Now-Where Was I? The 20 Greatest Films of the '00's
In last week's New York Times, there was an article about what to name the decade that is about to come to a close (you know, like the "Me decade" 70's or the "go-go 80's"). Were we to practice a similar form of reductivist thinking on film in the past ten years, it might be accurate if a bit facile to call it something like the Decade of Disappointment. In America, this was felt in a particularly keen way; after a while, it seemed like all we were getting were CGI blockbusters or regressive comedies with either Will Ferrell or Seth Rogen. The 90's had ended with a rush of great films like Fight Club, Magnolia, Rushmore, The Matrix, Pi, Three Kings and others that heralded a generation of homegrown auteurs ready to take the place of the Scorsese/De Palma/Coppola generation. And this decade, those same directors have given us the occasional great film (There Will Be Blood, The Fantastic Mr. Fox), some passable moments (The Wrestler, Zodiac) and a whole pileful of disappointing garbage (Speed Racer? Benjamin Button? Darjeeling Limited? I Heart Huckabees?) Even QT, the greatest hope of the 90's, has wandered, becoming an uneven-yet-frequently-brilliant "problem director." And with the passing of the indie studios through closure (Picturehouse, Warners Independent) or co-opting (Miramax, New Line), the American indie movement that began with sex, lies and videotape and reached its apogee with Pulp Fiction is now as dead as Bill after Pai Mei's five point palm exploding heart technique.
And let's not forget that the decade brought the biggest technological paradigm shift in the history of cinema; anytime we use the word "film", it must now be with a sense of ironic nostalgia. Digital may signal the end of the very act of sitting in a dark room filled with strangers and experiencing the thrill of, in Pauline Kael's phrase, losing it at the movies. Digital may even signify that the new auteurs are huddled away writing software rather than out there shooting footage. These are debatable changes; having everything on demand is certainly desirable, and if digital fulfills its potential, then there will be no more physical restraint for film in terms of form or content. The only limits will be the imagination of the artist. One thing beyond debate, however, is that as of this point, the fact that the means of production are now universally accessible has not led to a creative revolution bubbling up from below. YouTube has given us plenty of cats in dryers, but nary a noteworthy new director. As is the case with music, we're left wondering whether the bad old days when the studios had absolute control as gatekeepers were really so bad.
So where does this all leave us? Is American film in eclipse, destined to be overtaken by such unlikely emerging rivals as Mexico, Romania and South Korea? And as the film school generation fades, will anyone take their place? Hard to say, but almost in spite of ourselves, we managed to produce some memorable work in the "aughts", as per the list below. Perhaps, in the end, we can refer to the '00's as the "Ellipsis Decade," a statement suspended midway, trailing off into silence, or perhaps resuming with something more powerful than that which preceded it...
20. Slumdog Millionaire (Danny Boyle, 2008). Living proof that once or twice a decade, Oscar actually gets it right. For the past 15 years, Boyle has always been the most slippery of auteurs; how could the director of Trainspotting made such varied and underappreciated genre pieces as Sunshine and Millions? Watching Slumdog, one had the sense that it was make or break for the director, and from the most unlikely roots, this triumph emerged. Yes, it is the greatest hits of Bollywood filtered through Western eyes, but it didn't feel like cultural appropriation or orientalist slumming. If the individual elements of the film were less than original, the combination of them surely felt so. Jai Ho!
19. A Mighty Wind (Christopher Guest, 2003). No one could make the argument that it's as funny as Best in Show or even Guffman, not to mention Tap. But Guest and his band of brilliant improvisers tap into something much bigger here in their imagining of a star-studded tribute to a recently deceased and beloved folk impresario. What we see is the slow, romantic death of the idealism of the 60's, embodied especially in Eugene Levy's burned out genius Mitch. When Mitch and his former partner and love, Mickey (Catherine O'Hara) kiss at the end of their song, all they and their generation had and lost are brought to bear. When Nigel rejoined the boys on stage at the end of Tap, we cheered. Our response here is something much more complex, sad and sweet. And yet somehow, the film never stops being funny. And so much more: pitch-perfect songs that are parodies yet somehow capture the essence of the various folk sub-movements of the 60's; Ed Begley as the world's most Jewish Scandinavian; the best song ever written about catheters; and the greatest catchphrase that never caught on: Wha' happened?
18. Rachel Getting Married (Jonathan Demme, 2008). To a boy from the outer boroughs moving to the East Village in the late 80's, Jonathan Demme's films of the period represented my fantasy of my new home: odd, edgy, bubbly, funky and awesomely, spectacularly multicultural, the same vibe one felt in his Stop Making Sense, still the best concert film ever made. Like Jeff Daniels in Something Wild and Michelle Pfeiffer in Married to the Mob, I entered an alternate downtown universe that was a little dangerous, more than a bit enticing and stirringly romantic. But times changed; the neighborhood gentrified, and so did Demme, as he became a glorified studio craftsman with Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia. Beloved was a neglected masterpiece, but Demme hit a new creative low with his early 60's classic remakes phase. All by way of setting up what a blissful return to form we got in Rachel, even if the bubbling melting pot has been relocated to suburban Connecticut. Starting with the moment when we all realized that Anne Hathaway was an actress, the film serves up many similarly unexpected treats, not the least of which was the return of Debra Winger. Two moments stand out: Hathaway's justly celebrated wedding dinner toast, and Ethan's plate. Wait for it.
17. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-Wai, 2000). I hate to sound cranky, but what happened to our one-time domination of all things genre? How has it come to a point where the best noir and the best horror films of the decade came from South Korea? Is it true that all we're capable of making is Transformers vs. Iron Man 12: The Quickening? We used to own film romance; now we're reduced to sentimental tripe like The Notebook or the recent spate of vampires in love. You want old school romance? Check out Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung in this aching, beautiful and strange romance set in 1962 Hong Kong. Filled with all of Wong's usual brilliant visuals, what truly makes this work is the attention to detail and the restraint of the two leads. They slowly and inexorably fall for each other, even as they realize that their respective cheating spouses are cheating with each other. Will they choose the same path and give in to their attraction? Or will they resist, since giving in would make them as bad as those who have hurt them so badly? Not that it's giving too much away, but In the Mood for Love reminds us that all the great romances, from Romeo and Juliet to Casablanca, end with love unrequited. And that's the most romantic thing of all.
16. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron, 2005). Not surprisingly, this is not the only film of the so-called Mexican New Wave to end up on this list. In bringing us into a dystopian future where the human race is no longer able to reproduce, Cuaron avoids all the expected paths and presents us with the most unsettling and despairing vision of where we are headed this side of 12 Monkeys. Featuring yet another of Clive Owen's beautiful leading man/character actor roles, powerful support from Julianne Moore and Michael Caine and a most unlikely and reluctant heroine (Claire-Hope Ashitey's Kee), Children is believable precisely because it offers us no explanation of what happened or why. Instead, we are dropped in medias res into our bleakest nightmare, with only the slightest glimmer of hope at the end. The nearly-wordless scene where the main characters walk down the steps of a besieged building holding the miraculous newborn baby is one of the most powerful of the decade.
15. I'm Not There (Todd Haynes, 2007). The Oscars and American moviegoers were in love with movie biopics this decade, as Jamie Foxx and Reese Witherspoon will attest. (Dewey Cox, anyone?). In this deeply flawed but endlessly interesting piece, Haynes, who's never made a bad movie, explodes the idea of the biopic, picks up the shards and creates a funhouse mirror that functions instead as a biography of the idea of Bob Dylan. It does not always work, particularly in the grating section with Richard Gere as Zimmy in his Pat Garrett Americana phase. On first viewing, in fact, I found it more than a bit uneven and bordering precariously on the pretentious. But it stayed and stayed with me, and just would not let go. Further spins suggest that the innovative, frustrating form Haynes employs is the only possible way to approach this particular content. In the end, the subject is truly "not there", which, I'd guess, is the only way Dylan would have it.
14. Before Sunset (Richard Linklater, 2004). OK, OK, I take back everything I said about the death of the American romantic film. Sunset is unusual in many ways. It is the rare sequel that is as good as, if not better than, the original. For an American film, it takes an unusually grown-up and, dare I say, complex approach to love and to the bittersweet pain of truly entering adulthood. It is the rare film from one of the Austin crew that wasn't made for eight year olds (this means you, Robert Rodriguez, and your jars of testicles). And it marks the one piece of truly solid work in the second decade of Richard Linklater's erratic but never dull career, although there were certainly many good things about his other work of the decade. In Sunset, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy reunite as the couple who passed a gloriously romantic 24 hours together in Vienna in 1995's Before Sunrise. That film ended with a promise to meet again in six months' time. As Sunset opens, we find out that he never showed, and they both moved on with their lives (sort of). Most of the film's 85 minutes is simply the two leads meandering through the streets of Paris, wandering in and out of the notion that the magic of that one youthful night so long ago can never return with the same intensity. Linklater's inevitably brilliant dialogue and his trust in his audience create a unique moment in American film.
13. Cache (Michael Haneke, 2005) I have yet to see Haneke's Palme d'Or winning White Ribbon, and I must admit that I've often found his films to be gratuitous, if witty, exercises in anti-bourgeois sadism. As I've noted elsewhere in these pages, the subject of Cache, just below its glossy Hitchcock-like, videotape-paranoid surface, is nothing less than the legacy of the Western subjugation of the Muslim world. A crucial plot point hinges on a historical reference to an infamous incident from the late 1950's, when a wave of Muslim protesters decrying the French presence in Algeria were set upon by the Surete; hundreds were killed and injured. As our upper middle class Parisian protagonists go about their evening routine, images and sounds of the Iraqi conflict come from the TV in the background. Cache never lets us forget that the scars of oppression never simply disappear when the oppression itself ends. When one of the characters, overwhelmed by the accumulated pain, commits suicide, it is one of the most effectively shocking and brutal moments in the history of film. All of this comes together in my favorite closing shot of the decade, which actually runs under the closing credits. It's a moment that suggests both the idea that we pass our sins on to our children in an endless cycle of violence and retaliation, as well as the possibility that our children may be the ones who will finally end the cycle.
12. A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2009). In many ways, this is the film that all the Coens' work over the last quarter century has been leading up to. For all of the complex shaggy dog plots, the brilliantly arch film-school camerawork and editing, the impeccably selected soundtracks and the unforgettable dialogue, there has always been a shiny, brittle and facile superficiality to their work. With the possible exception of Fargo, there never have been any real people in their films. Brilliant caricatures, yes, from H.I. and Ed all the way through Anton Chigurh. And just as the formula was starting to show some strain, with the unwatchable Burn After Reading, the Coens reach back into their suburban 60's Jewish childhoods to bring forth this darkly comic take on the Book of Job. In some ways, this is not a surprise; there has always been a small undercurrent of dark Jewish humor in their work, from John Turturro's Bernie in Miller's Crossing to Michael Lerner's studio head in Barton Fink, and most memorably in the"shomer shabbos" lunacy of Walter Sobchack in Lebowski. In A Serious Man, the Coens' fanatical attention to detail is put to use in the creation of a real world, riddled with extremely imperfect people wrestling with eternal issues of truth and guilt. In Lebowski, one small mistake leads to someone peeing on Dude's rug; in this film, one small mistake leads to what might very well be the end of the world. One can almost sum up the Coens' view of the universe with Larry Gopnik's line: no one can figure it out, but you're still responsible for it on the midterm.
