Movies I Loved
Lest you think that my film tastes just run towards
documentaries, historical miniseries, and foreign films, my top film of the
year is…
1. The Dark Knight, aka the highest grossing, biggest,
most-hyped movie of the year. There
wasn’t a cooler movie made this year.
Even though it was long, I wanted it to keep going. I can’t think of a superhero movie I’ve ever
liked more than this one. There was so
much hype leading up to the movie about how great Heath Ledger was, but I kind
of figured it was just people making a big deal about him since he had
died. Wrong. Ledger was what made this movie great for me. His Joker goes down as one of the best bad
guys in any movie ever (Darth Vader is still #1, of course)
2. Mongol – About five years ago my brother had the idea
that he wanted to write a screenplay for a movie about Genghis Khan. I thought it was a great idea – Khan is a
fascinating figure, and you’d have to figure that all his exploits and battles
would translate pretty well to the big screen.
Well, someone else apparently thought so too. This is another movie that at first glance
might seem kind of dull (a subtitled movie in Russian about a historical
figure), but there is nothing dull about it.
First of all, the cinematography of the Mongolian steppe is absolutely
beautiful. But first and foremost, this
is a great action movie – sort of a Braveheart-type movie, but without having
to deal with Mel Gibson. This is
actually part one of a trilogy, and it follows Genghis Khan from his youth to
his rise to power. I can’t wait for the
next two.
3. American Teen (documentary) – What is the difference
between the many MTV reality shows following the lives of teenagers, which I
hate, and something like this, a documentary following the lives of four Indiana
4. Step Brothers – I will admit that probably every other
movie in my top 20 is a better movie than this.
But, this is a list of how much I enjoyed the movies, and there wasn’t a
movie I laughed harder at all year. Will
Ferrell is king.
5. Slumdog Millionaire – What a beautiful movie. It seems so funny to me that this movie
became such a commercial and cultural success, but it is encouraging to see a
movie that has so much character become such a big hit. This movie was directed by Danny Boyle, who
also directed Trainspotting and 28 Days Later.
Those three movies couldn’t be any more different, but they are all great
movies for their genre. It will be
interesting to see what he does next after winning Best Picture.
6. John Adams – this was an HBO miniseries based on the
David McCullough book. I really enjoyed
the book, but the series did an amazing job of being faithful to the book but
the acting is so good it adds layers of depth to the characters that you don’t
fully capture just from reading. Both
Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney won Emmeys for their portrayals of John and
Abigail Adams, and they were so deserving. Maybe even better is Tom Wilkinson (Michael
Clayton) who steals every scene he’s in as Ben Franklin. Probably my favorite historical miniseries
since Band of Brothers.
7. Tell No One – Have you ever noticed that in a subtitled
movie, if the movie is really good you completely forget it is subtitled
because you’re so engrossed in the story?
This is a great example of that.
This was the most suspenseful, mysterious movie I watched all year. I don’t really want to tell you anything
about the movie, because there are a bunch of twists, and part of the joy of
watching it is trying to figure out what is happening as the movie
unfolds. So I’m not going to summarize
anything about the plot, other than to say rent it soon.
Movies I Really
Enjoyed
8. The Counterfeiters – Like The Pianist (#50), this movie
is set during the holocaust in a concentration camp. The DVD sat on my kitchen counter for a
couple of weeks because it was a movie I felt like I should watch, but didn’t
really want to. But unlike The Pianist,
I was totally captivated by this. The
main character is an expert counterfeiter, but gets captured by the Nazis and
thrown in a concentration camp. But he’s
lucky – because of his skill, he gets assigned to much nicer living quarters
and is fed well because he is in charge of the Nazi scheme to produce
counterfeit foreign currency. The
dilemma of these prisoners is whether or not to actually make the currency,
which will help the Germans, or to sabotage the efforts, which will result in
them being killed. Very powerful, but
very watchable too. Based on a true
story.
