Finishing up the list

Didn't realize this day would be so fitting to post my top five of the aughts:

5 24 Hour Party People (Michael Winterbottom, 2002)
4 Bend It Like Beckham (Gurinder Chadha, 2002)
3 Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (Larry Charles, 2006)
2 Road to Perdition (Sam Mendes, 2002)


and my #1...




1 United 93 (Paul Greengrass, 2006)


Never forget.

Almost done with the aughts: 10-6

10 25th Hour (Spike Lee, 2002)
9 Mamma Mia! (Phyllida Lloyd, 2008)
8 Into the Wild (Sean Penn, 2007)
7 Gosford Park (Robert Altman, 2001)
6 Changing Lanes (Roger Michell, 2002)

25th Hour has another cry-like-a-baby ending--well, at least I thought so, but I know some hate the way the film ends. I've never been a huge Ed(ward) Norton fan, but he's great, as is the supporting cast (Barry Pepper, PSH, etc.).

Mamma Mia!: My DH couldn't believe I had this in the top ten. To him, I offer this reply:

PIERCE SINGS!

I liked a review I read that compared Into the Wild to Candide. I can unbiasedly say that Emile is awesome, but there are stellar performances all around, except for that Twilight girl. Thankfully she's not in the film for very long.

I'm an Anglophile. How could I NOT include Gosford Park? And that cast? Oy vey. GP is definitely a film that needs to be seen more than once. Take that, those of you who claim it's confusing.

While I've commented on this blog how I feel that Crash is unfairly maligned, Changing Lanes is an even better look at race relations. It's Ben Affleck's finest hour, and the supporting cast is full of folks I dig--Toni Collette, Richard Jenkins, Dylan Baker, etc. (Good casts are a trend in this part of the list.)

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More commentary on Sirius 1st Wave:

Someone who programs this station must really like these two songs:

Top twenty time, y'all...20-11

20 Bloody Sunday (Paul Greengrass, 2002)
19 Sideways (Alexander Payne, 2004)
18 Wrestler, The (Darren Aronofsky, 2008)
17 Dirty Pretty Things (Stephen Frears, 2002)
16 Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood, 2004)
15 Persepolis (Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi, 2007)
14 Big Fish (Tim Burton, 2003)
13 Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, The (Judy Irving, 2003)
12 Girl Next Door, The (Luke Greenfield, 2004)
11 Jump Tomorrow (Joel Hopkins, 2001)

Put that in your pipe and smoke it! I'm not ashamed to say that some of these films make me cry not only like a baby, but a cranky baby with colic. Well, maybe not that ear-splitting...but you get the idea.

I'm enjoying my Sirius radio, and I think I mentioned this in a previous blog post, but yesterday, I was ready to switch over to Iceberg permanently if I have to hear the following bands again:

• Depeche Mode
• New Order...I'm not in my car much, especially compared to a lot of Americans, but jeez louise, I heard New Order TWICE yesterday. I was in my car for no longer than twenty minutes.
• The Cure--If you are going to overplay The Cure, at least try to vary up the songlist. Lay off "Lovesong" mmmkay? I don't even like that song that much! And as I mentioned earlier "Just Like Heaven," too. How about playing "Jumping Someone Else's Train" instead? Some deep cuts off Pornography?
  
• Duran Duran--strangely, I'm less annoyed by the Duran Duran in the heavy rotation than some of these other bands.
  
• The Clash
• REM--I liked "It's the End of the World As We Know It" the first five thousand times I heard it.

I also notice Midnight Oil is played a lot. I'm not complaining, but I learned that my husband HATES Peter Garrett's voice. Weirdo.

Just when I'm ready to abandon 1st Wave for good, they play some real oddity, like Combo Audio's "Romanticide."

Y'know how I posted a link to "Free Nelson Mandela" last time? While picking up a pre-garage sale latte on Saturday, I heard that catchy tune in Starbucks. Nice. Later, I heard Crowded House's "Weather with You" in the supermarket. Good day for muzak.