Best of the decade: I’m working on my list — but how about yours?

4 comments November 20th, 2009

For several weeks now, I’ve been gathering my picks for the Best Movies of the last decade. I’ll be revealing that list sometime before the new year, both here at the Movie Man Blog and in the Rockford Register Star.

But I want to compile a list of readers’ favorites, too. Send me your top five movies released between Jan. 1, 2000, and Dec. 31, 2009. Include your name, city of residence, a daytime phone number (not for publication) and a line or two explaining why each movie made your list. Send them to wpfeifer@rrstar.com, and put “Best of Decade” in the subject line.

We’ll print as many as possible in the newspaper, and I’ll share ‘em all here online. I’m hoping to get a big response to this — after all, this sort of opportunity only rolls around once a decade. Let’s have some fun.

And here, possibly (though not definitely) for the last time, are three more potential picks for my list:

Can you name ‘em?

And so, the lists begin: The top 100 movies of the decade

6 comments November 12th, 2009

While I’ve been screwing around on this blog, teasing you readers with my contenders for the top 10 movies of the decade, those craft Brits over at the Times (that’s London, mind you, not New York) have manned up and compiled a list of the 100 best movies of what they cleverly call “The Noughties” (oh, those Brits).

It’s in reverse order from 100 to 1, but I’ll save you the effort and share their top 10:

1. HIDDEN (Michael Haneke, 2005)

2. THE BOURNE SUPREMACY/THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM (Paul Greenglass, 2004 and 2007)

3. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2007)

4. GRIZZLY MAN (Werner Herzog, 2005)

5. TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE (Trey Parker, 2004)

6. SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (Danny Boyle, 2008)

7. THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND (Kevin MacDonald, 2006)

8. CASINO ROYALE (Martin Campbell, 2006)

9. THE QUEEN (Stephen Frears (2006)

10. HUNGER (Steve McQueen, 2008)

First off, I haven’t seen all these movies — I missed THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND, HIDDEN and HUNGER, so I can’t judge those picks. But I will that that (a) SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is wildly overrated, (b) TEAM AMERICA is funny, but not nearly as good as SOUTH PARK: BIGGER, LONGER AND UNCUT, and (c) the only movie on this Top 10 list that’s a real contender for my own is Herzog’s brilliant GRIZZLY MAN.

Thoughts?

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.