What Were the Best Movies of the First Decade of the 21st Century, Part 10

5 comments November 2nd, 2009

Haven’t done this in a while, and I probably won’t do it too many more times (I think the list is hitting its limit), but here are three more contenders for my favorite movies of the ’00s…

Can you name ‘em?

Five frightening films

2 comments October 30th, 2009

Being that Halloween is tomorrow and the folks at both The Onion AV Club and Cinematical are sharing their selections of scary movies, I thought I’d throw in my two cents. So here, in the spirit of the season, are five movies that did a number on me.

1. THE SHINING: Thanks to Kubrick’s masterful direction, Nicholson’s unhinged performance and numerous random factors — the pages of the novel, that scene with the guy in the bear suit, those twins! — I’d say this is one movie that gets scarier the more often you see it.

2. THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: If you’ve never seen Tobe Hooper’s symphony of dread and horror, you might think it’s a non-stop gorefest. It’s not. Instead, it’s a perfectly paced, excrutiating experience. And yes, that’s a good thing.

3. THE STRANGERS: It’s relatively new, but this movie about a nightmarish home invasion does a better job building its tension than anything I’ve seen in years. When we were watching it, during the opening moments before anything had happened, my wife turned and said “I don’t think I can watch this.” I know exactly what she meant.

4. MULHOLLAND DR.: David Lynch’s movie isn’t a horror film, but the scene set at Winkie’s — an innocent-looking Los Angeles diner — might be the scariest thing I’ve ever seen in a movie … in any more. I posted a link to the clip here. Don’t worry if you don’t know anything else about the movie. It doesn’t matter.

 5. PINK FLAMINGOS: Again, this isn’t a standard horror movie, but there are things in John Waters’ cult classic that I wish I could somehow un-see. That’s pretty scary, isn’t it?

What Were the Best Movies of the First Decade of the 21st Century, Part 9

3 comments October 16th, 2009

Three more contenders for the much-coveted title…

What Were the Best Movies of the First Decade of the 21st Century, Part 8

7 comments October 8th, 2009

Here you go, film fans: Three movie of my top picks for the best movies of the last 10 years. Can you name them?

What Were the Best Movies of the First Decade of the 21st Century, Part 7: The Comedy Division

9 comments September 21st, 2009

Here are three more contenders for that coveted “Best of the Decade” list I’m casually compiling. All three of these could be considered comedies, though each one has a foot firmly planted in at least one other genre, too.

What Were the Best Movies of the First Decade of the 21st Century, Part 6: The Documentary Division

3 comments September 11th, 2009

This time around, I’m adding a movie to make a quartet of films contending for the coveted spots on my personal best-of-the-decade list. They’re all documentaries. Can you name ‘em?

The first three are actually pretty easy, but I’ll be seriously impressed by whoever names the last one. And no, it’s not INN OF THE DAMNED.

What Were the Best Movies of the First Decade of the 21st Century, Part 5

4 comments September 4th, 2009

Three more contenders for the ever-growing list of contenders for the coveted title of Best of the Decade…

I don’t think these are as tricky as previous rounds. Can you name ‘em?

What Were the Best Movies of the First Decade of the 21st Century, Part 4

9 comments August 27th, 2009

Continuing the series (which, I promise, will somehow result in an actual top 10 list eventually), here are three more contenders for the top spots on the Oughts list. Can you name them?

Previous picks can be found here, here and here.

Quentin’s favorite movies, post 1992 edition

3 comments August 17th, 2009

Here, to get you in the mood for INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, is Quentin Tarantino talking about his favorite 20 movies since 1992  — which is the year his first movie, RESERVOIR DOGS, hit theaters).

It’s a pretty good list — several of these movies might make my own tally, and I feel the same way about THE MATRIX as he does.

By the way, try to ignore the clips from DEATH PROOF that, for some unexplained reason, run under Quentin for the duration of the clip.

What Were the Best Movies of the First Decade of the 21st Century, Part 3

3 comments August 14th, 2009

Continuing in this series leading up to an actual Top 10 list sometime near the end of the year, here are three more movies that might be counted among the best the Oughts had to offer. Can you name them?

I don’t think these are too tough, but here’s something to tie all three stills together: The people pictured were all nominated for Oscars in the last decade (and one of them won), but they were nominated after they made these movies.