Movie Review: Tenet

Tenet is the 11th film that Christopher Nolan has directed. It stars John David Washington as The Protagonist, an American operative given a mission to stop the end of the world. Scientists discover that some objects are moving backwards in time through a process called inversion and it is The Protagonist's job to determine what is causing inversion and needs to stop it. Basically, Tenet is Nolan's version of a Bond film. The Protagonist gets help from a sidekick named Neil (Robert Pattinson) and they jet set all over the world, from India to Estonia to hanging out off of the coast of Vietnam, to take down a Russian oligarch (Kenneth Branagh)- who is using a McGuffin to destroy the world- with help of the oligarch's beautiful wife (Elizabeth Debicki). 

I could go into the plot further, but the story of what happens in this movie is so damn confusing, that it's basically better to visit the r/Tenet Reddit thread to figure out what happens. The first third of this film is all confusing exposition dumps of people sitting down and talking to each other and the rest of the film sees characters going forward and backwards through time yet partaking in the same events. The whole film is needlessly elaborate and makes for a frustrating moviegoing experience.

I normally love Christopher Nolan films and don't generally mind his long-winded attempts to explain the rules of the film. The first third of Inception is also basically full of exposition dumps, but Nolan found a way to entertain the audience while clearly explaining the rules. He fucking flips an entire city on itself! I also don't mind if the film is confusing and messes with the concept of time, when again, Nolan clearly communicates that in the movie. Tenet follows a lot of the same rules of Memento. But whereas Memento firmly establishes how to watch the film and what it is (the present day scenes are going in reverse chronological order intercut with the main character talking on the phone about Sammy Jenkins), Tenet is a narrative mess. Everything does make sense and loop together as Reddit has confirmed, but the film itself doesn't convey that well. I don't mind a Nolan film that doesn't explain itself fully upon a first viewing and requires multiple rewatches, but it needs to be entertaining and make somewhat sense the first time around. Tenet does not. 

Best Soundtrack of 2020

In 2014, I wrote a blog post arguing that The Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack was so good that the Academy Awards should create a new awards category. Since then, I have been writing about the best soundtracks of the year, which you can find examples of here and here and here. Here are my nominees for the Best Soundtrack of 2020.

BIRDS OF PREY: HARLEY QUINN
Dir. Cathy Yan, Music Supervisor: Season Kent
NOTABLE SONGS: "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" by James Brown, "Experiment on Me" by Halsey

Captain Marvel had one of the worst soundtracks I've heard in recent memory. Since the film was female-forward and set in the 1990's, the soundtrack was full of 90's female artists like Garbage, Hole, TLC, and Salt-N-Pepa. The climax of the film was even awkwardly set to No Doubt's "Just A Girl".  The problem was that these songs were pigeon-holed into the film and didn't work with the flow of the movie. Cathy Yan smartly took a different approach. While the soundtrack is prominently female-centric thanks to tracks from Halsey, Saweetie, and Whipped Cream, the songs pair perfectly with the mood of the scene. The film also isn't afraid to use male artists when appropriate, something the Marvel film seemed allergic to. Birds of Prey is also a lot more fun than Captain Marvel and the songs selected for the soundtrack reflect that. One of the reasons Birds of Prey worked creatively was because of the tone of the film that Yan established, and that tone was accented by the soundtrack. 

Unsung Movie Acting Performances of 2020

I want to take this post to spend some time appreciating a handful of movie performances that are sure to go overlooked come award season. I'm not talking just about the Academy Awards, I'm taking about all award shows: the Independent Spirit Awards, Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards and everything in between. There's no shortage of places where an actor can be praised come award season, yet even still, many are overlooked for their great performance. That's where I come in. These are the performances that I loved that, like Rodney Dangerfield famously states, can't get no respect. 

Robert Pattinson

Best Supporting Actor
The Devil All The Time

Why The Performance is Great: While Antonio Campos' campy Southern Gothic epic The Devil All The Time may not be very good (though it continues to live in my head rent free), Robert Pattinson's performance will haunt my dreams. He plays Preston Teagardin, a morally corrupt reverend who uses The Lord to justify his wicked ways. There's a slickness like a used car salesman to his performance that allows him to steal the show and monologue in a way where you want to punch his character in the face while hanging on his every word. In a film loaded with some of Hollywood's best young stars, it's Pattinson's performance that stands out. His attempt at a Southern accent doesn't hurt either. While the rest of his non-American co-stars are trying to use a traditional movie Southern dialect, Pattinson created a voice all his own. While Campos himself might not have approved, the words that ooze out of Teagardin's mouth like an oil sludge only helps to elevate Pattinson as one of the best young actors currently working today. 

The Devil All The Time is currently available to stream on Netflix

Margo Martindale and June Squibb
Best Supporting Actress
Blow The Man Down

Why The Performances are Great: Blow The Man is a modern day neo-noir set in a remote New England coastal fishing town, directed by Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy. Cole and Krudy do an amazing job establishing the vibe and seedy underbelly tone of the town. You can smell the fishiness from your living room, both from the sea animals as well as the actions of the townsfolk. The film centers around two young sisters in the wake of their mother's death as one of them kills her would-be sexual abuser in self-defense. The death of the both the mother as well as the attacker sets off a chain reaction pitting the sisters against the town's Madame (Enid Devlin played by Martindale) against a cadre of Karen's led by Susie Gallagher (played by Squibb). If you've seen Margo Martindale's Emmy wining wicked turn as Mags Bennett in Season 2 of Justified, then you know just how well she can play evil, and if you've seen June Squibb in anything, you know that there's a reason she an Academy nominated actress. Martindale and Squibb play characters on the opposite side of the coin. Martindale's Enid is ruthless, but sweet when she needs to be while Squibb's Susie is sweet, but ruthless when she needs to be. The great character actresses play so well off of each other that it enhances the great foundation that Cole and Krudy built. 