9. Tropic Thunder – so many funny parts and so many funny
performances in this movie. Danny
McBride is good here, Ben Stiller is funny, and Robert Downey jr. is amazing as
a character actor who gets so into his role he actually has his skin darkened
to play a black man. The premise of the
movie is that a bunch of actors start filming a war movie, but then get lost,
and end up in a real conflict. Hilarious
throughout.
10. JCVD – What were the odds that Jean-Claude Van Damme
would make a serious movie that doesn’t involve any action or fighting, do a
good job, AND that the movie would be really good? It probably helps that he is playing a washed
up version of….Jean Claude Van Damme, as he gets caught up in a robbery gone
wrong. This has some similar qualities
to The Wresler – both Rourke and Van Damme essentially play themselves, and we
see the toll that celebrity and fading from celebrity has taken on their lives,
but I liked this so much more.
11. Burn After Reading
12. Let the Right One In – As noted before, I have a thing
for vampire movies. Well, this was the
best Swedish vampire movie I saw all year.
This is the kind of movie Twilight wishes
it could be. It actually has some of the
same plot lines – a teen/pre-teen that struggles with being a vampire and
wanting to have a friendship/relationship with a human and the struggles that
come with it. It’s sympathetic to the
plight of the vampire girl without romanticizing it like Twilight does. Much darker, much more interesting, and
bloodier too.
13. Flight of the Conchords – This was actually the entire
season one of the HBO series about a couple of guys from New Zealand
14. Body of Lies – Very entertaining action-thriller set in
the Middle East . I’m not a huge fan of Russell Crowe or Leo
DiCaprio, but in the right movie they both can be good. The pacing of the movie is great – it’s not a
“non-stop action” flick, but it never slows down either.
15. Wanted – I was so excited for this movie. It was directed by a Russian guy that
directed Night Watch and Day Watch, two really unique but awesome Russian
vampire movies. I’ve never been able to
convince anyone to watch either of those movies, even though they are some of
the most visually interesting movies I’ve seen in the last 5 years. So I couldn’t wait to see this guy’s American
film debut, and it looked great in previews.
And it does look great
throughout. The guy’s visual style is
amazing, and it was cool to see what he did with a big budget movie with Morgan
Freeman and Angelina Jolie as part of a secret society of assassins. The only problem is the story isn’t that
great. It never rises above the typical
action flick in terms of plot and storytelling, but it’s still worth watching
because it looks so good.
16. The Rocker – Probably the biggest pleasant surprise on
my list. I rented it figuring it would
be a good, short movie that would be pleasant enough to watch, sort of like a
Yes Man or Get Smart type movie. And it
pretty much is, but what made this great for me was Rainn Wilson, aka Dwight
Schrutte. I figured he would have
difficulty carrying a movie, but if you like Dwight on The Office, there’s no
way you won’t enjoy this.
Good Movies
17. Quantum of Solace – Let’s face it – the new James Bond
would kick the old James Bond’s butt. I
was never a huge fan of the earlier Bond movies, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed
the last two. Daniel Craig is sooo
different from the Pierce Brosnan-style James Bond, and it is exactly what the
series needed to become interesting again.
18. Hamlet 2 – I thought this was a great premise for a
movie. A failed actor turned high school
drama teacher who is about to lose his job because of budget cuts decides to
stage an epic production of….Hamlet 2.
Doesn’t everyone die in Hamlet?
Yes, but that’s nothing Jesus and a time machine can’t fix. Some parts are pretty by the numbers, but I
couldn’t stop smiling throughout the movie.
It also contains the best movie song of the year: Rock Me Sexy
Jesus. Very fun.
19. Iron Man – Terrific entertainment. Really it was everything a good summer
blockbuster should be, while not being totally mind-numbing. A lot of the reviews of it I read last summer
made me think it would be “more” than just a superhero movie, which I didn’t
agree with. I thought it was nothing
more than a well-made superhero movie, and that’s a good thing.
