The 18 best films I've seen in the last 250. part 4

#14: Crank 2: High Voltage (2009)
You can't fault this movie for being slow or inconsistent.  It is what it is and you're either along for the ride or you're sitting in disgust.  Statham turns out another great action performance in a movie that could be viewed more as a stoner comedy than an action-adventure.  It manages to stay true to the original and surpasses it in every way possible.  The godzilla fight, the burning skin, the race track scene, the tongue/car boost, the talk show with Geri Halliwell.  It all comes together and takes the film to a rare place where it's self-referential, existential, and still endlessly entertaining.  Definitely not for everyone, definitely for me.  Hooray for excess to the nth degree!

#13: Wall-E (2008)
Pixar's most creative, thought-provoking, and touching film may be too slow for toddlers (but judging by DVD sales I don't think it was) but should be pitch-perfect for anyone else whose ticker is still ticking.  Wall-E is adorable and hilarious.  The movie takes amazingly unpredictable turns.  A friend of mine says it has the best love story in the last decade which is probably true.  Some people say it's too preachy, but seriously! It's a kids movie and kids will love it.  The preachiness is aimed at adults and it's really not that bad.  With the world being so green now, a few years from today it'll probably be seen as having a relatively tame message.  Bit of a spoiler here: I loved that the people in the movie have less personality than the robots.  I also loved the army of malfunctioning robots.  And watch how Wall-E puts on his tracks in the morning.  I love that he's not a morning person.
I laughed so hard I cried at "Presto", the animated short preceeding the movie.  All in all, a great theatrical experience that I hope Pixar revives in the future like it recently did with Toy Story and Toy Story 2.

#12: Synecdoche New York (2008)
You can read a previously posted review for this here.

#11: The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Hepburn, Stewart, and Grant are like the over-romantic, screwed up, alcoholic friends I never had.  The writing is top notch and the acting, especially Hepburn's, is a great fusion of screwball and realism.