Blow The Man Down is available to stream on Amazon Prime

10 Best Movies of 2020

2020 was obviously a weird year for movies. Thanks to the pandemic, movies theaters were shut down most of the year and a good chunk of releases major studios were planning on releasing throughout the year were pushed back to 2021 or beyond. However, what this year did was allow smaller movies and Netflix movies to shine. While we didn't have a Fast and Furious or a new Marvel movie or a James Bond flick to enjoy this year, we did have a lot of small and independent movies that were able to peak through the crowded field. The pandemic also highlighted the trend of top tier filmmakers using streaming services to get their films made. Netflix released new films from David Fincher, Spike Lee, Charlie Kaufman, Aaron Sorkin, and Ron Howard. Apple TV+ released a new film from Sophia Coppola, HBOMax released new films from Seth Rogen and Melissa McCarthy, and Hulu released a new Andy Samberg film. Even pre-pandemic, at-home movie watching was supplanting going to a movie theater, but the pandemic amplified the trajectory to the point where Warner Bros studios announced this year that all of their 2021 new releases will be released simultaneously on HBOMax and in theaters. But watching movies at-home and movies shown through streaming services is not inherently a bad thing as reflected by the quality of films I was able to select for my Top 10. I think this year's Oscar nominations will be just as strong as previous years and best of end-of-year lists will be just as good as previous years. The make-up of it all will just be different. So without further ado, here is my list of the 10 Best Movies of 2020.

10) Class Action Park
Written & Co-Directed By: Seth Porges
Co-Directed By: Chris Charles Scott III
Featuring: Chris Gethard, Alison Becker, & Gene Mulvihill
3 STARS

Why It's Great: Action Park was an amusement park/water park in north New Jersey run by an unscrupulous business man named Gene Mulvihill. It was in its heyday in the late 70's, early 80's and known for being the most dangerous amusement park in the country. The stories about the lawlessness and dangerousness of the park in this documentary is told through talking heads of many of the lifeguards and teenage supervisors that worked at the park as well as some of the park's patrons, mainly comedians Chris Gethard and Alison Becker. It's hard to believe rides this treacherous could have and did exist in an American amusement park, and fairly recently, and a lot of the joy of the film comes from the stories of explaining these rides and attractions - Gethard's talking heads in particular make this movie for me. Yet underneath the backdrop of "kids being kids" and "back in my day" is the story of American greed. Action Park creator and CEO Gene Mulvihill made his money off of selling penny stocks a la Jordan Belfort (as portrayed by Leo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street) and Mulvihill was just as ruthless and greedy as Belfort was portrayed. The lightness and nostalgia of looking back at what the park was for so many young kids is contrasted with the darkness that was Gene Mulvihill. Class Action Park is just like one of its attractions- it's a fun roller coaster ride, but it will leave you with a scar to remember. 

Class Action Park is available to stream on HBOMax

9) Another Round
Co-Written & Directed By: Thomas Vinterberg
Co-Written By: Tobias Lindholm
Starring: Mads Mikkelson, Magnus Millang, & Thomas Bo Larsen
3 STARS

Why It's Great: Druk (literally translated to English means "binge drinking" but Another Round works so much better) is a Danish film about four friends and teachers who are having a midlife crisis, so they start day-drinking. The film stars all-time movie Bad Guy hall of famer Mads Mikkelson (Casino Royale, Dr. Strange) who is allowed to play a normal human being. As such, it's one of Mikkelson's best performances. His character Martin begins the film as a sad sack. He's messing up teaching so badly that his students stage an intervention. His wife works nights and he barely sees her. He asks her if he's gotten "boring" and she's more than happy to assure him of what he already knows. So he and his friends start day-drinking as an "experiment" to see if their lives will improve. Another Round is a character driven vehicle to allow its 4 main protagonists, though mainly Martin, to explore the nature of how alcohol affects their lives and what they must do to be happier. The film is surprisingly propulsive and always keeps you entertained, even though you know when things start to go sideways, and has one of the most memorable endings to a film in 2020. 

Another Round is available to rent wherever you rent movies

Movie Review: Mank

Mank is the story of Herman J. Mankiewicz (aka Mank, played by Gary Oldman) as he reflects upon the incidents of his life inside the Hollywood studio system and his interactions with newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst (Charles Dance) to write what became the 1941 classic Citizen Kane. Analogous to Citizen Kane, there is a present storyline of his time cooped up in a bed writing the film intercut with flashbacks of his time in the 1930's working at MGM with real life studio big wigs Louis B. Mayer (Arliss Howard) and Irving Thalberg (Ferdinand Kinglsey). As the main plot points of Citizen Kane are its titular character attempting to run for Governor of California and being thwarted at the last moment when his opponent runs a smear campaign that Charles Foster Kane was having an affair with a "singer" and then Kane leaving his wife to marry said "singer", Mank tells the story of Louis B Mayer, as a proxy for Hearst, attempting to ensure Republican incumbent Frank Merriam defeats Democrat and "socialist" writer Upton Sinclair as Governor of California. Mank also shows the titular character's platonic relationship between Hearst's tryst, actress Marion Davies (played spectacularly by Amanda Seyfried) who is the inspiration for the "singer". 

Like all David Fincher films, the technical aspects of Mank are top notch. The creamy black-and-white cinematography to reflect Old Hollywood, the score that feels time period appropriate by frequent Fincher collaborators Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor, and the pitch perfect costume design and production design. The weakness in the film is its script, written by David Fincher's now decreased father Jack Fincher, in particular the story. The first time I saw the film, it felt empty. I felt so disconnected that it made me mad (and the hype of seeing a brand new David Fincher film didn't help either). But that being said, Mank lived rent free inside my head for so long that I give the film a second watch. I enjoyed it a lot more the second time around, and the second viewing helped because I was able to get invested in the story earlier because I knew where it was going. 

