Dan's Media Digest

Dan's Top 15 Films of the '00s

Picking your favourite anything is damn tricky. I'm always reminded of that at the end of every year, when it suddenly become fashionable to start crafting Top 10 lists to somehow distill the greatness of the past 12 months. It's even harder when you have 10 years to choose from. I'm often stuck because I don't know whether to choose "the best" or "my favourite", which are very different things. Y'see, I can appreciate and adore the craft of a movie like There Will Be Blood, but I don't find myself loving it, or even giving it a passing thought once I've seen it.

So, in the end, I decided to pick the films that mean a combination of things to me: they left an indelible impression that lasted throughout the '00s, most people will agree they're damn good examples of clever or unique filmmaking, and I often find myself thinking about them years after seeing them, or always re-watching them on television. So, here's my Top 15:

15. Spirited Away (d. Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)
Phenomenally inventive and imaginative fairy tale from the Japanese master of animation. A young girl's parents are turned into pigs and she travels to a bizarre, magical dimension in order to break the spell. The simple designs are a marvel to behold and it's so liberating in how it tells its story and keeps you emotionally engaged, even in its English dub. Beautiful.

14. WALL-E (d. Andrew Stanton, 2008)
Beautiful, haunting, exciting and romantic animation from those Pixar wunderkinds. A brilliant sci-fi parable with a slapstick robot in the lead. Who would have believed you could tug at the heart-strings with lumps of chirruping, loved-up CGI metal a mere 10 years ago? Gorgeous.

13. The Incredibles (d. Brad Bird, 2004)
One of the decade's best superhero films, even if it did steal key ideas from Watchmen. Animation is proven to be one of the best ways to give superheroes a believable sense of realism, in this relentlessly gripping and entertaining movie that also works as a commentary on modern family life. Awesome fun. A sequel is long overdue. Considering the fact director Brad Bird was also responsible for the equally brilliant Iron Giant in the '90s, I'm eager to see him branch out into live-action some day.

12. Donnie Darko (d. Richard Kelly, 2001)
The best teen movie of the '00s – well, if you've ever felt isolated during your geeky adolescence... or hallucinated a giant talking rabbit called Frank. Superb '80s soundtrack, a breakout performance from a young Jake Gyllenhaal, and a mind-bending with superhero elements weaved into creepy David Lynch-style suburban drama and Stephen Hawking-era science. Spellbinding, haunting stuff of real low-budget ambition and skill.

11. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (d. Michel Gondry, 2004)
Another masterpiece from Charlie Kaufman's mind. A romantic drama where a man learns his ex-girlfriend is having their failed relationship literally erased from her mind. Great performances from Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, superbly put together by the magical inventiveness of French director Michel Gondry.

10. Adaptation (d. Spike Jonze, 2002)
A typically bizarre storyline from screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, as he writes himself into a script about adapting the novel "The Orchid Thief". Nicolas Cage plays Kaufman... and his identical, fictional twin brother Donald. Touching and intelligent storytelling that feels utterly unique from beginning to end.

9. Mullholland Dr. (d. David Lynch, 2001)
The film that introduced Hollywood to the beautiful and talented Naomi Watts, who is extraordinarily good in this. How to explain the plot, though? I can't, really. Lynch films like these just need to be experienced with an open mind. It's another gorgeous mind-fuck with some creepy shocks, improving on the themes of identity tackled in Lynch's Lost Highway. You'll either end up totally frustrated and dismissive of the film's logic, or enthralled and desperate to debate its hidden meanings with likeminded people. At the very least though, you can't deny the strength Watts displays as a dramatic actress here.

8. The Prestige (d. Christopher Nolan, 2006)
Gripping drama about two gifted, competitive illusionists in the 19th-century, who become rivals after a tragic accident. This mixes magic with science in a tale where the script itself performs a clever trick on viewers, leaving you slack jawed by the conclusion and eager to watch again. Sandwiched in-between Nolan's tent-pole Batman films, The Prestige kind of got lost in the mix but it deserves wider recognition.

7. Kill Bill (d. Quentin Tarantino, 2003 & 2004)
I prefer Volume I's Eastern chopsocky vitality over Volume II's droll Western duelling, but Kill Bill is cumulatively a brilliant love-letter to '70s Shaw Brothers kung-fu flicks and one of the most enjoyable, vibrant and unusual action flicks of the decade. Tarantino proves himself a first-rate action director in this buzzing martial arts epic. Uma Thurman defeating 88 Yakuza assassins in a restaurant remains a defining fight sequence of the '00s.

