I've been inspired by some other decade-end lists that I've read to give a special nod out there to some of my favorite acting performances from the movies on this list. Unfortunately, the best performances are not always in the best movies, though they usually do go a long way. I'm hesitant to rank them, because, although I know what my #1 would be for each category, I'm not sure I could properly sort them in a 1-10 list. But I'll give it a shot:
Supporting Actress:
10. Maria Bello - A History of Violence
9. Emily Mortimer - Lars and the Real Girl
8. Elpidia Carrillo - Bread and Roses
7. Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler
6. Audrey Tatou - Dirty Pretty Things
5. Meryl Streep - Adaptation.
4. Jennifer Connelly - Requiem for a Dream
3. Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine
2. Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone
1. Amy Adams - Junebug
Lead Actress:
10. Paulina Gaitan - Sin Nombre
9. Naomi Watts - 21 Grams
8. Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal
7. Charlize Theron - Monster
6. Helen Mirren - The Queen
5. Kate Winslet - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
4. Samantha Morton - In America
3. Julia Roberts - Erin Brockovich
2. Ellen Burstyn - Requiem for a Dream
1. Hilary Swank - Million Dollar Baby
Supporting Actor:
10 & 9. Michael Caine & Philip Seymour Hoffman - Everything. The absolute best sidekicks money can buy.
8. Clive Owen - Inside Man
7. Eugene Hutz - Everything is Illuminated
6. Billy Crudup - Almost Famous
5. Ralph Fiennes - Red Dragon
4. Gael Garcia Bernal - Amores Perros
3. Jackie Earle Haley - Little Children
2. Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men
1. Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Lead Actor:
10. Nicolas Cage - Adaptation.
9. Jack Nicholson - About Schmidt
8. Leonardo DiCaprio - The Departed
7. Russell Crowe - Gladiator
6. Sean Penn - Milk
5. Choi Min-Sik - Oldboy
4. Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson
3. Heath Ledger - Brokeback Mountain
2. Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler
1. Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood
I support arguments against any of these, with the exception of Day-Lewis. Don't even think about it, homeboy. Do you understand, Eli?
Let's continue with the list, starting at #50.
50. Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe, 2000) - It features the above-mentioned Billy Crudup's sparkling turn as Russell Hammond, an amalgam of 70s rockers who explodes to life on screen, as well as Patrick Fugit's welcoming party. It seems like the movie Crowe was always intended to make, semi-autobiographical and a true homage to the dissolving legends of rock'n'roll. Most people will cite its soundtrack, which is phenomenal, but the movie is eminently quotable and turns out to be a very well-constructed, emotional story. Kudos to Crowe for the film's poignancy, and for doing it without having to clutter the plot with too much formulaic cheese.
49. Shrek (Andrew Adamson, 2001) - If you don't like Shrek, you're a liar, or you're dead inside. Filled with a laundry list of fantastic characters (except for the princess, who I think is relatively boring), laughs, allusions, and satire, Shrek is loved by adults despite the fact that it's a children's movie, and by children despite the fact that they don't even get half of it yet. It was even featured in I Am Legend as Will Smith's bad-ass character's favorite movie. And it was commercially successful enough to prompt a sequel, and another sequel, and another sequel (and just projecting for the future, I'm going to add "and another sequel" just so I cover my bases). You can't argue with results. And you can't argue with a damned good movie.
48. Punch-Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2002) - Maybe flew a little under the radar, but this quirky movie by PTA features Adam Sandler's first somewhat serious turn, as decorative plumber entrepreneur (and possibly behaviorally handicapped) Barry Egan. Jon Brion provides a great score for the film, just one in a string of many solid efforts from him, and Philip Seymour Hoffman again nails a character role as the villain, Mattress Man. It's not the easiest movie in the world to get into, but it just happened to strike me as enjoyable, thanks in no small part to a cult following between myself and friends. I don't blame you for disliking it, but it will always be one of my personal favorites.
47. Ocean's 11 (Steven Soderbergh, 2001) - Ocean's 12 and 13 tanked big time, let's not pretend they didn't. But Ocean's 11 was insanely fun--the whole reason behind the follow-up gigs to begin with. Most of the actors hardly have to go out of their way to play their roles, which is probably what makes their crew seem to have such an easy time with chemistry--Clooney as suave leader, Pitt as charming sidekick, Damon as nosy up and comer. It works. I've never seen the original, but this remake probably benefits from time--it registers off the charts on the glitz and glamour scale.
