Colin’s Top Ten Movies of the 00’s

Unlike my albums of the decade list, this was not a list that came easily to me, nor one that I’m all that satisfied with. Sorry it took me so long to finish this, I’ve been spending most of this weekend babysitting high school kids and concentrating on the new “D” album. If you haven’t downloaded it yet I highly recommend doing that instead of reading this list.

Honorable Mentons:
The Dark Knight (2008)
High Fidelity (2000)
There Will Be Blood (2007)
Before Sunset (2004)

10. Once (2007)
I originally had a film from 2009 as my number 10, but I figured that would’ve made my best of 2009 list a little less exciting. Anyways, musicals made quite a comeback in the 00’s, an incredibly undeserving one even won a Best Picture Oscar back in 2002. Once was a movie that seemed to strip the musical genre down to it’s bare essentials with a simple, but undeniably charming little love story that I think is hard not to like even if you’re not a fan of the songs.

9. The Pianist (2002)
This is an undeniably powerful take on the Holocaust from Roman Polanski in what is easily his most personal film as well as one of his best. The film paints a picture of World War II that seems to cut to the core of the human element of World War II, and features some unforgettable scenes of both horrific brutality and simplistic beauty. The Pianist would also probably be even higher on this list if it wasn’t for the fact that I saw it for the first time about a week ago.

8. Mulholland Drive (2001)
For me, there’s no one who pulls off surrealist filmmaking as well as David Lynch, and this is easily one of his most inspired creations. Mulholland Drive is probably one of the most unique depictions of dreams, and the film is almost like a kind of puzzle. In fact I can remember the first time I saw it, I just kept replaying the film over in my mind hours after the movie was over, trying to put it all together and just being fascinated by it.

7. Zodiac (2007)
I’m usually not a huge fan of serial killer movies, but this one has such unique approach to the genre that can’t help but get wrapped up in the style and tone of this film as well as it’s confounding story. It’s also quite amazing what David Fincher accomplished with this film, as it’s certainly one of the least flashy of his films, but in my opinion it’s his most finely crafted film yet.


6. Children of Men (2006)
My favorite kinds of sci-fi films are the ones that seem entirely believable in an almost tangible way, and for me Children Of Men is one of those kinds of films. Much of it can be attributed to the film’s depiction of a world without children, but much of it also has to do with Alfonso Cuaron’s gritty style of filmmaking which displays some unforgettable set pieces in this film. Also, Clive Owen is pretty badass in this movie, it’s too bad he hasn’t made a single film I’ve wanted to see since Children Of Men.

5. The Departed (2006)
Martin Scorsese has always been a master when it come to the crime genre, and with this film he managed to carve out some new ground in the genre, while earning his overdue Oscar. It’s got about as good of a cast as you can ask for and DiCaprio, Damon, Nicholson, and even Mark Wahlberg are all fantastic.


4. Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind (2004)
This is just a remarkable film in my opinion, how it manages to be so unique and unconventional but still rooted in human emotion is something I feel hasn’t quite been achieved in any other film in such an inventive way. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of writer Charlie Kaufman or director Michel Gondry, but this film seems like a perfect blend of both of their sensibilities.

3. Sideways (2004)
I’m a big fan of Alexander Payne, he seems to have a penchant for comedies that have this underlying sadness to them, but this got to be his most optimistic film yet. The cast is a joy to watch in scenes that very from tender and romantic to bizarre and irreverant. There are few comedies I can remember to responding to as much as Sideways, now if only Alexander Payne would finally make a follow-up film.

2. City of God (2002)
This is a crime story that is just as harrowing and vivid as it is exhilarating. I can’t help but get wrapped up in with each viewing, and the film really just grabs you from the first scene and never really lets go. I’m usually not that big of a fan of films that use lots jumpy stylistic editing techniques, but much like Goodfellas, I feel like this film totally uses that style to portray the fast-paced intense lifestyle at the center of the film.