6. Children Of Men (d. Alfonso Cuaron, 2005)
Stunning sci-fi drama with a perfect hook: society is crumbling because no women are getting pregnant, meaning mankind is doomed to natural extinction. The great thing about Children Of Men (beyond its fantastic script and the excellent performances from Clive Owen and Michael Caine) is the realism Alfonso Cuaron imbues into his British dystopia. It's a marvellous achievement, pushed to greatness by its celebrated action sequences that appear to have been achieved in one extended take, with the camera travelling to seemingly impossible vantage points. Fascinating, atmospheric, gripping, dramatic and beautiful filmmaking.

5. The Dark Knight (d. Christopher Nolan, 2008)
The sequel to Batman Begins has more on its mind and a benchmark villain in Oscar-winning Heath Ledger's Joker -- so, while I still think Begins was the more revelatory, pioneering comic-book film (and thus deserving of a higher ranking), I have to admit there's more weight of intellect behind its hugely successful sequel. Certainly one of cinema's great sequels, we can agree.

4. Requiem For A Dream (d. Darren Aronofsky, 2000)
Extraordinary filmmaking and perhaps the best anti-drugs ever made. I hope to never see Requiem again because it's just so tough and harrowing. I thought movies had lost their power to unsettle and disturb me beyond my childhood... until I saw this excellent film. The five-minute montage of various climactic horrors the characters have fallen into ranks as the most gruelling, punishing climax of any movie this decade.

3. The Lord Of The Rings (d. Peter Jackson, 2001, 2002 & 2003)
Now a yardstick of huge movie-making, Peter Jackson joined the Hollywood elite by bringing J.R.R Tolkien's "unfilmable" trilogy of fantasy books to vivid, groundbreaking life. It brightened up three consecutive Christmases around the world, gave us the first truly believable digital character in the rasping Gollum, and its epic CGI-assisted battle sequences have been copied by LOTR knockoffs ever since. Popular with the masses, successful with the critics, amazingly creative, a technical wonder, and genre-defining in the process.

2. Batman Begins (d. Christopher Nolan, 2005)
A realistic, moody take on the then-defunct Batman franchise, spearheaded by British director Christopher Nolan, who took the best of the '80s graphic novels (Batman: Year One, The Dark Knight Returns) and created one of the most compelling reboots of recent times -- helped by David Goyer's script and clever A-list casting. In fact, this was where the current vogue for reboots took hold over prequels.

1. Memento (d. Christopher Nolan, 2000)
An extraordinary, ingenious idea -- expertly crafted by Christopher Nolan's razor precision. A murder-mystery told in reverse, to give the audience a similar experience to Guy Pearce's protagonist – who has a short-term memory. The fact something this unique and tricky works so brilliantly is one thing, but then you factor in the brilliant performances and pure skill in the telling, and it was clear a very talented filmmaker had arrived on the Hollywood scene.

The Day Of The Triffids (2009)

[SPOILERS] John Wyndham's 1951 novel The Day Of The Triffids always felt like two ideas fused together to me (a catastrophe where the majority of the world are blinded by a meteor shower, resulting in the collapse of society; and a doomsday action-drama about walking, man-eating plants called Triffids.) But those ideas never gelled on the page for me, mainly because the Triffids were fictional beasts that Wyndham just asked us to accept outright, but their odd existence always dragged me out of the story. To this day I believe the killer plants should have arrived on Earth as alien spores carried on said meteorites, but maybe another remake will make that alteration some day...

This two-part BBC miniseries (which would have worked better as a four-part series, and seemed to be paced thus), spiced up Wyndham's book by keeping a few updates from the revered 1981 BBC TV series (the notion of humanity farming Triffids for their oil, for e.g.), adding some new plot-points/characters of its own, and stirring in 28 Days Later's sensibility and chilly aesthetic. The irony being that Danny Boyle's own post-apocalyptic film owed a debt to Wyndham's tome, as both feature a protagonist spared from harm after being hospitalized.

The recap the basic premise: Dr. Bill Masen (Dougray Scott) is a scientist working for "Triffoil" -- a company that farm giant plants called Triffids as a source of environmentally-friendly fuel that prevented global warming. Bill's mother was killed by a Triffid's sting while working in Zaire when he was a young boy, and he's grown up to become a world authority on the dangerous plants himself, which are secretly imprisoned for harvesting inside Triffoil's huge en masse. After suffering a sting to the eyes while preventing an activist releasing captive plants, Bill is fortunate enough to miss a solar storm that burns the world's skies a pinkish hue – resulting in mass blindness.

