Film Essay: Top Ten List Reflections 1998-2018, Part 1: The Lists
Reflections on my choices for the best films of our time
Recently, I have found myself not only in a reflective mood, but, actually having time to reflect. Caring for my family that is going through some serious health issues has become the most important part of my life; but, in taking a partial leave of absence from work, I have purposefully taken time each morning to reflect. Sometimes that takes the form of writing, sometimes walking, and sometimes watching films and spending time in meditation and prayer. During this time, I began to look back at my choices for the best films of each year that I have been following films with a critical eye.
I began writing film reviews back in 1998 when I was in 8th grade, and, although I’ve never collected my writing and put it out in one place, I have been curious to see what I think of the opinions of my younger critical self. Was I immature for picking “There’s Something About Mary” as one of the best films of 1998? These types of questions I will explore via titled sections below, but the answer to that particular question is no. Watching There’s Something About Mary recently, it remains one of the best gross-out comedies of all times, although not the equal of another Farrelly brother film, Kingpin.
So, what do I think of my younger self’s opinions? How do the films I chose hold up? What interesting revelations can I draw from the films that are so important to our time? Here are some insights, answers, observations, and sometimes just silliness.
General reactions
I am amazed over all how little my opinions have changed. Granted, there are some movies each year I missed seeing (see the next category for that reflection), but overall, I think most of the movies I selected remain good films. I am also amazed at the number of documentaries I’ve selected over the years. In my mind, they are not typically the first films that jump to my memory, but indeed, out of 19 years of cinema, 12 documentaries make my top tens. Now that is not a high percentage, but it is higher than I thought it would be.
I am not surprised about the abundance of two types of films on my top ten list. The first is animation. I love animation. It was my first love; long before I grew to love all cinema. Growing up during the Disney Renaissance, seeing movies each year like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, animation causes my imagination to soar in ways that live action simply does not. The fact that 14 animated films made my list, almost one per year, is not surprising, although I would argue with the exception of Pixar and Studio Ghibli, the general quality of animated films has dipped in the past two decades. The second is the dominance of independent cinema, especially in my choices for the best film of the year. I have long been attracted to what some critics despairingly call “European films.” They tend to be slower paced, character focused, more ‘life like’, less driven by plot formula. “European films” are not typically made by Hollywood production houses, but American independent cinema certainly gravitates towards making them. A film like Half Nelson doesn’t appear on many critics’ choices of the best film of 2006, but that, as well as Blue Valentine, Precious, Beasts of the Southern Wild among others dominate my selections. Even the place of Tumbleweeds on my choices for the best of 1999 (a movie I recently re-watched and liked, but would not place on my top ten if I wrote it today) demonstrates, even in my second year of reviewing films, I was drawn to independent cinema.
I’ve lost my sense of humor. After 1998, I never included more than a couple comedies on my choices for the best films. In fact, if you exclude animated movies, there are very few and seem to be even fewer as time goes on. I have dedicated myself to going back to my runners up each year to re-watch the comedies to see them with fresh eyes. Of the Apatow films (whether produced or directed), which seem to dominate the landscape of recent comedies, two stand out to me as contenders. The first is Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008). I think it is the best written Apatow comedy and the opening itself deserves to be in the collection of best scenes of the last twenty years. The other one that does seem to be more of a drama is Knocked-up (2007). Certainly taking on the Hollywood stereotype of the unattractive guy (sorry Seth Rogan) being paired romantically with the gorgeous blond (a great Katherine Heigl), the film seeks to shock us and satirize the romantic comedy, even the idea that sex never leads to pregnancy in most films. Like Forgetting Sarah Marshall, there is a stand out scene of comic brilliance with Debbie (Leslie Mann) who is married to Peter (Paul Rudd), believing he is having an affair and tracking him down only to discover… he’s in a fantasy football league.
Here is a collection of my Top Ten Films from 1998-2018. Following them will be a series of reflections upon those films.
