Tyler Durden's Best Of The Year
 

After reading Brodinski's brilliant best of the year thread, I was somewhat inspired to make my own. I do not wish to make a lame copy of Brodinski's awesome thread, but make my own.

2009. The Hangover
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The Hangover is one of my favourite comedies ever & will always be my #1 pick for 2009. In a close second, is Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, which brought back Tarantino after the stylish misfire Death Proof. Other runner-ups are James Cameron's masterpiece Avatar, Pixar's Up, John Lee Hancock's feel-good The Blind Side & Jason Reitman's Up In The Air, which ranks among the best of George Clooney's career.

Todd Phillips The Hangover begins near the end of the film, then flashes back to two days earlier, where Doug (Justin Bartha) is supposed to get married in two days. He sets out to Vegas for a bachelor party with his friends, cool Phil (Bradley Cooper), henpecked Stu (Ed Helms) and his weird soon-to-be-brother-in-law Alan (Zach Galifianakis). Before they set out on a night on the town, they share a toast on top of their hotel. The movie flashes forward to the next day. Their hotel room is trashed, there is an unknown baby in their room, a tiger is in their bathroom, Stu is missing a tooth and most importantly the groom is missing. The three guys set out to find their friend, gaining clues around every corner.

The Hangover is no Lawrence Of Arabia, but is a highly enjoyable comedy, laced with hilarious dialogue and raucous scenes. In particular, the scene with Ken Jeong as a gay Asian gangster stands out, most notably for Jeong's flamboyant performance. As far as performances go in this film, they're pretty damn good. Bradley Cooper effectively pulls off the role of the group leader. Ed Helms fits the role of the insecure, nerdy Stu like a glove. But the film's revelation is Zach Galifianakis. Whether he does a Rain Man routine or threatens to hit an old man in public, Galifianakis is dynamite is the creepy, yet loveable Alan. Him and his Wolf Pack are what makes this movie great. It wouldn't be the same without the genius casting.

The Hangover is a fun film to watch over and over again. It is in Top 50 Favorite Movies and is definitely in my Top 5 Favourite Comedies. For all those who have not seen it, it is highly recommended.

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Re: Tyler Durden's Best Of The Year
 

Good to see these best of the year lists popping up..
All the best Tyler..

& Hangover as best of the year?.. Not even best of the month for me...
A very average comedy IMO..

Also, I don't think Deathproof was a misfire, I think it was a very clever film.. it was meant to imitate a certain era/genre/style of films.. & those films were hardly any award winning but mostly cult classics..
I don't think Tarantino aimed at making a movie that would be his best ever.. He just wanted to pay tribute to the grindhouse films, also keeping in mind not to make the movie too personal like his other films..

Inglorious Basterds started of as a remake, but he later realized it was far more personal to be called a remake..
Deathproof was not like his other films.. Hence I wouldn't call it a misfire, it was never made to compete with Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs..

In fact, I think Deathproof made a lot of people realize the roots of Tarantino's inspirations & style..

Re: Tyler Durden's Best Of The Year
 

death proof i enjoyed aswell.

2008: The Dark Knight
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2008 is the year of the Dark Knight, the #1 film of 2008. It didn't have any close competition, except: Jon Favreau's brilliant, action packed adapatation Iron Man, which has Robert Downey Jr. at his most charismatic. Also considered, The Coen Brother's Burn After Reading, which features a dynamite performance from Brad Pitt.

The Joker (Heath Ledger) is unleashing chaos on Gotham City and its up to Batman (Christian Bale) to stop him. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) and District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), Batman wages a war on crime in Gotham City. But archvillian Joker has a much more psychotic agenda, soon making Batman hated by all of Gotham City.

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The Dark Knight is easily the darkest & best of the Batman series, and one of the best films to come out in the last 10 years. Christopher Nolan's solid direction is dazzling and the performances are magnificent. Christian Bale gives another fine performance as Bruce wayne/Batman, Michael Caine is on good form as Alfred & Maggie Gyllanhael is better than Katie Holmes in the role of Rachel Dawes. The rest of the cast gives an amazing effort, but there is only one true show stealer in this film. Heath Ledger channels the cackling sociopath of the Joker character perfectly. His rich performance is one of the main reasons to watch this movie.

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The visuals are brilliant, the script is believable for a comic book film and the action and drama never lets up. The Dark Knight is possibly the greatest superhero film ever, annihalating Sam Raimi's Spiderman 2 as one of the ultimate superhero films. The Dark Knight is easily in my top 20 favourite films and is most definitely a monumental superhero film.

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Re: Tyler Durden's Best Of The Year
 

good start tyler.

2007: 300

Many good films were released in 2007. The Coen Brother's phenomenal No Country For Old Men was released and was going to be the #1 choice for 2007. But I re-watched 300 and remembered the fun of the first time I ever watched it. It blew me away. 300 is the #1 film of 2007. Other runner-ups are possibly Michael Bay's only good film Transformers, foreign horror The Orphanage, the Tommy Lee Jones starring In The Valley Of Elah & the hilarious Superbad. Other films I liked, but would never be the #1 film of 2007 are Juno & Saw IV.

