Kick-Ass - Even better the second time!
Death at a Funeral - The original one. It’s funny, because it sets a foundation of reality and slowly gets crazier and crazier.
Kick-Ass - Well paced, full of action, comedy and charm. A lot of fun. More»

As a preview to our official Top 25 of the Decade lists we have enlisted some help from some fellow film-buff friends. Their lists are below, and LCD and TC will both be giving our opinions about them below in the comments.

A bit about the reviewers:

The Lab Rat - If TC and LCD had a baby the film tastes of that unholy offspring would probably match The Lab Rat. He is a constant presence at the ReelFriction movie nights and his opinion will color whatever films they decide to watch, for better or worse.

Bootleg Willy- It’s no secret that Bootleg Willy’s film tastes align closer to TC than LCD. He did after all initiate TC into the pleasures of cinema back in his formative high school years. Still, their tastes are different and sometimes TC and LCD agree more often than TC and Willy.

And here are their lists!

The Lab Rat

25. Once
24. Juno
23. The Fountain
22. Synechdoche, NY
21. No Country for Old Men
20. History of Violence
19. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
18. The Hurt Locker
17. A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
16. District 9
15. The Life Aquatic
14. Southland Tales
13. Up
12. Lost in Translation
11. Royal Tenenbaums
10. Memento
9. Adaptation
8. Shaun of the Dead
7. Wall-E
6. Donnie Darko
5. Requiem for a Dream
4. There Will Be Blood
3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2. City of God
1. Lord of the Rings

Bootleg Willy

25. Nobody Knows
24. Tarnation
23. Minority Report
22. Blessing Bell
21. Shaun of the Dead
20. Capturing the Friedmans
19. Oldboy
18. The Heart of the World
17. The Pianist
16. Me and You and Everyone We Know
15. In the Mood For Love
14. There Will Be Blood
13. Moon
12. Mulholland Drive
11. Dancer in the Dark
10. Finding Nemo/Triplets of Belleville
9. Audition/Visitor Q
8. Piano Teacher
7. Waking Life
6. Brick
5. Morvern Callar
4. Battle Royale
3. Lord of the Rings
2. Once
1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

It is very hard to come up with a list of the best films of the decade, so thank you both for your contributions! Coming soon will be TC and LCD’s official lists for best 25 of the decade.

In case you were wondering what we have been doing all week, here is a list of the films we have watched since last time.

The Cinesthete:

1. Last Starfighter - A fun film for the 80’s generation. It’s every kids dream come true. I wish I saw it 20 years ago.
   
2. Twilight - A hilarious atrocity. I’m glad LCD made me watch this.
   
3. Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project - I was looking forward to some stand-up, but I more importantly got a glimpse into film history. Eye-opening.
   
4. Eight Days a Week - Funny late-night teen comedy. Better than most.
   
5. Soylent Green - A great idea,  but a bit cheap and not executed as well as it could have been. Also, if you know the ending it loses alot.
   
6. District 9 - A good film, but try to take all the hype with a grain of salt. It’s not that good.
   
7. Iron Giant - Well-animated, great characters, touching story. You can see how Brad Bird moved on to Pixar after this.
   

The Lowest Common Denominator:

1. Die Hard with a Vengeance - Bruce Willis kicks ass while Samuel L. Jackson does his patented angry not quite yelling thing.  It’s a totally awesome match made in heaven.
   
2. The Last Starfighter - Classic 80s sci-fi adventure about a boy escaping the trailer park to take on intergalactic tyrants.  The Last Starfighter kicks ass despite the prehistoric special effects.  Michael Bay should take note of what you can accomplish by utilizing outdated film concepts like decent storytelling and likable characters.
   
3. Twilight - The best unintentional comedy of the past decade? I think so.  This movie is bad, so bad it’s kind of unbelievable.  This is the kind of movie you’d expect to see on at 3am as part of some hokey late night horror program.  It’s like a lifetime movie that reinforces all the stupid things chicks do for boys.  Remember ladies, if you want that bad boy to love you, all you have to do is give up everything you are and conform to everything he wants you to be!  Also, don’t pay any attention to his severe character flaws like acting nauseated by the near sight of you, wanting to suck your blood until you are a hollow husk and sneaking into your room at night to watch you sleep.
   
