What's the best movie you saw this decade?

Got to add my $.02. Nothing original here, but comments on other people's opinions.

From the YGBFKM file (the expression... not the poster): United 93.
The trip to see this movie when it came out may have been my most regrettable trip to the theatre ever.

As for Wall-E, Dooley_Womack said it best (about Ratatouille... but the sentiment is appropriate)
"--Ratitouille (sp) felt too adult. The best animated movies can be enjoyed by kids, yet be literate enough for adults (like Shrek and the Toy Story films). Ratit...whatevs....didn't seem very much for kids at all."

That pretty much sums it up. Good job, Dooley, even though I liked Rat movie as did my brother's kids.

Add There Will Be Blood to the list of movies in which I have no idea what anyone sees. To each his own, is the best I can come up with for this movie.

Some others that received mention that I liked
Brokeback mountain: I saw this long after it was released and loved it. The backwoods bigot in me that I have managed to repress somewhat didn't want me to watch it, but I'm glad I did.
I'll never forget watching it, either. In a colossal coincidence (or not, I don't know), one of the guys I watched it with came out later that week.

Devil Wears Prada:
I'm with Lugnuts on this one. Really enjoyed it. Watched it with my now-fiancee. Looking back, that's a little odd because she's not really into the whole couture thing.

As for sports movies, which someone mentioned: Remember the Titans.
Had to look up if it was in this decade or last, and it was 2000.

 

I didn't hate Slumdog, but it is colossally overrated. It's a good movie, but it doesn't hold up well at all to multiple viewings and will go down as one of the worst films to ever win best picture.

 

Add Brokeback and Waitress to my list.

 

Sometimes we just like a movie, though. You can break something down beautifully, DD, but not everyone, myself included, has that kind energy every single time.

That said, there are some more movies others have posted that I loved:


Children of Men: Might be my man-crush on Clive Owen's deep voice and accent, but it's also kind of scary when they put the storyline in 2008, and the crux of the story is that mankind has lost its ability to reproduce and refugee camps spring up all over. And, Owen kicks ass as he tries to save the miracle newborn's life.

Breaking and Entering: I never really liked Jude Law until this. He and Julie Binoche have terrific chemistry once the love affair begins, and the teenage boy's Parkour abilities gave me an idea for a business (which I still would love to execute if there are any biz-savvy folks here). As for the teenage boy, he's a product of the Balkan War, whose mom took him to England as a young boy. Now a teenager, he's lost, despondent, has no cultural tie to this new land. He has no recollection of the wars, and no recollection of his father, who was an engineer and killed. Gave me another idea for a book of sorts: What happened to "The Boys of the Bosnia" (that would be the title of the book) 10-15 years after the war? A whole generation of Bosnian boys scattered from their motherland. Where are they now? What do they remember? How many of them went back? Of those, what are their lives like now? ... Just a great flick that makes you think beyond the big screen.

Catch and Release: Good story, Jennifer Garner (before botox) has one really fucking cool monologue, and the cinematography when they're out in the Colorado expanse is simply stunning. One of the cleanest, purest movies in that sense. Makes you want to jump into the screen and be out in the wilderness with the characters.

Along Came Polly: I'm a big Aniston fan, and by and large, Stiller fan. Just a funny story.

The Breakup: It took me a while to cotton to Vince Vaughn, and I think it began with this movie. He and Aniston mesh so well during the actual breakup. It felt real. It sounded real. It was real.


Sideways: The first time I saw it I wanted to find the director and punch him. The whole knocking on her door and fade to black is no fucking closure! Watched it again, and everything fell into place, even the ending. The comedy is funnier the second time. The drama packs more emotion the second time. The knocking on the door doesn't bother me. Why should a director tie everything up in a pretty bow? She was either going to answer the door, or she wasn't. Life went on after the knocking of the door. She may not have answered the door, but only because maybe she wasn't home. She may have answered the door and didn't hug him all lovey-dovey because she was on the phone and she told him to wait in the living room. I think the point is, he stopped being a downer of a schmuck and had the cajones to live his life, and climb those steps and knock on the door for good or for worse. It's a much better movie the second time.


Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus: Oh, my. I don't know how to classify this because it's not really a movie and not really a documentary. It's just a beautiful piece of art.


Once: As beautiful as a movie gets. And yes, the song they sing in the music store is a pantheon moment in cinema.


Death Proof: If you go to IMDB, it gets raped 8 times out of 10. I don't think I've ever seen a movie get its eyes gouged out the way reviewers do over there. But I fucking love it. The dialogue. Jordan Ladd. Stuntman Mike's poem. The dialogue! The scratchy film stock.

 

I liked it when I saw it, but it's a flawed movie that absolutely does not hold up. I chalk up all the excess love it got to two things:

1. Many, MANY people haven't really seen a lot of Bollywood films before. Hence viewers being impressed with the dance at the end, which was decidedly Bollywood-lite.
2. People for some reason were willing to buy into the gritty "realism!" of the slum scenes, then accept without question the game-show fantasy finale. "Wow . . .what a realistic movie! Such great depictions of the hard life of an orphan! I leaned so much about how they live! What a gripping story! And wasn't it neat-o that she was there to answer the phone and save the day at the end! I never knew they film those things live as they air!"

I don't know if it's one of the worst films to win Best Picture. Those views are always so subjective. A lot of people say Shawshank or Pulp Fiction should have beat Forrest Gump. I still don't get why Driving Miss Daisy beat Born on the Fourth of July. The cliche-ridden Crash over Brokeback Mountain. A Beautiful Mind beat out Fellowship of the Ring, and thus became one heck of a trivia question.

 

Brokeback lost because of the topic.

A Three Stooges short would be good enough to beat Forrest Gump. Pulp
Fiction is QT's masterpiece, and was miles better than that Hanks crap.