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Set in ancient Sparta, King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) wages a war against Persian King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro). Leonidas takes an army of 300 Spartan soldiers to battle against Xerxes and his army of more than one million men.

The historic battle is shown in dazzling visual style and the CGI never fails to take your breath away. The script is full of rousing speeches and roars, but is still well written. Zack Snyder's firm direction takes a hold of things and pushes it in the best possible direction. In a film where CGI dominates, the performances are pretty decent, with Gerard Butler perfectly channeling rage, anger and emotion in a performance that ranks as the best of his career. The rest of the cast performs ably with the material they have. But all this stands at second place with a crucial element: the fun factor. The film's action never lets up and so much fun to watch. Whether it's a slow motion battle sequence with rock guitar riffs or 300 men shielding themselves from an assembly of sun blotting arrows, these are so fun to watch, that everything just clicks.

Visuals dominate, with performances emerging as a minor phenomenon. 300 is a fun, exciting, overly graphic film with which improves with repeated viewings. It gets better every time. It's impact with me was almost as great as with Terminator 2, The Matrix & Fight Club.

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Re: Tyler Durden's Best Of The Year
 

I could be wrong, but I'm guessing that 300 will be the worst film on this list by a mile. I'd also point out that the only "minor phenomenon" connected with the acting was how any of them managed to get paid for it.

Re: Tyler Durden's Best Of The Year
 

300 was a very enjoyable film, but I really don't get why people treat it like it's one of the best made.. Snyder is one of the least talented guys today, he is like a stylized Michael Bay who sticks to adaptations...

I think Sin City is a better adaptation.. I would like to see people's reaction towards it 2 decades from now.

2006: Little Miss Sunshine
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Out of the noughties, 2000 & 2006 were my favourite years. They produced some quality films. In 2006, I remember sitting down and watching The Departed, one of Scorcese's greatest acheivements, along with GoodFellas & Cape Fear (not his very best, just a personal favourite). Then I saw Paul Greengrass' controversial United 93, a thought provoking historical document about the bravery of the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93. Then there was this indie comedy about a dysfunctional family travelling across America in VW van to reach their daughter's beauty competition. Little Miss Sunshine makes me smile every time I watch it and it's one of the only films I could watch over and over again. Other runner ups for this year are Pixar's Cars & Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Babel. Other films I liked, but were never considered to be #1 are Saw III, Blood Diamond, Casino Royale & Letters To Iwo Jima.

The Hoovers are a dysfunctional family living in New Mexico. Dad Richard has started his own line of self help tapes and they aren't very good. Mother Sherylc is a pro-honesty overworked mother. Her homosexual brother Frank is a Proust scholar who has tried to commit suicide after being jilted by his student lover. Dwayne is Sheryl's son; he has taken a vow of silence until he is accepted into pilot school. Olive wants to be supermodel and spends days practising her routines. And last, but definitely not least, there's Grandpa. Grandpa is a heroin snorting, foul mouthed World War II veteran who's been kicked out of his retirement home. One evening, while the Hoovers are having dinner, Richard informs Sheryl & Olive of a phone message regarding "Little Miss Sunshine", a beauty contest Olive tried out for. They find out that Olive has been accepted for the pageant. The family sets out to Redondo Beach, California, where the contest is held. Along the way, the family runs into many eccentric situations, until they finally get to where they're going: Little Miss Sunshine.

Little Miss Sunshine is a hilarious film and a lot of the credit can be given to the script and the cast. The script is very well written and completely deserved the Oscar that it won. The cast is perfect. Greg Kinnear gives another good performance that could stand amongst his top 5. Toni Collette also performs well in a role that only she could play. Paul Dano doesn't say much, so it's hard to make a judgement on his performance. Steve Carell is brilliant as Frank, giving an admirable restrained performance. Abigail Breslin and Alan Arkin are the film's standouts as Olive & Grandpa respectively. Abigail Breslin gives a performance full of adolescent emotion and Alan Arkin is at his Oscar winning best.

I loved Little Miss Sunshine and I find it to be one of the best comedies of the noughties. Please excuse the short review as I have to be somewhere soon.

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Re: Tyler Durden's Best Of The Year
 

I don't think I like this thread

Re: Tyler Durden's Best Of The Year
 

I'm sure Prestige will be pleased to see this appear on this list.

come at me bro

I like the film a lot, but if I redid my Top 100 I wouldn't have it on the list anymore. Half a star goes to Paul Dano.

Don't be a d!ck. He put in the effort, don't put him down.

Re: Tyler Durden's Best Of The Year
 

I remember liking Little Miss Sunshine, just can't remember how I felt about it overall..

But it has some of the finest characters I have seen, very few movies about dysfunctional families seem to please me these days..
Little Miss Sunshine has impressive characters, even the plot was not tiring.

I'd rate it 3/5.