1. The Lord of The Rings Trilogy (2001, 2002, 2003)
Unlike Sean and John, I have a hard time thinking of one of the Lord of The Rings films without thinking of all of them as one big epic, masterfully told story. Each film definitely has it’s own special qualities, but I think you have to look at the whole as one incredible entity. There were plenty of blockbuster sequels to come out this decade, most of them relying on the newest CG technology, but I don’t think any films quite melded the aspirations of the Hollywood blockbusters with classic storytelling on a grand scale quite like The Lord Of The Rings.

John’s Top Ten Movies of the ’00s

So many good flicks so little time, before I jump let me tell you that I’m not very attached to the order I put these in. I mean I think this would be the list no matter what but picking which ones are better? I don’t know man that’s hard, might as well list a couple that were contenders

Honorable Mention
Zodiac – So very, very close an excellent vintage mystery with all the style and flare of the 60s and 70s.
Apocalypto – Sometimes the most simple methods of storytelling are some of the best.
Gran Torino – Yeah “Get Off My Lawn!” the movie!
Big Fish – Tim Burton gets closer to his roots with a film that actually has a good story.

Now here we go


10. Cast Away (2000)
It’s funny that I’ve probably seen this movie like twenty times but Sean’s only seen it like twice due to “The Lemme Family Curse.” There’s something about it’s simplicity that I find irresistible. Plus it stars Tom Hanks, one of my all time favorite actors in a full on Tom Hanks one man show. It’s well photographed, it’s funny, it’s moving and it’s a unique take on the “Man Vs. Nature” genre. It’d almost be perfect if it wasn’t for fact that the movie has to jump ahead four years after like an hour.


9. Ghost World (2001)
This is one of those movies I love the more I see it. Directed by oddball filmmaker Terry Zwigoff (Crumb, Bad Santa) and based off of Daniel Clowes graphic novel, Ghost World may be my favorite coming of age movie about the awkward transition from teen to adult. There’s a wacky cast of characters but what really makes this film so special is the relationship between Enid (Thora Birch) and Seymour (Steve Buscemi, in possibly his best role.) It’s funny, stylish and leaves you with a lot to think about.


8. Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Edgar Wright makes the kind of movies that I would kill to make someday. Brilliantly layered comedy with witty dialogue and top notch comedic performers. Co-written with star Simon Pegg, Shaun of the Dead is the ultimate loving tribute to horror movies and in my opinion the best comedy/horror movie ever made. Filled to the brim with homages to George A. Romero and other zombie movie greats, this was not only one of my favorite comedies of the 2000s but my favorite horror film.


7. Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
I don’t think anyone expected this to become as huge as it did and just like the rest of the world I was blown away. The attention to detail towards Middle Earth is reason enough to celebrate this film but that’s only one piece of the pie. Exciting and breathtaking with interesting characters wrapped up in a classic story. I loved this one so much that I was actually disappointed when I saw Two Towers. and Return of the King. There was just something undeniably fresh about Fellowship and it wasn’t weighed down by multiple subplots or excessive action. Don’t get me wrong I like em all but this one was really special for me.


6. Signs (2002)
Signs may just be my most suspenseful theater going experience. Immensely atmospheric with great scares, visuals and a bone chilling soundtrack from James Newton Howard. It was freaky form the moment the opening credits played with that intense main theme. From there on it’s a subtle yet cleverly told thriller that blurs genres. What I really like about this flick is that unlike a lot of creature features you actually get to see little glimpses of these invaders right from the beginning. It’s not like that bullshit where music builds and then you just see a cat.


5. The Host (2006)
I can’t believe how much South Korea’s all time blockbuster has grown on me since my first viewing at the Neptune Theater (gotta go back there someday). On the surface it may look like more of an over-the-top, thrill ride monster movie but when you get down to it, it’s a truly a touching story of a family that always sticks together with clever dark humor and excellent biting satire. It’s a rare treat to see a monster flick that has intelligence. For me watching this film every year has become sort of a family tradition…. And I like that tradition.


4. The Dark Knight (2008)
Don’t really know where to put this but I know it had to be here. The greatest superhero film I’ve seen, it’s a stunning crime drama of epic proportions. Sure the story is a little busy, still don’t care much for that whole financial dealy subplot that involves Batman going to Honk Kong. There isn’t a lot of character development for Bats himself either but those are minor complaints. There’s so much edge of your seat suspense I could puke. You got two highly absorbing plot-lines in the fall of Harvey Dent and the rise of the maniac that is the Joker (a now classic performance from the late Heath Ledger) It’s some of the most fun I’ve had at the movies period.


3. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and 2 (2003, 2004)
I couldn’t split these two up, I mean they were intended two be one film anyway. One part’s the slick eye candy/kung fu flick (The best kung-fu movie I’ve ever seen if I might add) while the other balances it out as a more subtle, actor driven tribute to spaghetti westerns. It’s easily the most inventive action movie of the decade and nobody can beat Tarantino when it comes to dialogue. Got to love that kick-ass soundtrack as well.


2. Memento (2000)
I can’t recall a film this unconventional or intensely absorbing solely do to it’s story. Perhaps the best mystery/thriller type movie I can think of. Memento is a film I could watch over and over again and still notice new things. It’s a fun film to discuss and analyze over it’s ambiguity and you have to applaud the work that was put into this script, bravo Christopher Nolan, bravo.


1. No Country For Old Men (2007)
: That’s right, the atmospheric thriller from the Coen’s that took home the gold in 2007 is not only my favorite Coen brothers movie but my favorite of the decade. It just seemed to come out of nowhere and I was definitely taken aback by how different it was from other contemporary thrillers. It hits hard hitting on powerful themes and has a compelling power behind the cast (most notably Javier Bardem), it’s an instant classic.

Sean’s Top Ten Movies of the ’00s

The 2000s saw two Star Wars prequels, the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, two Matrix sequels, Judd Apatow take over comedy, the rise in comic book super hero movies and a ton of other things that, frankly, I really enjoyed. Narrowing my list of films down to just ten was several magnitudes more difficult than it was with music or video games, because I see more movies than either of those media. Also, I didn’t really get that serious about music until about 2007. And video games just keep getting better, so that list was mainly about choosing between important trends and games that I kept coming back to. With movies, well, I’ll just say right now I’m looking at a list of 30 motion pictures that I’m just now going to try to whittle down. A list of honorable mentions would be too damn long, if something’s missing from this list, just assume it’s my number 11 or I haven’t seen it yet.

10. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Oh man, the ten spot is one of the hardest. This is the cutoff point, the place where I decide what makes the cut and what will help occupy the enigmatic, unofficial number 11. There were so many choices, I could have done comedies like Sideways, Best in Show or Knocked Up. I could have done prestige pictures like The Departed or Zodiac. In the end, I had to go with the surprise pick. I only say surprise because I think I heard somewhere that John isn’t a fan of Eternal Sunshine. Is this the one you didn’t even finish, John? Maybe I’m thinking of something else. Sorry if I am. But Eternal Sunshine is quite the movie. The nonlinear storytelling felt really fresh and led to a really satisfying payoff. Jim Carrey is really good too. Ultimately this story manages to be extremely bizarre while at the same time totally relatable. That deserves props.

9. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
In retrospect, it’s kind of weird that Ang Lee made this movie. I mean, that’s the Brokeback Mountain guy. He made a Chinese wire fu movie? But Crouching Tiger is more than just a visual feast of martial arts magic. It’s two tragic stories of forbidden love. And we all have been there, haven’t we? I know this chick that I totally would have hooked up with if it wasn’t for me being totally best pals with her dead husband. And I think everyone knows what it’s like being a princess in love with the bandit who totally stole your comb. But seriously, the somewhat Shakespearean nature of the story just helps me think of Kurosawa samurai epics and this as somehow in the same league. And Chow Yun Fat’s my boy. Oh, and there was another really good wire fu movie from the 2000s, House of Flying Daggers, that you really should check out.

8. The Dark Knight (2008)
Of all comic book super hero movies, The Dark Knight is the best. It transcends being too pulpy, stylized or cartoony and becomes a legitimately compelling drama. About a man who dresses like a bat trying to arrest a clown. I’d like to think I’d be a fan of this movie regardless, but being a lifelong Batman fan really makes this movie impossible not to list. I do have complaints, however. Everything after Batman’s failed rescue feels really rushed, like they had to do a whole second movie in 45 minutes. Christian Bale kind of lost control of his Batman voice. But ultimately these are minor complaints in the face of a supremely entertaining movie. In the first of what I hope are many surprising declarations, I’m going to say I prefer Heath Ledger’s Joker to Jack Nicholson’s. Actually, that’s not very surprising. My favorite’s still Mark Hamill, if you were curious.