1998
1. Dark City ****
2. Shakespeare in Love ****
3. Life is Beautiful ****
4. Elizabeth ****
5. A Simple Plan ****
6. American History X ****
7. Antz *** ½
8. Waking Ned Devine *** ½
9.There’s Something About Mary *** ½
10. Primary Colors *** ½
1999
1. Eyes Wide Shut ****
2. American Beauty ****
3. Being John Malkovich ****
4. The Straight Story ****
5. Boys Don’t Cry ****
6. Princess Mononoke ****
7. Magnolia ****
8. Topsy-Turvy ****
9. Tumbleweeds ****
10. The Talented Mr. Ripley ****
Ten Best of the 1990’s
Eyes Wide Shut
Fargo
Breaking the Waves
Goodfellas
Three Colors Trilogy: Blue, White and Red
To Live
Hoop Dreams
TIE: (two biographies) Malcolm X and Nixon
Silence of the Lambs
Schindler’s List
Most Influential Film: Pulp Fiction
2000
1. Dancer in the Dark ****
2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ****
3. Requiem for a Dream ****
4. Traffic ****
5. Almost Famous ****
6. Pollock ****
7. The Road Home ****
8. You Can Count on Me ****
9. American Psycho *** ½
10. The Contender *** ½
2001
1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone ****
2. Mulholland Drive ****
3. Apocalypse Now Redux ****
4. In the Bedroom ****
5. Hedwig and the Angry Inch ****
6. Ghost World ****
7. The Royal Tenenbaums ****
8. No Man’s Land ****
9. Gosford Park ****
10. In the Mood for Love *** ½
2002
1. Adaptation ****
2. Spirited Away ****
3. Y tu mama Tambien ****
4. Bowling for Columbine ****
5. Monsoon Wedding ****
6. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers ****
7. Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner ****
8. About Schmidt ****
9. Minority Report ****
10. TIE: Gangs of New York *** ½ and 25th Hour *** ½
2003
1. TIE: In America **** and Lost in Translation ****
2. Thirteen ****
3. American Splendor ****
4. Finding Nemo ****
5. Nowhere in Africa ****
6. All the Real Girls ****
7. Matchstick Men ****
8. Whale Rider ****
9. The Fog of War ****
10. Anything Else *** ½
2004
1. Million Dollar Baby ****
2. Sideways ****
3. Kill Bill Vol. 2 ****
4. Undertow ****
5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ****
6. Vera Drake ****
7. The Aviator ****
8. Baadasssss! ****
9. Garden State ****
10. Spider-Man 2 ****
2005
1. Saraband ****
2. Brokeback Mountain ****
3. Yes ****
4. A History of Violence ****
5. Me You and Everyone We Know ****
6. Oldboy ****
7. Proof ****
8. Wallace and Gromit; The Curse of the Were-Rabbit ****
9. Grizzly Man ****
10. Munich ****
2006
1. Half Nelson ****
2. Letters from Iwo Jima ****
3. United 93 ****
4. Inland Empire ****
5. Children of Men ****
6. 49 up ****
7. The Departed ****
8. Borat ****
9. Manderley *** ½
10. Little Miss Sunshine *** ½
2007
1. No Country for Old Men ****
2. Ratatouille ****
3. Away from Her ****
4. Zodiac ****
5. There Will Be Blood ****
6. Into the Wild ****
7. Once ****
8. Juno ****
9. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly ****
10. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead ****
2008
1. Synecdoche, New York ****
2. Rachel is Getting Married ****
3. The Wrestler ****
4. Snow Angels ****
5. 4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days ****
6. The Dark Knight ****
7. Happy-Go-Lucky ****
8. In Bruges ****
9. Frozen River *** ½
10. The Visitor *** ½
Link to the actual list: https://www.gourmandfilmwriter.com/home/2018/8/15/top-ten-films-2008
2009
1. Precious: Based on the novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire ****
2. Where the Wild Things Are ****
3. 500 Days of Summer ****
4. The Hurt Locker ****
5. The Fantastic Mr. Fox ****
6. Avatar ****
7. Ponyo ****
8. Goodbye Solo ****
9. Up ****
10. Gomorrah *** ½
Link to the actual list: https://www.gourmandfilmwriter.com/home/2018/8/15/top-ten-films-2009
2010
1. Blue Valentine ****
2. Winter’s Bone ****
3. Black Swan ****
