Top Movies of the Noughties (?)

[Frayed Knot]

Richard Brody of The New Yorker wasn't very Hollywood happy this decade

And he picks TWO American films and 'Knocked Up' is one of them?!?!?!

But I guess it fits in with part of my point about this decade's films - I can find a better top 5 from the '70s even without leaving the all too short John Cazale catalog.

I enjoyed reading Ludlum when I was a twenty-something.

I did too (IIRC 'The Bourne Identity' was the first one I read) - a girlfriend at the time got me into them.
But after about 3 or 4 books there was a sameness to them and I eventually gave up (on both the books and the girl).
I'm not normally a big reader of fiction, but of that type of book I preferred the less prolific but more interesting and varied Frederic Forsythe. His books were made into better movies too: 'The Odessa File'; 'Day of the Jackal'; 'Dogs of War'.

Edited December 23, 2009 by Guest

[Edgy MD]

It's been going on a while. The name is a brand and, to be sure, many of those brand-name authors probably stop doing the writing well before they die. But yeah, it's kinda creepy.

And I didn't mean to suggest that the books were aimed at seniors. But rather at adult males across a broad range of ages. But in their heyday, they were huge among 47-year-olds and if you didn't get started by the time you were fifty, AARP would sign you up.

The heavy hitters in the category of Beach Reading for Dads:

Robert Ludlum
Ken Follett
Martin Cruz-Smith
Dan Fuckin-Brown

I guess you can call the broad genre Conspiracy Thrillers (though I like my name better). Grahame Greene and other literary figures wrote books that could fit in this category, but Richard Condon turned it into a new publishing area with The Manchurian Candidate. After that, every major publishing house had to have one of these guys telling you about the secret Cold War web being woven all around you have NO FUCKING IDEA ABOUT.

His ill gimmick was to title all his novels as The [surname] [Noun].

The Scarlatti Inheritance (1971)
The Osterman Weekend (1972)
The Matlock Paper (1973)
The Rhinemann Exchange (1974)
The Gemini Contenders (1976)
The Chancellor Manuscript (1977)
The Holcroft Covenant (1978)
The Matarese Circle (1979)
The Bourne Identity (1980)
The Parsifal Mosaic (1982)
The Aquitaine Progression (1984)
The Bourne Supremacy (1986)
The Icarus Agenda (1988)
The Bourne Ultimatum (1990)
The Scorpio Illusion (1993)
The Apocalypse Watch (1995)
The Matarese Countdown (1997)
The Prometheus Deception (2000)

Most of these guys, along with the genre, faded as the Cold War ended and they got too old to keep feeding the beast. The idea that Dan Brown survived and escaped the genre fiction shelves to be read seriously by a vast cross-section of the reading (and sometimes the otherwise non-reading) public just makes my head explode on a daily basis.

[metirish]

Jack Higgins should be on that list, yes?

[Edgy MD]

Maybe. I just threw them out there. Based mostly on my dad's shelf of water-logged mass-markets.

[Frayed Knot]

His ill gimmick was to title all his novels as The [surname] [Noun]. The Scarlatti Inheritance (1971) The Osterman Weekend (1972) The Matlock Paper (1973) The Rhinemann Exchange (1974) The Gemini Contenders (1976) The Chancellor Manuscript (1977) The Holcroft Covenant (1978) The Matarese Circle (1979) The Bourne Identity (1980) The Parsifal Mosaic (1982) The Aquitaine Progression (1984) The Bourne Supremacy (1986) The Icarus Agenda (1988) The Bourne Ultimatum (1990) The Scorpio Illusion (1993) The Apocalypse Watch (1995) The Matarese Countdown (1997) The Prometheus Deception (2000)

I heard Ludlum claim one time that not only wasn't it his intention to name books that way but actually didn't realize the pattern until he turned in a new book (probably his 4th or 5th) without such a title. At that point, he said, the publishers "broke into tears" and convinced him of the wisdom of sticking to the by-then established formula.

[Edgy MD]

His few departures were all released under alternative pen names.

[Vic Sage]

don't hijack ths thread.

I like the Bourne movies, for what they were... well directed action. They've picked up the 007 mantel and added moral ambiguity. Damon is very good in the series.

As for the asswipe from the NEW YORKER, his list is consistent with the magazine. Pretentious bullshit. Its about the appearance of intellect, without having to condescend to the actual applicattion of intellect. Its a coffee table list.

