More from just below the Top Ten Favorites

Recently I offered you a look at my new top ten favorite films, and films that had dropped out from earlier versions of the list.  I realized later that I meant to mention another movie, and had neglected another previous top ten entry or three, which would also somewhat mitigate the fact that my favorites are all so recent.

The first movie I'd like to mention is Warrior (2011).  This was without a doubt a thunderbolt of an experience for me.  I've been a fan of Tom Hardy since I first saw him in a movie, and was glad when he finally began to receive wide acclaim.  This was something he did early on in the new era, and on top of that also features a breakout performance from Joe Edgerton as his brother, as they follow different paths to an unlikely confrontation in the finals of a prestigious MMA tournament.  Director Gavin O'Connor, who is certainly a favorite of mine and massively underrated, pulls every bit of magic possible, and makes all of the story's twists seem utterly believable.  This is a movie that's always at or near my list of all-time favorites.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) is endlessly quotable.  I recently finally got older than Dennis.  Kudos if you understand that.

Office Space (1999) is another cult comedy worth its weight in quotables.  My most frequent reference these days remains the red stapler.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) is my personal favorite Will Ferrell comedy.  It has every moving part possible, including Amy Adams in one of her many pre-breakout supporting roles as well as Sasha Baron Cohen before people who would never get him as a thoroughly obnoxious Frenchman.  There are never enough of those!  And I'm from French stock!

And with three out of four movies I just listed being comedies, that's pretty much why I was happy to find something like Isle of Dogs this year.  Comedy is easy.  Classic comedy is hard!

New Top Ten All-Time Favorites

1. Alexander (2004) This has sat atop my list since I originally caught it on DVD in 2005 and watched absolutely mesmerized.  Colin Farrell is my favorite actor, and Oliver Stone has directed many excellent movies, and is one of the few directors with a long career I can say I've seen most of his material (the exceptions are his earliest work).  The supporting cast around Farrell is superb.  There's nothing I don't like about it, and I love that Stone has a lot of competing cuts out there.  I've watched all of them, and they all have selling points.
2. The Truman Show (1998) Before Farrell, Jim Carrey was my favorite, and this is inarguably his biggest creative statement.
3. The Fall (2006) Tarsem is a visionary director years ahead of his time, and this is his masterpiece, finally released in theaters two years later.  The more I think about it the more I love it.
4. The Dark Knight (2008) Christopher Nolan had been on versions of this list before thanks to Memento, but he's won a permanent foothold, I think, thanks to this expansive, mythical take on modern superheroes, boosted with Heath Ledger's timely (occurring just before his tragic early death) as well as timeless take on the Joker.
5. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) Brad Pitt has long wanted to be seen as more than just a pretty face, and in Jesse James, especially as conceived by Andrew Dominik (based on a book by Ron Hansen), he found his perfect vehicle to perform the barely contained wild man he's long wanted to be.
6. Isle of Dogs (2018) Rewatchability, for me, has always been key for determining my favorite movies, and this one has attained that coveted status somewhat unexpectedly.  Is it premature to list it among my all-time favorites?  I don't think so.
7. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) The Harry Potter phenomenon happened twice in short order, in book and film.  To my mind this particular film entry is the perfect representation of the film series.
8. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) A perfect adventure movie with plenty of charm around Johnny Depp's instantly iconic Jack Sparrow, better balanced than its predecessor and needing less to actually accomplish than its sequel (never mind the later efforts).
9. Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) The most ambitious of the whole Star Wars saga because it needed to be, having to justify shaping the prequels around how Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader, and accomplishing it in at times literally operatic fashion.  Breathtakingly ahead of the curve, even when compared to contemporary efforts like Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy.
10. Star Trek: First Contact (1996) I'm a confessed Star Trek fan, so I've not only seen all the movies and TV episodes, I generally like all of them.  Not a lot of fans will say that, and too few of them appreciate the perfect Patrick Stewart vehicle that is First Contact. 

Which means there have been losses along the way to a version of the list that exists this way.  Here are notable omissions from earlier lists:

• The Departed (2006) Leonardo DiCaprio delivers a hugely underrated career-best performance in this Scorsese ensemble filled-to-bursting with a terrific supporting cast.  One of the reasons it's slipped for me is that Matt Damon's performance as DiCaprio's rival peaks too early.
• Gladiator (2000) My appreciation hasn't diminished so much as Ridley Scott has done stuff (Kingdom of Heaven, Exodus: Gods and Kings) of similar quality since and it's harder to justify singling this one out.
• Memento (2001) Nolan's breakthrough is still as clever as ever, and with a small but brilliant cast, but he's done bigger and better since.
• The Matrix (1999) My franchise favorites (bunched up mostly at the end of the current list) have expanded since the first in an underappreciated trilogy came out.
• Munich (2005) Nobody but me (like Scorsese and Departed) calls this Spielberg's best.  And it has Eric Bana and Daniel Craig (just before Bond) in career-best mode, and a terrifically moody John Williams score...Of all the past favorites hovering just below the top ten, this one's maybe the closest of getting back in.
• Tarantino - Take your pick.  For me every new movie seems to become my favorite Tarantino.  Kill Bill Vol. 2, then Inglourious Basterds, then Django Unchained...Lately my appreciation of Hateful Eight has risen, and I wondered if that ought to be in the top ten.  So maybe in a few years I'll have this figured out.

Basically I love ambition, artistic flare, and great acting.  If all three are present, you're a candidate for my top ten.