7. Kill Bill, Vol. 2 (2004)
I don’t know if you know this, but the only Quentin Tarantino movie I had seen before the first Kill Bill was Resevoir Dogs. That’s right, no Pulp Fiction. And it might have taken me longer to get to that classic if it wasn’t for how much I loved seeing Kill Bill, Vol. 1 in theaters. I’d like to consider this as one picture, like Tarantino intended. I would have too, if it had ever been released that way, like he promised. But it wasn’t, so I’m not going to cop out. The first volume is a great action tale full of great visual flair and one badass heroine. The second volume, however, is where most of the story lives. The great training sequence. The showdowns with Bud and Elle. The final meeting with Bill. Those fights aren’t even close to the grandeur of the first volume, but they mean a lot more. So out of the Kill Bill series, I must go with Volume 2 as one of my favorite movies of the decade.

6. Serenity (2005)
With a great movie, I’ll spend that night dwelling on what I loved about it. With a really amazing movie, I’ll go see it again in theaters. With Serenity, I bought the TV series, watched all of that, and then went and saw the movie again. There’s something that’s so appealing about treating outer space like the wild west, and this movie got it. More than just a thrilling sci fi action movie, Serenity manages to work in humor, romance, and even terror as it crafts a very satisfying conclusion to a show that was cut all too short. God, just thinking about this movie makes me want to watch it again. And I just watched it a few months ago. Hold on one second. OK, I just bought this shit on Blu-Ray. Who wants to watch it with me? It’ll be here Monday.

5. High Fidelity (2000)
I really should read this book. Would we even be doing these lists if it wasn’t for High Fidelity? Probably, but it’s fun to think about all this movie had to do for the popularity of listing stuff. Of course they did top 5s, but close enough. This movie means a lot to me, I really like pretty much everything about it. I love Cusack’s interactions with Black and Louiso. The concept of these musical elitists alone is pretty great. But that there’s a great love story wrapped in there too makes it pretty irresistible. In the end, though, you’ve got to give it up to Jack Black who is totally hilarious through out. There aren’t too many scenes that makes me smile just thinking about them. The Monday morning mixtape and “Let’s Get It On” scenes from this movie are in that tiny group. Oh, and they totally sold me on The Three EPs.

4. Lost in Translation (2003)
Seriously, Lost in Translation must have been made for me. Back when I was a total sucker for Japan and Japanese culture comes this touching movie staring Bill Murray, who, let’s face it, is my favorite actor. At this point I need to throw out the obligatory he deserved the Oscar remark. Scarlet Johansson is pretty and does fine in her role, but this is Murray’s movie. And he totally delivers. Anyway, I’m sure a lot of people could find this movie boring or just not that interesting, and that’s fine for them. For me, it’s just incredible. It’s sad and yet funny. Sweet and romantic and yet sarcastic and pragmatic. It is at this point that I’ve noticed how the ratio of badass action movies to dramas is surprisingly even. And I didn’t even have the balls to put a straight-up comedy on the list. What’s the matter with me? Is this what growing up is like?

3. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Wes Anderson was not a name I knew before the 2000s. I was first exposed to him when my dad and I saw The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, more because we like Bill Murray than anything else. I was really captivated with the quirky style Anderson brought to the picture. Now that I’ve seen all of Anderson’s films, and loved them all, I was faced with the tough decision of either going with my first taste, or the one I keep coming back too. In the end, The Royal Tenenbaums probably is not only my favorite Anderson film of the decade, but my favorite of all of his films. Sure, Rushmore is the most important of his movies, and it is really good, but Tenenbaums is the one that resonates within me the most. I love everything about it, from the wacky story to the great soundtrack. I think what really does it for me is Gene Hackman, one of my favorite actors in one of his best performances. Gotta give it up for the Hackman.

