As of this year, the 90’s are officially turning into a 30th anniversary with each passing year coming up. Man, where has the time gone? Films in the 90’s were very hit or miss, Hollywood was making massive hits here and there with the likes of “Terminator 2” and “Jurassic Park” but were also getting lazier with the technological innovations coming about.

Independent films were really picking up major momentum with the likes of Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson coming in and revolutionizing the model of filmmaking as we know it. But the films I’m going to discuss today haven’t been highly remembered in the minds of moviegoers for one reason or another. But don’t keep it that way, all of these deserve to be remembered and recognized as some of the greats of their time.

1. Monsieur Hire (1990)

Have you ever met that person who stays to themselves, doesn’t talk, seems a bit odd in the normal perceptions of society, and you can’t help but wonder about them? I’m sure we’ve all met someone like that at some point, hell in many ways you probably are that person in some way. Monsieur Hire (Michel Blanc) is that man for the people who occupy the world of this film.

Monsieur is a lonely figure, his life is determined by order and process in which he burrows himself deeper into his own isolation. He lives alone and plans very specifically when he’s going to watch his neighbor Alice (Sandrine Bonnaire), a beautiful, blonde 22 year old girl who lives across the courtyard of the apartment complex he lives in. She never closes her curtains and he takes advantage: he watches her dress, undress, listen to music, read books, make love, and he watches all of this over and over again.

On one given night a murder occurs, witnesses say that they saw a slight man was running towards the building. Police come knocking at Monsieur’s door, they acknowledge his neighbors collectively said they don’t like him, and he admits that he can come across as odd to others. He’s perceived as the murderer because of his reclusive behavior by his neighbors, despite that there’s no evidence to support it. But the murder is actually second fiddle, what’s really important is the character study of Monsieur.

The two big questions we’re pondering through this whole thing is: what does Alice think of Monsieur? And what does he think about what she thinks of him? When I first heard of this film I had an idea in my mind of what Monsieur as a character would look like, and I have to say Michel Blanc fit the bill seamlessly to what I had imagined. He’s the kind of guy who seems like he’s lived in a basement his entire life, and every odd aspect of his posture to his selection of words align with what we expect an introvert to behave like. “Monsieur Hire” is one of the most fascinating character studies I’ve seen about a lonely figure and how others perceive him, he’s not a murderer but people believe in an instant that he is.

2. The Double Life of Véronique (1991)

Krzysztof Kieślowski was a director who never settled for anything less than exploring the human condition with a beautiful sense of spiritual forces at play. “The Double life of Véronique” deals with an idea I think all who watch it have felt at one point. The feeling of being alone yet feeling as though there’s someone else out there. In this film Irene Jacob serves as the connection between two separate lives: Weronika and Véronique.

In the beginning of the film a mother tells her little girl in Poland about the stars in the winter sky, at that same moment a mother in France is showing her daughter the details of the first leaf in the spring time. These two have never met, and never will, but through un-explainable forces they’re connected emotionally that bypasses geography. In one moment during Weronika’s life she burnt her hand on a stove, a few days later Véronique places her hand on a stove but moves it away just fast enough not to get burned. Now how did she know to do that? Years later when when they’re adults Weronika is a beautiful singer in a choir and Véronique teaches music.

One day as Weronika is walking through a protest site she notices a French tour group to which she sees Véronique, someone who looks exactly like her. A few days later as Weronika is singing her solo in a choir something comes over her and she collapses and dies. Next thing we see Véronique and she’s suddenly fallen into a sadness she can’t explain. She feels as though someone she knows has died, later on in the film she claims that she’s felt like she was in two places at once all her life.

What’s remarkable about Kieślowski’s film is how it never attempts to explain such events or feelings because how can it be explained? These are the kind of feelings that as much as we might try to understand we can’t fully grasp at it because they burrow so deep beneath our senses. There have been many stories of how twins feel a psychic connection from miles away when something happens. Is there a science to this, maybe, but we don’t know for sure. The center of what makes this work is Irene Jacob. Jacob was 24 when this was filmed and she clearly has a natural beauty and complexion most can only dream of. She’s filmed to just be, never to truly act anything. Kieślowski films Jacob just going through whatever emotions she may be feeling, happiness, sadness, anguish, or just thinking of what’s next.

The film itself is such a beautiful piece to look at. Distinct reds and greens offset by golden yellows, none of which take on any kind of symbolic purpose but add a level of beauty to its complex narrative. Many shots of Weronika or Véronique are shot with a mirror like reflection to split the individual in two, there’s them but there’s also a part of them that’s missing. As you can tell this is a hard film to decipher and I can’t explain all of it, nor do I wish to attempt to. Much like anything else in this grand story of life that we experience we simply need to revel in the majestic nature of it.

3. La Belle Noiseuse (1991)

Many people often say that art is a reflection of life. “La Belle Noiseuse” is probably the film, more than any other, that personifies this. Revolving around an aging artist whose abandoned the art form for many years but finds the will once more when he encounters a young couple, one of whom being a young artist himself. Life and art are continuously intertwining together in this moment in time. Many years ago, he stopped painting his wife because it threatened to destroy his marriage. Now many years later he’s now going to finish the painting with the girlfriend as his new model. But through all of this, the confrontation of life that used to be and the art being made now is proving how the artistic process is harder than we could ever imagine for those who pour everything they have into it.

The sections of this film where the old artist is making the framework of the portrait are long, but my word are uniquely captivating. With every detail put into this we feel a level of enchantment, knowing that one piece at a time a life long gone is coming back together. I’m not going to pretend like this is an easy movie to sit through, clocking in at nearly 4 hours requires a lot of patience and understanding. But if you’re mentally durable enough for it, it’s really a one of a kind experience.

4. One False Move (1992)

“One False move” fits in place with many of the great crime thrillers but what separates it from most is how it starts as a thriller and ends as a human story. The events that unfold are a result of the people and who they are, not chases or action scenes.

The film opens up in brutal fashion where Ray (Billy Bob Thornton), Pluto (Michael Beach), and Fantasia (Cynda Williams) brutally murder six people in Los Angeles and head off with money and cocaine, and start moving towards Houston, Texas. LAPD Detectives get in touch with the Star City Police Chief Hurricane Dixon (Bill Paxton), the highest ranked officer in his small town.

Unfortunately not much of anything happens in his home town so he’s clearly out of his league compared to these two officers. The only reason he’s thrust into this is because this small town is where Fantasia’s family lives and the belief is that they could stop by her old house. Dixon is a likable guy even if he is naive, he’s the kind of guy who knows everybody in town and resolves issues peacefully with words. He hasn’t had to pull his gun out in the 6 years he’s been working, upon meeting these detectives he’s amazed and admits he thinks he can make it big in the city one day. Of course they don’t take him seriously. But his knowledge of the town runs deep and is ultimately what’s going to help him with this case more than the detectives ever could.

The main strength of the film is the relationships each character has with one another. These are real people who move across our screen and they struggle and cope with real situations that delve away from the usual murder/drugs story. I haven’t even scratched the surface of telling you what this film encompasses and I dare not ruin it, simply put this film is a revelation.

5. Fearless (1993)

I have to say, if there’s ever been a film that I think comes as close to simulating what I think of when I think of this phenomenon and how it affects one who suffers through it, it has to be Peter Weir’s “Fearless”.

It starts out with a real blast, a plane has crashed and there’s only a select few who survived. One of the survivors is Max (Jeff Bridges), when we first see him he’s carrying a baby and leading a group of people to safety. He appears to be in a daze, doesn’t even seem to be aware that he saved people. He lingers off, takes a taxi to a nearby motel, and looks at himself in the mirror. He’s alive, and he knows he’ll never feel the same again. He goes around trying to feel something, he lies on the ground and looks closely at the dirt he gets on his fingers. He finally returns home but he’s not quite right, he isn’t the loving husband and father he apparently was. His wife and son don’t even seem to recognize him anymore.

