Favorite Crime Dramas

On Friday one of the best crime dramas of 2010, "The Town," was released on DVD. I love the way writer-director-actor Ben Affleck put "The Town" together, and will certainly have it on my Top 10 list for the year.

That got me thinking about my favorite entries in the genre. I decided to continue my look at my favorite films by genre with a look at Crime Dramas. With these series, films only appear on one list. That means that if a film has appeared on another list, I removed it from contention. I try to assign films to the lists I feel fit best.

Here are my five favorite Crime Dramas in ascending order.

5. The Kingdom (2007)

This film, directed by Peter Berg, was largely overlooked. It was my third favorite film of 2007, and in fact all three of my favorite films from that year are on this list. Apparently 2007 was a good year for crime dramas. This film features an amazing cast — Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner, and Jason Bateman, among them — and an interesting, but heartbreaking story. I definitely had qualms with the message ascribed to the end of the film, but I love the action, the performances, the story, and the drama.

4. Gone Baby Gone (2007)

This was the No. 2 film on my list in 2007, Ben Affleck's feature film directorial debut. Affleck is a star behind the camera in this film — which had some of my favorite shots of 2007 — but it is his brother, Casey, who takes the lead in front of the camera. Casey Affleck headlines a strong cast, including Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, Michelle Monaghan, and Amy Ryan, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her work. This film, too, was largely overlooked by the awards committees, but I think it is actually Afflecks best film. I think the rich story — based on a Dennis Lehane novel, is better than the source material for "The Town."

3. LA Confidential (1997)

This film probably should have earned the Academy Award for Best Picture the year it was released. Instead, that honor went to "Titanic." This film has a great cast — Russell Crowe, Kevin Spacey, Guy Pearce, James Cromwell, Danny DeVitto, and Kim Basinger, who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. This crime drama is beautifully shot, beautifully, told, and gritty. It is that wonderful edge — buoyed by some great performances — that make this movie a classic.

2. No Country for Old Men (2007)

My favorite film of 2007, and probably one of my favorite films of all time. This movie won Best Picture, and for good reason. I have chronicled the moral elements of the film that intrigue me in previous posts and in my first round of Faith in Film, so I won't repeat that here, but I think this is one of the best films from the Coen Brothers. Great performances from Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones, and Javier Bardem, who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. This was also on my list for the best films of the first decade of the 21st Century.

1. Heat (1995)

Michael Mann's crime opus is probably the best of this genre. The cast — including Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Ted Levine, Val Kilmer, Wes Studi, Natalie Portman, Ashley Judd, Tom Sizemore, and Jon Voight — is perfect and the story flows well. Many don't realize this was actually Mann's second attempt at the story, having produced it as a TV movie called "LA Takedown" in 1989. Doubtless this film is superior in every way. This movie has several iconic scenes, with the most famous of all being the shoot out in the streets of Los Angeles that serves as the climax of this epic showdown between cops and robbers. For those looking for a good crime drama, "Heat" fits the bill.