posted by admin on Jul 27
In Bill Simmons latest article (hopefully that will be a link should ESPN ever fix whatever is wrong with their site this morning) he argues that Almost Famous is the movie of the decade. I have to disagree with him on many grounds.
1) He freely admits it might be The Dark Knight but the verdict isn’t in on its rewatchability. Really? It’s been on HBO every day for several weeks, if you’ve watched it as many times as I have I’d say the verdict is in and the movie is infinitely rewatchable. This is not to argue The Dark Knight is the movie of the decade but considering it is the highest grossing and one of the best reviewed movies it certainly meets some imaginary criteria.
2) Almost Famous is exclusively and importantly about a different decade. It’s a great movie but for people born in the 80’s and 90’s it cannot define a generation of cinema simply because it cannot define them. Perhaps Simmons shows his age in identifying so strongly with the film.
3) It doesn’t crack the IMDB top 50 for the decade. Sorry but for a movie to be the best of the decade (through Simmons criteria) it must resonate much stronger with mainstream society.
4) If you want to argue the people ranking movies on IMDB are philistines whose opinions are unworthy of this discussion then you bring in a wide number of movies that may not have lit up the box office but are in the talks for the best film of the decade. Well, Almost Famous, as good as it is, doesn’t make the cut there either.
More to the point, Almost Famous is a look backward. To define a decade a movie should not only be well-received critically and commercially but serve as a signpost for the evolution of film. In a decade filled with influential films such as City of God, Memento, Eternal Sunshine, Requiem For A Dream, and many others but also filled with monumental blockbusters with The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Batman, Spiderman, and not to mention all the Pixar films picking one film is impossible. For mainstream movies it was the decade of fantasy and superheroes and for smaller, independent films it was a decade of social issues, challenging narrative structure and a digital revolution in who can make a movie.
I am very happy Almost Famous is Bill Simmons favorite movie of the decade, it is a great film, but having lived through the decade as an avid filmgoer it simply does not define the decade or exist as the best the decade had to offer.
I don’t know why I care so much about this and given that during a podcast Simmons picked The Shawshank Redemption as his defining movie of the ’90’s maybe I’m picking the wrong person to argue with. But somewhere deep within it irritates the hell out of me that Almost Famous would be picked as the movie of the ’00’s.
July 28th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
yeah interested on your take here souc, what is your top 5 top 10?
July 28th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
Interesting, I actually prefer to think in terms of directors so something like:
Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings)
Christopher Nolan (Memento, Batman Begins, The Prestige, The Dark Knight)
Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, Wall-E)
Darren Arronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler)
Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men, Prisoner of Azkaban, Y Tu Mama Tambien)
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Babel, 21 Grams, Amores Perros)
Also, probably Clint Eastwood, Pedro Almodovar, Wong Kar Wai, Coen Brothers, Tarantino, Miyazaki, maybe David Fincher, maybe Sam Raimi.
Probably more then you wanted and it leaves out some important stuff.
But 5 Films (for me) that fit Simmons criteria of quality, cultural impact and rewatchability from the 00’s?:
The Dark Knight
Lord of the Rings
City of God
Children of Men
Kill Bill (which actually shouldn’t count b/c Pulp Fiction was the definitive film of the 90’s and you can’t repeat as a director, I just made that rule up but it seems to make sense)
This got really long.
July 28th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
i really thought children of men got boring in the second half. i would say dark knight, but that’s just because both you and sports guy mentioned it and I’m not creative.
can the movie of the decade be a comedy?
July 28th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
yes, yes it can.
What did you have in mind? I kind of ignored that whole genre, I don’t think they age well.
The Love Guru?
July 28th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
borat
July 28th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
Good call, probably deserves to be in the conversation. Does the general disappointment in Bruno take that down a notch?
July 28th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
god damnit I just typed out a whole list it didn’t go through
July 28th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
You still have it in you…
Just like a neverending supply of Ravens YouTube videos
July 28th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
ahahaha Here it is:
(no particular order)
Borat
Old School
Napolean Dynamite (I can understand people saying this movie sucked, but I think the fact that it was PG gave it wide appeal. For example, kids can watch in 20 years from now all the time because it isn’t full of dick jokes like the rest of these)
Superbad
Team America
Wet Hot American Summer
Harold & Kumar
Tropic Thunder
Superbad
I think Borat & Tropic Thunder are the best overall movies out of those.
July 28th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
way to name movies marty. are you saying these are the movies of the decade? if you are, harold and kumar? really?
July 29th, 2009 at 7:17 am
Sorry, Borat does not make my list. I feel like it was pretty weak and basically was an insult fest. Admittedly, I laughed pretty hard at some parts the first time I watched it, but it has basically zero rewatchability. For the most part he just walks around taking advantage of people’s good nature and relies on shock value for laughs.
July 29th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
I agree the Borat stuff can get old but I think he does make some actual social commentary enough times to make it a fairly smart movie.
July 30th, 2009 at 7:08 am
that was my short list of the best comedies generally…butyeah I man I wouldn’t put harold & kumar in the running for anything, I jsut thought it was a top 10 comedy.
I think Borat has the best argument here because it was the most original movie in a while I think. I can see people saying it was just an insult fest, but I think there is a lot of social commentary and really just a study of human nature.
March 19th, 2010 at 12:26 pm
Hehe - I had to read it a couple times, but your post finally made sense :p
August 7th, 2010 at 12:15 pm
In Kill Bill As The Bride is walking through Tokyo Airport (about an hour into the movie), she walks in front of a billboard marketing RED APPLE CIGARETTES. These non-exsistent cigarettes are also found in other Tarantino motion pictures for instance Pulp Fiction (Bruce Willis’ character asks for a pack following his meeting with Marcelus Wallace in the club) and From Dusk till Dawn (There is really a pack on the dash of the Gecko brother’s car).