Happy new year everybody and with the new year it also brings a new decade. A fresh canvas to make your mark. With the 2000's officially in the books I decided to take a look back. I don't even know what this decade is called actually. Is it the two thousands, the 00's, I don't know. My vote is for James Bond years. How much cooler does 2007 sound when you refer to is as 007.
"Remember when you sang 'Born to Run' at kareoke and completely butchered it?
"When was that, 007? that was a great year."
So I've decided to break the decade down and remember some of the best and worsts of the 00's (that's double o's). There's plenty to cover so I've decided to make this a two part entry.
Best Comedy Movie of the Decade:
3. 40 Year Old Virgin- Launched Steve Carell into the comedic force that he is now. Absolutely hysterical and also began the whole Judd Apatow revolution. Great supporting roles from Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen.
2. Old School- This movie changed my entire understanding of comedy movies. Iconic movie, and some would probably put this at number 1 and I wouldn't argue if you did. Frank the Tank is born from Will Ferrell and Vince Vaughn returned to his Swingers days in a performance for the ages. Who hasn't yelled out "You're my boy blue!"
1. Wedding Crashers- The first 20 minutes of this movie are as good as any comedy movie ever. It does tail off a little at the end and become a quasi chick flick, but there are enough truly funny moments for this to be my number 1 comedy of the decade. Vince Vaughn is at his best in this movie and the chemistry between Owen Wilson and Vaughn is perfect. Solid supporting roles from Christopher Walken, Bradley Cooper, Will Ferrell and Todd.
HONORABLE MENTIONS: The Hangover, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Borat, Anchorman, Knocked Up, Superbad. - All are worthy contenders but have flaws compared with my top 3. I would put The Hangover in the top 5 but its only been a few months and it needs to hold up to the re-watchability factor. Borat is hilarious, but really falls off after the first viewing. Anchorman is one of my personal favorites but people either hate it or love it. Superbad would fall into the top 5, but just misses the top 3.
Best Movie of the Decade:
3. The Departed- Leo and Damon carry this gangster flick and make it one of the best of decade. Tremendous performances from Wahlberg, Nicholson, Baldwin and many others. It's intense, suspenseful and funny, yet doesn't lose its storyline. It won the Oscar for best picture and finally Scorsese won a best director award.
2. Lord of the Rings Trilogy- The visual world and effects created in these movies are amazing. Yes I'm slightly cheating by lumping 3 movies into 1 but as a continuous story it has to rank as one of the best of the decade. The 3rd installment, Return of the King won 11 Academy Awards, sweeping its nominations, something only 2 other films have ever done. It's the first and only fantasy movie to win a best picture oscar. Yes, it is a little out there and science fictiony but a great movie.
1. Gladiator- It's hard to believe that this movie was in the 2000s, but it was released exactly in 2000. Russell Crowe carries this movie and delivers an amazing performance as Maximus. Not only do I think this is the best movie of the decade, I think it is one of the best movies of all time. It's even good on TNT despite being edited.
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Almost Famous, The Dark Knight, No Country For Old Men, Slumdog Millionaire, A Beautiful Mind, Michael Clayton, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind- These are all very enjoyable movies, but don't quite make the list. Almost Famous is very underrated and seems to get better the more I watch it. The Dark Knight is the most entertaining of the honorables, but Maggie Gyllenhall just doesn't cut it for me. Heath Ledger is simply amazing and the Joker will go down as one of the greatest characters of all time. Michael Clayton and Eternal Sunshine lose their luster after the first viewing, but still quality movies. No Country was nearly perfect, but it had a terrible ending which knocked it out of the top 3.
Best Comedy TV Show:
3. The Office- The minutiae of office life is perfectly summed up in this show. It's offbeat and irreverent but it is very funny. Single handily brought back the expression "that's what she said" and has solidified Steve Carell's career.
2. 30 Rock- The show about a show. Tina Fey is the creative force behind this show and her SNL humor has carried over to a great show. The best character is played by Alec Baldwin, as the wise cracking, whispering smart ass studio head.
1. Curb Your Enthusiasm- Can't get enough of Larry David and his almost unbearably uncomfortable show. Some might disagree with this, but this is the closest we get to Seinfeld. Leon Black has become one of my favorite characters on tv. What's most impressive is that this show is 90% improv.
