Andy: Number eight for me is the 2004 drama Sideways (R). Alexander Payne directed this film based on the well regarded Rex Peterson novel of the same name.
Paul Giamatti and Thomas Hayden Church are on a bachelor’s week in California’s wine country before Church’s wedding. The two display various modes of irresponsibility, eventually meeting up with two women, played by Viginia Madsen and Sandra Oh.Sideways is a movie about people who love fine wine, and I don’t love fine wine at all. After watching the movie again recently, I was struck by how much I was able to connect with this movie in spite of so much of the action centering around something I don’t really care about. Part of the appeal is that the movie is beautifully shot by Alexander Payne. The composition is impeccable, with Payne juxtaposing the beautiful rolling vineyards and mountains with the awkwardly authentic used car lot on the highway the main characters walk by each time they visit their favorite wine-tasting restaurant. In addition to the well constructed visuals, the acting is top-notch all the way around. Paul Giamatti did not even receive an Oscar nomination that year, and that is probably one of the biggest oversights of the entire decade. The Academy tried to make up for this by nominating him the following year for his supporting role in the largely forgettable Cinderella Man, but the more difficult and nuanced performance was clearly in Sideways. Virginia Madsen did get a well deserved Oscar nomination. In a key scene about half way through the movie, she explains why she fell in love with wine in the first place, and it is probably one of the best-acted monologues from the past ten years.
Upon first viewing, Sideways does not seem like it is a great movie, but it grows on you. The ridiculousness of the story combined with great directing and acting make it a movie that has virtually no flaws. It is clearly one of the best pieces of filmmaking this decade.
Ryan: High Fidelity (2000) scores the number eight position on my list. In the film John Cusack stars as a snobbish record star owner trying to deal with his messed up love life.
I kept trying to think of reasons to leave High Fidelity (directed by Stephen Frears) off my list. It's a film that I've always really liked and I kept feeling that my subjectivity was trumping my objectivity when evaluating the film. If one considers themselves a music elitist or a habitual list maker or a person who over analyzes every aspect of their life, especially with regard to romantic relationships, then High Fidelity is a movie that hits close to home and consequently it did with me. But upon reviewing it two things struck me. One, it's an extremely well-made film that holds together stronger than (almost) any other romantic-comedy of this era. And secondly, and this is what really sold it for me, High Fidelity succeeds as a swan song for the '90's. It was based on a 1995 Nick Hornby book (of the same name) and was in production and filmed during the late '90's. So subsequently it captures the zeitgeist of the '90's (at least with regard to hipsters) while also tapping into the self-absorbed attitude that permeated throughout the decade. Some movies just have it with regard to reflecting a specific time, place and feeling and High Fidelity definitely delivers on that premise.
Andy: Speaking of films using music to reflect a time period, Almost Famous (2000) cracks my list at number seven.
Much like Ryan’s dilemma with High Fidelity, I kept thinking that this movie would not make my final ten, but in a recent viewing of the film it became clear that this is one of the most epic movies of the decade. Cameron Crowe wrote and directed this loosely autobiographical tale of a young rock writer (Patrick Fuget) on assignment for Rolling Stone Magazine. He has to interview a rock star (Billy Crudup) while managing his relationship with a “band-aide” (Kate Hudson), and his mother (Francis McDormand).What is perhaps most striking about Almost Famous ten years later is the impact it has made on Hollywood as well as on me personally. Cameron Crowe had a pretty rough decade for a director, but he started it off with what I have come to think of as his best movie. There are so many memorable aspects of the movie that it seems almost impossible that it is even from this decade. Stillwater’s (the film’s fictional band) song “Fever Dog” might as well actually be a 70s rock anthem. Catch phrases abound from “It’s all happening,” to “I am a golden god!” The ensemble cast is much more recognizable now than when the movie came out. Zooey Deschenal, Jason Lee, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Jimmy Fallon have all seen their star rise since this movie came out, and Rainn Wilson (The Office) even makes an appearance. From a personal standpoint, I don’t think any movie from the past ten years has invaded my vernacular quite like Almost Famous, from Jimmy Fallon’s refrain of “respectfully,” to Rolling Stone’s Ben Fong-Torres saying “cray-zee…,” there are things that I say so regularly that it’s hard to believe they came from this film. And if a film stays with me that well, there is no way to keep it off the ten best of the decade.
Ryan: Coming in at number seven on my list is Alfonso Cuaron's dystopian sci-fi thriller, Children of Men (2006).
Set in the not so distant future Children of Men (starring Clive Owen and Julianne Moore) imagines a world where women are unable to bear children. Needless-to-say the fabric that holds society together unravels in a world without children and a world without a hope.Children of Men cracks my list because it's an immensely powerful film. It works not only as a great piece of science fiction--challenging audience members while also entertaining them--but it also reflects current societal problems as well. Throughout the decade it was (mostly) the genre pictures (also think of V for Vendetta and Batman Begins) that best dealt with the challenging philosophical questions of our contemporary society. But it was Children of Men that best processed those fears and questions into a fully realized fable of our times. Cuaron deserves immense praise for crafting a movie that's modern in its storytelling and filming techniques but timeless in its exploration of the human condition. Clive Owen also deserves a lot of credit for the film's success as it takes a special kind of actor to effectively appear in (almost) every scene in the movie.
That’s all for this week. Stay tuned in future weeks for the remainder of our countdown.
No comments:
Post a Comment