This may not entirely sync up with how these movies are ordered on the individual yearly lists that I've made but, hey, people's opinion's can change, right? Furthermore, some of these movies I haven't seen all that recently and I'm going by vague memories of them. To expedite this, I think I'm only going to write a blurb on the movies that I haven't already written separate reviews for on here.
1. Pan's Labyrinth
But captain, to obey - just like that - for obedience's sake... without questioning... That's something only people like you do.
Guillermo Del Toro's haunting, darkly beautiful epic about a girl living in Franco's Spain who meets a faun in an underground fantasy world telling her that she's actually a princess. Is it real, or just her overactive imagination? We're left to come to our own conclusions about it. In a movie where our heroine has to contend with a faceless "pale man" with eyes in the palms of his hands who devours children, the most frightening monster in the movie is human--her father; a Captain in Franco's army. He's one of the most terrifying characters put on screen, even moreso, I think, than Christopher Waltz's nazi in this year's Inglourious Basterds.
2. Michael Clayton
I'm Shiva, the God of death.
T-3. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
There's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it's worth fightin' for.
No, I don't really think all of them are equally as good--I think Fellowship is probably the best--but to keep this from being overly LotR heavy, I'll just nestle them all here. A lot of people who aren't into all the high fantasy of Tolkien's world mock the long run times and the suspension of disbelief required to get on board with the quest to destroy the ring ("Why don't they just ride one of those eagles and throw it in the volcano?"), but whatever, screw them. Peter Jackson and company did an amazing job with the titanic effort of putting together one a dense, complicated epic on screen such that it was beloved by newcomers and hardcore fans alike (the few people still bitching about Tom Bombadil being left out don't count).
4. Up In the Air
The stars will wheel forth from their daytime hiding places; and one of those lights, slightly brighter than the rest, will be my wingtip passing over.
5. Juno
Nah... I mean, I'm already pregnant, so what other kind of shenanigans could I get into?
6. No Country for Old Men
Don't put it in your pocket, sir. Don't put it in your pocket. It's your lucky quarter.
7. The Dark Knight
It's not about making money, it's about sending a message: Everything burns!
8. The Departed
I don't want to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me.
9. Doubt
"Did you ever prove it?"
"To whom?"
"Anyone but yourself?"
10. Million Dollar Baby
Boxing is an unnatural act. 'Cos everything in it is backwards. You wanna move to the left, you don't step left, you push on the right toe. To move right, you use your left toe. Instead of running from the pain - like a sane person would do, you step into it.
Clint Eastwood's somber tale about the rise and fall of a female boxer under the tutelage of an old trainer, played by Eastwood himself, who eventually becomes a father figure for her. The ethics and implications of the decision he makes at the end of the movie could be discussed endlessly.
11. Slumdog Millionaire
It is written.
12. Lost in Translation
For relaxing times, make it Suntory time.
Sophia Coppola's gorgeous movie about two people who randomly meet up in Japan at very different points in their lives. The perfect movie for someone like me who is fascinated by Japan but hasn't made it over there yet.
13. Good Night and Good Luck
We must not confuse dissent from disloyalty. We must remember always, that accusation is not proof, and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another, we will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason.
14. Downfall
You must be on stage when the curtain falls.
At times a brutal movie to watch, Downfall or Der Untergang follows the last day's of Nazi Germany, when Hitler was relegated to an underground bunker as the last remnants of the German army fought and died in Berlin. Actor Bruno Ganz's performance as Hitler is terrifyingly convincing, and the movie portrays him as a broken, pitiful creature, teetering on the edge of insanity as his Empire crumbles.
15. House of Flying Daggers
[...I guess I don't have a quote for this one. You've failed me, IMDB.]
Hero, also directed by Yimou Zhang, is two spaces down on the list, but Daggers is a better movie with a more intimate story, connecting a love triangle with a political intrigue story pitting a weak and corrupt Chinese government against a band of assassins. The visuals in Yimou's films are stunning. In this movie, the sequence in the bamboo forest is particularly beautiful.
16. There Will Be Blood
I am the Third Revelation!!
17. Hero
But the ultimate ideal is when the sword disappears altogether. The warrior embraces all around him. The desire to kill no longer exists. Only peace remains.