11. Monsters, Inc. (Pixar Studios, 2001) No sensible fan of mainstream film could come up with a list such as this without including at least one film from Pixar. As the locus of real creativity has shifted from film to TV (can any film of the decade match the sustained excellence of shows like Lost, Mad Men, Sopranos, etc.?), the only sure bet in American film for the last 15 years has been on the geniuses at Pixar. In just about everything they've done, they have been able to make children's films that appeal to everyone, something that hasn't been seen consistently since the Chuck Jones heyday of Warner's cartoons. So the only question was, which to choose for the list? I would certainly argue that the first 45 minutes of Wall-E and the first half hour of Up are as beautiful as anything that has ever been put on film, and I'm not just talking animated film here. I tend to love the Pixar films where they create an entire universe out of whole cloth. So, with Wall-E as a close second, I'm going to go with Monsters, which drops us into a complete fantasy world that we believe in immediately. Hilarious, touching and completely pop-culture-reference free (take that, ogre), this is probably the most original film of the decade. And I still call my daughter "Boo" sometimes, even though she's 14 now...
10. Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronofsky, 2000) It might be easy to argue that with the gorgeous mess that was The Fountain and the lovely but conventional Wrestler (which might be directly descended from that Wally Beery wrestling picture that Barton Fink could never quite finish), that Aronofsky, like many other late 90's auteur hopefuls like Fincher, David O. Russell, Wes Anderson and maybe even Tarantino, has not lived up to his early promise. These are arguments for another page; even if he had only directed Pi and this darkest of masterpieces, he would still be a major figure in American film. The old cliche is that a film has three parts: get your characters stuck up a tree, throw stuff at them, and then get them down. Unlike just about every other storyteller in the addiction subgenre, Aronofsky resolutely refuses us that third step, as his characters descend into an indescribable hell. Jared Leto and Jennifer Connolly are strong and believable, Marlon Wayans is a revelation, and who the hell was it who beat Ellen Burstyn for that Supporting Actress Oscar? Not to mention the Kronos Quartet's endlessly-appropriated music and Matthew Libatique's emergence as perhaps the best cinematographer of his generation. But the star here, from start to finish, is Aronofsky, and if he's wandered a bit since, repeated viewings of Requiem (if you can tolerate repeated viewings) leave no doubt about his potential to be the greatest American filmmaker of his generation.
9. Kill Bill, Vols. 1 and 2 (Quentin Tarantino, 2003-'04) Say what you want about his failure to live up to his early promise. Better yet, try to stay awake through the first half of Death Proof. The man is still the stickiest writer of his generation, and in many ways, these two films, taken as one, are his masterpiece. The House of Blue Leaves, of course, and the Superman monologue, the anime origins of O-Ren, the return of Sonny Chiba, Darryl Hannah and David Carradine, and my favorite: Beatrix digs herself out of her own grave as he recalls her cruel tutelage at the hands of Pai Mei. But perhaps what really puts this one over the top is the moment near the end when she breaks into Bill's hacienda ready to kill, only to find her cute daughter BB very much alive and well. Aside from Pam Grier and Robert Forster's performances in Jackie Brown, this may be the closest QT gets to real. And amazingly, Uma makes the moment real, convincing and even touching. In the end, it comes down to this; my wife, who cannot remember movie lines or song lyrics at all, was reciting whole scenes from the film after having seen it only once several years before. Like I said--sticky.
8. The 25th Hour (Spike Lee, 2003). The decade's most wonderful surprise as Spike, more than a decade removed from the films that made him the most celebrated African-American film director in history, began his understated reign as poet laureate of post-9/11 New York cinema. The ostensible topic of the the film is the last night of freedom for Monte (Edward Norton) before he begins a stretch in prison for a drug bust, and his quest to discover who it was who tipped off the cops. But the tragedy of the towers seeps through every pore of the film, most explicitly in the view of Ground Zero from the window of the apartment owned by Monte's best friend Frank (Barry Pepper), and in the palpable sorrow hanging over the bar owned by Monte's ex-firefighter dad (Brian Cox). All the performances shine, especially Pepper, Rosario Dawson as the girlfriend under suspicion, Cox, Anna Paquin and especially Norton's self-loathing Monte, a kid who was handed unbelievable opportunity only to piss it away. Two moments stand out in particular: Spike reprising the famous cursing litany from Do the Right Thing to very different effect here; and the beautiful, unexpected ending, which I think of every time I pass the George Washington Bridge...
7. Oldboy (Chan-Wook Park, 2004) Easily the best noir of the decade. In a genre that these days seems stale, too self-referential or both, Oldboy was a jolt to the system, a live octupus straight no chaser. From one of the most original setups in the history of the genre to the shocking and brutal ending, this is the rare film that refuses to let you be complacent and comfortable. That Park can pull this off while maintaining a sense of humor is even more remarkable. It doesn't feel like your granddaddy's noir, but when you get past all of the claw hammer violence and cephalopod appetizers, what remains is vintage: the story of a basically decent man who casually made a terrible mistake years ago, and is now forced to pay an inconceivably horrific price for his transgression. Not the least of the film's pleasures is that it finally opened Western eyes to a long-thriving South Korean film industry, and we're only now just beginning to realize that they do our genre films better than we do (see The Host, for example).
6. Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch, 2003). OK, so maybe this one is a bit of a tip-off to my age. I can tell you the date and the theater where I watched Lynch miraculously revive American film with Blue Velvet. And I know who killed Laura Palmer. I am a bit sentimental when it comes to film's favorite eagle scout, although not enough to get me through all of Inland Empire awake. But it seems, looking back, that with the exception of Blue Velvet, Mulholland is the best balance Lynch has ever achieved between his hilarious, deadpan solipsism and why-should-the-audience-care auteurism. All of the major Lynch themes are there, as are the visual motifs; these come together in the Club Silencio scene, one of the best he's ever shot. (And there's a Roy Orbison song again, this time en espanol). Even after all this time, no director has Lynch's ability to imbue the quotidian with such sinister beauty and mystery. The twist is that this time, Lynch's heroine makes her escape from Lumberton/Twin Peaks to the dream factory itself; in Lynch's hands, however, the dream can turn into nightmare in a flash behind the dumpster at Winkie's. Some still argue that there is no there there when it comes to Lynch. Well, perhaps no hay banda...and yet there is definitely music.
5. Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe, 2001) For the man who would be Billy Wilder, this was not the best of decades; Vanilla Sky and Elizabethtown were unmitigated failures. And when you think that Crowe was not living up to his early promise, you look at films like Singles, Jerry ("Show me the exit!") Maguire and even, yes, Say Anything, and wonder what the fuss was ever about in the first place. It's interesting, though, that the one time Crowe violated his master's dictum to never be explicitly autobiographical, he created a masterpiece. From the opening sequence, featuring the best fondling of album covers as though they were holy objects ever put on film, everything feels right and real. Billy Crudup, Jason Lee and especially Kate Hudson give the best performances of their careers, while old reliables like Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Frances Mc Dormand add to their respective galleries of brilliant character performances. Among the many highlights: the phone call between Crudup and Mc Dormand is priceless, as is the crashing airplane confessional of Sweetwater's drummer. Crudup's "I am a golden god" scene is followed by what for me is the single most beautiful scene in any film this decade, as the band and their entourage, frustrated, angry and annoyed with each other, sing along to "Tiny Dancer." In that moment, you can see them brush away all of the desire for fame, fortune and women and remember why they're there in the first place: the music. And when William says he has to get home, Hudson's Penny replies, "You are home." Yes we are, and for the only time in his career, Crowe hits a perfect note.
4. Letters from Iwo Jima (Clint Eastwood, 2006). The Man with No Name has made a fine living for all these years by quietly being a lot smarter and more gifted than anyone was willing to give him credit for. And so slowly, without anyone noticing until it happened, Eastwood has evolved from mannequin punchline to one of the greatest of all American filmmakers. Yet even his staunchest supporters were unprepared for the amazing burst of creativity that we've seen from him as he approaches 80; he has become the Philip Roth of American film. Not since John Huston's great run of late films have we seen anything like it. And as his more celebrated contemporaries like Scorsese, De Palma and Coppola have faded into inconsistency at best and mediocrity at worst, one might even argue that Eastwood was the greatest Hollywood filmmaker of the decade. But for all his brilliant films of the last few years, and a second Best Director Oscar for Million Dollar Baby, his greatest achievement may be Iwo Jima, his startling, understated and ultimately devastating take on that legendary battle from the Japanese point of view. Its companion film, Flags of Our Fathers, was underrated, and featured not only some unforgettable scenes (recreating the battle in Soldier Field as part of a war bonds drive, for example) but an unusually thoughtful meditation on the arbitrary nature of heroism. Iwo Jima, though, is the superior film. Boiled down, it is a study of how one must behave when faced with an absolutely hopeless cause, in a battle from which you will surely never return. In its own way, it is as powerful a statement as All Quiet on the Western Front, which also gave a face and a soul to a seemingly inscrutable enemy. No one else would have even attempted such an ambitious project; that Eastwood, at age 75, was able to bring home both films with such skill and grace is one of the great accomplishments in the history of American film.
3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004). If American film of the new century's first decade had a presiding spirit, I would argue that it resides in the work of the Spike Jonze-Michel Gondry-Charlie Kaufman nexus. Some of their films were more successful than others, but I would argue that even lesser works like Adaptation, The Science of Sleep, Be Kind Rewind, Synecdoche and Wild Things will grow in reputation and will be viewed for years to come. While each of these filmmakers has their own style and obsessions, there are common visual and thematic motifs that run through their work. These include gloriously complex, house-of-mirrors plots, a classic and pure sense of surrealism, and, especially in Gondry's work, a childlike sensibility that is touching and naive but never cloying. In short, these films are the locus of whatever is left of imagination in American cinema. And while all of them have their charms, there was only one where it all seemed to come together: Eternal Sunshine. To begin with, the movie features Jim Carrey's one great performance, the only time where he's not an annoying man-child or a sentimental sap. Kate Winslet's Clementine is one of the great characters in recent American cinema, and I believed every minute of their strange and beautiful relationship. Add in pitch perfect character turns by such stalwarts as Tom Wilkinson, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo...hell, even Frodo isn't too bad. Then there's Kaufman's script, which for once tempers his dazzling intelligence, self-reflexiveness and multiple realities with people we actually care about instead of with cardboard cutouts. As with most of Kaufman's work, the film deals with people whose childlike sensibilities make it difficult for them to handle the real world and so, in a very retro-futurist DIY kind of way, they create or recreate their own realities. One of the many miracles of the film is that we don't even question for a second the plausibility of the idea of the good folks at Lacuna selectively removing memories. And perhaps the most romantic thing is Joel's realization that the pain of his memories is nothing compared to the pain of forgetting.
2. Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo Del Toro, 2006) When my wife and I go to movies, we usually talk for hours afterwards about what we've just seen. When we walked out of this film, we were completely silent for a half an hour. At that point, the only thing I could say was, "That's why they invented movies in the first place." My daughter, tough city girl that she is, cried for a week after seeing it. What Del Toro achieves here is nothing less than the greatest example of magic realism in the history of cinema, perhaps along with Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast, which was clearly an influence. No film in my memory has ever created such a stark and intense contrast between brutal reality and (literally) escapist fantasy. The brilliance that Del Toro hinted at in Cronos and Devil's Backbone is fully realized here, although credit must be given to his collaborators. All of the actors, in both the real and the fantasy sequences, disappear completely into their roles; the set design is bleak, beautiful and original; and the music, especially that lullaby, will haunt forever. Much has been made of this film being a grown-up fairy tale, but I don't think that does it justice. Del Toro and his cast and crew are miraculously able to tap into the unconscious in a way that only the greatest stories can.
1. Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000). This has been at the top of the list for nearly the entire decade, and nothing has been able to shake it from its perch. Along with Oldboy, it is the best neo-noir of the decade, but it is so much more than that. It is a gimmick film that miraculously, unlike all other gimmick films (this means you, M. Night) gets richer and richer with repeated viewings. And it is easily the greatest example in the decade of how form reflects content. In a film like Inarritu's 21 Grams, the unusual time structure ends up feeling trivial and arbitrary, and adds nothing to our appreciation of the characters or the story. And at first, Memento's story seems confusing for confusion's sake. But then the moment comes when it hits you that Nolan has found a way for us to get inside Leonard's head and actually experience the confusion that stems from his anterograde amnesia. And it goes even deeper. The memory thing, which seems like the cheapest of plot gimmicks lifted from a second-rate 40's B noir, becomes the basis for the greatest cinematic philosophical excursion into the nature of memory itself since Rashomon. Either intentionally or not, Nolan tapped into something very profound about our culture; it's no surprise that we've seen so many variations on the idea since, from the Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore 50 First Dates to Dory in Pixar's Finding Nemo. And what does it say about us that #1 and #3 on this list feature either self-induced memory loss or deliberately misremembering something too painful to bear by repeating a lie often enough that, via conditioning, it becomes the truth? As for the film itself, what a blessing to have three great character actors in the leads, interesting and colorful players in the bit parts and a director whose fascination with these ideas of identity and self have played out so beautifully here, in Prestige and in the Batman films. If this was a decade that featured much that we'd all choose to forget if we could, Memento has to be its iconic film.
posted by Chunk White @ 5:35 PM
48 Comments:
An amazing list, Mr. Cabat! I'll have a more detailed response soon.
This drama concerns four people trapped by their addictions. Harry (Jared Leto) and his best friend Tyrone (Marlon Wayans) are heroin addicts living in Coney Island, NY, while Harry's girlfriend Marion (Jennifer Connelly) is a fellow addict trying to distance herself from her wealthy father. Harry dreams of scoring a pound of smack, from which he could make enough money to open a clothing boutique with Marion, but so far he and his friends can barely scrape by supporting their own habits. Meanwhile, Harry's mother Sara (Ellen Burstyn), who spends her days watching television, is told she has the opportunity to appear on her favorite game show wanting to lose enough weight to fit into her favorite red dress, she visits a sleazy doctor who gives her a prescription for amphetamines. Soon Sara has a drug habit of her own that is getting her out of control.
According to Chunk White’s (Mr. Cabat’s) blog, he believes that Aronofsky can be the greatest filmmaker of his generation despite his other films which compared nothing to Requiem. I 100 percent agree with this. Requiem for a Dream was definitely his best movie of his career and to me; it could have been the best drama I have ever seen. Chunk White describes in his review that what the characters experienced with their use of heroin was “an indescribable hell”. What they had faced with their addiction to heroin may have seemed bad to the viewer but to actually experience these troubles is much worse.
Although Chunk White’s review explains most of what is going on, I feel that he left out Aronofsky’s use of camera work and visual effects. The first use of camera work was close-ups. He closed up on dilating pupils after the character’s use of heroin in order for the viewer to know that they were involved in the use of drugs. Aronofsky’s also used split screen shots in order for us to see what some of the characters do not. It gives us views of two characters at the same time and it shows what they are experiencing. I also felt the characters did a great job of acting. For a certain period of time, I actually felt that the characters were actually doing heroin.
As far as directors go, I find that Michel Gondry is one of the most unique. I have enjoyed all of his movies including Be kind Rewind, The Science of Sleep, and especially Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I had just recently saw The Truman Show which I thought was excellent and one of Jim Carrey’s best performances, and so I was in the mood to watch another serious Jim Carrey movie. My film teacher Mr. Kaufman recommended Eternal Sunshine. I laughed, I cried, and I largely agree with Mr. Cabot’s review of this movie aside from a few incorrect comments he may have made.
Overall I found this film very convincing and well thought out. Jim Carrey was very good in this, and I disagree with Mr. Cabot’s opinion of this being his only great performance. His performances in The Truman Show and Man on the Moon were both phenomenal, and Jim Carrey is one of the few actors I feel could be great if they would stop doing their usual crap. Other than Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet’s work was fantastic and I think the best role she’s ever played. Tim Wilkinson, Kirsten Dunst, and Mark Ruffalo were awesome, and when my friend Owen said oh my god that’s Elijah Wood I almost fell of my chair.
Although I have seen many of the movies he’s written for, I’m no too familiar with Kaufman’s work. His script was remarkable in this movie, and he definitely wrote it with Jim Carrey in mind. Just the little things they said to each other that may have sounded weird and stupid coming from others sounded perfect coming from Jim and Kate. I loved all the tiny little touches that he added in like how Jim Carrey first knew the song “Oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling Clementine” and then when they met again it had been erased so he no longer knew. I do disagree with Mr. Cabot about Kaufman script usually being cardboard cutouts. I thought his work in Synecdoche, New York and Being John Malkovich was rather compelling.
Besides the actors and writers, Gondry’s directing and the special effects he used were amazing. My favorite part was when Jim Carrey was a baby, yet still looked like his older self, and when Kate Winslet was his mother. It was not only hysterical but beautiful at the same time. All the quick changes in environment and setting made it feel like you were in Joel’s memories. This film is really what going to the movies it all about, losing yourself in it.
To me, Aronofsky’s Requeim for a Dream is one of the most powerful and disturbing, yet meaningful movies of all time, with Marlon Wayans with a surprisingly good acting performance and the incredible performance of Ellyn Burstyn, who I agree with Chunk, should have won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar. This movie began at first with some unbelievable camerawork with the split-screen between Burstyn and Leto, which was a very powerful shot that added to the mood immensely. Even though this movie is so disturbing and difficult to stomach, it pays off in the end with the effect of the viewer feeling like he experienced the events that happened on the screen as if they were right there with the actors and actresses themselves.
Very many of the best possible methods of shooting a scene are utilized in this movie. Aronofsky uses the Snorricam to perfection, which is a camera that is strapped onto the actor or actress’ body facing towards them. This is used in many circumstances and helps to add to some scenes where for example, Wayans is running away from the man who was shot in the limo by the driver. There is also use of extremely powerful super-fast montages to connect Burstyn and her diet pills with Leto taking heroin and Wayans smoking pot. These are beautifully done with close ups of drugs being unpackaged, or an eye dilating, or a popping of a diet pill. This film also contained the accompanying music from the Kronos Quartet, which I agree with Chunk, is perfect. The sole thing that I disagree with Chunk about on his review of this movie is that he mentions that Aronofsky might not have lived up to his earlier promise, but me seeing only this movie and parts of Pi, I feel that this movie along with Pi makes him one of the best directors in Hollywood and I think leaves him a place on the history of film.
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Upon seeing the movie Monster’s Inc. on Chunk White’s list, I was extremely pleased. I feel that the true genius of animated film is sometimes over looked in the industry. Pixar is one outstanding film corporation that has taken its works in animation to the next level. Through the years, Pixar films such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo and, more recently, Up, have touched the hearts of both young and old viewers alike. Now, what sets a movie like Monster’s Inc. apart from the rest? I agree fully with Chunk White when he says “I tend to love the Pixar films where they create an entire universe out of whole cloth.” Creating an alternate universe that allows viewers to be fully transported into the colorful and wonderfully humorous “monster world” is exactly what Monsters Inc. manages to do. The amount of time, effort, and imagination that goes into developing a fantasy universe is incomprehensible, and when done correctly can be quite magical. While watching Monster’s Inc. I personally, was entranced by the world of Mike and Sully and began to believe what I was seeing. This was probably due to the fact that the atmosphere of the film was clearly developed with such a meticulous attention to detail. As is rarely the case with animated children’s films, Monster’s Inc. is a movie that captivates me time and time again. Each time I sit down to watch the film I will undoubtedly pick up on more humorous background details and witty one-liners. In addition the beautiful world Pixar creates, two other beauties of the film that cannot be overlooked, are the fantastic development of lovable characters and the way that the film appeals to people of all ages. Modern film and the mindset of today’s viewers make it difficult to create characters that appeal to almost everyone in society. Mike and Sully, the movies two protagonists, are delightfully realistic in that they are both flawed, but lovable despite their flaws. In his blog, Chunk White touches upon the fact that the film is truly not one that young children will ever outgrow. In fact, it is a film that they will grow up with and gain a deeper understanding of as the years go by. Themes in the film such as friendship and the idea of not judging someone before you get to know him/her pertain to all members of today’s society no matter how young or old.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is about Joel, played by Jim Carrey, and his realization that he still loves his ex-girlfriend Clementine, or at least he doesn’t want to lose the memories of her that he was about to lose.
I almost completely agree with the statement “…the movie features Jim Carrey's one great performance, the only time where he's not an annoying man-child or a sentimental sap.” Jim Carrey does very well in convincing the viewer that he really is a quiet, serious, and maybe even a sad man, contrary to what his other movies would show of him. However, the fact that this is the first time when he is not an annoying man-child is not true. Jim Carrey has to get in a little bit of his acting style in when he is in the scene where he remembers being a little kid under the table in the kitchen. He is himself just smaller and more child-like and he is acting very babyish. So, Jim Carrey is literally an “annoying man-child” in this scene. He makes faces and speaks just like a baby would.
Another quote, “...hell, even Frodo isn't too bad,” is 100% true. His stealing of Joel’s lines and other things like it really make me hate him, which is just what his character is supposed to do. When he chased Clementine off of the ice, I didn’t believe for a second that he was sorry and didn’t know what he did, because he clearly did know what he did wrong. He used an exact quote of Joel’s that had been used to clear her memory.
As good as this movie was, I don’t believe a second in thing brought up in this blog. The quote, “one of the many miracles of the film is that we don't even question for a second the plausibility of the idea of the good folks at Lacuna selectively removing memories,” isn’t correct, in my opinion, because throughout the entire movie I doubted this entire technique. It doesn’t make sense that someone could have gotten memories erased and relived them and watched them disappear. I didn’t really believe that someone could map out someone’s brain to see which memories were being thought of and then just delete them.
Finally, I did like this movie, however I did find it confusing to follow the timeline because it jumped back and forth with the only way to differentiate the different times was by seeing the color of Clementine’s hair, which there were around 4 of. But, I would recommend watching this movie because it does have a very special ending that I haven’t seen in many movies throughout the years.
