Dir: Johnathan Glazer
Cast: Ray Winstone, Ben Kingsley
Sexy Beast completely relies on Ben Kingsley's tour de force performance and boy does he run with it. Featuring perhaps the finest acting of his career, Kingsley plays a mean p.o.s. gangster named Don Logan who constantly goads retired gangster Gal Dove (Winstone) into doing one last job. When Gal vehemently refuses to take part, that's where hell breaks loose. But Don Logan was crazy from the get go. Seriously, you have never seen a performance like Ben Kingsley's when you watch this movie. While watching him act, you have to remember that he once played Gandhi. Yeah, that's the same guy. Unbelievable.
99. Rachel Getting Married, 2008, USA
Dir: Jonathan Demme
Cast: Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt
Lot of people were sort of mixed on this brilliant little gem made by the underappreciated Jonathan Demme. Demme is a master at adapting his style to suit a particular genre and he does it again here with the handheld hd camera work that gives the film a realistic, documentary feel. Combine that with Anne Hathaway's Oscar-worthy performance as the crazy, lunatic sister of the bride and you have yourself a great movie. At least, you know, in my opinion.
98. Blood Diamond, 2006, USA
Dir: Edward Zwick
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou
Edward Zwick is also responsible for The Last Samurai and Defiance during the 2000s and if there's one common thing I can deduce from all three movies, it's the word "uneven." Zwick is amazingly uneven as a director who often seems to have great material to work with but is torn between trying to tell a great story with masterful camerawork and adding in Hollywood-esque action sequences. Blood Diamond sort of suffers the same fate, but manages to be successful because of great performances from Hounsou, DiCaprio, and Connelly. I've seen this movie about four or five times and found myself enjoying it everytime. It's a movie with such great material that it plays right into Zwick's strengths and fortunately doesn't reveal his weaknesses. Blood Diamond, in particular, is a great action/thriller centered around the possession of a "priceless diamond" in Sierra Leone. This isn't an educational movie by any means and it merely touches upon the issues that Africa faces with blood diamonds, but it's still a great movie in the end.
97. Summer Hours, 2008, France
Dir: Olivier Assayas
Cast: Juliette Binoche, Charles Berling
A wonderful, meditative-like movie from Olivier Assayas... that's "Summer Hours." Summer Hours doesn't really have a plot and the story seems to float on by scene-by-scene. There are some scenes where we can remain in the same setting for almost a half hour and everything slowly unfolds as we come across a family that's about to have to pick up the pieces left behind by the main, late matriarch of the family. But what Summer Hours also does is pose a very interesting, thoughtful question on the meaning and value of possessions left behind. From the 75-year-old grandmother's house to her paintings/sketches and even to her unused vases. We sit there and wonder how far this family can go to save whatever remaining memories they could have of the generation before them. And the end of the movie almost feels it's making a strong ethical point with the youngest generation subsequently partying and totally taking away any meaning that the house had in the beginning of the movie. Is it really time to move on? The movie seems to say, yes, it's time to move on... whether you think it's right or not.
96. American Psycho, 2000, USA
Dir: Mary Harron
Cast: Christian Bale, Reese Witherspoon
American Psycho is one of the better adaptations of a novel that can be found in this decade and a lot of that could be because of Christian Bale's great performance. People may not remember just how darkly funny and amusing (in an unsettling way) Bale was in this movie regardless of the fact that he's a psychotic killer. The movie makes light of late '80s/early '90s yuppie culture while, at the same time, containing horrific and gory scenes. While the second half of the movie never really lived up to the masterpiece that is the first half of this movie... it still makes for one hell of a ride.
95. Little Miss Sunshine, 2006, USA
Dir: Dayton/Faris
Cast: Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell
Dayton and Faris's debut movie is a sweet, funny film containing some great and memorable performances from Alan Arkin, Abigail Breslin, and Steve Carell. It's a film that wins you over with its abundant charm and grows on you everytime you see it. Unfortunately people sort of got sick of all the praise the movie received and by Oscar time, it was widely dismissed as an overrated film. But as time goes on, Little Miss Sunshine has proven to be worthy of the initial praise that it received. Overall, it's just a sweet, feel-good movie that can be enjoyed by anyone if they take the time to enjoy it.
94. Batman Begins, 2005, USA
Dir: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman
The beginning of what would eventually become a huge pop culture smash, Batman Begins more-than-successfully reboots the Batman story. The key to this movie working so well is how much of a great movie it is on its own. Nolan really dug deep into re-inventing and re-imagining the legend that is Batman. Christian Bale also gives a solid performance as Batman and a great performance as Bruce Wayne... Bruce Wayne is the role Bale was born to play. People give him flack of his Batman voice, but he still manages to play a good Batman despite that shortcoming. Add that with great supporting performances all around (including Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Ken Watanabe, and Cillian Murphy) and it just makes it all that much better.
93. 25th Hour, 2002, USA
Dir: Spike Lee
Cast: Edward Norton, Phillip Seymour Hoffman
I wouldn't say that Spike Lee was "quiet" during the 2000s as he still made a lot of films, but aside from the slightly entertaining "Inside Man" and the underrated, yet just-missed-the-mark "Bamboozled," 25th Hour is really his only truly great movie of the decade. Here Spike Lee allows Edward Norton to deliver one of his finest performances as a drug dealer that is about to be sent to jail within 24 hours. The movie also manages to get away with a very riveting socio-political monologue that Norton's character makes in the middle of the movie that adds some weight to an already deep movie which contains some shots of ground zero merely months after 9/11.
92. Cast Away, 2000, USA
Dir: Robert Zemeckis
Cast: Tom Hanks
It would appear that the 100-91 list contains a lot of great, dominating performances mainly from one actor. Cast Away is another film that works because of the great performance given by Tom Hanks. When you consider that the film is mostly just Tom Hanks on an island with his volleyball, you really gotta give it to him for managing all the way through. The fact that we actually care when his volleyball "Wilson" helplessly floats away in the ocean is stunning. Who else could do that?
91. Happy-Go-Lucky, 2008, UK
Dir: Mike Leigh
Cast: Sally Hawkins
Some people are just flat-out annoyed by the character Poppy in Mike Leigh's "Happy-Go-Lucky" and I can definitely understand why. However, I was one of those people who was actually charmed and won over by Sally Hawkins's overly enthusiastic performance as I can tell she really put 100% into the role. And you know what? Poppy really isn't that insane and there are plenty of poignant and meaningful scenes with her that adds more to her character. This is genuinely a well-intentioned, optimistic person who wants others to bask in her happiness. Some people see that as a front for deep-rooted depression... should Poppy let out a sob every once in awhile? Are we, as people, meant to be sad every once in awhile? I suppose. But Poppy doesn't think so. Good for her. I wish I could be that way all the time. Anyway, Mike Leigh did a great job guiding her performance like he does with the characters in all of his movies.
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