nights
My Winnipeg
Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist
The Other Boleyn Girl
OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies
Paranoid Park
Pineapple Express
Rachel Getting Married
The Reader
Reprise
Revolutionary Road
Role Models
Roman De Gare
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
Sangre De Mi Sangre
Savage Grace
A Secret
The Secret of the Grain
Sex And The City
Shotgun Stories
Slumdog Millionaire
Son of Rambow
Snow Angels
Standard Operating Procedure
Step Brothers
Stop-Loss
Stranded: I've Come From A Plane That Crashed In The Mountains
The Strangers
Summer Palace
Synecdoche, New York
Taxi To The Darkside
Teeth
Tell No One
Transsiberian
The Trap
Tropic Thunder
An Unknown Woman
Under The Same Moon
Up The Yangtze
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
The Visitor
W.
The Wackness
Wall-E
Waltz With Bashir
Wanted
Wendy and Lucy
When Did You Last See Your Father?
The Wrestler
XXY
The Year My Parents Went On Vacation
Young @ Heart
Zack and Miri Make a Porno

2009 Films Seen

2010-01-10T17:05:00.031-05:00

12
35 Shots of Rum
(500) Days of Summer
Adoration
Adventureland
Antichrist
Anvil: The Story of Anvil
Away We Go
The Baader Meinhof Complex
The Beaches of Agnes
Brief Interviews With Hideous Men
Bright Star
Broken Embraces
Bronson
Brothers
The Brothers Bloom
Bruno
Burma VJ
California Dreamin' (Endless)
Capitalism: A Love Story
Cherry Blossoms
Cloud 9
Coco Before Chanel
The Cove
Crazy Heart
The Damned United
Dead Snow
Departures
District 9
Doghouse
Drag Me To Hell
Duplicity
An Education
Everybody's Fine
Everlasting Moments
Every Little Step
Extract
Food Inc.
Funny People
The Girlfriend Experience
Good Hair
Goodbye Solo
Grace
The Great Buck Howard
The Hangover
The Headless Woman
The Horse Boy
Humpday
The Hurt Locker
Il Divo
I Love You, Man
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
The Informant!
Inglourious Basterds
In The Loop
The Invention of Lying
It Might Get Loud
Jennifer's Body
Julia
Julie and Julia
Katyn
Law Abiding Citizen
The Limits of Control
Lorna's Silence
The Maid
Mammoth
The Men Who Stare At Goats
The Messenger
Moon
Munyurnagabo
Observe and Report
Of Time And The City
Outrage
Paranormal Activity
Passing Strange
A Perfect Getaway
Police, Adjective
Pontypool
Ponyo
The Pope's Toilet
Precious
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
Revanche
The Road
Rudo y Cursi
The September Issue
Seraphine
A Serious Man
Serious Moonlight
Shadows
Silent Light
A Single Man
Sin Nombre
State of Play
The Stoning of Soraya M.
Sugar
Summer Hours
Sunshine Cleaning
Surveillance
Taxidermia
Tetro
They Killed Sister Dorothy
Thirst
Three Monkeys
Two Lovers
Uncertainty
Up
Up In The Air
Valentino: The Last Emperor
Where The Wild Things Are
Whip It
The White Ribbon
Yonkers Joe
You, The Living
The Young Victoria
Zombieland

2010 Films Seen

2010-01-10T17:04:00.111-05:00

8: The Mormon Proposition
127 Hours
44 Inch Chest
Agora
Ajami
Alamar
All Good Things
The American
Animal Kingdom
Another Year
Army of Crime
The Art of The Steal
Barney's Version
Best Worst Movie
Biutiful
Black Swan
Bluebeard
Blue Valentine
The Book of Eli
Buried
Burlesque
Cairo Time
Carlos
Catfish
Chloe
Client 9: The Rise And Fall Of Eliot Spitzer
The Crazies
Cop Out
Cyrus
Date Night
Despicable Me
Dinner For Schmucks
Dogtooth
Double Take
Due Date
Easy A
Edge of Darkness
Enter The Void
Everyone Else
Exit Through The Gift Shop
The Expendables
Fair Game
The Fighter
A Film Unfinished
Fish Tank
Four Lions
Gasland
Get Him To The Greek
Get Low
The Ghost Writer
The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest
The Girl Who Played With Fire
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
The Greatest
Green Zone
Holy Rollers
The Horde
Hot Tub Time Machine
The Human Centipede
I Am Love
I Love You Phillip Morris
Inception
Inhale
Inside Job
It's Kind Of A Funny Story
Jack Goes Boating
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
Kick-Ass
The Kids Are All Right
The Killer Inside Me
The King's Speech
Kings of Pastry
Knight And Day
Last Train Home
Lebanon
Let Me In
Machete
Made In Dagenham
Map of the Sounds of Tokyo
Marwencol
Mesrine Part I: Killer Instinct
Micmacs
The Milk of Sorrow
Monsters
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Mother
Mother and Child
Mugabe And The White African
Never Let Me Go
Night Catches Us
No One Knows About Persian Cats
North Face
Nowhere Boy
The Oath
Ondine
Piranha
Please Give
Prodigal Sons
A Prophet
Rabbit Hole
Racing Dreams
RED
Red Riding: 1974
Red Riding: 1980
Red Riding: 1983
Restrepo
The Runaways
Salt
Samson and Delilah
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
The Secret In Their Eyes
The Secret Of Kells
Secret Sunshine
Shutter Island
The Social Network
Solitary Man
Somewhere
Sons of Perdition
Soul Kitchen
Splice
The Square
Survival of the Dead
Tamara Drewe
Terribly Happy
The Tillman Story
The Town
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Vincere
Waiting For "Superman"
Waste Land
White Material
Wild Grass
Wild Target
The Wild And Wonderful Whites of West Virginia
Winter's Bone
You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger

Shifting Focus

2010-01-10T17:02:00.002-05:00

I really got out of the habit of blogging about movies and for now don't have much interest in continuing. However, my computer recently crashed, and I lost the ongoing list I had listing every film I've seen, so I am going to use this site to try and recreate it, not just for the time being, but also so I have a place that I can access it just in case something should happen again. So, with that, I am just going to start up with my lists.

Top 100 of 2008 (91-100)

2009-08-11T23:26:00.013-04:00

I'm skipping commentary here. None of these films really warrant a second thought outside of not being quite as awful as 100-110.

91. Cloverfield

92. Ben X

93. The Fall
94. A Christmas Tale 95. Pineapple Express 96. Happy-Go-Lucky 97. Mamma Mia! 98. Son of Rambow 99. Summer Palace 100. Transsiberian

Top 100 of 2008

2009-08-10T23:23:00.002-04:00

I slacked off on this blogging crap for awhile, but I figured I might as well make an attempt to resurrect the site. And what better way to do that than to post my thoughts on 2008 films, since I didn't get around to it last year. There are still a few films I haven't seen that I'd like to get to, most notably, The Class, which won the Palme D'Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.

I think I'm going to refrain from posting detailed thoughts on every film, and probably just reserve commentary until the top 10 or something like that. But, to get things started, here are the films that missed the top 100. I should also proudly add that I did not pay to see a single one of these in theaters:

101. Sex And The City: The Movie
The show was funny in half hour increments. But the franchise has become somewhat of a relic of its time, and really... did we really need close to two and a half hours to tell this story?

102. Flawless
Some film titles just set the joke up far too easily. Silly heist film. Demi Moore struggling with a British accent. Just sort of unintentionally funny.... but just sort of.

103. Baby Mama
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are funny. But the movie wasn't.

104. W.
Seemed like Oliver Stone just wanted to be the first out of the gate to make a biopic about this jackass. I'm sure more will come. But this film doesn't know what it wants to be, but doesn't work on any level.

105. OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies
Kind of like a French version of The Naked Gun, but not funny or clever. Just stupid with subtitles. But the French had a thing for Jerry Lewis too, so maybe I just don't get some French humor. In which case, I suspect Carrot Top and Dane Cook are HUGE over there.

106. Kabluey
I can only imagine that this was the product of some talentless, frustrated screenwriter being stuck in L.A. traffic, looking out the passenger side window, seeing some poor sap dressed in a corporate mascot outfit and thinking "Hey! Nobody's every done a movie about THAT guy!" Well, apparently, for good reason.

107. Chicago 10
Just a complete mess. It's amazing how 2008 landed two animated documentaries at either end of the spectrum. One shows it can work. This shows that it can also fail miserably.

108. Tropic Thunder
This was pretty much aggressively not funny. I just don't understand how anyone liked this at all, yet so many people think this shit was hilarious. Seriously... I just don't understand it. There has to be some sort of pharmaceutical explanation behind people's enjoyment of this terrible, terrible movie.

109. The Wackness
What an annoying piece of shit. I wanted to throw things at my television when I Netflixed this one. Amateur night all the way. Not only was it a complete waste of time, the extent to which it irritated me lasted the rest of the evening.

And the worst film of 2008...

110. Mongol
This movie was tedious as hell, looked like it was filmed through a lens that was smeared with crap, corny effects, and just completely devoid of anything worth recommending. yet this got an Oscar nod for Best Foreign language film in 2007, when amazing films like 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, Persepolis, XXY, and The Edge of Heaven can't make the list, and of the submissions, I could say that this is the last film that should have been nommed for anything, makes it all the more frustrating that the Oscar nomination process for foreign films is completely screwed up.

Bad Blogger!

2008-12-12T16:09:00.006-05:00

I'm just gonna use this space to store images...

2008: A Progress Report

2008-10-07T00:05:00.026-04:00

So, I figured this at about the same point where I usually do a "halfway through" update. The next few months hold the potentially great films, and some of the smaller ones come out on DVD. At this point, I'd say that my top 3 is fairly interchangeable based on my mood, and I only saw 5 that were completely worthless.

At this point last year, I was at 52. This year, I'm at 51. The economy has changed, so I haven't been to the theater as much, and I also had to give up my Tampa Theater membership (Smart time to increase membership from $100 to $500!), so that has impacted my viewing habits too. Nice to know though, that I'm not that far off last year's pace. In any case, here are the top 51 movies I've seen from 2008:

1. Taxi To The Dark Side

2. The Visitor

3. Mister Lonely
4. Snow Angels
5. The Dark Knight
6. Tell No One
7. The Edge of Heaven

8. The Strangers
9. Young @ Heart 10. Elegy
11. Burn After Reading
12. The Counterfeiters

13. Bigger, Stronger, Faster*

14. Reprise
15. The Bank Job
16. Shotgun Stories
17. Funny Games

18. Roman de Gare
19. Hamlet 2
20. Under The Same Moon

21. Forgetting Sarah Marshall

22. The Other Boleyn Girl

23. Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day

24. Vicky Cristina Barcelona

25. Man On Wire

26. Chop Shop

27. Before I Forget

28. Momma's Man
29. Diary Of The Dead

30. Be Kind Rewind
31. In Bruges
32. Cassandra's Dream

33. Married Life
34. The Year My Parents Went On Vacation

35. Savage Grace
36. Stop-Loss
37 When Did You Last See Your Father?

38. Beauty In Trouble

39. Caramel

40. Teeth

41. My Blueberry Nights

42. The Fall

43. Pineapple Express

44. Son of Rambow

45. Summer Palace

46. Sex And The City: The Movie

47. Flawless

48. Baby Mama
49. OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies

50. Kabluey

51. Chicago 10

2010 Image Storage

2008-08-18T20:18:00.011-04:00

The Dark Knight (2008)

2008-07-20T14:35:00.003-04:00

So, I imagine I should have chimed in sooner on this one, since I saw it last Tuesday at a critics' screening, but since I don't think anyone is checking this for daily updates, I didn't get around to it until now.

Upfront, I feel like I should throw a couple of disclaimers in here. Truth is, I'm not really a fan of the superhero/comic book genre. Even back in the day with the Christopher Reeves-era Superman, I just wasn't terribly impressed. I've largely avoided most of these films, but even when I caught Spiderman on a plane, I just felt like I would never quite understand what so many loved and appreciated about these films. To each their own I suppose.

I've never seen the predecessor, Batman Begins, so when I got the call, I figured I'd go since it was free, but I wasn't really looking forward to it like so many apparently have been. And, I figured that for all the hype that was attached to the film, I would have the ability to be a bit more objective than most.

I have to say though, I was really quite impressed. I think a lot of the credit for this should go to director Christopher Nolan. I think he did a stellar job in bucking the trends and cliches that I (negatively) associate with the genre, instead opting to maintain a sense of realism. Now, I can't exactly call a film about a dude flying around town dressed as a bat "realistic" necessarily, but the glossy veneer is stripped away, the story is gritty, and a lot of the staging makes it seem as though it could really happen.

The cast deserves a good share of the praise as well. As Bruce Wayne, Christian Bale does a pretty good job as the man beneath the mask. I had a slight problem with him, or more specifically, his voice when he was in the Batsuit. He almost sounded like an obscene caller than anything else, and it did elicit a few unintentional laughs from me. But, from an actor I tend not to care for, I have to say that Bale did a strong job. Now, I would be interested in seeing what half a dozen other actors could do with this, but, Bale's fine.

In that same vein, Nolan is able to get a nice performance out of Gary Oldman, who is another actor I tend not to care for. I think Oldman can be a fine actor, but only when there is a strong director there to reign him in. All too often he's completely over the top, so he often comes off as a laughable cartoon to me (see: Hannibal, Bram Stroker's Dracula, True Romance, The Professional, etc.) But he gives a solid, understated performance here, which I was pleased to see.

As I mentioned earlier, I've not seen Batman Begins, but it seems that the consensus is that Katie Holmes was a clear weak link in the cast, but I don't think the same can be said of Maggie Gyllenhaal. She is, as usual, quite good in her role. Although her role, in retrospect, seems a little underwritten, it never shows, which I think is a testament to how skilled of an actress she is. And it's nice to see that unlike most of her performances, she has a film and a cast around her that measure up to her performance.

Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent factors into the film a lot more than you'd think - arguably the most important role to the story, and he does a perfectly respectable job. I think Eckhart has a pretty good niche cut out for himself as the straight man who brings a little more wit and a little swagger to the table, so he's never quite a bore, but never outshines the rest of the cast. And he carries this along pretty well.

Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman, don't have a whole lot to do, but they do it well, and clearly seem to be having fun with it.

But, of course, the real story here is Heath Ledger. His version of The Joker pretty much reinvents what you come to think of as the comic book villain. He brings his usual intensity to the role, making The Joker a diabolical manic presence and walks the line between "creepy, but oddly funny" with precision like I've never seen. He isn't necessarily in the film a whole lot, but that's sort of what makes it effective to me... sometimes the fact that you know the villain is lurking in the shadows is more suspenseful than it is to have them in the forefront the entire time. But when The Joker does appear, you don't need that looming score to let you know that something big's about to happen. He is that scary music personified.

Some credit really does have to go to the screenplay though as well. The story takes so many unexpected turns that it makes it stand out. And I think one of the reasons why I find that the superhero/comic book genre is so shitty is that you're almost conditioned to expect things to play out in a certain way, this throws the long-held conventions out the window, and opts for the more challenging route.

