Matt's Favorite Films, #51 to #75
75. Rachel Getting Married (2008)
Man, my hatred for Anne Hathaway used to be such a pure and noble thing. Now, even though the sight of her still sets my intestines a-churning, I have to remember that she was pretty great in this movie.
Well, I guess I'll always have this person to kick around.
Well, I guess I'll always have this person to kick around.
74. The Bourne Identity (2002)
It would be fun to plot an alternate history in which Brad Pitt actually accepted this role instead of turning it down for a part in Robert Redford's Spy Game. Somehow I don't think the entire trilogy would have been made; maybe Matt Damon would still be thought of as a quirky indie actor.
In any case, we are all grateful that things happened as they did. Damon has just the right kind of presence to bring a winning solidity to the confused assassin Jason Bourne. I might wish I had selective amnesia to blot out the scenes with Julia Stiles, but director Doug Liman delivers perhaps the most purely enjoyable action thriller of the decade.
There's a reason that when Katherine and I traveled to Spain in the summer of 2006 I made her take embarrassing photographs of me attempting Jason Bourne-esque stunts in old Granada alleyways (hey, I was being tailed by a Treadstone asset based in Lisbon!).
In any case, we are all grateful that things happened as they did. Damon has just the right kind of presence to bring a winning solidity to the confused assassin Jason Bourne. I might wish I had selective amnesia to blot out the scenes with Julia Stiles, but director Doug Liman delivers perhaps the most purely enjoyable action thriller of the decade.
There's a reason that when Katherine and I traveled to Spain in the summer of 2006 I made her take embarrassing photographs of me attempting Jason Bourne-esque stunts in old Granada alleyways (hey, I was being tailed by a Treadstone asset based in Lisbon!).
73. I Am Legend (2007)
I admit I'm a sucker for the "Lone A-list Star Battles Isolation, Invisible Enemies" premise (see Cast Away, below), no matter the actual quality of the film. I'm still waiting for Brad Pitt to remake Robert Redford's Jeremiah Johnson, or Colin Farrell to find himself lost in the South Atlantic on a dinghy or something.
This movie works best in its first half, while it's still a gripping one-man-show, but even as a quasi-zombie flick, I'll take it over either of the frenetic, nihilistic 28-something movies. For one, the dog is awesome. For two, if I like my post-apocalyptic worlds to have some Big Hollywood charm, can you blame me? And for three, I actually think the weird subtext to Charming Will's relationship with the zombie-creatures (is he hunting them, or are they hunting him?) is about as unsettling as it gets.
This movie works best in its first half, while it's still a gripping one-man-show, but even as a quasi-zombie flick, I'll take it over either of the frenetic, nihilistic 28-something movies. For one, the dog is awesome. For two, if I like my post-apocalyptic worlds to have some Big Hollywood charm, can you blame me? And for three, I actually think the weird subtext to Charming Will's relationship with the zombie-creatures (is he hunting them, or are they hunting him?) is about as unsettling as it gets.
72. The New World (2005)
The first of several possibly offensive Indian/indigenous stories on this list. But as dreamy and occasionally romantic as it is, Terence Malick's film is the one I'd most likely show to a college history class. Malick's movie captures the wild greenness of pre-European Virginia, the awkwardness of early English-Powhatan relations, and the gruesome, cannibal misery of the Jamestown settlement. You can mock Colin Farrell all you want, but really, who else would be a better fit for the bumptious megalomania of John Smith?
71. Paranoid Park (2007)
Not formally a part of Gus Van Sant's famed "Death Trilogy", this movie shares its most basic concerns: death, of course, but also the inner lives of beautiful adolescent and post-adolescent boys.
This one is almost as harrowing as Elephant, far more coherent than Last Days, and not as wearingly experimental as Gerry. It definitely has the best soundtrack.
This one is almost as harrowing as Elephant, far more coherent than Last Days, and not as wearingly experimental as Gerry. It definitely has the best soundtrack.
70. Gosford Park (2001)
A totally different kind of park!
This complex, intricately layered film is a bona fide Altman masterpiece, and probably deserving of a much higher rank than I give it here. Helen Mirren completely earns her contemporary iconic status in the final scene alone. Only my failure to connect intimately to the movie -- intellectually or emotionally -- keeps it in the realm of the Very Good instead of the Great.
