Lists! Best movies of this decade!!!
We here at The Devil’s Avocado like our lists to come out on Mondays, and we like them to go to eleven. Here’s one for you:
Best Movies of the 2000’s (so far).
I didn’t include docs (Grizzly Man) or Foreign Language Films (City of God, Oldboy) and there are several others I would love to see on here (Squid and the Whale, Anchorman)…but this is the list I’ve got (in chronological order):
1) AI: Artificial Intelligence
7) Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
9) The Departed
10) Ratatouille
Here’s why…
AI: Artificial Intelligence, Dir. Steven Spielberg (’01)
Infinitely thoughtful, emotional, beautiful, haunting, brilliant and flawed - just like the “real people” the artificial protagonist wishes to be.
Mulholland Drive, Dir. David Lynch (’01)
Forget the clues - they mean nothing. This is pure dream - bizarre, non-sensical, funny, sensual, deeply emotional…and nightmarish.
Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Dir. Peter Jackson (’01, ‘02, ‘03)
The most influential (or mimicked?) thing to hit the screen since Pulp Fiction - think of all the blockbusters that now feature those sweeping CGI camera shots, that dress many of their lead characters in CGI, that have profited from what was supposed to be a dead genre. Awesomely steeped in fantasy like nothing that had ever come before it. And crazy fun.
24 Hour Party People, Dir. Michael Winterbottom (’02)
No movie has climbed so quickly to the top tier of my Favorites of All Time list. Finally, a movie as exciting as its subject (the chain of music in Manchester from the the crash of punk through new wave through the rave scene). See this movie. Then see it again. I don’t know if there’s ever been a smarter movie made…and crushingly, exhilaratingly, vastly, devastatingly funny - Music! Music! Music!!!!
Master and Commander, Dir. Peter Weir (’03)
The work of a Master. There, I said it. I hate those riffs off titles as much as anyone…but this really really is the work of a Mater. Every step this movie takes comes directly from the brilliantly unobtrusive film legends of the past (particularly motherfucking Howard Hawks). A ripping yarn - this movie is unrelenting in being true to itself, never succumbing to anything remotely modern, ironic, self-conscious. Storytelling at its absolute best. This is why movies were invented.
Kill Bill 1 & 2, Dir. Quentin Tarantino (’03,’04)
Go ahead and say he’s no longer relevant. Say it. Fuck off - you’re wrong. The Kill Bill movies stunned the shit out of me when I first saw them, they rocked me completely with giddy moviemaking…and they still do. Two more (or one, depending how you look at it) masterpieces for this incredible director who has almost a perfect track record.
Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, Dir. Tommy Lee Jones (’05)
Severely under seen, this is a gorgeous cowboy movie. Sad and old fashioned and full of rich rich rich performances, writing and directing. Watch Jones’ character sitting in a saloon across the border, Christmas lights glowing, Mariachi music playing, some ancient sci-fi show on TV…and he’s just silent, considering his sad life. Jones NEEDS to direct another movie. Now. This movie might just be better than Unforgiven.
Children of Men, Dir. Alfonso Cuaron (’06)
Jaw-dropping movie making. Obviously, some of the biggest stars of this movie are the incredible one-shot scenes where SO MUCH HAPPENS. They put you right there in the thick, breathless suspense of the thriller. But, mostly, the intensely moving story and the jarring way it’s told is what makes this movie overwhelming, a masterpiece.
The Departed, Dir. Martin Scorsese (’06)
A smashing genre movie. From start to finish, some of the most joyful/exciting storytelling we’ve seen in some time - and from an old dude! Once Scorsese got his childish, disappointing Oscar obsessions (he’s Scorsese - he doesn’t need an Oscar to prove to the world he’s great!) out of the way (though I probably like The Aviator and Gangs of New York more than most), and decided to just make a damn movie for the sake of making a movie, he delivered his first masterpiece in years.
Ratatouille, Dir. Brad Bird (’07)
Pixar drastically, dramatically altered the animated movie when they came out with the great Toy Story in the mid-90’s. They changed things. Big time. The interesting thing is, though, none of Pixar’s many many wannabe followers that scrambled to build Computer Animation studios of their own have been able to really grasp what it is that makes Pixar so remarkable. They still think the way to make a “kids” movies adult-friendly is to sprinkle in “adult” jokes. They still think beautiful animation is just a pretty sunset. They still think every “kids” story has a moral that can be wrapped up in one sentence. Pixar long ago realized that, really, there should be no adult-friendly “kids” movies - there should just be great stories told the way they ought to be told. Inspired by everyone from Buster Keaton to Andy Warhol to Ayn Rand, Ratatouille is the best example yet of Pixar’s art.
There Will Be Blood, Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson (’07)
I’ve gotten pretty verbose along the way here, huh? I started off okay - but the Pixar dealie - geez. Okay. I’ll keep this one short. This movie has one of the great performances in film history. This movie is one of the boldest feats of directing and writing since Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. This is the best movie of the decade. So far.
What do you think about it? What did I leave out? What should I have included?
