Trav's Top 100 Films of the Decade #20-1

Well it's taken me longer than expected, but this was a project I decided upon on a whim and I was unprepared for the amount of work involved. I've loved every bit of it however, so I'm a little sad to be finishing it up. In retrospect, the last ten years has been awesome for movies. Every single year was strong, and I've seen my tastes changed greatly during them. Here's to the top 100 films of the next decade!

20. Shaun of the Dead(2004)
Shaun of the Dead took me completely by surprise the first time I saw it, and opened my eyes to just how hilarious British comedy could be. Nick Frost and Simon Pegg's hilarious zombie spoof pays clear homage to Danny Boyle's genre changing 28 Days Later and also the George Romero classics. I'm not sure there's any film that's as consistently funny as this one. A bloody good time. Literally.


19. The Constant Gardener(2005)
I was just telling a friend a couple of days ago that The Constant Gardener is one of the few movies that haunts my mind nearly 5 years after I saw it. A romance and political thriller all rolled into one, Ralph Fiennes captivates as a mild mannered widower who is determined to get to the politically motivated murder of his activist wife. Throughout his quest, images and visions of his wife invade his memories, pushing him further and further to the edge, vowing to complete his love's work while exposing those behind her death.

18. Closer(2004)
Few films are as divisive as Mike Leigh's...romance? Drama? I'm not exactly sure what to call it. Featuring a murderer's row of a cast of Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Clive Owen, and Natalie Portman, it's the story of four awful people and the disgusting things they do to eachother in the name of love. I love movies about terrible, hateful people, and Closer certainly fits the bill. Just do yourself a favor, guys: If you're watching this with your girlfriend, don't get too happy over Clive Owen's brutal tearing down of Julia Roberts in this film. It'll only cause arguments and make you look like an ogre. I speak from experience.

17. Sin City(2005)
Robert Rodriguez knows how to do comics the right way. By taking Frank Miller's gritty, street level graphic noir and pulling no punches on the brutal violence, Rodriguez set the stage for the next generation's big screen comic book adventures.

16. Up in the Air(2009)
The first time we meet Ryan Bingham, his cool suave persona confident smirk, we know who he is. He's little more than a lonely, empty suit putting on a brave face. Jason Reitman's(Juno, Thank You for Smoking) third film is the most piercing and topical yet, brilliantly dissecting today's world we live in where layoffs and downsizing are the norm. A career defining performance by George Clooney.

15. Battle Royale(2000)
Admittedly, not everyone is going to understand Battle Royale. It makes more sense if you know the state of Japan's school system and juvenile detention process, but even if you don't give two craps about all that, the story of a bunch of bad students sent to a remote island where they're forced to kill eachother is compelling stuff. Combining the darkest of humor with stylized over-the-top violence, Battle Royale is the movie I think I've watched most over the last ten years. It's always good for a laugh, which probably says more about me than I care to admit.

14. Avatar(2009)
What more needs to be said about James Cameron's sci-fi epic? It's the biggest film I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing; it's a technological gem beyond compare; and I think it reminds people my age of Star Wars more than they care to admit. Avatar is a sea change in the world of both special effects and sci-fi.

13. Memento(2000)
Christopher Nolan's time bending, brain teasing film noir plays tricks with your mind so cruel that it oughta be outlawed. I was years late to the Memento party, having been convinced to watch it by friends who swore it was the second coming of Hitchcock. They weren't far off. Guy Pearce's stunning turn as a man with short term memory loss doggedly seeking out his wife's killer is simply unforgettable. No pun intended.

12. Gladiator(2000)
How much did I dig Gladiator when it first came out? I saw it 3 times in a single day, that's how much. It's simply awesome in every respect. Every single shot, every single performance especially Russell Crowe as Maximus, feels grandiose. A huge sweeping epic that rightfully dominated it's rivals at the Oscars that year.

11. In America(2002)
Has it been seven years already? Seven years since Jim Sheridan introduced me to the best family film I've ever seen. A beautiful, uniquely American fairy tale about a family of Irish immigrants coming to America to make a life for themselves and their two remaining children. But the American experience isn't what they expected, and their past personal tragedies continue to haunt their present and threaten their future happiness. Few are the child performances that I actually like, but this one features two of the best I've seen by Sara and Emma Bolger. One of the few movies I truly think everyone needs to see at least once in their life.

10. Gangs of New York (2002)
In the pantheon of Hall of Fame quality, larger than life, scene stealing performances, Daniel Day-Lewis's massive turn as crime boss Bill the Butcher ranks right at the top. Scorcese takes his keen eye for the seedy underworld and cuts a sprawling epic chronicling the rise of his beloved New York.

9. City of God (2002)
Simply the best foreign film of the decade. The favelas of Rio De Janiero are a prison unlike any other, where crime and murder are the way of life, and reaching your 20th birthday is cause for celebration.  Authentically shot and starring mostly non-actors who managed to survive the brutal hardship, City of God is a crime film like nothing you've ever seen or likely will ever see.