2. No Country for Old Men (2007)
I am all about this movie. I remember when we saw it in theaters I was completely blown away. I still have been each subsequent viewing of No Country for Old Men too. The cinematography alone is worth seeing this. It’s like every frame could have been on some fancy calendar or a computer wallpaper. The performances are really strong, especially from Javier Bardem, who is right up there with the likes of Daniel Day-Lewis and Heath Ledger for remarkable portrayals of twisted characters. No Country for Old Men single-handedly got me interested in Cormac McCarthy, the Coen Brothers, and Josh Brolin. You just can’t beat some of the scenes in this movie. That scene in the hotel is just incredible.

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
There were lots of movies that seemed like cultural events in the past decade. Recently, we’ve had Avatar fill that role. Before that we had The Dark Knight. The Harry Potter and Twilight series seem to kind of have that affect. But no series better sums up the 2000s better than The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I have very specific memories of going to see each of these great movies. I remember when we saw Return of the King at Cinerama, my dad turned to me and was sad that this would be the last time he’d hear that little song at the beginning of each picture. After seeing Fellowship, I actually read the whole trilogy, which is a bit of a feat. And let’s not get started on Erin Keller. I go with Two Towers because I honestly do consider it my favorite of the trilogy. From what has to be the most epic first scene in movie history, to the surprisingly moving plight of the men of Rohan, to the incredible final battle, this movie has everything that made the series great. And Peter Jackson’s overly long storytelling works with material that’s this dense. We already own both the theatrical and extended editions of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but I’ll probably end up buying the Blu-Rays soon.

A Person is Born

Just thought I’d let everyone know that the first episode of “The Morgue” has been uploaded to Youtube. There’s one part where it makes this weird noise and the music for the Richard Muscle segment was accidentally misplaced but aside from that it’s all there in glorious HD (Paul will upload a retouched one tomorrow). Yes after over a month of let’s say “Post Production” the first episode of “The Morgue” named in honor of this very blog has been finished. It was a long and hard road with this one, the most technical problems I’ve seen on any of our videos; from Paul’s computer getting infected with a virus, to complications with the video’s size and HD quality. There’s still those two itsby bitsy problems I mentioned earlier but Paul already knows how to fix those, so let’s keep this on the hush hush before we show anyone else.

But all this may have you wondering “What’s the future of this series?” Well the big plan is that later this year, Spring or early Summer, Paul and I are going to be buying a new computer just for movies, new (non-pirated) software and a new camera. Yes we have the money to do all that but until than we’ll have to take it slow if we want this kind of quality. Anyhow hope you enjoy what we all worked very hard on.

P.S. I’m already planning another episode this month, so let’s work to try and keep this thing alive.

Sean’s Top Ten Video Games of 2009

Ever since 2007 it’s been hard to narrow my list of games down to just ten. 2009 was special because Modern Warfare 2 was so successful that a bunch of publishers moved their games into 2010 just so they could have a chance at profit. However, a number of truly great games still made it out. Some of them surprised me, the rest met my lofty expectations. Here they all are.

Honorable Mentions
MLB 09: The Show
Killzone 2
Torchlight
Trine

10. Shadow Complex
I’m just getting into Shadow Complex, but I really like it’s old school design. This is a game that saw a title like Super Metroid and said, “I want to do that.” And it does. There are tons of hidden treasures to find and a somewhat interesting story holding it all together. The controls are terrific and really show off how a 2D shooter can work and seem fresh in this day and age. There were a number of good downloadable games in 2009, but this is the only one that seems like it could have actually passed as a retail product. It looks great, plays great, actually has a cast (featuring the legendary Nolan North) and is a lot of fun. How crazy is that? This game does not exist in the real world. There is no disc, there never will be one. We truly are living in the future.

9. Modern Warfare 2
This game has made a billion dollars. Has that sunk in? Let me write it out: $1,000,000,000. That’s a lot of money, especially for something that came out last November. What it does right is just about everything. The controls are the best among console FPS. The story is short-lived, preposterous, and rather thrilling. The co-op mode, Spec Ops, is the best part of the whole package, and trying to get those three star ratings is really addictive. The online competitive multiplayer is really good too, if that’s your kind of thing. It’s not for me. I’m not interested in putting up with all the trash talk just to lose to a bunch of kids over and over. If that were not the case, I’m sure Modern Warfare 2 would be higher on this list.

