Without further ado…

Best in Show (2000, Christopher Guest)

I wanted to make sure a straight comedy got in here. The latter half of the Aughts saw the triumphant return of the rated-R comedy, from Knocked Up to The 40-Year-Old Virgin to The Hangover. Any of these are worth considering; but I’m going a different route with Best in Show, Mr. Guest’s finest outing at his trademark mockumentary format.

Just like a well-done documentary, it lets you make fun of the ridiculous characters while empathizing with their love—irrational, like all love—for their dogs. A few of the humorous bits are a bit too broad (you’re gay, we get it) but you’re usually giggling too much to care.

Life Imitating Art: When the owner of the poodle playing Rhapsody in White was presented with this movie, she didn’t read the full script. When she realized that her dog would not be winning ‘Best in Show’ at the end of the movie, she quickly pulled the dog out of production. The crew had to get a different poodle and spray paint its fur so it looked exactly the same.
Continue reading Best movies of the Aughts, Part 2 →

I spent a little time on the drive down to San Antonio the other night discussing the films of the decade with my wife, since so many professional critics have had their crack at it (here’s Ebert’s).

It’s hard to concoct such a list off the top of one’s head; we couldn’t even remember which movies came out in the last ten years—it’s a long time. Slight difficulty is added by the fact that 1999 was one of the best years for movies ever, too. So those are all out.

But using a complex system of red felt pen and index cards, we perused the Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for the last ten years, the IMDB Top 250, and our own foggy memories. This list is semi-collaborative, though MB had a few differences.

One more note: it’s funny how tastes change over time. I made annual “best of” lists from 1999-2002, and flicks that were somewhat down the list at the time (I marked Almost Famous as the 6th-best of 2000) have not only held up but proven themselves to be classics.

Okay, enough talk, let’s get crackin.
Continue reading Best movies of the Aughts, Part 1 →

It’s crossed my mind before that 1999 – spanning my 3rd and 4th years of college – was a damn good year for movies. Just ran across this list, and realized how amazingly right I was. Some of these movies made me cry from their goodness.

I put a star next to movies that I would consider in my personal "top 100." Eight in just one year!

(Lifted from No Kubrick Movie Is Just A Movie: 10 Years After Eyes Wide Shut)
Stanley Kubrick, Eyes Wide Shut
Terence Malik, The Thin Red Line [1]
George Lucas, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace [2]
The Wachowski Brothers, The Matrix
David Cronenberg, eXistenZ

It’s like The Matrix with fleshy placentas instead of machines.

David Fincher, Fight Club*
David Lynch,The Straight Story
Spike Jonze, Being John Malkovich* [3]
Michael Mann, The Insider
Paul Thomas Anderson, Magnolia

Respect the cock.

Sam Mendes, American Beauty* [4]
Robert Altman, Cookie’s Fortune
Alexander Payne, Election*
M. Night Shyamalan, The Sixth Sense
Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, The Blair Witch Project*
Brad Bird, The Iron Giant*
Guy Ritchie, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Steven Soderbergh, The Limey

"Say General Zod again."

Mike Judge, Office Space*
Tom Tykwer, Run Lola Run*
Julie Taymor, Titus
John Lasseter, Toy Story 2
David O. Russell, Three Kings [5]

[1] I cheated. It was released in Oscar season 2008.
[2] Not saying it was good, just momentous. Plus camping out for tickets is one of my happiest memories.
[3] The first studio movie for both Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman.
[4] Written by Alan Ball, who has gone on to create Six Feet Under and True Blood.
[5] Ice Cube and Marky Mark can act!