8. 500 Days of Summer(2009)
Right from the start, this quirky offbeat romantic comedy let's you know: It's NOT a love story. There are no happy endings. Perhaps it's because Tom's(Joseph Gordon-Leavitt) story is so familiar to me that it's hard not to relate. We've all experienced what we thought was love, only to have the tables turned on us. But despite the depressing turn this film takes, it maintains an aura of hope until the very end. Shot in a style that closely resembles a series of music videos(they still make music videos, right?), 500 Days of Summer is a movie I'll be revisiting for years to come.

7. There Will Be Blood(2007)
The first 16 minutes of P.T. Anderson's brawny tale say more than most films do in 2 hours. Done nearly in complete silence, by the time that first chapter is done you know all there is to know about egotistical oilman, Daniel Plainview. Daniel Day-Lewis puts on a dominating performance, so much so that nobody else on screen can compare.  Anderson's film, based very loosely on the novel by Upton Sinclair, skewers organized religion and corporate greed without sacrificing a single drop of the compelling story.

6. Once (2006)
To be honest, I'm surpised myself at how high I have this quiet little gem of a film, but I can't deny the impression it made upon me. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova(the musical group The Swell Season) play a poor street musician and an immigrant who meet and form a special bond forged by their love of music. Their relationship is intense, the music they make together is honest and heartfelt.  When I left the theatre after seeing  this, the first thing I did was tell everyone I know about it. I was a happier person for experiencing it, and I wanted others to feel the same.

5. The Wrestler (2008)
Maybe it's because I've been a wrestling fan since I was a child, and have met wrestlers just like the one Mickey Rourke portrays here. Broken down former legends, there time in the spotlight long gone but looking for one brief moment of glory. Maybe that's why Darren Aronofsky's film hit me the way it did. The stark realism, not just of the in-ring action but the somberness of life on the road.

4. Children of Men (2005)
The first thing I remember of seeing this film was a woman sitting behind me. She kept crying throughout, so much so that at the end she made it a point to apologize to all of us around her. The world director Alfonso Cuaron paints is one of the bleakest ever. It's a world where children are no longer able to be born, and humans teeter on the brink of extinction. Chaos reigns as the end approaches, but alas one tiny glimmer of hope remains. Clive Owen, who seems to be everyone on my list, takes on the role of the reluctant everyman hero charged with saving the planet. From the opening moments of destruction and decay, to the bittersweet conclusion, Children of Men is utterly captivating.

3. Lost in Translation (2003)
At first blush, you'd think Sofia Coppola's breath taking romance would appeal to me, but I was enthralled for the very first moment. Granted the first scene is a shot of Scarlett Johannson's ass in tight pink panties, but beyond that I was equally enthralled. Coppola's gorgeous cinematography perfectly captures the essence of bustling Tokyo, to me the most beautiful city to be caught on film. Bill Murray and ScoJo are the centerpieces, however, as two lost souls who manage to find eachother in this city of millions. It's their unlikely chemistry that fuels my love of this film. Never have I wanted a couple to "make it" like I wanted these two, and I continue to believe somewhere they are living happily ever after.

2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind(2004)
I won't lie, I'm a romantic at heart. By now on this list you've no doubt seen that most of my favorite films aren't blow 'em up action films. They're romances. This film is made for me. It's a story about true love overcoming even the most insane odds. It's about how we perceive love, and how we remember the fondest moments with those we once loved. Do we remember them with happiness, or bitterness? Could we ever truly forget the people we loved and lost? And is there always hope that love will spring again? To me, the answers are simple. And in his crooked, lopsided way, writer Charlie Kaufman has crafted the the truest tale of love conquering all in recent memory. Meet me in Montauk....

1. High Fidelity(2000)
So they made a movie about my life, eh? And nobody told me? Ok, so maybe I'm not a record store owner, but that's not really the point. I was Rob Gordon. A guy who often beat himself wondering what might've been. What the hell was wrong with all those women in my life, eh? I was a commitmentophobe, terrified of being nailed down. I argued constantly with my friends over obscure music nobody else gives a squirt about. I still do that, actually. Writer Nick Hornby is the master of getting into the brains of us regular guys, our quirks and foibles, and figuring out what truly makes us tick. And what makes us tick...is women. Pure and simple. High Fidelity is a movie that never escapes my attention. Even though I have it on DVD and can watch it anytime I want, if it's on TV I'll find it. And I'll watch it from beginning to end. I'll laugh at the same lines ("Liking both Marvin Gaye and Art Garfunkel is like supporting both the Israelis and the Palestinians"), and nod knowingly at the same insights. Much like Rob Gordon, if I had to come up with my desert island, all-time top 5, High Fidelity ranks right up there at the top.