The Ten Best Films of the Decade

A yeoman’s task, but one I’m up to. The only film that I could see cracking this sucker that I have yet to see is The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, but I probably won’t be able to until 2010, so we’ll see what happens there. Obviously, there are quite a few honorable mentions for a list like this, and I might give them their own list at some point. Also, I should mention that when I put together lists like this, I like to spread the love and actively refuse to give one writer or director multiple entries on the list (sorry, The Prestige, Christopher Nolan is already spoken for). So keep that in mind. And yes, Lord of the Rings did not make the list.

Without further ado……..

10. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006, Written and Directed by Guillermo Del Toro)

I wasn’t a fan of the Blade movies. Didn’t really like Hellboy the first time I saw it either. So when Pan’s Labyrinth was released, I didn’t let myself get caught up in the hype. Del Toro had yet to impress me. I rented it on a lark once the DVD hit the shelves, and now I understand what the big deal is. It’s a fiendishly original film from a visual perspective, and tells a wonderful story. I can say that Del Toro’s visuals might get a little samey (you see a lot of similar monsters in Hellboy II: The Golden Army, which I also still love), but as the first major time to take Del Toro seriously, I was blown away. It’s a challenging film in all aspects, but very rewarding for the patient viewer. I consider Del Toro a true filmmaker now, and this is the film that made it happen.

9. Spider-Man 2 (2004, Written by Alvin Sargent, Directed by Sam Raimi)

A hell of an achievement. They took all the good from Spider-Man and kicked it into overdrive, and it’s obvious that Raimi was having all kinds of fun making this movie. It breathes with life in every frame. It’s got a fantastic villain in Alfred Molina’s Dr. Octopus, and manages to deftly expand the Spider-Man universe. The story itself is basically flawless, and very much continues the overall story of Peter Parker. The action sequences are not overdone, and the entire train sequence still gives me chills. A true winner, and one of the best comic book films ever made.

8. High Fidelity (2000, Written by Scott Rosenberg, Steve Pink, John Cusack, and D.V. DeVincentis, Directed by Stephen Frears)

One of two films on this list that are love letters to music. Based on the Nick Hornby novel, High Fidelity is a guy’s romantic comedy. It’s certainly a comedy, Jack Black sees to that, and there are romantic elements, but it’s very much from the guy’s perspective. Which makes sense, because there are many times where Cusack’s Rob Gordon is kind of a dick to, well, everyone. Even still, it’s endearing as all hell and fiendishly clever. This is very much a monologue movie, with many scenes simply consisting of Cusack talking to the camera as he tries to reconnect with lost loves. It’s all written extraordinarily well, and manages to both idealize and denigrate the idea of working at a used record store at the same time. The music is king, and I love the bookend monologues that open and close the film.

7. I Heart Huckabees (2004, Written and Directed by David O. Russell)

A film with heavy philosophical themes mixed with a circus of the absurd. Jason Schwartzman and Mark Wahlberg are surrounded by a bunch of crazy characters as they try to combat their existential angst. Great performance by Jude Law, as you see him slowly succumb to the pressures of his bullshit lifestyle. Awesome score from Jon Brion. It’s also another movie with a fantastic opening monologue thanks to Schwartzman. Russell is excellent at this kind of movie (think Flirting With Disaster), and continues his hot streak with Huckabees.

6. The Incredibles (2004, Written and Directed by Brad Bird)

Pixar’s best film to date, and this will probably forever be the ultimate Fantastic Four movie. This is superheroes done right like we’ve never seen before. The Incredibles is vibrant. A great villain, a simple and effective story that sets everything in motion without bogging things down with origin stories, and a great hook to get you in the door all add up to make this the best animated film of the decade. I mean, Bomb Voyage? Awesome! I don’t really have much else to say other than the fact that this is the movie that makes me feel like a kid again. And that’s no bad thing.

5. Mulholland Drive (2001, Written and Directed by David Lynch)

You don’t go into a Lynch film expecting to know exactly what the hell is going on. If you do, you’re being silly, and you’re not going to figure things out any time soon. Mulholland Drive is no different. Do I know what it means? Not even close. Do I even want to know? Probably not. What I do know is that this is the film that made me fall in love with the acting ability of Naomi Watts. It’s full on David Lynch weirdness, and might be the most obscure of the films in his canon, but it’s wonderfully lush and incredibly unique in its execution. Half a television pilot, half a movie, all brilliant in its own freaky little way.