Not quite as good as Daggers, but another visually arresting film by Yimou Zhang. What's particularly interesting is how each of the movie's conflicting flashbacks--it's structured much like to Rashomon--seems to have it's own color scheme. It also has a lot of the heady Eastern philosophy that I'm a complete sucker for. A major plot point involves two main characters interpreting what a single character of calligraphy means.
18. Crash
[I don't have anything here either.]
Paul Haggis's confrontation of racism, interleaving a number of different stories of people from varying backgrounds whose lives "crash" together. Wish I had more to say, but this is one of the movies on the list that I haven't seen in some time.
19. The Aviator
Show me the blueprints, Show me the blueprints, Show me the blueprints...
Martin Scorsese's second appearance on the list for his biopic of Howard Hughes, simultaneously genius and insane. A great performance by Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role.
20. Inglourious Basterds
We're gonna be dropped into France, dressed as civilians. And once we're in enemy territory, as a bushwhackin' guerrilla army, we're gonna be doin' one thing and one thing only... killin' Nazis.
21. Spirited Away
Once you do something, you never forget. Even if you can't remember.
One of the most imaginative movies of all time, directed by legendary animator Hayao Miyasaki. There simply isn't any other hand-drawn animation that matches the detail of Miyasaki's work, and there are few people who can create anything more completely and utterly original in any sort of format.
22. Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2
I'm a killer. A murdering bastard, you know that. And there are consequences to breaking the heart of a murdering bastard.
Roughly four hours of Quintin Tarantino following no rules whatsoever, except take what's cool and run with it, Kill Bill is a hodge-podge of everything that's influenced Tarantino's career, from grindhouse kung-fu revenge movies, to spaghetti westerns, to random theme songs from old TV shows. It's impossible not to have fun with it.
23. The Royal Tenenbaums
Well, everyone knows Custer died at Little Bighorn. What this book presupposes is... maybe he didn't?
Wes Anderson's best movie is probably Rushmore, but that was '98, I think. Tenenbaums, however, similarly shows Anderson's ability to combine a story with absurd characters and absurdist humor with genuinely emotional human drama. Anderson is definitely an acquired taste, but I for one have acquired it.
Showing posts with label Top 10 list. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Top 10 list. Show all posts
Monday, January 11, 2010
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Best Movies of 2009
Like with 2008, this might change a lot once I see more 2009 releases on DVD and whatnot over time. At least I have 10 I can put on here right away. I finally got my '08 list up to 10 movies with The Wrestler not too long ago.
1. Up in the Air -- Jason Reitman's brilliant look at a man who happily lives a life of solitude constantly flying around the country firing people for other companies who don't want to deal with it themselves. George Clooney perfectly embodies the role, and the excellent script does a lot to make his character of Ryan Bingnam and the other two main characters--a young woman fresh out of school who threatens Ryan's job and another nomadic airline traveler who Ryan thinks shares his desire for totally casual and fleeting relationships--completely believable people you can care about.
2. Inglorious Basterds -- Quentin Tarantino's World War II epic, light on historical accuracy, but big on style. It was billed as a blood-soaked revenge flick, and there's certainly some of that, but there's a lot more going on, including a fantastic performance by Christopher Waltz as a smug, arrogant, and terrifying SS officer. It shows Tarantino's love for movies, and gives a lot of nods to spaghetti westerns in particular.
3. District 9 (below Up in the Air review) -- A smart sci-fi movie filmed in shaky-cam documentary style chronicling the plight of aliens whose ship stalls out over Johannesburg, South Africa and end up being relegated to a slum. Simultaneously invents an alien culture, while also exploring the history of racial and crime issues that exist in South Africa today and throughout it's history.
4. Watchmen -- Zach Snyder's adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons's masterpiece of a graphic novel. Gets a bit too actiony at times, and sometimes seems to almost forget that the original book was more of a deconstruction of the superhero genre than just merely a superhero story. Still, it does a great job of capturing the Dr. Strangelove--style cold war paranoia and cynicism that overshadows the book, and does a pretty good job of handling the myriad complex characters. Not a perfect adaptation, but a very, very good one.