His behavior is odd to say the least, but he’s almost always well-mannered even when he’s being horrible. He admits to his wife that he feels a love for another survivor, Carla (Rosie Perez). She lost her baby son in the crash but miraculously survived, he takes her for rides and walks around with her talking about life and death. According to Max they’ve already died and came back from it. Is this the result of a snapped mindset, has he lost his way, was there some kind of mental breakdown he suffered? We don’t know but somehow it’s as if he’s invincible, impervious to fear or danger as he walks into oncoming traffic and stands tall on the ledge of a building.

This is one of Jeff Bridges greatest performances, he walks a fine line between life and death through this whole film. One moment after another he’s tempting fate just trying to get any kind of feeling back again, it all culminates one too many times for him as he gets closer to the crossroads of his destiny. A balance between his end and his beginning. Peter Weir has been a great director for a long time, and there’s many films to his repertoire from “Dead Poets Society” to “The Truman Show” to “Master and Commander”. But this is a film that’s lost in his filmography much of the time, a real shame because it’s what I consider his best.

It’s that time of the year again. It’s time for the best of the year to be showcased and honored by the awards shows, culminating with the biggest and most historically respected ceremony of them all. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. And of course, like always, there’s a lot to be discussed as to whether we should even care anymore.

However you cut it; the Academy does matter to a certain extent. They shine spotlights on movies and create some public interest in the films selected. On top of that, they also create a ripple effect for studios to let them know what kind of movies they’re going to recognize at their award show, subsequently the studios will then make their movies in that nature thus dictating the way movies will be made in the future.

This year feels much like last year where many of the selections made feel like popularity choices to appeal to audiences so ratings don’t keep going down. But with that said, at least they’ve highlighted truly great works like “The Irishman”, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”, “Marriage Story”, and “Parasite”. But still, there’s way too many great films that don’t go recognized and in many ways are better than their selections. So let’s highlight 10 of them shall we?

1. The Farewell

One of my favorite films of 1993 was “The Joy Luck Club”, and right here in 2019 we have another similar film in Lulu Wang’s “The Farewell”. It shares similarities in its cultural identities and family set-up. And likewise, also represents a universality that transcends the cultural specifics showcased, becoming something that anyone from any walk of life can relate to. Family is something that is embodied into most everyone’s lives, and the family in “The Farewell” is a magnificent blend of humor we can only get from our loved ones while simultaneously embracing the impending tragedy they must face.

The story here is one Wang herself was put through. The matriarch of their family, her grandma, is dying and they know it. Rather than telling her and forcing her to live the rest of her days in fear of approaching death, they deceive her with a wedding to which every family member can reunite before time runs out. This act of deception is a blessing in disguise, something to spread joy to undermine the heartbreak they’re inevitably going to have to face.

With the Asian specific films released this year it should come as no surprise that “Parasite” was the big standout that earned the Academy’s recognition. But don’t overlook “The Farewell”, it should be placed right alongside the very best of this year.

2. A Hidden Life

Terrence Malick is a very hit or miss director but when he does nail something right it’s extraordinary. “A Hidden Life” is exactly what you associate with his style, poetic imagery used to create an emotional map in the viewers mind that creates the story for them on an internal level rather than spelling it out. It demands attention more than most films do, a certain level of concentration is necessary for unraveling its majestic nature and secrets.

Based on true story in WWII that weaves through all the moments that encompass the life of Franz Jägerstätter, a conscientious objector, who is subjected to capture and mistreatment from the Nazi forces as he refuses to work for them. It goes through the moments in life many films would never glimpse at in fear of boring their audience. But Malick’s style is one of looking for the details we take for granted to give a grand experience of people who live and every little thing that makes them rich on this planet.

There’s only one way a story for someone like Jägerstätter can end given the world he lived in and what he set out to do. But the film is never about subverting expectations, rather showing us the endurance test and resolve he went through to stay true to who he is and what he believed. This is Malick at his finest and easily his best in many years.

3. The Lighthouse

“The Lighthouse” is a film that works with what I like to call ‘tunnel vision narrative’ where it uses basic surface level material that anyone can follow but is secretly using its simplicity to examine something much greater. We watch as Captain Wake (Willem Dafoe) and Ephraim (Robert Pattinson) are stuck on an island, watching over a lighthouse, and we can tell very clearly these two personalities don’t mesh at all. Ephraim is a sour stick in the mud who is filled with anger and annoyance, wanting to be isolated to himself. Wake is a loud, bombastic man who shouts and farts and loves to ramble on incoherently with his stories.

On a surface level, we understand this film completely. Two men trapped on an island, isolated from the world, not getting along, and driving each other to the point of insanity. It makes for natural humor but quickly escalates into straight up horror where these men want to kill each other. But underneath all of this, something else is going on.

The film is layered with sporadic images of Greek Mythology, which we assume is visions these men are having given their drive towards insanity. But the island in question holds a power that delves into another world and being filmed in the 4:3 aspect ratio and shot in black and white certainly transports us into another realm. The tale being told is something of masculinity and power. Ephraim is emasculated and de-powered compared to his captain, being belittled and ordered around with ease. What he wants is power and control, to not play second fiddle to anyone ever again, and finally be the one in charge.

Films like “The Lighthouse” are films that we don’t get much anymore, and we need more of. Films that are not concerned with what anyone else thinks, not corporate made or dictated by fans. It’s an artist’s vision through and through and it does whatever director Robert Eggers’ wants to do. And to me, that’s what the best films do.

4. Long Day’s Journey Into Night

I’ve talked about this film at great length in other articles already, so I’ll keep short. But needless to say, this is a spiritually and emotionally challenging as we go through a long journey to find something more. The journey in question isn’t simply some expedition a man goes on. This is a journey through dreams, memories, past, present, and future that questions decisions that were made and what that’s doing for the current set of events and how they’ll unfold.

The film gained some noteworthy attention for its use of an hour-long tracking shot for the entire second half of the film, as well as the fact that it was shot in stunning 3D technology. Most of the time a stunt like this would be a gimmick, but in this films case it amplifies the stunning showcase of the journey that’s made through another realm to bring everything in the universe home in this moment in time. The Academy has a long history of overlooking foreign films and sadly this is no exception. But if director, Bi Gan, keeps work like this up considering how young he still is then I’m sure he’ll find himself at the top of the cinematic world very soon.

5. Pain and Glory

If nothing else, it’s great to see Antonio Bandares nominated for Best Actor for what I would say is his best work thus far, and that this is nominated for the International Picture category. But what a shame that another great in the long list of Pedro Almodóvar’s filmography is once again overlooked. Art is one of the very few occupations in the world where one’s physical or emotional pain doesn’t serve as a handicap but can instead propel one’s success.

After all, some of the best artists make their work to reflect the pain they’ve felt. One man who knows this is a director named Salvador Mallo (Bandares), who’s very clearly symbolic of Almodóvar himself. A man who implements the fragments of his life into his work. Likewise, Almodóvar puts a very meta style to the way in which he tells this story with Bandares and Penelope Cruz.

The films opens with a narrative describing Mallo reuniting with an actor he made years ago, except in here Bandares is playing the role of the director and Alberto Crespo (Asier Etxeandia) playing the role of Bandares or whoever it is that is reflecting the real life events between Almodóvar and his routine crew. With films like this there’s a fine line to walk between being truly wondrous and self-indulgent, it takes a master filmmaker to walk that line and tell this particular story. Almodóvar is fortunately one of those artists and if you need confirmation of that fact then watch this and see for yourself.

STAR WARS! Let’s face it people, no matter how much we this franchise goes up and down, or whatever directions it may go in, it would be foolish of anyone to dismiss its impact not only on cinema but on the world as a whole. For many, Star Wars was something we discovered at a point in our lives where we needed it. A perfect example of escapism cinema where conflicts are shown as easy-to-understand battles between good and evil, special effects are awe inspiring to show us things we can only dream of, and yes can tell stories and mythology that resonate to something much deeper.

For me personally, Star Wars was something that captured me in my childhood, and as I grew older served as the bridge for me to learn of a wider world of films from the Japanese works of Kurosawa to the grand epics of “Lawrence of Arabia”. No matter how much we’ve grown as film viewers to experience those masterworks like “2001” or “Citizen Kane”, it’s ridiculous to suggest works like Star Wars as being anything lesser. For most people, this is what the movies are about, therefore this is what’s the most important in many regards. But which are the best and which are the worst, let’s go through them.

11. Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

I really had to debate with myself whether this was the worst Star Wars movie. It’s easy to say it’s the only movie in the franchise to bomb, therefore this is a failure. But, it’s more than that. The concept was dead in the water, did anyone really want a Han Solo origin story? And the way in which they go about it was uneventful and boring. Not to mention had a tendency to over-explain things that really didn’t need answering, do you honestly need an answer to why Han calls Chewbacca “Chewie”?

The film is visually unappealing, with hazy browns and ugly scenery that just drains life out of every shot. But the main thing was that with re-watching all these films recently, even the bad ones I could remember scenes that were going to come up. But with “Solo”, nadda. I couldn’t remember a single thing that happened, and I saw this twice in the theaters. For a Star Wars film to leave absolutely no impression, that makes this the worst one.

10. Attack of the Clones (2002)

“Phantom Menace” was bad, but it’s a film that was really the hint to people that something was off. “Attack of the Clones” was the full realization where it was clear as day now that Lucas was not the same creator he once was. All of the problems of the previous film were there, minus Jar Jar (thank god), but it somehow managed to raise the issues even further. Everyone knows the effects of “Phantom Menace” weren’t impressive, but to the film’s credit it was mainly used as world building and backgrounds.

Here, the CGI is used to create worlds and characters and when the real actors have to interact, wow, it looks horrendous. Almost like a “Roger Rabbit” type of thing. Not to mention the terrible characterization of Anakin, a romance that was “Twilight” before “Twilight” even existed, and a story that feels like nothing happening. Culminating in the worst lightsaber fight in history with Dooku vs Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Yoda. “Attack of the Clones” was, for the longest time, the worst Star Wars film in my mind until “Solo” left no impression. This still had some mark that’s remembered if nothing else, but was the ultimate sign of how far gone this franchise had become.

9. The Phantom Menace (1999)

Ah yes, the biggest disappointment (possibly) of all time. Lucas hadn’t directed a film since the original Star Wars in 1977, and had 22 years of being called a revolutionary genius who changed the way of filmmaking forever. So with full creative control, no one telling him what to do, and talent that was long gone at that point can we really be surprised what we ended up getting? My complaints are everything all of you have been saying for 20+ years now. The characters are boring, the story takes forever to get going, it breaks continuity with notions raised in the original films, the comedy is terrible, the effects are overbearing and not that good looking, and it feels like it started too early only serving to distance itself from what we know as Star Wars.

What I will say in defense of this film is that it does star the story we need to know regarding Anakin’s origin to show his connection to his mother, which would play a role in his turn towards the dark side. And, as much as Darth Maul was underutilized, the final fight scene is still pretty damn cool – much credit to Ray Park and his great stunt work. But yes, prior to this Star Wars was something sacred and this was the beginning of realizing the failures this universe was capable of.

8. The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

The first words written in the opening text crawl say “The dead speak!”, and right away we know what we’re in for. Not only is that a weird thing to hear in a Star Wars movie, but we now know how much this film is going to rely on what’s already dead to salvage its story and hopefully appease its fans – no matter how convoluted and forced it may be. Palpatine’s plan, as we learn in the exposition heavy first act of the film, is to revive the power of the Empire in something he calls The Final Order – obviously playing off of the First Order from the previous films. And this motivation fits in well with what Star Wars has always done.

The name “First Order” applies to the idea of reverting back to the ashes of the first, the original. To bring the galaxy back to the ways of the Empire that came before it, because in the world that’s how it’s worked. Fascism starts as a yearning for glory of old, romanticizing the past as something to go back to, and using this as a way of rejecting the modern ways.

I bring a lot of this up because the irony of learning how to learn from past mistakes and build that towards a different future is now forgotten, as “The Rise of Skywalker” rushes head first into bringing us back to the past that’s long gone. To this end, Kylo and Rey are even put back into their initial designs we saw of them in “The Force Awakens”, you know before they were “ruined” in the other film.

Honestly, when the film is just keeping itself to what a film is, it’s pretty amazing. JJ Abrams is obviously a very talented director. His crew consisting of cinematographer Dan Mindel, production designers Rick Carter and Kevin Jenkins, the always great music by John Williams, and the hundreds if not thousands of hard working people working in the art departments, makeup departments, sound departments, pretty much any department make an incredible film.

I don’t criticize anyone is this film for their supposed lack of ability to craft a film together, but when I have to remind myself that this is a chapter in this saga is when it fails. It might not have the horrible dialogue of the prequels but I would argue in terms of being a part of a grand story and how it’s supposed to continue off its predecessor, this might be the worst screenplay in Star Wars history.

7. Revenge of the Sith (2005)

I agree with many people that “Phantom Menace” and “Attack of the Clones” are terrible but at the end of the day the whole purpose of the prequels was to show us how Anakin turned to the dark side. The funny thing is that you can skip the first two movies, go straight to this one and you will get everything you need to know. It feels like this is the story Lucas wanted to tell and I think it shows, this is the closest it comes to capturing the same essence of the original films. Granted it falls back into crap territory with a terrible romance, boring characters, and bad acting. But the ingenuity of Star Wars has always been the constant fight between good and evil, between democracy and dictatorship.

“Revenge of the Sith” keeps its focus where it should be with these very themes, we detail the ways in which Emperor Palpatine manipulates the system of both the senate and the Jedi in order to corrupt Anakin Skywalker into becoming Darth Vader. Granted, the moment itself when Anakin swears his allegiance to him is rushed and doesn’t feel earned. But through this we get the full portrait of Vader’s character, no longer just a simple villain but a tragic hero.

And of course we get Ian McDiarmid in his signature role, having the perfect amount of cunning villainy and over-the-top hellraising to steal every moment he’s on screen. It adds context and a new level of mythology into the Star Wars lore that was never there, particularly the wonderful Opera House scene with the legend of Darth Plagus the Wise, and as such serves as an important chapter to exist.

2019 is officially over and now we’re in 2020, a whole new year and a whole lot more to look forward to. 2019 saw a lot of major events happening in the film business. At the moment I’m writing this eight films have grossed over a billion dollars (6 of which being Disney), streaming services like Netflix have been taking over with astonishing works like “The Irishman” – proving that even the old masters are delving into this new breed of filmmaking, and foreign cinema is making major headlines here in the States with films like “Parasite” achieving blockbuster status of success. So, needless to say, there’s a lot of big stuff to see from this year.

But there are thousands of films released every year and there’s no way we can see all of them even if we tried. So, with this list I hope to showcase some overlooked or unknown gems that were hidden away through all the massive stuff going on. Here are 10 Great 2019 Films You May Have Missed, and feel free to announce more that aren’t mentioned here.

1. Apollo 11

“Apollo 11” is the kind of film that illustrates why documentaries are made. There’s no talking heads or any narrator tracking through every moment telling what’s happening. It’s a feeling of watching the monumental space odyssey that occurred 50 years ago as if it’s happening in real time right now. It’s comprised of thousands upon thousands of hours of archival footage and audio recording from the mission in 1969 and that’s all we need. No explanation is necessary for the wonder and awe that this spectacle achieves.

Even though this is clearly a documentary it feels as though you’re watching a work of fiction play out. The footage and audio we’re seeing and hearing is more than enough provide us what we need to know to understand what’s happening. The footage shows a lot of the mundane routines these astronauts went through that we would take for granted, but watching it makes us realize how crucial every step along the way was to making that one giant leap for mankind.

2. An Elephant Sitting Still

There’s a tragic story to be told with this film. It was written and directed by Hu Bo and based off his own novel “Huge Crack”, during the production there was (shall we say) much disagreement between Bo and the producers, and unfortunately this proved to be the first and final film of Bo’s career. Shortly after filming was completed, Hu Bo committed suicide at the age of 29. Afterwards, the film was made in the vision he intended it to be.

A near 4 hour journey through contemporary China, following a multitude of stories and characters in the city of Manzhouli. Manzhouli is a largely industrialized city on the border of Russia and soon becomes a point of obsession for the people we follow in this endeavor. The film tracks through just one day in these lives, from morning till dawn, and how the environment they’re living in is pushing them to where they’re going. The world they live in is one of bleak isolation. The town they’re in is overcast with dark clouds, drowning out any color and life out of every single moment.

