Peter Jackson, New Zealand, 1992, 97 min.

There aren’t that many good gory comedies. Serious film-makers have always steered away from the genre, and the popularity of these types of films have allowed people without talent to saturate the market-place and still make money with their bad films.

The similarity of everything that is out there means that a film has to be technically and artistically proficient to stand out. Having a gimmick just doesn’t cut it. And it’s rare that a someone can pull it off.

Now Peter Jackson is a talented film-maker. He always has been, and Braindead, his be-all and end-all pinnacle of the horror/gore/comedy genre is no exception.

The story is standard. An animal byte turns people into violent zombie-like creatures. But the film is full of endless talent and imagination. Characters are killed in wonderfully gory ways.  The script is tight, the pacing is perfect, the music is excellent, and Timothy Balme plays the main character with great physical comedic skill.

It all fits together perfectly, and the sheer amount of gore and energy in the last reel has to be seen to believed. Blood is said to have been pumps onto the set at 5 gallons a second to keep up. Peter Jackson has a good eye for unique acts of violence and comedy and he really  lets loose here.

It’s  a cheap film, but the talent behind it gives it quality beyond its humble genre beginnings.  It’s a must see for horror-fans, and must-see for film fans who can stomach it. Braindead is anything but what the title suggests.

Compiling a list and putting it in order was very difficult. Thanks to both The Lab Rat and Bootleg Willy for paving the way.

The beginning of this decade marks the time that I really started to become obsessed with film, so this list is very personal to me.

There are many more excellent films that I did not include and on a different day they might have made the final cut, but right now these 25 stand above the rest.

25) Wall-E - Andrew Stanton, USA, 2008

Everything Pixar does right is highlighted in this touching story of robot love. It is also a sci-fi masterpiece that shows where our society is heading.

24) Wayward Cloud - Tsai Ming-liang, Thailand, 2005

A man and a woman tentatively connect during a long drought. Melons, porn and big-budget musical numbers. Tsai Ming-Liang knows how to create a mood with his odd style, but he always keeps his characters real no matter how absurd the film gets.

23) Irreversible - Gasper Noe, France, 2002

Brutal content and dizzying style help tell this story of loss and revenge. Showing the scenes in reverse makes the climax touching rather than sadistic. A very powerful film.

22) The Constant Gardener - Fernando Meirelles, UK, 2005

It’s a thriller, a mystery, and a political drama full of social commentary. But at its heart it is a love story. Meirelles shows that his first film was not a fluke. That he can tell a mature, beautiful and assured story in the way it deserves.

21) Birth - Jonathan Glazer, USA, 2004

It’s a moody story that builds and builds and lets loose at just the right time. The performances are very strong, the direction is superb and the story is full of questions that kept me hooked.

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.

I haven’t written much because I have been busy watching films trying to get my Top 10 of the Year and Top 25 of the Decade lists ready. At some point, I just had to stop and lock it in. I can’t see every film, and I can’t obsess about the order forever.

So, with that in mind. Here are my Top Films from 2009. This goes to 11!

11 - An Education - Lone Scherfig, UK

A young highshool girl is swept away by a glamorous older man. This films show how a great script, acting and direction can elevate a simple story into something special.

10 - Not Quite Hollywood - Mark Hartley, Australia

Ever wanted to know about Australian Exploitation film? This documentary will give you the run-down. It’s an incredibly entertaining history of an incredibly interesting style of film-making. A cinephiliac’s dream.

9 - Goodbye Solo - Ramin Bahrani, USA

The story of an unlikely friendship between a immigrant cab-driver and an old suicidal man. Beutifuly told and wonderfully acted. It has an authenticity to it that you rarely see in film.

8 - Away We Go - Sam Mendes, USA

Sam Mendes changes his tone for this smart story of a young couple trying to find the best place to raise their unborn child. It’s very funny and touching. John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph show they can act and be likable at the same time.

7 - Avatar - James Cameron, USA

I struggled to rank this film accurately on my list. It definately is one of the best of the year. With a decent story and a so-so script Cameron was still able to create a incredible celebration of cinema. Give in to it and it will take you away.