5. Up -- Didn't get around to doing a standalone review for this, hence no link. Up is a brilliant follow up to Wall-E by Pixar about an old man who decides he's pretty much had enough with the urbanization around his tiny, quaint little house, and attaches about a million balloons to it and gets it airborne. The first 15 minutes or so are simple, mostly wordless, and absolutely heart-wrenching, as it chronicles how the old man and his wife met, got married, tried to start a family but never succeeded, and grew old, ending in his wife passing away. The remainder of the movie is much more of a light-hearted, adventurous kid's movie, as the old man and an unsuspecting boy scout who got inadvertently carried along on the old man's doorstep travel to South America and meet a deranged old explorer. It's still fun and charming, but even tough its first priority is to entertain kid's, I thought some of the stuff with the explorer's hyper-intelligent dogs flying old bi-planes was a little too preposterous to be in the same movie with such a human and emotional first act.
6. Coraline -- Adapted from a Neil Gaiman children's story, it's a great animated movie where the titular character moves to a run-down old house in Oregon and discovered that it contains a portal to an alternate world of doll-people. Ostensibly it's a movie meant to be appropriate for kids, but I found it legitimately pretty damn creepy. The stop-motion world has some great visuals and both the real world and the pseudo doll world have a darkly beautiful veneer to them. Some great, atmospheric music as well.
7. Ponyo -- Three animated movies in a row! Ponyo is the latest film from Hayao Miyasaki, the master animator who made one of my favorite moves Mononoke Hime, as well as Spirited Away. This movie is a definite step down from those two, with a plot that kind of sputters out towards the end, but it's another great showcase for his amazing, imaginative mind. Like all of the various spirits in the bathhouse in Spirited Away, some of the ocean creatures Miyasaki creates here--as always with hand-drawn animation of tremendous detail--are jaw-dropping.
8. Star Trek -- J. J. Abrams's lens flare-filled addition to the Star Trek franchise. It's somewhat dumbed down and more of a straight-action movie than what I think the spirit of Star Trek is really supposed to be. And furthermore, the more I think about it, the more I think the villain's motivation makes no sense. Still, it's an undeniably fun movie with a new cast that does a great job of embodying the core of all of the original characters. Karl Urban as McCoy is particularly fantastic. "Got numb tongue? I can fix that!"
9. Public Enemies -- Off the heels of his Collateral and Miami Vice, Michael Mann tries his hand at a prohibition-era crime movie telling the story of John Dillinger, "Baby Face" Nelson and the rest of the great early bank robbers. I was incredibly excited at the prospect of a movie with both Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, but really, Depp's performance is good, but nothing incredible, and Bale's character is very one-dimensional. Nevertheless, the movie tells a fascinating story of the golden age of bank robbery and the creation of the FBI, has a number of memorable, engaging action sequences and great, realistic visuals of 1920s Chicago.
10. Crazy Heart -- Kind of like the Country/Western version of The Wrestler. A somber, likable movie driven by an excellent, fully realized performance by Jeff Bridges. Features some great original music, all sung by Bridges himself, none of that "oh look, suddenly the main character has a totally different voice!" nonsense.
Close but no cigar:
11. Zombieland -- Coming towards the end here, so let's get right to the point on this one: It has Woody Harrelson. Riding a roller coaster. With a shotgun. Shooting zombies. I don't want to meet the person who doesn't want to see that.
Movies I haven't seen yet that I suspect might crack this list: The Hurt Locker, Where the Wild Things Are, Avatar, A Single Man, Fantastic Mr. Fox
1. Up in the Air -- Jason Reitman's brilliant look at a man who happily lives a life of solitude constantly flying around the country firing people for other companies who don't want to deal with it themselves. George Clooney perfectly embodies the role, and the excellent script does a lot to make his character of Ryan Bingnam and the other two main characters--a young woman fresh out of school who threatens Ryan's job and another nomadic airline traveler who Ryan thinks shares his desire for totally casual and fleeting relationships--completely believable people you can care about.
2. Inglorious Basterds -- Quentin Tarantino's World War II epic, light on historical accuracy, but big on style. It was billed as a blood-soaked revenge flick, and there's certainly some of that, but there's a lot more going on, including a fantastic performance by Christopher Waltz as a smug, arrogant, and terrifying SS officer. It shows Tarantino's love for movies, and gives a lot of nods to spaghetti westerns in particular.
