I tend to gravitate towards darker movies. I like exploring the innards of the human mind, the hidden crevices of the social underworld. It should be no surprise then, that I adore Requiem, a haunting reflection of obsession in its rawest forms and disillusion in its most tempting. It wastes no time in shoving us into the characters' lives, forcing us into their subjectivity. It doesn't shy away from the harsh realities of temptation in every facet of our society. But more than that, Requiem cements Aronofsky as a legitimately talented director, a man who excels at dissecting the psychological tolls of obsession and the emotional costs of happiness. It may not be the most tempting repeat viewer on my shelf, but Requiem surely makes even the most peaceful dreams nightmarish, the most innate human emotions grotesquely irresistible.
My Favorite Line: Dy-no-mite! - Tyrone
#19: Eastern Promises (2007) Directed by David Cronenberg
This is a movie about gangsters. But it's not a gangster movie. It's not a barrage of shouting and gunfire, of vows for vengeance and cold-blooded killings. Here, somber reflections and indelible quietude construct the thoroughly engrossing world of the Russian mafia in London. Its eerie terror swells calmly and coolly, sneaking up on you until you find yourself drowning in its lingering ugliness. It doesn't rush to give away any more details than you need; and it doesn't refrain from certain moments of unforeseen revelations. Indeed, this is a film that keeps you off kilter, never quite revealing its end game but simultaneously, revealing enough to satisfy. And like its enigmatic driver Nikolai, it will surely take you down a road most unexpected. And you'll thank him for it.
My Favorite Line: I am driver. I go left, I go right, I go straight ahead – that’s it. – Nikolai
#18: The Weather Man (2005) Directed by Gore Verbinski
The Weather Man begins with a lingering shot of the frozen sheets of ice on Lake Michigan. It's an apt analogy for a seemingly impenetrable story of unrelenting clouds with nary a ray of sunshine. But by the time we see the seasons change and the ice begin to thaw, this image plays as a beautiful metaphor for the evolution - and the slow rebirth - of the main character. Indeed, The Weather Man is one of the most underappreciated films of the past decade. And that is a shame. It's offbeat, genuine, and painfully funny. But its heartache is not simply inserted for drama's sake; it's earned. Its dark, dry comedy is not obligatory; it's genuine. This is a unique yet unforgettably resounding examination of a man in the throes of a mid-life crisis and his realization that often times in life, as it is in the weather business, things don't work out as you've forecasted.
My Favorite Line: There are too many good lines in this film so it’s a tie:
I mean, I'll bet no one ever threw a pie at, like Harriet Tubman, the founder of the Underground railroad. I'll bet you a million fucking dollars! – Dave Spritz
-and-
I wish I had two dicks. – Dave Spritz
#17: Collateral (2004) Directed by Michael Mann
Rarely do you get under the skin of characters as quickly or as profoundly as you do in Collateral. Rarely do you find yourself as intrigued by the violence on screen as much as you are shocked. But then again, this is a Michael Mann film. Springboarding off a generic premise of a hitman in search of his next victims, Mann dares to push the material past simple good and evil and into the indelible territory of an existential cat-and-mouse game between a man who fears his own shadow and man who fears nothing. Mann is a man of details; and the details here create one of the most intoxicating films to date. The LA presented here is glisteningly cool and furiously elegant, as fresh and provocative as its jazzy soundtrack, as if no one has ever thought about making a film about two men trapped in a cab before, much less actually make one. Its wee-hours-of-the-night SoCal haze permeates the screen, echoing each character's fraught emptiness against the city's hauntingly empty streets. Its a film crafted scalpel-sharp as only Mann could.
My Favorite Line: Guy gets on the subway and dies. Think anybody will notice? - Vincent
#16: Munich (2005) Directed by Steven Spielberg
Every civilization finds it necessary to negotiate compromises with its own values, concludes Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. It's a simple statement; but it's also one that is uncomfortably truthful for our current times. With this film, Spielberg returns to his thought-provoking, zeitgeist-tapping ways, creating an unflinching meditation on the toll vengeance takes on mankind and the compromises we make when faced with what we want to do and what we will do. The weight of guilt and honor, of sacrifice and hatred, looms throughout this tale of vengeance; and Spielberg perfectly captures the logical debates between war and peace, the cultural importance of respect and humiliation, and the human divide between what we consider right and what they consider wrong.
