17. Damsels in Distress
When Whit Stillman burst onto the scene in the early 90's, he was able to capture the aimlessness of well-to-do, high class, pretentious college students in the way Richard Linklater and Kevin Smith was able to capture the voices of the 90's slacker. He hasn't made a film since 1998's "The Last Days of Disco", and his latest features that Stillman sensibility that has been surely lacking in the past few years. His wit and dialogue is still clever; nobody writes horrible people without self-irony like Stillman does. And to top it all off with a dance number, this film is endearing, funny and entertaining - if not slight.
16. V/H/S
If one film genre needs to go, it's the found footage film. The constant shaky camera and the useless gimmick had worn out its welcome by the second "Paranormal Activity" film. And if any film was to put a death to it, it is "V/H/S"," an anthology film made up of six found footage shorts made by six different up and coming directors, the most famous being Ti West (who will appear later on the list). The shorts are all inventive and like all anthology films, there are bound to be some weaker ones and stronger ones. By giving these shorts to young and upcoming filmmakers, they were able to find inventive ways around the genre and to justify the use of a camera. Joe Swanberg's segment is probably the best of the anthology as he uses a webcam to document all the freak occurrences. But - as a warning - if you thought "Cloverfield" made you sick, avoid this film like the plague.