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Entourage, Arrested Development, Family Guy, Scrubs, How I Met Your Mother- These shows have there moments but either fell off or never lasted long enough. The first 3 seasons of Entourage are priceless but the last few haven't been as strong. The same can be said for Scrubs and How I Met Your Mother, they had strong starts, not nearly as good as Entourage, but severely fell off. Arrested Development is so strange its hysterical. But it only lasted for 2 seasons before it was cancelled.
Best Show of the Decade:
3. The West Wing- One of the best written shows I've ever seen. There were so many characters and problems yet you never felt it was moving away from its central story. At times a little too political, but very captivating.
2. Band of Brothers- I debated making this number 1, but it's technically a mini-series not a tv show. But again I'm blurring the lines. If you haven't seen this series I highly recommend you go rent this. Its from Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks as it follows the 101st Airborne Division during WWII.
1. The Sopranos- Despite its cop-out of an ending, its still the best show of the decade. At it's peak it was one of the best shows ever. Tony Soprano is such a great villian that despite being a vile human being, you were rooting for him. That's not an easy task. It was complex, intense, edgy and even at times very funny. Not to mention there were some great characters like Big Pussy, Ralphie, Paulie Walnuts and many others.
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Freaks and Geeks, Ed, The Wire, Madmen : These shows all flew under the radar for the most part. The Wire was fantastic and cracks the top 5, and its best season can compete with any show I've seen. For some unexplainable reason it didn't grab my attention the way the top 3 did. Ed is probably my favorite show (non-comedy that is) that I've seen, but not many people agree with that. The bowling alley lawyer connected with me for reasons I don't really know. Freaks and Geeks is the best show that you haven't seen, and would compete for top honors if it wasn't cancelled way too early. I never got into Madmen, but I've only heard good things and it will be on my list to rent.
That's it for Part I of the decade in review. Stay tuned for Part II coming later this week. Some of the awesome topics that will be covered include the best sports team of the decade, the biggest celebrity scandal, as well as the best and worst trends of the decade. Until next time, as always.....STAY SWEET.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Friday, December 18, 2009
The Blessssing
Seeing that Christmas is less than a week away, I decided it was a great time to unveil the next top 10 list here at ETC. ETC. ETC. So as you may have guessed, given the time of year, this is the Top 10 Christmas Movies, according to me. But before I get to the list, there's something that's really bothering me that I'd like to bring to your attention. When did the word "mature" start being pronounced "ma-tour"? I hate when people say it like they were a character in a Jane Austen novel. Get off your proper high horse and say it the way its been pronounced for the last 200 years, "ma-chure". Am I the only one who finds this bothersome? Anyway....here's my Top 10 Christmas Movies and they are anything but "ma-tour"
7. Home Alone 2- Easily one of my favorite Christmas movies, even though its almost exactly like the original. I can't get enough of Marv, formerly of the Wet Bandits, but now a founding member of the Sticky Bandits. The brick throwing scene is hysterical and I still laugh every time Marv gets plunked in the face. I prefer the original but you can't go wrong with the sequel. "OHH YOUR COOKING FRANKIE!!"
6. Scrooged - This is often overlooked when you think about the best Christmas movies. But it's Bill Murray in the modern re-telling of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol". Its kind of scary for little kids, or older kids that get scared easily at movies. Being a huge fan of Bill Murray I find this very funny yet fits perfectly into the Christmas spirit and its also makes it so that I don't have to read or watch the original Dickens version and risk death by boredom. So I got that going for me, which is nice.
5. Trapped In Paradise - This is a Cazalet family tradition. Many people probably have never heard of this movie let alone seen it. Well I can promise you that you won't be disappointed and need to rent this before Christmas. It stars, guess who, Nic Cage as the older brother of two con men who have just been paroled a few days before Christmas. The two brothers are played by SNL alums Dana Carvey and Jon Lovitz and they inform Cage about a bank in a small town that could easily be robbed. Mayhem and hysterics ensue as they attempt to rob the bank. If that little description wasn't enough to sell you on this movie, let me try this....Nic Cage + Christmas Movie = ETC ETC ETC Hall of Fame. Go rent it.
