Best Movies of the Decade

Deciding what my favorite movies are of the past 10 years is a quite difficult task. For this list, I decided to list my five favorite series, and then my ten favorite single movies. My decision for each movie is based mostly on watchability; I've seen plenty of good movies, but these are the ones I will watch over and over again and never get tired of.  Like my music list, it's in chronological order. Make sure and check out Diana's list too when she posts it a little later today.

Best Franchises:

Lord of the Rings - Series (2001 - 2003) -- Not only my favorite series of all time, but also my favorite movie of the past 10 years, and certainly one of my top 5 movies of all time.

Harry Potter (2001 to 2009) -- Nowhere near as good as the books, it's still a fun movie that never gets old.

The Jason Bourne Series (2002 / 2004 / 2007) -- Not only one of my favorite series, but also one of my favorite action flicks ever.

Batman Begins / The Dark Night (2005 / 2008) -- Complex characters, unpredictable plots, and really cool gadgets--what's not to like about this series?

Flags of Our Father / Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) -- Clint Eastwood does war--you can't go wrong with that! What's so masterful about these two films is how different they are, and how perfectly they capture the themes of war and pride in country.

Best Movies:

Billy Elliot (2000) -- Ballet doesn't have to be gay; this movie proves that it can be quite masculine in its beauty.

Donnie Darko (2001) -- Every time I watch this classic, I see something new.

Black Hawk Down (2001) -- When it comes to war movies, this is as good as it gets.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) -- Anytime Charlie Kaufman writes something, you know you'll be in for a wild ride (unless it's the "The Dana Carvey Show"). This was my favorite movie he wrote of the past decade.

Children of Men (2006) -- I'm a sucker for any movie that shows a world gone wrong.

Ladron que Roba a Ladron (2007) -- This movie is a cross between a Spanish Novella and the Ocean's 11 series. It's funny, cheesy, and one of the best caper movies ever wrote!

Once (2007) -- This was the best romance of the past 10 years, and also the best movie soundtrack.

Sunshine (2007) -- When people talk about Danny Boyle, they are probably talking about Slumdogs or 28 Days Later; I don't know why. This is Boyle's best movie in my opinion.

Wall-e (2008) -- I've almost cried in one other movie ("Wild Strawberries"); the beauty in this movie wasn't in what was said, it was in what was not said. Actions speak louder than words, which made the love story in this movie one of the best ever on screen.

Moon (2009) -- The best movie of 2009 that nobody saw; this movie proved that it doesn't take millions of dollars to make a good sci-fi flick.

Best Pixar Movies

Now that I’ve seen Up here’s my amended list of favorite Pixar Movies:

1) Wall-E

2) Monster's Inc

3) Toy Story 2

4) Toy Story 1

5) Up

6) Finding Nemo

7) The Incredibles

8) A Bug's Life

9) Cars

10) Ratatouille

Arrested Development

It's finally been officially confirmed...Arrested Development is headed to the big screen!

A Brief Interviews Review

One of the first reviews of Brief Interviews with Hideous Men has surfaced; it's not too pretty, unfortunately, but I'd still like to watch the movie and judge for myself...

The Years Best

There’s still a few movies I want to see this year (i.e. Gran Torino, Che, Frost/Nixon, The Wrestler, and Revolutionary Road), but I probably won’t make it out to see them anytime soon.

 I think it’s safe to say that this year, more than any other year in recent memory, was the year that blockbuster movies were actually good; usually there’s one or two good blockbuster movies, and the rest are simply entertaining popcorn flicks. Below are my top 5 books & movies of the year:

Movies:
WALL-E – yes, I nearly cried it was so beautiful; it’s Pixar, so I knew it would be great, but this was beyond great—it was a masterpiece, and now ranks just below Wild Strawberries as one of my all time favorites.

The Dark Knight – This movie felt, at times, more like a roller coaster ride then a movie—it had more twist and turns then any Batman movie before it, and I’m sure I’m not alone when I say it’s the best one in the series.

Slumdog Millionaire – I am not a huge fan of Danny Boyle, but after this movie, I just may become one. It gives one of the best glimpses of true India that I have ever seen, and was truly touching. The acting wasn’t always great, especially by the gangster brother, but the story made up for its shortcomings.

Iron Man – I guess Robert Downey Jr. isn’t all washed up after all? Not quite the dark masterpiece of The Dark Knight, it was nonetheless a greatly paced and highly original story; I can’t wait for the sequel.