In Manzhouli, this city is the busiest land of import in China with railways transporting goods and services all the time. The lifeblood of this area is moving in and out all the time, and their residents are suffering for it. Despite the sound of drudgery, Bo’s film has a beat of humanity and hope within it. These people are people after all, they search for something to let them escape what’s happening. And by the end, it seems like they can finally move and breathe.

3. Ash is Purest White

“Ash is Purest White” tells a romance spread over several years that takes turns and chances. From 2001 to 2017, we watch as criminals and innocents are united in a mess of a relationship that’s unshakable. Bin is a criminal gangster but is strangely everything that makes a man, loyal, resourceful, and intelligent. His girlfriend, Qiao, is likewise everything in return to him despite his getting into trouble. She’s willing to take a pinch for him when he’s caught, even if it means that years of their lives will be lost it still means that after some time they will be together. The surroundings they live in is troublesome, crime and surprises are living on every street corner and only serve to entrap them in a world of violence and gang warfare even more.

If you’ve seen director, Zhangke Jia’s previous films like “A Touch of Sin” or “Mountains May Depart” then you’ll get a similar telling of anthology style stories here. As is expected, it’s shot and lit with a wondrous sense of luminosity. China is a very mysterious place and the area they’re in has a new spin every step of the way, keeping us in mystery. Just another great to add to Zhangke’s filmography.

4. Birds of Passage

“Birds of Passage” is roughly based on true story. Structuring itself on anthology storytelling where the film is divided into four chapter, each running roughly 30 minutes – not to mention a short epilogue. It tracks events throughout the 1960’s – 1980’s as regions in Columbia were working in drug smuggling. Material like this has made for numerous drug subject stories to be told, many of which inspired by the events of Pablo Escobar. But directors Ciro Guerra and Cristina Gallego don’t fall into the norms of drug cartel sensationalism but rather focus on the harrowing tales of damage these regimes brought upon the tribes and people who’ve been victims of them.

This is a film far more concerned with culture than it is gun shootouts and drug addiction. The actors and crew are made mostly of people from this region, creating an authentic recreation of their customs. At times it feels like a documentary of their tribes and people. This follows in the tradition we see in the world far too much where ethics disappear due to wealth and power, and this film is a great evolution in this tale we know all too well.

5. Giant Little Ones

“Giant Little Ones” works in different ways as it goes through its run time. The beginning stages of the film are a sort of music video style, the songs playing are strumming us along with the events that are occurring. The beginning act shows us the routines of a small group of friends in high school as they’re dating, partying, and enjoying the company of one another.

The main character we follow, Franky (Josh Wiggins), is nice enough but even so we can tell there’s something not quite right. When he’s with his girlfriend, Priscilla (Hailey Kittle), and he ‘confesses his love’ it doesn’t feel genuine, you can tell there’s an insincerity to his claims. He seems more comfortable with his childhood best friend, Ballas (Darren Mann), but that soon turns into something that wasn’t intended to happen.

I won’t go further than that, but needless to say a gap is made between Franky and everyone else because of a lie that’s told due to so many characters wanting to distance themselves from their feelings. It’s not until Frankie’s dad, Ray (Kyle MacLachlan), that everything is brought home. How people deny things to themselves and need to confront who they truly are to make peace.

With the end of the 2010’s we’ve all been having fun preparing and counting down what the best these last 10 years have brought us. It begs repeating that this is no official list, it’s just one person’s view and no one else. We encourage everyone to share their favorites, especially if they’re not mentioned here, because 20 just isn’t enough to properly convey how many great cinematic moments we’ve had. But nevertheless, it’s what I’m going with. So, here are my selections for the 20 Best Scenes of the 2010’s.

20. Taxi Massacre – I Saw the Devil (2010)

The funny thing about this scene is that you could argue that it really doesn’t need to be in the movie since it doesn’t relate to much, but damn is it the highlight moment of tension and violence. In a spot where the serial killer finds himself in a predicament with two lesser thugs, all hell is unleashed. Part of what makes the exhilaration of this scene is this is the only murder he commits that doesn’t come to innocents, so we weirdly find ourselves routing for him here. The bloodshed is something to behold and it intensified even more by a 360 camera that moves around everyone as this painful act is taking place.

19. The Ending – The Hunt (2012)

False accusations aren’t as common as many detractors would want to believe, that’s why the instances where these false claims are made it’s decisively hard to convince anyone otherwise. For a moment it seems like the truth is out and Lucas is accepted back into the town’s circles. But then in this final moment an anonymous figure attempts to shoot him dead. Whether it’s literal or metaphoric isn’t what’s important because what we know this lie told about him will follow him forever. People like Lucas are victims, and just like sexually abused victims the effects of these claims can stay with them long afterwards.

18. .03% – The Social Network (2010)

This scene in hindsight shows us the warning signs of what we were going to experience with Zuckerberg and social media. The acting in this moment is top notch by the likes of Eisenberg and Garfield, and that certainly needs attention brought to it. But what grabs us is the sense of a friendship torn apart by power, money, and control. Zuckerberg was insecure, whenever he felt overpowered, he knew he needed to secure power once again. Even at the expense of his closest friends. There’s perhaps no story more telling of the 21st Century than that of Facebook. At the end someone remarks “You’re not an asshole Mark, you’re just trying so hard to be”. I’d say that first part hasn’t held up well.

17. Give the People what they want – Birdman (2014)

The ingenuity of “Birdman” is the way it consistently walks a tightrope between everything, from reality and life, to art and entertainment. The scene in question where Riggan hears his inner voice of Birdman, the character he once played long ago, strikes a unique balance between art and audiences. The ultimate proclamation raised is whether it’s better to give the people what they want to distract from everything else or is it best to follow your passion if its what you need. Normally a scene like this would be out of place but the film is already so dreamlike and metaphoric that it blends in as well as any soul-searching monologue, and to be able to accomplish that with the routines of Hollywood action is pretty remarkable.

16. The Finale – Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood (2019)

If you know your history then you’ll know that Sharon Tate was an unfortunate victim of the Manson murders, when she was two weeks away from giving birth no less. So, as we approach the climax of Tarantino’s film, we have an expectation of what will happen. Tarantino delivers exactly what we would expect out of him. The direction he chose to go in is what brought everything home, the final moment and closing shot in particular. A perfect blend of fantasy and reality that plays out like the kind of fairy tale we wish everything could be. This is what shows Quentin’s love for films and of this time period, that we can dream a little bit and that these dreams can mean something.

15. The Rainstorm – Parasite (2019)

What’s amazing about “Parasite” is that even with showing both sides of the wealth divide with care, it never gets in the way of the distinctions made between the two. The gap between the Kim Ki and Park families is something to behold, Bong Joon-ho directs with incredible passages and sequences to illustrate this. When a rainstorm starts the Park family sit on their couch and enjoy the pleasant site of watching their son set up a tent in the backyard – meanwhile the Kim Ki family are fighting through a flood of water that’s drenched their home.

One family’s enjoyment is another family’s suffering. More than anything, these moments of privilege and non-privilege are what boils the subtle animosity between the two families that explodes in later scenes. As such, this moment serves as the midpoint that solidifies everything that transpires.

14. The Beach – Roma (2018)

Through revolution, riots, divorce, unexpected pregnancy, and suppressed emotions, this final moment is what “Roma” has been building to. In a stunning act of selflessness where Cleo saves the children from drowning despite not knowing how to swim, this moment of relief isn’t felt for long as despite saving those from death she acknowledges to wanting her baby to die as a stillborn. In this one embrace, the film balances between the acceptance of death and the beginning of a new life for everyone involved. Alfonso Cuarón made this film as a love letter to the women in his life growing up, more specifically his family maid. And the love for his family is felt most powerful in this scene.

13. The Bus Massacre – Incendies (2010)

“Incendies” tells a story of war and revolution in the Lebanese Civil War, told from the personal perspective of one woman named Nawal. In one heart wrenching sequence she’s in a bus full of Muslim refugees as they get stopped by Christian Nationalists. They gun down the entire bus and burn all the bodies, sparing Nawal because of her Christian heritage.

