david lynch

What’s going on, Bingers? Long time no see. Like all of you, I listened to this week’s flagship BingeCast and heard not only Ammon go completely off the rails with his 4 hour drunk segment, but also the lists of those who host the show. You know, that list that was started by one off hand Facebook comment, and has rolled downhill to include everyone here at the Binge offices. Of course, the list I speak of is all our ten favorite films this century.

So, with that in mind -and minus my invitation by those assholes to be on with them- I decided to include my own list of my favorite films of the 2000s. There will be some roll over from the podcast. But also some surprises, because as I was going through the exhausting task of putting this thing together, I came across the films that resonated the most with me at that particular time. Or, they could be films that ended up meaning more to me down the road. In fact, one of these was already a focus of my Revisit column last year.

I want to say one more thing before moving on. I usually split these things up into two separate articles. But this time, I decided to make it one big piece. So, strap yourselves in for a hell of a ride down memory lane.

Honorable Mentions: Inception, Minority Report, Sideways, and Sunshine

10) A History of Violence (2006)

Despite his somewhat bizarre flashes of brilliance leading up to this film, I had no idea what to expect when I walked into a theater to see director David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence. I had no reservations of plot or feelings of anticipation. When I walked out, I felt like I had been taken for one of the most hard hitting rides of 2006, and it was no surprise to see Cronenberg’s name up there as a Best Director nominee come Oscar time.

Still, this spot was a toss up between this and Cronenberg’s other collaboration with Viggo Mortensen, 2007’s Eastern Promises. In the end, I decided to include this for two reasons. One, I LOVE stories about people trying to forget past identities while living what seems to be an ideal life. Second. Well, see the photo above?

9) 28 Days Later (2002)

Very rarely does a movie feel like a two hour grip of the throat. Yet that is exactly the effect director Danny Boyle’s assault on the senses had on my 25 year old self when I stepped into that ominous Berkeley theater in 2002. Its opening scene, an escalation of intensity as animal rights people let out, and eventually get bitten by, a virus carrying monkey, remains one of the scariest scenes I have ever experienced in a movie theater. White knuckled does not even begin to describe it, and I am getting chills just typing about it. The rest of the film rarely lets up, and Boyle’s brilliance is in not letting us know just what in the hell is actually going on. Are they zombies? Or something else? No matter what the attacking, raging monsters in 28 Days Later really are (something that still gets debated to this day), the film’s surprise success is probably more than half the reason why zombies are still in multiple forms of media today.

8) Pans Labyrinth (2006)

This is becoming a recurring theme, so bear with me. But honest to God. When I stepped into that theater in December of 2006 to see Pans Labyrinth, I had no idea of what to expect. All I knew was that this was from the same director of Blade 2 and Mimic. I had not caught ALL of Mr Guillermo Del Toro’s resume up until that point (I have since). But when the first frames of Labyrinth were set in motion, and it was becoming abundantly clear that this was an updated, adult version of those fantasy films I loved so much as a kid, I was all in. The movie makes comparisons to the establishment of an impending war that, quite frankly, I could have done without. But the journey of lead character Ofelia as she finds Pan and, most memorably, cannot pass up the opportunity to eat a juicy looking piece of fruit, is a glorious display of beautifully framed and horrific filmmaking. The movie’s climax, while tragic, puts all of our urgent craves in perspective, and Pans Labyrinth is one of the only films that I had to see again as early as the very next showing.

7) Before Sunset (2004)

Made nine years after their initial meeting in 1995’s Before Sunrise, the saga of Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine’s (Julie Delpy) relationship made an even bigger impact on me than director of both Richard Linklater’s first entry. The idea of showing two people talking for an hour and a half straight may seem boring to some. But I was genuinely anxious to see how their relationship would continue after what has to be one of the most romantic nights ever put to film. The answer? More than a little cynical. Celine is the French cynical sort who points to Jesse’s exploits in his still young life, and even laughs at his keeping their promise to meet her at the same train platform they separated from in Sunrise. But the developments that happen between the two during Before Sunset meant so much to me because I was at such a turning point of my life in 2004. Seeing it with my girlfriend at the time, Jesse’s swooning of Celine’s dancing to the singing of Nina Simone, believe it or not, led to our impending break-up. Now, you can look at this series of events as me being the only person who could spoil one of the sexiest endings to a film in recent memory. But I choose to look at it as a new beginning. The ending of which, me chasing the tail of that perfect Celine, is still impending.