This complex, intricately layered film is a bona fide Altman masterpiece, and probably deserving of a much higher rank than I give it here. Helen Mirren completely earns her contemporary iconic status in the final scene alone. Only my failure to connect intimately to the movie -- intellectually or emotionally -- keeps it in the realm of the Very Good instead of the Great.
69. Old School (2002)
Marissa: That's really loud.
Frank: Yeah, thanks. Took the restrictor plate off to give the Red Dragon a little more juice. But it's not exactly street legal, so keep it on the down low. [Waves to a neighbor] Hey Mike!
Frank: Yeah, thanks. Took the restrictor plate off to give the Red Dragon a little more juice. But it's not exactly street legal, so keep it on the down low. [Waves to a neighbor] Hey Mike!
68. Up (2009)
JERRY: What are you doing? Are you crying?
GEORGE: No... [wipes his eyes with his sleeve]
JERRY: You're crying from Home Alone?
GEORGE: The old man got to me.
- "The Junior Mint"
I think tearing up during the first 15 minutes of Up is the closest thing to a universal film experience we're going to get in the aughts. And it's a pretty unlikely one, too: what other kind of cinematic tear-jerker does its work before you've even polished off your king sized box of Junior Mints? Normally you have to work up to that kind of thing. But unlike Costanza, there's nothing to be ashamed of in this case.
The rest of the film doesn't quite live up to the power of the opening, although the house/balloon lift-off is grand, and the jungle capers are jolly. (I still wonder why it's been decided that all Disney/Pixar villains have to die.) But ten years from now, what I'll remember about this movie is the it manages to telescope the joy and sorrow of a lifelong marriage into 10 remarkable misty minutes.
GEORGE: No... [wipes his eyes with his sleeve]
JERRY: You're crying from Home Alone?
GEORGE: The old man got to me.
- "The Junior Mint"
I think tearing up during the first 15 minutes of Up is the closest thing to a universal film experience we're going to get in the aughts. And it's a pretty unlikely one, too: what other kind of cinematic tear-jerker does its work before you've even polished off your king sized box of Junior Mints? Normally you have to work up to that kind of thing. But unlike Costanza, there's nothing to be ashamed of in this case.
The rest of the film doesn't quite live up to the power of the opening, although the house/balloon lift-off is grand, and the jungle capers are jolly. (I still wonder why it's been decided that all Disney/Pixar villains have to die.) But ten years from now, what I'll remember about this movie is the it manages to telescope the joy and sorrow of a lifelong marriage into 10 remarkable misty minutes.
67. All The Real Girls (2003)
Zooey Deschanel! If ever the hype was deserved, it's for this film (although, you know what, she was good in Elf also).
David Gordon Green's underseen film is a quietly lyrical meditation on the difficulty of love. Zooey is at her elusive, desirable best; Paul Schneider (who seems to specialize in movies about "real girls") is a sturdy, sympathetic central figure. And the entire piece is lovingly filmed. See Keith Phipps at the Onion for more.
David Gordon Green's underseen film is a quietly lyrical meditation on the difficulty of love. Zooey is at her elusive, desirable best; Paul Schneider (who seems to specialize in movies about "real girls") is a sturdy, sympathetic central figure. And the entire piece is lovingly filmed. See Keith Phipps at the Onion for more.
66. Training Day
Boom! Is this the most entertaining performance of the decade? Spend another 84 seconds with Denzel and tell me it isn't. Explosive and disturbing on first watching, it's explosive and hilarious every other time around.
KING KONG AIN'T GOT SHIT ON ME.
This is a classic.
KING KONG AIN'T GOT SHIT ON ME.
This is a classic.
65. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Whatever else they were, the 2000s were the decade that America fell in love with a certain brand of wuxia: that is, Chinese martial arts epics with titles often as elaborate and grandiose as their action sequences (The Curse of the Golden Flower, The House of Flying Daggers, Warriors of Heaven and Earth, Beverly Hills Ninja).
Ang Lee's crossover classic started it all, and it holds up, too. The all-star Chinese cast is in fine form: Zhang Ziyi has never been more pertly irresistible; Chow Yun-Fat's warm, stoic face contains multitudes. The final scene is a testiment to the beauty, the sadness, and the joy of an open ending.
