100. "Anonymous" (Roland Emmerich, 2011)
Anonymous, directed by Roland Emmerich is a much calmer choice to the usual action movies he directs. It's about the Theory that Edward De Vere, the Earl of Oxford actually wrote Shakespeare's plays. It's one of the best conspiracy plots of the decade with a surprising twist, starring Rhys Ifans and Vanessa Redgrave. Ifans gives a commanding performance.
99. "The Three Stooges" (Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly, 2012)
This three stooges remake is an original story set in the present day. It stars Will Sasso as Curly, Sean Hayes as Larry, and Chris Diamantopoulos as Moe. All three actors do the most spot on impressions of the stooges. It features a plot right out of the 1920s and many celebrity cameos. There is so much innocent comedy gags and routines you forget what year it is. There is even a PSA at the end about movie violence and a music video featuring the stooges. It's a shame there was never a sequel made because there's was a great opportunity to introduce a new generation to the three stooges.
98. "Mr. Church" (Bruce Beresford, 2016)
Eddie Murphy plays a family cook that stays on for years because the girls mother dies. The two form a family like relationship over the next fifteen years. This is one of Eddie Murphy's best and few dramatic and solemn performances rivaled only by Dolemite is My Name. It also stars Britt Robinson. It's always a pleasure to see comedic actors go outside their comfort zone and take on dramatic roles. In cases like this it is often successful.
97. "Robocop" (Jose Padilha, 2014)
This is the second Paul Verhoeven movie to be made this past decade. While the Total Recall remake was devoid of most everything that made the original great, the Robocop remake told the same story but focused on a different angle. Starring Joel Kinnaman as Alex Murphy, he explores how much of his humanity still exists after he is rebuilt. There is even a scene of Joel seeing what's left of his body after he is rebuilt and its met with horror and disgust. Joel Kinnaman is definitely an underrated actor of last decade. While the 80s style gore is not there it still tells a good story. Also starring Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, and Samuel L. Jackson.
96. "Wakefield" (Robin Swicord, 2017)
Bryan Cranston stars as a lawyer on the verge of a mental breakdown and can stand the day to day routine. He fakes his own disappearance and lives in his garage viewing his own life through the window. Throughout the movie Cranston has an inner monologue with himself and most of his performance is himself alone on screen. He debates his decision throughout and predicts every move in his house made by his wife. This is one of his best performances of his career.
95. "Mandy" (Panos Cosmatos, 2018)
Mandy stars Nicolas Cage who lives in the woods as a logger and is terrorized by a hippie biker gang and cult. He is driven to the breaking point as he goes on a revenge killing spree and forges his own axe. Cage's performance is so visceral and he conveys so much emotion without even saying a single word sometimes. With a score and color scheme to match the script this is one of Cage's best role and one of the most visually interesting movies of the last decade.
94. "The American" (Anton Corbijn, 2010)
Starring George Clooney as an assassin on his last assignment, This role has Clooney in a film with little to no dialogue which is the opposite of his normal roles. Normally he does very talkative roles and uses his dialogue skills to advance the plot. This time he must use his facial expressions alone to convey emotion and its very successful. This is the type of quiet narrative that you can really enjoy the visuals and scenery along with Clooney.
93. "The Devil's Double" (Lee Tamahori, 2011)
Dominic Cooper stars in a double role as Uday Hussein and the people forced to be his body double. Cooper really shows the complete duality in personalities of two people playing the same person. As Uday he shows the evil and maniacal mentality of the son of a dictator and as the double he shows a man who is forced into a terrible situation and the desperate struggle to be free.
92. "Blindspotting" (Carlos Lopez Estrada, 2018)
Starring Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal who also wrote the movie, a person recently on probation reevaluates his relationship with his best friend. Daveeds rap skills and dialogue are poetic and Rafael's performance goes from calm to volatile in sixty seconds. This movie has so many ups and downs and shows how black people are treated and judged in America. This movie got no recognition or nominations when it came out and it was one of the best movies of 2018.
91. "The Angry Birds Movie" (Clay Kaytis, Fergal Reilly, 2016)
Many movies based on videogames have come out of the years and The Angry Birds Movie was the first one to receive positive reactions. With a voice cast featuring Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Danny Mcbride, and Bill Hader, this movie captures the essence of the game which is simple. The pigs try to steal the birds eggs. The comedy and jokes are hilarious and there's a scene which all the characters actually reenact the actual game. The Angry Birds Movie didn't try to be anything more than it was based on and that's why it excelled.
90. "Warm Bodies" (Jonathan Levine, 2013)
There have been so many zombie movies that many have been lost in the fold and forgotten. They need to do something different with zombies since there are so many rehashed plots and similar plots. Warm Bodies differs by showing that the people who have become zombies still have complex, rational thoughts even though they can't verbally convey them. The cure for the zombie virus is very interesting and something new. Starring Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, John Malkovich, and Rob Corddry, this forgotten zombie comedy deserves a rewatch.
89. "Super 8" (J. J. Abrams, 2011)
Super 8 is a classic homage to E.T. and coming of age stories. Directed by J.J. Abrams and starring Elle Fanning, this movie about an alien landing in a small town reminds us of the sense of wonder and innocence about children and aliens trying to get home. The special effects are great and feel seamless and the acting feels like a precursor to Stranger Things. I feel many people forgot about this movie even though it was well reviewed.