Glad people mentioned Sin City. For me, that was the best picture of that year.

 

Pulp Fiction didn't win for similar reasons as Brokeback Mountain. Pulp was too violent and vulgar for the voters, which tend to be much older. Brokeback also dealt with a topic that apparently made the voters shy away from it.

I remember reading somewhere that Brokeback actually finished third in the voting that year.

People will be talking about Brokeback Mountain and Pulp Fiction long after Crash (which I liked) and Gump (I liked, but it doesn't hold up) are long forgotten.

 

Crash won Best Picture because it made people in Hollywood --- the ones who vote for Best Picture --- feel good about themselves. "We live in California. We are the melting pot. We 'get it' about race."

And Mizzou, how exactly will Forrest Gump be "forgotten?" It's on TNT every other freakin' weekend ...

 

Write-Thru!!!

My Top 5 (now with details for DD!):
Comedian -- I loved this film because of it's honesty. It shows Seinfeld, who is starting over with all new material, sucking. It shows some guy nobody has ever heard of (Orny Adams) both sucking and being pretty good. For anyone interested in stand-up, there's just tons of good stuff in here. Also, the DVD commentary is Seinfeld and Colin Quinn just chatting and mocking Orny and one another, which is quite hilarious. If I could only watch one DVD for the rest of my life, this would be it. Seriously.

Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? -- There's nothing about this film I don't like, including the music. All sorts of great performances, big and small, and Clooney was as funny as he's ever been. This one is quoted often around the office.

The Hangover -- Halfway through this I was already wondering when it would come out on DVD. I didn't have high expectations for it, but it just blew me away. I laughed harder than I had in a theater in many, many years. The casting was perfect, the story avoided pretty much all Vegas cliches, the Tyson scenes were great and the ending was clever.

The Royal Tenenbaums -- First of, Alec Baldwin's narration is excellent. The story is unique, Hackman is wonderful, Luke Wilson's Bjorn Borg look took me back to when I was 10, Stiller was decent (which is about as much praise as I'm capable of giving him) and Bill Murray was hysterical without ever saying anything funny. I'm a huge Wes Anderson fan and this is my favorite.

No Country for Old Men -- I loved the book so the Coen brothers were going to have to make a helluva film to satisfy me. They did. The film was shot beautifully, Tommy Lee Jones was as good as he's ever been, the dialogue stayed true to McCarthy's book and Javier was outstanding as the bad guy.

Honorable mention
Traffic -- Loads of great performances and a very well-told story
Memento -- Great plot twists and the ending will kick you in the balls
Tropic Thunder (despite the presence of Ben Stiller) -- Downey Jr. was incredible and I laughed throughout. Booty Sweat.
The Simpsons Movie -- The story was good, tons of laughs and it looked amazing. Should have had more Mr. Burns, though.
Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou -- Very quirky film. Murray and Angelica were great, as was Dafoe. Nobody does details quite like Anderson. It's the details that make his films so good and interesting.
The Departed -- I loved this movie when I left the theater, though I like it less each time I watch it. There are too many editing/timeline issues that bug me.
Lost In Translation -- Murray was at his best, Scartlett was as good as she's going to get, interesting story.
Best In Show -- The best of Guest's films and one I could watch daily. We both love soup.
Juno -- Quirky and not the most believable in many ways, but I enjoyed the heck out of it.
Napoleon Dynamite -- Quirky, probably not for everyone, but I loved this movie and have watched it about 100 times.

Wanted to like more than I did
There Will Be Blood -- DDL was in every scene and I just got tired of him after a while
Burn After Reading -- Clooney was good, as was McDormand, but the story just didn't work. This could have been a great movie, but it wasn't.
Inglorious Basterds -- There were some absolutely amazing scenes, but overall I was expecting more. Maybe that's my fault, not the film's.

 

Gone Baby Gone - One of those rare movies where it stuck with me for days after I saw it. It really made me think a lot.

Changeling - I scoff when people say Jolie is overrated as an actress. Just a damn powerful movie.

There will be Blood - I felt exhausted after watching it. Just amazing.

Dark Knight - I didn't think there was any way it would live up to the expectations and it exceeded them. Bale is a perfect Batman and Ledger gave one of the best performances of the last decade.

The Squid and the Whale - Truly twisted and disturbing, but an amazing script.

Igby Goes Down - This one came out of nowhere. I went on the recommendation of a friend and walked out of the theater just thinking it was cool as shit.

The Departed - I just loved everything about it. The music, the acting, the amazing cast, the twists.

Kill Bill - The fight scene in Volume 1 is one of my favorite scenes of all-time.

Memento - Another film that had me talking about it long after I saw it. I think I saw it three times in the theater, which I almost never do.

Juno - I didn't like the ending. Loved everything else about it.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - I hate Jim Carrey and I loved this film. One of the coolest films I've ever seen.

Almost Famous - I just felt warm and fuzzy all over after watching it. Loved everything about it.

Capote - If Hoffman isn't the best actor working, I don't know who is. I'm a huge Capote fan and his performance was just unbelievable.

Bourne Trilogy - I loved the first two. The third was really good, but not on the level of the first two. They basically re-did James Bond after the first two came out because they couldn't have Jason Bourne be cooler than James Bond.

Tropic Thunder - So incredibly politically incorrect that it was just perfect. Great cast. Tom Cruise is amazing as the superagent.

 

United 93, The Departed, Sideways ... Loved The Hurt Locker, but need some time to pass before judging it.

 

I LOVED this movie. Then a friend told me about Infamous, which was even better. Check that one out. It's hard for Hoffman to carry off the diminutive Capote, in terms of sheer body size. Infamous I thought was fantastic.