4. Elf - This was back when Will Ferrell wasn't making ridiculous, over the top flops like Blades of Glory and Land of the Lost. Buddy the Elf is just a funny character and loves everything about Christmas, including the world's best cup of coffee. It's the most recent movie on this list and it deserves a top 5 ranking. There are so many great quotes and moments in this movie. "I just like smiling, smiling's my favorite" or "Your not Santa, you smell like beef and cheese". And it also has Zooey Deschanel (a sleeper cutie) and James Caan in a role as far from Sonny Corleone as you could ever imagine.
3. Home Alone - The sequel came in at #7 but the original gets the Bronze Medal. I really wanted to put this at number 2 and perhaps in a few years it will move up a spot. I love the quotes from this movie like "Buzz, your girlfriend...WOOF" or "I took a shower washing every body part with actual soap, including all my major crevices, including in between my toes and in my belly button which I never did before but sort of enjoyed". It's got a great cameo from John Candy and when Joe Pesci take a BB gun shot to his BB's, I crack up laughing like I had never seen it before. Little known fact about myself...this movie inspired the greatest "criminal act" of my childhood when at the age of 6, me and my two neighbors broke a screen window, climbed into my neighbors house when his parents weren't home, dragged a mattress into the living room, made a bag of popcorn, and started jumping on the mattress like Kevin McAllister while watching this movie. Our parents didn't find it very funny, but let me tell you this...it was awesome.
2. A Christmas Story - You know its a Christmas classic when TNT can play this movie for 24 straight hours on Christmas eve and you watch at least 6 hours of it ( or am I the only freak that does that). Who hasn't heard "You'll shoot your eye out"? So many great parts of this movie, like when the younger brother eats his food like a little piggy or when he falls down wearing so many layers of snow clothes that he can't get up, or being triple dog dared to lick a frozen pole...poor Flick (Flick? Flick who?) And who can resist the Leg Lamp, "Fragile, must be Italian". I even have a small, functioning leg lamp that my sister got me for Christmas on my nightstand.
1. Christmas Vacation - All of the previous 9 movies are great, but this is the Mecca of Christmas movies. It doesn't get any better then this. I've seen this movie hundreds of times, literally hundreds of time, and I still laugh as hard as I did the first time I saw it. "It's not going in our yard Russ, it's going in our living room". I could quote this movie all day. From Cousin Eddie to Aunt Bethany to Snots to the squirrel, this is Christmas movie perfection. "I learned everything I know about exterior illumination from you dad". I can only hope that someday my house is as bright and well decorated as Clark Griswolds. I'll leave you with one of my favorite, but perhaps overlooked lines of the movie when his wife Ellen asks him what he is looking at..."Oh, the silent majesty of a winter's morn... the clean, cool chill of the holiday air... an asshole in his bathrobe, emptying a chemical toilet into my sewer". It's so good I had to put two pictures just to get you in the Christmas spirit, the Griswold Christmas spirit that is....
10. Jingle All The Way- Did you really think I could leave this classic Ahnold film off the list. I wish I could rewind the clocks back a few years and show this film to every person in California who was planning on voting for Arnold as Governor and see if they wanted to reconsider. What says Christmas more then an Austrian bodybuilder yelling "Jingle all the Way"?
7. Home Alone 2- Easily one of my favorite Christmas movies, even though its almost exactly like the original. I can't get enough of Marv, formerly of the Wet Bandits, but now a founding member of the Sticky Bandits. The brick throwing scene is hysterical and I still laugh every time Marv gets plunked in the face. I prefer the original but you can't go wrong with the sequel. "OHH YOUR COOKING FRANKIE!!"
6. Scrooged - This is often overlooked when you think about the best Christmas movies. But it's Bill Murray in the modern re-telling of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol". Its kind of scary for little kids, or older kids that get scared easily at movies. Being a huge fan of Bill Murray I find this very funny yet fits perfectly into the Christmas spirit and its also makes it so that I don't have to read or watch the original Dickens version and risk death by boredom. So I got that going for me, which is nice. 