8. Dragon Age: Origins
I scooped up Dragon Age during the big Steam sale and I’ve already sunk probably 30 hours into. What’s most amazing about that is that I’m sure I still have a long way to go before I can finish this game. Only Bioware can get away with that. Anyone else that tried to make an old school RPG like this today would either make it too inaccessible or too easy for someone like me. Bioware somehow managed to hit the mark in between those two extremes, creating an addictive RPG that is hard, but totally reasonable. My only real problem with the game is that the conversations, a hallmark of Bioware products, sometimes seem endless. I just wanna kill some dudes, you know? If you’ve got a gaming capable PC, I really recommend you pick this one up, even if you don’t have that Baldur’s Gate history.

7. The Beatles: Rock Band
It’s kind of a miracle that this game could get made. The Beatles still don’t have their music on iTunes. But this game isn’t just Rock Band with Beatles songs, it’s a complete Beatles experience. I love the pseudo-documentary approach to the story mode. The amount of unique content on display is pretty staggering. The visual style is truly great. But what really makes this game work are vocal harmonies. You just can’t beat three people trying to play instruments and sing at the same time. It’s hilarious, challenging, addictive. Everything you look for in a video game. I hope some of these features some how end up in regular Rock Band. My only real problem with the game is the band choice. I mean, come on, The Beatles? What are we a million years old? We need a band that’s actually good at music, you know, like Green Day.

6. inFAMOUS
You gotta love the old PlayStation-exclusive developers. Insomniac hit it big with the Resistance series and Ratchet & Clank has taken on a new life on the PS3. The Crash Bandicoot guys are blowing everyone away with the Uncharted series. Now finally the Sly Cooper put out there first Cell-powered game, inFAMOUS. Despite it’s ridiculous title capitalization, this game is a triumph in regards to tight controls. The leveling of powers is really fun too. Oh, and it’s cool how the city changes according to your alignment. That reminds me, the story is pretty interesting too, for that comic book style. Speaking of style, the game looks really good too. Wow, that’s just about every aspect of this game. There’s gotta be something to complain about… Uh, that Zeke guy sucks.

5. Red Fation: Guerilla
For as long as man has wielded tools, he has known one thing: it’s fun to break shit. Red Faction: Guerilla is the best game on the destruction front. Let’s say you see a building and you don’t like it. That fucker’s gotta come down. Well, you could cover it with mines and blow it up. Or you could drive your Mars truck into it, letting it crumble down on you. Or you could go old school and tear that mofo down yourself with your badass sledgehammer. The choice is yours. I was never that interested in the Red Faction series, but hot damn is this is good game. As far as sandbox games, this is one of my favorites. Just thinking about it makes me want to go boot the game up right now. I’m sure some of Mars is still standing, and I want to do something about that.

4. Batman: Arkham Asylum
Holy shit, Batman. You’re in a good game. A really good game, actually. From beginning to end, Arkham Asylum is everything that playing as Batman always should have been. He is confident, in control, and has a plan. He’s not locked in a room full of goons, there locked in a room with him. The stealth is actually fun, something I don’t think I’ve ever written before. Combat is great too, it’s so fluid. Using Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill was a stroke of genius, they breathe a lot of life into their characters. The Riddler Easter eggs are a nice addition too. The stealth and combat challenges are a great way to keep you entertained well after you’ve completed the main adventure. Definitely a must play for anyone who has ever liked the Batman.

3. Assassin’s Creed 2
The first Assassin’s Creed was neat looking, played pretty well, but got repetitive. With the sequel, Ubisoft addressed all the problems they had and through in a bunch of new stuff too, resulting in one of the best games I played all year. The thrill of stalking your target and pouncing on them at the right moment is incredible. The game is a ton of fun to play, but more than that, the star of the show is Renaissance Italy. Very rarely are game worlds infused with so much life, and for this setting to be historical and one we don’t see that often just makes it that much more of an achievement. Assassin’s Creed 2 is packed with content, and I was eager to get all of it that I could. Now that is the mark of a truly great game.