20. Hellboy 2 – Guillermo Del Toro is a fantastic
director. Pan’s Labyrinth was near the
top of my list last year after I watched it again on DVD. What makes this cool are the creatures. Any movie with a decent budget these days can
have scary-looking creatures, but the monsters in Del Toro’s movies are unique
– scary, but imaginative and artistic in a way I’m not used to seeing anywhere
else.
Watchable
20. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
21. The Pineapple Express – this movie was billed as a
stoner action comedy, which doesn’t sound that appealing, but I thought this
was pretty funny. The best scenes were
the ones with Danny McBride.
22. Be Kind Rewind – The premise of this movie is pretty
silly – Jack Black becomes magnetized, and accidentally erases all of the
videotapes at the store his buddy (Mos Def) works at. So the two of them set out to re-film their
own versions of all the movies from memory.
Not a classic, but entertaining.
Kids movie section
– I’m not including some of the stuff I watched repeatedly, like Elmo’s Pets or
Pokemon Challenge – those don’t count as real movies. And I hate them. But these movies were all kids movies that I
enjoyed watching.
23. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian – I loved the
Chronicles of Narnia books when I was a kid, and thoroughly enjoyed re-reading
all of them with my oldest son this past year.
The first two movie adaptations have been pretty faithful to the books,
although neither of them fully captured the magic of the books. This one is a little dark and violent for a
kids movie, which seems kind of stupid, considering the audience is….kids. Despite all that, I really enjoyed watching
it.
24. The Tale of Despereaux – Pleasant surprise – the story
of an adventurous mouse that befriends a princess after getting kicked out of
the mouse city for not being sufficiently scared of things. My 4 year old and 8 year old both loved it,
and I was entertained too. My 4 year old
and 8 year old also think that Scooby Doo and the Witches Ghost is highly
entertaining, so maybe that isn’t a ringing endorsement.
25. Horton Hears a Who – The other versions of Dr. Seuss
movies that were made into full length movies weren’t so good – The Grinch and
The Cat in the Hat aren’t exactly a high bar to jump over, but this is much
better. Is it as good as the sing-a-long
version of The Lorax that I show to my Ecology class at the start of every
school year? No, but what is, really?
26. Hancock – This starts out as a pretty good movie, where
Jason Bateman plays a struggling p.r. guy who tries to help a superhero no one
really likes (he’s a drunk, and breaks lots of stuff) fix his image. But then halfway through the movie there’s a
weird twist, and it ends up being a very different, and not quite as good,
movie. It was still entertaining, but
probably would have been better if they’d just stuck to the premise of the
first half of the movie.
27. Semi-Pro – I love almost anything Will Ferrell is in
(see # 4 ). I Loved him on Saturday
Night Live. I love the skits he does on
Funny or Die (if you haven’t watched Bat Fight on Youtube, it’s worth checking
out). His only semi-serious movie,
Stranger Than Fiction was number one on this list 3 years ago. The only exceptions have been Kicking and
Screaming, and Blades of Glory. This was
better than those, certainly not in the league with Anchorman or Old School,
and not even as good as Talladega
Watchable only in the
right mood
28. Yes Man - One of those movies where I pretty much knew
what to expect, and I thought it looked pretty funny in the previews. It wasn’t bad really. I just don’t understand why everyone thinks
Zoey Deschannel is so great. She isn’t
really very funny, she’s not unattractive, but she’s nothing special, and she
always seems to play the quirky girlfriend, but ends up not being all that
interesting. Jim Carrey isn’t exactly
lighting the world on fire either.
29. Get Smart – If you think Steve Carrell from The Office
is funny, there’s a decent chance you’ll think this is funny. Nothing memorable, but when I was done with
watching it I was in a good mood. That’s
certainly more than I can say for the Watchmen.
30. Disturbia – Shia Lebouff is under house arrest. Fortunately he’s got a hot neighbor and a
potential serial killer for his neighbors.
Actually pretty entertaining.
31. The Wrestler – This was a good movie. Mickey Rourke is amazing in this role –
really, really good, and for that reason alone it is worth seeing. I just didn’t enjoy watching it very
much. I have a hard time watching movies
where people are totally self-destructive and there isn’t any kind of
redemption for them. It’s not that I
need every movie to have a happy ending – it’s just that when I turned this one
off, my first reaction was “Well, that was depressing”, which is usually not
what I’m shooting for in a rental.