10 Best Television Shows of 2020

The increase of original television programming has led to this current era of Peak TV, and thanks to the late 2019 launches of Disney+ and Apple TV+, there was no shortage of apps to download if you wanted to watch a TV show this year. In the past, we bemoaned the amount of distribution services, but thanks to the pandemic in 2020, our curse turned into a blessing. Considering the only thing we were allowed to do all day every day was stay inside, the glut of original television shows meant we had something to do to help pass the time. Heck, we made Tiger King a thing this year because of it. As such, I allowed myself to have a wide variety of streaming services at my disposal. I'm paying for Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, I dabbled throughout the year with Showtime and Starz, and I have access to HBOMax and most cable shows thanks to immediately family members. Yet still, I'm not made of money so I don't have everything, most notably Apple TV+. While that mainly means no Ted Lasso on this list, I'd still like to think, as just a regular dude with a full-time job and raising a toddler, I had the ability to watch most of the shows that aired this year. So without further ado, below is my list of the 10 Best Television Shows of 2020. 

10) Dave (FXX)
Season 1
Created By: Dave Burd & Jeff Schaffer
Starring: Lil' Dicky, Taylor Misiak, & GaTa

Why It's Great: Before the pandemic really wrecked havoc over 2020, white rapper Lil' Dicky (born Dave Burd) gave me Dave and allowed me to go down a rabbit hole rocking out to $ave Dat Money, Lemme Freak, and Professional Rapper.  You wouldn't normally think a show about a White Rapper trying to emerge in The Game that tackles issues of race, mental illness, and sexual inadequacy would be funny, but thanks to Burd's humor that's already baked into his rap songs, Jeff Schaffer who co-created The League, and director Greg Mottola (Superbad), your left with a showcase from someone who can act, make you laugh, and can really spit. Dave certainly falls in line with FXX's brand of humor and style of comedy that often addresses "serious" issues, but this type of show really works for me. 

9) The Last Dance (ESPN)
One-Time Docu-Series
Directed By: Jason Hehir
Starring: Michael Jordan

Why It's Great: The Last Dance is a 10-episode docu-series about the basketball career of Michael Jordan, using the 1998 season of the Chicago Bulls trying win their 6th NBA Championship as a through line. Outside giving us some great memes, the documentary provided great insight to what made Michael Jordan the greatest basketball player of all time. Jordan is so beloved and universal, that the show allowed us to have a Monoculture moment, if only for a little bit. 

10 Best Christmas Movies Of All Time

Back in 2012, I wrote up a quick list of my favorite Christmas movies of all time. Of course, this was coming from a movie fan who grew up Jewish. And who didn't see many of the classics. Yeah, I was really not one to put out a Christmas list. But since then, I married a nice Irish Catholic girl, and I've now spent at least a decade celebrating Christmas with her (our) family. I've also spent the last 8 years filing in the gaps of my Christmas movie knowledge. As my wife can attest, Christmas is now one of my favorite holidays. I love this time of year. But one thing I'm still down on are Christmas movies. As I didn't grow up on them, I'm not nostalgic for many of the films that the rest of you goyims deem as "classics". As such, I'm convinced that many of the holiday films are beloved because you loved them as a kid. Sure, there's something about a great Christmas films that ties into the wonder you felt as a young kid waking up on December 25th and running to see what Santa brought under the Christmas tree, but there's a difference between a film evoking an emotion out of you, and one where you enjoy it because you used to enjoy it. Without the "benefit" of nostalgia googles, but now an unabashed Christmas fan, here is my list of the 10 Best Christmas Movies Of All Time.

10) The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
Directed By: Brian Hensen
Starring: Michael Caine, Dave Goelz & Steve Whitmire
RT Score: 76%

Why It's Great: There are no shortage of films based upon the Charles Dicken's classic A Christmas Carol (most notably Scrooged and the 2009 animated film of the same name starring Jim Carrey and directed by Robert Zemeckis) but the Muppets version of the story is by far and away the best. Not only does it have an injection of the classic goofy muppets sensibility, but it's one of the only films that consistent throughout its entirety. Most adaptations fall apart, especially once the Ghost of Christmas Future shows up, as the film moves along, but The Muppets Christmas Carol, and its brisk 85 minute run time, manages to still stay funny and good - even after most adaptations fall flat after a great start out of the gate. 

9) Klaus (2019)
Directed By: Sergio Pablos
Voices Of: Jason Schwartzman, JK Simmons & Rashida Jones
RT Score: 94%

Why It's Great: American culture now is extremely nostalgic, and nowhere is that more evident than in the Christmas movie genre. Despite the fact that Hallmark (and now Netflix too) puts out like 20 new generic Christmas movies a year, and Hollywood pumps out three versions of the Couple-Comes-Home-To-Dysfunctional-Family-Dinner-But-Learns-To-Love movie each year, new Christmas movies cannot seem to pierce to zeitgeist of the holiday watching experience. As mentioned in my opening, we're fond of the films we grew up on, and that's that. But also, basically every Christmas movie produced since 2003 has just been outright bad. Enter Klaus, the Netflix film that was so good it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Film. Klaus works because it's not about Santa per se, but about mythmaking. It's like the Wicked of Christmas films. It introduces a (semi) realistic look at how many of Christmas traditions got started, but using its own original take, and its that originality - with a dash of holiday sentimentality - that makes Klaus an instant Christmas classic. 

Who Deserves to be an All-Star? 2020 Edition

Back on my old site I used to run a series of articles about who deserves to be an All-Star (as well as Pro Bowlers). What can I say, I'm a big fan of rankings, even when it comes to sports. In this shortened, pandemic season, MLB has opted not to have an All-Star game. Makes sense, because there's no reason to risk getting COVID-19 to play in an exhibition game. Also, the sample size for 2020 is so much smaller than normal. But all that being said, this season still counts. Counting stats will still be attributed to players and division and league champions will still be crowned. We still (unfortunately) still use All-Star appearances as a measure for legacy greatness. Even if there won't be a game, there's no reason we still can't have selections. Truthfully, IRL, there's no reason we can't have the players vote (or sports writers or really anyone competent) on who should have deserved an All-Star selection, even if there's no actual game to play. The NBA has First Team, Second Team, and Third Team honors as well as All-Star selections. Why can't the MLB do something analogous? Players should still be honored if their actions still count - which they do. That's where this post comes in. I will give out First Team and Second Team honors for each league. As the DH exists for both leagues, each League will get a selection for the eight individual defensive positions, DH, and one relief pitcher spot. I will also honor five starting pitcher spots for each Team (seeing as all teams have a five-man rotation normally). Below are my lists for who I believe deserves to be an All-Star for the 2020 MLB season:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