So, this one defied and exceeded my expectations in every way. And while I'm prepared to go back and check out Batman Begins now, I think (simply based on what I've read about the original, that this is one of those freak circumstances where the sequel surpasses its predecessor.

The Strangers

2008-05-29T18:51:00.003-04:00

TRAILER

So, I had the opportunity to screen this one in advance, and I have to say I really liked it, despite some flaws.

Personally, the horror genre, as of late, has offered little of interest: the endless parade of remakes and sequels don't interest me, and the "torture porn" genre just doesn't get what equals scary to me. Often, the use of silence and dread is what works, not massive amounts of gore. And while there is certainly some blood shed in the film, it doesn't revel in it like so many others do.

Oddly enough, on paper, this film would've seemed incredibly skippable to me, but once I saw the trailer, I was instantly hooked, though prepared to be disappointed when I walked into the theater. Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman aren't exactly actors who are going to interest me based on their attachment to the film, and the premise is not that far away from countless other horror films or thrillers. But, I think this is a case where a familiar story is told and shot so well, that I admired it right away.

First, before the action is set in motion, I liked how the story unfolded. It has elements not unlike a small, thoughtful indie movie. Speedman and Tyler are given enough room to let us into their characters so we care before the shit hits the fan. And without giving anything away, in most horror films, I just find myself wanting to yell at the screen because the characters just act so incredibly stupid. This time, though, they seemed to be somewhat bright, and even their missteps seem to be the result of sheer panic more than anything else.

I also really liked the production values... it just seemed so fitting. The yellowed images seem to fit the situation. The music all worked without being overbearing or cluing you into the fact that "something scary is about to happen!"

Now, it does have it's flaws, and one of the biggest, for me, would be the final moment, which seems to be meant as a throwback/possible homage to a 70's horror film, but it has been copied so often that it seems to be less than what the film deserves, after having been smart so long. But it wasn't enough of a detraction for me to deride the film, since I liked so much of what preceded it. While part of my embracing the film relies on so much upon avoiding what most horror films don't do, it was a minor disappointment to see that be the end note you walk out of the theater with. But, for me, it just really worked, and I was not in the least bit let down here.

Just A Quick Update

2008-05-15T19:23:00.003-04:00

Most of trips to the theater as of late haven't been too inspiring, so I haven't been tremendously compelled to write here as of late. I've seen some pretty good classic films via Netflix, such as Jean-Luc Godard's Alphaville and Robert Bresson's Pickpocket, but many of the films I've seen as of late are not ones I've been passionate about to comment on here.

However, I did see one film the other night that I enjoyed immensely. Now, I should state that it's a film I don't want to hype to a tremendous degree: it's a small-scale film that I think would lose something if you go into it burdened with expectations. However, The Visitor, is a film I felt was worth the time. It may not be particularly profound, and there may be a few plot contrivances here and there, but everything about it felt natural and genuine on account of the direction and the acting. Richard Jenkins (the guy who played the dead father on Six Feet Under) is marvelous here, and it's a shame that his work is bound to be ignored unless the critics really latch on to this one.

Rather than to sing it's praises, for the reasons stated above, I will just provide a link to the trailer, and hopefully, someone will discover it too.

The Visitor

Early Reviews 2: Reviewin' Boogaloo

2008-04-13T23:10:00.005-04:00

Mister Lonely
After hating the dogshit out of Gummo, and it being one of the few movies in my life where I just threw my hands up in and ejected it halfway through, it was difficult to go into a Harmony Korine film without some serious reservations. But the trailer intrigued me, and there's the whole Samantha Morton factor going too.

And, well... I liked it. A lot actually. I dug the story, liked the acting (with Morton yet again being the highlight for me), and damn there is some beautiful imagery here. A lot of the film seems to deal with the mentality of a impersonator, or at least as Korine perceives it. In short, it's a means through which ordinary people can get achieve some sense of feeling important and special through another's identity, since they cannot necessarily find that from within. And through the commune, there's a sense of comaraderie through like-minded people. There's a sort of beautiful weirdness about the whole thing that I really ended up responding to.

There's a whole side story about Werner Herzog and some skydiving nuns that doesn't connect, at least not narratively, to the rest of the film. I'm sure it relates somehow thematically, but I haven't taken had thge time to digest it enough to connect the dots. It's not going to be for everyone, but I sure liked it a lot. IFC is releasing this one in limited release on May 2.

Momma's Man

Can't find a trailer for this one, but anyway...

so, so, so wanted to like this one more than I did. I mean, I did like it, but not nearly as much as I thought I would. I thought it was an interesting story, and I liked the performances, but about a third of the way through I started getting really antsy and restless. In part, I think just the cramped quarters started triggering some clausterphobic urges, but also, I began to feel as though the mounting tower of lies should have crumbled far sooner than it did, so there was some plausibility flaws for me. I guess it's just it crossed from little white lies to some serious ones far too soon.

But, I did think it touched on some interesting issues of the provider wanting to be provided for again, even if it meant shucking responsibility aside. I think it is an interesting film, but it never hit me on too deep of a level.

On a side note, the director, Azazel Jacobs, was there was in attendance and waiting in the aisle on the side of the theater for the credits to finish before they introduced him for the Q&A session, which I couldn't stay for. Of course, I was the ONE person who got up and left, and I had to walk right past him on the way out. I felt a little assholish at that moment, since there was no graceful way to duck out unseen, but hey, daddy's gotta be at work in the morning and has an hour and a half drive to get home, so what can you do? Thinkfilm is releasing this one sometime later this year.

Early Reviews!

2008-04-12T23:27:00.009-04:00

I'm about two-thirds of the way through my selections from the Sarasota Film Festival, which concludes tomorrow. I'll be seeing Mister Lonely and Momma's Man tomorrow, and hope to have reviews up later in the week.

Last Saturday, I caught a rare Ingmar Bergman film called Face to Face, but I also caught...

When Did You Last See Your Father?
This was one of those films I went back and forth with a lot while watching, and it eventually fell on the "liked it" side, but it was a bit of a rocky road in getting there. The acting in the film (Jim Broadbent, Colin Firth, and Juliet Stevenson in particular) is superb. It's essentially a story about Colin Firth's character returning home to care for his father (Broadbent), who is diagnosed with cancer, although the two have a very strained relationship.

The film is told in the present day interspersed with flashbacks from childhood, when Firth was a boy, who at first idolizes his father, then resents him as he grows older and learns that his father isn't quite the man he thought he was, which leads to the strained relationship they've had as adults. Juliet Stevenson plays Broadbent's wife, and I thought she was really very good here.

It started out too choppy for my liking, and it's not necessarily that it's storytelling method changed all that much, but instead that I just got used to it. And I have to give it credit for not being as sappy and as maudlin as it could have been. Rather than making it yet another tragic deathbed thing, it's more about letting go of all of the little shit you've held against someone when faced with losing them.

Not a great film by any means, but I liked it well enough as I watched it. It's just one of those things where I think it'll ultimately end up being forgettable to me by the end of the year.

The Edge of Heaven
This was the winner of the Best Screenplay award at Cannes last year, and I think it was pretty damn well deserved. I really hate to make comparisons to Babel, because I think this is a better film, but my mind for some reason keeps wandering back there. Coincidence ends up being a big running theme through the film, but never felt ridiculously so. The film is laid out in three parts with a title card separating each section. With the first two segments, the title card reads "The Death of ____" so you know that a character introduced in that portion of the film will die.

There are several intertwining stories here, and I hate to say too much, but the stories go a little something like this. There's an older Turkish man now living in Germany who falls in love with a prostitute, also Turkish and she moves in with him. He has a son who is a professor, and the prostitute has a daughter in Turkey from whom she hasn't spoken to in awhile. A tragedy occurs, which sets the son on a journey back to Turkey to find the daughter.