2. Borderlands
I’ve beaten Borderlands twice. It’s not a short game. I played through it on Xbox, bought it on PC, played through it again. I’m working on my third campaign. That is how addictive the Diablo-style gameplay can be when used correctly. It is here. That it is combined with solid FPS combat creates an experience that is sublime. You are always progressing. You’re gaining XP, leveling weapon skill, and picking up loot. That makes Borderlands a hard game to put down. I love its sense of humor. The visual style is really striking and works well with the kind of game it is. But it’s the loot that keeps me coming back, the “bajillions” of guns, the fancy shields, the helpful class mods. Borderlands is the game I spent the most time with last year, and it looks like I’ll be spending even more with it in 2010.

1. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Remember in Raiders of the Lost Ark that sequence when Indy is chasing that caravan of Nazi trucks? Uncharted 2 has a level like that. Except Drake’s in Tibet. And he has to keep jumping between trucks, because they keep getting blown up. This is just one of the dozens of ridiculous, incredible sequences that you actually get to play through in Uncharted 2. Naughty Dog fixed everything that was wrong the first game in the series. I’m just gonna come out and say it: this is my favorite story in video games right now. It’s probably the best looking game that’s out now too. And it’s got a great multiplayer mode that Nancy and I have gotten to delve a little into and I can’t wait to revisit once he gets a little farther into the game. Uncharted 2 is reason enough to own a PS3, and it’s definitely my 2009 game of the year.

Sean’s Top Ten Video Games of the ’00s

So the last decade was pretty good for video games. We didn’t really get that much of a technological leap, we are still looking at pixels after all. Beautiful, high definition pixels. But online gameplay and distribution came to prominence, the Wii was interesting, and the medium as a whole became one of the biggest of them all. Here are my ten favorite games.

Honorable Mentions
Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009)
Mass Effect (2007)
Bioshock (2007)
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 (2001)
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2003)
Super Mario Galaxy (2007)

10. Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001)
Yo dude, Kirby’s my guy. I’ve heard things like this said. That’s because Super Smash Bros. Melee was such an amazingly good multiplayer game, that I’ve been playing it at gettogethers from New Year’s Eve 2001 right on through college. I don’t think you can beat that. Nintendo tried with Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which added new characters and gameplay tweaks, but that great game has never been able to capture players like Melee. The simplicity and accessibility of the game’s controls hide it’s amazing depth. There are people out there who actually do play Fox only, Final Destination, no items. They worry about tiers and other complex issues. That’s awesome. It’s ridiculous, but those people are having more fun than anyone else. Oh, and just to piss those people off, I like to press up to jump. Deal with it.

9. Metroid Prime (2002)
Talk about immersion. In Metroid Prime, you are Samus Aran. You are alone on an alien world, stripped of your precious gear, and faced with overcoming an army of space pirates featuring a gargantuan robotic pterodactyl named after the heroine of the Alien series. This game remains the king of first person platforming, and it’s pretty outstanding how well it plays given the general jankiness of the GameCube controller. It is so fun to look around in this game, scan some stuff and look for hidden treasures. Yes, it all eventually ends with you doing way to much backtracking, but I’ll allow it. Some games I get stuck and just move on. I tried to do that with Metroid Prime, but I could not let it go. This game is just too good.

8. Halo: Combat Evolved (2001)
First person shooters only work on computers. The precision they require can only be delivered by a mouse and keyboard. This is what we used to think. Halo was a game-changer. The controls were so tight and the multiplayer so ingeniously crafted that it’s not too surprising that by 2009, first person shooters are the biggest genre in gaming and almost all are developed with consoles in mind. I remember what really did it for me was the vehicles. Being able to just hop into a Warthog and run fools over was so fun. In fact, this game is so fun we’re still playing it every once in a while today. Because of infinite grenades. Glorious, infinite burning plasma grenades.