3. District 9 (below Up in the Air review) -- A smart sci-fi movie filmed in shaky-cam documentary style chronicling the plight of aliens whose ship stalls out over Johannesburg, South Africa and end up being relegated to a slum. Simultaneously invents an alien culture, while also exploring the history of racial and crime issues that exist in South Africa today and throughout it's history.
4. Watchmen -- Zach Snyder's adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons's masterpiece of a graphic novel. Gets a bit too actiony at times, and sometimes seems to almost forget that the original book was more of a deconstruction of the superhero genre than just merely a superhero story. Still, it does a great job of capturing the Dr. Strangelove--style cold war paranoia and cynicism that overshadows the book, and does a pretty good job of handling the myriad complex characters. Not a perfect adaptation, but a very, very good one.
5. Up -- Didn't get around to doing a standalone review for this, hence no link. Up is a brilliant follow up to Wall-E by Pixar about an old man who decides he's pretty much had enough with the urbanization around his tiny, quaint little house, and attaches about a million balloons to it and gets it airborne. The first 15 minutes or so are simple, mostly wordless, and absolutely heart-wrenching, as it chronicles how the old man and his wife met, got married, tried to start a family but never succeeded, and grew old, ending in his wife passing away. The remainder of the movie is much more of a light-hearted, adventurous kid's movie, as the old man and an unsuspecting boy scout who got inadvertently carried along on the old man's doorstep travel to South America and meet a deranged old explorer. It's still fun and charming, but even tough its first priority is to entertain kid's, I thought some of the stuff with the explorer's hyper-intelligent dogs flying old bi-planes was a little too preposterous to be in the same movie with such a human and emotional first act.
6. Coraline -- Adapted from a Neil Gaiman children's story, it's a great animated movie where the titular character moves to a run-down old house in Oregon and discovered that it contains a portal to an alternate world of doll-people. Ostensibly it's a movie meant to be appropriate for kids, but I found it legitimately pretty damn creepy. The stop-motion world has some great visuals and both the real world and the pseudo doll world have a darkly beautiful veneer to them. Some great, atmospheric music as well.
7. Ponyo -- Three animated movies in a row! Ponyo is the latest film from Hayao Miyasaki, the master animator who made one of my favorite moves Mononoke Hime, as well as Spirited Away. This movie is a definite step down from those two, with a plot that kind of sputters out towards the end, but it's another great showcase for his amazing, imaginative mind. Like all of the various spirits in the bathhouse in Spirited Away, some of the ocean creatures Miyasaki creates here--as always with hand-drawn animation of tremendous detail--are jaw-dropping.
8. Star Trek -- J. J. Abrams's lens flare-filled addition to the Star Trek franchise. It's somewhat dumbed down and more of a straight-action movie than what I think the spirit of Star Trek is really supposed to be. And furthermore, the more I think about it, the more I think the villain's motivation makes no sense. Still, it's an undeniably fun movie with a new cast that does a great job of embodying the core of all of the original characters. Karl Urban as McCoy is particularly fantastic. "Got numb tongue? I can fix that!"
9. Public Enemies -- Off the heels of his Collateral and Miami Vice, Michael Mann tries his hand at a prohibition-era crime movie telling the story of John Dillinger, "Baby Face" Nelson and the rest of the great early bank robbers. I was incredibly excited at the prospect of a movie with both Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, but really, Depp's performance is good, but nothing incredible, and Bale's character is very one-dimensional. Nevertheless, the movie tells a fascinating story of the golden age of bank robbery and the creation of the FBI, has a number of memorable, engaging action sequences and great, realistic visuals of 1920s Chicago.
10. Crazy Heart -- Kind of like the Country/Western version of The Wrestler. A somber, likable movie driven by an excellent, fully realized performance by Jeff Bridges. Features some great original music, all sung by Bridges himself, none of that "oh look, suddenly the main character has a totally different voice!" nonsense.
Close but no cigar:
11. Zombieland -- Coming towards the end here, so let's get right to the point on this one: It has Woody Harrelson. Riding a roller coaster. With a shotgun. Shooting zombies. I don't want to meet the person who doesn't want to see that.
