Since my main squeeze Picasso Blue is covering the best music of the decade, I figured I'd do the same for movies. I'm interested to see the reaction this list gets, in that it's split between films that are out-and-out in poor taste, and films that aren't campy but are still regarded as bad by some. There are movies that are "ironically" bad, if you will, except I legitimately love them. I paid money to own them on DVD. I bring them to parties and try to do missionary work for films like 12 Rounds and Shark Attack 3: Megalodon. But then there are films like Garden State, which people either love or hate without irony in either direction. Haters might argue that it still fits into the realm of bad movies, which this blog covers, but I've gradually lost an understanding of what that means, because I don't like Garden State for ironic reasons. Sure, I feel that there should be more interaction between the main character and his father, but I still generally enjoy the picture from start to finish. I put it on the same footing as Adaptation, a movie that some would say is legitimately well-made, and The Marine, a movie which some would say is legitimately campy.
Between the above paragraph and a conversation I had with a friend yesterday about how I generally wish movies had more explosions, I think I might have bad taste in films. But Megalodon is sooooooooooo good!
Top 50 Films of the '00s, #50-41
50. Let the Right One In (2008)
I can’t believe I almost forgot this one (sorry, Stick It)! In the states we have Twilight for all of our romantic vampire story needs, but the Swedes did it way better with Let the Right One In. Set in 1982, young boy Osker (Kåre Hedebrant) gets bullied quite a bit at his school, but he does manage to make one friend – Eli (Lina Leandersson). Except Eli doesn’t go to Osker’s school. In fact, he only sees her around his apartment complex, at night. Also, she occasionally eats people. They gradually develop a romance, saving each other from their loneliness. Let the Right One In is proof that you can make vampire movie that’s light on gore, heavy on romance, and not the least bit cheesy.
49. Adaptation (2002)
Adaptation is a filmed version of Susan Orlean’s nonfiction book The Orchid Thief by Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze that just happens to get way, way off topic. Nicholas Cage turns in a brilliant performance as the film’s scriptwriter Charlie Kaufman, who is struggling to adapt the book, and as his twin brother Donald, who is Hollywood’s next big thing thanks to his cliché-ridden script for a psychological thriller called The Three, in which the good guy, bad guy, and kidnapping victim ARE THE SAME PERSON. Kaufman (the writer) gets to riff on the filmmaking process through Kaufman (the character), making Adaptation gut-bustingly hilarious in spite of its heady meta-flavor. I cannot criticize this film, not because I love it so dang much, but because everything that happens is so clearly constructed to comment on what storytelling means that no plot point is worth condemning. The film just builds and builds into a frenetic farce as the tone shifts from Charlie’s reserved style to Donald’s big action set pieces.
48. American Psycho (2000)
You can’t realize how accurately American Psycho, The Office, and Office Space satirize work places until you’ve been there. I worked as an office temp throughout 2008 and 2009, and all of the pettiness that informs the humor of these works is dead-on. In the case of American Psycho, that’s a little scary. When my dad got a new business card, he asked me what I thought of it. “My God, it even has a watermark,” I said. My father was so, so excited that I noticed that. But I was kind of gently ribbing him, as I was quoting American Psycho. This film doesn’t register as a horror movie in my brain; it’s more of a summary of all the reasons why I don’t want to work that kind of a job ever again. It’s a black comedy about how faceless you are to a corporation that you could (in this case literally) kill people and get away with it, because no one matters. The film also gave me my first inkling that star Christian Bale was an actor to watch (Newsies notwithstanding).
47. Garden State (2004)
Time hasn’t been the kindest to
But here’s the thing: For all the stupid movie critic complaints I level at Garden State, it’s still a pretty sweet movie about overmedicated twenty-somethings trying to figure their shit out. It’s funny and touching, and the soundtrack is good. What, you got a problem with Nick Drake? This one sucks me in every time I watch it.
46. Wanted (2008)
Star Angelina Jolie signed on specifically because she wanted to make a ridiculously fun movie. Lo and behold, she did! Wanted stars James McAvoy as a rookie member of a league of international assassins looking to avenge his father's death. And ogle Jolie. And maybe engage in the occasional overblown action setpiece. The film is perhaps best summed up by the image of McAvoy hitting a guy in the face with a keyboard, breaking off letters that spell out “Fuck you” in midair.
45. 30 Days of Night (2007)
Twilight might have kicked off the vampire revolution, but 30 Days of Night did it better. Sure, these vamps ain’t sextastical, but they are awesome. Awesomeness is a crucial element to my favorite movies. Josh Hartnett has never been a well-regarded actor, but his work in
44. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
Holy crap, a well-regarded movie? I’ve never thought of myself as having ironic taste in movies. I just legitimately enjoy movies about sharks as much as I do ones about, well, the Spanish Civil War. Guillermo del Torro has always specialized in modern day fairy tales, the menacing kind that humans used to write. While The Devil’s Backbone and the del Torro-produced The Orphanage were pretty great, I think my favorite of his flicks is Pan’s Labyrinth. The story of a young girl trapped with an abusive military stepfather who escapes to (or at least imagines) a fairy tale world at times both dreamlike and nightmarish, it’s a stunning fantasy picture from start to finish.
43. 12 Rounds (2009)
What else can I tell you about 12 Rounds… it was directed by Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master). Did I mention it’s my girlfriend’s favorite John Cena film? Yeah? OK.
42. Juno (2007)
A lot of people can’t stand Diablo Cody’s hyper-trendy pop cultural puns that double as dialogue, but honestly, I dig her writing. United State of Tara’s first season was great, and the same goes for Juno, the alternately adorable and deeply uncomfortable tale of a smart-alecky teenage girl who can’t use irony to get out of an unwanted pregnancy, and her struggle to find a family to give the love and care for her child that she could never provide. Don’t get me wrong, the soundtrack is a guilty pleasure, in that none of the songs have anything to do with the title character save for “Anyone Else But You,” which leads Ellen Page and Michael Cera cover, and Cody’s dialogue can be a bit much in the opening scenes. The dialogue establishes Page as someone who thinks she’s cool and awesome because she’s forcibly quirky, but her word choices change considerably as she matures and deals with her pregnancy. She strips away her hipster bullshit, so to speak. Juno is rewarding upon multiple viewings, as the twists are way more effed up once you know they’re coming.
41. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Dammit, I love quirky indie comedies. Greg Kinnear plays Richard Hoover, the pitiful self-help guru/patriarch of a family, on a road trip to take daughter Olive (Abigail Breslin) to a child beauty pageant. Rounding out the family are Toni Collette, Paul Dano, Alan Arkin, and Steve Carell, each with their own eccentricities. Some critics got too caught up in the character’s believability (or lack thereof) to feel the film’s central thesis – that life doesn’t have to be a competition and you don’t have to be a product.
TOMORROW: movies about muay thai and sharks, #40-31.
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