The daughter, meanwhile, is in a political organization, and when she is forced to flee the country, she decides to seek out her mother in Germany. She doesn't know that her mother has been working as a prostitute, as she told her that she was working at a shoe store. So, she starts scoping out the shoe stores in search of her mother. Along the way, she meets a young German college student, and the daughter moves in with the college student and her mother (Hannah Schygulla, the only actor in the film I knew beforehand). And the two girls fall in love until the daughter is sent back to Turkey after being denied asylum, and the girlfriend follows her back to Turkey to help get her out of prison.

The third segment, I can't really talk about too much because it would give away the fate of some of the characters from the first two portions. But, I liked how that one played out.

It took awhile for me to figure out exactly where the film was headed and how these characters would connect, but I liked the journey, the stories, and the characters. A pretty worthwhile film if you ask me.

Savage Grace

A return to form for Julianne Moore? As far as her leading roles go, I'd say yes. But I don't think a nomination is going to happen since I could see this movie turning a lot of people off, especially in terms of the sex.

At first, I have to say, the performance seemed a bit jarring. Barbara Bakeland is pretty much an obnoxious social climbing bitch. But as the film progresses and you get a sense for the character, it actually sort of works. And, this is a case where Julianne in the over-the-top moments actually works. Barbara is an over-the-top character.

The film itself is extremely well shot, I thought. Beautiful really. But, I'd say that the narrative tries to cram in too much in too little time, moving from 1947 to 1972 and through, the US, France, Spain, England (and back and forth between some of those places) in a mere 96 minutes. And I think it comes at the expense of character development, particularly with Tony, the son. His character sort of changes gears way too quickly at the end, to where there really was no progression from point A to point B.

If this one took awhile to get from Cannes to the theaters, I can only imagine that it was in trying to secure an "R" rating, since the sex and discussions of sex are pretty envelope-pushing, especially when considering the MPAA: homosexuality, gay and straight anal sex, incest, full frontal male nudity, etc. I saw lots of old ladies covering their mouths and turning away from the screen. It's just going to be a hard sell here.

In the end, I found it a flawed film with enough elements to save it. But I think this one will definitely be one that will get some tongues wagging.

Just A Quick Update...

2008-04-06T23:39:00.008-04:00

I finally got to see 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days this evening, which was the sole film from last year that I'd been waiting on, but got tired of waiting for before putting up the top 100. It's now on the list, and the final adjustments have been made.

And finally, I'm in the middle of another film festival, so I will put up early reviews for When Did You Last See Your Father? starring Colin Firth, Jim Broadbent, and Juliet Stevenson (I actually already saw this one, but I'll wait to do them all at once), The Edge of Heaven, Savage Grace, Mister Lonely, and Momma's Man sometime after the 13th.

Top 100 of 2007 (Top 10)

2008-03-14T18:32:00.016-04:00

Here are the Top 100 Films of 2007 (in my opinion, of course) as well as a brief mention of the films that I saw which failed to crack the top 100.

1. Persepolis
While each year, Disney and Pixar churn out animated film with hi-tech animation featuring the best innovations in animation technology, Persepolis showed that you don't need all of that to tell a truly compelling story and have it look beautiful. Filmed almost exclusively in black and white, much of Persepolis looks like a charcoal drawing come to life. The film is based on Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical novels and details her childhood being brought up amid the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and beyond. Satrapi's life is one we never could have lived, and could hardly imagine, but somehow, it's extremely relatable and it's easy to identify with little Marji through our own experiences. And to top it off, it's incredibly funny too. When it was over, I wished there was another hour more to watch. Simply the best theater-going experience in a long, long time.

2. No Country For Old Men
Oddly enough, while they have their devoted fans, I've never been a very big Coen Brothers fan before this film. Sure, I've liked some, but I've never developed the passion that so many have for their films. But this one was fantastic. Javier Bardem created one of the creepiest characters since Hannibal Lecter, and I'm so happy that he has an Oscar for the role. But beyond just the praise for Bardem, I have to say that this is probably also my favorite performance ever from Tommy Lee Jones. And Josh Brolin gives an excellent performance as well. I can't recommend this one highly enough.

3. Once

For me, it was easily the most charming film of the year, filled with great songs, not to mention nice performances, from Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. It's one of those films that just sticks with you after you leave, especially if you left the theater and immediately downloaded the soundtrack, which has remained on heavy rotation on the ol' Ipod ever since. It's the story of two musicians: One, an Irishman who plays his lovelorn heart out on his acoustic guitar in the streets of downtown Dublin. The other, a Czech immigrant who left her husband behind to find a better life in Ireland for herself, her mother, and her daughter, but in exchange has had to let go of her musical aspirations and nowsells flowers and magazines in the city. They meet and an instant connection is made, as the two bond, discuss and eventually play music together. It's just a nice, simple story, but one that left me with a big smile on my face after I left. And if "Falling Slowly" doesn't move you, I don't think this movie's for you (... because you're dead inside). Just kidding... kind of.

4. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
Thank god for the blossoming Romanian film industry. While I've only seen a handful (and I'm sure that these shores are only getting the best of what's being offered), it's exciting to think of yet another culture that is overflowing with ideas, much of which has been so repressed for so long. Even though the iron curtain fell long ago, it seems we are finally getting so many interesting stories from that country. This one takes place in 1987 under the communist regime, and centers around a young college student who is helping her roommate obtain an illegal abortion. I think the strengths in this film lie in its ability to really place you into the characters' heads: hoping for the best, but dreading the worst. But you really feel like you are living the experience alongside the characters. Scarier than anything else to me though is that, in a political climate where so many seem to be hellbent on overturning Roe vs. Wade, this could soon be OUR reality. Yet again, the Cannes Film Festival awarded yet another deserving Palme D'Or. This isn't for everyone, but to those willing to take the journey, it'll ultimately be a rewarding one.

5. Juno

It seems as though this was a big hit, yet somehow along the way a backlash developed against this one, so I'm fortunate enough that I managed to catch this about a month before it went into release, so I was free to just enjoy the film, free from the burden of expectations. And I laughed my ass off. The entire cast does wonders with their roles, and even if Diablo Cody's screenplay gets a little too clever for its own good at times, the cast still pulls it off. But really, it's very rare that a comedy can genuinely make me laugh, and it happened with this one. So backlash be damned, I still love the hell out of it.

6. The Rape of Europa

This is a documentary that I found absolutely astounding. It's about the great works of art littered throughout Europe and what happened to them in WWII, and many of these stories are just as fascinating as the art themselves. As it turns out, Adolph Hitler fancied himself an artist and a great appreciator of art. Of course, the art had to conform to his standards of what was considered art. He kept long lists of the artwork he wanted to have for the SS, and much of that art was taken from private collectors or from museums in cities they invaded. They catalogued the whereabouts of many of these pieces, and took what they wanted at will, while also destroying many of the works that Hitler deemed trash. Many other works, on the eve of invasion were secretly taken and hidden away at secret, remote locations so as to keep them out of the Nazi's hands, often at great risk. And while much of this artwork has been reclaimed, many more are still unaccounted for, and new works are being discovered everyday at auctions or hanging in the living rooms of the unsuspecting, who didn't realize that the family heirloom that has been hanging on their wall all of their lives was actually looted from a bombed out museum. So there remain many great mysteries about the fate of some of these works, and many battles between the families of Holocaust victims and their respective governments to reclaim possession of their family's art. It's really a meticulously researched and well told documentary told on a grand scale.