Movies I haven't seen yet that I suspect might crack this list: The Hurt Locker, Where the Wild Things Are, Avatar, A Single Man, Fantastic Mr. Fox
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Best Movies of 2008
Previous lists:
2007
2004-2006
1. The Dark Knight: The best superhero movie ever made, in part because it's not even so much about the superhero as it is about how he compares to all the peripheral characters. You can spend hours talking about all ideas explored by the movie, from how a hero can become corrupted, to why we can idolize a character who exists outside of the bounds of the law, to how far people should be allowed to go in the name of fighting crime. At the same time, Heath Ledger's performance--probably a lock for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar--is one of the great character studies of all time, as he portrays The Joker as a man who's insane enough to exist with no moral code or ideology of any kind, but sane enough to realize that he's doing it. Some people have told me that it feels too long to them. I disagree. The writing is excellent, and I defy you to point to me any scene in the film that's simply a throwaway that doesn't either advance the plot, develops the characters, or is just cool as hell to watch.
2. Doubt: A powerful character driven drama with excellent performances by Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Merryl Streep. Intentionally opened ended, its a movie you can discuss at length long after you're done watching it.
3. Slumdog Millionaire: The basic premise of the movie is kind of hokey: A slumdog from one of the poorest parts of India gets the chance of a lifetime as he's selected to be on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire." This alone would be enough of a plot for an entertaining, feel-good type of a movie that would probably draw a crowd, but the movie aspires to be something more. As we follow the movie's hero Jamal and his brother Salim from childhood all the way up to Jamal's big moment on the show, we see them take divergent paths as they try and escape poverty, and the conflict that arises between them hilights the plight of the people at the bottom of a society with huge stratification.
4. The Wrestler: A quiet, somber movie from Darren Aronofsky about a washed-up wrestler whose career in the ring has left him physically and emotionally broken down, but who keeps wrestling because it's all he really knows. Mickey Rourke perfectly embodies the lead role.
5. Milk: Led by a great performance by Sean Penn, it tells of the rise and fall of the nation's first openly gay public official. Incredibly prescient in the wake of the passage of Proposition 8 in California.
6. Iron Man: Another great superhero movie which, along with Tropic Thunder, represents a huge comeback for Robert Downey Jr. Not quite as philosophical as Dark Knight, Iron Man is much more reliant on humor and the charm of its characters, and does so very much successfully. The morality tale angle of the movie--which follows Obidiah Stone (Jeff Bridges) as an arrogant executive, trying to steal the Iron Man technology from Tony Stark while simultaneously selling weapons to militia groups around the world--is kind of heavy-handed, but the characters are well written enough such that its still very enjoyable and still puts a smile on your face when Obidiah gets what's coming to him at the end. Sets up for a sequel which has the potential to be every bit as good as the first.
7. Wall-E: An superbly made animated movie with a great, original concept that extends beyond just making jokes about non-human characters doing human things. Manages to introduce you to endearing and charming characters while conveying a somewhat foreboding message. A perfect balance of style and substance, and a shining example of what is possible with animation.
8. Frost/Nixon: Ron Howard takes the play of the same name and adapts it into a pseudo-documentary style movie about the tit-for-tat, boxing match style event that was the series of interviews between David Frost and Richard Nixon in which Frost eventually gets Nixon to admit wrongdoing and express regret over the Watergate cover-up. The actual plot--detailing the run preparation of the interviews, how they came about, and how Frost eventually got around Nixon's ability to control the dynamic of an interview--is fairly interesting, though somewhat predictable. Stealing the show is Frank Langella as Nixon, who shows both his burly, overbearing demeanor as well as an inner struggle with guild and old demons.
9. Tropic Thunder: As mentioned in #3, Tropic Thunder has another fantastic performance by Robert Downey Jr. as (to paraphrase his character's own word) "an Australian dude playin' a black dude, disguised as another dude!", one of four actors trapped in the jungle after their plan to film a Vietnam war movie goes to hell and they run into actual bandits who make and distribute heroin. Directed by Ben Stiller, its a great self-deprecating Hollywood movie, which takes shots at actors who think they're better than they are, film company executives who are painfully self-absorbed, and everything in between.
