Mainly I wanted an excuse to use Photoshop and not let my (clearly mad) graphic design skillz get rusty. But I thought it would be a fun exercise to look back--but not too far back--at the best movies I've watched this decade and briefly discuss why they excited, touched, or inspired me. I narrowed the list down to 68 and then to 35. I was going to make another cut, but 35 seems no less arbitrary than, say, 20, so I'm sticking with it.
Since I'm a jobless freak (TM), I have a little more time these days to make fun, arbitrary, highly controversial lists such as this one. Consider this the beginning of a list-making extravaganza, at least until I get bored with it. I'll be unveiling 5 films from the list of 35 everyday in the meantime.
Also, I know 2000 is technically the last year of the last decade, but this is America and in the great cultural discussion, we classify our decades by whatever number appears in that ten's place.
Please feel free to use the comments section to debate me, ridicule me, or inform me of great movies this decade that I may have missed. Or to praise me. You can always praise me if you want. Oh! And follow me on twitter at @aaronisthinking and watch me juggle thought nuggets.
Shall we begin?
A Mighty Wind - 2003
Christopher Guest visited a speaker series I attended in college and he bristled at the word "mockumentary" before finally acknowledging his dislike of the term. "A Mighty Wind" makes it easy to see why. Anchored by painfully tender (but still hilarious) performances from Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy as a former golden couple in the folk music world, the doc-style comedy doesn't laugh at its subjects so much as fold you into the absurdity of their lives. The innocent beauty of the climax showstopper "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow" almost socks you in the gut if it doesn't already hurt from all the laughter.
Frost/Nixon - 2008
Peter Morgan's scripts add nice fictional, dramatic sheens (and Sheen) to public figures of modern history, and the theme he can't seem to shy away from is how those public figures try to reconcile their own identity with the persona the public has crafted for them. In "Frost/Nixon", this internal debate takes a very external form, as David Frost and Richard Nixon go head-to-head in a series of televised interviews, one darting around the truth while the other is reluctant to reach for it as he becomes aware of the many unseen shades in the former president. It's rare that a tale of talking heads can play this grippingly.
No End in Sight - 2007
I'll always appreciate "No End in Sight" because it seemed to spur a mini-movement in the doc world of let's-all-take-a-look-at-the-facts narratives that present their evidence in direct, clean and concise manners. Tackling a skirmish like the Iraq War from the inside out could have so easily become a game of trumpet-blaring, finger-pointing, and stunt-pulling. But "No End in Sight" is--or at least feels like--pure journalism, a step-by-step account of how we invaded and what effect each decision had. The level-headedness of the doc doesn't make anything less shocking.
Battle in Seattle - 2007Capturing a movement and the spirit behind it is a tough feat for feature filmmakers (see: Taking Woodstock). It's even tougher when the filmmaker tries to to seem politcally unbiased. That's probably why Stephen Dorff's "Battle in Seattle" works so well; it commits to its anti-WTO stance but lets the politics breathe organically among its characters. The idealistic activism, however, morphs into dark anarchy and control shifts away from the organized protestors and the police and into the hands of unrepentently violent. As the protestors near defeat but cling to hope, their fighting spirit transcends the screen and the viewer can't help but feel that contagious desire to be part of something.
The Good Shepherd - 2006
I can't wait to see Robert DeNiro's next directorial effort because I want to know if this slow-burning Sam Mendes thing he has goin' on is a fluke or not. "The Good Shepherd" is a sprawling, character-driven epic and each gorgeously-shot scene has a delicate emotional touch. The life of Edward Wilson (Matt Damon in an all-behind-the-eyes performance) is one of secrets and as they bury themselves in his work and in his family, he grows only more loyal to his duties and the system that demands them. "The Good Shepherd" is a thriller, a history lesson, and a dark character piece that would probably make Coppola raise his wine glass.