46. Brick (Rian Johnson, 2005) - While you and I and everyone else might never understand the context for the story, you have to appreciate the smile-inducing irony of a group of preppy high school teens turned drug lords. Johnson tries his hand at updated noir--a full scale detective story with Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Brendan, a quick witted Sam Spade apprentice, who relies on his best friend Brain and a sixth sense for heat to uncover the mystery behind his ex-girlfriend's disappearance and death. It's smart, it's catchy, it's slightly wicked and informed--just everything that you could ever want from a debut feature. Brendan might be the kind of character that makes you say, "there's no way this is a high school kid," but that doesn't really stop anyone from appreciating any other movie with any other exaggerated character. Rounds of applause to all.
45. Half Nelson (Ryan Fleck, 2006) - Ryan Gosling steps down from the ferris wheel of The Notebook-induced heartthrob sensationalism and into the meaty role of Dan Dunne, inspired inner-city teacher on the verge of self-implosion. And he's fantastic. I mean, really. Dan is able and hoping to save everyone but himself, spending his off hours glued to a crack pipe and favoring prostitutes. Only Drey (Shareeka Epps), a battered, innocent soul, can help bring Dan out of his haze and help him reach his full potential. It's a terrific movie, through and through. It's a touch slow, and the camera lingers, but Fleck frames beautiful urban and introspective images, so that's a bonus and not a problem. Indie music fans might be interested in the score, served up by Canadian band Broken Social Scene, whose music perfectly reflects the story at hand.
44. Dirty Pretty Things (Stephen Frears, 2002) - In America, we have Martin Scorsese. In England, they have Stephen Frears. The acclaimed director of The Queen, High Fidelity, and Dangerous Liaisons, Frears takes a gritty turn with Dirty Pretty Things, an urban drama about immigrants in London's poorest neighborhoods. I can't get over the strong performances throughout--lead Chiwitel Ejiofor, Sophie Okonedo, Audrey Tatou--all spectacular. The movie pulls no punches, featuring black market kidney transplants, prostitution, sexual abuse, intense poverty, violence--it's a complete portrait of the troubles of lower class life, and Frears tackles each one aggressively.
43. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Peter Jackson, 2002) - Yes, it's my favorite. Whereas Fellowship is all exposition and Return is filled with never-ending sequences, Two Towers nestles perfectly in the middle, an epic war movie disguised as fantasy. It includes some of the trilogy's most memorable scenes, like Gandalf coming over the hill, and a flurry of high-adrenaline moments. And there was that sweet part where they toss Gimli into the crowd. It'll end up as being the most overlooked of the LOTR films, but in my mind, it was a success in every way.
42. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron, 2006) - A liquid-metal-hot Clive Owen (I mean his career buzz, not his looks) led this clever and powerful movie from Cuaron, who was coming off the success of Y Tu Mama Tambien and the third Harry Potter feature. Extensive applause must be given here to the trailer editor, who put together basically the best trailer in the history of cinema, topped off by Sigur Ros's beautiful song Hoppipola. Chiwitel Ejiofor pops up again as a very convincing sidekick, and relative unknown Claire-Hope Ashitey shines as the expectant mother of the world's only newborn baby. A very hazy and sad outlook on the future as a whole, but the film is marked by a moving sequence in which an entire civil war comes to a standstill as everyone appreciates the potential of new life.
41. Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood, 2004) - Part of that locked-in phase where Paul Haggis could do no wrong, he wrote the script for this movie for Eastwood to direct and Hilary Swank to star (she carried home her second Oscar as a result). The movie was well executed all around, became a critical darling, and eventually took home the Best Picture Oscar. It has so many great moments, and so many stomach-churning ones, even if you look past the contrived injury scene. Maggie's unfathomable relationship with her family carries the film for its second half, making you want to leap out and strangle them. And while I'm not a huge fan of the quite-old Clint Eastwood, the sequence when he bareknuckle knocks the shit out of that mouthy kid is definitely a fist-pumper. Also, Morgan Freeman is awesome. In case you didn't know.
40. The Pianist (Roman Polanski, 2002) - By the end of its run, The Pianist seemed to make more negative headlines than positive ones--Polanski being a child molester and fleeing justice, Adrien Brody forcing himself upon Halle Berry--but that shouldn't take away from what was, simply put, a spellbinding movie. Holocaust films are always delicate to work with, and I think Polanski, who himself lived through many similar events to the film, nailed the mood. And Adrien Brody's big sad eyes carried him a long way towards making the movie as heartwrenching as possible. Admittedly, the fact that it was based on a true story, that Szpilman had to overcome such a devastating catastrophe, helps to make this movie stand out a bit further than the sum of its parts.