First Team:

C: Salvador Perez (KC) 1B: Jose Abreu (CWS)* 2B: DJ LeMahieu (NYY) SS: Tim Anderson (CWS) 3B: Jose Ramirez (CLE) RF: Teoscar Hernandez (TOR) CF: Mike Trout (LAA) LF: George Springer (HOU) DH: Nelson Cruz (MIN) RP: Liam Hendricks (OAK) 

Jose Abreu, Jose Ramirez, Mike Trout, and DJ LaMahieu are all legitimate AL MVP contenders by year's end. To me, Mike Trout is clearly 4th on this list. He's last among these players in WAR and the Angels were never competitive for a playoff spot, despite the fact that 2020 saw the most teams per league ever earn one (and the other three players are on teams that did make it). But, he's still Mike Trout and he's, in Larry David voice, pretty, pretty, pretty good. After a close battle with Tim Anderson for most of the season, LaMahieu ended the season with the best batting average in baseball. DJ has been great when he played, but I don't think you can miss 10 games in a 60 game season and still win the MVP award. It's a super, super close contest then between Ramirez and Abreu. Feel free to call me a White Sox homer, but I'm going with Abreu. I think he's been the slightly better offensive player this year, and he's been more consistent throughout the year. Abreu led the AL in hits and RBIs - an incredible 60 RBIs in 60 games - and has the batting average, slugging percentage, wRC+ and home runs advantage to Ramirez. Abreu also has the better WPA (2.01 to 1.45) than Ramirez, which means Abreu's offense meant more within the context of his individual games than Ramirez's. The Cleveland third baseman led all of baseball in WAR, but a big reason his WAR is better than Abreu's is due to the nature of the position each player plays. By their inherent value, a first baseman is the least valuable defensive player, only to a DH. WAR takes their defensive positions into account. However, as Jayson Stark wrote in The Athletic for his case for Abreu as the AL MVP, "Abreu is tied for the AL lead in Defensive Runs Saved at first base (+5) - while Ramirez is -6 at third base. So does Abreu deserve to have points deducted just because of the position he plays? I couldn't convince myself of that." 

I definitely cheated a little with my outfield, but since both Trout and George Springer play center field and both finished 1 and 2 among AL outfielders in WAR, I thought both deserved First Team considerations. Since I didn't feel any left fielders play well enough to earn First Team honors, I slotted Springer in left. Plus, because Springer plays the hardest outfield position well, if this were a real game, he should have no issue playing the easiest position well. Teoscar Hernandez finished 3rd in the AL among qualified right fielders in WAR, but first among them in wRC+, wOBA, home runs, and OPS. Plus, I wanted to honor the Blue Jays who played well enough to earn a playoff spot in 2020. 

Movie Review: The Devil All The Time

Even during a pandemic, the tech titan Netflix has been consistently churning out original content. Now that Labor Day has come and gone, now is the time of the year where that original content is prestige, award-hopeful films. With Aaron Sorkin's The Trial of the Chicago 7 and David Fincher's Mank coming later in the year, and past the release of Charlie Kaufman's I'm Thinking of Ending Things, this past week saw the release of Antonio Campos' The Devil All The Time, a southern gothic epic starring basically every young and talented white actor working nowadays, such as *takes deep breath* Tom Holland, Bill Skarsgard, Sebastian Stan, Riley Keough, Jason Clarke, Harry Melling, Haley Benett, Eliza Scanlen, Mia Wasikowska, and Robert Pattinson. 

The film spans two generations during the 1940's through 1960's in the American South as the film is about the cyclical and generational cycle of religion and violence. Early in the film, Bill Skasgard's Willard, a soldier in the Korean War, comes across a fellow soldier that has been tortured and crucified. Willard comes home from the War with PTSD (never explicitly said, but shown through Skarsgard superb acting). A nice fellow, but clearly haunted by both his religious past and his overseas experiences. We see his tendencies, both pure and evil, passed down to his son Alvin, the older version of the character is played by Holland, ostensibly the film's lead but feels like he doesn't show up until two hours into the film. Along the way we meet Charlotte (Benett) who eventually becomes Willard's wife and Alvin's mother, Alvin's step-sister Lenora (Scanlen), Lenora's mother Helen (Wasikowska), Helen's pastor beau Roy (Melling), a cop named Lee (Stan), Lee's sister Sandy (Keough), Sandy's husband Carl (Clarke), and a flashy snake-in-the-grass preacher named Preston Teagardin (Pattinson). 

100 Greatest Films of the 2000's

As we recently saw the end of one decade and the start of another, I decided to write my 100 Greatest Films of the 2010's article. After I completed that article, I was inspired to write my 100 Greatest Films of the 1990's post, as I personally think it was one of the greatest decades ever for the art form. As such, we are here so I can discuss the greatest films of the 2000's (films released from 2000 through 2009).

I was initially hesitant to do this list because I felt the decade didn't seem to stand for anything. In some ways, I found this to be true. The 1990's saw the rise of Independent Cinema and thus an overall increase in quality of films released. The 2010's saw the exact opposite of that approach with major studios spending more and more money on bankable franchises. The 1990's saw the rise of auteurs and the 2010's saw the rise of Disney with Marvel and Star Wars franchises dominating the decade. The 2000's were a transition between these two decades. The quality of prestige and Oscar films seem to drop as franchises started to gain steam. The 2000's not only brought us Iron Man, the literal start to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it also brought us franchises like Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Dark Knight. Further, the quality of prestige and Oscar-worthy films seemed to dwindle in the 2000's. The 1990's gave us a murderer's row of excellent Best Picture Oscar winners such as Schindler's List, Unforgiven, and Forrest Gump. Even if the best film of the year didn't win the ultimate prize (as is often the case), the winner still felt deserved and had a long tail thanks to the quality of the film (for most of the decade's winners). The 2000's saw a drop in that as the decade went on. I purposefully left off many Oscar nominated and winning films in exchange for more interesting choices. 

