by King Brody
The opening ten years of this century were my first as a truly active film enthusiast. Just as powder blue uniforms are always tops (Houston Oilers, UNC, Manchester City) so are these two score celluloid masterpieces (of varying degree). To be clear, this is not a "best of " list, rather it is a compilation of the films I saw (all apologies to Pan's Labrynth, City of God, Amores Perros, Talk to Her, The Bourne series, and an untold number of supremely worthy movies from Asian film makers) and cared enough about to scribble down on a legal pad on a rainy saturday morning.
41. No Country For Old Men
This failed to crack my top forty only because I was obnoxious enough to read the book before seeing the movie. Therefore, I knew everything going in and could only truly enjoy the performances and cinematography. Javier was brilliant as were Tommy Lee and Brolin, but the power of No Country for me was within it's bleak outlook and strong ending; both of which suggest evil reigns supreme.
40. Miami Vice
Action! Guns! Drugs! Mojitos!
39. The Rules of Attraction
All of Ellis's films translate well to film. After this movie Biel started to look a bit too manish for me. Fred Savage's performance is noteworthy.
38. A.I.
Has some of Kubrick's signature detachment
37. The Incredibles
36. Almost Famous
Jimmy Fallon? Yes.
35. A Beautiful Mind
34. Southland Tales
33. Black Hawk Down
32. 40 Year Old Virgin
31. Vanilla Sky
30. I Heart Huckabees
29. Babel
28. Batman Begins
27. Brick
26. The Dark Knight
25. American Splendor
24. American Psycho
23. Adaptation
22. The Life Aquatic
21. The Squid and the Whale
20. Kill Bill, Vol. 1
19. Amelie
18. Donnie Darko
17. Whale Rider
16. Waking Life
15. You Can Count On Me
14. In Bruges
13. 21 Grams
12. Wonder Boys
11. Brokeback Mountain
10. 25th Hour
9. Traffic
8. The Royal Tenenbaums
7. Zodiac
6. The New World
5. Memento
4. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
3. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
2. Mulholland Drive
1. The Lives of Others