5. Trapped In Paradise - This is a Cazalet family tradition. Many people probably have never heard of this movie let alone seen it. Well I can promise you that you won't be disappointed and need to rent this before Christmas. It stars, guess who, Nic Cage as the older brother of two con men who have just been paroled a few days before Christmas. The two brothers are played by SNL alums Dana Carvey and Jon Lovitz and they inform Cage about a bank in a small town that could easily be robbed. Mayhem and hysterics ensue as they attempt to rob the bank. If that little description wasn't enough to sell you on this movie, let me try this....Nic Cage + Christmas Movie = ETC ETC ETC Hall of Fame. Go rent it. 
4. Elf - This was back when Will Ferrell wasn't making ridiculous, over the top flops like Blades of Glory and Land of the Lost. Buddy the Elf is just a funny character and loves everything about Christmas, including the world's best cup of coffee. It's the most recent movie on this list and it deserves a top 5 ranking. There are so many great quotes and moments in this movie. "I just like smiling, smiling's my favorite" or "Your not Santa, you smell like beef and cheese". And it also has Zooey Deschanel (a sleeper cutie) and James Caan in a role as far from Sonny Corleone as you could ever imagine. 
3. Home Alone - The sequel came in at #7 but the original gets the Bronze Medal. I really wanted to put this at number 2 and perhaps in a few years it will move up a spot. I love the quotes from this movie like "Buzz, your girlfriend...WOOF" or "I took a shower washing every body part with actual soap, including all my major crevices, including in between my toes and in my belly button which I never did before but sort of enjoyed". It's got a great cameo from John Candy and when Joe Pesci take a BB gun shot to his BB's, I crack up laughing like I had never seen it before. Little known fact about myself...this movie inspired the greatest "criminal act" of my childhood when at the age of 6, me and my two neighbors broke a screen window, climbed into my neighbors house when his parents weren't home, dragged a mattress into the living room, made a bag of popcorn, and started jumping on the mattress like Kevin McAllister while watching this movie. Our parents didn't find it very funny, but let me tell you this...it was awesome.
2. A Christmas Story - You know its a Christmas classic when TNT can play this movie for 24 straight hours on Christmas eve and you watch at least 6 hours of it ( or am I the only freak that does that). Who hasn't heard "You'll shoot your eye out"? So many great parts of this movie, like when the younger brother eats his food like a little piggy or when he falls down wearing so many layers of snow clothes that he can't get up, or being triple dog dared to lick a frozen pole...poor Flick (Flick? Flick who?) And who can resist the Leg Lamp, "Fragile, must be Italian". I even have a small, functioning leg lamp that my sister got me for Christmas on my nightstand.
1. Christmas Vacation - All of the previous 9 movies are great, but this is the Mecca of Christmas movies. It doesn't get any better then this. I've seen this movie hundreds of times, literally hundreds of time, and I still laugh as hard as I did the first time I saw it. "It's not going in our yard Russ, it's going in our living room". I could quote this movie all day. From Cousin Eddie to Aunt Bethany to Snots to the squirrel, this is Christmas movie perfection. "I learned everything I know about exterior illumination from you dad". I can only hope that someday my house is as bright and well decorated as Clark Griswolds. I'll leave you with one of my favorite, but perhaps overlooked lines of the movie when his wife Ellen asks him what he is looking at..."Oh, the silent majesty of a winter's morn... the clean, cool chill of the holiday air... an asshole in his bathrobe, emptying a chemical toilet into my sewer". It's so good I had to put two pictures just to get you in the Christmas spirit, the Griswold Christmas spirit that is....Honorable Mentions:
The Santa Clause, The Polar Express, Bad Santa, Muppets Christmas Carol. Die Hard (I left this off my list simply because its the greatest action movie of all time and it just so happens to take place at a Christmas Party)
The Santa Clause, The Polar Express, Bad Santa, Muppets Christmas Carol. Die Hard (I left this off my list simply because its the greatest action movie of all time and it just so happens to take place at a Christmas Party)
Well that's it for this edition. I hope you have a Happy Hanukkah, Festivus, Christmas, Kwanzaa or whatever it is you celebrate. So until next time, as always.....Stay Sweet!
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