4. The Dark Knight (2008, Written by Christopher and Jonathan Nolan, Directed by Christopher Nolan)

The Dark Knight is not a superhero film. It’s a comic book movie, for sure, but I see no superheroes. What I do see is an inordinately dense, incredibly dark thriller that refuses to come anywhere near genre conventions for its two and a half hours of visceral emotion. Of course, we all know about Heath Ledger’s performance, and yes, it’s as good as advertised, but this film is ever so much more than one man’s movie to steal. Everything hits hard from every angle as Gotham self-destructs under the will of an insane criminal. It’s big, it’s epic, it’s suffocating, and it’s the best damned movie associated with a comic book character ever made. This is Christopher Nolan’s arrival as a true blue filmmaker to watch, and is an all time great.

3. The Fountain (2006, Written and Directed by Darren Aronofsky)

This is a polarizing film. Some hate it for being rushed and choppy, overly dramatic and designed to obscure. I see it as one of the greatest love stories ever told. Hugh Jackman’s attraction to Rachel Weisz through the centuries is captivating, and this is the film that made me realize that he is one of the actors I can always count on for a powerful performance. I’ve written about the score in a previous article on this site, and it’s a seamless piece of beauty that frames the action wonderfully. The cinematography is GORGEOUS. The emotion of the film is undeniable. Aronofsky’s films all deal with the trials and tribulations of obsession and addiction. Addiction to numbers in Pi. Addiction to drugs in Requiem for a Dream. Addiction to past fame and fortune in The Wrestler. The Fountain is about addiction to love (and no, I’m not trying to or gong to reference the song or Rhett Titus). And it’s beautiful to behold.

2. Almost Famous (2000, Written and Directed by Cameron Crowe)

The other musical love letter, though it’s more pronounced than High Fidelity. Patrick Fugit’s coming of age as a fifteen year old on the road with a middling rock band is a sight to behold. Jason Lee (making his second appearance on the list) has completely shed his Kevin Smith look and feel and come into his own as the vainglorious lead singer of Stillwater. Kate Hudson is adorable throughout, even as it all falls apart at the end of the movie. It beats with the heart of an undeniable love of music, which makes the whole film sing. Plus, it was my first exposure to Zooey Deschanel, who deftly out-adorables Kate Hudson in her few scenes.

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004, Written by Charlie Kaufmann, Directed by Michel Gondry)

Charlie Kaufmann films usually have some kind of crazy angle they’re coming from. Often times, as is the case with Adaptation and Being John Malkovich, the gimmick becomes the whole movie, and while these are excellent films, they still feel like they’re missing something. Eternal Sunshine is the total package. A wonderful gimmick that fits the story mixed with one of the greatest love stories ever told. The fact that the film contains multiple references to Friedrich Nietzsche and Tom Waits doesn’t hurt things, of course. But what’s important is that this is the best, most well rounded and fully realized script we’ve seen from Charlie Kaufmann, and Michel Gondry is up to the task of bringing the world to life. It would be tough to describe or think of the visuals of being inside a mind that is slowly being erased, but Gondry creates such a singular vision that remains constant through the film that it just works. This is also, of course, Jim Carrey’s all time best performance, and ranks quite high on the list for everyone else involved as well. This is not only head and shoulders above anything else released this decade, but it ranks up there on the top films of all time. Flawless in every single sense of the word. It’s all designed to reinforce itself. Even the simplicity of repeating the refrain of Beck’s version of “Everybody’s Got to Learn Sometime” reinforces the central theme of the movie (which I still think is a proof of Nietzsche’s eternal recurrence of the same, but that’s a topic for another day)

This post was written to the tune of The Beatles’ Rubber Soul

Heroes Week: The Brothers Gilliam

My DVD shelf is pretty large. That in itself is a bit of a misnomer, as it’s actually three separate DVD shelves at different parts of my room. It’s a pretty simple set up: one shelf for movies, one for TV shows, one for everything else (predominantly pro wrestling and concert films). I love movies. I love TV. I love collecting things. There are quite a few directors whose work I cherish above others. Christopher Nolan, Darren Aronofsky, David O. Russell, and so on, but none of them reach the caliber of one Terry Gilliam, the subject of day three of Heroes Week.

Gilliam obviously got his start in Monty Python. He’s probably the least known member of the Pythons in a way, considering that he was less of an on-air performer and more of a behind the scenes animator. The transition to film directing was rough at the start; it would be difficult for anyone to consider Jabberwocky a good film. What it did do was establish the kind of film you would expect to see from Gilliam in the future, with its surrealistic humor and imagery, as well as strong fantasy elements. And things were certainly uphill from there.

There have been hiccups along the way. The third film in his 1980’s unofficial trilogy, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen was a bit of a mess. The Brothers Grimm, while I enjoy it for the fun of the concept, is pretty weak. There are serious problems in many parts of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. However, when he’s on, he’s the best director on earth. Of this I am certain. No one has the enthusiasm of this man. That’s one of the best parts of his DVD commentaries. He cares so damned much.

I hope that some day we’ll be able to see his adaptation of Good Omens. He’s currently once again working on The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, and hopefully this time it will actually be finished. It’s a shame that a man who was plagued with so many production and studio problems (his war with Universal over Brazil is legendary, and subject of a pretty damned fantastic documentary on the pretty damned fantastic Criterion DVD release) could be so brilliant and yet so apparently fated to not make films. You can argue about how many of the problems are legitimately the fault of Mr. Gilliam himself, but I wish he would have been able to make more films over the past twenty years. It seemed almost fitting that Heath Ledger died when in the middle of making a Gilliam film (The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus), which nearly led to that film not being made either. Luckily, it has been completed and may or may not have a December release in the US. Exciting times to see a new Gilliam film. On to the top five.

Top Five Terry Gilliam Films

5. Lost in La Mancha (2002)

I am fully aware that this is cheating. No, Terry Gilliam did not direct this. He brought a documentary crew with him on his attempt to film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote to document the process (one would assume we would have seen something similar to The Hamster Factor from the Twelve Monkeys DVD release. The same crew was involved in the filming). Considering how horrendously the film fell apart, and that the documentarians were filming the whole process, they decided to go ahead and make the film about the destruction of the shoot. So many things go wrong so quickly that it almost seems like fantasy. It’s a fantastic documentary that’s also quite depressing at times considering how enjoyable the scenes that were completed looked, and how strong the concept of the film is. Hopefully the second go around will be more successful.

4. Time Bandits (1981)

The first of three Gilliam films from the 80’s that are considered an unofficial trilogy dealing with age, Time Bandits is the first real example of Gilliam as an honest to goodness filmmaker. Tons of cameos, a great art design chock full of childhood whimsy, and a really fun romp through a combination of situations featuring famous folks both historical and fictional (Ian Holm as Napoleon? John Cleese as Robin Hood? Sean Connery as Agamemnon? Awesome!). It’s a great film for everyone.

3. Twelve Monkeys (1995)

I saw La Jetee (the French film where Twelve Monkeys got its inspiration) when I was in college. I had seen Twelve Monkeys years before, but watching La Jetee certainly added to my appreciation for the film. It’s very well constructed, and one of the tightest examples of time travel working logically you may ever see. It’s the film that solidified Bruce Willis as someone beyond a simple action star, and Brad Pitt as someone beyond a pretty boy. In that respect, it is a very important film, and it’s a good thing the quality is so excellent throughout. Great twists abound, and the ending works out extraordinarily well.

2. The Fisher King (1991)

Jeff Bridges plays a Howard Stern-equse shock jock whose life falls apart when he inadvertently sparks a killing spree. Robin Williams plays a now homeless man whose life was ruined by that selfsame killing spree. What follows is a humorous but sobering tale of Arthurian legend, overcoming obstacles, life on the street, and forgiveness. It’s a touching film, and one of Jeff Bridges’ better performances. It’s also probably one of the most straightforward of Gilliam’s films. Sure, there’s a fantasy element and the cinematography is unmistakably Gilliam, but it’s somewhat tame compared to the other entries in his filmography.

1. Brazil (1985)

The best film I’ve ever seen. Jonathan Pryce is fantastic. Ian Holm is at his unsure, wormy best. DeNiro is charming as all hell. Palin’s great. Everything’s great. Imagine if the ruling class in 1984 were complete and total bureaucratic morons that that managed to take control anyway. The story involves Sam Lowry’s attempts to just live his life and get the girl, but spins wildly out from there as more and more ridiculous things seem to happen to him. He has dreams of courage and conquest but cannot act on them in his daily life. He’s weak. Brazil is the best film I’ve seen simply because it is so strong in every sense. Startlingly well acted. Fantastic set design and cinematography to create a future dystopia just left of center. Brilliant writing with one of my favorite twist endings ever. It’s chock full of things you’ll never notice (let’s thank both Criterion and Gilliam for probably the best DVD package I’ve ever seen and some wonderful commentaries). It is simply the best. Nothing comes close.

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This post was written to the tune of Rammstein’s Liebe ist für Alle Da