Retroactive Thinking: Top 10 Movies From 10 Years Ago

Every year I like to reflect not so much on what’s happened in modern times but what pieces of pop culture have stuck with me a decade later. This is part 2 of a 2 part series.

10. Cabin Fever – In 2003 Horror was kinda dead again. It had a nice recharge in the mid-90’s with Scream but immediately that started to overstay it’s welcome with lots of direct-to-DVD crap (a vicious cycle for the horror genre since roughly 1981). By the time Cabin Fever came out I had already lost faith in the genre and didn’t see it. However people’s praise of this movie made me curious (well the few people I know who did praise it) and I netflixed it. I found it to be hilarious and a ton of fun. I thought that Eli Roth was the future of horror, I was wrong. But Cabin Fever was still great.

9. Monster – Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci never looked less attractive then they did in the massively praised biopic about a group of lesbian serial killers. It’s gritty, well shot and features Kane Hodder as a cop. What more reason could you have to love this film.

8. Lost in Translation – Sofia Coppola’s second film tends to get called out as a major example of “Pretentious Indie Films” (along with Garden State and a few other films) but it’s genuinely a lovely film that helped Bill Murray further establish himself as a dramatic actor and helped push Scarlett Johansson even further into the limelight.

7. Elf – Elf is one of those rare holiday films that you can watch and enjoy all year round. This has absolutely everything to do with Will Ferrel’s dedication to the role and David Berenbaum’s funny and quirky script. This also was the first time I remember people taking notice to Zoey Deschanel. She may have slightly overstayed her welcome with that “cute, quirky, semi-nerdy girl” thing she does but when she sings  Santa Claus is Coming to Town in this movie it’s hard to not fall in love a little bit.

6. Mystic River – One of 2003’s best films nominations is genuinely a solid film filled with great performances and an amazing direction from Clint Eastwood. The film captivated audiences and made a nice chunk of cash at the box office. Chances are you’ve seen and heard about this film, there’s no reason to really go on about it. Mystic River is one of those rare popular award winners that lives up to it’s praise.

5. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl – It’s easy to forget how good this movie was many years ago because we’ve been swamped with a quite a few lackluster sequels but when this first came out I saw it in theaters 3 times that summer. This was what Blockbuster movies were about, they were good scripts, action packed and filled with great comedic moments. It was also the film that made Johnny Depp an undeniable star in a mainstream sense (for better or worse).

4. 28 Days Later – This film combined with the Dawn of the Dead remake are basically responsible for a decade long Zombie obsession in America. Never before has a Horror monster been so mainstream. You can talk vampires and people will chuckle and make twilight jokes, you can talk for hours about Slasher films and people will make fun of you for liking crappy movies but if you mention Zombies someone (and not a horror fan) will begin talking to you about how it could happen. This is their go to example of how it’s possible. Thanks Danny Boyle.

3. A Mighty Wind – Everyone is different. When it comes to Christopher Guest movies everyone has a different favorite (well if they’ve seen any… and more so they have 5 different favorites, but whatever). I’m always torn between this and Best in Show as his masterpiece (we don’t count Spinal Tap since that’s technically a Rob Reiner film). The fact is when Christopher Guest is working with music (another of his passions) there’s no way he can fail to entertain.

2. Big Fish – Quite possibly the last great Tim Burton film. I once discussed with a friend the difference between Great Tim Burton and Average Tim Burton. Great Tim Burton movies stem from when he cares about the source material for one reason or another. BeetleJuice and Pee Wee’s Big Adventure he was out to prove himself, Edward Scissorhands was based on a script of his own writing, Ed Wood reminded Tim of his friendship with Vincent Price and Big Fish was made right after Burton’s father died. All 5 of those movies are constantly battling as my favorite Tim Burton film. Big Fish however is undeniably one of his best made films (2nd only to Ed Wood). It’s visually, inventive and touching all at once.

1. American Splendor – I can’t speak for everyone but this was the film that introduced me to Harvey Pekar. This hilarious look at the comic book artists life is both a comedy, a drama and a documentary all wrapped in one. It walks us through Harvey’s first interest in comics, his friendship with R Crumb and his battle with cancer. However the most important thing about American Splendor is how it depicts a simple man who finds an outlet for the stress in his life while remaining a simple man. Possibly Paul Giamatti’s finest film!

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