Requiem for a dream is the story of four people trapped in an addiction. Chunk White touched on a very good point in his blog about Requiem for a dream. I totally agree with his idea of the three parts. The main character Harry (Jared Leto) follows the first two of the three parts. Harry the main character gets stuck in the world of using and dealing heroine. In this time he has the ups and the downs with dealing through it whether it be fighting with his addiction or running out of heroine. However, Harry never gets to the third step. Instead of being able to get down and overcome his addiction he continues to get deeper and deeper into the addiction. He is never able to overcome it.
I also agree with Chunk Whites idea that the cinematography is great in Requiem for a dream. However, I feel that Chunk White left out examples of why the cinematography was truly magnificent. The use of close-ups in Requiem for a dream is truly magnificent. What I think is truly remarkable about the close-ups is when the main characters Harry (Jared Leto), Marion (Jennifer Connelly), and Tyrone (Marlon Wayans) Are using heroine instead of showing the characters using the Heroine the camera cuts and zooms in on their pupils as they become dilated. They never actually show the characters sticking a needle into their arm but what the cinematographer does that is so magnificent is instead shows the dilated pupils and the close up of the cutting of the Heroine. This was used as implying the use of the drugs without actually showing the characters using them. Another great use of Cinematography that I noticed was the use of Split screen shots. In the first scene Harry’s mother (Ellen Burstyn) locks herself in the bathroom with Harry still outside. With the use of Split screen shots you are able to see the facial expressions and the actions of both characters while they are having the conversation with each other. It is a great way of showing the emotions of both characters having a conversation from different locations.
I think that Requiem for a dream deserved 100% to be on the top 20 movies of the 00’s and in my opinion this movie might have been one of the best dramas I have ever seen.
After watching the movie Slumdog Millionaire on Chunk White’s list The 20 Greatest Films of the '00's I was pleased. I felt that Danny Boyle did a phenomenal job at directing this movie and it deserved the Oscar that it received. Seeing the slums of India and poverty was very disturbing. I disagree with chunk whites review on Slumdog Millionaire. I believe that Boyle did a great job at portraying the poverty and the way that people lived in the slums. There was garbage dumped everywhere and people had to go through it to eat. They lived in boxes with holes and everyone lived on top of one and other and basically had no privacy. All the clothing that was worn had holes in it or was too small. One mistake that Boyle made was choosing the actors that he did. He chose cute little boys that were likeable instead of choosing boys that were not as cute. If the characters were not likeable and cute then I believe that the story would have been sadder and the way the movie was portrayed would have been worse. This movie also showed unbelievable camera work. Boyle used flashback, close-ups, camera movement, and montage in the film. Because he used these techniques the film came out a lot better. When he used montage it was very good because he kept a voice over narration at the same time. The theme of the movie was very sad. But the actors were very cute and the music was happy. I felt that this film had a not so sad mood but it was also not happy. I liked the music in this film because although we were watching something that was very sad the music was happy so it changed the mood. Slumdog Millionaire was a great movie and I agree it was one of the greatest films from the ‘00’s. I recommend watching this film.
In my opinion one of the greatest movies that I have watched and truly provided me with an actual experience of real life was the film Slumdog Millionaire, directed by Danny Boyle, in the year 2008. It had a great cast which included Dev Patel, Madhur Mittal, Freida Pinto, Anil Kapoor, and Irrfan Khanz. All of these characters were able to exhibit the true nature of Indian culture and life in the slums. Dev Patel plays Jamal Malik, a streetwise “slum” who roams around his poverty ridden village in search for love and a better life. The archetype of a kid searching for what he must do, whether it is love, or just a better lifestyle, can be seen in all of us which is why I feel this movie was so successful. Although many of us have not experienced living in these conditions we can still relate to Jamal.
I agree, in some respect, with reviewer Chunk White in how the movie was able to be a successful Oscar winning film. However, I disagree with his point about how the film was not realistic enough, or how the individual elements of the film were less than original. Chunk said that it didn’t feel appropriate to the culture, because the film was not realistic to the culture and wasn’t able to show what actual “slumming” was like in India. I would like to mention how one of the actresses, Freida Pinto ,who plays Latika in the film, was born in, Mumbai, Maharashta in India, which is very much considered living in the “slums”. She was a big influence to this film due to her insight about the slums and this benefitted Boyle’s knowledge of life in the slums and having a real person to live in the slums and experience life there would definitely make it more realistic. There are some points in the film that are outlandish and unrealistic, such as, how Jamal is able to speak English so well even after growing up in the slums, and how in real like “Who wants to be a millionaire” is a not a real televised program in India, taking away from its realistic nature.
With these minor flaws they were able to lead the viewer off of what is realistic; but with all great films some individual will always believe there are flaws. What can truly be said about the film was how it provided the viewers with a great understanding of love and compassion for someone, and it was easily shown with Jamal Malik (Dev Patel), and Latika (Freida Pinto). Also the great cast allowed for the westerners to connect and finally understand the Bollywood traditions, such as the dance at the end. Therefore, Slumdog Millionaire is a very realistic movie, incorporating Bollywood ideas with things that we can relate to, and the cast did a great job in making people relate to the characters they portrayed, and what is more realistic than that!
-EJ Perez
The Coen Brothers have never been far from boring when it comes to their line of film. Their most recent film, A Serious Man (2009), was definitely a movie to watch. It was funny, dramatic, and did a great job of portraying the life of an American Jewish Family in the 1960s. However, I disagree with Chunk White that it should be on the top 20 greatest films of the 2000s, especially #12. First of all, he states that it is a comic reference to the Coen Brothers’ lives growing up in a predominately Jewish suburb in the 1960s. While they did a good job of portraying this, I still felt like the movie was a 2 hour-long Jewish joke. It seemed to drag on with references to Jewish Tradition and what I find common stereotype of Jewish names, such as “Sy Ableman” (Fred Melamed). Also, they spent too much time trying to get the point across of the way Jewish People are stereotyped to talk, such as saying “goi,” instead of “guy.” To be honest, I felt like they just took all of the stereotypes of a typical Jewish family, and rolled it into a two-hour long movie. The movie could have been funnier if they didn’t make the Jewish jokes go on for the entirety of the film. However, from a literary standpoint, I will agree with Chunk White that it was brilliantly done. Such as how the family curse of never being able to agree started all the way back to Poland in the late 1800s-early 1900s, with a husband and wife fighting over whether bringing the allegedly dead rabbi into the house would curse them, then cutting to the main story in the ‘60s. Also, the ending was very interestingly done, where there was no real conclusion to the film. I would rather not give away the ending, however, it seems that the world is going to end when Danny (Aaron Wolff), finally is able to pay off his debt to the school bully, and when Larry (Michael Stuhlbarg), the Serious Man, accepts a bribe. The movie then cuts to credits, letting your mind run wild with imagination of what might and will happen. But, from a filmgoer’s standpoint, I completely disagree that it should be part of the top 20 list of the 2000s. I happen to know the writer of the blog as an English teacher, who obviously will have more literary insight than an average moviegoer, and unfortunately, that’s where the true genius of the Coen Brothers lies.
In Before Sunset, Richard Linklater takes viewers back to the incomplete love story of Jesse (Hawke) and Celine (Deply), where both protagonists find each other in the same state they were in before: in love with each other. The only difference now, is that the two have been put into different circumstances, Jesse is married and Celine is in a relationship that satisfies her basic needs; both desiring something more than what they have.
Chunk White was wrong when he said, “..we find out that he never showed, and they both moved on with their lives.” Jesse, at first tells Celine that he had not bothered to show up in Vienna but later confides in her that he waited for her for days, and went roaming about waiting for her arrival. Similarly, both charecters Jesse and Celine, had never really moved on from the relationship they shared with each other, both of them confiding in each other of the dreams they had for their relationship, had they met again.
I completely agree with the statement that this movie is, “a rare film from one of the Austin crew that wasn’t made for eight year olds,” because this movie really isn’t as simple as most of the ones that come out. Through his film, Linklater really expresses that not everything is clearcut or in black and white, especially when love comes up. Recent movies always show that love can conquer all, but this movie is trying to show that love accounts for the actions people take; whether it’s love for a spouse, friend, or in Jesse’s case, his son. He’s in a relationship where he thinks he “can’t satisfy” all of his wife’s needs and he only wants to stay in the relationship to ensure his presence in his son’s life. Without the existance of his son, Jesse would most likely be out searching for his true love, Celine.
Throughout the movie, Linklater does a great job with his shots and camera angels. To make a viewer feel as if they are actually walking with Jesse and Celine, he minimizes cuts whenever possible, which really gives the movie a more realistic, feel on the situation. In scenes like this, there is a sense of me as a viewer being a bistander to their reunification and at times it feels as if I was transported to Paris. His use of montage in the beginning of the film shows mundane occurances in Paris; a mother and father walking to a park, people interacting with one another, and others going off to work. It’s trying to express that an ordinary day held something extraordinary for two people. This film really is a great expression of the complexity of love and life and that some people leave a perminant mark on others.
In My personal opinion Slumdog Millionaire was a perfect movie. This movie stars Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) an Indian orphan who is on the game show Kaun Banega Crorepati (who wants to be a millionaire).He is just one question away from winning 20 million rupees. Then the show stops for the night and Jamal is arrested for suspension of cheating. He tells the police about his life and how everything that has happened to him has helped him answer one of the questions. The way that Boyle uses the cut system is very cool. Every time that Jamal would tell us about his life it would show us what was happening. This really put me into the movie and made me think about Jamal’s life and all the bad things that had happened to him. Chunk White said that this movie was a make or break for the director. I agree with this statement because he has not made a lot of great movies. That clearly shows that he put all of his resources into making this movie. Also there was nothing really special that made this movie stick out from all of the other greats of this time. This is a great return after his cold streak. Starting from the movie Trainspotting things just started to go downhill. Movies like 28 days later and Alien Love Triangle were not that successful. I agree with everything that Chunk said. This was a really great movie but not enough was put in to make this movie different. I agree with everything that Chunk White said about this movie and it does disserve one of the top 20 spots in his list.
I am a big folk fan. Since I was a kid my parents have played me many folk and blues songs, either by cd or them singing it themselves. The one thing I loved about it is the realism behind it, and I think that this film exemplifies that. I agree with Cabat with the fact that this was not as funny as Best in Show or This is Spinal Tap, but I must say that this is my favorite of Christopher Guest. I laughed many times throughout the film, but I couldn’t help tear up just a little bit at the ending, not because it was sad, but as Cabat said, it was sweet. The kiss at the end of Mitch and Mickey’s song, though they later shrugged it off as theatrics, was a very touching moment. The songs throughout the songs were perfect as well. They showed with great accuracy family-friendly folk, which reminded me a lot of the Peter, Paul, and Mary that my mom would sing non-stop during my childhood, and a more country side of folk. The one thing that I felt was missing throughout the film was a Dylan-esque character, because in my opinion, there is no folk without mentioning Bob Dylan, though he isn’t so great now-a-days. I really enjoyed the actors chosen for this film. Throughout the film I kept on recognizing face after face of actors who didn’t play large parts, but I’ve seen before, such as Jane Lynch, who I believe is now on Glee, and Fred Willard, who I’ve seen on countless occasions. My favorite actor of them all was Harry Shearer, you played Mark Shubb, the bassist and bass singer of The Folksmen. His voice from the beginning make me chuckle and in the very end when he decided to become a woman, I couldn’t help but laugh out load. Over all, this film was great and I shall suggest it to all folk-enthusiasts I know.
