25-21
25. The Squid and the Whale (2005)
24. The Class (2008)
23. Doubt (2008)
22. Rachel Getting Married (2008)
21. The Lives of Others (2007)
20-16
20. Pieces of April (2003)
19. Zodiac (2007)
18. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
17. Y Tu Mama Tambien (2002)
16. City of God (2003)
15-11
15. Crash (2005)
14. In America (2003)
13. Road to Perdition (2002)
12. American Gangster (2007)
11. The Prestige (2006)
10-1
10. Finding Neverland (2004)
9. A Beautiful Mind (2001)
8. No Country for Old Men (2007)
7. Before Sunset (2004)
6. Unbreakable (2000)
5. Cast Away (2000)
4. Mystic River (2003)
3. The Passion of the Christ (2004)
2. United 93 (2006)
1. Munich (2005)
No film challenges me more than this one. The structure, plot, and arguments all play with and on my viewpoints as I watch this film. Richly layered with several intersecting themes and ideas, Munich also plays as a first rate thriller as well. Although it scored an Oscar nomination, I think this is one of Spielberg's masterpieces that has been overlooked. It cleverly plays on themes and ideas in his other masterpiece Schindler's List. While I think that Schindler is a better film, it's also an easier one. Munich challenges and interacts with Schindler, but it's also a harder film to enjoy and to walk away from. Simply the best drama of the 2000s.
2 comments:
"Doubt" makes this list? I thought it was highly, highly overrated. Good, but overrated. The climactic showdown between Streep and Hoffman was great, but it left me generally unimpressed.
I'd put "American Splendor" on this list in a heartbeat, though it treads between drama and comedy. Perhaps Giamatti's best role in a quite solid decade's body of work.
Though I enjoyed, "Rachel Getting Married", I'd bump that too. And I love the fact that "Unbreakable" gets some major love here; that movie was highly, highly underappreciated.
In regards to 'Doubt', I thought it did a good job of turning upon our expectations (causing doubt about our preconcieved notions of each character) by providing counterbalances to each character's percieved 'definitive' nature. Outside of the big showdown, I absolutely love Streeps scene with Viola Davis, and Hoffman's sermon on rumor. I also appreciate the message about how honesty about our doubts can be something that binds us.
I really like 'American Splendor' as well, though would prefer Giamatti in 'Sideways' to his Harvey performance. Though both are great.
With 'Rachel Getting Married', it actually impacted me greatly. I haven't cried like that at a film since 'United 93'. Something about the truth in the way that family had to extend grace and forgiveness to their sister hit me hard.
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