Monday, December 14, 2009
Film Best of the Decade: Film (Take 3)
Posted by Chris Herrington on Mon, Dec 14, 2009 at 8:05 AM
We continue our five-part series of posts on the decade in movies (Take 1 here, Take 2 here) with another 20 or so of our favorite scenes and moments. Plus, Greg Akers reveals his 25 favorite films of the decade.
MOMENTS:
The sudden cut from animation to real footage, and then the silence, that ends WALTZ WITH BASHIR. (CH)
Abducted by cape-wearing Syndrome, Baby Jack-Jack throws a tantrum high in the sky and suddenly figures out he's one of THE INCREDIBLES. (AE)
Morty (George Harris) beats the hell out of a hood in a café, to the sounds of Duran Duran’s “Ordinary World,” in LAYER CAKE. (GA)
The Bride (Uma Thurman) awakens from a coma, clutches her empty womb, and screams. A revenge plot set in motion in KILL BILL VOL. 1. (CH)
Waking up, Kill Bill Vol. 1:
In an interrogation room, Freddy Riedenschneider (Tony Shalhoub) questions Doris (Frances McDormand) as light streams in through the barred windows, creating a stark black-and-white feast. Cinematographer Roger Deakins showing off in THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE. (GA)
An old man watches his younger self on the big screen in a cavernous, mostly empty theater, tears gradually welling in his eyes: GOODBYE, DRAGON INN. (CH)
The "Montage" musical number, sung during a montage, in TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE. (AE)
We need a montage:
Leticia (Halle Berry) just sits on the porch and eats ice cream at the end of MONSTER’S BALL. (GA)
Off the bus and into the streets: Youthful hope and nationalistic unity commingle in the instructive final moments of Jafar Panahi's OFFSIDE. (CH)
Schreck (Willem Dafoe) mourns his lost humanity while critiquing Dracula in SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE. (GA)
"Blues Hammer" — Enid (Thora Birch) and Seymour (Steve Buscemi) experience a night of modern culture in GHOST WORLD. (CH)
Ghost World, getting in touch with the blues:
The look on his face as Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal) uses a butcher knife to test the cytoplasmic membrane between him and Frank in DONNIE DARKO. (GA)
Two places: the bookstore whose spines are slowly erased, and the collapsing beachfront house, in ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND. (AE)
Richie’s (Luke Wilson’s) attempted suicide to the sounds of Elliot Smith, in THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS. (GA)
A sad moment from The Royal Tenenbaums:
Kym spoils the party: The endless, energizing, and finally awkward rehearsal dinner in RACHEL GETTING MARRIED. (CH)
Djay (Terrence Howard), Key (Anthony Anderson), and Shelby (DJ Qualls) compose “Whoop that Trick” in their homemade studio in HUSTLE & FLOW. (GA)
In the lab, putting in down: Hustle & Flow:
Mark Ruffalo and Laura Linney share a family joint under the stars, YOU CAN COUNT ON ME. (AE)
Spike Lee’s camera takes off for a continent-spanning travelogue hymn to all the lives "that came so close to never happening” — a grandiose, heartbreaking final flourish in 25TH HOUR. (CH)
25th Hour's finale:
Jack the Ripper's latest victim lies dead on the street, before, in one shot, her body is found by the constable, detectives descend, then a crowd, then a buzzing and swirling mass of officials and curious folk. A real person becomes the stuff sensationalistic history in FROM HELL. (GA)
"These things are as hot as stiff cocks!" — Julia Child (Meryl Streep) cooking cannelloni and talking dirty in JULIE & JULIA. (CH)
Tim Meadows "condemns" marijuana by telling Dewey Cox it makes sex better, WALK HARD. (AE)
A cautionary tale from Walk Hard:
"This is the best Christmas I've had in a long time. Thank you very much, Vera." Reg (Eddie Marsan) chooses affirmation and generosity at his new family's lowest moment in VERA DRAKE. (CH)
“But what makes it immoral if you lose and not immoral if you win?” — Robert McNamara admits he and Curtis LeMay "were behaving as war criminals" for the nuclear bombing of Japan, and that they would’ve been prosecuted as such had the U.S. lost: THE FOG OF WAR. (GA)