7. The Savages

I just found a lot I could identify with in this story about a brother and sister who aren't particularly close and between whom lies some unresolved conflicts as they are forced to come together to deal with their estranged father who is now slipping into the throes of dementia. It's not without a sense of humor along the way, but I could identify with a lot from being a child and watching my parents deal with a similar situation with my maternal grandparents, and what my siblings and I may face to deal with as our parents get older. Phillip Seymour Hoffman does a great job, in what I think was the best of his many roles this year, and while Laura Linney could play this role in her sleep by now, there's a reason why she is the go-to actress for this type of role, and the writing here is sharp but very firmly grounded in reality.

8. The Devil Came On Horseback

This is the story of a young military officer who got out of the service and joined a peace keeping mission in the Sudan, only to watch the beginnings of what became the crisis in Darfur unfold before his eyes. And this documentary is about his experiences and the photos he took in an attempt to return to the United States to show people what was truly happening over in that region. I'll warn you - just as the picture above his pretty shocking, this documentary is filled with images like this that sear into your brain and aren't easily forgotten. but really that's the point. To make you sit up and take notice about what is happening. And this one certainly got my attention. And while I think most people are aware by now that there is a genocide going on in Darfur, this one does a pretty respectable job at explaining it: it's beginnings, the reasons, what is perpetuating it, and sadly, what the results have been so far and what they'll continue to be until more people sit up and take notice.

9. My Kid Could Paint That

Another documentary about the art world lands in my top 10, but this is a vastly different story than The Rape of Europa. This one instead focuses on little Marla Olmstead, a 4-year old girl who may be one of the most well known figures in contemporary modern art. She's sold many paintings, had gallery showings, but then the question gets raised: Did Marla really paint these? The documentarian also has some doubts that he needs to put to rest, and what you see does make you a bit skeptical, while also testing your cynicism a bit. But beyond just Marla and her paintings, it looks at modern art in a broader sense as well: Is this legitimate art or all just a big ruse?

10. There Will Be Blood

This is an ambitious film, and one that on paper, surely isn't an easy sell: a nearly three hour movie about an oilman who is driven to extremes to crush his competition at all costs. But Paul Thomas Anderson is a very gifted filmmaker, and he makes it all work somehow. Daniel Day-Lewis does a great job here, but what was really fascinating to me here though was the Day-Lewis is an actor who loves to chew on scenery, sometimes to the point of distraction (see: Gangs of New York), but somehow the role of Daniel Plainview was tailored for him to play to his strengths without making it seem hopelessly over the top. He meets his nemesis in a young preacher, played by Paul Dano, who becomes a thorn in Plainview's side and stands in the way of everything he hopes to accomplish. I know some people are more passionate about the film than I, while many others detest it to its core. I suppose I can see why people love the film so much to have ranked it so high, and mostly agree with them, while I also see the faults that keep me from thinking of it as the great American masterpiece others view it to be. A great film, but one I don't think I could ever sit through again.

Top 100 of 2007 (11-20)

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11. Talk To Me
Were there "better" films this year? Yes, absolutely. I even recognize the fact that it isn't without it's significant flaws. Yet, I've somehow managed to catch it several times since my initial viewing in theaters this summer, and you know what? It hold up extremely well, and it's extremely rewatchable, and in having seen it upon multiple viewings and still finding enjoyment, I've learned to let go of my critical quibbles and just embrace it. And a lot of that is because of the wonderful lead performances from Chiwetel Ejiofor, one of the most reliable actors who rarely gets his due, Don Cheadle, who manages to mix drama and comedy like he never has before, and from the phenomenal Taraji P. Henson who busts your gut with the comedy and breaks your heart with the drama without ever becoming a caricature. So, all the explanation this one needs is that it's one hell of an enjoyable movie.

12. Ratatouille
I'll admit to not always giving animated films their fair shake, but this was an absolute joy to watch. The animation is spectacular, the story was original and interesting, and perhaps it's simply the foodie and Francophile in me that loved the setting - A French restaurant. But, whatever the reason, I just enjoyed the hell out of myself.

13. Offside
Here is one of those great slice-of-life films about a culture that I will never come to understand through experience - only through film. This is the story of a group of girls who are caught when they dress up as boys to attend an Iranian soccer game as Iran is poised to enter the World Cup. Women are forbidden from attending sporting events in Iran, so they are forced to dress as boys to make it into the arena. The girls wait just outside of the arena in a holding pen as the guards reluctantly narrate the game for them. But this also serves as a fascinating microcosm to show Iranian views of women in the society at large as well.

14. Into The Wild

I can think of few movies in my life where I have stayed so caught up in a film when I hated the main character. I felt no sympathy or empathy toward Christopher McCandless, yet, I've known people like him: self-righteous, above everyone and everything else, and clings steadfastly to this notion of noble idealism even at their own expense. And I really enjoyed his encounters with people along the way. I think what helped me get through it too was the stunning visuals and the excellent soundtrack from Eddie Vedder. At every turn when it was almost getting too tedious to bear, I'd see or hear something that would take me right back into the film. I wish I loved it as much as some others do, but this seems to be the right place for it for me.

15. The Bourne Ultimatum

For as long as I can remember, action movies have always been a dime a dozen. They're the same formulaic bullshit you've seen countless times before it. It has almost become a dead genre for me - if you water something down enough times, it just becomes water. So, it's so refreshing to me that The Bourne series, especially under Greengrass' direction, break that mold. They're fresh, their fun, and they're exciting. The thrills are earned genuinely. I'm not so sure about the recently greenlighted fourth installment, since The Bourne Ultimatum wrapped up the trilogy with a logical, satisfying ending. But with Greengrass involved, I'm willing to see what they'll do.

16. Lady Chatterley

Admit it... when you hear "Lady Chatterley," your mind instantly conjures up images of late night, soft-core Skinemax movies, doesn't it? It certainly did for me. But I checked out the film anyway, despite the off-putting 2:45 running time. But you know what? It was actually pretty damn amazing, both in terms of direction and acting. Marina Hands is stunning in the title role, and you have to hand it to Pascale Ferran for making a film like this last for almost 3 hours and never making it feel like 3 hours.

17. Control

This black-and-white biopic of the late Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division was an astonishing feat of firsts: Anton Corbijn, who directed his first feature film after ages of giving us so many essential music videos. Sam Riley in the title role nails the part so convincingly. And then add the always amazing Samantha Morton as Debra Curtis, the put upon young wife, and you have the best musical biopic in ages.

18. For The Bible Tells Me So

A fascinating documentary about the conflicting roles homosexuality and religion play in various peoples lives. You hear voices from all over the spectrum: gays and lesbians who've come out despite the heavy religious influence in their lives and found acceptance, and those who haven't. And in the case of one family, a mother who spurned her daughter over her religious beliefs, lost her daughter to suicide as a direct result of that rejection, questions her previously held beliefs and lives a life of shame and regret, and spends the rest of her days trying to atone for her actions. It's a really remarkable documentary.

19. The Hoax

Lasse Hallstrom hasn't made an interesting film in almost 15 years since becoming a whore for Miramax. Richard Gere is one of the most uninteresting actors ever to grace the screen. So how did THIS happen? if you've seen the Orson Welles film F For Fake, you'll have a passing familiarity of the story of Clifford Irving, who fakes his way into millions of dollars by claiming that he is writing the biography of the then-reclusive Howard Hughes with full cooperation from him. Of course, his whole story is complete bullshit, and the film is about how he orchestrated the whole thing. Trust me... I hate Richard Gere, and outside of What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Hallstrom hasn't directed an interesting film. Interesting how two negatives somehow equalled a positive in this case.