4. The Kids are All Right ****
5. The Social Network ****
6. Exit Through the Gift Shop ****
7. Another Year ****
8. The King’s Speech ****
9. Toy Story 3 ****
10. Lebanon ****
Link to the actual list: https://www.gourmandfilmwriter.com/home/2018/8/15/top-ten-films-2010
Best of the OO’s (alphabetical order)
Adaptation
Brokeback Mountain
Dancer in the Dark
In America
Minority Report
Mulholland Drive
No Country for Old Men
Saraband
Spirited Away
United 93
Link to the actual list: https://www.gourmandfilmwriter.com/home/2018/6/19/top-ten-movies-of-00
2011
1. The Tree of Life ****
2. We Need to Talk about Kevin ****
3. Midnight in Paris ****
4. Hugo ****
5. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ****
6. The Artist ****
7. The Guard *** ½
8. Trust *** ½
9. Drive *** ½
10. Bill Cunningham New York *** ½
Link to the actual list: https://www.gourmandfilmwriter.com/home/2018/6/19/top-ten-films-2011
2012
Beasts of the Southern Wild ****
Life of Pi ****
Moonrise Kingdom ****
5 Broken Cameras ****
Silver Linings Playbook ****
Skyfall ****
Django Unchained ****
Amour ****
Argo ****
The Deep Blue Sea ****
Link to the actual list: https://www.gourmandfilmwriter.com/home/2018/6/19/top-ten-2014
2013
1. 12 Years a Slave ****
2. Mud ****
3. Her ****
4. Fruitvale Station ****
5. All is Lost ****
6. The Hunt ****
7. The Act of Killing ****
8. Blue Jasmine ****
9. TIE: The Wolf of Wall Street **** and Gravity ****
10. Room 237 ****
Link to actual list: https://www.gourmandfilmwriter.com/home/2018/6/17/top-ten-films-2010
2014
1. The Wind Rises ****
2. The Tale of Princess Kaguya ****
3. The King and the Mockingbird ****
4. Boyhood ****
5. Calvary ****
6. The Grand Budapest Hotel ****
7. Whiplash ****
8. Life Itself ****
9. Mr. Turner ****
10. Joe ****
Link to the actual list: https://www.gourmandfilmwriter.com/home/2018/6/19/top-ten-films-2014
2015
1. Anomalisa ****
2. Spotlight ****
3. Mad Max: Fury Road ****
4. Chi-Raq ****
5. Inside Out ****
6. The Assassin ****
7. TIE: Room **** and Ex Machina ****
8. 45 Years ****
9. Coming Home ****
10. The Grief of Others ****
Link to the actual list: https://www.gourmandfilmwriter.com/home/2018/6/19/top-ten-films-2015
2016
1. Moonlight ****
2. OJ: Made in America **** and 13th ****
3. Manchester by the Sea ****
4. Silence ****
5. Arrival ****
6. Fences ****
7. The Handmaiden ****
8. Knight of Cups ****
9. The Lobster ****
10. Take me to the River *** ½
Link to the actual list: https://www.gourmandfilmwriter.com/home/2018/6/19/top-ten-films-2016
2017
1. The Florida Project ****
2. Call Me by Your Name ****
3. Lady Bird ****
4. First, They Killed my Father ****
5. Wormwood ****
6. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri ****
7. I am another you ****
8. Dunkirk ****
9. Mudbound ****
10. TIE: Blade Runner 2049 **** and Star Wars the Last Jedi ****
Link to the actual list: https://www.gourmandfilmwriter.com/home/2018/6/19/top-ten-films-2017
2018
Roma ****
The Other Side of the Wind ****
The Rider ****
Bread Factory, Part I: For the Sake of Gold AND Bread Factory, Part II: Walk with me a While ****
If Beale Street Could Talk ****
First Reformed ****
Leave No Trace ****
Shoplifters ****
Black Panther ****
King Lear ****
Link to the actual list: https://www.gourmandfilmwriter.com/home/2018/12/30/film-essay-top-ten-2018
Ten Best of the 1980’s
Raging Bull
Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back
Do the Right Thing
My Dinner with Andre
Ran
The Decalogue
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Blue Velvet
TIE: (can’t ask me to pick from Woody Allen’s great streak of movies in the 1980s) Hannah and her Sisters, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Manhattan, and The Purple Rose of Cairo
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Most Influential Film: E.T.
