So here we go...
10. Friday Night Lights: I'm pretty sure that anyone here who used to play sports in high school, football especially, can understand how powerful this film is. It deals with so many issues associated with the game of football and how sometimes, a person's life can be defined by those four years spent playing it in high school. It also spawned off one of the best television shows in the past twenty years.
9. Danny The Dog: Which was changed to "Unleashed" here in the states but I like this original title better. A great job by the entire cast, Jet Li especially who really shows some acting muscle in his very subdued performance of Danny. Though the script wasn't something to be nominated for the Oscars, I was really pleased by the way Li held himself around such a great actor like Morgan Freeman.
8. Snatch: Easily one of the greatest movies made, if not for the story than for the sheer talent that had been assembled. Guy Ritchie both started and ended his career with this movie for there is nothing he can do that will ever top Snatch, especially since Ze Germans might try and get him.
7. The Man on the Train: A french film and one of the best foreign films that I've been lucky enough to see. The story is a very interesting one, of two completely different men forming a bond that's a lot closer than the director would like the audience to think. Both men are from two very different walks of life but they form a bond in thier desire to live the life that the other already has, a great way to spend one's time is by watching this film.
6. Road to Perdition: I never used to be the biggest Tom Hanks fan in the world but this man truely will go down as one of the most talented actors to ever grace the screen. An absolutely brilliant story acted out by a very talented cast and helmed by a skilled director made this easily one of the better movies of 02. The changes that occur in the characters is really what made me love the film, plus it has one of the most beautiful scenes ever shot...
Spoiler: When Tom Hanks guns down Paul Newman and his crew in the rain, simply amazing.
5. Jerry Maguire: Never has there been a time where I can remember casting like this. What I mean by that, is that it's amazing how every actor in this film perfectly fits thier role. Tom Cruise IS Jerry Maguire and Cuba IS Rod Tidwell, it's just such a shame that Cuba was never offered anything too good afterwards. It's number five on this list due to the story and how it pulls at my little heart strings and because of the amazing job by Cuba Gooding Jr.
4. Gladiator: Ridley Scott just seems to always come up with an amazing movie when the time feels like it. One hell of a story combined with some great acting and action; it could have very easily become just another summer entertainment movie but you really feel for Maximus and want him to do whatever he can so he can get justice.
The last three were tough, at least on deciding what was number one.
3. United 93: I'm from New Jersey and when September 11th happened it was one of the craziest and horrifying days of my young life. Never before had there been such a panic between myself, my family and all of my friends, never did we ever think that something that awful could happen so close to home. Greengrass was a genius in casting lesser known actors to make sure the audience didn't focus on the general performance by the attitude and panic shown by all in the film. This was honestly one of the hardest things I've ever watched before, it was brilliant but one of the sadest things on film too. 9.11 was one awful day and it will continue to be for the rest of my life.
2. Children of Men: This was really close to being number one, as I'm a huge Clive Owen fan and this is easily his best performance yet. What a tragic story and from the way that it's been shot, you could easily be in tears right at the opening credits after the coffee shop scene. A great cast and a shame that Julianne Moore wasn't used that much but the story was even better than the book, which actually isn't that great at all. Also has what might be the second greatest scene ever shot in the long cut of...
Spoiler: Theo running in the camp with Kee and the baby, amazing, especially when the blood is on the camera.
1. Heat: In the end, my all time fave movie stays at the top. Michael Mann is easily the greatest behind the scenes man in film for the longest time, brilliant direction in all of his movies and Heat is definetly the winner in the argument about how good he is. The story that he wrote makes you feel for both Lt. Vincent Hanna (Pacino), a big time detective who spends more time amongst the dead than he does with his wife and step daughter and for Neil McCauley (De Niro), by far one of the best characters ever written, a thief who's on his way out of the game by making one last hit. A fantastic supporting cast with Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, along with many others. Amazing script, acting, photography, pacing and it has the best scene ever shot...
Spoiler: The ending between Hanna and McCauley, where they hold hands after Neil's been shot and the movie ends to the song by Moby, "God Moving Over The Face Of The Water", sheer beauty.
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