A gangster film like no other. Bizarre blend of tones. Filled with bitter ironies and great acting. Also a seminal moment in cinema history.
Series: 2009 Top 100
In 2009, I made a list of my 100 favorite films. I am rewatching all 100 to see how I feel more than a decade later.
It still holds up, hilarious and human. Comedy that actually cares about its characters, themes, and stories. Carell is phenomenal. But the criticisms are right, too: very male-centric, iffy on race and gay jokes, and longer than it needs to be.
Does things with animation that haven’t been done before or since. Mature, postmodern story with lots of humanity. Thrilling action, great score. Its animation has aged a bit, and there’s some weird thematic stuff, but it’s one of the great 21st century animation masterpieces, no doubt.
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The Iron Giant (1999)
Reviewed on The Goods here.
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Ong Bak: Muay Thai Warrior (2003)
When I was 21, I made a list of my 100 favorite movies and I put this at #93. Of course today, it would be nowhere near my Top 100.
One of those movies so good and rich and unique that it’s tough to figure out where to start. Every scene has stuff to admire and unpack. Its brand of black comedy and violent crime story works magically.
But the main sensation I felt watching this time was chilly emotional exhaustion. (It’s the rare movie that feels longer than its runtime and that’s a marker of good filmmaking.) So many of the characters, and subsequent plot points, are really bleak and pathetic.
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Live Free or Die Hard (2007)
Take a sip every time Bruce Willis calls Justin Long “kid,” take 2 sips every time Bruce Willis is befuddled by technology or computer babble, take a shot every time an unprecedented hacker has an intuitive, professionally designed interface, as if penetrating government networks had the user experience of Microsoft Office.
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The Graduate (1967)
The Graduate is, of course, one of the most important films in American cinema
The mythic settings, the outlaw showdown, John Wayne (dat intro zoom!), the cowboys-and-Indians shootout, the saloons, the individualism and post-Civil War politics: This is a quintessential classic western film, one of the greats.
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There’s Something About Mary (1998)
The Farrelly brothers default filmmaking mode is gross-out humor