[Vic Sage]

As for ranking the LOTR films, its not necessary. They were shot together to tell a single story. I think its appropriate to treat them as a single work, despite the commercial necessity of splitting it up into 3 films.

[Chad ochoseis]

#1 is a tossup for me between Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou (Coen brothers not getting much mention in this thread so far) and The Lives of Others.

State and Main would be somewhere on my list. Go, you Huskies!

Also Little Miss Sunshine and maybe Juno and possibly maybe A Serious Man. Also Black Book (http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809421156/info), a Dutch film about the Holocaust which didn't attract much attention.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Frayed Knot wrote: Richard Brody of The New Yorker wasn't very Hollywood happy this decade And he picks TWO American films and 'Knocked Up' is one of them?!?!?!

Much more bugged by the "Darjeeling Limited" inclusion, which is too twee by half and half again and-- to echo BG's sentiment above-- fits this list and its publisher to an overly-curlicued tee.

I really, REALLY dug "Knocked Up" myself-- it's my favorite of the Apatow shtick. That said, it's way too flaw-riddled to be anywhere near a best-of-decade list (even this one).

[Frayed Knot]

I didn't mind 'Knocked Up' (not bad - not great) - it's just that the contrast between the rest of his list and that one struck me as funny.

You can almost hear the guy thinking: Yes, I prefer all these foreign language arty films that, unlike me, you unwashed type don't have the intellect or the breeding to appreciate. Oh yeah, and that Apatow guy and his band of horny low-brow post-teens just slay me!

[Edgy MD]

Hmm... I don't want to act as if I'm unaware of their tastes, just that I have a much broader palate...

[ashie62]

Capote
Seabiscuit
The Wrestler
The Reader
Little Miss Sunshine
The Departed
Wonder Boys
Babel
Frost/Nixon
Borat
Rambow
Slumdog Millionaire

Edited December 25, 2009 by Guest

[metirish]

Good list Ashie.....

the Rambow movie is the "Son of Rambow"?

[ashie62]

metirish wrote: Good list Ashie..... the Rambow movie is the "Son of Rambow"?

Yuppers..I was typing tooo fast..

[Vic Sage]

FARGO is from 1996, and RIPLEY is from `99.

[ashie62]

Time flies!

[nymr83]

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

Admit it, you just wanted to type that out!

heres mine:

X-Men 2
Batman Begins
Dark Knight
Lord of the Rings 1-3
Monsters, Inc.
Die Another Day
Road Trip
Meet The Parents
Ocean's Eleven
Spider Man


having constructed this list and looked at everyone else's, I'm convinced this was a bad decade for movies compared to both the 80's and 90's.

[Frayed Knot]

having constructed this list and looked at everyone else's, I'm convinced this was a bad decade for movies compared to both the 80's and 90's.

That was essentially my point all along.

Hell, I did a quickie search of just '71-'74 and came up with:
French Connection, Last Picture Show, Cabaret, Godfather, Deliverance, Jerimiah Johnson, American Graffiti, Mean Streets, Papillon, The Sting, Godfather Part II, Chinatown, The Conversation, ... and obviously a bunch more.

I really hate to sound like one of those 'it was all better in the old days' types and I know the movie biz (and society) has changed and there are a bunch of reasons for the disparity between eras ... but Geez!

[ashie62]

having constructed this list and looked at everyone else's, I'm convinced this was a bad decade for movies compared to both the 80's and 90's. That was essentially my point all along. Hell, I did a quickie search of just '71-'74 and came up with: French Connection, Last Picture Show, Cabaret, Godfather, Deliverance, Jerimiah Johnson, American Graffiti, Mean Streets, Papillon, The Sting, Godfather Part II, Chinatown, The Conversation, ... and obviously a bunch more. I really hate to sound like one of those 'it was all better in the old days' types and I know the movie biz (and society) has changed and there are a bunch of reasons for the disparity between eras ... but Geez!

Good movies all..The Reader, Slumdog, and a few other do sit well in any decade. There is quality in every decade, sometimes it may just not be as obvious.

I consider The Wonder Boys one of the more underrated movies of this decade

[Fman99]

Lord of the Rings 1-3
The Departed
Gangs of NY
The Aviator
There Will Be Blood
Traffic
Shrek
Road to Perdition

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

I've got some chopping to do yet, but here's my Top 25.

