Dir: Terry George
Cast: Don Cheadle, Sophie Okonedo
What elevates Terry George's film Hotel Rwanda from being basically a made-for-tv movie into one of the finest films of the 21st century is Don Cheadle's performance. Don Cheadle's performance in this movie is so inspiring and moving and he keeps you glued to the screen until the movie's over. After all, Don Cheadle's character, Paul, manages a pretty nice hotel in Rwanda that has suddenly turned into a save haven for Tutsi refugees as they take cover from the Hulu militia. Cheadle is completely believable as Paul as he continually tries to make deals with the Hulus in order to maintain supplies and take care of the refugees. The kind of presence of mind to maintain calm while so many horrific things is happening within the country is what makes Paul a hero. You also have to hand it to Sophie Okonedo's performance as Paul's wife. Sophie is a relative unknown in America but more than held her own in her Oscar-nominated performance. She's a strong woman throughout the movie who truly loves her husband and is right by his side until the end. Overall, Hotel Rwanda is an important movie that helps raise awareness of what happened in Rwanda and what continues to happen in Africa. And hopefully, it will be shown in schools across the country for many years to come.
39. 28 Days Later, 2002, UK
Dir: Danny Boyle
Cast: Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson
28 Days Later is one of the most fantastic, awesomely sylistic horror/thriller films of the 2000s. Shot completely on handheld cameras, there's a certain raw edge to 28 Days Later that you don't really see in today's horror films, or any horror films at all. The striking images of an empty and abandoned London are particularly memorable when looking back at the movie. Then you have the great story of a lone man trying to find refuge with other survivors as the majority of the UK runs wild with rabid, homicidal humans due to an major virus outbreak. The first 2/3 of the movie is essentially the "horror" part of the film and it's treated excellently. You have the slow calm before the sudden burst of violence and that one particular suspenseful scene in the tunnel as the survivors attempt to escape the fast zombie-like humans. It's not over, however, once they finally find refuge and this where the movie truly elevates itself and puts even more at stake than you could have ever guessed. I won't give away too much for those who haven't seen the movie, but let's just say the refuge itself isn't exactly devoid of monsters of its own.
38. You Can Count on Me, 2000, USA
Dir: Kenneth Lonergan
Cast: Laura Linney, Mark Ruffalo
You Can Count on Me is a little film with a big heart. It's brilliantly written, wonderfully acted especially with its two main leads Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo. Rory Culkin plays the son of Laura Linney's character, Sammy. I'm sure Macaulay Culkin wishes he could've had a role like Rory's when he was a kid, although I'm sure his wallet would disagree. But I digress. What makes this movie so great is just watching the story unfold and the growing dissention between Samantha and her once-estranged brother, Terry. I love how when you meet Terry, he's supposed to be the one who needs to get his life back together and Samantha is the one who pretty much has everything in her life together even as a single mother (as most single mothers are capable of, but it's still difficult). But as the film progresses, it's Samantha's life that's slowly unraveling and Terry begins to appear more level-headed and reasonable. Ultimately though, that isn't the case as Terry winds up getting arrested after finding and provoking a fight between himself and Samantha's baby daddy. You Can Count on Me taught me that you can pretty much make a great movie even if the characters' lives are mundane. There's great drama to be had pretty much anywhere. While You Can Count on Me may not end on the lightest of notes, you still appreciated being inside these characters' lives for 110 minutes. Fantastic debut effort by Kenneth Lonegran... now somebody please release Margaret!
37. Moon, 2009, UK
Dir: Duncan Jones
Cast: Sam Rockwell, Sam Rockwell, AND Sam Rockwell!
Duncan Jones's debut film Moon is one of the greatest "pure" sci-fi films that I have seen in a long time. It's not quite on par with Kubrick's brilliant masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey, but it certainly shares some of the great qualities that 2001 had. It also contains one thing that 2001 didn't have and that's the great schizophrenic performance by Sam Rockwell. Sam Rockwell proves in Moon that he can carry a movie and that it's really fun to watch him carry a movie. He reminds me, in some ways, of Robert Downey Jr. Not necessarily in acting style, but the fact that they always bring their own little style to whatever role they play. Shot on a relatively low budget, Duncan Jones does a great job with the visual effects and the sets within the lunar station. And the story surprisingly has a lot of emotion embedded in it which slowly unfolds until you find yourself engrossed within it. I was surprised with how well this movie came out and was tickled by the fact that Duncan Jones just happens to be the son of David Bowie. Go figure, I guess. But this is a very mature effort from the first-timer and makes me excited to see what kind of projects he has lined up in the future.
