Forty-four Best Movies of the Modern Era

Before Quentin Tarantino was sucked into a crass vortex of sycophants and reflexive movie allusions he managed to make a few amazing films. As opposed to films like Memento or Mulholland Dr., Pulp Fiction is actually an engaging picture whether or not the plot is scrambled. The non-linear plot only accentuates the dramatic ebbs and peaks, while in those other films it only disguises flawed and gimmicky scripts. The high water mark of Tarrantino's career, needless to say. I'll be the first to admit that QT has never had an original thought in his entire career, just great lines. But what lines, the best ones of which seem to be concentrated in this film.

Legitimately scary, in a way that most movies can only vainly hope to match. It's German, which of course makes anything more terrifying. The film illustrates the failures of authoritarianism to curb impulses and maintain order. Through the reluctance of the community to investigate/assign blame the problem is never adressed or solved. The setting adds a great gothic twist, however, as much Haneke would like us to rub our chins, this is more effective as conventional horror or a character study than any kind of historical or social commentary. The director's allusions to the psychological or social origins of fascism are well-intentioned but best ignored; childhood abuse and repression alone barely begin to explain the rise of Hitler.

It's hard to fathom, but some critics loathe this film. They accuse the director of alternately trivializing, over-dramatizing, or cashing in on the Holocaust. Some claim this film is nothing but a hollow ceremonial-wreath dumping that misses the point, while others have been even less tactful. Spielberg's also a target for rendering the Holocaust as kitsch and depicting the Nazis as convenient, one-dimensional caricatures (in all fairness, they made themselves caricatures what with their skull & crossbone insignia, black Hugo Boss unis, and mass murder). In any case, those criticisms seem rather feeble. This is not a documentary, it's a biography of a historical figure. A documentary truly fitting the scope of this issue would be far too exhaustive, complicated, and depressing for any sane person to want to endure (Even many patient people never made it through half of Ken Burns' Baseball miniseries, I don't know why Claude Lanzmann demands we need a ten-hour feature length film of death camp interviews).

These and a litany of other quibbles by Spielberg's fellow directors come off more as a bitter or insecure attack on a competitor who accomplished making a film that was deeply personal & powerful (and actually financially successful) despite the fact it is so disturbing and conceivably unappealing. This is the type of movie most directors dearly pay for if they are lucky or brave enough to even get made. Unlike many of his detractors, Spielberg has the gift of making movies people actually want to see.

If you haven't seen the De Niro-Pacino scene you really are missing out on the actors' best moments. That's saying an awful lot. The Michael Mann film manages to maintain a lot of storylines, emotional tones, and characters concurrently without seeming labored or spread out too thin. Christopher Nolan surely could learn a lot from this.

You really have to just watch it to appreciate it. Bill Maher is known for being a blow hard, but he gets most of it right here, justly lampooning both the obviously stupid and more subtle & covertly stupid aspects of organized religion. FYI- It should be noted that both this film and Peter Joseph's speculative doc Zeitgeist are heavily influenced by Brian Flemming's The God Who Wasn't There.

Should have won the Oscar, but instead lost to The King's Speech, a film that feels like it was developed and focus-group tested specifically to win an Oscar Best Picture statuette. The premise, a student who can't network socially making billions designing a social networking website, doesn't seem all that much different than a King who can't speak. Whereas the King's Speech is predictable and dies at about the hour mark, The Social Network has a frenetic ingenuity that keeps your attention regardless you probably know how it will end. Frankly, this probably was a little too smart and a little too dark & complex a movie for a lot of those aging Oscar voters, who were so busy trying to figure out whether they liked (or were suppossed to like) the Mark Zuckerberg character or not they didn't realize that liking or understanding him wasn't the point. Facebook came about only because all of the characters' moral transgressions and personal failings occurred at precisely the right time committed by the right people cultivated in just the right environment. Everyone came out of the legal mess wealthier and with more prestige even if they are miserable and bitter as a result. Think of it either as a hellish blessing or a serendipitous plant from the foulest ground.

The first twenty minutes are probably the most intense and brutally honest ever captured on film concerning war (and now infinitely imitated), depicting the sacrifice of the men of WWII while also showing the idiocy and gutwrenching, true consequences of nationalism in general. The morality of the concept of sacrifice (martyrdom), and clemency are less clear cut than most give it credit for, which makes it more existential than a mere action movie. The film never indicates whether the decision to exempt Ryan was morally correct or prudent. Saving Private Ryan single handedly improved the war film genre for the better (sadly, progress that the smug Inglourious Basterds reversed), neither dim and patriotic or naively anti-war. And while it should rightfully be maligned for its cheesy opening and closing scenes, which seem slightly out of place in a movie not told from Ryan's first-person perspective, the rest more than makes up for it. It was ripped off for the Best Picture Oscar amidst a field of competitors that no one could recall let alone actually want to watch today.