Tropic Thunder – If it hadn’t been for Downey playing an Australian guy acting like a black guy, I probably would not have liked this movie at all. 

Books:
Post Office - It's my wife's favorite book, so I had to read it, and it didn't disappoint. It wasn't really about anything, but I think that's sort of the point. Whatever the case it was quite funny.

The Yiddish Policemen's Union - I read this book much too quickly to properly enjoy, and I am going to reread it again soon. Chabon wrote one of the greatest novels I have ever read (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay), and is the king of style; it's going to be hard for him to top Kavalier & Clay, but he's still a great writer, and rarely disappoints.

Watchmen - I didn't think it was as good as everyone always says. Yes, for a comic book, it was great--perhaps the greatest. I would hardly list it as one of the 100 best books of the century. One of my top 5 favorite books of the year, but only because I didn't read a lot of really great books this year.

The Wordy Shipmates - I was a bit disappointed, because it didn't have quite the same with as "Assassination Vacation." Still it was interesting.

In Defense of Food - Okay, I'll admit I didn't actually read this book; Diana read it. But she gave me a overview of what it was about each night before I went to sleep, so I didn't really need to. I wish more people would read books like this, instead of blindly continue to eat unhealthy and think they'll be fine.

Movies I'm Excited About

Dates are subject to change...

March
Watchman - This movies either going to be really great or really horrible; there's no need to explain what it's about--if you have never heard of the comic book, I'm pretty sure you won't want to see the movie.

The Lovely Bones - Peter Jackson directed it...is it possible it can be bad? Everything he does is great (unless you count "Meet the Feebles"...how about we just forget about that movie?)

May
Star Trek - I was never a Star Trek fan, but after seeing the preview, I'm ready to give it a shot.

Up - Pixars yearly movie; it's also the first feature that Pete Docter has directed since Monsters, Inc in 2001...

July
2012 - Every summer needs a brainless action movie, and it looks like this summer "2012" will take that spot; basically, it's about a bunch of natural disasters occurring at the end of 2012 (the same year that the Mayan calender mysteriously ends); I predict a big opening weekend, followed by a bunch of people at the library asking for books on the Mayan calender. Also, I predict this movie will make a lot of people nervous about 2012.

August
G.I. Joe - I confess, this is the movie I am most excited t see; the movie was my childhood. I had the toys, I saw the movies, and I raced home every day after school to see the cartoon.

October
Toy Story in 3-D - I'm more excited about the 2010 release of "Toy Story 3" but this will have to do for now.

Where the Wild Things Are - After all the controversy surrounding the delays and rewrites, the question on most people's minds is will it actually be good? I think Spike Jonze can pull it off. Plus Dave Eggers helped penned the script...

November
A Christmas Carol - Jim Carrey voices Scrooges in this CGI movie by Robert Zemeckis. I liked Zemeckis last Christmas movie, "The Polar Express"...but hopefully, his crew has learned how to draw humans, because the CGI in that movie was creepy!

The Fantastic Mr. Fox - Wes Anderson takes on the classic Roald Dahl story.

Inglorious Bastards

When I heard Quentin Tarantino was going to remake the epic war movie Inglorious Bastards, the first thing I thought was, “What the heck is Inglorious Bastards?” I suppose if you’re going to remake a movie, it’s best to do one few people have heard of--that way they won’t complain that you ruined a masterpiece.

Being a fan of war movies, I Netflix’d the older movie right away to see what it was all about. My first thought was why have so few people heard of this movie? It’s one of the best war movies I’ve ever seen. My second thought was he’s going gore it up and ruin a masterpiece.

Going back to my first thought, why have few people heard of this movie, I’m still baffled. One of my favorite war movies is The Battle of Blood Island; it’s campy, cheesy, and full of unknown actors (unless you count Roger Corman as a major actor (he didn't direct it...only acted)). I can understand why few people have heard of that. But this? I’m confused. It’s Italian and dubbed into English, but I don’t think that is enough to scare everyone off.

It has a similar premise as The Dirty Dozen. A bunch of American villains must fight off a bunch of Germans in a secret mission. But everything about it is grander and more epic—from the romance to the final action sequence, which involves a train.

If you’re planning on seeing the remake when it comes out in a year or two, I highly recommend seeing this one first.

