A haiku:
Better call your mom.
Proof of man's hubris and will.
A true one-man show.
My Favorite Line: It’s no slurpee… - Aron Ralston
#29: Garden State (2004) Directed by Zach Braff
This was a film that came out of left field and blindsided me with its oddly emblematic message for my generation. Any twenty-something living on their own could relate to Largeman's sense of numbness as he drifted through the world, searching for a purpose, yearning for reconciliation. But more than that, this film raised the question of finding your place in life. What is a home? Just another place to keep your stuff? Or is it something else, something beyond the physical. It's as quirky as it is unconventionally truthful. And I applaud it for its earnest convictions and indelible nostalgia.
My Favorite Line: By the way, it says “balls” on your face. - Tim
#28: Casino Royale (2006) Directed by Martin Campbell
You want me to be half-monk, half-hitman, smirks this James Bond for a new generation. It’s a simple enough description, but a vastly underrated yet perfectly accurate summation of a man who we believe we already know. Except we don’t. Not like this. Deconstructed and reconstructed several times over before our eyes, James Bond has never felt so visceral, looked so formidable, or evoked so much emotion. This is the breath of fresh air that this aging franchise so desperately needed – and what a gust it is! Daniel Craig infuses Bond with a dry wit and knowing charm, not to mention an ego and brashness that inevitably comes to define this iconic character. He runs, kills, gambles, and dare I say it, even loves. It’s all so perfectly organic and honest that by the time Craig finally mutters that introduction, we already know, through and through, who this man is.
My Favorite Line: The job’s done and the bitch is dead. – James Bond
#27: Gladiator (2000) Directed by Ridley Scott
My Favorite Line: The job’s done and the bitch is dead. – James Bond
#27: Gladiator (2000) Directed by Ridley Scott
If this movie doesn’t end up on every twenty-something year-old male’s favorite movie of all time list, then something is wrong with that person. Gladiator was the defining epic of my adolescence, tragic yet uplifting, gripping and unforgettable. But this film represents so much more than sword-wielding barbarians and mindless violence; it projects a timeless, almost Shakespearean, tale of familial betrayal onto the canvas of a nation at a crossroads. It manages to spin the vengeance tale into a fight for something inherently more than just a man. He fights for his family, his beliefs, his honor, his nation. And when the Gladiator mutters his iconic introduction - "my name is Maximus Decimus Meridius" - I dare you not to get goosebumps.
My Favorite Line: Your faults as a son are my failures as a father. – Marcus Aurelius
#26: City of God (2002) Directed by Fernando Meirelles
The film starts with a chicken trying to escape its impending death, furiously chased through the slums of Rio de Janeiro by children gleefully wielding handguns. In many ways, this is the entirety of City of God, a film that dissects the lives of the city's gangsters with a ferocity that is at once captivating and terrifying. It's a film that doesn't shy away from the gritty underworld of the city's castaways - a world in which boys fancy themselves as men, in which intimidation and desperation are the top commodity, and where law and life seem to directly contradict one another. It's a film that offers a refreshingly real look into another world without resorting to exploit or condescension. It's a film that, like Rocket's prized camera, simply offers us a view, a fleeting glance, into what is and not what should or could be.
My Favorite Line: Honesty doesn’t pay, sucker. – Rocket
#25: I couldn’t make up my mind. So it’s a tie between:
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) Directed by Nicholas Stoller
Some comedies are stingy on the laughs, reserving only a few nuggets of jokes throughout the story and forcing you to go forage for them like mushrooms in the wild. Forgetting Sarah Marshall is not that kind of movie. An absolute cavalcade of punchlines from beginning to end, this is not only a star-studded clinic on what comedy should be, but also a surprisingly touching tale of love and loss that I’m sure you won’t forget soon.
My Favorite Line: Let me just say that if God was a city planner, he would not put a playground next to a sewage system! – Darald
The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005) Directed by Judd Apatow
Hands down, this is the defining comedy of my adolescence. Not only did this movie throw Steve Carell’s career into overdrive (with his best work yet to come), but it also set the standard for a new generation of raunchy comedies (read: Superbad, Knocked Up, The Hangover). To this day, Virgin stands as Apatow’s directorial masterpiece: a hilarious yet touching tale of one man’s search for someone to fuck. Or maybe even love.
My Favorite Line: Hope you got a big trunk… cuz I’m putting my bike in it! – Andy
#24: 21 Grams (2003) Directed by Alejandro Inarritu
The film begins with a nude woman lying in bed and a nude man watching her sleep. They're at once connected yet miles apart. They share everything and yet nothing at all. It's a strangely unsettling and confusing image but in many ways, it sums up the entirety of 21 Grams, an undoubtedly heavy film with nary a ray of hope or laughter. It's almost suffocating in its despair and unrelenting in its depictions of loss, guilt, and death. But in these examinations of people in their rawest state, I see something innately recognizable. I see something genuine and inarguably human. It's daring in its approach and commendable in its execution. But for as much as I want to like this movie, I appreciate it more than I actually enjoy it.
My Favorite Line: They say we all lose twenty-one grams at the exact moment of our death... how much is lost? How much is gained? - Paul Rivers
#23: Up in the Air (2009) Directed by Jason Reitman
A haiku:
Sharp, fun, and timely,
Don’t know if more sad or true.
Clooney is a boss.
My Favorite Line: You’re so pretty. You’re exactly what I want to look like in fifteen years. – Natalie Keener
#22: Dan in Real Life (2007) Directed by Peter Hedges
I want something human-funny, pleads Marie, as sparks fly between herself and Dan while they peruse the aisles of a book store. In many ways, this is the goal of the entire screenplay. It wants something organic, simple, and genuine. It wants to be relatable. And truly moving. And somewhere along the way, it wants to reach out and deliver something intrinsically and unmistakably human-funny. It’s a tale of love and loss, of fresh starts and lingering memories. It’s a story of family and relationships. And like anything involving those things, it gets downright sad at times. But Steve Carell does something near miraculous here, creating a portrait of a man who’s not only vulnerable in his convictions, but also admirable in his perseverance. This is undoubtedly his best work to date.
My Favorite Line: This corn is like an angel. - Dan
#21: Before Sunset (2004) Directed by Richard Linklater
Nine years after their fateful encounter in Before Sunrise, Celine and Jesse return to Before Sunrise’s Euro romantics—and how heartbreakingly fragile these two people seem! Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy don’t act here as much as completely and unabashedly inhabit their characters. They have hopes and dreams; they have faults and doubts. They radiate a chemistry that is often sought but rarely ever captured, on film or in real life. And as the day slowly progresses, it becomes ever clearer that these two were meant for one another. It’s a genuine relationship that may have been born from a fleeting instant in Vienna; but it now thrives seemingly, forever.
My Favorite Line: Good, I like being here. – Jesse
Stay tuned for #20-#11 - coming soon!
