Sunday, August 15, 2010

My Top 25 of the Aughts, #7

You were waiting for this one to show up? Funny you should say that...



The setting- a New York City still quaking from 9/11- got most of the press, but Spike Lee’s film would be a major work regardless of its time or place. As Monty (Edward Norton) readies himself for his upcoming jail sentence (for dealing drugs), he has to come to grips with the choices he’s made in life, while assessing his relationships with his friends, his girlfriend, and his family. It’s a lot for one film, but Lee has always been a bold filmmaker, and he never steps wrong. Was there a more heartrending sequence this decade than the final reel of 25th Hour, in which Monty’s dad (Brian Cox) lays out an alternate future for his son? Not for me, there wasn’t.

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