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In the dark fairy tale Pan’s Labyrinth other wise known as El Laberinto Del Fauno directed by Guillermo Del Toro tells the story of a young girl by the name of Ofelia living in the fascist Spain of 1944 who is fascinated with fairy-tales, and surprisingly becomes lured into a fantasy world by a faun she meets. Ofelia is sent to live with her new stepfather, the captain of the spanish army, and her pregnant mother. When Ofelia meets the faun, he tells her that she is a princess and must prove her loyalty to the throne by accomplishing three brutal tasks. Guillermo takes us into a magical world, a world that is away from all of the wrong Ofelia has to deal with while living with the war in Spain and her some what abusive and controlling stepfather.
After being a fan of most of Guillermo Del Toro’s films, this one is by far my favorite. Since Pan’s Labyrinth is told by a little girl, I find it to be even more heartbreaking and brilliant. Guillermo’s use of music is very strong and has a great effect on the viewers, the lullaby that takes place in scenes between Ofelia and Mercedes is haunting yet beautiful. The lullaby plays a very distinct roll in identifying with the movie, it also helps set a gloomy mood for the film. The lullaby creates chills in my spine whenever I hear it, and as Chunk White’s response to the lullaby makes it clear that “it will haunt you forever”.
The whole film is visually breathtaking, but there are some scenes that really made it one of my favorite movies. The scene in which the faun sends Ofelia on a mission to go and get the key from within the toad’s stomach is visually captivating and suspenseful. It is also scary because you don’t know what is going to happen, and since it is a young girl, you hope that she will survive whatever it bound to happen. Another scene that made an impact on me was the scene in which Ofelia is saving her baby brother from her stepfather, the use of cuts and close-ups from the stepfather drinking to her near the baby’s cradle adds remarkable suspense. In Chunk White’s review he expresses a deep emotional connection to the this film, which is exactly what I felt. Del Toro has the ability to create a beautiful film and have everyone who watches it feel connected with the film. Guillermo is pure genius.
I am in agreement with Chunk White’s review of Danny Boyle’s 2008 film, Slumdog Millionaire, for many different reasons. I agree with the fact that the scenes in the film were expected once the film got to those parts such as scenes between siblings and scenes where the main characters would always get separated from each other and then later on were reunited. I also thought that Slumdog Millionaire was a very good movie because it had many twists and turns in the plot throughout the movie. There were mostly flashbacks in the film, which was how the story of Jamal and how he answered all of the questions on “Who wants to be a millionaire”. I felt that the flashbacks told the entire story. I also agree with Chunk’s other statement about how Boyle was rightfully recognized for his brilliance for Slumdog Millionaire. This film must have been very hard for him to film and it must have been very difficult to put it all together into the great film that it turned out to be. The mood or tone of the film changes over the course of the movie. In some parts, such as the scenes where Jamal is on “Who wants to be a millionaire” with an energetic theme, to parts where he is being tortured in the slums or in camps with a dark or scary theme. I feel that this movie is a very important film and is also very good to watch when one has the time to do so. I also feel that Chunk White has made a very good summarization about why Slumdog Millionaire is included in his list of the top 20 films of the 00’s. From watching this film over the weekend and I think that this film is one of the best films I have recently viewed.
One of the most intersting and movie that made me think the most was Children of Men by Alfonso Cuaron. In a film in which Humans are unable to reproduce you see, Alfonso Cuardon gives you one of the worst situations that can happen with riots, violence and chaos happening in the Wolrd. Theo Faron (Clive Owens) does a brillant job at showing the tipical human at this type who has lost hope. What i like about what Alfonso Cuardon is that he took a random guy (Theo Faron) and showed how much people were willing to help to save humanity. I agree with Mr. Cabat in that it was a great idea of the director to offere very little answers to the audience about. The movie doesn't explain why people become infertile and also it doesn't show you what happened to the wrest of the world. Only whats happening in England. I disagree with Mr Cabat about the acting of Julianne Moore as Julian Taylor because she didn't really do anything and she died to early. I agree with Cabat that the scene in which Clive Owen and the mother of the new born baby is amazing. I liked it because all the chaos that is going around and people don't even notice the one chance of hope they have.
Also it was clearly visibile in this film was Alfonso Cuaron filming skills. He used the Single Shot sequences several times even thought it is such a hard technique to use. My personal favorite was the ambush by the rioters of Theo when hes in the car. It didn't use any cuts even thought it was a very complex scene.
David N.
Pixar, the award-winning computer animation company that created Bug's Life and Toy Story has done it again. They have created another masterpiece. This one I believe belongs on the Chunk White blog spot list of the best movies of the decade. The movie is Monsters Inc.
Monsters Inc takes place in the world of Monstropolis, a monster-filled world, powered by screams of children. A giant blue monster, James P. Sullivan (Sulley) and his one-eyed green friend Mike Wazowski, discover what happens when the "real world" interacts with theirs.
The first literary element I noticed was foreshadowing. It was not until I watched Monsters Inc for the second time that I noticed it. In the first scene the monster reviewing films for Monsters orienting for the position of scarer she told them, "leaving the door opened is the worst mistake any employee can make." This scene made the viewer realize that there was more to come involving a door that was left open. In fact the door that was left open was how Boo entered the Monster world.
This movie was quite ironic. The big scarey monsters were afraid of the children. In the scene when Boo escaped from her room Sully trembled with fear. And when a child's sock ws caught on a monster the decontamination squad was alerted.
Conflict was present as well Sully and Randall were involved in conflict over who generated the most energy. This film includes some great animated sequences, including a very fun one when the monsters were looking for Boo's door. The viewer goes down a conveyer belt of doors. The doors, about a thousand of them pop in and out of the human world. The other thing I enjoyed was seeing all of the gadgets and workings in the power factory. They were all very imaginative.
The most wonderful thing about this movie is that it appeals to all members of the family. As Chuck White said "In just about everything they've done (Pixar), they have been able to make children's films that appeal to everyone." My mother and grandmother enjoyed this movie as much as I did.
I believe this film review is accurate and I agree on putting it on the top 20 list for the decade.
Monsters Inc definitely is up on my list for one of the top films of the 00’s. Pixar once again, doesn’t disappoint me. Monsters Inc was a hilarious film, but also had dramatic elements to it. In the world of monsters, James Sullivan (John Goodman) is the top scream generator at Monsters Inc. Monsters Inc is a company that collects childrens’ screams from our world and converts it to a source of energy in their world. When Boo, a young child, gets let out of the real world into the Monster world Sully and Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal), Sully’s co-worker, are on a race against time to locate Boo and return her to her world.
I agree with Chunk White when he says this is probably the most original film of the decade. I loved fact that the writers of this film came up with a whole other world but used imagery from our society. For example, the city that they live in is very similar to our own cities. In one of the earlier scenes in the film Sully and Mike are walking down the street and you see monster children playing jump rope. But instead of using a rope to jump with they are using their tongues. I also loved how they took something familiar like deodorant but instead of making the deodorant a nice smelling scented flavor, the monster scents were “wet-dog” and “garbage”.
Chunk White chooses Monsters, Inc as the best Pixar film because the creators “drop us into a complete fantasy world that we believe in immediately.” We do feel this way from the very start of the movie because one of the first scenes is actually Sully and Mike watching a commercial for the corporation, Monsters Inc. Television viewing and commercial watching are such a large part of our culture that we quickly feel as if we are part of this fantasy world.
I agree with Chunk White in that this film can appeal to all ages. I also feel that although Monsters Inc is often hilarious the deeper themes of friendship and love make this film truly memorable. I would definitely recommend this movie and I can still watch this movie over and over again.
Christopher Nolan’s masterpiece, Memento, was the most thought-provoking but most confusing movie I have ever seen. It follows Leonard (Guy Pierce) who is stricken with short-term memory loss after getting beaten while his wife was murdered. It shows him trying to find the man who murdered his wife.
I agree with Chunk White’s review of the acting in this movie as I felt that all of the major roles in this film were casted perfectly and that the actors truly stepped into their characters shoes. I felt that Guy Piece’s performance, as Leonard who has short-term memory loss was extremely memorable as he allowed the viewer to see his character’s confusion and eventual frustration about his condition. Leonard’s character has no emotional arc, due to fact that he forgets things that occurred minutes after they happened making it ever more difficult for Pierce to portray him.
Similarly to Chunk White, in the beginning I wondered why Nolan decided to film this movie in such a confusing way. By the end of the movie, I was actually enjoying it because it almost allowed the viewer to step into Leonard’s shoes and truly get an understanding of the difficulties that he had to deal with. I differ from Chunk in that he felt that this was a gimmick but I felt that it was essential to improving the movie and giving it a more lasting effect on the viewer as they walk out of the theatre. I feel that Chunk White is correct when he says that Nolan’s delve into the psychology of humans has created an influx of movies that also delve into this similar topic such as Finding Nemo and even Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. This movie definitely reminded me of classic noir films such as Double Indemnity, as in both the viewer know what happened, at the end of the movie, in the beginning and in both the main characters were good people but with a bit of bad luck.
In his review Chunk White didn’t describe the other important, technical elements about the film, such as how the music, and the dialogue affect the viewer’s experience. The music in this film is brilliant and definitely coincides with the events occurring in the movie. The music is most definitely both haunting and inspiring, in particular the opening music. The dialogue is witty but very serious, especially the scene where Leonard is narrating at the end of the movie. I feel that Chunk White did a good job in describing why Memento was number one on his list of the top 20 movies of the 00’s, though he barely touched upon the technical aspects of the film.
- Ethan Levy
Slumdog Millionaire, written and directed by Danny Boyle is one of my all time favorite action/dramas. Slumdog Millionaire is about a teen in Mumbai, India who grew up in the slums. He becomes a contestant on who wants to be a millionaire, where he surprisingly knows every answer. This is why he is accused of cheating, and while he is being interrogated it goes through all the strategic life events that he went through to know these answers. I therefore disagree with Chunk White when I say that Slumdog Millionaire was a very interesting film that I enjoyed to watch. It truly deserved the Oscar that it was given.
The techniques used to make this a great film include: close ups, flashbacks, an appropriate score. Close ups were used commonly throughout the film. They were used to create a more dramatic theme. When someone was going to be hurt or taken a close up on there facially expressions helped the viewer to feel like they were actually in the movie. Another technique used is flashbacks. Without flashbacks this movie would not be the same. This is because the plot of the movie is told through flashbacks when he was being interrogated. The plot is what made this movie very exciting, so without these flashbacks the movie would defiantly not have been as enjoyable. The score is used to make this movie very emotional. For example the who wants to be a millionaire music creates suspense. These are a few ways that techniques are used to make this film one of my favorites. As shown I highly disagree with Chunk White as I found Slumdog Millionaire to be very interesting.