Halle Berry has been out of mainstream hollywood for a few years. After making some bad movies then some straight to dvd movies, Kidnap came out. Berry stars as a mother pursuing her kidnapped son. Her acting is intense and there are some great car chases. She is resourceful and quick on her feet when she encounters an obstacle. This movie was definitely under the radar and written off in most people's minds but its a solid fast paced movie.
87. "Robot and Frank" (Jack Scheirer, 2012)
Frank Langella stars as an older man whose son gets him a robot to look after him and they perform heists together. It's a heartwarming movie about discovering your passion and its ending is very sad. It wasn't nominated when it came out and it should have been. Frank Langella is incredible and Susan Sarandon is great as well. they have great chemistry. Check it out.
86. "V/H/S 2" (Simon Barrett, Jason Eisener, Gareth Evans, Gregg Hale, Eduardo Sanchez, Timo Tjahjanto, Adam Wingard, 2013)
The second in the series of found footage segments, V/H/S 2 has the highest production value and the most entertaining stories. One is about a satanic ritual, one is about a zombie attack, and one is about a guy who gets a camera in his new eye that show weird images. This sequel improved on the first V/H/S and was the best of the series.
85. "Black Mass" (Scott Cooper, 2015)
After a string of bad movies for Johnny Depp, Black Mass was a solid performance as the gangster, Whitey Bulger. It should have gotten more credit than it deserved but was written off as another Johnny Depp flop. Depp is intimidating and menacing but also charismatic. Director Scott Cooper went on to direct Hostiles and the upcoming Antlers. He really knows how to capture grittiness.
84. "Phoenix Forgotten" (Justin Barber, 2017)
There have been many, many found footage movie over the years. What makes Phoenix Forgotten stand out over the others is that it's based on true events from the late 90s and alien abduction. It's a throwback to when alien abduction sightings and stories were popular. Since most found footage movies have been about ghosts and demons lately, it's a breath of fresh air to see one about aliens again.
83. "Ready or Not" (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, 2019)
With many movie premises being based and childrens games and board games like Battleship, Ouija, and Truth or Dare, who ever thought a movie about hide and seek would be entertaining? But to everyone's surprise, Ready or Not took a silly premise and made it fun, clever, and widely entertaining. Samara Weaving and Adam Brody are great and have some of the best dialogue in the movie. If hollywood is going to keep making movies about childhood games then more should be like this and less like Truth or Dare.
82. "Predators" (Nimrod Antal, 2010)
Out of all the predator movies to come out over the years, Predators is the most underrated. It featured a story taking place on an alien planet, had ties to the original movie, and established hierarchy between different groups of predators. The predator race would kidnap other species to hunt for sport. They took people from different countries who were in different military and hunting units who were the deadliest in their field. It had an allstar cast including Adrien Brody, Danny Trejo, Laurence Fishburne, Topher Grace, and Mahershala Ali. It's a shame it didn't do well in theaters because a sequel would have been great. Instead we got 2018's The Predator.
81. "What If" (Michael Dowse, 2014)
One of Daniel Radcliffe's first post Harry Potter acting roles, What If is a romantic comedy about relationships and being friends with the opposite sex. Radcliffe shows his comedic talent and acting range here and it's a great performance. He would only go on to do more interesting roles and explore his acting ability. Also features Adam Driver and Zoe Kazan.
80. "Sleight" (J. D. Dillard, 2017)
A young street magician must do whatever it takes to provide for his sister on the streets. This movie is one part drama, one part scifi, and one part action movie. Sleight received very little publicity despite being a very multi layered plot. Jacob Latimore is very compelling as the main character Bo, and going to great and unbelievable lengths to make his magic real.
79. "Rush" (Ron Howard, 2013)
Ron Howard directs the true story of formula one racers James Hunt and Niki Lauda. Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl both give great performances to the point where you root for both racers to win. For Hemsworth this is one of his first truly great dramatic roles outside of the Marvel cinematic universe. This is Bruhl's first breakout starring role in the United States. It's a great story about two rival racers who eventually become friends and prove that winning isn't everything.
78. "Joe" (David Gordon Green, 2014)
Nicolas Cage has done a lot of independent movies in the last decade. Many of them feature Cage doing over the top, outrageous performances in bad, forgettable scripts. But Joe is a more refined performance and features Cage as an ex convict mentoring a young boy who has an abusive, deadbeat father. It's one of Cage's best roles in years and unfortunately got lost in all the other abundance of Cage movies but deserves to be recognized.
77. "Look Who's Back" (David Wnendt, 2015)
Adolf Hitler wakes up in the 21st century and gains media attention and popularity. Some people think it's a joke, some people think it's real and go along with it. It's viewed as i think the present day would react to Hitler coming back to life. This very dark comedy came out in Germany and should be watched.
76. "Assassination Nation" (Sam Levinson, 2018)
When footage of people in a small town doing things they don't want public leaks on the internet, the people in the town start killing each other and going crazy. This movie shows how dependant people are on social media and how speculation causes panic. This is a better purge movie than any of the purge movies ever released and is a glimpse into society that may not be too far off.
No comments:
Post a Comment