4. In Bruges - off-beat comedy about two hitmen on the lamb in Bruges, Belgium.  Funny and well-made, I’m not sure how it managed to fly so far under the radar with a cast of Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes.
   
5. District 9 - Harkens back to the days of yore when filmmakers actually cared about producing something worthwhile instead of just throwing together a loosely connected plot and having a bunch of shit blow up.  Everything a summer blockbuster used to be.
6. Rocky IV - how can something be so bad and so good all at the same time?  I don’t know either, but Rocky IV manages to be both a captivating masterpiece and a hollow piece of crap in the same breath.  One great, big glorious breath of awesomeness!
   

In case you were wondering what we have been doing all week, here is a list of the films we have watched since last time.

The Cinesthete:

1. Orphan - Predictable, cheap-scare horror. The only saving graces are Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard
2. Brick - Film noir set in a highschool. Unique and engaging.
   
3. Adventures of Baron Munchausen - Michael Bay should watch this film and bow. It’s amazing that this film was made without computers, and that it is still so fantastical and fantastic.
   
4. Eddie Murphy: Raw - He does some great stand-up, even if it is a bit blue.
   

The Lowest Common Denominator:

1. A Haunting in Connecticut - this actually should have been in last week’s log, but I had forgotten about it.  That should tell you all you need to know.  The acting was surprisingly good for a horror flick, but the scares were all cheap and the story is absolutely nothing like what truly happened.
   
2. The Bourne Supremacy - The Bourne Identity is about as faithful an adaptation as if someone had only read the plot synopsis online and was hired to write the movie based only on that information. The Bourne Supremacy takes this faithlessness to an entirely new low.  Paul Greengrass has a name like a failed porn director and he makes feature films like it too.  What’s the point of having awesomely choreographed fight and/or action scenes if you can’t tell what the fuck is going on because the camera is shaking like the DP is having an intense seizure?  Still, Supremacy manages to be a fun action movie despite Greengrass’s ineptitude, even if it is one of the worst book adaptations I’ve ever heard of.
   
3. The Bourne Ultimatum - Basically the same as above.  Fun action movie, nothing else to report on.  Would have been much better if Greengrass had invested in a steadycam but, whatever.
   
4. National Lampoons Vacation - I felt the need to watch a John Hughes masterpiece after hearing of his shocking death.  Vacation was everything filmgoers of the 80s would eventually come to expect from a film written by John Hughes.  It’s hilarious, geniune, surprisingly poignant without being too sappy and manages to have a message without being overbearing.
   
5. The Goonies - another 80s classic.  This is the movie that should have given pirates their position of glory rather than those terrible Johnny Depp movies nearly 20 years later.  Listen, if I really have to tell you how great this movie is you should probably just crawl back under the rock you’ve been living under for the past 25 or so years.
   

In case you were wondering what we have been doing all week, here is a list of the films we have watched since last time.

The Cinesthete:

1. Dumb and Dumber - LCD forced me to watch this masterpiece, so I will be doing a CinemaSodomy review shortly.
2. Poseidon Adventure - Campy fun with Gene Hackman and Ernest Borgnine. I love it.
3. Funny People - Judd Apatow’s best film? I think so. It’s more drama than comedy this time, but very funny.
   

The Lowest Common Denominator:

1. Dumb and Dumber - genius in its idiocy, cinematic brilliance from the Farrelly brothers.
   
2. 300 - A masterpiece of a film, it bleeds masculinity and awesomeness.  That must be why TC doesn’t like it very much.
   
3. Gladiator - Part 2 of my ancient Greece/Rome double header.  An epic film in which  Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe pwn3d cinema and Joaquin Phoenix, respectively.
   
4. The Shawshank Redemption - I watch Shawshank and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in spurts where it seems like I can’t stop watching them for weeks.  I do this fairly often.  Get used to it.
5. Step Brothers - Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly team up with Adam McKay to deliver another comedy.  The formula and results are consistent: low-brow entertainment in spades with a complete and utter disregard for artsy fartsy themes and cool camera work.  Just the way I like it!