1. Toy Story/Toy Story 2 - 3-D Double Feature
This is technically cheating, as the films featured were released in 1995 and 1999 respectively, but these films were also the best movies released in those years and it was an honor to sit in a theater and watch Pixar magic in digital 3D for three hours. Have you ever seen a crowded theater of children shut up for 180 minutes? I have, and it was awesome.
2. Tyson
The mark of a truly great documentary is its ability to change the viewer's mind regarding a huge subject. I now look at Mike Tyson as a human being. That makes it go from documentary to Important Film.
3. A Serious Man
I'm still not sure that I understand most of this film, but I feel that it gets better every time I think about it. And God bless the Coen Brothers for that.
4. Avatar (IMAX 3-D)
I'm not going to justify the creative worthiness of this film, simply because Crystal ripped to shreds in less than three sentences and I really can't disagree. However, seeing this in IMAX 3-D was easily the most immersive filmgoing experience I've had outside of a theme park. The only shows that topped it were Terminator 2 3D and Jim Henson's Muppet*Vision 3D. And those shows include animatronics, shaking seats, and hundreds of blank rounds. Pandora is a place I want to visit every time I buy a ticket, but it's not a trip I could stand without the added stimulation. When it filled my entire field of vision with technicolor digital magic, it was amazing, but it's a feeling that cannot be duplicated.
5. District 9
Easily the most original summer movie ever. How something this intelligent and thought-provoking and awe-inspiring ever made $100 million, I'll never understand. How it got a Best Picture nomination is equally bewildering. This is the perfect example of turning commerce into art and vice versa.
6. Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
If District 9 wasn't the best directorial debut of the year, this would be. John Krasinski managed to turn a difficult David Foster Wallace (R.I.P.) novel into a stunner of a dramedy. Dominic Cooper puts in the best supporting performance of the year and Mr. Krasinski's five-minute closing monologue is something to treasure. A real find. Although it's fictional, Wallace's words best sum up the experience: "The truth will set you free. But not until it is finished with you."
7. Not Quite Hollywood
Two crazy hours of actual Australian fringe cinema from the '60s, '70s and '80s with commentary from Quentin Tarantino and the dozens of mad men who kept the lights on in Grindhouse theaters. So good that I literally sat through two hours of deleted scenes simply because I didn't want to stop watching.
8. Up in the Air
George Clooney puts in the performance of his career. Anna Kendrick shows that she's got serious promise. Vera Farmiga has never been sexier. And Jason Reitman proves that the swell direction of Juno was not a fluke. This is a seriously adult film for seriously adult people. Existential angst was never this well framed, and whomever shot all the suitcase inserts deserves a special Oscar.
9. Up
Oh, dear Lord, how those first ten minutes make me cry. Have you ever cried wearing 3-D sunglasses? Makes the whole "double image" effect pretty worthless. And speaking of said effect, let it be known that Pixar is the first film company to show that 3-D can enhance a story with subtle depth without having to over stimulate the viewer or shout "look at me, I'm in 3-D!" If only anybody followed their move.
10. Moon
Sam Rockwell will eternally be one of the most underrated performers ever. And this sci-fi stunner from David Bowie's son (no shit) is brilliant. Imagine if 2001 moved at a decent pace and bristled with corporate intrigue. That would be this movie.
11. Capitalism: A Love Story
Remember all that crap about "changing the audience's mind?" Yeah, that explains this movie too. I was a pretty dead-set anarcho-capitalist when this film started. An hour later and I was apologizing for my wrongheaded ways. Stunning.
12. Anvil: The Story of Anvil!
If you don't believe in music the way some people believe in religion, this should do the trick. And if it doesn't, fuck you.
13. Fantastic Mr. Fox
Apparently Wes Anderson directed this film almost entirely through his iPhone. If that's true, then we must start telling all stop-motion filmmakers to get iPhones stat.
14. Where the Wild Things Are
It's a film that makes you remember the beauty of being a kid and it's a film that makes you hate the fact that you have to age and mature. Spike Jonze took thirty-seven pages of a children's book and made a vibrant tribute to the child at heart.
15. Inglourious Basterds
Not my favorite Tarantino film (that would be Jackie Brown), not my favorite Brad Pitt performance (that would be Burn After Reading), but still one of the unique masterpieces of postmodern cinema. And Mélanie Laurent being robbed of an Oscar? I want to take every Academy member and force them to watch the restaurant scene over and over again until they go back in time and correct their mistake.
16. Star Trek
It took a franchise I didn't care about and made me desperate for a sequel. Chris Pine manages to be Shatner without acting like Shatner and Karl Urban pulls in one of the greatest supporting performances ever. I'm not surprised that it took J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof to make me care about this synergistic dinosaur, I'm just disappointed that I had to wait so long.
17. (500) Days of Summer
If you've ever been in a relationship where you are way more interested in your partner than they are in you, welcome to Hell. Maybe it's because this has been my experience that this film resonated so well, but it's a minor classic in the making.
18. Black Dynamite
The best satire in years. I want so badly to turn this movie into a television show that I'm considering tattooing my interest on my forehead. About thirty minutes into the film, the boom mike drops into frame... and stays there for about two minutes, bobbing against afro after afro. If that doesn't hit your pleasure center, you're on the wrong blog.
19. Bruno
Better than Borat. By far. Also much more offensive and really, really gay. To say that I'm shocked that it tanked is totally dishonest. But I honestly believe that its commercial failure proved to me that movies like this must continue to be made until the public pulls their collective heads out of their collective asses.
20. In the Loop
Anna Chlumsky, the little girl from My Girl, has grown up and turned totally hot. But as great as this knowledge is, it's the least awesome aspect of this movie. Based on a wonderful BBC sitcom (one that Mitch Hurwitz has tried and failed to bring to an American network), it manages to weave devastating political satire around the most inconsequential of events.
21. World’s Greatest Dad
About 5 years ago, I partially finished a story for a future teleplay that is, almost beat for beat, identical to this film. Watch the movie first, then condemn me to Hell.
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Excellent list, as always, sir!
ReplyDeleteAs one might expect, you mention plenty of films that will also appear on my list (although I'm sure we'll have some quibbles about the ranking of things) but I'm pleased that there's also a few flicks here I haven't checked out yet - now I have things to Netflix! (Interestingly enough, "Brief Interviews," "Tyson" and "Not Quite Hollywood" are all on Netflix Watch Instantly. I'll have to wait for the discs on "Black Dynamite" and "Anvil.")
And I have to say, I almost agree with your "Avatar" paragraph. It WAS one of the most amazing theatrical experiences I've had - I just wish the creative aspects of the film lived up to the extraordinary technological achievements.