Don't Say "Fuck 'Twilight.'" It's Good.
'Trip to the Moon' In Color
Harold & Kumar & Sonic.
Brief Thoughts On 'Contagion.'
How I Met My 'Doppelganger' at 'Twilight ...
Revisiting 'Martha Marcy May Marlene'
In Praise of Woody Allen.Best of the Decade: Expanding the Arena, Part V.
This is the latest in a series of blog posts collecting best of the decade lists from “non-professional” film-lovers. Go here to read the previous entry.
In this installment:
Josh Neuman
Publisher, Heeb Magazine
1. Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle – Danny Leiner, 2004, USA
The past decade may not have had a film that captured the world’s imagination like E.T., conjured an era’s nightmares like Taxi Driver or poeticized its confusions like The Graduate, but it did have Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. Starring then-unknowns John Cho and Kal Penn, the film’s initial box office failure might have been no surprise. But in a year in which a substance abuser was re-elected President, one couldn’t help but think that the film would find an audience—and it did, making over $30 million in DVD sales and inspiring a surprisingly satisfying sequel (in which the aforementioned Commander-in-Chief makes an appearance). The film’s refreshingly candid but not overblown treatment of race notwithstanding, what was really so special about this film was that Harold Lee and Kumar Patel were traveling down a New Jersey highway for more than just a high (or Grade D beef sliders). Their quest was one for love, respectability and purpose. H &K is more than a stoner film—think of it as part of the pantheon of great American road movies—somewhere between It Happened One Night and Thelma & Louise. It possessed so much magic it brought Neil Patrick Harris back from the dead.
2. Dancer in the Dark – Lars von Trier, 2000, Denmark
3. Spellbound – Jeffrey Blitz, 2002, USA
4. Memento – Christopher Nolan, 2000, USA
5. There Will Be Blood – Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007, USA
6. Catch Me If You Can – Steven Spielberg, 2002, USA
Denmark/France/Sweden/Italy/Germany/Norway/Netherlands/Iceland/Finland/UK/USA
7. Inglourious Basterds – Quentin Tarantino, 2009, USA
8. Talk to Her – Pedro Almodóvar, 2002, Spain
9. Vera Drake – Mike Leigh, 2004, UK/France
10. Iron Man— Jon Favreau, 2008, USA
1 Comment
henry | January 5, 2010
this is the WORST list that I've ever read. Did Mr. Joshua Neuman pay you guys to post this? rich jew bag