Ang Lee's crossover classic started it all, and it holds up, too. The all-star Chinese cast is in fine form: Zhang Ziyi has never been more pertly irresistible; Chow Yun-Fat's warm, stoic face contains multitudes. The final scene is a testiment to the beauty, the sadness, and the joy of an open ending.
64. Match Point (2005)
Sure, Woody shouldn't get too much credit for making a somewhat inferior version of Crimes and Misdemeanors (h/t N. Wexler), but this is still kind of a marvelous film. It would have been better-acted if the originally-cast Kate Winslet had remained instead of Scarlett Johansson, but it would have smoldered less. Plus, could we ever have believed that Kate would fall for Jonathan Rhys Meyers? Here, they deserve each other.
Other things I dig: Emily Mortimer, a reliable gem; and, especially, the way the film depicts the easy, opulent sheen of New Gilded Age London, from the tennis club to lecture hall to the corporate boardroom.
Bonus JRM content: he and Scarlett are probably much better in French; skip to 1:28 to see costar Matthew Goode evaluating his sexiness; skip to 3:00 in to see Kelly Ripa rocking and raring to get after him; and here he is singing the Mission Impossible theme. If anyone has his apparently "famous" impression of Woody Allen, please send it along.
Other things I dig: Emily Mortimer, a reliable gem; and, especially, the way the film depicts the easy, opulent sheen of New Gilded Age London, from the tennis club to lecture hall to the corporate boardroom.
Bonus JRM content: he and Scarlett are probably much better in French; skip to 1:28 to see costar Matthew Goode evaluating his sexiness; skip to 3:00 in to see Kelly Ripa rocking and raring to get after him; and here he is singing the Mission Impossible theme. If anyone has his apparently "famous" impression of Woody Allen, please send it along.
63. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Some consider Peter Jackson's colossal Lord of the Rings cycle as a single movie, rather than three separate films. They're wrong!
Despite its boatload of Oscars, this probably the weakest of the three -- I overdosed a little on the CGI mega-battles and all the mopey montages with Liv Tyler. But the great stuff here is still worthy of the best of Jackson's masterpiece: I remember, in particular, the delicious and sad backstory of the ring, how Smeagol became Gollum.
Despite its boatload of Oscars, this probably the weakest of the three -- I overdosed a little on the CGI mega-battles and all the mopey montages with Liv Tyler. But the great stuff here is still worthy of the best of Jackson's masterpiece: I remember, in particular, the delicious and sad backstory of the ring, how Smeagol became Gollum.
62. The Village (2004)
Yeah, yeah, you can't hate harder on M. Night Shyamalan than I did after the end of The Happening (OK, make that 5 minutes into The Happening). But if twist endings are always wimpy cliches, then what are we to make of Vertigo, or even, for that matter, Oedipus Rex?
This isn't quite at that level, of course, but it's still a ton of fun, both in conception and in execution. William Hurt, Joaquin Phoenix, and Bryce Dallas Howard are all operating at a high level. And I agree that the whole thing has a fascinating Hawthornian aspect -- as a kind of dark parable about the endless American search for innocence.
This isn't quite at that level, of course, but it's still a ton of fun, both in conception and in execution. William Hurt, Joaquin Phoenix, and Bryce Dallas Howard are all operating at a high level. And I agree that the whole thing has a fascinating Hawthornian aspect -- as a kind of dark parable about the endless American search for innocence.
61. The Child (2005)
Probably the most critically acclaimed European filmmakers of the decade, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne make movies about out-of-luck, working class Belgians. A more unglamorous subject is perhaps unimaginable, and that's part of the point: their focus on life on the shabby edges of a crumbling social democracy sometimes feels like a purposeful rebuke to Hollywood-style glitz.
Yet their rejection of big-movie glamor is hardly a rejection of big-movie excitement. The Child, for instance, features perhaps the most riveting car chase of the decade, because the action is so clumsily real, and the consequences so tragically obvious. Gritty intensity is even more intense when it comes attached to a warm beating heart.
Yet their rejection of big-movie glamor is hardly a rejection of big-movie excitement. The Child, for instance, features perhaps the most riveting car chase of the decade, because the action is so clumsily real, and the consequences so tragically obvious. Gritty intensity is even more intense when it comes attached to a warm beating heart.
60. Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith (2005)
It's beyond fashionable -- it's downright mandatory -- to adopt a tone of sneering condescension (or, at least, disdainful boredom) when discussing the George Lucas prequels. And it's true: the first two movies are just abysmal.
But this one worked for me. The Anakin-to-Darth story finally starts to take off. Ewan McGregor keeps battling. And the final swordfight scene got to me, a little. "You were the chosen one!": there's some real mythic anguish going on here. Seriously -- if you watch the first Star Wars right after this, the Vader/Obi-wan reunion encounter seems almost implausibly stiff and empty by comparison. It's still far too little, far too late for the overall I-III series, but this one is worth keeping by itself.
But this one worked for me. The Anakin-to-Darth story finally starts to take off. Ewan McGregor keeps battling. And the final swordfight scene got to me, a little. "You were the chosen one!": there's some real mythic anguish going on here. Seriously -- if you watch the first Star Wars right after this, the Vader/Obi-wan reunion encounter seems almost implausibly stiff and empty by comparison. It's still far too little, far too late for the overall I-III series, but this one is worth keeping by itself.
59. Old Joy (2006)
Two old high school friends have gone separate ways, one in the direction of bohemian-bourgeois domesticity, and the other towards genuinely off-the-grid hippiedom. At the start of the film, they hop into a car for a weekend camping trip in the Oregon woods.
As cinematic two-pal getaways go, their trip is probably a little less fun than Weekend at Bernie's but a little more fun than Gerry. Director Kelly Reichardt (who also made the haunting Wendy and Lucy, #39) specializes in long, slow silences and landscape shots of a beautiful but somehow faded Northwest. Conversation between the friends are halting, aimless, and infrequent. But Reichardt's love of stillness and quiet doesn't grow out of empty avant-gardism; it works, subtly but irresistibly, to build the character of the two men and their uncomfortable relationship. Melancholy but hardly depressing, bittersweet but supremely un-manipulative, Old Joy is as real as real can get.
As cinematic two-pal getaways go, their trip is probably a little less fun than Weekend at Bernie's but a little more fun than Gerry. Director Kelly Reichardt (who also made the haunting Wendy and Lucy, #39) specializes in long, slow silences and landscape shots of a beautiful but somehow faded Northwest. Conversation between the friends are halting, aimless, and infrequent. But Reichardt's love of stillness and quiet doesn't grow out of empty avant-gardism; it works, subtly but irresistibly, to build the character of the two men and their uncomfortable relationship. Melancholy but hardly depressing, bittersweet but supremely un-manipulative, Old Joy is as real as real can get.
58. Avatar (2009)
Does the dialogue blunder into a new and embarrassing cliche with every scene? Well, you're not in Kansas anymore: you're on Planet Cameron. Does the acting range from hammy to hamtastic? If there's a hell, you might want to go there for some R&R after a tour with Col. Quaritch. Are the Naa'vi a hopelessly romanticized version of a sort of meta-indigenous people? Yeah, I see you and I take your point.
I say this is a great movie notwithstanding. Yes, it's gorgeous to look at and the 3-D is spectacularly "immersive" (Avatar criticism is almost as cliched as Avatar dialogue). But I disagree with the emerging consensus that the story actually sucks.
Let me also take a minute to put to rest lefter-than-thou arguments that the movie "re-inscribes colonialism" because only a 'white man' can save Pandora. This is fundamentally mistaken, and real lefties should be suspicious whenever David Brooks adopts their talking points. Sully helps the Naa'vi triumph only when he abandons his 'whiteness' for good; and in any case his 'advanced' knowledge and skills are ultimately useless in battle -- Pandora is only saved when the planet itself, a more powerful and more complex intelligence than the Sky People/humans can understand, comes to the rescue.
This may be New Agey fantasy, but it's not neo-imperialism. What makes Avatar so interesting, and what takes it beyond Pocohantas/Dances With Wolves-style narratives, is how it insists on stripping the Sully character not only of his cultural identity but his physical being. He doesn't have one foot in each world: he simply sheds his old skin and begins anew. By the end of the film, all of the sympathetic people have become Naa'vi. Avatar thus suggests, at once triumphantly and subversively, that we can only transcend civilization's limitations by abandoning our humanity itself. For such a big dumb movie, I find that plenty deep.
