The B-Team: Underrated and Alternates from the '00s

Personally I think Spider-Man 2 is the best comic book film made, thus far, and I know the Dark Knight has received a ton of critical attention, due to the fact it is very good.

But I honestly think X-Men 2 is up there with those two pictures in terms of great superhero films. From the fantastic Dies Irae opening, which still looks stunning, to the fantastic shot of the Phoenix sailing underneath Lake Alkali this should have been the setup for something great, and it's a great movie in its own right. Unfortunately it's direct sequels sort of kiboshed any momentum the series had built and it doesn't help that X-Men isn't particularly great, or interesting. What X-Men 2 does have is the best choreography and action in any of Singers films (seriously the Wolverine vs. Deathstrike fight is STILL great), actors having real fun with their roles (McKellan seems to relish being Magneto this time, it's a fantastic performance and his chemistry with Romajin and the rest of the cast is fantastic), and some really beautiful moments (Magneto's escape is just fantastic in concept and execution). As it stands it's one of the best modern comic book movies, but I think it's reputation has been severely damaged by what followed.

Little Children, 2006, Todd Field - Hardly underrated, but I have a feeling this is going to be a film to be missed off of many critics lists, or bumped for the directors early work, In the Bedroom. This is a shame because Little Children is a deft mixture of whimsy and black humour. The style of the film, from the photography to the narration, would be detaching if the core of the film and the central performances supporting it weren't so strong. As it is the film manages to charming and caustic, witty and truthful, and it's a great showcase for Winsley, Wilson and Haley as the titular main characters.

Into the Wild, 2007, Sean Penn - 2007 was a great year for movies, and like Zodiac this is a film which may be forgotten due to the pedigree of the year. Which is a shame because this adaptation of the titular book is one of the best literary adaptations of the decade. Whilst there's issues about what is and isn't included, Penn manages to get to the core of the sad tale of Christopher McCandless and presents an account which neither lambasts or sympathises with the traveler. Whilst there's an element of romanticism to the work it's countered by the sense of utter tragedy that embibes the film from its first shot. The film is beautiful to look at and it's all held together remarkably by an amazing lead performance from Emile Hirsch, a fantastic supporting cast, and a beautiful soundtrack by Eddie Vedder.

Crying Fist. Director Ryu Seung-Wan is more well known for his genre films like Arahan and City of Violence but he shows he's a capable dramatic filmmaker here. The two lead performances by Ryu Seong-Beom and Choi Min-Sik are superb as two men who sign up for an amateur boxing tournament for the cash and end up facing each other, the final match is given enough dramatic heft and melodrama that you don't know who to cheer for.

Sparrow. Johnnie To subverts all his gangster movies and created this little gem about pickpockets in HK. It's style over substance but what style.

Great choices, Tommy!

I thought I was the only one who loved The Good Thief

I'll throw out Hotel Rwanda as a suggestion. An inspirational movie, that, anchored by a never better Don Cheadle, challenges audience's complacity in the face of very real evil.

One Hour Photo belongs on this list

And where is the praise on Sexy Beast? That's Ben Kingsley's best film.

Agreed. 100% agree on this choice. Another good one from Williams is The Final Cut. I enjoyed that way more than I ever thought I would.

I'd also suggest Kontroll, which is a great atmospheric film.

24 Hour Party People This is a GREAT movie! Argh! I better see it on some lists, because damn, just - I love this film. It's unique! There's great music. It's smart. Innovative in its technique. Everybody I've shown it to has quite enjoyed it. It depicts the music industry with the rigor of Scorsese depicting the mob in Goodfellas.

'The Way of the Gun' (2000)

Sunday Bloody Sunday (2002)

'In Bruges' (2008). Fucking love this movie.

Shattered Glass (2003)
The Whackness (2008)

World's Fastest Indian

Fuck yeah.

I hope to hell there's a list that includes:

Let the Right one In

I caught this on cable and didn't know what it was called for years. At first glance I expected it to be a sort of B movie, but I loved it. Nolte carries the film with extreme ease, but I guess Nolte is no stranger to substance abuse. It's kind of shame that the mainstream was not around to catch this shining role. It's a great addition to the professional thief/heist subgenre. But why couple it with an 'A-list' title? Out of Sight would work as a great double feature and serve as another entry in this list.

Edit: Oops, Out of Sight is too old.

Oh hells yes. This movie was way more disturbing that I thought it would be. The spider sequences still irk me to this day.

I've owned both In Bruges and 24 Hour Party People on DVD for quite some time and haven't watched either of them. Gonna have to change that.

Mad Detective. A clever little movie that re-teams Lau Ching-Wan with Johnnie To. The concept of a detective who see's the different personalities of the people he investigates is brilliant.

Welcome to Dongmakgol. A live action Miyazaki film, complete with Jo Hisaishi score.

OKINAWA RENDEZVOUS (2000) - Hong Kong rom-com with attractive locations and amiably lazy summer atmosphere. A rare acting role for Faye Wong at the peak of her beauty and charm.

SESSION 9 (2001) - Writer/director Brad Anderson tried to work the same magic for THE MACHINIST and failed. It's downright scary, and the ending threw me for a loop.

DOLLS (2002) - Self-important, occasionally dull, entire scenes fall apart, and will not hold up on repeat viewings. But heartbreaking nonetheless, with vivid, unforgettable images, score (by the best in the business, Joe Hisaishi), and Takeshi Kitano's wry sense of humor.

NEW POLICE STORY (2004) - Also flawed: overlong, distracting product placement, final setpiece in a toy store that seems better suited to another JC vehicle (ROB B HOOD?). What I loved was Chan's guilt-ridden, self-destructive cop.

