Well, here is my final post in this series on my Best 40 Movies of the Decade (2000-2009). While making this list and writing these short reviews, I realized that there are a lot of other 5 star movies that I would recommend without hesitation that didn’t make the cut, so I’ve added a list down below of the ones I could think of. Also, as I said at the beginning of these posts, this list is based only on movies that I have seen – there are a number of other movies that are sitting in my Netflix queue (and a couple of flicks that are still in theaters) that I haven’t seen and from what I’ve heard a couple of them at least might have made this list, so I’ve also listed those down below as well. But let’s get to it. At #10…

#10 Letters from Iwo Jima

Clint Eastwood directed a war movie that is nearly entirely in Japanese that won a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. Let that soak in for a minute. Any director that could produce such a deeply felt and noble movie in their own language would be considered a great director – that Eastwood could wring such emotion out of his actors in a language he doesn’t even speak – it may be the best directing job of the decade.

#9 Memento

Better known now for Batman Begins & The Dark Knight, director Nolan (based on a story by his brother) started out the decade with his best film, which boasts one of the best screenplays of all time. Guy Pierce is very good, but Nolan (who also wrote the screenplay) is why you watch this movie.

#8 Ratatouille

When I saw this Pixar film in the theater, I remember my jaw literally dropping at some of the artistry in which Paris is displayed. Brad Bird was brought in to save this movie from another director, and the result was the best animated film of the decade.

#7 Old Boy

I really don’t know how to explain this movie. How director Chan-wook Park packed as much as he did into two hours I don’t know, but what an intense two hours it is. You will never look at an octopus the same way again, that’s for sure.

#6 Zodiac

I doubt that this nearly three hour epic made many people’s best of the decade lists, and that is a shame. David Fincher’s methodical narrative does almost nothing wrong – every character seems real, every detail is explained, and every shot in the movie feels like Fincher spent days perfecting it.

#5 Touching the Void

I’m a rock climber and I read this book about 15 years ago, so when I heard that they were finally going to make a movie out of it (and thankfully that Tom Cruise would not be playing Joe Simpson) I wondered if there was any way that they could possibly translate the drama of the book onto screen without it feeling cheesy. Director Kevin Macdonald (who a few years later directed the very good Last King of Scotland which is in my 5-star-but-didn’t-make-the-cut-list below) figured it out, making it a documentary starring Joe Simpson plus an actor double. The results of Joe Simpson returning to the mountain that nearly killed him made this the best documentary of the decade.

#4 There Will be Blood

From the moment the film starts to the very last scene, it is impossible to not be riveted to the screen. There is something elemental about this film, something that goes beyond “the American experience” to a much darker place – if I were to compare this to any other movie, I would probably say Apocalypse Now. Daniel Day-Lewis seems almost possessed in this movie (he is famous for never breaking character while filming – not sure I would have wanted to be alone with him off set), turning kind of an extended version performance of his other great role of the decade from Gangs of New York.

#3 Twilight Samurai

There is so much soul in this movie that it is a bit hard to believe that it was made in these (let’s face it) shallow times. Twilight Samurai is barely about samurai – it is about family above all else and how life continually conspires to try to tear us from the people that matter the most to us.

#2 The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Extended Version

The nearly 12 hours that it takes to watch the extended version of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy is certainly not something that everyone will do all in one sitting. If, however, you are able to sit through it, you will simply marvel at how Jackson was able to bring so much scope, action, acting and special effects together for 12 hours of movie making (that is six 2 hour movies, more than most directors ever make) so seamlessly. No trilogy has ever been so complete, epic or entertaining.

#1 Children of Men

Few movies that I’ve seen have been able to instill in me the feeling that I was watching the a reasonable rendition of the future unfold on screen, but Alfonso Cuarón’s masterpiece Children of Men is one. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t want this future, and I honestly don’t think that our future will be so bleak. That said, the chaos that reigns in Cuarón’s England feels very real, and every character carries enough baggage to weigh down a tank (of which there are many in the film). Also, and this is without a doubt, Children of Men contains the best action sequence of any movie since perhaps Taxi Driver. In a decade when terror and the threat of terror caused wars and the fear of a new pandemic health event took hold, Children of Men – more than any other film of the decade – portrayed the mood and warned of the possible consequences if we don’t get out act together.

Best Director of the Decade

Clint Eastwood

Best Actor of the Decade

Tie: Daniel Day-Lewis & Leonardo DiCaprio

Best Actress of the Decade

Cate Blanchett

Great movies I saw this decade that didn’t make the cut

In no particular order: The Last King of Scotland, Mystic River, Wall-E, Black Hawk Down, Gladiator, Amelie (very hard to leave off), Bourne Identity, No Country for Old Men, The Assissination of Jesse James, Good Night and Good Luck, Frost/Nixon, An Inconvenient Truth, Sideways, City of God, Catch Me if You Can, Little Miss Sunshine, Spiderman 2, Superman, Babel, Gone Baby Gone, Million Dollar Baby, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Adaptation, Hero, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Juno, Into the Wild, Persepolis…

…and I am sure many more that I’ll add as I think of them (and please feel free to suggest)

