Wednesday, December 2, 2009

THE DECADE IN FILM

This has been, in my humble opinion, an amazing decade for American movies. US cinema has woken up in a way I can't even fully describe - suddenly we have a culture that is producing dreadfully honest films about disappointment, loss, and pain.. and they're comedies for children. The best science fiction blockbusters don't feel like they were written by 10th-graders, the best dramas are less turgid, and the best comedies offer perspective, not escapism. Below are ten of my favorite movies from each year of the decade, followed by honorable mention candidates. I'll try to update this later with what I think went so right so often, but for now, I'll let the list speak for itself.

2000
Best in Show
Chicken Run
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Wonder Boys
X-Men
High Fidelity
Memento
Quills
Unbreakable

2001
A.I.
Gosford Park
Mulholland Drive
Donnie Darko
Black Hawk Down
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Zoolander
The Royal Tenenbaums
In the Bedroom
The Lord of the Rings

2002
Catch Me If You Can
Spirited Away
Punch-Drunk Love
Igby Goes Down
Minority Report
Adaptation.
Chicago
The Ring
The Two Towers
Gangs of New York

2003
A Mighty Wind
Down With Love
Finding Nemo
28 Days Later
Mystic River
Elf
Return of the King
Lost in Translation
The Station Agent

2004
Shawn of the Dead
The Aviator
Bad Education
The Bourne Supremacy
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The Incredibles
Collateral
The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
Spider-Man 2
Hellboy

2005
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
The Constant Gardener
Good Night and Good Luck
Match Point
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Munich
Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Serenity
The Squid and the Whale
War of the Worlds

2006
Blood Diamond
Children of Men
The Departed
Idiocracy
The Illusionist
Little Children
Little Miss Sunshine
Pan's Labyrinth
A Scanner Darkly
United 93

2007
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Enchanted
Knocked Up
Lake of Fire
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
Ratatouille
There Will Be Blood
Zodiac

2008
The Dark Knight
Gran Torino
Hellboy II
In Bruges
Iron Man
Milk
Rachel Getting Married
Tropic Thunder
Wall-E
The Wrestler

2009
Coraline
Ponyo
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Hurt Locker
Up in the Air
A Serious Man
Star Trek
Up
District 9
Where the Wild Things Are

Hon Mention:
2000 - Snatch
2001 - Legally Blonde, Enigma, The Others, Josie and the Pussycats, Monsters Inc.
2002 - Big Trouble, Undercover Brother, The Mothman Prophecies, Blade II, Signs
2003 - The Matrix Reloaded, X2, Hulk, The Matrix Revolutions
2004 - Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, Howl's Moving Castle, Kung Fu Hustle, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
2005 - Batman Begins, Murderball, Cache, the Descent, a History of Violence, King Kong
2006 - Mission: Impossible III, Over the Hedge, a Prairie Home Companion, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Apocalypto, Clerks II
2007 - 3:10 to Yuma, Beowulf, Blades of Glory, Charlie Wilson's War, Gone Baby Gone, Planet Terror, In the Valley of Elah, The King of Kong, Rocket Science, the Simpsons Movie, Superbad, Surf's Up, Sweeney Todd, Transformers, The Bourne Ultimatum, Death Proof, Eastern Promises, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Mist, Atonement
2008 - Appaloosa, Be Kind Rewind, Cloverfield, Defiance, Hancock, Kung Fu Panda, Last Chance Harvey, Redbelt, Zack and Miri Make a Porno
2009 - Extract, Jennifer's Body, Zombieland, Drag Me to Hell, Paranormal Activity, Duplicity, In the Loop, Inglourious Basterds

UNDER THE DOME

For a guy who claims to love quaint little Yankee towns, Stephen King sure has ravaged a lot of them. Chester's Mill, the setting of King's new novel, "Under the Dome," seems pleasant enough, but it sits in northern Maine not far from Castle Rock (death by dynamite), Jerusalem's Lot (arson) and Derry (monsters) - a fact that does not bode well for its survival.

Newsday - 11/5