Almost Famous (the Untitled version kicks the theatrical version's ass)
In the Mood for Love (beautiful and languid, like watching an aquarium filled with doomed lovers... feels longer than it is in a GOOD way)
Eternal Sunshine of... (loopy, hits at the nature of love better than anything I've ever seen; maybe my favorite)
Memento (it fooks with yer mind!)
City of God (intense and gritty, yes, but weirdly intimate in spots; has aged pretty damn well)
The Aviator (superunderrated-- this one takes down the Scorcese slot over "Departed," which is ruined by Nicholson's clockpunching)
Royal Tenenbaums (the last Wes Anderson I really enjoyed)
The Incredibles (I find myself lingering on it every time I see it's on cable)
You Can Count on Me (I've never liked Laura Linney more... and I really like Laura Linney)
A History of Violence (Cronenberg makes a cracker of a thriller-- with serious depth-- when he's not up in people's colons and whatnot)
Pan's Labyrinth (With the Hellboys not far behind, frankly. Nice fable, beautifully realized story-world.)
Shaun of the Dead (Don't stop me now... 'cause I'm havin' a good time, havin' a good time...)
Spirited Away (See "Pan's Labyrinth.")
Inglourious Basterds (If this movie had nothing to redeem it but the opening scene, closing scene and pub confrontation with the Nazis, it would be here.)
Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2 (After being overblown in the 90s following "PF," was Tarantino maybe the most underrated filmmaker of this decade?)
High Fidelity (And THAT's why we still love John Cusack, through the '2012's and 'Serendipity's.)
Kung Fu Hustle (Like kung-fu Tex Avery. Friggin' great.)
Squid and the Whale (Noah Baumbach shit just crawls into my head and lives there for a bit. Noah Baumbach shit about divorce, painfully sharp and accurate? It haunts that same head.)
Grizzly Man (It takes crazy to recognize crazy, and it takes the world's most committed/committable filmmaker to tell this story-- he does it exceedingly well.)
Wonder Boys (Almost forgot about this one. Agreed, y'all.)
Batman Begins/The Dark Knight (I love Batman. Batman done right? Fuck and yes.)
Let the Right One In (Screw "Twilight." THIS one spoke to the 14-year-old girl inside me.)
Adventureland ("Superbad" and "Knocked Up" were funny. THIS was the best coming-of-age movie in the decade.)
In Bruges (Good, dark hyperverbal comedy with a nasty streak, and great chem from the leads-- Gleeson and Farrell are dancing here, and it's great to watch.)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Gorgeous depiction of a fashion editor's post-stroke "locked-in" syndrome. Schnabel may be kind of an asshole-- as per numerous friendly sources-- but he's a hell of a visual storyteller.)

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I've got some chopping to do yet, but here's my Top 25. Almost Famous (the Untitled version kicks the theatrical version's ass)

Loved it.

In the Mood for Love (beautiful and languid, like watching an aquarium filled with doomed lovers... feels longer than it is in a GOOD way)

Never saw it

Eternal Sunshine of... (loopy, hits at the nature of love better than anything I've ever seen; maybe my favorite)

Saw it only recently. Better than I expected! Liked it.

Memento (it fooks with yer mind!)

The out-of-sequence thing is so less novel since.

City of God (intense and gritty, yes, but weirdly intimate in spots; has aged pretty damn well)

Never saw it.

The Aviator (superunderrated-- this one takes down the Scorcese slot over "Departed," which is ruined by Nicholson's clockpunching)

Didn't see.

Royal Tenenbaums (the last Wes Anderson I really enjoyed)

Stupid.

The Incredibles (I find myself lingering on it every time I see it's on cable)

Really great. I've watched it 200 times since getting 'Pail the DVD for xmas, still finding stuff to admire about it: The expression on the cops' faces when they "congratulate" Mr. Incredible for stopping the chase; the whole "fighting for the remote" ending; Syndrome's perfect mix of geekiness and evil.

You Can Count on Me (I've never liked Laura Linney more... and I really like Laura Linney)

"Her butt should have won an Oscar for, uh, Best Butt." Really enjoyed this.

A History of Violence (Cronenberg makes a cracker of a thriller-- with serious depth-- when he's not up in people's colons and whatnot)

Yup.

Pan's Labyrinth (With the Hellboys not far behind, frankly. Nice fable, beautifully realized story-world.)

Didn't see it.

Shaun of the Dead (Don't stop me now... 'cause I'm havin' a good time, havin' a good time...)

Love love love it.

Spirited Away (See "Pan's Labyrinth.")

No See.

Inglourious Basterds (If this movie had nothing to redeem it but the opening scene, closing scene and pub confrontation with the Nazis, it would be here.)

That's about all that redeemed it, but yeah, all great scenes.

Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2 (After being overblown in the 90s following "PF," was Tarantino maybe the most underrated filmmaker of this decade?)

Maybe? I'd didn't bother seeing either since I'm afraid QT's become 98% about making a good homage and only 2% about making a good movie .

High Fidelity (And THAT's why we still love John Cusack, through the '2012's and 'Serendipity's.)

I was sort of turned off by this.

Kung Fu Hustle (Like kung-fu Tex Avery. Friggin' great.)

Didn't get it.

Squid and the Whale (Noah Baumbach shit just crawls into my head and lives there for a bit. Noah Baumbach shit about divorce, painfully sharp and accurate? It haunts that same head.)

Didn't relate to it. Guess I needed a worse childhood or richer parents or something.

Grizzly Man (It takes crazy to recognize crazy, and it takes the world's most committed/committable filmmaker to tell this story-- he does it exceedingly well.)

Weird and wild.

Wonder Boys (Almost forgot about this one. Agreed, y'all.)

Yup.

Batman Begins/The Dark Knight (I love Batman. Batman done right? Fuck and yes.)

Haven't watched a single Batman since burned by the hype of the first one. How's that for a grudge? Fuck Batman.

Let the Right One In (Screw "Twilight." THIS one spoke to the 14-year-old girl inside me.)

I keep meaning to rent it.

Adventureland ("Superbad" and "Knocked Up" were funny. THIS was the best coming-of-age movie in the decade.)

Agreed

[

b]In Bruges (Good, dark hyperverbal comedy with a nasty streak, and great chem from the leads-- Gleeson and Farrell are dancing here, and it's great to watch.)

Fun.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Gorgeous depiction of a fashion editor's post-stroke "locked-in" syndrome. Schnabel may be kind of an asshole-- as per numerous friendly sources-- but he's a hell of a visual storyteller.)

Good. Wouldn't care to watch it again tho.



Anyone else still doing this? I found the 2005 list here:
http://cranepoolforum.qwknetllc.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?p=53142&sid=d36b509f01354aead20cf5931ffbafa5

Crash? March of the Penguins? These hold up for anyone?

[Edgy MD]

History of Violence --- I mean it's all cool when a freak like Bill Hurt gets to play a mobster, but there are huge swaths of this that make no sense.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

NYMR:

Die Another Day

Really, Namor? I can see the rest of your list-- some good H'wood thrillage, there-- but DAD?


JCL: Not sure if "In the Mood for Love" is your cuppa, but "City of God" is one to see. Also, as "Let the Right One In" is for the pre-teen girl in ya, "Pan's Labyrinth" is for the 10-year-old in you who has a grasp of the Spanish Civil War. "Squid and the Whale" was like 4 of my elementary school friends' parents wrapped into one, so that one might just be me. (Did I mention I grew up on the UWS?)

Also, Batman would flip you the double-bird, but he's too busy kicking major rear and yelling at grips. And what didn't you like about "High Fidelity"? (Cusack at the heights of his man-boy powers... a realistic-- hyper-realistic, grading on the romantic-comedy curve-- take on adult relationships... and a GOOD Jack Black, before the ubiquity?)

EDGY: Whadja mean, there? Plot holes?

[Edgy MD]

Yeah. (Sperlers coming.)

How does a guy end a multi-state killing spree with an act of shocking vigilantism and draw the attention and multiple visits from out-of-state mobsters before killing said mobsters and then getting a call from a rival gang from out of state who he goes to visit and splatter, while the only law involved is the fat genial sherrif saying, "Consarn it, something here doesn't add up."?

I expect that sort of hands-off silliness in, say, Gremlins. In this, I would think there'd be 100 FBI officers crawling around town.

Plus, Viggo. With that big fucking chin... how are you expecting to go underground and pretend you're somebody else, lying right to your old associates' faces?

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Well, when you put it that way, it sounds like some sort of made-up story.

The I'm-not-the-guy-who-looks-and-sounds-exactly-like-the-guy-you-know thing did seem a little strange at first (I remember thinking, "Different haircut? Beard?"). To me, it lends the story the character of a shockingly-brutal and semi-real fable, more than something ripped from everyday life.

[Guest Giant Squidlike Creature]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Squid and the Whale

Best. Movie. Ever.

And Squid totally pwn3d that freakin' whale!

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Holy %^@*! Issa Squid!

I'm guessing "Ocean's Eleven" was kind of disappointing, eh?

[Edgy MD]

I seem to remember the Bucket liking Royal Tennebaums under another handle back in the day.