6) Zodiac (2007)

Ahhh, 2007. Almost all my Binge co-horts seem to agree that this was one of, if not the, most satisfying movie years of the entire millennium. It is hard to argue that point, as there were plenty of films to swoon over. But David Fincher’s Zodiac meant more to me than any other film to me that year. First of all, it was his first film since 2002’s Panic Room. A film many find to be disappointing. But he was also taking on a story that took place literally minutes from where I grew up. Fincher, like me, grew up in the California Bay Area, and his directing style of shadows and darkness were never put to better use than when he showed the horror that came with the true life Zodiac case. The question of why he took on a film based on a case that was never solved is a questionable one -and he does in fact draw some Oliver Stone style conclusions by film’s end- but Fincher obviously took the case to heart, and wanted to show us all what he was made of by making his most uncompromising film to date. Unquestionably two films in one, Zodiac possesses some great performances from all involved, the beginning of Robert Downey Jr’s comeback, the darkly comedic irony of having Donovan’s daughter Ione Skye’s character attacked during her father’s song Hurleygurley Man, and the scariest Roger Rabbit voice man Charles Fleischer had been or will ever be on film.

5) A.I. (2001)

I was THIS close to including that dildo factory working Canadian Jim Law’s entry Minority Report in this spot. Mostly because it is probably the most quintessential Steven Spielberg film this millennium has seen so far. But, going by the mantra of this article, I included A.I. because of the effect the movie has had on me in recent years. As I outlined in total detail in my prior Revisits column, A.I. was a movie I didn’t think twice about when I left the theater in 2001. I wanted E.T. Not this robot boy who was one ‘I see dead people’ phrase away from making me hate him. But seeing his inability to grow up, and journey toward the ‘blue fairy,’ as well as the tragedy behind it all, is what makes A.I. give me chills when I watch it today. On the film’s blu ray extras, Spielberg almost arrogantly points out that while the cynical outlook of main character David may seem like the brain child of original screenwriter Stanley Kubrick, it was actually the addition of Spielberg himself. Working through a life of exploits, A.I. has set a new standard of Spielberg viewing for me. One which tells more than a story of not growing up. But the horrors that come with doing so.

4) Drive (2011)

I’m just going to go ahead and get this out of the way. Nicholas Winding Refn is my favorite director so far this century. The man has such a poetic eye for storytelling, that it is like watching a cynical 70s filmmaker in a modern age. After slipping into the directing slot of Drive following the previous director’s untimely exit from the project, Refn crafted a film of what I can only describe as poetic brutality. Its neon colors may be a turn off to most. But that is what Refn is looking for. Refn doesn’t want us to see what is under his main vehicle’s hood until more than halfway into the film, and Ryan Gosling’s character is nothing short of backed into helping Carey Mulligan out of her shitty situation, only to run head first into lead villian Albert Brooks. There are so many things about Drive that work for me that I don’t even know where to start. Let’s just say from its upstart soundtrack to a beautifully choreographed action scene involving Mad Men‘s Christina Hendricks, all the way to its artistically intentional, less propulsive ending, Drive is a film I revisit at least once, sometimes twice a year.

