R2D2's Ultimate Top 10 Countdown Of The 2000s #10 - Oscar Winners.

[For the last 10 days of the decade, I'm doing a Top 10 list a day, all culminating into an ultimate post of Top 10 lists. We have previously seen Top 10 Comedies, Dramas, Animation, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror, Foreign, Musicals, Action/Thrillers, and Decade Specials. Now we're moving on.]

Top 10 Oscar Winners of the 2000s

This is it. The last "category"-based Top 10 list. Tomorrow will be a virtual cornucopia of lists looking at one year at a time... but we'll get to that tomorrow. As for now, I'm sure over the last week and a half, you've been wondering where the heck all those Oscar-worthy films were on my lists, and why the majority of my choices were either major blockbusters or never-heard-of-it's. It's mostly because I find a lot of Oscar-bait films to be either way too serious for my liking or way too depressing. And sometimes they're just too pompous and/or full of themselves to be enjoyed. So while they might be the cream of the crop, the best of the best, the "reason films are made," they make it hard for me to like them. However, every now and then, a movie is nominated (or wins) and they're not your typical Oscar films. However, since I've most likely included those in other lists already (see: Chicago and Lord of the Rings), I have to include the next best thing. And what is that, you might ask? Well... they're like the movies on this list.

Note: Before I get into it, though, I want to explain what my reasoning was for choosing the films I did. These films either won numerous awards or was incredibly popular for the win of its year, but they didn't necessarily win Best Picture. There are only 2 exceptions to this process, and I'll make note of them when I get there. So let's wrap this up.

10. Milk (2008)

Gus Van Sant pissed me off with the overrated, artsy, self-absorbed, P.O.S. abomination that is Elephant. Luckily, Milk is more mainstream, so he couldn't pull off the stuff he attempted in Elephant. So how did this fare? Pretty much as I expected it would. It's a really good political drama about gay rights/activism. It's acted amazingly well. But it wobbles on that line between entertaining and boring melodrama that I dislike about Oscar films (no offense to the life of Harvey Milk, who is an utterly fascinating individual and a hero to not only the GLBT community, but human rights activists everywhere). But mostly, it's an inspiring film. Match that up with the acting, and you have my reason why it ended up on this list.

9. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

I don't care what people say about this movie, the next movie, or my #3 movie, I like them. OK? I like them. A lot. Which is why they're on this list. You say they're overrated. I say you're face is overrated. Yeah, I said it. Anyway, it's a good film with good acting and a good story. And it launched both Abigail Breslin's and Paul Dano's careers (the latter of course having done quite a bit of work beforehand, but nothing to really catch people's attention this much). And if it weren't for this film, a certain other film on this list probably wouldn't be as good, seeing Dano probably wouldn't have been cast. I realize I haven't really said anything specific about this movie, but... well... let's just leave it at me liking it.

8. Juno (2007)

Yes, Juno. People don't like it for its unrealistic dialogue, quirky humor, indie music... pretty much everything that made it popular. I think this movie really suffered from the very populist culture that most high school students, as well as the Juno character, live by: It's only good while it's relatively unknown... the second it's popular, it's immediately crap and overrated. I love the dialogue, the humor, and even the music. This was practically the only movie that's ever caused me to go out and immediately buy the soundtrack after seeing the film. But besides the humor, it has heart. And it launched the mainstream careers of Ellen Page and Michael Cera.

7. No Country For Old Men (2007)

This movie had the potential to be one of my favorites ever. And then the last 20 minutes started. I don't believe I've watched the movie since theater (maybe a snippet here or there on a movie channel, but that's it). The majority of the movie is great, and it introduces a great (Oscar-winning) villain. But you know what, Coens? Sometimes it's better to make changes to the ending of a book in favor of action. Just ask the Twilight films. It's sad that the script adapters of the Twilight Saga know that the climax of certain genres needs to show the action... but you don't. Don't be Stephenie Meyer, Coens. Don't just say it happens and expect your audience to be satisfied. But forgive my tangent. Besides the ending, this was a great film that deserved to win.

6. There Will Be Blood (2007)

I believe I was in the minority that wanted There Will Be Blood to win over No Country. I also feel that while Daniel Day-Lewis proved to be one of the best actors today in this film, Paul Dano got screwed out of an Oscar nom for supporting role. He was my favorite part of the movie, and I found myself not enjoying the movie as much when he wasn't in the scene. Sure, the movie has its faults, but don't they all just get negated with one simple line? I. Drink. Your. Milkshake!

5. Man On Wire (2008)

This is the first exception to my choosing process. This was a documentary, so it was really only eligible for one category (it was also mostly in French, which is kind of a double whammy there). But the film is presented like a heist film, and we all know how I love my heist films. I usually don't go out of my way to see documentaries, but this really is one of my favorites. And I couldn't do an Oscar list without adding this movie (especially since I didn't do a documentary list--I apologize, King of Kong).

4. Michael Clayton (2007)

I recently saw this film just the other day, and I was surprised. The acting between George Clooney and (especially) Tom Wilkinson is fantastic. It started to lose my attention around the last third of the film, which isn't too hard to do these days, but it still grabbed me overall, which is why it made it so high up on this list.

3. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Wow, that was weird. Literally the second I started to type this section, I hear M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" start on the TV. Anyway, I know this movie gets a lot of flak for being overhyped and/or overrated, but I think it deserves the praise. Danny Boyle presents us with a overly simplistic complex story as a mainstreamed Oscar-bait film... and any other paradoxical oxymoron (redundant?) statements I can make. It's a modern fairy tale with a Middle Eastern setting using a spin-off of an American game show. I love the concept, love the visuals, love everything about the movie. It's a fairy tale, people. Go with it.

