Top Ten Movies of the Decade

[Rosary16]

Everyone has their top ten favorite movies that they think will stand the test of time. What movies are on your list for the Top Ten Movies of the Decade and why?

My list goes like this:
#10: Dancer in the Dark
Reason: This is the saddest movie I've ever seen! I wasn't affected the first time because I watched it on YouTube, which doesn't have the best sound quality. The second time, however, I was crying like a baby. The story is so-so and the other actors do what they can with their roles, but Bjork, who plays the most sympathetic main character in movie history, Selma Jezkova, was born for this role. She is absolutely brilliant and the music is aching and mesmerizing!

#9: The Passion of the Christ
Reason: I'm Catholic, so this movie means a lot to me. It's very powerful and it doesn't sugarcoat a single detail about Jesus' Passion. I hate movies that try to take it easy on the audience. This movie did not do that. It's very straightforward about Jesus' sacrifice for the sake of the whole world. Jim Cavizel, who plays Jesus, gives a fantastic and powerful performance. Warning: You cannot watch this movie casually and you probably shouldn't want it alone or at night. It's been two years since I've watched it and I'm still reeling from it.
Overall this is a powerful movie that, if you're ready for it, you should seek it out.

#8: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe
Reason: I saw it at the El Capitan and I couldn't get enough of it. Having seen this movie eight times when it was in theaters (I took friends to see it), despite the dark stuff (Aslan dying, the wolves, the Witch, etc) this is a wonderful adventure with magic, humor, and imagination! It doesn't try to be what it's not and it's faithful to C.S. Lewis' epic classic. This is a movie for anyone and everyone!

#7: Finding Nemo
Reason: I'm not a Pixar person, but this is a hilarious movie! Unlike a lot of comedies, this one never loses its charm and comic steam. You're laughing and charmed all the way to the end!

#6: I Am David
Reason: It took me twice to really love this movie. I was so-so the first time, but when I gave it a second try, I ended up loving it. It's not the most exciting movie, but it is a very moving. The lead role, Ben Tibber, who plays a little boy named David, gives a silent but incredible performance. This movie takes it time in a non-boring way. I never felt emotionally detached from little David and its a great family film.

#5: Bella
Reason: I heard about this movie at church, so I decided to check it out. I'm glad I did. Bella is a very geniune, moving film about people doing the right thing. It's not corny and overdramatized and the acting doesn't feel contrived. It's a sincere, sentimental movie that parents, grandparents, kids, and grandkids will enjoy.

#4: Les Miserables (the 1998 version with Liam Neeson, Geoffery Rush, Uma Thurman, and Claire Danes)
Reason: My mom got the movie from a friend and, just because I love her, I watched it with her. I thought I was gonna be bored, but I ended up loving every minute of it. If you like amazing acting, this is the movie for you! The acting is flawless and terrific, the movie is pretty faithful to the original, and the music is epic and lovely. It's two and a half hours, but trust me, it's the best two and a half hours you'll ever spend watching a movie! Don't watch it unless you have two and a half hours to do so because once you start watching it, it's so mesmerizing that you just can't turn it off.

#3: The Lives of Others (German title: Das Leben der Anderen)
Reason: I discovered this movie while looking up another movie (funny how that works, huh?) I read the plot and I thought it looked interesting.
I saw the movie and loved it! The Lives of Others is a nicely crafted, brilliantly written film from Germany. Martina Gedeck and Sebastian Koch give modest performaces, but Ulrich Muhe gives a silent and phenomenal. You know what he's thinking without him saying a word! The writing is excellent and the music is clever and mysterious. The opening sequence is disturbing and mesmerizing.
My only knock on this movie is that after the opening sequence the first fifteen minutes are very slow and it takes a bit of patience to sit through it. After the first fifteen minutes the movie takes off from there and gets better and better. It is a film I would recommend for a first-time filmmaker or screenwriter. It is a fantastic political drama!