2005: Batman Begins
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In 2005, only two films were produced that stuck with me. One was Robert Rodriguez' brilliant Sin City, a remarkable adaptation of the comic books. The other was Batman Begins, a darker, more emotional entry in the Batman series. Out of the two, Batman Begins came out on top, but only just. There weren't many other films made in 2005 that I really cared for, except the sadistic, violent Saw II, which I find to be a guilty pleasure. I have not yet seen Paul Haggis' Crash, not that I want to anyway.

Batman Begins tells of the origins of Bruce Wayne/Batman (Christian Bale). Years after witnessing his parent's murder in Gotham City, Wayne is inspired to travel around the world, learning new ways of the underworld and begins training in the League Of Shadows, taught by his mentor Ducard (Liam Neeson) and lead by Ra's al Ghul (Ken Wantanabe). After he has completed his training, Ra's al Ghul informs him that Gotham City is corrupt beyond saving and that they must destroy Gotham City. Bruce refuese and battles Ra's. After Ra's is killed, Bruce saves Ducard and heads back to Gotham City, where he wages a war on crime as Batman.

Batman Begins is much better than the previous Batman films (bar Batman Returns) and has a much darker tone. Christopher Nolan's direction is solid, keeping this a formidable cinematic tale. The script has an overall theme of fear and darkness and is well written. The ensemble cast performs well. Christian Bale is the very best Batman to date, Michael Caine is on good form, Liam Neeson is fantastic as Ducard & Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy, Katie Holmes, Morgan Freeman, Ken Wantanabe do the best they can.

Batman Begins is a gripping film which is recommended for action, drama and of course, Batman fans.

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2004: Shaun Of The Dead
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Shaun Of The Dead is my obvious choice for 2004, being that it's in my top 10 and possibly the greatest horror comedy since Evil Dead 2. Being that as it may, there were other possible other choices for 2004, including Zack Snyder's Dawn Of The Dead remake, James Wan's awesome debut Saw, Harry Potter & The Prisoner Of Azkiban, the best in the series of films so far & Martin Scorcese's The Aviator, with Leonardo DiCaprio in top form. I also liked Napoleon Dynamite, but would never be my choice for the best of the year.

Shaun's (Simon Pegg) life is going nowhere. He has issues with his loving mother, neglects his girlfriend Liz and spends every night in the Winchester with his best mate Ed (Nick Frost). After Liz dumps him, Simon vows to get his life back on track... in the middle of a zombie epidemic. Shaun makes a plan to go with Ed, save his mum and his stepdad (Bill Nighy) who he doesn't like, go and save Liz and her friends David & Di, who he also doesn't like and go to the safest place he knows... The Winchester.

Edgar Wright's debut is a moderately paced, hilarious film about getting your life on track and killing zombies. The film is overly graphic, but has a fun tone, so it's not so hard to take. The script is full of outstanding comedic dialogue, most notably in the scene where they throw records at zombies in the backyard. Simon Pegg & Nick Frost are the funniest double act in ages. The rest of the cast performs well.

Shaun Of The Dead is a funny, outstanding film full of film references and in-jokes, but the funniest thing about it is incorporating intense sequences with mundane routines such as toilet breaks before fighting a horde of zombies or planning how to escpae while having a cup of tea.

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Re: Tyler Durden's Best Of The Year
 

Not a big fan of 300 :nope: also didn't :laugh: at all in Hangover

Re: Tyler Durden's Best Of The Year
 

so far ill rate your movies like this.

The Hangover
great comedy i loved it.

The Dark Knight
topped the year in my list aswell.

300

great film not the best of that year and also what pig said it will be good to see if my opinion changes it 20 years.

batman begins
great movie probs would of made the top 5 of my list of that year.

shaun of the dead
can't believe this was your favourite movie of that year.

not seen your other movie little miss sunshine. good work tho tyler :)

2003: Kill Bill: Vol. 1
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Quentin Tarantino's action extravaganza is the best of the year, but there were plenty of other good films that came out in 2003. To start with, the outstanding Mystic River was released and proved to be the best of Sean Penn's career. Pirates Of The Carribean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl was also released and was a fun, exciting cinematic experience that contained a very memorable performance from Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow. Last, but not least, Peter Jackson's Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King, which is not as good as the first entry in the successful trilogy, but is still a beautiful film.

The story of Kill Bill is of a woman only known as The Bride (Uma Thurman) assassinating all of those involved in attempting to assassinate her on her wedding day. Her targets are O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu), "Queen Of The Tokyo Underworld" who used to work with the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad & Vernita Green (Vicica A. Fox), an ex-assassin of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, now suburbanised with a family. The Bride survives through many violent situations so she can finally get her revenge.

Quentin Tarantino has always been a good writer of dialogue, but in Kill Bill, he mainly has scenes of prolonged action instead of prolonged dialogue. Quentin Tarantino does not disappoint with dialogue, though. Like his other screenplays, this has excellent writing, full of film references. Tarantino's direction is brilliant like always and the performances in this film are nothing short of brilliant. Uma Thurman is a strong, Oscar worthy presence as The Bride, Lucy Liu is perfect as the villian in this story and David Carradine is good in a bit performance as Bill.

Kill Bill Vol. 1 is a very enjoyable, violent as all hell film which is recommended to all action fans.

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