BEST OF THE LAST DECADE

This past decade, there have been dozens of films that you watched and couldn't stop drooling over it for the next month or even more! I have reviewed all of the films that I have seen in the past decade and have narrowed them to my top ten favorites (one for each year). Please feel free to agree, disagree, or suggest some other greats! Here we go...



BEST OF THE BEST:


1. Sideways (2004)
-Alexander Payne wrote and directed this beautiful story of two friends, Jack, a smooth talking, wealthy, sex driven television/commercial actor, and Miles, a lonely, depressed, English teaching, novel writing, wine aficionado, taking a mini vacation into wine country for Jack's last hurrahh before he gets married to his Armenian fiancee. Payne won an Academy Award for best original screenplay in 2005. And Thomas Hayden Church and Virginia Madsen were also nominated for their acting. Payne, I feel to this day, still remains as one of the most underrated filmmakers and is constantly being overshadowed by Noah Baumbach and of course, Mr. Wes Anderson. Every exterior frame could easily be a magnificent photograph. Paul Giamatti, who I feel was greatly overlooked for his incredible performance, brought so much truth and pain to Miles, that we can't help but root for his character once he finally decides to change his life around at the very end. This is a gorgeous picture, and you don't have to be in love with wine to appreciate it.

2. Battle Royale (2000)
-Kinji Fukasaku directed this Japanese masterpiece, taking place in the future, where a Japanese Goverment captures a class of 9th grade students and forces them to kill each other once they are placed on an enormous island. The game they play is called "Battle Royale." Now, this film is not just about a bunch of crazy kids offing each other to save their own life. Granted, that's a large element of the story, but the main message, in my opinion, is how society is getting over populated and it makes people do not so wise things. This is a foreign film that was not even nominated for the Academy Awards, which shows you how twisted the awards are to begin with. Now, don't get me wrong, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was a wonderful film, but Royale should have taken home the gold for 'Best Foreign.' Be in mind, there is a sequel to this film that came out in 2003, that Kinji and his son, Kenta BOTH directed (Kenta wrote the original). This film is somewhat entertaining, but is no where near the same caliber as the original. This film did not need a sequel and DOES NOT (listen up studio executives...) NEED A GODDAMN REMAKE!!! If you check up on imdb.com, there is a planned americanized remake of Battle Royale set for release in 2011, but I don't even think it has been green lit yet, because you can only find thorough information on imdbpro.com. SO IT'S NOT TOO LATE! With my luck, they'll probably cast Zac Efron and Megan Fox (both horrendous) in the roles of Shuya and Noriko. Let us pray now...

3. Milk (2008)
-WHY DIDN'T THIS FILM WIN BEST PICTURE FOR 2008?!?!? GOOD GOD, PLEASE SOMEONE TELL ME!!!!! Okay, I agree with everyone that Sean Penn's performance as American gay activist Harvey Milk is fantastic and extremely heartfelt, but come on, Rourke was robbed for The Wrestler and that's final. But Milk was way more about the whole outlook message and the entire film itself. Slumdog Millionaire was very hopeful and uplifting, but also extremely far fetched, and more of a fun entertaining cult classic. Milk, for those of you who don't know, is the story of Harvey Milk, who fought and struggled for gay rights, and became California's first openly gay elected official. He was eventually assassinated by his fellow supervisor, Dan White (played by Josh Brolin in the film) in 1978 in San Francisco. Gus Van Sant has wowed us, disturbed us, and annoyed us even (i.e. 1998 remake of Psycho anyone...?). He has led us through almost three decades of hits and misses, but mainly hits. Milk is a masterpiece, and it's a shame that gritty controversial independent films like this gem, get overlooked when it comes to the winner for best picture. In my eyes, Milk is up there with Good Will Hunting and Elephant (both Van Sant's). This is stored in as one of his all time greatest films, and even though, I barely mentioned the acting, other than Penn, but the ensemble is outstanding (from Josh Brolin to Victor Garber. Youngens like Emile Hirsch, Allison Pill and Joseph Cross). Milk will definitely be remembered decades from now as something truly special.