7. Shadow of the Colossus (2005)
If games are indeed art, and they are, this is one of the titles that helps prove that point. You play as the wanderer, there’s some chick who seems ill, you’ve got an awesome horse, and that’s about the whole story. The wanderer sets out into these beautiful landscapes to kill these colossi, who seem like terrible beasts but it still feels really wrong when you kill them. Yes, there are flaws in this game. The art style is gorgeous, but the graphics are technically somewhat lacking. The controls aren’t perfect. Sometimes you can end up frustrated and confused. But those are really minor complaints when you’re talking about one of the most emotionally powerful games I’ve ever played. There are moments that just blew me away when I first played through this PS2 classic. If you can, I really recommend you spend the time to go all the way through Shadow of the Colossus.

6. Resident Evil 4 (2005)
I never liked the Resident Evil series. The controls weren’t that good and frankly survival horror has always been one of the least appealing genres of games. That all changed with RE4. The game revolutionized third person shooting with its ingenious run-and-gun gameplay. Big dudes slightly off center? Shenmue-style quicktime events in cinematics? Yeah, this game came up with that. The combat is so thrilling because of the intentionally imposed limitations on ammo and movement, combined with the games creepy atmosphere and unsettling enemies. And let’s not forget, chainsaw controller. My biggest problem with Reisdent Evil 5 was that there was no way it could live up to its successor. Which, in the grand scheme of things, is a pretty good problem to have.

5. World of Warcraft (2004)
Something has to be said for the incredible investment of time and money that World of Warcraft is able to demand from its players. And that is that the game is really good. Not only was it well-made, but the amount of support Blizzard has given the game over the past 5 years has been incredible. Two expansion packs along with an almost constant stream of patches have balanced and rebalanced the game into something almost completely different from what it originally was. I remember when they added weather, threatened to remove ammunition, and lowered mount level caps. I last quit the game back in the fall, but I’ll probably get pulled back in around Cataclysm’s release. I don’t really want to keep playing, it just evolves into a need over time. I believe that’s called an addiction.

4. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (2009)
It is a little scary putting a three month old game on a best of the decade list. But when you have such an exceptional game, you have to give credit where credit’s due. Graphically, it’s just about peerless. Not only is the game great to look at still, but there are so many incidental animations that watching the game is like watching a terrific movie. The acting is great, there’s a reason Nolan North is the reigning king of voice actors. The gameplay is so good you’ll be amazed that you are actually controlling Drake in these crazy scenes. And there are so many crazy scenes. Calling this the most cinematic game I’ve ever played still doesn’t really do it justice, since, you know, it’s a video game, not a movie.

3. Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (2002)
The decade was marked by two outstanding Star Wars game franchises, Jedi Knight and Knights of the Old Republic. Well, Rogue Squadron was no slouch either. Force Unleashed was pretty fun too. Anyway, there’s no game I’ve come back to more frequently than Jedi Outcast. I’ve beaten it dozens of times. Played countless mods. Just a couple days ago, when I couldn’t find my disc, I bought the game again on Steam. Jedi Outcast is just a game I can’t get enough of. Sure, Jedi Academy is an improvement on this game, but it sacrifices a great character and story to get that. There’s something that’s so thrilling about finally getting that lightsaber. I have so many memories of playing this game that I’m surprised it’s not even higher on this list.

2. The Orange Box (2007)
I thought of going with Half-Life 2, since that game did so much for stories in first person shooters. But at the end of the day, you could argue that game is indeed just a really good FPS. The Orange Box transcends that. When it was released, it instantly became the best deal in video games. Episode 2‘s campaign might have been on the short side, but it still packed some of the best action and story sequences of the entire Half-Life saga. Team Fortress 2 is an outstanding multiplayer game with a fantastic visual style and great sense of humor. The fact that it is updated so frequently that the game today is totally different from when it first came out helps too. Then there’s Portal, which is simply one of the greatest games that has ever been made. Put it all together and The Orange Box is undeniable.

1. Rock Band 2 (2008)
While it can be argued that The Beatles: Rock Band offers a better, and possibly more important, experience, I think the undeniable pinnacle of not only the Rock Band series but the rhythm game genre is Rock Band 2. They made vast improvements over the first Rock Band game, increasing the ease in joining into a game, sorting songs, and gameplay modes. Couple that with Harmonix’s knack for charting songs and their incredible dedication to DLC and you have what I think is the quintessential experience of the decade. What could better sum up the aughts than spending hundreds of dollars on DLC to play songs on tiny, plastic instruments?