Probably Great Movies That I Haven’t Seen That Might Have Made My Top 40 (and yes, I know, I know, I need to watch them already)

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days; King of Kong; Man on Wire; The Royal Tenenbaums; Before Sunset; The Lives of Others; Waltz with Bashir; Up; Let the Right One In; The Diving Bell and the Butterfly; Sexy Beast…again, suggestions welcome

The rest of the movies on my top 40 of the decade:

#11-20

#21-30

#31-40

This is the third installment in my Best 40 Movies of the Decade series of posts. The feedback so far has been pretty positive, but I wonder if that is because readers think I’m going to put their favorite films in the last 20! I decided last night that after the final post, I’ll include a list of other films that didn’t make the top 40 cut, but are five stars nonetheless. So let’s get going and start with #20, about a family of superheroes…

#20 The Incredibles

Pixar’s first “people” movie was a great combo of the superhero and super-spy genres – the movie feels like Casino Royale meets Spiderman. Funny throughout, The Incredibles was one of two nearly perfect movies that Brad Bird made in the decade.

#20 The Incredibles

Pixar’s first “people” movie was a great combo of the superhero and super-spy genres – the movie feels like Casino Royale meets Spiderman meets Toy Story. Funny throughout, The Incredibles was one of two nearly perfect animated movies that Brad Bird make this decade.

#19 Borat

“That’s a nice!” is perhaps the best movie line of the decade. As it stormed into theaters catching an unsuspecting American audience almost completely off-guard, Borat provided us with something that we haven’t had in a long time at the movies – a great comedic talent completely owning both the movie and the audience. I just hope that Borat’s prostitute sister appreciates how great a talent her brother is. (p.s. the extra scenes on the DVD are amazing as well – “What’s this?”)

#18 Gran Torino

For any other director, Gran Torino would be enough to put them on a list of the best directors of the decade, but for Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino solidifies one of the best runs of any director in any decade (Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, Letters from Iwo Jima, Flags of Our Fathers, Changling, and probably the upcoming Invictus are all spectacular films). What makes this one special, however, is that in addition to directing, Eastwood turns in the best performance of his career. If it hadn’t been for Sean Penn also turning in the best of his career in Milk the same year, I believe Eastwood would have finally won a best acting Oscar.

#17 The Aviator

Although I assume most people would probably say that The Departed was Scorsese’s best movie this decade, as I’ve already said, I consider Infernal Affairs a tic better than The Departed, and The Aviator well beyond both. The Aviator is a different kind of Scorsese movie – it almost has a Spielberg feel to it – but that also makes it one of his freshest films. DiCaprio (who certainly was the best actor of the decade that didn’t win any kind of major awards) and Blanchett as Kate Hepburn are very enjoyable to watch, the flight scenes are done with such skill that it makes you wonder what else Scorsese is capable of.

#16 Hustle & Flow

Without a doubt the coolest movie of the decade was Hustle & Flow. Cool as in Dr. Dre cool. It’s a movie that needs to be heard as much as seen, one that you need to watch with your DVD player hooked up to a surround system – turned up to full blast.

#15 Maria Full of Grace

With all due respect to City of God, I felt Maria Full of Grace was the best movie to come out of South America this decade (with The Motorcycle Diaries, my #30 movie, the second best). This movie felt so real without banging us over the head, with themes that are central to understanding the entire Western Hemisphere, while showcasing a great new acting talent in Catalina Sandino Moreno.

#14 Serenity

The best science fiction movie of the decade (though honestly, there wasn’t a ton of competition), Serenity is probably also the best TV to film adaptation ever (although The Brady Bunch Movie was pretty good too). Part western, part sci-fi epic, Joss Whedon’s Serenity fills lots of holes left from the TV series Firefly while standing firmly on its own merits.

#13 American Splendor

The most droll film of the decade was also Paul Giamatti’s best work – funny, sad, depressing and inspirational all at once. A technical marvel of a film as well, with great integration of the comic into the film. Also, American Splendor is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen that breaks the 4th Wall rule.

#12 Lost in Translation

Bill Murray is one funny dude. He’s also an underrated actor – at least he was until this role, one he should have won an Oscar for. Scarlet Johansson also launched her career with in this movie about what about how being in a place so foreign can help us find out new things about ourselves.

#11 United 93

The best film to date about 9/11, and probably the best simulated documentary ever made. Not for the faint of heart (I know people who simply won’t watch it), but an entirely compelling film.

The rest of the movies on the list:

#1-10

#21-30

#31-40

This is the first of four posts on the Top 40 movies of the decade (2000-2009). I’ve only included the top 40 movies that I personally saw (either in the theater or on DVD) – I am sure that if I had seen every film that came out in the last 10 years that this list would be drastically different. That said, I have seen well over 500 films from this decade. When making this list, I took into account the films that had the most impact on me, the ones that had the best acting, writing and directing, and the ones that I simply liked the most. Although the majority of films on this list are in English, a number of other languages are represented as well. I made an initial list of around 60 films with the initial intent of having simply a top 25 – however, I couldn’t bear to keep off other 15 films. Go to after the break for numbers 31-40:

#40 – Star Trek

The 2000’s may go down as the film decade of reboots, with a number of franchises getting a new and improved look this decade (and more than one of these making my list). Perhaps the most unlikely franchise to get a successful makeover, JJ Abram’s Star Trek – with numerous TV series and movies already – was a stunning success. The characters were fresh again, the action was crisp, the casting was near perfect, and above all, it was funny. The best time at the movies in 2009.

#39 – Slumdog Millionaire

Danny Boyle had a great decade. In addition to getting the Best Picture Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire, he directed the wonderful “Millions” and the highly underrated “Sunshine”. Slumdog Millionaire was a beautifully shot and acted movie, with a killer soundtrack and some very funny moments. It was the feel good version of “City of God”, and in my opinion, a better movie for it.

#38 – The Proposition

Brutal. There really isn’t any other way to describe the best western of the decade. Guy Pierce was haunting, Ray Winstone was amazing, and this Aussie film make other (good) westerns of recent years like “3.10 to Yuma” look tame in comparison.

#37 – Kill Bill Volumes 1 & 2

Tarantino’s best movie since Jackie Brown showed him at his technical best, and made Uma Thurman the most kick-ass heroine in years. David Carradine (who will be missed) was near perfection, and the movie produced the only role that I have ever liked Lucy Liu in.

#36 – Pan’s Labyrinth

Weird and haunting, Pan’s Labyrinth makes me want “The Hobbit” (which Guillermo Del Toro will also direct) to come out tomorrow.

#35 – Night Watch

We don’t get to see a lot of Russian movies here in the US, and that is too bad, because I have a suspicion that there are a lot of great movies being made over there. “Night Watch” was one that did make it out, and it was a great snapshot of a changing and chaotic Russia – and of course vampires.

#34 – Spiderman

Sam Raimi made Spiderman into about as entertaining a movie as one could imagine. It was funny, vibrant, exciting and stayed true to the spirit of the comics. Many people seem to think that Spiderman 2 was the better movie, but I recently watched Spiderman again, and if for no other reason, the closing scene in the cemetery makes it one of the best comic book movies ever.

#33 – Venus

Somebody please try to explain to me how anyone can take the Oscars seriously when Peter O’Toole has never won one? His fire made Venus the best romance of the decade, if not one of the most unlikely. Let’s hope someone sees fit to give him one more role like this so he can grab one of those statues.

#32 – Waitress

This one even surprised me. I had forgotten this gem, but as I was going through movies I’ve seen, I saw it and remembered how much it affected my wife who watched it with me, and I have to say that it is an amazing movie. Of course it was also a tragic one, as its director was senselessly murdered after the movie was complete. Even so, this is an uplifting movie.

#31 – The Pianist

Another really brutal movie, but the subject matter dictated it. Roman Polanski (whatever you think about him as a person) showed why many consider him one of the great all-time directors, and Adrien Brody turned in a (probably) once-in-a-lifetime performance. Not a movie that is easy to sit through twice, but great nonetheless.

The rest of the list:

#1-10

#11-20

#21-30

I’d like to go on record as saying 2008 was the worst year in movies in my lifetime, hands down. Blame the writer’s strike I guess. I did not get to see Milk, Gran Torino and a number of other movies but of the ones I did see, there were a few that I actually quite liked (well, all of 3) in this order:

1. Wall-E = great story, stunning detail and the most quotable lines of the year “walllllleeeee” & “eeeeevvvvvvvaaaaaaa”.
2. Slumdog Millionaire = the best Danny Boyle movie since Trainspotting, which is all I need to say.
3. The Dark Knight = Other than what I would call a lackluster performance from Christian Bale, when Ledger was on the screen and the movie was at it’s darkest it really made you feel like evil was going to win out this time around. Raise your hand if you want Nolan back for part 3.

I’ve decided that now is the time for me to finally have a full on, “this is what I think” blog. I’ve blogged before on the myRT Blog, and I do an occasional Twit, and I’ve done some fiction-based blogging in the past as well (long since taken down), and I’m going to start blogging again for my new position in SF, but I think that I’ve finally reached the point where I should be doing a catch all blog. A week from today I’ll be living in the Bay Area for the first time and I’ve heard that it’s a county statute that tech workers have their own blog, so I probably better get on it.
I know that it would be a much better exercise in SEO if I did a blog on one specific topic, completely rich in keywords and focused, focused, focused, and if I was planning on making a living at it, that’s certainly what I would do – but I’m not doing this for money. There are a variety of reasons why I want a place to bring all of my interests together on my own terms, but money is certainly not one of them.
So here’s what I’m hoping to blog about on as frequent a basis as I see fit:

• Web 2.0, social media, GIS, widgets, online video and internet marketing
• China (real specific, I know)
• Rock climbing
• Writing
• Chess
• Family
• Politics
• Climate Change
• Movies

I figure that if I’m going to talk about everything, I might as well talk about everything. It’s ridiculous of course. It probably won’t work and I wouldn’t recommend anyone to start a blog with the intention of trying to cover even a quarter of these topics, but we rarely heed our own advice, even regarding the most important of life’s decisions, and starting a blog certainly does not fall under that category, so here goes nothing.