LONESOME JIM (2005) - I don't think Steve Buscemi has gotten enough attention as a director. This is a fine, fine movie.

THE WILD BLUE YONDER (2005) - Spellbinding Herzog sci-fi using NASA shuttle footage as a backdrop for Brad Dourif's extraterrestrial monologue.

BUG (2006) - An incredible downer, and I never want to see it again, but extremely well-made and an impressive return to form for William Friedkin.

I forgot about Dolls, Kitano created some amazing images in that film.

This movie is a shit-ton better than anything Ritchie ever did.

Praise Kingsley to the heavens for Sexy Beast; Winstone is also good in it. But Kingsley's performance aside...well, that's about it; it's a well-made heist film. Without Kingsley tearing it up, rather unremarkable.

Less than the sum of its parts in retrospect, but damn good fun.


Oh yeah:

http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/3295/belluccipq6.gif

A few others coming to mind include 'The Tailor of Panama', one of Brosnan's best roles I think, 'Secretary', and 'Unfaithful' is probably the only Adrian Lyne film I can stomach.

Oh, and 'Hannibal', even if it was one of Scott's biggest commercial successes.

The Matador was some pretty good Brosnan as well.

A three-peat of underappreciated literary adaptations: WONDER BOYS, MATCHSTICK MEN and, just because I don't see it popping up on nearly enough best-of-the-decade lists, THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD.

And while I'm thinking of underappreciated Nicolas Cage movies, how about a little recognition for THE WEATHER MAN?

Glazer hasn't done a feature in five years, which is a shame.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch is one of my all-time favorite films. Don't know that I'd necessarily give it an objective ranking above #15 for the decade but it's pretty fucking good.

I certainly don't mean to slam the film, because it is really good. I was just saying that aside from Kingley's performance there's nothing capital-g "Great" about it.

I loved 'Vanilla Sky'. 'Collateral' I think kinda falls apart under any scrutiny.

I'll also throw in Speed Racer.

I'll get shit for this one, but 'Crazy/Beautiful' is one of the smarter teen romances I can think of. And Dunst is really, really good in it.

It won the Oscar at the time, but I find the foreign film love of that year falling towards Pan's Labyrinth. Hell, I was annoyed when Pan's didn't win because hey! Stephen Colbert was talking about it.

But The Lives of Others is utterly, stupendously incredible. It's easily in my top 10 of the decade, maybe top 5.

I wouldn't be surprised if this shows up on some top lists. It started the Asian horror film remake craze and it's the only one that did it with any skill.

I'm not sure how many lists Ghost World is gonna show up on, but I love the movie and hope to see it somewhere. And I have a feeling that No Country is going to overshadow the Coens output this decade, but I think you could make a case for O Brother, Where art thou?, Burn After Reading, A Serious Man, and The Man who Wasn't There (Which I was pleasantly surprised to see on the Onion list).

I'll third the Vanilla Sky love. That's one of my favorite flicks from the decade, and possibly all time.

Speaking of teen movies, Whatever It Takes is one of the only ones that I still like. Shane West and Franco do a pretty good job.

From Hell is also a great period piece and whodunit/conspiracy thriller.

Panic Room also seems to be one of the lesser Fincher flicks, even though it's visually amazing and contains a great subdued crazy with Dwight Yoakam.

For those of you who are pimping Vanilla Sky, how many have seen Abre Los Ojos and how does it compare?


Just curious, since I seem to be one of the minority who think that the leaner, meaner Infernal Affairs was better than the more expansive The Departed, though both are really friggin' good.

I'll admit to never having seen Abre Los Ojos. I was curious about it after I saw Vanilla Sky, but I've never had a high urge to seek it out.

Although I really want to see Infernal Affairs. Heard though that the character that Jack Nicholson's mob boss is modeled after has a much smaller role in the original.

Assassination, Hedwig, Into The Wild, The Wrestler, The Fountain and all of the Coen Bros. just mentioned should be in those lists, and so far I haven't seen them. To each their own, but I'd say they should rise above underatted/alternate to downright 'overlooked'.

As to films that fit this category: Idiocracay, The Bourne Films, The Oceans films, the Kingdom, The Mist, Edmond, Spartan and Shortbus. Not necessarily topliners for best, but damn good movies that shouldn't be forgotten.

The mob boss is less prominent, it's more cat-and-mouse between the two principals.

The Mist (B/W). I first saw it in its theatrical, color vision, but the film is just loads and loads better in black and white. The opening scene works much better--as does the final sequence--and the cheapness of the CGI actually becomes a strength rather than a weakness. In black and white, the scenes with the monsters look like you suddenly are having a bad acid trip while watching a standard '50s horror movie.

We Own the Night and Two Lovers. James Gray is a director I really liked seeing grow this decade. Little Odessa seems like what it is--a good first attempt from a promising new writer and director--but it's disjointed. I like Ebert's take ,that it seems like a patchwork of independent vignettes that Gray is struggling to weave into a whole. The Yards is where he demonstrates he can pull things together. We Own the Night, not too many people around here seem to like it, but it is easily my favorite thing Duvall did this decade and one of my favorite films in his entire body of work. In many other films, the "I love you too" ending may have not seemed earned or sappy but it packs a punch in this film. Two Lovers is just a beautiful film. You get a look at a Jewish family that seems both true and utterly divorced from stereotypes of Jewish families, one of the more moving and true portrayals of mental illness in recent film, and every character seems fully realized. The intense drama of whether the protagonist's illness will keep him from being happy or not is masterfully executed and beautifully resolved.