39. American Psycho (Mary Harron, 2000) - Maybe a generation-defining film about a completely separate generation, Bret Easton Ellis's novel became the ultimate career vehicle for Christian Bale as he transformed into the borderline psychotic Patrick Bateman. It kind of hopped on board the train of "wait, is this real?" movies (Fight Club, The Usual Suspects) but did it in a much more playful way, with the twist building character and not deception. To date, I think it's Bale's most perfectly suited role, the appearance-obsessed young executive who likes to unwind with ax in hand. It will probably always be quotable for viewers from my generation, even though we can barely remember the 80s.
38. Everything is Illuminated (Liev Schreiber, 2005) - The visually evocative movie poster gave way to a visually impressive film, Schreiber's directorial debut and a good one at that. Eugene Hutz's ebullient Alex is the cornerstone of the film, a character who moves the plot forward alongside a rather solemn and contemplative Jonathan (Elijah Wood). It's funny, it's sad, it's quite eye-opening, and moreso than anything else, tells a very human story of searching for identity, and of finding friendship. I haven't read the book, but I did read Jonathan Safran Foer's novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (perhaps my all time favorite book) and he is without a doubt a blossoming young writer whose creative fingerprints are all over this production.
37. X2: X-Men United (Bryan Singer, 2003) - Before The Dark Knight and Iron Man, the X-Men series helmed by Bryan Singer was the flagship comic book movie franchise, and I would argue that until Nolan's Batman series came along, X2 was THE comic book movie to beat. It was fast, it was slick, it had a wide variety of characters and good storylines, and made for the perfect summer blockbuster. It will always disappoint me that Singer left to go take on Superman (which bombed after just one installment) since it seemed like X-Men was a better setup: more interesting characters, more potential storylines, variable and more up-to-date action sequences.
36. United 93 (Paul Greengrass, 2006) - A defining film for anyone who lived through the events of September 11th, Greengrass provides us with the most salient individual story of that day--the everyday citizens aboard United flight 93 who banded together to thwart the terrorists' plans. The cast is littered with unknowns, which I think is perfect for a film that wants to stay true to its core and not be converted into a vanity piece for a major star. Brilliant concept. I'm not really ashamed to admit that United 93 elicited a good amount of tears from my eyes, even though I knew nobody involved and was relatively detached from the experience as a whole. It's simply powerful--the story, the film, the context, and I commend the filmmaking team for their vision.
35. Amores Perros (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, 2000) - A Mexican film that takes three disparate stories and unifies them over certain characteristics--love, dogs, and love of dogs. Gael Garcia Bernal and Emilio Echevarria play the most pertinent characters of the story, Bernal in the initial vignette about a dogfighter who is in love with his brother's wife, and Echevarria in the last vignette as a professional hitman who is shunned by his family and his country to live a life of squalor on the streets. The twists and turns of the stories are fantastic, and the pacing and repetitive nature of the events (all three stories are joined together by a car crash... hmm... sounds familiar) keep it going and make the movie seem much shorter than it is. The middle story about the model is kind of take-it-or-leave-it for me, but there's no denying that this film is dynamite.
34. I Heart Huckabees (David O. Russell, 2004) - Russell might be a hothead on set (read), but he's a damned clever filmmaker, following the success of the Desert Storm picture Three Kings with this comedy, ostensibly about characters undergoing existential crises. I think, more than anything, it pokes fun at the whole culture of needing to find meaning with life, as the characters are charming yet silly, sometimes flat and disconnected. Jude Law and Mark Wahlberg are particularly entertaining, with Dustin Hoffman as always turning in an amusing, professional performance. Jon Brion provides the score to yet another indie-style success, as his music cues a lot of the light hearted movements in storyline.
33. Little Miss Sunshine (Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, 2006) - A superb debut feature for Dayton and Faris, the team behind 2006's surprise critical smash that landed a Best Picture nomination and a Best Original Screenplay award. Abigail Breslin is likely not to recapture the panache of this performance again, which is unfortunate, because at that precise moment in time she was dazzling in her role as Olive. It just goes to show you that as long as you can make a movie that's fun, poignant, and makes you feel good, people all over will embrace it no matter what the subject matter. They caught lightning in a bottle and turned out a movie that people will watch fondly, again and again.
32. Batman Begins (Christopher Nolan, 2005) - I said before that X2 was THE comic book movie to beat, at least in my opinion, though critics were really high on Spiderman. That all changed in 2005 with the release of Batman Begins, Nolan's reboot of the Batman franchise that was once so promising under Tim Burton but fizzled miserably with the likes of Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. It's hard to imagine casting anyone but Bale as the lead anymore, he had found his way into the role of Bruce Wayne and has stuck--even though I think his earnestness about wanting to do good is a little tough to sell, he certainly can do the jet-setting playboy just right and gruff-voiced badass equally well. While Liam Neeson's (Ra's Al Ghul) and Cillian Murphy's (Dr. Crane/Scarecrow) characters are a bit cartoonish, the great part about this movie is its basis in reality. It's not so much a comic book movie, with the hire-wire acts and overabundance of CGI, as it is a gritty detective story, lone vigilante style. It was the right story with the right team at the right time, and it's made a lasting impact on the Hollywood movie industry.