20. Interview

This one didn't get the best reviews, but it's kind of a shame. I found it fascinating. It's based on a Dutch film by Theo Van Gogh, who was set to direct the American adaptation (that was, of course, until he was murdered in broad daylight in Amsterdam by a Muslim extremist). Co-star Steve Buscemi took over the helm as the director, and the film came to light. It's a film about a journalist out of his environment, set to do a puff piece on a high profile, tabloid target actress. He views the assignment as beneath him, she instantly reads that. The two mix like oil and water. But through circumstance, they end up back at her apartment for a night of brutal revelations where we learn that he's not quite as superior as he likes to project, and she's not the dimwitted idiot she may be dismissed as. The big story here though is Sienna Miller. A tabloid target herself, she proves that she does have the acting chops. She's not Paris or Britney. She, like her character, is deceptively a hell of a lot better at her game than you'd be inclined to give her credit for.

Top 100 of 2007 (21-30)

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21. Sicko
Along the way, I've somewhat cooled on this film, but I still appreciate its aims. The healthcare system in this country is undeniably fucked up. And Michael Moore does a great job at delving into the issue. I guess I'm simply growing tired of Moore's schtick and letting himself overshadow the issue at hand. It's still a good movie, and I like that he provokes. It would have been a lot higher had it not been for him, but rather, based on the information.Because in that regard, it's stellar. But Moore ends up being the film's undoing to a degree. I guess I wish he'd let his work speak for itself, and not have to constantly interrupt.

22. Ten Canoes

This Australian import is definitely worth the time. First, not many Aboriginal films exist, so it's a fantastic way to get a glimpse into that culture. It's a story based on Aboriginal legend, set "a long time ago" and "a very long time ago." It's essentially a film about ancient folklore being passed down from one generation to the next. It's remarkably beautiful, and the story is more captivating than you might expect, vaguely a tale of adventure with humor mixed in, it's a nice, but different way to spend an evening.

23. My Best Friend

This was one of those unexpected films that, while light, managed to stay with me. I really enjoyed the hell out of this one, and Daniel Auteuil and Dany Boon are just a pleasure to watch together. The film is deceptively touching while maintaining the humor and avoiding the maudlin. After watching this one, I left the theater wanting to call all of my close friends and let them know how much I appreciate them.

24. The Lookout

A nice debut from director Scott Frank, and yet another strong performance from Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Who'd have thunk that the kid from "Third Rock From The Sun" would end up being one of the most interesting up-and-coming actors of his generation? Between this, Brick, Mysterious Skin, and the upcoming "seems-promising" Stop-Loss, I'm convinced that he's one of our best and brightest. Clever little heist film that deserves a look.

25. Eastern Promises

I was glad to see that Viggo Mortensen got a nomination for his performance here - very deserved. (Not to mention all of his performances where he wasn't nominated, and perhaps should've been). The film doesn't always work, but damn, it has some really fascinating parts. But, I'd say it was a huge step up after A History of Violence, the previous Cronenberg/Mortensen collaboration, which was 2/3rds of a great movie and a shitty ending.

26. A Mighty Heart

Michael Winterbottom is an interesting director to me. He's so on with one film, and then the next one's a complete mess. For me, this was one of the better ones. And as much as many people I know hated Jolie in this performance, quite frankly, it's the performance I've been waiting to see from her. She's undeniably a charismatic actress, but she always seemed typecasted to me, and every role she played seemed to cash in on her "wild child" public persona. And, I include her performance in "Girl, Interrupted" in that. In such a remarkably strong field of nominees that year, I can't believe they gave her the Oscar over Toni Collette, Samantha Morton, Chloe Sevigny, and Catherine Keener, all four of whom were amazing. But this time out, I adored the performance because Winterbottom was able to harness that charisma into quiet, dignified intensity, that felt not only befitting for Marianne Pearl, but for the actress Jolie had inside but was never able to display until now.

27. The Bubble

An interesting film about a gay Israeli soldier and a gay Palestinean who develop a relationship, despite the cultural divide that surrounds them. As with The Band's Visit, I love that it did it's best to eschew the politics for as long as possible. It depicts a life in the Middle East that isn't what we see on the news. However, the politics and cultural tensions inevitably come into play, despite every effort to avoid that. The ending is troublesome for many, and I'm still not quite sure what I think of it myself yet, but it keeps me thinking about it, which is what a good film, for me, is all about.

28. Red Road

This Scottish import is rather obscure, but I learned about it from a movie site I frequent, and the premise sounded interesting, and I think it's a classic case of my feeling that you need to seek the good films out, you can't sit around and wait for them to be marketed to you. First time director Andrea Arnold does a remarkable job in letting tension slowly escalate, and it doesn't give you the set up - you only know that there is something from the past that will build into something later, and that you'll find out what out what that past involves when the time is right. I love films that don't spell everything out for you, but hook you in by your curiosity of wanting to know. A far better film than most anything I heard of through mainstream marketing.

29. Dark Blue Almost Black

This Spanish film is a coming-of-age story told without the usual cliches, and touches upon some interesting issues. To try and encapsulate everything that happens in the film and to do the various storylines justice in a short blurb would end up being rather frustrating to do and not ruin anything. So rather than try to synopsize the film, I'll just say that it was a very genuine and honest collection of interweaving stories about love, divided loyalties, sexual exploration, and friendship that I really enjoyed.

30. The Betrayal (no trailer available)

Unfortunately, this film has been languishing without distribution since it premiered at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival, and it's unfortunate, because it was really quite a good film. Franco-Algerian tensions are nothing new in international cinema: From 1964's The Battle of Algiers (favorite film of all time, for those keeping track), to more recent stories such as 2005's Cache (one of the best films of this decade) or 2006's Days of Glory (meh), it's a topic to which many films are seemingly devoted, yet, I feel like I'm getting a different story each time. And while this one is probably more closely aligned with Days of Glory in terms of it's story, this one is by leaps and bounds better. While it lack the visual flair of that film (hell, it lacks visual flair, period) the story is another fascinating exploration of the internal conflicts that befell many Algerians fighting on the side of the French during WWII. But unlike Days of Glory, this one makes you think.

Top 100 of 2007 (31-40)

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31. No End In Sight
While there has certainly been no shortage of documentaries on the Iraq war in the past few years, this one stands apart from so many of the others. Rather than pointing the finger at the Bush administration yet again for lying to the nation and getting ourselves involved in Iraq when they had nothing to do with 9/11 (by now, I think we're all well aware, and director Charles Ferguson avoids that - but the Bush administration doesn't get off easy here either). Instead, No End In Sight looks at everything since our invasion. It takes a very harsh view of how we've let the country go to shit through taking careful planning and throwing it out the window with utter disregard. It pinpoints exactly what was planned, what should have been done, and how we not only failed to execute it, but how we just flagrantly disregarded all of it and flew by the seat of our pants through one misguided decision after the next. And while some may be tempted to disregard this as another piece of "liberal propaganda," you have people who are very powerful and who were very much in the know speaking quite matter-of-factly about it: Folks like Richard Armitage speaking, as well as archive footage showing folks from the top down speaking about what should be done, and showing how it failed to be implemented. Now... after such glowing praise, why do I rank it so seemingly low? My biggest issue with the film is that hindsight is 20/20, and while these people all speak with a high degree of authority -- they'll know more that we ever will -- I only wish that they would speak about what we should do from here. What steps do we need to take to get out of the mess we're in now? What does the future hold? In a year with an election right around the corner, I would like to know so I could listen to the campaign speeches with a little more insight to judge the effectiveness of the suggested plans each candidate has on getting ourselves out of this quagmire. Even if they weren't definite answers, just to hear what these people thought the next step might be would have been helpful, especially going into the upcoming primaries and elections. But as it was, it ended up being a lot of talking about what we should have done, and not where we should go from here. And that's what I want to hear from people so knowledgeable on the state of affairs in the Middle East.