2. The Wrestler (2008)

Another film I just saw recently. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't what I ended up seeing. I guess I figured I was going to see your average depressing Oscar-bait film that I didn't care for. But it wasn't. I figured it was going to be a movie about an unlikable a-hole. But it wasn't. Mickey Rourke's Randy "The Ram" was not only likable, but you could feel his pain when he was told he couldn't wrestle anymore. The movie kept me engaged throughout. I was totally into the character and his story. And I even cringed a couple times during a couple brutal matches, regardless of knowing it was fake (both for the character and the actor). Great film all around.

1. Inglorious Basterds (2009)

This is the second movie on the list that doesn't follow the choosing process. Why? Because, well, the Oscars haven't even happened yet, and we don't know at this point whether or not it was even nominated. But you know it will be. At the very least, it's going to win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor - Christoph Waltz... for giving us one of the best villains in recent years. He frightened me even more than Hitler (who really wasn't menacing at all). But I also predict a screenplay nomination and possibly a Best Picture nomination (seeing that the category stretched to 10). Overall, a fantastically made film, one of the best of the year, and I'm looking forward to rooting for Christoph at the Oscars next year.


End Note: You'll probably notice that the earliest film on this list is 2006. Here's why: Gladiator (a fine film, but I'm not a huge fan of Mr. Crowe). A Beautiful Mind (see: Gladiator). Million Dollar Baby (the kind of depressing Oscar-bait I don't care for). The Aviator (haven't seen it). Crash (The only thing I really liked was Ludacris' performance... which says a lot about my opinion on the film). Brokeback Mountain (yet to see it). The Departed (I swear, I'm probably the only person on the planet who hasn't seen this movie... but I'm working on it...). All the other films I'd choose were already on other lists, as I previously said. And that about catches us up.

There Will Be PokeMon.

Haha, oh my God, I just had to share this. One of my favorite YouTube sensations, Smosh, just came out with their newest video... a spoof of the ending to There Will Be Blood. And... well... just watch. It's hilarious. And if you haven't seen There Will Be Blood and have been living under a rock and don't know how it ends, this is the link given in the 'description box' listed in the beginning of the video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ThZI-p8SKe0.

THERE WILL BE BLOOD.

This movie finally decided to come to my little town, so I went and saw it ASAP. I know I’m a little late into the game with this movie, but here I go anyway. I pray nobody decides to burn me alive over this review, because I’m not giving it a ‘perfect’ or ‘best film of the year’ like basically everybody else. Granted, it’ll be close, but not the best. Anywho, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I can get into the review. The movie is about Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) and his quest for Oil. He’s brought to a small California town by Paul Sunday (Paul Dano). There he stays, at first, with the Sunday family, including Paul’s brother, Eli (also Paul Dano). And he finds oil. That’s about the gist of it.

Just to get it out of the way first, the acting in this movie was phenomenal. I can totally see why Daniel Day-Lewis was nominated for an Oscar. The character of Daniel was breath-takingly acted. However, everybody gushes over Day-Lewis, but not many people focus on who I thought was the guy who stole every scene he was in, Paul Dano. He played his character(s) with such subtlety (at least when he wasn’t doing the preaching thing) that you just wanted to strangle him. It was that good. I actually realized that the parts I disliked most about the movie were the parts that Paul Dano weren’t in. And that brings us to the movie’s first strike.

There were some really confusing parts in this movie. Two parts strike me the most. First, the opening 10 minutes (AKA the stuff where nobody says a damn thing). The first 10 minutes bugged me for a few reasons. And no, it wasn’t because nothing was being said. I thought that was fine. It’s just I had a hard time understanding what the heck was going on. First he’s digging for silver, and then he’s hunting oil? Where was the transition? How did he go from one to the other? And why? If the point was the oil, then why start the movie with the silver mine? I just completely did not follow that. Another thing about the first 10 minutes was the music, but I’ll get to that in a moment. The second part of the movie that struck most to me was the entire chunk of the movie involving Daniel’s ‘brother’. Now it wasn’t his actual brother that bothered me. That was fine. I just mean the entire portion of the movie starting when he shows up and ending at the portion when he… goes away. Everything that happens during that period of time makes little sense, especially why Daniel’s son seemed to be so pissed off at his dad, and why he sets the cabin on fire. There were some other things in that part of the movie, but I can’t remember specifics. It just felt like that whole section brought the movie down a notch for me (and, coincidentally, this entire section was void of Paul Dano, as were the first 10 minutes. I smell conspiracy!).

Now I mentioned the music. Again, the music was great, for the most part, and was really fitting for most of the scenes. But there were two or three scenes in which the music felt so badly placed that it took me out of the movie. For instance, the first 10 minutes of the movie… nothing exciting is really happening, yet the movie is playing this really tense and scary music like you’d find in a killer-chasing-victim scene of a thriller. It was just completely out of place. And there were at least one or two other times in the movie this happened.

However, those are the only faults I found with the movie. Everything else was spectacular, from the acting to the visuals (Though I still maintain what I said for the LAMB posting that it’s great, but probably won’t win Art Direction. But what do I know?).

So now, for the first time using my new rating system, I give There Will Be Blood…

A Keanu 'Whoa'

(P.S. I drink your milkshake! I drink it up! *slurp* - If there were a ‘Best Line in a Movie’ Oscar, that would take it.)

(P.P.S. It took me a large chunk of the movie to realize it, but I realized that there were quite a few times when Daniel Day-Lewis' voice reminded me of Sean Connery.)