Slumdog Millionaire (Dannay Boyle, 2008). Boyle may be known as “the most slippery of auteurs”, however, there is no question that Slumdog Millionaire is a masterpiece. As unbelievable as it may seem, for the man who directed Sunshine and Millions to do something as spectacular as Slumdog Millionaire, it may be because of the make it or break situation he was in that gave him the push he needed to do great things. Though out the movie the hardships the main character must go through for everyday survival does seem quit realistic and believable. A great example of this is when the main character is a child and you can see how bad his life is living in poverty. The mere fact that this young boy must live with out the guidance of a parent and is forced to bend to cruel world of criminals and forced do horrible things suck as steal and much more. This movie incorporates not only a great story line which teaches about how certain things you go through in life shape who you are but, managed to capture the culture that the slums have. There is not doubt that Slumdog Millionaire is a true work of art.
It’s almost impossible to create a movie with a perfect balance of comedy and drama. The movie Almost Famous, however, does just that. It is centered upon the events that take place in the life of a fifteen–year–old boy, William Miller (Patrick Fugit), as he accompanies the up–and–coming rock band, Stillwater, as it embarks on a tour around the country. William is hired by Rolling Stone to detail the challenges faced by the band during the tour. His overprotective mother, who is intent on having him become the youngest lawyer ever, allows him to go if he follows a set of strict rules, which are broken repeatedly as he tries (albeit without success) to interview Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup), the band’s guitarist and most talented member, over the course of the tour. During his adventure, he meets Penny Lane (Kate Hudson), a “band-aid” who travels with the band, sleeping with Russell while he is away from his girlfriend, and who William begins to find himself falling for as the movie progresses. The movie’s events are centered on William’s attempts to interview Russell and his experiences with Penny and the other band-aides.
Another reviewer of this same film, blogger Chunk White, had similar opinions as I did after watching this masterpiece of a film. One of his ideas, in particular, sums up part of what made Almost Famous so great in a matter of five words: “… everything feels right and real.” The characters seem to function like real human beings and act just like any real person would have done, specifically during the “airplane confessional” mentioned by Chunk White, and the acting performances (specifically those of Fugit and especially Hudson, who won Best Supporting Actress for her role) were all nearly flawless. This film also included the best balance of comedy and drama that I’ve ever witnessed. Writer/director Cameron Crowe included just enough funny parts into this drama film to keep it more light–tipped than many other dramas and to prevent it from becoming overly serious and slow, like some other dramas, but at the same time enough drama to keep the film from becoming a stupid, overdone comedy, like what parts of some other films (Chunk White mentions Jerry Maguire, the prime example of a comedy–drama with too much stupid attempts at humor) end up being. In conclusion, I would consider this one of the best movies I have ever seen and would definitely recommend it to anybody looking for either laughs or a great story.
Shane Ackerman
Whether you’re a young kid just wanting to watch something entertaining or an older adult looking for something that goes beyond the average animated kid’s film Monsters inc. lives up to all that people say about it. As Mr. Cabat says “I'm not just talking animated film here. I tend to love the Pixar films where they create an entire universe”. They create worlds that are pleasing to look at whether you’re a kid or an adult. The art they create has realism too it no matter how unrealistic it is. In the case of monsters inc. the characters are, yes you guessed It monsters, but these monsters are different than your average foe. Pixar the creators of the film took the monsters stereo type and turned it into a job. Meaning the monsters themselves are normal folks just like us, but the jobs they themselves have are to scare children and take their precious scream to use a power source. Never the less the point of what I just said is that they mix up the usual and make it entertaining in a way that is a little different than what you’d expect. At just a glance the movie can seem to be very typical, but if you sit down and watch it you’ll gladly surprised and really enjoy yourself. Whether you’re a little kid a teen or an adult monsters inc. is a movie that if you get a chance I highly recommend sitting down and watching.
Slumdog Millionaire was one of my favorite movies from the past 10 years. Slumdog is about two brothers who are separated from their parents. With no money or parents these two brothers Salim and Jamal Malik are forced to beg for money. As they grow up, Jamal and Salim go down different paths. Salim gets involved with some mobsters who are the head of a prostitution or dancing ring. Throughout the film he gets into trouble with gangsters and the law. Jamal however goes on to live a normal live. When he is a teenager he gets asked to be on Kaun Banega Crorepati which is the same thing as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Danny Boyle makes the use of the cut very effective in this film. The entire movie is based on a series of cuts. After each question is asked on the game show it cuts back to Jamal's earlier life. Jamal had to go through many obstacles during his youth due to the fact he and his brother were homeless. All of the questions he was asked were somehow related to his child hood. Just as Jamal was about to being asked the last question for twenty million rupees, the show was suspended for a night because he was accused of cheating. Jamal was in fact scammed by the game show host who later accused him of cheating before the final question. Jamal was brought to the police and questioned. They went over each question and Jamal explained how he was able to figure out the answers. In order to see the ending question you have to watch the movie. I agree with Chunk Whites review. This movie was a break away from his past movies. Danny Boyle has had some okay movies but no excellent ones. This movie was very good but it did not surpass other movies by much. Compared to his other movies, this movie showed he was stepping up his game and wanted to become more widely known. This movie helped him conquer that feat. I also agree this movie deserves to be in the top 20.
After seeing Monster’s Inc. on Chunk Whites list, I was very happy. I truly feel that Monsters Inc. sets a warm feeling to the viewers both young and old. It is a great movie for the family. This film took animation to the next level. It created another world that allows the viewers to go in the world of monsters, which is full of color and humorous. I agree with Chunk White when he says, “Hilarious, touching and completely pop-culture-reference free this is probably the most original film of the decade.” There hasn't been a film in years to use creative energy as efficiently as Monsters, Inc. The typical child scare of having monster’s in the closet is transformed to a fun and exciting idea. The imagination that goes through this imaginary universe in indescribable. The climax, featuring what's really a suspended roller coaster of closet doors, is as thrilling as it is imaginative. Mike and Sully are realistic in that they both are troublesome however are caring and thoughtful despite their flaws. My favorite part of the film is when Sully accidentally lets into the “monster world” the tiny 4 year old girl, Boo, which is not good because the legend has it that if one touches its toxic and fatal! It causes chaos upon the world. The authorities attempt to hold the creature while decontaminating the workshop. The SWAT agents come in whenever there is a sign of human contact such as the small white sock attached to an unsuspecting monster, which makes its presence know! It is a film that will make the children to grow up with a deep understanding. The morals of film will teach every one of all ages about friendship and not to judge a book by its cover. I highly recommend this fantastic, fun and loving movie to all!
The film Requiem For a Dream directed by Darren Aronofsky released in the year 2000 was a great film and is one of my favorite movies. Although it is thought that it didn’t meet the standards that His other films met such as Pi, The Fountain, or The Wrester, I believe that it was just as good in the aspects that it completely had the elements of a film by Arronofsky and was entertaining, meaningful, yet disturbing. In my opinion I appreciated this film over Pi, because although they are both dark you can relate more to Requiem for a dream because the topic of addiction scenarios is very popular in our current time. The three-clichéd parts of a movie present in most movies were not displayed in the movie. Aronofsky went on to create a film were you don’t receive a feeling of closure. This is because there is no true resolution to the story. You are left with an ending that always sends chills down my spine were Ellen Burstyn has a dream of all she wanted from the bottom of her heart to occur, but was so far from reality it was disturbing. This makes the film more unique then every other film, giving a twisted ending that doesn’t give you a feeling of assurance. The acting was very believable and I agree with Mr. Cabot’s point that the acting was excellent, but I did think Marlon Wayans was not oh so believable. Overall I do think this was an incredible movie. This is one of my favorite movies and I do believe that there is no one like Aronofsky. He is an amazing artist that puts his own signature touch to every film he directs and always creates splendid films that never fail to meet my expectations of an exceptional and outstanding film.
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Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000). Right off the bat your in rewind so instantly with out knowing it everyone is wondering what lead to this, what happened after this, is the main character Leonard seeing this or is it just us? From the start of the movie your guessing on just about every element of Leonard’s life and the ending does not help at all. You meet Leonard right after he has just killed someone that maybe he shouldn’t have. You quickly learn that he has some type of memory problem which keeps him from remembering anything that would lie in his short term memory. he has learned that writing everything down on a picture of his subject is the way he will remember things. I disagree with the statement “Either intentionally or not, Nolan tapped into something very profound about our culture”- Cabat, because after reading parts of Christopher Nolan’s bio’s and veiwing his movie Memento, it is very clear that he wants people to be walking out of his movies questioning not only the movie but self consciously there every day actions. Such as this monologue that is said in Memento “Do I lie to myself to be happy". This is a very real and scary idea to ponder about for many people. In our culture today murders are happening all the time, for good and bad reasons, some just for the sake of being evil, or for some to get back at someone to make them selves try and feel equal. Here we see Leonard trying to find his wife’s killer but is always taking two steps back after advancing one. I completely agree with Mr. Cabats ideas when he says “what does it say about us that #1 and #3 on this list feature either self-induced memory loss or deliberately misremembering something too painful to bear ”. Although Memento is about someone who cant seem to bear with the pain of losing someone. I believe its more then that, I think that its more that he does not want to remember, then he cant.
Luke Unger
After reading Chunk White’s blog and his review on Monsters, Inc., I would have to agree with him that it is almost certainly the most original film of the decade. Monsters Inc., along with Toy Story are both great ‘have to see movies’ by Disney’s Pixar. Pixar has always produced such great movies that are loved by people of all ages. Monsters Inc. is the story of James P. Sullivan played by John Goodman and Mike Wazowski, Billy Crystal. They work for Monsters Incorporated, and they basically produce energy from children’s screams that they get from our world. Inside Monsters Incorporated, the monsters enter hundreds of children’s rooms a day and take in there screams by a special machine. Then they use the screams as their source of energy. Sully is the greatest scream generator at the incorporated, and Mike is his partner. Things don’t go to well when Boo, a young child in our world, takes an adventure back to the monster world with Sully. Mike and Sully must get Boo back to her world before it is too late.
When Pixar studios created this in 2001 it was an immediate hit. This movie is just a good laugh. But besides that, the movie was created in very detailed and interesting manners. While watching the movie, it looks so real and believable. Not the monsters though, of course. The fact that the Monsters life is very similar to ours. They drive cars, walk to work and the children take part in fun everyday activates. But then it’s also funny to see how different the monsters life is from ours, and look at all of the monsters. It must have taken very talented people to think up all the characters and what they would look like and act for this movie. From sullies girlfriend having snakes for hairs, to the Mike a big green ball with one big eye. From the start of this movie it’s just hard to stop watching because it becomes almost so believable. As Chunk says, Pixar does drop us into a complete fantasy world that we believe in immediately.
The movie is not purely just about monsters, but Pixar takes it to the next level, of friendship, love and compassion. You see this just by the way Sully and Mike begin to actually care about Boo and love her. At the start they were completely afraid of her and did not know what to do. So I would have to agree with Chunk White 100 percent on his review of Monsters Inc. This movie is truly a must see for anybody who enjoys a simply funny movie. Pixar did a fantastic job on the movie and it does deserve to be in the top 20 movies of the past decade.
In 2003, after not directing a movie in six years, Quentin Tarantino came out with Kill Bill: Vol. 1, the first part to a two volume series. Originally, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 were supposed to be released as one three hour film, but instead were released in two parts with Kill Bill Vol. 2 being released a year after the first. This might have downgraded the film but it is still, in my eyes, nothing short of incredible.