32. Lust, Caution
Ang Lee's lush, beautiful epic was unfortunately branded with an NC-17 by the MPAA, and it's just one more reason that organization is among the most useless entities on the face of the planet. By being branded with a commercial death, audiences were deprived of a truly wonderful film. It's an espionage story about a young Chinese girl who infiltrates the Japanese occupation forces in the late 1930's/40's, but gets a little too close to the enemy. It's a long film, but one that never had me squirming in my seat. And while the sex scenes are highly erotic, they aren't overly graphic. So I'm only left scratching my head at the MPAA's decision, especially after I watched a man's penis be severed and fed to a dog in the R-rated Hostel Part II.

33. Away From Her

I love me some Sarah Polley like no one's business. As an actress, she's the best actress going in the under-30 set, and I think there's very few people who bring so much integrity to the types of films they make. Her name attached to a project means I'll check it out, unconditionally. So, for her feature film debut as a srceenwriter and director, it makes sense that someone of Julie Christie's caliber (who is of a similar mindset when it comes to the projects she chooses), would be attached. And it's a wonderful debut for Polley behind the camera. She clearly has a gift, and while it's a flawed film, if this is her starting point, I can't wait to see her career behind the camera develop. And while most of the attention went to Christie's performance, I think Gordon Pinsent, who plays her husband, gave the strongest male lead performance of the year. He's incredible, and his omission from pretty much every award or nomination in the States was pretty inconceivable to me.

34. The Diving Bell And The Butterfly

Jean Dominique Bauby, the French editor of Elle Magazine, suffered a terribly debilitating stoke leaving only his left eyelid mobile, and managed to blink out his memoirs. And while this sounds ripe for an overly sentimental and precious biopic du jour (you know, like 99% of them), Julian Schnabel is too good for that, and thankfully, isn't concerned with trying to pull the same tired tearjerking antics. Instead, his film is a beautifully crafted meditation on a mind trapped inside a body that doesn't work. Like most of Schnabel's films, it tends to get a little too cerebral for it's own good, but it's a damn fine film.

35. Across The Universe

This is another example where taking risks and having the balls to try affords the film a lot of goodwill. There are any number of criticisms you could make about the film, and chances are I'd agree with you on a lot of it: the story is thin, some of the musical numbers don't work, it's a little style over substance... all true. Yet, bizarrely enough, it worked for me. I think Julie Taymor is a gifted visualist and I'm pretty much up for anything she's willing to put out there. I really liked how a lot (not all) of the Beatles songs were reimagined and also how she incorporated the band's transformation from bubble gum to political and fashioned a story around it that follows the same path. Not for everyone, but I really enjoyed it. However, I warn you that it's divisive as hell, you'll either like it or completely hate it.

36. The Wind That Shakes The Barley

This Palme D'Or winning film from Ken Loach shows the emerging conflicts in Northern Ireland that led up to the formation of the IRA, and does a commendable job of showing its impact on scales both large and small. It's beautifully filmed and wonderfully acted.

37. Paris Je T'Aime

A whole host of directors and actors collaborated on this one to create 18 short stories, each set in a specific arrondissement in Paris. The stories don't mesh or intertwine and each short film skips between genres. And while not all of them work, so much of it works, that it is a worthy experience. I can't recall a collaboration between directors and actors on this magnitude, and I really appreciated something like this that can show you just how wonderful short format films can be.

38. Knocked Up

While most comedies are quick to settle for the dick-and-fart joke and that's it, Knocked Up gives you that through the filter of something genuine, adult, and a realistic depiction of many relationships and the growth you make when life throws you a curveball. And that's why Knocked Up is one of those films that will still be remembered five years from now, while the rest fade off to the discount bins at WalMart.

39. The Band's Visit

Although this one is slowly rolling out in theaters now, it did officially open in Los Angeles for a limited qualifying run in December, so it gets included here. This Israeli import was just such a charming, sweetly written, superbly acted little film. It makes no great statements, nor does it politicize Arabic/Israeli tensions. It puts it all aside for a sweet and genuine little story that I really admired a good deal.

40. I'm Not There

The funny thing with Todd Haynes' films is that even when I don't really love him, I have to admire his chutzpah for trying, which is more than can be said for most filmmakers. This time out, I think it was a successful film even if it doesn't work completely. And while much has been made of Cate Blanchett's gender-bending portrayal, the real star of the film was Marcus Carl Franklin (above). This kid is someone to watch.

Top 100 of 2007 (41-50)

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41. In The Valley of Elah
Few people were more in need of redemption in my eyes, at least from a cinematic standpoint, was Paul Haggis. After directing the preposterous Crash, Haggis may have landed himself on the A-list, but he also catapulted onto my shitlist. I'll refrain from getting into that one... suffice it to say that it would land in the bottom 20 films seen this decade. But here he almost makes up for it. He's still got a ways to go, but this was significantly better, and Tommy Lee Jones was impeccable in this one.

42. Atonement
This one has a lot of great things going for it: Some nice performances, wonderful cinematography, and a good story. But something didn't seem to translate from the page to the screen, particularly during the midsection during the war scenes. The story itself is quite strong though, and while the film could have been great, it settles for just being good.

43. Exiled
Even though it gets mired in hokiness at times, this was still a really fun little action movie that I could see getting remade for an American audience (the studios seem to love to steal from the foreigners and make a lesser version). Some fantastic action sequences and beautifully filmed. Just a lot of fun.

44. Grindhouse

Split up in two parts: The first half, Planet Terror by Robert Rodriguez, is a fun, gory zombie action/thriller. The second half, Death Proof by Quentin Tarantino, is more of an action movie with Kurt Russell as a stuntman who chases people with his "death proof" car. I preferred the Rodriguez film: it seems to capture what they were going for a little more. Tarantino's is a bit too talky, but it's a good time once it gets going.

45. They Turned Our Desert Into Fire

Just one of the many incredible documentaries about Darfur that have come out in recent years. It's a horrific portrait of the genocide in Sudan and the political entanglements that are preventing anything from raising a finger. It's a good doc to catch, although its availability is limited.

46. Right At Your Door

A fairly taut little thriller about a dirty bomb going off in downtown Los Angeles. After deciding he can no longer wait for his wife to return, he seals off the house to prevent exposure to radioactivity, only to have her return to the house after it's too late. It's a great little "what would you do?" sort of story. It loses it's footing in the midsection a bit, but redeems itself nicely at the end.

47. Deep Water
A semi-interesting documentary about a boat race around the world and one man's doomed voyage. Some interesting developments come about while recounting the story, and it's a solid documentary. but in a year with so many good ones, this was a bit lost in the shuffle.

48. 1408

Stephen King adaptations on the big screen are usually sort of a mixed bag. And considering the source material isn't usually all that thrilling or original to begin with, it's rare for me to really think too highly of them. Yet, this is one that worked. It's sufficiently creepy and delivers some interesting twists.

49. This Is England

An interesting tale of a young English boy who doesn't really fit in until he finds a group that accepts him and falls in with their crowd, much to his mother's dismay. I sort of liked how they show how easy it is to associate with a prescribed identity and all that comes with that.

50. Paprika

A visually stunning and surrealistic (if somewhat incomprehensible) anime film. Not really a preferred genre of mine, but it's hard not to be stimulated by the visuals on display.

Top 100 of 2007 (51-60)

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51. The Valet
An amiable, sweet French comedy about a parking attendant who, through comedic circumstances, ends up in the company of an irresistible supermodel. It's enjoyable, if somewhat forgettable, but I enjoyed myself with it.

52. You Kill Me
Addiction, murder, mafioso, and hitmen. Did I mention that this was a comedy? And it was a nice surprise of a film. Ben Kingsley and Tea Leoni both give some wonderful comedic performances in this one. Worth my time, much more than I expected.