Bill's sight is protected behind his bandages, and he awakens to find himself one of very few sighted people left in the world. Others include celebrity broadcaster Jo Playton (Joely Richardson); a sleeping passenger aboard an aeroplane (Eddie Izzard), who survived the ensuing crash by stealing everyone's inflatable life-jackets and using them to pad the toilet cubicle; and dashing American Major Coker (Jason Priestly) who's angry that the remnants of the British government are unwilling to help their blind citizens.

What followed was a very entertaining take on the source material from screenwriter Patrick Harbinson (ER, Millennium), although the first part suffered from a rushed feel and the inevitable problems of representing the chaos that would befall London if the country went blind overnight. Day Of The Triffids certainly did a far better job than the BBC's recent Survivors remake, but there was still a feeling that you need a Hollywood-sized budget to do Wyndham's prose justice. It goes without saying that this '09 remake did a slicker job than the '81 TV series in every aspect of its production design, although the '80s series had a more relaxed pace that allowed you to absorb the characters and feel the passage of time.

Certainly, the one big flaw of this version was how events felt very rushed at times: Bill and Jo fell in love simply because they're opposite sexes and the lead characters, a storyline involving a group of nuns protecting their village community by sacrificing the elderly to Triffids lasted all of 20-minutes, and after Bill met two orphaned children they started to consider Bill and Jo their "parents" within what felt like minutes! Like I said, I think the BBC should have aired this as a four-part weekly series (so such leaps didn't feel quite so awkward), or else have insisted on a full-length series so the scripts could have breathed.

However, there was still much to enjoy about Day Of The Triffids '09. Dougray Scott's airy voiceover was irritatingly coy, but the Scottish actor made for a decent lead -- both believable as a macho action-man and as a skilled botanist. Joely Richardson was less interesting, but didn't embarrass herself. Eddie Izzard left the strongest impression, mainly because opportunistic Torrence was a very interesting wrinkle in the story -- only letdown by the fact we didn't grow to understand his backstory or motivations too well. Jason Priestly appeared to be following the lead of fellow Beverly Hills 90210 co-star Brian Austin Green (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles), in attempting to rebrand himself as a hunky action-man, but he was unfortunately given the laziest, two-dimensional character in Major Coker. Brian Cox also appeared as Bill's father in the final part -- which was a believable piece of casting that really worked well -- as well as Vanessa Redgrave (Richardson's real-life mother), as a misguided nun.

The special effects were very good, with enough scenes of large-scale disaster to sell the idea of a global catastrophe, and the eponymous killer plants were recreated well via a mix of CGI and animatronics. Making walking plants appear scary is tough (it's what still causes sniggers about Wyndham's book), but this miniseries did a competent job -- the Triffids walking upright on a seething mass of roots, their purple "hoodies" spitting dangerous tendrils toward their prey's eyes. I was never truly scared by them, but they were a fun enemy that didn't come across as totally laughable for once.

Overall, Day Of The Triffids may upset fans who would have preferred a straightforward adaptation of the book without so many changes, but I think enough of Wyndham's narrative and spirit was retained to make these alterations welcome. I'd have been bored if the exact same story was being told again, so I rather enjoyed seeing new ideas weaved into the narrative. The direction from Nick Copus (The 4400) was also first-rate; creating a smoky-green atmosphere of dread and tension that helped keep the miniseries feeling cold and bleak at all times. I also enjoyed its many World War overtones: Coker's US airman's bomber jacket, scenes of nightly devastation across London resembling the Blitz, the climactic siege of Triffids resembling Germans advancing across No Man's Land to a barbed-wire trench, and megalomaniac Torrence's fascination with Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

28 & 29 December 2009
BBC1/BBC HD, 9pm

written by: Patrick Harbinson directed by: Nick Copus starring: Dougray Scott (Bill Masen), Joely Richardson (Jo Playton), Eddie Izzard (Torrence), Brian Cox (Bill's Dad), Vanessa Redgrave (Durrant), Jason Priestley (Coker), Ewen Bremner (Walter Strange), Shane Taylor (Osman), Andreas Hoppe (Professor Vorless), Nora-Jane Noone (Lucy), Genevieve O'Reilly (Michelle Beadley), Tim Frances (Colonel), Steven Elder (Doctor Koch), Adam Sinclair (Ashdown), Jenn Murray (Susan), Julia Joyce (Imogen), Rosalind Halstead (Cordelia), Lizzie Hopley (Hilda), William Ilkley (Jeff), John Wilson Goddard (Charlie), Paul Chahidi (Vronsky), Troy Glasgow (Troy), Philip Anthony (Father Thomas) & Sam Williams (Young Bill)