That being said, the 2000's did give a rise in two areas: documentaries and comedies. The 1990's saw a rise in making cheap narrative films, and the following decade used that approach to make a wave of compelling documentaries. Starting with Michael Moore 2002's instant classic Bowling For Columbine, the 2000's gave us great doc after great doc. This list by far and away will have the most documentaries than either of my prior two Top 100 lists. Further, this decade saw the rise of Judd Apatow and Adam McKay. Anchorman was released in 2004 and The 40 Year Old Virgin was released in 2005. Both were critical and commercial hits which allowed the filmmakers to ascend to their apex to direct and produce even more comedy gold throughout the decade. 

Lastly, I found the 2000's to be the deepest list out of the three Top 100 movies lists that I have done so far. The 1990's were so good that I struggled to leave off good films from my Top 25 and felt that a handful of films outside my Top 10 would have been in it in any other decade. The 2010's weren't quite as strong, but I did feel confident in this films I chose for the top. However, with both lists, I felt that the Bottom 25 were fine, but not great films. I felt the opposite with this 2000's list. I don't feel the top is very strong, but struggled to leave off great films from making the Top 100. Again, this is part of the reason this list doesn't include many prestige and Oscar winning films. 

As always, I tried to make this list as objective as possible. Check out the introduction to either of my previous two lists to see how I tried to do that. Further, this post is organized like my 1990's post - at the top is the decade's Top 25 films, each one with a personal essay about it by me. As to not spoil the surprise, these films are ranked 25 to 1. Then, the remaining 75 films are ranked and listed while interwoven with a handful of mini lists such as the Greatest Documentaries of the Decade, the Greatest Animated Films of the Decade and the Greatest Comedies of the Decade That Didn't Make This Top 100 List. 

So without further ado, here is the list of the 100 Greatest Films of the 2000's:

What I Learned Watching All of Daniel Craig's James Bond Movies

Partially in preparation for No Time To Die, partially because we are still in the middle of a pandemic and I am bored, and partially because Netflix has Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace to view and I'm a completionist, I recently watched all four of Daniel Craig's James Bond movies: 2006's Casino Royale, 2008's Quantum of Solace, 2012's Skyfall, and 2015's Spectre. I had seem them all before, some of them multiple times, but never in subsequent order back-to-back. 2020 is the year for me watching consecutive franchise films (I started the year watching all Marvel movies in chronological order (from the story's perspective) and have since moved on to watching all 8 Harry Potter films and even saw the first four Pirates of the Caribbean movies). Again, pandemic. Overall, I enjoy all 4 James Bond movies, if not for different reasons. Casino Royale and Skyfall are still the consensus top two and best films out of these four, but I also enjoyed Quantum of Solace and Spectre despite the consensus panning them. I am not a fan of the franchise as whole (it's not like I dislike it or anything, I just haven't seen Bond movie that didn't star Craig or Pierce Brosnan), but I am a movie fan, and these are my thoughts on Daniel Craig's Bond films.

Four years since Pierce Brosnan suited up to play James Bond, the Broccoli family (the producers of the Bond movies) hired Daniel Craig to play the character and rebooted the franchise with Casino Royale. Based on Ian Fleming's book of the same title, it was the perfect film to start over. The 1967 version technically is not a part of the James Bond movie canon and the film was able to capitalize on the online Texas Hold 'Em craze at the time (The mid-2000's were weird man). The film was a gritty, more self-serious take on James Bond which fit perfectly for the era. This was two years before Iron Man was released and so Marvel's light-hearted, rose-colored look at action movies had not taken hold yet, and Casino Royale was released a year after Christopher Nolan's gritty, dark, humorless first take on Batman was praised. We have Mike Myers to thank for this current iteration of James Bond. As Daniel Craig said, "I am huge Mike Myers fan, so don't get me wrong- but he kind of fucked us." Thanks to the wild success of the Austin Powers movies, a direct rip off of the campy early James Bond films, it was hard for these newer Bond films to be humor-filled and campy as well. They needed to distance themselves from the Austin Powers films. Luckily, it worked. 

100 Best Movies of the 1990's

Like with our list of the 100 Greatest Films of the 2010s, I am attempting to make this list as objective as possible. As a Millennial, this is a tougher task thanks to my nostalgia goggles. I also think this is a tougher task thanks to the wide variety of films that were released and popularized during the decade. Nowadays, studios only spend a million dollars or one hundred million dollars to make a film in order to limit their risk. Not so much in the 1990's. Thanks to the rise of Independent Cinema, combined with our eternal love of Big Blockbusters, this decade produced every type of film imaginable. Thanks to auteurs like Quentin Tarantino, Richard Linklater, and Paul Thomas Anderson coming to prominence, we were introduced to stylish films that changed the way we viewed cinema. Thanks to funny people like The Farrelly Brothers, Adam Sandler, and other SNL alums, we were treated to low brow comedies that we still can't stop quoting. Thanks to James Cameron, Michael Bay, and Roland Emmerich we got summer tent-pole movies that we still love to watch when they appear on cable. The 1990's also gave us genius films from The Coen Brothers, Steven Spielberg, and Ron Howard. This decade popularized David Fincher, Frank Darabont, Tom Hanks, Will Smith, Julia Roberts, and so many more.

As I previously mentioned, I wanted this list to be as objective as possible. I wanted to rank films solely on their quality and how well they have been indoctrinated into our pop culture. I included my own biases of course, but I looked at many outside factors as well. How well received and talked about is the film on Twitter? Are YouTube videos or podcasts made to discuss the film? How often is it a cable rewatch? What did critics think of the film? What did the Academy Awards think of it? The American Film Institute? My friends? My parents? All of this went into consideration in trying to determine the absolute best films of the decade. Although I know you think I'm wrong, we're going to give it a shot anyways.

