Talk nerdy to me

Some people might argue that the past decade hasn’t been that great for film.  There’s been tons of bad romantic comedies, countless horrid spoof movies, and billions of dollars wasted on hollow summer blockbusters.  But it also brought us some truly classic films and saw the emergence of a handful of directors who define and will continue to define the movies we watch.

I actually started this list off with the intention of only doing a top 10.  But as I started to get a list of the movies I loved I realized just how long it was how much I didn’t want to not talk about so many of them.  So instead I’m going to make it a top 20 list in two parts.   And Just so we’re clear, I’m defining the last decade as movies release from 2000-2009 according to IMDB.

20.  Hot Fuzz (Edgar Wright) – 2007

A lot of people would probably pick Shaun of the Dead over Hot Fuzz, but I seem to be in the very small minority who actually enjoy this more.  Much like Shaun, Hot Fuzz does a great job of both embracing and spoofing the genre it’s a part of.  This time instead of zombies we’re treated to a spoof of the police action films of the 80′s and 90′s.  The reason I like Hot Fuzz better is because of the ending.  The shootout is Wrights best work to date at showing just how masterful he is at walking that line between spoof and homage.  By action movie standards it’s fantastic.  All sorts of guns, shit blowing up, and a town just being destroyed in a hail of bullets.  But it’s the people involved in the shootout that make it genius.  Who needs well chiseled thugs when you have an old lady packing serious heat.  The whole thing is a genius blend of comedy and action.

19. (500) Days of Summer(Marc Webb) – 2009

While England seemed to do a good job of making romantic comedies over the past decade, America decided to take it the completely opposite direction releasing crap and a near constant pace.  500 Days, thankfully, broke away from the trend and gave us a movie that was charming, genuinely funny, original, and above all else honest.  Whereas most romantic comedies need some sort of gimmick to work 500 Days simply just presented you the entire span of a relationship.  Both Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel are perfectly cast as two people in a relationship that see that relationship in completely different ways..  Webb does a great job of balancing both sides and letting you choose what the relationship was instead of telling you.  When I first saw this movie I hated Summer for what she did, but upon thinking it over and talking about it I came to realize she was always honest and upfront about their relationship and while there’s reason to be upset with the outcome, it’s not fair to be mad at her.

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