My Favorite Line: The race is not for the swift, nor the battle for the strong. But time and chance happens to them all. Fate's hand falls suddenly, who can say when it falls? – Papa
#15: The Bourne Supremacy (2004) Directed by Paul Greengrass
There's a particular frame in Supremacy wherein Jason Bourne's entire character is defined. Crashing his car into a highway divider and killing the hired assassin, Bourne faced a simple choice: go into the darkness of the tunnel below or into the light of the streets above. It's an inherently simple yet strikingly poignant image. And when Bourne indeed limped towards the light, I couldn't help but analogize this image to the film's own intentions to transcend the stale action genre formula, to elevate itself above its less sophisticated competition. It's fitting then, that the film eclipses a seemingly routine tale of vengeance and instead, turns it into a quest for redemption, a journey towards forgiveness. Supremacy is a film as technically exhilarating as it is emotionally resounding - the best Bourne film in the trilogy and my favorite action film in the past decade.
My Favorite Line: When what you love gets taken from you, you want to know the truth. – Jason Bourne
#14: Sin City (2005) Directed by Robert Rodriguez
A haiku:
Violently stylized,
A good ol’ time to be had.
Nothing else compares.
My Favorite Line: I'm Shellie's new boyfriend and I'm out of my mind. If you so much as talk to her or even think her name, I'll cut you in ways that'll make you useless to a woman. - Dwight
#13: X2 (2003) Directed by Bryan Singer
This is not a superhero movie. It’s a poignantly human film - which so happens to feature superpowered mutants - that truly analogized the political and social hysteria of a post 9-11 world. Released in the wake of unprecedented outcries for war and thirst for vengeance, X2 propelled comic book films out of kid movie territory and into mainstream respectability by dissecting humanity's own faults against a fantasy world backdrop. It featured a Colonel in the American military as the villain - a man who by all other measures should be regarded as a hero. He only wants safety for his country and eradication of a growing threat. And yet, somewhere along the way, the film began to peel back humanity's own hatred and bigotry towards itself to arrive at a seemingly simple notion: these mutants really are human, no matter how different they look or strangely they act. And when we begin to persecute the different and abuse the misunderstood, how should we expect them to react?
My Favorite Line: Have you ever tried not being a mutant? – Mrs. Drake
#12: There Will Be Blood (2007) Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
If it wasn’t for Daniel Day-Lewis, I’m convinced I would’ve slept through most, if not all, of this film. That’s not to say this portrait of American greed and dehumanization – which incidentally, are juxtaposed by no mere coincidence – isn’t profound or powerful. On the contrary, Anderson’s film evokes the moral ambivalence of classics such as Citizen Kane, revealing a parable of a man bending technology to his will and in the process, slowly exchanging his own soul for power. But even still, I watch this only for Day-Lewis’ tour-de-force performance, a creative achievement as breathtaking as it is unparalleled. This may be the single best acting performance by any actor in the last decade.
My Favorite Line: And my straw reaches across the room and starts to drink your milkshake. I drink your milkshake! – Daniel Plainview
#11: Black Swan (2010) Directed by Darren Aronofsky
Above all else, I love this film’s courage, its bravado, its fearlessness, its earnest disregard for how it might appear and its genuine sincerity for what it actually is. This is Aronofsky’s boldest project to date; and it wouldn’t be the same had he held back. It’s clear that Aronofsky – along with a career-defining performance by Natalie Portman – invest the totality of their creative will into this film. And I can’t help but equate Nina's relentless drive towards perfection as a simulacrum of Aronofsky's own creative process, one wherein pain is tolerated, fatigue is encouraged, and perfection is possible. This is a film of contrasts, of things that shouldn't work but somehow, do and do very, very well. It’s a work of art as provocative as it is grotesque, as beautiful as it is irresistible.
My Favorite Line: That was me seducing you when it needs to be the other way around. – Thomas Leroy
My Top 10 films of the past decade coming up next - stay tuned!
