►Top 25 of the 00s◄

Started by Stefen, September 23, 2009, 10:26:47 PM

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Gold Trumpet

Quote from: Neil on September 24, 2009, 09:21:05 AM
and GT what's good about the Alexander Revisited, you're talking about the Stone flick right?  I never bothered with the 'revisited.'

Starting out, I disliked the original because the story was chronological. Stone had a lot of complex personal issues to get across in his film, but making the story chronological made the film feel like a classical story. Most filmmakers like to play with the myth of historical figures so they simplify the story to get across their heroic statures. All Stone could do in his theatrical cut is allude to deeper subject matter.

Stone plays with myth, but his update of Alexander is meant also to combat myth. The duality in the film is between realism and myth. What Stone changed with his "Final" or "Revisited" cut is that he made the plot circular around the themes of the film. Instead of starting at Alexander's beginning of life, it started out at the beginning of his greatest battle victory. Then the plot circled around all of his life, arranging the scenes of his life in accordance to the themes in the film. The finale is still his death, but because the story is gaged by Alexander's emotional life, the finale feels even more like madness achieved. Stone gets even crazier with the imagery to really make it feel like a climactic end.

Also, there is a lot more story to the story. The themes are much more fleshed out. It helps in that basic way, but it also helps Colin Farrell's performance. I didn't like his performance in the original because it seemed imitative of other performances of historical figures. The theatrical cut forced Farrell to center the majority of his performance around things that a classically trained actor could exude in. Farrell has little of a theater career so he was a duck out of water because his diction isn't very eloquent, but the Final Cut allows Farrell to be Alexander on a host of different levels. Farrell's best dramatic talent is his ability to hoist a macho sensibility, but be able to contrast it with a sensitive and vulnerable side. The Final Cut plays on more scenes like that. It shows quieter scenes that allow Farrell to dig at Alexander. It makes the original scenes in the theatrical cut look better and more believable because this portrait of Alexander himself is much bigger.

modage

Almost Famous (2000) Cameron Crowe
Amelie (2001) Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Children of Men (2006) Alfonso Cuaron
City Of God (2003) Fernando Meirelles
The Dark Knight (2008) Christopher Nolan
The Departed (2006) Martin Scorsese
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) Michel Gondry
The Fountain (2006) Darren Aronofsky
The Incredibles (2004) Brad Bird
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) Quentin Tarantino
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) Shane Black
Knocked Up (2007) Judd Apatow
Let The Right One In (2008) Tomas Alfredson
Lost In Translation (2003) Sofia Coppola
Memento (2001) Christopher Nolan
Minority Report (2002) Steven Spielberg
Moulin Rouge (2001) Baz Luhrman
Mulholland Drive (2001) David Lynch
Punch-Drunk Love (2002) Paul Thomas Anderson
Rachel Getting Married (2008) Jonathan Demme
Ratatouille (2007) Brad Bird
Requiem For A Dream (2000) Darren Aronofsky
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) Wes Anderson
Shaun of the Dead (2004) Edgar Wright
There Will Be Blood (2007) Paul Thomas Anderson

This is fairly quick but I know all of these meant a lot to me when I saw them. Like Stefen I've also been rewatching films from the earlier part of the decade and noticing how different they are compared to how I remember them.  So while many of these wouldn't have the same impact today that they did when I saw them, they still hold a place for meaning the most to me at the time.  Though it would be hard to argue I couldn't swap out half of this list right now were I to rewatch them against some that didn't make the cut. A Top 10 list would be much much more difficult.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

squints

I only came up with 23, but there's still a lot i've never seen (George Washington). Punch-Drunk Love is the best film of the decade. If The Wire counted as one long 60 hour movie i'd throw that on there too.


2008
The Dark Knight
Let the Right One In

2007
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Zodiac

2006
Children of Men
The Departed
The Fountain
United 93

2005
Munich
The New World
The Proposition

2004
Downfall
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

2003
All The Real Girls
Oldboy

2002
City of God
Punch-Drunk Love

2001
Amelie
The Royal Tenenbaums

2000
Amores Perros
Dancer in the Dark
Requiem for a Dream


"The myth by no means finds its adequate objectification in the spoken word. The structure of the scenes and the visible imagery reveal a deeper wisdom than the poet himself is able to put into words and concepts" – Friedrich Nietzsche

JG

man! i don't know. feel like there are lots of non-american directors i'm only now getting turned onto that would probably make the list.. like denis and apichatpong weerasethakul.

sure things:

all the real girls
the new world
frownland
l'enfant
adaptation.
ratatouille
punch drunk love

haven't seen in a long while but i think so:

spiderman 2
cache

Pubrick

Quote from: Pas Rap on September 24, 2009, 02:23:41 PM
Quote from: SiliasRuby on September 24, 2009, 02:15:08 PM
19. Before The Devil Makes You Dead

Do you mean the one with Marisa Tomei (sp?) and Seymour Hoffman that is actually called Before The Devil Knows You're Dead. I blind bought this a couple years ago I think and never seen it, everybody seemed to hate it.

all you need to know is marisa tomei is naked a lot. at least, that's all silias noticed..
under the paving stones.