This list is broken down rather peculiarly I'd imagine. It starts with a deep dive on the Top 25 films of the decade to explain a little bit further about the cream of the crop, but I didn't want to start off with #1 starring you straight in the face. Therefore, I ranked the films 25-1. After that, the films are listed chronologically from 26 through 100. Along the way, you're treated with a handful of mini-lists, such as: The Top 10 Action Films, Top 10 Animated Films, Top 10 Dumb Comedies, and Top 10 High Schools Films.

So without further ado, below is our list of the 100 Best Movies of the 1990's:

My Top 10 Favorite Movies of 2019

I thought 2019 was an excellent year for film. Not only did we get an excellent Quentin Tarantino film, BUT we also got an excellent Martin Scorsese film. Two of the best filmmaker of ALL TIME releasing masterpieces months apart, how often does that happen? A lot of film years this past decade have been decently deep, but pretty light on top. Take 2012 for example. I ranked the films that year and talked about a whopping 20. But what was the best film year, even in retrospect? I had Looper at the time and still feel strongly about it, but my top five were Life of Pi, Silver Linings Playbook, Argo, and Wreck-It Ralph. Seven years later, is there a consensus best film of the year? (and go fuck yourself if you say The Master you pretentious snob). Point is, 2019 is different. I think it's crazy top heavy this year. Not only were Once Upon A Time... in Hollywood and The Irishman instant classics, we had a great Awards Season of Sam Mendes' 1917 vs. Bong Joon-ho's Parasite, both excellent in their own right. So where do these films rank on my list? I just you're just going to have to read below!

10) Ford v Ferrari
Directed By: James Mangold
Starring: Christian Bale & Matt Damon
STARS: 3 out of 4

Why It's Great: Sometimes movie stars just need to be movie stars and charm the fuck out of the audience. We knew Matt Damon was the cream of the crop and his character Carol Shelby gets to smile and charm his way to both Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts) and our hearts. Christian Bale gets to play opposite Damon as the driver Ken Miles and he's equally as compelling. He doesn't need to gain or lose an unhealthy amount of weight and he even gets to use his real accent and proves he can act with Acting. Ford v Ferrari is just a charming, enjoyable experience and one I'm glad to have seen in the theaters. It's also another great notch in James Mangold's belt, because while he has some misses and a lot of *shoulder shrug emoji*, he now gets to add this Best Picture nominee to his other greats like 3:10 to Yuma and Logan to his resume.

9) Booksmart
Directed By: Olivia Wilde
Starring: Beanie Feldstein & Kaitlyn Dever
STARS: 3 out of 4

Why It's Great: I do get why the people behind Booksmart are a bit peeved when their film is called the female Superbad, but I do think it's the 2019 Superbad. Superbad came out when I was in college and I, like the rest of America, was swept away by it. I still fucking love the movie, but do understand that many of the jokes have not aged, and that movie as is would not be released by any major studio. But if a major studio were trying to capitalized on the success of Superbad in today's "woke climate", Booksmart would be the film released. Instead of the same white horny kid(s) at the center we have two horny women, one of which is gay. One of the main side characters is Black (Jessica Williams) along with one of the lead's crushes (who also happens to be the son of Cuba Cooding Jr). However, most importantly, no one in the film is mean. In the beginning of Superbad, one dude spits on Jonah Hill's character. Sure, some of the characters say some unflattering things about Beanie Feldstein's character, but it's mainly that she's not fun. The movie could have easily said things a million times worse. But that's what makes Booksmart so great. It takes 2019's sensibilities and is still able to mine laugh-out-loud humor that hold up upon rewatch. In an era of anti-bullying and demands for better representation in film, Booksmart is able to deliver AND still be gut-busting hilarious.

The Best Movie Soundtrack of 2019

There should be a litany of additional Oscar categories. In 2014, I advocated for a Best Soundtrack one. Here are my nominees for the  Best Soundtrack of 2019:

ONCE UPON A TIME... IN HOLLYWOOD
Dir. Quentin Tarantino, Music Supervisor Mary Ramos

It should not be a surprise to see a Quentin Tarantino film nominated in this category. Music and QT films are synonymous, whether it's Steeler Wheels "Stuck In The Middle With You" and Reservoir Dogs or Rick Ross's "100 Black Coffins" and Django Unchained, Tarantino has always spectacularly been able to use songs to elevate his story telling. And just like Tarantino is able to resurrect careers of former A-listers like John Travolta, he's able to take little known hits and B-sides and turn them into iconography. For instance, see "Brother Loves Traveling Salvation Show" by Neil Diamond. It's the main music bed for the film's trailer and runs throughout the film like a theme song. 

For me personally, a lot of what makes a great soundtrack is that it places the movie in a specific time, and no better way to represent the Summer of '69 in Hollywood than to play what was on the radio at the time while characters drive around the city.

My Top 10 Favorite TV Shows of 2019

As if there weren't already too many shows to watch, 2019 saw the release of two brand new streaming services: Apple+ and Disney+. Even if you wanted to watch everything, how could you afford it? The diversity of shows is apparent on my list, I have six different channels/streaming services represented, but I am now at the point where I retreat to my favorite and what I enjoy. There might be quote unquote "better" shows out there, but this list represents the 10 shows that gives me the most pleasure.

10) Watchmen (HBO)
Season: 1
Created By: Damon Lindelof
Starring: Regina King, Jean Smart & Jeremy Irons

Why It's Great: This might be blasphemous to put into writing and have anyone on The Internet have the ability to read it, but I really liked the 2009 Zach Snyder film Watchmen, and I enjoyed the Snyder Cut with an additional 24 minutes even more. I also never read the original Alan Moore comic book either. (What a fun way to start off this list, huh?!). Damon Lindelof did what I expect to this recycled IP, nostalgia culture: he made something wholly new and original, created and explored new and ambitious themes, added in his own unique personality and vision, all while being true to the original work. So sure, at the end we got a whole lot of Dr. Manhattan, and Laurie Blake, and Adrian Veidt, but we also got a show where Regina King's character takes some pills and gets to basically reenact her grandfather becoming the first superhero in America.