10. Hellboy II: Yep, one more comic book movie. Hellboy II is definitely in sort of the next tier down from Dark Knight and Iron Man, but still has its merits and is still a lot of fun to watch. The plot is a little bit more cookie-cutter than the two aforementioned movies, but the film has every bit of the gorgeous visual style that Guillermo Del Toro poured into his masterpiece Pan's Labyrinth. Taking us out of the BPRD headquarters where we spent a lot of our time in the first Hellboy, Del Toro presents us with some amazing set pieces from a huge underground society of mythical creatures--from an elven throne room that's been thrown together underneath the New York subway, to a marketplace that's like the new version of the Star Wars cantina scene. Oh, and Ron Pearlman's still great as Hellboy, the demon spawn from the blackest depths who's come to earth to complain a lot about his job and eat pancakes.
2007
2004-2006
1. The Dark Knight: The best superhero movie ever made, in part because it's not even so much about the superhero as it is about how he compares to all the peripheral characters. You can spend hours talking about all ideas explored by the movie, from how a hero can become corrupted, to why we can idolize a character who exists outside of the bounds of the law, to how far people should be allowed to go in the name of fighting crime. At the same time, Heath Ledger's performance--probably a lock for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar--is one of the great character studies of all time, as he portrays The Joker as a man who's insane enough to exist with no moral code or ideology of any kind, but sane enough to realize that he's doing it. Some people have told me that it feels too long to them. I disagree. The writing is excellent, and I defy you to point to me any scene in the film that's simply a throwaway that doesn't either advance the plot, develops the characters, or is just cool as hell to watch.
2. Doubt: A powerful character driven drama with excellent performances by Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Merryl Streep. Intentionally opened ended, its a movie you can discuss at length long after you're done watching it.
3. Slumdog Millionaire: The basic premise of the movie is kind of hokey: A slumdog from one of the poorest parts of India gets the chance of a lifetime as he's selected to be on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire." This alone would be enough of a plot for an entertaining, feel-good type of a movie that would probably draw a crowd, but the movie aspires to be something more. As we follow the movie's hero Jamal and his brother Salim from childhood all the way up to Jamal's big moment on the show, we see them take divergent paths as they try and escape poverty, and the conflict that arises between them hilights the plight of the people at the bottom of a society with huge stratification.
4. The Wrestler: A quiet, somber movie from Darren Aronofsky about a washed-up wrestler whose career in the ring has left him physically and emotionally broken down, but who keeps wrestling because it's all he really knows. Mickey Rourke perfectly embodies the lead role.
5. Milk: Led by a great performance by Sean Penn, it tells of the rise and fall of the nation's first openly gay public official. Incredibly prescient in the wake of the passage of Proposition 8 in California.
6. Iron Man: Another great superhero movie which, along with Tropic Thunder, represents a huge comeback for Robert Downey Jr. Not quite as philosophical as Dark Knight, Iron Man is much more reliant on humor and the charm of its characters, and does so very much successfully. The morality tale angle of the movie--which follows Obidiah Stone (Jeff Bridges) as an arrogant executive, trying to steal the Iron Man technology from Tony Stark while simultaneously selling weapons to militia groups around the world--is kind of heavy-handed, but the characters are well written enough such that its still very enjoyable and still puts a smile on your face when Obidiah gets what's coming to him at the end. Sets up for a sequel which has the potential to be every bit as good as the first.
7. Wall-E: An superbly made animated movie with a great, original concept that extends beyond just making jokes about non-human characters doing human things. Manages to introduce you to endearing and charming characters while conveying a somewhat foreboding message. A perfect balance of style and substance, and a shining example of what is possible with animation.
8. Frost/Nixon: Ron Howard takes the play of the same name and adapts it into a pseudo-documentary style movie about the tit-for-tat, boxing match style event that was the series of interviews between David Frost and Richard Nixon in which Frost eventually gets Nixon to admit wrongdoing and express regret over the Watergate cover-up. The actual plot--detailing the run preparation of the interviews, how they came about, and how Frost eventually got around Nixon's ability to control the dynamic of an interview--is fairly interesting, though somewhat predictable. Stealing the show is Frank Langella as Nixon, who shows both his burly, overbearing demeanor as well as an inner struggle with guild and old demons.
