So, now that I’ve figured out how to use polls, I thought it might be fun to post a poll for each of my categories thus far. To keep them from being too unwieldy, I’ve only included my top ten as choices, but if you think one of my other choices (or something completely different) is the best of the decade, there is a write-in option. Feel free to finally voice publicly your disagreement with me!
Continue reading
This is sort of a vague list. I’m not really sure what the qualifications were. And it seems wrong that 19 of my 25 favorite characters of the decade are from television shows. I obviously need to read more. But, for whatever reason, these are the ones that really stuck with me. Here are my 25 favorite characters of the decade:
25) Borat Sagdiyev (Da Ali G Show)
Frat guys turned Borat into this decade’s Austin Powers, and no one is really clamoring for Borat II at this point. But the character is brilliantly conceived and led Sacha Baron Cohen into comedic territory that he never could have reached as Ali G.
24) Brian Griffin (Family Guy)
Even I am sitting here thinking this is a strange, possibly unworthy, choice for this list. But I can’t stop laughing when they have Brian actually, you know, behave like a dog. Like when he is afraid of the vacuum cleaner, or uncontrollably wags his tail. A rare talking animal character that still, albeit rarely, acts like an animal.
23) Coach Eric Taylor (Friday Night Lights)
This character’s appeal is helped quite a bit by his relationship with his wife, but he’s on the list alone because he does just fine in the football scenes without her. Friday Night Lights seems to have learned from the mistakes of past shows (I’m thinking specifically of The O.C.): when you have a married couple that serves as a solid foundation upon which to build everything else, do not screw with it.
With the death of J.D. Salinger, speculation about The Catcher in the Rye being adapted as a movie is inevitable. So that got me thinking about movie adaptations that I would be excited about, but secretly dread because of the probability that they would be bad.
That led to a list of ten possible adaptations that will never live up to the hype I would assign them in my brain. That, in turn, led to another list, this time of ten movie adaptations that have already been made, and are already disappointing. But I didn’t want to be completely negative, so I’ll finish with a list of ten movie adaptations that, in my opinion, really knocked it out of the park, and in some cases, surpassed whatever they were based on. I’m sure I’m forgetting some here; let me know if there is anything too obvious. Also, for the most part, I tried to include only examples where I’m familiar with both the movie and the source material (exceptions are noted).
Movie adaptations by which I will inevitably, someday, be disappointed:
10) A Confederacy of Dunces
Apparently Harold Ramis tried to turn this into a movie back in 1982, with John Belushi in the lead role, but then Belushi died. That might have actually been pretty good. Ignatius Reilly is such a weird, delightful character that I can’t really imagine anyone pulling him off. The most recent talk has been about Will Ferrell donning a fat suit to play him. Eh.
9) Then We Came to the End
As far as I know no one is planning to turn this into a movie, but it just seems like the kind of thing that someone might try. For some reason, I picture John C. McGinley, the guy that plays Dr. Cox on Scrubs, getting cast as Tom Mota. And I am aghast at that possibility.
8 ) Lost
Again, no concrete plans in place. But I guarantee there will be a movie at some point. Disney is already talking about the future of Lost as a brand. But what would the movie be? I’m guessing the television finale will give us a pretty definitive ending to the current set of characters’ story. And I can’t imagine a prequel would be all that interesting. So, what happens? A new plane crashes on the island?
Ah, The Golden Globes, a time for dressing up and drinking single malt Scotch.
Johanna and I were on a big delay for the event, due to other activities, and also due to the fact that we wanted to be able to fast-forward through all of the commercials. Just as we were sitting down to start it I got a text from my friend Mike that, while ruining one of the winners for me, gave me the idea of (not really live) live-blogging the event. So thanks, Mike! Here are my thoughts, along with exciting updates about my winner-picking competition with Johanna (all times listed are Eastern Time Zone, and not when I actually watched it; not only did we start it late, I had to pause it every ten minutes or so to try to find the mouse that we keep hearing in our kitchen).
8:00-8:04 – A nice open from Ricky Gervais. Even if I weren’t such a big fan of his I would applaud his selection as host. He’s exactly what these things need, someone who has no interests to protect and no problem poking fun. His jokes seem to be hitting with the audience, but it’s almost like it’s canned laughter or something, because the wide shots of the big stars up front aren’t revealing too many smiles. Maybe the laughter is coming from the people in the back. Hollywood, as always, taking itself too seriously.
This list was much harder for me than my television list. Even more than before, this is definitely a list of my favorite movies of the decade, not the best. There are movies not on this list that I know are qualitatively better than some of the ones on it. This line of reasoning affects the order of the list as well. The only real objective sacrifice I made was in leaving Kingdom of Heaven off. I love that movie. It was the first movie I bought on Blu-ray. But I couldn’t bring myself to list it here. I was also hindered by the fact that there are a lot of movies, some of them likely outstanding, that I just never got around to seeing. So really, this list is flawed, but it’s the only list I’m qualified to write. Here goes, my 25 favorite movies of the past decade:
25) Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)
Those of you who read my television list will probably not be shocked to find this on my movie list; I’ve been a big Jason Segel fan since the Nick Andopolis days. I also liked Mila Kunis in this, which is surprising, since she annoys me in pretty much everything else she does. And while I’m concerned that the upcoming spin-off movie Get Him to the Greek will end up being a disappointment, I love Russell Brand as Aldous Snow. He’s perfect as a narcissistic and selfish rock star who turns out to be both charming and mostly warm-hearted. Which I guess shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, considering that seems to be pretty much who he is in real life.
24) 9/11 (2002)
I love documentaries that, through luck, fate, or circumstance, end up becoming far more interesting than the filmmaker probably initially imagined. Would anyone remember The War Room if Clinton hadn’t ended up winning the election? One of the movies listed in the honorable mentions below, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, morphs from a movie about the making of a record and the inner workings of a band into a movie about the failures of the record industry when Reprise rejects Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Probably the best example of this, though, is 9/11 by Jules and Gedeon Naudet, who set out to make a documentary about the life of a rookie firefighter on the FDNY, and end up right in the middle of the defining event of the past ten years. The movie features one of the few existing shots of the first plane hitting Tower 1, and contains fascinating footage of firefighters attempting to coordinate rescue efforts from inside the lobby of the WTC. Johanna and I seem to get on a kick of watching things about September 11th every three years or so, and when we do, this is the first place we turn.
23) 24 Hour Party People (2002)
I don’t know how I heard about this movie. I don’t know what motivated me to buy it on DVD. I hadn’t even heard of half of the bands depicted in it when I first watched it. It just seemed to appear on my DVD shelf one day, and then quietly, over repeat viewings, become one of my favorite movies. It’s a fast-paced depiction of the music scene in Manchester in the 1980s and 1990s, and it might have been somewhat forgettable if not for the great performance of Steve Coogan as Tony Wilson. Like pretty much everything in this movie other than Joy Division and New Order, I hadn’t heard of either Coogan or Wilson before watching it, but I quickly became fans of both.
Of Modern Proportions 