It is important to remember while reading this list that it is my opinion and mine alone. It certainly is not based on popular opinion and not influenced by anyone but myself. I hope that you enjoy reading the list (even if you don't agree with it), and would like to read what your top 20 lists are if you would be so bold as to list them.
20. Almost Famous (2001, Cameron Crowe) - Not almost, but easily one of the top soundtracks of all time. A word comes to mind when I think of this film, "incendiary".
19. Amelie (2001, Jean-Pierre Jeunet) - Many of the films on this list could be considered bleak, but Amelie's charm is its refreshing optimisim which makes it stand out on any list. Audrey Tautou (which would be a great stage name for a ballerina) launches herself into worldwide stardom with her role of a young woman with a whimsical view of the world.
18. Hurt Locker (2009, Kathryn Bigelow) - This movie is the bomb! It's Lethal Weapon meets Blown Away only better than both, deserving of its Oscar win. Also just one of the string of very successful films to take place in the Middle-East.
17. No Country For Old Men (2007, Coen Bros.) - I thought old men loved country music. This film makes two important points; evil cannot be stopped and captive colt pistols are cool. Also Javier Bardem is pretty great as Two-Face, I mean Anton Chigurh.
16. Adaptation (2002, Spike Jonze) - This is the best instructional screenplay video currently on the market. Nic Cage's double performances are comparable to other great dual performances (Cate Blanchett in Coffee and Cigarettes, Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, and almost as good as Jean-Claude Van Damne in Double Impact). This effort, along with Being John Malkivoch, has me crossing my fingers that Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze will continue to collaborate.
15. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001, Steven Spielberg) - This is an incredible film with the thought provoking filmmaking of Stanley Kubrick and the visual gift for the spectacular of Spielberg. If you believe there are aliens in this film than please don't respond to this blog.
14. Speed Racer (2008, The Wachowskis) - This is what happens when a movie and a collidiscope collide. Whenever Speed Racer is mentioned I find myself defending it at every turn (and for that matter every jump, brake or crash). I believe it is an innovative film that will eventually find the audience it deserves. Quite simply, I love everything about it and you should too.
13. Prestige (2006, Christopher Nolan) - If you believe in magic and I hope you do, you'll always have an enemy that wants to kill you. Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman are dualing magicians that are constantly trying to upstage each other. But what happens when one of the magicians stops creating illusions and starts getting real magic.
12. The Lookout (2007, Scott Frank) - A movie that Hitchcock would be proud of. A young man's (Joe-Go-Lev) life is altered when he gets in a car accident leaving him with brain damage which in turn has given him a very short memory. He is lured into helping a group of people planning a heist at a bank where he works. Halfway through the heist he remembers that breaking the law is bad.
11. Old Boy (2003, Chan-wook Park) - What would you do if you were kidnapped and held in captivity for 15 years, and then let go with a cellphone, money and clothes? You would probably seek your revenge, which is exactly what Oh Dae-Su does. But what he should be asking is why someone went through all the trouble and what else they have in store for him?
10. Shaun of the Dead (2004, Edgar Wright) - The best way for a passive slacker to get off the couch and take life by the horns is to take the lives of the lifeless. This is one of the most fun films you will ever see, but what will surprise you is the emotional punch that it packs.
9. Lost in Translation (2007, Sophia Coppola) - I would go out of my way to see Bill Murray in anything, including Japanese commercials. Sofia Coppola must agree since she wrote this film for Bill Murray and I can't imagine anyone else in it.
8. Unbreakable (2000, M. Night Shyamalan) - Maybe the best Superhero film ever made. Do not try the weightlifting scene at home, I found that out the hard way. And what Shyamalan film would be complete without a twist ending, "They call me Mr. Glass."
7. The Wrestler (2008, Darren Aronofsky) - This film gets a very enthusiastic (bloody) thumb up from me. The story of a down and out wrestler that rivals Raging Bull. This is Mickey Rourke's best performance and one of the best films ever not to be nominated for Best Picture.
6. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006, Tom Tykwer) - I have one rule that I live by; when someone asks me to smell something I say, "No." The reward usually can never surmount the risk involved, but if Jean-Baptiste asked me, I would have to consider it. The director of Run Lola Run delivers with this amazing film that tells the story of a serial killer with the world's best sense of smell, told like a whimsical fairy tale.
5. Gangs of New York (2002, Martin Scorsese) - Seems as though there is a trend of revenge films on this list and this very much fits into that category. Scorsese guides us through a forgotten place and time in American history. A place where two men are so self-absorbed in their own world of revenge that they ignore the Civil War around them, that is until it literally lands on top of them.
4., 3. Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 (2001, 2002, Quentin Tarantino) - It kicks ass in every way possible. With plenty of nods to kung fu films (Game of Death, Green Hornet) and spaghetti westerns (Once Upon a Time in the West) Tarantino creates the best action films of the decade.
2. Memento (2000, Christopher Nolan) - Leonard will not stop until the man or men responsible for his wife's death are dead. Only problem is he has no short-term memory and he must rely on unreliable people and notes to hunt the man down.
1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004, Michel Gondry) - Oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling Eternal Sunshine. Thou are on top of this list forever, congrats Eternal Sunshine. It has everything you can imagine and even things you couldn't.