4. A Guide to Recognizing your Saints (2006)
-At this point I was absolutely getting sick and tired of these coming of age stories that either take place in a small suburban town (Suburbia), ghetto neighborhoods (Menace II Society), or summer of nineteen-fifty something... (The Man in the Moon). Now, don't get me wrong, I love all these films, but by 2006, maybe a little before that, I was wanting something different that hasn't been done before. Then I heard about Saints. I am not a big fan of Shia Labeouf, but I loved how it was directed by the man who Shia's character is based on (Dito Montiel), so you know it's going to be as real as possible, despite the starstudded cast (Robert Downey, Jr., Chazz Palmienteri, Dianne Wiest, Channing Tatum, Rosario Dawson, etc.). All good, by the way. I ended up reading the book and I absolutely fell in love with it, and I immediately rented this film and became obsessed with it for quite a while. Shia impressed me (thought having read the book, I think he was extremely miscast and looked nothing like the real Dito, but hey, he was fine). This film is as gritty as gritty gets and breaks all the rules of filmmaking. Dito Montiel even won the 'Best Director' award at the Sundance Film Festival for this picture. The book, be in mind, contains a ton of crazy things that happened to Dito, that is not in the film, but it still squeezes in as much as it could in 100 minutes and I applaud it for that. I loved this film from the very first frame, when Dito (played by Shia), has his head down, and then lifts it up to face the camera, breaking the fourth wall, and says, "My name's Dito... and I'm gonna leave everyone in this film." It may not sound groundbreaking reading this description, but once you see it on screen, it comes at you like a grenade and you immediately know what kind of film your in for. This is also the film that made me discover Mr. Channing Tatum, who I thought was fantastic and definitely held his own opposite Dianne Wiest and Chazz Palmienteri. I really don't think Tatum will ever have another performance as perfect as Dito's best friend, Antonio. Oh yeah, and look out for Adam Scarimbolo! First off, he plays the role of Guiseppe, Antonio's younger brother. This kid has a very raw intense talent and I hope to see more of him in the future (check him out in another coming of age film, Lymelife!).

5. Brotherhood of the Wolf (2002)
-I never thought that I, in my thinking, was going to put a horror/adventure film into my 'best of the best' list of the past decade, but this picture is an exception. For those of you who don't know, Brotherhood is a French film that takes place in a remote village in 18th century France where the Chevalier De Fronsac and his native American friend Mani are sent by the King to investigate the killings by a mysterious beast. I remember seeing this film for the first time in New York at the Ziegfeld Theatre when I was 14. I was absolutely blown away by this incredible monster movie that was also a beautiful work of art. Strange combination. Well, I guess, only Europe can take such a risk and succeed impeccably. Now unfortunately French director, Christophe Gans, followed this five years later with the box office flop Silent Hill, but truth be told, Brotherhood, to me, was like The Godfather of monster movies, and if Coppola could follow that with Gardens of Stone, than Gans can definitely get away with Silent Hill. Vincent Cassel and Monica Belucci are flawless in their performances. Several times, I forgot to get scared during the attack scenes, because I was too mesmorized by the photography. If Kubrick decided to make a monster movie in his career it would look a little something like this.

