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In the spirit of Christmas, I'd like to continue making you question my judgment, as I'm sure I've been doing over the past month. First, I revealed my top ten films of the 2000s. Next, it was the top ten TV shows. Though I highlighted some movies that I find overrated earlier this year, I wanted to end 2009 on something of a high note, taking a look at some truly underrated movies of the 2000s. The decade is being acknowledged in many venues, and in many ways, but most people are worried about creating the top-ten lists of the decade, as opposed to paying attention to movies that didn't get so much when they were first released.

Last week, I named five movies from 2000 to 2004, one for each year, that are still very underrated. As a quick refresher, here's the main information from last week's A-List. For 2000, I chose Unbreakable. For 2001, Ghost World was my pick. For 2002, I put the spotlight on Insomnia. For 2003, I beat the drum for Big Fish. For 2004, I probably went out furthest on the crazy ledge with Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. I can't guarantee that none of this week's picks, which chronicle 2005 to 2009, won't make you roll your eyes to the skies and wonder what the hell is wrong with me; of course, you may completely agree with me, which is always encouraged. I'll keep a positive attitude, as we go into this week's A-List.

2005: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang

There was a time, a long, long time, when Robert Downey Jr.'s name in a movie didn't automatically mean it would be a hit. Before May of 2008, in fact, Downey, Jr. was considered a unique character actor whose checkered past would probably hamper him if he ever wanted to be a star. And then the one-two punch of Iron Man and Tropic Thunder, the latter of which garnered the actor a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, came along and changed his life. This week, Downey is headlining the newest version of Sherlock Holmes; next May, he'll be donning the suit once again as Tony Stark in Iron Man 2. In 2005, though, he was content to be the unreliable yet completely self-aware and self-conscious narrator and protagonist of Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, alongside Val Kilmer and Michelle Monaghan.

The film was something of a return for Shane Black, who wrote and directed. Black was a hotshot screenwriter in the late-1980s, having written Lethal Weapon, Lethal Weapon 2, and The Last Boy Scout, among others. Once Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, a neo-noir/meta-buddy comedy, came out in late 2005, Black had all but gone AWOL. Though he's not yet returned to the big screen, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang is a sly and witty examination of Los Angeles culture and deconstruction of film noir. As the too-fast-for-his-own-good criminal Harry, Downey is unpredictable and at his jittery best. Kilmer plays a private investigator who ends up helping Harry in his first acting role and solving a murder mystery along the way. Monaghan, in one of her first big roles, plays the romantic lead, aptly keeping up with Downey's fast pace. Hopefully, now that Downey is a huge star, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang will get a new and more appreciative audience.

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