9) The Righteous Gemstones (HBO)
Season: 1
Created By: Danny McBride
Starring: Danny McBride, Adam Devine & John Goodman

Why It's Great: Normally, I am not the biggest Danny McBride fan. I liked the first season of Eastbound and Down, but couldn't get far past that, and I couldn't get past the pilot episode of Vice Principals, but for some reason, The Righteous Gemstones got hooked. I know a lot of people think this show was a fun parody of MegaChurch culture, but I always found it more singular. I never felt like it was an examination of the culture as a whole, but of these bad people, many of them hypocrites. As we got to know these particular characters, we were treated with humor and delight. Plus, an awesome video of Jennifer Nettles and TV Legend Walton Goggins singing about Misbeahvin'.

The Top 10 Best Songs of 2019

10) "Truth Hurts" by Lizzo

What a helluva year for Lizzo. When you're 100% That Bitch, you can twerk your ass off in a wedding dress while playing the flute and pull it off flawlessly. Not only does every woman love Lizzo and have her as their spirit animal, everyone in America now loves Lizzo.

9) "Blind Leading The Blind" by Mumford and Sons

Gotta love a Mumford and Songs with a driving drum beat. "Blind Leading The Blind" is a classic Mumford and Sons song through the filter of Kings of Leon and I'm all about it.

8) "Woman" by Karen O and Danger Mouse

What does a song sound like when it has the beats of the DJ who made The Grey Album and St. Elsewhere with the lyricist and vocalist of The Yeah Yeah Yeahs? This awesome song is what.

The Non-Risky Business: How Tom Cruise Neutered Himself to Remain a Hollywood Staple

In his 2005 book The Game, author and journalist for Rolling Stone magazine Neil Strauss discusses the week he interviewed Tom Cruise for a magazine cover story. Strauss had just written an article for The New York Times about the underground community of Pick Up Artists (it's also the basis for The Game) which piqued Cruise's interests, and asked to spend time with the author. As Strauss writes in this book, "Tom Cruise was the perfect specimen. He was the [Alpha Male of the Group] that... everyone in the seduction community had been trying to emulate. He had a natural ability to remain dominant, physically and mentally, in any social situation without seeming to exert any effort... Nearly everyone in the community had studied his films to learn body language and regularly used terminology from Top Gun in the field."

This is the persona of Tom Cruise. By almost all accounts, Tom Cruise is the absolute best. As Strauss writes, "He was the first person I'd met since joining the seduction community who didn't let me down." The person who walks in a room and allows his charisma to brighten it. You don't know what "it" is but you're 100% sure Tom Cruise has it. He is the epitome of a movie star. Tom Cruise is Maverick from Top Gun. He is Ethan Hunt from the Mission: Impossible franchise. He is Cole Trickle from Days of Thunder.

Part of the reason Tom Cruise wanted to sit down with Neil Strauss for the aforementioned interview was because Strauss's New York Times article mentions a fellow Pick Up Artist who claims to be the basis for Frank T.J. Mackey. Mackey is the seduction artist played by Cruise in Paul Thomas Anderson's 1999 magnum opus Magnolia. Mackey's first lines uttered in the movie, in a close up shot of Cruise speaking to a crowded seminar filled with desperate men, are, "Respect the cock and tame the cunt." Magnolia came out in the same year as Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, a film where Kubrick seemingly wanted to fuck with the real life marriage of Cruise and his then-wife Nicole Kidman while Cruise spends most of the movie in an orgy in the middle of a mansion. Tom Cruise willingly starred in films that would seem to destroy his Good Boy Persona. Who wants to see their charming leading man act like an Incel on a 4-chan subreddit or sneaking around during a sex party?

100 Greatest Films of the 2010's

Trying to create a list of the 100 best films within a 10 year span is a daunting task. I have been working on this post for the past 8 months, and I will continue to tweak it as the year goes along (as I consider your feedback as well as to include more films from 2019 on the list). However, it is not the inherent time it takes to think and rank and write about 100+ films, it's knowing that you're going to be inherently wrong. Even when I floated my top 10 to my friends, people with similar movie tastes to me, I couldn't get a consensus. Yet despite this, I persevered, and moved forward. Every year I create my own personal Best Of lists, but that's not what I wanted this list to be. I wanted this list to be as objective as possible. I wanted to rank films solely on their quality and how well they've pierced our pop culture. I included my own biases of course, but I looked at many outside factors as well. How well received and talked about is the film on Twitter? Are YouTube videos or podcasts made to discuss the film? How often is it a cable rewatch? What did critics think of the film? What did the Academy Awards think of it? My friends? My parents? All of this went into consideration in trying to determine the absolute best films of the decade. Although I know you think I'm wrong, we're going to give it a shot anyways.


1) The Social Network (2010)
Directed By: David Fincher
Written By: Aaron Sorkin
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, & Armie Hammer
RT Score: 95%

Why It's Great: It's pretty easy to have a great film when it's written by the premiere screenwriter of our time and directed by one the greatest working directors of our time. That collaborative marriage of David Fincher's perfectionism pushing Aaron Sorkin to justify his script and snappy dialogue helped create probably the best work each of them has ever done. The Social Network is a master class in writing, directing, acting, editing, and score. If you needed proof of that, just look at the film's best scene - a regatta race between the the Winklevoss twins and the Dutch. The way the cuts get quicker and the tempo of Trent Reznor's and Atticus Ross' score builds to create a mesmerizing scene on its own and to show how this is partly a story of how the brothers Winklevii are always a step behind is mesmerizing. It's no surprise that Sorkin, Reznor, Ross, and editors Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall all won Academy Awards for their work. 

I'm impressed with the film's casting choices as well. At the time, Andrew Garfield (Eduardo Savarin), Armie Hammer (Winklevoss twins), Rooney Mara (Erica Albright). Max Minghella (Divya Narendra), and Brenda Song (Christy) were all relatively unknown, and have all since gone on to various levels of fame and fortune. Even Eisenberg, who had a few films under his belt at the time, wasn't a household name at the time, is now one thanks to this film. It's even fun to see Fifty Shades of Grey star Dakota Johnson pop in for a brief cameo. The film's cast had aged beautifully over time, but The Social Network's ability to have its themes and story be so resonant ten years later about the preeminent company of our generation is what separates this great film from the rest. A movie about Facebook's expansion and need for growth, despite the harms that come in its wake, is sadly still just as relevant now in 2020 as it was when it came out in 2010. Because The Social Network is the perfect emblematic representation of the 2010's, it's the #1 film of the decade. 

2) Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Co-Written & Directed By: George Miller
Starring: Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy, & Nicholas Hoult
RT Score: 97%

Why It's Great: I have only seen this film once, and I was not the biggest fan of it, but even I can marvel at its technical brilliance and realize how Mad Max: Fury Road has cemented this film as probably the best film of this generation. The film is basically one giant car chase scene, but it's so much more than that. Miller is able to introduce us and immerse us in this patriarchal world. The film is a feminist anthem about destroying a system and starting anew. We know so much about this world system without any overt exposition dialogue or clunky narratives. Miller shows us bits and pieces and nuances together to create something fully formed yet brief. It just is, and then we're thrust into action. It's no surprise this film took home 6 Oscars, because it is a technical sensation. Just a treat all around.

3) The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
Directed By: Martin Scorsese
Written By: Terence Winter
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, & Margot Robbie
RT Score: 78%

Why It's Great: Whether it's the excess run time of the film, or the excess, abhorrent lifestyle of the real life of the main character (played by DiCaprio in the film) and how he's portrayed in The Wolf of Wall Street, you can't say that Jordan Belfort isn't at least interesting. I understand the criticisms, and truthfully they are all pretty much valid, but Martin Scorsese has created such a brilliant work of art that the film he gifted to us that we need to treat it like the bona fide masterpiece that it is. There have been so many films that have tried to be Scorsese (like Todd Phillips' War Dogs or Craig Gillespie's I, Tonya) or many films that would have been improved had Scorsese been behind the wheel (like Scott Cooper's Black Mass) that we need to reward Scorsese when he creates a quintessential classic for his oeuvre.

The Top 10 Best Films of 2018

1) Black Panther
Co-Written & Directed By: Ryan Coogler
Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B Jordan, & Lupita Nyong'o
STARS: 3.5 out of 4

Brief Description: Having seen Black Panther three times now, I can confidently say this film is my favorite of the year. Sure we have traditional Marvel action set pieces like a car chase through Busan, Korea or a third act fight sequence that involves genetically engineered rhinos, but we also have thoughtful discussions about what it takes to be a man and a leader, and what is the best approach to rule a country that is obviously the most powerful in the world. We sympathize with the villain Erik Killmonger because we agree with his approach for how Wakanda should run (and because Michael B Jordan can convince us to do anything), if not knocking the execution. There are so many ideas and themes in Black Panther that it easily rises to the top of being one of Marvel's best and earning the top spot on my list for the top ten films of 2018.

2) Minding The Gap
Directed By: Bing Liu
Starring: Zach Mulligan, Kiere Johnson, & Bing Liu
STARS: 4 out of 4

Brief Description: Minding The Gap is a beautiful and haunting documentary about the generational cycle of abuse through the lens of three skateboarders from Rockford, Illinois. Director Bing Liu set up his camera in front of his friends as we watch the extremely charismatic Zach and the thoughtful Kiere as we're painted a picture of life skateboarding in the middle of the country. Quickly we learn that the skateboarding is a way to mask the pain of the harsh reality. All three of of these boys have been physicallyu and emotionally abused, and it's soul crushing to watch how this abuse has manifested itself as these three boys become men. Bing uses the film as therapy whereas Zach turns to alcoholism and Kiere tries to push past it as a way to build a life for himself. Zach impregnates his young girlfriend and we see the cycle start all over again. You can watch the film exclusively on Hulu, and I highly recommend seeking this one out.

3) Vice
Written & Directed By: Adam McKay
Starring: Christian Bale, Amy Adams, & Steve Carell
STARS: 3.5 out of 4

Brief Description: I love the fact that Vice has it's own unique style and that you can tell this is an Adam McKay feature. Besides the quick cuts to Jesse Plemmons as our narrator or a lion chasing down and killing a gazelle, you know you are watching an Adam McKay feature has he has an incredible knack for turning mundane history lessons into entertaining works of art. Dick Cheney the man is not very interesting, and is in fact very, very secretive, but by telling his rise parallel to the rise of the Republican Party and how they created the America we see today, we leave the theater is equal parts awe and disgust. I find any criticism that McKay ends up humanizing Dick Cheney or that we find sympathy for the man, because the film obviously loathes the man, but Adam McKay loathes someone in the only way he knows how: by making great movies.

#TheAcademyHatesAmy Why Doesn't Amy Adams Have An Oscar Yet?

In 2005, a movie barely anyone saw called Junebug was released. It's a better-than-average Indie fish-out-of-water character study about a couple who spends time with the husband's family in North Carolina. The film has not stood the test of time in the fact that still no one has heard of it or seen it. But it did have one stand out performance in it, a young woman by the name of Amy Adams who popped every time she was on screen. She clearly had "it" and The Academy awarded her for it by giving Amy Adams her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

In 2005, you knew Amy Adams was going to be a huge star, and by 2019, she has proven it time-and-time again. Adams had to "earn" her shot thanks to bit roles in The Office, Talladega Nights, and The Ex (and a whole lot of nothing starting in 1999). This laid the groundwork for her rise to stardom by starring in Enchanted, Leap Year, and Sunshine Cleaning. Now, Adams has the chance to work with any director she wants to. She has made the most of her opportunities starring in a pair of David O Russell pics The Fighter and American Hustle, Clint Eastwood's Trouble With the Curve, Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master, Spike Jonze's Her, Tom Ford's Nocturnal Animals and Denis Villenueve's Arrival. That's a murder's row, '27 Yankees esque line up of incredible directors. She's even managed to cash in from Hollywood along the way by playing Lois Lane in the DCEU and starred alongside Jason Segel in a Muppets movie.