6. Into the Wild (2007)
-I have three words. ROBBED. ROBBED. ROBBED. Now, not only is Sean Penn a tremendous actor, but he is also a talented filmmaker and directed some very edgy films in the 90s (The Crossing Guard, The Indian Runner). But you could tell, when you saw this, that this film was his baby and really hit home personally with Sean Penn. He put his heart and soul into the picture. Of course, the acting is fantastic, but I think the film all together, is really what I looked at. I'm sorry to keep mentioning the Oscars, but it has to be said. Sean Penn didn't even get a 'Best Director' nomination for this?!? For those of you who liked Juno, yeah it was fun... I guess, but come on, lets be serious now. Into the Wild is an instant classic and is so unbelievably moving and breathtaking. You sometimes can't believe what your watching. The music (courtesy of Mr. Eddie Vedder) is so gorgeous and fits every scene perfectly. If I am going to glorify someone's acting (even though practically everyone did a fine job), it would have to be Hal Holbrook, who thank God, was one of the only pieces of this film that was nominated at the Oscars for 'best supporting actor.' One scene that stood out to me, which I'm sure stood out to most, was of course, the tear jerking final scene between Chris McCandless (played by Emile Hirsch), and Ron Franz (Hal Holbrook) where Ron asks Chris if he could possibly adopt him and make him his grandson. And when Chris asks him "can we talk about this, when I get back from Alaska?" And you see the reaction of Ron, you must be made of solid steel if you didn't shed at least one single tear. He agrees to postpone the discussion, but deep inside you know Ron didn't think that Chris really wanted to take that step in his life. I believe that scene alone, earned Holbrook the nomination that he greatly deserved. Into the Wild is a brilliant film with a classic soundtrack and was a project in the making for almost 20 years according to Sean Penn. TIDBIT: Leonardo DiCaprio was Penn's first choice to play Christopher McCandless back in 1994 when he first decided he wanted to adapt the book into a film.

7. The Puffy Chair (2005)
-Director, Jay Duplass, and his brother, co-writer/actor, Mark Duplass created this overlooked extremely independent, improv driven, authentic look at a couple, Josh and Emily, who are at a major crossroads in their relationship. Josh is sometimes unattentive and unfocused, and she is borderline bipolar with her emotional issues. Josh invites Emily to travel from their home in NYC to Virginia to pick up his father's birthday gift from some warehouse, that he purchased on eBay. A puffy chair. What follows is a series of ups and downs between the two in order to battle losing what they have most. Each other. Oh yeah, and Josh's Buddhist brother, Rhett, is along for the ride. I was invited to see this film at a special screening at the New York Film Academy in 2005, and I was so engaged in it, I didn't want it to end. I have seen quite a few shorts from the Duplass brothers as well as another one of their films (Humpday... check it out asap). You would have thought this film was shot with nothing but a handheld camera and some actors, and you know what? I wouldn't think any less of it, because isn't that really what films are all about? The storytelling and the acting? At least they used to be. This film is shot practically documentary style. We've all seen and met people like these characters, which makes this film even more memorable and moving and heartfelt. We relate so much to these people. Please, if you are a member of netfix, ADD THIS TO YOUR LIST! You will not be disappointed. Don't expect any witty effects, or a big budget. This little gem is for the great acting and the wonderful little story. And that's exactly what you'll get.

8. L.I.E. (2001)
-Michael Cuesta (director of Twelve and Holding) directed and co-wrote this moving, yet rough, film starring a very young, bleached haired, almost unrecognizable Paul Dano acting opposite Scottish acting giant, Brian Cox. Paul Dano plays 15-year-old Howie Blitzer, a guido rich kid from Long Island who eventually loses everything and everyone he knows, after his father is sent to prison for money laundering, and his friends are arrested after a break in goes wrong. Howie soon becomes involved in a relationship with a much older man, known around the neighborhood as Big John Mulligan (played by Brian Cox). Howie soon discovers that Big John is also a pedophile, but for some reason still hangs around with him. What follows is a bizarre non-sexual relationship between the two, as Big John sort of mentors Howie and becomes somewhat of the father he never really had. It's a lovely, yet cautionary tale with a not so happy ending. I know a lot may disagree with my choice for this film being one of the best of 2001, but if you look back on that year, there weren't many great films that really stood out. Like 2000, way too many special effect driven and/or Hollywood far fetched biopics with way too many movie stars and not enough actors. And way too many overrated films (i.e. Monster's Ball, A Beautiful Mind). Just the trailer alone for L.I.E. grabs your attention with the perfectly appropriate 'Hurdy Gurdy Man' by Donovan attached to it. L.I.E. is a must see, but brace yourself, cause it's a wee bit rough around the edges, and is in no means for everyone.