It’s in this moment she faces the evil war crimes that are permeating in her country, this moment is when she decides to join the Muslim fighters and oppose Christian Nationalism. These extremes she was forced into confronting only served to push her to more extremes she otherwise never would’ve done. These extremes being committed by all sides in the war, justifying their actions by claiming it in the name of their gods.

12. Leading People to Death – Son of Saul (2015)

I would say this is the greatest use of handheld I’ve ever seen for the way it forces us to confront these acts as a world around us at every given moment, neck deep in the atrocities and gut wrenching ‘chores’ to perform daily. More specifically we follow Saul, one of many Jewish men in Auschwitz who works as a Sonderkommando for the Nazi forces. He goes through the routines of leading his own people bare naked into chambers, knowing they’re going to be killed, collects their belongings, scrubs blood off the ground, drags dead bodies around, and shovels their ashes into a lake.

This is more reason why he goes out of his way to give a proper burial to a boy he claims is his son but isn’t. And these moments make us see why he wants to do this, to give just one piece of order in a world that’s gone to hell.

11. The Sunken Place – Get Out (2017)

There aren’t many films this decade that have created an image so lasting that it’s become a coined phrase in pop culture, but “The Sunken Place” is certainly one of those. The scene itself is set up to perfection with Chris, tears of fear running down his face, falling victim to the most unassuming of weapons as his mind is being penetrated. He sinks beneath the floor as he stares up at his oppressor, now having become a victim. In the moment itself we’re told it’s a cure for his smoking addiction, but we know this is merely a gateway to something far more sinister. The commentary in the film is clear and is heightened more so by the absurdist horror of it, as we watch a family quite literally try to push out black consciousness.

The decade is almost up which means, as of the most recent ceremony earlier this year in February of 2019, there have been 10 Best Picture Winners given this decade. I’ve said before that the Academy is not something I particularly care about, often times their winners fail to stay relevant in the years that follow, unlike the actual best films that never get nominated.

With that said though, the Academy is a historically known institution that shines a spotlight on the films they recognize. Whether for better or worse, today we’re going to rank the films they’ve recognized this decade. I’m going to keep this more in conversation of the individual films quality rather than what should’ve won over it. But regardless, these are the last 10 Best Picture Winners (2009 – 2019) Ranked from Worst to Best.

10. Green Book (2018)

“Green Book”, at its best, is a decent film that’s well acted and plays itself universally, so the subject of racism isn’t unbearable to watch. But with that said it’s also a textbook basic movie that fits into the same problems of the worst films of its kind. Many criticisms were brought against the film in the months leading up to the ceremony, ranging from allegations against its director Peter Farrelly to accusations from the family Dr. Donald Shirley that the friendship between him and Tony Lip was depicted inaccurately in the film. But truthfully, these matters don’t concern me much.

“Green Book” is a film that falls in line with what writer, Wesley Morris, calls a ‘Racial Reconciliation Fantasy’. Meaning: “A movie that teaches falsehood about the causes of racism and the solutions to racism, starring a white character who overcomes their own racism or the racism of others through simplified means that reassure white audiences they are not racist.” The Shirley family itself claimed the film as a “Symphony of Lies”, to which Mahershala Ali (who plays Dr. Shirley in the film) apologized for. “Green Book” obfuscates its own subject matter with neglectful insincerity and stands as the worst winner since “Crash”.

9. The King’s Speech (2010)

When “The King’s Speech” won Best Picture it was a very eye opening experience for many viewers because it cemented exactly who makes up their membership. Were they going to play it safe with tradition or were they going to recognize the innovative world around them? Well, we saw what happened here. That’s not to say the film is devoid of impressive moments, the performances of Collin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, and Helena Bonham-Carter are some of the best in their respective careers.

The film does have a great look as well, fog overtaking the streets brings us to its time period of WWII Britain. Where the film gets lost the most is in playing itself too safe. This is an old guard movie that feels more in tune with a previous time period, not caught up with the modern tempo of filmmaking. Its story is more or less a feel-good that takes no chances and doesn’t break any new grounds. It’s the kind of period piece that usually makes the Academy’s line-up regardless of whether it truly is one of the best.

8. The Artist (2011)

“The Artist” is a film that had a lot of buzz surrounding it at the time, it’s not often you see a silent film in this day and age. As the years have gone on its reputation has seemed to fade away, as is typical with a lot of Best Picture winners. But it isn’t completely worth skipping, it is a technically impressive film in its own right. Despite feeling like it relies on a gimmick, it is a fairly unique perspective on a very large transitional period in film history. I’ve heard many comparisons to “Singin’ in the Rain”, but there’s a key difference between the two.

Whereas “Singin’ in the Rain” was largely optimistic and happy, “The Artist” takes a fairly dark take on the show business as films went to sound. A lot of actors at the time went out of a job due to this transition, not having the right voices to transition with the shifting innovation that was happening. That’s the basic gist of the film as it pertains to the dueling careers of George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) and Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo). But it is a nice tribute piece to the silent era of film and does rely on some very good performances from its actors. Not as great as the classic silent films, but impressive in its own right for sure.

7. The Shape of Water (2017)

The cool thing about this victory is that with this Guillermo del Toro finally received the honor of winning Best Director along with his two friends in the Mexican Revolution of filmmaking, Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro González Iñárritu.

“The Shape of Water” is a starkly mesmerizing film, feeling other worldly but grounding itself in our modern politics. Setting itself back in the high point of Cold War paranoia makes it feel like something from a world long ago that most of us don’t remember. Through these elements del Toro tells a story of “The Other”.

The obvious metaphor for this is in the form of a creature not of this world that humanity abuses. But the feeling of otherness stretches across to many characters throughout the film. From Elisa (Sally Hawkins) being obfuscated for being mute, or her neighbor Giles who’s a closeted homosexual who can’t reveal his attractions in his era, or Zelda who’s a black woman discriminated against in a time of racial disparity. All of them are others in their own right, ostracized by the social climate around them.

Going back to “Pan’s Labyrinth”, del Toro has had a knack for blending reality into fantasy and combining the two until they’re inseparable. And that’s exactly what “The Shape of Water” does.

6. Argo (2012)

Ben Affleck has had a very up and down career. After the success of “Good Will Hunting” it seemed like he fell off a cliff in comparison to his childhood best friend Matt Damon. But then Affleck found his stride once again when he started directing. “Gone Baby Gone” was great, “The Town” was another good one, and then he made “Argo” which brought everything home.

Definitely not the best film he’s made, but still a very impressive film in its own right. Many have argued the legitimacy of this story being told, but that’s the whole spark that makes this work. The tale itself being one of reality and made up crap intertwining. 52 American citizens were held hostage by Iranian forces for 444 days from 1979 to 1981, thus making it the longest hostage crisis in recorded history.

The film details a select few who hid from Iranian forces and were miraculously saved by American agencies in which a plan was concocted to make a fake movie, a science fiction film called “Argo” which would have the production story of being shot in the Iranian deserts.

Affleck definitely romanticizes, making this a very – for lack of a better term – Hollywood movie. But in a weird way it almost improves with the stylistic choice given, mirroring the aesthetic the make-believe movie within the movie is trying to achieve – blended together with a great sense of character, personality, and comedy. This is an ode to filmmaking itself and the power stories have to fool some and save others. Maybe not the best of 2012, but still a good work.

If you were to ask the common everyday person who the greatest director of all time is, I’m willing to bet 9 times out of 10 you’re most likely to hear the name Steven Spielberg. If you know film history, you’ll likely take exception to that statement but in the large scale of things Spielberg is more synonymous with the movies than any other director.

As films continued to expand and become bigger, Spielberg was the man most responsible for the magic of the movie screen as he continued to take us on compelling adventures time and time again. For anyone who was growing up in the 80’s and 90’s, he captured the imaginations of kids and adults everywhere, and as he’s gotten older has continued with reinventing himself as an artist with more adult works that still captivate.

Despite some of my personal misgivings regarding his work in recent years, I can’t deny the power Spielberg has had on the cinematic world. But there’s many films that paved the way for him to be where he is, and many who’ve been inspired by his brilliance ever since.