SiliasRuby

Oh Jeez. You're so fucking hilarious. Jesus, this joke is already fucking old.
The Beatles know Jesus Christ has returned to Earth and is in Los Angeles.

When you are getting fucked by the big corporations remember to use a condom.

There was a FISH in the perkalater!!!

My Collection

Pubrick

it was never a joke.

i think the fact you couldn't even remember the movie's title speaks for itself.
under the paving stones.

cine

1. Adaptation
2. Almost Famous
3. Before Sunset
4. The Best of Youth
5. The Cell
6. City of God
7. The Departed
8. Downfall
9. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
10. Inglourious Basterds
11. In America
12. In the Bedroom
13. Match Point
14. Million Dollar Baby
15. Minority Report
16. Monster's Ball
17. No Country For Old Men
18. The Passion of the Christ
19. Punch-Drunk Love
20. There Will Be Blood
21. Synecdoche, New York
22. Turtles Can Fly
23. United 93
24. Wall-E
25. The Wrestler

john

Yeah, once I put more thought into this, The Wrestler will be included as well, I'm sure.

Wonder Boys, too.
Maybe every day is Saturday morning.

MacGuffin

Quote from: Pas Rap on September 24, 2009, 10:26:32 AM
love your list Neil, two votes for the weahterman waoh unexpected, happy about that. Everyone I lend it too find it ''forgetable''... which I never understoof. Anyways.

Camel Toe.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

polkablues

Off the top of my head:

Dancer in the Dark
Waking the Dead
There Will Be Blood
Shaun of the Dead
The Bourne Ultimatum
Children of Men
25th Hour
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Amelie
Rabbit-Proof Fence
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Punch-Drunk Love
Before Sunset
Brick
City of God
Requiem for a Dream
Roger Dodger
Unfaithful
Tigerland
Wall-E
Hot Fuzz
Downfall
The Fountain
The Royal Tenenbaums
CQ
Narc

The more I think about it, the more I think that Dancer in the Dark may be the best film of the past nine years.
My house, my rules, my coffee

brockly

mulholland dr.
there will be blood
crouching tiger, hidden dragon
where the wild things are
zodiac
finding nemo
dancer in the dark
lust, caution
spirited away
brokeback mountain
last life in the universe
hulk
the new world
no country for old men
in the mood for love
taking woodstock
let the right one in
district 9
the ring
redbelt
eastern promises
nobody knows
sunshine
time
quantum of solice

Pas

Quote from: MacGuffin on September 25, 2009, 02:12:56 AM
Quote from: Pas Rap on September 24, 2009, 10:26:32 AM
love your list Neil, two votes for the weahterman waoh unexpected, happy about that. Everyone I lend it too find it ''forgetable''... which I never understoof. Anyways.

Camel Toe.

I think they make car tires out of camel toes!  :)

Quote from: :P on September 24, 2009, 09:36:02 PM
i think the fact you couldn't even remember the movie's title speaks for itself.

haha :( I guess that's why The Wrestler isn't there, Marisa naked was old news. jk

ALSO, what's up with New World? What didn't I get there, this was boring and long as hell. Oh you Malick fanboys.  :yabbse-smiley:

pete

I'm adding Bourne Ultimatum.  The second one was just MacGuyver with handheld camera, but the third one opened with one of the best sequences ever written and filmed - the waterloo footchase.
It's the action movie of the new era (too bad nobody is really following suit) - it employs technology and Hollywood resources not for superficial extravagance (like Wanted) or cheap "realism" (like that Jamie Foxx Iraq movie or the new Bonds) but it brings cutting edge stunts and fight choreography to the table, armed with a solid, convincing, well-researched script.  And it's so unassuming too!
"Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot."
- Buster Keaton

Ostrich Riding Cowboy

Chronological Order:
Almost Famous
Moulin Rouge!
Wet Hot American Summer
The Man Who Wasn't There
Donnie Darko
The Royal Tenenbaums
Bowling for Columbine
Punch-Drunk Love
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Bad Education
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Syriana
Manderlay
Brokeback Mountain
The Fountain
Children of Men
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
In Bruges
WALL-E
Milk
Let the Right One In
Up
District 9
DIDI: I missed you . . . and at the same time I was happy. Isn't that a strange thing?