Best of the Decade

I love lists.

Top ten this...top ten that...best this...best that. You name it...sporting events, rock concerts, gyms, offensive lineman, female rock bands, political pundits, bicep routines, film composers, even sexual experiences. You name it, and I have it written down somewhere on a "best" list of some sort, tucked away in a composition notebook somewhere obscure, in a place where only I can find it.

But of all the lists I do, the most quintessential, the most pure if you will, is the best ten film list. I have been doing a top ten film list every year since 1985, and this is my third best of the decade list.

So here we are on New Year's Eve and without further fanfare, it's time for the best of the decade.

Films:

1) AI Artificial Intelligence

This dark, complex, sentimental, and haunting film polarized critics and turned off audiences who were expecting feel good film in the spirit of ET.
But this film actually does have a lot more in common with ET and Close Encounters that one might think. But this time the answers, and the emotional payoff are far more complex. The film is a technical marvel on any level, from the hyper-real stylish cinematography that manages to convey both Kubrick and Spielberg, to maestro John William's emotional yet minimalistic score. Haley Joel Osment is simply amazing, and delivers another stunning turn in a long line of Spielberg directed flawless child performances. The final and highly controversial coda left me emotionally affected for days after I saw it. To this day, the film haunts me.

2) Zodiac

The best true crime movie ever made. This film works on so many levels...as a thriller, 70's style paranoia thriller, and investigative piece, a film noir, a documentary even as a horror film. It is a confident masterpiece of superb craftsmanship that deserves to be watched over and over. The chilling score is by 70's movie music icon composer David Shire.

3) Auto Focus

The most underrated and overlooked film of the decade. Greg Kinnear is astonishly effective in his portrayal of Bob Crane, the star of Hogan's Heroes who was murdered in 1978. Crane had a sexual and video obsession that was shared by his kindred spirit and best friend John Carpenter (played by William Dafoe, fantastic as always), the prime suspect in a murder that remains unsolved to this day. Paul Shrader's best film.

4) Lars And The Real Girl

In what was a great decade for small, independent, quirky feel good movies (Lost In Translation, Little Miss Sunshine, etc) this quirky feel good movie is the best of the bunch. Ryan Gosling is astonishing as a delusional young man who thinks his sex doll is... well...real. Sounds like an absurdly risky concept to make a movie about and indeed it is. But Gosling and the talented cast and filmmakers around him pull it off in spades. The feel good movie of the decade.

5) Avatar

I am always hesitant to put a film I just saw on a list like this, but dammit Avatar is deserves it. Yeah, I know the breakthrough technology blah blah blah. But critics, and some film goers are missing the point. The tools used to create the world and tell the story are not important. Never once did I think about the "technology" when the film played. Hell, I even forgot I had 3D glasses on till I had to run to the bathroom. I was completely memorized entranced into the astonishingly detailed world and the memorable characters Jim Cameron has created. As Roger Ebert would say, Avatar is an "out of body experience". Masterful, moving storytelling on every level imaginable, with the best musical score of the decade by James Horner.

The rest of the top 10:

6) Inglourious Basterds
7) Wonderboys
8) Sex and Lucia
9) Insomia
10) Casino Royal

Next post: More of my best of the decade in movies, music and more.