So, let’s highlight some of the great works that came before, and some that have come ever since the magic of Spielberg that in some way has captured that same feeling we get when we watch “Indiana Jones” or “E.T.”. These are 10 Films to watch if you like Steven Spielberg.

1. Captains Courageous (1937)

Right alongside films like “Lawrence of Arabia” and “The Shining”, Spielberg ranks “Captain Courageous” right up there as one of his all-time favorites. You have to imagine Spielberg’s knack for ordinary people and the value of hard work in his films largely came from this film.

A spoiled rich boy (Freddie Bartholomew) falls overboard the fancy yacht his father owns and finds himself in the hands of a fishing schooner “We’re Here”. They put him to work and now all that bad behavior he had previously is slowly fading away as he learns the value of these men, what they do, and how they live. MGM famously dubbed this film as a “coming-of-age classic with exciting adventure.”

That one phrase alone could be used to describe many of Spielberg’s most famous work. When you watch the childhood innocence with a twist of adventure in here, how can you not think of images like Elliot in “E.T.” or Short Round in “Temple of Doom”. Not to mention, this has an Oscar winning performance by Spencer Tracy, one of Spielberg’s favorite actors. There’s a good reason this is one of his favorites.

2. Stagecoach (1939)

“Stagecoach” is a film that can be used in describing many influences in film, not merely just Spielberg. But in terms of Spielberg’s filmography, it’s undeniable. If you watch the documentary short “The Stunts of ‘Indiana Jones’”, you’ll see Spielberg and company list the various influences of action and stunt work that went into making the “Indiana Jones” films, and right there at the top of that list would be John Ford’s “Stagecoach”.

Just take the legendary stunt in which Yakima Canutt jumps on to the horses and then does “the drop” where he lets those horses and the carriage ride over him and you’ll see the inspiration for the equally legendary truck sequence where Indie dangles underneath the bottom of a truck. But more than that, it’s also the manner in which the role of heroism is defined in the central characters.

The way in which John Wayne exhibits natural authority in his rugged way is a clear-cut influence on the traditional heroes of Spielberg’s filmography from Indiana Jones, to Quint, and you could even argue a little bit to Oskar Schindler and Captain Miller. “Stagecoach” is a film that paved the way for everybody and should never be overlooked in a list like this.

3. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

One of the strongest aspects of Spielberg’s talent is his ability to capture true, honest goodness in-between the big moments. When you think of a film like “Jaws” you’ll likely remember the little moments of a dad goofing around, making silly faces with his son just as much as you’ll remember the action with the shark. When you think of “Saving Private Ryan” you’ll likely think of Captain Miller admitting who he is back home before you think of any of the war action. Because more than spectacle, Spielberg understands it’s the humanity of people that makes us remember them.

“The Best Years of Our Lives” is another film Spielberg commonly ranks as a personal favorite, and it’s clear why. It’s a genuine, humble look at life post WWII as veterans of the war try to adjust back into life. We don’t have gratuitous war action to rope us in but rather the real human struggles of who these people are, and the love they have for their family and friends.

Spielberg is probably most famous for his blockbusters, but his more mature works likewise have a similar, if not, greater appeal than his adventures. Stories such as these are rich with spiritual depth and elate with an overpowering sense of human capability, something Spielberg has certainly never lost during his time as a filmmaker.

4. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

Just look at the image of Humphrey Bogart in this film and you’ll see where Spielberg got a lot of inspiration for Indiana Jones. The ingenuity of the “Indiana Jones” films is that they greatly payed tribute to classic B-Adventure films of the past but revitalized them in such a way for new audiences that came off as a fresh new take on what makes a classic thrill ride.

There’s a lot of films to highlight in this regard, such as “Secret of the Incas”. But “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” is a far more interesting film that goes beyond the simple premise of finding lost treasure. Like what we would see from characters like Belloq in “Raiders” or Dr. Schneider in “Last Crusade” is what you see from the characters of this film. The treasure in question poisons their very human nature, weakening them to humanity’s greatest flaw of greed and the quest for power.

The adventure in the film isn’t meant as a thrill ride but rather as an expedition of the characters internal self’s, how much can they stay true to themselves before they lose all semblance of their integrity. Much in the same manner, Spielberg likewise looks for the good in humanity with his films. His universal appeal comes from his desire to teach right from wrong even when confronted with the most challenging of scenarios on both a physical and emotional level. “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” is a classic that paved the way for Spielberg to be the storyteller he is, be sure to see it if you haven’t already.

5. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

“The Day the Earth Stood Still” was a milestone in science fiction filmmaking. At a time where any other space invader movies showed extraterrestrial aliens as invading forces out to destroy humanity, this offered something completely different. The aliens weren’t there to destroy but rather to be a voice of reason for universal peace, only for humanity to destroy itself with their never-ending quest for war and prejudice.

The simple idea of aliens being a force for good is something Spielberg would personify in two of his all-time greats, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “E.T. The Extraterrestrial”. “The Day the Earth Stood Still” pioneered the idea of the connection between humanity and the extraterrestrial, and Spielberg capitalized on this to further expand upon the concept with his works.

In “Close Encounters” he uses the advancement of technology and persistence to further mirror the advancement of humankind to join larger groups of the universe. In “E.T.” he mixes science fiction with family drama to use a boy and his pet alien as a coming of age tale. The influence the film has had on Spielberg is apparent, and it should be no surprise that Spielberg is currently getting set to direct another Robert Wise classic “West Side Story”. But it started with this, and what a start it was.

There’s no doubt about it, all of the directors I’m highlighting today have at one point been the standard bearers of filmmaking. Each director spoken of today are among the greats of their eras, and arguably of all time. So why am I going to criticize them? Well, like the law of gravity, what goes up must inevitably come down. And in the world of art that’s certainly the case, where what was once great isn’t as great as it used to be. I’m not saying that these directors never made anything good again, but these are 10 Films that Mark the Decline of their Greatness.

10. Woody Allen – Celebrity (1998)

There was a time where I would’ve made the argument that Woody Allen was the most consistently great director with a prolific filmography. I’ve always been amazed at how dedicated this man is to filmmaking to the point where not only did he make great classics, but made them as often as he did.

It seemed like every year there was a Woody Allen classic to behold; “Love and Death”, “Annie Hall”, “Manhattan”, “Stardust Memories”, “The Purple Rose of Cairo”, “Hannah and her Sisters”, and “Crimes and Misdemeanors” just to name some of his greats. But with a plethora of movies year after year, eventually you start to lose your magic. And when combined with an embarrassing personal life like what Allen was going through for a long time, it makes for a bad mix.

“Celebrity” is a film that feels more like a wannabe Woody Allen film, a film that has so many loose ends and never amounts to much of anything. The actors just perform whatever skit Allen has for them, and then it ends. Allen’s trademarks were still watchable enough but were getting old. It took a while for him to reinvent himself but thankfully he did with works like “Midnight in Paris”.

9. Steven Spielberg – A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)

Well this should come as no surprise. Steven Spielberg is of course a legend in the movie industry. No matter how old we get it’s impossible to deny the wonder and imagination he brought to the silver screen for all of us. But I think even the biggest Spielberg fans will admit that in recent years he hasn’t been the same director he was in his prime.

At the turn of the 21st century it seemed as though a new breed of directors emerged to take the ball and run with it, but Spielberg hasn’t been able to keep up. His first work of the modern era was a love letter to his dear friend Stanley Kubrick, “A.I. Artificial Intelligence”. In all fairness, this is a film that bypasses traditional standards of criticism because it was made for the sake of keeping his friends vision from dying with him.

A lot of what doesn’t work and equals out to a mixed bag of a movie is largely due to Spielberg doing the best with what Kubrick had initially envisioned, and the two are such stylistic opposites that it was sure to backfire in some way. But after this he never really got back on track.

Spielberg has directed what many consider some of his worst work ever since; ranging from “The Terminal”, “War of the Worlds”, “The BFG”, “Ready Player One”, and the infamous “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”; to decent-at-best movies like “War Horse”, “Lincoln”, and “Bridge of Spies”. Spielberg remains one of the great directors of all time, and no one will be credited as much for creating the cinematic spectacle as much as he has. But the magic is just gone.