I say this is a great movie notwithstanding. Yes, it's gorgeous to look at and the 3-D is spectacularly "immersive" (Avatar criticism is almost as cliched as Avatar dialogue). But I disagree with the emerging consensus that the story actually sucks.
Let me also take a minute to put to rest lefter-than-thou arguments that the movie "re-inscribes colonialism" because only a 'white man' can save Pandora. This is fundamentally mistaken, and real lefties should be suspicious whenever David Brooks adopts their talking points. Sully helps the Naa'vi triumph only when he abandons his 'whiteness' for good; and in any case his 'advanced' knowledge and skills are ultimately useless in battle -- Pandora is only saved when the planet itself, a more powerful and more complex intelligence than the Sky People/humans can understand, comes to the rescue.
This may be New Agey fantasy, but it's not neo-imperialism. What makes Avatar so interesting, and what takes it beyond Pocohantas/Dances With Wolves-style narratives, is how it insists on stripping the Sully character not only of his cultural identity but his physical being. He doesn't have one foot in each world: he simply sheds his old skin and begins anew. By the end of the film, all of the sympathetic people have become Naa'vi. Avatar thus suggests, at once triumphantly and subversively, that we can only transcend civilization's limitations by abandoning our humanity itself. For such a big dumb movie, I find that plenty deep.
57. District 9 (2009)
Another alien flick that's principally concerned with the fantasy of species transformation. Of course, Neill Blomkamp's vision is much darker (some would say much more adult) than James Cameron's. Instead of magic kinship with Eywa, resulting in spiritual transference, Wikus van der Merwe just finds his arms beginning to mutate, disgustingly. There is no apotheosis here, just ickiness and horror.
More than just an apartheid parable, District 9 does Avatar one better in that only the full-alien characters are favorably represented. And what aliens! Blomkamp gives us the most originally imagined extraterrestrials in a generation: the scummy, slimy "prawns" are both superficially repulsive and deeply sympathetic.
I question the decision to film in mockumentary style, but almost everything else about it was a surprising triumph. As much as I defend Avatar, when I left the theater, I was ready to move on. But I hope Blomkamp follows through on his promise to make another movie in this series -- there's more to say here, and I want him to say it.
More than just an apartheid parable, District 9 does Avatar one better in that only the full-alien characters are favorably represented. And what aliens! Blomkamp gives us the most originally imagined extraterrestrials in a generation: the scummy, slimy "prawns" are both superficially repulsive and deeply sympathetic.
I question the decision to film in mockumentary style, but almost everything else about it was a surprising triumph. As much as I defend Avatar, when I left the theater, I was ready to move on. But I hope Blomkamp follows through on his promise to make another movie in this series -- there's more to say here, and I want him to say it.
56. Hero (2002)
Zhang Yimou's martial arts melodrama was criticized in many places for offering an artistic justification for Chinese authoritarianism. I think that's a pretty pinched reading of the film, and in any case I reserve Zhang the right to make many future movies of dubious political intent provided he presents them with such inspired gusto.
Hero is built around a conversation between an unnamed warrior (Jet Li) and an ancient emperor: as they talk, different versions of the warrior's encounters with three feared assassins are presented in Rashomon-like sequence. There's a reason this is such a classic gimmick; but Hero draws its true power from its ravishing fight scenes -- think Crouching Tiger but with more colors -- and its marvelously assured cast, especially the anguished Tony Leung.
Hero is built around a conversation between an unnamed warrior (Jet Li) and an ancient emperor: as they talk, different versions of the warrior's encounters with three feared assassins are presented in Rashomon-like sequence. There's a reason this is such a classic gimmick; but Hero draws its true power from its ravishing fight scenes -- think Crouching Tiger but with more colors -- and its marvelously assured cast, especially the anguished Tony Leung.
55. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
"Well, everyone knows Custer died at Little Bighorn. What this book presupposes is... maybe he didn't."
I've always loved this film, but the back-end of Wes Anderson's decade (until the glorious Fantastic Mr. Fox) has probably depressed its standing. Unfair, perhaps, but I say it's still Wes's fault for making me listen to Cate Blanchett read Proust to her unborn child and watch Adrien Brody buy a cobra at an Indian street fair.