6 - Inglorious Basterds - Quentin Tarantino, USA

Tarantino does World War II in this suprisingly assured non-Tarantino film. It’s a segmented story, and the suspense of each segment is ratcheted up to the breaking point before letting loose. All with the use of great scriptwriting. Christoph Waltz is as good as everyone says he is. He handles the strong dialog perfectly.

5 - Desert Within -  Rodrigo Pla, Mexico

An intense story of a man obsessed with building a church in the desert to atone for his sins in turn of the century Mexico. Unfortunately, his family gets the worst of it as his obession with god becomes stronger and stronger. The film is gritty and surreal and very heavy. Mario Zaragoza gives it his all playing the father diving headlong into religious madness.

4 - Up - Pete Doctor, USA

Pixar does it yet again! They flout convention by making this story about an unlikely hero. The montage at the beginning may be the best of the year, telling a complete emotional story dialog free. Their production design is through the roof, but they always make the characters the center of the story and that is why their films are so good.

3 - Revanche - Gotz Speilmann, Austria

A robbery goes wrong and a man sets out to get revenge. Emotions run high and deep in this slow but very intense thriller. The tension is real because the direction is subtle and superb. Just look at the scenes with the wood-cutting machine and you will see a master director at work.

2 - Watchmen - Zack Snyder, USA

I always looked at this story as a character-study about how different types of people react when the world is falling apart. Except the world is an alternate reality and the characters are two generations of superheroes. How this film got made in the studio system is a mystery. It remains loyal to the comic, keeps the style and the message, and remains as dark, complicated, and layered as the original work, and has big-budget production quality. Zack Snyder took a huge step forward in this film, showing he can pull of story as well as style.

1 - White Ribbon - Michael Haneke, Germany

The film is stark black and white. It looks like it came straight out of a photograph from turn of the century Germany. It tells the tale a village experiencing a series of shocking accidents with mysterious causes. Who is to blame? The question is never really answered but fingers are pointed at the children. The children, raised in strict and cruel catholic households. Repressed and tormented and subsquently given no choice but to take it or lash out. As the war arrives, we are left to think about how this generation of children will contribute to the horrors of World War II. Subtle, enigmatic, and brilliantly directed, the film is classic Haneke.

Stay tuned for the best of the decade!

Robert Altman, USA, 2003, 112 min.

As a horrible film-maker and writer I can appreciate the creative process. That is what The Company shows. No frills. Just a year in the life of a ballet company getting ready to put on a big production. Yes, there are characters and stories, but they are all part of the bigger picture. A picture of how a group of artists live and work together in order to make something special.

The Company is Altman’s 35th(?) feature film, so he has considerable experience doing just what he presents on screen. It’s a surprise that this project didn’t originate from Altman himself. It actually originated from it’s star and writer Neve Campbell, who brings her considerable dancing talents to the table. Campbell, who trained as a dancer before becoming an actress, fits perfectly in the role and manages to be engaging and still not overshadow the rest of what is going on in the film.

It is not a story of her character, Ry. Even though we see her manage to replace a headlining dancer, perform a solo dance routine in a storm, fall under the wing of the eccentric producer Malcolm McDowell, and fall in love and start a relationship with James Franco, she is still not the main character. No one is. Those are just some of the many stories that start and end and loop around in the course of a real-life production. We see parts of some, hints of others, some complete stories and some that have no closure.

It’s just like life, where we can be part of something and privy to many of the moving parts but could never possibly see everything. In The Company, the creative process and the feeling created are a representation of the whole, and through it we understand the depth and truth contained within. It’s a remarkable film that is perfect for Altman’s style.

A large portion of this film is given over to the actual performances, done by the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. Here we can see the only part of the production that audience usually gets to see. But this time it is given much more weight because we see the blood, sweat and tears that happened behind the scenes to lead up to these moments. These moments that would never had existed if dozens of creative people didn’t get together and work hard for months. It’s a thought that can be applied to any piece of collaborative art, and hopefully that thought will give you a new found appreciation of what happens in order to make art possible.