Probably the best movie you'll ever see about illegal abortion under a repressive totalitarian government. I didn't sell that well, but see it anyway. Yet again proving that the most effective movies do not need to wag their fingers or make us cry or puke to provoke a discussion about an important subject.

The Damned United accomplishes the rare feat of winning us over while both glorifying an inept coach, justifying failure and quiting, and villifying an entire team we feel we should root for. The best way I can describe it is as an inverted Rocky I, where Mickey is incompetent and Rocky is a huge douche. And in the end Rocky refuses to train, toys with then dumps Adrian, and fires Mickey before the big fight. See how hard it is to pull that kind of thing off?

You might actually start tapping your foot to the music or innocently imagining yourself as one of the drug dealers or smugglers, in an art deco Miami hotel, circa 1985. That is until you realize the horrifying, sorted truth behind the glamourous facade of the Columbian drug trade. That truth is that you likely would have wound up in prison, a rat with a bounty on his head, or floating in Biscayne Bay, wearing a pink shirt, a gold coke spoon medallion, sporting designer loafers with no socks, and no head.

The abrupt speed bump in the road that is the derivative, silly zombie genre. You don't need gimmicks or buckets of red dye or ironic music to make a film scary, it just has to be well written. The film manages to pick up at precisely the point in most horror films where a seasoned film-goer expects a zombie flick to plummet into a chasm of predictable stupidity. Horror films rightfully have a bad reputation, they often merely remake the same tiresome cliches and formulas into into countless sequels, rip offs, remakes, prequels, and finally comedies and satires (which usually aren't very funny or biting), etc. The film deserves more credit for its rational depiction of zombies as a rabies like infectious disease rather than a supernatural walking dead concept, which makes no sense considering that a dead body physically can't do anything unless it is magically animated -- considering my obvious disdain for this genre, you can see why I am so in awe.

Probably De Niro and Scorsese's last classic movie, either together or individually. Though it's worth watching as much for James Woods, Joe Pesci, and Sharon Stone's fantastic supporting roles; they really steal the movie. The casting & writing are incredible, and the soundtrack is so damn good and so immersive, it's almost impossible to not be impressed by Scorsese's directing talent.

I didn't feel right not including this film on the list. Even after watching that ending a dozen times it still gets to me. A creepy, brilliant thriller, that likely left every person in showbiz wondering 'Why didn't I think of that idea?'

Arguably the most funny, original, and iconic film of the decade.

Essentially the reality check to Easy Rider, Danny Boyle's Trainspotting depicts a less amusing and more sober depiction of drug use. In other words you probably won't get rich 'holding' and shooting up. And you won't spend all day long riding Triumph motorcycles in the sun, having interesting philosophical discussions with itinerant intellectuals. For one thing there is literally no sunshine in England. An apt metaphor for the downward spiral of drug dependency.

Once again proving Bill Murray had an uncanny gift for picking scripts that few other, if any, SNL alumni share.

This could have come off as a pretentious mess, or worse a mundane courtroom procedural, but, yet again, Rob Reiner delivers. Ironically, in The Last Detail, Jack Nicholson brashly remarked that 'It takes a certain kind of sadistic temperament to be a Marine.' In A Few Good Men, he is the very embodiment of that quote.

A fitting tribute to the memory of a thickheaded, cold, awkward dwarf; Kim Jong Il is portrayed by a two-foot-tall marionette.

You could dissect this Neil Jordan classic from an academic perspective, looking at gender roles, or politics, etc. But you shouldn't, just enjoy it for what it is.

Johnny Depp and Terry Gilliam at their best, before their careers became predictable and tepid.

Johnny Depp and Tim Burton at their best, before their careers became predictable and tepid.

Ignored by most moviegoers, and maligned by IMDb voters, Big Fan might just have hit a little too close to home for some die-hard sports fans. The title role and every other role is casted perfectly, capturing the bizarre sense of identity and borderline obsessive devotion that defines super fans. The conventional family, for good measure, has no doubt invested their interests in equally conformist and boring 'normal lives,' providing a worthy counter critique. The ending might feel contrived, but it actually makes perfect sense, and only reinforces what the movie has been making painfully clear for an hour and a half: the lengths a 'true' fan will venture to defend his team/depersonalized identity. The epitome of the codependent-narcissist model. This movie is most timely in it's examination of the 'fanboy,' degenerate role model, and 'troll' personalites run amok in the modern culture.

The last great Western.

A carefully paced, tense, little movie that offers yet another reason why people are paranoid of the mere possibility of a police state and surveilance.