#2: 9
Reason: Sometime in late August, I saw a commerical for this movie and after seeing the full trailer, I saw 9 the day after it came out. I loved it and I saw it a second time with my friends and they liked it, too.
If you like action, adventure, fantasy, horror, science fiction, war, and mystery, this is the perfect movie for you. Unlike many multi-genre movies, 9 never feels messy or crammed. It shifts from genre to genre very nicely and in a way for the audience to keep up. This film delivers amazing animation, but never neglects the development of its characters or its story. Despite being burlap puppets, I came to care for 9 and his friends as if they were humans. It is the stability of the characters that makes this movie work so well. Director Shane Acker achieves what he did in his outstanding Oscar-nominated short film; creating a world of dread and wonder with sympathetic characters. This movie is haunting, dark, rich, and awesome. Kudos to Shane Acker for this truly daring and special movie.

#1: Pan’s Labyrinth
Reason: I stumbled upon this gem in 2008 and I'm glad I did. After trying to catch it on TV, I finally watched it with my mom, who wanted to see what all the hoopla was about and we were absolutely blown away. I don't say this often about a movie, but this is a spectacular movie! Like 9, this is also a multi-genre film. It's fantasy, war, action, political, drama, historical fiction, and horror. It swifts genres very neatly as opposed to other multi-genre films, which are usually very messy, rushed, and crammed. The acting from both the stars and the supporting cast is just brilliant, the story is totally original and inspired, the lullaby is dark and delicate, and the visuals are beautiful. This movie is violent, haunting, depressing, rich, enchanting, and wonderful all at the same time. It's in Spanish, but it's so good you forget you're reading subtitles! Seek out this movie, for it is truly a masterpiece!

Are these the greatest movies ever made? Well, I wish they were, but being the greatest movie ever made is hard, even impossible to achieve. Are they enjoyable and worth seeing? I think they are!  

[Travis III]

#1: Synecdoche, New York
Reason: The first time I saw this film, I was impressed by its ambition, but that was about it. I honestly found it a rather boring, incoherent mess, and quite a disappointment for the usually brilliant Charlie Kaufman. That being said, I did think about certain scenes from time to time, and even if I didn't understand them, they certainly did make an impression on me. So eventually I decided to give it another shot, hoping that it would be a decent viewing experience this time around. What an understatement. This time around, it all clicked with me. This film is about life. It's about all of our lives. It's about humanity, love, fear, imagination and, finally, death. 'Synecdoche, New York' is an entertaining, surreal, darkly funny and achingly moving portrait of human existence, told through the eyes of a middle-aged theater director named Caden Cotard who receives a grant to fund a new play about not only his own life, but the lives of the actors in the production as well as everyone else on this Earth. That is probably the simplest way for me to put it, but it cannot truly encapsulate the depth of this masterwork. Honestly, I don't think words really can. The only way you can truly understand the brilliance of Synecdoche, New York is to watch it yourself (more than once) and experience for yourself this truly beautiful tale that is at the same time about one man as well as every human being who ever inhabited this Earth.



More reviews to come later...  

[Travis III]

#2: Watchmen
I'm usually not the biggest fan of superhero films because they seem kind of absurd to me. I always find myself asking "What sort of person would go out wearing a ridiculous suit with a mask and cape to fight crime late at night?" There's also the matter of the world that these people inhabit, which is usually either the same as the world we inhabit, or perhaps a slight spin on it that is however completely uninfluenced by the mere existence of superheroes who possess extraordinary powers. Wouldn't the fact that such people exist automatically make the world a very different place? Particularly in the comics and films in which it has been established that these heroes and villains have existed for generations. I'd have thought that it would have totally changed history, yet most of these films, at best, merely touch on this, before going on to become dumb action movies. Not this one. ‘Watchmen’ is an intelligent and compelling look at how history might have turned out if an organization of “masked adventurers” actually existed; which is quite different from our own history. The heroes themselves are all portrayed as flawed and complex characters who all have different ideals and opinions on what is truly right and wrong. There are no “heroes” and “villains” in ‘Watchmen’ – and perhaps that is what makes this film so realistic and compelling.  

[sankapoo]

1) Pans Labyrinth
2) There Will Be Blood
3)Dark Knight
4)No Country For Old Men
5)Wall-E or Avatar
6) The Class (Entre les murs)
7)Sherlock Holmes
cool Ratatouille
9)300
10) Shrek