The Top 25 Movies of the Decade

19.  


Rachel Weisz won an Oscar for her performance in "Constant Gardener" but the real heart of this movie is Ralph Fiennes.  He's made a career playing memorable baddies (Goeth in "Schindler's List", Voldemort in "Harry Potter", 'arry in "In Bruges"), but he gives his best and most subtle performance playing the kindhearted Justin.  Ralph breaks your heart by playing Justin restrained.  In one particularly moving scene, as he identifies the body of his dead wife, he quietly comforts his companion instead of shedding his own tears.

Fiennes' performance reflects the tone of the movie.  Fernando Meirelles ("City of God") doesn't let the pharmaceutical conspiracy sub-plot push the movie into melodrama.  There is clearly a political message here, but it becomes much more powerful as a backdrop to the story we really care about:  Fiennes finding out what happened to his wife.  Moreoever, Meirelles allows the secondary characters who move this sub-plot along to develop without defining them as soon as they appear on screen, making the revelation of their true nature infinitely more effective.

The Top 25 Movies of the Decade

20.  


Post-modernism is a difficult term to define, especially as it pertains to film.  As I understand it, post-modernism in cinema means a deconstruction of the medium, a process that actively reminds the viewer they are watching a contrived piece of art.  This seemingly contradictory principle yielded films like "Breathless", a stylistic revolution in its time but virtually unwatchable from an entertainment standpoint.

Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman gave the 2000s its first, and maybe only, mainstream post-modern movie.  "Adaptation" is about the writing of its own screenplay.  Sure, not everything that unfolds actually happened, but that is precisely the point.  Kaufman, arguably the most auteur of any working writer, proves the ultimate power of the screenplay (and its creator) by writing himself into an adaptation of "The Orchid Thief".  Brilliantly, he still adapts "The Orchid Thief" to some extent and simultaneously details his difficulties in writing that adaptation, tying the two very different stories together as a study of writing.  Kaufman deconstructs the process and weaves it into the fabric of the movie.  Brilliant.  If only he hadn't literally deconstructed his next work.

The Top 25 Movies of the Decade

21. 
Nolan's Batman films should be the standard against which comic book franchises are measured.  This second installment pushed the genre to new limits, becoming the first major motion picture to integrate IMAX footage with traditional 35 mm.  Heath Ledger's performance is astounding, a complete immersion into a psyche.  


Nolan keeps things grounded.  He's smart and disciplined, putting his $185 million to good use.  He favors special effects over computer-generated visual effects.  Almost everything here is done for real, or at least, without relying on CGI.  With the exception of the helicopter crash, nothing here looks fake.  Nothing.

The Top 25 Movies of the Decade

22.


I marvel at this adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho, a book made infamous by the extremely detailed misogynistic violence.  Mary Harron interestingly decided to show very little gore and presumably copyright issues prevented her from delving too much into the brand obsession of the 80s.  Instead, she focuses on her greatest asset:  Christian Bale.

Bale's breakout (for the second time) performance launched his career as one of the top leading men of this generation.  The strongest aspect of Bale's portrayal is his ability to make the audience root for Patrick Bateman, despite his behavior.  He finds the comedy in the role, an aspect most actors would dismiss but Bale sinks his teeth into it.