36. Vicky Cristina Barcelona, 2008, Spain/USA
Dir: Woody Allen
Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Penelope Cruz
Woody Allen's finest film of the last decade, by far, was Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Woody Allen is back as he creates a wonderfully rich story about two friends, Vicky and Cristina (played by Rebecca Hall and Johansson, respectively), who decide to spend their summer in Barcelona. Vicky is a woman who believes in true love and is actually engaged to be married while on the trip. Cristina, however, is much more of a free-spirit and is more willing to try new things. This, of course, leads Cristina to immediately having a sexual relationship with a Barcelona local named Juan (played by the suave Javier Bardem). And she enjoys her relationship with Juan... until Maria (Cruz) shows up. Maria Elena is Juan's ex-wife and is brilliantly played by the beautiful and sexy Penelope Cruz, she's feisty, dangerous, and an unpredictable character and perhaps one of the best characters Woody Allen has ever written. She immediately invades the film and interrupts the relationship between Juan and Cristina. She even winds up living in the same house as Juan and Cristina after Juan finds out she attempted to kill herself. Remember, Cristina is a free spirit and is willing to try new things, but even she ultimately becomes apprehensive and even intimated by Maria. Meanwhile, Juan manages to seduce the level-headed Vicky who immediately winds up falling in love with Juan and begins having doubts about her engagement to her fiance (played by Kevin Dunn). Vicky Cristina Barcelona is an excellent film with a rich story and is wonderfully shot. Harkening back to some of Pedro Almodovar's crazier Spanish comedies, Woody Allen's film is both a charming salute to Almodovar as well as the country of Spain. And he shows that he's still got it. This is his best film since Crimes and Misdemeanors.
35. A History of Violence, 2005, USA
Dir: David Cronenberg
Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Ed Harris
A History of Violence was David Cronenberg's first real foray into mainstream film and boy did he impress with this movie. The great thing about Cronenberg is that while this is, by all accounts a studio film, Cronenberg cannot help but insert his trademark style into the film. This is still very much a David Cronenberg film and that is highlighted by the quasi-campy (yet thrilling) villians played by Ed Harris and William Hurt, as well as the fact that A History of Violence is one of Cronenberg's many studies of violence in film. How violence can repulse us, excite us, and horrify us at the same time. I was surprised to see people complain about the acting in this film because I find that it all works within the movie. I also feel that Viggo's performance is very strong and actually quite brilliant. The movie also reveals itself to be much better than initally perceived after repeated viewings and that's the reason why it has climbed so high on this list. It's a deceptively simple plot that has many little different intricacies that makes it work overall and it has that trademark Cronenberg style (albeit subtler than his '80s films). With A History of Violence, Cronenberg once again demonstrates that his talent can elevate whatever material that is laid out before him.
34. Milk, 2008, USA
Dir: Gus Van Sant
Cast: Sean Penn, Josh Brolin
In the 2000s, Gus Van Sant made a ton of films, but Milk was the first and only one that really demonstrated the depths of his talent. It's also perhaps the finest film he has ever made. Telling the story of Harvey Milk who was the first gay man to be elected into office. Milk was a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and his victory marked true progress in the ongoing struggle of gay rights. The movie Milk demonstrates Milk's importance in American history while also revealing details about his personal life. Van Sant and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black do a great job with preventing this movie from becoming just your average biopic. This is a great film and it's Van Sant at his most focused, political, and it's the zenith of his talent. Technically, it's the most well-crafted out of any of Van Sant's films. Sean Penn and Josh Brolin are also delightful and give instant credibility to the characters they portray (Penn - Milk, Brolin - Dan White).
33. Motorcycle Diaries, 2004, Argentina
Dir: Walter Salles
Cast: Gael Garcia Bernal, Rodrigo de la Serna
Motorcycle Diaries is the movie that continued to prove just how great of an actor Gael Garcia Bernal is and it's also an endlessly interesting movie about the travels of a young, impressionable, intelligent med student. You may also know him as Che Guevara. The most important thing about this movie is dramatic irony. The fact that the audience knows who Che was and what he eventually did in Cuba gives the movie some extra added weight. But by itself, Motorcycle Diaries is still a fantastic coming-of-age film showing a young man who ultimately becomes transformed both personally and ideologically just by the things he sees when traveling around South America. It also shows the kind of human that Che Guevara once was, while he is now both revered and reviled across the world, there's no denying that he was, at one point, a good human being who generally cared for people's well-being. The movie also contains a great supporting performance by Rodrigo de la Serna who plays Guevara's traveling partner. Walter Salles created a visual delight and successfully adapted this very important story that was actually written by the revolutionary himself.
32. The Departed, 2006, USA
Dir: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson
I remember some of the reactions people had to the idea that Martin Scorsese would be remaking a great Hong Kong film (Infernal Affairs) as if Scorsese isn't at all capable of successfully adapting someone else's work. But it's a testament to Scorsese's greatness that the movie turned out so brilliantly and was made so proficiently. Martin Scorsese will always be known as one of the great American legends of cinema and The Departed once again proves how great of a filmmaker he is. You also have to hand it to William Monaghan who adapted Infernal Affairs and transported the overall story into Boston and made it about the Irish mob in Boston, Mass. People always say "well why did they leave this out?" or "why didn't they leave that out?" when they don't realize that The Departed is its own movie, regardless of where the source material comes from. The movie stars a whole slew of great actors including Leo, Matt Damon, Jack, Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg... in fact, Mark Wahlberg was often considered the weakest link before the movie was filmed and he wound up turning in what was arguably the greatest performance in the film. Wahlberg really stepped his game up in this movie (and his game was fine anyway, see Boogie Nights) and his character was so hard-nosed, blunt, and intense that the scenes with him are some of the most memorable scenes in the movie. A lot of people also disagree with the way The Departed ends as it ends quite suddenly, but I think the chaotic and violent ending worked. Once you know what happens, you can begin to accept it and you subsequently manage to enjoy it and live with it when you watch the movie again. Sure it's kind of disappointing to see how most of the characters' fate wind up, but hey, it's a movie. And it's one hell of an entertaining movie by one of the greats.
31. Far From Heaven, 2002, USA
Dir: Todd Haynes
Cast: Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid
It took me awhile to take notice of director/auteur Todd Haynes. In fact, I didn't even discover the movie Far From Heaven until late last year. I had seen Haynes's I'm Not There when it first came out on DVD and I thought it was a very interesting although very uneven picture. At the time, I guess I should've paid more notice to the film's director as I would've discovered this wonderful movie a lot sooner. I think I remember seeing a trailer for it back in the day but you know how shitty a movie can look thanks to a trailer. There's no way you'd figure out just how deep and powerful the content within this movie is and just how well it deals with issues of homosexuality and race. It doesn't over-emphasize anything, it doesn't overstate nor oversimplify. It just shows you. Honestly, aside from Do the Right Thing, that's really the only way you can successfully make a meaningful film concerning such social issues. The film contains great performances from the usually reliable Julianne Moore and Dennis Quaid (whom I'm not particularly a fan of but he's great here). You also can't help but admire Dennis Haysbert in this film who we all know as the stern, serious President David Palmer from 24, but Haysbert's character Raymond is surprisingly tender. He's a wise man who can't help but be attracted to Cathy Whitaker's kindness (and naivete) just like Cathy (Moore) slowly becomes attracted to Raymond. The film also deals upfront with issues of repressed homosexuality as Cathy has to struggle to keep her family together even after finding out her husband Frank (Quaid) has secretly been having affairs with men.
But the film's secret weapon is its style. You rarely see a movie that manages to use its style as a way of adding substance to a movie. I mean, usually, when a movie has as much substance and material as this, you don't even notice its stylistic choices, but Far From Heaven has too many stylistic choices for you not to be aware of. For instance, its use of classic title font from the classic Hollywood era, the dominating score by Elmer Bernstein which should've won the Oscar for Best Original Score, as well as the elaborate costumes and makeup that you see on all the characters. It's almost as if this film came right out of the classical Hollywood era... but no film from that era would ever contain such straight-forwardness on issues like pre-Civil Rights racism as well as homosexuality. The strong use of style in this movie highlights these issues and makes you more aware of them without the film having to hit you over the head with said issues (like Paul Haggis's Crash which is nowhere near this top 100 list). All of that is what makes Far From Heaven such a great film and one of the clearcut best of 2002.
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