53. Waitress
I don't know if this would have garnered quite the attention it did if it weren't for writer/director/co-star Adrienne Shelley's murder (she's the one on the right), but I thought this was just an enjoyable piece of fluff with a star-making turn from Keri Russell (or maybe star-reviving turn). She really just makes this film incredibly enjoyable.

54. The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford

Like 3:10 To Yuma, this had some significant stumbling blocks in its way - The Western thing again, being nearly 3 hours long, and Casey Affleck, who I don't care for much as an actor. But it was a worthwhile trip. Still not crazy about the younger Affleck brother, but Brad Pitt was quite good, the running time never really got to me too much, and beyond that, I think it's one of those brilliantly shot films of the year.

55. Lars And The Real Girl

To appreciate this film, it requires you to suspend a significant amount of disbelief. I mean, it's about a guy who parades a blowup doll around as his girlfriend. And I was willing to suspend that disbelief, and I enjoyed the film as a result, and I think Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, and Paul Schneider all did fantastic work. By the end, it exceeded the amount of good will I was willing to extend, but I enjoyed getting there.

56. 3:10 To Yuma

Westerns aren't really my kind of movie, and Christian Bale is one of those actors who I rarely enjoy a performance from, and while I like Russell Crowe alright, I don't think he's done much this decade that compares to what he did in the 90's, so I wasn't really jazzed about seeing this one, but I was pleasantly surprised. It's an entertaining enough film and makes a fine rental.

57. Charlie Wilson's War

It's a bit like so many other by-the-numbers films by Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, but they do a fine job with the roles, as does Phillip Seymour Hoffman. The film doesn't ultimately amount to a hill of beans, but I was entertained by it.

58. Michael Clayton

This is a pretty solid genre movie boasting some of George Clooney's finest work to date, and I thought nothing would make me happier than to see Tilda Swinton get nominated for this performance... until she won for it. RICHLY deserved. But, as much as I loved the performances within the film, the film itself is just decent. It teeters on greatness without quite making it there. But I did really enjoy it.

59. Chronicle of an Escape ( no trailer available)

This is the true-life story of a group of Argentinean soccer players who are taken hostage during the 1970's, and obviously, their eventual escape. I don't think it does a tremendous job in distinguishing itself from a multitude of abduction/POW stories but it was watchable and you generally cared about each of the characters by the end.

60. Black Book

Paul Verhoeven plays the damsel in distress way too often, taking every opportunity to degrade and humiliate the main character, which undermines the film a bit. But damn if Carice Van Houten didn't give one of the best female performances this year. She's engaging and dynamic, and remember the name, as I suspect you'll be hearing more from her.

Top 100 of 2007 (61-70)

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61. Things We Lost in The Fire
While by no stretch a masterpiece, I think the studio bungled this film's release by attempting to counterprogram against an overstuffed weekend and it backfired. Halle Berry hasn't been this good since Monster's Ball (though, there isn't much to compare it to, considering her career as of late.) Benecio Del Toro, as usual, is excellent in his role. It's a film that treaded a very fine line between human emotion and mawkishness, and for the most part, I think it stayed on the right side of that line.

62. Gone Baby Gone
Juuuuust a little too predictable in this case. The performances are top notch, Story, not so much.

63. Margot At The Wedding

Make no mistake: Margot is an insufferable little twat. But the study of someone so passive aggressively spreading bile made for an interesting character study.

64. In the Shadow of the Moon

Well made in every regard. But I felt like I already knew this story. It might be nice for a kid who hasn't heard all of this or someone who wants to relive it, but for me... eh. But it's exceptionally well done.

65. The Namesake

Good, but there was just something safe and easy about it that kept me from buying it. Kal Penn, Irfhan Khan, Tabu, and the rest are all great. Just wished the script matched.

66. The Mist

As a kid, I grew up reading Stephen King, and this was one of my favorite novellas. And I think it translates well. Not perfect, but Harden is in one of those roles where it's over the top but it works. And the ending is pretty damn shocking.

67. Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman

This is just one of those films that works, but I can't hurl any superlatives in that direction. Acting nice, story solid, etc. But I'm just not enthusiastic. But Timothy Spall was quite incredible.

68. Jindabyne

This was an interesting one that not only covers the Raymond Carver fishing storyline from Short Cuts, but also, the race and class relationships in Australia. Interesting, but not wonderful.

69. Hot Fuzz

Speaking of zombie movies, Shaun of the Dead is a great one. Partially because it combined two genres that you'd never see mixed before. Yet, as enjoyable as this was, it lacked the freshness and the genre crossovers the prior film had.

70. 28 Weeks Later

Now, this is no match for the first one - let's just lay that out there right now. However, as far as horror sequels go, this was actually pretty good. Not great, but better than what we usually get. Kind of curious to see if there is a third one.

Top 100 of 2007 (71-80)

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70. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Ok, so I should preface this, but... I just don't like musicals. I don't. I find them shrill, corny, and excruciating to sit through. Now, that having been said, I think this one was a tolerable one. The bursting into song shit annoys me, but here, the story won me over. Not perfect, but as far as musicals go, I could sit through it. If you're more inclined toward musicals, you may like this more than I did.

72. Ghosts of Cite Soleil
A pretty interesting documentary about gang life in the slums of Haiti, and how much of it is influenced by American Gangster rap. I kind of felt, after watching City of God so many years ago, that it lessened this films impact a little.... a little "been there, seen that," but it's still a worthwhile film.

73. Fido
A clever little satire lampooning the Lassie era of the 1950's and its supposed idealism, but through the use of domesticated zombies instead of an adorable Collie. Doesn't always hit the mark, but it was amusing enough.

74. Severance

This seems to be the area of the list chock full of films that don't quite work, but worked enough to where I enjoyed them, and Severance is yet another of those films. A step above the slasher movie genre with some nice wit, but I was entertained. Not much more to say than that.

75. Black Snake Moan

Truth is... I didn't think I'd like this one, but it ended up being substantially better than i thought, and mostly because of Samuel L. Jackson's performance. Can't say the same about Christina Ricci, and especially Justin Timberlake, but it ended up being entertaining enough.

76. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
I was actually a little disappointed with this one, after having read so many strong reviews. It isn't a bad film by any means, but I didn't find it worthy of the praise that it got. I suppose when I'm watching a documentary, I like to laugh with, not at, the subjects. I could relate to Steve and his struggles, but the "villain," Billy, was just almost too cartoonish for me. Sure, he's a dork (you almost half to be to enter into a King Kong tournament). but I just felt like he was playing up to the cameras too much. Sometimes, truth can be stranger than fiction, but if you don't buy a performance in a documentary, something's a little off.

77. Private Fears In Public Places
This was a decent film filled with nice performances, but just ultimately didn't stick with me a great deal. I enjoyed it just fine. But a film that has very little recall for me now.

78. Poison Friends
Like Private Fears In Public Places, I'm at a little bit of a loss in the ability to say something strong about this film. It has sort of faded from memory a bit. I recall thinking the story was good, but could have been better, and the performances were good, but no one quite stood out. So, I guess, all in all, "nice, but unmemorable" would be the best descriptor I could give.

79. The Boss of It All

God, here is another one... can't really tell you much about it of note at this point in the game. Which is certainly odd for Lars Von Trier

80. The Simpsons Movie

This show started when I was a pre-teen, and I'm in my 30s now, so I grew up with the show, and while I've gotten out of the habit of watching it as of late, I think in its heyday, what I loved about this show was not so much the Simpson Family themselves, but all of the supporting characters surrounding them in Springfield. So, it was a bit disappointing to me that the film focused solely on The Simpsons and some randomly introduced villainous characters while relegating the side characters to a line or two at best. It had an occasional moment, but a disappointment to some degree.