Nevertheless it's hard to resist the comedy, the look, and of course the music here. I think I could watch an entire film devoted to Gwyneth Paltrow getting off the Green Line Bus and walking in slow motion, so long as "These Days" was playing on loop in the background.
I've always loved this film, but the back-end of Wes Anderson's decade (until the glorious Fantastic Mr. Fox) has probably depressed its standing. Unfair, perhaps, but I say it's still Wes's fault for making me listen to Cate Blanchett read Proust to her unborn child and watch Adrien Brody buy a cobra at an Indian street fair.
Nevertheless it's hard to resist the comedy, the look, and of course the music here. I think I could watch an entire film devoted to Gwyneth Paltrow getting off the Green Line Bus and walking in slow motion, so long as "These Days" was playing on loop in the background.
54. This Is England (2006)
Thatcher-era neo-fascism comes to a small English town. This coming of age story explores the strange brew of outcast resentment, punk anarchism, ethnic pride, and rejectionist camaraderie that fueled skinhead culture in the early '80s.
The movie focuses on the experience of a 12 year boy (Thomas Turgoose) who is captivated by this energy and falls, or rather, leaps, into its ugly world. But it's Stephen Graham's fierce, passionate, and unsettlingly charismatic skinhead leader who steals the show. Definitely worthy of a Supporting Actor Performance of the Decade nomination.
The movie focuses on the experience of a 12 year boy (Thomas Turgoose) who is captivated by this energy and falls, or rather, leaps, into its ugly world. But it's Stephen Graham's fierce, passionate, and unsettlingly charismatic skinhead leader who steals the show. Definitely worthy of a Supporting Actor Performance of the Decade nomination.
53. Let The Right One In (2008)
This gorgeously shot Swedish vampire film doesn't exactly subvert the genre, but its perfect mix of gristle, strangeness, and empathy makes Twilight look like the soggy children's story it is. What better backdrop for a movie about bloodletting than a world of crystalline snowy evenings and sickly-pale Nordic children?
52. Cast Away (2000)
Remember when the best example of a cutting-edge, globe-girdling company was FedEx? When it was possible to imagine someone stranded on an island, trying to make fire, and not think of Jeff Probst? When Tom Hanks was still relevant? Watching this movie again recently I was struck by how thoroughly '90s it all is.
But that's not necessarily a bad thing. This sucked me in deeper than I want to admit. I love the surprisingly brutal plane crash, the MacGyver-style survivalist stuff, the relationship with the volleyball. The spareness and the quiet of the island sequences is almost... even... arty.
Sure, Wilson is significantly more charming than Helen Hunt. But I stand by this movie as a brilliant one-man-show.
Also, if you're curious, it is in fact possible to locate the island where Cast Away was filmed. Flip over to satellite and you really will recognize the geography.
But that's not necessarily a bad thing. This sucked me in deeper than I want to admit. I love the surprisingly brutal plane crash, the MacGyver-style survivalist stuff, the relationship with the volleyball. The spareness and the quiet of the island sequences is almost... even... arty.
Sure, Wilson is significantly more charming than Helen Hunt. But I stand by this movie as a brilliant one-man-show.
Also, if you're curious, it is in fact possible to locate the island where Cast Away was filmed. Flip over to satellite and you really will recognize the geography.
51. Zodiac (2007)
I'll take the old fashioned mushy middle ground with David Fincher: Seven and Fight Club were too cruelly hard for me; Benjamin Button was too goopily soft. But The Game and especially Zodiac are just right.
Who doesn't dig a thick, pulsing police procedural? But what clinches this film for me is its subtle (or, OK, often unsubtle) conjuring of '60s and '70s San Francisco -- the splashy office shirts, the shaggy haircuts, the ghoulish strains of "Hurdy Gurdy Man" wafting in just before a murder.
Who doesn't dig a thick, pulsing police procedural? But what clinches this film for me is its subtle (or, OK, often unsubtle) conjuring of '60s and '70s San Francisco -- the splashy office shirts, the shaggy haircuts, the ghoulish strains of "Hurdy Gurdy Man" wafting in just before a murder.