1. Memento -- A great film from top to bottom, Christopher Nolan gives the audience credit by not giving us too much at once. He makes us earn the little bits of information peppered throughout the film by tethering us to Leonard Shelby, the main character. We feel Leonard's confusion, and in the end we're still not sure how to feel about it all.
2. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring --This is what "epic filmmaking" is all about. The scale, the size, the courage of Peter Jackson to take on such a huge undertaking, and succeeding so well at bringing a classic story to the screen, makes him one of the best filmmakers out there. Nerds everywhere, myself included, can finally rejoice.
3. The Others This film has me creeped me out like no other film has in a long time. The acting alone cements this film in my top ten, but the subtle storytelling puts it up near the top. We're kept guessing, and the film is always one step ahead of us.
4. Heist -- Classic David Mamet. A straight-up crime caper with a stellar cast, including the greatest actor of our age, Gene Hackman. Heist has enough twists and turns to keep even the most hardened Mamet fan engaged.
5. Ghost World Wonderful film from Terry Zwigoff. If not for Buscemi and Thora Birch, it wouldn't have made the list. This is not to take away from a clever story and some great direction, but the acting is that good.
6. Hearts In Atlantis William Goldman's adaptation of Stephen King's short story was strange, comforting, and memorable at the same time. Never has King's material been treated with such reverence and restraint.
7. Made I'm a sucker for anything starring both Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau. That's why I love Rudy so much.
8. The Crimson Rivers Mathieu Kassovitz made a great thriller that has some of the most stylish and original action sequences I've seen in years. Not satisfied with another cop on the trail of a killer story, The Crimson Rivers pays off at every turn. Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel turn in perfect performances as rival policemen investigating two ends of the same crime.
9. Ocean's Eleven Soderbergh's remake was very fun, and since Soderbergh once lived next to Warren, I've got to give him a place on this list. As long as Steven Soderbergh keeps putting out consistent, quality films, he'll remain one of my favorite directors. Plus, it had a lot of stars doing cool things.
10. Monsters, Inc. In a time when every children's movie is
becoming nothing but retreated fluff, Pixar actually cared enough
to make a touching, engaging story.
We tried to stop him, but Ian still went ahead with his whacked-out
list. Give him hell in the Forums.
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