Tarantino’s films are very unique. Each one of his films has a certain style that can’t be mimicked by any other director. Kill Bill is one of those movies. It has a very interesting plot and as you said a “sticky” screenplay. This helps captivate the watcher to the point that you find yourself rooting for a former assassin to find her child and satisfy her need for revenge. I believe that these two things along with beautifully directed fight scenes make Kill Bill well worthy of the top 20 list.
Although I do agree with you on its sticky screenplay and placement on the list, I believe that you did not mention the most important thing of what makes this movie so great. Just as in Memento (#1 on the list) Kill Bill (not only between the 2 volumes, but also within each one) jumps back and forth in time. This makes each scene unique because it is usually preceded and followed by another scene that is not chronologically right before or right after the scene. This gives makes each scene kind of like a short film of its own, and the entire movie a collection of these short films in order of relevance rather than time. For example, before the Crazy 88 scene and O-Ren’s murder, we see the anime origins of O-Ren. In Part II, the scenes jump back and forth from her training with Pai Mei and present time in her seek of revenge. Not only do we understand her better as she is after Bill and her former accomplices, but we see how she learned to punch through wood from a close distance before she breaks out of the grave. We also see how she learned the five point palm exploding heart technique before she Kills Bill in his own home.
Another thing that makes this film so great is not only the story and how its told, but the excellence in which the movie was shot. I Kill Bill he portrays the crazy and deadly Japanese arts of fighting. Although the violence is somewhat over the top for most people, it heightens the intensity of the film and almost pokes fun at old Japanese B-Movies. This is especially evident in the scene where Beatrix Kiddo wipes out the Crazy-88’s. Although violent, Tarantino has a way of downgrading the violence. In Kill Bill, he uses color, music, sounds and other things that are not fitting for the scene. For example, the first half of the Crazy 88 scene is in Black and White. Camera placement also makes the film as brilliant as it is. During the crazy 88 scene, Tarantino places the camera underneath the glass floor looking up at The Bride. This is a common film technique to show that the character is a figure of power, and she certainly proves to be invincible after she takes down the 88’s. Another example of good camera placement is when she is fighting with Gogo Yubari (Chiaki Kuriyama). During that scene we see The Brides’ point of view of the fight when the metal spiked ball goes flying directly towards the camera. Tarantino does this to make the viewer feel like they are the ones fighting. Another great thing that Tarantino does in his films is to incorporate comedy into his violence. For example, after she takes down 87 of the crazy 88’s, there is one remaining that is scared. Tarantino uses the character’s cowardice to add humor and lighten up the scene.
All these different elements of film that Tarantino uses makes his films unique and no less than brilliant.
In 2000, Darren Aronofsky made a film called “Requiem for a Dream”. This masterpiece is quite possibly one of the most thought-provoking and moving films in this decade. This movie is about four peoples’ addictions and how they progress during their now shortened lives. Jared Leto, as Harry, and Marlon Wayans, as Tyrone, are looking to make some money to both feed their addictions to heroin and to help save up some money on the side. To do this they decide to sell heroin. This eventually leads to them always having a steady supply of drugs to feed their own addictions, thus making them even more addicted. Ellen Burstyn, as Harry’s mother, is a lonely widow who is in love with a television program about self-confidence. She gets a spam mail that gives her the false hope that she will end up on her show. This makes her feel self-conscious and she goes to the doctor to help her lose weight. She is prescribed an amphetamine, which eventually leads to her addiction of speed. I agree with Chunk White when he said that Aronofsky possibly the greatest American filmmaker of his generation. This is because of his great directing in this movie. An example of this great directing is all of the cuts during the consumption of the different drugs in the movie, such as the cuts between the breaking of a cigar, to the cigar leaf being lined with marijuana, to it being rolled and smoked. I also agree with Chunk when he says that Jared Leto and Jennifer Connoly are strong and believable. This is because of their great acting as drug addicts whose lifestyle choices lead to the eventual downfall of their existence. I also agree with Chunk when he says that this film goes against the grain of traditional film in that the characters don’t eventually “get back down from the tree” and instead they keep falling into a deeper hole in which they can’t climb out of, in this case a drug addiction. The dark ending of the movie portrays the bottoms of the pits that the characters have gotten themselves into, such as prison, mental illness, and emotional instability.
Upon seeing Slumdog Millionaire as a result of reading Chunkwhite’s 20 Greatest films of the 2000’s I must say that I don’t agree with all of Mr. White’s assessments of this Oscar winner. Chunk did get it right though when he said that it was a make or break film for director Danny Boyle, but I think he came threw far more than Chunk acknowledges. Boyle does a great of not only casting a little known actor in Dev Patel to play the lead in this film, but uses one of the most unique ways to unfold a plotline, something that really allows the viewer to understand a character’s past, present and future. His use of an answer, referring to a significant moment in Jamal’s life, to each question on the game show is a little cliché but it does deliver perfectly and sets the tone of this movie in a way better than any other method could. It is an interesting and innovative way to not only allow the viewer to feel like they are actually watching the game show, but is a great way to tie together Jamal’s life and show the true importance of this moment for Jamal. This unique style of story telling with the use of flashbacks and excitement, I felt was incredibly unique. I also don’t agree with Chunk’s assessment that the movie “didn’t feel like cultural appropriation or orientalist slumming”. Was Mr. White asleep for some of the scenes in this movie that revolved around Jamal’s tough life growing up on the streets of India? I think the slumming is portrayed perfectly, particularly in the scene where Jamal witnesses a child being forced to loose his eye for extra money. I suspect Chunk was probably just caught up in the fact that the childhood actors that were suppose to really portray the “slumming” happened to be well put-together kids who most would figure weren’t necessarily struggling like the characters they were playing in the movie. This could be to the fault of Boyle and his inaccuracy to truly give the roles to children who would show the difficulties of life in India for Jamal and Latika more accurately, but this minute issue hardly ruined an otherwise magnificent film.
Usaully i dont watch animated movies because i tend to not like them but When i saw Monsters Inc by Pixars Studios i thought it was one of the greatest movies i ever seen.It was definatly original i never seen any movie like it I would also agree that monsters inc is one of the greatest movies from pixar perhaps the greatest mostly because it is not just a childrens movie anyone can watch this movie and feel something from it. I also agree that this movie was hilarious it made me out of my seat at some points but what i mostly agree with is when chunk white said this movie was touching. I completly agree with that statement because J.P Sulivan meet this little girl which he was terrified of, but when he got to know her he grew fond to her and even gave her name boo. J.P treated boo like his own and protected her, took care off her, and went through alot of difficulty in trying to bring her back into the human world. Throughly all their adventures J.P and Boo grew closer and closer and started bonding.In my opinon the most touching part off the movie was toward the end when J.P had to let Boo go it showed how much he cared for her and how much she cared for him. It was beautiful and sad knowing that they couldnt see each other again. this movie also had one of the greatest endings i've seen when J.P thinking he would never be able to see Boo again because they smashed her door finds out that his best friend mike rebuild it and when he open it you ever the sound of her voice and then the movie ended. I love happy endings and i tough it was genious.
Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000) stands out to me as the most unusually structured movie I have ever seen. I agree with Chunk’s observation that the movie initially seems to be confusing for confusion’s sake; the first few minutes are disorienting, mostly due to the nonchronological arrangement of the scenes. The first few scenes seem totally disconnected, but eventually the scenes begin to fit in to the rest of the movie. The sentence fragments scrawled on Leonard’s Polaroids, which initially seem enigmatic, are explained throughout the movie in a series of ‘aha’ moments. It is only once the notes begin to make sense that one can see the extent of Leonard’s difficulty in ascertaining the truth. Leonard’s biggest problem is determining the context in which his notes were written; they often turn out to be contradictory, and Leonard has to rely on basic memory functions (habituation, sensitization, conditioning) to guide his decisions. Chunk said this well when he wrote ‘form reflects content’; the distorted timeline, which could easily have contributed nothing to the plot, ended up being the reason for the plot. Nolan does an outstanding job in conveying the uncertainty inherent in Leonard’s daily life; although I (collectively, the audience), could eventually piece together parts of the movie and predict what will happen next, all of my predictions were shattered during the course of the movie so that by the end I had given up and just went along for the ride. The part of the movie that WAS chronological, the story of Sammy Janis, was excellent – the flashback sequences were immaculately done, often even better than the ‘main’ segments of the movie. Guy Pearce was excellent in a role that must have been exceedingly difficult, as was Joe Pantoliano as Teddy. I haven’t watched too many movies made in the ‘00s, but memento was definitely one of the best, in large part by virtue of being the most original.
-Lee Golos
Rachel Getting Married shows the weekend of Rachel’s wedding and how she and her family deal with her sister Kim’s (Anne Hathaway) return home for the occasion. Kym has been in rehab for the past nine months and is desperate for a little attention when she comes home. It is later learned that Kym was to blame for her younger brother’s death, making her, as she calls herself “Shiva the destroyer, your harbinger of doom.” The interesting fact about the score to the movie is that there is only music when there is live music being physically played in the scene. So for example, in many moments where there is a tension height, there is no music because there isn’t anyone playing. In fact, in one particular scene Kym yells at the musicians to stop playing. The film is very raw giving it a homemade kind of look, as if it is a home movie. Chunk White points out two particular scenes in his blog, Kym’s wedding toast and Ethans plate. In the scene with Kym’s wedding toast, she makes an odd attempt to apologize for all of the wrongs she made towards her sister as part of her “12-step program.” The toast is awkward and out of place, like Kym, with all of the other toasts made. While others share happy memories they’ve had with Rachel, Kym fails to think of one due to her time in rehab. The other scene Chunk White pointed out was the one with Ethan’s, the younger brother who was killed, plate. In this scene the mood is fun and easygoing. Kym’s father and Rachel’s fiancé are jokingly seeing who can put the most plates in the dishwasher the quickest. Upon running out of plates, Kym hands her father a new stack consisting of Ethan’s plate. The laughter suddenly stops and another mistake of Kym’s is highlighted. Both scenes highlight honest mistakes of Kym that are turned into a larger deal because of the accident that killed Ethan and people’s trust towards her. The movie correctly illustrates the relationship between siblings and parents and their children.
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They have done it again, Pixar one of the most acclaimed animated film corporation has created another heart-warming film, Monster’s Inc.. It is one of the greatest and most creative Pixar movies created. It is on Chunk White’s list, for its creativity and innovation of animated films. Pixar is one the innovating film corporations especially in the animated field, coming out with all of the Toy Stories and Finding Nemo. Chunk white says “I tend to love the Pixar films where they create an entire universe out of whole cloth.” In other words the critic enjoys when Pixar movies create a parallel universe or a fantasy world that people love to see. The development of the two very complex protagonists both Mike and Sully are two very different characters who end up playing a similar role in the movie. Sully starts out as a powerful and intense character and mike plays an almost dimwitted assistant, both later become father figures towards the young child that they refer to as “boo.” Although both are flawed in the way that they take care of the young child they are both commended for their effort in the fact that they are in new territory. Although there is a sort of serious under tone to the movie there are many ways in which the movie is very funny. Which is why as Chunk White says that people who grew up on this movie will have a tough time trying to separate themselves from it because of its overall genius. Another defining part of the movie which I hate to admit makes me quite sad is when they visit “boo” again at the end of the movie. As this movie is very funny and charming and appealing towards children, at the same it has some points in which an older person would say this actually has some sort of real world relevance and addresses real world problems.