9. Big Fish (2003)
-This film, I believe, to be Tim Burton's finest, next to Edward Scissorhands. The cinematography, the incredible ensemble cast, the story, the climax, the message, everything from the beginning to the end was beautiful. I remember watching this film for the second time with my father, whose own father had just passed away recently (my grandfather) and once that final end sequence happened when Albert Finney is being carried through the forrest and he sees all the characters he encountered in his life, I looked over to my father, and it seemed like that scene really hit home with him. That's when I knew this film was something glorious and not just another quirky dark Tim Burton film. Tim Burton has always continued to impress me over the years with Ed Wood, Beetle Juice and of course, the groundbreaking Edward Scissorhands, but I really was upset with him when he decided to direct the "remake" of Planet of the Apes with none other, but Marky Mark in the Charleton Heston role. I mean, who else, right? I remember watching the featurrette of the film on HBO and hearing Burton saying something like, "Be in mind, this is not a remake nor is it a sequel. It's my own thing." Or something like that. I was like, "Who the hell is this man?! Where's Tim Burton?!" It just didn't sound anything like him. Every filmmaker will have his Gigli some point in their career (well... hopefully not THAT horrible...), but when 2003 came around and I saw Big Fish up on the BIG screen, all my worries for Burton went out the window and he was right back up there. Bravo.

10. World's Greatest Dad (2009)
-This film unfortunately did not get much distribution, despite it's lead role being played by none other than the comic genius, Robin Williams. It may have been it's extreme vulgarity, sex talk, or very dark plotline and subject matter. Nonetheless, this film stunned not only myself and the people I was with when I viewed it, but also the entire audience at the Tower Theatre in SLC, Utah for the Sundance Film Festival in January 2009. Does anyone remember that extremely loud and obnoxious guy who acted in such cult classics such as One Crazy Summer and of course, Police Academy 2-4 (he was too good for 1 and WAY TOO GOOD for 5-7). That would Mr. Bobcat Goldthwait. Well, this guy has another talent aside from yelling obnoxiously. He's also a hell of a damn good writer and a pretty darn good filmmaker. He created this beautiful film and watching it, you would have never thought that Shakes the Clown, himself was behind the camera. This story is one of the most original stories I have ever seen in years. Long story short, Robin Williams plays Lance Clayton, an English teacher and a struggling writer on the side. Lance also has another problem in his life. Having the worst, most vulgar, filthy, inconsiderate kid as his own son who also attends the school he teaches at. Kyle, his son, is eventually found dead in his bedroom. His son dies while choking himself to increase his masturbation. Lance takes the opportunity to write his son's suicide note and it accidentally gets published and now he is famous, but as he climbs the slippery slope to success, he keeps being reminded of the horrific knowledge of how he got to where he is. This film, again, is not for everyone, and you really have to be in the mood to watch it, but please, give it a chance. Williams glows in his role and unfortunately the media promoted this film like a silly comedy that we have been watching Williams in for the past decade (i.e. Licence to Wed, Old Dogs), but this film is anything but. Bobcat Goldthwait shined with this film and even though it didn't get the attention it deserved, it will always be a power house in my book. Hats off to Mr. Goldthwait and Mr. Williams.



Well, that's my top ten for the past decade. Hope you weren't outraged at some, or even all of my choices. Please feel free to comment and look for more entries. Thank you for reading and hope you continue.


Sincerely,
FILMBOY - Chris von Hoffmann


ENTRY QUOTE:

"All great work is preparing yourself for the accident to happen."
-Sidney Lumet