32. The Watchmen – I have no idea where to put this on the
list. I didn’t really like it. But it is definitely an interesting, complex
movie that is really cool to watch at times.
It also has some long, boring stretches.
And it is hands down the most violent movie on this list. I rarely mind violence in movies, but this
was just so over the top that it takes away from the film. I’m guessing this is one of those movies
people either love or hate. I’m a lot
closer to the hate side.
33. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist – I thought this was
going to be sort of a cool, edgie Indie movie with lots of good music. It wasn’t bad, but it was a lot more
formulaic than I thought it would be, and the music wasn’t anything to get
excited about.
34. The Foot Fist Way – I wish I liked this movie more than
I did. It stars Danny McBride, the new
member of the Will Ferrell comedy group, and also the star of the new HBO
series Eastbound and Down, which I can’t wait to watch when it comes out on
DVD. He plays a total loser Tai Kwan Do
instructor in a strip mall. It has some
great parts. McBride plays the part
perfectly. But he is such a hateful
loser that it just made me cringe most of the time. McBride (Tropic Thunder, Land of the Lost,
Pineapple Express) looks like he is going to be a lot of fun to watch in the
next few years.
35. Sunshine Cleaning – Not really a great date night movie,
especially when you are expecting it to be a comedy, and it ends up being a
downer slice of life flick. I had really
high expectations since it was made by the people who made Little Miss
Sunshine, and the acting was pretty good, the character development was good,
it just wasn’t that much fun to watch.
On DVD with low expectations I probably would have liked it.
36. Twilight – Haven’t read the books, but I figured I
should probably figure out what all the fuss is about. I am a sucker for pretty much anything
involving vampires – I’m not sure why, but I’m fascinated by most movies and
books involving them. This one involves
way too much of the main characters staring at each other and admiring how
beautiful they are. Maybe if I’d read
the books I could have understood what’s so great about Bella and Edward,
because in the movie they just seem like a couple of overly dramatic teenagers,
one of whom happens to be a vampire.
37. The Last Man on Earth – Last year I saw the movie I Am
Legend. It was #26 on the list, but just
felt like it could have been much better.
So I read the book, by Richard Mathwick, and it was great. A better story, and the ending – one of the
week points of the movie – was soooo much better and in line with the tone of
the rest of the book. Then I found out
that I Am Legend was actually the third
movie adaptation of the book. This one sounded
great – a 1960’s version, starting Vincent Price, and much more faithful to the
original book. Only one problem – this
version was a bore too. I know there are
some of you that like old movies, but I swear, so many of the older movies
(basically 1970’s or earlier) that people tell me are classics just aren’t that
good. The acting is horrible in this –
comically bad, really, and Vincent Price’s narration couldn’t be any more
heavy-handed. So I’m 0-2 on I am Legend
adaptations. Should I watch Omega Man,
starring Charleton Heston to complete the trifecta? I’m guessing no, but I probably will.
38 & 39. Jackass & Jackass 2 – I feel guilty even
admitting I watched both of these movies.
There is absolutely nothing redeeming about them. If you don’t like watching stuff like people
letting themselves get gored by a bull or going into a hardware store and
taking a dump in one of the display toilets, then you probably shouldn’t watch
this type of movie.
40. Vantage Point – the guy who plays Jack on Lost (as far
as I’m concerned, he no longer has a real name) is a secret service agent, or
maybe Dennis Quaid is – or maybe both of them are – I don’t remember. They both witness a bombing and an
assassination attempt on the president, as does Forrest Whittaker, who
videotapes it as a spectator in the crowd.
The movie re-tells the story from each of their perspectives to try to
unravel what happened. Sort of a cool
idea, which made for a good trailer, but only a mediocre movie.
