This is an Interesting Idea. I read on one of the blogs that few months ago, ‘Fundago Groovers’ asked their viewers to list best film for each year they have been alive. Now that is an interesting Idea. However, I think doing all the years in one post might take a little yoll on me. So I am going to go by the decades here also because I am not really comfortable with late 80’s and early 90’s.This will be more interesting post to write than read. So I will ask you to do the same if you are reading this. Starting with 2010 as there will be lot to see in 2011 yet.
And off course, they are my choices. It is possible that some other films might be better than the ones I am listing here. But these films, maybe, connected somewhere. Enjoy!!
2010: Inception, Hands Down. There were few really good movies in 2010 like The Social Network, True Grit, Blue Valentine, How To Train Your Dragon but no film is any where near Inception. It is only 10/10 movie in my list. I usually go crazy when I talk about this. Even almost after a year, I can go on discussing about where Sato and Cobb are still in their dream or in Reality for like hours at stretch. Just an amazing film yet again by Christopher Nolan.
2009: Inglourious Basterds. Again I can name handful of really good films like Up In The Air, An Education and I haven't seen A Serious Man yet but looks like everyone is impressed by it. But I doubt if that will be better then Inglourious. Typical Tarantino Film - violent, unrestrained and thouroughlly entertaining. Inglorious probably is his best work since Pulp Fiction. One most notable thing in this is length of scenes. Longer the scene, the better it becomes and there are so many examples. Very first scene of film, Scene in the bar with Diane Kruger, Scene where Hans Landa meets Shosanna- they are all simply amazing.
2008: The Dark Knight. Christopher Nolan just touches different heights with his each venture. I never thought it was possible to make a better action film than The Dark Knight. Film keeps an amazing pace throughout even though it clocks well over 2 hours. It has some of the most memorable lines and off course Joker, one of the best villains of all time. Some other notable mentions of the year: Turns out it is one of my favorite years. A lot of gems in 2007 e.g. Waltz with Bashir, In Bruges, Frost/Nixon, Wall-E, Mary and Max and Rachel Getting Married.
2007: No Country For Old Man. Coens Brothers went little off their usual track of dark comedies but then made maybe even better film than what they are known for. What strikes me the most in this film is philosophy of this film and amazingly strong characters and yes, excellent cinematography. This film also gave one of the fiercest villains ever. Anton Chigurh asking that shop owner 'what is the most you have lost in Coin toss?' still kinda freaks me out. Notable Mentions: Juno, Zodiac, Gone Baby Gone and Michael Clayton.
2006: The Departed. It has an amazing male cast ensemble and great direction. I have rarely seen a movie which has likes of Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin and Michael Sheen and they all do exceptionally well in it. Greatness of Scorsese lies in using this star-studded cast and giving each character a significant role to play. Few others worth mentioning are The Lives of Others, Letters From Iwo Jima, The Devil Wears Prada, Once and V For Vendetta.
2005: Munich. It is a powerful and thoughtful drama about the human costs of International Terrorism. This film has some of the best Storytelling I have seen. Every frame has a Speilberg stamped on it. Just like any other Spielberg film, his camera tells you a lot more than characters do. As it is based on an historical event, You will enjoy it even more if you are interested in politics. Also see Walk The Line, Good Night and Good Luck and Match Point.
2004: Finding Neverland. I am not really worried about the historical accuracy of this movie because I have cried every single time I saw this movie and still I have seen it multiple times. This warm, heartfelt drama has a a charm of its own. Johney depp is an amazingly versatile actor but for some reasons, I never imagined Johney Depp in role of Peter Pan's creator. However, he portrays it with equal finesse as of Captain Jack Sparrow. Also, Worth watching: Shaun of the Dead, The Motorcycle Diaries, Hotel Rwanda.
2003: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King: Probably the weakest year in the decade. There are very few films adapted from the novels which are as good as original novels. LOTR Trilogy is an excellent example of this. Peter Jackson did splendid job of bringing JRR Tolkien's universe almost exactly it is described in the book. Almost every aspect of the story, their costumes, their behavior, their looks is true to the original book. Runner Up - Lost In Translation.
2002: City Of God: Tells us Partially true history of birth of Gang Wars in the slums of Rio de Janirio. One of the most realistic films I have seen in recent times. Its shocking, its disturbing but its compelling at the same time. All the violence, drugs, poverty makes it a hard film to watch but its even harder to look away from it. All the violence is particularly stunning because of the ages of the characters portrayed by Kids who actually are of same age as that of the characters. Also, Worth watching: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Catch Me if You Can, Minority Reports.
And that is it for the Decade. In the next post, I will try to go all the way till 1986. Believe me, I had a lot of fun making this list. You should try it too. And if you haven't seen any movie in this post, I highly recommend you to watch it.
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