8. Clint Eastwood – Invictus (2009)

Clint Eastwood is perhaps the single greatest example of an actor-turned-director. He started his directional career with “Play Misty for Me” in 1971 and had some misfires here and there but still had some good work through the 70’s and 80’s like “High Plains Drifter”, “The Outlaw Josey Wales”, and “Pale Rider”.

But Eastwood’s real landmark of a directional effort came with his Best Picture winning “Unforgiven” in 1992. He made some stuff for the next decade that weren’t quite as remarkable, but in 2003 he would find his stride once again with “Mystic River”.

The following year he would follow it up with another Best Picture winner “Million Dollar Baby”, in 2006 he gave us two very good films with “Flags of our Fathers” and “Letters from Iwo Jima”, and then in 2008 he would hit us with two more very good films with “Changeling” and “Gran Torino”. With each film Eastwood was showing the wisdom of an old master combined with the emotional resonance of deeply human characters, however flawed they may be.

Then in 2009 he directed “Invictus”, a semi-decent film but one that felt ordinary compared to his previous works. It never quite got out of second gear and was just cruising along on autopilot, never reaching its potential. Soon afterward it seemed like Eastwood was losing his touch pretty quickly.

From the schlocky romance of “Hereafter”, to the flat out boring bio-dramas of “J. Edgar”, “Jersey Boys”, “Sully”, “The 15:17 to Paris”, and “The Mule” (although that one was romanticized). Not to mention the highly overrated “American Sniper”. When Eastwood played the 90 year old, Earl Stone, in “The Mule” he wasn’t that far off. Eastwood, at the moment I’m writing this, is 89 years old. To be fair, it’s cool that he still wants to do this at his age, but it seems like it’s time to ride off into the sunset.

7. Federico Fellini – Fellini Satyricon (1969)

I mentioned on another article I wrote called “The 10 Greatest Film Auteurs of All Time” that one of the great ironies behind Fellini’s work is that what many people would regard as his greatest achievements Fellini himself called his worst.

Fellini said his best work was in his early career, during the height of Italian Neorealism, and later on his films delved more into his own insecurities to the point where he called himself self-indulgent. But I still maintain Fellini had it all wrong, his semi-autobiographical works like “La Dolce Vita”, “8½”, and “Amarcord” remain his greatest works because they’re the most personal reflections of his life.

But by the same token, Fellini delved more into his Christianity and sexual tendencies with his later works, and nowhere was that more spotlighted than with “Fellini Satyricon”. A hellish, sometimes disgusting series of mythical tales. With this film Fellini delved into more gratuitous nature than ever before, really pushing the boundaries of what he could do. But ambition can be just as much of a disaster as it can be a success. And to hear Fellini tell it he just fell off the rails, just going more and more into his own childhood with his filmography until it ended in 1987.

6. John Carpenter – Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)

John Carpenter is a horror icon, commonly regarded as one of the great horror directors of all time. He started out with some underrated gems like “Dark Star” and “Assault on Precinct 13” but his massive breakthrough came with one of the most influential horror films and a landmark in independent cinema, “Halloween”.

With this Carpenter firmly set in motion the slasher genre and made the go to Halloween movie of all time, after this it was a special release almost every year. From 1980 to 1984 he made “The Fog”, “Escape from L.A.”, “The Thing”, “Christine”, and “Starman” back-to-back-to-back. Two years later he would make the action comedy “Big Trouble in Little China”, then two years after that he made the cult classic “They Live”. It seemed like Carpenter was on a roll and was making a hit year after year.

A few years alter he would return with “Memoirs of an Invisible Man” and it was never the same. This was Carpenter’s first delve into something massively different from his previous works, a noble effort to change things up, but one that flopped since Carpenter just doesn’t have a knack for fantasy-romance.

He attempted to go back to the horror genre in the years that followed but it was severely less than what he once offered; “Village of the Damned”, “Vampires”, and “Ghosts of Mars” aren’t exactly films we hold in the same regard as “Halloween” or “The Thing”. Carpenter has more or less retired from feature filmmaking ever since, with some exceptions here and there. These days he seems to just live off of his past successes, and I think that’s best.

“The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state to enforce the law, to protect the lives, liberty and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder.” At least that’s what Wikipedia states in its opening paragraph. Our views on policing is largely like the analogy of blind people touching an elephant, we only know one specific aspect that we’re touching.

For some, police are respected figures who enforce the law and protect the lives of citizens. For others, they’re a**holes who abuse their power and discriminate. I guess it depends on who you are and who you’re dealing with.

In terms of films, there’s a lot of area to cover. Largely because police work, by nature, incorporates a lot. From small towns, to big cities, to little misdemeanors, to giant warzones. There is almost too much material that can be put into the movies for us to enjoy. But for what its worth, I’m going to take a crack at it. I’m sure there’s great films I’m leaving out of here, but in any case these are what I feel to be the 10 Best Police Procedure Movies.

10. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

“The Silence of the Lambs” is a film that needs no explanation. A lot is talked about in regards to the horror, the macabre, and Hannibal Lecter. But let’s focus of the FBI work presented. Clarice (Jodie Foster) is an up and coming FBI agent, currently still in training at the academy. Clarice is assigned the task of interviewing the cannibalistic psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), believing he might have insight on the serial killer Buffalo Bill.

The bulk of the film is Lecter playing mind games with her as she attempts to get a psychological profile on Bill, but when away from Lecter Clarice is an ostracized figure in her world. When we see her in the beginning at the academy she gets in an elevator and we see how she’s a short, little girl surrounded by big, overpowering men.

The National Center for Women and Policing reports that women only make up around 15% of the police force, averaging around 20% in large cities and counties, and 6% in state departments. Clearly it’s not the norm for women to be in these jobs, which is why Clarice is someone not taken seriously by those around her. She goes training and men look at her as she passes by, when she tells a room of officers they’re no longer needed they hesitantly dissipate.

Through the film we see Clarice not only overcome her personal hardships but earn her rank as an agent. This is a classic we all know and love and is a pretty wonderful depiction of women in law enforcement as well.

9. The French Connection (1971)

“The French Connection” is a film that’s a one character show driven completely on surface level material. Violence, suspense, and chases are what makes its content, no time to waste with deeper evaluations. We just have to go for the ride and follow the fast pace routines of a multi-million dollar drug trade in New York City.

The one character mentioned earlier is Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman), a rough man with a shady history but gets down into the thick of things in the crime world of the big city. Hackman is of course fantastic as he always is, everyone else just pales in comparison as he owns every moment that passes by.

The film is remembered for its incredible chases, but the whole film is a chase in a way. William Friedkin directs the film with such a rapid, accelerating pace that we as an audience are forced to play catch up. To follow along as best we can, if we can at all, and revel in the stunning landscape of New York. This is shot in a cold winter time, much of the film has a grey scope to it that only serves to add how desolate the world they’re living in. Not bad for what’s essentially a cat-and-mouse game.

8. Serpico (1973)

There’s something very unfortunate to be said about police departments, and that’s the fact that in many ways they’re untrustworthy. When you’re the law, you have the capability to enforce the law in any way you see fit. Sidney Lumet’s “Serpico” tackles that very subject. Frank Serpico (Al Pacino) is an honest, good cop.

Serpico, in real life, gained fame for testifying before the NAPA Commission about payoffs and corruption in the police department, something unheard of in his time. Unfortunately since then it seems like there’s been no shortage of horrifying tales of unlawful practices in law enforcement. ACLU reports an estimated 200,000 victims of police misconduct every year, reporting an alleged 85,000 police officers nationwide. And it’s this uncomfortable truth that makes Serpico’s story all the more unfortunate.

A young, idealistic man who believes in the very good that law enforcement is supposed to believe in. But what he finds is a hotbed of garbage many districts long. Nothing less to expect than from a great actor in Al Pacino, a great director in Sidney Lumet, and a great man in Frank Serpico.

