10. Avatar (2009)- I’m going to say it and I really don’t care what you think: “Avatar” was one of the most overrated films of all time. With a cliched, boring script and a cheesy at best screenplay, “Avatar”’s only saving grace is that it was revolutionary, and gave us some fancy new words (like Navi and Pandora). Most critics would put this at number 1 or 2...I’m keeping it at 10 because I couldn’t stand the film.
9. Superbad (2007)- One of the funniest films of all time, “Superbad” is not a wonderful film, but succeeds by making us laugh. And it was the rage at the time and still the classic stoner comedy. A great film I recommend for all.
8. Napoleon Dynamite (2004)- I have never seen this film (!!!). But I included it on my list because even as someone who has never seen it, I have heard so much about it...
7. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)- The indie genre of film has existed for some time (around the early 2000’s as studios started taking it seriously). But this comedy was the first film to be both financially and critically successful. It started the “wildcard” trend at the Academy Awards, where a non-traditional film (like 2007’s “Juno”) slipped into the Best Picture category. But mostly it made us laugh...a lot.
6. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003): It was long (3 hours, 20 minutes). It had at least 6 endings. And it broke so many cinema laws I can’t begin to count. Yet it was a masterpiece of a film, and cemented the trilogy as one of the greatest cinematic feats in human history.
5. Batman Begins (2005)- Though its sequel “The Dark Knight” may be the more commercially and critically successful film, “Batman Begins” re-invented the definition of a reboot to near-dead franchises. The film was long, full of philosophical action, and dramatic, but it was ultimately one of the best films of 2005 and led to a number of remakes in the comic book industry.
4. The Passion of the Christ (2004)- No film has ever captivated the world and caused world-wide debate. Was it anti-semetic? Was it anti-Catholic? Was it Mel Gibson pushing the boundaries? No one really knows (well, we kind of know the first one now). But the important thing about “Passion” is its ability to be the first religious based film (not even in English) to be a top grosser at the box office. Clearly people liked the film or were at least intrigued by it, to the tune of $455 million.
3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)- I could go on and on about the cultural influences “Harry Potter” has given us (including a classmate of mine), but it is clear that this film began the multi-billion dollar franchise in the right way. Though it may be considered one of the weaker of the films in future years, “Harry Potter” not only gave us new actors (and rebooted the careers of old ones), but it also gave us magic in the cinema.
2. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)- The feel good film of the year, “Slumdog Millionaire” will arguably be one of the more controversial film in a few years due to its romanticized cliched views of Indian slum life as well as the commercialization of poor, real-life poor actors. Nevertheless, no other film has brought a genre (in this case Bollywood) to American popular culture to the extent “Slumdog” did. Proof: just look at the Pussycat Doll’s rendition of Jai Ho, the Oscar winning song.
1. Mean Girls (2004)- with a witty, undeniably quotable script, this Lindsay Lohan film (her best performance to date) gave us the scene stealer Rachel McAdams, the term “fetch”, and Glen Coco, to name a few. More importantly, “Mean Girls” was the first film of the internet generation to expose the hells- and sheer survival nature of high school hell. Both hilarious and brilliant, “Mean Girls” was ranked 8th best film of 2004 for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment