Top 10 of 2009

Here we are again. At the end of another long year in film. The year may have ended in January, but I give myself an extra month to see the films that don't get released near me until January. This year was pretty good for the movie world, and there are a few on my list that I might love even more later on. I can say, though, that this list has 10 movies I would have no problem sitting down and watching again. The quality wasn't as high, but the entertainment value was still there.

10. Inglourious Basterds

Dir. Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino finally released his much-delayed sixth film (if you count Kill Bill as one) and proved, once again, why he's so damn talented. It's a film that runs 150 minutes and is largely free of violence, relying on words to be the driving force. Brad Pitt stars as Lt. Aldo Raine, who leads a group of jews through Nazi land killing Nazis Apache-style. The violence is gruesome but brief, and Tarantino builds the suspense the old fashioned way: with characters, situation, and an abundance of dialogue. Melanie Laurent stars as Shosanna, the jewish girl who escapes execution to own a movie theater that hosts the premiere of the latest Nazi propaganda drivel. The film deserved the SAG award it won for Best Ensemble, because it really is an ensemble piece and no one character is the star. Brad Pitt is in maybe a third of the film. And it gives us one of the best villains of all time, Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz), who makes milk and strudel terrifying.

9. Up in the Air

Dir. Jason Reitman

Jason Reitman has only made three feature movies in his career, and so far I have featured all three on my top 10 lists of their respected years. While this isn't his funniest movie (Thank You For Smoking still holds that title), it is definitely his best, a rich blend of comedy and drama, set against the backdrop of our current economic struggle. George Clooney is Ryan Bingham, who works for a company that loans him out to other companies to handle their layoffs. And business is never better then during this economic hardship. He prefers to be alone, but must show the ropes to an up and coming Cornell grad with an idea of how to fire people most cost-effectively. Clooney's character also dreams of reaching 10,000,000 frequent flyer miles. It's a movie with a lot of ideas that successfully balances all of them, and seems to strike a true chord. In the times we live in, something like this could not be more welcome.

8. Up

Dir. Pete Doctor

For the fourth year in a row, Pixar continues to rank on my list. Up is as spectacular as Wall•E (2008) or Ratatouille (2007), and is more of a throwback to silly children's entertainment. It opens with a five-minute sequence that beautifully says so much about life, love, and loss without a single word of dialogue that will bring you near to tears, and then embarks as a safer, more conventional adventure as geezer Carl Fredricksen lifts his house into the air and sets off to South America with Junior Explorer Russell in tow. Doug, the talking dog, is definitely a winner and everyone sees their dog personified in Doug, but the rest of the talking dogs, while entertaining, are boring, and so is the villain, an old explorer who has spent his life searching for some rare bird. Few Pixar movies have true villains (A Bug's Life, Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., and The Incredibles all have villains) but at least they are interesting. Still, Up will take you away on a grand adventure for the young and the old, and is still a worthy addition to the Pixar canon.

7. Goodbye Solo

Dir. Ramin Bahrani

Ramin Bahrani is another director who supposedly has never made a bad film. I haven't seen Man Push Cart or Chop Shop, but I have seen Goodbye Solo, and this film is one of pure beauty. Solo is a cab driver somewhere in a small North Carolina town who picks up an old man who requests to be taken to certain location. Solo becomes fascinated with the old man, and soon begins driving him everywhere and trying to befriend him, suspecting the old man of wanting to commit suicide. It's a beautiful tale of two very different people and two very different points in life coming together, and Bahrani has a mastery of moving his film along at just the right pace. The performances are also fantastic, as Souleymane Sy Savane radiates as Solo and Red West grumbles as William. The film has a perfect ending, and is really one of the rare joys of the year.

6. The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans

Dir. Werner Herzog

From a film of pure beauty to one that is all kinds of wrong, Bad Lieutenant is a remake of an early 90s film of nearly the same name. But if you are going to remake something, Werner Herzog is the man to do it, putting his unique spin on culture and life. Nicolas Cage has seldom been better as Terence McDonaugh, a New Orleans cop who gets promoted to Lieutenant as he suffers a chronic back pain that leads him to become a massive druggie. Cage infuses his character with a mix of madness and strange rationality, and the movie works because you believe him for every moment of the film. Two scenes will enter the film lexicon, one involving iguanas, the other involving a dancing soul. The movie is unhinged, much like Cage's character, and keeps getting more and more outrageous. Never have I seen a film that made me root for a more obviously wrong character, but this one does it superbly.

5. Tokyo Sonata

Dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Now back to a film that isn't necessarily beautiful, but definitely deserves to be seen in its own right. Tokyo Sonata tells the tale of a middle-class Japanese family that slowly begins to disintegrate, as the father loses his job and can't muster the courage to tell his family, and his youngest son begins exploring his interest in music. It's a tale of roles and where we fit in our society, which seems to be a timeless theme. The father pretends to go to work, and instead meets a fellow unemployee who teaches him the habit of looking important while really being without pay. The film's third act features a rather odd device, as all the characters hit their climax, but it is brought back by a beautifully done piano solo of Claude Debussy's "Claire de Lune," which leaves you sitting in the theater long after the credits have roled.

4. A Serious Man

Dir. Joel & Ethan Coen

A Serious Man was a movie that didn't go down easy on my initial viewing. As soon as it ended and the credits rolled, I sat there with a definite wtf expression on my face. But as the hours passed and I pondered the movie, I realized just how good it was. Essentially it is an adaptation of the Book of Job set in a Minnesota suburb in the 1960s. Michael Stuhlbarg is Larry Gopnik, a college professor who receives a bribe from a failing student, and who returns home to find his wife seeking a divorce for no apparent reason. Everything happens out of the blue, and more and more bad shit keeps happening to Larry. The film is also peppered with strange folk tales, one about a dentist who finds Hebrew on a patient's teeth and tries to investigate the meaning of it. The rabbi who is telling this story suddenly stops, and Gopnik sits there saying, "Why did you tell me that?" People will feel the same way about the movie in general, and that is more or less the point, but it still stands as one of the Coen's best works.

3. Gake no ue nonyo (Ponyo)

Dir. Hayao Miyazaki

Miyazaki is a master of animation and storytelling; his sure hand always guides a project successfully to a finish, and no one seems to have more imagination or balls then he does. Ponyo is adapted from The Little Mermaid (the Hans Christian Andersen story), but it takes that story and makes it so much more innocent and pure. Ponyo is a little fish of some kind who breaks free of her father's rule, and becomes friends with Sosuke. She transforms into a human, slowly, and her breach of the elements causes massive flooding and crazy storm weather to abound. The movie is about the pure joy of being a child, as embodied by Sosuke and Ponyo. The movie has pure exhilarating moments as Ponyo runs across fish waves, and Ponyo makes Sosuke's little toy boat large enough for them to go explore the flooded town. I saw the American voiced version, which is miscast (the kids are too old and Liam Neeson doesn't ring true), and it features the most prime example of a great, cute kid's song being taken and run through the Disney shitmill to create a bastardized Ponyo song (sung by young Cyrus and Jonas). I can't wait to really see the movie in it's original Japanese form, but even some bad voice acting can't keep this movie from being truly spectacular.

2. The Hurt Locker

Dir. Kathryn Bigelow

The Hurt Locker is the first Iraq war movie I have seen that is actually frickin' amazing. This is largely in part due to the fact that it is about the men fighting in the service, and doesn't meditate on why we are there or what we are doing there. The soldiers are there doing what they are ordered, and this film follows one particular bomb defusing nut, SFC William James (Jeremy Renner) and the various bombs he defuses. This is another prime example of tension and suspense that exists because we care about the characters, we care about the situation, and this is also Hitchcock's bomb theory fully embodied into an entire movie. Every bomb-defusion is wrought with tension, as are the various other activities. The cast is uniformly terrific, with Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty as the other two main soldiers of the unit. This movie is right now in a heated battle with Avatar for Best Picture, while Avatar is a fine film, it is nowhere near as awesome as this one. Kathryn Bigelow deserves the Oscar, and this deserves Best Picture. It's obviously not my favorite of the year, but it is number two, and that's pretty damn good.

1. Where the Wild Things Are

Dir. Spike Jonze

While Ponyo is about the joy of childhood, Where the Wild Things Are is about the pain and misunderstanding of being a child. It takes place at that time in a child's life when imagination is venturing out the door and real adult responsibilities begin to set in. It opens with my favorite moment of the year, as young Max (Max Records) barrels down the stairs in pure, unfiltered childhood energy. He escapes into his world where the Wild Things roam, played by a variety of voice actors including James Gandolfini, Chris Cooper, and Lauren Ambrose, and becomes associated with their world. Each of the Wild Things represent an aspect of Max's life, and are beautifully realized as costumes and computer generated images. Rather then creating them in Post, Spike Jonze has real fur and blood characters there the entire time, and animates their face. More so then anything, this movie reminded me of my youth, when I would enter my own worlds and shut the rest out. Many parents claimed that this movie was too scary for children, and I agree kids under 7 may not like it, but kids from 8 - 10 get it, and the rest of us can relate. It's not a movie for kids, it's a movie about kids, and they have as many emotional issues as adults, they are just personified in their imagination. Max Records is also terrific as young Max, who is a little brat at times, but we all were. But I mostly fell in love with the Wild Things, and there crazy world where danger always lurks, but if you have your friends, you'll be just fine.

I like to honor more then just ten films. Those were my ranked favorites, but there are 20 more that were also pretty good. Here they are, alphabetically:

Avatar

Crazy Heart

An Education

Fantastic Mr. Fox

(500) Days of Summer

Food, Inc.

The Girlfriend Experience

In the Loop

The White Ribbon

World's Greatest Dad

In addition, I would like to host my own impromptu awards. Here are my picks for Best Director, Actor, and the like:

Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker

Runner-up: Spike Jonze, Where the Wild Things Are

Best Actor: Nicolas Cage, The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans

Runner-up: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart

Best Actress: Carey Mulligan, An Education

Runner-up: Gabourey Sidibe, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire

Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Runner-up: Peter Capaldi, In the Loop

Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire

Runner-up: Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air

Best Screenplay: Inglourious Basterds

Runner-up: A Serious Man

And of course, no year review would be complete without a round-up of the worst this year had to offer. In this final section, I pick the most overrated movie and reveal the 5 worst of the year.

Most Overrated Movie: District 9

5 Worst of the Year:

5. Watchmen

Dir. Zack Snyder

Suposed to be an original take on the superhero story, based off of an excellent graphic novel. It has the best opening titles sequence of the year, no doubt, but with mostly uncompelling characters, this one falls FAAAAAR short.

4. Antichrist

Dir. Lars von Trier

It's just brutal for the sake of brutalities sake. It features some gorgeous cinematography, and clearly has an interesting message, but von Trier is so full of himself that the movie becomes a crazy misogynistic tale, though the roles are reversed briefly. Still, got to give Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg kudos for being courageous enough to try something like this.

3. Terminator Salvation

Dir. McG

Pure, pure shit. The worst of the Terminator films. Shit blows up, things happen, and Christian Bale is probably in one of his worst roles as John Connor. Mr. Avatar Sam Worthington shows up here as a robot thing, but the movie is dramatically empty, and the story is pointless. I hope there won't be too many more of these.

2. Gamer

Dir. Neveldine/Taylor

Another film that takes flashy coolness of substance, Gamer tries to have a cool message about corporations in the evil future and selling your body for money and blah blah blah, but really it's brainless thrill ride, with not thrills. Michael C. Hall is pretty awesome, and Gerard Butler is terrible as always. It must be in his contract to star in shitty movies.

1. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Dir. Michael Bay

Really, I have wasted enough breath on this movie. Definitely one of the worst pieces of shit I have ever seen. Mindless, racist, offensive, it violates every rule of the make a good movie book. I won't be back for Transformers 3, thank you very much.

AND THAT'S IT! 2010 awaits with more interesting, exciting movies. I can't wait to see everything that is in store for us this year, and to kick off a whole new decade! LET THE MOVIES COMMENCE!

#2: Bikur Ha-Tizmoret (2007)

This little gem of a film was a surprise find for me. I heard about it, was interested in it, but had no idea how much it would impact me or make me feel. The movie is a great meditation on the power of silence, and how much stronger it can be when utilized effectively. The movie is the simple story of an Egyptian Police Band that gets off in the wrong city on their way to a performance and have to spend the night in the little town, with all its residents.

The relationship is between the Arabs and the Egyptians, which is surprisingly free of any tension. Instead, these strangers treat each other as individuals and not as strange stereotypes. The group breaks off into segments, staying with various town folk, and have varying but exciting adventures. Tawfiq (Sasson Gabai), the leader of the Band, is a reserved, quiet fellow, and Dina (Ronit Elkabetz) is the woman who tries to break his stern exterior.

A younger member of the Band goes out with younger members of the town and in one brilliant choreographed scene, instructs a fellow on how to woo a female. A random citizen stands by a telephone booth and awaits the call of his girlfriend, his long lost love. The are so many subtle touches, and the movie never feels overdone or overworked. By the time you get to the end, and Tawfiq and his merry band pipe out a wonderful tune, you know you have seen an instant classic.

This film was not nominated for the Academy Award's Best Foreign Language Film award; it was disqualified because the Academy found that over 50% of the movie's dialogue was in English. That is ridiculous in my mind; what should matter is where the movie comes from, and how good it is, not how much of it is in English. I know the category is "Foreign Language Film," but the movie was made by a Foreign Language Country. Isn't that enough? All that complaining aside as to why this was snubbed, The Band's Visit is a criminally underseen movie, but one that will leave quite satisfied and, well, happy.

#3: United 93 (2006)

It goes without saying that the ultimate defining moment of this decade will be September 11th, 2001. It was a watershed date that changed everything about our perceptions of international relations and safety on the home front, the first time American soil had been attacked since December 7th, 1941. Many of you will probably scorn me for making United 93 my number three pick for the decade, claiming that it is too easy a pick and only selected because of its shock value.

Truth be told, United 93 is a very respectful retelling of the events of that day, as we surmise they happened. The movie plays out, more or less, in real time, as the planes hit the trade center and the people on the fated flight quickly realize what is going on. The movie jumps around, from the plane, to the numerous air traffic controllers trying to figure out what is going on. The movie is careful not to exploit its subject matter, presenting the information from the perspective of what we knew that day. It knows nothing more and nothing less.

The movie also doesn't develop any of the passengers on board the Flight, and we observe them as if we too were a passenger on that flight. You really don't get to know people on your flights too well, and no unnecessary backstory is given to anyone. There are no Hollywood actors, and many of the air traffic controllers are portrayed by their real life counterparts. Director Paul Greengrass, who is known for the last two Bourne films, could have easily fallen into action movie clichés, but doesn't. These people are not action heroes, but they are heroes in their own rights, especially the passengers on the plane who fought the terrorists and brought the plane down. Even the terrorists are presented with a sliver of humanity, which is a risky thing for Greengrass to do. It reminds us that not everything is clearly black or white, and no one is truly evil.

I understand many people didn't see this movie because they felt it was too soon for Hollywood to be making 9/11 movies, and I respect people's decisions to not see the film. It is a tough experience, and certainly not entertaining by any stretch of the imagination. But it accurately captures a moment in history, the attitude, the confusion, the sadness, and will be something for our grandchildren and their grandchildren to watch and really understand what happened that fateful day in September.

#4: Ratatouille (2007)

Of the many things we'll look back on this decade and analyze, Pixar's reign of supremacy over all American animation will surely be near the top. The studio came into their own this decade, giving us Monsters, Inc (2001), Finding Nemo (2003), The Incredibles (2004), Cars (2006), Ratatouille (2007), Wall•E (2008) and Up (2009). While no, not all of those titles are spectacular, they are still really good, and most studios dream of putting out this many quality animated films in a decade. Maybe Pixar's golden era is over, as it really was started by 1999's Toy Story 2, and next summer we will get Toy Story 3. As long as John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and Pete Doctor maintain control, Pixar should continue to produce excellent films.

But Ratatouille tops the list because it is simply the most unexpected Pixar film of the bunch. True, saying Ratatouille is better then Wall•E or Finding Nemo is basically saying which exotic chocolate you prefer; they all are exquisite. And if that lame food analogy doesn't convince you, well, I just simply have to say that whenever Ratatouille pops up on the screen I am hypnotized and can't pull away. The movie sweeps me away into its world of talking animals that can't talk to humans. It's rooted in reality while still maintaining a cartoon perspective on everything. Remy (Patton Oswalt) communicates with the hapless Linguini (Lou Romano) by pulling on his hair and controlling his actions in the kitchen.

Ratatouille is also bolstered by a strong voice cast, which includes Jeneane Garofalo, Ian Holm, and Peter O'Toole as a terrifying food critic who, "...loves food...if I don't love it, I don't swallow." The story is about a rat who loves food, but obviously rats in the kitchen are a bad thing. And when a horde of rats engulf a kitchen and begin preparing dinner for unaware customers, it still is pretty gross, but simultaneously hilarious. And what really makes this movie work is it doesn't exist in a fairy tale land where everything turns out good; a health inspector sees all the rats, and the famed restaurant is closed. Many animators would have kept the health inspector subplot out, but this added touch of reality does wonders for the movie.

That, and an excellent speech by Peter O'Toole's character, Anton Ego, really catapult this movie far and above most animated movies. It is a message I hope hit home with many critics, because it is basically director Brad Bird's way of commenting on how easy it is to laugh a scorn at something someone has put their heart and soul into creating. Bird also directed The Incredibles and last decade's The Iron Giant (criminally underrated). He is a fine storyteller, and I look forward to his new live action film due out in the near future. For now, I leave you with Ego's famous speech at the end of the movie:

"In many ways the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that in the grand scheme of things the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful then our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and the defense of the new. The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations. The new need friends. Last night I experienced something new; an extraordinary meal from a singularly unexpected source. To say that both the meal and its maker have challenged my preconceptions about fine cooking is a gross understatement. They have rocked me to my core. In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau's famous motto: Anyone can cook. But I realize only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere. It is difficult to imagine more humble origins then those of the genius now cooking at Gusteau's, who is, in this critic's opinion, nothing less then the finest chef in France. I will be returning to Gusteau's soon, hungry for more." - Anton Ego

#5: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Another major talent I was exposed to this decade, and who really came into their own, was Charlie Kaufmann, the screenwriter. His Adaptation (2002) and this film both garnered Oscar Nominations (as did the past decade's Being John Malkovich) and he won for this film for Best Original Screenplay. And there really is no other way to put it, this really is one of the most original things I've seen.

Jim Carrey stars in what is quite possibly his best role, as Joel Barrish, a hapless man who falls for Clementine (Kate Winslet) and begins a romantic relationship with her. However, after they have a big fight, she has her memories of him erased, and so he, distraught, decides to have the same procedure performed on him. Slowly, throughout the erasing process, he realizes that there were plenty of good times with Clementine as well, and he wants to hold on to them.

This movie is directed by Michel Gondry, who certainly has a panache for visual artistry, but really is quite inept at developing his own stories (see The Science of Sleep). He co-wrote the story with Kaufmann, but it is Kaufmann's script that is the real star here. It is about love, and the message it is better to have love and lost then to not have loved at all rings loud as a bell here. But Kaufmann also illustrates how we are doomed to repeat the same mistakes if we don't learn from them. Not just from the Joel/Clementine bookend segment, but also with a great subplot involving Kirsten Dunst, Tom Wilkinson, Mark Ruffalo, and Elijah Wood (in his creepiest role ever). The film ends with a lack of finality, but affirms how powerful real relationships are, and how worth it they can be.

Kaufmann also went on to direct and write the ill-received Synecdoche, New York (2008), though I enjoyed that film immensely. True, I admit that Kaufmann went a little too far with that one, but I still enjoyed its dare, its willingness to break the mold. Any of Kaufmann's films are quite unlike something you have seen, though they definitely echo with famous tales of times past. One things for sure, I will be keeping my eye on him in the coming decades and eagerly await whatever he puts out there for us.

#6: 4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile (2007)

Moving on from a subtle, deft picture about life, to another subtle, but intensely painful and realistic look at abortions in 1980s Romania. The movie chronicles the woman whose abortion this is, and her friend who helps her through the horrific ordeal. Director Cristian Mungiu is a very patient director, and lets whole scenes play out for as long as they need to go.

The camera acts as a third person involved in this abortion, placing the viewer directly in the situation. Editing is spare, and this leaves the actors as the real stars, shaping their own performances and controlling the pace of the movie. In fact, there is one, painful, unbroken 8 1/2 minute shot at a dinner table, as the one girl must leave her female companion to attend a dinner, and Mungiu immerses us in her world, impatiently waiting for this rambunctious party to be over.

But more then the camera composition is how cold this movie feels. Really, once you get through this ordeal, how can you have emotion left? Yes, a fetus is shown in an extended shot, but even if that wasn't there I would still love that picture. That moment alone does not make or break the movie, but it does enhance the gravity of the situation.

To be sure this is an emotionally draining experience, and you won't leave with a grin or a smile. What you will leave with, though, is a sense of what enforcing basic human choices can do to people. I'm not going to make an argument about whether she was in the right to get that abortion, but I will argue that situations like this are the result of governments oppressing their people. More then the message, though, it's a damn fine exercise in nail-biting suspense.

#7: Yi yi (2000)

No one can really thoroughly explore the movies of this decade without, at one point or another, arriving at Yi Yi. As time pushes on we may have to recognize as one of the greatest films ever made, as Sight and Sound did by in 2002 (it was listed as one of the 10 greatest films from 1977 - 2002). My first time viewing this movie, I admittedly dozed off several times, but that was because I had had a tiring day, and not a reflection on the quality of the movie. A subsequent viewing confirmed what my friend had said: it was spectacular.

The movie is about life, it is about people, really living. They make choices not because the plot needs them to, but because they are motivated to. NJ, the protagonist, runs into a woman on an elevator, and simply stares at her saying, "Is it you?" They were once lovers, and he didn't show up one day. NJ is married, has a son, and the movie doesn't force his relationship with this new woman, it grows organically.

So do all the characters, from the mother-in-law, to the son, to his brother and his newly married life. All these characters exist in a practical, tangible universe and are motivated by real life choices. The movie runs 173 minutes, and not a moment of it feels wasted or too long. Edward Yang, the Taiwan director behind this film, has released several others but sadly we here in the States have no access to his other films. I hear his others are incredible too.

I really don't want to say too much more about this movie. It has to be experienced to be appreciated, to be understood. I heap praise on it, but do not raise it higher on my list because though I recognize its greatness, I have a special affinity with the rest of the movies here. Still, any cinephile owes it to themselves to check out this criminally under seen movie. You won't regret it.

#8: Tasogare Seibei (2002)

In this decade, I developed my true passion for movies, my true desire to become a filmmaker. The first major movie I made with my friends was a Samurai trilogy, and through making those movies, I began to see other movies about Samurais, including Kurosawa's great Shichinin no samurai (1954). By the year 2004 I was done with the movie, but The Twilight Samurai (Tasogare Seibei) was released in theaters, and I went with a friend to go see it.

The movie is not blades flashing, or endless gore, or anything that might lend itself to what we expect a samurai film to be today. It is more in the vein of the Kurosawa works of the 50s and 60s, and is a terrific, lyrical masterpiece of loneliness in 19th-century Japan. Hiroyuki Sanada plays Seibei, the samurai of the original title, whose wife has recently died, forcing him to spend his days raising his children. When the woman of his dreams divorces her husband, Seibei takes up the mantle of challenging him.

The movie is a prime example of doing very little with a lot, and is mostly a quiet film, punctuated by brief scenes of violence. There are two sword fights in the whole movie, and one lasts for maybe ten seconds. The movie isn't about the actions of the samurai, it is about how the man lives his life day to day. We are shown his family life, shown what he does to survive, and his resolve at picking up the sword again until he needs to. The movie also doesn't bury itself in mumbo jumbo about honor, the samurai's code, or any of that other stuff. It is simply the character, and what he deems is right.

This movie made a strong connection with me when I first saw it, and continues to resonant with me to this very day. It, along with Kurosawa's samurai films, take me back to the days when I was discovering my love for movies, and how I ate up every moment of those films. Twilight Samurai is a criminally underseen film, but I also enjoy that aspect of it. The few of us that have seen it can marvel in its glory and wonder. This movie was, more or less, my induction into Art House cinema.

#9: Minority Report (2002)

This decade saw a huge leap into the Sci-fi genre by mega-director Steven Spielberg, where 3 of the 7 movies he directed fell into that genre. The first was A.I. (2001), a movie he took over after Stanley Kubrick's death, and though it is a fairly decent movie, it suffers from Spielberg's touch. The second, Minority Report (2002), is named here as the ninth best of the decade. And finally was Spielberg's weakest attempt, War of the Worlds (2005).

Minority Report stands head and shoulders above anything else he made this decade (Catch Me if You Can (2002), The Terminal (2004), Munich (2005), and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)) as a great entertainment and a great story. It's one of the few movies that I can continuously pop into the DVD player and be completely mesmerized for, from the opening to the end.

Tom Cruise plays John Anderton, a futuristic cop in the year 2054, where new technology has allowed cops to catch murderers before they actually commit the crime. The movie sets us on the eve of the program, which is only in D.C., being taken national. Colin Farrell plays Danny Witwer, who is investigating the unit, dubbed Pre-Crime, to find any flaws. Of course, a flaw is discovered when Anderton himself is named as a future killer, though the doesn't know the man he is supposed to kill. Much of the rest of the time he is on the run.

The film is a terrific sci-fi parable of our times, and uses technology that scientists actually believe could exist in the future. The film has a desaturated look, and is quite frenetic during some of the crazier scenes. The overall Production Design is outstanding, from cars that run on autopilot to a really awesome sonic boom gun thingy. Everything about is great.

But what really makes the movie work is its mythology. The future is seen by three individuals, known as Pre-Cogs (Samantha Morton is one of them), who are kept in a water tank at all time and isolated from the cops. How they work, why they work, and why Agatha (Morton) got there is all compelling and really makes you want to know more about this world. Tom Cruise's character is given an admittedly somewhat hammy backstory (his son was taken at a public pool), but Spielberg thankfully never gives us any closure on that thread, which makes it more powerful and more true to life.

My roommate Ben brought up on interesting theory about the ending: when Anderton is eventually apprehended, he is put into Tim Blake Nelson's holding cell, and is he lowered into the catacombs, Nelson says, "All your dreams become reality." (something along those lines) After that, everything is in Anderton's head, as the person who set him up kills himself and dramatic improbable things happen.

Whether the ending is in Anderton's head or really happens is irrelevant to me; its still a thrilling conclusion that I love seeing played out again and again. What does matter is that Spielberg crafted one of the greatest entertainments of our time, and a movie I know will hold up for years and years to come.

#10: The Lord of the Rings (2001 - 2003)

If there's one thing we are going to remember this decade by, it's going to be the chart of the American blockbuster: from its heights as a Best Picture winner, to its fall after LOTR 3 won the top prize in 2003. Think about it, the last time an epic, big budget Hollywood movie won Best Picture was LOTR; since then, its been smaller budget pictures all around, with little box office.

I honor LOTR not because it simply won Best Picture, but because the film is also an amazing feat in filmmaking in general. This movie defined Super-deluxe DVDs, with each one detailing hours and hours of exhausting production. I myself only delved into the Fellowship's special features, but anyone who wants to get a very good idea of what kind of heart and suffering it takes to make a movie, this would be a good one to watch (also Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse).

LOTR details the struggles of young Hobbit Frodo (Elijah Wood) to destroy the Ring of Power before the evil Sauron can fully posses it and return to domination. He is aided by Gandalf the Grey/White (Ian McKellen), Sam (Sean Astin), Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies), among a wide host of other characters. After Part One, the movies separate into a sprawling saga of Frodo's quest to destroy the ring and Aragorn's quest to less interesting but still awesome and exciting things.