7. Traffic (2000)

Based on the British television series, Steven Soderbergh’s “Traffic” is a trifecta of stories that run opposite of each other, rarely ever having anything to do with one another, but in actuality having everything to do with each other. One story involving two Mexican police officers, Javier (Benecio Del Toro) and Sanchez (Jacob Vargas), who get intercepted by a high ranking Mexican official who decides to hire them only to find out his affiliation with drug cartels.

Another story involving two DEA agents protecting an informant whose testimony will bring down a local drug lord, simultaneously the drug lord’s wife Helena (Catherine Zeta-Jones) having to deal with the news that her husband is a drug lord and taking on his empire while he’s imprisoned in order to keep herself in the high life.

And a third story revolving around a Conservative Ohio judge Robert Wakefield (Michael Douglas) as he’s appointed to head the President’s office of National Drug Control Policy and soon being caught between the demanding new role he has and his own personal problems as his daughter, a 16 year old honor’s roll student, consistently takes cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin.

All three stories take place in different environments at different places in the world but are all in correlation with each other because the war on drugs can affect anyone, anywhere, and anytime. As Wakefield’s daughter points out “for someone my age it’s easier to get drugs than it is to get alcohol”. The war on drugs is a challenging one to say the least, and as this film points out has been going on for decades and has gotten nowhere near its end because it’s impossible to win.

6. In the Heat of the Night (1967)

Now of course when talking about police it’s inevitable we have to discuss the subject of racism. Especially back in the 1960’s as the Civil Rights Movement was occurring, things were getting – shall we say – intense. “In the Heat of the Night” is a film that’s legendary for its breakdown of racial tensions in policing, something unheard of in its time.

And fittingly enough the star of this film is Sidney Poitier, who also starred in the civil rights led film “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” that very same year. Here he plays Det. Virgil Tibbs, the first we see him is at a train station where Chief Gillespie (Rod Steiger) claims he’s the one responsible for a murder and arrests him.

Boy that’s a wonderful introduction isn’t it? Though hesitant, he agrees to work with the police department to solve the murder case. Where they’re quick to frame people, and potentially beat an answer out of them, Tibbs is smarter than that. He uses logic and investigation to solve the case, not emotional temperament.

This is one of the few films about race that doesn’t rely on big emotional speeches or run of the mill lessons, but rather relies on its artistry to rope us in to a captivating case in the Deep South. The films incredible technique helped land it the victory of Best Picture at the Academy Awards, only a few days after the death of Martin Luther King Jr. And looking around at the world today, I’d say we still have a lot to learn from this.

In our current age of technology it seems as though minority voices have gotten louder as more and more people are able to get their views out there for the world to see. These days it seems as though tribalism is dominating our public discourse in a variety of topics and people are very quick to jump to conclusions.

This list isn’t meant to be contrarian or to go against the majority opinions, but rather to embrace viewpoints probably not considered before. If anyone disagrees with my assessments feel free to, and keep in mind I’m in no way calling these masterpieces because they still have their flaws. These are the 10 Most Unfairly Hated Movies of the 21st Century.

10. Rubber (2010)

Hmmm… What do I say about this one? For a movie about a killer tire it’s a lot more entertaining than it has any right to be. The film opens and a sheriff starts out by talking directly to the audience and asking a bunch of pointless questions like: “In Steven Spielberg’s E.T., why was the alien brown? No reason.” or “In the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, why don’t we see the characters go to the bathroom? No reason.” That just about sums it up right there, why is there a killer tire? No reason. No reason at all.

In essence “Rubber” is mocking the traditions of horror by satirizing the concept of such a weird idea, most horror movies are built around weird ideas when you get down to it. The level to which many viewers will examine films in detail is also something strangely mocked and satirized in here, characters are placed as ‘audience members’ to watch the film with binoculars and then comment on how scenes don’t make any sense. It’s a movie about a damn tire, I wouldn’t take this too seriously because the film itself doesn’t take it seriously either. If you’re looking for a surreal yet oddly hilarious movie, this will do it for you.

9. The Terminal (2004)

Film critic Scott Mantz from Access Hollywood often refers to this as “The Terrible”. Frequently regarded as one of Steven Spielberg’s worst movies ranked right alongside “1942”, “War of the Worlds”, and “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”.

Loosely based on true story in which Tom Hanks plays a foreign man named Viktor who flies into John F. Kennedy airport only to learn that his passport has now expired and his home country being deemed non sovereign.

With no other choice he takes what he has left and makes a small living inside the airport since he’s now deemed stateless. He makes the most of it that he can by crafting ideas to collect loose change out of machines, finding whatever food he can, and building relationships with the workers in the airport. He befriends a flight attendant named Amelia (Catherine Zeta Jones) and helps workers and travelers whenever he can.

The thing I take the most note of watching this film is the set and production, the airport they create has such authenticity and feels so large in scale that you’re shocked this isn’t a real airport. Spielberg watched a lot of French comedies to better prepare for this film, and it shows. Spielberg set out to make a film that could make you laugh and smile and I think that’s exactly what he did.

8. Accepted (2006)

Anyone who knows me will know comedy is not my favorite genre, I honestly prefer just about any genre over comedy. But my favorite comedy is the type that’s made to educate as well as laugh. In “Accepted” that’s literally the whole point of the film, education.

Like many out there, the kids in here are rejected by big leagues and looked down upon for not fitting the right criteria or earning the right credits to follow their dreams. The education system is massively flawed and needs serious reforming, thus Bartleby (Justin Long) gets the idea to form his own make believe college, the South Harmon Institute of Technology (S.H.I.T.).

The idea is initially to just fool his parents into believing he’s in college but after numerous kids apply and get accepted to this school something amazing happens that opens the door for possibilities for all of these kids. How about asking the students themselves “what do you want to learn?” and letting them expand upon that. Truly find their passions and build an entire course around that.

Yes the film goes into screwball material and stupid humor, but the ingenuity of breaking traditions and paving new pathways for the future is exhibited to the fullest and funniest extent. Bartleby’s closing argument in particular is a stand out moment and really serves to the heart of what they’re conveying.

7. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)

The horror genre has been very up and down in recent years, it seems like the 21st century has been polluted by remakes and un-originality. But the one that surprised me the most is “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”. The original from 1974 was a grindhouse masterpiece, using exploitation and documentary style film making to create an aura that was so gritty and realistic that people still believe it was a true story.

The way a remake is proper is when it has enough elements from the source material but reinvigorates it with its own identity. And that’s exactly what this does, gone is the documentary style and in with a slick and stylized production. It looks and feels different from the original but is equally disturbing in its content, but in very different ways.

The psychotic family here is completely different from the original, the best new addition here is Sheriff Hewitt played by R. Lee Ermy, the matriarch of the family who, as implied in this film, has brought about their murderous nature to survive in the deserted and disgusting town where they live.

Even with limited screen time the actors make noticeable impressions here, more specifically Jessica Biel and Jonathan Tucker. I think if this would’ve gone by any other name it would’ve been reviewed more favorably, but at the same time it wouldn’t have made as much money. And that’s the problem.

6. The Lake House (2006)

“The Lake House” is a romance not fueled by logic or explanation but felt across time with emotion. Sandra Bullock plays a doctor named Kate in 2006 and Keanu Reeves plays an architect named Alex in 2004, both of whom are separated by exactly 2 years, both of whom live in a glass lake house at different points in time, and start to meet each other through sending letters in a mail box that seems to time travel back and forth. It’s a romance that has very few kisses, and for that matter doesn’t have much physical interaction, but feels just as intimate as any other romance.

The questions you might have about the mailbox are never answered but who cares, I don’t, I don’t need any explanations because I feel the desire shine through. What’s structurally most fascinating about “The Lake House” is that they both exist in the different time lines and can even find ways to interact with them, in 2004 everything is ahead of them and in 2006 Alex knows everything and Kate either knows nothing or is too late to act on it.

Alex comes from a complicated family, he’s just now trying to reconnect with his father (Christopher Plummer) after so much hard feeling in the past, in the moment he doesn’t get the re-connection he wants but Kate is able to fix that from the future.

Kate on the other hand has been caught in a drift of desolation for a long time and telling Alex about this is able to help comfort her in the past. This was the first re-pairing of Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock after “Speed” back in 1994, this probably wasn’t the film people thought they’d get with the two, but I was proud while watching it.