GREG AKERS TOP 25:
1. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron, 2006)
2. A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg, 2001)
3. Kill Bill, Vol. 1 & 2 (Quentin Tarantino, 2002/2003)
4. City of God (Fernando Meirelles, 2002)
5. The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, 2002)
6. Amelie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001)
7. Ali (Michael Mann, 2001)
8. Where the Wild Things Are (Spike Jonze, 2009)
9. Zodiac (David Fincher, 2007)
10. Hedwig and Angry Inch (John Cameron Mitchell, 2001)
11. Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003)
12. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)
13. Frozen River (Courtney Hunt, 2008)
14. Y Tu Mamá También (Alfonso Cuaron, 2002)
15. There Will Be Blood (P.T. Anderson, 2007)
16. The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008)
17. Punch-Drunk Love (P.T. Anderson, 2002)
18. Mystic River (Clint Eastwood, 2003)
19. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2001)
20. Wonder Boys (Curtis Hanson, 2000)
21. The Lord of the Rings (Peter Jackson, 2001/2002/2003)
22. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)
23. Junebug (Phil Morrison, 2005)
24. Borat (Larry Charles, 2006)
25. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (Peter Weir, 2003)
Comments (9)
Showing 1-9 of 9
I like reading these "best of the decade" movie posts....
I don't watch enough movies to produce a credible list....and actually, I like to use lists like this to help pick out movies to watch in the future, since going to blockbuster and scanning the new releases usually ends up in renting a crappy movie....
but when I think back to the last few years (the first of the decade didn't count....still an undergraduate and thus only beer, drugs, and women mattered), 3 movies stick out in my mind as ones I really liked and watched more than once......in fact, watching a movie more than once is so rare for me, that it is a great indicator of how much I like it....behold
--City of God
--There Will Be Blood
--Body of Lies
like
dislike
The above scenes from Royal Tennebaums and 25th Hour are both excellent. The Royal Tennebaums one carries a heavy dose of irony and sadness considering the song is Elliott Smith and he was alive at the time the movie was made.
25 is a very small number for a whole decade and no movie HAS to be on any such list, but No Country is terrific.
Larry David jumping out the window in (oh hell forget the name) the Woody Allen flick.
No Country is excellent, but it's not my favorite Coen movie of the decade. For the record, I would rate them so (and I haven't seen "A Serious Man" yet):
1. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
2. No Country for Old Men
3. The Man Who Wasn't There
4. Burn After Reading
5. The Ladykillers
6. Intolerable Cruelty
Can someone explain to me why O Brother is generally lowly regarded today? Frustration that it brought the masses to Americana — who can't properly appreciate it? Disregard because it quotes so many other films? Dismissal because it's such a trifle? And Clooney's never been as good a comedic actor as here, no matter how over the top.
And think about these cinematic contortions in just 5 years: Fargo, Big Lebowski, O Brother, Man Who Wasn't There. Sure, there's two of them doing the filmmaking, but that's impressive.
My original O Brother review (the all-time hate-mail instigator) seems to have disappeared from the internet and I haven't seen the movie since it came out, but I remember hating the yokel jokes ("Runnoft, R-U-N-N-O-F-T") and wondering if they really knew much (or cared if they knew much) about Southern music (making the Mississippi Delta a bluegrass story?) or Preston Sturges.
A sharp dissenting voice in lieu of my own initial take:
http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/o-bro…
1. Gangs of New York 2.Mystic River 3.Fahrenheiht 9/11 4.Juno 5. The Good Sheperd 6. Capote 7. A Beautiful Mind 8. Little Miss Sunshine 9. Sideways
10. In America
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