Adam Hoffman
I agree with Mr. Cabat’s sentiment about Gondry, Eternal Sunshine was truly a great film. I do however, disagree about Science of Sleep, the only other Gondry movie that I have seen. I will concede that it is creative, and it has many themes that are similar to Eternal Sunshine, such as the aforementioned childlike sensibilities, but as a whole I found the movie a bit unimpressive. The special effects did not look like those of a film made by a professional such as Gondry, it looks more like something a film student would do for their senior project. Coming back to Eternal Sunshine, I agree that Gondry does a good job of finding the fine line between “touching and naïve” and “cloying”, and staying on the side of the former. With the odd plot and imaginative notions of memory and the self, it takes skilled screenwriting and acting to be able to pull it off without looking foolish, yet everyone did a fine job. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen any of Charlie Kaufman’s other movies, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one and hope to see more. In terms of acting, the lead actors Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet both delivered strong performances. It is to be expected of Winslet, but I was pleasantly surprised at the hidden talents of Jim Carrey. Who knew he was capable of dramatic acting? I would like to see him do more non-comedy. The supporting cast was also very convincing, including “Frodo”. The part of the movie I enjoyed most was the implications made about memories and reality. From the surrealism to even the fatalism(that even though their memories were erased and circumstances changed, the outcome was the same) , everything in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind worked perfectly.
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In agreement with Chunk White, I can easily say that Slumdog Millionaire, directed by Danny Boyle, is one of my favorite movies of the decade. In this action packed drama, Jamal Malik, played by Dev Patel, is a street kid running through the filthy slums of India. Through luck, and much experience, Jamal has landed an appearance on the extremely popular Indian T.V. game show, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? He is marked for being a cheater after the producers question his ability to get every question correct. From here, Jamal is arrested and interrogated by the police, and the audience finds out that the events in his past hold the answers to all of the questions.
Monsters Inc. was a truly remarkable film in my opinion. Monsters Inc. is a about a different world of Monsters which is powered by the screams of children. The monsters think that the children are harmful to them but they really aren’t. One of the monsters Sully gets attached to one of the children. He goes through a whole bunch of shenanigans to get the child safely back home and shut down the corporation that scares children for power. Pixar throughout the years has made great movies but this one is my all time favorite. People put down animated movies because they are childish but this movie truly was fun for all ages. By creating this alternate universe, it stretches the imagination for it viewers. It takes a lot of time and hard work to make animated movies and to give characters their own personalities but Pixar has surpassed these difficulties to make a masterpiece. Chunk White has the right idea about this movie it is easily the best out of all the Pixar movies. Cartoons have been for children in the past but this movie is for all ages with its sense of humor. I was able to enjoy this when I was 6 and I’m still able to enjoy it when I’m 14. When the whole entire Monster world goes into panic because a human is running around is a clever take on monster movies like Godzilla, and King Kong. In this seen everyone is running around to get away from the human and when you watch a movie like Godzilla the same types of havoc and chaos is caused. I think this is Pixar’s take on a its on Monster movie spoof. The way they reversed the role of human and monster makes a person have more of a connection to the monsters. The humans in the movie are the ones that the whole entire monster society is scared of opposed to our society when humans are scared of monsters. This film breaks the barrier that there are other universes that are inhabited by monsters. Pixar has made a grounded breaking film that has influenced other films such as the new film Planet 51. Today Pixar has made many great films that have truly influenced animated movies today such as DreamWorks movies. Pixar is not done make great films like this and I believe they will have more great films in the next decade.
sry forget the first one didnt copy the whole thing
Zachary Kahn
In agreement with Chunk White, I can easily say that Slumdog Millionaire, directed by Danny Boyle, is one of my favorite movies of the decade. In this action packed drama, Jamal Malik, played by Dev Patel, is a street kid running through the filthy slums of India. Through luck, and much experience, Jamal has landed an appearance on the extremely popular Indian T.V. game show, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? He is marked for being a cheater after the producers question his ability to get every question correct. From here, Jamal is arrested and interrogated by the police, and the audience finds out that the events in his past hold the answers to all of the questions.
Throughout the film, you cannot help but to think, “will he ultimately win it all or lose everything he’s ever loved, including the girl of his dreams?” In agreement with Chunk White I think Boyle really got it right. The way he intertwined the game show with the tragic events of Jamal’s past shows how much of an auteur he really is. In the film, Boyle strategically uses many different techniques to help express the complex story of Jamal’s life in the slums of India. The most obvious but necessary of the bunch is the use of flashbacks. Through the use of flashbacks, Boyle can tell Jamal’s life story by showing important events in his past and then relating it to the events in the present. This helps the audience make connections to the characters or to other points in the movie and therefore makes watching Slumdog an adventurous puzzle all in itself. Boyle also uses the “close-up effect” where a director will often shoot a scene between characters only showing their faces. This interesting but common use of the camera helps describe the drama and tension that is present during a scene. Lastly, Boyle often uses the idea of “camera motion” often to depict progression throughout the story line. Although this technique may be somewhat clichéd, it doesn’t take away from the storyline at all. This technique of showing and signifying when Jamal moves from city to city in India, helps viewers who are not aware of the significance of each place, understand it easier and more clearly.
I must disagree with Chuck White though when he says, “it didn't feel like cultural appropriation or orientalist slumming.” What are you saying Chuck!? Slumdog excellently showed the difficult life Jamal, Salim, and Latika lived in the slums. In the film, Mumbai is portrayed as a place of terrifying poverty and constant brutality where Jamal and Salim fall into a never-ending series of challenging situations. This is seen especially in the opening scene of the movie where Jamal and Salim are playing ball and are violently forced to run for their lives from the police. The film vividly shows an array of unique literary elements as the audience sees Jamal grow up, fall in love, and coming close to death several times. Both the mood and tone of the movie revolve around the hash life of a child living in the slums. In all, Chunk got it right when they said that Slumdog is one of the best movies of the 21st century.
One of the things that make Monsters Inc. so enjoyable is that everyone can enjoy it. Most animated films would only be appealing to young kids. But I find that adults along with their children can enjoy this movie. Although, adults can have a different appreciation for it that kids might not realize. This movie is one of the most creative and unique films created because of the magical, fantasy world James P. Sullivan and Mike Wazowski live in. These two lovable characters work in a power company that generates their energy off of children’s screams. When James P. Sullivan (known as Sully) accidently lets a little girl into the factory it causes chaos and commotion throughout their city of Monstropolis. Although Sully learns to love the little girl who he names “Boo” as if she was his own daughter. This is one of the aspects of this film that make it agreeable for everyone. Normally, I wouldn’t have high expectations for an animated film but on the contrary, this film has a truly clever plotline. I think it really takes a talented team to think of a story like this one and make it believable and convincing. I think Pixar has an extraordinary way of taking the viewer into a land out of this world and somehow I found myself really believing what I saw. Pixar takes realistic personalities, flaws, and social interactions and puts them into a whole new setting which makes the film relatable to us. For example, Mike Wazowski is a small guy but tries to come off as tough and confident, which is a personality we might see in our everyday lives. Chunk White describes this feeling as “drops us into a complete fantasy world that we believe in immediately”. This feeling is what put a Pixar film on this list of The Greatest Films of the 00’s. This film is without a doubt heartwarming in the most one of a kind way.
Requiem For a Dream, directed by Darren Aronofsky, has arguably created one of the greatest dramas of this decade. This movie pertains to four people with very similar problems and how they deal with they're drug addictions. Along with the making of Pi, these movies are two of the darkest films you may ever see. Requiem For a Dream may be one of the most disturbing films to watch in maybe all of film history but at the same time it sends across an unbelievable message. It is almost a guarantee that after a person watches this film, it almost manipulates your mind into showing you what can if you take drugs and each problem each character goes through.
According to Chunk White's blog, he states that his in the making of his characters, "refuses us that third step (get your characters stuck up a tree, throw stuff at them, and then get them down), as his characters descend into an indescribable hell." Harry, played by Jared Leto and his girlfriend Marion, played by Jennifer Connelly, are both two characters who are both casted as best as possible in my opinion. The make-up artists did an exceptional job in transforming each character into looking like an authentic drug addict. These characters do such an exceptional job, that it is almost that you are watching what may actually happen in real life. Harry's friend Tyrone, played by Marlon Wayans, too displays an exceptional act. I believe that Marlon should transform is resume from being a mostly comedy actor to mostly dramas. His performance gave me another look on life, and let me no how thankful you should be to have health and just lead a strong life as opposed to his confusing and miserable one. Ellen Burstyn was as well an unbelievable supporting actress. Her playing Harry's mother too gave you an idea that even the sweetest and nicest of people can turn into something you have never expected. Chunk White has described each character and their addictions as being, "an indescribable hell." As a viewer looking up each action just gives you a queazy feeling, and really makes you avoid drug use in every case possible.
Although the characters did an sensational job, it was not only them that made this one of the greatest dramas in the past ten years. Aronofsky was sensational in making each scene look like absolute "hell." At certain parts you had to turn your head because the music along with the use of close-ups, brought you into the scene. As each character shot up with heroin or snorter cocaine, Aronofsky provided the viewer with a close-up of the dilation of the pupils an the cells as the drugs are placed into the body. The use of quick cuts brought the viewer into the addiction and created a disturbing yet exceptional scene.
All in all, Aronofsky has left his viewers behind a sensational film about important aspects of life. Chunk White states that he believes Aronofsky can be the greatest fimmaker of his generation and i deeply agree with this statement because I was absolutly blown away with this film. I feel that out of all the great movies he has made, this ranks number one.
oh wow. so many people commented. was this an assignment for film? hahaha.
WHERE'S CITY OF GOD CABAT?
Director of Kill Bill, Quentin Tarantino is a brilliant film director by today’s standards. Kill Bill is an amazing film with creative directing skills shown by Quentin Tarantino. As Mr. Cabat pointed out, Kill Bill is a masterpiece. Kill Bill is a masterpiece because of many well directed scenes such as the House of Blue leaves scene and the scene where Beatrix digs out of her own grave. Throughout the House of Blue Leaves scene, the intense fighting style shown is unbelievably amazing. Despite the gruesome deaths everyone faces, it was an amazing scene that made the movie extremely enjoyable. Quentin used many techniques throughout the scene such as close ups and many visual effects. Some of the visual effects included pulling an eye out and the evisceration of limbs. The scene where Beatrix digs out of her own grave is another one of the scenes that adds to the masterpiece of Kill Bill, as Mr. Cabat stated, “…and my favorite: Beatrix digs herself out of her own grave as he recalls her cruel tutelage at the hands of Pai Mei”. This is another brilliant scene because Quentin Tarantino because he creates this film using many different perspectives that makes the viewer believe that they are inside the grave. As you use Beatrix beat her hands on the wooden grave, it is as if you can feel her pain. As Cabat said, “And amazingly, Uma makes the moment real, convincing and even touching.” I agree with this statement because every scene with Uma convinces me that the scene is real and you can feel the pain that she is experiencing. For example, when Beatrix got out of the hospital with her paralyzed legs, you can feel her pain when she is trying to free her legs of paralysis. It was so real that I myself started to wiggle my own legs thinking that I was in her position. This film is no doubt one of the top 20 films of the decade.
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