There are dozens of films that could have made the cut but they did not simply because this list is entirely personal and totally subjective. I deeply love these movies with every last inch of my heart.
10. The Bourne Supremacy (2004). I dare say I don't know what everyone wants when it comes to an action movie but I know exactly what I want and "The Bourne Supremacy" is it.
9. "Quiet City" (2007). A poetic portrait of human connection with no hidden agendas. The Mumblecore masterpiece.
8. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). Relationships and Love are a painful, ceaseless struggle...a struggle that is always worth going through, even if you already know how it's going to end, because the memories you take away from them will last an eternity.
7. Lost in Translation (2003). Never in a rush and wistfully funny, it's the greatest elegy to the ongoing battle against isolation I have ever seen.
6. Once (2007). It not only details the transformative power of music (a subject near to my heart) but serves up a flawless example of how the briefest encounter with a single person, whom you may never see again, can radically alter the trajection of your life.
5. Kill Bill (2003, 2004). "Pulp Fiction" was the movie of the 90's but "Kill Bill" was the movie Quentin Tarantino was born to make.
4. You Can Count On Me (2000). This indie drama of a brother and sister who often don't like one another but always love one another contains breathtaking characterizations and marvelous, literate dialogue. Few films have made real life feel so authentic.
3. Atonement (2007). I know a lot of people do not share my rapturous views of Joe Wright's 2007 adaptation of the Ian McEwen novel but to quote the lyrical genius that is Phil Collins: "I don't care what you say. I never did believe you much anyway." Epic in scope, intimate in emotion, it examines the awesome power of the imagination, the difficulty of forgiveness, and love that can live in death. This film still astounds me. I'm not worthy.
2. Almost Famous (2000). Based on writer/director Cameron Crowe's tales of his most unusual youth as a writer for Rolling Stone Magazine aboard a tour bus with a famous rock and roll band this is a movie that may be categorized as a coming-of-age story which would not even approach the vacinity of doing this miraculous film justice. It's all about music and just like the best music is universal so too is "Almost Famous". We are all on an eternal quest...we are all searching for something...we are all (as Bruce Springsteen once said) trying to maintain our idealism after we lose our innocence....and we will all come out okay on the other end. Or so I like to believe.
And just because I've never ranted about it on this blog allow me to state this film possess the greatest reinforcement of the power of music in the history of the movies. No, not the "Tiny Dancer" sequence, but when the rock promoter has shown up to talk to the band and we hear, in voice-over, Phillip Seymour Hoffmann's Lester Bangs saying "The war is over. They won. And they will ruin rock and roll and strangle everything we love about it" and then the movie cuts to Kate Hudson's Penny Lane dancing by herself with a single rose to "The Wind" by Cat Stevens, essentially saying you haven't ruined rock and roll for her and if you haven't ruined it for her then the war ain't over.
Hold it...I need a minute here.
The #1 Movie of the Decade? Check back tomorrow.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
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