Jesse Walker now takes us back to the year 2005. He admits his top twenty is the same as it was ten years ago--Gen Z grew up without Jesse changing his mind.
If you want to see his full comments, check them out at:
https://jessewalker.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-year-of-levees-ive-told-you-my.html
TOP TEN
1. Caché
2. Live and Become
3. Corpse Bride
4. The Dying Gaul
5. The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
6. Deadwood 2
7. Hustle & Flow
8. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
9. Noroi: The Curse
10. Veronica Mars
Cache is one of Michael Haneke's best films (faint praise, as I'm not a fan). Maybe not top ten material, but top twenty.
I didn't really go for Corpse Bride.
The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit would probably make my top ten.
Hustle & Flow might make the lower rungs of my top twenty.
Horror may be my least favorite genre, but Noroi was okay--maybe top twenty.
Still haven't see 2, 4 and 8. And 6 and 10 are TV shows.
Honorable mentions:
11. Paradise Now
12. Sin City
13. Grizzly Man
14. The Thick of It
15. Nine Lives
16. Batman Begins
17. Forty Shades of Blue
18. Happy Endings
19. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
20. Rize
Sin City demonstrates it's a mistake to be too faithful to a graphic novel. Grizzly Man has stuck with me--might make my top ten. Batman Begins is okay (not a big fan of the Batman movies). I enjoyed Happy Endings, but not top twenty.
The rest I have failed to see in the twenty years I've had the chance.
Other films that make my top ten or twenty:
Crash (I saw it once twenty years ago and I don't care about the backlash, I liked it)
Downfall (got to be the most viewed film ever with Hitler in it, but not for the reason the creators expected)
The 40-Year-Old Virgin (he's now 60--time for a sequel?)
A History Of Violence
Howl's Moving Castle
The March Of The Penguins
The Squid And The Whale
The Wild Parrots Of Telegraph Hill
Junebug
Layer Cake
The Nomi Song
Other films I liked:
Hitch, The Matador, The New World, Sky High, Transamerica, The Producers, Mr. And Mrs. Smith, Sahara, The World's Fastest Indian
Other films of note:
The Wedding Date, Guess Who, In Her Shoes. The Family Stone, Jarhead, Lords Of Dogtown, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Syriana, Cinderella Man, Coach Carter, Fun With Dick And Jane, Assault On Precinct 13, The Honeymooners, War Of The Worlds, Bewitched, Saw II, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith, Kingdom of Heaven, Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic ,he Island, Red Eye, Four Brothers, The Skeleton Key, Flightplan, Serenity, The Pacifier, Bride And Prejudice, The Upside Of Anger, Hostage, The Aristocrats, Broken Flowers, In The Realm Of The Unreal, Capote, The Corpse Bride, Brokeback Mountain, Walk The Line, In Good Company, The Jacket, Fever Pitch, Melinda And Melinda, Kung Fu Hustle, The Interpreter, Madagascar, Kicking And Screaming, Unleashed, Just Like Heaven, Zathura, The Ice Harvest, Elektra, 2046, Match Point, Munich, Good Night And Good Luck, Chronicles Of Narnia, Fantastic Four, Chicken Little, Monster-In-Law, Are We There Yet?, The Dukes Of Hazzard, Cheaper By The Dozen 2, The Exorcism Of Emily Rose, Herbie: Fully Loaded, The Amityville Horror, Yours Mine And Ours, Memoirs Of A Geisha, Hide And Seek, Diary Of A Mad Black Woman, Racing Stripes, Just Like Heaven, Boogeyman, The Legend Of Zorro, Must Love Dogs, Transporter 2, Rumor Has It, The Adventures Of Sharkboy And Lavagirl in 3D, The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants, Beauty Shop, Derailed, Hostage, The Ringer, Dreamer, Because Of Winn-Dixie, Me And You And Everyone We Know, Just Friends, House Of Wax, Get Rich Or Die Tryin', The Fog, Hoodwinker, Rent, Doom, XXX: State Of The Union, Elizabethtown, Aeon Flux, Dark Water, Ice Princess, Two For The Money, Prime, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, A Lot Like Love, Man Of The House, Valiant, Cursed, Into The Blue, North Country, Pooh's Heffalump Movie, Son Of The Mask, Rebound, The Perfect Man, Waiting..., The Gospel, The Greatest Game Ever Played, The Cave, Casanova, In The Mix, Domino, The Great Raid, Cry Wolf, An Unfinished Life, The Man, Mad Hot Ballroom, Ladies In Lavender, Kings and Queen, The World, Tropical Malady, The Holy Girl, Last Days, Cafe Lumiere, Nobody Knows, The Intruder, Head-On, Mysterious Skin, My Summer Of Love, Saraband, The Power Of Nightmares, Paradise Now, Pulse, Keane, Memories Of Murder, Darwin's Nightmare, Good Morning Night, The Beat That My Heart Skipped, The Best Of Youth, The Century Of The Self, Look At Me, Breakfast On Pluto, Innocence, Turtles Can Fly, Palindromes, Pride & Prejudice, Tony Takitani, The White Diamond, The Devil's Rejects, 3-Iron, The Time We Killed, Funny Ha Ha, My Mother's Smile, A Tout De Suite, Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance, Whisky, Wolf Creek, Mondovino, Yes, The Weeping Meadow, Gunner Palace, Chain, Land Of Plenty, Machuca, Shopgirl, Three Dancing Slaves, Oliver Twist, Dallas 362, Occupation Dreamland, The Oil Factor, Murderball, Dolls, Garcon Stupide, Heights, The Ballad Of Jack And Rose, The Far Side Of The Moon, Happy Here And Now, The Joy Of Life, Nine Lives, The President's Last Bang, Rize, The Dying Gaul, Proof, Travellers And Magicians, The Brothers Grimm, The Memory Of A Killer, Separate Lies, The Syrian Bride, Lord Of War, The Weather Man, Where The Truth Lies, The Baxter, Loggerheads, The Ninth Day, A Talking Picture, Tell Them Who You Are, Throw Down, The White Countess, Cronicas, Exorcist Prequel (either version), Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room, Perfect Crime, The Prize Winner Of Defiance Ohio, She's One Of Us, New York Doll, The 3 Rooms Of Melancholia, Another Road Home, Boys Of Baraka, In Satmar Custody, Terror, Wall, The Untold Story Of Emmett Louis
Howl's Moving Castle is technically a 2004 movie (I go by the year a film is first screened, even if it didn't come to the U.S. til later), and it made my honorable mentions list for that year.
ReplyDeleteWar Of The Worlds wasn't bad.
ReplyDeleteBroken Flowers is one of Bill Murray's best performances.
The Aristocrats may not be a great film, but it's unique.
The Ice Harvest was pretty good.
Match Point is one of Woody Allen's best.