#40 — In the Bedroom (Todd Field, 2001) There is an argument. Between a man and a woman, a husband and wife. It is fueled by their grief, their lingering shock after a tragic loss in the family. They fight … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 00s — Number Forty
#41 — Spider-Man 2 (Sam Raimi, 2004) It’s hard to remember when surveying the release schedule these days, but there was a time when movies populated by superheroes, either adapted from comic books or originally created, weren’t especially common. By now, … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 00s — Number Forty-One
#42 — Trouble the Water (Carl Deal and Tia Lessin, 2008) It begins in the Superdome. It is mere days after Hurricane Katrina’s assault on New Orleans, the after-effects just beginning to be felt. Some officials are telling a film crew … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 00s — Number Forty-Two
#43 — The Brothers Bloom (Rian Johnson, 2009) Rian Johnson’s second feature film virtually reverberates with a love of storytelling. The main plot is driven by an elaborate con that unfolds across several nations, so there is naturally an abundance … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 00s — Number Forty-Three
#44 — Lars and the Real Girl (Craig Gillespie, 2007) Movies are routinely celebrated for making the impossible happen. This praise is usually reserved for spectacles of special effects that send superheroes slicing across the sky or warriors facing off … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 00s — Number Forty-Four
#45 — Vera Drake (Mike Leigh, 2004) It is practically a necessity to begin any discussion or celebration of a Mike Leigh film by detailing his unique methodology. As is well-established, Leigh begins by assembling his actors and assigning them … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 00s — Number Forty-Five
#46 — The Savages (Tamara Jenkins, 2007) The Savages may be an ideal title for a tale of domestic dysfunction. Savage is the shared last name of the compact family unit at the heart of the film, but, of course, … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 00s — Number Forty-Six
#47 — Far From Heaven (Todd Haynes, 2002) Far From Heaven is an exercise in adoration. It is an unabashed, spellbound, swooning tribute to the technicolor melodramas of the 1950’s, particularly those directed by Douglas Sirk. The titles alone reverberate with grandiloquence: Magnificent Obsession, Written on the Wind, A Time to Love and a Time to Die, and the film that served as the most direct inspiration for Far From Heaven, All That Heaven Allows. Sirk’s films are famous for washing the screen with vibrant colors, sending the actors into teary-eyed overdrive with anguished dialogue, and approaching social issues with … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 00s — Number Forty-Seven
#48 — The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Peter Jackson, 2003). When surveying the films of the past ten years, it’s tempting to view Peter Jackson’s three excursions into Middle Earth as a singular achievement. While he … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 00s — Number Forty-Eight
#49 — The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, 2001). For all the precision that Wes Anderson brings to his filmmaking–the carefully constructed shots, the pristine cinematography, the merging of imagery with the rock’n’roll soundtrack so complete that it feels like the movie itself is breathing in time with each song’s backbeat–it is the ungainly sprawl of The Royal Tenenbaums that impresses most. Anderson has been upfront about drawing upon the works of J.D. Salinger, particularly those involving the Glass family, for this film, and it indeed comes across as a wildly inventive, overstuffed novel. Set in a arch, Bohemian, colorful New York … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 00s — Number Forty-Nine
Coffee for Two 