9. Tropic Thunder: As mentioned in #3, Tropic Thunder has another fantastic performance by Robert Downey Jr. as (to paraphrase his character's own word) "an Australian dude playin' a black dude, disguised as another dude!", one of four actors trapped in the jungle after their plan to film a Vietnam war movie goes to hell and they run into actual bandits who make and distribute heroin. Directed by Ben Stiller, its a great self-deprecating Hollywood movie, which takes shots at actors who think they're better than they are, film company executives who are painfully self-absorbed, and everything in between.
10. Hellboy II: Yep, one more comic book movie. Hellboy II is definitely in sort of the next tier down from Dark Knight and Iron Man, but still has its merits and is still a lot of fun to watch. The plot is a little bit more cookie-cutter than the two aforementioned movies, but the film has every bit of the gorgeous visual style that Guillermo Del Toro poured into his masterpiece Pan's Labyrinth. Taking us out of the BPRD headquarters where we spent a lot of our time in the first Hellboy, Del Toro presents us with some amazing set pieces from a huge underground society of mythical creatures--from an elven throne room that's been thrown together underneath the New York subway, to a marketplace that's like the new version of the Star Wars cantina scene. Oh, and Ron Pearlman's still great as Hellboy, the demon spawn from the blackest depths who's come to earth to complain a lot about his job and eat pancakes.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Movies I saw in 2006
The following are lists ranking all the films that have been released in the past 3 years. It'll be updated periodically.
2006 Movies
1. The Departed
2. V for Vendetta
3. Casino Royale
4. Thank You for Smoking
5. The Prestige
6. Inside Man
7. An Inconveinent Truth
8. A Scanner Darkly
9. Stranger than Fiction
10. Borat
11. Clerks II
12. Little Miss Sunshine
13. The Last King of Scotland
14. Fearless
15. Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man’s Chest
Superman Returns
Lucky Number Slevin
Crank
Nacho Libre
X-Men: The Last Stand
2005 Movies
1. Good Night and Good Luck
2. Crash
3. Downfall
4. Sin City
5. Batman Begins
6. Oldboy
7. King Kong
8. Kung Fu Hustle
9. Syriana
10. A History of Violence
11. Millions
12. Proof
13. Star Wars: Episode III
14. Kicking & Screaming
15. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
The Producers
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
War of the Worlds
The Pacifier
2004 Movies
1. Million Dollar Baby
T-2. House of Flying Daggers
T-2. Hero
3. The Aviator
4. Kill Bill 2
5. The Life Aquatic
6. Ray
7. The Terminal
8. Spiderman 2
9. Collateral
10. The Bourne Supremacy
11. Hellboy
12. Garden State
13. Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman
14. Anchorman
15. Napolean Dynomite
16. Supersize Me
17. Fahrenheit 9\11
18. Dodgeball
19. Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
20. Team America
Starsky and Hutch
Van Helsing
Alien vs. Predator
Saw
2006 Movies
1. The Departed
2. V for Vendetta
3. Casino Royale
4. Thank You for Smoking
5. The Prestige
6. Inside Man
7. An Inconveinent Truth
8. A Scanner Darkly
9. Stranger than Fiction
10. Borat
11. Clerks II
12. Little Miss Sunshine
13. The Last King of Scotland
14. Fearless
15. Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man’s Chest
Superman Returns
Lucky Number Slevin
Crank
Nacho Libre
X-Men: The Last Stand
2005 Movies
1. Good Night and Good Luck
2. Crash
3. Downfall
4. Sin City
5. Batman Begins
6. Oldboy
7. King Kong
8. Kung Fu Hustle
9. Syriana
10. A History of Violence
11. Millions
12. Proof
13. Star Wars: Episode III
14. Kicking & Screaming
15. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
The Producers
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
War of the Worlds
The Pacifier
2004 Movies
1. Million Dollar Baby
T-2. House of Flying Daggers
T-2. Hero
3. The Aviator
4. Kill Bill 2
5. The Life Aquatic
6. Ray
7. The Terminal
8. Spiderman 2
9. Collateral
10. The Bourne Supremacy
11. Hellboy
12. Garden State
13. Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman
14. Anchorman
15. Napolean Dynomite
16. Supersize Me
17. Fahrenheit 9\11
18. Dodgeball
19. Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
20. Team America
Starsky and Hutch
Van Helsing
Alien vs. Predator
Saw
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