3) Mulholland Drive (2001)

Even though I could be overheard constantly calling myself a David Lynch fan to anyone who would listen, in 2001, I was anything but. I had not seen one episode of Twin Peaks, and Wild At Heart & Blue Velvet were tough for me to register at the young ages in which I saw them. It wasn’t until Mulholland Drive that I started to…get it. Lynch wasn’t out to tell good stories. In fact, nobody ever knew what the hell Lynch wanted to accomplish with his Hollywood ventures. And that’s what I loved about him. Lynch was the first Hollywood ‘rebel’ whose work I started seeking out, and with Mulholland Drive as my newly realized starting point, there was nowhere to turn but straight forward. I remember walking out of this screening and telling my girlfriend at the time that I enjoyed everything about it except that blonde girl who really couldn’t act. Little did I know, this was Naomi Watts, who was on the brink of breaking out. It wasn’t until my second or third viewing when I began to realize her overacting in the film’s opening scenes was completely intentional. She was wide eyed about her chances to make it in Hollywood. And it was this optimism that would eventually catch up to her.

One of the most brilliant things about Mulholland Drive is that it is almost two films in one. Its first half is a series of exploits, some darkly humorous -a botched hit, a discovered liaison with Billy Ray Cyrus, The Cowboy- some just dark -a nightmare that takes place in a breakfast diner-. But its second half is an unrelenting film noir of constant exploration. Just what does it all mean, exactly? Part of me wishes Lynch had gone through with his plans to turn the film into a TV series. But the other part of me is just happy to have what he fed us. Not with a spoon mind you, but with a double sided butterfly knife.

2) The Dark Knight (2008)

I feel I need to give a deft explanation of why I have included Christopher Nolan’s much hyped second entry in his Batman film series so high on my list. No, I am not one of those IMDb’ers who grace that page with higher than high reviews of the film, and continue to do so at other places. What works so well with The Dark Knight, to me, is the overall synergy of events that surround it. First, the creepy, Crow like stigma which surrounds the late Heath Ledger’s Joker performance is admittedly a huge factor. Just what was it about this character that made him go so far over the edge? Did Jack Nicholson REALLY warn him about the dangers of the role beforehand? And how the hell could he have given an admittedly brilliant performance under such dire circumstances? Believe it or not, this part of the film’s mystique is fascinating to me, and I believe the answers to these questions could someday make for an even more fascinating documentary.

But the beginning of 2008 was not about superheroes. It was about the fear America was living under, while fearing retaliations to our country’s presence in several other countries as a result of 9/11. My daily trips to work and school in the Bay Area’s BART system was spent in a constant state of fear, and what Nolan did so well with The Dark Knight was outline that it does not take one person pretending to be a hero in order to resolve it. It is the fear that we inhabit which feeds our drive towards success. In addition, the film’s beautiful cinematography, its dark blue pallet, its switching from character to character without leaving its audience in a state of flux, and its brutal handling of Rachel Dawse’s demise which is what sets the film apart for me. Plus, after years of being told he could not direct action, Nolan lets loose with a practical effects driven truck and trailer flipping scene that is just as stunning today that it was then. The Dark Knight is one of the only films that I can watch out of order, and I constantly make it my lone watch for Nolan’s entire series, as I feel it is the only time he got all of Batman’s nuances right. And the beauty of it is, not all of it was his doing.

1) Almost Famous (2000)

This was a tough decision for me. Almost Famous really duked it out with The Dark Knight for this spot. But in the end, I went with Famous because of one reason, and one reason only: it is almost perfect. Almost Famous, much like The Dark Knight, was the perfect synergy of everyone involved being on top of their game. Jason Lee, Zooey Deschanel, Kate Hudson, Patrick Fugit, director Cameron Crowe. ALL of them would never be better than how they are here. Crowe had carved out quite a niche in telling romantic stories that felt real and close to the heart. But I would argue he had not until Famous, nor has he since, found the perfect formula. Hudson is not only stunning to look at, but also delivers lines like ‘you are home’ with such heartfelt compassion that it is hard not to love her. Of course, Crowe’s way of crafting the perfect soundtrack is proven correct here, and the only thing I could point to as being wrong is Frances Mcdormand’s mom character, who at times walks the line of being a caricature. But, we all have moms. And with Almost Famous, we have the perfect mesh of awesome 70s music and beautifully done storytelling.