31. A History of Violence (David Cronenberg, 2005) - I think a lot of people were surprised by this movie. B Movie icon Cronenberg is known for sci-fi mutations and dark scenes with overloaded shock value, but he hammered home this absolutely astonishing film starring Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bellow, and Ed Harris. It premiered around the height of the graphic novel-to-film trend, and I don't believe that anybody was disappointed with the result. It's not easy to stomach, though, as Cronenberg at that stage in his career was not about to start shooting sugar-coated violence just to appease the bigger-budget studio producers. It's got all the trappings of a movie made by someone who isn't about to compromise his own style, and while that might normally be a huge risk, it pays off handsomely here. Probably best remembered by some for a very aggressive stairwell scene.
30. Snatch. (Guy Ritchie, 2000) - Snatch seems like such a classic at this point that it's hard to imagine that it would qualify as part of this decade. It was the last movie Ritchie finished before his marriage to Madonna, at which time he coincidentally seemed to have a drop in professional output. But Snatch was razor sharp, filled credits to credits with one-liners, rapid dialogue, and stylized (but not silly) violence. Jason Statham holds the film together as the only level-headed character of the bunch, amidst a bevy of personalities, including Brad Pitt in his most immersive and unrecognizable role as Mickey, the gypsy boxer. There's not a college-aged male out there who doesn't love Snatch, and while that's not typically the most reliable demographic, I can agree with them on this one.
29. Sunshine (Danny Boyle, 2007) - Admittedly, it's probably a low point in critical success for Boyle, who smashed ceilings with Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, and Slumdog Millionaire, but Sunshine was particularly impressive to me, despite the fact that I know almost nobody who liked it (or even saw it). He once again utilizes the talents of Cillian Murphy as his lead (Capa), but I was really taken aback by Chris Evans--who normally finds himself in the bubble gum roles like Fantastic Four--as altruistic pilot Mace. Boyle gives us some terrific simulated visuals, a gripping story, and plenty of chills. I'm having an unusually hard time defending this movie, as I've gotten some negative feedback on it in the past, I just find it to be really sweet, with an awesome soundtrack provided by previous Boyle collaborator John Murphy and the hard rock band Underworld.
28. In America (Jim Sheridan, 2002) - Sheridan brings his Irish filmmaking talent to New York, telling the story of a newly immigrated family struggling to survive on the measly taxi driving wages of the father (Paddy Considine). Samantha Morton received numerous rave reviews for this movie, and deservedly so, but on par with her were Djimon Hounsou as a rogue artist neighbor suffering from AIDS and Considine as the eternally grief-stricken husband. Sheridan is noted for his ability to elicit strong performances from his actors, and this movie is no different. It might rip up your insides and turn you into an emotional wreck, but In America is a shining example of a powerful movie, made pitch-perfect.
27. Slumdog Millionaire (Danny Boyle, 2008) - Everyone's favorite India lovefest from 2008, Slumdog actually started as a project that almost nobody wanted to touch, given the difficulty of having to film to Boyle's strict expectations. Luckily, that hard-headedness paid off, and resulted in a terrific little movie that made stars out of Dev Patel and Freida Pinto. Personally, it's the young children that really carry the movie for me. They're fantastic, with ability well beyond their years, especially considering they almost certainly had no experience with any kind of performance art. The credit then is probably due to Boyle and co-director Loveleen Tandan, who headed all the operations in India. Almost everything good to say about the movie has already been said, from the soundtrack by A.R. Rahman to the invasive and stark on-location filming in the slums. I was slightly disappointed with its Oscar win, considering that I didn't truly believe it to be the best film of 2008, but given the enormous reception it garnered in the States, it's hard to argue with it.
26. Sin City (Robert Rodriguez, 2005) - In between making all those Spy Kids and Sharkboy and Lava Girl movies, Robert Rodriguez somehow managed to churn out an awesome adaptation of Frank Miller's cult graphic novel Sin City, which was an overload on the senses as a cinema experience. Almost all the choices made turned out to be the right ones--the color, the finish, the sound, the actors (though I wasn't a big fan of Bruce Willis)--and as such, it stands today as a textbook example of how to translate cult graphic literature to the screen. The actors are too numerous to list individually, but I think they all embodied the legendary bad-ass nature of the comic to perfection.
No comments:
Post a Comment