#20 - A Fish Called Wanda (1988, dir. Charles Crichton & John Cleese)

The only reason I chose to watch this film was because I saw that Kevin Kline won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his part in the film, which I thought was strange given that the film was a comedy. Now that I’ve seen it, I can honestly say he absolutely deserves that Oscar. He was easily the best actor in the entire film, but the entire cast was great too. A Fish Called Wanda is a lot funnier than I thought it was going to be going in, and it might be one of the funniest films I’ve seen in quite a while. Definitely the funniest I’ve seen this year, but if you look through the archive, it didn’t have much competition. 9/10

#19 - Election (1999, dir. Alexander Payne)

This is only my second Alexander Payne film I’ve ever seen, the first being The Descendants, but after watching it, I went and downloaded Sideways, his most critically-acclaimed film. I think I like his style- people didn’t love The Descendants, but I thought it was great, and Election was fantastic. It wasn’t as funny as I was expecting it to be based on what everybody told me, but it was brilliant. I’ve already added it to my list of films to buy when I can afford to, and I think it’s a brilliant example of a good script making an audience root for the wrong person. Pajiba’s “In Defense of Tracy Flick” puts it better than I ever could, but Payne’s script actually convinces us to root for the underdog, and make her seem evil despite everyone in this movie kind of being evil. I’m beyond impressed with the movie, and I can’t wait to watch the rest of his filmography. 9/10

#18 - Do The Right Thing (1989, dir. Spike Lee)

The only reason I watched this movie again is because I had to write a speech on it about why I hated it. I hate it because the film’s message is bullshit. The rioters burnt down a fucking pizzeria because their friend died, but the pizzeria owner had nothing to do with that shit. This wasn’t violence in self defense, it was violence in anger, so don’t give me Malcolm X’s quote at the end of the film. There’s no question whether or not they did the right thing, they didn’t. Everyone besides Da Mayor and Samuel L. Jackson’s character in this film in an asshole. I don’t know if the point was to get me riled up about the message, but if it is, Spike Lee does a great job. All of the actors in the movie that AREN’T Spike Lee do a great job, especially Giancarlo Esposito (Gus!) as Buggin’ Out, Ossie Davis as Da Mayor, and Danny Aiello as Sal. I don’t know why everyone loves this movie. It pissed me off. 5/10

#17 - The Tree Of Life (2011, dir. Terrence Malick)

Why did people hate this film so much? I mean, yes, I understand it’s rife with symbolism, both pretentious and obvious, but it’s pretty good. Aside from the super pretentious, stupid symbolic ending, I really liked The Tree Of Life. Sean Penn literally says zero words though, and is in the 120 minute film less than Christina Hendricks was in Drive. I don’t understand why he got top billing at all. But I digress- it was good! And fucking beautiful! The fact that this movie didn’t win a Best Cinematography at the Academy Awards this year annoys me. It was a shoo-in. 8/10

#16 - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011, dir. Stephen Daldry)

I’m kind of torn on this film. One one hand, it’s a terrific adaptation of the novel, and if I weren’t such a cold unfeeling robot it probably would’ve made me cry. On the other hand, the main character and the actor that plays him are terrible, and not once did I feel for him. Also, the movie sort of just uses 9/11 as a macguffin for the kid’s plot, and it really doesn’t reference it past saying that people died and it was a terrible event. Really, the kid doesn’t even feel bad that 9/11 happened, just that his dad is gone. There was no reason for it to be set around 9/11 besides forcing it to connect to a real world. That said, I kind of understand why it was nominated for an Oscar, even if I’m glad it didn’t win anything. It’s not terrible, but I also didn’t really like it that much. It was okay. 6/10

#15 - Annie Hall (1977, dir. Woody Allen)

After watching and loving Radio Days and Midnight in Paris, I decided to watch Woody Allen’s most popular film, and I’m both glad and sad that I did. I’m glad because it’s fantastic- it’s funny, Diane Keaton & Woody Allen are both brilliant, and it avoids the stupid romantic comedy trappings that most movies that followed it fell into. It made me sad, however, because it made me realize that I’m Alvy Singer. And I’m sure everybody sees the movie and feels that way, because every aside monologue he does makes you want to go “ugh, so true” in the worst ways. I can see the comparisons people made to (500) Days of Summer when 500DOS was released, and I don’t really know which one I like more. But Annie Hall was terrific, and I plan to watch it again soon. 9/10

#14 - The Help (2011, dir. Tate Taylor)

This movie was a lot better than I thought it would be! The trailer and everything I’ve seen about this movie makes me think I’m gonna go into it and watch a terrible, 2-hour rom-com that just happens to be set in the 60s, but I didn’t get that at all, aside from an unnecessary romance D-plot with Emma Stone that is almost immediately resolved and literally only serves the purpose of making the film a bit longer.  (By the way, Emma Stone was pretty good. She was very Emma Stone-y, which is not a bad thing at all.) I’m not surprised it was nominated for Best Picture, and I’m not surprised that Viola Davis was nominated for Best Actress, because she killed it in The Help. I rarely can tell when antagonists do a good job because I usually spend the entire movie hating them, but I think Bryce Dallas Howard was also pretty good as “the town racist,” who is one of the four people that uses the N-word in the film, and does so about 10 times. I’d like to think she improvised every time she said it, and the director was just like “That’s not cool… but it works.” 8/10

#13 - Chronicle (2012, dir. Josh Trank)

Admittedly, I watched this movie last week on Saturday, but I’ve been putting off writing about it until now. I don’t know why. This movie was fucking incredible. For real, it’s one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time. I hated found-footage stories before Chronicle, but now I realize that if it’s done correctly, and it becomes diegetic to the story and not just “hey, dude happens to have a camera when shit goes wrong” (I’m looking at you, Cloverfield & Paranormal Activity) it can be fantastic. The script is incredible, the directing is phenomenal, the acting is superb, (except for Casey, but don’t worry about her) and the way the camera is used and actually included in the story is fucking brilliant. I’ve been talking about Chronicle almost nonstop since I saw it, but with good reason. I don’t recall the last time I felt such emotion in a film (i’m a heartless bastard) as I did when MOUSE OVER FOR SPOILERS. I cannot recommend this film enough. 10/10

#12 - Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2010, dir. Eli Craig)

The main reason I bothered to watch this was because everybody said it was wholly underrated and a brilliant parody of the horror genre. The thing is, I get that it’s a satire, but I don’t think it was particularly brilliant or funny, or free of any of the trappings that actual horror films have. It was very predictable (which isn’t always bad) and only kind of funny, but maybe you’d have to love horror films to enjoy it more than I did. Personally, I avoid watching horror films (especially “kids in the woods” films like the one T&DVE lampoons) but I still saw all of the cliches, so the “point” of it all wasn’t lost on me. As an aside, the death scenes were stupid. I also disagree with how MOUSE OVER FOR SPOILERS. It’s fun enough that I can recommend it to people that like horror films and comedies, but I honestly didn’t care much for it. 6/10