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.

10 Years, 10 Great Screenplays.

Update: Yeah, I know, there's technically 11 years/11 screenplays. I wrote this near the beginning of my blogging career... it's a big rough, and there's been controversy around it. But... whatever.

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In light of the Writer’s Strike having just ended, I thought it might be a fun idea to write an article based around 10 really great movies within the last 10 years (1 movie per year) that were just incredibly smartly written. Whether it be dialogue, scenario, or just brilliance all around, something about each of these screenplays turned out 10 magnificent movies. Each of these descriptions isn’t overly long, and they say roughly the same thing. I just felt it was important to at least state some reasons why I thought these movies were chosen for their specific year. So let’s get started.

1997 – Chasing Amy.

Written by: Kevin Smith

Arguably one of Kevin Smith’s best movies (though maybe not his wittiest, which would go to Clerks), Chasing Amy is a story about a lesbian and the man in love with her. Whether you are straight, gay, or bi, you can’t deny that Chasing Amy has heart. And its script is really well done, at that. My personal favorite scene would be when Jason Lee is trying to explain to Ben Affleck why the relationship can’t work, using examples with Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, and the Man-Hating Dyke. It’s just classic Smith dialogue.

1998 – The Big Lebowski.

Written by: Joel and Ethan Coen

Very quick, smart, and hilarious. It’s a movie full of memorable characters and scenarios. And when the main character is known as The Dude, you know you have a classic (in one form or another) on your hands. Fuck it, let’s go bowling.

1999 – Fight Club.

Written by: Jim Uhls (based on the book by Chuck Palahniuk)

This was the hardest year to choose from. Do you have any idea how many great movies came out in 1999? A large chunk of them, actually. It was almost like everybody was afraid the world was going to end with Y2K and decided to get all their best movies out all at once. From movies such as The Matrix, The Sixth Sense, and American Beauty, it was incredibly hard to pick just one. But I finally decided to stick with Fight Club. Yes, it’s based on a book, but it was just so smart and witty that it was hard not to choose it. There’s so many scenes in this movie that are memorable, dialogue-wise, it’s hard to even pick one thing. And to top that off, you even have that narration about the ‘I am Jack’s’ such-and-such. At the very least, it was intelligent adaptation.

2000 – Requiem for a Dream.

Written by: Hubert Selby Jr.

On the other hand, 2000 was the year of a lot of crap, with such gems as Battlefield Earth. It seems that in getting out all their best ideas in 1999, and upon realizing the world didn’t end come 2000, they realized “Well hell, we still have movies to make… um…” I’ll be honest, I haven’t completely watched this movie all the way through because I didn’t care for it while I was watching it. It’s possible that it was because I was watching it after midnight, but still… this was one of the only highly acclaimed movies of the year, so I chose it.

2001 – Memento.

Written by: Christopher Nolan (based on a short story by Jonathan Nolan)

(See what I did there?). And that scene where he’s running from somebody thinking he’s chasing somebody and realizes he’s being chased instead is classic. The idea behind this movie was brilliant in and of itself. This movie can’t get enough recognition. So what can I say about Memento?

2002 – Donnie Darko.

Written by: Richard Kelly

This movie is such a mind-freak (sans Chris Angel). It still boggles the minds of us years later. It’s twisted, dark, and smart. Time travel is tricky business, and this movie handles in a great way.

2003 – Adaptation.

Written by: Charlie and ‘Donald’ Kaufman (based… around?... a book by Susan Orlean)

After the first time I saw this movie, I couldn’t watch another movie without it messing with my brain. This is the movie about movies that will forever alter the way you see movies. Love or hate Nicolas Cage, this is one of his best flicks. Not to mention it was written by Charlie and Donald Kaufman about Charlie and Donald Kaufman… and Donald Kaufman doesn’t even exist. Seriously… a movie about adapting a book that cannot be adapted so he adapts his own life and merges it with the story of the book he can’t adapt… all of this being based on the true story of how Charlie Kaufman being unable to adapt a book that cannot be adapted so he adapts his… yeah, you get it. My brain hurts, too.

2004 – Shaun of the Dead.

Written by: Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg

This movie has one of my favorite scripts in existence. I continue my claim that this movie was one of the most brilliant things ever written. Everything in this movie is either said or done at least twice in two different circumstances. And everything that happens in the latter half of the movie is foreshadowed in the first half. It had to have taken ages to plan this movie out to the degree it was. I still catch stuff in this movie after countless times of seeing it. It’s a hoot.

2005 – Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.

Written by: Shane Black (based on a book by Brett Halliday)

Regardless of the entirely overcomplicated and confusing ending, this movie was insanely quick-witted and smart. The story is tight and the characters are vibrant. It’s funny and it’s just good all around.

2006 – Brick.

Written by: Rian Johnson

Originally, this year had gone to Stranger than Fiction. But then I realized that Brick came out the same year, and I already had one movie that was somewhat similar to Fiction in premise (Adaptation). So Brick it is. It has a great idea: Take a classic Noir Film with your basic 20s detective or whatnot… and set it in a present-day high school with the same type of dialogue and everything. You have to know what you’re in for before watching the movie or you’ll be utterly lost and confused, but once you get into it you realize how well and smartly written this movie really was.

2007 – Juno.

Written by: Diablo Cody

Possibly not the best film of 2007, but it was certainly one of the most original and funny. The characters are round (in the literature sense), the dialogue was fast and snappy, and everything about this movie screamed “love me, I’m brilliant.” You can’t help but love the character of Juno and her quick wit.

JUNO.

What can I say about Juno that hasn’t already been said? It just came to my town, so I’m a bit late on seeing it… so let’s just start at the beginning. Juno is basically like if Knocked Up and Napoleon Dynamite had a love child (no pun intended)—there was even a dude in this one scene that looked and acted like Napoleon Dynamite. So the movie… A quirky girl (Ellen Page) gets pregnant after having boredom sex with her good friend Paulie (Michael Cera). She ends up deciding to go through with the pregnancy, but is going to give it up for adoption instead of keeping it. In making this decision, she and her father (JK Simmons) go and meet the adopting parents (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner), whom Juno really likes. Life ensues.

First I have to say that Juno was a really funny movie. It had me laughing quite a bit, and I wasn’t exactly expecting that. After the first 15 or 20 minutes, the quirky wordage dies down a bit, making the dialogue a bit easier to follow, but it’s still there (and you get used to it pretty quickly). So yeah, funniness… even the dramatic scenes were funny (most of them, anyway).

The acting was top notch. Ellen Page and Michael Cera were fun to watch on screen, especially Michael Cera. JK Simmons—I love the man in Spider-Man, and I love the man in this. He plays the dad role nicely. Jason Bateman gave me the creeps, but it turns out he was supposed to, so yay for that! The real props have to be given to Jennifer Garner, though. She had a very tender role and acted it beautifully.

I have to say, though, the music felt like a character of the movie, too. I loved the music in this movie, and it drew me in every time a song was played. It just fit so well with the overall quirky (I’m overusing this word) feel of the movie.

And don’t let my overuse of the Q-word affect you. Like Knocked Up, this movie had some pretty dramatic scenes in it, as well. Most of them are toward the end of the movie, though. Anyway, I really didn’t feel anything wrong with the movie. It was fun and endearing.

Juno gets a Royale with Cheese… much like her telephone.

(P.S. The next movie I plan on seeing and discussing is Hard Candy, also starring Ellen Page. It sounds wicked).