I have enjoyed the recent string of war movies like Saving Private Ryan (although, I must admit I agree with Roland (from the book) who says the movie was too "too anti-German") and Flags of our Fathers, but if you want to see a real war movie you have to go back at least twenty years. Who knows what Tarantino will do with this, but one thing I’ve hated about recent war movies is they are too realistic. Yes they’re interesting and fun to watch, but they try to hard to educate and show what it must have been like (if I want that I'll watch a documentary, or, better yet, read a book). There was a time when a war movie was simply a movie with a good storyline that was meant to entertain; people died, but it wasn’t gory and it certainly wasn’t realistic--it was just fun, and I miss that. Directors decided sometime ago if you do a period piece it has to be accurate and full of drama.

If you haven’t seen this movie—if you haven’t even heard of it—do yourself a favor and rent it. You won’t be disappointed.

And if you feel like it, share your thoughts on the movie by commenting below...or share your thoughts on other great movies that no one has ever heard of.

Kentucky Fry This

Spoof movies aren’t what they used to be. I had a chuckle or two during some of the Scream movies, but not as much as I did during Airplane or even Naked Gun.

For quite sometime, I just thought I had grown out of them—that spoof movies were the same as they have ever been, but you have to be in seventh grade to the enjoy the humor of them.

I recently watched the Zucker Brother’s first movie Kentucky Fried Movie, and was reassured that indeed my taste have not changed, rather spoof movies have just gone from bad to worse.

What makes this spoof movie so great and so many others like it so horrible? The same thing that made The Simpsons season 1-11 great, and seasons 11 and onward just okay…it all comes down to originality. FYI, The Simpsons used to be great, but now I think they just copy themselves and redo episodes and themes they explored long ago—maybe if they spent some time investing in real writing talent (also the creator of the show is a jerk; I saw him at a book festival a few years back, and asked for his autograph; he let out a sigh and said, “If I sign for you, I’ll have to sign for everyone”…I pointed out that there was no one near us and I was the only one who recognized him, but he ignored me and walked away.)

Spoof movies are making fun of something that’s been done—how do you make that original? It’s definitely not plot; these movies have plots so horrible it’s funny. What they do so great is they don’t make fun of the obvious.

Kentucky Fried Movie is basically a spoof on pop culture; more specifically, seventies pop culture. It really has absolutely no plot—it’s just a bunch of vignettes that are only sometimes connected. At the core of the movie is a movie within a movie that is quite possibly the worse kung-fu movie ever made.

So when you’re tired of watching spoofs about gladiator movies and end of the world movies, return to the classics and give this one a shot. And when you’re done, re-watch Airplane and reminisce about the good old days.

Is This What Tom Cruise's Career Has Come To?

To rebound his struggling career, Tom Cruise has apparently decided to pull an Eddie Murphy and put on the fat suit. Check out the link to the picture below! It's for the new Ben Stiller movie, Tropic Thunder. It's just a cameo, but it's apparently supposed to be quite the scene stealer.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v230/goosen_powers/temp190.jpg

Wall-E, I Think I May Love You

It's Friday, so why not talk about movies? In particular, Wall-E. If you haven't seen it, and haven't made plans to do anything, then make plans now and see it. This is by far the best movie of the year, the best Pixar movie ever, and the first movie in years to have me on the verge of letting a tear slip from my eye!

The last time I was so moved after seeing a movie was nearly ten years ago; the movie, in case you're wondering, was Bergman's "Wild Strawberries" (although "Once" came pretty darn close).

What made it so good? In my opinion, it was the lack of dialog. Wall-E doesn't really speak, and so the only way the audience will know what the heck is going on is through action. It is a perfect example of "actions speak louder then words."

I've heard a few people actually criticize it for having an environmental message! I don't know how that can be a bad thing, but for the record that's not what this stories about. It's a love story! It reminded me of how movies used to be made: with plots! It was one of those few movies that didn't have many looking at my cell phone every five minutes to see what time it was. It had me fully engaged and was an almost magical experience.

And like all Pixar movies, even the freakin credits were pretty! So just go see, and share your opinion of it in the comment area below if you feel so inclined...

Michael Chabon's Spidey Sense

I've wondered ever sense seeing Spider-man 2 what Michael Chabon contributed. McSweeney's now gives a chance to see! Read Chabon's Spider-man 2 screenplay here! Now if only they'd share that draft of X-men I hear he wrote...

Coming to a Theater Near You: Monopoly

From: http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=13888517-5c1f-4894-9d69-08faebac15a8


"Ridley Scott and his Scott Free Productions are reportedly developing a real-estate film based on Monopoly, though no word what it's about exactly."


I love the game, but you have got to be kidding me!