Probably one of the most impressive things about this movie is how wrong it could have gone; most movies dealing with ogres, orcs, elves, and the like are really lame and stupid, and the fantasy genre really ever breaking the mold is unheard of. Yet this movie rose head and shoulders above the rest, and though it is not without its flaws (Liv Tyler, for one, and the six endings of part 3), it still is a masterpiece of filmmaking.

For instance, watching the movies again last year, I was struck by how detailed and precise Peter Jackson, the director, was in keeping scale and frame of reference in mind. Though the Hobbits and Dwarf are played by actors who are average in height, camera trickery and little people are cleverly used to make the "normal" people seem like giants. Of course, now that you know to watch for it you realize the little people in the wide shots really aren't the actors, but it still works.

That, and the movie's perfection of the motion capture technology for the character of Gollum: even six years later, he seems as lifelike and convincing as when he first hit that screen to take the precious. There very few moments in history of true revolution in technology, but this was one, and it convinced James Cameron that computers were advanced enough for him to make Avatar.

The effects work because Jackson doesn't let them dominate the scenery, he uses it to enhance them. This is counter to George Lucas, who instead created most of the sets in his last two Star Wars pics digitally, on Green Screen. The majesty of the mountains, fields, and forests of New Zealand could not be replicated by a computer, and by seamlessly blending special effects with locations, the way they SHOULD be used, he creates a convincing Middle Earth.

And though the movie is long, and I myself have criticized it for its repeated battles, it can't be denied that the films, as a whole, together, are one solid, magnificent piece of filmmaking. True vision like that is hard to find in movies today.

My Top 10 of the 2000s: Introduction

Going back and reviewing an entire year is quite a hefty task; sometimes more then 200 movies can come out, and there is now way for any human to feasibly see them all (unless they are of course paid to see all those movies). Now, expand that to a decade, where there are thousands upon thousands of movies to take from all over the world.

Creating a top 10 list for any decade is impossible, for sure. I have a severe lack of seeing a lot of the international films that came out this year, especially some films Rainer has seen by Thailand filmmakers that sound incredible. It is quite a monumental task to make any list of ten movies (though Ebert has shattered this tradition and makes lists of twenty) that are supposed to represent the best of what the decade had to offer.

And what did come out this decade? Well, it can be remembered as the decade of the superhero movie, for sure, for it was Bryan Singer's X-Men (2000) that kindled the fire of the superhero franchise, and Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002) that brought the flames to a dull roar. Since then, we've had 3 Spider-Man movies, 4 X-Men movies, 1 Superman movie, 2 Batman movies, 2 Fantastic Four movies, 2 Punisher movies, graphic novel adaptations (Sin City, 300, and Watchmen), 1 Iron Man movie (next one due out in 2010), and 1 Daredevil movie, among countless others that I can't remember off the top of my head. 2007 was also the year of threes, with Spider-Man 3, Shrek 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Ocean's Thirteen, Rush Hour 3, The Bourne Ultimatum, and Resident Evil 3 all coming out in a four month period. Some fun things to remember.

In following Ebert's tradition, I have comprised a list of 20 films. Numbers 20 through 11 are unranked and listed alphabetically, but numbers 10 through 1 are ranked. I'll start by releasing that second list of 10, and then tomorrow will start with the unveiling of number 10 on my list. You may ask, "How are you ready to release a top 10 list, when so much of 2009 remains unseen by you?" I have been readily trying this past year to see the rest of the films from this decade, and now I fear that I will just be trying to find the next masterpiece to put on my list, and not pay attention to the movies at all. If something in the next couple of weeks does come out that needs, absolutely needs to make the best of the decade list, then I will modify it and update you all. But really, 2009 is going to get the shaft because you don't get enough time to take in these movies. I, however, have made the judgment, based on what is coming out, that nothing else could possibly crack my top 10.

And so, without further ado, numbers 11 through 20 (ranked alphabetically) of my best of the decade:

The Dark Knight (2008)

Entre les murs (The Class) (2008)

Kill Bill (2003 - 2004)

El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan's Labyrinth) (2006)

Memento (2000)

No Country For Old Men (2007)

Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Wall•E (2008)

Where the Wild Things Are (2009)

Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001)