41. Dan in Real Life – This movie has Steve Carrell in it,
and I like him. It has Dane Cook in
it. I don’t like him. And I’m pretty sure I’ve seen a dozen or so
movies just like this one, and many of them were a lot better. I didn’t mind watching it, but I have
completely forgotten what actually happens in the movie, and that should tell
you how memorable it is.
42. Son of Rambow – Two kids decide to make a sequel to
Rambo using their own hand-held video camera.
It got good reviews, and several people recommended it to me, but I just
couldn’t get into it.
43. Next – Unmemorable film starring Nicholas Cage as a guy
who can see parts of the future, but only ONE HOUR in advance, because, well,
otherwise the plot wouldn’t have worked as well. Also stars Jessica Biel, who can’t act, but
is really hot. She also happens to be
from Boulder , CO
44. Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle – Even though I knew
this would be totally sophomoric, I expected to enjoy it a little more than I
did.
45. Spaced: Season One – BBC series staring Simon Peg, the
guy from Hot Fuzz and Shawn of the Dead.
It wasn’t bad, but I just couldn’t get interested in it.
Bad Movies or Movies
I just didn’t like
46. Appaloosa – I used to love Westerns, but I can’t
remember the last Western I really liked.
Unforgiven or
47. Six Degrees That Could Change the World (National
Geographic) and The 11th Hour
(Narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio)– Movies about global warming. I watched most of these movies hoping one of
them would be worth showing in class.
You’d be better off just watching An Inconvenient Truth.
48. The Proposition – This is an obscure Australian movie
starring Guy Pierce. I saw it
because I read The Road by Cormac
McCarthy last summer, which I loved, and heard it was being made into a movie,
which was directed by the same guy that directed this movie. Don’t bother.
49. Jumper – The lead character in this movie is the guy who
played Annakin Skwalker badly in the newer Star Wars movies. I figured maybe part of the reason he seemed
like a bad actor is that he had to try to act in front of a giant bluescreen
with a CGI Jar Jar Binks running around, something that made even Natalie
Portman (one of my favorites) seem like a bad actor. This movie confirmed that Hayden Christiansen
is, in fact, truly a bad actor.
50. The Pianist – I’m pretty sure this movie won a bunch of
awards and is actually pretty good, but I just couldn’t get interested in
watching it. I only watched the first
half, and it seemed like I’d already seen 5 or 6 similar movies, and didn’t
feel like watching the rest. I can’t
think of any movie that Adrien Brody’s been in that I liked, either.
Movies I hated
51. Shoot ‘Em Up – I don’t remember much about this movie
except it is really violent, and had no point.
One of those movies where I can’t imagine anyone watching it and saying
they actually enjoyed it.
52. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead – If you enjoy
depressing, boring movies, then this is for you. I used to think Phillip Seymour Hoffman was
one of those actors who was so good he could make anything he was in watchable
(case in point: Along Came Polly).
Considering he’s the star of 2 of my 4 least favorites of the year, I
guess I can’t say that anymore.
53. The Happening - For some reason I seem to have directors
that I like, and then decide to watch their movies even if I hear people say
they aren’t good. In this case, M. Night
Shamalayan is the director, and an interesting fact about him is that every
movie he’s made has been worse than the movie before it. In order, they are 6th Sense,
Unbreakable (underrated), Signs, The Village (his first truly bad movie), Lady
in the Water, and now The Happening. If
I explain to you that the key plot element of this movie is that plants are
releasing compounds into the air that make people kill themselves in gruesome
ways, I think you know all you need to about the film. I’m not sure how his next movie could get any
worse.
54. Synecdoche ,
New York
55. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull –
Only a couple of movies I watched this year actually made me angry, and this
one topped the list. Raiders of the Lost
Ark is among my 10 favorite movies of all time, so I really wanted to enjoy
it. This was the rare kind of sequel
that is so bad it makes you actually question if the original was actually any
good, or if the only reason you liked it was nostalgia. Now when I watch Raiders for the first time
with my son, I’m going to have to try to block out anything related to this
version so I don’t permanently ruin the original.
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